Getting tough

News blues

US Prez Biden is cracking down on vax-avoidant  states – finally!

Officials with US OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration - are threatening to assert jurisdiction over workplace safety in three states that haven’t adopted President Joe Biden’s emergency regulation for health care facilities.
South Carolina, Arizona and Utah all have what are known as OSHA state plans. Federal OSHA oversees workplace safety around the country, but states are allowed to handle it on their own as long as they meet minimum federal requirements.
OSHA officials said Tuesday that those three states had missed the deadline to implement the Biden administration’s new rule meant to protect health care workers from COVID-19. If they don’t implement such a rule, the administration will move to revoke approval of their state OSHA plans — which would subject employers in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah to federally run inspections.
Read more >> 

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Variant of the Delta variant?

Delta is the UK's dominant variant, but latest official data suggests 6% of Covid cases that have been genetically sequenced are of a new type.
AY.4.2, which some are calling "Delta Plus", contains mutations that might give the virus survival advantages.
… identified as AY.4.2, this offshoot or sublineage of Delta has been increasing slowly since then. It includes some new mutations affecting the spike protein, which the virus uses to penetrate our cells.
So far, there is no indication that it is considerably more transmissible as a result of these changes, but it is something experts are studying.

Read more >> 

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Seeking resources and information on Covid vaccines? Explore the CDC website  >>
(0:35 mins)

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The Lincoln Project: Rudy Giuliani loses it… again… here he is acting out the part of Abe Lincoln to blacklist a Democratic candidate  … then putting his foot in his mouth to be sued by The Lincoln Project . Will this madness ever end?

Healthy planet, anyone?

Rain has finally come to the Bay Area. This, as California records it’s driest year in nearly a century  and Gov. Newsom declares a statewide drought emergency and officials announce that Californians reduced water use an average of 5% in August..
Rain falls only in winter in California and, usually, it’s a gentle rainfall, perhaps windy but seldom accompanied by thunder and lightning. Lightning is an anomaly and, when it occurs, frequently ends up as a spectacular photo on the front page of local newspapers.
Rainfall in Kwa Zulu Natal, on the other hand, usually is accompanied by thunder and lightning. The rainy season has begun there, too.
Water. Life giving.

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Also life giving? A sacred valley. Could it be designated America’s next national monument? If successful, the designation would end a decades-long fight to protect rare swamp cedars — and a key Native American site >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

In Houston, Texas, a new theme for children’s birthday parties: Indoor skydiving….  Shown here, a member of the family checking it out as a venue for grandson’s birthday party with 5 of his friends. Woo hoo!