Day: March 30, 2020

Austin Peay University Moves this Year’s Summer Classes Online

Chris Butler

Officials at the Clarksville-based Austin Peay State University announced they will move all of this year’s face-to-face summer classes online, or to other forms of non-face-to-face instruction.

“We appreciate everyone’s hard work and flexibility as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,” APSU President Dr. Alisa White wrote in an email to students, faculty and staff.

“In order to continue to do what we can to mitigate the spread of the virus and ‘flatten the curve,’ we have decided to move all face-to-face Summer 2020 classes to non-face-to-face instruction.”

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Governor Bill Lee Orders Tennessee Residents to Stay Home, Except for Essential Business

Chris Butler

To limit the spread of COVID-19, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Monday issued an executive order telling state residents to stay home unless they are engaging in essential activities.

According to the order, businesses or organizations that do not perform essential services cannot remain open for public access. Lee’s order encourages those businesses to provide delivery, including curbside delivery, to the greatest extent possible. Lee also ordered that Tennesseans limit their essential activity to the greatest extent possible.

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ICE Is Using Its Deportation Flights to Bring Home Americans Stuck Abroad

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ICE Air Operations, the air transportation arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has so far rescued 466 U.S. citizens stranded in the Northern Triangle region of Central America amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Following orders of final removal, ICE deported Salvadoran and Honduran nationals back to their home countries on Friday. On the return leg of these flights, the agency took aboard U.S. citizens who were stranded due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to an ICE press release.

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Plummeting Oil Prices Are Not Reflected in California’s Price at the Pump

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Gas up the car

Gas prices are falling all over the country as oil prices tumble, yet prices are still relatively high in California, where environmental polices are restricting how oil refineries can produce gasoline.

The price of a gallon of gas has plummeted in Ohio to around $1 in part because Americans are self-isolating to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus. The average price dropped 35.1 cents over the past month, according to data from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

A BP station in Kentucky, for instance, posted a price below $1 a gallon, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Four other stations in Oklahoma City followed suit, along with another in Paris, Tennessee. The national average for gas on Thursday was $2.03, down from $2.41 at the beginning of March.

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Commentary: Remembering Senator Tom Coburn – He Stood Tall for Taxpayers

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Former Sen. Tom Coburn was a hero among fiscal conservatives and endless source of inspiration and courage. The Oklahoma Republican embodied financial stewardship, always showing great respect for the hard-earned tax dollars of working Americans.

Coburn, who died late Friday at 72, helped the American people better understand the size and scope of Washington’s spending problem by highlighting government waste.

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Fauci Says US Could Potentially Have 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths but Cautions Projections Are A Moving Target And Could Easily Mislead People

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by Chuck Ross   Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top expert on infectious diseases, predicted Sunday that the United States will end up with “millions” of cases of coronavirus and up to 200,000 deaths by the time the pandemic ends, though he cautioned that any projection of mortality statistics could “easily” end up being wrong. “Looking at what we’re seeing now, I would say between 100,000-200,000 [deaths],” Fauci said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re going to have millions of cases.” As of Sunday, the United States has more than 125,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and nearly 2,200 deaths. Fauci and other health officials expect those numbers to rise dramatically over the next few weeks as people infected with coronavirus begin showing symptoms and going into the hospital. Fauci, who is a leading member on the White House coronavirus task force, also poured cold water on several doomsday scenarios projecting millions of deaths in the U.S. during the pandemic. He said that models projecting between 1 million and 2 million deaths are “almost…certainly off the chart.” One projection that has received widespread attention, from Imperial College in the United Kingdom, projected 2.2 million deaths in the U.S., but only if…

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Commentary: The Reach of Nancy Pelosi Goes Far Beyond the Halls of Congress

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned 80 on Thursday. In the runup to that milestone, Pelosi launched impeachment proceedings against President Trump, who was duly acquitted. By way of follow-up, she decided to block the Senate’s coronavirus response package earlier this week, and on Monday offered a 1,200-page version of her own chock full of goodies meant to keep the Ocasio-Cortez-Tlaib-Omar squad in line.

And behind the scenes, Pelosi is pulling the strings on the Golden State.

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Commentary: What Price Should China Pay for Causing the Coronavirus Pandemic?

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The coronavirus pandemic thus far has spread to more than 145 countries, causing high levels of infection and thousands of deaths. The worldwide costs of combating COVID-19, including efforts to overcome severe economic hardships for millions of people and organizations, undoubtedly will amount to many trillions of dollars.

There is widespread agreement and indisputable proof that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leaders are directly responsible for the worldwide spread of COVID-19.

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President Trump Extends COVID-19 distancing and other guidelines to April 30, Predicts Death Peak in Two Weeks

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  President Donald Trump on Sunday said the federal government is extending to April 30 its guidelines on social distancing and other measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 2,300 Americans. “The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end,” Trump said at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden Sunday evening. “Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30 to slow the spread.” Trump said more details would be provided by Tuesday. The president also said that the death rate should peak in about two weeks and that by June 1, much of the country should “be well on our way to recovery.” “We think by June 1, a lot of great things will be happening,” Trump added. The federal guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that originated in China in December, include keeping a distance of at least six feet from others, avoiding group gatherings of 10 people or more, avoiding discretionary travel and practicing good hygiene, among others. More than 136,000 cases of the novel coronavirus had been confirmed in the U.S. by Sunday afternoon, and nearly 2,400…

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Gov. Whitmer Suspends Michigan Water Shut-Offs

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to reconnect residents’ water services that had been shut off.

The governor signed the $2 million Water Restart Grant Program on Saturday. The suspension of the public utility shut-offs were mandated effective immediately.

“This is a critical step both for the health of families living without a reliable water source, and for slowing the spread of the Coronavirus,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We continue to work to provide all Michiganders – regardless of their geography or income level – the tools they need to keep themselves and their communities protected.”

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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Wages War on Price Gouging During Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘My Office and I Are Coming After You’

Anthony Gockowski

Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office received more than 500 complaints about price gouging in Minnesota last week alone.

The influx of complaints is part of Ellison’s effort to stop companies from hiking their prices on essential products during the coronavirus pandemic. Doing so is now illegal under an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz, which will remain in effect for the duration of Minnesota’s peacetime emergency.

Ellison’s office announced a statewide crackdown on businesses engaged in “pandemic profiteering” last week and encouraged Minnesotans to report instances of price gouging to his office.

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Commentary: The Private Sector Will Play a Key Role in Combating Coronavirus in Ohio

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President Trump’s emphasis on collaborating with U.S. businesses will go a long way toward allowing us to curb the coronavirus outbreak in Ohio and across the country. 

The President has been hard at work implementing a bold and innovative strategy to address the evolving global health crisis. In addition to restrictions on international travel, which limited the early spread of the disease in our communities, President Trump has also negotiated deals with some of America’s largest businesses, which are eager to do their part to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

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Tennessee Medical Association Asks All Mayors to Issue Shelter in Place Orders

Anthony Gockowski

The Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) sent a letter to every mayor in the state Friday asking them to request authority from Gov. Bill Lee to issue shelter-in-place orders for their communities.

Lee has thus far declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order, which prompted more than 2,000 health care workers to sign a petition asking him to change course, The Tennessee Star reported. As of Sunday, 26 states had issued stay-at-home orders, including the neighboring states of North Carolina and Kentucky.

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