Tag: pandemic

Daughter of late state Sen. Jerry Relph who died of COVID-19 calls on Senate GOP leader to apologize for his role in father’s death

The daughter of the late state Sen. Jerry Relph, R-St. Cloud, is calling on the Minnesota Senate majority leader to apologize for holding an in-person election victory party last month, which is how her father likely contracted COVID-19 weeks before he died, she said. 

“It was a frivolous and vain action,” said Dana Relph, referring to the Nov. 5 dinner party at a Lake Elmo event center hosted by Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake. “I’m sorry, but celebrating holding onto the Senate in the middle of the pandemic? They were spending money on something like that and then putting people in danger.”

Relph, 42, spoke with the Reformer a day after her father succumbed to complications from the disease, the first Minnesota lawmaker to do so. COVID-19 is particularly deadly to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. Jerry Relph was 76.  Continue reading.

Rep. Zack Stephenson (HD36A) Update: December 21, 2020

Dear Neighbors,

As 2020 draws to a close, news of a recent deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 assistance package at the federal level is encouraging. This is good first step toward more economic recovery for our families and businesses, but we know more robust response and recovery measures will be needed until a vaccine is widely available for all who want one.  

I am ready to continue working with my Republican and Democrat colleagues in the State House and Senate to find more local recovery strategies for Champlin and Coon Rapids families and businesses when we convene for session on January 5.

Mississippi River Crossing Study

We’re getting closer to developing a plan for the Northwest Metro Mississippi River Crossing!

Continue reading “Rep. Zack Stephenson (HD36A) Update: December 21, 2020”

Mnuchin says new stimulus payments could go out next week as Congress readies relief bill vote

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House and Senate are rushing to approve the package on Monday

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said millions of Americans could begin seeing stimulus payments as soon as next week as the White House and Congress work to rush a $900 billion spending package into law.

The House and Senate are planning to vote on the measure later in the day, though legislative text for the package was still in development on Monday morning. Final passage in the Senate could be delayed into Monday evening. Lawmakers reached a deal on the bill Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that lawmakers are “going to stay here until we finish tonight.”

Lawmakers are hoping to package the stimulus measure with other bills into a giant piece of legislation. It would include money to fund the government through September 2021 as well as the extension of various tax cuts, among other things. And lawmakers will only have a short period of time to review parts of the bill before voting on what could end up as one of the largest bills ever to pass Congress.

House panel subpoenas for Azar, Redfield CDC documents

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Top Trump administration health officials were subpoenaed by House Democrats on Monday, after an investigation showed “extensive” political interference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Over a period of four months, as coronavirus cases and deaths rose around the country, Trump Administration appointees attempted to alter or block at least 13 scientific reports related to the virus,” the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said a letter.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), said he is seeking full, unredacted documents from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield, after “HHS has made clear that it will not provide a timely and complete response to the Select Subcommittee’s requests on a voluntary basis.” Continue reading.

What is in the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill

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Lawmakers late on Sunday released a long-awaited $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that is expected to be passed by Congress on Monday and signed into law by President Trump. 

The relief package will be combined with a $1.4 trillion measure to fund federal agencies through the end of September and a package extending expiring tax provisions. 

Both Democrats and Republicans touted various aspects of the relief package, though Democrats wanted a significantly larger bill. Continue reading.

As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, facemasks will still be essential

Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 won’t provide immunity from the public health directives to wear a cloth face mask in public.

“We are going to be in this mask phase well into 2021,” predicted Dr. Anthony Harris, associate medical director at occupational health firm WorkCare. “It won’t be until fall of next year that you’ll begin to see masks not being a part of our normal day-to-day, at the earliest.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines so far, including Moderna’s vaccine, which got a green light Friday. Randomized clinical trials involving more than 70,000 people documented 94 to 95% fewer cases of COVID in adults who got vaccinated vs. those who received a placebo. Continue reading.

White House secures ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction in draft of coronavirus relief package

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President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry. But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefiting the wealthy.

The draft language of the emergency coronavirus relief package includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses pushed by the White House and strongly denounced by some congressional Democrats, according to a summary of the deal circulating among congressional officials and officials who are familiar with the provision.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a proposal that had not yet been publicly released.

President Trump has for months talked about securing the deduction — derisively referred to as the “three-martini lunch” by critics — as a way to revive the restaurant industry badly battered by the pandemic. Continue reading.

Front-line essential workers and adults 75 and over should be next to get the coronavirus vaccine, a CDC advisory group says

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These include police and firefighters, teachers, day-care staff, grocery store workers and prison guards

NOTE: This complete article is provided free for all to read by The Washington Post.

Grocery store employees, teachers, emergency workers and other people on the front lines of America’s workforce should be next to get the coronavirusvaccine, along with adults ages 75 and older, a federal advisory panel said Sunday.

The recommendations, which came two days after regulators authorized a second coronavirus vaccine, will guide state authorities in deciding who should have priority to receive limited doses of shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. More than 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been distributed, and 556,208 of those shots were given as of 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The groups designated Sunday include about 49 million people, some of whom could begin getting shots early in the new year. The priorities represent a compromise between the desire to shield people most likely to catch and transmit the virus, because they cannot socially distance or work from home, and the effort to protect people who are most prone to serious complications and death. Continue reading.

Congress clinches sweeping deal on coronavirus relief, government funding

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Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a mammoth deal to fund the government and provide long-sought coronavirus relief as lawmakers race to wrap up their work for the year. 

The deal will tie a $1.4 trillion bill to fund the government until Oct. 1 to roughly $900 billion in coronavirus aid. In order to give Congress time to process and pass the agreement, the House and Senate passed a one-day stopgap bill on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the deal from the Senate floor on early Sunday evening.  Continue reading.

Businesses see transformed landscape even after vaccines

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The coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath could transform the landscape for U.S. businesses. 

With a larger remote workforce, expanded delivery options and lingering health fears likely to last long after the pandemic is under control, business owners and entrepreneurs are asking tough questions and bracing for an uncertain future.

Businesses that pay richly for offices and storefronts in bustling downtowns are reconsidering whether high rents and tight crowds still make sense. A national wipeout of small businesses may leave plenty of vacated real estate for major companies to fill. And shortfalls in federal aid for struggling businesses could deepen the economic damage to be repaired when the pandemic subsides. Continue reading.