TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalMidland-Odessa shooting: Families file suit against Lubbock man, arms manufacturer
ECTOR COUNTY — Nearly a year after a mass shooter went on a killing rampage in Midland-Odessa that left seven dead and 25 injured, surviving family members Friday filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages against a Lubbock man and an arms manufacturer.
On Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, Joanna Leyva, Nathan Hernandez, Rodolfo Trejo, Gary Griffith, Sharon Griffith and Carla Griffith Byrne filed a petition in Ector County, Texas seeking over $1 million in damages against both Marcus Anthony Braziel of Lubbock and Anderson Manufacturing for their alleged role in a mass shooting.
The gunfire began a little after 3 p.m. Aug. 31, 2019, when an assailant described by authorities only as a white male in his mid-30s driving a gold-colored car was pulled over by a pair of state troopers on Interstate 20 for a traffic violation, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Before coming to a stop, the man grabbed a rifle and shot multiple times at the pair of troopers through the rear window, wounding one. He then sped off, shooting at other motorists and passers-by. At one point, he changed to a U.S. Postal Service truck.
Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/texasregion/2020/08/30/odessa-shooting-lawsuit-against-lubbock-man-arms-manufacturer/5674726002/
At Rutgers, with fears of arrest and COVID-19 hundreds of students party -- quietly
NEW BRUNSWICK — It was only 10:30 at night, but Miranda Jones was already late for the party. She arrived at the white townhouse on Mine Street, then checked the address on her phone. From the back patio, she heard dozens of people shouting over pop music. She heard someone open a beer can, its metallic click-shushhh softened by the night’s wet air.
Beside the townhouse stood a wooden gate leading to the patio. Jones placed her hands on the gate. She peered through the slats and listened to the party. So many people. Nobody wearing masks. After a few minutes, she turned and walked away.
“We were under the impression it was just going to be a small party,” said Jones, 21, a senior at Rutgers University. “But now we’re here, and the music is really loud. There's a lot of people. That’s not safe. I live with my parents. I can’t get them sick.”
At universities across the country, Saturday night is party night. And in a normal year this Saturday — the first of the academic year, with students returning to the Rutgers campus from all over the world — would be a blowout. Anticipation for this weekend ran even higher this summer, after five months of quarantine from COVID-19 forced New Jersey residents of all ages to see their friends only in the hiccup-y videos of Facetime and Zoom.
Read more: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/christopher-maag/2020/08/31/covid-nj-rutgers-students-party-as-semester-begins/3419184001/
Temple University announces 2-week halt of in-person classes
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Temple University has announced a two-week halt of in-person classes as Philadelphia officials called on all college and university students in the city to avoid all social gatherings with people outside their households.
Temple officials said Sunday that new test results over the weekend had pushed the number of active COVID-19 cases from the 58 reported Friday to 103 active cases, most of them among people with no symptoms and a small number with mild to moderate flu-like symptoms.
University president Richard Englert said officials believe they are seeing “new cases that result from small social gatherings happening off campus." He said that prompted the two-week “pause” on in-person classes and a contact tracing effort.
“We are hopeful, of course, that we will be able to return to the full hybrid program in place at the start of the semester, but any such decision will be driven by the data and public health guidance available at the time," Englert said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.trentonian.com/news/national/temple-university-announces-2-week-halt-of-in-person-classes/article_92164605-a976-5e59-8be9-289f1e2ec6ab.html
Murphy is trying, again, to tax the super-rich. This is no time to stand in his way
If the Legislature blocks Gov. Phil Murphy’s plan to raise taxes on the super-rich again, for the third year in a row, then they really should hand in their membership cards to the Democratic Party.
But the pandemic could save them from that fate, because the need is so obvious today that the momentum is shifting in favor of the hike. Several legislators say they support the hike and want their leadership to at least allow a vote on the measure this year. In past years, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin have not allowed that, but both are keeping their options open now, given the dire need.
“Everything is on the table,” says Sweeney, D-Gloucester.
Sen. Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, is among those who see change coming. “It’s about sharing the pain,” he says. “We’re all going to have to give of ourselves to move New Jersey forward. This year, more than any other, I really believe it’s going to move forward.”
Read more: https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/08/murphy-is-trying-again-to-tax-the-super-rich-this-is-no-time-to-stand-in-his-way-moran.html
Flu shots for all N.J. kids in school and daycare would be required under new bill
With experts predicting a resurgence of the coronavirus coinciding with the flu season in the fall, state lawmakers want to mandate that all students — from grade school to college — get the flu vaccine.
Democratic Assemblymen Herb Conaway, D-Burlington and Andrew Zwicker, D-Middlesex, introduced legislation last week that would make the influenza shot a requirement for admission at public and private schools, preschools and colleges and universities.
The goal is to pass the bill, (A4576) before Oct. 1, “so people can build immunity in their systems in advance of flu season,” said Conaway, a physician.
Vaccinating students will significantly reduce the number of people experiencing “severe flu symptoms or a severe combination of flu and COVID-19 symptoms,” and “result in fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations related to influenza,” the bill said.
Read more: https://www.nj.com/education/2020/08/bill-would-require-flu-shots-for-all-nj-kids-in-school-and-daycare-amid-covid-crisis.html
N.J.'s third largest city now has a laptop for every student after arrival of nearly 10K Chromebooks
A massive shortfall of laptop computers in the Paterson school district has been averted, nine days before the school year will begin with all-remote learning in the state’s third-largest city.
Paterson Schools Superintendent Eileen Shafer announced Sunday night that approximately 9,600 Chromebooks purchased from Trox, an education technology company, arrived in the K-12 district over the past three days.
“I could not be happier to announce to our students and their families that they will have the best remote learning experience possible now that we have enough Chromebooks for all of our students,” Shafer said in a statement provided by the school district.
The cost of the laptops was not disclosed by the district.
Laptops will be delivered to all schools by Tuesday and parents will be contacted about picking them up, according to the statement from the school district.
Read more: https://www.nj.com/education/2020/08/njs-third-largest-city-now-has-a-laptop-for-every-student-after-arrival-of-10k-chromebooks.html
'A Whole-Body Rehab Process': COVID Battle Doesn't End at the Hospital Door
by Lilo H. StaintonRecovery can last months with many needing rehab and facing long-term damage
Hospital “clap-out” ceremonies are filled with of hope, as doctors, nurses and other caregivers line the hallways to cheer for a coronavirus patient heading home, into the loving arms of family and friends.
But these joyous events are not the end of the struggle for many COVID-19 patients in New Jersey and elsewhere, experts have learned.
The illness can cause short- and long-term damage to multiple organs — including the heart, lungs and kidneys. Even people who were not hospitalized can struggle for weeks or months to regain their physical strength and mental acuity, health care providers report. The ordeal can also leave patients with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
“At the clap-out, everyone’s happy in that stage because another person survived. But the part you don’t get to see is what happens when they go home,” explained Dr. Talya Fleming, medical director of the after care and stroke programs at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, which recently opened an outpatient program focused on long-term coronavirus recovery. “There’s a whole other layer to the story after that.”
Read more: https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/08/nj-covid-19-patients-complicated-long-term-rehab/
NJ Treasury Announces Gas Tax Hike Of Nearly 10 Cents Per Gallon
The state Treasury announced an increase in the gas tax of 9.3 cents per gallon effective on October 1st of this year.
“As we’ve noted before, any changes in the gas tax rate are dictated by several factors that are beyond the control of the administration,” said State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio.
Governor Murphy had been eyeing a potential increase of 5 to 10 cents per gallon as fuel consumption has decreased. From March *(the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic’s shutdown measures) to May of 2020, gas consumption declined over 38%.
From Bloomberg’s Elise Young in a report yesterday: ‘Over 24 months, New Jersey projects a $334 million revenue drop from the motor-fuels and petroleum products gross receipts tax, according to a budget summary released on Tuesday. To plug the gap, Murphy is examining raising the 41.4-cents-per-gallon tax by as much as 25%, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss internal business publicly.’
Read more: https://www.insidernj.com/nj-treasury-announces-gas-tax-hike-nearly-10-cents-per-gallon/
Murphy Proposal Wildly Out-of-Step with Austerity Message
Note: I used the title of the article as the thread title. I do not believe that the proposals are "wildly out of step" either, but interesting ideas to invest in the future.For five months, Gov. Phil Murphy has kept the state’s people up to date on the COVID-19 pandemic, what steps he’s ordered to halt the spread and what individuals can do to assist.
He’s made it a point of emphasis in each of his daily (now thrice weekly) briefings to describe the havoc the virus has wreaked on the state’s economy and, in particular, how it’s robbed the state of critical tax revenue necessary to continue funding for essential services and programs.
Along with the Legislature, the governor extended by three months the current fiscal year to Oct. 1 and continued to support ongoing programs at their existing appropriations level.
He warned of devastating cuts to essential services and aid programs, unprecedented public employee layoffs, and potentially crushing property tax increases if the state failed to act decisively to head off a fiscal meltdown.
Read more: https://www.insidernj.com/murphy-proposal-wildly-out-of-step-austerity-message
New Jersey Wind Port project in Salem County is the next big thing
“This is really going to put Salem on the map for green energy,” said Jennifer Jones.
Standing on the steps of the county courthouse, Jones, executive director of the Salem County Chamber of Commerce, is enthusiastically contemplating the impact of Gov. Phil Murphy’s New Jersey Wind Port project.
Ever since Murphy announced the plans for the project in June, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity,” the Wind Port, billed as the first in the nation to be built specifically to support the development of offshore wind farms, has been generating buzz in the region.
For state officials, it’s part of the governor’s goal for New Jersey to reach 100% clean energy by 2035.
Read more: https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/new-jersey-wind-port-project-in-salem-county-is-the-next-big-thing/article_89d8a5f4-c282-582a-9005-cec86499dce9.html
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