A Shot In the Arm
Injecting Vaccines In the Harbor Area By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter
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[See Shot, p. 3]
Transformational Change, Or Not? The American Rescue Plan will cut child poverty in half for a year. Democrats want to make
that cut permanent. To prevent that — and much more — Republicans are trying to destroy democracy By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
“The sheer number of repressive voting bills that have been introduced just in the last few weeks are terrifying,” said Harbor Commissioner Diane Middleton, citing it as a response to the progressive agenda pushed by the Bernie Sanders campaign, which substantially informed the plan. Even before that, in early February, there were four times as many such bills as there were at the same time last year, according to the Brennan Center. Millions could be blocked from voting. The worst that Republican Senators could say about the American Rescue Plan was that it represented a “liberal wish-list” — otherwise known as an agenda. As Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent remarked: [T]he way representative democracy is supposed to work is that the voting public elects a party, that party enacts as much of its agenda as it can, and then voters [See Rescue, p. 8]
COVID-19 Deaths in the U.S. as of March 17, 2021: 549,702 • COVID-19 Deaths in Califrornia: 56,143 COVID-19 Deaths in LA County: 22,519 • For up-to-date stats: www.randomlengthsnews.com
March 18 - 31, 2021
On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the most consequential and most popular rescue package since the New Deal. Economists project it could double GDP growth this year, from around 3.5 to 7%. It passed narrowly with no Republican votes in Congress, but is so overwhelmingly popular — in the 70 to 80% range — that even a majority of Republican voters approve of it. The plan could be the harbinger of a new era —just like the New Deal was in the 1930s — in which Americans see government playing a crucial role in bettering their lives, thus restoring faith in our democracy. And, the House has already passed a string of bills to do just that, with more on the way. But if Republicans have their way — relying on the Senate filibuster and a wave of over 250 voter-suppression bills in 43 states — that faith could be strangled, rather than restored. We could be headed the way of India or Brazil.
Chaleff Report on LAPD: Does it go far enough? p. 8 One year, one crisis, two restaurants p. 10 Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pencil p. 9 A muralist’s migration: Venice’s loss is San Pedro’s gain p. 13
Real People, Real News, Really Effective
Brandi Aguilar, a member of the staff of the Harbor Community Health Centers, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Albina Alejo. Photo by Chris Villanueva
ost people have spent the pandemic trying to avoid people infected with COVID-19, which has killed more than 532,000 in the United States alone. The 60 people on the staff of the Harbor Community Health Centers have done the opposite — they have been treating people with COVID-19, and as a result, 10 of them have been infected at different times. Now, they are no longer putting themselves in as much risk. They have been vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine, which is 94.1% effective. They have just begun vaccinating other people. “We’re going to essentially follow the tier groups,” said Jennifer Chen, a nurse practitioner and director of clinical operations at the Harbor Community Health Centers in San Pedro. While the centers have three locations, only the location at 6th Street offers vaccinations. “We have this outdoor area that we’re setting up, because [patients] have to be monitored for 15 to 30 minutes postvaccination,” Chen said. “So you want to make sure we have enough social distancing room to accommodate that.” Vaccinations for patients 65 and older began on March 3, and will move to the next tier as each group is completed. The centers requested 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine, but will only receive 100, said Tamra King, CEO of the centers. The centers now receive 100 doses every week. Prior to receiving the vaccine, the 60 staffers at the centers were just as susceptible to infection as the rest of the public. Because of the cases of infection among the staff, further preventive measures were put in place.
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