NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:08:34 +0000 https://www.wvtf.org/post/barbara-kingsolvers-passion-poetry-prevails-how-fly 153173 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:28:00 +0000 Barbara Kingsolver's Passion For Poetry Prevails In 'How To Fly' The federal government is preparing to aggressively crack down on hospitals for not reporting complete COVID-19 data daily into a federal data system, according to internal documents obtained by NPR. The draft guidance, expected to be sent to hospitals this week, also adds new reporting requirements, asking hospitals to provide daily information on influenza cases, along with COVID-19. It's the latest twist in what hospitals describe as a maddening flurry of changing requirements, as they deal with the strain of caring for patients during a pandemic. The reporting system drew national attention in July when the Department of Health and Human Services told hospitals to stop reporting information — such as the number of COVID-19 patients and the availability of intensive care beds — to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and instead report it into a new system managed directly by HHS, the CDC's parent agency. The switch raised concerns from politicians and public health https://www.wvtf.org/post/trump-administration-plans-crackdown-hospitals-failing-report-covid-19-data 153180 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Trump Administration Plans Crackdown On Hospitals Failing To Report COVID-19 Data Jo Ingles With concerns over the Postal Service's ability to deliver mail-in ballots on time, drop boxes are the rage. Ohio limits the boxes to one per county — even in counties with millions of residents. https://www.wvtf.org/post/ohios-ballot-drop-box-limits-leads-allegations-voter-suppression 153174 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Ohio's Ballot Drop Box Limits Leads To Allegations Of Voter Suppression editor The photo on Twitter shows scientist Gretchen Goldman sitting behind her laptop being interviewed by CNN. She's in the middle of a living room that has been turned upside down by her young children. https://www.wvtf.org/post/viral-photo-shows-difficulties-parents-working-during-pandemic 153172 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Viral Photo Shows Difficulties Of Parents Working During The Pandemic Will Stone The CDC says coronavirus infection rates over the summer were highest in young adults. But in the South, increased infections among 20 to 39-year-olds preceded rises in infection in people over 60. https://www.wvtf.org/post/data-suggest-young-people-spread-covid-19-older-adults 153171 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Data Suggest Young People Spread COVID-19 To Older Adults Lucian Kim Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.wvtf.org/post/weeks-after-disputed-election-belarus-president-secretly-inaugurated 153170 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Weeks After Disputed Election, Belarus President Is Secretly Inaugurated Sally Herships Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.wvtf.org/post/moma-workers-must-decide-whether-return-work-amid-pandemic 153169 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 MoMA Workers Must Decide Whether To Return To Work Amid Pandemic editor Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.wvtf.org/post/gale-sayers-who-inspired-tv-movie-brians-song-dies-77 153168 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Gale Sayers, Who Inspired TV Movie 'Brian's Song,' Dies At 77 Tanisha Long expects to be busy in the run up to the 2020 election. For the next six weeks, Long, who founded an unofficial Black Lives Matter chapter for Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania, plans to make get-out-the vote videos, host mail-in voting webinars and work to enfranchise eligible incarcerated people in order to turn out voters she says "no one's talking to anymore." Long's concern is this: she sees the campaign for Democratic nominee Joe Biden making the same mistakes in Pennsylvania that Hillary Clinton made in 2016. Long believes the Biden campaign is failing to do enough to engage traditional Democratic constituencies. "I just can't have that happen again, it's really stressing me out," she says. Donald Trump famously lost the popular vote in 2016 by over 2.8 million votes but secured a victory in the electoral college by winning razor thin margins in key swing states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania. Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are https://www.wvtf.org/post/outside-focus-major-parties-black-pittsburghers-vow-get-out-vote 153167 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Outside The Focus Of Major Parties, Black Pittsburghers Vow To Get Out The Vote Mara Liasson Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. https://www.wvtf.org/post/trump-wont-promise-peaceful-transfer-power-after-election 153166 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Trump Won't Promise Peaceful Transfer Of Power After Election editor Sara Lyons, 96, set a record: A no-tap 300 means she knocked down at least nine pins with every ball. She tells KDKA-TV that she won't give up, no matter how old she gets. https://www.wvtf.org/post/pa-woman-1st-person-her-bowling-alley-roll-perfect-score 153165 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:03:00 +0000 Pa. Woman Is 1st Person In Her Bowling Alley To Roll Perfect Score Anya Kamenetz From shiny red pencils reading "My Attendance Rocks!" to countless plaques and ribbons and trophies and certificates and gold stars: For as long as anyone can remember, taking attendance — and rewarding kids for simply showing up — is a time-honored school ritual. For good reason: Just being there, day in, day out, happens to be one of the most important factors that determines a child's success in school. And average daily head count forms the basis of school funding decisions at the federal, state and local level. Yet now, like so many other aspects of education, that simple measure — "here" or "absent" — is not so simple anymore. States are having to update their attendance policies to cover the realities of virtual learning. And where school is being held in-person, strict coronavirus health protocols mean students must now stay home at the slightest sign of illness, or to quarantine in case of a potential exposure. So the emerging questions for educators and parents are: What is https://www.wvtf.org/post/school-attendance-covid-era-what-counts-present 153175 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 10:00:00 +0000 School Attendance In The COVID Era: What Counts As 'Present'? Tom Bowman Nearly 500 national security experts – both civilians and former senior uniformed officers — have endorsed Joe Biden for president, saying the "current president" is not up to "the enormous responsibilities of his office." Addressed to "Our Fellow Citizens," the 489 national security experts include 22 four-star officers. The letter never mentions President Trump by name. Among those signing the letter is retired Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, who stepped down last year as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Pentagon's No. 2 officer. Selva could not be immediately reached for comment. Another is former Vice Admiral Michael Franken, who retired in 2017 and ran unsuccessfully this year for the Democratic Senate nomination in Iowa. There's also Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who served as the Army's No. 2 officer before retiring in 2012. Chiarelli, in an interview with NPR, said he was never involved in politics until now. "I believe the current administration is a real threat to the republic," he https://www.wvtf.org/post/nearly-500-national-security-experts-endorse-biden-president 153176 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:30:00 +0000 Nearly 500 National Security Experts Endorse Biden For President Carrie Johnson In 1999, Christopher Vialva hitched a ride with a married couple visiting West Texas for a church revival meeting. Authorities later found the bodies of Todd and Stacie Bagley in the trunk of their car. Todd Bagley died of a gunshot wound. Stacie Bagley died of smoke inhalation after the car was set on fire. On Thursday, 20 years after he was convicted of that brutal crime, Vialva is scheduled to face lethal injection. His case stands out only because he's like most inmates on federal death row: a Black man who murdered white people, when he was very young. "He's Black; he committed his crime before his brain was fully developed," said his lawyer, Susan Otto, the federal public defender for the Western District of Oklahoma. "He's now 40 years old. He's been on death row for longer than he was alive in the free world." Vialva is not claiming he's innocent. In a recent video, he said he regretted his actions. "People make bad decisions in life, but they are still people," Vialva said. https://www.wvtf.org/post/system-stacked-against-condemned-inmate-other-black-defendants-lawyers-say 153177 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:01:00 +0000 System Stacked Against Condemned Inmate, Other Black Defendants, Lawyers Say Chris Arnold When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Jesus Gonzalez was about a year into starting a Cuban food catering and "pop-up" business in Lexington, Ky. It's like "a food truck, but without a truck," he says. His steadiest gig was setting up tables with a spread of Cuban food at local breweries so people could eat while quaffing pints. But then all that shut down. And he says things aren't back to normal enough yet for the breweries to bring him back. Gonzalez is a single dad with a 13-year-old daughter, and he says that extra $600 a week in federal unemployment money that Congress approved in its last relief package really helped. "That was everything that made it so that I can focus on my daughter," he says. "That 600 a week made it so that I could, like, keep my head above water." He says his car broke down and he was able to fix it, and he could keep paying rent. But that extra money stopped coming at the end of July — nearly two months ago. Gonzalez managed to save some of it. But now that https://www.wvtf.org/post/desperation-and-fear-millions-congress-deadlocked-over-pandemic-assistance 153179 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0000 'Desperation And Fear' For Millions With Congress Deadlocked Over Pandemic Assistance Franco Ordoñez Miguel Arango had just turned 18 when he voted for Barack Obama in 2012. Four years later, he was a passionate supporter of Bernie Sanders, but opted for a third-party candidate in the 2016 general election. "I was not going to vote for Trump either," he said. "I thought all these things about him — that he was this, he was that. And slowly it started transitioning." Arango says that transition involved patriotic music that he and his brother, Federico, play together. The Colombian Americans lead a group called Voices of Freedom. They sing at veterans events, and they've even submitted a song for consideration to be the anthem of the newly formed U.S. Space Force. Federico Arango, who is 30, voted twice for Obama. Like a lot of young people of color, he says the Democratic Party's message of change appealed to them. But he says they've since been exposed to new perspectives. And growing up in Miami, they see the effects of socialism and communism from family and friends. Some members https://www.wvtf.org/post/warnings-socialism-trump-seeks-boost-support-among-young-florida-latinos 153178 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0000 With Warnings Of Socialism, Trump Seeks To Boost Support Among Young Florida Latinos Elissa Nadworny Enrollment at U.S. community colleges has dropped nearly 8 percent this fall, newly released figures show, part of an overall decline in undergraduate enrollment as students face a global pandemic and the worst economic recession in decades. Often, enrollment in higher education spikes in times of high unemployment and recession, as students seek additional job skills and postpone entering the workforce. But the pandemic has overturned those traditional calculations, according to preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which tracks college enrollment. Hardest hit were community colleges, which traditionally serve lower-income students and those seeking additional career skills. The enrollment drop comes as many of those schools face a host of new financial pressures. "Those are institutions that were already operating in many cases on very thin margins even before the pandemic," says Doug Shapiro, who leads the research center at the Clearinghouse. He https://www.wvtf.org/post/fewer-students-are-going-community-college-despite-high-unemployment 153164 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 04:03:00 +0000 Fewer Students Are Going To Community College, Despite High Unemployment Michael Pope Health care is poised to be one of the key issues in the presidential race this year. It’s also a flashpoint in the race for U.S. Senate. https://www.wvtf.org/post/warner-gade-spar-first-debate 153163 as https://www.wvtf.org Thu, 24 Sep 2020 01:26:08 +0000 Warner, Gade Spar in First Debate California will phase out the sale of all gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 in a bid to lead the U.S. in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the state's drivers to switch to electric cars. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday that amounts to the most aggressive clean-car policy in the United States. Although it bans the sale of new gas cars and trucks after the 15-year deadline, it will still allow such vehicles to be owned and sold on the used-car market. "This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change," the governor said in a statement. "Our cars shouldn't make wildfires worse — and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn't melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines." Newsom, a Democrat, also threw his support behind a ban on petroleum fracking but called on the California Legislature to make that change. With extreme wildfires still burning in the state, Newsom says https://www.wvtf.org/post/california-governor-signs-order-banning-sales-new-gasoline-cars-2035 153160 as https://www.wvtf.org Wed, 23 Sep 2020 21:44:00 +0000 California Governor Signs Order Banning Sales Of New Gasoline Cars By 2035 Anastasia Tsioulcas About 35 years ago, violinist Lara St. John — then just 15 years old — went with two friends to the dean of the school she attended, Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, to say that her private teacher, the famed violin pedagogue Jascha Brodsky, had sexually abused her on multiple occasions. The then-dean, Robert Fitzpatrick, brushed her off. Over the ensuing three decades, St. John, now 49, went back again and again to Curtis officials — six times in all — between 1986 and 2019, asking that her allegations be heard and acknowledged. They never were in any substantial way — until her account was corroborated and published by the Philadelphia Inquirer last summer . In that investigative story, St. John said that Brodsky, who died in 1997, had repeatedly abused her over six months, beginning with inappropriate touching and ending in rape. St. John also told the Inquirer that not only had Fitzpatrick not taken her allegations seriously, but that he told her: "Oh, for God's sake, who https://www.wvtf.org/post/top-music-school-finds-sexual-abuse-allegations-violinist-credible 153159 as https://www.wvtf.org Wed, 23 Sep 2020 21:40:00 +0000 Top Music School Finds Sexual Abuse Allegations From Violinist 'Credible'