Patriot Prayer protesters gather at regulator's Oregon home

SILVERTON, Ore. — About 50 protesters converged on the Silverton, Ore., home of a state workplace safety regulator to protest a large fine levied against a Salem gym owner.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Silverton Police Chief Jim Anglemier identified the protesters who gathered Sunday afternoon as members and affiliates of Patriot Prayer, the group founded by Joey Gibson.

“There were no problems, no issues,” Anglemier said. “They stayed on the sidewalks and they stayed off private property.”

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administrator Michael Wood said in a statement Monday that “Oregon OSHA worked with the affected enforcement officer over the holiday weekend to minimize, to the degree possible, the disruption to him and his family (particularly his young child).”

Read more: https://www.columbian.com/news/2020/nov/30/patriot-prayer-protesters-gather-at-regulators-oregon-home/
(Vancouver Columbian)

Washington psychiatric hospital sees spike in COVID-19 cases

SEATTLE (AP) — More than 30 patients and staff at Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital are suffering from coronavirus — the biggest spike in cases to date — and more than 150 have tested positive since the virus first hit the facility in March.

Ten Western State Hospital patients on a single ward got sick within a few days of each other after a nurse tested positive about a week ago. The patients ranged in age of 62 to 82 and were moved to the hospital's special COVID-19 ward so they're kept away from other patients.

Twelve workers tested positive within a three-day span last week, hospital officials said. Most were on the same ward as the patient spike.

“With this news, I am pleading with all of us to hold each other accountable for wearing the correct masks, and wearing them over both your mouth and nose,” hospital CEO Dave Holt told staff in an email. “If a co-worker is not following the masking protocol, please stop them and ask them to mask to protect our patients and staff.”

Read more: https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/northwest/washington-psychiatric-hospital-sees-spike-in-covid-19-cases/article_4a0ef13e-8a75-5d0c-862e-1a7bfcd01888.html

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl canceled

EL PASO -- The Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl has been canceled, according to Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

The nation's second-longest-running bowl game has been played every year since its inception in 1935.

Sun Bowl officials did not immediately comment.

Earlier this year, when the Pac-12 announced a return to the field, Executive Director Bernie Olivas said the bowl still planned on pitting a Pac-12 and ACC team.

Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/sports/2020/11/30/report-tony-tiger-sun-bowl-cancelled/6472024002/

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump Throws Tantrum from Tiny Desk

North Texas bars face closures as COVID-19 hospitalizations exceed Gov. Abbott's limit

North Texas bars could close and other businesses could further limit occupancy if the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region doesn’t go down.

That’s because for the last four days, the number of patients battling COVID-19 in North Texas hospitals has gone over Gov. Greg Abbott’s limit of 15% of all beds. If it continues at this capacity for three days, it will trigger the restrictions he outlined in his October executive order.

On Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, COVID-19 hospitalizations in the 19-county North Texas Trauma Service Area topped the 15% mark and there were 2,435 COVID-19 patients in the region on Monday, according to state data.

There were 1,878 available hospital beds and 117 available ICU beds in the region.

But, the North Texas region isn’t alone as it follows a state trend. Twelve of the state’s 22 Trauma Service Areas have surpassed the 15% threshold at least once in the last three days.

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article247508050.html#storylink=cpy

IMF: Greek debt sustainable despite pandemic-linked spike

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The International Monetary Fund said Monday that Greece's huge public debt remains sustainable in the medium term despite “unprecedented uncertainty” to all sectors of the economy because of the pandemic.

Following completion of a new round of monitoring discussions with Athens, the IMF said Greece's economy is expected to contract 9.5% this year before expanding 5.7% in 2021. The public debt will reach a record high 208% of gross domestic product this year before decreasing to 199% in 2021 — compared to an already high 181% in 2019.

The IMF, together with Greece's European bailout creditors, continues to monitor the economy beyond the end of the acute 2010-2018 financial crisis and rescue loan program that kept the country afloat after it lost access to international markets.

It said the medium-term economic recovery would be “supported by a recovery in private consumption, investment linked to privatization and the first tranches of (European Union) grants, and higher goods exports.”

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/IMF-Greek-debt-sustainable-despite-15763814.php

Houston men charged in alleged plot to bilk foreign government out of $317M for phony N95 masks

Two Houston men have been charged for allegedly attempting to sell 50 million non-existent N95 face masks to a foreign government, federal authorities announced in a statement Tuesday.

In the Nov. 19 indictment, Paschal Ngozi Eleanya, 46, and Arael Doolittle, 55, were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy for allegedly selling 3M model 1860 N95 respirator masks which they didn't actually possess and allegedly defrauding a foreign government out of more than $317 million.

The statement did not specify which foreign government was involved.

Federal authorities said Doolittle and Eleanya brokered a sales price for the masks that was five times their original price. The pair allegedly expected to pocket $275 million from the elaborate scheme, according to the statement

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-men-charged-fake-mask-plot-15753548.php

'I did it for my dream': YouTuber fractures skull leaping off Austin bridge

A YouTuber was hospitalized last week with a fractured skull after jumping off an Austin bridge into the Colorado River.

Saa Fomba leaped from the Pennybacker Bridge on Nov. 23 and spent several days in the hospital. He posted a video of the stunt Friday with the title, "I Jumped Off A Bridge, Now My Skull Is Fractured."

"Hopefully this video motivates you to chase your dreams," Fomba tells viewers, while wearing a patient gown and wincing in pain.

The footage shows Fomba climbing the bridge's arch, high above the Capital of Texas Highway and the water below. A woman records from the banks of the river as he holds his arms up, then leaps into the air.

Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/I-did-it-for-my-dream-YouTuber-fractures-skull-15764256.php

I wonder who is going to pay the hospital bill for this stunt?

Gov. Abbott should stop campaigning against public safety reforms and address the spread of COVID-19

Texas has become the first state to reach 1,000,000 positive COVID-19 cases but Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief focus is his campaign against public safety reforms.

For a brief period, it appeared as if Abbott was going to aggressively take on the spread of COVID-19 across the state but the conservative backlash against his executive orders and a series of protests organized by elected officials and leaders within his own party have him prioritizing his political future instead. And for this effort he has attempted to regain the support of his base by attacking a familiar foe — Austin City Council.

The narrative that Democrats and large cities want to “defund the police” is a false one, but it proved to be a winning talking point for Republicans trying to hold off a blue wave across Texas. In bolstering that narrative the governor announced he was sending 1,000 National Guard “troops” to 5 major cities to “ensure that cities are going to be safe” post-election.

Reality proved that there was no need for National Guard troops in cities because of the election results, but troops were needed and are active in helping morgues in El Paso deal with the rising number of dead from the coronavirus. The spike of cases and hospitalizations has been so bad in El Paso that some patients had to be airlifted to New Mexico. You might expect that with such dire circumstances that the governor might relent and at least allow local officials experiencing such acute spikes to impose stricter measures but you would be wrong. When state officials became aware that El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego ordered a two-week shutdown of nonessential services Texas’ attorney general filed a motion to stop the order from taking place and Governor Abbott called it an illegal act, so much for keeping cities safe.

Read more: https://texassignal.com/gov-abbott-should-stop-campaigning-against-public-safety-reforms-and-address-the-spread-of-covid-19/

This new study challenges scientists who blame dams for decline of Snake River salmon

A controversial new study is challenging long-standing science that pins salmon declines in the Snake River Basin on dams and is roiling the already rough waters of fish recovery.

The work by British Columbia scientist David Welch puts the blame for poor returns of adult Snake River spring and fall chinook salmon on conditions in the Pacific Ocean instead of the dams. The study argues that chinook runs from California to Alaska have suffered similar declines. Some salmon researchers are skeptical of that conclusion and say the effects of dams can’t be dismissed.

Welch’s work, funded by the Bonneville Power Administration and published in the journal “Fish and Fisheries,” argues that since chinook runs in rivers with pristine freshwater habitat and those with highly degraded habitat have suffered similar declines, the problem must be in the ocean.

Welch and his colleagues looked at data from chinook runs up and down the West Coast of North America and worked to establish and compare smolt-to-adult return rates for each of the runs. The rate is the measure of the number of juvenile chinook that leave a river system to spend two to three years in the ocean and ultimately survive and return to freshwater. In the Columbia River Basin, salmon managers believe a return rate of 2% is required for chinook runs to hold steady, and 4% to 6% is needed for runs to grow. However, rates are often 1% or less.

Read more: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article247437245.html