Month: February 2021

Categories
Politics

Lincoln Venture backers take into account chopping off donations in wake of misconduct allegations

Lincoln Project backers consider cutting off donations in wake of misconduct allegations

John Weaver is shown on a campaign bus in Bow, NH, in this January 20, 2016 file photo. The Lincoln Project launched in November 2019 as a super PAC that allowed its executives to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money.

Charles Krupa | AP

The Lincoln Project, a group of conservative activists that made a splash with viral ads targeting former President Trump, is at risk of losing financial support after one of its founders is accused of sexual misconduct.

Several wealthy donors are considering cutting off their support for the organization, according to people close to these financiers. They pay particular attention to the results of an outside investigation into whether other leaders were aware of the alleged harassment of several men by co-founder John Weaver, these people added.

Some of those close to the donors declined to be named because they were concerned about retaliation from the leaders of the Lincoln Project and their allies.

Despite numerous reports to the contrary, the Lincoln Project – its original members include Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign leader Steve Schmidt, the author and former advisor to the George HW Bush campaign, Rick Wilson, and conservative attorney George Conway – denied being aware of any misconduct allegations against Weaver until recently. The group condemned Weaver’s conduct on January 31st.

Weaver told the New York Times in January that he was a withdrawn gay man and that he was “really sorry for these men and everyone and for abandoning so many people.”

The Lincoln Project said Thursday that it is “retaining a top notch outside professional to review Mr. Weaver’s tenure with the organization and establish both accountability and best practices for the Lincoln Project”.

The FBI is also investigating the allegations against Weaver, according to independent journalist Yashar Ali, who cited sources who claimed they were being contacted by agents.

The Lincoln Project did not respond to subsequent CNBC requests for comment.

The group will continue to need financial assistance as it continues its stated mission of targeting pro-Trump politicians and the former president. The group has reportedly tried to start a media company. There is already a live online show called “LPTV”. A United Talent Agency representative, who reportedly held talks to increase the group’s media presence, did not respond to a request for comment.

The PAC raised over $ 87 million, much of it from several Democratic megadonors. Those in charge of the organization were so confident that some organizers told CNBC in May they wanted to reach out to billionaire and former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg for a donation. Records show that Bloomberg didn’t help.

Much of the Lincoln Project’s spending went towards paying vendors owned by its executives. The group was founded in December 2019.

Donor Jen Pritzker, a member of the wealthy and influential Pritzker family, suggested that given the allegations against Weaver, she could stop giving money to the group. Pritzker contributed to the joint fundraising committee of President Joe Biden and other democratic groups.

“I believed in the Lincoln Project’s mission and supported its efforts to prevent Donald Trump from being re-elected,” Pritzker told CNBC in a statement. “As a donor, I trusted that my gift would be used to further support the organization’s goals. Sexual misconduct cannot be tolerated by any organization. Anyone can be a victim, and these allegations should be handled in accordance with human rights law.”

A spokeswoman for Pritzkers Tawani Enterprises stated that she had not yet made a decision as to whether she would make a contribution in the future.

Pritzker donated $ 100,000 to the Lincoln Project in October, Federal Election Commission records show. Another family member, John Pritzker, also gave the group $ 100,000. He did not return a request for comment.

When asked by CNBC whether Jeffrey Katzenberg would stop giving the Lincoln Project, an advisor to the Hollywood power player didn’t rule it out. “Not our focus,” said the consultant in an email. Katzenberg gave the PAC $ 100,000 in August. Katzenbeg was also a major Biden bundler.

Meanwhile, CNBC has learned that two previous Lincoln project vendors will no longer work with the group.

Aaron, Thomas & Associates, who describes himself as a specialist in political direct mail, received over $ 90,000 from the group in September, records show. The company’s work with the group stopped before the Weaver allegations surfaced, but the company has decided not to take any more business from the Lincoln project.

“Absolutely not,” replied founder Fred Thomas when asked by CNBC if the Lincoln project would work again. “When we cited this work, we weren’t even aware of what it was or who it was for. We broke it up with someone else anyway,” he added, noting that his company “doesn’t want negative results from Mail. “

Anedot, a campaign donation processor used in the Lincoln Project’s final election cycle, is closing its account with the group, according to a company official who refused to be named.

“Anedot was recently made aware of certain incidents that resulted in our account team notifying the account owner that the account will be closed,” the representative said.

The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics says Anedot received fees of over $ 3 million in the 2020 cycle. Anedot’s representative said he did not give any reasons for closing accounts.

In building its media business through the Lincoln Project, CNBC turned to Zeldavision, a live streaming production company that received over $ 1 million from the group. The company promotes a partnership with the PAC. According to the Zeldavision website, it also appears to be helping to produce the Lincoln Project’s live content.

The company did not answer whether it would stand by the PAC in the future.

Tara Setmayer, who distinguishes herself as a senior advisor on her Twitter page and has hosted an LPTV show, said she was “dismayed and disappointed” by the recent event surrounding the Lincoln project.

“It cannot be tolerated. More to say,” added Setmayer.

Categories
Health

What You Have to Know In regards to the CDC’s New Faculty Pointers

What You Need to Know About the CDC's New School Guidelines

In a move that educators have long been waiting for, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines on Friday on how to operate schools safely during the pandemic.

The recommendations, which are more detailed than those published by the agency under the Trump administration, attempt to strike a balance between people who want classrooms to reopen immediately and teachers and parents who are reluctant to return to face-to-face teaching before a full vaccination .

Elementary schools can work in person at any level of community virus transmission with appropriate mitigation such as masking, physical distancing, and hygiene, the guidelines say.

The document states that middle and high schools can safely work in person up to the highest level of transmission, which is defined in two ways: if 10 percent or more of coronavirus tests in a community are positive over a seven day period ;; or if there are 100 or more cases of the virus per 100,000 people in the community within seven days.

Middle and high schools can open at any level of community spread if they conduct weekly coronavirus tests on students and staff. The agency also recommended that if the prevalence is higher in the community, all schools reduce attendance by having students come to class on different days or by virtually learning some groups of students.

The guidelines state that while teacher vaccination is important, it should not be seen as a requirement for schools to reopen with shutters.

No, these are recommendations. Much of the country’s school districts are already working, at least partially, in person, and the guidelines say they may do so even if community transmission is high.

Type of. You can look up your community’s test positivity rate and the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days (these numbers are often available on state or county websites, although you may need to do some calculations to find the rate per 100,000 people) then compare the agency’s policy recommendations for that transfer level with those of your school. However, the guidelines recognize that some schools were safely open at a higher level of community transmission than recommended in the recommendations.

It’s difficult to say. In many districts that remain closed, labor issues are the main obstacle to reopening. Some local teacher unions are calling for teachers to be vaccinated, shelter to allow teachers with vulnerable relatives to continue working from home, and stricter security in buildings. However, the guidelines could help districts and unions reach consensus by referring to established research on the safe operation of schools during the pandemic.

They have been warmly greeted by many coronavirus experts, who have long argued that schools should be the last places to close and the first to reopen amid the pandemic. However, some were puzzled by the lack of emphasis on air quality, and what they said was a misguided focus on cleaning surfaces as experts now believe the virus is largely airborne.

Others said the thresholds for opening middle and high schools were too restrictive and noted that some schools could have safely weathered the pandemic with higher community transmission rates.

Both national unions were pleased to see clear, detailed scientific guidelines published by the CDC. But both had some concerns.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, has emphasized the importance of virus testing in schools. And Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, expressed concern about the guidelines’ lack of emphasis on air quality. Nor was she happy with what she felt was leeway in language for physical distancing, which left the impression that six feet was ideal, but not essential.

The new guidelines are much clearer. They might be viewed as more rigorous, but they also discuss evidence that schools can safely open at any level of community transmission. The previous guidelines suggested schools use similar community transmission indicators to make decisions about opening, but provided limited guidance. Both the previous recommendations and the new guidelines allow schools to make decisions based on individual factors.

Only vaguely. The CDC says mitigation strategies must continue “until we better understand the potential transmission between people who have received a Covid-19 vaccine and there is more vaccination protection in the community”. Many experts believe that some precautionary measures like masks are warranted until all students are vaccinated. No vaccines are currently approved for children.

Whether schools must continue to enforce social distancing or keep students in small cohorts is less clear. A model examining the effects of various mitigation strategies in schools predicts that vaccinating teachers will have a significant effect on reducing transmission, potentially making the distancing and retention of students in cohorts less important.

The document does not distinguish between public and private schools and the recommendations could be adopted by any school. Private schools are currently more open than public schools, but are also subject to government regulations to operate safely during the pandemic.

Categories
Business

S. Prestley Blake, a Founding father of Pleasant’s, Dies at 106

S. Prestley Blake, a Founder of Friendly’s, Dies at 106

Stewart Prestley Blake was born on November 26, 1914 in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Herbert Prestley Blake and Ethel (Stewart) Blake. He grew up in Springfield, where his father worked for the watch manufacturer Standard Electric Time Company. His mother was an automobile enthusiast who encouraged her sons to be fascinated by cars. When he was 16, he bought a Type T Ford using the revenue from a newspaper route. (Another brother, Hollis, died at the age of 2.)

Mr Blake attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut for a year before returning to Springfield to start his ice cream parlor with his brother Curtis.

The Blake brothers closed the shop during World War II to join the war effort. Mr. Blake worked for what is now Westinghouse Electric Corporation, locating elusive electronic equipment and shipping it to wartime manufacturers. (Curtis Blake served in the Army Air Forces in the UK.)

After selling Friendly in the 1970s, Mr Blake toured the world on sailboats and Concorde jets, adding to his collection of vintage cars, culminating in about two dozen Rolls-Royces. One of them, he wrote, appeared in the Liza Minnelli film “Tell Me You Love Me, Junie Moon” (1970), in which he appeared as a chauffeur as a cameo.

Mr. Blake celebrated his 100th birthday in 2014 with the construction of a modernized replica of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia plantation, in Somers, Connecticut. The mansion cost nearly $ 8 million to build and was auctioned for around $ 2.1 million in 2016.

His first two marriages to Della Deming and Setsu Matsukata ended in divorce.

Mr Blake died in a hospital in Stuart where he lived. In addition to his son, his wife Helen survived Blake; a sister, Betsy Melvin; one daughter, Nancy Yanakakis; several stepchildren; 16 grandchildren and stepchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

“I started small, worked hard and succeeded beyond my wildest dreams,” said Mr. Blake at the end of his memoir. “I got out of the ice cream shop and sat nicely until I had to get off the couch and get back into the fray. This fight is over. I’m 96 and officially retired. May be.”

Categories
Entertainment

Paris Opera to Act on Racist Stereotypes in Ballet

Paris Opera to Act on Racist Stereotypes in Ballet

The announcements may seem straightforward, but the conversation about the Paris Opera and diversity has already caused a stir in France this year.

In December, an article in Le Monde magazine, the daily newspaper, caused a stir when it suggested Neef was considering banning problematic works. At one point the article discussed the “aesthetic choices” of Rudolf Nureyev, the star Russian ballet dancer who directed the Paris Opera Ballet for much of the 1980s. Some of its productions, which the company still performs, originally featured dancers in black and yellow, and although they are no longer presented that way, some sequences, like the “Chinese Dance” in its “Nutcracker,” still seem to viewers to be regarded as insensitive.

“Some works will undoubtedly disappear from the repertoire,” Neef was quoted as saying.

This comment, which Neef later said was taken out of context, was picked up by Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally Party, who wrote on Twitter that it was an example of “insane anti-racism.” It also sparked a debate in the media and online about whether the focus on diversity was a sign of creeping Americanization.

Neef said he wasn’t concerned about a similar reaction to the new report. “We are not here to promote a climate of censorship or dictatorial leadership,” he said. “The whole point of this initiative is that we want to perform opera and ballet by artists of the 21st century for the audience of the 21st century.”

It was clear, however, that the excitement had an impact on how the report was drafted. “I expect protest from the far-right and the most conservative politicians and intellectuals, and say it is once again about the Americanization of French culture,” said Ndiaye. He wrote it carefully to ward off these reactions, he added.

The Paris Opera isn’t the only ballet company in Europe involved in racial debates. Last year Chloé Lopes Gomes, the only black dancer at the Berlin State Ballet, made global headlines when she complained about racism in the company. In 2019, Misty Copeland, an African-American director at the American Ballet Theater, complained about the use of blackface at the Bolshoi in Moscow, although many in Russia defended its use, arguing that it wasn’t racist because it was the way it was classic Ballets have always been performed in the country.

Categories
Health

CDC revises faculty reopening steerage, warns that Covid variants might trigger points

CDC revises school reopening guidance, warns that Covid variants could cause issues

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented comprehensive new guidelines on Friday on how schools can be safely reopened for personal learning despite the spread of the coronavirus and highly contagious new variants.

The 35-page guide advises schools to implement their reopening plans based on the severity of the outbreak in their areas. It is recommended that schools adopt three “essential elements” for resuming personal learning, including wearing masks, exercising physical distancing, and monitoring the level of spread in the surrounding community.

According to the CDC, schools should also implement a testing program as an “additional layer” of Covid-19 prevention to identify and isolate infectious people and vaccinate teachers and staff “as soon as supplies allow”.

“Data suggests that it is possible for communities to eradicate cases of COVID-19 while keeping schools open for face-to-face classes,” the guidelines read. “In addition, models of consistent implementation of mitigation measures in schools have shown that it is effective in limiting outbreaks and infections in schools.”

However, the agency noted that the guidelines may need to be updated as new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus spread across the U.S.

“In the event of increased community transmission due to a variant of SARS-CoV-2, updates to these guidelines may be necessary,” said the agency.

The CDC said the first step in considering whether schools should reopen is to assess the rate of spread in the community. The agency recommended schools to monitor the total number of new cases per 100,000 residents in the community in the past seven days, as well as the percentage of positive tests in the past seven days, also known as the positivity rate.

According to the CDC, all schools can be safely reopened to full face-to-face learning if they follow appropriate protocols and are in communities that have reported fewer than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days and have a positivity rate below 8% lies . It is possible for schools in communities with higher prevalence in some days or with limited attendance and stricter infection prevention measures to reopen to face-to-face learning, according to the CDC.

“If municipalities implement mitigation strategies and strictly adhere to them, the level of transmission by the municipalities will be slowed down,” the new guidelines say. “This in turn will allow schools that are open to face-to-face learning to stay open and schools that have not yet reopened will help them return to face-to-face teaching.”

The CDC found that younger children may be less prone to Covid-19 than older middle and senior school aged children. It said schools should give priority to bringing back elementary school students who are the least likely to get Covid-19 and who appear to be less likely to spread the virus than teenagers.

And the CDC urged school administrators and local officials to “provide fair access to a healthy educational environment for all students and staff.” White House Covid-19 response officials said justice is the “north star” for federal response to the pandemic.

“The lack of personal educational opportunities can put children of all origins at a disadvantage, especially children in communities with limited resources who may be at an educational disadvantage,” the new guidelines state. “On the other hand, certain racial and ethnic groups have borne a disproportionate burden of disease and grave consequences from COVID-19.”

The agency said school districts should take an active role in helping underserved families, “including parents / guardians of color students, low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, students with homelessness and students in foster care”.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Donna Harris-Aikens, senior policy and planning advisor at the Department of Education, announced the new guidelines in a conference call with reporters.

The new guide comes after Walensky said last week that schools can safely reopen even if teachers haven’t been vaccinated. The White House quickly distanced itself from the comment. Press secretary Jen Psaki said it was not an “official guide” from the CDC.

President Joe Biden has made reopening the country’s schools for personal teaching a top priority. He promised in December that he would resume face-to-face tuition in most schools in the country for the first 100 days of taking office, but Biden did not define what it means for a school to “reopen”.

In January, he said the target only applies to schools teaching students through eighth grade. Earlier this week, the White House further clarified that schools are considered open as long as they teach in person at least one day a week. Psaki said Wednesday the target is part of the White House’s “bold, ambitious agenda”, adding that it is a floor the government hopes to cross.

“His goal is for the majority of schools, more than 50%, to be open by the 100th day of his presidency,” she said. “And that means some lessons in classrooms. So at least one day a week. Hopefully it’s more.”

In-person education came to an abrupt halt across the country in March as schools switched to distance learning to protect students, teachers and parents from the coronavirus. However, education experts and public health groups, including the World Health Organization, have warned of the permanent consequences of keeping students out of the classroom. Economists have also warned of the impact on working parents, especially mothers, who have lost record numbers of jobs during the pandemic.

Former President Donald Trump urged governors and local officials to reopen schools for personal learning, saying in July that closing schools will likely cause “more deaths”. However, under his administration, the CDC gave little guidance on how and when to safely reopen, saying instead that the decision should be made by local and state officials.

In the USA the problem is controversial. Some say the risk of the coronavirus for children is lower than the consequences of missing school. While children and young adults in general are less likely to get seriously ill and die of Covid-19, the risk is increased if the person has an underlying condition that affects their immune system. According to the CDC, more than 120 people under the age of 20 died of Covid-19 in September in the United States.

Instead of a previously clear federal approach, state, local and school officials have all set their own course on how and when schools should reopen. Data from Burbio, a service tracking school opening plans, recently reported that nearly 65% ​​of K-12 students are already learning some degree in person.

This story will be updated during the day.

Categories
Business

Recovered Covid sufferers have been reinfected with new virus strains, WHO says

Recovered Covid patients have been reinfected with new virus strains, WHO says

A laboratory technician tests material with a single-channel pipette dropper during processing of the Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction test (PCR) in a laboratory in the South African suburb of Dunkeld in Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

Waldo Swiegers | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Preliminary reports from South Africa show that people who have recovered from Covid-19 have been re-infected with a new, contagious variant of the virus, World Health Organization officials said at a news conference on Friday.

The good news, however, is that vaccines designed to protect against the virus appear to reduce the severity of the disease in those who develop Covid-19, even if they don’t completely protect them from infection, the chief scientist said the WHO, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan.

“The [vaccine] Studies that have so far been carried out in South Africa as well as in Brazil with various candidates have shown complete protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death. A single case was not reported in any of the studies, “she said.

According to the WHO, vaccination can also reduce the spread of new Covid variants.

“There are now reports that when you have the vaccine and you get infected, the viral load is much lower, so you may be less likely to infect others,” Swaminathan said.

Previous Covid infection creates antibodies and cell-mediated immunity that are believed to prevent re-infection, scientists have found. Vaccination also helps individuals build protection against the virus.

However, the researchers are still investigating the extent to which prior infection and vaccination will protect against the new, more infectious variants of the coronavirus.

Increased vaccination efforts alone are unlikely to be enough to control the spread of the UK-native strain of coronavirus, said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC on Thursday. Gottlieb said a combination of incoming warmer weather and increased vaccinations could help contain the variant.

Swaminathan at the WHO briefing on Friday stressed the importance of vaccinated people continuing to take precautions such as wearing masks, hand washing and social distancing to control the spread of the virus.

Categories
Politics

Takeaways From Day three of Trump’s Impeachment Trial

Takeaways From Day 3 of Trump’s Impeachment Trial

House impeachment executives on Thursday closed their case against former President Donald J. Trump, warning Senators that it would set a dangerous standard for the country in the future if they didn’t vote for a conviction. The trial will resume Friday when Mr Trump’s defense team comes up with their case that the president did not instigate the attack on the Capitol.

Here are some takeaways from the third day of the trial.

The impeachment managers used their last day of the argument to convince the Senators that Mr Trump invited the rioters to Washington on Jan. 6. They argued that the “insurgents” who attacked the Capitol were not acting alone as its defenders said and will most likely claim if they present their case.

The managers again used video footage of Mr. Trump and his supporters to present their arguments, interspersed with clips of chaos to remind the Senators of how they felt when the Capitol was attacked. They claimed that such violence would not have happened without Mr Trump.

An impeachment manager, Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, shared her experience during the attack and how she and others ran to safety and saw a SWAT team with weapons aimed at rioters on the ground. Ms. DeGette said she wondered, “Who sent you there?”

She shared comments from rioters, including a Texas real estate agent named Jennifer L. Ryan. “I thought I was going to follow my president,” Ms. Ryan said. “I thought I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there, he asked us to be there, so I did what he asked us to do. “

The Trump impeachment ›

What you need to know

    • A court case will determine whether former President Donald J. Trump is guilty of instigating a deadly crowd of his supporters when they stormed the Capitol on January 6, violently violated security measures, and went into hiding when they met to certify President Biden’s victory.
    • Parliament voted 232 votes to 197 in favor of a single impeachment trial, accusing Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the United States government” in order to dismiss the election results. Ten Republicans voted against him alongside the Democrats.
    • To convict Mr. Trump, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to approve. This means that at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with Senate Democrats to convict.
    • A conviction seems unlikely. Last month, only five Senate Republicans sided with the Democrats in repelling a Republican attempt to dismiss the charges because Mr Trump is no longer in office. Only 27 senators say they are not sure whether to convict Mr. Trump.
    • If the Senate convicts Mr. Trump and finds him guilty of “inciting violence against the United States government,” the Senators could vote on whether to expel him from office. This vote would only require a simple majority, and when it came to party lines, the Democrats would prevail if Vice President Kamala Harris casts the casting vote.
    • If the Senate doesn’t condemn Mr Trump, the former president could run for office again. Public opinion polls show he remains by far the most popular national figure in the Republican Party.

In another clip, Ms. Ryan said, “President Trump asked us to be in DC on the 6th, so that was our way of stopping the theft.”

After Joseph R. Biden Jr. denounced the attack on television and asked Mr. Trump to speak on national television and “demand an end to this siege,” one rioter asked, “He doesn’t know that President Trump called us to siege Has?” the place?”

The impeachment managers stressed that despite the five deaths and dozens of injuries among police officers alone, including broken ribs and broken spinal discs, Mr Trump never apologized for what happened on Jan. 6.

“President Trump’s lack of remorse and refusal to answer during the attack shows his state of mind,” said California representative Ted Lieu, a manager. “It shows that he intended the January 6th events to take place. And when it happened, he was happy about it. “

The managers stressed that Mr Trump’s behavior – selling false conspiracy theories and fraudulent claims, praising violence, skewing facts to fit his agenda – was not limited to the presidential fight and elections, and showed video clips of some of the most shocking and most controversial moments of his presidency. Among them was the deadly protest by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia after Mr. Trump encouraged the white supremacy movement in a way that no president had done in generations.

Jamie Raskin, the chief impeachment manager, asked the Senators, “Is there a political leader in this room who believes Donald Trump would stop inciting violence in order to find his way if he ever gets back to the Oval Office from the Senate? ? “

Throughout the impeachment process, House managers have commended former Vice President Mike Pence for standing up against Mr Trump and refusing to reject the vote of the electoral college for re-election.

“Vice President Pence showed us what it means to be an American,” said Lieu on Wednesday. “What it means to show courage. He has put his country, his oath, his values ​​and his morals above the will of a man. “

It was unusual praise to hear from Democrats after Mr Pence worked with his burning boss for four years, which, according to critics, only allowed Mr Trump to do.

Managers stressed that the rioters wanted to assassinate the country’s second in command, Mr. Pence, which appeared to appeal to the Republican senators’ appeal to the sacred chain of command.

“During the attack, the vice president never left the Capitol and remained locked in the building with his family – with his family -” said representative Stacey E. Plaskett, a manager and delegate of the Virgin Islands Non-Voting House. “Remember that as you think about these images and sounds of the attack. The vice president, our deputy, was always the focus. Vice President Pence has been threatened with death by the president’s supporters for rejecting President Trump’s request to overthrow the election. “

Mr. Pence, a former congressman and governor of Indiana, has been largely out of sight since leaving office. At the end of January, he was seen on vacation with his wife in the Virgin Islands.

Earlier this month, Mr Pence announced that he had joined the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The house’s impeachment executives closed three days of emotional footage of the attack. They showed Senators how close they were to the violent crowd of Trump supporters as they ducked and ran to safety that day. At times the videos and recordings seemed to resonate with the Republicans in the room. Some of them even praised the work of the property managers. But it wasn’t enough to change her mind.

On Thursday, before the managers closed their case, Republican Senator John Boozman of Arkansas told reporters that he would vote to acquit Mr. Trump. He predicted that the 43 other Republicans who voted with him to find that a former president’s attempt was unconstitutional would also vote for the acquittal.

To get a conviction, Senate Democrats would have to support 17 of their Republican counterparts, and that was never an expected outcome.

“Impeachment is dead on arrival,” Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul predicted last month.

Sabrina Tavernise, Luke Broadwater and Glenn Thrush contributed to the coverage.

Categories
Business

Pizza Was the Restaurant Hero of 2020

Pizza Was the Restaurant Hero of 2020

A few times a week, Elizabeth Reninger strolls to lunch at a pizza place near her job. She orders the same thing every time: a slice of cheese and chips for $ 6. For a little adventure, she sprinkles parmesan and paprika flakes on top.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, Ms. Reninger, a criminology student at Northern Arizona University who also works at a dog daycare, estimated that she only ate pizza once every few months. That changed late last summer when she strolled into a pizzeria with slices and ice cream.

“Maybe the warm, sticky cheese is a kind of comfort food for me with the pandemic,” Ms. Reninger said. “I go a couple of times a week, maybe three times a week, which is kind of embarrassing.”

For many Americans, pizza has been a perfect pandemic option, a comfort meal for a time that is far from pleasant. Whether it’s a thin crust version topped with fresh vegetables or a filled crust tart piled with sausage and hot peppers, pizza has ticked a lot of boxes in those strange times, mostly because it’s easy on the way and light – sometimes quite inexpensive – can feed a whole family. In the first nine months of 2020, Domino and Papa John’s combined revenues soared that they roughly equaled sales of about 30 million more large cheese pizzas than the previous year.

In a year when restaurants across the country struggled to stay afloat and many were unable to cover rent payments and pay employees due to government-mandated closings, those who split pizza fared Generally better. According to Technomic, a research and consulting company in the food industry, sales of pizza rose by up to 4 percent in the past year. Pizza and chicken are the only food categories expected to grow.

“The overall pizza category was a big winner,” said Sara Senatore, an analyst who covers restaurants in Bernstein. Ms. Senatore noted that it may have turned into a meal for families on tight budgets due to falling wages or lost jobs.

For big pizza chains like Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and the privately owned Little Caesars, the pandemic turned out to be a sales boon. Technomic said the four controlled 43 percent of the $ 44 billion market that fell into the pandemic. Some analysts say the big chains, most of which have not yet reported fourth quarter profits, have almost certainly gained more market share because of their size, hiring additional problems like paying rising prices for cheese and other ingredients Cope with help or rent coverage better after particularly lean weeks as an independent pizzeria owner.

For the first nine months of last year, combined sales at Domino and Papa John grew nearly 12 percent, or $ 434 million. Pizza Hut revenues were slightly below 2019 levels over the same period. The chain was in the middle of a turnaround plan as it faced closings and restrictions related to Covid at its restaurants across the country. Even frozen pizza did well during the pandemic. According to NielsenIQ, sales rose almost 21 percent to over $ 6 billion.

“Pizza was the perfect food for the pandemic, but I think it’s the perfect food for all time, too,” said Ritch Allison, chief executive officer of Domino’s, who immediately saw double-digit sales growth in the same store in the US last year Spring. Last year, Domino stock rose 40 percent to $ 385 per share. In the fall of 2008 it was trading at a low of $ 3.

“We are fortunate to have entered the pandemic,” said Allison, noting that the company has a robust delivery service and has invested in its digital capabilities over the past decade.

But as demand increased during the pandemic, Domino rushed to hire 30,000 people. increased the production of fresh dough sent to all of its locations; and there was an occasional shortage of ingredients as meat producers closed their facilities due to coronavirus outbreaks. TV commercials, which typically take months to plan and shoot, were re-started within days to allow drivers to wear masks during deliveries.

Mr Allison said his company has also gotten pretty nimble to respond to pandemic customer behavior. When cheeseburgers and tacos were also found to be popular pandemic options, two specialties were quickly made: cheeseburgers and chicken tacos. Both are going to be big sellers, Allison said.

“My new favorite is the chicken taco, and I’m adding extra jalapeños to give it a zipper,” he added.

The pandemic has devastated the catering industry overall. Last year, more than 68,000 restaurants closed permanently, with buffets, French bistros and soup and salad bars being hardest hit, according to Datassential. 11,000 restaurants were opened during the pandemic. Pizzerias led the way with almost 2,000 openings.

Justin Morse and his partners were hoping to have their version of escargot (served in small baking cases with salt crackers) and steak fries for guests when they opened Brasserie Brixton, a cozy 45-seat French bistro in Denver in July. However, they grew increasingly nervous as the city’s food restrictions increased in late fall, and they were unable to apply for government assistance programs like the paycheck protection program due to no evidence of any loss of revenue.

Mr. Morse and his co-owners knew they had to focus on delivery. When they realized that items like French onion soup didn’t travel very well, they made a U-turn. On Thanksgiving weekend, they built and installed a wood stove.

“Which industry is already set up for delivery and take-away? Pizza, ”said Mr. Morse. “We said, ‘Let’s imitate an industry that people are already familiar with in terms of delivery and take-away. ‘“While their restaurant, temporarily renamed (Le) Brix Pizza & Wine, offers a classic Margherita pizza, it also sells pizzas with a French flair. One comes with white anchovies and thyme and one with potatoes, crème fraîche and rosemary.

“We don’t sell enough pizzas to cover all costs, but it’s better than the alternative,” said Mr Morse, who supplies most of the pizzas himself. He said the group hopes to get back to French cuisine in a few months but is considering continuing the pizza business elsewhere.

Domino’s Mr Allison said he believes demand for pizza will remain robust even after the pandemic ends.

“We were given the opportunity to serve many new customers during the pandemic who had never or had not ordered from us for a long time,” he said. “We hope we have done a great job of serving them and that they will become loyal customers.”

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Health

As Hundreds of thousands Get Covid Vaccine Pictures, F.D.A. Struggles With Security Monitoring

As Millions Get Covid Vaccine Shots, F.D.A. Struggles With Safety Monitoring

“It’s great for routine activities, but when it comes to security surveillance, size is all,” said Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University and former federal vaccine officer. “The bigger it is, the faster you get an answer. At some point the VSD is going to get a really good answer – probably one of the best answers out there because they are so good at it. But in a pandemic, time is not on our side. “

Few serious problems have been reported through these channels to date and no deaths have been clearly linked to the vaccines. The 30-year initiative, known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), relies on self-reported cases from patients and health care providers.

Health officials say the two vaccines already approved for use appear to be reasonably safe so far. There have been some serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, but they are treatable and are considered rare. The rate at which anaphylaxis has occurred to date – 4.7 cases per million doses for the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech and 2.5 cases per million for the vaccine from Moderna – is in line with other widely used vaccines.

Bruising and bleeding caused by decreased platelet counts have also been reported, although it is not known whether they are vaccine-related or accidental. A total of 9,000 adverse events were reported, of which 979 were classified as serious and the remainder classified as non-serious according to the latest available CDC report.

In interviews, public health experts, including current and former FDA and CDC officials, expressed the need to improve on the old “passive” surveillance that relies on self-reporting. They said funding shortages, turf wars and bureaucratic hurdles had slowed BEST, officially known as the Biologics Evaluation Safety Initiative, in preparation for monitoring Covid vaccines.

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World News

Qualcomm objects to Nvidia’s $40 billion Arm acquisition

Qualcomm objects to Nvidia’s $40 billion Arm acquisition

The front of the Qualcomm office on November 1, 2017 in San Jose, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

American chipmaker Qualcomm has told regulators around the world that it is opposed to Nvidia’s acquisition of British chip designer Arm, worth $ 40 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The company has notified the Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the Chinese State Administration of Market Regulation that it has concerns about its purchase of Nvidia Arm, currently owned by Japanese tech giant SoftBank.

The FTC’s investigation has moved into a “second phase” and the US regulator has asked SoftBank, Nvidia and Arm to provide more information, according to two sources familiar with the deal but wanting to remain anonymous due to the private nature of it the discussions.

Answering the request for information will likely take many months as several large documents need to be created, the sources say. In the second phase, the FTC will also work with other companies that may have relevant information that could help them make decisions, they added.

The European Commission, the EU executive and the CMA declined to comment, while the FTC and SAMR did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Qualcomm, which refused to comment on the story, reached out to regulators believing the sources said they will play an important role in deciding whether or not to close the deal. It has spoken to representatives who focus on antitrust law and mergers.

Nvidia told CNBC it was confident that regulators will see the benefits of the acquisition. Arm declined to comment and SoftBank did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

“You are seeing a very thorough, very painful, and very long investigation,” one of the sources told CNBC.

The arm wrestling

Arm was spun off from an early computer company called Acorn Computers in 1978. The company’s energy-efficient chip architectures are used in 95% of smartphones in the world and 95% of chips developed in China.

The company licenses its chip designs to more than 500 companies who use them to make their own chips.

Qualcomm has spoken out against the acquisition of Nvidia because sources say there is a very high risk of Nvidia becoming a gatekeeper of Arm’s technology and preventing other chipmakers from taking advantage of Arm’s intellectual property. It’s not about Nvidia being able to take full advantage of the acquisition without breaking certain boundaries that people are concerned about, they said.

Announcing the acquisition, Nvidia and Arm said the deal would create “the world’s leading computing company for the AI ​​age.” The duo have pledged to keep Arm’s Cambridge, UK headquarters and invest heavily in the business.

“This combination has tremendous benefits for both companies, our customers and the industry,” said Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, when the deal was announced.

However, five industry sources, including two tech investors, have told CNBC that they believe the deal has a very high likelihood of being blocked by one or more regulators.

“Ultimately, the decision on whether or not this deal is anti-competitive is based on a very simple idea: Arm is an enabler for competition,” the same source told CNBC. “It enables companies to compete. Whether you are MediaTek, Amazon Web Services, Qualcomm or NXP. Any company – regardless of your research and development (R&D) budget – can license Arm and own Arm-based CPU. This is a unique model. “

The source added, “The incentive (for Arm) is to share their technology with as many people as possible, and the only thing they can get for it is royalties. This creates trust between Arm and its licensees. Those licensees pass on information to arm that (can help) make better products so that the next generation (of products) can generate more revenue. It’s a virtuous cycle. “

Other objectors

Across the Atlantic, the AI ​​chip start-up Graphcore has raised concerns with the UK competition and market authorities. Nigel Toon, CEO of Graphcore, told CNBC in December that Graphcore considers the deal to be anti-competitive.

“There is a danger that other companies will be closed or restricted from accessing the cutting-edge CPU processor designs that are so important in the entire technology world, from data centers to mobile devices to cars and all kinds of embedded devices,” he said.

Local chipmakers in China, including Huawei, have urged Beijing to block the deal over fears that if Arm gets into the hands of a US company, they could be put at a disadvantage.

An Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC, “We are confident that as the review process progresses, both regulators and customers will see the benefits of our plan to continue Arm’s open licensing model and ensure a transparent, collaborative relationship with Arm’s licensees . Our Vision for Arm will help all Arm licensees grow their businesses and expand into new markets. “