MY TAKE

MY TAKE Supreme Court vacancy President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Court of Appeals judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Democrats say a new Supreme Court justice should not be appointed until after the presidential election, pointing out Republicans declined to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016. But Senate Republicans say they have the majority and will move ahead with the confirmation process. Quotes below taken from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Wispolitics.com reports. n

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN D-Madison

SEN. RON JOHNSON R-Oshkosh

NOW OR LATER?

“Voters across America should be allowed to cast their ballots first, before a Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process moves forward.” “President Trump was elected for a term that runs into January. Republicans have control of the Senate until the end of this Congress. We should fulfill that constitutional duty.”

COMPARISON TO 2016

“Majority Leader (Mitch) McConnell and the Senate majority put in place the standard that Supreme Court nominations would not move forward in an election year. That was the standard imposed on President Obama and the same standard should apply now to President Trump.” “We had divided government (in 2016). That’s a valid argument when you have divided government (saying) ‘Let’s let the American people decide.’ Right now, we don’t have divided government. That makes all the difference in the world.”

THE ELECTION FACTOR

“It’s not only an election year. We are weeks away from an election for president and control of the Senate, and people are voting right now. After the voters have spoken in the election, and the elected president and new Senate have taken office, we can then move forward on a Supreme Court nomination.” “It’s just the reality of the situation. The norm is, if you have a president of one party and Senate of the same party, (election year) vacancies are filled. And if you have a president of one party and Senate of the other party, the vacancies are not filled.”

Three Key Questions During Covid-19

After more than six months dealing with the COViD-19, we seem to have an endless supply of questions. During the August Biz Times webinar, “You’re Informed of a Positive test - Now What?,” experts on the testing, insurance and legal issues of associated with doing business during the pandemic (Maureen Joy, OTR, Health Care Specialist for R&R Insurance Services; David Metzger CEO/President of Accelerated Analytical Laboratories Inc. and Brittany Lopez Naleid, a Shareholder at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, s.c.) answered many of these questions.

Here are three of the most crucial ones covered in the webinar:

1. What are your options for COVID testing for employees? You and your employees can be tested at a number of public facilities — Walgreens, CVS, drive-through test sites or local healthcare.

Or the National Guard can come to your facility (usually after a problem has been identified) and test your employees. Another option — you can arrange for onsite testing, that can be scheduled at your convenience and comes with 48- to 72-hour turnaround for results.

“The lab was able to process results within two days for over 140 tests and ensured there was a service available for immediate pick-up of kits,” according to Alison Hanold of Cargill, which used Accelerated Analytical Labs testing capabilities.

Another benefit of onsite private testing is, not surprisingly, privacy. “When the National Guard come out, they’re going to be out front and center of your building and everybody’s going to be able to see it, so it can be a bit of a PR nightmare,” said Metzger.

2. How often do you need to test? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends testing every 14 days. When deciding on a protocol, compare your workplace’s positive percentages to the community percentages and compare the cost of testing to that of a partial or full shutdown.

“I absolutely believe regular testing provides a “peace-of-mind” to the employees that their employer cares about them and is doing everything they can to keep them safe at work. I think there is also a comfort factor provided to the employees that they are not bringing COVID home to their families from work,” said Robert Cigale, owner of Endpoint Solutions Corp.

To read this story in its entirety, visit biztimes.com/category/sponsored

9075 West Heather Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53224 (888) 770-6896 • acceleratedlabs.com