week ending Aug 8

Covid Supercharges Federal Reserve as Backup Lender to the World – WSJ - When the coronavirus brought the world economy to a halt in March, it fell to the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep the wheels of finance turning for businesses across America.And when funds stopped flowing to many banks and companies outside America’s borders—from Japanese lenders making bets on U.S. corporate debt to Singapore traders needing U.S. dollars to pay for imports—the U.S. central bank stepped in again.The Fed has long resisted becoming the world’s backup lender. But it shed reservations afterthe pandemic went global. During two critical mid-March weeks, it bought a record $450 billion in Treasurys from investors desperate to raise dollars. By April, the Fed had lent another nearly half a trillion dollars to counterparts overseas, representing most of the emergency lending it had extended to fight the coronavirus at the time. The massive commitment was among the Fed’s most significant—and least noticed—expansions of power yet. It eased a global dollar shortage, helped halt a deep market selloff and continues to support global markets today. It established the Fed as global guarantor of dollar funding, cementing the U.S. currency’s role as the global financial system’s underpinning.Just as the Fed expanded its role in the U.S. economy to an unprecedented degree during the 2008 financial maelstrom, it has in the coronavirus crisis expanded its power and influence globally. The value of the dollar has tumbled in recent weeks against other currencies as investors grow more troubled about the economic outlook and difficulty containing the coronavirus. Still, it is trading near levels recorded before the pandemic hit this year and above its long-term average on a trade-weighted basis,   The Fed supplied most of the money abroad via “U.S. dollar liquidity swap lines.” In essence, it lends dollars for fixed periods to foreign central banks and in return takes in their local currencies at market exchange rates. At the loans’ end, the Fed swaps back the currencies at the original exchange rate and collects interest.By stabilizing foreign dollar markets, the Fed’s actions likely avoided even greater disruptions to foreign economies and to global markets. Those disruptions could spill back to the U.S. economy, pushing the value of the dollar higher against other currencies and damping U.S. exports—and the economy.The risks to the Fed are minimal given that it is dealing with the most creditworthy nations and the m ost advanced central banks. But there are risks that investors come to expect a safety net for dollars that might lead to riskier borrowing during good times.

The Fed Has Secreted Away the Transactions of Three of Its Emergency Lending Programs -  Pam Martens - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Randal Quarles, the Vice Chairman for Supervision at the Fed, have stated in testimony before Congress that they would be providing transaction level details of their Section 13(3) Emergency Lending Facilities on a regular, ongoing basis. But the three oldest of those facilities, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF), which were all created more than four months ago in mid-March, have yet to release any transaction level details to the public.  The Fed is required to provide reports every 30 days on its emergency lending facilities. Those reports are located at this Fed website. If you scroll down, you will find that transaction level reports have been provided for four of the Fed’s emergency lending programs. But the three programs listed above, which are the oldest of the programs, have no transaction level details.  Without the transaction level details, the public has no idea which Wall Street banks or trading firms are borrowing from the Fed. Without this transaction level detail, the public has no way of discerning if one or more particular banks are facing a liquidity squeeze, as happened in September 2008. What is the Fed attempting to hide from the American people and why is Congress letting it get away with it?  Our best analysis suggests that the silence from both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress results from the following: Just months before a critical presidential election, the Democrats would have to admit that the Dodd-Frank legislation of 2010 that was signed into law by President Obama when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, did not get the job done in making the U.S. financial system safer after the worst financial collapse in 2008 since the Great Depression. That might provide a nasty reminder that it was another Wall Street Democrat in the White House, Bill Clinton, that set that train wreck in motion nine years earlier by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 in order to please Sandy Weill at Citigroup and the New York Times editorial board. Republicans in Congress don’t want to broach the subject either because they have spent the last four years rolling back even the weak protections that existed in the Dodd-Frank legislation.  We know from the Fed’s weekly release of the line items on its balance sheet that as of April 8, just a few weeks after these three programs started, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility had ballooned to Fed loans of $33 billion while the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility had soared to $53 billion in loans.  The Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) grew far more slowly but has made some wild moves that should be raising concerns in Congress, since this is the same kind of market stress that occurred during the last financial crisis. According to the Fed’s balance sheet, as of May 20, the CPFF stood at $4.3 billion, but one week later, on May 27, it had almost tripled to $12.8 billion, strongly suggesting that a large financial institution could not roll over its commercial paper, had nowhere else to turn, and had to come to the Fed as lender of last resort. The Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) is the most notorious of these Fed programs, having secretly funneled $8.95 trillion cumulatively in below-market rate loans to Wall Street’s mega banks and their global bank derivative counterparties during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010, according to a government audit.

Few companies have tapped the Fed's Main Street program — The Main Street Lending Program made just $95 million of loans in its first month of operation, the Federal Reserve Board said Thursday. That is a far cry from the $600 billion allocated by Congress, through the Fed and the Treasury Department, to the rescue program for small and midsize businesses. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been candid that the program, which was aimed at helping companies with up to 15,000 employees stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, has gotten off to a lackluster start. He told Congress in June that the banks registered as lenders in the program weren’t “getting a ton of interest from borrowers.” The Fed said two of the program's three arms — the new loan and priority loan facilities — had purchased eight loans worth $77 million in the first three weeks of operation, from July 6 to July 27. The remaining $18 million of loans were apparently made by lenders and purchased by the program between from July 28 through Aug. 5. The Main Street New Loan Facility issues loans up to $35 million, and the Main Street Priority Loan Facility issues loans up to $50 million. The Main Street Expanded Loan Facility allows banks to expand existing loans to borrowers up to $300 million. The expanded facility had not purchased any loans as of July 27. According to data published Thursday by the Fed, the eight businesses that had taken advantage of the program as of July 27 included a dental office in Wisconsin, a construction company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a casino in Pennsylvania and a refrigeration company in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Six of the eight loans were made through City National Bank of Florida, which is based in Miami. The largest loan by far was made to Mount Airy #1 LLC in Mount Pocono, Pa., which runs the Mount Airy Casino Resort. FNCB Bank in Dunmore extended a $50 million loan to the company on July 13, which the Fed’s special-purpose vehicle purchased a 95% participation in on July 24. The Main Street Lending Program, which was established using funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, is offering loans of at least $250,000 to qualifying businesses with up to 15,000 employees or $5 billion in annual revenue. Though the Fed has said the interest on behalf of lenders is “substantial,” bankers have reported that customers are not clamoring for the loans. One reason is that many smaller businesses don’t qualify: the maximum loan amount is partially determined by a borrower’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, and for small businesses, that number is often lower than the minimum loan amount of $250,000.

 Oversight panel questions value of Fed loan program for midsize firms— Members of a commission appointed to oversee the Federal Reserve’s response to the coronavirus pandemic expressed frustration with the pace at which the central bank’s Main Street Lending Program was propped up and the limited interest so far in the effort. The Congressional Oversight Commission, created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to oversee implementation by the Fed and Treasury Department, held its first hearing despite not yet having a chairperson. The commission’s members — Reps. French Hill, R-Ark., and Donna Shalala, D-Fla., Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Bharat Ramamurti, a former adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — questioned witnesses about limited participation in the Main Street program and how to prevent widespread closure of businesses. A Fed report released Thursday showed just eight businesses had taken out loans as of late July that were purchased by the MSLP. “After taking three months to set up the program, the Fed has now been operating it for about a month,” said Ramamurti. “In that time it has supported a total of only 18 loans for a total of $104 million. That is 0.017% of the $600 billion lending capacity that the Fed touted for the program in April. … By any measure the Main Street program has been a failure.” Toomey echoed Ramamurti’s questions about the weak interest. “Why [have] relatively few borrowers ... participated in this program?” Toomey said. He added that he was interested in knowing "why it appears not to have a tremendous amount of demand." The Main Street Lending Program, which was established using funding from the CARES Act, makes loans of at least $250,000 available to qualifying businesses with up to 15,000 employees or $5 billion in annual revenue. The loans are originated by third-party banks, but the Fed funds the deals by acquiring participations. Even though the Fed first announced the rollout of the program in April, banks were not able to register until mid-June. It officially launched on July 6. Eric Rosengren, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is administering the Main Street Lending Program, said part of the reason it took so long to set up the program was that it is very different from other programs central banks have deployed. “This facility is a facility we didn’t have during the financial crisis and really tries to get to a different segment of the population, which is those businesses that are bigger than the [Paycheck Protection] program was designed for and smaller than what the corporate facilities are designed for,” Rosengren said. “Bank loans are inherently difficult because they are an agreement between a bank and a borrower. They take a long time for banks to negotiate with the borrower and this facility has a lot of complex elements.”

Fed to have payments service ready 'as soon as practicably possible'— The Federal Reserve released new details Thursday on its FedNow real-time payments system, and said it hopes to make the system operational "as soon as practicably possible." The target launch date for FedNow remains 2023 or 2024, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell has previously said the central bank would like to launch it sooner. Government efforts to distribute stimulus funds during the pandemic illustrate the necessity of a government-managed faster payments system, Fed Gov. Lael Brainard said. “The urgency with which the emergency [stimulus] payments were spent underscores the importance of rapid access to funds for many households and businesses that face cash flow constraints,” Brainard said in remarks prepared for a FedNow service webinar. “In good times as well as bad, instant payments will enable millions of American households and small businesses to get instant access to funds, rather than waiting days for checks to clear.” Brainard's comments accompanied the release of a 50-page notice with details about FedNow's features, data security protocols and when the service will be available following its launch. The Fed said that it plans to make FedNow operational at all hours every day, including holidays. “The FedNow Service will be available to banks in the United States and will enable individuals and businesses to send instant payments any time of day, any day of the year through their bank accounts,” the agency said in the notice. The service will be launched in phases, starting with “core clearing and settlement features” that will help support market needs and help banks transition to a 24-hour payment system. Based on additional stakeholder engagement, additional features will be added over time, the Fed said. The U.S. government has been pumping billions of dollars of liquidity into the marketplace in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, including sending emergency $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans earning less than $75,000 following the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The Fed said that FedNow will be designed to maintain “uninterrupted 24x7x365 processing” with security features to support data integrity and data security. Access to intraday credit will also be provided to participants in FedNow.

 The Fed Is Planning To Send Money Directly To Americans In The Next Crisis  - Over the past decade, the one common theme despite the political upheaval and growing social and geopolitical instability, was that the market would keep marching higher and the Fed would continue injecting liquidity into the system. The second common theme is that despite sparking unprecedented asset price inflation, price as measured across the broader economy (at least using the flawed CPI metric) would remain subdued.  The Fed's failure to reach its inflation target has sparked broad criticism from the economic establishment, even though as we showed in June, deflation is now a direct function of the Fed's unconventional monetary policies as the lower yields slide, the lower the propensity to spend. In other words, the harder the Fed fights to stimulate inflation, the more deflation and more saving it spurs as a result.   To be in the aftermath of the covid pandemic shutdowns the Fed has tried to short-circuit this process, and in conjunction with the Treasury it has launched "helicopter money" which has resulted in a direct transfer of funds to US corporations via PPP loans, as well as to end consumers via the emergency $600 weekly unemployment benefits which however are set to expire unless renewed by Congress as explained last week, as Democrats and Republicans feud over which fiscal stimulus will be implemented next. Ad yet, the lament is that even as the economy was desperately in need of a massive liquidity tsunami, the funds created by the Fed and Treasury (now that the US operates under a quasi-MMT regime) did not make their way to those who need them the most: end consumers. Which is why we read with great interest a Bloomberg interview published on Saturday with two former central bank officials: Simon Potter, who led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s markets group i.e., he was the head of the Fed's Plunge Protection Team for years, and Julia Coronado, who spent eight years as an economist for the Fed’s Board of Governors, who are among the innovators brainstorming solutions to what has emerged as the most crucial and difficult problem facing the Fed: get money swiftly to people who need it most in a crisis. The response was striking: they two propose creating a monetary tool that they call recession insurance bonds, which draw on some of the advances in digital payments, which will be wired instantly to Americans.  As Coronado explains the details, Congress would grant the Federal Reserve an additional tool for providing support—say, a percent of GDP [in a lump sum that would be divided equally and distributed] to households in a recession. Recession insurance bonds would be zero-coupon securities, a contingent asset of households that would basically lie in wait. The trigger could be reaching the zero lower bound on interest rates or, as economist Claudia Sahm has proposed, a 0.5 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate. The Fed would then activate the securities and deposit the funds digitally in households’ apps.

Top Federal Reserve official says US needs another lockdown to save economy  - The government should again impose strict coronavirus-related lockdowns for a month or longer across the U.S. in order to boost the economy, a top Federal Reserve official said Sunday. Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, said the nation needs to control the spread of the virus, which is increasing across much of the country, to get back on a path to economic health. “That's the only way we're really going to have a real robust economic recovery. Otherwise, we're going to have flare-ups, lockdowns and a very halting recovery with many more job losses and many more bankruptcies for an extended period of time unfortunately,” Kashkari said on CBS’s “Face the Nation." To do so, he suggested strict shutdowns, which is contrary to what President Trump and many of his allies have been pushing in recent months as measures to aid the economy. “I mean if we were to lock down really hard, I know I hate to even suggest it, people will be frustrated by it, but if we were to lock down hard for a month or six weeks, we could get the case count down so that our testing and our contact tracing was actually enough to control it the way that it's happening in the Northeast right now,” Kashkari said. “They had a rocky start, but they're doing a pretty good job right now.” He warned the virus will spread throughout the country with flare-ups and local lockdowns for the “the next year or two,” causing more businesses to fail, without such measures. “We're going to see many, many more business bankruptcies, small businesses, big businesses, and that's going to take a lot of time to recover from to rebuild those businesses and then to bring workers back in and re-engage them in the workforce. That's going to be a much slower recovery for all of us,” Kashkari said. He also said that Congress can afford large sums for coronavirus relief efforts, though Republican lawmakers are looking to lessen the amount of supplemental aid for unemployed Americans as part of the next relief bill. “Right now, the U.S. can fund itself at very, very low rates. Congress should use this opportunity to support the American people and the American economy. I'm not worried about it,” he said. “If we get the economy growing, we will be able to pay off the debt.” Kashkari also said he does not see evidence to support claims made by Republicans and Trump administration officials that the $600 federal increase to unemployment benefits is discouraging Americans from getting back to work. “There's just so many fewer jobs than there are workers available,” he said. “At some point, it'll be an issue. When we get the unemployment rate eventually back down to 5 percent, and we want to get it back down to 4 percent or 3 1/2, where it was before, yes, that disincentive to work becomes material. But right now, it's simply not a factor in the macro-economy that we have in the U.S. because we have so many millions of Americans out of work."

 Fed policymakers call for fiscal support to save U.S. economy - - The U.S. economy, battered by a resurgence in the spread of COVID-19, needs increased government spending to tide over households and businesses and broader use of masks to better control the virus, U.S. central bankers said on Monday. The calls for increased government intervention came as U.S. lawmakers and the White House resumed talks on a new government relief package, including a possible extension of unemployment benefits that expired on Friday. “The ball is in Congress’ court,” Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told reporters on a call. “Fiscal policy is fundamental to a better baseline outlook, to a stronger recovery and getting the unemployment rate down, people back to work safely, and ultimately reopening the schools safely.” Without more government aid, Evans said, “aggregate demand trouble is brewing.” Translated for non-economists: people could stop spending and the bottom could really fall out of the economy. Or, as Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin put it, “quickly pulling away the support that consumers and businesses are receiving would be a pretty traumatic move for what’s happening in the economy.” The full court Fed press for more government spending came as Republicans appeared reluctant to spend much more than the $3 trillion Congress had already committed to bolstering the economy in the face of the virus. But things have gotten worse since then, Barkin said. “Four months ago, when we did the first stimulus, we thought the economy faced a pothole and the stimulus put a plate over it so we could navigate,” he told the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “Now escalation of the virus may be making that pothole into a sinkhole and creating a need for a longer plate.” Echoing those sentiments in slightly different terms were Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Kaplan pushed back on the notion that the extra $600 weekly benefits to the unemployed had made it harder for businesses to hire, while Bullard said earlier efforts to keep businesses and households whole through the crisis have paid off so far. “We’ve looked at a number of studies, we’ve done our own work: we don’t see it as much in the data but I can tell you I’m hearing it from business people,” Kaplan told Bloomberg TV earlier Monday when asked about whether the enhanced jobless aid was deterring people from returning to work. “While it may have made it hard for certain individual businesses to hire, it has helped create jobs, because it has helped bolster consumer spending, so the net effect still has probably been positive for the economy for employment.”

Democrats' bill would require Fed to focus on income, racial inequality— Several congressional Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday that would update the Federal Reserve’s official mandate to require it to carry out its policies in a way that would work to reduce racial and income inequality in the U.S. Currently, the Fed’s so-called dual mandate instructs the central bank to promote maximum employment and stable prices, but the Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act would add a third directive that would require the Fed to consider racial inequality in employment, income and access to affordable credit when making monetary policy and in its regulation and supervision of banks. The legislation, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would also require the Fed to report to Congress on how it would address racial disparities. The introduction of the bill follows a move last week from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign, which called for an amendment to the Federal Reserve Act to compel the Fed to report on current data and trends in racial economic gaps, as well as reports on how the Fed’s actions work to close those gaps. “As the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and its economic impacts disproportionately affect communities of color, and communities around the country march in the streets for justice, the Federal Reserve must do everything it can to ensure the recovery is equitably shared,” Waters said in a press release announcing the bill. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told senators in June that the central bank does “consider racial disparities and things like that as a routine matter” in its work, but he would not say whether the Fed’s policies itself had contributed to inequality. Instead, Powell has said that the best way the Fed can address inequality is to foster a strong labor market with low unemployment. “There’s no doubt more that all of us can do to address these issues, and this feels like a time when people are going to be looking for ways to do more, and we certainly are going to be doing that,” Powell said in June. The Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act is co-sponsored by several prominent members of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Al Green, D-Texas, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

 Biggest Decline In Nominal Output & Income In Our Lifetime... While Stocks Gained $7 Trillion - The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimated that Q2 Nominal GDP declined 34.3% annualized, the largest quarterly drop in our lifetime. On March 12, I penned the article “Investors Should Brace for a Record Decline in GDP”. Never did I imagine that the Q2 GDP decline would be nearly 5X times the previous record drop of 7.2% in Nominal GDP in Q4 2008.  Here’s a few observations. First, Q2 Nominal GDP was estimated at $19.4 trillion annualized, a drop of over $2 trillion from Q1 level of $21.5 trillion. BEA reports the GDP figures on an annualized basis. So the quarterly rate for Q2 Nominal GDP was $4.85 trillion, a figure that roughly matches the aggregate amount of fiscal and monetary stimulus injected in Q2.According to my estimates, the combination of federal stimulus payments to individuals plus the expansion of the Federal Reserve Balance sheet amounted to an increase of approximately $5 trillion in aggregate fiscal and monetary stimulus over the three months ending in June. Never before has the scale of fiscal and monetary stimulus matched the nation’s nominal output in a single quarter.  Second, Q2 nominal consumer spending declined at an annualized rate of 35.8%. But the actual decline is much worse. BEA estimated that people’s rent payments in Q2 increased $ 2 billion to a record $641 billion. BEA estimates consumer spending for rent based on an accrual basis. In other words, BEA methodology assumes people made their rent payments on time and in full. Yet, reports show that more than one-third of renters skipped paying part or all of their rent in Q2. Third, Q2 saw a record decline in Nominal output and a record increase in financial (equity) wealth. Based on preliminary data the market capitalization of domestic companies increased by $7 trillion in Q2 while nominal GDP, measured quarterly, declined by approximately $500 billion.Critics argue that macro valuations of equity markets are less important nowadays. I disagree. Based on my calculations, the ratio of the market capitalization to Nominal GDP stood at 2x times at the end of Q2, surpassing the prior record high of 1.87x times at the end of the tech bubble in Q1 2000.   In other words, the 2020 equity market is the most expensive (or over-valued) in our lifetime. Current record market valuations indicate an extremely poor risk-reward ratio, even worse than what followed the tech bubble of 2000.

 US Q3 GDP Now Seen Surging 20% By Atlanta Fed  - One day after the BEA reported last Thursday that US GDP crashed an annualized 32.9% in the second quarter, the biggest drop since the great depression...... the Atlanta Fed published its first GDPNow "nowcast" estimate for the third quarter, which came in at a relative subdued 11.9%, and far below sellside consensus estimates of an 18% print in the third quarter.Perhaps shamed by Wall Street optimism, just one day business later the Atlanta Fed moments ago announced that its latest revision as of Aug 3 pushed up its Q3 GDP estimate by a whopping 65%, and its GDPNow model now estimates that real GDP growth in the third quarter of 2020 is 19.6%. The reason for the massive repricing? This morning's Manufacturing ISM Report (which beat expectations) and construction spending report (which missed badly).Following the latest data, the nowcasts of third-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth and third-quarter real GDP investment growth increased from 14.4% and -1.7%, respectively, to 22.4% and 11.1%, respectively. Also, the nowcast of third-quarter real government spending growth increased from 5.7% to 6.8%.If the Atlanta Fed is correct, the annualized Q3 GDP print would be the highest on record.Of course, it goes without saying that if Congress fails to roll over the emergency unemployment benefits which expired last month - and which as we previously noted are instrumental in the record 25% of personal income that is funded by the US government... Q3 GDP will end up being another unmitigated disaster.

US credit outlook rated “negative” as concerns mount over dollar’s global role - In another sign of concern over the stability of the US dollar, under conditions where the Fed is pumping trillions into the financial system, the Fitch credit rating agency has placed a question mark over the credit worthiness of the United States. The agency downgraded its outlook for US credit to “negative” from “stable” on Friday, while retaining its AAA rating—the top grade—for the credit of the US. The agency raised issues about whether the US would be able to contain rising deficits as the government continues its corporate bailouts. In a statement announcing the downgrade, the agency said the US sovereign rating was supported by “structural strengths” and benefited from the role of the dollar as the world’s preeminent currency. However, the outlook had been revised to negative “to reflect the ongoing deterioration in the US public finances and the absence of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.” Fiscal deficits had already been on a rising path before the economic shock delivered by the COVID-19 pandemic and they had started to “erode the traditional credit strength of the US,” Fitch declared. Now, there was a “growing risk that US policymakers will not consolidate public finances sufficiently to stabilise public debt after the pandemic shock has passed.” Articulating the class interests of the financial oligarchy in the US and internationally, it made clear where such “consolidation” should take place—not in reductions to the corporate bailouts or a reversal of the massive corporate and personal tax cuts for higher income earners enacted by Trump at the end of 2017. With one eye clearly fixed on the development of the class struggle, Fitch said: “Having laid bare inequalities in the provision of health care and exacerbated widening wealth inequality… the crisis could also lead to pressure for higher public spending, greater state involvement in the economy, redistribution of incomes and moves to strengthen workers’ bargaining power.” It left no doubt about how such issues should be dealt with. “The economic crisis has likely brought forward the point at which social security and healthcare trust funds are exhausted, demanding bipartisan legislative action to sustainably fund or reform these programs,” it said. In other words, there should be an assault on spending for basic social services. Pointing to what it called the “exceptional financing flexibility” of the US—the borrowing by the US government of $3 trillion from February to June and the interventions of the Fed to “backstop financial markets”—Fitch raised the longer-term consequences of these actions. Concerns about the global role of the dollar as a result of the rise of government debt and the expansion of the Fed’s financial asset holdings, which have increased from under $1 trillion on the eve of the 2008 financial crisis to around $7 trillion today, go well beyond Fitch and other agencies.

Business Cycle Indicators: August 3, 2020 - Menzie Chinn - Here are five key indicators referenced by the NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee in Figure 1: Nonfarm payroll employment (blue), industrial production (red), personal income excluding transfers in Ch.2012$ (green), manufacturing and trade sales in Ch.2012$ (black), and monthly GDP in Ch.2012$ (pink), all log normalized to 2019M02=0.Figure 1: Nonfarm payroll employment (blue), industrial production (red), personal income excluding transfers in Ch.2012$ (green), manufacturing and trade sales in Ch.2012$ (black), and monthly GDP in Ch.2012$ (pink), all log normalized to 2019M02=0. Source: BLS, Federal Reserve, BEA, via FRED, Macroeconomic Advisers (8/3 release), NBER, and author’s calculations.We will soon get July employment numbers. Goldman Sachs employment tracker indicates a loss of 1 million jobs, using data through 7/15. The picture looks a little less V-ish then.Figure 2: Nonfarm payroll employment (blue), industrial production (red), personal income excluding transfers in Ch.2012$ (green), manufacturing and trade sales in Ch.2012$ (black), and monthly GDP in Ch.2012$ (pink), Goldman Sachs Employment Tracker using data through 7/15 implied level of employment for July (light blue). all log normalized to 2019M02=0. Source: BLS, Federal Reserve, BEA, via FRED, Macroeconomic Advisers (8/3 release), NBER, and author’s calculations.Finally, I place the IHS Markit estimate of GDP in the context of the official data.Figure 3: GDP (blue bar), Monthly GDP (red line), all bn. Ch.2012$ SAAR. Source: BEA 2020Q2 advance, IHS Markit (8/3/2020).The IHS Markit estimate implies a quarterly GDP 0.02% less than the BEA advance estimate. Today’s letter observes:…zero growth of monthly GDP in each month of the third quarter would imply 20.4% annualized growth of GDP for the third quarter. This is about what we expect (we currently look for 20.1% annualized growth in the third quarter). A zero m/m GDP growth in July is consistent with Goldman Sachs employment tracker estimate for a 1 million decline in nonfarm payroll employment, shown in Figure 2. So…we might either get a 2 month recession (for monthly data), or — depending on what happens to GDP and employment in August — a longer recession with zig-zags.

High Frequency Indicators for the Economy - These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment - some of the sectors that will recover very slowly. The TSA is providing daily travel numbers. This data shows the daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Blue) and 2020 (Red). On Aug 2nd, the seven day average was 686,360 compared to the seven average of 2,589,300 a year ago.The seven day average is down 73% from last year.  There had been a slow steady increase from the bottom, but air travel has mostly moved sideways over the last several weeks.The second graph shows the 7 day average of the year-over-year change in diners as tabulated by OpenTable for the US and several selected cities.  Thanks to OpenTable for providing this restaurant data: This data is updated through Aug 1, 2020. This data is "a sample of restaurants on the OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins. For year-over-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of the week from the same week in the previous year."Note that this data is for "only the restaurants that have chosen to reopen in a given market".The 7 day average for New York is still off 75%.Georgia is down 53% YoY.  Note that dining declined in many areas as the number of COVID cases surged. It appears dining is increasing again (probably mostly outdoor dining). This data shows domestic box office for each week (red) and the maximum and minimum for the previous four years.  Data is from BoxOfficeMojo through July 30th.  Movie ticket sales have picked up a slightly from the bottom, but are still under $1 million per week (compared to usually around $300 million per week), and ticket sales have essentially been at zero for nineteen weeks. Most movie theaters are closed all across the country, and will probably reopen slowly (probably with limited seating at first).  This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average.  The red line is for 2020, dash light blue is 2019, blue is the median, and black is for 2009 (the worst year probably since the Great Depression for hotels).COVID-19 crushed hotel occupancy.  Usually hotel occupancy starts to pick up seasonally in early June and decline towards the end of summer. So some of the recent pickup might be seasonal (summer travel).   Note that summer occupancy usually peaks at the end of July or in early August. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows the year-over-year change in gasoline consumption. At one point, gasoline consumption was off almost 50% YoY.As of July 24th, gasoline consumption was only off about 8% YoY (about 92% of normal). The final graph is from Apple mobility. From Apple: "This data is generated by counting the number of requests made to Apple Maps for directions in select countries/regions, sub-regions, and cities." This is just a general guide - people that regularly commute probably don't ask for directions. There is also some great data on mobility from the Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index. However the index is set "relative to its weekday-specific average over January–February", and is not seasonally adjusted, so we can't tell if an increase in mobility is due to recovery or just the normal increase in the Spring and Summer.  According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is still only about 52% of the January level. It is at 48% in New York, and 52% in Houston (down over the last several of weeks).

Lapse in Extra Unemployment Benefits to Hurt U.S. Recovery, Economists Say – WSJ —Many economists expect last week’s expiration of $600 in enhanced weekly unemployment benefits to lead to a sharp drop-off in household spending and a setback for the U.S. economy’s near-term recovery, even if the lapse turns out to be temporary.The federal government was providing billions of dollars a week in extra jobless payments to workers—more than 12 million people in mid-July, the Labor Department said. The program, approved as part of a coronavirus aid package, expired at the end of July, and Congress and the White House remain at odds over how to extend the benefits.The payments, economists say, allowed consumers to pay rent, utilities, car loans and credit-card bills, protecting the economy from the cascading effects of a sudden drop in consumer demand as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the U.S.“It could take weeks and weeks and weeks to get this money to people, which means of course they will default on a number of obligations,” said Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University.  The average unemployed worker in the U.S. earns a little more than $300 a week on traditional jobless benefits. That isn’t enough for many people to keep up with routine bills, Mr. Logan said. Missing those payments could trigger evictions, fines and late fees—costs that consumers will try to avoid by pulling back on other kinds of spending, he said.Democrats want to extend the $600 weekly benefits and did so under a new $3.5 trillion virus aid bill they passed in the House in May. Senate Republicans have proposed shrinking the payments to $200 a week, arguing $600 discouraged workers from returning to jobs and was holding back the labor-market recovery. Studies have found many workers were taking in more in jobless aid than their prior pay, but economists say they haven’t seen evidence the assistance was affecting the rate at which people are returning to work.

Nuke the nuclear weapons budget - Nobel Prize recipients call on US officials to reorient US federal spending priorities to address America’s true national health and welfare needs.- The Cold War is long over, yet the United States, together with the eight other nuclear armed nations, still maintains thousands of nuclear weapons, many hundreds on hair-trigger alert, capable of being launched by heads of state with little, if any, consultative process.Since entering office, President Trump has withdrawn from the nuclear arms agreement with Iran and abrogated both the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Open Skies Agreement with Russia. Recently his administration raised the specter of resuming nuclear weapons testing.The nations of the world must get together and eliminate the threat of nuclear war. The Trump administration’s proposal to resume nuclear weapons testing weakens the existing Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a key instrument for controlling the spread and further development of nuclear weapons. It could ignite a new nuclear arms race with Russia or China, and it opens the door for other nations, such as India, Pakistan, and North Korea to enhance their own nuclear capabilities.Despite the enormous overkill capacity of current arsenals, the US government is proposing to spend nearly $2 trillion over the next 30 years to upgrade these lethal weapons systems. This provocative program will make the world less safe and more susceptible to an accidental or inadvertent nuclear weapons launch. The enormous costs of upgrading our nuclear weapons and their delivery systems drain the nation’s fiscal resources, and pose a threat to global security. Rather, we need to mobilize our scientific resources toward biomedical research to deal with present and future global health threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disease afflicting millions, and sharply increasing investment in solar, wind, geothermal, and other forms of sustainable energy to slow climate change.

“Any Inbound Missile Will Be Seen As Nuclear” - Russia's Military Warns Amid Arms Treaty Talks - Though all eyes have been focused on the emerging 'new Cold war' scenario between the US and China, Russia's military has just issued a rare and eye-opening statement which represents perhaps the most severe threat to come out of ongoing New START extension negotiations thus far."Russia will perceive any ballistic missile launched at its territory as a nuclear attack that warrants a nuclear retaliation, the military warned in an article published Friday," AP writes."The harsh warning in the official military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) is directed at the United States, which has worked to develop long-range non-nuclear weapons," the report continues. In the article some of Russia's top generals, including senior officer of the Russian military's General Staff, Maj.-Gen. Andrei Sterlin, claimed that in the event of an attack, radar and anti-air systems will have no way of knowing if a ballistic missile has a nuclear warhead or not.“Any attacking missile will be perceived as carrying a nuclear warhead,” the Russian military publication said. “The information about the missile launch will be automatically relayed to the Russian military-political leadership, which will determine the scope of retaliatory action by nuclear forces depending on the evolving situation.” “Russia has designated the ‘red lines’ that we don’t advise anyone to cross,” the Krasnaya Zvezda article said further. “If a potential adversary dares to do that, the answer will undoubtedly be devastating. The specifics of retaliatory action, such as where, when and how much will be determined by Russia’s military-political leadership depending on the situation.”

Trump installs ex-general and anti-Islam bigot in top Pentagon post -In an action that combines authoritarian contempt for Congress and a direct appeal to racist and fascist sentiments, President Trump has installed retired Army Gen. Anthony Tata in a top policy-making position in the Pentagon.Trump took the action after Tata withdrew his name Sunday from consideration for the post of undersecretary of defense for policy, the third-ranking position in the Department of Defense. Tata withdrew following the cancellation—with only an hour’s notice—of a July 30 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.According to the Pentagon announcement, Tata “has been designated as the official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy reporting to the Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Dr. James Anderson.” Anderson had been named as a temporary fill-in for the post after the previous undersecretary, John Rood, was forced out for opposing Trump’s action in withholding military aid to Ukraine—the decision that led to his impeachment last December.Under the thoroughly anti-democratic procedure employed by the White House with increasing frequency, when the Senate declines to confirm his nominee, Trump simply appoints the person to fill the position of top deputy to the vacant post, and the new “acting” deputy becomes a temporary replacement filling the vacancy more or less indefinitely. Trump applied the same technique last fall when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposed the nomination of former Virginia state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for the number-two position in the Department of Homeland Security. Cuccinelli is now the acting deputy, serving under the acting Secretary Chad Wolf, meaning that the huge department, with more than 240,000 employees, is entirely run by Trump nominees who have not been confirmed by the Senate.

Canada Ramps Up Retaliation Against U.S. Over Aluminum Tariff – WSJ - Canada said Friday it intends to slap its own tariffs on a range of U.S. products that contain aluminum—ranging from washing machines to golf clubs to canned beverages—in retaliation to President Trump’s move this week to aggravate one of the world’s largest and steadiest trading relationships. The decision by Canada marks a return to the tense trade rhetoric that nearly derailed negotiations toward a successful conclusion of a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, which officially came into force last month. The new pact was meant to replace a North American trade treaty that Mr. Trump argued was the worst trade deal ever made. The fight over aluminum, just weeks after the new treaty kicked in, threatens to upend whatever stability and trade peace USMCA was meant to introduce. On Thursday, Mr. Trump said the U.S. would reimpose a tariff of 10% on some aluminum produced in Canada, arguing imports from America’s northern neighbor were surging into the U.S., and depressing the U.S. industry. The administration justified the tariffs using a national security provision and argued that a depressed U.S. aluminum industry threatens U.S. national security. The U.S. placed tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel under this provision in 2018 before agreeing to lift them after USMCA was concluded. Canada said it would swiftly retaliate to the president’s decision. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, unveiled Friday a list of U.S.-made items it could target. The government plans to place tariffs on U.S. goods with a value of 3.6 billion Canadian dollars ($2.71 billion), or the equivalent of what Canadian aluminum faces from the U.S. tariff. “We will not escalate, but we will not back down,” Ms. Freeland told reporters in a teleconference. Products targeted contain aluminum, and include items such as bars of the metal and consumer goods like washers, refrigerators and golf clubs. The goods targeted are meant to minimize damage to the Canadian economy, “and to have the strongest possible impact in the U.S.,” Ms. Freeland said. “We hope when Americans look at this list, they will understand why this dispute is a bad idea.” Before her announcement, business leaders and regional politicians in Canada demanded that Ottawa retaliate forcefully. “Canada has to be as aggressive as needed to get the Trump administration’s attention. We have to play this game,” said Dennis Darby, head of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, a lobbying group. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said Ms. Freeland should slap tariffs on every available item possible, and that citizens should skip over American products and to opt to buy Canadian-made goods. “We will come back swinging like the U.S. has never seen before,” Mr. Ford said.

Trump says he's considering executive action to suspend evictions, payroll tax - President Trump said Monday that he is considering taking executive action to halt evictions and suspend payroll tax collection as coronavirus relief talks see slow progress on Capitol Hill. “I could do that if I want, and I want to do that. I don’t want people to be evicted,” Trump told reporters at a press conference Monday evening when asked about his suggestion earlier in the day that he could act unilaterally to suspend evictions. Trump noted that individuals who are evicted often go to shelters, where the coronavirus can spread easily because of crowding. “They’re thrown out viciously. It’s not their fault. It’s not their fault. It’s China’s fault,” Trump said, continuing to blame China, where the virus originated, for the pain inflicted on Americans. Trump also asserted that he had unilateral authority to suspend the payroll tax. “I can do that also through executive order, so we’ll be talking about that,” Trump said. Trump’s admission came after conservatives Stephen Moore and Phil Kerpen penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging Trump to declare a national economic emergency and to direct the IRS to suspend collection of payroll taxes. They argued that Trump could defer payroll tax payments using the same section of the tax code used by Treasury earlier this year to postpone the 2019 tax filing deadline until mid-July. The move would amount to a deferral, though the two argued that Trump could pledge to sign a bill in the future to forgive the repayments. Moore, an informal economic adviser to Trump, has been forcefully advocating for a payroll tax cut in the next coronavirus relief package. Trump has been pushing for a payroll tax cut, though it has been coolly received on Capitol Hill and was not included in the Senate GOP legislative package unveiled last week. Trump’s remarks make clear the White House is considering unilateral actions as the administration and Congress struggle to reach a consensus on the next coronavirus relief bill. Congress in March enacted a federal moratorium on evictions through the CARES Act, though that expired roughly a week ago. Expanded unemployment insurance benefits enacted under the same bill officially expired last week. The White House has pushed for both measures to be extended quickly in a short-term deal as negotiators hammer out the details of the relief package, but Democrats have resisted a short-term measure.

 Dems Increase Stimulus Demands Despite White House Concessions; Trump Weighs Executive Order For Extensions -- Despite several more concession from the White House, Congressional Democrats have ratcheted up their demands if any new deal is to be struck on pandemic relief by the end of the week. "While we have started to generate some forward momentum, we need our partners in the White House to go much further on a number of issues," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The White House has already offered $400 per week in supplemental unemployment through December 14th - a proposal which Democrats have flatly rejected according to the report. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Meadows also put $200 billion in state and local aid -- including $105 billion in education money -- on the table, still far less than the $1 trillion Democrats were seeking. The White House also agreed on extending a moratorium on evictions through mid-December. –Bloomberg  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Wednesday that Democrats "continue to push their $3 trillion-dollar wish-list that even their own Democratic colleagues brushed off as absurd."  President Trump and his aides are trying to pressure Democrats into caving and supporting the White House's trillion-dollar stimulus plan that would restore the additional $600 weekly unemployment benefit, by seeking to convince the leadership that they will try to cut them out of the deal entirely.Yesterday afternoon, Politico reported that team Trump was looking into using an executive order to re-appropriate money already appropriated by Congress and instead redirect it toward restoring the federal money for the unemployed, as well as potentially restoring the federal moratorium on evictions. Last night, Trump told reporters that yes, all of this was true - except that the team was also considering a suspension of payroll taxes, something the president has long insisted upon, despite the fact that there's almost no support for the proposal in Congress. Prodded about all of this on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, Trump again insisted that for all the help he was getting from the Democrats, he "may do it myself." “Well, I may do it myself,” Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends on Wednesday. “I have the right to suspend it, and I may do it myself - I have the absolute right to suspend the payroll.”

Will the next coronavirus relief package leave essential workers behind? -  Eventually, Congress will pass a new coronavirus relief package because the future of America’s economy and global competitiveness depends on it. But what will Congress include in the bill, and when will lawmakers pass it? Those are the questions on the minds of workers and business executives alike. Perhaps Congress is overcomplicating its job, especially when poll after poll shows roughly 8 in 10 voters support Congress providing additional coronavirus relief. According to a Morning Consult poll, that figure is even higher when you ask if the public supports providing relief specifically to “essential” workers—first responders, health care providers, grocery workers, food processing and farm employees, transportation and childcare workers. More than 30 million Americans claimed jobless benefits in mid-July through a variety of programs meant to help make ends meet during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Concurrently, second-quarter GDP contracted 32.9 percent—the worst on record—demonstrating the effects of business closures due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, hunger and food insecurity are on the rise. The Brookings Institution—a nonpartisan think tank—says the number of households reporting that children weren't getting enough to eat in July was significantly higher than during the Great Recession's peak. To combat the worst effects of the pandemic, Congress has approved a total of $3 trillion in the four previous relief bills. Economists agree that additional stimulus is needed to prevent catastrophic fallout. According to a Washington Postsurvey of 25 economists, “20 urged Congress to pass a [new] stimulus of $2 trillion or more. The others, mostly conservative economists, agreed that Congress needs to act by mid-August. They favored a roughly $1 trillion package.” However, Congress and the administration continue to disagree on the size and scope of the next relief package. Where can they come together?  Employees working in essential industries are some of the hardest hit workers due to ongoing closures, a rise in coronavirus cases, and the related economic fallout. Since the spring, various members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, have offered plans and bills to recognize the essential workforce. A handful of proposals have taken hold with widespread bipartisan support, and for good reason: the tax relief is limited to just a subset of the working population deemed essential or “critical infrastructure” industries; it benefits working class Americans; and it has a clear end point. President Trump also endorses tax relief.Essential workers do their jobs even as they face serious challenges including sick family members, lack of childcare, and transportation challenges. Additional money in the paychecks of essential workers also would flow into the economy, support the creation and delivery of goods and services and, thereby, create jobs for those struggling to find work. That is the goal of stimulus—economic growth and job creation.

Democrats Say Trump’s Powers Are Limited on Coronavirus Stimulus – WSJ —Democratic negotiators dismissed the idea that President Trump could unilaterally provide new jobless aid and cut taxes in the absence of a deal in Congress, where fundamental disagreements over the size of the next coronavirus-aid package have brought talks to a stalemate. Mr. Trump has said he is considering executive actions to provide jobless aid, suspend the payroll tax, impose a partial moratorium on evictions and assist with student loan repayments, in an effort to pressure Democrats to give ground in negotiations. The White House hasn’t disclosed details of how such actions would be put into place. Lawmakers of both parties agree Mr. Trump can take executive action to limit some evictions, but Democrats say the president doesn’t have the authority to act unilaterally on the other matters. “I don’t think they know what they are talking about,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told reporters. “The one thing the president can do is to extend the moratorium and that would be a good thing, if there is money to go with it,” she said, referring to Democrats’ calls to also provide assistance to landlords to cover missed rent. The relief bill passed in March banned landlords from evicting people in rental properties that receive federal assistance or federally-connected financing. That moratorium ended in late July. In March, the administration suspended foreclosures and evictions of homeowners with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a move that applied to more than eight million homes. The Federal Housing Finance Agency also directed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stop foreclosures and evictions of homeowners. On jobless aid, which provided $600 a week until it expired last week, the White House is considering using unspent money from the earlier Cares Act legislation to help states restore benefits, according to people familiar with the matter. White House spokesman Judd Deere said a legislative solution was the goal, but Mr. Trump was “fully prepared to use his executive authority to help those who continue to be impacted.”The prospect of Mr. Trump taking action put new pressure Thursday on Democratic leaders and White House officials trying to hash out a deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said he was delaying the start of the Senate’s summer recess, set to begin after close of business Thursday, but it was unclear when lawmakers would actually be called back for votes.

Coronavirus deal key to Republicans protecting Senate majority - Vulnerable Republicans up for reelection are facing high unemployment and serious budget shortfalls in their home states, giving White House negotiators and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) more incentive to cut a relief deal to protect their Senate majority. Talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Democratic leaders fell apart Friday afternoon, but Senate Republicans are still feeling pressure to reach agreement, even as President Trump threatens to use executive action instead. Democrats said they are still open to negotiations, arguing a bipartisan bill signed into law would be far more effective than a series of executive orders. A compromise measure that includes state aid and enhanced unemployment benefits would give a boost to GOP incumbents in places such as Colorado and Arizona, two states where Democrats have the best chance of knocking off Republicans in November. In Colorado, the unemployment rate was 10 percent in June, the most recent state-level data available. Arizona’s was slightly higher at 10.5 percent. The national rate, from July, is 10.2 percent. Iowa, Maine and North Carolina — where GOP senators are neck and neck in the polls with Democratic challengers — are also facing serious economic challenges as a result of the coronavirus recession. On top of that, these battleground states are attempting to navigate budgetary shortfalls that could lead to a wave of state and local government layoffs in the fall, eating into overall economic growth much like it did during the Great Recession. With lapsed unemployment benefits and expired moratorium on evictions, endangered incumbents such as Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) are now under growing pressure to deliver for their constituents. “Sen. McSally is caught in an incredible vise because if she deviates at all from the White House’s position, she jeopardizes a significant percentage of Republican support. But if she doesn’t, then she jeopardizes a very significant amount of independent support,” he said. Polls show McSally trailing Democratic challenger Mark Kelly by an average of more than 6 points.  In Colorado, where Sen. Cory Gardner (R) is trailing Democrat John Hickenlooper in the polls, state lawmakers earlier this year made steep cuts to colleges and universities, as well as K-12 education, to get in front of a projected $3 trillion shortfall.  The state faces a $968 million decline in revenues for 2020, a figure that’s forecast to balloon to $2.6 billion next year, according to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Maine had a lower unemployment rate in June than most states, at 6.6 percent, but it still faces a budget shortfall of $1.4 billion over the next three years. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday called for sweeping cuts, directing state department officials to identify 10 percent reductions. “I think there’s a pretty big amount at stake for Susan Collins,” said Mark Brewer, a professor of political science at the University of Maine, referring to one of the most vulnerable GOP senators. Collins faces a formidable challenge from Democrat Sara Gideon.

Coronavirus talks collapse as negotiators fail to reach deal --Bipartisan talks aimed at finding a deal on a fifth coronavirus bill collapsed on Friday, all-but-guaranteeing Congress and the White House will not be able to reach a compromise despite a steady uptick in cases and lingering economic aftershocks. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows met for less than two hours with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as part of a Hail Mary effort to revive the negotiations on a fifth coronavirus bill, which already appeared to be on life support. But they emerged with no progress. Instead, the GOP negotiators and Democratic leadership traded blame over the impasse, and the administration officials said they will recommend President Trump move forward with executive orders as soon as this weekend. Schumer and Pelosi said they doubled down on their offer to reduce their $3.4 trillion price tag in exchange for Republicans agreeing to raise their figure by $1 trillion, but were rebuffed. “They rejected it. They said they couldn’t go much above their existing $1 trillion,” Schumer said. “Meet us in the middle, God's sake, please for the sake of America. Meet us in the middle, don't say my way or no way, which is what they're saying they don't want to come off their number.” Trump in a tweet said Democrats were "only interested in bailout money for poorly run Democratic cities and states," referring to a stalemate in the talks on aid to states. "We are going a different way," he said, seemingly hinting at the executive action. Mnuchin, meanwhile, said that the Friday discussion, viewed as a last-ditch effort, was largely a rehash of their more than three-hour talk from Thursday night, underscoring how entrenched both sides are in their negotiating positions. “Unfortunately, we did not make any progress today and we discussed the same issues,” Mnuchin said. How the stalemate gets broken is unclear.

Trump vows to suspend U.S. payroll tax after coronavirus aid talks with Congress break down - (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to unilaterally suspend payroll taxes and extend expired coronavirus unemployment benefits after negotiations with congressional Democrats on a broad pandemic aid package collapsed on Friday. Trump told a news conference at his golf club in New Jersey that he will sign an executive order implementing these measures, suspending student loan repayments and rental housing evictions in coming days if no deal is reached. He said the payroll tax suspension — a move he has long called for but shunned by both parties in Congress — would be retroactive to July 1 and extend through the end of 2020, with a possible extension into next year if he is re-elected. Trump said the order could be signed by the end of the week, without specifying whether he meant this week or next week. He added that he expected it to be challenged in court. “If Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage, I will act under my authority as president to get Americans the relief they need,” Trump said at the briefing, which took on the look of a campaign event. Earlier on Friday in Washington, Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there was no progress in negotiations at the Capitol with the two top Democrats in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. The global pandemic has taken a particularly heavy toll on the United States, where it has killed more than 160,000 people and thrown tens of millions out of work. Trump initially played down the disease’s threat and has drawn criticism for inconsistent messages on public health steps such as social distancing and masks.

Trump to take executive action after coronavirus talks collapse -- Top administration officials said Friday they will recommend President Trump move forward with executive orders to address the economic fallout from the coronavirus as negotiations on Capitol Hill collapsed. "In the meantime, we're going to take executive orders, to try to alleviate some of the pain that people are experiencing," White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he and Meadows "will recommend to the president based upon our lack of activity today to move forward with some executive orders." "Again we agree with the Speaker, this is not the first choice," he added.Mnuchin said administration officials will be recommending executive orders to deal with unemployment after the $600 per week federal benefit expired last week. They will also recommend that Trump sign orders relating to rental foreclosures and student loans. "It's going to take a little bit of time for us to finalize these and process them but we'll do them as quickly as we can because the president wants action," Mnuchin said. The executive orders could be signed as soon as the weekend, the GOP negotiators said. They did not specifically mention trying to use an executive order to enact a payroll tax cut, something Trump has floated in recent days. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said earlier Friday thatan executive order suspending the payroll tax was nearly completed and that he thinks Trump will sign it. Mnuchin and Meadows met for less than two hours on Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as part of a Hail Mary effort to revive the negotiations on a fifth coronavirus bill, which already appeared to be on life support nearly two weeks of no progress. But they made no progress during the meeting, with both sides trading blame for who was at fault for the holdup.

Pelosi, Schumer say White House declined $2T coronavirus deal --Democratic leaders said Friday that the White House rejected an offer for a roughly $2 trillion coronavirus relief package. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that as part of a closed-door Thursday meeting, Democrats offered to reduce their $3.4 trillion price tag by $1 trillion if Republicans would agree to raise their roughly $1 trillion package by the same amount. That strategy, effectively trying to split the difference between the two sides, would result in legislation costing between $2 trillion and $2.4 trillion. "'We'll take down a trillion, if you add a trillion in.' They said absolutely not," Pelosi said during a joint press conference with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday. Pelosi and Schumer are expected to meet with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday. Pelosi said she would make the offer again as part of the private negotiations. "I will once again make the offer: We'll come down a trillion, you go up a trillion, and then we'll be within range of each other," Pelosi said. "But again, this a very different set of values across the table." Asked about raising their price tag by $1 trillion, Mnuchin told reporters on Friday: "That's a non-starter." The cost reductions, according to Pelosi, would largely be achieved by shortening the duration of some programs in the package, such as food assistance. Meadows, when asked if the tradeoff Pelosi was floating was "in the cards," said: "I don't think so." "I don't know that that's a reduction as much as she's just changing the time frames. So I don't think that she's come off of her number other than just making it shorter," Meadows said. The negotiations, which have taken place almost daily for nearly two weeks, have yielded little progress toward an agreement on a sweeping bill meant to counter the health and economic devastation caused by the coronavirus. Both sides emerged from a closed-door meeting Thursday night warning they were "far apart" — the clearest signal yet that they are unlikely to meet a self-imposed deadline to get an agreement in principle by Friday. Schumer said the White House strongly rejected the idea of $2 trillion package. "You should have seen their faces — 'Absolutely not!'" Schumer told reporters Friday. "Basically what’s happening is Mr. Meadows is from the Tea Party ... and they don't want to spend the necessary money. ... They rejected it totally." Schumer added that a bill with a price tag below $2 trillion could not pass Congress. "The House doesn't have the votes to go south of $2 trillion," Schumer said. "Senate Democrats can't go south of $2 trillion, so that's what compromise is all about." In addition to the dollar amount, the four negotiators haven't agreed to several other key issues, including funding for state and local governments, unemployment benefits and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) red line of liability protections from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

Trump signs executive orders after stimulus talks broke down on Capitol Hill - President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Saturday, one of which will provide as much as $400 in enhanced unemployment benefits -- 25% of which states are being asked to cover -- after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a coronavirus stimulus relief bill this week. The other three orders he signed include a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, as well as extending an eviction moratorium and deferring student loan payments. "I'm taking action to provide an additional or extra $400 a week and expanded benefits, $400. That's generous but we want to take care of our people," Trump said at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump said $300 (75%) of the enhanced aid will come from the federal government, and $100 (25%) will therefore have to come from the states. Since governors would have to pay that $100 for people to get the full benefit, it is not clear how many of those unemployed would be able to receive the full $400 benefit. But when asked about the President's executive order asking states to pay 25% of the $400 unemployment relief, an official from a northeastern state run by a Democratic governor laughed. "We don't have that money," the official said. This official went on to say that they were not given any heads up on this executive order and that in the wake of the pandemic, their funds are completely tapped. Governors like Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, and Andrew Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, have been pleading for more federal funding. Democrats had demanded more money for state and local governments in the stimulus talks. On a private call with GOP senators on Friday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said they believed that those demands had become the biggest sticking point over a deal, multiple sources told CNN.

Trump orders $400-per-week unemployment payments amid COVID crisis, hits Dems for stonewalling - President Trump signed four executive orders Saturday aimed at delivering relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus while accusing Democrats of stonewalling greater aid efforts. Trump announced a $400-per-week supplemental unemployment payment to out-of-work Americans -- short of the $600 weekly benefit that expired at the end of July. He unveiled an extension of student loan relief and protections from evictions for renters and homeowners. Trump also signed a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year for Americans earning less than $100,000, while promising more relief if he wins a second term. The president signed the executive actions from his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., as club members cheered him on. He blamed Democrats for the coronavirus stalemate in Congress and said he'd take matters into his own hands. "Democrats are obstructing all of it," Trump said. "Therefore, I'm taking executive action ... and we're going to save American jobs and provide relief to the American workers." For the new $400-per-week benefit, states would be on the hook for funding 25% to the millions of jobless Americans, while the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the benefit, Trump said. Asked when the jobless would see the money, Trump said it would be “rapidly distributed.” The $400 boost is more than what many congressional Republicans wanted. Some opposed any extension of the federal aid, while others backed a boost no greater than $200 per week. Meanwhile, Democrats had been fighting for the full $600-per-week extension, which is on top of state unemployment benefits. Trump has long wanted a holiday on payroll taxes, which helps fund Social Security and Medicare. But congressional Republicans have not fought for the provision because of how much the suspension on tax collection could drive up an already staggering debt.Acting unilaterally could prompt legal challenges. Since Congress controls new federal spending, Trump already predicted sidestepping lawmakers will have lawsuit consequences. But he dared opponents to deprive Americans of relief.

More Farmers Declare Bankruptcy Despite Record Levels of Federal Aid – WSJ -- More U.S. farmers are filing for bankruptcy, as federal payments projected to reach record levels this year fall short of compensating for the coronavirus pandemic and a yearslongslump in the agricultural economy. About 580 farmers filed for chapter 12 bankruptcy protection in the 12-month period ended June 30, according to federal data. That was 8% more than a year earlier, though bankruptcies slowed slightly in the first half of 2020 partly because of an infusion of federal aid and hurdles to filing during the pandemic, according to agricultural economists and attorneys. The pandemic has pressured prices for many commodities, squeezing farmers who raise crops and livestock, and prolonging a six-year downturn in the Farm Belt.The Trump administration is expected to dole out a record $33 billion in payments to farmers this year, according to the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. The funds, including those intended to help farmers hurt by trade conflicts and the coronavirus, would push government payments to 36% of farm income, the highest share in nearly two decades, the institute said.“Agricultural markets have been horrible, and the pandemic exacerbated it, big time,” said Paul Swanson, an Oshkosh, Wis.-based attorney. He said he has 40 open farm-bankruptcy cases, about a third more than last year.Mr. Swanson said some clients who received federal coronavirus aid still wound up in bankruptcy. “The cash came in, the cash came out,” he said.Before the pandemic, a global grain glut and foreign competition had pushed down agricultural prices. Trade disputes deepened the pain, drawing retaliatory tariffs from top buyers of U.S. farm commodities, such as China and Mexico.Then the coronavirus hit, upending the U.S. food-supply chain. As restaurants closed, farmers plowed under thousands of acres of vegetables and dumped milk i nto manure lagoons. Corn prices plummeted as Americans stopped driving, cutting demand for ethanol, a corn-based biofuel blended into gasoline. Prices for slaughter-ready cattle and hogs dropped as meatpacking plants that became virus hot spots slowed or halted production. Hog farmers have lost nearly $5 billion in actual and potential profits for 2020, according to the National Pork Producers Council, a trade group. In California, agricultural businesses stand to lose as much as $8.6 billion, according to a study commissioned by the California Farm Bureau Federation.

 Millions Worth of PPP Loans Went to Chinese-Owned Companies, Report Finds - Hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars went to Chinese companies from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to help small businesses survive during the pandemic, according to a new report.A review of public PPP loan data by consultancy firm Horizon Advisory found that $192 million to $419 million in loans were given to more than 125 Chinese-owned or -invested companies operating in the United States. Many of the loans were substantial, with at least 32 Chinese-owned firms receiving more than $1 million under the program, totaling between $85 million and $180 million, it found.The recipients included Chinese state-owned enterprises, companies that supported Beijing’s military development program, firms identified by the United States as national security threats, and media outlets controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the report said. Many were based in critical industries such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductor manufacturing. These are sectors that the CCP has slated for aggressive development to achieve global dominance, with the goal of supplanting competitors in the United States and other countries.The report concluded that “without appropriate policy guardrails and monitoring of U.S. tax dollars intended for relief, recovery, and growth of the U.S. economy, there is a significant risk that funds will support foreign strategic rivals, namely China.”Many of these Chinese-linked firms could have tapped into other sources of capital from public or private markets to support their American operations, the report said. “Their PPP participation saved U.S.-based jobs, but likely at the expense of other U.S. small businesses.”

Trump administration covers full Guard costs for just some states, frustrating governors -The Trump administration's decision to single out a handful of states that will not be required to pay a portion of National Guard costs amid the coronavirus pandemic has frustrated some governors who see politics at play. The White House formally extended federal funding and benefits for the Guard, known as Title 32 authority, on Monday after state leaders urged it to do so. States will now be required to cover 25 percent of the costs through the end of 2020 after the federal government had for months covered 100 percent of the costs. There were some exceptions, however. The White House announced Florida and Texas, two states hard hit by the coronavirus that are both led by Republican governors, would have their National Guard costs fully covered by the federal government for the rest of the year. Both states were among the first to reopen their economies after the coronavirus first shut down much of the economy. Both states are also critical to Trump's reelection bid. The White House on Friday extended 100 percent cost coverage for the National Guard in Arizona, California and Connecticut, but only through the end of September. The latter two are led by Democrats. Administration officials deny that politics played a role in which states got longer funding extensions. A senior administration official said the initial cost coverage was determined by positivity rates in each state. Since Florida and Texas had positivity rates over 5 percent, they received 100 percent cost assistance. States under 5 percent were given 75 percent coverage. A White House official told The Hill that states that received full coverage, even if only temporarily, did so after their governors appealed to President Trump. "The Governors of Texas and Florida made convincing cases directly to the President that a continuation of the 100% cost share through the end of the calendar year was necessary to support the Guard’s efforts in their states," the official said in a statement to The Hill.

Capitol issues broad mask requirements in wake of Gohmert testing positive for coronavirus - — U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday, the day after he had an unmasked interaction with U.S. Attorney General William Barr, spurring the Capitol to issue broad new mask requirements Wednesday. The 66-year-old lawmaker failed the pre-screening required to come into contact with the president, he said in a video message to constituents. He had been set to fly to West Texas for a rally with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. “I went to the White House today and before you go in they test you with the quick test,” Gohmert said. “It tested positive, but they get false positives sometimes. They tested me with the swab that goes way up into your sinuses, and it finally came back. It was positive too.” Gohmert told Fox News that he would take the controversial hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus. “My doctor and I are all in,” Gohmert told Sean Hannity on Wednesday evening, adding that he will start the regimen in the “next day or two.” Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, has been touted by Trump as a possible cure for COVID-19, despite research that has shown the drug is not effective in treating the virus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday chided Gohmert for not always wearing a mask in the Capitol. “I’m so sorry for him. But I’m also sorry my members are concerned because he has been showing up at meetings without a mask and making a thing of it. Hopefully now he will look after his health, and others,” Pelosi told reporters. Pelosi and Capitol officials issued broad new mask requirements Wednesday after Gohmert tested positive. Pelosi announced Wednesday evening that all members will be required to wear a mask when voting on the House floor and that one will be provided if anyone forgets. Several hours later, the House sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol’s top physician issued an order requiring masks inside House office buildings, with few exceptions. That mandate went into effect Thursday. Gohmert’s positive test raised further questions about the lack of mask and testing requirements in the Capitol as members frequently fly back-and-forth from their hometowns and gather for votes, hearings and news conferences.. “I think particularly for members of Congress who are going back-and-forth, they represent sort of the perfect petri dish for how you spread a disease,” said GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, chair of the Senate Rules Committee. “You send 535 people out to 535 different locations, on about 1,000 different airplanes, and bring them back and see what happens.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert's daughter pleads for people to 'listen to medical experts' after her father ignored mask guidance and got COVID-19 - Caroline Brooks, the daughter of US Rep. Louie Gohmert on Friday spoke out following her father's COVID-19 diagnosis, taking a dig at President Trump and encouraging her followers to listen to the advice of medical experts.   "Wearing a mask is a non-partisan issue," Brooks, a singer-songwriter who is known by her stage name BELLSAINT, tweeted Friday. "The advice of medical experts shouldn't be politicized. My father ignored medical expertise and now he has COVID." Brooks said the situation had become a "heartbreaking battle," adding she loved her 66-year-old father and didn't want him to die. "Please please listen to medical experts," she told her more than 5,000 followers. "It's not worth following a president who has no remorse for leading his followers to an early grave." Gohmert tested positive for the virus last week. The Republican Texas lawmaker had previously defended his decision to not wear a face mask. In a CNN interview, he had said he would wear a mask only if he tested positive for the coronavirus.  In an interview last week with KETK, Gohmert even baselessly speculated that wearing a mask may have contributed to his contracting the virus. “I can't help but wonder if my keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, that if I might have put some germs or some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in — I don't know." Wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of the coronavirus, scientists say. On Friday, Gohmert said in a tweet that he was taking hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, even though medical experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Brett Giroir, the White House coronavirus testing czar, have noted clinical trials have not found the anti-malaria drug to be effective in treating the disease.

U.S. coronavirus 'extraordinarily widespread,' White House experts say  -  (Reuters) - The United States is in a new phase of the novel coronavirus outbreak with infections “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas as well as cities, White House coronavirus experts said on Sunday.Coronavirus cases continue to surge in some parts of the country and the public health officials are trying to work with governors to tailor responses for each state. “We are in a new phase,” said Dr. Deborah Birx. “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread” in rural as well as urban areas.  “To everybody who lives in a rural area: You are not immune or protected from this virus,” Birx said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Birx, the White House task force coordinator, said people living in multigenerational households in an area that is experiencing an outbreak should wear masks inside the home to protect the elderly or those with underlying conditions. Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant Health and Human Services secretary, continued to stress the importance of wearing masks. “If we don’t do that, and if we don’t limit the indoor crowded spaces, the virus will continue to run,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We are very concerned and this is a very serious point.” The coronavirus, which first appeared in China, has infected 4.6 million people in the United States and killed more than 155,000 Americans, according to a Reuters tally. Birx said federal officials have been working on individual reports for each state examining community trends and hospital records. “Each of these responses have to be dramatically tailored,” she said. She said what she witnessed as she visited 14 states over the last three weeks gave her cause for concern. “As I traveled around the country, I saw all of America moving,” Birx said. “If you have chosen to go on vacation into a hot spot, you really need to come back and protect those with comorbidities and assume you’re infected.” If people wear masks and avoid crowds, Giroir said, it gives the same outcome as a complete shutdown. “That’s why we’re going to all the states, we’re on local radio, we give specific instructions to every governor by county, what they need to do when we start – when those counties start tipping yellow, because that’s the time when you have to stamp it down,” he said.

Trump won't say if he disagrees with Birx that virus is widespread  -- President Trump on Monday declined to say whether he disagreed with Deborah Birx's characterization that the coronavirus is widespread across the United States, hours after he complained that she "took the bait" in responding to criticism from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The president was asked to elaborate on his tweet earlier in the day in which he publicly criticized Birx, the coordinator of the White House's coronavirus response, for the first time. He did not directly answer, instead touting his administration's handling of the pandemic. "Well, I think we’re doing very well, and I think that we have done as well as any nation," Trump said. The U.S. has by far the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 4.6 million and the most reported deaths at more than 155,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. "I think we’re doing very well," Trump added. "I told Dr. Birx I think we’re doing very well. She was in my office a little while ago. She’s a person I have a lot of respect for. I think Nancy Pelosi has treated her very badly — very, very badly. Very nasty." He added that he felt people should focus more on the way the U.S. has ramped up ventilator production or the sheer volume of tests it has conducted, which outpaces other countries. Trump did not respond when a reporter followed up to ask if that meant he disagreed with Birx's characterization. The president earlier Monday suggested Birx was hurting him after she bluntly acknowledged in a television interview over the weekend that the pandemic is widespread across the United States. “So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics,” Trump tweeted. “In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!” Politico reported last week that Pelosi criticized Birx during a closed-door meeting on stimulus negotiations with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Asked Sunday about that criticism during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi reiterated that she did not have confidence in Birx. Birx, a retired Army colonel, was appointed by former President Obama to serve as the State Department’s global AIDS coordinator. She was tapped by Vice President Pence to serve as the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force in late February and has been working out of the White House since.

 Why the Pandemic Is So Bad in America - How did it come to this? A virus a thousand times smaller than a dust mote has humbled and humiliated the planet’s most powerful nation. America has failed to protect its people, leaving them with illness and financial ruin. It has lost its status as a global leader. It has careened between inaction and ineptitude. The breadth and magnitude of its errors are difficult, in the moment, to truly fathom.  In the first half of 2020, SARS‑CoV‑2—the new coronavirus behind the disease COVID‑19—infected 10 million people around the world and killed about half a million. But few countries have been as severely hit as the United States, which has just 4 percent of the world’s population but a quarter of its confirmed COVID‑19 cases and deaths. These numbers are estimates. The actual toll, though undoubtedly higher, is unknown, because the richest country in the world still lacks sufficient testing to accurately count its sick citizens. Despite ample warning, the U.S. squandered every possible opportunity to control the coronavirus. And despite its considerable advantages—immense resources, biomedical might, scientific expertise—it floundered. While countries as different as South Korea, Thailand, Iceland, Slovakia, and Australia acted decisively to bend the curve of infections downward, the U.S. achieved merely a plateau in the spring, which changed to an appalling upward slope in the summer. “The U.S. fundamentally failed in ways that were worse than I ever could have imagined,” Julia Marcus, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, told me.Since the pandemic began, I have spoken with more than 100 experts in a variety of fields. I’ve learned that almost everything that went wrong with America’s response to the pandemic was predictable and preventable. A sluggish response by a government denuded of expertise allowed the coronavirus to gain a foothold. Chronic underfunding of public health neutered the nation’s ability to prevent the pathogen’s spread. A bloated, inefficient health-care system left hospitals ill-prepared for the ensuing wave of sickness. Racist policies that have endured since the days of colonization and slavery left Indigenous and Black Americans especially vulnerable to COVID‑19. The decades-long process of shredding the nation’s social safety net forced millions of essential workers in low-paying jobs to risk their life for their livelihood. The same social-media platforms that sowed partisanship and misinformation during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa and the 2016 U.S. election became vectors for conspiracy theories during the 2020 pandemic.

GOP Senator Accuses Media of Pushing Coronavirus ‘Panic Porn’- Claiming that the novel coronavirus that’s killed roughly 157,000 Americans isn’t “that much worse” than the flu, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) blasted the media on Monday for supposedly peddling COVID-19 “panic porn” and downplaying the so-called effectiveness of unproven anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.Johnson, who last month insisted that the nation “overreacted” to the coronavirus pandemic,” appeared on far-right podcast War Room: Pandemic to push back against the overwhelming scientific evidence that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective coronavirus treatment or preventative.Host Steve Bannon, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and has now become one of the controversial drug’s loudest proponents, asked Johnson what it was going to take to reverse the FDA’s revocation of hydroxychloroquine’s emergency use for coronavirus. Pointing to the early “anecdotal evidence” of its success as a prophylactic and therapeutic, the Wisconsin senator claimed it was “baffling” that the drug has become so politicized while insisting “the risk is minuscule where the reward is huge.”Trump and his allies have recently re-embraced hydroxychloroquine as a potential “cure” after a fringe doctor—who believes demon sperm causes female medical problems and alien DNA is used in medications—loudly touted the drug’s benefits in a viral video last week. Even after being confronted over the doctor’s bizarre assertions, Trump has continued to endorse her claims on the drug, calling her “spectacular.” Despite numerous clinical trials and randomized studies finding no benefit from the drug, Johnson insisted that we could potentially be saving “tens of thousands of lives” by making it widely available to coronavirus patients. In June, the FDA revoked its use because of potentially deadly cardiac side effects. After Johnson called on Trump to take executive action to reinstate the emergency use of the drug, co-host Raheem Kassam asked him if he agreed that the media is deliberately anti-hydroxychloroquine in order to force Trump to fail against the pandemic and lose the election. Johnson, meanwhile, took that opportunity to downplay the virus’ lethality. “They realize the best way to defeat Joe Biden is to reduce the fear on COVID,” the Republican lawmaker said. “If people really looked at this disease, it is worse than the flu, but it’s not that much worse. It shouldn’t be leading to these generalized shutdowns.”

  Trump draws cheers after defending supporters' lack of masks at briefing as 'peaceful protest' - A crowd of supporters at President Trump's news conference in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday booed when a reporter pointed out that many of the guests lacked face masks as coronavirus cases were rising. "You said that the pandemic is disappearing, but we lost 6,000 Americans this week and just in this room you have dozens of people who are not following the guidelines in New Jersey," a reporter said while asking Trump a question, prompting widespread boos from the crowd. "You're wrong about that because it's a political activity," Trump argued. "And it's also a peaceful protest. To me they all look like they pretty much all have masks on." The comment from Trump drew cheers from the supporters. He went on to argue the crowd was protesting the news media. "You have an exclusion in the law it says peaceful protest," Trump continued. "I'd call it peaceful protest because they know you're coming up and they know the news is fake."The exchange took place at Trump's Bedminster golf club, where he gave a news conference on the coronavirus pandemic as well as his proposed executive orders on economic relief and health care coverage. Guests at the golf club were seen joining in the crowd at the press conference. Initial photos appeared to show a lack of social distancing and mask wearing. Later photos showed guests wearing masks that were handed out by officials. New Jersey’s coronavirus restrictions require that golf courses limit the number of patrons in an indoor part of the property to 25 percent capacity or no more than 25 people, while also requiring that all workers and customers wear face coverings.

Hookers for Jesus wins fresh round of funding from Trump administration - (Reuters) - Las Vegas-based nonprofit Hookers for Jesus has won a fresh grant from the U.S. Justice Department, less than a year after union officials filed a whistleblower complaint with the department’s internal watchdog protesting federal funds awarded to the organization. The group, run by a born-again Christian survivor of sex trafficking, operates a safe house for adult trafficking victims known as Destiny House. It was the target of a December complaint by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 2830, which asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate whether politics factored in to a grant award for the group. It was the second such complaint filed by the union in 2019 raising concerns about the grant-review process. In August 2019, the union also asked for an investigation into whether department officials were improperly using political criteria to remove people who have expressed views contrary to those of President Donald Trump from participating in the process of reviewing grant applications. Hookers for Jesus is now set to receive $498,764 in fresh federal funding, part of $35 million in grants to help provide housing for trafficking victims unveiled at the White House on Tuesday by Attorney General William Barr and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. That is on top of the $530,190 that Hookers for Jesus was awarded in 2019 over three years to help expand services to trafficking victims. A person briefed on the matter told Reuters that since the 2019 award was accepted, Hookers for Jesus has drawn down only about $32,000 of the funds.

House Republicans introduce legislation to give states $400 million for elections - A group of House Republicans on Monday introduced legislation that would appropriate $400 million to states to address election challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Assistance for Safe Elections (EASE) Act would designate $200 million to assist with sanitizing in-person polling stations and purchasing personal protective equipment, while a further $100 million would go towards recruiting and training new poll workers, following a nationwide shortage of workers due to the pandemic. The final $100 million would be appropriated for states to maintain the accuracy of their voter registration lists. Other provisions in the bill include measures to increase the cybersecurity of the elections process, including establishing an election cyber assistance unit at the Election Assistance Commission, and updating voluntary voting system guidelines established by the Help America Vote Act to cover next-generation voting technology, such as e-pollbooks. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the ranking member of the House Administration Committee and the lead sponsor of the bill, said in a statement that it was “critical” the bill is included in the next COVID-19 relief package to help states struggling with new election challenges. “Most states are faced with running essentially two kinds of elections this fall: in-person and expanded mail-in voting, which means added costs to get it right,” Davis said. “When states failed to do this in recent primaries, the risk of disenfranchising voters increased significantly.” Davis emphasized that “continuing to engage with local election officials and provide oversight of states will be necessary to protect the right to vote in the November election.”The legislation was introduced as leaders of the House and Senate lock heads over what measures to include in the next COVID-19 stimulus package. The HEROES Act, a Democrat-backed stimulus package passed by the House along party lines in May, included $3.6 billion to help states address new concerns around elections, such as the influx in mail-in voting and ensuring in-person voting is safe.

 Trump signs order expanding use of virtual doctors- President Trump on Monday signed an executive order seeking to expand the use of virtual doctors visits, as his administration looks to highlight achievements in health care. The administration waived certain regulatory barriers to video and phone calls with doctors, known as telehealth, when the coronavirus pandemic struck and many people were stuck at home. Now, the administration is looking to make some of those changes permanent, arguing the moves will provide another option for patients to talk to their doctors. The order calls on the secretary of Health and Human Services to issue rules within 60 days making some of the changes permanent. “Today I’m taking action to make sure telehealth is here to stay,” Trump said during a White House news briefing. The administration has been looking to highlight actions it is taking on health care, a key issue for voters as the election approaches. Trump last month signed four executive orders seeking to lower drug prices. It is unclear when any of the changes proposed by these orders will actually take effect, though, given that there are still regulatory processes that take time to play out. “In an earlier age, doctors commonly made house calls,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “Given how effectively and efficiently the healthcare system has adapted to the advent of telehealth, it’s become increasingly clear that it is poised to resurrect that tradition in modern form. Thanks to President Trump, the telehealth genie is not going back into the bottle.”

From Medicare-for-All to “Masks-for-All”: Bernie Sanders and the incredible shrinking “political revolution”- In late July, former Democratic presidential candidate, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, along with 14 other Democratic congresspeople introduced legislation calling for the US to increase the production of masks and distribute them to all Americans at no cost. The legislation is called “Masks-for-All,” a playoff of Sanders’ former proposal of Medicare-for-All. Yesterday, Sanders penned an op-ed in USA Today advertising his bill: “Coronavirus pandemic is raging out of control. Our solution: Masks for All.” In it, he declares that it is a “tragedy, and embarrassing, that the United States is practically the only major country where the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening by the day.” He goes on to state, “If we are to have any hope of turning this economy around, opening schools safely, and preventing countless more deaths, we must first get this virus under control.” His plan to combat the pandemic is to provide masks for everyone. A number of points should be made in relation to Sanders’ proposal. First, there is no doubt that under conditions of a raging global pandemic, every worker in the US and internationally should have access to high-quality masks, at no cost. The productive forces that are needed to carry out such a minor endeavor certainly exist within capitalist society. Providing masks to the population is only the most basic measure that is required to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers and youth. As scientists and health experts have been declaring for months, combatting the pandemic requires the implementation of a whole series of measures: extensive contact tracing, the production of PPE for hospitals, and universal access to quick-response testing to name just a few. Furthermore, essential workers must be provided with the necessary equipment and training needed in order to carry out their work safely. In any rational society (i.e. a socialist society) non-essential workers would not be permitted back to work until the pandemic was well under control, and even then, only with the most advanced and extensive protective and preventative measures in place. Workers would have the assurance that they would have access to free high-quality care if they or a loved one did end up falling ill with the virus. Nothing of the sort is on the agenda. In fact, the completely decrepit character of the capitalist system is perhaps most sharply expressed in the fact that even Sanders’ most pathetic appeal for “masks for all” will more than likely not even make it into the next relief bill.

Trump: "This May Be The Last Time You'll See Me For A While" - Remarks made by President Trump during a speech have prompted speculation after he referred to having a lot of rich enemies and told the audience, “This may be the last time you’ll see me for a while.” The comments were made during an address Trump gave at the Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant in Clyde, Ohio.The context of the remarks was an executive order that w ill mandate U.S. government agencies purchase all essential drugs from American sources.Trump blamed the American political class for the fact that drugs are cheaper to buy in other countries Canada even if they are made by the same company. “So I have a lot of enemies out there. This may be the last time you’ll see me for a while. A lot of very, very rich enemies, but they are not happy with what I’m doing,” said Trump.“But I figure we have one chance to do it, and no other President is going to do what I do. No other President would do a favored nations, a rebate, a buy from other nations at much less cost. Nobody. And there are a lot of unhappy people, and they’re very rich people, and they’re very unhappy,” he added.In terms of who Trump was identifying as his “enemies,” the president made reference to wealthy anonymous “middlemen” who skim profits from pharmaceutical sales.“They are so wealthy. They are so wealthy,” said Trump. “Nobody has any idea who the hell they are or what they do. They make more money than the drug companies. You know, in all fairness, at least the drug companies have to produce a product, and it has to be good product.”

Trump teases order requiring insurers to cover preexisting conditions -- President Trump on Friday teased an executive order to require health insurers to cover all preexisting conditions, something already established under the Affordable Care Act, which his administration is suing to dismantle. "Over the next two weeks I’ll be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all preexisting conditions for all companies," Trump said during a news conference at his Bedminster property in New Jersey. "That’s a big thing. I’ve always been very strongly in favor. We have to cover preexisting conditions." Trump claimed such a move "has never been done before," though insurance companies are already required to cover patients with preexisting conditions under the Affordable Care Act, which was enacted in 2010. Despite Trump's insistence he will protect those with preexisting conditions, the Justice Department argued in a Supreme Court briefing in late June that the entire Affordable Care Act should be invalidated. Trump to take executive action after coronavirus talks collapse Chinese firms' stock plummet following Trump order Overturning the law would take away health insurance coverage for about 20 million people. The effects would be felt even more acutely given the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected roughly 5 million people in the United States. Trump has, throughout his first term, promised to unveil a health care plan of his own, though has yet to do so while seeking reelection. In an interview late last month with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," Trump promised a comprehensive health care bill within two weeks. Two weeks later, he said it would likely be out within a month. It was not immediately clear if the executive order mentioned Friday was the same measure.

 Exclusive: Germany and France quit WHO reform talks amid tension with Washington - sources -  (Reuters) - France and Germany have quit talks on reforming the World Health Organization in frustration at attempts by the United States to lead the negotiations, despite its decision to leave the WHO, three officials told Reuters.  The move is a setback for President Donald Trump as Washington, which holds the rotating chair of the G7, had hoped to issue a common roadmap for a sweeping overhaul of the WHO in September, two months before the U.S. presidential election. The United States gave the WHO a year’s notice in July that it is leaving the U.N. agency - which was created to improve health globally - after Trump accused it of being too close to China and having mishandled the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO has dismissed his accusations. European governments have also criticised the WHO but do not go as far as the United States in their criticism, and the decision by Paris and Berlin to leave the talks follows tensions over what they say are Washington’s attempts to dominate the negotiations. “Nobody wants to be dragged into a reform process and getting an outline for it from a country which itself just left the WHO,” a senior European official involved in the talks said. The German and French health ministries confirmed to Reuters that the two countries were opposed to the United States leading the talks after announcing their intention to leave the organisation. A spokesman for the Italian health ministry said that work on the reform document was still underway, adding however that Italy’s position was in line with Paris and Berlin.

 Call for ‘Emergency Charity Stimulus’ as Billionaire Wealth Soars and US Nonprofits Sink --As billionaires have seen their collective wealth increase by nearly $700 billion and ordinary Americans face increasing economic insecurity amid the Covid-19 pandemic, nonprofits in the U.S. that rely largely on charitable giving—increasingly from a small number of high-dollar donors—are struggling to survive under the current conditions.According to the Washington Post on Monday, nonprofit leaders are warning that “one-third of organizations may not survive pandemic.”While the rich have continued their philanthropic giving during the Covid-19 crisis, those donations don’t always have a direct line to nonprofits.In op-ed published last week, Chuck Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org, explains:Unlike low- and middle-income givers, wealthy donors are more likely to park assets in private foundations and donor-advised funds, slowing its flow to working nonprofits on the ground. Between 2005 and 2019, the number of private foundations grew from 71,097 to 119,791, an increase of 68 percent. Over the same period, their assets grew 118 percent, from $551 billion to $1.2 trillion.So while the 1% are, in fact, donating portions of their accumulated wealth, they’re giving tointermediary organizations, which slows the distribution of funds to nonprofits actually doing the work on the ground.In addition, many nonprofits in particular rely on in-person events like galas, golf tournaments, and other functions for the bulk of their funding. Organizations large and small are feeling the effect of social distancing and stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19. “The cancellation or postponement of such in-person fundraising will deeply affect the way we raise funds,” Karen Addington, chief executive of Juvenile Diabetes Resesearch Foundation

New postmaster general overhauls USPS leadership amid probe into mail delays - Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced an overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Friday, removing the top two officials in charge of day-to-day operations as Democrats in Washington call for an investigation into changes that have slowed mail delivery. According to a new organizational chart released by USPS, 23 postal executives were reassigned or displaced and five staffers joined the agency’s leadership from other positions. “This organizational change will capture operating efficiencies by providing clarity and economies of scale that will allow us to reduce our cost base and capture new revenue,” said DeJoy. “It is crucial that we do what is within our control to help us successfully complete our mission to serve the American people and, through the universal service obligation, bind our nation together by maintaining and operating our unique, vital and resilient infrastructure.” DeJoy announced there would be a hiring freeze and a request for voluntary early retirements. The USPS will also configure itself into three “operating units” of retail and delivery, logistics and processing, and commerce and business solutions and will cut back from seven regions to four. The reshuffling comes as Democrats clamor for an investigation into USPS amid concerns over the agency’s ability to handle what is expected to be a flood of mail-in ballots this year. Lawmakers have warned that changes DeJoy has made, including reducing overtime and adjusting delivery policies, may leave the agency even more unprepared.

Senate GOP divided over whether they'd fill Supreme Court vacancy  -Senate Republicans are conflicted about what to do if a Supreme Court seat becomes vacant during the remainder of President Trump's first term, a possibility that has come more into focus in recent weeks in light of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health problems. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made clear that he intends to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, despite holding the seat vacated by the death of the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia open during the 2016 presidential election. “Oh, we’d fill it,” McConnell said with a smile when asked last year whether he would act to confirm a Trump nominee to the Supreme Court should a seat become vacant. The GOP leader doubled down on that promise earlier this year. “If you’re asking me a hypothetical ... we would fill it,” McConnell told Fox News in February. But not all Republicans are committed to the idea after McConnell and then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) blocked Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, from even getting a hearing. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) says that confirming a Trump nominee to the high court in the middle of an election year or during the lame-duck session in November and December would create a “double standard” after what happened in 2016. “When Republicans held off Merrick Garland it was because nine months prior to the election was too close, we needed to let people decide. And I agreed to do that. If we now say that months prior to the election is OK when nine months was not, that is a double standard and I don’t believe we should do it,” she said. “So I would not support it.”

Prosecutors hint at probe into 'possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization' --Prosecutors hint at probe into 'possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization' Volume 90% The Manhattan district attorney's office on Monday hinted that its subpoena for President Trump's tax returns is part of an investigation into "possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization," including potential fraud allegations detailed in media reports in recent years. In response to the latest legal challenge by Trump's attorneys, New York County prosecutors said that news reports about the president's financial history provide sufficient justification for requesting the extensive amount of information from the accounting firm Mazars in their grand jury investigation. "In light of these public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization, there was nothing facially improper (or even particularly unusual) about the Mazars Subpoena, which [was] issued in connection with a complex financial investigation, requesting eight years of records from an accounting firm," prosecutors wrote in a court filing submitted Monday. A footnote in the court filing listed three media stories published in 2018 and 2019 about the president's financial history. One of them, a Washington Post story published last year, reported that Trump had inflated his net worth to potential lenders and investors. Prosecutors also cited a 2018 New York Times investigation that found Trump had employed "dubious tax schemes" that included "outright fraud" while managing the Trump Organization, which he still owns, in the 1990s. A third story, from The Wall Street Journal, details former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's allegations that the president directed him to pay hush money to two women who claim to have had affairs with the president. Those allegations had been previously cited by the prosecutor's office in issuing the subpoena. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Trump did not have any special immunity to a grand jury investigation like the one being pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. In light of that ruling, Trump's personal attorneys filed a new complaint with the federal district court in Manhattan last week that argued the subpoena is overly broad and "amounts to harassment of the President." "This is not a straightforward request to review specific business transitions; it is an overreaching demand designed to pick apart the President and each related entity from the inside out, without regard to the geographic limits of the District Attorney’s jurisdiction or the scope of the grand jury’s investigation," Trump's legal team wrote.

Trump calls Manhattan DA probe into his taxes a 'continuation of the witch hunt' - President Trump on Monday decried a New York prosecutor’s inquiry into his tax returns as a “continuation of the witch hunt” after a new filing suggested the Manhattan district attorney’s office is pursuing a criminal investigation of the Trump Organization. Trump, asked about the developments during a press conference at the White House, compared the probe to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation as well as inquiries launched by House Democrats, suggesting that it is part of a nebulous, politically motivated conspiracy against his presidency. “This is just a continuation of the witch hunt. It’s Democrat stuff,” Trump told reporters. “They failed with Mueller. They failed with everything. They failed with Congress. They failed at every stage of the game. this has been going on for three and a half, four years.” “This is a continuation of the worst witch hunt in American history,” he said, before adding that he knew nothing about the investigation. In a court filing earlier Monday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued it is justified in seeking the president’s tax returns, citing media reports about “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization,” the president’s family business. Trump has fought a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance for his financial records. The Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling in July rejected Trump’s claim that he was immune from a grand jury investigation such as the one led by Vance. Trump’s attorneys have filed a new complaint in the wake of the ruling, arguing that the subpoena is overly broad and amounts to presidential “harassment.” Vance’s office responded on Monday, arguing that the new complaint fails to put forth valid legal challenges to the subpoena that hadn’t already been presented and rejected by the Supreme Court. Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign’s ties to Moscow dogged the first two years of his presidency, and Trump has regularly derided it as a “witch hunt.” The president used the same language to describe House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, which concluded with his impeachment by the Democratic-majority House and his eventual acquittal by the GOP-controlled Senate earlier this year.

Deutsche Bank launches investigation into longtime banker of Trump, Kushner - Deutsche Bank launched an internal investigation into the longtime personal banker for President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a bank spokesman confirmed to The Hill on Sunday. The New York Times first reported Sunday that the bank was looking into Rosemary Vrablic to determine if she had acted improperly when she and two colleagues bought an apartment for about $1.5 million in 2013 from Bergel 715 Associates. In a financial disclosure report filed Friday, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, said they had received $1 million to $5 million from Bergel 715 in 2019. The couple had not previously reported having an ownership stake in the company. A person familiar with Kushner’s finances told the Times he had an ownership stake in Bergel 715 at the time Vrablic bought the apartment. The 2019 reported income is unrelated to Vrablic’s purchase in 2013. The Times reported Deutsche Bank did not know Vrablic and her colleagues had bought the apartment from a company Kushner had a stake in until it was contacted by the newspaper. “The bank will closely examine the information that came to light on Friday and the fact pattern from 2013,” bank spokesman Daniel Hunter said. Kushner and President Trump were clients of Vrablic at the time of the 2013 sale and had received about $190 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. Both were also granted hundreds of millions of dollars after that point, according to the Times. Banks usually prohibit employees from conducting personal business with clients out of concerns of conflicts of interest. But Christopher Smith, the general counsel for Kushner Companies, told The Hill in a statement that “Kushner is not the managing partner of that entity and has no involvement with the sales of the apartments.” Vrablic’s lawyer, a senior private banker and managing director at Deutsche Bank, declined to comment to the Times. It is unclear how big Kushner’s stake is in the company, which has sold several condo units in the apartment building since the 1980s, according to records viewed by the Times. At least one apartment had been sold to Kushner Companies.

Kodak Granted Chairman 1.75 Million Options The Day Before Trump's $765 Million Loan To Company -The day before a $765 million loan from the government was announced, Kodak granted its executive chairman Jim Continenza 1.75 million options as the result of what is being called an "understanding" with the Board of Directors. The options had not been listed in his employment contract, nor were they made public, according to Reuters. The announcement of the loan the next day took shares of Kodak from about $2.50 on Monday to, at one point, $60. Shares now trade at $22. Kodak's executive chairman's options are now worth tens of millions of dollars, as a result.The decision to grant executive chairman Continenza the options was "never formalized or made into a binding agreement, which is why it was not disclosed previously," the report says. They were reportedly granted to "shield Continenza’s overall stake in the company from being diluted by a $100 million convertible bond deal clinched in May 2019".The idea of granting options simply for this reason is unusual, as raising capital and the resulting dilution is a run-of-the-mill part of business and because options are usually for long-term incentives. For example, off the top of our heads, we cannot recall ever seeing an options issuance for this reason in the past. Most companies have "wide latitude" in assigning these options but three corporate governance experts told Reuters that Kodak's move was "unusual".   "The compensation committee’s job is not to protect the CEO from every adverse effect on the stock price. It’s to get the CEO to think about long-term value.” Regardless, the approach is "permissible", according to the report. Kodak disclosed the award in an SEC filing, but one source says the options grant happened because of an "understanding with the board". The chairman's paper gains amounted to about $83 million at the end of this week, compared to $53 million in gains he would have made if it wasn't for his additional options. About 29% of the options he received on Monday vested immediately.

Ghislaine Maxwell reportedly boasted about oral sex with George Clooney - Ghislaine Maxwell was “giddy as a schoolgirl” after performing oral sex on actor George Clooney in a bathroom at a show business event, according to a report Friday. Maxwell — Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend who now faces sex-trafficking charges — boasted about the sexual conquest to one of their alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, as the women traveled together in the 2000s, according to the UK Sun, which cited court documents. “One [time] she came back giddy as a schoolgirl with an explosion of news, with all the build up and excitement in her voice you’d think she was the next crown princess,” Giuffre wrote of Maxwell in her book, which was unsealed by a New York judge last week. “But she had given George Clooney a b–w j-b in the bathroom at some random event. … She never let that one down.” In her 139-page manuscript, “The Billionaire’s Playboy Club,” Giuffre writes that Maxwell “loved to brag about her rendezvous with various lovers.” It wasn’t clear where or when the reported sexual encounter happened, but Maxwell boasted about performing the sex act on the star in a restroom as the pair took a trip in 2001, the paper reported last year.  More than 2000 pages of evidence were released, but nearly half of the court filings remained under seal or redacted, including details about Maxwell’s alleged encounter with Clooney.

Princess Diana’s bridesmaid says she spent time on Jeffrey Epstein’s island - One of Princess Diana’s bridesmaids has admitted she socialized with Jeffrey Epstein — including at hisnotorious private island — but says she was “clearly very lucky” she wasn’t molested by the pedophile.Clementine “Clemmie” Hambro, 44, said she flew on Epstein’s private jet twice in 1999 following visits tohis New Mexico ranch and Little St. James in the US Virgin Islands, the Daily Mail reported.Epstein allegedly abused young women and girls at both locations — but Hambro said she never witnessed such things, nor was she preyed upon.“The first flight was a work trip with female colleagues to look at Epstein’s new home in Santa Fe to discuss what art he was going to buy,” said Hambro, who at the time was a 23-year-old employee at Christie’s Auction House.“The second trip, to Little St. James, was a personal invitation, which I thought would be fun to accept, but I didn’t know anyone there, didn’t really enjoy myself, and never went back,” she added. “My heart breaks for all the survivors, now I know what happened on that island.” Hambro released the statement after her name appeared on flight logs in a batch ofunsealed court documents in Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s defamation case against alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell.

Big choices about who will lead financial regulators after 2020 election — Neither President Donald Trump nor Democratic nominee Joe Biden has made banking policy a cornerstone of their presidential campaigns. Yet whoever wins in November will face a task of utmost importance to financial institutions: selecting new heads of the financial regulatory agencies. The new presidential term could start with a vacancy atop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency if Trump fails to name a nominee who is then Senate-confirmed by January. The administration would also face a decision early on about whether to reappoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in February 2022, or select a new head of the central bank. “At some level, it’s just like with wars and everything else: the victor gets to write the story,” said Greg Lyons, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. But if Biden wins, he could move more aggressively to change the leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau following a Supreme Court ruling allowing the president greater discretion to fire the head of the CFPB, currently Kathy Kraninger. An upcoming Supreme Court case involving the Federal Housing Finance Agency could give a Biden administration similar standing to remove Director Mark Calabria. “One of the most important things that we've seen over the past five years is how influential political appointees are,” said Kathryn Judge, a professor at Columbia Law School. “There's the rules as they appear in the books and then there's the rules as they go into practice, and there's necessarily always some space there.” How the economy recovers from the COVID-19 crisis will likely influence decisions about financial policy, regardless of who is elected. If Trump is reelected, most industry observers expect his regulatory appointees to continue down a path of deregulation, perhaps loosening bank capital and liquidity requirements in an attempt to jumpstart lending. In a Biden administration, the new president would have to decide whether to depart from Trump’s economic recovery efforts or stay the course, similar to decisions facing former President Barack Obama when he took office in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. “Even though Obama was coming in, in choosing Tim Geithner as his Treasury secretary, who had been heading up the New York Fed and therefore a key player in the overall crisis response, he wanted to signal continuity,” said Judge. “That's one of the big questions that Biden is going to face is, does he want to signal continuity or signal a break from the previous administration?” 

Memo to Biden: Cut Your Ties to Larry Summers -- Pam Martens -There is growing concern about Biden among progressives because he has made the decidedly ill-advised move of using the infamous Larry Summers as an advisor. Summers is the man who played an outsized role in the creation of Frankenbanks on Wall Street in 1999 with his push to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act and the deregulation of derivatives in 2000 as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration.Carrying on the proud tradition of failing up as a Wall Street Democrat, Summers became director of the National Economic Council under the Obama administration during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression – brought on in no small part as a result of the Wall Street deregulation endorsed by Summers during his time in the Clinton administration.Summers’ economic policies during the Obama administration led to the Occupy Wall Street protests and chants around the country that “Banks got bailed out; we got sold out.” This was an accurate assessment of Summers’ policies.Not quite finished in his work at pushing the country backwards, Summers launched hismisogynist attack on women’s math and science aptitude as President of Harvard in January 2005. These remarks produced world-wide notoriety for Summers and a vote of no-confidence by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. A year later, facing a likely second no-confidence vote from the same body, Summers resigned his post as President of Harvard. He is currently a professor there. Clinging to his failing up policy model, Summers decided he wanted to become Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2013 and President Obama appeared ready to accommodate Summers. That caused such an outrage among progressives that almost a third of Senate Democrats wrote to Obama telling him to nominate Janet Yellen instead. Then word leaked out that a majority of Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, which would have to vote on Summers’ confirmation ahead of a full Senate vote, were going to give his bid a thumbs down. Faced with the prospect of yet another public humiliation, Summers withdrew his name from consideration. Then, curiously, in 2015, Summers inserted himself back into the national debate withan OpEd in the Washington Post where he attempted to challenge Senator Bernie Sanders on critically-needed reforms to the Federal Reserve and mega banks on Wall Street. Summers is either a dunce who knows nothing about Wall Street banks or he’s back to auditioning for Wall Street to become the Fed Chair. The two largest financial crashes in U.S. history that devastated the U.S. economy (1929 and 2008) had nothing to do with traditional lending and everything to do with using depositors’ money to make speculative, highly-leveraged bets in derivatives. There was no mark-to-market daily on derivatives because they were (and remain) largely bespoke, confidential contracts between two counterparties.

Senate bill would provide CDFIs $2B lifeline for emergencies - Community development financial institutions, including CDFI-certified credit unions, could get a lifeline for when emergencies strike if legislation introduced Tuesday becomes law. A bill from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would create an additional $2 billion fund for CDFIs to provide capital during natural disasters and other crises. The fund would complement the U.S. Treasury’s existing CDFI Fund and be replenished each year as needed. “This pandemic has shown us that when a crisis or a disaster strikes, families and communities need immediate support,” Schatz said in a press release. “By creating a crisis fund for CDFIs with automatic triggers, we can quickly provide aid to the people and small businesses that need it most.” Thirty percent of the monies would be allocated to CDFIs that double as minority depository institutions, while another 10% will be reserved for institutions serving Native American populations. Individual grant amounts for each institution would be determined by the Treasury, with no grant exceeding 10% of the total amount available in the crisis fund. Along with being activated in the event of natural disasters, the legislation is designed to include automatic triggers for increases in unemployment at the state or federal level. The bill already has the support of the Credit Union National Association and Inclusiv, a trade group for CDFI-certified credit unions. “This automatic, trigger-based crisis fund will ensure that community-based financial institutions, including credit unions, remain in a position to support small businesses and low-income communities,” CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle wrote in a letter to Schatz. There were 331 CDFI-certified credit unions nationwide on July 13. Over $2 billion in aid has been awarded to CDFIs in need since the Treasury's CDFI Fund was created in 1994. Along with Schatz, the bill was cosponsored by nine other Democratic senators, as well as Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. No Republicans have signed on to the bill.

 OCC finalizes assessment fee reduction due to pandemic — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a rulemaking to reduce its upcoming September assessment fees by using pre-pandemic call report data. The change, first announced in June, is intended to avoid penalizing banks whose balance sheets swelled in the early months of the pandemic, when trillions of federal stimulus dollars and consumer savings flowed into the banking system. In September, banks will be able to use call report data from December 2019 to calculate the assessment fees owed to the OCC, which the agency uses to fund its operations. The rule was designed as a one-time change and will stay in effect until October 2020. The OCC says thatt using call report data from 2019 will result in lower assessments for most national banks. In the event such a change would actually result in higher fees for a given bank, the OCC said it would use call report data from June instead. The OCC’s latest change follows two pre-pandemic fee reductions in 2018 and 2019, when the agency lowered its fees by 10%, citing improvements in operational efficacy.

 More banks opt to sell PPP loans as heavy lifting nears - More and more banks are eager to unload their Paycheck Protection Program loans — and some nonbanks are more than happy to take them off their hands. The Loan Source, a nonbank small-business lender in New York, said it has acquired more than 20,000 PPP loans, with more than $2.9 billion in outstanding balances, in recent weeks. The company, which has finalized deals with 14 lenders, has more in the works. “There’s a lot of demand for our program,” said Luke Lahaie, the chief investment officer of The Loan Source, a special-purpose entity formed to service purchased PPP loans. “We’re talking to [lenders] every single day.” The $1.3 billion-asset Northeast Bank in Portland, Maine, the $2.5 billion-asset Southern First Bancshares in Greenville, S.C., and the $5.3 billion-asset Bryn Mawr Bank in Pennsylvania have disclosed deals with The Loan Source. The other lenders have yet to publicly announce their sales, LaHaie said. Many sellers are shedding the loans to avoid the cumbersome forgiveness process, while others say the paycheck program didn't align with their strategic interests. For nonbanks, buying the loans brings in revenue at a time when more conventional business is hard to come by. Other banks have disclosed plans to shed their originations under the $669 billion program to assist small businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic. New York Community Bancorp in Westbury moved its $103 million PPP portfolio to available-for-sale status in the second quarter, indicating that it will look for a buyer. The $54 billion-asset company has yet to announce a sale. Through Tuesday, the Small Business Administration, which is managing the Paycheck Protection Program, had approved 5.1 million loans for $522.2 billion. The program, which began on April 3, is set to shut down on Saturday, though Congress is considering multiple proposals that would extend it. Republicans have proposed increasing available funding to $190 billion and letting companies hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic apply for another loan. Democrats have suggested allowing PPP to operate through the rest of the year. PPP loan proceeds spent on rent, mortgage interest, salary and benefits and other basic operating costs are eligible for forgiveness, though many have criticized the application process as overly complex. A shorter "EZ" version of the application is still time-consuming for lenders, LaHaie said.

When Their PPP Loans Didn’t Come Through, These Businesses Broke Up With Their Banks – WSJ - In Pavia Rosati’s hour of financial need, her bank ghosted her. It was April, and the coronavirus pandemic was taking a toll on Ms. Rosati’s New York-based travel-writing website and consulting firm, Fathom Unlimited Inc. She went to Capital One Financial Corp., Fathom’s bank for nearly 10 years, for a Paycheck Protection Program loan. But Capital One wasn’t ready to accept applications for the government-loan program when it launched, and no one there could tell her when it would, she said. A branch banker took days to respond to emails, she said, and referred her to Capital One’s customer-service hotline. Ms. Rosati decided to switch banks. “Why would I work with a bank that was so unhelpful to me at the moment I needed it?” she said. Pavia Rosati sought a Paycheck Protection Program loan for her New York City-based business, Fathom Unlimited Inc. She ended up switching banks.  Conceived in March as a government lifeline to keep employees paid during the coronavirus lockdowns, the PPP soon evolved into an acid test for business owners’ banking relationships. Rather than lend directly to businesses, the Small Business Administration empowered banks to make more than $650 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses to cover payroll and certain other expenses. But banks weren’t prepared for the flood of applications when the program launched on April 3. Some delayed accepting paperwork until they could build new systems. Others favored certain customers by giving preference to those with outstanding loans or those that had closer ties to bankers that could speed applications through. Many business owners who felt unserved by their banks voiced their displeasure by moving their money elsewhere. Of businesses that secured PPP funding, about 28% received their loan from a lender with whom they had no prior relationship or a bank that wasn’t their primary one, according to a July survey of 931 firms conducted by Barlow Research Associates. About 44% of those borrowers said they would move at least some of their accounts and loans to the bank that came through for them during PPP, the survey found.

 As lawmakers weigh PPP reforms, bankers want them to think big — Small businesses will be unable to get loans through the Paycheck Protection Program starting Saturday without congressional action, but bankers say lawmakers should prioritize a host of other provisions to improve the program besides just reauthorizing it. As Congress debates a new coronavirus relief package, the industry is urging lawmakers to focus on prescriptive measures to simplify the PPP loan forgiveness process and on removing barriers small businesses may face in trying to get a second loan. “Giving those smaller businesses a second bite of the apple, including [personal protective equipment] expenses being covered, is a lifeline,” said Patti Husic, president and CEO of the $1 billion-asset Centric Financial in Harrisburg, Pa. Senate Republicans last week proposed to make roughly $190 billion available for businesses to apply for a first or second loan. Democrats, in their stimulus proposal introduced in early July, suggested allowing businesses to apply for PPP loans through Dec. 31. As of July 31, roughly $128 billion was still available for lending through the existing PPP. While bankers would like for Congress to enable businesses to access a second loan, some bankers are concerned about a proposal to reduce the origination fees that banks can collect on a second loan from 5% to 3%. Bankers would also like Congress to address concerns about the Small Business Administration's process for forgiving PPP loans by specifying in the legislation what an application form for forgiveness should look like. “Many small businesses participating in PPP were completely overwhelmed with the application process and forgiveness has proven to be even more of an obstacle,” said Jill Castilla, CEO of the $292 million-asset Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma. “Small businesses have exhausted their reserves for operational losses. They need immediate help." Husic said the SBA and Treasury need to reduce the number of changes being made to the program, which has caused confusion. Some bankers are concerned that because of the constant changes, the loans they originate will not be guaranteed by the government. “Congress needs to immediately extend the payment subsidy of SBA loans and provide 100 percent guarantees to SBA loans originated in 2020,” Castilla said. Some bankers want blanket forgiveness of all loans of $150,000 or less as well in addition to letting companies access a second round of financing. “A lot of businesses brought their employees back as soon as they got their money, but others didn’t, and those that did used the money in eight weeks and the amount they got cannot sustain them long-term,” said Husic. High on the industry's wish list is for Congress to focus on improving the loan forgiveness process. Republican senators’ proposal, known as the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools Act, or HEALS Act, would automatically forgive loans under $150,000 for borrowers who submit an attestation to lenders that they made a good faith effort to comply with requirements in the PPP. Borrowers receiving up to $2 million in PPP loans would also be exempt from submitting several documents and requirements initially mandated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.

Senior House Banking Democrat holds on in primary, another loses — While one senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee barely staved off a tough primary challenge, another was defeated Tuesday night by a more progressive opponent. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the lead sponsor of banking industry-backed legislation to reform anti-money-laundering rules, was finally declared the winner of her primary weeks after the contest was held, when the race was still too close to call. But Rep. Lacy Clay of Missouri, who chairs the subcommittee on housing, community development and insurance, was defeated by progressive activist Cori Bush in the Democratic primary to represent Missouri’s first congressional district. Clay was a 10-term incumbent. On the Republican side, a number of incumbents on the committee have already lost their primaries. Rep. Scott Tipton of Colorado, who has served five terms in Congress, lost to Lauren Boebert, a Second Amendment advocate who has supported the QAnon conspiracy theory. First-term Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., lost his primary challenge Bob Good, a county supervisor in Virginia. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was also declared the winner of her primary Wednesday morning. She had faced a challenge from Brenda Jones, president of the Detroit City Council, who briefly served in Congress in 2018. 

Will pandemic compel Congress to ease bank capital requirements? — It may be getting too late in the current stimulus talks for Congress to ease a Dodd-Frank Act capital requirement, but the measure sought by large institutions and the Federal Reserve could make a comeback in future pandemic relief, observers said. The Fed and congressional Republicans have pushed the idea of weakening the minimum capital benchmark known as the Collins amendment, at least temporarily, as part of the negotiations for a new round of coronavirus aid. They say the amendment makes it harder for institutions to support economic growth especially with this past spring’s deposit surge, which required banks to raise capital. Many say that, even though talks are ongoing, Congress is unlikely to address the capital measure in the Phase 4 stimulus bill, with Democrats opposed to changes and lawmakers focused on more immediate economic effects from the pandemic. But with deposits expected to keep growing, and Congress shifting from economic rescue to recovery, easing the capital rule could come back into play. “I think in this round, it’s not going to get attention, but it needs to because this is [important to] the next phase of recovery,” said Dec Mullarkey, managing director at SLC Management. Senate Republicans are considering a provision in their $1 trillion Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act that would give the Fed temporary authority to lower the Tier 1 leverage ratio below the capital "floor" set by Dodd-Frank, and exclude certain low-risk assets in banks' calculation of that ratio.The amendment, offered by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was included in Dodd-Frank as a way to strengthen large banks' balance sheets. It was intended to prevent large banks that follow international agreements on risk-based capital rules to set their capital levels below those for smaller banks. But with deposit growth at an all-time high of $2 trillion since January, supporters of congressional action say higher capital resulting from deploying that liquidity has hamstrung banks from supporting areas of the economy that need help. “Somebody's got to … reemploy people once this thing is over, and they're going to need capital, and the banking system is the major source of that,” said William Dickens, a professor and chair of the economics department at Northeastern University. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, told reporters last week that negotiations on including revisions to the Collins amendment in the stimulus bill were ongoing to “see if we can get that worked out,” according to published reports. A spokesperson for Crapo declined to say where the negotiations currently stand. Deposits surged from $13.2 trillion in January to $15.5 trillion in June, according to data from the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The sudden growth is attributed to stock market volatility as well as the federal government’s efforts to prop up the economy with stimulus checks, aid to small businesses, enhanced unemployment benefits and the Fed’s massive intervention in the form of unlimited asset purchases.

Wells Fargo Sold Assets to Stay Under Fed Asset Cap as Markets Lurched - Wells Fargo WFC 0.12% & Co. unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars of assets during this spring’s market collapse to stay out of trouble with the Federal Reserve. The Fed put limits on Wells Fargo’s size as punishment for its 2016 fake-account scandal. Loans the bank made to customers drawing on credit lines in the pandemic’s early days increased its size, and the bank scrambled to sell assets to get back in line, according to people familiar with the matter. One example: The lender sold assets tied to financing that helps blue-chip companies, including Walmart Inc., manage their cash flow and pay their suppliers, the people said. Wells Fargo ramped up its sales of these assets more than usual in the second half of March and early April during the financial markets’ wildest days this year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of the people said. It is a reminder that Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. lender, is navigating the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with a major obstacle in its path. The growth restrictions have rippled across the bank, playing into its recent decisions to pare back in consumer and commercial lending, The Wall Street Journal has reported. When coronavirus was roiling the markets, companies collectively drew down hundreds of billions of dollars on their credit lines, driving up the loans on banks’ books. This massive drawdown caused most banks’ balance sheets to swell, but it put Wells Fargo in a particularly tough spot. The bank had to quickly unload assets to stay beneath the $1.95 trillion asset cap, the people said. Wells Fargo has narrowly stayed under the asset cap over the last two quarters, according to regulatory filings. It got a small reprieve in April, when the Fed lifted the restrictions so the bank could make loans through two federal small-business lending programs during the coronavirus crisis.

Capital One to pay $80M in connection with massive data breach - Capital One Financial has reached settlements with two federal banking regulators in connection with a 2019 hacking incident that resulted in a massive compromise of customer data. One of the consent agreements released Thursday said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency determined that the McLean, Va.-based lender failed to effectively assess risks in advance of its migration of information technology operations to the cloud. The company agreed to pay $80 million to the OCC without admitting or denying the allegations. It has moved ahead with its cloud migration efforts in the wake of last year’s data breach. The settlements with the OCC and the Federal Reserve Board came a little more than a year after the arrest of a former Amazon Web Services employee for allegedly hacking Capital One’s customer data. Capital One was using Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of the Seattle-based tech giant that offers cloud computing services. The hack compromised personal data on roughly 100 million Americans, and approximately 6 million Canadians, who either have a Capital One credit card or have applied for one. Capital One has said that roughly 140,000 Social Security numbers were exposed, as were 80,000 bank account numbers. The OCC linked the data breach to problems with Capital One’s cloud migration plan, dating back to 2015. The agency alleged that Capital One failed to appropriately implement certain network security controls, as well as adequate controls for the prevention of data losses. The OCC also found that Capital One’s internal audit unit failed to identify numerous weaknesses and gaps in the cloud operating environment, and that the company’s board failed to take effective action in response to certain concerns that the internal audit unit did raise.

 Why an OCC payments charter may not become reality— The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has not even awarded a first-of-its-kind charter to a fintech firm, and the agency's leader is signaling plans to craft a new license for payments companies. But legal observers say the same obstacles standing before the fintech charter could trip up the new version meant for money transmitters. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks has frequently talked up a potential charter tailored for payments firms since taking office in May, saying it would massively reduce compliance burdens for up-and-coming companies while bringing nonbank payment activity under the umbrella of national supervision. But just as the agency's effort to provide a narrow-purpose fintech charter has been slowed by a lawsuit challenging the OCC's authority, experts say it is unclear what would shield a future payments charter from a similar legal battle. “It’s the same thing,” said Margaret Liu, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which along with the New York State Department of Financial Services have asked judges since 2017 to throw out the fintech charter. They have argued the OCC lacks the authority to grant a federal charter to companies that offer banking services without seeking deposit insurance. “What they are doing is exactly what we and New York have sued on," Liu said of the payments charter idea. "There seems to be an effort through interviews and talking points to create a distinction that doesn’t exist.” But just as it has regarding the fintech charter, the OCC counters that there is not anything novel about the agency offering a narrow-purpose payments charter. A spokesperson for the agency added that a recent federal court decision striking down the fintech charter is limited to the jurisdiction of the Southern District of New York. “The public discussion regarding granting national bank charters to banks primarily engaged in payments services mistakenly assumes a new ‘type’ of charter, potentially asserting a new ‘authority. That’s not the case,” said Bryan Hubbard, the agency's chief spokesperson. “In considering applications from companies engaged in the payments aspects of banking, the OCC is exercising long-existing authority in accordance with existing regulations and published procedures." The OCC and other supporters of a payments charter have characterized the idea as a logical extension of the OCC's oversight of national banks. Bringing nonbank payment providers into the banking regulatory environment, Brooks has said, would make the system safer in the long term, and keep the OCC's charter relevant amid advances in financial technology. “The OCC is the only agency that provides comprehensive nationwide supervision of institutions," Brooks said in a virtual conference at the Brookings Institution last month. "There's no other organization that does that in the banking system, and given that payments is one of the core banking functions, we don't want it to leave the supervisory field of vision. "We want to be able to continue to ensure the safety and soundness of the system without letting the core activities bleed into the shadow banking system, where it has now gone."

 July 2020: Unofficial Problem Bank list Increased to 65 Institutions - The FDIC's official problem bank list is comprised of banks with a CAMELS rating of 4 or 5, and the list is not made public (just the number of banks and assets every quarter). Note: Bank CAMELS ratings are also not made public. CAMELS is the FDIC rating system, and stands for Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to market risk. The scale is from 1 to 5, with 1 being the strongest. As a substitute for the CAMELS ratings, surferdude808 is using publicly announced formal enforcement actions, and also media reports and company announcements that suggest to us an enforcement action is likely, to compile a list of possible problem banks in the public interest.  Here is the unofficial problem bank list for July 2020. Here are the monthly changes and a few comments from surferdude808: Update on the Unofficial Problem Bank List for July 2020. During the month, the list increased by one to 65 banks after one addition. Aggregate assets were little changed at $52.7 billion. A year ago, the list held 75 institutions with assets of $54.7 billion. Added this month was First National Bank of Muscatine, Muscatine, IA ($311 million). The OCC provided an update on July 16, 2020, it is unclear if the update dates back to May 21, 2020, which is the last preceding press release on the OCC website. Historically, the OCC has provided a monthly update, so a bi-monthly update would be a new development.

House passes appropriations amendment to fund postal banking— The House passed a package of appropriations bills Friday including $2 million for the U.S. Postal Service to launch postal banking pilot programs across the country. The amendment to the appropriations bills was put forward by Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who argued that postal banking could be a valuable resource to unbanked Americans as well as low-income neighborhoods. Proponents of postal banking envision consumers lacking access to mainstream banks could find services such as checking accounts, bill payment and small-dollar loans at USPS sites. The idea has gained steam since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats have argued that postal banking could have provided an avenue for the unbanked or underbanked to cash their $1,200 stimulus checks that Congress authorized in March. “As our nation reels from the dual COVID-19 public health and economic crisis, financial resilience and interconnectivity are more important than ever,” Kaptur said in a release issued with Pascrell. “With a branch in every rural and urban ZIP code and trusted by all Americans, the Postal Service must provide a financial lifeline to those in need.” Yet the postal banking measure will likely face resistance from GOP lawmakers as well as bankers who argue that the Postal Service is ill equipped as a financial services provider. The Pascrell-Kaptur amendment "would be detrimental to customers and harm community financial institutions already struggling to comply with the regulatory burdens imposed by Dodd-Frank," Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee said in a joint press release. But community groups have said that postal banking could help to fill the gap in areas that might not have access to bank branches or credit unions. “Ninety percent of ZIP codes lacking a bank or credit union are in rural areas,” Pascrell said in the release issued with Kaptur. “Bank branches are also sparse in low income urban areas.” He added that about 46% of Latino households and 49% of African American households are underbanked, meaning that they lack access to the financial system. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, introduced legislation in March that would offer every American a free Federal Reserve-backed digital wallet available at post offices and community banks.

Bipartisan bill aims to offer savings accounts for down payments - Sens. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., on Tuesday introduced the American Dream Down Payment Act, a bill that would allow states to offer prospective first-time homebuyers a savings account that provides a tax benefit while helping the account holder save up to a 20% down payment, the amount traditionally required for home loans. Many government mortgage programs today allow lower down payments, but putting a full 20% down helps to put consumers in a good position to obtain a home loan at a favorable rate. Two-thirds of renters have identified the inability to save for a down payment as an obstacle to homeownership, according to the Urban Institute. The bill would let states establish and manage down payment accounts, which would be similar in structure to 529 college savings plans. While contributions are not deductible, those plans grow and allow money to be withdrawn federal tax free so long as the money is used for certain eligible expenses. In the case of a 529 plan that could include not only college but also $10,000 a year per beneficiary on elementary or secondary education schooling, student loan payments, or expenses associated with apprenticeships. In the case of an American Dream account, the money could be used not only for a down payment, but for closing costs paid or incurred to purchase a principal residence. “Getting this legislation introduced with bipartisan support is good for us. With these accounts, people can put this money aside until they are ready and able to buy a home,” said Donnell Williams, president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. NAREB has long advocated for the creation of a tax-advantage savings account for home mortgage down payments as a means of helping the Black community build wealth through homeownership, Williams said. While Black homeownership recently rose to a 16-year high, at 47%, it still is far lower than the overall homeownership rate of 68%.

 Multifamily borrowers in forbearance cannot evict tenants, FHFA says - Landlords with government-backed loans in forbearance must inform tenants in writing that they are protected from eviction, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said. The FHFA said Thursday that multifamily property owners with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can enter into new or modified forbearance plans if they have a financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus, but the landlords must agree not to evict tenants solely for the nonpayment of rent. “Landlords in forbearance must notify their tenants that they cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent due to the pandemic,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria said in a press release. “If tenants are able to pay their rent, they should continue to do so.” The agency had previously announced tenant protections that apply during forbearance repayment periods including giving tenants at least a 30-day notice to vacate; not charging tenants late fees or penalties for nonpayment of rent; and allowing tenants flexibility to repay back rent over time and not in one lump sum. The FHFA also said it has made improvements to a website to allow tenants to determine whether a multifamily property has a loan backed by Fannie or Freddie.

MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 7.67%" of Portfolio Volume  Note: This is as of July 26th.  The report next week (through Aug 2nd) might show some impact from the delay of the disaster relief package. From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases for Seventh Straight Week to 7.67% The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 7 basis points from 7.74% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 7.67% as of July 26, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, 3.8 million homeowners are in forbearance plans....“The share of loans in forbearance declined, but we are now seeing a notable pattern developing over the past two weeks. The forbearance share is decreasing for GSE loans but has slightly increased for Ginnie Mae loans,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “The job market has cooled somewhat over the past few weeks, with layoffs increasing and other indications that the economic rebound may be losing some steam because of the rising COVID-19 cases throughout the country. It is therefore not surprising to see this situation first impact the Ginnie Mae segment of the market.”Added Fratantoni, “The higher level of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance will increase the amount of payments that servicers must advance. We continue to monitor servicer liquidity during these challenging times.” This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time.  Most of the increase was in late March and early April, and has been trending down for the last seven weeks.The MBA notes: "Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) decreased relative to the prior week from 0.13% to 0.10% – the lowest level reported since early March."

Black Knight Mortgage Monitor for June - Black Knight released their Mortgage Monitor report for June today. According to Black Knight, 7.59% of mortgages were delinquent in June, down from 7.76% in May, and up from 3.73% in June 2019. Black Knight also reported that 0.36% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, down from 0.50% a year ago. This gives a total of 7.95% delinquent or in foreclosure. Press Release: Black Knight: Falling 30-Year Interest Rates Result in the Highest Level of Home Affordability in 3.5 Years Nationwide “As of mid-July, it required 19.8% of the median monthly income to make the mortgage payment on the average-priced home purchase, assuming a 20% down payment and a 30-year mortgage. That was more than 5% below the average of 25% from 1995-2003. This means it currently requires a $1,071 monthly payment to purchase the average-priced home, which is down 6% from the same time last year, despite the average home increasing in value by more than $12,000 during that same time period. In fact, buying power is now up 10% year-over-year, meaning the average home buyer can afford nearly $32,000 more home than they could at the same time last year, while keeping their monthly payment the same.“A main takeaway from this month’s report is that while record levels of job losses are certainly still weighing on the housing market and broader economy, for those shopping for a home now, buying power has clearly trended up.  Here is a graph from the Mortgage Monitor that shows the National Delinquency Rate. From Black Knight:

• The national delinquency rate fell in June for the first time since January, as initial impacts of COVID-19 on mortgage performance began to crest
• Nearly 7.6% of mortgage holders remain delinquent, up from a record low 3.2% at the beginning of the year
• The number of borrowers 90 or more days past due surged in June to 1.87 million, the largest volume since 2011
• 90-day delinquencies could rise even higher in July given the secondary volume of new delinquencies seen in May and resulting elevated levels of 60-day delinquencies in June
• The number of early-stage delinquencies has mostly normalized, with 30-day delinquencies nearly back to their pre-COVID levels
• Delinquency numbers will be important to watch in August and September, especially if expanded unemployment benefits decline or expire

There is much more in the mortgage monitor.

Rich New Yorkers buying up multiple Hamptons quarantine mansions -The ultra-rich are buying multiple quarantine mansions in the Hamptons for the “long term,” as Gov. Andrew Cuomo is begging them to come back to New York City.The Hamptons real estate market is seeing a recent trend known as “compounding,” in which people snap up two — or even three — seven- and eight-figure homes on the same street, Vanity Fair reported.The trend began last year but has burgeoned since the start of the pandemic, a Hamptons real estate agent who asked not to be named told the magazine.“With so many adult kids leaving the city and moving into their parents’ homes, people feel they need more room,” the agent said.“They can see this could be a long-term gig, having the kids live here with them. I have one client with a $10 million main house buying another one with a whopping price tag next door for the kids … I have another client who’s trading up — from a $5 million home to a $10 million one.”Real estate giant Corcoran’s second-quarter report, released last month, confirms a recent boom in Hamptons sales. Closed sales for the quarter saw a 21 percent increase on the South Fork, the report shows, according to Vanity Fair.

CoreLogic: House Prices up 4.9% Year-over-year in June - The CoreLogic HPI is a three month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA).
From CoreLogic:Nationally, home prices increased by 4.9% in June 2020, compared with June 2019. Month over month, home prices increased 1%, compared with May of this year, the fastest monthly gain for the month of June since 2013.CoreLogic’s HPI forecast predicts a modest decline in home prices over the twelve months ending June 2021. A sign of a solid foundation and resiliency in the housing market in the face of the pandemic, stronger home prices this summer reflect improved affordability, demographic demands, supply constraints and continued strong interest in purchasing a home. These factors combined to keep home prices steady despite the continued pressure of the pandemic and related economic fall-out.“Mortgage rates hit record lows this spring, which enhanced affordability for home buyers,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “First-time buyers, and millennials in particular, have jumped at the opportunity to achieve homeownership.”“Home price appreciation continues at a solid pace reflecting fundamental strength in demand drivers and limited for-sale inventory,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “As we move forward, we expect these price increases to moderate over the next twelve months. Given the economic outlook, housing remains a bright spot for the foreseeable future.”CR Note: The overall impact on house prices will depend on the duration of the crisis.

MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest Weekly Survey -- From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey: Mortgage applications decreased 5.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 31, 2020.... The Refinance Index decreased 7 percent from the previous week and was 84 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 22 percent higher than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage rates dropped to another record low last week, falling below the previous record set three weeks ago to 3.14 percent. Refinance activity decreased – despite the decline in rates – but the current pace remains more than 80 percent higher than a year ago when rates were over 4 percent. MBA’s forecast calls for rates to remain at these low levels, which will continue to spur strong refinance activity and offer homeowners relief in the form of lower monthly mortgage payments during these uncertain economic times,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Purchase applications also fell slightly, but were still 20 percent higher than a year ago and have now risen year-over-year for 11 straight weeks. Purchase loan balances continued to climb, which is perhaps a sign that the still-weak job market and tighter credit for government loans are constraining some first time homebuyers.”...The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($510,400 or less) remained unchanged at 3.20 percent, with points increasing to 0.37 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the refinance index since 1990.

 Homebuyers Step Back As Mortgage Rates Plunge To Record Lows -  Mortgage rates in the U.S. continue to fall to record lows. The average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 2.88% last week compared to 2.99% the previous week. But, despite record low rates, potential homebuyers are becoming less active as total mortgage application volume fell 5.1% from the previous week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.Refinance applications dropped 7% last week but remained 84% higher than the same period a year ago. Mortgage data and analytics firm Black Knight calculates that nearly 18 million borrowers could still benefit from refinancing their mortgage. Applications to purchase a home dropped 2% last week and now stand 22% higher than the same period last year.With the average purchase loan amount rising, fears are growing that some first-time homebuyers are getting priced out of the market. "Purchase loan balances continued to climb, which is perhaps a sign that the still-weak job market and tighter credit for government loans are constraining some first-time homebuyers," MBA forecaster Joel Kan said.Another sign that first-time homebuyers may be stepping back is the average rate for a FHA-backed 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has started to increase. These types of mortgages accounted for 35% of closed sales in June, according to the National Association of Realtors.

39% Of Younger Millennials Return Home Amid Crushing Recession -The virus-induced recession has abruptly upended younger millennials (ages 24 to 29) from living on their own, have now moved back home, according to a new survey. The new survey, commissioned by TD Ameritrade (seen by CNBC), found that out of the 2,000 young millennials surveyed, about 39% are in the process or have already moved back home because of the crushing economic downturn. About 15% of the respondents said they're on financial life-support, with their parents helping to subsidize rent, while another 15% said their parents are covering all rental expenses. An overwhelming majority (82%) said they don't want to rely on their parents for financial support, but due to the economic downturn, it seems like many have no other choice. A crushing recession could be the best thing for millennials. Allows them to move home, save money, pay down pesky auto loans, credit card debt, and student loans. So by the time the next economic upswing starts, their debt loads will be low, allowing them more economic mobility. Another reason why millennials should considering moving back is that the recovery stalled in mid/late June, and some cases reversing. A recovery heading south again is bad news for the labor market, as we noted this week, the second round of layoffs is well underway. For more color on this, the latest Chase credit and debit card data shows consumer spending activity is well below the baseline and stalled in mid-June.

Rents Swoon in San Francisco, Other Expensive Cities, TX-OK Oil Patch Y/Y. But 23 Cities with Double-Digit Rent Increases  Wolf Richter - Rental markets in the US are shifting in a massive way, with some of the most expensive cities, cities across the oil patch, college-focused cities, and tech and education hubs such as Boston booking sharp year-over-year rent declines. But 60 of the top 100 rental markets booked rent increases, and 23 of them booked double-digit increases. The median asking rent in San Francisco for one-bedroom apartments dropped again 2.4% in July from June, to $3,200. This brings the two-month decline to 4.8% and the 12-month decline to 11.8%. From the peak in June 2019 – which had barely eked past the prior record of October 2015 – the median asking rent has now plunged 14.0%. That’s a lot, very fast. For two-bedroom apartments, the median asking rent dropped 3.0% in July from June, to $4,210, bringing the two-month decline to 4.8% and the 12-month decline to 12.1%. Since the peak in October 2015, the median asking rent for 2-BR apartments has now dropped 15.8%. In terms of 2-BR apartments, San Francisco’s rents fell faster on a year-over-year basis than any other city. Despite these declines, San Francisco remains the most expensive city to rent in, among the top 100 rental markets in the US, according to Zumper’s Rent Report. But in terms of ZIP codes, San Francisco doesn’t have the most expensive ones; there are some in Manhattan and in Los Angeles that are even more expensive. The table of the 17 most expensive major rental markets by median asking rents shows July rent, the change from July a year ago, and, in the shaded area, peak rent and change from the peak. The “declines from peak” are led by Chicago and Honolulu in the range of -25% to -32%, though they seem to have found a bottom recently. Numerous cities – including some of the formerly hottest markets – are have booked double-digit declines from their peaks. But Ft. Lauderdale set new records:

Construction Spending Decreased in June -  From the Census Bureau reported that overall construction spending decreased in June: Construction spending during June 2020 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,355.2 billion, 0.7 percent below the revised May estimate of $1,364.7 billion. The June figure is 0.1 percent above the June 2019 estimate of $1,354.1 billion. During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $667.9 billion, 5.0 percent above the $636.0 billion for the same period in 2019. Private spending decreased and public spending increased: Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,001.9 billion, 0.7 percent below the revised May estimate of $1,009.0 billion. ...In June, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $353.3 billion, 0.7 percent below the revised May estimate of $355.8 billion.This graph shows private residential and nonresidential construction spending, and public spending, since 1993. Note: nominal dollars, not inflation adjusted. Residential spending is 21% below the previous peak.Non-residential spending is 13% above the previous peak in January 2008 (nominal dollars). Public construction spending is 9% above the previous peak in March 2009, and 35% above the austerity low in February 2014.  The second graph shows the year-over-year change in construction spending.On a year-over-year basis, private residential construction spending is down 0.8%. Non-residential spending is down 3.2% year-over-year. Public spending is up  6.2% year-over-year.This was below consensus expectations of a 1.3% increase in spending, however construction spending for the previous months was revised up slightly.Construction was considered an essential service in most areas and did not decline sharply like many other sectors.

Update: Framing Lumber Prices Up 81% Year-over-year - Here is another monthly update on framing lumber prices.   Lumber prices are up 81% year-over-year.  This graph shows two measures of lumber prices: 1) Framing Lumber from Random Lengths through July 31, 2020 (via NAHB), and 2) CME framing futures. Right now Random Lengths prices are up 81% from a year ago, and CME futures are up 60% year-over-year.There is a seasonal pattern for lumber prices, and usually prices will increase in the Spring, and peak around May, and then bottom around October or November - although there is quite a bit of seasonal variability.  Prices fell sharply due to COVID-19, however prices have roared back (Note: Construction was considered an essential activity in many areas, so construction didn't decline as much as some other sectors).This is the highest price for Random Lengths lumber, and futures are just below the previous record set in 2018.

 How’s Your Economy, Small Businesses Death Watch Edition by Yves Smith - It’s depressing, but not exactly surprising, to see a major New York Times story about one-third of the small businesses in the city have died or expected to shutter. Needless to say, it’s not just restaurants. The piece showcased Busy Bodies, a playspace for children in Brooklyn, and Bank Street Bookstore, a children’s bookstore, as among the casualties. From the article:An expanding universe of distinctive small businesses — from coffee shops to dry cleaners to hardware stores — that give New York’s neighborhoods their unique personalities and are key to the city’s economy are starting to topple….While New York is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters than any city in the country, small businesses are the city’s backbone. They represent roughly 98 percent of the employers in the city and provide jobs to more than 3 million people, which is about half of its work force, according to the city…The first to fall were businesses, especially retail shops, that depended on New York City’s massive flow of commuters. And months into the crisis, established businesses that once seemed invincible, including some that had ambitious expansion plans, are cratering under a sustained collapse in consumer spending.It was an easy call, sadly, to predict the demise of shops that depended on commuter traffic. In my short visits to NYC (where I am doing nothing except medical stuff, but that does mean a few cab rides), it’s spooky how underpopulated Midtown and the Flatiron district on weekdays. Another testament was how few restaurants near my hotel, which was on the edge of Midtown, were open; I wound up ordering from the same place repeatedly because it was open, adequate, and would deliver. I began to suspect it was in the money laundering business since that would explain its survival. It had no menu online, not even a website. When I asked to drop off one with one of my meals, they said, “We don’t really have one.”We’d forecast a hollowed-out New York City, but seeing it happen, and quickly, is still disheartening, even before you get to the human trauma of job loss. Running errands on foot, being friendly with local shop staff, and the entertainment value of active street life, the charm of cities, will be diminished.

BEA: July Vehicles Sales increased to 14.5 Million SAAR - The BEA released their estimate of July vehicle sales this morning. The BEA estimated light vehicle sales of 14.52 million SAAR in July 2020 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), up 11.1% from the June sales rate, and down 14.4% from July 2019.This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for July 2020 (red).The impact of COVID-19 is significant, and it appears April was the worst month.Since April, sales have increased, but are still down 14.4% from last year.The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 14.52 million SAAR. Light vehicle sales in 2020, to date, total 7.66 million (NSA), down 21.9% from the same period in 2019 with sales of 9.80 million through July (NSA).

Consumers, Flush With Stimulus Money, Shun Credit-Card Debt – WSJ --When unemployment soared this spring at the start of coronavirus lockdowns, credit-card debt and delinquencies were widely expected to surge as struggling households borrowed more to make ends meet.Instead, amid the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the opposite happened. Credit-card debt in the U.S. and other advanced economies has fallen. Fewer people are late on their credit-card payments. Consumer demand for new borrowing—through credit cards, personal loans and even pawnshops—is down sharply.The main reason, according to economists and financial executives, is government stimulus programs launched in the U.S. and other advanced economies that have worked unexpectedly well. The flood of money, along with debt-relief measures such as deferred-mortgage and student-loan payments, has stabilized the finances of many households and even left some in better shape than before the pandemic—at least for now.“We’re not seeing consumers increase credit-card balances; in fact, they’re continuing to pay down balances,” said Peter Maynard, senior vice president at Equifax, the credit-reporting firm that tracks consumer borrowing in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and other countries. “They’re using the injection of government stimulus, quite frankly, to put themselves in a better position.”The phenomenon looms large as governments debate whether, and how, to extend stimulus programs. U.S. lawmakers and the Trump administration are negotiating new stimulus legislation, as the $600-a-week federal unemployment aid expired on Friday.

Men's Wearhouse Files For Bankruptcy -As we previewed on month ago in 'Work-From-Home'-Epidemic Set To Bankrupt Suit-Sellers, "I Guarantee It", on Monday the retail wreck continued on Sunday when Tailored Brands, the owner of Men's Wearhouse filed for bankruptcy, adding to a list of brick-and-mortar retailers that have succumbed to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Tailored Brands said in a statement that it has entered into a restructuring agreement with more than 75% of its senior lenders, and that could reduce the company’s debt by at least $630 million. The company also said it has received commitments for $500 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lenders. In the court filing, the company listed both its assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion. The Houston, Texas-based retailer, which was already struggling with competition from fast-fashion brands and a shift to online shopping before the pandemic, said it will continue to build on its previously announced plans to reduce its corporate workforce by 20% and shut as many as 500 stores. The company’s four retail brands, including Moores Clothing for Men and K&G Fashion Superstore, will continue to operate through the process. It employs 18,000 workers and operates 1,274 retail and apparel rental stores in the U.S. and 125 in Canada, according to court documents. Tailored Brands was in a tough spot before the outbreak: sales had fallen every year since 2016 as Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank contended with changing consumer tastes and e-commerce rivals. "The unprecedented impact of Covid-19 requires us to further adapt and evolve,"

7-Eleven Owner to Buy Marathon Gas Stations for $21 Billion -- Seven & i Holdings Co., the world’s largest convenience-store franchiser, agreed to buy Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s Speedway gas stations for $21 billion, betting that an expanded U.S. footprint will deliver growth amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. The transaction, to be paid in cash and partly financed using debt, will add about 3,900 stores to 9,800 locations operated by the retailer’s U.S.-based 7-Eleven unit, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Monday. Seven & i shares fell as much as 8.4% by midday, the biggest intraday decline since March. Marathon rose 20% before regular U.S. trading hours. The deal is the second-largest purchase of a U.S. target this year and the biggest yet for Seven & i, a retail giant with 69,000 stores worldwide including 7-Eleven outlets and Ito-Yokado supermarkets in Japan. Seven & i spent $3.3 billion three years ago to buy Sunoco LP gas stations and convenience stores in a push to expand its U.S. footprint. “This is a historic first step as we seek to become a global retailer,” Chief Executive Officer Ryuichi Isaka said on a conference call Monday. Marathon follows a long line of energy companies that are shedding retail networks to focus on making fuel. The deal, the biggest in the oil sector since the coronavirus outbreak, comes as retailers look to shift their focus amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has further upended a sector already being impacted by the onset of e-commerce. Marathon said it will use $16.5 billion in after-tax proceeds to reduce debt and bolster dividend payments. The Japanese retailer was seeking a deal earlier this year to buy Speedway, the second-largest chain of its kind in the U.S., but hit pause after offering $22 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.

Gun sales surge during pandemic, with July seeing record background checks — Gun sales in the country have surged in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic, with last month seeing a record number of background checks for the month of July, CNN reported on Monday, citing recent data released from the FBI. The new figures show that more than 3.63 million firearm background checks were carried out by the agency last month, a number CNN reports is the third highest on record. The FBI completed its highest number of firearm background checks the month before, according to CNN, 3.93 million, surpassing what was briefly a record from March at 3.74 million background checks. From March to July, the agency completed a total of just over 17.3 million, the new data shows. The agency had completed about 11.7 million background checks over the same five-month span last year. The FBI has been performing background checks on potential gun buyers through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System since its launch in 1998. The system carries out the checks, which looks at the buyer’s criminal history and other qualifications required for eligibility, when a person attempts to purchase a firearm from a seller with federal firearms licenses. The sales surge comes as the nation continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic as well as ongoing protests against racism and police brutality following the police killings of multiple African Americans.

Trade Deficit decreased to $50.7 Billion in June -- From the Department of Commerce reported: The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $50.7 billion in June, down $4.1 billion from $54.8 billion in May, revised. June exports were $158.3 billion, $13.6 billion more than May exports. June imports were $208.9 billion, $9.5 billion more than May imports. Both exports and imports increased in June.Exports are down 24% compared to June 2019; imports are down 20% compared to June 2019.  Both imports and exports decreased sharply due to COVID-19. The second graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum.  The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.Note that the U.S. exported a slight net positive petroleum products in recent months.Oil imports averaged $35.34 per barrel in June, up from $27.55 per barrel in May, and down from $58.72 in June 2019. The trade deficit with China decreased to $28.4 billion in June, from $29.8 billion in June 2019.

U.S. Trade Deficit Narrowed in June as Imports, Exports Rose – WSJ —U.S. exports and imports both rose in June for the first time in six months as the global economy began climbing out of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Exports from the U.S. rose 9.4% in June from May to $158.3 billion, the Commerce Department said in a report Wednesday. Imports rose 4.7% to $208.9 billion. The deficit narrowed 7.5% to $50.7 billion.“While trade flows rebounded in June, they still remained way off from where they were in February,” said Shannon Seery, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. “The flows just declined so dramatically in the prior three months.” The gains reflected a partial economic recovery in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere aslockdown restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus were eased. But a resurgence of the virus in the U.S. and some other countries suggests that a rebound in economic growth and trade might be uneven. Separate reports on Wednesday showed that business improved for U.S. service industries in July. Wednesday’s Commerce Department report showed that the rise in exports was fueled by a 14% jump in shipments of goods, which had cratered in April and May. Exports of services rose 1%. Consumer demand picked up in June as parts of the U.S. economy reopened. Unemployment fell, and retail sales rose as consumers bought more cars, clothing and electronics. Those trends were reflected in a 10% rise in imports of consumer goods. A 4.7% increase in imports of capital goods, such as computers and semiconductors, pointed to stronger business investment. The automotive industry saw both imports and exports more than double in June from May.  Global trade tumbled in the first half of the year, as the coronavirus pandemic and U.S.-China tensions caused multinationals to reconsider globe-spanning supply chains. The World Trade Organization’s economists estimate that trade flows will fall by at least 13% during 2020 as a whole, and possibly by much more.

ISM Manufacturing index Increased to 54.2 in July -- The ISM manufacturing index indicated expansion in July. The PMI was at 54.2% in July, up from 52.6% in June. The employment index was at 44.3%, up from 42.1% last month, and the new orders index was at 61.5%, up from 56.4%..Here is a long term graph of the ISM manufacturing index.  This was close to expectations of 54.0%, but the employment index indicated further contraction. This suggests manufacturing expanded in July - for the third consecutive month - after the steep collapse in the previous months.

 Markit Manufacturing: "U.S. manufacturing operating conditions improve..." -  The July US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 50.9, up 1.1 from the 49.8 final June figure. Here is an excerpt from Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit in their latest press release: “Although indicating the strongest expansion of the manufacturing sector since January, the IHS Markit PMI remains worryingly weak. Much of the recent improvement in output appears to be driven merely by factories restarting work rather than reflecting an upswing in demand. Growth of new orders remains lacklustre and backlogs of work continue to fall, hinting strongly at the build-up of excess capacity. Many firms and their customers remain cautious in relation to spending in the face of re-imposed lockdowns in some states and worries about further disruptions from the pandemic. "Encouragingly, business optimism about the year ahead has revived to levels last seen in February, but many see the next few months being a struggle amid the ongoing pandemic, with a more solid-looking recovery not starting in earnest towards the end of the year or even into 2021. Further infection waves could of course derail the recovery, and many firms also cited the presidential elections as a further potential for any recovery to be dampened by heightened political uncertainty." [Press Release] Here is a snapshot of the series since mid-2012.

ISM Services Index increased to 58.1% in July, Employment Index Declined --The July ISM Services index was at 58.1%, up from 57.1% in June. The employment index decreased to 42.1%, from 43.1%. Note: Above 50 indicates expansion, below 50 contraction. From the Institute for Supply Management: July 2020 Services ISM Report On Business® July 2020 Services ISM® Report On Business®; Business Activity Index at 67.2%; New Orders Index at 67.7%; Employment Index at 42.1%; Supplier Deliveries Index at 55.2%  "The Services PMI™ registered 58.1 percent, 1 percentage point higher than the June reading of 57.1 percent. This reading represents growth in the services sector for the second straight month after contraction in April and May, preceded by a 122-month period of expansion. "The Supplier Deliveries Index registered 55.2 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from June's reading of 57.5 percent. Supplier Deliveries is the only ISM® Report On Business® index that is inversed; a reading of above 50 percent indicates slower deliveries, which is typical as the economy improves and customer demand increases. The higher readings for supplier deliveries in the three months prior to June were primarily a product of supply problems related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Supplier deliveries are now more closely correlating to the current supply and demand. This graph shows the ISM services index (started in January 2008) and the ISM services employment diffusion index. The employment index showed ongoing weakness.

Markit Services PMI: "Business activity stabilizes but demand conditions deteriorate" - The July US Services Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 50.0 percent, up 2.1 from the final June estimate of 47.9. The Investing.com consensus was for 49.6 percent.Here is the opening from the latest press release:Commenting on the latest survey results, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit, said:“The service sector is showing welcome signs of stabilizing after the unprecedented downturn seen during the second quarter, but many companies continue to struggle with virus-related constraints, especially in states where social distancing restrictions have been tightened again.“The US was the only major economy to see COVID-19 containment measures tighten again in July , and this is reflected in the data, with new business inflows falling at an increased rate to hint at the possible start of a doubledip in business activity.“More encouragingly, businesses have on balance become more optimistic about recovery in the year ahead, and took on extra staff to ensure capacity is sufficient to meet future growth. However, whether this optimism can be sustained and result in faster growth will of course depend on infection rates falling.” [Press Release] Here is a snapshot of the series since mid-2012.

ADP: Private Employment increased 167,000 in July - From ADP: Private sector employment increased by 167,000 jobs from June to July according to the July ADP National Employment Report®. ... The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. “The labor market recovery slowed in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We have seen the slowdown impact businesses across all sizes and sectors.”This was well below the consensus forecast for 1.25 million private sector jobs added in the ADP report. The BLS report will be released Friday, and the consensus is for 1.36 million non-farm payroll jobs added in July.  Special Note: The BLS report includes government jobs, and State and Local government will increase sharply due to a Seasonal Adjustment quirk. Also the Census Bureau hired 27.5 thousand temp workers, for the Decennial Census, between the reference week in June and the reference week in July.

July Employment Report: 1.8 Million Jobs Added, 10.2% Unemployment Rate - From the BLS:Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.8 million in July, and the unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These improvements in the labor market reflected the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. In July, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care. ... The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised up by 26,000, from +2,699,000 to +2,725,000, and the change for June was revised down by 9,000, from +4,800,000 to +4,791,000. With these revisions, employment in May and June combined was 17,000 higher than previously reported. The first graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968. In July, the year-over-year change was -11.371 million jobs. Total payrolls increased by 1.8 million in July. Payrolls for May and June were revised up 17 thousand combined. The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms. The current employment recession is by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms, and the worst in terms of the unemployment rate. The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate. The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 61.4% in July. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. The Employment-Population ratio increased to 55.1% (black line). The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate decreased in July to 10.2%. This was above consensus expectations of 1.58 million jobs added, and May and June were revised up by 18,000 combined.

Unemployment Rate Fell to 10.2% in July, U.S. Employers Added 1.8 Million Jobs – WSJ - Hiring increased in July for the third straight month, though overall gains have yet to restore half of the U.S. jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic. July’s addition of 1.8 million jobs and a lower unemployment rate of 10.2%, after a peak of nearly 15% in April, showed the U.S. economy continued to mend during the summer coronavirus surge. It also reflected how far the economy has to go to overcome the shock from the pandemic and related lockdowns. The U.S. now has about 13 million fewer jobs than in February, the month before the coronavirus hit the U.S. economy, the Labor Department said on Friday. Unemployment remains historically high. Before the coronavirus drove the U.S. into a deep recession this year, the unemployment rate was hovering around a 50-year low of 3.5%. “We’re in a pretty strong rebound,” The greatest employment growth occurred last month in the hospitality, government, retail, business-services and the health-care sectors. Broad-based job growth, combined with last week’s decline in unemployment claims, belied some economists’ fears that a rise in coronavirus cases this summer would trigger a reversal in the economic recovery. Jobs continued to recover in July, though slowing after sectors like leisure and hospitality had historic June gains. “I have an uneasy feeling that I shouldn’t get too comfortable that things are back to normal,” Labor-market gains have been uneven. Jobless rates for white, Asian and Hispanic workers declined in July, while holding steady for Black workers. The number of individuals saying they are unemployed due to temporary layoffs continued to fall, a sign that workers being recalled to old jobs was driving recent hiring. The number unemployed due to permanent layoffs held steady, suggesting few new jobs are being created. The number of people unemployed for an extended period—15 to 26 weeks—jumped by 4.6 million to 6.5 million workers, showing it will take time for the labor market to recover. Service-sector jobs, including in leisure and hospitality and retail, accounted for the bulk of July’s job growth. Such jobs were hit particularly hard by social-distancing measures and had the most ground to gain. Goods-providing jobs, which include mining, manufacturing and construction, either declined or hardly grew last month.The economy entered a recession in February and appeared to begin a recovery as early as April. Economists say the speed at which businesses hire and consumers spend depends, in large part, on the course of the virus. Many consumers remain hesitant to resume store visits, dine out or board planes as virus cases remain high. Some businesses face renewed government restrictions.  A Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysis found that states with a larger number of coronavirus cases since June saw the weakest job recoveries between early June and late July. Arizona, Florida and Texas were among the states with the sharpest increases in coronavirus cases and mild employment recoveries, the report said.

 Economy Creates 1.8 Million Jobs in July, Production Workers’ Wages Fall – Dean Baker - The July employment report showed the economy adding another 1,761,000 jobs in July. This follows gains of 2,725,000 in May, and 4,791,000 in June, leaving the economy down 12,881,000 jobs from its February level.The unemployment rate fell from 11.1 percent to 10.2 percent, while the employment to population ratio (EPOP) rose from 54.6 percent to 55.1 percent. These gains likely overstate the true improvement from June, since the Bureau of Labor Statistics has largely fixed a misclassification problem that had caused unemployed workers to be counted as employed. The EPOP is still down by 6.0 percentage points from February, which translates into 15.6 million fewer people being employed.While most sectors added jobs, the leisure and hospitality sector accounted for a hugely disproportionate share of the gains. The 592,000 new jobs in the sector were 41.6 percent of the private sector job growth in the month. This corresponds to hotels and restaurants reopening as state and local governments rolled back restrictions. (It is important to remember that the pay period including July 12th is the reference point for this report, so it would not pick up the effect of new restrictions imposed in the last three weeks.) Even with this job gain, employment in the sector is still down by 4,340,000, or 25.7 percent, from the February level.It is worth noting that the loss of jobs in this low-paying sector does not appear to be due to being discouraged from working by generous unemployment benefits. The average hourly wage for production workers in the sector fell by 0.2 percent in July. It fell by 3.4 percent for production workers in retail, and 0.4 percent for production workers overall.Other sectors with large gains include retail (258,300), health care (191,400), and temporary employment (143,700). The government sector added 301,000 jobs with 215,100 of these being in local education. This is primarily a seasonal adjustment issue, as teachers normally are laid off in July, but this year they were laid off with the shutdowns in March and April. State and local employment is still down 1,170,000 from its February level. Manufacturing added 26,000 jobs, and construction added 20,000. Employment in both sectors is now 5.8 percent below the February level.Several sectors continue to lose jobs. The publishing industry lost another 6,900 jobs, leaving employment 4.2 percent below year-ago levels. The motion picture industry lost 4,200 jobs. Employment is now 52.4 percent below year-ago levels. Mining lost 7,000 jobs, and employment in the sector is now at its lowest level since August of 2005.  One item worth noting is that the job losses in this downturn have been disproportionately among production and nonsupervisory workers. While 11.4 percent of production jobs have been lost since February, just 3.6 percent of supervisory positions have disappeared.

July jobs report: a very good *relative* gain - perhaps the last - HEADLINES:

• 1,763,000 million jobs gained. Together with the gains of May and June, this makes up about 42% of the 22.1 million job losses in March and April.
• U3 unemployment rate declined -0.9% from 11.1% to 10.2%, compared with the January low of 3.5%.
• U6 underemployment rate declined -1.5% from 18.0% to 16.5%, compared with the January low of 6.9%.
• Those on temporary layoff decreased -1,300,000 to 9.225 million.
• Permanent job losers decreased by -6,000 to 2.877 million.
• May was revised upward by 26,000. June was revised downward by -9,000 respectively, for a net of 17,000 more jobs gained compared with previous reports.
• the average manufacturing workweek rose 0.7 hours from 39.0 hours to 39.7 hours. This is one of the 10 components of the LEI and will be a strong positive.
• Manufacturing jobs rose by 26,000. Manufacturing has still lost 740,000  jobs in the past 5 months, or 5.8% of the total. Since the worst loss was 10.6% of the total, 45% of that loss has been regained.
• Construction jobs rose by 20,000. Even so, in the past 5 months 444,000 construction jobs have been lost, or 5.8% of the total. Since the worst loss was 15.2% of the total, 59% of that loss has been regained.
• Residential construction jobs, which are even more leading, rose by 16,300. Even so, in the past 5 months there have still been 26,700 lost jobs, or about 21% of the total.
• temporary jobs rose by 144,000. Since February, there have still been -557,500 jobs lost, or 21% of all temporary help jobs.
• the number of people unemployed for 5 weeks or less rose by 344,000 to 3.2 million, compared with April’s total of 14.283 million.
• Professional and business employment rose by 170,000, which is still 1.648 million, or about 8% below its February peak.
• Average Hourly Earnings for Production and Nonsupervisory Personnel: fell -$0.11 from $24.74 to $24.63, which is still a gain of over 2.8% in 5 months. This reflects that job losses were primarily among lower wage earners, who have been disproportionately recalled to work.
• the index of aggregate hours worked for non-managerial workers rose by 1.5%. In the past 5 months combined this has nevertheless fallen by about -9.4%.
• the index of aggregate payrolls for non-managerial workers rose by 1.0%. In the past 5 months combined this has nevertheless fallen by about -6.9%. 
• Full time jobs were responsible for 591,000 of the gain.
• Part time jobs were responsible for 803,000 of the gain.
• The number of job holders who were part time for economic reasons declined by 619,000 to 8.443 million. This is still an increase since February of 4.125 million.

SUMMARY: Based on some weekly data, it had been feared that there might be a significant decline in jobs this month. Instead, there was another - if smaller - rebound. Even excluding the 301,000 gain in all government jobs, the gain was 1.462 million jobs. Needless to say, this was very positive. Gains in construction and manufacturing hours were particularly impressive, as were professional and business services. Even with those gains, however, aggregate hours and payrolls are now down from peak about what they were, percentage-wise, at the worst of the Great Recession.  The distortion in average hourly earnings continues to show that the lower class of workers is still suffering the brunt of the economic consequences of the pandemic, and desperately need continued aid. While this report was certainly very good in *relative* terms, in absolute terms the  economic devastation has continued. The increase this month was only 10% of the total percentage loss from peak of total employment. In other words, the “V” shaped jobs recovery some were hoping for has stopped materializing. Because initial jobless claims stalled out in 4 of the past 5 weeks, and nonfarm employment tends to lag this trend by a month or two, the outlook for continued job gains next month is very problematic.

July jobs: Labor market keeps ticking, but virus surge is slowing pace of gains - Jared Bernstein - The labor market kept ticking in July, but the re-surging pandemic led to slower hiring across most industries. Payrolls rose 1.8 million last month, compared to average monthly gains of 3.8 million in May and June, and payrolls remain 12.9 million jobs down from their February peak (see figure). The jobless rate ticked down to 10.2 percent, but remains highly elevated–that’s still higher than the peak of the last recession–and the share of the prime-age (25-54) population working remains almost 7 percentage points below Feb’s level. Because of an unusual interaction between pandemic-induced layoffs in local schools and the BLS seasonal adjustments (explained below), the overall job gain is biased up in July. Looking at private sector employment avoids this bias, and payrolls there rose 1.5 million in July compared to an average of 4 million per month in May/June. As usual, we must adhere to the the caveat that one month does not a new trend make. But if this slower trend persists–which could happen, given the impact of surging cases on commerce–it will take until next spring to regain the pre-crisis peak for private sector jobs. The table below shows that the overall unemployment rate remains highly elevated relative to its February trough of 3.5 percent, and, as is always the case, the increase in joblessness and the decrease in employment rates (the share of prime-wage workers with jobs) are significantly worse for persons of color (note: because of ongoing classification issues, the BLS reports that the actual jobless rate is probably about a point higher than the published rate, but the trend is the same). The Black decline in jobless rates of 9 percentage points is just a few points shy of their total gains in this metric over the past decade, meaning they’ve gained back very little of those losses. Other signs of a viral-surge-induced slowdown in the job market include:

• –Significant weakness in the July manufacturing numbers: After adding an average of about 300,000 jobs per month in May/June, the factory sector added only 26,000 in July. The share of manufacturing industries adding jobs fell from 77 to 43 percent, and the sector remains 740,000 jobs, or 6 percent, below its pre-crisis peak.
• –A shift toward longer-term unemployment: In June, 81 percent of the unemployed had been so for less than 14 weeks. In July, that share fell to about half, and those jobless for 15-26 weeks spiked from 11 to 40 percent.

Whether these one-month changes persist into deteriorating trends bears watching. As noted, July’s topline job-gain number of 1.8 million is biased up by an unusual technical problem having to do with the interaction between the impact of the virus on education jobs and the BLS seasonal adjustments for that sector. Typically, in July, many who work in the education sector leave for the summer, consistently over 1 million, or almost 20 percent of employment in the sector (not just teachers, but also janitors and others who stop working at the school in the summer). To account for this seasonal effect, the BLS adds back about this same amount—around 1 million—to the seasonally adjusted July data for local education jobs. But this year, because of the pandemic shut school buildings down well before the summer, these seasonal layoffs occurred earlier in the year, around April. However, the seasonal adjustment is based on the normal, historical pattern, and it thus added 1.2 million jobs to local education in July. That is, a relatively large seasonal factor was plugged in to offset a large number of expected layoffs that didn’t occur this July. This likely biased up the topline number by over 500,000 jobs. It is therefore much more instructive in this case to look at year-over-year changes in the state and local sectors. Using that metric, jobs are down by 1 million, about 6 percent, as should be expected given the deep budgetary shortfalls faced by states and towns across the land.

Comments on July Employment Report --The labor market swings have been huge, and the July employment report was somewhat better than expected with 1.8 million jobs added.  Leisure and hospitality led the way with 592 thousand jobs added in July, following 3.386 million jobs added in May and June. Leisure and hospitality lost 8.318 million jobs in March and April, so about 48% of those jobs were added back in May, June and July. Earlier: July Employment Report: 1.8 Million Jobs Added, 10.2% Unemployment Rate.   In July, the year-over-year employment change was minus 11.4 million jobs. As expected, there were 27 thousand temporary Decennial Census workers hired (and included in this report). This will surge over the next two to three months. "A July job gain in federal government (+27,000) reflected the hiring of temporary workers for the 2020 Census." State and local education declined 960 thousand in July NSA (Not Seasonally Adjusted). This was much more than expected, and this resulted an increase of only 245 thousand jobs SA (Seasonally Adjusted). This means state and local governments are cutting education much more than expected due to budget constraints. I'll have more on this later. . This graph shows permanent job losers as a percent of the pre-recession peak in employment through the July report.  This data is only available back to 1994, so there is only data for three recessions. In July, the number of permanent job losers was essentially unchanged from June. Since the overall participation rate has declined due to cyclical (recession) and demographic (aging population, younger people staying in school) reasons, here is the employment-population ratio for the key working age group: 25 to 54 years old. The prime working age will be key in the eventual recovery. The 25 to 54 participation rate decreased in July to 81.3%, and the 25 to 54 employment population ratio increased slightly to 73.8%.  The number of persons working part time for economic reasons decreased in July to 8.443 million from 9.062 million in June. These workers are included in the alternate measure of labor underutilization (U-6) that decreased to 16.5% in July. This is down from the record high in April 22.8% for this measure since 1994. The previous peak was 17.2% during the Great Recession. This graph shows the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more. According to the BLS, there are 1.501 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job. This will increase sharply in 2 or 3 months, and will be a key measure to follow during the recovery. Summary: The headline monthly jobs number was above expectations and the previous two months were revised up 18,000 combined. The headline unemployment rate decreased to 10.2%. As a reminder, the course of the economy will be determined by the course of the pandemic.

 Major League Baseball season on brink of collapse as COVID-19 continues to spread - Major League Baseball’s (MLB) season began on July 23 and has already been forced to postpone 17 games due to COVID-19 outbreaks. As many as 21 members of the Miami Marlins, including 18 players (or 60 percent of its game day roster), tested positive for the coronavirus last week. Over the weekend, multiple St. Louis Cardinals players and staffers tested positive as well, along with at least two staffers on the Philadelphia Phillies. These teams cannot play until their remaining players test negative for at least three to four days. Although MLB tests all of its players and staff every two days, because of delays in testing results a positive case can go up to four days before being diagnosed. The infected teams, their recent opponents and their upcoming opponents all have to postpone their games. Fully 20 percent of MLB’s weekend games, which typically receive the highest viewerships, have had to be postponed. MLB’s plan has been to play a shortened season, originally consisting of 60 games played over 66 days. To make up for these postponed games MLB intends to schedule multiple double headers with the standard nine inning games being reduced to seven. Playing so many games in such a short period significantly increases the risk of injuries to players, particularly pitchers. On Friday Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark that if the sport does not do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut down for the season. According to official guidelines, Manfred has the sole discretion to suspend the season. The almost immediate collapse of MLB’s return to play exposes the absurdity of attempting to play professional sports in the midst of the most serious public health crisis in modern history.

Covid’s Corporate Welfare Kings - USED TO BE THAT GIG WORKERS were those cool cats blowing a mean sax into the wee hours. Now even the tone deaf can get a gig. All you need is a car and the willingness to shop for someone else’s groceries, deliver carryout, or chauffeur random strangers. “The gig economy is a euphemism for people who are unemployed hustling to pay their rent,” says Bloomberg analyst and Wall Street denizen Barry Ritholtz. “It’s described in terms of independent contractors using their own time and assets, but that’s not what it is,” he told me by phone. “You’re still working for the man. You just don’t get health care and unemployment benefits.” Instead, these benefits, for both gig workers and regular employees, come from the government in the form of subsidized health insurance, food stamps, and other benefits. The standard fault line in American politics runs between those who want to expand benefits to workers and those who expect people to “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.” But from an economist’s point of view, worker pay and government benefits that flow to workers are both wages. Both have a monetary value that goes toward the worker’s bottom line. The political question then is simply who should pay what share of those wages. Should companies be required to pay some minimum “living wage,” or should government supplement the earnings of the “working poor.” (Benefits for those unable to work fall into another category.) In the days of strong labor unions, large employers were held to account for paying a living wage. But unionism went into a secular decline in the 1980s, epitomized by the rise of Walmart. In 2005 a number of studies examining state health benefits and welfare rolls came to light. In state after state, Walmart headed the list of companies with workers or their children on Medicaid and other public insurance programs. Arizona’s Department of Economic Security published data showing that taxpayers funded insurance for nearly 10 percent of Walmart employees in the state. Dunkin’ Donuts topped the list in Massachusetts with 1,923 employees on the public rolls. The issue got some traction in 2013, when an audio recording of a call to McDonald’s McResources help line went viral. A McAgent was heard helpfully telling Nancy, a full-time employee of ten years, that she should consider food banks and could apply for food stamps and Medicaid to support her family. The pro-labor group Low Pay is Not OK publicized the story. But even centrists like Ritholtz were appalled. “The two biggest welfare queens in America today are Walmart and McDonald’s,” he wrote for Bloomberg Opinion in 2013. Since then, Amazon has taken the lead. A study released in 2018 found that one in ten Amazon employees in Ohio received SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits and an incredible one in three Arizona Amazonians used food stamps.

Georgia 'This Is A Tsunami:' Health Care Workers, Angry Over Rising COVID-19 Cases, Want Mask Mandate As parents and teachers across Georgia ready for a return to school as early as Friday, coronavirus cases continue to surge, raising concerns among health care workers that the worst is yet to come."If March-April was a wave, this is a tsunami," Dr. Carlos del Rio tweeted over the weekend. "This could have been prevented."Del Rio is one of the state's top infectious disease doctors and the executive associate dean for Emory at Grady.The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized inside Emory Healthcare, the state's largest health system, jumped nearly fivefold since early June, and the strain is affecting doctors, nurses and staff who work around the clock tending to sick patients.The state saw 2,890 new cases reported Monday, July 27, with 30.4% from non-rural counties outside the Atlanta metro area. Of the 11 deaths reported Monday, eight people were from rural areas, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health.Hospitals around the state are filling up fast, with several, including Emory Johns Creek Hospital, on total diversion.Looking at critical care beds, Regions A, E, H, L — encompassing 45 different Georgia counties — have a total of 15 critical care beds, according to GEMA.Athens, the home of the University of Georgia, falls into Region E and has zero critical care beds."We are tired, we are frustrated and we are mad," del Rio said in his tweet.

LA Mayor Threatens To Shut Off Water And Power At Homes Hosting Parties- Virus Updates - As a bevy of states ratchet up fines on anyone found hosting parties or other events where large numbers of people are violating social distancing rules, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti warned during his Tuesday briefing that he would shut off the water and power of any homes suspected of throwing house parties.The briefing started off by recognizing what may have been the first teenage death in LA County.Here's more on that from KTLA: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti opened his daily briefing Tuesday recognizing what may have been the first teenage COVID-19 death in L.A. County and went on to announce actions against nonessential businesses that don’t close and a new portal for recruiting medics.He reminded young people that the virus can hit them too, urging them to stay at home and practice social distancing."Your behavior can save a life and take a life,” Garcetti said. “And that life could be yours."The mayor addressed President Trump’s remarks from earlier Tuesday about having the nation “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” Garcetti said he didn’t think L.A. would be back to normal “in that short time."“We won’t extend it one day longer than we need to,” Garcetti said, but emphasized that the “safer at home” measure had to be followed through.The mayor said L.A. is six to 12 days behind New York in being hit with a wave of positive cases."The peak is not here yet,” he said. “It will be bad."Garcetti emphasized the need for medical workers who can test, treat, heal and tend to coronavirus patients. He announced that together with L.A. County, the city has opened up a portal for medical personnel recruitment, with both paid and pro-bono positions. He said the Department of Water and Power will shut off services for the businesses that don’t comply with the “safer at home” ordinance. Neighborhood prosecutors will implement safety measures and will contact the businesses before issuing further action, according to Garcetti.

Coronavirus-Linked Fraud Victims Have Been Swindled Out Of Almost $100 Million - U.S. losses from coronavirus related fraud have reached nearly $100 million since March, according to a new report by Reuters. Complaints about Covid-19 scams in states have "doubled in most states" as well. A consumer protection group report based on government data shows a "fast-growing" criminal industry surrounding Covid, including everything from fake stimulus check offers to shopping scams and fake cures. The study showed that California, Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania were the five most targeted states. Combined, they account for about a third of more than 150,000 instances of Covid-related fraud reported by the FTC nationally.  In total, victims have been swindled out of approximately $97.5 million to date, the FTC says.  Smaller states like Maine also showed large spikes in Covid-related fraud. Maine's monthly complaints about Covid scams and identity theft have quadrupled between March and July. The report was distributed by SocialCatfish.com, which "helps consumers avoid being defrauded online by determining the true identity of individuals or organizations hiding behind a phony persona."Richard Neil, a spokesman, said: "Scams taking advantage of Americans’ desperation in the midst of a deadly pandemic and accompanying economic upheaval are running rampant." Other types of fraud being perpetrated include robocalls, texts or emails seeking personal information, as well as people seeking financial information to "deposit benefits" into victims' accounts. ...

Officials find 'most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history' between Mexico and Arizona - Federal officials said they discovered an underground tunnel traveling across the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona that they said appears to be the “most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history.”Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discovered the unfinished tunnel after excavating outside of Yuma, Ariz., as part of an ongoing multiagency investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arm.The passage was found to be 3 feet wide and 4 feet high and was equipped with a fully developed ventilation system, water lines, electrical wiring, rail system, extensive reinforcement and shoring.“This appears to be the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history, and certainly the most sophisticated I’ve seen in my career,” Carl Landrum, acting chief patrol agent with the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector, said in a news release. “We will continue to work closely with our partners – Homeland Security Investigations and state and local agencies to provide the best national security possible.”Investigators started excavating around the tunnel late last month after a sinkhole was reported near the border wall. HSI had already received reports of tunnel activity in the area. It was not immediately clear what the tunnel was being used for since it was incomplete, but smugglers are known to use underground passages beneath the border to move drugs, people and other materials.

The New Face of Union-Busting --  THE THING ABOUT UNION-BUSTING as a tactic of workplace warfare is that it is extremely adaptable. Whether the goal is to kneecap a fledgling organizing drive or to intimidate those trying to rally their coworkers around a particular issue, for the bosses sitting at the top of the corporate food chain, there is a whole smorgasbord of attractive options available—depending on just how deep their pockets run and how public they want their machinations to be.Over the years, the anti-union industrial complex has evolved into a lucrative field unto itself; it’s not all brash targeted firings and stuffy, captive audience meetings anymore. Some solutions are quieter, sneakier, and more suited to the image that outwardly progressive or even “social justice”-oriented organizations seek to convey. Whether it’s hiring a very specific kind of law firm, chiseling away at a new union’s bargaining unit to lessen its impact, or forcing workers to jump through the hoop of holding a secret ballot election instead of just voluntarily recognizing their union, these more genteel tactics can be just as effective as those wielded by old-fashioned strikebreakers, even if they’re no longer quite as violent. A recent spate of union-busting tussles and general bad boss behavior has thrown a harsh spotlight on the rot at the top of various nonprofits, liberal political organizations, and beloved cultural institutions. While the myth of the progressive boss has gone some way toward shielding these leaders from scrutiny, that glossy veneer can only hide so much. Now, many workplace battles are playing out in the boardroom or courthouse instead of in the streets or on the job site, but they’re happening for the same nefarious reasons they always have. There are a number of pricey “management-side” law firms out there, some more feared than others. For its part, Ogletree Deakins makes no bones about its stated mission to help its clients “minimize the risk of unionization.”  (To get a sense of their general vibe, not only is Ogletree Deakins the notoriously racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “go-to legal counsel,” but back in the 1970s, they represented J.P. Stevens, the textile firm where the real-life Norma Rae worked.)

New York Times calls for de facto racial quotas in classical music - The New York Times has issued a call for de facto racial quotas in American orchestras. In a major article on July 19, Anthony Tommasini, the Times’chief classical music critic, called for the end of blind auditions for orchestral positions, substituting a kind of affirmative action in order to ensure the hiring of African-American and Latino musicians.Tommasini’s comment was included within a larger feature, designed to portray the field of classical music as one that is permeated by what theTimes calls “systemic racism.” This recent example of the reactionary racial-communalist politics now being promoted by the Times included interviews with African-American performers “about how to truly transform their white-dominated field.”The Times’ critic mentions a 2014 study reporting that “only 1.8 percent of the players in top ensembles were Black; just 2.5 percent were Latino.” These figures are presented as proof of systemic racism. Even though blind auditions, behind a screen, were instituted at the New York Philharmonic about 50 years ago precisely in order to deal with the charge of discrimination and of an “old boys’ network” that led to favoritism, today they “are no longer tenable,” according to Tommasini. He calls for a system “that takes race and gender into account, along with the full spectrum of a musician’s experience.” In three pages of interviews and articles on this subject, the Times editors do not even attempt to substantiate a charge of present-day discrimination. In fact, a color line did exist, at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere, until the post-World War II period and the advent of the mass civil rights movement. The infamous incident in 1939, when contralto Marian Anderson, one of the greatest voices of the 20th century, was denied permission to sing in Washington’s Constitution Hall, is very well known. Legendary tenor Roland Hayes and bass-baritone Paul Robeson, among others, never sang on the operatic stage.

BLM organizer knocks off veteran Democrat in House primary - Black Lives Matter organizer Cori Bush defeated Rep. William Lacy Clay in Missouri’s Democratic primary Tuesday night, halting a St. Louis political dynasty.Jason Rosenbaum, a political correspondent for St. Louis Public Radio, called Bush’s victory “one of the most significant moments in the history of St. Louis politics. It is enormous.”Clay has served in the House of Representatives since 2001, succeeding his father, who had held the seat since 1969. Bush, 44, had challenged Clay, 64, in 2018 but lost by 20 points.In the 2020 rematch, she edged out Clay to win the Democratic nomination for the St. Louis-based district.“They counted us out. They called me just the protester. I’m just the activist. With no name, no title and no real money. That’s all they said that I was. But St. Louis showed up today,” Bush said following her victory, adding, “It is historic that this year, of all the years, we are sending a Black, working-class, single mother, who’s been fighting for Black lives since Ferguson, all the way to the halls of Congress.” The district is considered safely Democratic, meaning Bush will almost certainly become the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress.

Two Black moms took their kids to the Mall. Secret Service officers confronted them with guns, they said. - It was a hot Thursday afternoon, so India Johnson, 26, and Yasmeen Winston, 25, decided to take their babies to splash in the fountains at the World War II Memorial. The women, best friends since seventh grade, parked on Constitution Avenue near the White House and prepared to walk to the Mall.Their babies were in the back seat, Mother Goose Club was singing through the car speakers, and the mothers were digging around in diaper bags when they heard the crash and felt the jolt.Johnson and Winston looked up. A Secret Service cruiser had driven into their front left bumper, Winston told The Washington Post. Within seconds, Winston recalled, a uniformed Secret Service officer was pointing a rifle at them, yelling “Get out!” and “Put your hands in the air!” More officers surrounded them with guns pulled, the women said. Over the next hour, Winston and Johnson said, they were handcuffed without reason, separated from their crying babies, and handled by police who, at first, did not wear masks to protect against the novel coronavirus.The women are now demanding that the Secret Service investigate the encounter and publicly release details of the incident that, they said, made them fear for their lives and the safety of their children.“This incident took place near our national monuments across from the White House,” their attorney, Timothy Maloney, wrote in the letter demanding an investigation to Secret Service Director James Murray over the weekend. “It occurred after eight weeks of unprecedented national demonstrations about excessive police conduct, some of which took place right there on Constitution Avenue. Has the Secret Service learned nothing this summer?” Initially, the women said, an officer told them the vehicle had been reported stolen and that the suspects were two Black men. But the women, both African American, said no men were with them and provided proof that Johnson was the owner. She told the Secret Service she had never reported the car stolen. Eventually, the women were released — without an apology or answers to their questions, Winston said.  Days later, they said they still don’t know why the Secret Service targeted them. “I could have been another Breonna Taylor,” Winston said. “I could have been another innocent woman who has no record and got shot.”   The Secret Service said it is “looking into the matter” and “has no further comment at this time.”

Vallejo Police Officers Performed Ritual to Celebrate Each Time They Killed on the Job  -An investigative report by Open Vallejo details a disturbing tradition that took place for a generation within the Vallejo Police Department. “A secretive clique” of officers reportedly “commemorated fatal shootings with beers, backyard barbecues and by bending the points of their badges each time they kill[ed] in the line of duty.” It was a practice they referred to as “The Badge of Honor,” Open Vallejo reports. The practice was apparently so hidden that some officers involved in deadly shootings were never aware that it existed.  “The Badge of Honor” tradition was exposed, however, when a police captain “tried to end the practice following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Willie McCoy in February 2019.” According to Open Vallejo, over the next six months, “the highest levels of Vallejo city government and the district attorney’s office” became aware of what was happening in the shadows at the police department.  From the report:The captain who pushed for an investigation, John Whitney, would soon be out of a job. A former SWAT team commander with two master’s degrees, Whitney says he was forced out of the department after raising concerns about the badge-bending tradition and other misconduct. He filed a retaliation claim against the city in March. “The community we serve will lose faith in us,” Whitney told Open Vallejo. “This practice needs to end.”  The independent news site’s research shows that out of roughly 100 officers on the force, close to 40 percent of them had been in at least one fatal shooting at the time of Whitney’s firing. Over a third were participants in two or more fatal shootings.. From the findings:  Of the 51 current and former Vallejo police officers who have been involved in fatal shootings since 2000, at least 14 had their badges bent by a colleague afterward, sources familiar with the tradition confirmed. One source told Open Vallejo the number could be much higher.  At least seven officers’ badges have multiple bends, according to officers who have seen them and photos obtained by Open Vallejo. They belong to some of the department’s most prolific shooters, including Sean Kenney, Joe McCarthy and Steve Darden, a member of Vallejo’s command staff who was put in charge of the city’s Hostage Negotiation Team after being promoted to lieutenant in February. Together these men account for nearly a third of the department’s 30 fatal shootings of the past two decades.

Florida man spits on boy and says, 'You now have coronavirus' - An intoxicated Florida man allegedly spat on a child’s face and told the boy “You now have coronavirus,” according to a report. The disturbing encounter took place last Sunday night at Ricky T’s restaurant in Treasure Island, Fox 13 news reported. Jason Copenhaver, 47, first told the boy to take his mask off at the eatery and asked if he could shake his hand, police said. Copenhaver then grabbed the boy’s arm and put his face next to the child’s, telling the boy he now had the coronavirus, according to police reports. “Victim stated that (Copenhaver) was in such close proximity that spit particles from (Copenhaver’s) mouth landed in his face,” an officer wrote in the police report. The man later tried to hit an employee twice, but the worker grabbed Copenhaver and escorted him outside until cops arrived, the report said. Copenhaver was charged with simple battery and disorderly conduct. Police said Copenhaver told them he didn’t know if he had coronavirus and has never been tested.

A woman who coughed on a brain tumour patient in a viral video has been charged with assault, police say - A woman who coughed on someone during a dispute on June 25 in a Pier 1 store in Jacksonville, Florida, has been charged with assault, the police said. Heather Sprague had taken out her phone to film an altercation between the woman and the staff. Sprague posted the video of her encounter on Facebook, writing in the caption that the woman “was becoming increasingly belligerent” and threatening employees when they said she could not return a damaged item. In the video, the woman appears to realise Sprague is filming, then says, “I think I’ll get real close to you and cough on you.” She then coughs on Sprague. In her post, Sprague said she was undergoing treatment for a brain tumour. As of Monday morning, the video had been viewed more than 4 million times. A representative for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Insider that a woman named Debra Hunter was arrested and charged with assault on July 22. First Coast News, a local ABC affiliate, first reported the news on Friday. The situation at Pier 1 is one of many notable instances of people acting out in stores during the coronavirus pandemic. Another woman coughed on patrons in a New York City bagel store in June after she was asked to put on a face mask to help prevent the spread of the virus.. Video here.

Man slashes woman he thought was standing too close to him on subway - A man flew into a rage on a Queens subway train this week — kicking a woman who he thought was standing a bit too close, and then slashing her when she started filming him, according to cops. A 29-year-old woman boarded a southbound 7 train at the Junction Boulevard station at the corner of 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, and stood in front of a man who was sitting by the doors, police said. The man kicked the woman and snapped, “Get the f–k away from me!” That was enough to prompt the woman to pull out her cellphone and start taking a video. The man continued cursing at the woman and demanded she stop recording, according to cops. He then removed a lanyard with a folding knife from his neck and started swinging it at the woman, police said. The victim, who sustained a cut on her left arm, got off the train at the 82nd Street station, while her attacker remained on board. She refused medical attention. Cops say the suspect is around 28 years old and 6 feet tall with a slim build and brown eyes, with short, close-cut, dark hair.

Virginia rape suspect allegedly killed his accuser after being released from jail due to coronavirus -  A man charged with rape is now accused of murdering his accuser after he was released from prison over coronavirus concerns, The Washington Post reports.Ibrahim E. Bouaichi was indicted last year on charges that included rape, sodomy, strangulation and abduction, and was jailed without bond in Alexandria, Va. He had been accused of rape by Karla Dominguez last October and she testified about the crime in December.  But in April, Bouaichi's lawyers argued the novel coronavirus put him and other inmates in danger, and a Circuit Court judge allowed for his release on $24,000 bond on the condition he stay confined to his Maryland home except for meeting with his lawyers or trial officials.  According to the Post, police say the 33-year-old returned to Alexandria on July 29 and shot and killed Dominguez outside her apartment. He remained missing until Wednesday when he was spotted by police and engaged in a vehicle pursuit resulting in a car crash. As police went to arrest Bouaichi, they realized he had shot himself. As of Thursday, Bouaichi remained alive but in grave condition. According to the Post, he has been charged with murder in Alexandria.Alexandria Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter told The Post that normally those charged with violent crimes such as rape are denied bond because they are considered a danger, and prosecutors in the case had argued that he not be released on bond. According to The Post, there is minimal information on Dominguez, a native of Venezuela with no family in the U.S. A GoFundMe was launched after her murder to help cover funeral costs.

State and Local Government Education Employment will Increase Sharply in July, Seasonally Adjusted – McBride- Previously I wrote: Will State and Local Governments Hire 1 Million Teachers in June and July? No, but ...There will be some weird seasonal adjustments this year!  Every year, state and local governments let about 2 million teachers go in late Spring, and then hire them back at the end of Summer.Here are a couple of graphs to illustrate what will happen. The first graph shows the typical seasonal pattern for state and local government education hiring and layoffs.  The graph is Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), and cumulative hires since July.This shows three school years: 2017-2018 (blue), 2018-2019 (orange), and 2019-2020 (red).The typical pattern is a substantially amount of hiring in September, a dip in January, and then a large number of layoffs in June and July.In the current school year (red), educators were let go earlier than usual due to the pandemic, with layoffs starting in March.   It appears another 350 thousand or more educators will be let go in July NSA. The second graph shows the same three school years, on a seasonally adjusted basis (cumulative since the previous July). Since there is a regular seasonal pattern, the BLS adjusts the hiring so the typical school year hiring and layoffs, Seasonally Adjusted (SA), is mostly flat. However, in the 2019-2020 school year, layoffs started much earlier.   Now, in July, the red line will have to come back close to zero after the seasonal adjustment.  This would suggest about 850 thousand jobs added in July SA.Note: There could be more layoffs than usual, NSA, since state and local budgets are under pressure, which would mean fewer than 850 thousands jobs added SA.  But the SA number will still be large.Just something to remember when looking at the headline employment number.

Drive to reopen US schools continues despite mounting evidence of deadly consequences - The drive to reopen the schools continues across the US despite mounting evidence of the disastrous public health implications of doing so even as the coronavirus pandemic rages out of control. New cases of COVID-19 and deaths from the disease continue to rise and no plan is in place to contain the spread of the virus. Under these conditions, it is impossible to reopen schools safely even with the most advanced measures to protect teachers and students, let alone the half-measures underfunded school districts are implementing. Opposition to the reopening of the schools is growing in every part of the country, with social media exploding over the past month since President Trump tweeted that “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” There are now over 55 Facebook groups in at least 30 states, with a combined membership of over 300,000 educators, parents and students. These social media groups have served as centers for the organization of car caravans and other forms of protest. At least four schools in Indiana and Mississippi that resumed in-person instruction over the past week have already had a student test positive for COVID-19. Within hours of the start of the first school day at Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana, officials were notified that a student had tested positive, prompting them to isolate the student and order all those with whom the student had come into contact to self-quarantine. There is an expanding body of scientific research showing the centrality of keeping schools closed as part of any plan to contain the pandemic. Last week, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA) concluded that the widespread closure of schools in mid-March saved at least 40,600 lives over a 16-day period and resulted in an estimated 1.37 million fewer infections over a 26-day period in the spring. Those states that closed earliest saw the largest relative reductions in infections and deaths. Another JAMA study released last week found that babies and young children infected with COVID-19 can carry high viral loads in their throats and airways—up to 100 times the amount of adults. The study noted, “Behavioral habits of young children and close quarters in school and day care settings raise concern for SARS-CoV-2 amplification in this population as public health restrictions are eased.” These findings were corroborated in a separate study from Trento, Italy, which found that children 14 years old and younger transmit the virus at over twice the rate of adults aged 30–49.

US teachers defy threats to cut funding for schools that delay in-person learning - Facing popular outrage over the reckless rush to reopen schools, several large districts, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston and Miami-Dade, Florida, have been forced to start the school year with online learning only. As of July 29, Education Week reported, 20 of the 29 school districts with more than 100,000 students will reopen with remote learning only.Four of the largest districts, however, including New York City (1.1 million students), Chicago (360,000 students), Hawaii (181,000 students) and Duval County, Florida (130,000 students), will require teachers and students to attend school for at least part of the week under a so-called “hybrid/partial” model, which also includes some remote learning. Five large districts, Education Week reported, will hold a full in-person reopening available for all students. These include three in Florida—Hillsborough County (220,000), Polk County (101,000), Pinellas County (101,000)—and two in Texas—Dallas (155,000) and Cypress-Fairbanks (116,500).Millions of students are being sent back to school in medium and smaller districts across the US, even though the numbers of COVID-19 cases are higher in many states across the country than they were when schools were forced to close in mid-March. While politicians from both parties profess concern about the academic and psychological impact of keeping schools closed, their chief concern is getting children out of their homes so their parents can be forced back into factories, warehouses and other workplaces to resume making profits. Over the next week, several districts in Tennessee, Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, Mississippi and Utah will open with full in-person learning. At least nine cases have already been confirmed in Indiana’s schools, which opened last week, and in Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest district in Georgia, 260 school workers have been quarantined after testing positive or being exposed to someone who had.  Protests against the unsafe openings continue to spread across the country. On Tuesday, teachers in Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah protested. Around 67,000 students are scheduled to return on August 24 for full in-school learning. About 100 teachers and parents in Columbia, Missouri also protested outside of the school board meeting Tuesday night in an event promoted on Facebook called “Not until it’s safe.”  As opposition continues to grow, the Trump administration, Congressional Republicans and various Republican-controlled state legislatures are threatening to reduce or cut funding to schools that do not reopen for in-person instruction.

 All the biggest (and weirdest) ideas schools around the world are considering to get students back in classrooms -  For many K-12 students, back-to-school season is looming — and it's going to look a little different this year.Some schools, like those in New York, are planning on only partially reopening, while some schools in Florida are set to reopen fully, andothers in California are planning on remaining remote.  Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off funding for schools that don't reopen (something that he doesn't legally have the authority to do). Trump does have the authority to approve extra funding for schools, which teachers have been saying is badly needed  to reopen safely The Republican "HEALS Act" proposes $70 billion of K-12 education of education, but much of that money is directly tied to reopening. It's also much less than what would be provided in the bill already passed by the Democratic-led House, but the parties have not so far been able to reach an agreement. There's a delicate balance to be struck: the economy cannot recoverwith daycares and schools closed. And experts say that key aspects of in-person instruction can't be replaced with virtual learning. Butreopening also must be safe for teachers, students, and families. Here are some big — and weird — ideas at the forefront of schools reopening, from frequent testing to pod-style classrooms to outdoor instruction.

 Illinois school district bans pajamas for online school - An Illinois school district is cracking down on remote learning dress codes, disallowing students from wearing pajamas while attending online classes. The Springfield Public Schools Board of Education approved the district's new handbook this week, which applies in-person dress codes to remote learning settings, NBC News reported. "We don't need students in pajamas and all those other things while on their Zoom conference," Director of School Support Jason Wind said during a virtual school board meeting on Monday. Students will also be required to get out of their beds and attend classes while sitting in a chair at home, upright and attentive to the instructor's lessons. The handbook states, "Hats, caps, bandanas, hoods of any type, sweatbands, sunglasses, pajama pants, slippers, or shoes with wheels attached to the bottom shall not be worn in the buildings," and are applicable when virtual classes are in session. "In our regular student dress code, it actually states that pajama pants and so forth are not acceptable school apparel," Wind said. Board member Judith Ann Johnson told NBC that students would be more focused if they are dressed and sitting to mirror typical classroom expectations.

Hundreds of employees in Georgia's largest school district 'excluded from work' over coronavirus concerns -More than 250 employees in one Georgia school district are currently not working due to positive coronavirus tests or exposure to those infected.CNN reported Monday that about 260 employees with the Gwinnett County School District (GCPS), Georgia's largest school district, will not return for work for at least several days due to potential exposure to the virus or a positive diagnosis of COVID-19."As of last Thursday, we had approximately 260 employees who had been excluded from work due to a positive case or contact with a case. This number is fluid as we continue to have new reports and others who are returning to work," a spokesperson told CNN.“Through tracing, we know that the majority of these cases are the result of community spread, meaning we have people who have called in to report who have not been at school or work, the spokesperson told theAtlanta Journal-Constitution.Gwinnett County, the state's second-most populous, encompasses a large area surrounding Lawrenceville outside of the state's capitol of Atlanta. It has reported nearly 18,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, just behind Fulton County, the state's most-populous county.Georgia health officials have seen the rate of new infections explode in recent weeks, though the state has been able to stop the 7-day average of new cases from passing 3,500 per day after weeks of the rate rising sharply.The county has moved to suspend plans to return to in-person learning for schools in the fall due to concerns of rising COVID-19 case numbers,prompting protests from some parents.

Georgia school lifts suspension of student who posted photos of crowded hall - A 15-year-old Georgia high school student who was suspended after she posted now-viral photos and footage of fellow students, some of whom were not wearing masks or face coverings in crowded hallways, said her punishment has been lifted. “This morning my school called and they have deleted my suspension. To everyone supporting me, I can’t thank you enough. If I’m not responding it’s because my life has been somewhat crazy the past few days,” Hannah Watters, a student at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., tweeted Friday morning. Watters shared photos and video footage, as well as tallies of her fellow classmates who were wearing masks as a protection against the coronavirus, earlier this week. The five-day suspension she received has been wiped from her record,The New York Times reported.A second student, who has asked that their name not be disclosed, was also suspended after sharing similar photos online, BuzzFeed News reported. It is unclear if that suspension has been lifted as well.Watters acknowledged that she breached a school policy that bans filming students and posting images to social media without their consent. However, she told the Times that she does not regret raising awareness about the lack of social distancing measures in her school.“My mom has always told me that she won’t get mad at us if we get in trouble as long as it’s ‘good trouble,’” Watters said, invoking the famous phrase from the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). “You’re bettering society and bettering the world, so those consequences don’t outweigh the end result,” she said.

Cuomo says all New York schools can open with strict guidelines - Schools across New York State — including in the five boroughs — can reopen this fall, as coronavirus infections rates continue to remain low in the region, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. “Good news. All schools can reopen,” Cuomo said in a conference with reporters Friday. He said the state is hovering at a 1 percent positive test rate for COVID-19, well below the 5 percent threshold recommended by the World Health Organization for general reopening and adopted by New York State. Each school district, however, must submit reopening plans that require approval from the state Health Department. New York City was late in submitting its 32-page systemwide plan last week for blended learning at its 1,800 schools, though it was panned by some state officials as not being detailed enough. Cuomo said the Health Department is reviewing reopening plans from the state’s 700 districts and noted that some are “incomplete.” Albany will inform school districts whether their plans pass muster later Friday or Monday. But he added generally, “For planning purposes they can open.” Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed a hybrid plan where students will have both remote learning and between one to three days of in-class instruction, depending on enrollment and layout. The state, however, is still waiting on individual plans from all 1,800 city schools. De Blasio gave principals until mid-August to submit their proposals to local education officials — despite the July 31 deadline set by the state. The city’s overall plan — which has been vehemently opposed by the United Federation of Teachers and principals unions — calls on all teachers to get tested in the days leading up to the start of the school year. It also proposes students and teachers must wear masks at all times in the building and single-direction hallway movement, as well as the breaking-up of groups of kids outside school. The report contains protocols for confirmed coronavirus cases, including classroom and building closures and mandatory quarantine periods.

NYC releases full details on school reopening plans - New York City’s final plan on reopening schools was released early Friday night — including fleshed-out details on coronavirus testing for students and staffers, protocols on positive cases and potential schools closures.Students and staff will be chosen at random for temperature screenings every day, prior to entering the building, and will be required to conduct at-home temperature checks, according to the expanded guidance, which is posted online. Students with a temperature of more than 100 degrees will not be allowed to enter the building. Staffers, including teachers, will undergo COVID-19 testing on a rolling basis once school is in session, with the Department of Education recommending that they get checked “at least once a month.” The 109-page proposal also lays out details on how coronavirus-positive cases will be handled. All students and teachers in classes with a confirmed case must quarantine for 14 days, as they’re considered “close contacts.” In schools where students travel between classes, quarantine is also mandated for individuals in all classes attended by the confirmed case. Students who are in quarantine will continue remote learning. A COVID-19 positive individual will only be allowed to return to school with clearance from a doctor and if they are symptom-free for 24 hours without use of medication, the plan says. There is also a chain-of-command in place when communicating a positive case — involving the Department of Health, Department of Education, school principal, Building Response Team, superintendent, affected teachers and Borough Safety Director. The plan also warns that schools could close if there were “recurrent, uncontrolled outbreaks of COVID-19 … even if the overall case rates across New York City were to remain low.” That’s in contrast to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said schools would shutter if the city’s infection rate hits 3 percent.

Georgia grad students and faculty hold 'die in' demonstration to protest reopening =  The University of Georgia staff and graduate students held a silent "die-in" demonstration Friday to protest plans for the campus reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 50 demonstrators lay scattered 6 feet apart wearing face coverings on the lawn outside the school administration's building, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Some protesters held signs resembling tombstones with phrases like "R.I.P. campus safety," or "In loving memory." The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in roughly 160,000 deaths in the U.S. since the start of the outbreak in January. Older adults are typically more prone to severe coronavirus infections, although individuals with weakened immune systems are also at high risk. The demonstrators have a list of demands corresponding to the protest, including petitions for more COVID-19 testing and offering faculty members the liberty to teach remotely. Currently, faculty must seek permission from the school to teach remote online courses. The group submitted a petition with 1,002 signatures along with the list of demands to an employee in the administration building. Graduate student Bryant Barnes said the school's current testing plans would not be enough to accommodate consistently testing all students and employees. Georgia school lifts suspension of student who posted photos of... 7-year-old becomes youngest to die of coronavirus in Georgia Sujata Iyengar, a professor at the school since 1998 who joined protesters, said she thinks university officials "have not thought this through," adding that more classes should be held outside rather than indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.

 Homicidal drive to play college football continues - Despite a dramatic increase in new COVID-19 cases in July and expectations of another surge in the fall as schools reopen, US colleges and universities are moving forward with plans to operate their college football programs with minimal changes. It is practically guaranteed that the opening of the 2020 football season and the fall college semester will spark new outbreaks of COVID-19 among players, the general student population and the surrounding communities. The average student is at an even greater risk because, unlike players, they will not have access to the testing or dedicated health resources reserved for athletics. Although ostensibly an amateur competition (although under-the-table bribes are common practice to secure commitments from top high school recruits), college athletics in America is a multi-billion dollar business, with attendances and TV audiences equal to, and in some cases greater than, professional competitions. Top college football coaches, who at public universities are technically state employees, make salaries similar to those of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. In the intense struggle for fan interest and revenue, top schools routinely funnel hundreds of millions into their athletics programs even as their academic infrastructure crumbles. Last year’s football champion, Louisiana State University, receives more in donations each year from alumni to its athletics program than to the actual university. The contrast between its decision to invest millions into a futuristic locker room for the football team and the continuously-flooded basement of the school’s library was widely covered in the press last year. At lower, less lucrative levels of competition, hundreds of programs have already canceled their seasons. All championships for the National College Athletics Association (NCAA)’s Division II and Division III have already been canceled, the sport’s governing body announced yesterday. Many programs in Division I’s lower-level Football Championship Subdivision have also canceled fall sports. But at larger, more lucrative programs, university administrations are proceeding full speed ahead. Many schools have not even made the decision to play without fans. The University of Texas, whose football stadium is in the middle of downtown Austin, one of the most populous cities in the country, plans on playing its home football games in front of 25 percent capacity crowds, or 25,000 people. Similar schemes are in the works at the University of Georgia, Ohio State University and other schools. Not even Major League Baseball, whose reckless return to play is on the verge of collapse after several outbreaks, has allowed fans into its stadiums.

'Big 10' Releases Shortened 2020 Football Schedule After UConn Cancels Football Season - Hours after UConn became the first major football team to cancel its 2020 season, the Big Ten has just released its schedule for the 2020 season, which calls for the first games on the weekend of Sept. 5, with final games slated for Nov. 21, in an effort to align with academic calendars.  The football schedule starts as early as the weekend of Sept. 5 with final games slated for Nov. 21 to align with academic calendars. The Big Ten Football Championship Game remains scheduled for Dec. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium, though it could be moved as late as Dec. 19. pic.twitter.com/vWp3OSifBc  — Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 5, 2020   Teams in the conference will play a 10-game, conference-only football schedule beginning  Labor Day weekend and building in "ample flexibility," the league announced Wednesday morning. Each team has two open weeks, and the schedule has four weeks built in to reschedule games, including a league-wide open week on Nov. 28.  The model allows for opening games on the weekend of Sept. 3-5 to be moved to Sept. 12, Sept. 19 or Sept. 26 if need be via "strategic sequencing".  UConn's 2020 football season will forever remain the year that could have been. The Connecticut flagship state university set a nationwide precedent on Wednesday when its athletic department announced that it would cancel its upcoming football season over fears tied to the coronavirus pandemic.According to media reports, requirements that visitors from other states quarantine for at least 2 weeks had already caused nearly half a dozen games to be cancelled for the regular season. With New York, CT and NJ adding Rhode Island to the growing list (which now includes 35 states and territories) earlier this week, UConn was struggling to book new opponents.

 Universities prepare to blame students for COVID-19 outbreaks - As in-person classes resume in the fall, the uncoordinated and insufficient response of administrators poses a serious risk of a further spread of COVID-19. Indeed, the American ruling class is fully aware of the inevitability of a surge in cases if schools are reopened. In light of this, colleges and universities are prepared to blame the spread of the coronavirus on students. Tulane University dean of students Erica Woodley sent out a scornful email July 7, after a number of students partied on the July 4 weekend. Woodley chided students for “disrespectful, selfish and dangerous” behavior and posed the question “[d]o you really want to be the reason that Tulane and New Orleans have to shut down again?” In bold and all caps, Woodley threatened students with suspension or expulsion if they hosted gatherings with 15 or more students. Woodley’s email is a verbal expression of a sentiment shared by university officials across the US. Authorities admonished students for not following social distancing measures in the spring and summer. A recent survey of 70 universities found that 57 percent were considering updating their code of conduct, or already had done so, to enforce social distancing guidelines. Failure to comply will lead to severe disciplinary action. Images on social media of youth partying with a disregard for social distancing have spawned a narrative that young people are responsible for the recent surge in infections. Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said officials did not anticipate the rise in infections among those aged between 18 and 35. Birx suggested that youth, who were “so good and so disciplined through March and April,” threw caution to the wind after seeing their friends having fun. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, complained that those under the age of 35 were “the age cohort that believes in many cases that they are invincible, and they are somehow immune from the impacts of COVID-19.” New York City’s official Twitter account posted a chart showing infection rates increasing among young people. The tweet pointed to millennials and Generation X, telling the age groups to “do better.” Despite the irresponsibility of some youth, and the role risky celebrations played in spreading the virus, such criticisms are founded on a lie. The unbridled spread of COVID-19 is not the fault of a relatively small number of students but is a direct consequence of the criminal response of the American ruling class.

College Expels Student For "Racist" Social Media Post, Then Discovers What Actually Happened -A student at Georgia’s Wesleyan College was reinstated after initially being expelled for social media posts that the school says it now realizes she did not make.After an investigation and appeal from the student at the all-female campus, the school found that “new information” revealed that the expelled student was not involved in the posts in question. On June 4, the student, who is remaining nameless, was expelled from the school for allegedly putting out a social media post that contained the n-word. The post was put out by an account claiming to be a student at Wesleyan. The same account also made a Halloween-related post featuring a woman in a green “Border Patrol” shirt posing as if she were arresting a man in a sombrero and serape. The photo was captioned “border?...secured. found him, met him & and just had to get a pic." According to Wesleyan College Alumnae Board of Managers member Jan Lawrence, the board was told that the student provided information proving that a high school photo of the student had been downloaded and reposted by a third party who included the caption.“On the morning we learned of the information, we launched an investigation and expelled the student that afternoon, giving her the right to appeal as provided in our policies,” college president Vivia Fowler said in an Instagram post. The student did appeal, and was reinstated after the university found that “the student did not post the racist content.”

 Here Are All The Professors “Cancelled” By The Left  - As we’ve reported extensively at Campus Reform, professors across America are facing mounting pressure to fall in line with the Left’s “Social Justice” movement. While it sounds nice, oftentimes, supporting “social justice” means supporting socialist, Marxist policies and organizations.  Increasingly, those within academia who fail to wholeheartedly support such movements are labeled “racists” and “white supremacists” and fired or suspended by their institutions.  Here’s a list breaking down some of the most egregious examples of professors being discriminated against because of their unwillingness to support the far-left social justice movement.

 Jerry Falwell Jr. placed on indefinite leave -- Jerry Falwell Jr., president and chancellor of Liberty University, has been placed on indefinite leave by the institution's board of trustees executive committee. "The Executive Committee of Liberty University’s Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr. take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately," the private, Christian university said in a statement Friday. Falwell, who is often in the news because of his support of President Trump, experienced severe backlash last week after posting a picture on Instagram of himself with his arm around a woman on a yacht, both with their pants apparently unzipped. The post was eventually deleted and Falwell apologized, claiming that the picture was “just in good fun.” Still, conservative commentators were not pleased with the photo. "If you're running the largest Christian university in America maybe don't put photos of yourself on social media with your pants undone on a yacht - with random women in bad wigs. So gross, so hypocritical," "The View" co-host Meghan McCain tweeted.

 Statins may not slash the risk of dying from heart disease: Controversial study claims the cheap cholesterol-busting pills offer no ‘consistent benefit’ - Statins are not particularly effective at reducing the risk of dying from heart disease, a study claims. Scientists analysed 35 studies into the effects of the drugs which lower 'bad' LDL cholesterol and found the pills have no consistent benefit. The research, published in the British Medical Journal, found three quarters of all trials reported no reduction in mortality among those who took the drugs. And half of all studies suggested that cholesterol-busting pills did not prevent heart attacks or strokes. The research flies in the face of decades of medical advice. Authors claimed doctors have overlooked evidence that suggests statins, which are routinely prescribed to people at risk of heart disease, are not effective. Scientists analysed 35 previous studies into the effects of drugs which lower ¿bad¿ LDL cholesterol, finding that the pills have no consistent benefit Around 8million people in Britain and 35million in the US take statins. They are thought to prevent heart attacks and strokes by lowering levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood. Statins are routinely prescribed to people thought to be at risk of heart disease, including those with diabetes, high blood pressure and over-75s. Up to six million adults in Britain currently take statins to lower their cholesterol levels and thereby reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. But many doctors and patients are worried about their long-term harms and they have been linked to diabetes, muscular pain and memory loss. Scores are uneasy with what they describe as the 'overmedicalisation' of the middle-aged, which sees statins doled out 'just in case' patients have heart problems in later life. Supporters on the other hand, including the health watchdog Nice, say the pills should be prescribed more widely to prevent thousands of early deaths. They are proven to help people who have suffered heart problems in the past. But experts say the thresholds may be too high, meaning benefits are outweighed by side effects for many people. Commonly reported side effects include headache, muscle pain and nausea, and statins can also increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hepatitis, pancreatitis and vision problems or memory loss. However, in the new study, scientists argue that widespread prescription of statins is not particularly effective at reducing death. If anything, they argue, the focus on cholesterol levels fails to identify many of those at high risk of heart disease while including those at low risk, who don't need treatment.

Red Flags Soar As Big Pharma Will Be Exempt From COVID-19 Vaccine Liability Claims -- Last week we warned readers to be cautious about new COVID-19 vaccines, highlighting how key parts of the clinical trials are being skipped as big pharma will not be held accountable for adverse side effects for administering the experimental drugs. A senior executive from AstraZeneca, Britain's second-largest drugmaker, told Reuters that his company was just granted protection from all legal action if the company's vaccine led to damaging side effects."This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in ... four years the vaccine is showing side effects," said Ruud Dobber, a top exec at AstraZeneca. "In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries, it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest," said Dobber, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.AstraZeneca is one of the 25 pharmaceutical companies across the world, testing experimental drugs that could be used to combat the deadly virus. And, of course, if testing yields positive results, AstraZeneca could manufacture hundreds of millions of doses, with no legal recourse if side effects are seen.  European officials told Reuters that product liability was a significant discussion to secure new vaccine drugs from Pfizer, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson.  As for the US, well, when it comes to the legal framework around vaccines, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already has a law called the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, which provides immunity to vaccine companies if something goes wrong.With AstraZeneca, and many US big pharma companies rushing COVID-19 vaccines to market with governments granting them immunity if the vaccine has side effects, all suggest corporate elites and government regulators have very little faith in these drugs.For more color on leading vaccines in development that produce "severe" side effects, read our latest piece titled "Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Induced Adverse Reactions In "More Than Half" Of Trial Participants." Maybe these rushed vaccines are more for optics, get consumers back into airplanes, hotels, resorts, and malls. The major red flag is how governments are allowing big pharma to rush experimental vaccines, with no legal recourse if something goes terribly wrong.

  Study Finds 98 “Long-Term” COVID-19 Symptoms Including Baldness - Epidemiologists readily admit that viruses are chock full of puzzles. And COVID-19 is no exception. Earlier today, Dr. Fauci himself lamented the fact that nearly half of those who get the virus don't see symptoms, which is one reason why young people have been so reckless, purportedly helping to spread the virus. And in a study published recently by the University of Indiana School of Medicine happened on a surprising finding: those who suffer from long-term symptoms of the coronavirus - a group that the researchers nicknamed "long haulers" after a Facebook group where many go for help - can experience all kinds of surprising symptoms, including baldness (for both men and women). The study was conducted by a doctor at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the grassroots COVID-19 survivor group Survivor Corps using a Facebook poll that was shared with a group of "long haulers", whom the researchers thanked for sharing their time and experience. The CDC has identified only 17 persistent COVID-19 symptoms, but the survey of more than 1,500 patients found 98 possible symptoms, according to Dr. Natalie Lambert, an associate research professor who worked on the study. "The new symptoms our study identified include severe nerve pain, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, blurry vision and even hair loss," Lambert said in a written statement. While the CDC guidelines are helpful for the vast majority of COVID-19 sufferers, for those who are severely affected by the virus, a much broader world of potential symptoms opens up. Many of these symptoms aren't included on the CDC's list of common COVID-19 symptoms. And until now, the medical community hadn't really recognized these symptoms as potentially tied to SARS-CoV-2.

Fauci warns of 'really bad situation' if daily coronavirus cases don't drop to 10K by September --Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, warned on Monday that the U.S. could be in a “really bad situation” if the number of new coronavirus cases confirmed daily does not drop to 10,000 by next month. Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a livestream interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association that he is basing that number on the expected emergence of the flu in the fall, as well as the return of colder weather, which will likely drive more people indoors, where health experts say COVID-19 spreads easier. "If we don't get them down, then we're going to have a really bad situation in the fall," Fauci said, according to NBC News. Currently, the U.S. is seeing between 50,000 and 70,000 new COVID-19 cases identified per day, with a seven-day average of 61,815, according to New York Times data. In his interview, Fauci said that the coronavirus follows a “real and potential pattern” as demonstrated in southern and western states weeks ago. He said first the percentage of positive tests rises and then the number of cases. "You may need to pause, you may need to drop back a little bit," he advised states experiencing the spikes, so the U.S. can reduce the number of cases. "I don't think you necessarily have to revert to going all the way back to closing." Fauci said states such as Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Minnesota are starting to see surges in the percentage of positive tests.

'COVID-19 Vaccine Could Mean Regular Injections, No Guarantee Of Immunity -  - While Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's hopeful that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available 'by late fall or early winter,' it may not be as simple as one jab for a lifetime of immunity, according to the LA Times.  For starters, a COVID-19 vaccine can be released if it's 'safe and proves effective' on as few as 50% of those who receive it, according to recently released federal guidelines. What's more, the definition of "effective" means that it simply has to 'minimize the most serious symptoms,' according to the report."We should anticipate the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to be similar to the influenza vaccine," said Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland. "That vaccine may or may not keep people from being infected with the virus, but it does keep people out of the hospital and the ICU."Because of this, experts say that the first round of COVID-19 vaccines probably won't eliminate the need for masks, social distancing and other measures. So - after all the promises made by government officials, a vaccine may only reduce symptoms, and may turn into a recurring shot that only works on half the population.Developing a vaccine capable of inducing “sterilizing immunity” — that is, the ability to prevent the virus from causing an infection — takes time and research, which might not be possible as death tolls continue to rise and the recession grows deeper. Yet with so many companies on the hunt for that vaccine, there is hope one of them might actually achieve it....Scientists had studied other coronaviruses — SARS and MERS — and mapped the novel coronavirus' genome not long after the first COVID-19 deaths were recorded. They identified the spike protein on the virus’ outer shell, which the virus uses to infiltrate the host cell and created a three-dimensional model of the virus to see how antibodies block infection by binding onto the spike protein.Even so, scientists don't yet know what immunity against the virus looks like. That information typically comes from studying the body’s natural response to disease. The number of T-cells and neutralizing antibodies that fight off an infection can become a blueprint for a vaccine. -LA Times

WHO Chief Warns ‘There Might Never Be’ A Silver Bullet For Coronavirus  - Despite progress made on a vaccine against COVID-19, "there's no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be," the World Health Organization's director-generalwarned on Monday. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' words marked six months since the organization declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern. Tedros said that at that point, on Jan. 30, "there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside of China." Three months later, the world had 3 million reported cases of COVID-19 and more than 200,000 deaths. Six months on, the figures have only worsened: now 18.1 million global cases and more than 690,000 deaths,according to the tracker at Johns Hopkins University.Tedros noted multiple vaccine candidates are in the third phase of clinical trials and expressed hope that a number of them will be effective to prevent infection by the coronavirus.But until then, the world is reliant on "the basics" of disease control, he said:

• "Testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. Do it all.
• "Inform, empower and listen to communities. Do it all.
• "For individuals, it's about keeping physical distance, wearing a mask, cleaning hands regularly and coughing safely away from others. Do it all.
• "The message to people and governments is clear: Do it all."

And when the disease is under control, he urged, "Keep going!" Phase three testing is designed to see if a vaccine candidate actually prevents disease. WHO reports that as of July 31, six vaccine candidates are in phase three.

"No Silver Bullet" - WHO's Tedros Warns COVID-19 Vaccine May Never Be Found - As a growing chorus of seemingly impartial observers (including sell-side analysts at JP Morgan and Goldman) suggests that returning to lockdowns might not be the smartest way to sustainably fight SARS-CoV-2, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros said Monday during the organization's latest briefing from its headquarters in Geneva that a cure for the virus might never be found, and that there is "no silver bullet." More than 100 vaccine candidates are in various stages of development and study, but only six tracked by the WHO have entered Phase 3 clinical trials, the most comprehensive series of trials yet designed to closely measure safety and efficacy.But even without a vaccine, falling mortality rates in the US and globally suggest that doctors have made serious progress in treating the disease."A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection.""However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be," Dr. Tedros said.Still, the world has tools to stop the spread of outbreaks. Lockdowns, masks, social distancing, contact tracing. "Do it all," Dr. Tedros - who, remember, isn't a medical doctor, but holds a PhD in philosophy with a focus on community health - advised.For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control.Testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. Do it all.Inform, empower and listen to communities. Do it all.For individuals, it’s about keeping physical distance, wearing a mask, cleaning hands regularly and coughing safely away from others. Do it all.

COVID-19 Data Dives: Why Arguments Against SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol Transmission Don't Hold Water -- I am an aerosol scientist. I have spent a lot of time examining the arguments from some that aerosols play only a very minor role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 -- and presenting the evidence that rebuts this claim. A recent article in JAMA argues that aerosols are not an important transmission pathway for SARS-CoV-2. While the article raises good questions, the arguments against aerosols are not consistent with the best science. Most important, a good understanding of aerosol physics, airflow, and dilution is needed to interpret the behavior of potentially infectious aerosols in complex real-world situations.Some of the arguments made are based on differences in aerosol and droplet sizes. Both are particles of solid or liquid material in air, with the difference being that aerosols stay suspended for longer times (minutes to hours indoors), while droplets behave ballistically and fall to the ground quickly (in seconds). To be sure, size is the most important property of particles, and because mass increases with the cube of the diameter, the fate and transmission mode of aerosols and droplets change dramatically with size. The authors write, "Droplets are classically described as larger entities (> 5 μm) that rapidly drop to the ground by force of gravity, typically within 3 to 6 feet of the source person."However, the actual size of droplets that fall to the ground that quickly correspond to sizes larger than 50 μm, so 10 times the size and 1000 (!) times the mass given in the article. This fundamental error has been repeated for decades in guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and in medical papers, despite the correct physics having been figured out by Wells in 1934 and the error having been pointed out many times by other scientists. This video from Ryan Davis, PhD, gives a more accurate picture of the behavior of ~50 μm aerosols in the air. Even at this size, the aerosols do not fall very rapidly to the ground. For aerosols of 5 μm to fall to the ground quickly, as shown in a short animation from the WHO, gravity on Earth would have to be 100 times larger than it is. A 5 μm aerosol can actually stay suspended in air for 30 minutes indoors.The table below shows the 35 cities among the top 100 rental markets with year-over-year rent declines in July for 1-BR apartments, led by college town Syracuse, NY, Madison, WI, and San Francisco. In addition to Silicon Valley’s San Jose and some other unicorn-startup-bubble hubs with a large university presence, such as Boston, there are a bunch of cities on this list that are in the hard-hit oil patch in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, with Texas being the epicenter of oil-and-gas company bankruptcy filings, and also being represented by seven entries on this list:

U.S. reports show racial disparities in kids with COVID-19 - Racial disparities in the U.S. coronavirus epidemic extend to children, according to two sobering government reports released Friday. One of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports looked at children with COVID-19 who needed hospitalization. Hispanic children were hospitalized at a rate eight times higher than white kids, and Black children were hospitalized at a rate five times higher, it found. The second report examined cases of a rare virus-associated syndrome in kids. It found that nearly three-quarters of the children with the syndrome were either Hispanic or Black, well above their representation in the general population. The coronavirus has exposed racial fractures in the U.S. healthcare system, as Black, Hispanic and Native Americans have been hospitalized and killed by COVID-19 at far higher rates than other groups. Meanwhile, the impact of the virus on children has become a political issue. President Donald Trump and some other administration officials have been pushing schools to reopen, a step that would allow more parents to return to work and the economy to pick up. On Wednesday, Facebook deleted a post by Trump for violating its policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The post featured a link to a Fox News video in which Trump says children are "virtually immune" to the virus. The vast majority of coronavirus cases and deaths have been in adults, and kids are considered less likely to have serious symptoms when they're infected. Of the nearly five million cases reported in the U.S. as of Wednesday, about 265,000 were in children 17 and under – about five percent. Of the more than 156,000 deaths reported at that time, 77 were children – about 0.05 percent. But Friday's CDC reports are a "gut punch" reminder that some children are getting seriously ill and dying,

Coronavirus cases spiking from family gatherings - Family gatherings in the age of COVID-19 may seem like a safer alternative to restaurants and bars, health experts are still advising against them. COVID-19 related cases are hitting closer and closer to home. A shocking 71 percent of COVID-19 patients in San Bernardino County, California, between mid-June to mid-July said they were at a family event two weeks prior to their diagnosis, ABC7 reported. Up to 228 people out of 319 interviewed by contact tracers, investigators who determine the source of an infection and how it might have spread from one person, said they attended a large gathering, according to the county’s Department of Health. The San Bernardino case study is reflective of a potential national problem of exposing loved ones to the coronavirus as cases spike throughout the country. Nearly half (44 percent) of new COVID-19 cases in the state of Maryland were traced back to family gatherings compared to 23 percent from house parties and 21 percent form events held outdoors, Larry Hogan, the state’s governor, tweeted last week. And at least 41 cases in North Carolina were traced to large family gatherings, according to The Charlotte Observer. Families may be desperate to reunite after having been separated for months, but health officials are urging against gathering because it can potentially spread the virus asymptomatically to older, more vulnerable relatives. “We are still in a global pandemic,” Dr. Matt Heinz, a hospital physician and internist based in Tucson, Arizona told FOX News Thursday. “We do not have cured therapy and we do not have a vaccine so the risk has not changed. Whoever you’re with –whether it’s family; whether its a group of friends — there should be strict enforcement of social distancing, masks at all times and work to avoid indoors.” “The one person in the room of 15 to 20 people, even with a mask on, can potentially pose a risk especially coming into an environment where air conditioning is circulating in an enclosed space,” Heinz said..” We’re not out of the woods.” 

Nearly half of coronavirus patients at NYC hospital developed kidney issues - Nearly half of coronavirus patients admitted to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital developed acute kidney problems — even though the vast majority had never had any issues with the organ before, according to a new report.The find came in a study of nearly 4,000 pandemic patients to pass through the hospital between Feb. 24 and May 30, CNBC reported Monday.Forty-six percent of patients developed some sort of kidney injury during their COVID-19 battles, the study found.For 17 percent, the affliction was so severe that they required dialysis — and more than a third of patients who beat the virus didn’t regain the same kidney function they had before.And most of the patients who developed problems — 82 percent — had never experienced any prior issues with their kidneys, according to the study.Dr. Alan Kliger, co-chair of the American Society of Nephrology’s COVID-19 Response Team, told the network that the finding is hardly limited to Mount Sinai.“What we have observed is that approximately 10 percent to 50 percent of patients with severe COVID-19 that go into intensive care have kidney failure that requires some form of dialysis,” Kliger told CNBC.There’s no one explanation for exactly how the virus decimates the kidneys.Some biopsies have found that the virus directly affects the organ, Kliger said. Other evidence shows that COVID-19 can trigger a “cytokine storm” — an overreaction by the immune system that hurts one’s kidneys and other vital organs in the process of trying to fight off the contagion. In some extreme cases, the coronavirus can trigger sepsis, and with it, multiple organ failure, according to Kliger. There is also evidence that life-saving ventilators can have the unintended side effect of restricting blood flow through the kidneys, potentially damaging them even as they see patients through the virus’ respiratory attacks.

Coronavirus Shines Light on Zoos as Danger Zones for Deadly Disease Transmission Between Humans and Animals -- The term "zoonotic disease" wasn't a hot topic of conversation before the novel coronavirus started spreading across the globe and upending lives. Now, people are discovering how devastating viruses that transfer from animals to humans can be. But the threat can go both ways — animals can also get sick from humans. COVID-19, the illness that's caused by the novel coronavirus, is the result of human contact with animals, though the exact source remains a subject of debate. The risk of such zoonotic disease transmission drastically increases in any setting where wild animals are confined in close proximity to humans, including public display facilities like zoos. Unfortunately, the risks posed by zoonotic transmission go beyond COVID-19. A recent study found that more than 40 percent of zoo animals in Spain were infected with a parasite that can be passed to humans and causes a disease known as toxoplasmosis, which can lead to damage to the brain, eyes and other organs in human beings. Across the U.S., another dangerous zoonotic disease has long been lurking in our midst at zoos: tuberculosis (TB).   According to the World Health Organization, TB is one of thetop ten causes of death worldwide, killing millions of people each year. Although TB rates have been on the decline for decades in the U.S., captive elephants represent a persistent reservoir of the virus. Incredibly, "licensees and registrants who own elephants" are not required to test elephants for the virus.  . This means that zoos may be bringing the unsuspecting public into contact with infected elephants. Because TB is no longer common in the U.S., children are not vaccinated against it, making them particularly susceptible.  The risk of elephants transmitting TB to humans is generally greater among those who work closely with elephants, though it is thought that TB can spread from elephants to humans through air also. The risk of wider contagion, especially to zoo guests, is therefore a possibility. Many zoo exhibits bring people through indoor barns where elephants spend much of their time, separated only by bars and a few feet of space. Even more intimate encounters, such as rides or feedings that enable people to come into direct physical contact with elephants, are particularly concerning given their amplified transmission opportunities.  The threat of deadly disease transmission, however, does not only affect humans. In a process called reverse zoonosis, diseases such as influenza A virus, herpes simplex 1, measles and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have been documented as passing from humans to animals. Regarding TB,studies have shown that the causative agent that leads to human infection of TB is also present in elephants, suggesting a reverse zoonosis of the disease from humans to elephants. This opens the possibility that humans could actually be the cause of TB infections in captive elephants.  Another incident of reverse zoonosis occurred at the Bronx Zoo recently. In April 2020 the zoo announced that one of its tigers tested positive for COVID-19. While no other cats were tested, the tiger's sister, along with two other tigers and three African lions, developed symptoms including a dry cough, suggesting they might have also been infected.

FDA’s Shifting Standards for Chinese Face Masks Fuel Confusion  -A Food and Drug Administration effort to address a shortage of protective masks has instead opened the floodgates to 3,500 Chinese manufacturers’ selling products of widely varying quality, potentially putting the public at risk and leaving some U.S. states with stockpiles of masks they no longer trust as protective gear, a Wall Street Journal analysis found.Facing a severe shortage of N95 respirator masks in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the FDA made an emergency decision to allow importation of millions of Chinese-made masks, generally called KN95s, that were supposed to provide similar levels of virus protection.But the FDA itself created confusion about which Chinese brands could be trusted for medical use, in part by giving—then revoking—its stamp of approval to masks that turned out to be subpar. Some of the companies given initial approval were just weeks old or posted incomplete mask-quality tests, the Journal found.The agency also relaxed its rules governing Chinese masks aimed at the general public, allowing hundreds of brands to be sold with little oversight and few quality checks, regulatory records show, rendering the KN95 label all but meaningless. The FDA now posts lists of Chinese-made respirators that are “authorized” and “no longer authorized” for medical use. Some manufacturers’ products are on both lists, distinguished only by often-similar model numbers. The FDA lists one model from the same manufacturer as both authorized and no longer authorized.The changes and conflicting information have led to confusion for health-care providers.The FDA said its main goal was to help hospitals obtain quality masks and that it has never told the general public to use KN95s. It relaxed restrictions on masks of many kinds in response to public demand for face coverings during the pandemic, the agency said.N95 respirators, so-called because they filter out 95% of very small particles, are viewed as critical to protect doctors, nurses, paramedics and other front-line workers from catching the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. N95 masks and high-quality substitutes—if they can be found—are particularly valuable now that the virus has surged in the south, southwestern and western parts of the U.S.Among the issues identified in the Journal analysis: *State agencies submitted orders for more than 180 million KN95 masks to protect workers, according to public records, many of which are now sitting unwanted in warehouses due to quality concerns. Meanwhile, federal agencies have distributed millions of additional KN95 masks to states, which may have the same quality issues.

 The FDA Now Warns Against Using More Than 100 Hand Sanitizers --The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now warning against more than 100 potentially dangerous hand sanitizers. Since June, the agency has been expanding its list of hand sanitizers that may be contaminated with deadly methanol alcohol. But on Friday, the FDA announced a new problem. While some hand sanitizers contain the wrong kind of alcohol, others don't have enough of the right kind."FDA test results show certain hand sanitizers have concerningly low levels of ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, which are active ingredients in hand sanitizer products," the FDA wrote. "The agency urges consumers not to use these subpotent products."  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as the best hand hygiene method to prevent the spread of disease. Soap and water is more effective than hand sanitizer at killing certain germs, and some people do not use hand sanitizer correctly, either wiping it off too early or not using enough.  However, if soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol alcohol. "Many studies have found that sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60–95% are more effective at killing germs than those with a lower alcohol concentration or non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers," the CDC explained. "Hand sanitizers without 60-95% alcohol 1) may not work equally well for many types of germs; and 2) merely reduce the growth of germs rather than kill them outright."  The rise in hand sanitizer demand has been driven by attempts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, so it is important that products actually work. The FDA flagged the following hand sanitizers for being less effective:

New rural hot spots are ICU bed deserts, study finds  - More than half of all rural low-income communities in the U.S. have zero ICU beds, forcing local hospitals to rely on transfers to wealthier communities for their sickest coronavirus patients, according to a new study.The findings, published in Health Affairs, underscore the economic disparities shaping the nation’s coronavirus response, especially as the virus shifts from wealthier coastal metros to rural communities in the Southeast and West that have historically struggled with access to care. “Early in the pandemic, the health care system would be able to handle this well because these are rich people going to well-resourced hospitals,” said lead author Genevieve Kanter, a professor of health ethics and policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “But what we saw coming down the pike is that there are going to be more low-income populations affected.”Using Medicare data to pinpoint ICU beds, the authors found 49 percent of all low-income areas didn’t have any ICU beds, compared to just 3 percent of the wealthiest communities. While this gap existed across rural and urban settings, it is much greater in rural America — even the poorest urban areas had more ICU beds per capita than the wealthiest rural areas, on average.Some hard-hit areas have surged ICU bed capacity to handle an influx of coronavirus patients, a factor study authors could not have accounted for with the data available. In recent months, some rural hospitals have brought in staff and equipment to convert regular beds to ICU beds, while others have relied more heavily on transfers to urban hospitals.This lack of access to care and a higher prevalence of chronic health conditions increase risks for patients in rural America, undercutting progress made by new treatments, Kanter said. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine last month found that Covid-19 patients were more likely to die if they were admitted to hospitals with fewer ICU beds.

The former head of the FDA warned that the Northeast will likely get hit with another wave of coronavirus cases, saying the virus continues to 'rotate through different parts of the country' - Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who formerly served as FDA commissioner, appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday to discuss the impact of the coronavirus epidemic in the Northeast and various parts of the country, where cases in states like New York made up a large majority of US infections."We saw a very dense epidemic in the Northeast. They got it under control with very strict lockdowns," Gottlieb said. "We then saw a dense epidemic in the Sun Belt states. ... They're starting to get it under control. ... So as a Sun Belt states are declining right now, we're seeing infection rates pick up in the Midwest." Gottlieb attributed the declines in coronavirus cases with "some actions" the state governments took to mitigate the spread, but it was "more likely with the collective action of individuals starting to withdraw from activity a little bit and wear masks more and express more vigilance," he added.However, the former FDA commissioner warned that "it's going to be hard to keep the virus out" as the virus continues to make its way throughout the US."Even in the Northeast right now, it's going to be hard for that part of the country not to get re-seeded," Gottlieb said, "and so you're just seeing it rotate through different parts of the country." "I think we're likely to see this continue where there is going to be these epidemics in different parts of the country and, in compensatory action, to get it under control," he continued. "And it's going to be this slow burn, unfortunately, for the rest of the year."

Why COVID-19 Will Make A Comeback In NYC This Fall - And Lockdowns Won't Help - As we noted earlier, Bloomberg on Friday published a story decrying the risks facing NYC as the northern hemisphere moves toward the fall. Three weeks ago, Melbourne entered lockdown that was supposed to last for 6 weeks. However, new infections have only continued to climb, and it's currently unclear whether officials will abandon the lockdown, or extend it. The problem? Some epidemiologists suspect that, since Australia is now in the heart of its winter season, most people are spending the bulk of their days indoors, relying on heat and ventilation systems in multifamily buildings that can, at least in theory, carry the 'airborne' virus from apartment to apartment, infecting unsuspecting neighbors without them even needing to leave their homes. That's all speculation at this point, however (though examples of the virus spreading rapidly within apartment blocks abound in Hong Kong and mainland China). But the fact remains: Since June, the outbreak in Melbourne - suspected to have begun with failures in the hotel quarantine of travelers arriving from overseas - has exploded. Thursday and Friday saw the worst increases yet: 723 and 627 respectively across the state of Victoria, the second-largest state in Australia, where Melbourne serves as the capital. These numbers have left Australian health officials stunned: Their models projected that the lockdowns should have crushed the outbreak by now. But even with strict social distancing measures in place, the virus has continued to spread. The American press hasn't done much reporting on the situation in Australia. It's clear why: Not only is the country on the other side of the world, but it's also raising uncomfortable questions about the efficacy of lockdowns, particularly as the world heads into the heart of winter/summer (depending on whether one is in the northern or southern hemisphere). But as Bloomberg reported on Friday, the falling temperatures and growing reliance on air conditioning suggest that NYC could soon see a related comeback - even a Gov Cuomo pledges to investigate "outdoor" gatherings like a drive-thru concert in the Hamptons, while completely ignoring anti-police brutality protests.

At least 20 percent of US meatpackers may have contracted coronavirus - Over 50,000 food and agricultural workers have contracted COVID-19 in the United States, according to numbers compiled by the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN). As of its latest figures, 51,453 workers in the meatpacking, food processing and farming industries have contracted the disease since March. The overwhelming majority of these, 38,641, are meatpacking workers. These figures represent at least 635 plants and 89 farms and production facilities across the country, demonstrating that the virus has spread completely unchecked throughout these industries. At least 221 workers, including 174 meatpackers, have died. These figures, collated from various news sources and corporate press releases, represent the most comprehensive and up-to-date attempt to track the virus among meatpacking and farm workers. However, they are necessarily incomplete because there is no systematic, regular testing of meatpacking workers in the United States, much less a centralized system of publicly reporting the results. Instead, companies have released figures only in piecemeal fashion and from individual locations, often only after battles with local health authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not keep regularly updated statistics for the sector and its latest figures are from a study released on July 7. Even these figures were likely a massive undercount. The CDC total of 16,233 cases at meatpacking plants was roughly half that reported by FERN at the time. However, this was enough for CDC to declare that 9 percent of the nationwide meatpacking workforce had already been infected. If FERN’s numbers are accurate, this means that more than 20 percent of American meatpackers have been infected. By far the largest number of cases at a single employer is at poultry giant Tyson Foods, with a total of 10,104. Brazilian-owned JBS has outbreaks at 12 of its US-based facilities, with at least 2,660 cases and 14 deaths. This includes six deaths at its beef processing plant at Greeley, Colorado, where workers staged a wildcat walkout last month. Smithfield Foods has had outbreaks at 13 plants with at least 2,004 cases and 6 deaths. Last month, Smithfield Foods attempted to nullify a subpoena from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to the state of South Dakota that would result in disclosing the number of cases at Smithfield’s plants in the state. Smithfield Foods defended its request to the courts saying OSHA’s investigation would “damage how it and other companies work with government agencies in their response to the coronavirus pandemic,” that is, in secret and on the companies’ terms. Smithfield representatives said that the company gave the South Dakota Department of Health information only because of an agreement that the information would be “adequately protected.”

July marked a record-breaking month for the US with over 25,000 coronavirus deaths - (Reuters) - US coronavirus deaths rose by over 25,000 in July and cases doubled in 19 states during the month, according to a Reuters tally, dealing a crushing blow to hopes of quickly reopening the economy.The United States recorded 1.87 million new cases in July, bringing total infections to 4.5 million, for an increase of 69%. Deaths in July rose 20% to nearly 154,000 total.The biggest increases in July were in Florida, with over 310,000 new cases, followed by California and Texas with about 260,000 each. All three states saw cases double in June.Cases also more than doubled in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, according to the tally.Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York had the lowest increases, with cases rising 8% or less.The United States shattered single-day global records when it reported over 77,000 new cases on July 16. During July, 33 out of the 50 US states had one-day record increases in cases, and 19 set records for their rise in deaths in 24 hours, according to a Reuters tally.After a rapid acceleration in cases, the outbreak appears to be stabilizing in Arizona, Florida, and Texas. Health officials are now concerned the outbreak has migrated to the Midwest from summer travel. Click here for Reuters interactive graphics on US coronavirus data.

 Florida breaks weekly coronavirus death toll record with over 1,000 reported deaths -Florida on Sunday reported 1,230 coronavirus fatalities, a record for the state's weekly reported deaths, the Orlando Sentinel reported. According to the newspaper, there were also  63,277 new cases and 3,086 hospitalizations this week. Last week, Florida had 73,808 new cases, 872 deaths, and 3,093 hospitalizations according to the report. The Florida Department of Health reported 62 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, resulting in a total of 7,084 resident deaths for the state.Florida's COVID-19 Data shows 487,132 total cases, 27,150 resident hospitalizations and 122 non-resident deaths. The New York Times reported that Florida's fast economic re-opening contributed to the spike in cases. According to the report, Miami-Dade County contact tracers discovered that 30 percent of people who tested positive for coronavirus contracted it from someone in their home.  With establishments open, many residents have been enjoying summer and partying on boats which are making the outbreak worst. Insider previously reported that Florida, one of the nation's hotspots for coronavirus, saw a record number of 15,000 new cases in a single day on July 12.

Morgues Are Overflowing in Mississippi and Coroners Are Terrified -  State law outlines a simple procedure for investigating deaths outside a hospital: the coroner collects evidence at the scene, then sends the body to a medical examiner in Jackson for autopsy. But the gist of the ME's letter, obtained by The Daily Beast, was that when it came to deaths from COVID-19, coroners were on their own. The problem with being shut out from the medical examiner’s office, as Meredith explained, “is not just that they’re not taking the cases, but there’s not any guidance” for what to do with a suspected coronavirus case. Several coroners said they’ve begun rationing supplies, like test kits, echoing supply-chain woes in other hard-hit states since the early days of the pandemic that experts generally believe have deflated the COVID-19 death count. But in Mississippi, the bodies are piling up fast. “My morgue was completely full all last week,” Panola County Coroner Gracie Gulledge told The Daily Beast. “It’s bad. We’ve only had our cooler full once or twice in the whole time I’ve been in operation, and it’s been 14 years.” Last week, 200 Mississippians died from coronavirus, the second highest rate per capita in the country behind Arizona, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But infectious disease experts say that the lack of standardization and resources among coroners, combined with Mississippi’s longstanding health disparities, means the death rate there is likely even higher. Although undercounting is a problem nationally, in a state like Mississippi, where resources are scarce and state leaders have been hesitant to impose mask regulations or scale back reopening, it could be a full-blown crisis. “If the coroners don’t have the resources to pursue the diagnosis or the potential diagnosis of COVID-19 in many of these unattended deaths, then that will undoubtedly lead to an undercount of the actual fatal impact of this pandemic virus,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. And an accurate picture, he said, is essential for an accurate response. Under normal circumstances, a delay this severe would cause, in the words of Gulledge, “a bottleneck of bodies.” But with coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths all surging in the state, it’s nothing short of a disaster. Bolivar County, where Rudy Seals is the coroner, has begun storing bodies in Panola County’s refrigeration unit. Gulledge said she’s hoping Panola County’s board of supervisors will approve another unit like that one; she said that Hinds County, home to Jackson, the state capital and biggest city, has ordered a unit, and Vicksburg has one on order, too.

Laredo sets new high for COVID cases confirmed in a single day, confirms three deaths -- City of Laredo and Webb County officials announced on Tuesday, 292 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a record number of positives announced in a single day in the Gateway City. Local leaders also confirmed another three deaths due to the virus. The cases confirmed today is the highest number of positives seen since July 29, when 280 cases were announced. In total, the city has now accumulated 6,921 positives. Over 5,000 cases are considered active infections. In M0nday's update, city officials also confirmed three new deaths due to coronavirus-related complications, bringing the city's total number of fatalities to 140. The deaths confirmed Tuesday date as far back to last Thursday, July 30, when a female in her mid 70s died. On Monday, a male in his early 60s died. Finally, a female in her late 90s died on Sunday. 205 people are hospitalized, with 73 patients still under intensive care. As of noon Tuesday, 19,534 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Laredo. 11,616 tests have returned negative. 997 tests are still pending results, though 690 tests are presumed negative due to being over 30 days old. 1,698 people have recovered from previous infections and have been cleared by the Laredo health department to return to the general public.

One death every 80 seconds: The grim new toll of COVID-19 in America - Over the last seven days, a grim new COVID-19 calculus has emerged: one person died every 80 seconds from the coronavirus in America.And the pace at which those 7,486 people died appears to be accelerating, a new NBC News tally revealed Wednesday.  In July, a total of 26,198 deaths were reported, meaning one every 102 seconds. As of Wednesday morning, more than 158,000 people in the U.S. had died of the virus since the start of the pandemic.The numbing new national snapshot of how COVID-19 is claiming more and more lives came as Johns Hopkins University reported another milestone: The world death toll from this plague had eclipsed 700,000.The U.S. has logged over 4.8 million confirmed cases. And around 1.8 million of those have come since July 7, when the 3 millionth case was reported, NBC News figures show.While most of the new cases and deaths have been in the South and Sun Belt, states in the northeast like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts that were hit hardest at the start of the pandemic — and were able to flatten the curve — have also reported worrying upticks.Under fire for being slow to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and presiding over the biggest economic disaster since the Great Depression, President Donald Trump once again downplayed the extent of the pandemic in a call-in interview Wednesday with "Fox & Friends."  “This thing is going away,” he said. “It will go away like things go away.”

 Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tests Positive For COVID-19  - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced, making him the second U.S. governor to have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic's start.DeWine was tested on Thursday as part of a protocol to meet with President Trump, according to a statement posted on the governor's Twitter account."Governor DeWine has no symptoms at the present time. Governor DeWine is returning to Columbus where he and First Lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, will both be tested," the statement said.  DeWine was scheduled to meet with Trump at the Burke Lakefront Airport tarmac in Cleveland. The president is scheduled to make several appearances in the state, including a fundraiser in Cleveland on Thursday evening."Governor DeWine plans to follow protocol for COVID-19 and quarantine at his home in Cedarville for the next 14 days," the statement said.Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was also tested. His test returned negative.DeWine is the second governor known to have contracted the coronavirus. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a fellow Republican, tested positive for the virus in July. As of Wednesday, Ohio had 96,305 coronavirus cases. Nearly 3,600 people in the state have died as a result.

Mike DeWine: Ohio governor tests negative for coronavirus for second time after false positive -  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Saturday afternoon that he and his wife have tested negative for Covid-19 for a second time after getting a false positive. "Today, Fran and I were tested again for #COVID19. Administered the PCR tests, and the results for both tests were negative. Thank you to everyone who sent along good wishes for our family and staff" said DeWine in a Saturday tweet. DeWine had first said he tested positive for the virus on Thursday ahead of a scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump in Cleveland. "The test results today follow the negative PCR test results for the Governor and First Lady on Thursday. The PCR tests taken Thursday were negative for the Governor, First Lady, and staff members, and were run on lab machines twice with results coming in negative both times," a statement following the Twitter announcement said. DeWine tweeted Thursday that he was not experiencing symptoms at the time. "On Thursday morning in Cleveland, following the testing protocol established to be able to greet the President, Governor DeWine took a rapid antigen test and the results reported back for that test were a false positive," read DeWine's statement Saturday afternoon. Daniel Tierney, a spokesman for DeWine, told CNN that the governor is not officially quarantining but is being careful about his interactions.

Georgia child, 7, dies of coronavirus as state’s death toll surpasses 4,000 - A 7-year-old boy from the Savannah area has died from COVID-19, Georgia health officials reported Thursday, making him the youngest person in the state known to have died from the disease.News of the child’s death comes the same day Georgia surpassed 4,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic. Little information was released  about the child, but the Georgia Department of Public Health said the boy, who lived in Chatham County, had no reported chronic conditions. DPH declined to release additional information, citing federal health privacy laws. Deaths among children from the virus are rare, and infections among kids tend to be less severe than for adults. But COVID-19 is not without risks even for the young. In recent weeks, state health officials have warned about a dangerous inflammatory condition in children that is suspected to be linked to the virus. Dr. Harry J. Heiman, a clinical associate professor at the Georgia State University School of Public Health, said there are false narratives that children cannot get sick, transmit the virus or die from COVID-19. “This is a tragic reminder that this is a very serious disease and serious for anyone who contracts it at any age,” Heiman said. Nationwide, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 45 deaths nationwide attributed to COVID-19 among those age 14 and younger as of Aug. 1. There have been more than 157,000 deaths from the virus nationwide. Georgia is among 21 states with outbreaks serious enough be placed in the “red zone” by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, according to a federal report obtained last week by The New York Times. Georgia reported 3,182 net new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday and 42 confirmed deaths. To date, nearly 205,000 confirmed cases of the disease have been reported in Georgia, along with 4,026 deaths. Georgia reported week-over-week case increases in nine out of 10 weeks from early May through mid-July, when the state’s cases appeared to plateau at about 25,000 per week. The seven-day rolling average has declined from a peak of 3,745 on July 24 to 3,230 on Thursday. But that new case rate remains five times higher than June 1. Current hospitalizations have edged slightly lower than their peak of 3,200 on July 30 but remain above 3,000, or nearly four times higher than the low point in early June. Deaths, which often lag new cases by weeks, also have been climbing.

  California Has Been Under-Counting COVID-19 Cases For Weeks; Global Total Tops 19 Million- Live - The biggest news in the US on Friday has been brewing since at least Tuesday, when California public health official acknowledged that the country's largest testing-and-tracing effort may have accidentally undercounted cases over the past week or two, suggesting that the recent decline in new cases might be illusory. On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom touted a 21% drop in the average daily rate of new cases from the prior week. According to Bloomberg, as of Thursday evening, state officials still couldn't say when this problem would be fixed. To be sure, this vexing bug in California's system doesn't necessarily negate the recent decline in new cases. It just means California state officials can't say anything for certain. Top Cali public health official have warned that the actual numbers are likely too low, but by how much, they couldn't say. California officials have uncovered a bug in their virus reporting effort -- the nation’s largest, with more than 120,000 people tested each day. as a sign of stabilization. The next day, his top public health official warned the numbers were likely too low -- by how much he couldn’t say -- and the state didn’t know when the problem would be fixed. We don’t know if our cases are plateauing, rising or decreasing,” Sara Cody, public health director for Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara County, said at a press briefing. "I would say that right now, we’re back to feeling blind." Here's a chart of California cases... ...and deaths. Globally, cases have reached 19,089,364 on Friday, topping the 19 million mark, according to Johns Hopkins University.

U.S. sets record as coronavirus cases top 5 million - (Reuters) - The United States set a record for coronavirus cases on Saturday, with more than 5 million people now infected, according to a Reuters tally, as the country’s top infectious diseases official offered hope earlier this week that an effective vaccine might be available by year-end. With one out of every 66 residents infected, the United States leads the world in COVID-19 cases, according to a Reuters analysis. The country has recorded more than 160,000 deaths, nearly a quarter of the world’s total. The grim milestone comes as President Donald Trump signed executive orders intended to provide economic relief to Americans hurt by the coronavirus pandemic after the White House failed to reach a deal with Congress. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that U.S. employment growth slowed considerably in July, underscoring an urgent need for additional government aid. Dr. Anthony Fauci told Reuters on Wednesday there could be at least one vaccine that works and is safe by year-end. But Trump offered a more optimistic view, saying it was possible the United States would have a coronavirus vaccine by the time of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

One Of The First Ships To Resume Cruising Is Having A COVID Outbreak -- One of the first cruise ships in the world to resume sailing since the coronavirus-caused worldwide halt to cruising in March is experiencing a significant outbreak of the illness that already has sent several people to the hospital.Norwegian expedition cruise company Hurtigruten late Friday said four sick crew members from the 535-passenger Roald Amundsen were admitted to the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø, Norway, earlier in the day after the vessel docked in the city. All four had tested positive for COVID-19. On Saturday, the line said another 32 crew members had tested positive for the illness.The Roald Amundsen on Friday had just finished a seven-night sailing out of Tromsø to the Arctic’s wildlife-filled Svalbard archipelago.All four of the hospitalized crew members had been sick for several days while on board the vessel, and all four had been placed in isolation. But the line said their symptoms weren’t consistent with COVID-19. They only tested positive for the illness after the ship docked in Tromsø early Friday.It’s unclear if the crew members are seriously ill, or if they only are being hospitalized as a way to keep them isolated.The entire ship has now been placed in isolation, and the 154 remaining crew members on board have all been tested for COVID-19. Hurtigruten on Saturday said 122 of the crew members had tested negative for the illness.Hurtigruten on Saturday said it had contacted all 178 passengers who left the ship early Friday, and they had been ordered to self-quarantine in line with Norwegian health regulations.The company also has contacted another 209 passengers who were aboard the previous sailing of the Roald Amundsen, and they have been told to self-quarantine, too. The next voyage of the vessel, which had been scheduled to begin Friday, has been canceled.

US Cruise Operators Halt Voyages Until Oct. 31 After 2 Ships Hit By Outbreaks Amid Restart --No doubt among the hardest hit industries globally has remained cruise ships. As late as May and June there were still cruise ships essentially stranded as ports refused them entry while outbreaks on board raged among passengers and crew. Even as some companies have tepidly tried to resume operations in the past weeks, the moment a single COVID-19 case appears on board, all operations have had to be suspended as we noted days ago with the Amundsen. "One of the first cruise ships to resume overnight sailing in U.S. waters since the coronavirus shut down the cruise industry earlier this year has reported one case of COVID-19 on board," USA Today reports Wednesday.  It happened on board UnCruise Adventures' Wilderness Adventurer ship, and all aboard have been ordered to remain in their rooms on ship "until the State of Alaska deems it safe for them to return home," according to an alert on the cruise line's website. And then there's this ongoing disaster first reported Monday: At least 41 passengers and crew on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for Covid-19, officials say. Hundreds more passengers who travelled on the MS Roald Amundsen are in quarantine and awaiting test results, the company that owns the ship said. The ship, which belongs to the Norwegian firm Hurtigruten, docked in the port of Tromso in northern Norway on Friday. That number has since grown, and is expended to rise as more tests come back in. The fact that already two ships have been hit by separate outbreaks a mere few weeks after the industry attempted to restart has resulted in US cruise operators, through the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), jointly agreeing to suspend all ocean voyages with passengers until at least October 31. Reuters reports of the major Wednesday announcement: The Cruise Lines International Association said its members, which include the three biggest U.S. cruise operators Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd and Royal Caribbean Group, would revisit a possible further extension on or before Sept. 30. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a no-sail order for all cruise ships through next month's end.The cruise industry has been among the worst hit by the pandemic, with ships in Japan, Australia and California making headlines for the spread coronavirus cases onboard.

“The impact of the pandemic on developing countries” --The covid-19 pandemic has had differentiated impacts across countries. This is true even among the set of Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs), which share the disadvantages of more poverty, less adequate health care, and fewer jobs that can be done remotely, compared to Advanced Economies.Surprisingly, the rates of infection and death have so far been lower in most EMDEs than in the US and Europe, as pointed out by Pinelopi Goldberg and Tristan Reed, and by Raghuram Rajan. Undercounting is undoubtedly massive, however. Furthermore, the situation is evolving rapidly.Across continents, health in Latin America has been the hardest hit in general among EMDEs.  Southeast Asia has been the least affected; for example, Vietnam and Thailand report extraordinarily few cases.Why has the coronavirus hit Latin America so hard?  Obvious possible reasons include the region’s inequality, large densely populated cities, many workers in the informal sector, inadequate public health systems, and many internal migrants (a problem that also looms large in India).  A less obvious factor is that Latin America — like North America and Europe — had had less experience with pandemics in recent decades, as compared to East Asia or Africa, where SARS and Ebola made people more familiar with the dangers, and the consequent need for social distancing. The situation in sub-Saharan Africa is unclear. On the one hand, the numbers of cases and deaths have been relatively low, at least up to now.  The young population may help explain this.  On the other hand, testing is probably even more inadequate here than elsewhere and the situation is worsening rapidly in South Africa.  Apparently hotspots start in major metropolises with busy international airports – think Milan, London, New York, and now Johannesburg — and then inevitably spread out to neighboring regions with a lag. There is also differentiation of the impact within continents. In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico are suffering especially badly.  Brazil ranks #2 in the world, in absolute numbers of reported cases and deaths, after the United States.   There is a ready explanation for why Brazil and Mexico are suffering such high rates of infection and mortality: poor political leadership.  Their presidents are following the strategy that Trump has pioneered since the start:  denying the seriousness of the situation and visibly undermining experts’ recommended responses such as campaigns to get people to wear masks.  (Nicaragua probably belongs on this list of ostrich-leaders, but test numbers are unavailable.) Then there is the case of Peru.  It is hard to say what the government has done wrong, and yet reported cases and deaths per capita are worse than Brazil and almost as bad as the U.S.  Similarly, one can’t explain why Chile reports more cases per capita than virtually any country.

Coronavirus Cases Rise in Europe as Youth Hit Beaches and Bars – WSJ — Young people are letting loose across Europe, fueling a surge in coronavirus infections that is imperiling the Continent’s hard-won gains against the pathogen. Towns along the coasts of France and Spain are grappling with outbreaks after young people piled into beach bars, ignoring social-distancing rules, and caught the virus. And thousands of young Europeans recently gathered at an illegal rave in a Berlin park, defying police efforts to shut it down. European authorities have reprimanded Generation Z and millennials for showing what they consider disregard for public-health rules and the safety of older generations who are more vulnerable to the disease. Still, younger Europeans say they are tired of maintaining rigorous social-distancing measures after spending most of the spring under lockdown. “We were being careful at first, and then not so much,” says Marie-Léa Tronc, a 23-year-old student in Paris. Around her grandparents, she washes her hands frequently, wears a mask and keeps her distance. Around people her own age, however, she goes without a mask and social distancing becomes an afterthought. Between July 20 and July 25, the incidence rate of Covid-19 among French people between the ages of 20 and 29 was 19.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. That compares with 9.7 per 100,000 inhabitants for the French population as a whole, according to health authorities. In Italy, the median age of new infections over the past month has dropped to around 40, compared with over 60 during the lockdown in April. And data from Germany’s center for disease control, the Robert Koch Institute, shows a small increase in young people among those testing positive. Health experts warn that many young people don’t show up in the statistics because their symptoms are less severe than older patients typically have and therefore seldom take tests for the virus. Still, younger Europeans are also starting to end up in the hospital. In Spain, where infections have been rising fastest in Europe, people between the ages of 15 and 29 made up more than 27% of the country’s cases in July, compared with 6% at the end of March. Nearly 8% of the hospitalized coronavirus patients between May and July belonged to this age group, compared with 2.2% in March, according to data from the government-dependent Carlos III Institute of Health.

 COVID-19 surges in Spain as government pushes reopening of schools - The COVID-19 virus is resurgent across Spain and Europe. On Sunday the Ministry of Health confirmed 1,525 new COVID-19 cases had been detected in Spain in the last 24 hours. This was 300 more than Saturday’s record-breaking total, the first time daily new cases topped the 1,000 mark since early May, when Spaniards were confined to their homes and even daily walks and exercise were still not allowed. There are now officially over 500 outbreaks of the virus, though the real number is likely larger. New infections are concentrated in three areas: Aragón, Catalonia and Madrid. However, the incidence of the virus this week has risen in almost all of Spain’s 17 regions. Hundreds of thousands of people in various towns and regions have been recommended to remain at home. In this resurgence, the average age of the infected are younger than in the spring. It has fallen from 60 in March-April, to 45 for men and 41 for women. Data from the last three weeks show that figure is even lower: 36 and 38, respectively. The political establishment and the media have blamed the youth for this rise, blaming parties and other social gatherings or nightlife that undermine social distancing for the recent surge. María Jesús Montero, the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government’s spokeswoman, sent a message last week to “people who are younger, because some of the outbreaks are linked to the behaviour in nightlife venues or places where a large number of people gather.” However, the main reason for the spread is not risky partying, but the criminal policies of the PSOE-Podemos government. In May and June, Spain was able to contain the virus due to a strict lockdown imposed to gain control over one of Europe’s worst outbreaks, after mass anger erupted at the slow response and a strike wave in major industries erupted in Italy and throughout Europe. Spain halted all nonessential activity for two weeks and gradually started deescalating. Instead of using this time to rapidly invest in tracers and mass testing, however, the government started lifting measures only in order to open the economy. The aim was to “save” the tourism season, which represents 12 percent of Spain’s GDP, so the extraction of profits from the working class could continue unabated.

When Covid-19 Hit, Many Elderly Were Left to Die — Shirley Doyen was exhausted. The Christalain nursing home, which she ran with her brother in an affluent neighborhood in Brussels, was buckling from Covid-19. Eight residents had died in three weeks. Some staff members had only gowns and goggles from Halloween doctor costumes for protection. Nor was help coming. Ms. Doyen had begged hospitals to collect her infected residents. They refused. Sometimes she was told to administer morphine and let death come. Once she was told to pray. Then, in the early morning of April 10, it all got worse. First, a resident died at 1:20 a.m. Three hours later, another died. At 5:30 a.m., still another. The night nurse had long since given up calling ambulances. Ms. Doyen arrived after dawn and discovered Addolorata Balducci, 89, in distress from Covid-19. Ms. Balducci’s son, Franco Pacchioli, demanded that paramedics be called and begged them to take his mother to the hospital. Instead, they gave her morphine. “Your mother will die,” the paramedics responded, Mr. Pacchioli recalled. “That’s it.” The paramedics left. Eight hours later, Ms. Balducci died. Runaway coronavirus infections, medical gear shortages and government inattention are woefully familiar stories in nursing homes around the globe. But Belgium’s response offers a gruesome twist: Paramedics and hospitals sometimes flatly denied care to elderly people, even as hospital beds sat unused. Weeks earlier, the virus had overwhelmed hospitals in Italy. Determined to prevent that from happening in Belgium, the authorities shunned and all but ignored nursing homes. But while Italian doctors said they were forced to ration care to the elderly because of shortages of space and equipment, Belgium’s hospital system never came under similar strain. Even at the height of the outbreak in April, when Ms. Balducci was turned away, intensive-care beds were no more than about 55 percent full. “They wouldn’t accept old people,” Ms. Doyen said. “They had space, and they didn’t want them.” Belgium now has, by some measures, the world’s highest coronavirus death rate, in part because of nursing homes. More than 5,700 nursing-home residents have died, according to newly published data. During the peak of the crisis, from March through mid-May, residents accounted for two out of every three coronavirus deaths.

Anxious WHO implores world to 'do it all' in long war on COVID-19 - (Reuters) - The World Health Organization warned on Monday that there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19 in the form of a perfect vaccine and that the road to normality would be long, with some countries requiring a reset of strategy. More than 18.14 million people around the world are reported to have been infected with the disease and 688,080​ have died, according to a Reuters tally, with some nations that thought they were over the worst experiencing a resurgence. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing. “The message to people and governments is clear: ‘Do it all’,” Tedros told a virtual news briefing from the U.N. body’s headquarters in Geneva. He said face masks should become a symbol of solidarity round the world. “A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment - and there might never be.” The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest health emergency since the early 20th century, the international scramble for a vaccine was also “unprecedented”. But he underscored uncertainties. “There are concerns that we may not have a vaccine that may work, or its protection could be for just a few months, not more. But until we finish the clinical trials, we will not know.” Ryan said countries with high transmission rates, including Brazil and India, needed to brace for a big battle: “The way out is long and requires a sustained commitment,” he said, calling for a “reset” of approach in some places. “Some countries are really going to have to take a step back now and really take a look at how they are addressing the pandemic within their national borders,” he added.

JPM Explains Why A Return To Lockdowns Isn't A Smart Strategy For Suppressing COVID-19's Second Wave - A team of macro analysts from JP Morgan's sell-side research desk published a lengthy paper aggregating all of their COVID-19-related findings. And while perusing the note, one particular finding caught our eye. In one section of the note, the team addressed a critical question for epidemiologists (and investors): Will the amount of time required to reach "peak" infection rates vary between successive "waves" of the virus? And if so, how might this inform the global policy response?  Succeeding in compressing the "half life" of the wave should be the central focus of policy makers, the analysts argued. And while globally, the policy response in country after country has favored lockdowns, Melbourne is showing right now that, especially when case numbers are small relative to the overall population, lockdowns might not make sense as the most effective way to contain the virus.As the infection curve starts to resurge in many countries, signaling the next wave, we examine whether the time to arrive at the peak is similar in both the first and second waves. Conceptually, we develop a hypothesis on shorter potential lifespan for the infection curve as the curve moves into the next waves.In our view, the concept of decay in ‘half-life’, i.e. the time required for a quantity to reduce to half, could be applicable to picturing the next waves. We think (1) better secondary infection rate control, (2) large mobility tracing and more voluntary testing; and, (3) shorter recovery periods could drive a shorter curve peak. It is not necessarily so that if more people are infected, a larger part of society would have antibodies and that this would flatten the curve. We note that, in most countries – both developed and developing – the size of infection is only 0.2-0.5% of the total population.Even if we were to assume about 5x higher unreported infection cases, this is still relatively small. Also, “ring vaccination” is not a strategy yet, as so far we do not have a vaccine widely available for the public.Over the coming 6-12 months, JPM analysts concluded, it's likely that a number of factors resulting from lessons learned during the first wave will commingle to help shorten the trough-to-peak dynamic in the ensuing waves. For the record, this is how the team calculates "secondary infection rate" =, or "R sub zero", their preferred means of measuring the rate of viral spread.

Bolsonaro: Brazilian President says he has 'mold' in his lungs as his wife tests positive for Covid-19 - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday he felt weak and might have "mold in the lung" having spent weeks in isolation after catching Covid-19. In his first Facebook live video since recovering from Covid-19, Bolsonaro said: "I've just taken a blood exam. I was a bit weak yesterday. They have also found a bit of an infection. I'm taking antibiotics now. It must have been those 20 days inside the house, we catch other things. I've caught mold, mold in my lungs. It must be that." The President spent nearly 20 days in semi-isolation, after testing positive for the virus on July 7 and on subsequent occasions. On July 25, he announced via Twitter that he had tested negative. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, has also tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the President's press office. The first lady, who was last seen in public on Wednesday afternoon when she attended an official event in Brasilia with her husband, "is in good health and will follow all established protocols," the statement said. "The first lady is being accompanied by the medical team of the Presidency of the Republic," the statement adds. In his Thursday address, the President also thanked God and hydroxychloroquine for his health. "I'm healed from Covid. I have antibodies, no problems. In my particular case, I first thank God, and secondly, the medication prescribed by the presidential doctor: hydroxychloroquine," Bolsonaro said. "The following day, I was already OK."

Brazil, hotbed for COVID-19 vaccine testing, may struggle to produce its own (Reuters) - Brazilian officials say they can start making COVID-19 vaccines developed by British and Chinese researchers within a year. Experts say it will take at least twice as long, leaving Brazil reliant on imports to slow the world's second-worst outbreak. If Brazil's underfunded medical institutions are unable to meet their ambitious goals, it would mark the latest failure by President Jair Bolsonaro's government to control the virus. It would also leave Brazil vulnerable to a frenzied global scramble for vaccine supplies. Some of the most advanced COVID-19 vaccine candidates - including from AstraZeneca Plc in partnership with Oxford University, and China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd - are undergoing large clinical trials in Brazil, which has more than 2.7 million reported cases and almost 95,000 deaths, second only to the United States. Researchers can get results faster by testing vaccines where active virus spread is rampant.As part of their agreements with Brazilian authorities, AstraZeneca and Sinovac have promised the federal government and the Sao Paulo state government, respectively, tens of millions of doses of their potential vaccines. They also pledged to transfer technology so Brazil can eventually produce them domestically at leading biomedical institutes Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro, and Butantan, in Sao Paulo. The institutes say production of new vaccines will begin by the middle of 2021. Brazil's federal government has said it will invest 1.9 billion reais ($355 million) to process and produce the AstraZeneca vaccine. But three experts told Reuters money alone would not be enough, saying it could take between two and 10 years for Brazil to produce COVID-19 vaccines, due to the difficulty of transferring technology and years of under-investment in the two production facilities.

Chief Aritana, influential indigenous leader in Brazil, dies of Covid-19 -- Chief Aritana Yawalapiti, one of Brazil's most influential indigenous leaders who led the people of Upper Xingu in central Brazil and helped create an indigenous park there, died on Wednesday from COVID-19, his family said in a statement. His death underscores the threat that Brazil's indigenous people are facing from the novel coronavirus pandemic that has spread to their vulnerable communities, infected thousands and killed hundreds. Aritana, 71, was rushed to a Goiânia hospital two weeks ago in a risky 9-hour drive from the western state of Mato Grosso, breathing with the aid of oxygen tanks so that he could get to an intensive care unit. He died at the hospital from lung complications caused by the disease. His doctor Celso Correia Batista, who serves the indigenous people in the Xingu region, first drove Aritana 10 hours to the small Mato Grosso town of Canarana, where his lung condition deteriorated. With no ICU and unable to find a doctor willing to transport Aritana by air, Batista decided to drive on to Goiânia. One of the most traditional indigenous leaders in Central Brazil, Aritana led the people of the Upper Xingu and was one of the last speakers of the language of his tribe, Yawalapiti. Aritana worked with the Villas-Bôas brothers to create the Xingu National Park, the first vast protected indigenous area in the Amazon where 16 tribes live.

Brazilian mayor touts rectal ozone therapy for coronavirus - A mayor in Brazil is being widely ridiculed this week after promoting rectal injections of ozone as an “excellent” coronavirus treatment — an outlandish proposal with no proven effectiveness. “It is a simple, fast application of two, three minutes a day,” said Volnei Morastoni, mayor of the southern city of Itajaí, in a since-deleted Facebook Live video on Monday. “It will probably be a rectal application,” he said, “which is a very easy, very fast application... with a thin catheter and this gives an excellent result.” Brazilian scientists quickly debunked Morastoni’s theory and urged him not to offer the treatment in his city. A researcher and microbiologist from the country’s largest university told Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that ozone therapy is a “quackery that is said to cure cancer” with no scientific evidence.

Brazil COVID-19 deaths reach 100,000 and barrel onward -  (Reuters) - Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 passed 100,000 on Saturday and continue to climb as most Brazilian cities reopen shops and dining even though the pandemic has yet to peak. Confronting its most lethal outbreak since the Spanish flu a century ago, Brazil reported its first cases of the novel coronavirus at the end of February. The virus took three months to kill 50,000 people, and just 50 days to kill the next 50,000. Led by President Jair Bolsonaro, who has played down the gravity of the pandemic and fought lockdowns by local officials, Brazilians who protested nightly from their windows in the first months of the outbreak have met the grim milestone with a shrug. “We should be living in despair, because this is a tragedy like a world war. But Brazil is under collective anesthesia,” said Dr. José Davi Urbaez, a senior member of the Infectious Diseases Society. He and other pubic health experts have raised the alarm that Brazil still has no coordinated plan to fight the pandemic, as many officials focus on “reopening,” which is likely to boost the spread of the disease and worsen the outbreak. The health ministry on Saturday reported 49,970 new confirmed cases and 905 deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the number of cases to more than 3 million and the death toll to 100,477. Brazil’s Supreme Court and Congress, institutions that have criticized Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, respectively declared three and four days of national mourning for the 100,000 dead. The president did not comment publicly. Two health ministers, both physicians, have resigned over differences with Bolsonaro. The acting health minister is an army general who has abandoned the call for social distancing, which experts says is essential but the president opposes. Bolsonaro, who has called COVID-19 a “little flu,” says he recovered from his own infection thanks to hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that remains unproven against the coronavirus.

Amid COVID-19 “disaster,” Australian state government announces limited workplace closures - Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday announced the closure of some Melbourne workplaces and the curtailment of operations in a number of other industries. On Sunday, his government declared a “state of disaster” amid the ongoing surge of coronavirus infections. The measures, to last six weeks, go hand-in-hand with an end to face-to-face school teaching in Melbourne, the current epicentre, as well as enhanced restrictions on movement, a ban on virtually all outdoor gatherings and on visiting other people’s homes. The “stage four” regulations are slated to last for the next six weeks in Melbourne, along with “stage three” requirements everywhere else in Victoria, mandating mask-wearing and curtailing social and other activities. The announcement of the limited workplace shutdowns is an indictment of the Victorian government and the entire political establishment, including the “national cabinet” and the federal Liberal-National Coalition of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Hundreds of new infections are being reported in Victoria every day and hospitalisation rates are surging. A further 439 confirmed Victorian cases, the majority of them in Melbourne, were announced today, following yesterday’s toll of 429 infections and 13 deaths, which equaled the previous daily record for fatalities. Since Victorian case numbers began to rise in the latter half of June, the Andrews government has imposed a succession of localised and limited lockdowns, aimed above all at minimizing the impact on big business. This has been in line with the policy adopted by all governments in April, when they rejected calls from epidemiologists for a push to eliminate COVID-19 transmission as being too costly. Instead they opted for a “suppression strategy,” allowing the virus to continue to circulate, while supposedly keeping its spread to “manageable” levels through contact-tracing, testing and localised restrictions. Sunday’s declaration of a state of disaster occurred a little over three weeks after Andrews imposed a limited lockdown in Melbourne on July 10. Under those “stage three” restrictions, virtually all workplaces remained open, while classroom teaching was resumed for an older cohort of students, in defiance of widespread opposition from educators. The consequence has been an ongoing surge of infections.

Vietnam struggles to contain rapid resurgence of COVID-19 - The unexpected emergence of a coronavirus cluster in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang has led to a rapid transmission across the country. Though previously lauded as a “success story” in the international press, having recorded no new local infections for 99 days, Vietnam has now detected cases in the capital, Hanoi, as well as Ho Chi Minh City, and throughout the Central Highlands region. The first new case appeared in Da Nang Hospital on July 25, before the virus spread through the building, resulting in 15 confirmed cases over the next three days. The source of the cluster apparently remains unknown, though some government officials have claimed it originated outside the country. Vietnam has remained shut to most foreign travellers since late March. The Health Ministry has registered 173 local cases since the new outbreak began, 120 of which were found in Da Nang. Besides the country’s two major cities, the virus has reached the provinces of Quang Nam, Thai Binh, Quang Ngai, Dak Lak, Dong Nai, and Ha Nam. With 29 local cases discovered yesterday, the tally has grown to 620 infections, as well as five deaths, all of which were recorded since Friday. The victims were all elderly with pre-existing medical conditions. Local newspaper Thanh Nien revealed the most recent death was an 86-year-old woman who suffered heart and kidney failure. She was admitted to Da Nang Hospital on July 16 and then transferred to a hospital in Quang Nam two days later. This suggests that she contracted COVID-19 in Da Nang at least one week before the first case was confirmed, and therefore that the virus had been circulating in the hospital undetected for a considerable time. Nearly all of the cases last week were people above the age of 60. However, the 29 cases yesterday included a number of asymptomatic young people, including a 23-year-old health worker and four children below the age of 14. Due to the abrupt and widespread nature of the transmission, medical experts believe the real infection numbers may be far higher than the official figures.

 Stricter lockdown reimposed in Philippines as cases top 100,000 - The Philippines recorded a record 5,000 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend bringing the country’s tally to more 100,000 cases according to the Department of Health. The Philippines now has the second highest number of cases in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia. The Duterte administration responded on Sunday night by announcing a return to the strict lockdown conditions of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). Two of Manila’s largest government hospitals were forced to close last week because of the number of infected healthcare workers. Most hospitals report that they are beyond capacity and can no longer take any new patients, as they lack adequate facilities and beds. The Philippine Medical Association warned, in a letter issued over the weekend, that if urgent measures were not taken to curb the spread of the virus the entire medical system was on the verge of collapse. The Duterte administration has responded to the pandemic with authoritarianism and anti-scientific nonsense, attempting to maintain control of the population and to resume the profit-making operations of banks and major businesses. The Philippine government imposed one of the longest and harshest lockdowns in the world, which it enforced through draconian police measures. Over 76,000 people were arrested between March 17 and July 25 for violating curfew or lockdown. More than 900 complaints of torture and inhumane treatment have been filed with the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights. The police converted Operation Tokhang, the warrantless door-to-door searches conducted as part of the war on drugs, into an alleged hunt for people with symptoms. The government called on the population to report their neighbors if they suspect they might have symptoms. According to the Washington Post, the police have killed a number of “suspects” in their homes as a result of these warrantless searches. While conducting door-to-door searches, imposing curfews, and carrying out mass arrests, the Duterte government has done next to nothing to detect, trace or isolate the disease. Confronted with a shortage of masks and hygiene supplies, Duterte told the public last week that they should clean their masks with gasoline. Medical professionals responded that if the public followed Duterte’s instructions they would likely contract a respiratory disease. The Philippine economy confronts its worst contraction in over three decades. Unemployment has reached record levels. The most recently available government data is for April and it reveals that 7.3 million adults were unemployed, a 17.7 percent unemployment rate, which is an all-time high. An additional 13 million reported that they had jobs but were unable to report to work. The figures have only worsened since April. Extrapolating from the available data, it seems that over half the population has no immediate source of income. Remittances from migrant workers are a mainstay of the Philippine economy and they have declined substantially as a result of the global crisis.

COVID-19 takes hold in Papua New Guinea - After appearing to hold the COVID-19 pandemic at bay for the past several months, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government last week confirmed dozens of new cases in the capital, Port Moresby. PNG’s Pandemic Response Controller David Manning, also announced a new case in Lae, the capital of Morobe province, some 300kms from Port Moresby. As of August 3, the total number of cases was 110, including three victims hospitalised in critical condition and two deaths. In mid-July, the country had recorded just 11 cases of COVID-19, before then surging to over 30 within a week. Now, 90 percent of cases have been recorded in the past 14 days. Government modelling suggests more than 5,000 people may have the virus. Only around 10,000 have been tested in a population of nine million and Manning declared the virus is now “widespread” in the capital. His deputy, Acting Health Secretary Dr Paison Dakulala admitted last Thursday that authorities were playing “catch-up” with contact tracing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has just stepped up its response, deploying more emergency medical staff to strengthen testing capacity and medical supply delivery. Following a request from PNG, Australia dispatched a token eight-member crisis response team. Many of the recent cases are health workers at the Port Moresby General Hospital, where all non-essential services were suspended. Hospital workers had repeatedly raised concerns about their own safety, the lack of adequate personal protective equipment and staff shortages sparked by the need to quarantine some health workers. The hospital’s CEO Paki Molumi said patient care had been affected by the shortages.

 Germany Suffers Biggest Jump In COVID-19 Case Since May; Philippines Passes Indonesia As Region's Biggest Outbreak: Live Updates - The number of new coronavirus cases slowed on Thursday, but the global tally of cases neared 19 million, with the outbreak on track to surpass that number by the end of the week. The biggest news overnight comes out of Europe, where Germany just suffered its largest jump in new cases since May, with more than 1000 new cases reported in a day. The Robert Koch Institute reported 1,045 new cases on Thursday, bringing Germany's total to 213,067. Its death toll is 9,175. This comes as the RKI warns that any figure above 1,000 a day would make it much more difficult for local health authorities to carry out effective tracking and tracing, and to keep the virus under control, Reuters reports. German schools have begun to reopen in some parts of the country, which has been widely blamed for the uptick in new cases. Surging case numbers are reviving fears of a return to economically damaging lockdown in Germany. Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday free compulsory testing would be offered beginning Saturday, although a big factor in the increase on Thursday was a surge in tests being run. In neighboring Poland, officials will introduce new containment measures against the virus in some of the most badly affected counties after fresh infections set new records in the past weeks. The country will impose limits on restaurants, sport events, mass transportation and weddings in 19 of its 380 counties starting Saturday, said Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski. Typically quiet Southeast Asia is also seeing some alarming new developments as the Philippines surpasses Indonesia for the biggest outbreak in the region, despite imposing the longest, and most strict, lockdown in the entire region earlier this year.The country reported 3,381 new cases on Thursday (these numbers are reported with a 24 hour delay). coronavirus cases in the Philippines have now surged to almost 120,000 (119,460 according to Worldometer), eclipsing Indonesia to become the region’s biggest outbreak. The country re-imposed this week a second lockdown on its capital and nearby areas to curb infection spread, even as the economy suffered its deepest contraction on record, shrinking 16.5% in the second quarter from a year ago. This comes as Q2 GDP data shows Philippines economy shrank 16.5% in the quarter, descending into a deep recession.

 Saudi Arabia announces 38 more deaths from COVID-19 - Saudi Arabia announced 38 more deaths from COVID-19 and 1,567 new cases of the disease on Friday. Of the new cases, 281 were reported in the Eastern Province, 268 in Makkah, 259 in Asir and 208 in Riyadh. The total number of recoveries in the Kingdom increased to 248,948 after 1,859 more patients recovered from the virus. A total of 3,093 people have succumbed to the virus in the Kingdom so far.

CDC links red onions to salmonella outbreak across the U.S., Canada - Nearly 400 people in 34 states have fallen ill from a salmonella outbreak linked to red onions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. At least 396 people have been infected with salmonella, a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, from six hours to six days after exposure, according to the CDC. The first cases were reported on July 10, affecting three states. Since then, the list of states has increased to 34. So far, 59 people have been hospitalized. Red onions are suspected as the likely cause of infection, tracing back to Thomas International of Bakersfield, California. On Saturday, the company recalled red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions shipped after May 1. On Aug. 1, Thomson International issued a voluntary recall of the onions sold under brand names including Thomson Premium, Hartley's Best, Imperial Fresh, Kroger and Food Lion.   The Food and Drug Administration is investigating the outbreak along with the CDC. No specific source of contamination or contaminated shipment has yet been identified, according to the FDA. Although the outbreak is linked to red onions, the CDC recommends avoiding white, yellow and sweet onions from Thomson International. Consumers can check the packaging or sticker on the produce. If they're from Thomson or it's not possible to determine where they came from, throw the onions away, the CDC advises. If any foods have been prepared with onions that may have come from Thomson, do not eat them. Most people recover without treatment, but severe cases can require hospitalization and antibiotics

Toilet to table: Michigan farmers feed crops with ‘toxic brew’ of human and industrial waste -Each day, tons of human excrement flows from southeast Michigan's toilets to its sewer system, mixing with industrial waste from Zug Island, Ford's auto plants, Detroit Receiving Hospital, and every factory, industry, home, and commercial building in the region.Once it reaches the Great Lakes Water Authority's (GLWA) treatment plants, water is pulled from the mix, sanitized, and discharged into the Detroit River. What's left behind at the treatment plants is sewage sludge — a highly toxic, semi-solid blend of human feces and every pollutant that was discharged into the sewers.Despite the fact that it teems with potentially dangerous chemicals, the sludge is then spread on farmland.Nutrients in human excrement, like phosphorus and nitrogen, help plants grow, so sewerage departments across the country lightly treat sludge and repackage it as a fertilizer called "biosolids" that are given away or sold for cheap to farmers.Biosolids are a "valuable resource" that has been "shown to produce significant improvements in crop growth and yield," according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which approved the practice in the mid-1990s. By 2018, more than 50% of the approximately 130 million wet tons of sludge the nation produced annually was applied to farmland.But the practice is increasingly controversial. Public health advocates say any amount of the approximately 90,000 synthetic chemicals in existence, from VOCs to BPAs to PCBs, can be represented in sludge. It can also be packed with superbugs, parasites, worms, hormones, viruses, and bacteria that aren't killed in the treatment process. Studies show the pollutants are carried to farmland, taken up by crops, and can end up on dinner plates. That's fueling a growing number of biosolid-linked public-health crises that are making people sick, polluting drinking water, and pitting farmer against farmer. But the powerful waste-management industry and regulators are resistant to prohibition. Sludge is an expensive byproduct that's difficult to dispose of, and selling it to farmers is a cheap solution to the problem.

 Livestock owners in Ohio warned to be on guard after Asian Longhorned tick found -  Columbus Dispatch -  An invasive tick has been found in southern Ohio that has the capacity to harm cattle. The Asian Longhorned tick is not established yet but experts warn the arthropod can spread disease and rapidly reproduce. A female tick can asexually reproduce up to 2,000 eggs. It has the capacity to wipe out livestock, cause anemia and transmit diseases. The Asian Longhorned tick can wage a campaign of destruction even though it’s only the size of a sesame seed. So far, only one of its kind has been documented in Ohio. But experts warn: One is all it takes to become established in a new habitat. The female Asian Longhorned tick has the ability to reproduce without males. She can produce up to 2,000 eggs by herself, said Risa Pesapane, assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. The Ohio tick was confirmed after a stray 7-year-old male beagle was found in late May along a road in Gallia County in southern Ohio as part of Pesapane’s study. Her study partners with Gigi’s, a nonprofit that brings dogs from shelters to their campus in Canal Winchester, where veterinarians administer care to them. “We’re using the dogs to get a better idea of the health of the dogs in the area as well as what ticks are out there. And then that can be extrapolated to other studies like public health studies,” said Dr. Colleen Shocking, a veterinarian who is also the director of education, outreach, and the parvovirus treatment center at Gigi’s. “Our role is we pull (ticks) off. We also pull some blood from the dogs, which doesn’t hurt them at all. We do that anyway to check for tick diseases.”

Ohio animal rights advocate faces 42 counts of abuse charges - An Ohio animal rights advocate and former director of a local Humane Society is facing 42 felony indictment charges connected to alleged animal abuse and the deaths of at least 18 dogs. Steffen Baldwin, 39, was arrested this week after U.S. Marshals posed as potential customers in California, more than three years after he fled an investigation in Ohio, The Ohio Dispatch reported. He waived his extradition and was returned to the state. Baldwin currently faces dozens of felony indictments, including cruelty to companion animals, grand theft, bribery, telecommunications fraud, tampering with evidence and impersonating a peace officer. Baldwin was the leader of the Union County Humane Society in Marysville, acted as a Humane agent who investigated cases of pet and livestock abuse, and founded his own nonprofit agency. The Dispatch reported that he appeared to be an animal lover who seemed especially passionate about helping dogs deemed difficult or dangerous. He was described as charming and confident, traits that made him appear trustworthy to pet owners. However, police believe that persona was a ruse. Authorities allege that he convinced pet owners that he would rehabilitate their dogs or find them new homes but was actually taking the money for personal use while euthanizing the animals without consent. An investigation was launched after Litsa and Angelo Kargakos told police that they paid Baldin $1,000 in September 2016 to train and find a new home for their pitbull, Remi. However, a police report states that Remi was euthanized just three months later. Baldwin assured the couple that Remi was “doing well,” but then filed a false report with Union County officials claiming Remi was a dangerous animal. The Kargakoses eventually tracked down the veterinarian who performed the procedure after becoming suspicious, The Dispatch reported. Remi was reportedly in perfect health when he was put down.

Trump Administration Rule Proposal Would Further Undermine Endangered Species Act -Environmental groups on Friday condemned the announcement of a new rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would further weaken the Endangered Species Act by making it easier to destroy habitats vulnerable species rely on for survival."President Trump is back for another whack at another key environmental law," said Oceana senior federal policy director Lara Levison.At issue is a planned rule change to the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, from the Department of Fish and Wildlife that would redefine "habitat" as "areas with existing attributes that have the capacity to support individuals of the species," precluding the restoration and repair of historical habitats that could, with time, support endangered species."The Trump administration won't be satisfied until it removes all protections for the natural world, including clean air and water, land, and now even habitat for our most vulnerable wildlife," Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.As the Center for Biological Diversity explained:The definition stems from a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that said the Service needed to define the term habitat in relation to the highly endangered dusky gopher frog. The frog survives in one ephemeral pond in Mississippi. Recognizing that to secure the frog would require recovering it in additional areas, the Service designated an area in Louisiana that had the ephemeral ponds the frog requires. However, this area would need forest restoration to provide high-quality habitat.Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, the landowner, and Pacific Legal Foundation, a private-property advocacy group, challenged the designation, resulting in today's definition and the frog losing habitat protection in Louisiana. "This will have real life-and-death consequences for some of our nation's most vulnerable species," said Greenwald.Oceana's Levison concurred with Greenwald's bleak assessment."The president's newly proposed rules will make it even harder to save species from extinction," she said. "The ESA protects threatened and endangered species like sea turtles and the North Atlantic right whale, as well as the habitats they depend on, but the draft rule released today reduces these protections."Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute, called on the president and the administration to do the right thing for the planet by saving "an effective and popular law that serves as the last line of defense for rare species facing extinction.""At a time of unprecedented wildlife extinction and habitat destruction, we should be working to strengthen — not weaken — the Endangered Species Act," said Liss.

Trump Signs Great American Outdoors Act Into Law -  The Great American Outdoors Act is now the law of the land. President Donald Trump signed the bill, which passed the Senate and House with bipartisan support, on Tuesday. It is considered a major U.S. conservation milestone."You cannot overstate the importance of this bill and what it will mean for national parks, public lands and communities across the country," National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) President and CEO Theresa Pierno said when it passed the House in July. "This is the largest investment our country has made in our national parks and public lands in more than 50 years, and it comes not a moment too soon." The bill is important because it secured permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for $900 million a year, EcoWatch previously reported. This fund uses oil and gas revenue to finance national parks and historic sites, along with local and state parks and recreation areas. The bill also earmarked $6.5 billion over the next five years to address the maintenance backlog currently burdening the National Park System, NPCA pointed out.Trump claimed the bill signing as a major environmental legacy for himself and the Republicans."From an environmental standpoint and from just the beauty of our country standpoint, there hasn't been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect," he said at the signing ceremony, The New York Times reported. "At some point, they'll have to start thinking about the Republican Party and all of the incredible things we've done on conservation and many other fronts."

Democratic Bill Banning Toxic Pesticides Applauded as 'Much-Needed' Step to Protect Kids and Planet - Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday introduced sweeping legislation that would ban some of the most toxic pesticides currently in use in the U.S. and institute stronger protections for farmworkers and communities that have been exposed to damaging chemicals by the agriculture industry.The Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticide Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), was applauded by environmentalists as a "bold and much-needed" step in the right direction."The pesticide industry and chemical agriculture have for far too long been able to abuse legal loopholes allowing for the use of toxic pesticides that have not been adequately tested to make sure they are safe for people and the environment," said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. "The Udall-Neguse plan will rein in this largely unchecked explosion of pesticide use by agriculture and give the EPA much stronger authority to protect the public." According to a summary of the bill released by Neguse's office, the legislation would ban:

• Organophosphate insecticides, which are designed to target the neurological system and have been linked to neurodevelopmental damage in children;
• Neonicotinoid insecticides, which have contributed to pollinator collapse around the world; and
• Paraquat, which is one of the most acutely toxic herbicides in the world.

If passed, the bill would end the use of chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide linked to brain damage in children. Last July, as Common Dreams reported, President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups to ban chlorpyrifos despite evidence of the pesticide's neurotoxic effects.

  Don’t Blame Cats for Killing Wildlife – Shaky Logic Is Creating a Moral Panic - A number of conservationists claim cats are a zombie apocalypse for biodiversity that need to be removed from the outdoors by "any means necessary" – coded language for shooting, trapping and poisoning. Various media outlets have portrayed cats as murderous superpredators. Australia has even declared an official "war" against cats.Moral panics emerge when people perceive an existential threat to themselves, society or the environment. When in the grip of a moral panic, the ability to think clearly and act responsibly is compromised. While the moral panic over cats arises from valid concerns over threats to native species, it obscures the real driver: humanity's exploitative treatment of the natural world. Crucially, errors of scientific reasoning also underwrite this false crisis. As an interdisciplinary team of scientists and ethicists studying animals in conservation, we examined this claim and found it wanting. It is true that like any other predator, cats can suppress the populations of their prey. Yet the extent of this effect is ecologically complex. In our most recent publication in the journal Conservation Biology, we examine an error of reasoning that props up the moral panic over cats.The potential impact of cats differs between urban environments, small islands and remote deserts. Whenhumans denude regions of vegetation, small animals are particularly at risk from cats because they have no shelter in which to hide.Small animals are similarly vulnerable when humans kill apex predators that normally would suppress cat densities and activity. For instance, in the U.S., cats are a favorite meal for urban coyotes, who moderate feline impact; and in Australia, dingoes hunt wild cats, which relieves pressure on native small animals.Add in contrary evidence and the case against cats gets even shakier. For instance, in some ecological contexts, cats contribute to the conservation of endangered birds, by preying on rats and mice. There are alsodocumented cases of coexistence between cats and native prey species. The fact is, cats play different predatory roles in different natural and humanized landscapes. Scientists cannot assume that because cats are a problem for some wildlife in some places, they are a problem in every place. 

 As forests disappear in India, leopards have learnt to live and prey among human habitats  - Unpacking patterns of leopard attacks on livestock and landscape features in the Indian Himalayas offers clues to potential human-leopard conflict hotspots, a study has said amid increasing encounters of wildlife with humans.  Rapid deforestation and human-impacts on their habitats force these large carnivores to venture into unlikely landscapes outside protected areas for prey and cover, said scientists at Wildlife Institute of India.  Research by the team is unraveling how landscape features such as abandoned farmlands, tea gardens, and distance from protected areas, increase the probability of leopards attacking livestock in North Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand in the Western Himalayas. The team has studied patterns of leopard predation and analysed landscape features to map conflict hotspots in the study sites where wildlife managers, conservationists, and communities can work together to devise and reframe strategies to reduce livestock depredation by leopards within the Indian Himalayan region. Such measures will help reduce retaliation by local communities and ensure the survival of leopards outside protected reserves, the study claims. “We investigated 857 attacks on livestock in Eastern Himalayas and 375 attacks in the Western Himalayas by leopards, between 2015 and 2018. We realised that leopards behave and adapt differently compared to other large carnivores. What we know of other large carnivores doesn’t really apply to leopards,” said Dipanjan Naha of Wildlife Institute of India’s Department of Endangered Species Management. Leopards are stalk-and-ambush predators frequenting the fringes of protected areas. Diverse landscapes, like settlements, grazing lands, interspersed with moderate forests, might offer them better chances of catching prey compared to dense closed habitats, the authors said. Whether it is the sugarcane fields of Maharashtra, the tea gardens in North Bengal, an abandoned rubber factory at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh – leopards can survive in small, splintered vegetation patches as long as they have enough cover to hide. Livestock and free-ranging domestic dogs comprise the primary prey for leopards in these modified realms outside of protected areas.

Much Of Maine’s Lobster Fishery Loses International ‘Sustainably Fished’ Designation -  Much of Maine's lobster fishery is losing, at least temporarily, an internationally-recognized rating as a "sustainably fished" resource. The suspension comes in the wake of a federal judge's ruling that the risk posed by lobster-trap ropes to endangered North Atlantic right whales violates federal law. The MSC label certifies that a seafood product is wild, traceable and sustainable. Some Maine businesses, such as Luke's Lobster, actively use it in their marketing. Since 2013, the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has been awarding its blue seal-of-approval to lobsters caught and handled by a consortium of Maine lobstermen, processors and dealers who are members of the Maine Certified Sustainable Lobster Association. The MSC label certifies that a seafood product is wild, traceable and sustainable, and some Maine businesses, such as Luke's Lobster, actively use it in their marketing. MSC spokesperson Jackie Marks says that, in most respects, Maine's lobstermen are exemplary stewards of the lobster population, thanks to conservation practices that date back more than a century."They're practices have been pretty solid. And they are seen as an iconic American fishery that has been doing well."But scientists and conservationists say that the ropes and buoys Maine lobstermen use to haul their traps pose a risk of deadly entanglements for the roughly 400 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet. In April, a federal judge ruled that federal regulators violated the Endangered Species act by authorizing the American lobster fishery. That ruling, Marks says, put the Maine fishery out of compliance with one of the MSC certification standards — that a fishery not harm what she calls "non-target" threatened or endangered species, such as the right whales. "Making sure that other non-target species are healthy and the ecosystem itself is healthy," says Marks.

Toxic Chemicals From Fossil Fuels Are Poisoning East Coast Dolphins and Whales, Study Finds - A new study gives a first look at the presence and potential effects of plastics and new forms of synthetic chemicals in stranded dolphins and whales along the coast of the southeastern U.S.  New toxins and chemicals entering the market are bombarding the ocean and its inhabitants on an unprecedented scale, according to the research that was published Wednesday in Frontiers in Marine Science, as CNN reported. Large ocean mammals that washed up ashore between 2012 and 2018 are similar to a canary in a coal mine, according to Courthouse News, since these animals retain chemical deposits in their blubber and offer a window into the health of the larger ocean ecosystem.  The animals tested comprised toothed whales, which include dolphins, porpoises and other whales like the melon-headed whale and the Cuvier's beaked whale, according to CNN.  "Marine mammals are ecosystem sentinels that reflected anthropogenic threats through their health — which has implications for human health as well," says lead author assistant professor Annie Page-Karjian of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, in a statement.  The stranded animals included 11 different species, providing the first evidence for two rarer species: white-beaked dolphin and Gervais' beaked whales, according to Frontiers in Marine Science. The stranded animals represented males and females, young and old, which allowed the scientists to look at differences between the groups.  The results showed that species such as bottlenose dolphins had higher amounts of lead and mercury in their system than pygmy sperm whales. Female bottlenose dolphins had higher levels of arsenic than their male counterparts. Dolphins stranded in Florida displayed higher concentrations of lead, mercury and selenium and lower iron levels than those stranded in North Carolina, according to Courthouse News. These toxic chemicals mostly enter the ecosystem from the burning of fossil fuels and mining, said Alistair Dove, vice president of research and conservation at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, to CNN. Dove was not involved in the study.

Heavy rain hammers South Korea, leaving 6 dead, 7 missing (AP) — Torrential rain pounded most of South Korea over the weekend, leaving six people dead and seven others missing, officials said Sunday. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the heavy rainfall triggered landslides in dozens of places, flooded residential areas and roads, and damaged some riverside structures. Much of the damage occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area and the central region. The ministry said the six dead people were either buried by mud or destroyed building parts following landslides or swept away by swollen waters. Ministry officials said one died on Saturday and the other five on Sunday, all in the Seoul metropolitan area or the central region. The torrential rain also left six people injured and 360 others homeless, the ministry said. The Seoul area and the central region are expected to continue to receive heavy rain until Monday morning.

Isaias makes landfall and threatens tornadoes, ferocious winds and flooding up the East Coast – CNN - Isaias slammed into the East Coast overnight, causing rapid flooding, water rescues and the threat of New York's strongest winds since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.Isaias hurled sustained winds of 85 mph and became a Category 1 hurricane before reaching land around 11:10 p.m. ET near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said.It was downgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday morning, with maximum sustained winds down to 70 mph. But that doesn't mean the danger is over. Tropical storm warnings extend from North Carolina all the way to the Maine/Canada border, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. Tropical storm conditions will last through Tuesday and into the overnight hours. In addition to torrential rain, major storm surges and the threat of tornadoes, "this is going to be a power problem," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. By mid-Tuesday morning, Isaias had knocked out power to more than 500,000 electricity customers, Myers said. That means well over a million people are left in the dark. And with the coronavirus pandemic still raging across the country, recovery from this storm could be made much more difficult. Flooding, fires and 65-mph winds Howling wind and water washing across in "one to two foot swells" closed a bridge Monday night in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, the Sunset Beach Police said on Facebook. Streets in Holden Beach became rivers as water quickly rose, Jessi Viox told CNN. "Getting ready for Round 2," Viox said. "The eye has moved around us, and now here comes the back end." Brunswick County, North Carolina, reported "numerous calls" for water rescues, structural fires, structural collapses and people trapped in flooding houses," Oak Island Water Rescue said on Facebook. Before Isaias even made landfall, the top of the Apache Pier Pavilion was seen lifting off in the wind. And multiple structures in Ocean Isle Beach were reported to be ablaze, according to the Horry County Fire Rescue in South Carolina.

Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in North Carolina | CBC News Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain during an inland march up the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane along the North Carolina coast, where it piled boats against the docks and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. At least one person was killed when one of its twisters hit a mobile home park. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told ABC's Good Morning America that one person was killed and others were injured when a tornado hit a mobile home park in Bertie County, about 300 kilometres northeast of where Isaias made landfall. Bertie County officials said on Facebook that the tornado touched down in Windsor. The hurricane had touched down just after 11 p.m. local time near Ocean Island, N.C., on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 136 km/h. The storm now has maximum sustained winds of 117 km/h. But forecasters said hurricane-force gusts were likely in the Chesapeake Bay region, and tropical storm conditions were expected across New England Tuesday night. "Potentially life-threatening urban flooding is possible in D.C., Baltimore and elsewhere along and just west of the I-95 corridor today," the National Hurricane Center also warned. Forecasters had warned tornadoes were possible, and two were later confirmed, near Kilmarnock, Va., and Vienna, Md. Heavy rains were predicted, with falling trees causing power outages as Isaias moves north. More than 650,000 customers lost electricity, most of them in North Carolina and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks utility reports. Isaias toggled between tropical storm and hurricane strength throughout its path to the U.S. coast, killing two people in the Caribbean and trashing the Bahamas before brushing past Florida. Some coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia woke to significant damage, mostly east and north of where the hurricane's eye struck land. In Southport, N.C., the storm surge and wind gusts left dozens of boats piled up against the docks, and many decks facing out on the water were smashed by the surge. On North Carolina's Oak Island, deputies had to rescue five adults and three children after the storm hit, causing damage along the beachfront and knocking electricity and sewer facilities offline, authorities said. The storm set off flooding and sparked five home fires in Ocean Isle Beach, Mayor Debbie Smith told WECT-TV. About 128 kilometres north of Ocean Isle Beach, 30 people were displaced due to a fire at a condominium complex in Surf City, news outlets reported. In Suffolk, Va., near the coast, multiple homes were damaged by falling trees, and city officials received reports of a possible tornado. A fire station downtown sustained damage including broken windows. A photo posted by city officials showed a pile of bricks lying next to a damaged business. As the storm neared the shore, a gauge on a pier in Myrtle Beach recorded its third-highest water level since it was set up in 1976. Only Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 pushed more salt water inland.

One killed by downed tree as Isaias leaves path of tornadoes, outages, floods in Maryland - Baltimore Sun - A driver was killed in St. Mary’s County as Tropical Storm Isaias swept swiftly through Maryland Tuesday morning, spawning tornadoes, causing more than 60,000 power outages and flooding multiple areas as it dumped as much as 9 inches of rain in parts of the state. Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs) struck Southern Maryland in the morning, with a tornado touching down in Callaway in St. Mary’s County shortly before 7 a.m., and traveled north and northeasterly before exiting the state by early afternoon. But before then, its winds of up to 70 mph and intense downpours sent trees crashing onto cars and homes, overturned several tractor-trailers and closed about three dozen roads. The driver was killed in Mechanicsville after a large tree fell on their car around 9:30 a.m., according to Cpl. Julie Yingling, a spokeswoman for the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. There were no other passengers in the car, which had been traveling southbound on Three Notch Road near Charlotte Hall School Road when it was struck, Yingling said. It took rescuers several hours to extract the driver whose name was being withheld pending notification of relatives, she said. Trained weather spotters reported 9 inches of rain in St. Mary’s County, where a family in Leonardtown had to be extricated by rescue crews after trees fell on their home, according to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency. Rainfall totals in the Baltimore area ranged from roughly 2.5 to 5 inches, with the highest totals recorded in the southernmost areas near the Chesapeake Bay, said National Weather Service meteorologist Austin Mansfield. Power went out in the Department of Public Works facility on Back River Neck Road in Baltimore County, as well as two closed schools, said Jay Ringgold, spokesman for the county’s emergency services operations. Among the areas inundated were North East in Cecil County, where residents became trapped in their houses as fast-moving currents inundated some streets.

Hurricane Isaias brings tornadoes, fires, flooding, widespread power outages to East Coast - CBS News - Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain along the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina, where it smashed boats together and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. At least six people were killed. About 12 hours after coming ashore, the storm was still sustaining near-hurricane-strength top winds of 70 mph late Tuesday morning, and its forward march accelerated to 35 mph. "Potentially life-threatening urban flooding is possible in D.C., Baltimore and elsewhere along and just west of the I-95 corridor today," the National Hurricane Center warned. The storm crossed over land as a hurricane just after 11 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs) had been upgraded again from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Monday evening. Its maximum sustained winds dropped after it hit land to minimum-hurricane-speed of 75 mph with higher gusts. And by 3 a.m., it was back down to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. At 8 a.m., Isaias had sustained winds of 70 mph was moving north/northeast at 33 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Isaias was bringing dangerous winds and heavy rain to eastern Virginia early Tuesday. The storm surge and wind damage actually matched what the hurricane center predicted, leaving dozens of boats piled up against the docks, and many decks facing out on the water were smashed.Two people were killed and several others were unaccounted for after a tornado destroyed 10 mobile homes in Windsor, North Carolina, according to officials in Bertie County. Bertie County Emergency Management Director Mitch Cooper said, "We want to emphasize that this is not a recovery mission, and rescues are still taking place which is why it is increasingly important to steer clear of the area. The storm could continue to bring down trees and cause power outages as it moves north along the mid-Atlantic and New England coastline, said Robbie Berg, a hurricane center forecaster. "We don't think there is going to be a whole lot of weakening, we still think there's going to be very strong and gusty winds that will affect much of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast over the next day or two,"," Berg said. Rainfall will continue to be a big issue, he added. More than 500,000 homes and businesses lost electricity, most of them in North Carolina and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks utility reports.

Tropical Storm Isaias causing tornadoes, flash flooding and power outages in Philly region - Tropical Storm Isaias arrived in the Philadelphia region Tuesday with an impressive show of force. Torrential rains and strong winds have resulted in flash floods and power outages throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. Tornados have been spotted in several locations too. Tropical storm conditions were forecasted to continue until Tuesday evening, as some showers were anticipated late into the night. The forecast called for as much as six inches of rain throughout on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain was expected along the I-95 corridor. Wind gusts were expected to reach as high as 73 mph. A flash flood watch was in place until midnight Wednesday and a tornado watch was in effect until 4 p.m. on Tuesday. A tropical storm warning remained in place until further notice. A coastal flood advisory was in effect until 8 p.m., with up to six inches of flooding expected in low-lying areas along the Jersey Shore and tidal waterways. The warning included the Delaware River, from the Delaware Bay to the Commodore Barry Bridge area. Flooding across Philly forced the city to close down several roads, including Kelly Drive between the Art Museum and Falls Bridge. Cobbs Creek Parkway between 70th Street and Baltimore Avenue. Philly police and fire personnel helped rescue drivers stranded in flooded streets. A flood warning for the Schuylkill River is in effect until Wednesday night or whenever the warning is cancelled. More than 583,000 customers are without power, according to outage maps provided by PECO, PSE&G and Atlantic City Electric.

Tropical Storm Isaias turns deadly in NYC as trees come down across the 5 boroughs; damage across NY, NJ and CT -  (WABC) -- The torrential rains and strong winds from fast-moving Tropical Isaias dealt such a wallop that millions were left without power in the Tri-State area and governors had to put into place emergency orders to speed up the recovery. Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a State of Emergency for downstate New York on Wednesday to enable the state to provide additional levels to support to local governments throughout the clean-up and recovery process. Nearly 2.5 million people lost power in the region. Con Edison said the number of power outages from Isaias was the second-largest in the company's history. Only Superstorm Sandy in 2012 caused more. A 60-year-old man was killed when he was crushed by a tree that fell on his car in Briarwood, Queens. There were more than 3,100 reports of downed trees in Queens, many of which knocked out power and damaged homes. One crashed through the roof of a home and fell on a child's bedroom. She was just a few feet away and wasn't hurt. In Brooklyn, a woman was struck in the head by a falling tree branch outside the Tilden Houses in Brownsville just after 2 p.m. She was taken to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition. There was also a partial building collapse involving the second and third floors of a building at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North 6th Street. An unknown number of residents were evacuated. There were no reports of injuries.

Isaias Aftermath- 2 Million Still Without Power Across Northeast; At Least 12 Tornados Confirmed - Tropical Storm Isaias is long gone, but there's widespread damage along the East Coast and more than 2 million homes in the Northeast without power. According to PowerOutage.US, 2.2 million of the 6.4 million affected electric customers remain without power in the aftermath of Isaias. PowerOutage.US said utility workers from across the nation have responded to East Coast states to aid in the recovery effort to restore power. So far, 65% of affected customers have seen their lights turned back on. From the Carolinas to the Delmarva Peninsula to New Jersey to New York City, Isaias unleashed tropical storm conditions earlier this week. For those who are curious, here's the full track map of the storm: At one point, nearly 100 tornado warnings were issued across ten states as the storm raced up the East Coast. Isaias spawned at least a dozen confirmed twisters. Here's some video of the damage:

Massive power outage briefly knocks out northern New York City, then Queens goes - A massive power outage struck Friday morning in the upper part of Manhattan, knocking out not only lights but also cellphone service, and a short time later power went out in a large chunk of Queens as well. At one point it was pitch black as far as the eye could see along Broadway north of 73rd Street on both the east and west sides of Manhattan. Power came back on after around 20 minutes for parts of the Upper West Side, though some spotty outage reports lingered thereafter. "We are investigating a problem on our transmission system that caused three networks in Manhattan to lose their electric supply at about 5:13 this morning. The supply has been restored to those networks on the Upper West Side, Harlem and the Upper East Side," Con Ed said in a statement. About 90 minutes later, though, power went out in the Middle Village section of Queens, and two hours later it was still largely out. Con Ed's outage map showed about 140,000 customers without power in Manhattan as of 6 a.m., but that was down to 140 by 10 a.m. - and all power in the borough was projected to be restored by 12 p.m., the utility said. The same map then showed about 27,000 customers out in Queens as of 8:30 a.m., potentially linked in part to the new outage. Mayor Bill de Blasio said overnight weather conditions appeared to cause the early morning outage, and that by his 10 a.m. briefing all customers from Friday's outage had their power restored.

Thousands in NJ wait for power as storm outages enter fifth day - Utility crews from multiple states continued to reconnect North Jersey residents to the power grid Saturday while more responders and residents deal with downed trees, power lines and further damage left in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias. Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted Friday night that 240,000 customer outages were still reported in New Jersey, a number that has decreased from a peak 1.4 million on Tuesday, 977,000 on Wednesday and 447,524 on Thursday.On Saturday, nearly 65,000 customers were still without power in New Jersey. Here are the North Jersey county power-outage numbers as of about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, according to PSE&G, Orange & Rockland utility company, Atlantic City Electric and Jersey Central Power and Light:

• Morris County: 21,866
• Bergen County: 24,439
• Passaic County: 6,576
• Essex County: 11,916

Morris County has consistently had some of the most outages even as the number of customers without power has dropped and has been one of the hardest-hit areas, according to JCP&L. Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano on Saturday said he was frustrated by JCP&L's progress in Morris County's largest municipality, and called on the utility to "reimburse residents for everything they’ve lost this week." "I am particularly disturbed by several instances of neighborhoods getting power back for a few hours, only to lose it again shortly thereafter," Soriano wrote in a social media post. "Many residents have told me they went out to buy much-needed food, and were forced to throw it out within a few hours. Some had to throw away their medicine."

Report: Climate Change Raises Flood Risks For Superfund Sites In N.H., Elsewhere -  New Hampshire Public Radio – A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists says hundreds of coastal Superfund sites – including several in New Hampshire – face new risks of flooding due to climate change.The analysis looked at federal toxic waste sites within 25 miles of the East and Gulf Coasts, and found that New Jersey, Florida and New York have the most sites at risk of extreme flooding. Many are concentrated along the I-95 corridor. In New Hampshire, the analysis covers not just the former Pease Air BaseSuperfund in Portsmouth and Coakley Landfill Superfund in Greenland and North Hampton, but also sites on the inner Seacoast. The report says even if greenhouse gas emissions drop sharply in the coming decades, at least 800 of these coastal Superfunds will soon be at risk for extreme flooding due to storms and tides.This kind of flooding has spread toxic waste around Superfunds and active industrial sites, in places like Houston after Hurricane Harvey.The Concerned Scientists report also says people of color and those earning lower incomes are more likely to live near these sites. This follows another recent studyfrom the Chicago-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law that said about 70% of all Superfund sites are within one mile of a public housing complex.  Sites further inland are not exempt from the risk, according the Concerned Scientists report and other flood data.  The recently released FloodFactor mapping tool from the nonprofit First Street Foundation shows risks from potential creek and river flooding near or on some non-coastal Superfund sites in New Hampshire.These include the Beede Waste Oil site in Plaistow, the Collins and Aikman Plantsite in Farmington, the Keefe Environmental Services site in Exeter and theFletcher’s Paint Works and Savage Municipal Water sites on either side of downtown Milford, near the floodplain of the Souhegan River.  The FloodFactor tool also shows that the Chlor-Alkali Site, on the Androscoggin River near downtown Berlin, has about a 20% chance of flooding in the next 30 years. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently taking public comment on a new cleanup plan for that site. New Hampshire has nearly two dozen listed or proposed Superfund sites total.

Hurricane, Fire, Covid-19: Disasters Expose the Hard Reality of Climate Change – NYTimes - Twin emergencies on two coasts this week — Hurricane Isaias and the Apple Fire — offer a preview of life in a warming world and the steady danger of overlapping disasters.A low-grade hurricane that is slowly scraping along the East Coast. A wildfire in California that has led to evacuation orders for 8,000 people. And in both places, as well as everywhere between, apandemic that keeps worsening.The daily morning briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, usually a dry document full of acronyms and statistics, has begun to resemble the setup for a disaster movie. But rather than a freak occurrence, experts say that the pair of hazards bracketing the country this week offers a preview of life under climate change: a relentless grind of overlapping disasters, major or minor.The coronavirus pandemic has further exposed flaws in the nation’s defenses, including weak construction standards in vulnerable areas, underfunded government agencies, and racial and income disparities that put some communities at greater risk. Experts argue that the country must fundamentally rethink how it prepares for similar disasters as the effects of global warming accelerate.“State and local governments already stretched with Covid responses must now stretch even further,” said Lisa Anne Hamilton, adaptation program director at the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington. Better planning and preparation are crucial, she added, as the frequency and intensity of disasters increase.Hurricane Isaias made landfall in the Carolinas on Monday evening, its 75 mile-an-hour winds driving a storm surge as great as five feet. By Tuesday afternoon, downgraded to a tropical storm, Isaias had pushed north to the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast. Flash flooding was reported in Pennsylvania, and damaging winds left more than 1.2 million people in New Jersey and New York without power. The storm also spawned tornadoes, including one that killed two people in North Carolina. Isaias makes nine named storms in the Atlantic so far this year, something that has never before happened this early in the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Isaias has captured much of the public’s attention, but it’s far from the only natural disaster facing the country. In Southern California, firefighters were struggling Tuesday to contain a wildfire in the San Bernardino Mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles. It had spread rapidly in the rugged terrain after first being reported on Friday. Called the Apple Fire, it has burned 27,000 acres so far, though it remains much smaller than other recent fires in the state. The largest, the Mendocino Complex Fire in 2018, burned nearly half a million acres. The disastrous Camp Fire of 2018, which burned 150,000 acres and killed 85 people, barely makes the Top 20 list.

Amazon Rainforest Fires in Brazil Surge in July - The number of forest fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest increased 28% in July in comparison to last year, the country's National Institute for Space Research reported Saturday. Brazil holds around 60% of the Amazon basin region and environmentalists say this area is vital to containing the impact of climate change. The state agency recorded 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month, compared to 5,318 in the same month of 2019. Environmentalists were alarmed by the figure, particularly because August traditionally marks the beginning of the fire season in the region. Many now fear that a repeat of the large surge in fires that devastated the area last August could occur this year again. "More than 1,000 fires in a single day is a 15-year record and shows the government's strategy of media-spectacle operations is not working on the ground," Greenpeace spokesman Romulo Batista said in a statement. The fires have been largely set to clear land illegally for farming, ranching and mining. Activists accuse Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the deforestation, as he has been in favor of opening up the rainforest to agriculture and industry. The first six months of 2020 were already the worst on record for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with 3,069 square kilometers (1,185 square miles) cleared, according to INPE data, an area larger than the nation of Luxembourg. On July 16, the Brazilian government banned burning in the Pantanal wetlands and the Amazon forest for four months. President Bolsonaro also issued an order in May for the military to coordinate environmental actions in the Amazon. But experts say the fire numbers indicate the government's response has not been effective. The deforestation index also remained high this year until July, compared to the last couple of years, according to Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Advanced Studies Institute in the State University of Sao Paulo. Experts also say that this year's dry season will be even more prone to fires than last year. U.S. space agency NASA warned last month that warmer ocean surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have creating the conditions for a more extreme drought in the Amazon. "Human-set fires used for agriculture and land clearing more prone to growing out of control and spreading," NASA warned. "Conditions are ripe."

Apple Fire Forces 7,800 to Seek Shelter in Coronavirus-Ravaged California - Southern California's first major wildfire this year has devoured more than 20,000 acres since Friday and forced thousands to flee their homes in the midst of a pandemic.The Apple Fire sparked around 5 p.m. on Friday in Cherry Valley in Riverside County, The San Bernardino Sun reported. Dry air and vegetation fanned the flames, and it is now 20,516 acres and only five percent contained, according to the most recent update from the U.S. Forest Service."The fuels are there, and they're ripe," Daron Wyatt, a spokesman for area incident commanders, told The San Bernardino Sun. The blaze has forced around 7,800 people to flee their homes, the Riverside County Fire Department said,according to CNN. But the evacuations have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. California has the most cases of any state in the nation and, as of Friday, had broken its daily death record four times in a little over a week, The Guardian reported.How do you evacuate 7,800 people in a pandemic? A question I was hoping we wouldn't have to answer but wildfire & h… https://t.co/XnzBcZ9K9  Evacuation centers have been set up at hotels and at Beaumont High School, with measures like temperature checks, mask wearing and social distancing in place, Riverside County Fire Department spokesperson Rob Roseen told CNN. But evacuees are still wary of seeking shelter in the school."Folks not taking advantage of it over concerns about COVID-19, we have measures in place. We planned for this months ahead," Capt. Fernando Herrera of Cal Fire told CBS Los Angeles. Instead, the Red Cross has been helping evacuees find hotel rooms, according to LAIst, and families like the Mejias have stopped by the high school asking for their assistance in booking these rooms.  "You have a number of different groups of people looking for the same set of limited resources," Ellsworth told LAIst.As of Sunday afternoon, the Red Cross had only helped fewer than 40 people. So far, no one has been injured in the blaze, but one home and two outbuildings were destroyed, CNN reported.

Wildfires Can Poison Drinking Water – Here’s How Communities Can Be Better Prepared - In recent years wildfires have entered urban areas, causing breathtaking destruction.The 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise and Butte County, California was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California's history. It took 86 lives and destroyed more than 18,000 structures in a matter of hours.Almost two years later, only a fraction of the area's 40,000-plus population has returned. This disaster followed the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people inCalifornia's Sonoma and Napa counties.After both fires, drinking water tests revealed a plethora of acutely toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. Water inside homes was not safe to use, or even to treat. Water pipes buried underground and inside of buildings were extensively contaminated. As we conclude in a recently published study of burned areas, communities need to upgrade building codes to keep wildfires from causing this kind of widespread contamination of drinking water systems. Both the Tubbs and Camp fires destroyed fire hydrants, water pipes and meter boxes. Water leaks and ruptured hydrants were common. The Camp Fire inferno spread at a speed of one football field per second, chasing everyone – including water system operators – out of town. After the fires passed, testing ultimately revealed widespread hazardous drinking water contamination. Evidence suggests that the toxic chemicals originated from a combination of burning vegetation, structures and plastic materials.Firefighting can accelerate the spread of contamination. As emergency workers draw hydrant water, they spread contaminated water through the water pipe network.Metal, concrete and plastic pipes can become contaminated. Many plastics take up these chemicals like sponges. As clean water later passes through the pipes, the toxic substances leach out, rendering the water unsafe.In the Tubbs and Camp fires, chemicals in the air may have also been sucked into hydrants as water pipes lost pressure. Some water  system plastics decomposed and leached chemicals directly into water. Toxic chemicals then spread throughout pipe networks and into buildings.

Beirut blast: Dozens dead and thousands injured, health minister says - BBC News - A large blast in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed at least 70 people and injured more than 4,000 others, the health minister says. Videos show smoke billowing from a fire, then a mushroom cloud following the blast at the city's port. Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years. President Michel Aoun tweeted it was "unacceptable" that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely. An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion. Lebanon's Supreme Defence Council said those responsible would face the "maximum punishment" possible. Hospitals are said to be overwhelmed and many buildings have been destroyed. President Aoun declared a three-day mourning period, and said the government would release 100 billion lira (£50.5m; $66m) of emergency funds. A BBC journalist at the scene reported dead bodies and severe damage, enough to put the port of Beirut out of action. Prime Minister Hassan Diab called it a catastrophe and said those responsible must be held to account. He spoke of a "dangerous warehouse" which had been there since 2014, but said he would not pre-empt the investigation. Local media showed people trapped beneath rubble. A witness described the first explosion as deafening, and video footage showed wrecked cars and blast-damaged buildings. "All the buildings around here have collapsed. I'm walking through glass and debris everywhere, in the dark,"  The blast was heard 240km (150 miles) away on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. 

Beirut Explosion Caused by Fire Kills Dozens, Injures Thousands – WSJ —Dozens of people were confirmed dead and thousands more injured after a massive explosion caused by a warehouse fire rocked Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut.The warehouse held highly explosive material, said an official with Lebanon’s army who added that the blast was likely caused by a fire and wasn’t an attack. President Trump, however, on Tuesday evening called it a “terrible attack” and said U.S. military leaders believe the explosion was caused by “a bomb of some kind.”The explosive material, which Lebanese officials identified as ammonium nitrate, had been kept at the warehouse for the past six years, according to Prime Minister Hassan Diab. “All those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price,” Mr. Diab said.  At least 50 people were killed and 2,750 wounded because of the explosion, Lebanon’s health minister said.The explosion, which produced a giant orange mushroom cloud over the city, was yet another trauma for Beirut residents who have survived wars and numerous bombings in the past. They now face the challenge of rebuilding at a time of strained resources due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The explosion destroyed one of Lebanon’s most important international ports and severely damaged Beirut’s cosmopolitan city center, with its neighborhoods of restaurants and concrete apartment buildings, and its iconic corniche on the Mediterranean. The city’s core neighborhoods, home to countless cafes, bars, and artist studios, are at the heart of Beirut’s role as a regional cultural hub with global aspirations.The shock wave and vast plume of smoke quickly transformed the city center into a surreal scene blanketed in dust and debris as stunned residents fled their homes and rushed the wounded to hospitals. Vehicles carried injured people, their arms and legs hanging limp from car windows. Dust hung in the air.The blast damaged the facades of apartment blocks nearby, shattered windows and tore balconies and doors asunder. It blanketed the streets with dust and broken glass. Bloody and injured people were trying to reach hospitals and wave down ambulances, which struggled to navigate streets filled with debris and wrecked cars. The explosion left a swath of destruction at Beirut’s port, one of Lebanon’s vital economic arteries. Video footage reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed a swath of rubble, piles of metal and burning fires at the port.

Up To 300,000 Left Homeless In Beirut After Blast Collapsed Walls Miles Away - After Tuesday's deadly blast in Beirut which Lebanon's PM linked to 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate which had unsafely sat in storage on the port going back to 2013, the governor of Beirut has estimated the damage is so pervasive throughout the city as to have left hundreds of thousands homeless. Within a one mile radius, entire sides of residential buildings were ripped off. Getty Images.  During a press conference the governor of Lebanon Marwan Abboud described while fighting back tears during a live press briefing that the two explosions that left 100 dead and over 4,000 injured unleashed at least three billion dollars in damage, devastating up to half the city.  "I took a tour of Beirut, the damage can amount to between three and five billion dollars," Abboud estimated. And he said that it's likely up to 300,000 residents of the city were left homeless, given in many cases entire walls of buildings were ripped out by the seismic blast shockwave.  Regional media reported of his comments: "Almost half of Beirut is destroyed or damaged," he estimated, with 250,000 to 300,000 people finding themselves homeless. "Maybe more," Abboud added while discussion the billions in damage, which also crucially took out the entirety of the city's economically vital port. The blast force is being widely estimated in international reports as being one-fifth the size of Hiroshima. Lebanon's president has declared a two week state of emergency and has put port authority officials under house arrest while pending an investigation.

Beirut reels from huge blast as death toll climbs to at least 135 -  (Reuters) - Lebanese rescue teams pulled out bodies and hunted for missing people on Wednesday from the wreckage caused by a massive warehouse explosion that sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 135. Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared three days of mourning from Thursday as early investigations blamed negligence for the explosion at Beirut port, which has left tens of people missing and injured more than 5,000 others. Up to a quarter of a million people were left without homes fit to live in, officials said, after shockwaves smashed building facades, sucked furniture out into streets and shattered windows miles inland. The death toll was expected to rise from the blast, which officials blamed on a huge stockpile of highly explosive material stored for years in unsafe conditions at the port. The explosion was the most powerful ever in Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war that ended three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections. The blast rattled buildings on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away. “No words can describe the horror that has hit Beirut last night, turning it into a disaster-stricken city,” President Michel Aoun said in an address to the nation during an emergency cabinet session. Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, was stored for six years at the port after it was seized. The government was “determined to investigate and expose what happened as soon as possible, to hold the responsible and the negligent accountable,” he said. An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on “inaction and negligence”, saying “nothing was done” by committees and judges involved in the matter to order the removal of hazardous material. The cabinet ordered port officials involved in storing or guarding the material to be put under house arrest, ministerial sources told Reuters.

Initial investigations point to negligence as cause of Beirut blast, source says -  (Reuters) - Initial investigations into the Beirut port blast indicate years of inaction and negligence over the storage of highly explosive material caused the explosion that killed more than 100 people, an official source familiar with the findings said. The prime minister and presidency have said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures. “It is negligence,” the official source told Reuters, adding that the issue on storing the material safely had come before several committees and judges and “nothing was done” to order the material be removed or disposed of, The source said a fire had started at port warehouse 9 on Tuesday and spread to warehouse 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored. Another source close to a port employee said a team that inspected the material six months ago warned it could “blow up all of Beirut” if not removed. Tuesday’s explosion was the most powerful ever suffered by Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from a deep financial crisis rooted in decades of corruption and economic mismanagement. The head of Beirut port and the head of customs both said on Wednesday that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the dangerous material be removed, but no action was taken. Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem told OTV the material had been put in a warehouse on a court order, adding that they knew then the material was dangerous but “not to this degree”. “We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen. We leave it to the experts and those concerned to determine why,”

Heat wave in Europe sets temperature records in Spain; London sees UK's third hottest day - San Sebastian on Spain's northern coast saw temperatures of 107 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday -- the hottest temperature there since records began in 1955, the national weather agency said. The city of Palma, on Spain's Mediterranean island of Mallorca, set a local record of 105 degrees on Tuesday.  On Friday, temperatures reached 100.04 degrees at Heathrow Airport west of London The U.K.'s Met Office said it was the hottest day of 2020 and third-hottest on record for the country. The city council in Brighton, on England’s south coast, appealed for visitors to stay away, saying it was “concerned about the number of people in the city.” In Italy, more than a dozen Italian cities were put on alert as temperatures peaked around 104 degrees on Friday and Saturday. Forecasters said the heat wave was fueled by hot air coming northward from Africa.  Many said the searing heat made it more difficult to wear face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “Your breath gets very warm — your glasses, there are lots of problems,” Ana Gonzalez told Reuters. “But you put it all aside when you think that it’s protection and there’s no choice about wearing it. You forget about the face mask and that’s it. It’s the only way.”

 Italian resort evacuates due to glacier melting - An Italian valley resort near the Alps was forced to evacuate Friday over fears that a massive glacier could collapse and impact those in its path. Valerio Segor, the region's director of natural risk management, said Friday the evacuation could not be delayed as 75 people left the Ferret Valley, CNN reported. "The measure could not be postponed following a survey of the glacier of Planpincieux that shows a section of 500,000 square meters of ice that could rapidly detach from the rock," Segor said. The mayor of a nearby town, Courmayeur, closed the road leading to Ferret Valley but said other portions of Mont Blanc remain safe. Fabrizio Troilo from the Montagna Sicura (Secure Mountain) Foundation said the glacier located in the Mont Blanc massif has been surveilled since 2012 due to concerns of a fracture that could cause the football field-sized wall of ice to fall off. The glacier is described as "temperate," meaning water flows between the mountain and the mass of ice. Troilo said by observing the ice mass using photographic monitoring, he found the glacier moves over one meter a day. Sporadic temperatures in the region have raised alerts for the foundation. In July and early August, hot temperatures were followed by snowy weather and colder temperatures in higher altitudes, causing a break between the mountain and the ice. The potential for glacier collapse became a significant possibility in April, though Troilo said the past 15 days had shown a "very rapid evolution" that could lead to a complete fracture.

There's a Heatwave at the Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’ - What better place to build a Doomsday Vault than the remote, snow-covered islands of Norway's Arctic Svalbard? Sitting around 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, the facility is buried in permafrost to protect the precious seed samples housed there. But a freak heatwave is causing the region's ice to melt. Following several days of near record-breaking hot weather in July, Svalbard temperatures topped out at 21.7℃, the country's meteorological institute reported. This is the hottest ever recorded here, exceeding the previous record of 21.3℃ set over 40 years earlier and a stark contrast to the region's average of between 5-7℃ for this time of year. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault – also known as the Doomsday Vault – is a gigantic bunker, sitting deep inside a mountain surrounded by snowy wastelands. The facility stores close to 900,000 seed samples from around the world and acts as a sort of back-up plan for agriculture, should disaster render parts of the planet unlivable or the world suffer a catastrophe, such as nuclear war or extreme climate change.It's been described as an "insurance policy for food security."Inside the vault, temperatures are kept below minus 18℃, cold enough to keep the seed samples safe for at least 200 years, even without backup power. But climate change is causing problems for the vault.In 2016, which was the warmest year on record according to NASA, soaring temperatures caused meltwater to breach the vault's entrance tunnel. While no seeds were damaged, the floodwater left an expensive repair bill and tarnished the vault's reputation as impregnable to natural or manmade disasters. Warming in the islands has been underway for some time. Figures for 2017 show average temperatures are between 3-5℃ hotter than in 1971, according to the Climate in Svalbard 2100 report, with the largest increases affecting the inner fjords. Between 2071 and 2100, average temperatures throughout the archipelago will increase by between 7-10℃, the report predicts, shortening the snow season and causing loss of near-surface permafrost. What's happening in Svalbard is symptomatic of wider changes impacting the Arctic expanse, which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Parts of the Canadian Arctic are thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks found, a sign that climate change could be happening faster than first thought.Arctic continuous permafrost ground temperatures increased by 0.39℃ between 2008 and 2016. A similar trend was found in Antarctica, with increases of 0.29℃ over the same period. As warmer-than-average summers destabilize permafrost, much of which has lain frozen for millennia, methane and other gases trapped in the ice could be released at scale, accelerating climate change. In turn, warmer temperatures would lead to further permafrost loss.

Canada's last intact Arctic ice shelf has collapsed - The last fully intact ice shelf in Canada has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean. It took just a couple of days for the shelf to lose nearly half of its area,scientists said Friday, sending large ice islands out into the ocean. The 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf, located at the edge of Ellesmere Island in the northern territory of Nunavut, collapsed at the end of last month, researchersannounced this week. It lost 43% of its area in just two days."Above normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up," The Canadian Ice Service said. "This drastic decline in ice shelves is clearly related to climate change," Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa, said in a statement. "This summer has been up to 5°C warmer than the average over the period from 1981 to 2010, and the region has been warming at two to three times the global rate. The Milne and other ice shelves in Canada are simply not viable any longer and will disappear in the coming decades." Arctic sea ice melt has dire consequences. Not only does melting ice sometimes lead to rising sea levels, it also poses a major threat to endangered species, including polar bears, which rely on the ice for their habitats.

Two Canadian Ice Caps Disappear Completely - Three years ago, scientists predicted it would happen. Now, new NASA satellite imagery confirms it's true: two ice caps in Canada's Nunavut province have disappeared completely, providing more visual evidence of the rapid warming happening near the poles, as CTV News in Canada reported.  According to Gizmodo, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said last week that the St. Patrick Bay ice caps in the northeastern Ellesmere Island are nowhere to be seen on satellite imagery. The revelation that the ice caps have disappeared came sooner than scientists had expected.  "I can't say I was terribly surprised because we knew they were going, but it has happened really fast," Mark Serreze, director of NSIDC in Colorado, told CNN. Serreze co-authored a paper in 2017 estimating the ice caps would be gone within five years.  "When I first visited those ice caps, they seemed like such a permanent fixture of the landscape," said Serreze, in a statement. "To watch them die in less than 40 years just blows me away."  The very hot temperatures in the summer of 2015 reduced the longevity of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps. "You could really see they got hit. But that heat has really just not stopped. It's just getting too warm," Serreze told CNN. This year has been especially tough on the region. Recent months have been plagued by heatwaves and wildfires across the Arctic, as Gizmodo reported. The extreme heat likely contributed to the melting of the ice caps. Research has found that summers in the region haven't been this warm in 115,000 years. According to CNN, the nearby glaciers that sit at a higher elevation have been shrinking significantly as well. "I'll make another prediction that they're gone in a decade," Serreze said to CNN.  "There's something called 'Arctic amplification,' which refers to the observation – not the theory – that the Arctic is warming up at a much faster rate than the rest of the globe, anywhere from two to four times faster," Serreze said. Hotter heat waves and cold waves that are not as cold as they were in the past are contributing factors. "We are starting to see all these things come together." Serreze told CNN, adding that the disappearance of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps is "an exclamation point of what's happening in the Arctic."

 The Worst-Case Scenario for Global Warming Tracks Closely With Actual Emissions - When scientists in the early 2000s developed a set of standardized scenarios to show how accumulating greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will affect the climate, they were trying to create a framework for understanding how human decisions will affect the trajectory of global warming. The scenarios help define the possible effects on climate change—how we can limit the worst impacts by curbing greenhouse gas emissions quickly, or suffer the horrific outcome of unchecked fossil fuel burning.The scientists probably didn't think their work would trigger a sometimes polarized discussion in their ranks about the language of climate science, but that's exactly what happened, and for the last several months, the debate has intensified. Some scientists say the worst-case, high emissions scenario isn't likely because it overestimates the amount of fossil fuels that will be burned in the next few decades.But a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues that the high-end projection for greenhouse gas concentrations is still the most realistic for planning purposes through at least 2050, because it comes closest to capturing the effects "of both historical emissions and anticipated outcomes of current global climate policies, tracking within 1 percent of actual emissions."The scenarios, called Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), roughly show how much warmer the world will be by 2100, depending on how much more fossil fuel is burned, and how the climate responds. The best-case scenario (RCP 2.6) is the basis for the Paris climate agreement and would lead to warming of about 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 Celsius) by 2100. In that scenario, about 10 percent of the world's coral reefs could survive, and 20 percent of Alpine glaciers would remain.The worst-case pathway (RCP 8.5) would result in warming of more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.3 Celsius) by 2100, probably killing nearly all the world's reefs and definitely pushing vast areas of polar ice sheets to melt, raising sea level by as much as 3 feet by 2100. Even though it's unlikely that coal burning will increase as envisioned in the worst-case pathway, cumulative greenhouse gas concentrations are still racing upward toward a level that will cause extremely dangerous heating, said Phil Duffy, who co-authored the paper with two other scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center."For near-term time horizons, we think it's actually the best choice because it matches cumulative emissions. What happened over the last 15 years has been about exactly right compared to what was projected by RCP 8.5," Duffy said. "For those reasons, it's still a plausible scenario."That holds especially true for medium-term planning through 2050, Duffy said, explaining that the study grew out of some work his research institution was doing with the McKinsey Global Institute exploring the socioeconomic consequences of global warming out to about 2040 or 2050.

Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades -  Deforestation coupled with the rampant destruction of natural resources will soon have devastating effects on the future of society as we know it, according to two theoretical physicists who study complex systems and have concluded that greed has put us on a path to irreversible collapse within the next two to four decades, asVICE reported.The research by the two physicists, one from Chile and the other from the UK, was published last week in Nature Scientific Reports. The researchers used advance statistical modeling to look at how a growing human population can cope with the loss of resources, mainly due to deforestation. After crunching the numbers, the scientists came up with a fairly bleak assessment of society's chance of surviving the climate crisis."Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10 percent in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse," the authors write in the study abstract.From all the issues that the climate crisis raises like rising sea levels, increases in extreme weather, drought, flooding, and crop failures, scientists zeroed in on deforestation since it is more measurable right now. They argue that forest density, or its current scarcity, is considered the cataclysmic canary in the coal mine, according to the report, as The New York Post reported."Many factors due to human activity are considered as possibly responsible for the observed changes: among these water and air contamination (mostly greenhouse effect) and deforestation are the most cited. While the extent of human contribution to the greenhouse effect and temperature changes is still a matter of discussion, the deforestation is an undeniable fact," the authors write.The authors note that the current rate of deforestation would mean that all forestswould disappear within 100-200 years. "Clearly it is unrealistic to imagine that the human society would start to be affected by the deforestation only when the last tree would be cut down," the authors write, as the Daily Mail reported.The trajectory of such rapid resource use to supply a rapidly growing human population would result in the loss of planetary life-support systems necessary for human survival, including carbon storage, oxygen production, soil conservation and water cycle regulation, according to the Daily Mail.In the absence of these critical services, "it is highly unlikely to imagine the survival of many species, including ours, on Earth without [forests]" the study points out. "The progressive degradation of the environment due to deforestation would heavily affect human society and consequently the human collapse would start much earlier," they write, as VICE reported.

Meet the young people pushing Maine forward on climate change | Energy News Network - For Sirohi Kumar, climate justice is intrinsically linked to racial justice. The effects of any widespread crisis are exacerbated in marginalized groups, she said, “and I think that holds true for every issue,” whether climate change, racism or public health. Kumar, 16, is among a group of young people in Maine who are simultaneously pushing state leaders to move more aggressively on climate policy and educating adults, including some allies, about the disproportionate impact people of color face from climate change.The Energy News Network recently spoke with Kumar and four of her peers about that mission. Maine can’t wait until 2050 to phase out fossil fuels and carbon emissions, they say, and too many adults aren’t listening to that message. Here are their stories.

Covid-19 lockdown will have 'negligible' impact on climate crisis – study -- The draconian coronavirus lockdowns across the world have led to sharp drops in carbon emissions, but this will have “negligible” impact on the climate crisis, with global heating cut by just 0.01C by 2030, a study has found.But the analysis also shows that putting the huge sums of post-Covid-19 government funding into a green recovery and shunning fossil fuels will give the world a good chance of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C. The scientists said we are now at a “make or break” moment in keeping under the limit – as compared with pre-industrial levels – agreed by the world’s governments to avoid the worst effects of global heating. The research is primarily based on newly available Google and Apple mobility data. This gives near-real-time information on travel and work patterns and therefore gives an idea of the level of emissions. The data covered 123 countries that together are responsible for 99% of fossil fuel emissions. The researchers found that global CO₂ emissions dropped by more than 25% in April 2020, and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) by 30%. These falls show that rapid changes in people’s behaviour can make big differences to emissions in the short term, but the scientists said such lockdowns are impossible to maintain. Therefore, economy-wide changes are needed for a transformation to a zero-emissions economy, such as greening transport, buildings and industry with renewable energy, hydrogen or by capturing and burying CO₂.“The direct effect of the pandemic-driven [lockdown] will be negligible,” said the researchers, whose analysis was led by Prof Piers Forster at the University of Leeds. “In contrast, with an economic recovery tilted towards green stimulus and reductions in fossil fuel investments, it is possible to avoid future warming of 0.3C by 2050.”The global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1C above the long-term average and even with current emissions-cutting pledges a further rise of 0.6C is expected by 2050. “It is now make or break for the 1.5C target,” said Forster. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to really change the direction of society. We do not have to go back to where we were, because times of crisis are also the time to change.”

Pa. produces a lot of greenhouse gases, but its Republican-led legislature isn’t acting on climate change — even as scientists say the clock is ticking - Heavy rain pounded parts of Pennsylvania over the summer of 2018. Some flash floods turned deadly. Many took a toll on property, roads and bridges. Water rushed through Chanceford Township, York County so fast, pavement floated up and away like pieces of paper, said Township Supervisor David Warner. “Luckily nobody died,” Two years later, Warner said, six bridges are still closed, causing a headache for ambulance crews and farmers moving equipment. Scientists say climate change can’t be blamed for a single weather event. But Pennsylvania’s Climate Action Plan says in the coming decades, the state is expected to experience higher temperatures, changes in precipitation, and more frequent extreme events — like flash floods — because of climate change. However, like some of those flooded roads in Chanceford Township, climate change isn’t getting much attention in the state capitol. That’s even though nearly 70 percent of Pennsylvanians in polls say they’re seeing the effects of climate change now, and about the same percentage say they want lawmakers to do more about it. The scientific consensus is that human activity is driving climate change. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns of dire consequences for our way of life if emissions aren’t cut significantly in the next decade.Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has taken executive actions. He’s calling for an 80 percent reduction in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 2005 levels, and is trying to join 10 other states in an effort to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.But he’s also supported fossil fuel and petrochemical industries that contribute to those very emissions and make Pennsylvania the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled legislature has challenged Wolf’s authority to take executive actions. And instead of addressing climate change, it has supported fossil fuel development.

Pa. DEP pushes greenhouse gas pact -  Pennsylvania would receive $300 million in 2022 from the sale of emissions credits and reduce its emissions of climate changing carbon dioxide by more than 180 million tons over the next decade if it joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Residents would also realize billions of dollars in health care savings due to cleaner air resulting from the state’s participation in the initiative, a consortium of 10 Mid-Atlantic and New England states formed to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, DEP officials said Thursday. “Climate change is the defining issue of the 21st century, and we are already seeing impacts with stronger storms, flooding and higher temperatures,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “This alone won’t solve climate change, but it’s one step we can take to protect our homes, jobs and the environment.” The DEP estimates that from 2022 to 2030, participating in RGGI would reduce health care costs for Pennsylvanians by $2.8 billion to $6.3 billion, lead to an increase in Gross State Product of nearly $2 billion, and create more than 27,000 jobs. By 2050, it would produce a cumulative increase in disposable personal income of $3.7 billion, the DEP modeling predicts. Money from the sale of the emissions credits could be used to support communities impacted by air pollution and for energy efficiency programs, support of clean and renewable energy projects and greenhouse gas abatement. Spending could be targeted to help communities of color and workers in coal mining communities. The state’s effort to join the initiative has been pushed by Gov. Tom Wolf as a cost-effective way to reduce the commonwealth’s carbon footprint and generate economic growth, but it has received little support from Pennsylvania’s Republican controlled legislature, where opposition to joining RGGI has been vocal and legislation has been introduced to restrict the DEP’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

Environmental Advocates Call for Ban on SUV Ads -  To meet its climate targets, the UK should ban advertisements for gas-guzzling SUVs, according to a report from a British think tank that wants to make SUVs the new smoking, as the BBC reported.The UK has set the ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050, but that will be difficult to achieve if the public's appetite for large, private cars does not subside.The report, called Upselling Smoke, from New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible, says that SUV advertising should be compared to tobacco advertising, blaming the vehicles for creating a "more dangerous and toxic urban environment."It says that if the UK is to meet its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, drivers must be discouraged from buying large, heavily polluting vehicles, as the Edinburgh News reported.   The New Weather Institute's report notes that the size, weight and drag of SUVs means they have a larger carbon footprint than your average car. Despite their enormous carbon footprint, car manufacturers spend millions to increase their share of the UK market. The marketing campaigns are working, too. Just last year, more than 150,000 new cars sold were over 4.8 meters long, which is too large to fit in a standard parking space, according to The Guardian. That's a stark contrast to fully electric vehicles, which were only 2 percent of new cars sold. Globally, SUVs account for 60 percent of the increase in the global car fleet since 2010, according to the report.  The New Weather Institute used the 4.8 meters length as its benchmark, arguing that a smoking-style ban should be in place for any vehicle longer than that, since those vehicles emit more than 160g/km of CO2, as the Edinburgh News reported. "The UK Government's plan for reaching net zero emissions relies on British drivers quickly switching away from buying traditional petrol and diesel cars to cleaner electric vehicles instead," the report reads, according to the Edinburgh News.  Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said, according to the BBC: "We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the threat from smoking to public health. "Now that we know the human health and climate damage done by car pollution, it's time to stop adverts making the problem worse. In a pandemic-prone world, people need clean air and more space on town and city streets." He added that advertisements that promote the biggest and worst emitting SUVs were in effect "upselling pollution."The report noted that the car industry advertises SUVs as being safer because of their size, but in the long run their pollution creates a far more toxic and dangerous environment for both drivers and pedestrians that will harm public health.

GM to invest in EV maker Lordstown Motors --Electric-truck maker Lordstown Motors is becoming a publicly traded company in a deal that will add $675 million to its coffers and boost its valuation to $1.6 billion, the company announced Monday. This transaction includes a $500 million fully committed private investment in public equity (PIPE), which includes $75 million of investments by General Motors, Lordstown Motors said.  The company, which bought GM's former massive Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio last year, said it is merging with Delaware-based DiamondPeak Holdings Corp. DiamondPeak is a special purpose acquisition company and this merger will result in Lordstown Motors becoming a publicly listed company.  The combined company will be called Lordstown Motors Corp. and is expected to be listed  on the NASDAQ, trading under the new ticker symbol, “RIDE.” The transaction is expect to close in September or October, a Lordstown Motors spokesman said.   During a morning call with analysts that offered prepared remarks only, with no question and answer session, DiamondPeak CEO David Hamamoto said his team evaluated many investment options, but “Lordstown stood out as a differentiated high-growth company” that has a “transformation product and business plan.” DiamondPeak was attracted to Lordstown Motors management team’s “vast” experience, its strategic relationships in the industry and the fact that it is “one of the first electric vehicle manufacturers to acquire a plant that is production ready,” Hamamoto said. Also during the call, Burns added that owning GM's former plant gives Lordstown Motors an edge. “We have full ownership and control over the production of our vehicles," Burns told analysts. "Given its location in the Mahoning Valley, that location gives us access to a deep pool of talent including a trained manufacturing workforce.”

US: Snake River dams will not be removed to save salmon - (AP) — The U.S. government announced Friday that four huge dams on the Snake River in Washington state will not be removed to help endangered salmon migrate to the ocean. The decision thwarts the desires of environmental groups that fought for two decades to breach the structures. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration, and sought to balance the needs of salmon and other interests. The plan calls for spilling more water over the dams at strategic times to help fish migrate faster to and from the ocean, a tactic that has already been in use. Environmental groups panned the Trump administration plan as inadequate to save salmon, an iconic Northwest species. They contend the dams must go if salmon are to survive. ``This plan is not going to work,″ said Joseph Bogaard, director of Save Our Wild Salmon. “The federal failure to remove the dams despite clear supporting science is a disaster for our endangered salmon and orcas,” said Sophia Ressler of the Center for Biological Diversity. Scientists warn that southern resident orcas are starving to death because of a dearth of chinook salmon that are their primary food source. The Pacific Northwest population of orcas — also called killer whales — was placed on the endangered species list in 2005.

Maine court to hear arguments about bid to stop hydro plan -(AP) — Maine's highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday about the future of a citizens' campaign to block a much-debated hydropower project. The arguments concern the New England Clean Energy Connect, which calls for construction of a 145-mile (233-kilometer) high-voltage power line from Mount Beattie Township on the Canadian border to the regional power grid in Lewiston, Maine. The Maine Public Utilities Commission granted the project a key certificate it needed to move forward, but petitioners gathered enough signatures to put the approval up for a statewide vote. Central Maine Power has proposed the transmission line. Avangrid Networks, CMP's parent, sued the state of Maine with a claim the citizens' initiative was unconstitutional and the vote should be barred. Opponents of the project have long claimed it would harm Maine wilderness. Supporters have said it would help stabilize electricity rates and support sustainable energy development.

Why floating turbines are so important to Maine’s offshore wind prospects - The ocean waters off the state’s coasts are too deep for conventional offshore wind, so researchers are innovating. Maine’s best hope for tapping into its offshore wind potential took a major step forward this week when developers announced a $100 million investment in a floating turbine project that’s been in the works for more than decade. The development keeps the New England state on the cutting edge globally for a technology that’s more complicated to build than anchored offshore turbines but a necessity for Maine’s deep ocean waters. “We really can’t have offshore wind without floating,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Dagher and other researchers at the university have been working since 2008 to develop a floating hull stable enough to hold a wind turbine. They tested a one-eighth scale prototype in 2013. The University of Maine announced Wednesday that a full-size floating wind turbine is expected to be complete in 2023 with the backing of its new private partners. New England Aqua Ventus, LLC, a joint venture between Diamond Offshore Wind and RWE Renewables, will own and manage the project from permitting and construction through deployment and operations. The university will license its floating hull intellectual property to NEAV. The project is planned to include the hull as well as a 10-12 megawatt commercial turbine, which hasn’t yet been selected. Diamond is a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Corporation, and RWE is one of the world’s largest offshore wind developers.

North Dakota Oil Workers Are Learning to Tend Wind Turbines—and That’s a Big Deal – McKibben - Jay Johnson has one of the jobs that might, with luck, come to define our era. At Lake Region State College, in Devils Lake, North Dakota, he trains former oil workers for new careers maintaining giant wind turbines. The skills necessary for operating the derricks that frack for crude in the Bakken shale, he says, translate pretty directly into the skills required for operating the machines that convert the stiff winds of the high prairies into electricity. That is good news, not only because it’s going to take lots of people to move the world from oil and gas to solar and wind but because people who work in hydrocarbons are going to need new jobs now that the demand for hydrocarbons is dropping. “It’s impossible to overstate the stillness” in the oil fields now, Johnson says. “Nothing is happening, zero work, and it sure is scary.” But not in the wind industry. Renewables are now finding capital faster than fossil fuels, which means, for instance, that a single utility, Xcel, adds enough capacity annually across the Upper Midwest to power a million homes each year. Johnson was originally a newspaper reporter, but he left that foundering industry and became a wind tech. He’s been teaching since 2009, instructing students on everything from how to climb two-hundred-foot ladders (the school has a training turbine) to how to use drones for inspections. “Most of the job is general maintenance,” Johnson says, “when you get up to the top of the tower and get into what we call the nacelle—it’s basically a large gearbox and the generator and some control equipment. It weighs eighty thousand to a hundred thousand pounds. So, there’s a lot of changing oil filters, and lots of inspections, and, to everyone’s chagrin, there’s a lot of cleaning. You use a lot of Simple Green and a lot of paper towels.” He added, “There’s a lot of bolt torquing, too. You have to insure everything is nice and tight. Torquing and lubrication. And if it stops working, there’s troubleshooting to figure out why it’s not. That can be one of the more satisfying parts.”

Tall wind turbines in Botetourt will pose no hazard to aircraft, FAA determines | Roanoke Business News - Making tall turbines 130 feet taller will not endanger passing aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration has determined. In a step forward for a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County, the FAA found this week that turbines reaching as far as 680 feet into the sky from the top of a mountain would “not constitute a hazard to air navigation.” It was the second time the agency has determined that the renewable energy project, to be located in a remote and rural spot about 17 miles from the nearest airport, would not pose a threat. In 2016, it cleared plans to build up to 25 turbines, each one as tall as 550 feet. But construction never started as the developer, Apex Clean Energy of Charlottesville, spent the next three years looking for a customer to buy its power. By the time a deal was reached with Virginia and Dominion Energy, which will purchase the power and then sell it to the state, new technology allowed fewer — although taller — turbines to produce the same electrical output. Apex then redrew its plans to include up to 22 turbines as tall as 680 feet atop North Mountain, which required a new round of permits.

Let Project Icebreaker break the ice - Imagine this: thousands of wind turbines situated in our Great Lakes, out of sight from treasured coastal vistas but close enough to be economically viable. Technology and site placement mitigate risk to birds, and turbine masts hold strong against ice shoves, storms and waves. The vast clean energy potential offered by winds blowing across the Great Lakes is unlocked for millions of energy customers in the Midwest. If it sounds too good to be true, it is — at least for now. The first demonstration wind installation to be constructed in the Great Lakes was recently dealt a potentially fatal blow, leaving the future of Great Lakes offshore wind hanging in the balance. Project Icebreaker Wind (Icebreaker), which is being developed by Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), will consist of six 3.45 MW turbines located eight miles north of Cleveland in the waters of Lake Erie. If built, Icebreaker would generate enough electricity to power 7,500 Ohio homes but, more significantly, would demonstrate that offshore wind in the Great Lakes is viable from both an economic and engineering standpoint. There is pain in going first. Icebreaker has undergone more than a decade of site development, public engagement and government review, and has raised opposition regarding the project's potential to impact birds flying along a migratory route which crosses Lake Erie. Some birding groups fear that if Icebreaker is successful, larger utility-scale offshore wind will follow in its footsteps, resulting in a much larger ecological impact than Icebreaker poses alone. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) — the last of more than a dozen agencies whose approval Icebreaker required — recently issued an opinion approving the project's construction, but with an unexpected restriction. The opinion included several conditions designed to mitigate risk to migratory birds, most of which were previously negotiated and agreed upon — except one. In a surprise move, OPSB added a condition requiring the project's six turbines to stop spinning (known as "feathering") from dusk to dawn from March 1 to Nov. 1, until more data can be collected regarding the project's impact, if any, on nocturnal migratory birds. OPSB should remove the feathering condition from Icebreaker's construction permit The feathering condition flies in the face of the OPSB's own findings throughout its years-long permitting review process. In its final opinion, OPSB not only acknowledged that it had sufficient evidence to determine the project's impact on nocturnal migratory birds, but concluded that "most birds, when migrating south in the fall and north in the spring, will fly above the rotorswept zone of the turbines." OPSB also noted that Icebreaker's offshore location would result in minimal overall impact to avian species, particularly when compared to installed onshore wind projects in the Great Lakes region.

Australian electric market operator sees no need for new gas in renewable energy transition - Australia’s federal government, urged on by the gas lobby, has sought to make a big deal about the need to promote gas as a transition fuel for the switch from coal to renewables and storage.It’s [a] view that has been hotly contested by environmentalists, who say gas is not much cleaner than coal because of its methane emission, who point out that it is really expensive, and now again by the engineers responsible for keeping the lights on, who cite both the reasons above and who say there are likely cheaper, smarter and cleaner alternatives.The Australian Energy Market Operator, in its 2020 Integrated System Plan – a 20 year blueprint to ready Australia for what it describes as the world’s “fastest energy transition” recognises that gas can provide the synchronous generation needed to balance variable renewable supply, i.e. wind and solar, and be a potential complement to storage.Under no scenario does the amount of gas burned for electricity in Australia’s main grid increase over the coming decade. It is more likely to fall significantly. Ultimately, however, it will come down to price, and while current costs favour existing gas plants, the case for new gas generators is less likely because the cost of battery storage is falling rapidly, and gas may not pass muster when it comes to considering the all-important carbon budgets.Gas currently has two roles in the electricity grid – as a provider of baseload and intermediate generation, with more flexibility than coal, and as a source of “peaking” generation that can rapidly respond to sudden changes in supply and demand. But AEMO’s forecasts suggest a fall in gas capacity, even in the central “business as usual” scenario.The outlook for the former is not good, simply because gas is expensive to extract, and even at the prices promised by the gas lobby – on condition that they receive big new subsidies from the government – won’t be able to compete with wind and solar for bulk generation. Many of these plants are old and are due to retire. They won’t be replaced like for like. Some young generators will remain in case of wind and solar “droughts”.That leaves its role as a “fast-start dispatchable” source where the need for something makes price less important. “Gas has a cost advantage over batteries at current gas and battery costs,” [the AEMO ISP notes.] “However, in the 2030s when significant investment in new dispatchable capacity is needed, this advantage could shift to batteries, especially to provide dispatchable supply during 2 and 4-hour periods. Based on the cost assumptions in the ISP, new batteries are more cost-effective than gas in the 2030s. Future climate policies may also impact the investment case for new gas.”

AP Exclusive: Rare wildflower could jeopardize lithium mine (AP) — A botanist hired by a company planning to mine one of the most promising deposits of lithium in the world believes a rare desert wildflower at the Nevada site should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, a move that could jeopardize the project, new documents show. The unusually candid disclosure is included in more than 500 pages of emails obtained by conservationists and reviewed by The Associated Press regarding Ioneer Ltd.’s plans to dig near the only population of Tiehm’s buckwheat known to exist on earth. Six months of communications between government scientists, Ioneer’s representatives and University of Nevada, Reno researchers studying the plant also show the director of UNR’s work — financed by Ioneer — repeatedly pushed back against company pressure to prematurely publicize early success of efforts to grow buckwheat seedlings in a campus greenhouse for replanting in the wild. “I’m not used to such a focus on in-progress research,” Beth Leger, a biology professor who also heads UNR’s Museum of Natural History, wrote in April. “I feel like maybe one very important thing isn’t clear, and that’s that these plants could die at any stage of this experiment.” The experiment is part of Ioneer’s strategy intended to help avert a federal listing of the plant that could scuttle the mine. The Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned last year to list the plant under the Endangered Species Act, obtained the documents under a Nevada public records request. It’s public information because of UNR’s research contract. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it’s received enough scientific information to warrant a full-year review of the buckwheat’s status 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Reno to determine whether it should be federally protected. The emails include an April exchange with a Fish and Wildlife official who shared concerns expressed by the head of Nevada’s own state listing review about Ioneer’s transplanting strategy.

SoCalGas sues California over climate change policy – LATimes - Southern California Gas Co. is taking its battle with state officials over climate change policy to court, arguing in a new lawsuit that the California Energy Commission has failed to promote natural gas as required by state law.The lawsuit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, is the latest attempt by SoCalGas to shield itself against efforts to phase out gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel used for heating, cooking and power generation. The company, which maintains its headquarters in Los Angeles and is owned by Sempra Energy of San Diego, took in $4.5 billion in operating revenue last year.A separate lawsuit was filed last week against the state’s Air Resources Board by the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, whose two “charter members” are SoCalGas and Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which joined the gas company in its lawsuit against the Energy Commission. This lawsuit seeks to overturn the newly approved “advanced clean trucks” rule, which is aimed at putting 300,000 zero-emission trucks on the road by 2035.The legal actions are part of a growing effort by leading players in the natural gas industry to defend themselves as public support increases for aggressive policies to wind down the burning of fossil fuels, not just in California but across the country. Some clean energy advocates once embraced gas as a “bridge fuel” that could help economies transition from more polluting fuels, particularly coal, to renewables such as solar and wind power. But climate emissions from gas are now rising faster than coal emissions are falling, according to the Global Carbon Project. Scientists have increasingly found that continued reliance on gas is incompatible with avoiding the worst effects of climate change, including more devastating wildfires, storms and heat waves. “What you have coming up is a really big year for deciding the fate of gas in California,” . “And I think this is SoCalGas really starting to feel the pressure.” 

Southerners who can’t afford bills could have power disconnected in the heat of summer -  As the South sees record-breaking heat waves and rising COVID-19 cases, and as Republicans in Congress move to end unemployment benefits, Southern states and utilities are ending moratoriums on utility disconnections, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of losing power if they can’t pay their bills on time.  Many utilities and some states took some form of action in March, when the coronavirus started spreading throughout the U.S., allowing customers to keep their power and water on despite missing monthly payments. As the pandemic has dragged on, some have extended moratoriums under increasing pressure from activists and residents. The pandemic has caused intense financial strain for people all over the country, making it hard for some to afford rent and utility bills. In Florida, over 600,000 electric customers are behind on their bills. At the end of June, nearly 100,000 customers were two or three months behind on payments to Georgia Power and 130,000 Duke Energy customers in North Carolina were 60 days behind. “The utilities’ action will result in making life appreciably worse for a large section of customers,” said Daniel Tait, research and communication manager for Energy and Policy Institute, which has been tracking the shut-off policies. “Low to moderate income and communities of color are going to be disproportionately burdened by this.”  High electricity rates were a growing problem in the South long before the pandemic. Research shows Southeastern states spend the most money on electricity, despite proximity to cheap power sources. Throughout Appalachia, many utility customers say their monthly power bills are hundreds of dollars. In Mississippi, electric cooperative members spend more than 42% of their income on electricity. In North Carolina, about 40% of households experienced unaffordable energy bills before the pandemic, according to the nonprofit Appalachian Voices. Most moratoriums on shut-offs were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic in an effort to help people stay at home and prevent the spread of COVID-19 as economies shut down. Tait said it was the obvious thing to do. “We wanted people to stay home and they can’t stay home if they don’t have electricity or basic services,” said Tait.  But that guarantee won’t last much longer, he said. Already, some utilities are starting disconnections, with a second wave expected from late August to early September. The Energy and Policy Institute updates this information regularly. Here’s what state-imposed moratoriums look like in the South:

'Betrayed' TVA workers feel buoyed by White House visit, Trump action -- Linda McDonald grew up in Bryant, Alabama, listening to the band Alabama singing about the virtues of getting a "job with the TVA" and building a better life for her family. Seven years ago, after earning business and computer science degrees and certification and working in IT positions around town, the analyst landed her dream job with the Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga. Then last month, McDonald learned that her job was being outsourced to a contractor based outside of the United States. "I feel betrayed, disrespected and heartbroken by the company for whom I have sacrificed so much and in whose mission for the people of the Tennessee Valley I had faith," the mother of two said. "But mostly I am terrified at the prospect of trying to find a job to support me and my family in the middle of a global pandemic." While millions of other Americans are also losing their jobs as the economy suffers from the coronavirus, McDonald was among a half dozen soon-to-be displaced workers who got to take their concerns and fears to America's top leaders. Along with other TVA IT workers facing job losses due to outsourcing, McDonald traveled to the White House on Monday to personally tell her tale to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials. After hearing the worker concerns, Trump vowed to save the workers' jobs, even if it meant sacrificing some of the jobs of TVA's top leaders. "Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board," Trump said Monday after he fired the current and former chairman of the TVA board and signed an executive order to limit outsourcing by federal agencies like TVA. "If you betray American workers, then you will hear two simple words: 'You're fired.'" As an independent federal corporation, Trump acknowledged that he can't directly tell TVA what to do. But Trump threatened to remove more of the presidentially-appointed board members if they don't order management to quit outsourcing U.S. jobs and keep paying the TVA president the highest compensation of any federal employee in America.

President Trump to TVA: If you outsource jobs, 'you're fired' - President Donald Trump took the first steps of a major shakeup of Tennessee Valley Authority leadership Monday over the issue of outsourcing jobs, a move that could ultimately cost CEO Jeff Lyash his job. Trump signed an executive order forbidding federal agencies from outsourcing jobs overseas, a move that was a direct result of TVA’s decision to outsource at least 120 information technology jobs to three software development contractors headquartered outside of the United States.In signing the order, Trump pushed for the TVA Board of Directors to remove Lyash. He called the CEO’s salary — the highest of any federal employee — a disgrace. “So, let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board. If you betray American workers, then you will hear two simple words, ‘you're fired. You're fired,’” Trump said.In addition to his comments about Lyash, Trump also said he had removed the TVA board chairman and another board member. Each of the nine TVA board members are appointed by the president and are Senate-approved. Trump does not have the authority to fire TVA's CEO; that is a board decision.Chairman James "Skip" Thompson — a Trump appointee — and board member Richard Howorth — appointed by President Barack Obama — have been fired, Trump said.“If the TVA does not move swiftly to reverse their decision to rehire their workers then more board members will be removed. We have the absolute right to remove board members, and the board makes that decision," he said. "I don't make the decision.”

Trump fires TVA chair, cites hiring of foreign workers (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federally owned corporation for hiring foreign workers. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing chair Skip Thompson and another member of the board, and he threatened to remove other board members if they continued to hire foreign labor. Thompson was appointed to the post by Trump. The TVA was created in 1933 to provide flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region that was hard hit by the Great Depression. The region covers most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky as well as small sections of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Trump also removed board member Richard Howorth, another presidential appointee. Trump also urged the TVA board to immediately hire a new chief executive officer who “puts the interests of Americans first.” According to the president, the current CEO, Jeff Lyash, earned $8 million a year. “The new CEO must be paid no more than $500,000 a year,” said Trump, who lacks the authority to remove the CEO. “We want the TVA to take action on this immediately. ... Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board: If you betray American workers, you will hear two words: ‘You’re fired.’”

WHITE HOUSE: Trump nominates TVA board member after firing two -- Tuesday, August 4, 2020 -- President Trump has named a longtime telecommunications executive to the Tennessee Valley Authority's board hours after he removed the chairman and another member and threatened to fire the CEO.

TVA backtracks after Trump’s demand that it rehire some of its dismissed tech workers -  The Tennessee Valley Authority reversed course Thursday and rehired 102 tech workers just three days after President Trump ousted two of the TVA’s board members and singled out the federally owned utility for outsourcing information technology jobs. TVA chief executive Jeffrey Lyash and acting board chairman John Ryder met Thursday morning with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone. “We were wrong in not fully understanding the impact on our employees, especially during the pandemic,” Lyash said in a statement later. “We are taking immediate actions to address this situation. TVA fully understands and supports the Administration’s commitment to preserving and growing American jobs.” “We expressed that our IT restructuring process was faulty and that we have changed direction so that we can ensure American jobs are protected,” Ryder said in the same statement. Trump had complained that the TVA was replacing Americans with foreign workers. In reality, the number of foreign workers — those on H-1B visas — at the TVA is quite low and the total number of employees it initially let go was also relatively modest. Moreover, like all government agencies, the TVA is required to use contractors who do their jobs only on U.S. soil and only with U.S. citizens or people legally entitled to work in the United States. On Thursday, using updated numbers, TVA spokesman Buddy Eller said 146 employees had been notified in January and last month that they would lose their jobs; of that number, 44 have found new positions inside the company or elsewhere. On Thursday, the TVA said it will keep the remaining 102 workers. The TVA had planned to replace them with contractors from Accenture, Capgemini and CGI, who together have 188 people working at the TVA. Of those people, 13 are H1-B visa holders. Earlier this week, a TVA spokesman had said the contractors provide needed expertise to deal with new technologies.

Vietnam may cancel 17.1GW of planned coal-fired power projects, push renewables and gas - The coming decade could see Vietnam shelve nearly half of its currently planned coal power plant capacity as alternative sources of energy take up growing shares in its power mix, the government-affiliated research body tasked with drawing up the nation’s next power sector roadmap has said. Speaking at an internal consultation earlier this month, the Vietnam Energy Institute revealed the eighth Power Development Plan (PDP8), set to take effect early next year, would stipulate a rapid expansion of renewables and natural gas in the country, suggesting the government could cancel seven planned coal projects and postpone six others until after 2030 or 2035. Together, the 13 plants concerned boast a staggering capacity of 17.1 gigawatts (GW), almost matching the current 18.9 GW of coal power installed. Development scenarios presented at the meeting, seen by Eco-Business, show Vietnam expects wind and solar energy together to comprise the largest share in its capacity mix by as early as 2030. The PDP8 charts a development path for each electricity generation type through to 2030, with a “vision” extending to 2045. With Vietnam’s power demand set to more than double in the coming decade, the plan is critical to the nation’s efforts to rein in carbon emissions and align its development path with the Paris climate goals. “In the next period, [Vietnam] will not strongly develop coal power but only proceed with the development of the projects which are already listed in the PDP7 and revised PDP7,” the country’s vice-minister of industry and trade, Hoang Quoc Vuong, was quoted saying at the meeting by local media. “[We] will no longer develop new projects.” In a statement released last week, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Vietnam-based environmental group Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) said amid plummeting clean energy prices, difficulties in obtaining financing and increasingly ambitious climate targets, it was unlikely the 13 projects would be revived, once shelved.

Energy transition prompts Peabody to write down value of largest U.S. coal mine by $1.42 billion - Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis - The largest coal mining company in the United States substantially lowered the value of one of its top-producing thermal coal assets based on low expectations for future coal demand. Peabody Energy Corp. impaired the value of its North Antelope Rochelle coal mine in Wyoming by $1.42 billion in the second quarter. Peabody said it was lowering the expected value of the coal mine, the largest in the United States, because of assumptions regarding lower long-term natural gas prices, the timing of coal plant retirements, and continued growth from renewable generation. “While we still believe coal is essential to a reliable energy grid and that our [Powder River Basin] assets are best positioned to serve that demand … we do expect coal’s long-term share of the U.S. generation mix to remain below prior-year levels,” Peabody CFO Mark Spurbeck said on the company’s Aug. 5 earnings call. Production from the North Antelope mine has dropped drastically in recent years. U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data shows the company produced about 30.7 million tons of coal in the fourth quarter of 2014, a near-term high for the mine. Quarterly production from North Antelope dropped below 20 million tons for the first time in recent history in the first quarter of 2020, and second-quarter production totaled just 14.0 million tons. Peabody delivered coal from North Antelope to 84 power plants across the U.S. in 2019, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. “This is a clear signal that Powder River Basin coal production isn’t coming back and the multi-year decline that was prevalent before the pandemic will continue long after the virus is gone,” Shannon Anderson, the staff attorney for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said in an emailed statement about the impairment. “It’s time for Wyoming leaders to think about what comes next for our communities, coal miners, and our revenue streams.” Peabody Energy had $6.54 billion in total assets as of the end of 2019 but reported $4.95 billion in total assets on its balance sheet as of the end of June. Including the impairment, the company booked a $1.54 billion net loss, or $15.78 per share, in the quarter.

Illinois' Basin Q2 production totals 14 million st, down 45.3% on year: MSHA  — Illinois Basin coal production totaled 14 million st in the second quarter, down 27.2% from the previous quarter, Mine Safety and Health Administration information said Aug. 3. Stay up to date with the latest commodity content. Sign up for our free daily Commodities Bulletin. Sign Up From the year-ago quarter, output dropped 45.3%. It was the lowest quarterly output since S&P Global Platts began tracking in 2010. The steep decline in production was driven by both the coronavirus pandemic, which led to mine idlings and closures in addition to employees being laid off or furloughed in the region, and a continued drop in demand for the coal in the domestic and export market. The Illinois-based Lively Grove mine, operated by Prairie State Energy, was the top producer in Q2 with more than 1.7 million st. From the previous quarter, output fell 2.2%, while year on year, it rose 7.5%. Alliance Resource Partners' River View mine, based in Kentucky, followed with over 1.3 million st, down 52.8% from the previous quarter and down 51.3% from the year-ago quarter. Foresight Energy's MC#1 mine in Illinois produced just under 1.3 million st in Q2, down 43.9% from Q1 and down 61% from the year-ago period. During the quarter, Foresight's output totaled 3.1 million st, down 18.8% from Q1 and down 42.8% year on year. Peabody Energy IB production totaled over 2.5 million st, down 22.9% from the previous quarter and down 43.7% from the year-ago period. Alliance production totaled 2.2 million st, down 58.9% from the quarter before and down 70.2% from the year-ago quarter. On a state-by-state basis, Illinois leads the way with 7.1 million st. Output in the state fell 19.1% from Q1 and declined 39.5% from the year-ago quarter. Output out of Indiana totaled 4.4 million st, down 24.5% from the prior quarter and down 46.5% from the year-ago quarter. Peabody's Bear Run mine led Indiana production with 1.2 million st. Bear Run output declined 24.5% from Q1 and dropped 31.5% from the year-ago quarter. Kentucky production was about 2.6 million st, down 45.5% from the previous quarter and down 55.5% from the year-ago quarter.

ComEd Bribery Scandal Clouds Picture for Exelon’s Illinois Nuclear Plants - Exelon may be forced to close its Illinois nuclear plants if state legislation is not passed to bolster their eroding financial prospects. But subsidiary utility Commonwealth Edison’s involvement in a bribery scandal has complicated this and other key policy efforts in its home state. CEO Chris Crane outlined these challenges during the Chicago-based utility’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday. Last month, ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors to avoid criminal liability in an alleged bribery scheme involving Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Crane apologized for the company’s failure to prevent the activities described in the agreement, including arranging jobs, contracts and payments for Madigan associates in exchange for assistance with legislation favorable to the utility. “We have taken robust actions to address these [issues]," Crane said. “These new policies and oversight will ensure this will not happen again.” At the same time, Crane noted the company is “in the middle of trying to work through legislative strategy in Illinois” that would offer its nuclear power plants in the state an alternative path to earning capacity market revenue that is seen as a critical component of their future financial viability.  Exelon owns the country’s largest nuclear generating fleet and other generation assets; it operates utilities in Illinois, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.  A December decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is forcing mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM to impose minimum prices on a wide array of state-supported grid resources. That rule is expected to include Exelon’s Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars per year in zero-emissions credits created by Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act. Exelon is seeking to extend the zero-emissions credits to its Braidwood, Byron and Dresden nuclear plants, which failed to clear PJM’s last capacity auction in 2018 and could face early retirement without additional financial support.

Mysterious Drone Swarm Breached Secure Airspace Over Largest Nuclear Power Plant In US - A mysterious incident related to a serious breach of secure airspace over America's largest nuclear power plant has been unearthed through Freedom of Information Act documents gained from the government.It's leading to new fears that America's energy infrastructure is prone to attack and potentially being knocked offline, akin to the drone and missile attack which temporarily halted all Saudi oil exports last year at Aramco's Abaqaiq oil processing facility. Forbe's presents the astonishing details as follows:A tiny armada of between four and six unmarked drones flew over the Palo Verde Generating Station nuclear power plant in Arizona on the nights of September 29 and 30, 2019, with plant security proving unable to stop them and authorities still uncertain who was operating them or why. The newly accessed Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) documents had called the incident a "drone-a-palooza" as it involved swarms of inexpensive, likely off-the-shelf drones flying in large numbers over restricted airspace and near sensitive structures of Arizona's Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.The documents conclude that it's still as yet unknown who or what entity sent them or who was operating them during the illegal incursion."Documents gained under the Freedom of Information Act show how a number of small drones flew around a restricted area at Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant on two successive nights last September," Forbes writes further. "Security forces watched, but were apparently helpless to act as the drones carried out their incursions before disappearing into the night. Details of the event gives some clues as to just what they were doing, but who sent them remains a mystery." The FOIA documents underscore the incident was confusing and chaotic for security on the ground, as the security logs suggest: Guards at the high secure facility were without any ability to deter the drones overhead.  Subsequent media reports in the wake of the internal security memos going public say that county police were deployed to scour the area for the drone operator or operators but to no avail. The whole unsolved incident highlights that it appears America's network of nuclear power sites essentially remain defenseless when it comes to drone incursions.

As Fermi 2 emerges from outage, activist group renews fight — DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant is emerging from what appears to be the nation’s longest refueling and maintenance outage of 2020, a type of shutdown that normally lasts about a month but in this case has dragged on for nearly five months. Blame the coronavirus pandemic and other work-related issues. Meanwhile, an activist group has renewed its effort to get the plant’s 20-year license extension nullified. It is appealing last month’s denial by a three-judge hearing tribunal. Located about 30 miles north of Toledo along the western Lake Erie coast in northern Monroe County’s Frenchtown Township, Fermi 2 began to slowly ascend in power earlier this week. Its reactor was listed in online U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records as being at 19 percent power Tuesday morning. That’s just shy of the roughly 20 percent power level needed to synchronize a nuclear plant to North America’s largest electricity grid, one that serves Ohio, Michigan, 11 other states, and parts of Canada and is operated by Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection. A national magazine that covers the nuclear industry said Fermi 2’s outage is the nation’s longest this year. The NRC could neither confirm nor deny that, stating that it doesn’t keep such records handy. The delay was not exclusively because of the coronavirus pandemic, but DTE spokesman Stephen Tait confirmed the virus complicated efforts, starting with an outbreak shortly after the maintenance outage began March 21. “The pandemic caused some delays, including at the beginning of May when we temporarily stopped work so we could provide tests for employees,” he said. “We provided testing to promote the health and well-being of the work force.” Mr. Tait said the plant will undergo a series of checks, safety tests, and other activities during the startup process. DTE twice applied for and received NRC authorization for temporary fitness-for-duty rules to do extensive maintenance during the outage. Such rules are normally in effect to guard against worker fatigue, much like the shift time limits and rest requirements for truck drivers and airline pilots. The latest extension expires Aug. 10.

Three Mile Island decommissioning fight nears end amid lack of local input - State regulators are negotiating a settlement with the owners of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2, the storied nuclear reactor that partially melted down in 1979, amid objections over the proposed sale to a third party that would take over its decommissioning. The Department of Environmental Protection raised a number of concerns over FirstEnergy’s plan to transfer its license for Unit 2 — along with ratepayer-funded money set aside from decommissioning — to the Utah-based EnergySolutions. Last week, the DEP told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it was reviewing information and asked the federal agency not to rule on matters related to the transfer until after Aug. 10. Jennifer Young, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said in a written statement that “details of the settlement agreement are confidential, and I don’t have additional information regarding the settlement to provide at this time.” DEP spokesman Neil Shader said the agency “will reach a decision soon.” Meanwhile, Exelon received the go-ahead to scale back emergency planning in the event of an accident at the plant. State Environmental Secretary Patrick McDonnell raised a number of unanswered questions about the proposed transfer this spring. They included concern that FirstEnergy, whose decommissioning funds are tied to a faltering stock market, won’t leave EnergySolutions with enough money for cleanup; that radiation levels at the old reactor remain largely a mystery; that FirstEnergy hasn’t provided enough detail about what it plans to do with radioactive material; and that the entire process could leave the area with longterm environmental and public health hazards. Regardless of the answers to these concerns, Three Mile Island will house toxic nuclear waste for years and possibly decades due to the absence of a national repository.

Santee Cooper board OKs 4-year electricity rate freeze - Santee Cooper, which provides electricity to about 2 million people in South Carolina, will freeze its electric rates for four years as part of a plan formally approved by the state-owned utility’s board on Friday.The rate freeze is part of a $522 million settlement agreement stemming from a ratepayer lawsuit over the failed V.C. Summer nuclear plant expansion project in Fairfield County.“Specifically, we are freezing base rates and holding fuel costs and other normally adjustable charges to levels provided in our reform plan,” said Mark Bonsall, Santee Cooper’s CEO.As part of the settlement, nearly all of Santee Cooper’s 1.7 million residential, commercial, industrial and other customers also will receive a cash payment or a credit on their bills.Santee Cooper is chipping in $200 million and Dominion Energy is chipping in $320 million to pay for the cash refunds which will go to ratepayers who were customers from 2007 through Jan. 2017. Plaintiff’s lawyers in the lawsuit will administer the refunds.Santee Cooper and SCANA were partners in the nuclear project. In 2018, SCANA was purchased by Dominion Energy.

Roughly 35,000 MW of nuclear capacity in path of Isaias | S&P Global Market Intelligence  - Tens of millions of electric utility customers from South Carolina to Maine and roughly 35,000 MW of nuclear plant capacity are in the path of Tropical Storm Isaias, which the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Aug. 3 forecast to intensify into a hurricane as the evening progressed.  Various warnings, including hurricane, tropical storm and storm surge, were in effect all along the U.S. East Coast, with landfall expected in northeastern South Carolina or southern North Carolina.  From there, according to the 5 p.m. ET forecast from NOAA's National Hurricane Center, the center of the storm will move inland over eastern North Carolina, then through the Mid-Atlantic states to the northeastern U.S. by the evening of Aug. 4. Many jurisdictions are expected to see 3 to 6 inches of rain, with eastern New York and portions of New England getting 2 to 4 inches, sparking flash flooding concerns. Duke Energy Corp., through its Duke Energy Carolinas LLC and Duke Energy Progress LLC subsidiaries, serves about 4.2 million electric customers in North and South Carolina. Two of the company's North Carolina nuclear plants, the 1,928-MWBrunswick facility in Brunswick County and 1,009-MW Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in Wake County are located closest to the path of the storm. Nuclear plant operators may shut down their facilities depending on wind speeds. In the Mid-Atlantic region, Dominion Energy Inc. subsidiary Virginia Electric and Power Co. d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia's 1,750-MW Surry plant in Surry County, Va., was in the forecast storm path. Dominion Energy Virginia and affiliate Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc. serve more than 3.3 million electric customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Further north, in New Jersey, two nuclear plants, Hope Creek and Salem, were in the storm's forecast path. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. owns the 1,190-MW Hope Creek station and co-owns the 2,328-MW Salem station with Exelon Corp.PSEG utility affiliate Public Service Electric and Gas Co. serves about 2.3 million electric customers in New Jersey, while Exelon utilities in the Mid-Atlantic serve more than 4.4 million electric customers.Other Exelon nuclear plants in the storm's projected path include the 1,768-MW Calvert Cliffs facility in Calvert County, Md., 2,386-MW Limerick facility in Montgomery County, Pa., and 2,627-MW Peach Bottom plant in York County, Pa., co-owned with PSEG.Another PSEG affiliate, PSEG Long Island LLC, operates the electric system of publicly owned Long Island Power Authority, which serves about 1.1 million customers and was forecast to be hit by the storm later on Aug. 4.

Isaias knocks out power forcing shut down of Brunswick Nuclear Plant reactor (WWAY) — When Hurricane Isaias made landfall late Monday night near the North and South Carolina line, it knocked out power to the region including a major line providing power to the nuclear plant near Southport. Karen Williams, a spokesperson for Brunswick Nuclear Plant, told WWAY the line that provides power into the plant was taken out by the storm. This caused a loss of off-site power to the facility. It was declared an unusual event which is considered the lowest level designation mandated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Williams said power to one of the plant’s two reactors was shut down as a precaution. She emphasized there is no impact to the public.She say the facility has robust procedures for bringing the reactor back online. Power should not be impacted to customers because the utility is able to redirect power through the grid from other sources, Williams said.

The UAE becomes the first Arab country to launch its own nuclear energy program  — The United Arab Emirates announced over the weekend the successful start up of its Barakah nuclear energy plant, the first in the Arab world and a significant step toward the country's goal of emissions-free electricity. With the announcement Saturday, the UAE becomes the newest member of an exclusive club of 31 countries running nuclear power operations. It's also the first new country to launch a nuclear power plant in three decades, the last being China in 1990. The Barakah plant's Unit 1 is the first of the UAE's planned four reactors, which when complete are expected to meet 25% of the country's electricity needs with zero carbon emissions. "We are now another step closer to achieving our goal of supplying up to a quarter of our Nation's electricity needs and powering its future growth with safe, reliable, and emissions-free electricity." After "several weeks" of further safety tests, Unit 1, operated by ENEC subsidiary Nawah Energy Co., is expected to connect to the UAE's electricity grid. Testing is done with the oversight of the UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), and comes after a pre-start-up review was completed in January by the World Association of Nuclear Operators. The project, which national authorities describe as a strategic and economic imperative for the UAE, is a culmination of 12 years of work and involved collaboration with external bodies including the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the government of South Korea. The UAE's FANR granted the operating license for Unit 1 in February, after an extensive inspection process to ensure the plant's compliance with regulatory requirements. The license is expected to last 60 years. Barakah's Unit 1 reactor, located in the eastern Gharbiya region of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf coast, is expected to produce 1,400 megawatts of electricity. The four reactors together will produce 5,600 MW of power and are expected to prevent the release of 21 million tons of carbon emissions annually, officials said. The project's financing — as part of a joint venture agreement with ENEC and the Korean Electric Power Corp. — totals $24.4 billion. There is no estimated date for the completion of all four reactors, but Hamad al Kaabi, the UAE's permanent representative to the IAEA, told CNBC in February that the additional three reactors were in "advanced levels of construction."

Nuclear bailout tied to bribery scandal was years in making (AP) — A $1 billion bailout for Ohio’s two nuclear plants that’s now entangled in a state bribery scandal had little support when the idea came up three years ago. It was all but dead until the spring of last year, when the new leader of the Ohio House stepped up with a last-ditch attempt to give the plants a financial lifeline. But that’s all on shaky ground again after federal authorities accused the powerful Republican Ohio House speaker and four associates of orchestrating a $60 million bribery scheme involving corporate money secretly funneled to them in exchange for passing the bailout. The question for state lawmakers who are under pressure to repeal the bailout is whether they’re willing to face another divisive debate — this time under the shadow of scandal — in order to find a new way to prop up the financially strapped nuclear plants.Here is a look at how the bailout came about and its prospects going forward.

The politicians in FirstEnergy's pocket – HEATED  -This week, HEATED will be taking a closer look at elected officials who are still taking campaign money from FirstEnergy, the utility at the center of a $61 million anti-climate corruption scheme alleged by the FBI. Want to prevent the climate crisis from spiraling out of control? You might want to start paying more attention to FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy is one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the country. With more than $43 billion in assets, it’s also one of America’s largest corporations, ranking 294 on the Fortune 500.But FirstEnergy is also the ninth-largest greenhouse gas polluter in America—which means it contributes more to the ongoing climate crisis than ExxonMobil. It also means the company’s business model currently relies on a practice which climate scientists say is causing catastrophic damage to public health and the economy, and threatening potentially irreversible damage to the planet’s livability. FirstEnergy could use its vast resources to change that practice, and become a profit leader in the transition to a clean energy economy.Instead, however, it appears FirstEnergy has been using its treasure chest to bribe public officials into allowing the company to continue its legacy of climate destruction. The evidence of FirstEnergy’s illicit use of political spending comes in the form ofan FBI criminal complaint.Last month, federal prosecutors accused Ohio House Speaker of the House Larry Householder of accepting $61 million in bribes from FirstEnergy, in exchange for passing one of the worst anti-climate laws in the nation: a $1.6 billion taxpayer bailout of the company’s failing coal and nuclear plants, and the removal of all state incentives to build renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.FirstEnergy’s alleged attempt to buy off Householder constitutes “likely the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio,” said David DeVillers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio who is prosecuting the case.But the FBI’s complaint is likely just the tip of a rapidly melting iceberg. While FirstEnergy has yet to be officially charged, the company has received subpoenas in the ongoing federal investigation. And experts tracking the case don’t expect FirstEnergy to emerge unscathed. "We are not done with this case," DeVillers said.

Defendants Plead 'Not Guilty' To Racketeering Charges In Corruption Investigation | WKSU -- Four major players in Ohio's capital have pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges. They're accused of being part of a bribery scheme that pushed for the passage and defense of the nuclear power plant bailout. Former House Speaker and current Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was granted a delay in his federal court arraignment to find a new lawyer. But former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges, lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes, and Householder adviser Jeff Longstreth all pleaded "not guilty."They're accused of playing a role in an alleged scheme that funneled money from a utility company believed to be FirstEnergy and its subsidiary to benefit Householder politically and personally.  The end goal, according to the investigation, was to pass last year’s nuclear power plant bailout, HB6, which included other legislative priorities for the utility company. Householder's arraignment will be held in two weeks.

 Ohio coal giant Murray Energy is $100K dark money donor ’Company B’ in federal probe - Now-bankrupt Ohio coal giant and House Bill 6 supporter Murray Energy Corp. provided $100,000 in “dark money” involved in the alleged racketeering and bribery scheme that ensnared former House Speaker Larry Householder and four others. The criminal complaint states “Dark Money Group 1,” previously identified by The Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer as the for-profit company Hardworking Ohioans Inc., spent nearly $1.5 million to support Householder’s Republican candidates in the 2018 general election. The complaint outlines “other corporate interests” giving $300,000 to the group atop $670,000 from the FirstEnergy-bankrolled dark-money nonprofit Generation Now and $500,000 directly from FirstEnergy. A bankruptcy filing by Murray Energy Corp. shows the coal company gave $100,000 to Hardworking Ohioans on Oct. 26, 2018, amid its flurry of media buys backing Householder-blessed candidates as he angled to be elected speaker. The complaint states “Company B” wired the same amount on the same day to the group, with a footnote stating: “Company B is an energy company with interests aligned with Company A,” a reference to FirstEnergy.   Householder and four others were indicted Thursday following an FBI investigation of what federal authorities describe as a pay-to-play scheme to pass and then defend House Bill 6 and its nuclear power plant bailout from an ultimately failed referendum repeal effort. “Company B” is not charged with a crime.  The same Murray Energy bankruptcy filing also shows the company gave $30,000 on April 18, 2018, to the Hardworking Americans Committee of Fenton, Michigan. However, the amount and timing of the payment appear in dispute. Federal campaign-finance reports filed by Hardworking Americans show Murray’s political action committee kicked in $50,000 on April 24. The super PAC spent $523,000 on Householder’s $1 million GOP primary race against Kevin Black, who lost by a 2-to-1 margin to the Perry County farmer on May 8, 2018.   Hardworking Ohioans is not required to disclose its spending as a privately held corporation. FCC filings show that the treasurer of Hardworking Ohioans is Chad Hawley, co-founder of The Batchelder Co. with former Republican House Speaker William G. Batchelder. Hawley has not responded to requests for comment.

Murray Energy accused of not disclosing role in HB 6 bribery scandal -  Columbus Dispatch - Murray Energy, the eastern Ohio coal-mining giant that has filed for bankruptcy protection, is being accused in a court filing of not being forthcoming about its role in a $61 million bribery and racketeering scandal roiling the Statehouse. Fellow coal company Consol Energy, based in Pennsylvania, charged in the filing that Murray has not provided creditors “with adequate information regarding a recent criminal complaint and media reports of Murray Energy Corporation’s alleged involvement in a racketeering and bribery scheme.” Murray, based in St. Clairsville, filed for bankruptcy protection last October in Columbus, seeking to restructure $2.7 billion in debt. It said then that it had more than $8 billion in actual or potential legacy liabilities including pensions. The Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week that Murray provided $100,000 in “dark money” involved in the alleged racketeering and bribery scheme that has ensnared former House Speaker Larry Householder and four associates over House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law that was passed a year ago. Murray Energy lobbied for the legislation and its $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout of a pair of troubled nuclear power plants that Akron-based FirstEnergy passed on to a former subsidiary, Energy Harbor. In 2013, Consol sold to Murray five West Virginia coal mines, transferring the health-care liabilities that went along with them and creating certain leasing arrangements that still exist and give Consol its stake in the bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That deal built in protections for miners who retired from those mines, stipulating that should Murray default on its benefit obligations to them, Consol would be responsible for honoring them.

Resident wants to inform others of fracking issues - The Columbus Dispatch -- Residents of Southeastern Ohio need to be aware of a recent announcement made by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on the hazards of the oil and gas industry. He reported that a two-year investigation by the Grand Jury uncovered the failure to protect Pennsylvanians from the inherent risks of the fracking industry. Testimonies were given to the jury from residents living near oil and gas drilling sites. They shared their concerns over poor air quality leading to negative health impacts. Reports were given of water contamination which resulted in breathing problems when showering. Parents spoke about their children having nose bleeds and other ailments. Livestock had become sick, infertile and died, according to testimony given by farmers living near fracking operations.Pennsylvania has more stringent regulations of the oil and gas industry than Ohio. In fact, 1,500 fracking wells had been drilled in Ohio before a single regulation had even been written. Ohio is still lacking in the necessary oversight of the fracking industry, with critical legislation yet to be written. As an informed and concerned resident of Belmont County, I am pleading with fellow Ohioans to stand with me and demand that Ohio Attorney General David Yost and Governor Mike DeWine halt any further permitting for the oil and gas industry until a public health and environmental impact study is conducted in Ohio on the risks of fracking. Just as in Pennsylvania, the State of Ohio is already failing to protect communities from air and water pollution from fracking, and now the Ohio EPA has granted permits for, and is promoting cracking to make plastic, which will pose additional threats to our health due to air and water pollution.  Belmont County is the most heavily fracked county in the state, with over 675 wells permitted and 500 producing. Alarmingly, 78 of those wells are located within a five-mile radius of my home. There are four well sites, one within a mile and the remaining three within a mile and a half, that have been in significant violation since 2016. Investigations revealed that no enforcement action had been taken by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), or remediation of any kind been made by Gulfport, the fracking company in violation. There are a total of 16 Gulfport well pads in our area that have been in violation since 2016. My family and my neighbors have experienced negative health impacts from fracking wells and other infrastructure sites located nearby including, pipelines, compressor and transfer stations.

BARGING Oil and Gas WASTE on the OHIO RIVER is Too Much RISK - A new threat recently emerged for communities along the Ohio River.Three barge docks are proposed to be built along the riverto transport oil and gas waste from horizontal and vertical fracking operations. The projects, if approved, could result in the first barges carrying briny fracking wastes on the Ohio River.The terminals would be developed by 4K Industrial Frac Water Supply and Recycling Technologies in Martins Ferry, DeepRock Disposal Solutions about 61 miles downstream at Marietta, and by Fountain Quail Energy Services about 38 miles downstream from Marietta in Meigs County, Ohio.According to Dr. Randi Pokladnik, a retired research chemist and volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), these operations pose a substantial risk for the Ohio River — the primarily tap water source for approximately five million people.“Citizens have every right to be concerned about yet another threat to their drinking water,” says Dr. Pokladnik. “A quick glance of the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) data collected from public drinking water suppliers along the Ohio River reveals that all public drinking water sources along the river have pollutants that in many cases exceed the EWG health standards and in some cases exceed federal standards.”Based on current regulations, it is unclear what agencies would be tasked with responding to potential spills as a result of these new barging operations, and whether or not those agencies would be able to work together successfully to address the environmental and public health hazards associated with these pollutants.Even worse, many public water treatment facilities are not equipped to filter out the contaminants if this conventional and unconventional oil and gas waste is spilled in the Ohio River. For example, some contaminants, such as radioactive chemicals in water, can only be removed using very specific techniques that are not currently utilized by most public water treatment facilities in our region.In response to requests and comments from concerned citizens, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled a virtual public hearing on Friday, August 7, for the DeepRock barge dock near Marietta, Ohio.

Utica Shale well activity as of Aug. 1 - Six horizontal permits were issued during the week that ended Aug. 1, and 6 rigs were operating in the Utica Shale.

• DRILLED: 157 (151 as of July 18)
• DRILLING: 99 (100)
• PERMITTED: 507 (498)
• PRODUCING: 2,523 (2,523)
• TOTAL: 3,286 (3,272)

TOP  COUNTIES BY NUMBER OF PERMITS:

• 1. BELMONT: 697 (691 as of July 18)
• 3. HARRISON: 532 (524)
• 2. CARROLL: 530 (530)
• 4. MONROE: 438 (438)

Gulfport updates Utica Shale plans - Gulfport Energy continues to drill Utica Shale wells as the company positions its natural gas production to peak during the colder months. The Oklahoma City-based company previously announced it would curtail production until later this year and early 2021, with the hope that natural gas prices, which are at 25-year lows, would eventually rise. Gulfport plans to complete seven more Utica wells during the second half of this year, and the company said it would run one drilling rig in the Utica through the third quarter. The company has drilled more than 400 wells in Ohio’s Utica Shale, the most of any publicly traded company. “While there is little low-hanging fruit remaining, the team continues to gain efficiencies through the drill bit and deliver on expectations quarter after quarter,” Gulfport President and CEO David Wood said during a presentation Wednesday. The company said it still expects annual production to fall between 1 billion and 1.075 billion cubic feet equivalent per day.During the second quarter, Gulfport’s production averaged 1.03 billion cubic feet equivalent per day, comprising 91 percent natural gas, 6 percent natural gas liquids and 3 percent oil.Three-quarters of the production was in the Utica Shale, where Gulfport drilled five wells and made 10 wells ready for production during the quarter. Gulfport lost $561.1 million, or $3.51 per diluted share, during the second quarter.

Gulfport Keeping Utica Natural Gas Curtailed to Await Better Prices - Gulfport Energy Corp. is still curtailing Appalachian natural gas production in anticipation of better prices later this year and into 2021. Given an uncertain economic outlook, weak energy demand and a slight rebound in associated gas volumes, Gulfport remains “cautious near-term on natural gas pricing,” said CEO David Wood during a call to discuss second quarter results. The company made the decision during the second quarter to shut-in some Utica Shale gas production along with vertical oil wells in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) because of low liquids prices. Nearly all of the SCOOP wells have returned to production. “Based on current natural gas pricing, we plan to continue executing on our curtailment strategy, shaping our production profile to peak in the colder months of the year,” Wood said of the Utica curtailments. “This is in line with our updated guidance provided in June.” The independent also plans to complete another seven gross Utica wells in the second half of the year, up from a plan announced in June to complete three. Through the first six months of the year, 13 net operated wells had been completed in the Utica with 3.8 net operated wells in the SCOOP. “This additional activity provides incremental production late this year and into early 2021 in the anticipation of higher prices during the winter months,” management said. The company reaffirmed its 2020 full-year net production at 1.0-1.075 Bcfe/d. Management also said drilling and completion efficiencies would likely help spending come in at the low end of its previously announced $285-310 million capital expenditure budget. Gulfport reported a decline in average realized prices during the second quarter, including transportation costs and cash-settled derivatives, of $2.46/MMcfe, compared with $2.52 in the year-ago period. Revenue also fell year/year to $132.4 million from $459 million. 

Ohio State students, faculty testify for, against on-campus natural gas plant - OSU - The Lantern  -Several members of the Ohio State community testified at a virtual public hearing Tuesday night to discuss the university’s proposed $278 million plan to construct a combined heat and power plant on campus, made possible by the university’s partnership with energy companies.The forum — the second public hearing hosted this summer by the Ohio Power Siting Board — included testimonies from nearly 50 individuals, the majority of whom cited the detrimental health and climate risks of the proposal. Others advocated for the adoption of the proposal, referencing potential job growth and a reported decline in carbon emissions if the plant is constructed.According to Ohio State’s proposal application, the combined heat and power plant will produce thermal energy powered by natural gas, requiring the use of fracking, a process of drilling into the earth to extract natural gas, raising many environmental concerns from members of the Ohio State community.Ohio State first submitted an initial application for the construction of the plant to the Ohio Power Siting Board November 2019, and the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, submitted a petition to intervene in the case in March 2020. The proposed facility would include a main building standing 60 feet tall, cooling towers extending 27 feet off the roof and two 125-foot steel stacks, according to the Ohio Power Siting Board website. The plant would be located on a 1.18 acre parcel of university-owned land on West Campus and serve as the main source of electricity and heating for the Columbus campus. 

Pennsylvania Regulators Won't Say Where 66% of Landfill Leachate w/ Radioactive Material From Fracking is Going..."It's Private" - Janice Blanock talks to Public Herald about losing her son Luke Blanock to Ewing Sarcoma in 2016. PA DEP’s TENORM data could play a critical role in helping the Blanock’s discover whether oil and gas had anything to do with what happened to Luke. © Nina Berman for Public Herald (podcast & story) In Pennsylvania, the final destination of 66 percent of liquid waste from 30 municipal landfills accepting fracking’s oil and gas waste remains unknown. Oil and gas waste from fracking contains high concentrations of Technically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM), and wherever this radioactive TENORM waste is stored, rain carries water-soluble radionuclides such as Radium-226 through the landfill to create what’s known as leachate – the landfill’s liquid waste. This TENORM-laden leachate is commonly sent to Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) that are not equipped to remove it before it’s dumped into rivers.If you’re talking about fracking, you’re talking about TENORM, which is present throughout the process in waste streams like pipe scale, sludge, drill cuttings, wastewater, and contaminated equipment. What starts as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) contained deep beneath the Earth’s surface is brought to the surface by fracking and concentrated into TENORM.Public Herald has made several attempts with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to verify the destination of landfill leachate containing TENORM, but DEP stopped responding to our inquiries after we published the August 2019 statewide report on how fracking’s radioactive waste enters public waters. Our team has since been forced to rely on delayed Right-to-Know Law requests and DEP’s limited online data.From the limited data DEP provided to Public Herald in 2019, and from what our team in 2020 has discovered, we now know and mapped the whereabouts of 34 percent of leachate from a limited number of landfills accepting fracking’s oil and gas waste in Pennsylvania.

Shell completes Appalachia shale gas exit - Royal Dutch Shell has completed the sale of its U.S. Appalachia assets to National Fuel, exiting its shale gas position in the Marcellus and Utica plays. The $541 million cash transaction was completed on July 31 and has an effective date of January 1, 2020. The assets were sold to Seneca Resources Company and NFG Midstream Covington – both subsidiaries of National Gas Fuel Gas Company (NFG). The Appalachian assets, located mostly in northern and western Pennsylvania, include 350 active wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Together, they produce roughly 250 million cubic feet per day of dry gas, Kallanish Energy notes. Shell’s Upstream director Wael Sawan had previously said the divestment in Appalachia was consistent with the company’s “desire to focus our Shales portfolio.” Shell said it continues to have “attractive opportunities” in its unconventional portfolio inside and outside the U.S., focusing on driving down costs while increasing efficiency. The deal also included the transfer of Shell owned and operated midstream infrastructure, but doesn’t impact Shell’s commitment to Pennsylvania and its planned petchem complex.

Cost Of Shale Gas Drilling Permit In Pennsylvania Jumps 150% - Pennsylvania more than doubled as of August 1 the fee for all unconventional well permit applications, while shale companies call on state officials to find other mechanisms to fund the oil and gas program of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.The fee for all unconventional well permit applications is now $12,500—up from US$5,000 for nonvertical unconventional wells and US$4,200 for vertical unconventional wells. The increase is designed “to sustain the Program at current staff levels and operating costs,” according to the new rule. However, the rule and the decision to hike the fees by 150 percent were made on the basis of well permit analyses in the period 2014 through 2017, and were outdated even before the current crisis in the oil and gas industry, Laura Legere of Pittsburg Post-Gazette writes.The state reviews the fees every three years, but Neil Shader, spokesman of the Department of Environmental Protection, told the Pittsburg Post-Gazette that “we will revisit the fee schedule accordingly.”The Department of Environmental Protection of Pennsylvania – the state home to parts of the Marcellus and Utica shale gas basins – funds a large part of its oil and gas program with the fees for well permit applications.The Marcellus Shale Coalition says that the fees for well permit applications in Pennsylvania are now the highest in the United States and called for the Department of Environmental Protection and the administration to “continue to strongly urge DEP and the administration to pursue a more sustainable and equitable funding mechanism for its oil and gas program,” as carried by Pittsburg Post-Gazette. The department has issued just 523 permits to companies in the first half this year, the lowest number of permits since 1993, as the low natural gas prices and the pandemic-driven demand crash discouraged firms from rushing to secure well permits.Gas production in the Appalachia shale basin is expected to drop by 210 million cubic feet/day between July and August, to 32.713 billion cubic feet/day this month, according to EIA’s latest Drilling Productivity Report.

US FERC releases favorable environmental review for PennEast Pipeline | S&P Global Platts — In a step forward for the stalled PennEast Pipeline project, staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found the developers' new plan to divide the project into two phases would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the environment. The roughly 118-mile, 1.1 Bcf/d natural gas pipeline project, originally intended to link Marcellus Shale dry gas production with markets in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, has faced regulatory hurdles in New Jersey, and an appeals court ruling thwarting its ability to condemn lands in which the state held an interest. To help the project advance in spite of those obstacles, PennEast proposed to amend the authorization and begin with a first phase, a 68-mile segment in Pennsylvania with the capacity to carry 695,000 Dt/d. A second phase segment, mostly in New Jersey, would enable the full capacity. The commission's plans to conduct an environmental assessment by July 10 focused on the limited new facilities required to build the project in two phases. It drew pushback from those calling for a more extensive review or more explanation of the need for each phase. After the July 10 target date for the EA passed, PennEast recently argued that prompt release was critical for the project to meet shippers' needs for firm natural gas transportation service on the Phase I facilities by the winter 2012-22 hearing season. Commission staff acted Aug. 3, releasing a favorable report for the project, mostly focused on the impacts of building a new above-ground facility within a 2.1-acre site — the Church Road interconnects in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania. The EA also considered effects of phasing in the pipeline on three areas, air quality, socioeconomics and cumulative impacts. Tony Cox, chair of the PennEast Pipeline board of managers, welcomed the action as "another boost" for the project, which he described as "necessary to meet the vital and growing demand in the region for clean, low-cost, reliable natural gas to serve homes and businesses." The staff environmental report, however, drew quick criticism from some that have opposed the project and FERC's regulation of it. "This is a new low in the commission's consideration, or lack thereof, of this project," said Jennifer Danis, senior fellow of the Sabine Center for Climate Change Law. "FERC asserts that 'the project' won't impact waters of the US because it is only about building the Church Street interconnect — while paradoxically defining project purpose as building both Phase 1 and Phase 2." Her group and others challenging PennEast contend that FERC lacks jurisdiction to consider the proposal as a certificate amendment since the original certificate is already on appeal and jurisdiction already has shifted to the appeals court.

Cuomo signs hazardous waste bill, closing loophole allowing import of gas drilling waste from Pennsylvania - FingerLakes1.com  -Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Monday that makes New York the first state in the nation to apply hazardous waste laws to potentially toxic oil and gas byproducts.The action, coming just months after the state codified into law its 2014 policy ban on fracking for shale, solidifies the governor’s legacy of applying public health standards to a powerful and often weakly regulated industry.The bill’s legislative sponsors and leading environmental groups praised the governor for closing a “dangerous loophole” in the way oil and gas wastes are regulated.However, throughout Cuomo’s near-decade in office, oil and gas drilling wastes from hundreds of fracked Pennsylvania wells have been dumped in upstate New York landfills and spread on the state’s roadways.Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, said in anaffidavit: “The net effect of New York accepting drill cuttings and de-watered mud from Pennsylvania fracking sites will be that New Yorkers will have an increased risk of cancer, especially lung and gastrointestinal cancers, and increase of birth defects coming from DNA damage and an increased risk of shortened life span.”Anthony Ingraffea, a retired professor of rock mechanics at Cornell University, said in a recent interview: “Perhaps we’ll never know what the environmental and health impacts of all that (fracking waste) currently in New York will be. They’ve made our bed, and now we have to lie in it.”Since January 2011, New York landfills have imported more than 638 thousand tons of waste from Marcellus shale gas wells in Pennsylvania, according to records that state maintains. (New York doesn’t maintain its own statistics). Those landfills and unrelated transfer stations have imported more than four thousand barrels of liquid shale drilling wastes. (A graphic below by Melissa Troutman of Earthworks uses Pennsylvania data to show NY imports of Pennsylvania’s shale waste from 2011 to 2019.)

 Cuomo bans hydrofracking waste from coming to New York - In what environmentalists are hailing as the closing of a loophole and a blow to the hydrofracking industry in neighboring Pennsylvania, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday signed a bill banning the importation of hazardous fracking waste into New York.The loophole, they say, had long existed because of the prior definition of hazardous waste that excluded substances like drilling fluids and other material used in exploration and extraction of oil or natural gas.Some of those materials, including rock that environmentalists say contains low-levels of radiation, has been taken to a handful of western New York landfills over the years. Additionally, at least one western New York school used fracking fluid, as a brine, or salty water to help melt ice on its walkways and parking lots. The worry there is that the fluid would run off into the water supply. “New York has led the nation in banning fracking, and we are grateful to Governor Andrew Cuomo for ensuring that fracking waste will no longer contaminate New York’s land and water,” Maureen Cunningham, senior director for clean water at Environmental Advocates NY said of the signing. “Having banned fracking in New York, Cuomo has taken another important step towards making New York frack-free,” added Eric Weltman, of Food and Water Watch. While it has led to an energy boom in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas, hydrofracking is controversial due to worries about water pollution. Those concerned about climate change also view it as enabling ongoing use of carbon-laden fossil fuels instead of moving toward renewable energy. The environmental group Earthworks in 2019 produced a report showing how waste generated during the fracking exploration process had been placed in landfills in Chemung, Steuben and Allegany counties which are near the Pennsylvania border.

Liberty Utilities Drops Plans For Major Gas Pipeline In N.H. | New Hampshire Public Radio --  Liberty Utilities says it will not build the proposed Granite Bridge natural gas pipeline in Southern New Hampshire, after finding a cheaper way to serve new customers by using existing infrastructure. The company told the state of the change in plans in a Public Utilities Commission filing Friday afternoon. The $340-million pipeline plan dated to late 2017 and drew fierce opposition from climate change activists, who oppose any expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in the region. Natural gas emits less greenhouse gas than coal or oil, but is still a major driver of climate change. Further dependence on gas, through the pipeline plan and still through Liberty's new alternative, has emerged as a sticking point in the Democratic primary race for governor. Granite Bridge had bipartisan support in the state legislature, including from Senate Democrats who saw a net benefit in extending gas service to residents and businesses who currently rely on expensive, less climate-friendly heating oil. Liberty's New Hampshire president Sue Fleck called that "critical" in a statement Friday -- "not only for New Hampshire’s economy and for families’ pocketbooks, but also to enable the deepest, fastest, and most achievable pathway for decarbonizing our economy and taking action on climate change." Serving new customers was Liberty's original goal in building Granite Bridge, which would have run about 27 miles along Route 101 between Stratham and Manchester -- branching off the Concord Lateral, an existing, mainline gas artery owned by Texas-based Kinder Morgan. Liberty initially said it would be too expensive to upgrade that larger pipeline to suit their needs. But last fall, PUC staff recommended they revisit that option before Granite Bridge could be approved. "Natural gas, sold responsibly as a rate-regulated commodity, is compatible with bold climate action," wrote state utility consumer advocate Don Kreis in his column Friday for InDepthNH. "But Granite Bridge was simply too expensive, and too reliant on dreamy estimates of future customer growth, projected too many years into the future."

Mountain Valley, DEQ reach agreement on environmental fines - The latest problems with muddy runoff streaming from construction sites along the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s route through Southwest Virginia have been resolved, with the company paying $58,000 in fines. The agreement, reached after several months of negotiations with the Department of Environmental Quality, marks the troubled pipeline’s latest penalty for violating erosion and sediment control regulations. Mountain Valley had balked at DEQ’s initial demand for $86,000, which was made after the joint venture of five energy companies building the natural gas pipeline had paid $2.15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by state environmental regulators. The lawsuit filed in 2018 covered violations during the first year and a half of construction; the latest fines were for problems that persisted even after Mountain Valley was ordered to stop work last fall. DEQ initially had cited Mountain Valley for 29 violations from September through March 10, but agreed to drop seven as part of the negotiation process, according to Ann Regn, a spokeswoman for the agency. Negotiations were allowed by a consent decree that settled the 2018 lawsuit, which claimed more than 300 infractions on Mountain Valley’s path through the counties of Giles, Craig, Montgomery, Roanoke, Franklin and Pittsylvania. Also included in the settlement were more intensive, court-ordered environmental inspections, and tougher penalties for additional violations. The fines imposed so far are a paltry sum when compared to the project’s $5.7 billion budget, pipeline opponents have said in calling for tougher enforcement by state and federal officials. “How does MVP continue to rack up DEQ violations when they are supposedly doing repair work under court monitoring and supervision under a court order from a Henrico County judge?” Bonnie Law of Preserve Franklin County said in a statement released by opponents. Critics say erosion from work sites has contaminated nearby streams, which have carried harmful sedimentation as far as the Roanoke River, the source of drinking water for thousands.

Equitrans confirms early 2021 startup for Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline( Reuters) - U.S. pipeline company Equitrans Midstream Corp said on Tuesday it still expects to complete the $5.4 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia in early 2021. Mountain Valley is one of several U.S. oil and gas pipelines delayed by regulatory and legal fights with environmental and local groups that found problems with federal permits issued by the Trump administration. Other projects similarly held up include TC Energy Corp's $8 billion Keystone XL crude pipeline and Energy Transfer LP's Dakota Access crude pipeline, which are still involved in court battles. Equitrans said in its second-quarter earnings statement that the project's costs could rise by 5% to around $5.7 billion if it needs "to adapt the construction plan for potential complex judicial decisions and regulatory changes." When Equitrans started construction in February 2018, it estimated Mountain Valley would cost about $3.5 billion and be completed by the end of 2018. But successful legal challenges to federal permits resulted in lengthy delays and higher costs for Mountain Valley. Equitrans said it expects to receive new approvals soon from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will enable it to finish building the last 8% of the project. The 303-mile (488-km) pipeline is designed to deliver 2 billion cubic feet per day from the Marcellus and Utica shale in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to consumers in the Mid Atlantic and Southeast. Mountain Valley is owned by units of Equitrans, NextEra Energy Inc , Consolidated Edison Inc , AltaGas Ltd and RGC Resources Inc .

22 Virginia legislators urge Gov. Northam and health officials to suspend construction on Mountain Valley Pipeline— Twenty-two Virginia legislators jointly signed a letter urging Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va) and health officials to halt construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the coronavirus pandemic.This comes after Mountain Valley Pipeline announced it intends to bring more than 4,000 workers to a 30 mile stretch of Southwest Virginia and across the border in West Virginia to work on the pipeline.“An influx of thousands of workers for a project whose completion will not benefit Virginians will needlessly risk accelerating the pandemic in an area of the Commonwealth with already limited health care resources,” said Delegate Chris Hurst, whose district includes the route of the proposed pipeline.Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action observed the counties where the MVP intends to resume work have limited access to Intensive Care Unit beds and a population vulnerable to COVID-19 due to higher concentrations of senior citizens, people in poverty, and people with COPD and cardiovascular disease.This is not the first time MVP has had to put a hold on construction. The full letter can be read below:

Virginia senators again push for pipeline review reforms - Virginia’s Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are again proposing reforms to the federal pipeline review process in response to public complaints surrounding the now-cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the still active Mountain Valley Pipeline through Virginia. Legislation put forward by the senators intends “to strengthen the public’s ability to evaluate the impacts of natural gas pipelines being considered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission” and “make it easier for the public to offer input and clarify the circumstances under which eminent domain should and should not be used,” a joint statement from Warner and Kaine said. Several of the suggestions — such as requiring an overall environmental impact evaluation to be done if two pipelines are proposed to be built within a year and 100 miles of each other and mandating that public comment meetings be held in every locality through which a pipeline crosses — also appeared in an earlier version of the legislation that was put forward in 2017 by Warner and Kaine in the Senate and Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, in the House. That legislation was never voted on. Griffith subsequently introduced another version of the law in January 2019.  The legislation put forward Thursday may have a smoother road even in the GOP-controlled Senate, however, given changing attitudes toward natural gas pipelines. A Kaine spokesperson told the Mercury the senators believe “the added provisions in response to recent developments over pipeline litigation will make the bill even more attractive to other members.”Among the new provisions are those preventing pipelines from exercising eminent domain until the project has received all needed permits and FERC has issued rulings on landowner challenges. The latter follows a request in July by Republican FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, who was mulling a run for Virginia governor this spring, and Democratic Commissioner Richard Glick for Congress to pass legislation on FERC rehearing procedures.“We believe that any such legislation should make clear that, while rehearing requests are pending, the commission should be prohibited from issuing a notice to proceed with construction and no entity should be able to begin eminent domain proceedings involving the projects,” the commissioners wrote.

Dominion CEO to Step Down as Utility Marks Massive Loss From Pipeline Cancellation  - Dominion Energy is replacing its CEO as part of an executive shakeup accompanying both the Virginia utility’s major shift away from natural gas and toward a renewable energy future, and the hefty financial penalty it incurred for its cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Dominion announced Friday that CEO Tom Farrell would step down in October and be replaced by Robert Blue, now executive vice president and co-chief operating officer. Farrell will continue to serve as executive chair and chairman of the board of directors, while current co-COO Diane Leopold will serve as the sole COO. The executive shifts were announced on the same day that Dominion reported a second-quarter 2020 GAAP unaudited net loss of $1.2 billion, or $1.41 per share, compared to a gain of $54 million or 5 cents per share for the same quarter in 2019. The loss was largely driven by a $2.8 billion charge related to its cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project earlier this month. On a non-GAAP basis excluding those one-time charges, Dominion reported second-quarter operating earnings of $706 million, or 82 cents per share, compared to operating earnings of $619 million, or 77 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. Farrell, who turned 65 in December, said in Friday’s earnings call that Dominion’s new executive shifts are part of a long-running plan to accommodate his retirement. “As executive chair, I will continue to represent the company...[and] will continue to be focused on developing our strategic plan and Dominion’s leadership in the new clean energy economy.” Dominion and partner Duke Energy canceled the Atlantic Coast Pipeline earlier this month, citing costs that have increased from an initial estimate of $5 billion to as much as $8 billion, as well as legal challenges from landowners and environmental groups. On the same day, Dominion announced it was selling its multistate natural-gas pipeline and storage business to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for about $9.7 billion.

Dominion South rally unlikely to fuel Appalachian production growth in 2020 — Rallying forward gas prices at Dominion South are making for a bullish market outlook in Appalachia this winter – a scenario that's often fueled regional production growth in the past. Following pivotal changes to the industry this year, though, most producers are likely to keep output flat heading into 2021. Stay up to date with the latest commodity content. Sign up for our free daily Commodities Bulletin. Sign Up On Aug. 6, Dominion forward strip prices for first-quarter 2021 settled at an average $2.61/MMBtu, or their highest in three months, S&P Global Platts' most recently published M2MS data shows. In early May, as US production was nearing its pandemic-fueled bottom near 85 Bcf/d, forwards traders became increasingly bullish on the value of supply from dry basins like the Marcellus and the Utica, lifting winter gas prices at Dominion South in the mid-$2.60s/MMBtu. As the recovery in US gas production stumbles this month, a similar market narrative is gripping the industry. In associated basins like the Permian and the Bakken, the restoration of previously curtailed wells appears to have peaked, leaving US output lurching around 87 Bcf/d. With Appalachia's wellhead gas prices now headed north of $2, an average unhedged producer in the Marcellus or Utica Shale could be operating above breakeven level by autumn, data compiled by S&P Global Platts Analytics shows. For some producers, it could be enough to tempt fate and resume output growth. According to the chief executive of at least one mid-sized Appalachian producer, though, that outcome is unlikely to play out in 2020, following recent, transformational industry developments this year. After years of overspending and debt leveraging, many Appalachian producers are now finding their back against the wall with the investment community, says Rusty Hutson, CEO of Diversified Gas & Oil. "The equity markets have said enough is enough," Hutson said. "In the debt markets, it's extremely hard to refinance – that's why we're seeing so much distress and bankruptcy," Hutson said in a recent telephone interview. On recent second-quarter earnings calls, two of Appalachia's largest producers, EQT and CNX, said they're keeping production flat over the near term as they confront a low-commodity-price environment that many analysts expect to endure longer term. Many producers are following suit, but some of the most highly leveraged companies are finding it harder to make the shift to maintenance mode, Hutson says.

U.S. natgas soars nearly 17% as LNG exports rise, heat returns - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped nearly 17% to a near three-month high on Monday as demand rose for exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and weather forecasters boosted expectations for hot weather and cooling demand next week. Front-month gas futures rose 30.2 cents, or 16.8%, to settle at $2.101 per million British thermal units, their highest close since May 5. That was their biggest one-day rise since November 2018. "A combination of stagnant production ... and a hot change in August’s weather forecasts is creating a bullish set-up that has short sellers running for the exits," said Daniel Myers, market analyst at Gelber & Associates in Houston, noting this was the front-month’s first close above $2/mmBtu in three months and only the second since late January. Last week, speculators boosted long positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange for a seventh straight week to their highest since November 2018 on expectations energy demand will rise as the economy rebounds from coronavirus lockdowns. Data provider Refinitiv said average U.S. production fell to a two-month low of 87.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in August from 88.0 bcfd in July and an all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd in November. With hot weather expected to return, Refinitiv projected U.S. demand, including exports, will rise from an average of 88.8 bcfd this week to 92.5 bcfd next week. U.S. LNG exports in August are on track to rise for the first time in six months as the amount of pipeline gas flowing to the plants rose to 4.0 bcfd so far this month from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July when buyers canceled dozens of cargoes. That is still well below the record high of 8.7 bcfd in February.

U.S. natgas jumps to highest since Jan on rising LNG exports, hot weather - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures on Tuesday jumped to their highest since January as liquefied natural gas exports rose and on forecasts for hot weather through late August after Hurricane Isaias blows through, keeping air conditioners humming. Front-month gas futures rose 9.2 cents, or 4.4%, to settle at $2.193 per million British thermal units, their highest close since Jan. 10. That put the contract into overbought territory with a Relative Strength Index (RSI) over 70 for a second day in a row for the first time since November 2019. On Monday, volume in the front-month, which soared almost 17%, topped 381,000 contracts, its highest since hitting a record 495,196 in November 2018 during the market's most volatile period, when it rose 18% one day and fell 17% the next. Hurricane Isaias, which hit North Carolina overnight, broke the heat wave that has blanketed much of the country since late June. The storm left more than 1.4 million homes and businesses from New York to North Carolina without power on Tuesday and was expected to cause more damage as it scrapes north up the East Coast. But with hot weather expected to return after Isaias blows away, data provider Refinitiv projected U.S. demand, including exports, will rise from an average of 88.6 bcfd this week to 91.8 bcfd next week. That, however, is a little lower than Refinitiv's outlook on Monday as higher prices cause power generators to burn more coal instead of gas. U.S. LNG exports are on track to rise for the first time in six months as the amount of pipeline gas flowing to the plants rose to 4.0 bcfd in August from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July when buyers canceled dozens of cargoes.

US working natural gas volumes in underground storage rise by 33 Bcf: EIA | S&P Global Platts — Natural gas volumes in US underground storage facilities increased in line with the five-year average while the Henry Hub prompt month contract continues to push above prices not seen since early January as the final three months of injection season commence. US underground natural gas storage inventories increased by 33 Bcf to 3.274 Tcf in the week that ended July 31, according to US Energy Information Administration data released Aug. 6. The injection was larger than the consensus expectations of analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts, which called for a 27 Bcf build. Responses to the survey ranged from an injection of 20 Bcf to one of 33 Bcf. The injection measured less than the 58 Bcf build reported during the same week last year, but matched the five-year average build of 33 Bcf, according to EIA data. Storage volumes now stand 601 Bcf, or 22.5%, above the year-ago level of 2.673 Tcf and 429 Bcf, or 15%, higher than the five-year average of 2.845 Tcf. The NYMEX Henry Hub September contract added 3 cents to $2.22/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report at 10:30 am ET. NYMEX Henry Hub prices over the last week have staged an impressive rally as the balance-of-summer strip, now comprising just September and October, has increased by more than 25 cents on diminishing expectations that storage will breach the 4 Tcf mark by the end of season. The winter strip, likewise, has moved higher as well, settling at $2.95 in at Aug. 5 close and gaining another 2 cents in the session Aug. 6. LNG feedgas has broken above 4 Bcf/d in August, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. It marks the first time LNG feedgas demand climbed above 4 Bcf/d since June 30, an increase of over 800 MMcf/d from the prior week's average. Although total US liquefaction utilization remains under 40%, there are expectations for stronger feedgas demand in September and October, when US Gulf Coast netbacks are in positive territory. US production has averaged 87 Bcf/d to start August, 300 MMcf/d lower than July. Roughly half of the production losses are maintenance driven, and expected to return by Aug. 7, but the overall risks to the remainder of the summer skew bullish due to strong power burn demand and the recovery in LNG feedgas demand. Despite lower week-over-week production and higher LNG demand, models point to a larger injection for the week in progress. For example, Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 52 Bcf injection for the week ending Aug. 7. This would increase the surplus to the five-year average by 8 Bcf. Recent changes to supply and demand fundamentals have lowered Platts Analytics' forecast for end-of-season inventories from 4 Tcf down to 3.858 Tcf, which would only register about 50 Bcf more than the five-year average before withdrawal season begins in early November.

Natural Gas Futures Slip as EIA Storage Data Reflects 'Woefully Oversupplied' Market - Natural gas futures buckled under pressure Thursday after a slightly larger-than-expected storage injection sapped the momentum prices had earlier in the week. The September Nymex futures contract settled at $2.165, down 2.6 cents day/day. October also slipped 2.6 cents to $2.305. Spot gas prices softened across the board as well, dragging down NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. 8.0 cents to $1.830.After a stunning rally to start the week, Nymex futures had been expected to retreat a bit, especially with cooler weather in the forecast. While Wednesday’s price action failed to move the needle, bears got the upper hand on Thursday after the latest government data pointed to a market that remains “woefully oversupplied,” according to NatGasWeather.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that inventories for the week ending July 31 rose by 33 Bcf, which came in far below last year’s 58 Bcf injection but was exactly on par with the five-year average. This is important to consider, NatGasWeather said, because “cooling degree days were solidly hotter/greater than normal, which is indicative of a market still solidly oversupplied.”Broken down by region, the Midwest led with a 15 Bcf injection into stocks, while the East came in with the second-highest build of 12 Bcf, according to EIA. Mountain inventories rose by 6 Bcf, and the Pacific withdrew 2 Bcf. The South Central reported a net injection of 3 Bcf, but salt facilities fell by 3 Bcf while nonsalts added 6 Bcf. Total working gas in storage as of July 31 stood at 3,274 Bcf, 601 Bcf higher than last year and 429 Bcf above the five-year average, EIA said. Price action following the EIA report was swift. In the minutes leading up to the report, the September Nymex contract was trading at $2.245, up 5.4 cents from Wednesday’s close. Earlier, it had soared as high as $2.284. As the print crossed trading desks, the prompt month slipped to $2.225, but then it bounced around as traders attempted to digest the data. Looking ahead to next week’s EIA report, analysts expect a heftier build of about 50 Bcf as temperatures have cooled and East Coast power demand has been crushed by former Hurricane Isaias. This would put the end-of-season figure at or above the top of the seasonally adjusted range, Schork noted. “That is not a bullish thing.”

U.S. natgas soars to December high in best week since 2009 -  (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures on Friday jumped to their highest since December after rising by the most in a week since 2009, as liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports increased and forecasts called for hot weather through late August. "The LNG market’s worst days appear to be behind it, with fewer cancellations in September expected to bring utilization back toward 60% before an even stronger recovery in October," said Daniel Myers, market analyst at Gelber & Associates in Houston. Front-month gas futures rose 7.3 cents, or 3.4%, to settle at $2.238 per million British thermal units, their highest close since Dec. 26. For the week, the contract was up 24%, its biggest weekly gain since September 2009. Although U.S. and European gas contracts mostly trade on their own fundamentals, gas at the European Title Transfer Facility benchmark in the Netherlands also soared this week, jumping 50%. That made it profitable for more U.S. LNG cargoes to go to Europe again for the first time in months. U.S. LNG exports in August were on track to rise for the first time in six months as the amount of pipeline gas flowing to the plants climbed to 4.0 billion cubic feet per day in August from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July, when buyers canceled dozens of cargoes - the most in a month. With hot weather expected to return after Hurricane Isaias cooled the East Coast, data provider Refinitiv projected U.S. demand, including exports, will rise from an average of 88.5 bcfd this week to 90.6 bcfd next week and 91.9 bcfd in two weeks. That is a little lower than Refinitiv's outlook on Thursday as higher gas prices cause power generators to burn more coal instead of gas. 

IEEFA report: China unlikely to come to rescue of overbuilt U.S. LNG industry  — A rebound of the ailing U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry isn’t likely to come from Chinese demand, according to a new study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).  Global LNG markets have been hammered by collapsing prices, falling consumption, and an enormous supply glut in Europe and Asia, even as the U.S. LNG industry continues with expansion plans.   “The U.S. liquefied natural gas industry is suffering through a worse-than-worst case scenario: An international market collapse on a scale that seemed inconceivable when the country’s first export facility was put into service just over four years ago,” said Clark Williams-Derry, an energy finance analyst and co-author of No Upside: The U.S. LNG Buildout Faces Price Resistance from China. Accentuating the industry’s troubles, Cheniere Energy, the largest U.S. LNG company, is likely to collect most of its revenues this summer from shipment cancellation fees, rather than actual LNG sales.  Although LNG has become the worst-performing global energy commodity during the coronavirus pandemic—worse even than coal or oil—its problems predate the economic downturn. More than 20 U.S. projects in various stages of development, as well as 20 existing commercial-scale plants, are competing with new LNG plants in Russia, Australia, Malaysia and Cameroon. The ensuing glut has convinced many international buyers to obtain LNG from spot markets rather than signing new long-term contracts. Prior to 2019, China had been the world’s fastest-growing LNG consumer, leading to hopes that it could rescue the planned U.S. LNG buildout. The IEEFA analysis, however, finds that PetroChina, China’s largest natural gas company, has lost money on gas imports every year since 2015, throwing doubt on the Chinese gas market’s ability to absorb new imports.If China is to expand its LNG imports, it will likely have to secure long-term supplies at prices well under $7/MMBtu, Williams-Derry said. Even with U.S. costs close to historically low levels, the margin for reaching those prices is slim: Shipping LNG from the Gulf of Mexico to East Asia costs about $2/MMBtu for feedstocks, $3/MMBtu for liquefaction, and $1/MMBtu for transportation. Regasification and transportation to Chinese cities would add another $1/MMBtu to the total cost. The IEEFA study examined gas pricing in seven major Chinese cities with access both to LNG terminals and pipeline gas. Wholesale prices in April 2019 ranged from $7.73/MMBtu to $8.57/MMBtu; at the time, it cost roughly $8/MMBtu to deliver gas from the Gulf of Mexico to China, meaning that U.S. LNG offered little or no economic benefits to Chinese consumers. '

China only fulfils 5% of Sino-U.S. energy trade deal in first half of 2020 -  (Reuters) - China bought only 5% of the targeted $25.3 billion in energy products from the United States in the first half of 2020, falling well short of its trade deal commitments at a time when relations between the two top economies are already sour. China’s imports of crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), metallurgical coal and other energy products totalled around $1.29 billion this year through June, according to Reuters calculations based on China customs data. While Chinese purchases of U.S. products accelerated recently, analysts say weak energy prices and worsening relations means Beijing may undershoot its full-year goal in the Phase 1 deal agreed in January. (GRAPHIC - China only achieved 5% of the $25.3 bln energy target in the first half of 2020: here) (GRAPHIC - China's energy imports from U.S.: here)  “China is unlikely to fulfil its Phase 1 commitments as they were overly ambitious to begin with,” said Michal Meidan, a director at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, adding she expected Beijing to step up purchases to show goodwill. Failure to meet the target could further strain U.S.-China relations, which have nosedived since the outbreak of the coronavirus.  (GRAPHIC - Apparent consumption of refined oil products in China: here) (GRAPHIC - Apparent consumption of natural gas in China: here)  U.S. crude oil had been expected to feature prominently in China’s Phase 1 purchases. But a surge in freight rates coupled with a collapse in fuel demand, as the coronavirus spread, made U.S. imports relatively costly for refiners in China. China imported only 45,603 barrels per day (bpd) of U.S. oil in the first half of 2020 compared with 85,453 bpd in the same period in 2019.Sushant Gupta, research director at consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie, said that to meet the trade deal target, China would need to import 1.5 million bpd of U.S. crude in 2020 and 2021, revising that estimate up from nearly 1 million bpd previously as low oil prices reduced the value of crude purchases.(GRAPHIC - China's crude oil imports: here)China’s refiners boosted U.S. purchases after flagship oil grades slumped into negative territory in April. (GRAPHIC - Crude oil and LNG prices: here)

Northern Natural pitches Northern Lights 2021 to serve winter peak-day needs | S&P Global Platts — Berkshire Hathaway Energy's Northern Natural Gas has proposed a scaled-down version of its Northern Lights 2021 natural gas pipeline expansion, meant to keep up with needs of several existing customers and providing 45,693 Dt/d of incremental winter peak-day service.The proposal is a continuation of the pipeline company's broader Northern Lights project, which it describes as a multi-year commitment to expand its market-area capacity in response to customers' growth requirements through 2026.In the application posted on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's website Aug. 1, Northern Natural said contract extensions and growth commitments under the Northern Light expansions were critical in preventing a major bypass of Northern's system by some customers. In the absence of the extension agreements with customers CenterPoint Energy Resources, Xcel, and Flint Hills Resources, a bypass would have translated to a loss of about 1 Bcf/d of their existing winter maximum daily quantity, Northern Natural told FERC.The proposed Northern Lights 2021 Expansion (CP20-503) entails an 11,153 hp greenfield compressor station in Pine County, Minnesota, additional compression at the Pierz compressor station in Morrison County, modifications to the Pierz interconnect, and a pipeline loop and extension totaling 1.43 miles as well as replacement of 0.08 of an 8-inch-diameter pipeline with 12-inch-diameter pipeline and changes, all in Minnesota.The proposal is scaled back from the November 2019 plan put forward during a prefiling review at FERC that pitched more than eight miles of 30-inch-diameter and 36-inch-diameter mainline loops and extensions, and over 13 miles of branch line loops and extensions.

Range to Sell Louisiana Acreage, Cut 100 Jobs -- Range Resources Corp. is selling its Louisiana shale fields for about one-10th of what it paid for them just four years ago as depressed natural gas prices hammered the heavily indebted driller. Range agreed to sell the assets acquired in its 2016 takeover of Memorial Resource Development Corp. to Castleton Resources LLC for $245 million, according to statements by both companies Monday. Range stands to reap an additional $90 million in the future, contingent on higher commodity prices. The $335 million potential total value compares to the approximately $3.3 billion Range originally paid in an all-stock deal for the fields. The biggest-ever deal for Range turned into a bust when the company’s geologists and engineers soured on the quality of the rocks in early 2018. Range is also cutting 100 jobs, or about 17% of its workforce, mostly as a result of the sale, Chief Financial Officer Mark Scucchi said during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. The sale is expected to close this month and the effective date will be backdated to Feb. 1, according to the statement. Castleton Resources is owned by Castleton Commodities International LLC and Tokyo Gas Co.

Permian Execs Signal Milestone-- America’s most prolific shale drillers are accepting a fate once anathema to an industry obsessed with growth: drilling just to ward off production drops. The pandemic and subsequent plunge in crude prices has forced U.S. crude explorers to scrap plans to expand supplies amid investor skepticism toward the shale business model. For some of the biggest names in the Permian, that’s meant vowing restraint as long as oil lingers at levels too poor to justify a new boom. “Certainly we’re not seeing any signals that growth is needed,” Travis Stice, chief executive officer Diamondback Energy Inc., said during a conference call on Tuesday. “Growth in today’s world is pretty much off the table.” Management teams chastened by crude’s precipitous fall below zero earlier this year are beginning to outline 2021 spending plans. Diamondback said it’ll maintain oil output at this year’s level, which is expected to be dramatically lower than 2019. Concho Resources Inc. expressed similar intent last week. Centennial Resource Development Inc. declined on Tuesday to provide 2021 production guidance. In the fourth quarter, the explorer plans to employ just a single rig, a signal of little growth going into next year. Drillers are focusing shrunken capital budgets on minimizing the steep output declines unique to shale wells, which start out as gushers before quickly declining to trickles. In a handful of cases, spending has been cut so dramatically that executives expect to generate positive cash flow despite enduring the most tumultuous year since the start of the U.S. shale boom. “For most of my career, we would reinvest all our cash flow and then show our success by how much we could grow our production,” Concho CEO Tim Leach said last week. “Well, that’s not how it’s going to work in the future.” A moderation in growth had been anticipated as years of heavy borrowing took a toll on balance sheets and investors blanched at weak or non-existent returns. Supermajors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. were expected to pick up the slack via ambitious growth plans to pump 1 million Permian barrels a day each by the middle of the decade. But the pandemic threw all prognostications into disarray. Chevron is forecasting a 7% decline in its Permian production next year. Although Exxon didn’t provide a production outlook when it disclosed quarter results last week, the company indicated that its daily Permian output wouldn’t increase much beyond the current 345,000 barrels.

Oil companies are backing Trump’s re-election after giving heavily to Clinton in 2016 --American industries tend to play both sides by donating to candidates from both major political parties. That’s particularly true when it comes to the presidency, which oversees a vast federal bureaucracy influencing trillions of dollars in spending. Even the oil and gas industry, which strongly favors Republicans, split its ticket when it came to the White House race in 2016. The industry gave $1.2 million to Donald Trump, whose campaign won over swing states such as Pennsylvania by chanting “drill, baby, drill.” But it also bequeathed $1 million to Democrat Hillary Clinton, who had promised to put “coal companies out of business” (while helping displaced workers find new jobs).Not this year. Trump is reaping the rewards of being the most pro-fossil fuel president in modern history. The industry has donated $936,000 to his 2020 reelection campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s roughly triple the haul of his presumptive Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who has collected only $265,000 in industry donations as of August. The biggest donors to all political candidates among oil and gas companies were a mix of traditional activists such as Koch Industries ($9.8 million), oil majors such as Chevron ($4.7 million), and shale oil firms like Midland Energy ($2 million). The vast majority of the $6.7 million given by top donors has gone to Republicans in Congress this election cycle. Only two Democrats—Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (Texas)—were even among the top 20 recipients. The reason seems clear. Biden has embraced the climate movement and his party’s enthusiasm for a clean energy transition. Under Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan announced this July, the US will achieve zero net-emissions by 2050, eliminate electric grid emissions by 2035, promote renewable wind and solar energy development, and recommit to the Paris climate accords. Biden also agreed (along with every major Democratic presidential nominee) to end the extraction of fossil fuels on public lands. That’s significantly more ambitious than Clinton’s proposal in 2016.

Trump: Radical Left Wants To Leave Every City At Their Mercy, Incite Riots – President Donald Trump lashed out at radical Democrats, calling them "sick" and accusing them of not loving the country in a speech he delivered Wednesday on restoring American energy dominance and the U.S. economy. "The radical left wants to tear down everything in its way," Trump said. "And in its place, they want power for themselves. They want power. Hard to believe — power. They want to uproot and demolish every American value. They want to wipe away every trace of religion from national life. They want to indoctrinate our children, defund our police, abolish the suburbs, incite riots, and leave every city at the mercy of the radical left. That’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen."  “Their platform calls for mandating zero-carbon emissions from power plants by 2035. In other words, no drilling, no fracking, no coal, no shale, no gas, no oil; otherwise, they’ve been very good to the industry, I think.You got to be careful. You know, people don’t take it seriously. If they got in, you will have no more energy coming out of the great state of Texas, out of New Mexico, out of anywhere — Oklahoma, North Dakota. Name them. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania does a lot. People don’t realize that. A lot. It would throw Pennsylvania, Ohio — so many other places. You don’t realize how big it is. They want to have no fracking, no nothing. The policies required to implement this extreme agenda would mean the death of American prosperity and the end of the American middle class. It would mean, I think, even worse than that. It would destroy our country. I used to say, “Would become another Venezuela.” Same ideology. You would become another Venezuela. Venezuela used to be one of the richest in the world, per capita, and period, one of the richest in the world — among the largest oil reserves. Now they don’t have water, they don’t have medicine, they don’t have food. You got a lot of oil; it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t seem to matter. They don’t have anything. And that can happen to us.”

EMISSIONS: Methane plume menaces Navajo as EPA weakens safeguards -- Thursday, August 6, 2020 -- EPA is preparing to finalize a rule later this month that would significantly lighten requirements for fossil fuel producers and remove the regulations entirely for natural gas transmission and storage facilities. The agency's proposed replacement would permit the industry to conduct fewer searches for methane leaks and reduce remediation for a broad swath of the oil and gas sector. It would also rule out the possibility that older oil and gas wellheads would become subject to regulation in the future. But Native American advocates on a June 30 teleconference stressed that those changes would put their communities at risk by undermining air quality and public health on and near Navajo Nation tribal lands in New Mexico. The region, which has been the site of oil, gas, coal and uranium production for a century, has the highest concentration of methane emissions in the U.S. Julia Bernal of Pueblo Action Alliance said she told officials with EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget that the federal government had neglected to look at the damage that scrapping the methane rules would do to people in the Four Corners region. The area, which straddles the borders of Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, is home to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans. "There's already a huge methane cloud that sits over the Four Corners area in the Southwest," Bernal said in an interview. "Indigenous people have raised those concerns. How come that hasn't been addressed?" EPA's removal of federal methane curbs for new oil and gas wells might have an outsize impact on the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico. That's because the Trump administration's rollback is designed to head off future regulations for existing oil and gas infrastructure.The basin is an older oil field that saw declining production even before the coronavirus pandemic caused a massive contraction in the sector this spring. Many of the wells there might not have been covered under EPA's methane rule, known as a new source performance standard, because they're too old.But they would have been regulated under a rule tailored to cover existing infrastructure. If EPA gets its way, that rule may never be written (Climatewire, Aug. 15, 2019). Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez submitted comments to EPA last year opposing the methane rule rollback. He argued that it would leave transmission and storage infrastructure on Navajo lands unregulated for harmful pollutants. He also said the Navajo stand to see adverse impacts from climate change.Data from the Environmental Defense Fund shows that San Juan County, where more than half the Native American population lives within a half-mile of a production site, is second in New Mexico only to the Permian Basin for its methane levels. The American Lung Association's 2020 State of the Air report, which ranks counties' ozone and airborne particulate pollution levels, or smog, gave San Juan County an F for ozone. It lacked data to assess its particle pollution.

Interior proposes easing royalty calculations for public lands drilling - The Interior Department on Friday proposed a new rule that would allow oil and gas companies to pay less money to the government in exchange for producing energy on public lands by changing how these royalties are calculated.    The proposal would allow oil and gas companies to deduct more for transportation and processing costs from the fees they pay. It would also use an average weekly benchmark price for the commodities rather than the highest weekly benchmark prices to assess royalty payments for certain sales. Proponents say this will ease burdens on regulated industries and promote energy independence. “This proposal provides regulatory certainty and clarity to States, Tribes and stakeholders, removing unnecessary and burdensome regulations for domestic energy production,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement. Opponents argue that the changes unfairly let companies pay less money to the taxpayers. “David Bernhardt all along has had one job to do and that is to give as many handouts as possible to his former clients in the oil and gas industry,” said Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities. The proposed rule would lessen royalties paid by some oil companies by allowing them to ask the government for transportation cost allowances that exceed the current cap of 50 percent of the oil’s royalty value. It would also let some gas companies pay fewer fees by allowing them to ask the government for processing cost allowances that exceed the current cap of 66 2/3 percent. The department estimated that these changes would result in the oil industry paying the government $11,000 less and the gas industry paying $135,000 less per year. This part of the proposal mirrors changes requested by oil lobbying group the American Petroleum Institute (API) last year.

US senators aim to ease pipeline permitting after latest Keystone XL setback - — US Senate Republicans from energy-producing states are pushing for infrastructure permitting reforms after a fast-track program came under court challenge this year and became the latest roadblock for the Keystone XL heavy crude pipeline. Senator John Cornyn of Texas introduced Aug. 4 a bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act "to clarify certain activities that would have been authorized under Nationwide Permit 12 and other Nationwide Permits," according to the preliminary text of the bill. Co-sponsors include senators from Alaska, Oklahoma, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Katie Bays, managing director of FiscalNote Markets, said the co-sponsors signal that the measure is likely aimed at the Northern Plains Resource Council lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers. In that case, a Montana judge in April vacated the Corps of Engineers' NWP12 program and prevented the Corps from using it to authorize construction across waterways. The US Supreme Court later allowed the permits to resume during the appeals process, except in the case of TC Energy's long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline project from Alberta to Nebraska. TC Energy said July 30 that it intends to pursue "other permitting means" to authorize waterway crossings and get the project back on track. Bays said the bill's sponsors likely want to ensure that pipelines have access to NWP12 permitting even if a future administration makes a decision that pipelines should be permitted using the more onerous process of individual permitting. The American Petroleum Institute said the bill would bring "an efficient, short-term solution to restore regulatory certainty and allow continued development of critical infrastructure projects affected by recent federal court decisions" by ensuring the Corps and project owners could continue to rely on NWP12. Bays predicted the Cornyn bill may move through the Environment and Public Works Committee, but does not have a realistic chance of passage by the full Senate. "It looks like political messaging to me, and certainly we've seen the White House use the pipeline industry and energy broadly as a political signal in recent weeks," she said.

Two Keystone XL Construction Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus  - The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline confirmed Aug. 5 that two of its workers in northern Montana tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week. In a statement, pipeline developer TC Energy says the first pipe yard worker tested positive at a local clinic last July 28 and the company took protective measures when it learned about the results. That included shutting down activity at the site in Phillips County. The company says it then used contact tracing and identified six close contacts. One tested positive. The company says all are in quarantine at home. They will not return to the worksite as construction is expected to wrap up at that location in the coming days. A spokesperson from the Phillips County Health Department says there’s still a lot of unknowns, but that the two workers are not connected to five county residents who Phillips County announced Tuesday tested positive. Phillips County is now subject to Gov. Steve Bullock’s mandate that requires face coverings be worn in indoor spaces open to the public. TC Energy started construction on the highly disputed 1,200 (twelve-hundred) mile crude oil pipeline in April. At the time, it met with backlash from nearby Native American tribes, who worried workers could bring coronavirus into the area. Bozeman-based Barnard Construction contracted with workers from various locations. In a statement, TC Energy said that the workers were quarantined before beginning work.

Appeals Court Halts Dakota Access Shutdown Order -The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline won a reprieve Wednesday when an appeals court canceled a lower court order mandating the pipeline be shut down and emptied of oil while a full environmental impact statement is completed.  The shutdown order, which would have gone into effect Wednesday, marked the first time a major oil pipeline was court ordered to cease operations for environmental reasons. But while its reversal is disappointing for pipeline opponents, Wednesday's decision was not wholly favorable for the pipeline, either. The court refused to halt the initial order for a new environmental review of the pipeline's crossing under the Missouri River, where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fears it will pollute its drinking water and sacred lands if it leaks. "We've been in this legal battle for four years, and we aren't giving up this fight," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in an Earthjustice press release. "As the environmental review process gets underway in the months ahead, we look forward to showing why the Dakota Access Pipeline is too dangerous to operate."  In its ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put the question of whether the pipeline could continue to operate without a permit back to the Trump administration, Bloomberg News reported. It said it expected the Army Corps of Engineers to clarify the issue.  "It's interesting what the court did here," Earthjustice lawyer Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, told Bloomberg. "While the focus has been on this judicially imposed shutdown order, the bigger picture is the environmental impact statement and whether a permit will be reissued under the next administration."  Hasselman argued that the pipeline is now operating illegally, and, if the Army Corps of Engineers decides to let it keep running while a review is completed, the issue will return to court. "[W]e are confident that it will be shut down eventually," he said in the press release.

 PIPELINES: Army Corps moves to split utilities from streamlined permits -- Tuesday, August 4, 2020 --The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to separate oil and gas pipelines from its streamlined permits for utilities — a move that follows a court battle over the program.

 Santa Barbara County releases environmental impact report for ExxonMobil trucking project - Santa Barbara County recently released an environmental analysis reviewing ExxonMobil’s proposal to transport oil on local roadways using tanker trucks so that it can resume the operation of three offshore oil rigs and a processing facility. The final supplemental environmental impact report the county made public on July 29 assesses ExxonMobil’s plans to move about 11,200 barrels of oil per day on 70 trucks through most of Santa Barbara County on highways 101 and 166. This proposal would allow ExxonMobil to resume operations at its Santa Ynez Unit, a processing facility that has remained offline since the Plains All American Pipeline was shut off after a spill in 2015. Shortly after releasing the report, a coalition of environmental groups released a statement pushing back on the findings. “The county’s final environmental impact report fails to disclose the devastating impacts that will result if ExxonMobil is allowed to resume oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel and truck oil along our scenic highways,” Environmental Defense Center Chief Counsel Linda Krop said in a statement. “ExxonMobil’s proposal will result in more oil spills, air pollution, and increased climate change at a time when we need to pursue clean energy alternatives.” During the 2015 oil spill, which occurred near Refugio State Beach, nearly 3,000 barrels of crude oil poured into the ocean, killing birds, fish, and other marine life. Earlier this year, Plains All American Pipeline reached a civil settlement with the federal government that required it to pay more than $60 million in penalties and damages, according to a March statement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ExxonMobil is pitching this trucking proposal as a temporary solution to resume operations at its Santa Ynez Unit until the pipeline is replaced. According to the report, Plains All American Pipeline is in the process of applying for a permit to replace the pipeline, and if it’s successful, ExxonMobil would resume transporting oil via the pipeline and the trucking would stop.

California greenlights 'Orwellian' solar-powered fracking scheme -- Steve Horn - California-based multinational oil company Chevron landed two rounds of drilling permits from Gov. Gavin Newsom this summer—evidence, climate advocates say, that Newsom is not committed to tackling the climate crisis. The permits bolster Chevron’s position in the Lost Hills Oil Field, the sixth most prolific field in industry-heavy Kern County, and will shift drilling in the field largely towards using power from solar panels. One critic called the way the permits use climate crisis rhetoric “Orwellian,” incorporating solar power into drilling operations to expand the use of fracking and oil production. The variety of oil extracted in California is among the most greenhouse gas intensive in the world. The town of Lost Hills has a population of 2,500. The community is 97% Latino, and over 27% of people living there have  incomes below the poverty threshold. Environmental justice advocates say the new permits, awarded during a pandemic disproportionately impacting the state’s Latino community in a predominantly farmworker town, further call into question Newsom’s commitment to environmental justice. A representative from Greenpeace USA did not mince words, calling the new fracking permits an example of “environmental racism.”   “These new permits, like the others, will further exacerbate air pollution and poison Black and Brown communities, worsening the dual public health crises they face,” said Greenpeace spokesperson Katie Nelson in a press release. “It’s long past time to end the practice of treating California’s Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities as ‘sacrifice zones.’”  According to a 2015 report by the groups Earthworks and the Clear Water Fund, the town of Lost Hills has high levels of airborne toxic chemicals, including methane, acetone, dichlorodifluoromethane and acetaldehydes. Those chemicals come from drilling and other oil industry infrastructure like that in the nearby oil field. Recent studies by bothHarvard University and Stanford University have found higher COVID-19 case numbers in communities situated near areas with high industrial pollution levels.

Alaska Tribes Petition to Preserve Tongass National Forest Roadless Protections - Last week, nine native Alaska tribes filed a petition calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to halt the removal of protections for the Tongass National Forest, the country's largest reserve of public woodlands, which the tribes say is vital to their livelihoods. Currently, more than half of the forest's 16.7 million acres are protected under the Roadless Rule, which, since 2001, has prohibited road building and commercial logging in 58 million acres of U.S. forests. But the Trump Administration is seeking to open the old-growth forest for logging and has requested that the U.S. Forest Service, part of the USDA, lift the rule from the Tongass, a process that is in its final stages. A decision is expected later this summer.   The forest is critical to indigenous economies in southeastern Alaska. Tribal members hunt for deer and moose, fish for salmon, gather mushrooms, berries and medicinal plants, and use the massive trees to carve canoes and totem poles. The forest is "priceless," said Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake, one of the tribes that signed the petition. "It's basically our grocery store."Conventional grocery shopping is not feasible in the highly isolated region, Jackson said, with prices for food running two or three times more than they would in the city. Logging and road building in the Tongass could deplete and disrupt plant and animal populations in the ecosystem that the tribes rely on, the petition says. "Not only is it devastating for the land, but for our people and for the survival of our culture," said Marina Anderson, tribal administrator for the Organized Village of Kasaan, which also joined the petition. "It's really essential that we keep these old growth timber stands intact."  A spokesperson for the USDA said agency officials are refraining from comment until after they have reviewed the July 21 petition.  President Trump instructed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to remove the Tongass from the Roadless Rule in August—a move that Alaska leaders favor. "With the Trump administration's help, the devastating Clinton-era roadless rule may soon be history, and the Tongass restored to a managed multi-use forest as it was always intended," Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) said in his State of the State address in January.  In a September 2019 op-ed for The Washington Post, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) claimed that the Tongass is sufficiently protected without the Roadless Rule.

BP reports second-quarter loss after major write downs, halves dividend -- Energy giant BP reported a significant loss for the second quarter on Tuesday, after downgrading the value of some of its assets on expectations of lower commodity prices. Second-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, came in at a loss of $6.7 billion, meeting expectations of analysts polled by Refinitiv. That compared with a net profit of $800 million in the first quarter of the year. BP also announced that it had halved its dividend to 5.25 cents per share for the quarter, compared to 10.5 cents per share for the first three months of the year. The reported loss for the quarter was $16.8 billion, which includes a post-tax charge of $10.9 billion for non-operating items. It compares to a loss of $4.4 billion over the first three months of 2020. The breakdown of this figure included $9.2 billion in impairments across the group, largely due to BP's revised forecast for oil and gas prices over the next 30 years, and $1.7 billion of exploration write-offs. The U.K.-based oil and gas company said last month that it could incur non-cash impairment charges and write-offs in the second quarter, estimating an aggregate range of $13 billion to $17.5 billion after tax. At the time, BP said the "enduring" impact of the coronavirus pandemic had prompted the firm to lower its oil and price forecasts through to 2050. "These headline results have been driven by another very challenging quarter, but also by the deliberate steps we have taken as we continue to reimagine energy and reinvent bp," Bernard Looney, CEO of BP, said in a statement on Tuesday. "In particular, our reset of long-term price assumptions and the related impairment and exploration write-off charges had a major impact. Beneath these, however, our performance remained resilient, with good cash flow and – most importantly – safe and reliable operations," he added. International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $44.02 a barrel on Tuesday morning, down more than 0.3%, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures stood at $40.89, around 0.3% lower. Analysts had anticipated that "Big Oil" companies, referring to the world's largest energy majors, were likely to report "horrendous" second-quarter results as coronavirus lockdown measures coincided with an unparalleled demand shock and significantly weaker oil and gas prices. However, some companies have been able to limit the damage as their trading divisions have capitalized on heightened market volatility.

BP Pledges to Cut Oil and Gas Production 40 Percent by 2030, but Some Questions Remain -  Energy giant BP says it will cut its fossil fuel production significantly over the next decade, marking the first commitment from a major global oil company to such short-term production declines, which are critical to reining in global greenhouse gas emissions.  The company said Tuesday that its oil and gas production will fall by about 40 percent by 2030, while its refining output will decline about 30 percent, driving down BP's direct emissions as well as those that come from its products.The announcement is the most detailed and significant of the pledges made by the world's leading oil and gas companies, which over the last year have been announcing increasingly ambitious plans to address climate change, yet have largely failed to explain how or when they will pivot away from fossil fuels in coming years. In fact, many of the plans allow the companies' oil and gas output to continue growing for years."BP has radically changed the game," said Andrew Grant, head of oil, gas and mining at the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a think tank that has closely tracked the industry's climate change plans. He added: "In the arms race of emissions announcements, most oil and gas peers have conveniently ignored the global need to produce and use less oil and gas" and BP's production cut makes it "unquestionably the industry leader." The 40 percent production cut does not include BP's 20 percent stake in Rosneft, a Russian energy company that is one of the world's largest oil and gas producers, according to David Nicholas, a BP spokesman. BP chief executive Bernard Looney said in February that the company would reach net-zero emissions by 2050, but he declined to spell out what steps he would take in the near-term. Now, the company says it will boost its investments into low carbon energy ten-fold, to $5 billion a year by 2030, as it draws down its exploration and production of oil and gas. Within 10 years, BP said, it will have developed 50 gigawatts of renewable energy, up from 2.5 gigawatts today, and will have 70,000 electric vehicle stations, up from 7,500. BP will also increase investment in biofuels, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage—a technology that pulls carbon dioxide from smokestacks or directly from the air. Together with its scaled down oil and gas output, the company says its direct emissions will fall by about one-third by 2030, while the carbon-intensity of the products it sells will decline by more than 15 percent.

IEEFA update: Australia sponsors a failing gas industry - The controversial Narrabri gas project for New South Wales, Australia enters the final stages of approval with over 400 people presenting to the Independent Planning Commission who will determine its fate.The project is the most hotly contested resource project in the history of the state with over 23,000 submissions, 98% of which objected to the project.While queueing up to be heard, there was another queue forming.Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tankers in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are motoring in circles while they wait to find a market for their unwanted product. Gas is currently being almost given away on international markets.The very last thing the world needs is more gas.Far from seeing the “gas powered recovery” our politicians desire, we are seeing a gas fired depression around the globe. In the U.S., the number of operating drill rigs has fallen 73% in the last 12 months. And US LNG exports have more than halved so far in 2020. Deloitte estimates that almost a third of U.S. shale producers are technically insolvent at current oil prices.Domestically, the industry is faring little better. On Tuesday, Santos, the proponent of the Narrabri gas project, wrote off a further $950m from its failed Coal Seam Gas to Liquefied Natural investments in Australia. Their total write-downs since 2014 are close to $8bn!Globally, renewables continue to overwhelm new fossil fuel and nuclear power station builds.Since 2010 renewables have grown by approximately 148% whilst nuclear plus fossil fuels have declined by 38%.This year alone, 200 gigawatts of renewable power plants have already been built, compared to only 100 gigawatts of fossil fuel energies and nuclear.Less gas power plants have been built in 2020 than in 2001. Investors are fleeing the gas industry and investment is flooding into renewables.The NSW government recently announced its tender for 3 gigawatts of power projects for its Central Renewable Energy Zone near Dubbo. The response was overwhelming with the tender being nine times over-subscribed. In Australia, gas usage in gas-fired power plants has declined by 59% since 2014 whilst renewables have increased to produce 25% of the energy in the National Electricity Market. The AEMO, the only agency to model a future electricity grid in its Integrated Systems Plan, has shown that in a renewables rich grid, the role of gas is smaller than it is today by 2040. Gas peaking plants only contributed 1.8% of the National Electricity Market’s generation in the year to April 2020 whilst they account for 13.4% of capacity. Put simply, we need capacity in gas peaking plants but they are never run for long. We don’t need much gas to power them.

Venezuela begins cleanup after oil slick hits coast - Venezuelan authorities have begun a cleanup effort after an oil slick washed up over the weekend on the coast of western Falcon state, known for pristine beaches and nature preserves, the environment ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.Officials had not previously commented on the event, and the ministry said it was still investigating the cause of the spill. An opposition lawmaker and a source at state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela had previously said the slick likely resulted from a spill of the contents of a vessel's fuel tank."We have acted immediately in the face of this contingency, because to protect nature is to defend the fatherland," the ministry, known formally as the Ecosocialism Ministry, wrote in a statement posted on its Instagram account. The ministry added that it had set up barriers to contain the oil but did not provide an estimate of how much oil had spilled. It said the oil ministry, PDVSA, the local Falcon state government, national park officials, and the Sebin intelligence service were participating in the cleanup and investigation.

Bulk carrier sitting on reef off Mauritius starts to leak bunker fuel - The 203,000 dwt Wakashio bulk carrier, which ran aground on a reef just off the southeast coastline of Mauritius on July 26, has started spilling bunker fuel into the famous azure seas of the French speaking republic. Local authorities have ordered the public, including boat operators and fishermen, not to venture to the beach and in the lagoons of Blue Bay, Pointe d’Esny and Mahebourg. “All highly sensitive areas including the Ramsar site of Pointe d’Esny and the Blue Bay Marine Park have been protected with booms,” a government spokesperson said. The ship, owned by Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping, was en route from China to Brazil when it ran aground with 3,800 tonnes of bunker fuel onboard. “Due to the bad weather and constant pounding over the past few days, the starboard side bunker tanker has been breached and an amount of fuel oil has escaped into the sea. Oil prevention measures are in place and an oil boom has been deployed around the vessel,” a spokesperson for the Japanese shipping company said today.

Mauritius faces up to its worst environmental crisis as oil slick snakes around the south of the island - An environmental crisis is playing out in the Indian Ocean where a grounded Panamanian-flagged newcastlemax is spewing bunker fuel onto the pristine shores of southeastern Mauritius.The 203,000 dwt Wakashio bulk carrier, which ran aground on a reef July 26, has a gash on its starboard hull through which significant tracts of heavy fuel oil are poisoning the local environment.The ship, owned by Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping, was en route from China to Brazil when it ran aground with 3,800 tonnes of bunker fuel onboard.“We are in an environmental crisis situation,” admitted the environment minister, Kavy Ramano last night, while the fishing minister, Sudheer Maudhoo, said: “This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem.”This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problemNearby nature reserve Blue Bay Marine Park has been badly damaged with coral and rare turtles smothered in oil while schools in the vicinity are closed because of the noxious smell from the bunker fuel.Efforts are being made to try and pump out the remaining fuel from the ship while local politicians have called for international help to contain the damage. The French island of Reunion, which lies 200 km west from Mauritius, has been put on alert as the slick meanders through the ocean.

Oil spill threatens ecological disaster as Mauritius declares emergency (Reuters) - Fuel spilling from a Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a reef in Mauritius two weeks ago is creating an ecological disaster, endangering corals, fish and other marine life around the Indian Ocean island, officials and environmentalists say. The MV Wakashio, owned by the Nagashiki Shipping Company, struck the reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25. On Thursday, the government said fuel was leaking from a crack in the vessel's hull and Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth declared a state of environmental emergency, pleading for international help. "The sinking of the #Wakashio represents a danger for Mauritius," Jugnauth said. Environmental group Greenpeace said the spill was to likely to be one of the most terrible ecological crises that Mauritius has ever seen. "Thousands of species around the pristine lagoons of Blue Bay, Pointe d'Esny and Mahebourg are at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for Mauritius’ economy, food security and health," Greenpeace said in a statement. Satellite images released on Friday showed a slick spreading out into the turquoise waters surrounding the stricken vessel. Some fuel has washed ashore. France was sending specialist teams and equipment to help Mauritius deal with the spill, French President Emmanuel Macron said. A French military aircraft from the neighbouring island of Reunion, a French overseas territory, carrying pollution-control equipment would make two flights over the spill site on Saturday. A naval vessel carrying booms and absorbents would also set sail, authorities on Reunion said. "When biodiversity is in danger, there is an urgent need to act," Macron said. "You can count on our support." Nagashiki Shipping Company said it had tried to free the the tanker but the effort was hampered by persistent bad weather. "We will do our utmost working with the Mauritius authorities and relevant Japanese organizations to offload the oil still in the ship, clean up the spill and safely remove the vessel," Nagashiki said in a statement.

Is Turkey Drilling For Oil & Gas In The Wrong Sea?  -Whilst most of European media have narrowed down the deterioration in EU-Turkey relations to the issues of the “refurbished” Hagia Sophia and the protracted Libyan proxy war, their energy ties were just as crippled by Turkey’s intensive drilling campaign in Cyprus’ offshore, generating bad blood between the Old Continent and Ankara. Driven by its purported objective to drill 26 wells in the Eastern Mediterranean, every one of Turkey’s wildcats in Cypriot waters has gauged Europe’s unity and shed light on its ill-preparedness to confront Turkish actions. Now Turkey has started to drill its initial objective along its northern coast, the Black Sea – the one offshore area that is undeniably Turkish. The reticence of Turkish authorities to drill their Black Sea first might explain a lot as to why drilling in the Mediterranean might be more beneficial. The Turkish Fatih drillship has started prospecting works within Turkey’s Black Sea shelf this July and is assumed to have spud the Tuna-1 wildcat on July 20. Tuna-1 will be drilled in water depth of more than 2km, having been pinpointed as a potential drilling site following 3D seismic surveying in the area in April-May 2019 (by means of the Polar Empress vessel). The location of the Tuna-1 well is peculiar as TPAO has decided to go at it right next to the quadrangle of the Romanian-Bulgarian-Ukrainian-Turkish maritime border, within the deepwater Block 26. It seems that the wildcat’s location not far away from Ukraine’s Skifsky block and (perhaps more importantly) from the largest-so-far offshore discovery of the Black Sea deepwater, the OMV-operated Neptun field in Romania, is a deliberate attempt to maximize the success potential of the well by drilling as close as possible to proven commercial discoveries.

After twin oil spills off its beaches, Sharjah warns vessels -- Authorities in Sharjah have warned of strict action against vessels violating environment regulations and causing oil spills. Two recent oil spills off Khor Fakkan and Kalba beaches have impacted the marine ecosystem and affected the livelihood of fishermen. They have also led to swimming ban on Kalba beach, which was covered with black sludge. Hana Saif Al Suwaidi, chairperson of the Environment And Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), said: "The EPAA, in collaboration with the police, municipal bodies, the coast guard and Bee'ah, has managed to contain the oil spill on the two beaches in Sharjah successfully. These spills could have spelt more disaster on the environment and marine life." In most of the oil spill cases, the pollution is caused by vessels discharging residue from their tanks before going into the port. Al Suwaidi added that the ships causing the environmental violations have been strictly dealt with. "Awareness of ship crews is being raised. Immediate measures are being taken and the public has been asked not to venture into the sea. We are making huge efforts to restore the ecosystem of the area and prevent the pollution from spreading," she added. An official at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said that preventing oil spills are crucial since these incidents are occurring at an alarming frequency. "This year alone, three oil spills have happened in the country and caused far-reaching impact. We need a strong mechanism to implement the law," he pointed out. Members of the Sharjah Consultative Council (SCC) and representatives of the Federal National Council (FNC) have also raised their concerns over the spurt in oil spills. They have called on upgrading smart technology that can monitor marine life and carry out surveillance of ships loaded with tanks. The fishing community expressed its concerns over the pollution caused by the ships. "The oil spill mostly spreads to more than five kilometers of coastline and causes shoals of fish to wash ashore." The fishermen in Khor Fakkan, Kalba and Al Qurm areas said that the closure of the beaches have hit their business as their work has come to a halt for several days causing a hike in the price of fishes due to their scarcity.

 OPEC+ is facing a 'very delicate, fragile balancing act' in the oil market, strategist says - OPEC and its allies need to find a balance between supporting oil prices and keeping U.S. crude production at bay, a strategist told CNBC this week as the oil-producing group starts to roll back supply cuts. The alliance's historic production cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day expired on July 31 this year. From August, the cuts will be tapered to 7.7 million bpd. Oil prices fell on Monday due to oversupply concerns, Reuters reported, noting that oil output already increased by 1 million bpd in July when Gulf countries ended their voluntary extra supply curbs. "I think we're witnessing kind of a high-wire ... balancing act that OPEC+ is trying to execute here," said John Driscoll, chief strategist at JTD Energy Services. OPEC+ in April made a deal to reduce supply to the market in a bid to support prices, which went into a "free fall" earlier this year amid demand destruction due to the coronavirus and a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. We're kind of flying blind, but trying to find this magical mean to use to keep U.S. production at bay and to also support prices. "Now they've restored the balance, prices have recovered, but they have to be very careful because they don't want to be the victim of their own success," he told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Monday. "If prices were to zoom past $45 a barrel, $50 a barrel on the back of these cuts, that may be waving the red cape in front of the U.S. independents, the producers," he added. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 1.22% at $39.78 a barrel during Asia's afternoon trade, while Brent crude was down 0.94% at $43.11 a barrel. "The way I see it, this is a very delicate, fragile balancing act and there's this cloud of uncertainty overhanging all of it, on the pace of the recovery," Driscoll said. He noted that it is difficult to predict how quickly the economy can recover. "We're kind of flying blind, but trying to find this magical mean to use to keep U.S. production at bay and to also support prices."

OPEC July oil output surges as Gulf voluntary cuts end - OPEC oil output has risen by over 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in July as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf members ended their voluntary extra supply curbs on top of an OPEC-led deal, and other members made limited progress on compliance. The 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 23.32 million bpd on average in June, the survey found, up 970,000 bpd from June's revised figure, which was the lowest since 1991. OPEC and allies agreed in April to a record output cut as the coronavirus crisis hammered demand. An easing of lockdowns and lower supply have helped oil climb above $40 from April's 21-year low of below $16 a barrel, although concerns of a second wave are keeping a lid on gains. ."Upside potential will continue to be in short supply so long as the COVID hangover lingers," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. OPEC, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to cuts of 9.7 million bpd, or 10% of global output, from May 1. OPEC's share, to be made by 10 members from October 2018 levels in the case of most countries, is 6.084 million bpd. In July, they delivered 5.743 million bpd of the pledged reduction, equal to 94% compliance, the survey found. Compliance in June was revised up to 111%. July's increase is the biggest since April, when OPEC briefly pumped at will before the latest supply cut was agreed. To further support the market, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had pledged to cut by an extra 1.18 million bpd in June only. This helped curb output last month to OPEC's lowest since 1991, excluding membership changes, based on Reuters surveys and OPEC figures. The biggest rise in supply in July came from Saudi Arabia, which pumped 8.4 million bpd, up 850,000 bpd from June and close to its quota, the survey found. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait also boosted output close to their targets. Iraq and Nigeria, which boosted compliance in June and were laggards in previous OPEC+ deals, did not make any further cuts in July, the survey found, with Iraq boosting exports. Both have pledged to make additional reductions in later months.

 Oil falls on supply glut fears as OPEC+ set to boost output - Oil prices fell on Monday on oversupply concerns as OPEC and its allies wind back production cuts in August and a rise in worldwide COVID-19 cases points to a slower pick-up in fuel demand. Brent crude futures slid 26 cents, or 0.6%, to $43.26 a barrel by 0253 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.7%, at $39.98 a barrel. Brent posted a fourth month of gains in July and U.S. crude posted a third as both rose from depths hit in April, when much of the world was in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Investors are worried about oversupply as the OPEC+ is due to start reducing production cuts this month and a recovery in oil prices from record lows is likely to encourage U.S. shale producers to ramp up output," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities. "Also, fears over a resurgence in the coronavirus cases are weighing on oil markets," he said. Oil output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by over 1 million barrels a day in July as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf members ended their voluntary extra supply curbs on top of an OPEC-led deal. Russia's oil output in July was unchanged from June levels, the nation's Energy Ministry said on Sunday. OPEC+, a grouping of OPEC and allies including Russia, is set to step up output in August, adding about 1.5 million bpd to global supply. U.S. energy firms kept the number of oil and natural gas rigs unchanged at a record low as the rig count fell for a fifth straight month, although July marked the smallest monthly decline. Oil prices are set for a slow crawl upwards this year as the gradual easing of coronavirus-led restrictions buoys demand, although a second COVID-19 wave could slow the pace of recovery, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The Australian state of Victoria declared a state of disaster and authorities in the Philippines said they would impose fresh restrictions in Manila this week, reflecting worries around the world about getting the pandemic under control. "Adding to matters is that the U.S. consumer market is entering the last few weeks of peak driving season and with mobility tracking data flatlining," Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AxiCorp, said in a report. "Unless there is a significant drop in the COVID-19 case count curve that is sufficient enough to reduce consumer fear of the virus and shift mobility data higher, demand might not get much better from here on in," he said.

Oil Prices Climb After Lebanon Blast-- Oil climbed to the highest level in nearly two weeks after an explosion at Lebanon’s main port rocked the capital Beirut, stoking fears over instability in the region. U.S. benchmark crude futures climbed 1.7% on Monday. Footage showed what appeared to be a fire, followed by crackling lights and then a larger explosion as an enormous cloud of smoke engulfed the area around the Port of Beirut. Authorities say it was caused by highly explosive materials at the port, but didn’t immediately say whether it was an accident or an attack. Meanwhile, analysts’ expectation of a decline in U.S. crude inventory levels in this week’s government report released on Wednesday is also helping to buoy crude prices. “Tensions are high and that just kind of puts a fine point on it,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. “Looks like there’s gonna be a draw in crude oil again, so we got that support as well.” Lebanon is reeling under its worst financial and economic crisis, with a sharp plunge in its local currency eroding purchasing power and throwing many into poverty and unemployment. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey are expecting a 3.35 million-barrel decline in oil supplies in the Energy Information Administration report. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute will report its inventory tally later Tuesday. Still, a persistent supply overhang coupled with a souring demand outlook due to the coronavirus pandemic has kept U.S. crude futures locked in a tight trading range near $40 a barrel since late June. OPEC and its allies plan to ease historic output curbs this month, even with global virus cases above 18 million.

Oil prices end higher after upbeat readings on manufacturing activity –  Crude oil prices ended higher on Monday with West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery adding 74 cents or 1.8%. WTI settled at $41.01 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as analysts credited the increase on upbeat readings on manufacturing activities. Some also see a limited field of improvement for oil prices because of the continuing rise of the number of COVID-19 cases reported MarketWatch. October Brent crude, the global benchmark rose 63 cents or 1.5% and finished the day at $44.15 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. The increased prices came after the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index rose to 54.2 in July from 52.6 in June, the highest level in 15 months. A reading higher than 50 indicates an expansion in activity. However—there’s always a ‘however.’ OPEC’s decision to relax production curbs takes effect this month and the output is targeted to rise by nearly 1.5 million barrels a day. “Investors are worried that the production increase will reverse the recent price recovery in oil, especially as coronavirus cases continue to rise world-wide and energy demand remains subdued,” said Mihir Kapadia, chief executive of Sun Global Investments, in a note.

Oil Rises for Third Day as Dollar Sweeps Commodities Higher- Crude prices rose for a third straight session on Tuesday, leveraging on the dollar’s tumble that swept commodity prices higher and expectations that U.S. stockpiles fell again last week despite the continuous spread of the coronavirus raising doubts about fuel demand. New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude futures, settled August with its strongest performance in more than a week, settling up 69 cents, or 1.7%, at $41.70 per barrel. London-traded Brent, the bellwether for global crude prices, closed the New York session up 28 cents, or 1.3%, at $44.43. The Dollar Index, which pits the greenback against a basket of six competing currencies, resumed its slide on Tuesday after a respite since the end of last week, sending most commodities higher, including gold to record highs. On the stockpiles front, traders expect the U.S. Energy Information Administration to report on Wednesday a 3-million-barrel decline in domestic crude stockpiles last week. But analysts warned that there might be an unexpected swing in the data, in keeping with recent trends. The EIA reported two 7-million-barrel draws and one 10 million barrel slump in July versus two builds of nearly 5 million. Both the declines and increases were way beyond levels forecast by analysts. With the previous week’s data showing an outsize draw, this Wednesday’s EIA release for the July 27-31 week could come up with a huge build, they say. Despite the three-day rally in oil, traders said crude remains under pressure due to concerns a fresh wave of Covid-19 infections elsewhere in the world will hamper demand recovery just as major producers ramp up output. 

Oil edges up to highest since March on hopes for U.S. stimulus -  Brent oil futures on Tuesday closed at their highest since early March on hopes the United States is making progress on a new economic stimulus package, as well as curbing the coronavirus spread. Brent rose 28 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $44.43 a barrel, its highest close since March 6. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 69 cents, or 1.7%, to $41.70, its highest finish since July 21. Earlier in the day, both Brent and WTI were trading at their highest since early March. Those price moves came ahead of the release of an industry report later Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute that is expected to show a decrease in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. [EIA/S] “Crude prices turned positive on stimulus hopes and after another positive round of economic data showed manufacturing recovery continued in June,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York, said, pointing to better than expected manufacturing data in Asia, Europe and the United States. Negotiations between congressional Democrats and the White House on a new round of coronavirus relief have begun to move in the right direction, though the two sides remain far apart, the U.S. Senate’s top Democrat said on Tuesday. New U.S. coronavirus cases fell below 50,000 over the weekend for the first time since early July, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Despite Tuesday’s price rise, traders said crude remained under pressure due to concerns a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections elsewhere in the world will hamper demand recovery just as major producers ramp up output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, were boosting output this month by about 1.5 million barrels per day. U.S. producers also plan to restart shut-in production. In Europe and Asia, meanwhile, concerns are growing that coronavirus may be spreading in a global second wave, said Paola Rodriguez Masiu of Rystad Energy.

Oil jumps more than 1% to five-month high on larger-than-expected inventory drop - Oil prices rose to their highest since early March on Wednesday after a large decline in U.S. crude inventories and the dollar weakened, but mounting coronavirus infections had investors worried about the demand outlook. Brent crude was up 70 cents, or 1.6%, at $45.13 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate oil settled 49 cents, or 1.18%, higher at $42.19 per barrel. Both contracts gained over 4% earlier in the session. U.S. crude inventories fell by 7.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. That exceeded the draw of 3 million barrels analysts predicted in a Reuters poll. A weaker dollar, which makes oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies, also supported prices. "There's no escaping the benefits of a weaker dollar in the commodity space and oil is certainly basking in its decline," senior OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said. Oil also drew support from signs that talks between the White House and Democrats in Congress on a new coronavirus relief package are making progress, although the sides remain far apart. U.S. factory data this week also showed an improvement in orders, which some analysts took as a hint of economic recovery. Euro zone business activity returned to modest growth in July as some curbs imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus eased, the Composite Purchasing Managers' Index from IHS Markit showed. Rising prices come against the backdrop of a surge in coronavirus cases which could threaten a recovery in fuel demand. Global coronavirus deaths surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities. "We see gasoline demand coming in close to 7% year-on-year lower through Q3, with gasoil/diesel registering a decline of some 4%, implying a continued slowdown of the recovery, with a global return to 2019 levels this year increasingly in doubt," JBC Energy said, referring to global consumption, which has collapsed due to lockdowns to help contain the pandemic. The consultancy sees jet fuel demand down 50% year on year through the third quarter. In the United States, the world's top oil consumer, distillate inventories rose last week to their highest in 38 years for the third week in a row, while Gulf Coast distillates were at record high levels, the EIA said. Gasoline stocks rose for a second straight week.

Oil settles below 5-month highs amid fuel demand worries - (Reuters) – Oil prices hovered below five-month highs on Thursday, falling after a session in which bearish sentiment about fuel demand counteracted optimism about Iraq’s supply cuts, pushing the benchmarks in and out of positive territory. Concerns remain that demand is depressed by the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “Everyone is waiting for the coronavirus relief package to come through to give a bounce to the economy,” he said. Brent crude settled down 8 cents at $45.09 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 24 cents to $41.95 after a four-day streak of gains. Earlier in the session, planned output cuts from Iraq boosted the contracts. Iraq said it would make an additional cut in its oil production of about 400,000 barrels per day in August to compensate for its overproduction over the past period under the OPEC supply reduction pact. The two benchmarks rose to their highest since March 6 in the previous session after the U.S. government reported a much bigger-than-expected drop in crude stockpiles. [EIA/S] A weaker U.S. dollar was also supportive of oil prices as it makes dollar-priced oil cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies <.DXY>, logged its biggest monthly percentage fall in a decade in July, and a Reuters poll found analysts expected it to continue falling into next year.

Oil Slips Below 45 Bbl On Demand Concerns But Posts Weekly Rise - Oil prices fell nearly 2% on Friday, limiting their weekly gain due to concerns the global recovery could falter from a resurgence of coronavirus cases. The rise in infections remains the dominant issue for the fuel demand outlook. Cases in the United States are still rising in a number of states, while India recently reported a record daily jump in infections. More than 700,000 people have died in the worldwide pandemic. Brent crude fell 69 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $44.40 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 73 cents, or 1.7%, to end at $41.22 a barrel. Brent rose 2.5% for the week, while WTI gained 2.4%. Talks between U.S. lawmakers over another round of stimulus have stalled, meanwhile. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull White House representatives out of talks and instead issue executive orders to address economic needs. "The U.S. Congress can't seem to come up with a plan for the next round of stimulus and it's creating doubt for U.S. economic recovery," said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. OPEC member Iraq pledged to cut output further in August, which helped support prices. The nation has been a laggard in fully meeting its pledge as part of an April deal to reduce supply. Crude has recovered from lows reached in April, when Brent slipped below $16, a 21-year low.

Oil lower as U.S.-China tensions mount, but logs weekly gain - Oil futures ended lower Friday, trimming weekly gains, with pressure tied to rising tensions between the U.S. and China after President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping but unspecified ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of consumer apps TikTok and WeChat.  West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down 73 cents, or 1.7%, to close at $41.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while October Brent crude fell 69 cents, or 1.5%, to finish at $44.40 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. WTI saw a 2.4% weekly rise, while Brent gained 2%.  The pair of executive orders banning transactions with Chinese social-media companies signed by Trump late Thursday take effect in 45 days. Oil shifted lower in Asian trade after the announcement, showing “that when it comes to geopolitical risk, Asia oil traders (and most for that fact) have an unfortunate predisposition to heightened U.S.-China tensions,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AxiCorp., in a note. Meanwhile, investors have remained fairly upbeat in the face of a reduction in production curbs by major producers that took effect on Aug. 1.Saudi Arabia on Thursday lowered its official selling price, or OSP, for crude into Asia and Europe by 30 cents. Analysts said the move came as a relief to traders who had feared a steeper cut in a bid to take market share from rivals. But the cut still suggests the global market isn’t absorbing physical crudes as cleanly as a month ago, said Michael Tran, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, in a note.“The cut to OSPs is a sign that the market is struggling to absorb the easing of the OPEC production cuts as additional barrels [return to the] market,” he wrote, referring to an easing of curbs by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, beginning this month.Tran noted that China has played an oversize role in soaking up supplies, which means any slowing of Chinese imports will show up in softer physical pricing. Meanwhile, refinery margins remain soft across most regions, while the U.S. and Europe have seen stagnating traffic patterns in recent weeks.“We continue to have a cautious outlook,” he said, particularly coming into the end of the summer driving season, “as abysmal refining margins could result in economic run cuts, or demand destruction for crude.” A further decline in the number of U.S. oil rigs did little to move prices in early afternoon trade. Oil-field services firm Baker Hughes said the number of rigs fell by four this week to 176. A lack of progress in talks between congressional Democrats and the White House over additional coronavirus aid was also a potential weight on crude prices, as it could represent a threat to consumer demand, analysts said. Talks were set to resume Friday despite a wide gulf on key issues. Meanwhile, the U.S. currency was on the rise, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, surging 0.8%.

 Yemenis fear decaying oil tanker could cause major disaster - Following Tuesday’s huge explosions in Beirut, Yemenis have been voicing their concern that the decaying Safer floating storage and offloading terminal could lead to a devastating disaster in Yemen if it is not repaired soon. Having seen footage of the destruction wrought by the explosions in Lebanon, Yemeni fishermen, politicians, government officials, military officers and activists have urged the international community to pressure the Houthis to give experts from the United Nations access to the damaged ship so that it can be fixed. The Safer has been stranded off the western city of Hodeida since early 2015. It reportedly carries around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil and has recently shown signs of rusting, with water entering the engine room. That leak prompted UN officials to warn of a major impending environmental disaster in the Red Sea, as well as the potential risk of a massive explosion caused by the build up of gases in the storage tanks, or by weaponry fired deliberately or accidentally. Under pressure from local and international bodies, the Iran-backed Houthis, who control Hodeida, initially agreed to allow a UN team to board the ship to assess the damage and unload the oil. However, they later reversed that decision, citing a conspiracy between the UN, the US, and the Saudi-led Arab coalition. Khaled Al-Rami, a Yemeni fisherman from Hodeida’s Khokha district on the shores of the Red Sea, told Arab News that his “first thought” on seeing the images from Beirut on Tuesday was that an equally devastating disaster could occur if the Safer spills oil into the water. Last month, the Yemen-based environmental group Holm Akhdar (Green Dream) warned that an oil spill would have devastating consequences for fishermen, marine diversity, and the country’s fish stock. “At least 115 of Yemen’s islands in the Red Sea would lose their biodiversity and their natural habitats. About 126,000 Yemeni fishermen — including 67,800 in Hodeida — would lose their only source of income because of the disaster,” the group said in its report. “If the ship is not repaired, then after Lebanon, it will be Yemen,” Al-Rami said. “On WhatsApp, my friends and other fishermen shared their concerns about a predicted disaster from the ship. We are all worried about the impact of any oil spills on our lives. This is our major concern at the moment. It causes us great horror and panic. I appeal to the international community, the Arab Coalition and the UN committee (in Hodeida) to save us from a possible disaster.”

US Confirms American Company Has Signed Deal With 'Rebels' To Take Syria's Oil | Zero Hedge --For anyone who still actually thinks America's role in Syria was ever somehow about "protecting human rights" or "promoting democracy" — here's the latest out of Syria, which the Trump administration has since confirmed:Syria’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that an American oil company had signed an agreement with Kurdish-led rebels who control northeastern oilfields in what it described as an illegal deal aimed at “stealing” Syria’s crude. That's right, the some 700 to perhaps 1000+ US troops still occupying Syrian territory in the country's oil and gas rich northeast are overseeing a deal for an American company to come in and take the oil.This is after Trump has said for much of the past year that he's keeping American forces there to "secure the oil" — though it's long been left open whether this means "secure" it from ISIS, or the Russians, or Damascus. Now in practice we see it's all about taking these vital resources away from the government and ultimately the already impoverished Syrian people.Syria's foreign ministry as well as state media SANA said it “condemns in the strongest terms the agreement signed between al-Qasd militia (SDF) and an American oil company to steal Syria’s oil under the sponsorship and support of the American administration.”Damascus also said “This agreement is null and void and has no legal basis,” and is likely to lodge an official complaint with the UN. It's as yet unknown precisely what US company or companies are involved. When early reports surfaced last week, it was Syrian state sources making the allegation. But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since confirmed it, according to Reuters: Senator Lindsey Graham said during the committee hearing that SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi informed him that a deal had been signed with an American company to “modernize the oil fields in northeastern Syria”, and asked Pompeo whether the administration was supportive of it. “We are,” Pompeo responded during the hearing streamed live by PBS. “The deal took a little longer... than we had hoped, and now we’re in implementation.”

 Erdogan: Turkey resumes energy exploration in east Mediterranean - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey had resumed energy exploration work in the eastern Mediterranean as Greece had not kept its promises regarding such activities in the region. NATO members Turkey and Greece have long been at loggerheads over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources and tensions flared up last month, prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to hold talks with the country’s leaders to ease tensions. “We have started drilling work again,” Erdogan told reporters after participating in Friday prayers at the Hagia Sophia mosque. “We don’t feel obliged to talk with those who do not have rights in maritime jurisdiction zones.” He said Turkey’s Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, a seismic survey vessel, had been sent to the region to carry out its duties. The ship moved into waters off Cyprus in late July and remains in that region. Erdogan made the comments when asked about an accord signed by Egypt and Greece on Thursday designating an exclusive economic zone between the two nations in the east Mediterranean. Diplomats in Greece said their agreement nullified an accord reached last year between Turkey and the internationally recognized government of Libya. However, Erdogan said the Egypt-Greece accord was of no value and that Turkey would sustain its agreement with Libya “decisively.” The Turkish Foreign Ministry has said the Egypt-Greece zone falls in the area of Turkey’s continental shelf. Turkey and Greece are also at odds over a range of issues from flights over each other’s territory in the Aegean Sea to ethnically divided Cyprus.

 US Navy Seizes Iran-Bound Ship Carrying Pharmaceutical Supplies Off China- Fars - Iranian state media has announced that a US Navy warship has seized a transport ship near the Chinese port of Qingdao on Wednesday morning.The ship was reportedly en route to Iran loaded with medical manufacturing components, specifically zeolite, which Fars News Agency says is needed for manufacturing oxygen concentrators for coronavirus-infected patients.“Only one imported part is used for production of oxygen concentrators, which is zeolite, and we are forced to purchase it from France and import it to the country through several intermediators,” Peyman Bakhshandeh-Nejad, an Iran-based pharmaceutical company CEO told state media. Amid the raging coronavirus crisis in the Islamic Republic, which for over half a year has been among the hardest-hit countries in the world (and recall that last month President Rouhani shocked in a speech by saying the truer estimate of numbers of Iranian infected stands at some 25 million, not the official 300,000+), Tehran has been desperate to import vital hospital equipment and medicines.However, US-led sanctions related to Iran's alleged nuclear aspirations has made this extremely difficult. While Washington has denied it is targeting vital medicines and staples like food and hospital gear, Iran has said it's precisely these things which are being blocked.  Specifically in the case of the seized ship off China, zeolite is said to be crucial in oxygen concentrator systems for coronavirus patients who can rely on the vital devices at home without having to visit a hospital.

300 ISIS Terrorists At Large- Mass Prison Break In Afghanistan After Hours-Long Firefight - What could be the largest ISIS jailbreak in the terror group's history didn't take place in Iraq or Syria, but just happened inside Afghanistan, where ISIS is attempting to make a come-back at a moment the US-Taliban truce deal is taking shaky effect.It happened Monday after the Islamic State attacked a large prison complex in the eastern city of Jalalabad in which nearly 40 people were killed, among these 10 ISIS members, but some 300 escaped jihadists still remain a large.Some international reports listed that as many as 400 terrorists may have escaped. It reportedly began by a car bomb attack, after which ISIS gunmen surged into the prison area and ultimately overran the guards. ISIS held the prison throughout much of the day Monday as national defense forces laid siege, leading to a huge firefight.  According to Reuters, hundreds escaped amid the chaos:More than 300 prisoners were still at large, Attaullah Khugyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said, said. Of the 1,793 prisoners, more than 1,025 had tried to escape and been recaptured and 430 had remained inside. “The rest are missing,” he said.Jalalabad is an area known for heavy ISIS and other jihadist activity. The terror group got a foothold in central Asia years ago at the height of the Islamic State's short-lived territorial caliphate over w estern Iraq and eastern Syria.

 Global Factories Increase Production but Overseas Demand Remains Soft - WSJ  -Factories across the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia increased production in July, but the upswing was held back by weak global trade and suggested a long and precarious road ahead for the global economy. Export orders were soft across most of the countries surveyed in July by research firm IHS Markit, and activity contracted in two export powerhouses, Japan and South Korea. With the international outlook uncertain, manufacturers in most countries saved costs in July by cutting jobs. In the U.S., two surveys of purchasing managers showed improved manufacturing activity. IHS Markit’s manufacturing index—which measures activity at factories—rose to 50.9 last month, compared with 49.8 in June. The Institute for Supply Management separately said its July manufacturing index rose to 54.2 from 52.6 the prior month. A level below 50 indicates contraction, while a level above 50 signals expansion. “The worst may now be in the rearview mirror, but the recovery remains fragile and subject to potential setbacks,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. The data suggest that easing lockdown restrictions may not be enough to get the global economy back on track. Governments, especially those with export-oriented business models, may need to find a way to stimulate domestic demand to offset lingering weaknesses in international demand for foreign-made goods. In China and Australia, government spending on infrastructure projects is helping push up manufacturing for goods like fabricated metal and machinery, said Bernard Aw, principal economist for IHS Markit who oversees the PMI surveys in the Asia-Pacific. Meanwhile, a resurgence in coronavirus cases in several parts of the U.S. threatens nascent reopening plans and has caused some states and local jurisdictions to reimpose closures. IHS Markit said the increase in U.S. activity could be attributed primarily to factories resuming operations rather than stronger demand. Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management, said higher manufacturing output in July was a positive sign, although concerns remain.

 More Than 60% Of Global Debt Now Yields Less Than 1% - For all its monetary generosity, despite injecting $3 trillion reserves into the banking system (if not the economy), the Fed remains stuck with two big problems. The first one, as we touched on earlier, is that the newly printed money is unable to make its way into the broader monetary plumbing and spark the much needed inflation that will do away with the trillions in debt, although as we also noted, the Fed now has a plan to deposit digital funds directly into individual US accounts (using a "household app" in the words of former Fed economist Julia Coronado).The other problem is that despite all its attempts to stimulate equity animal spirits, the bulk of new fund has flowed into bonds, not stocks. In fact, YTD equity outflows amount to $39BN while inflows to bonds and commodities are over $200BN, with a whopping $1.145 trillion going to cash via money-markets. And so with so many investors stubbornly buying the one asset class the Fed does not want to be in wide demand (even as it monetized some $3 trillion of it), and even with trillions more in new debt to be paradropped by the US Treasury - something which has failed to taper demand for 10Y Treasurys whose yields just hit an all time low - the hunt for yield is getting harder than ever for fixed-income investors.According to the FT, a record 86% of the $60 trillion global bond market tracked by ICE Data Services traded with yields no higher than 2%, with more than 60% of the market yielding less than 1 per cent as of June 30.At the same time, global negative yielding debt has soared to $14.6 trillion, from $11 trillion in January, and rapidly approaching the all time high of $17 trillion hit one year ago. Meanwhile, just 3% of the investable bond universe today yields more than 5%, a share that is close to an all-time low, and represents a precipitous drop from levels seen roughly two decades ago. Consider that in the late 1990s, nearly 75% of bonds traded with yields above 5 per cent, while sub-2% yields comprised under 10%  of the market. That was before central banks took over capital markets, and responded to the a series of financial crises by slashing interest rates to ever lower, and eventually negative rates, and launching trillions in bond-buying programs that fundamentally altered the investing landscape.This has pushed investors into riskier segments in search of income, compelling them to lend to lower-quality companies and countries.

Brazilian teachers oppose back-to-school drive -  As Brazilian local governments are pushing for a general reopening of schools, following the sociopathic demands of the fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro, widespread opposition to these measures is emerging among parents and educators.A survey by Instituto Datafolha in April revealed that three in every four people in Brazil believed that it is more important to “stay home to avoid the coronavirus spread, even if this jeopardizes the economy and provokes unemployment.” In June, another survey from the same institution revealed that 76 per cent of Brazilians are against the schools reopening in the next two months, and that only 21 percent are in favor of going back to schools in the short term.The World Socialist Web Site spoke to teachers from different parts of Brazil about the political reasons behind the back-to-school campaign and the dangers it poses to the lives of the school staff, students, and their families.Francisca, a public school kindergarten teacher in São Paulo, explained that a series of safety protocols being approved by state and municipal governments are an active part of the back-to-school campaign. “The protocols that are being presented seem to me like a listing of general procedures that do not guarantee the safety and well-being of workers, children or families and do not consider the specifics of each age group or the structure conditions of each education unit.” Arguing that adequate infrastructure is a pre-requisite for protecting people from contagion, Francisca said, “The school where I work has an inadequate infrastructure ... and one which, in this moment, determines the impossibility of implementing the [protocol] measures: reduced spaces, making social distancing difficult; the absence of reserved spaces for isolating symptomatic children; and poor airing and cooling systems, compromising the air healthiness. These are only three basic preventive measures that our school, as many others of the school network, are under no condition to implement.”

Covid Derails Latin America’s Bid for Middle-Class Prosperity - WSJ—The pandemic has devastated hundreds of thousands of businesses across Latin America, setting back the clock on the social and economic gains made over the past two decades when a global commodities boom powered breakneck growth. From 2003 to 2019, poverty fell from 45% to 30% regionwide, and poor Latin Americans by the millions, poised on the threshold of middle-class life, took their first airline flight, bought their own homes and paid university tuitions for their children. Now Latin America’s economy is expected to contract 9.4% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, the worst downfall on record for a region that was already wrestling with political turmoil and social unrest before it became a hot spot for Covid-19. Economists predict it will take until around 2023 for Latin America to return to pre-pandemic levels, the slowest rebound among the emerging-market regions. The International Monetary Fund forecasts developing economies will contract 3% this year, with a 4.7% fall in the Middle East and a 3.2% decline in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. economy is projected to contract 8%. The virus has dealt a hammer blow to businesses ranging from department stores and construction companies to small, family-owned restaurants and the neighborhood shops that are the backbone of so many Latin American economies.About 2.7 million businesses, or nearly 20% of the region’s companies, are expected to close for good, said Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the United Nations’ Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean. The demise of the mainly small firms will destroy 8.5 million jobs. Large corporations are also being battered despite having more capital and the ability to take on debt. Argentina’s Techint engineering conglomerate laid off about 1,500 workers after construction projects were halted. Chile’s Cencosud, one of Latin America’s biggest retailers, is shutting its 11 Paris department stores in Peru. The crisis has so far led six corporations to default this year, the same for all of 2019, according to Fitch Ratings. It says another 40 corporations in telecommunications, oil and gas, and construction are at risk of defaulting on more than $36 billion in debt due to the pandemic, imperiling any economic recovery. “If they go belly up, if they don’t survive the crossing of the desert, you are actually destroying the capital stock of the economy,”

Canadian Patrols Stop ‘Caravans of Americans’ From Crossing Border -Since March, the U.S.-Canada border has been closed to all but essential traffic in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But Americans being Americans, they are flouting the new regulations in the pursuit of their usual summer fun. According to NPR, “Canadian border patrol has effectively prevented caravans of Americans” from crossing the border. Most are arriving by sailboats and luxury yachts.Those crossing the border have often told officials that they are heading to Alaska to circumvent the new regulations. But because so many Americans are using the so-called “Alaska loophole,” authorities have increased restrictions. One reason Americans are being spotted is that Canadian boaters are using technology to monitor them. With the requirement that all passenger boats have to be equipped with tracking devices to help prevent weather-related accidents, anyone with an internet connection can monitor border-crossings and identify vessels by type and country of origin.“A number of us that are retired boaters and still members of the Council of BC Yacht Clubs started looking at the number of American boats that were crossing our border, in spite of the prohibition by the federal government,” President of BC Marine Parks Forever, George Creek, told NPR. But Creek says that the Americans are starting to catch on to the tracking.“They’re turning them off as they cross the border. We see them on the computer, and at a particular point a few minutes later, they’re not there anymore,” he said.Both Creek and his fellow Canadians don’t appreciate border crossing Americans. As NPR points out, one poll found eight in 10 Canadians want the border with the United States to stay closed due to the coronavirus. Creek told NPR he’d been angered by an incident involving Americans exiting a large yacht at an outpost for supplies, saying, “They wandered the dock. Three or four adults and the rest were teenagers with no social distancing, no masks, and went through the store as if they were just shopping at Walmart.”

Average Canadians Are Tracking U.S. Yachts Illegally Crossing The Border -Some of those good productive Americans who through hard work and superior morals definitely deserve their own yachts have been illegally sneaking across the Canadain border with their tracking responders switched off and our neighbors to the north have had enough.NPR spoke to one of these Canadian who felt called to action to prevent any more potentially diseased Americans from entering his country illegally:For George Creek, a former insurance agent, whose home overlooks Nanaimo Harbor in British Columbia, it has been a call to action.“A number of us that are retired boaters and still members of the Council of BC Yacht Clubs started looking at the number of American boats that were crossing our border, in spite of the prohibition by the federal government,” says Creek, president of BC Marine Parks Forever. Under international maritime law, every passenger boat must be equipped with an automatic identification system that is to remain on at all times. This allows for tracking boats in real time and helps prevent collisions in fog and bad weather. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can click to see what kind of vessels are sailing, where they’ve recently been and which country they are from.And plenty are from the United States. Creek estimates that right now some 30 to 40 American pleasure boats are cruising through British Columbia’s pristine waterways. Lately, however, many have gone dark. Creek says that the Americans have figured out that they are being tracked through their transponders.  Gee, it sure seems like some of our upstanding upper-class Americans are committing illegal border crossings, but don’t take my word for it—Canada Border Services Agency  reminded American boaters in July that sneaking around in its waterways carries some very real penalties:Boaters who enter Canada without reporting to the CBSA (including for the purpose of refuelling) may face severe penalties, including monetary penalties, seizure of their vessels and/or criminal charges. The minimum fine for failing to report to the CBSA upon entry to Canada is $1,000. Furthermore, non-compliance by foreign nationals may affect their immigration admissibility and ability to re-enter Canada in the future.In addition, failure to comply with the current border entry restrictions is an offence under the Quarantine Act and could lead to up to 6 months in prison and/or $750,000 in fines. Further, a person who causes a risk of imminent death or serious bodily harm to another person while wilfully or recklessly contravening this act or the regulations could be liable for a fine of up to $1,000,000 or imprisonment of up to 3 years or both.

"Protecting NATO's Eastern Flank": Poland To Host 1,000 US Troops Leaving Germany -Judging by recent statements out of Russian media, the Kremlin has been closely monitoring just where the Pentagon intends to send the some 12,000 troops ordered to permanently depart Germany, after the Trump administration slammed Berlin for not shouldering its fair share of NATO defense spending.While its believed the majority will be returning home, with a little less than half to return be redeployed around Europe, on Friday Poland indicated some will be deployed right near Russia's doorstep. As the Defense Post reported:Washington will deploy at least 1,000 soldiers in Poland and oversee forces on NATO’s eastern flank, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Friday after the US announced a massive troop pullout from Germany.Blaszczak told a Polish public radio broadcaster, “At least 1,000 new soldiers will be deployed in our country,”“We will have an American command in Poland. This command will manage the troops deployed along NATO’s eastern flank,” he said.“It will be the most important center for ground forces in our region,” he said. “We will soon sign the final pact with the Americans.” The Trump administration has long been in negotiations as part of an ongoing deal with Warsaw which cements closer defense ties, something which has riled Moscow.Further angering the Kremlin is that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper last week said the Germany withdrawal will reinforce NATO's south-eastern flank near the Black Sea, due to the redistribution of American forces. It's expected that many could go to Baltic countries as well as Italy.

UK Gives Town Councils Power To Bulldoze 'Contaminated' Homes To Contain Outbreak - Britons were shocked and angered this week when an internal government guide meant to inform local councils and town authorities on possible strategies in dealing with rising coronavirus cases throughout the country explored scenarios wherein demolition of 'contaminated' homes would be allowed. It's unclear if the UK guide, called Covid-19 Contain Framework and produced by the Department of Health and Social Care, was intended to gain broad public circulation, given it contains what's widely seen as oppressive overkill measures that are absolutely Orwellian and downright tyrannical in terms of the power assumed by local councils.Here's the headline in The Telegraph that went viral late in the day Tuesday: Councils can demolish contaminated buildings under powers to stop second coronavirus wave.This as London fears greater spread from a second wave and hopes to avoid another nationwide lock down. The idea behind the government strategy is that by giving local councils unprecedented powers to curb local spread, more sweeping national measures could be avoided. But citizens are not impressed, given 'demolition orders' could theoretically be issued for the very roofs over people's heads. The Telegraph report detailed shockingly of the government document:Local authorities will be able to order the demolition of buildings at the centre of coronavirus outbreaks under draconian powers to contain a potential second wave.Cars, buses, trains and aeroplanes could also be destroyed subject to the approval of magistrates.The report flatly states that even retirement or nursing homes and private residences could be "bulldozed" if such interventions are deemed necessary.

Records Of Prince Andrew's Location On Night Of Molestation Destroyed By Police -According to a former member of the Royal guard who worked on Prince Andrew’s security detail, The London Metropolitan Police have destroyed evidence that could have revealed where Prince Andrew was on the night that he is accused of having sex with a teenager that was being trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The night in question is March 10th, 2011, as well as the morning hours of March 11. Virginia Giuffre, who was known by the name Virginia Roberts at the time, says that she was taken to London by Epstein and Maxwell and was expected to have sex with Prince Andrew. Giuffre says that she was just 17-years-old at the time and remembers being taken to the “Tramp” nightclub in London, as well as one of Maxwell’s homes in the city. Andrew was questioned about Giuffre’s accusations during an interview with BBC, and he made numerous mistakes and fumbles that brought his credibility into question. In the interview, Andrew vehemently denied knowing Giuffre and insisted that he was not at that nightclub on March 10th. He claimed that he was at a Pizza Express location in Woking, for a party, but at least one other witness has come forward to corroborate Giuffre’s claim. The witness says that she distinctly remembers seeing the prince at the nightclub on that evening. There should be records of what the prince was doing on that evening, which would either exonerate him or prove that he was lying. Members of the royal family are regularly accompanied by police guards in their day to day activities and there are records of where and when the officers were sent, or at the very least a record of which officers worked on which day. If these records were to be made available, the investigators could easily determine where Prince Andrew was on the night in question. Initially, police refused to release this information to the media, insisting that revealing such sensitive information about the royal family could be a “threat to national security.”