March 16, 2020

St. Louis County Library will close all 20 branch locations starting Tuesday, March 17

through Friday, April 3 and will re-evaluate as needed in an effort to help limit the spread of coronavirus. Please check the SLCL website for updates, information will also be shared on the Library’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Due dates on materials will be extended during the closure. All holds will be left in place until the library reopens. Patrons are asked to keep materials at home until the library reopens. Book drops will not be available during the closure.

The decision to close is a difficult one. The employees of St. Louis County Library care deeply about serving our community. We recognize that the Library and its many programs and services are an invaluable resource. However, we view this as the most responsible path forward to support the health and well-being of our communities at this time.

St. Louis County Library has been working in conjunction with the leadership teams at St. Louis Public Library and St. Charles City-County Library to make coordinated decisions in the best interest of the public. The nine libraries of the Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis are considering similar measures. We will continue to monitor developments and respond accordingly.

Patrons can access a variety of online resources remotely including eBooks, audiobooks, streaming content such as movies, TV shows and music, digital magazines, online classes and so much more. Below is a list of links:

eMedia
Online Courses
Databases

Please visit www.slcl.org for additional information or call 314-994-3300. Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.

March 16, 2020

I'm told by a former co-worker that a Grocery store employee in her store was assaulted

On Saturday night by a customer who was apparently out of sorts. Not many details except the fellow has a black eye. I suggested she and her co-workers contact the Union for help in getting increase security in the store and that they all keep a few stray canned goods in their work carts 🛒 to use in their own defense.

It is getting ugly. I’m happy to be retired.

March 14, 2020

St. Louis County Board of Elections requests to postpone April 7 election in response to the coronav

(St. Ann, MO March 13, 2020) In an effort to protect the health and wellbeing of St. Louis County voters and election workers -- and to preserve the integrity of the election -- the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners (BOE) will this Saturday petition the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, to postpone the April 7 municipal elections. The BOE will ask the Court to move the election date to April 28 and to authorize a vote by mail. If the Court declines to approve the mail-in vote on April 28, the BOE will request a delay until the August 2020 primary election.

Today, the United States federal government, the State of Missouri and St. Louis County declared states of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The BOE sees the request to delay the election as essential.

“We believe this decision is necessary to protect the public and everyone involved in the election process,” said BOE Commission Chair Sharon Buchanan-McClure.

The St Louis County Board of Elections, the largest election authority in the state, is responsible for all public elections, voter registration and voter record maintenance in St. Louis County. The Board is governed by a state-appointed, bipartisan board of commissioners. Nearly 750,000 registered voters in St. Louis County cast ballots in 1260 precincts from roughly 360 polling places.

https://www.stlouisco.com/Community/News/Article/2612/St-Louis-County-Board-of-Elections-requests-to-postpone-April-7-election-in-res

March 11, 2020

Email to Lacy Clay Missouri First District

Congressman Clay:

I appreciate your service to our country and the 1st Missouri District which you represent so well. I would ask that in these spectacularly uncertain times for our nation and our economy I would urge you and all members of The House to not support any stimulus package that includes a Payroll Tax Holiday. As I am certain you would know, this undermines Social Security for the future and will simply leave far too many citizens with no assistance at all. We desperately need leadership, test kits, help for those who will be sidelined from their jobs through no fault of their own, assistance to those medical providers who are on the frontlines of this crisis and help for a nervous country, not a plan to sacrifice the future or retirees or those who will someday rely upon Social Security.

Thank You Very Much,
Sincerely,

March 10, 2020

CVS Health acquires 110 Schnuck pharmacies in the Midwest

CVS Health Corp. CVS-1.45% said Tuesday that it will acquire 110 Schnuck Markets Inc. pharmacies across the Midwest. Schnucks was founded in 1939 in St. Louis, and is a family-owned business with 112 stores in Missouri. Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. CVS Pharmacy will acquire and operate 99 pharmacy locations that will be rebranded.

And CVS Health will acquire the prescription files from 11 Schnuck pharmacies and transfer them to nearby CVS locations. Schnucks has 13,500 employees. CVS says it will post all pharmacist and pharmacy technician jobs and Schnuck employees can apply for them.

CVS eliminated sales of tobacco products in 2014, and Schnucks did so on Jan. 1, 2020. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, but no financial details were disclosed. CVS Health stock has gained nearly 16% over the past year while the S&P 500 index SPX+1.01% is up 0.1% for the period.

https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/0F09B5DD-B279-47AD-AC60-2EBA1030CA95?

This sucks as those Pharmacy Techs are Members of UFCW Local 655 and now CVS will graciously allow them to apply for their present jobs.

March 9, 2020

Family Of St. Louis County Woman With Coronavirus Violated Quarantine By Going To School Dance

The father and sister of a St. Louis County woman who recently tested positive for coronavirus violated a self-quarantine on Saturday evening.

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page expressed frustration during a Sunday evening press conference, where he announced that the St. Louis County Public Health Department may institute a formal quarantine that would legally require the family to not leave the house.

“Quarantine means stay in your home,” he said.

The county health department instructed the family members to isolate themselves in their Ladue home on Thursday, when the infected woman called the county’s hotline to report symptoms of a high fever and a cough.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/family-st-louis-county-woman-coronavirus-violated-quarantine-going-school-dance

March 9, 2020

Just received this email from Harbor Freight Tools regarding Covid-19

As communities begin to feel the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), I want to share with you the steps we’re taking at Harbor Freight Tools to help protect the health and safety of our customers and associates, which is always our top priority.

We’re closely monitoring local and national reports on the evolving impact of COVID-19 and, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization and applicable public health agencies, we’ve developed plans and established a task force that will allow us to respond timely and appropriately.

Our housekeeping and sanitization efforts in our stores have been greatly expanded. We’re frequently disinfecting often-touched surfaces such as door handles, countertops, keypads, restroom surfaces, shopping carts and baskets. We’re asking all of our associates (and we urge everyone) to follow the CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of the infection.

We feel deeply for those who have been affected. Thankfully, as of now, we’re not aware of any associate contracting COVID-19. But we have implemented guidelines that instruct any associate who may develop symptoms or come into contact with infected individuals to stay home and follow the CDC’s instructions. And impacted associates will be compensated for their missed work hours.

At this time, all of our stores are open for business during their regular hours to meet the needs of our customers. If we become aware of any condition in any store that would make it unsafe, please rest assured that we’ll close the store until those conditions have been addressed.

Again, the health and safety of our customers and associates are our top priority and we’re committed to doing our part to help keep you safe.

Thank you,



This is the second corporate email I have received regarding the topic today and this one appears to be fairly reasonable. I highlighted a part that I felt important.

March 5, 2020

Humanity Forward By Andrew Yang

Below is the text of an email I received from Andrew Yang as he transitions his efforts towards addressing the issues and proposed solutions of his campaign.

https://movehumanityforward.com

Hello and thank you for your incredible support these past months!

Yes, it’s really me. I used to write every email for the campaign in the early days - though the ‘mailing list’ back then was my gmail contact list.

Now there are over 860,000 people on this list - 431,000 of whom donated to my campaign - and millions who have expressed support for our vision for the country. It’s hard to believe how much we’ve grown. I missed writing these emails!

On a personal level, post-campaign life has taken some getting used to. I love spending time with my kids. I am eating better. But I miss the amplified humanity of the trail.

Our campaign grew so much because we had a clearer diagnosis of the problems that face our country and a real vision for how to solve them.

Those problems haven’t gone anywhere. Neither have we.

One of the things I’m proudest of is how the campaign seemed to transcend politics. It drew in people who weren’t typically engaged. Its solutions appealed to people on both sides of the aisle. It focused on substance not sound bites.

The movement we have built has just begun and will now evolve.

Today I am very proud to announce a brand new organization, Humanity Forward. It is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit dedicated to redefining the future of work and making the ideas of the campaign a reality, including universal basic income, human-centered capitalism, and data as a property right.

It will do this in 3 ways:
Launching and supporting projects and pilots that demonstrate the power and practicality of our ideas in real life;
Providing resources to political candidates who embrace universal basic income and other aligned policies at every level; and
Activating new voters and the politically disengaged, particularly young people and the economically marginalized.
Much of this will involve media and messaging. We are starting a podcast and have many other exciting content ideas that we believe can help people understand automation and connect with our vision for the future. If you like content, you will love Humanity Forward.

Running for president has been the journey of my life. But we can do many things even better now than what we could do as a campaign.

This movement would not be possible without you, but this is only the beginning. And now, it’s time to build our movement for universal basic income, human-centered capitalism, and data as a property right.

I can’t do this without you - that’s why you are one of the first people I’m personally asking to refocus on our mission with the same passion, energy, and dedication you brought during our campaign into this next chapter to move humanity forward. If you can donate $25, $50, $100, or more today to help us launch Humanity Forward into the world, I would be incredibly grateful.

As a fun way to recognize your support - and to remind the world that it’s still me - I will personally give $1,000 a month for a year to one donor who donates in the month of March. We will make you social media famous too. 😃

When I embarked on this journey, I could only dream of having an active, creative, passionate community fighting alongside me. That community is growing. We can give ourselves the chance to accomplish our highest, most ambitious goals.

We can move humanity forward, and I can’t wait to get started. I hope you will join us in this new chapter of the same fight.

Yours excitedly,

Andrew

March 4, 2020

No Handshakes Or Communion Cups -- St. Louis Archdiocese Tries To Prevent Coronavirus

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is encouraging clergy members and congregants to consider changing certain religious practices to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

Archbishop Robert Carlson sent a letter to church leaders on Monday, urging them to avoid using shared cups to distribute the sacramental wine — and to thoroughly disinfect all sacred vessels before and after Mass. The new precautions are part of an effort to keep worshippers healthy, as more cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, are diagnosed in the U.S.

Maria Lemakis, multimedia manager for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, said clergy members are not required to follow these recommendations.

“It's really up to the pastors whether or not they want to suspend temporarily the chalice from being offered at Masses,” Lemakis said. “Parishioners certainly have the option to only receive the Holy Eucharist in the bread.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/no-handshakes-or-communion-cups-st-louis-archdiocese-tries-prevent-coronavirus

March 4, 2020

No Handshakes Or Communion Cups -- St. Louis Archdiocese Tries To Prevent Coronavirus

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is encouraging clergy members and congregants to consider changing certain religious practices to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

Archbishop Robert Carlson sent a letter to church leaders on Monday, urging them to avoid using shared cups to distribute the sacramental wine — and to thoroughly disinfect all sacred vessels before and after Mass. The new precautions are part of an effort to keep worshippers healthy, as more cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, are diagnosed in the U.S.

Maria Lemakis, multimedia manager for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, said clergy members are not required to follow these recommendations.

“It's really up to the pastors whether or not they want to suspend temporarily the chalice from being offered at Masses,” Lemakis said. “Parishioners certainly have the option to only receive the Holy Eucharist in the bread.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/no-handshakes-or-communion-cups-st-louis-archdiocese-tries-prevent-coronavirus