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U.S. Gives Protected Status to Ukraine Refugees
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to grant temporary protected status to Ukrainians in the U.S. The Justice Department has also ceased the deportation of Ukrainian nationals who lack U.S. documentation.
The move took effect on March 1.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas remarked, “Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked attack on Ukraine has resulted in an ongoing war, senseless violence, and Ukrainians forced to seek refuge in other countries.
“In these extraordinary times, we will continue to offer our support and protection to Ukrainian nationals in the United States.”
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the move could affect around 30,000 Ukrainians living in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas or without visas.
There are over 1 million people of Ukrainian ancestry in the United States, according to 2019 census estimates. Traverse City, Michigan, has become one of the destinations with a large Ukrainian community.
Truck Convoy to Loop Around D.C.
A line of trucks, recreational vehicles, and cars on Sunday circled Washington, D.C., in preparation for a week of traffic disruptions to protest COVID-19 restrictions.
The “People’s Convoy” includes
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1100065 around 1,000 vehicles which plan to drive around the Beltway at minimum legal speed.
The protest takes its lead from a similar, recent protest in Ottawa, Canada, which disrupted trade between the U.S. and Canada for over a week. The U.S. convoy began assembling in California, attracting similarly-minded participants as it traveled eastward across the country.
Since the U.S. has already relaxed most of its COVID-19 restrictions, however, the U.S. convoy is demanding more diverse aspirations, though it still demands an end to workplace vaccine mandates.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned the truckers’ convoy may hinder emergency services.
Organizer Brian Brase told The Washington Post that he is not sure how long the protest would last, but that the drivers “don’t want to shut D.C. down.”
“We’re not anti-vaxxers. We’re not,” he assured. “We just want freedom, freedom. We want to choose. We just want the choice. So tomorrow is a basically a show of just how big we are and how serious we are.”
Battling Wildfires in Florida
Evacuation orders remain in place for around 600 homes in the Florida panhandle, as firefighting crews battled at least four dangerous wildfires over the past few days.
On Sunday, the Florida Forest Service said nearly 10,000 acres were ablaze in the Panhandle. Officials added that two major wildfires were burning in Bay County and that additional resources had been deployed.
The larger of the two wildfires, the Bertha Swamp Road fire, had burned about 8,000 acres by Sunday and was only around 10% contained. Another fire, the Adkins Avenue Fire near Panama City Beach, had reached 841 acres and was 35% contained, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis said.
On Saturday, DeSantis expanded the state of emergency declared in Bay County to include two additional counties, Calhoun and Gulf, which were also impacted by the fires.
The cause of the Bay County fire is under investigation. A burn ban has been issued for the county. According to Bay County Sheriff Tom Ford, the fire began when someone burned trash in their backyard, and the fire began to spread out of control.
Thankfully, there have been no reported fatalities due to the fires.
Minneapolis Teachers Strike
Minneapolis educators began striking on Tuesday after failing to reach a deal with Minneapolis Public Schools, canceling classes for more than 30,000 students.
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and Education Support Professionals (ESP) are seeking “a living wage,” “lowering class sizes, and for safe and stable schools,” according to a post on the teachers union’s Facebook page.
“We are going on strike tomorrow for the safe and stable schools that our students deserve,” MFT President Greta Callahan said on Monday in a news conference.
“We have continued to do so much more with so much less,” Callahan said. “Those at the top of this district continue to hoard power – continue to do so much less with so much more. And if we don’t intervene, we believe that the Minneapolis Public Schools will cease to exist. We are in the fight for strong public schools for our city, for our students.”
The district has 31,598 students, 3,266 teachers and 1,223 education support professionals, per its website.
In the meantime, all classes for pre-K through 12th grade will be
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canceled “for the duration of the strike” starting Tuesday, the district said.
Teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota, Minneapolis’ twin city, were also ready to strike, but the Saint Paul Federation of Educators and Saint Paul Public Schools announced late Monday they had reached a tentative agreement on new contracts.
A Spider Invasion?
If the spider crawling up the waterspout in your bathroom looks a bit different, it may be the Joro spider, a species native to east Asia that has been finding itself on the east coast of the United States.
The spider, Trichonephila clavata, is known for its ability to spin highly organized, wheel-shaped webs. Females have blue, yellow and red markings and can measure up to 3 inches when fully extended.
According to the new study, Joro spiders, which predominantly hail from Japan, will likely survive on the U.S. east coast because Japan has a very similar climate and is located approximately on the same latitude. It also has a higher heart rate than other spiders and can survive colder temperatures.
“Just by looking at that, it looks like the Joros could probably survive throughout most of the eastern seaboard here, which is pretty sobering,” said Andy Davis, a research scientist at the Odum School of Ecology and co-author of the study.
Last year, the spiders made their way through the yards of northern Georgia, spinning webs up to 3m deep.
It is unclear how the spiders traveled from east Asia, but researchers say their proliferation is likely due to changes in weather conditions.
According to Davis, the Joro does not appear to have much of an impact on local food webs or ecosystems and may even serve as an additional food source for native predators like birds.
“People should try to learn to live with them,” he said. “If they’re literally in your way, I can see taking a web down and moving them to the side, but they’re just going to be back next year.”
Benjamin Frick, co-author of the study and an undergraduate researcher in the School of Ecology, said: “The way I see it, there’s no point in excess cruelty where it’s not needed. You have people with saltwater guns shooting them out of the trees and things like that, and that’s really just unnecessary.”
Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Sent Home
After 20 years in custody, a Saudi prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who was suspected of trying to join the 9/11 hijackers was sent back to his home country for treatment for mental illness this week. Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani was flown back to Saudi Arabia, to a treatment facility, from the U.S. base in Cuba after a review board including military and intelligence officials concluded he could be safely released after two decades years in custody.
The 46-year-old prisoner says he has suffered from mental illness, including schizophrenia, since childhood. The U.S. dropped plans to try him after a Bush administration legal official concluded he had been tortured at Guantanamo.
There are now 38 prisoners left at the detention center. Al-Qahtani is the second released under President Biden, who has said he intends to close the facility.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of Saudi Arabia and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Department of Defense said in a statement announcing the repatriation of al-Qahtani.
Only half the men held there have been cleared for release,
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especially rare. The outright recommending against an approved drug by a local health officials is a rarity, though.
“The Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children,” Ladapo said.
“We’re kind of scraping at the bottom of the barrel, particularly with healthy kids, in terms of actually being able to quantify with any accuracy and any confidence the even potential of benefit.”
Children face little risk from COVID-19, with an ever-growing trove of data showing that they are not nearly as affected by it as adults are. The CDC reports that children only account less than 0.1 percent of Covid deaths in the U.S. since the pandemic first began.
A study from the University of Utah last year found that 50 percent of pediatric Covid cases are asymptomatic. The study was performed before the more-mild Omicron variant emerged, meaning the risk for children to even feel symptoms is likely lower now.
Children may also be less likely to spread the virus when infected, with a German study finding that they release as little as only 25 percent of virus particles as adults do.
Data revealed by New York state officials at the end of last month also found that the shot was only 12 percent effective at preventing Covid infection for children aged five to 11.
and no decision has been made about what to do with the rest, including those who still face trial by military commission. In August 2001, al-Qahtani was turned away from the U.S. at the Orlando airport by immigration officers who were suspicious of his travel. The lead 9/11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta, was going to pick him up to take part in the plot, according to previously released documents.
U.S. forces later captured al-Qahtani in Afghanistan and sent him to Guantanamo.
Supposedly al-Qahtani was subjected to beatings, exposure to extreme temperatures and noise, sleep deprivation and extended solitary confinement at Guantanamo. An FBI official in 2002 observed al-Qahtani speaking to non-existent people, hearing voices and crouching in a corner of his cell while covering himself with a sheet for hours at a time.
FL: No Vaxx for Healthy Children
Florida is now the first state to recommend against using the COVID-19 vaccine for “healthy children,” according to Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo on Monday.
Children face little risk from Covid, with hospitalizations or deaths caused by the virus being
Fremont, CA, Happiest in the Nation
Out of a study of 182 large cities in the United States, Fremont, California, is considered the happiest city in the nation.
The WalletHub study ranked each location based on residents’ emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, and the local community and environment
