A statement from the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) condemns the COVID vaccination mandates that have been rolling out in many Minnesota hospitals. The statement said that they believe that “voluntary vaccination programs” along with putting measures in place to keep staff and patients healthy are the most “optimal.”
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Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher (R-08-WI) called for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Adviser, to resign in an interview with Fox News. Gallagher said, “At a minimum he should step down and we should have a full investigation to untangle the complex web of US taxpayer dollars funding this type of research.”
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The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee voted on Tuesday evening to urge the Metropolitan Public Health Department’s (MPHD) Chief Medical Director Gill Wright to reinstate a citywide mask mandate for public indoor spaces.
Councilpersons Joy Styles (District 32), Burkley Allen (At-Large), Jennifer Gamble (District 3), Sharon Hurt (At-Large) and Sandra Sepulveda (District 30) sponsored the resolution, which passed with 21 councilpersons in favor, nine opposed and five abstaining.
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A new category of professional has joined the legal challenges to university vaccine mandates: doctors.
University of California Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine psychiatrist and medical ethicist Aaron Kheriaty is suing the university system to recognize his natural immunity from COVID-19 recovery, and he’s getting help from fellow UC medical professors.
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About 442,196 unemployment claimants saw their pandemic unemployment assistance benefits end on Sept. 4, but it’s unclear if that will ease Michigan’s labor shortage.
The federal Pandemic Unemployment plus regular unemployment benefits let recipients receive up to $662 weekly.
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Comedians like Lenny Bruce once risked jail time to slam the status quo. Rockers routinely mock authority, like Green Day’s Grammy-winning screed against President George W. Bush, “American Idiot.”
Now, as vaccine mandates spring up across the country those rebellious groups are mostly silent about rules insisting citizens get the jab before resuming normal life.
A few, like Dee Snider, are cheering on the regulations.
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Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? The answer to that question may determine how the American legal system treats you, whether an inmate, party or even lawyer.
From custody fights and bail conditions to courthouse access and grooming privileges, vaccination status is playing an outsized role in courts and jails nationwide.
An Illinois judge provoked outrage a month ago by revoking a divorced mother’s visitation rights to her 11-year-old son after Rebecca Firlit told him she couldn’t get vaccinated because of adverse reactions.
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New research published by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Bangladesh, which tracked mask-wearing among 340,000 Bangladeshi adults, indicates mask usage can considerably reduce the spread of symptomatic COVID-19.
Some medical professionals, however, remain uneasy about mask mandates in schools because of their possible impact on children’s learning and social health.
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Some Minnesota parents have launched a lawsuit seeking Governor Tim Walz (D) to instate another peacetime emergency. The suit argues that another peacetime emergency is necessary so that a mask mandate can be issued to protect the rights of children in schools.
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Police and firefighters are suing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, arguing her vaccine mandate for state workers conflicts with the U.S. and state constitutions.
The lawsuit filed in Jefferson County by the Oregon Fraternal Order of Police and the Kinglsey Firefighters Association asks the judge seeks to block the state from enforcing Brown’s executive order requiring COVID-19 inoculations fir all executive branch employees.
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Georgia’s rural leaders said communities continue to face a lack of support from the state as the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorates the qualify of life in rural areas.
David Bridges, interim director of the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation, said the pandemic has exacerbated hurdles in educational attainment and health care access and shortages in the workforce in rural Georgia. Bridges stressed the need for aid in smaller towns and cities this week to the Georgia Legislature’s House Rural Development Council.
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A COVID vaccine declination form from a Wisconsin health provider, Hudson Physicians, says that the employee must understand that by declining they are “endangering” others. The form also states that by signing the form, the employee is acknowledging that “COVID-19 is a serious virus.”
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A nurse at Minnesota Regions Hospital, a part of the Healthpartners care network, revealed an internal memo from Healthpartners president that tells clinicians not to offer medical exemptions for the COVID vaccine for their patients. The letter also specifically says that they should not offer exemptions for those that are pregnant.
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State Senators Kim LaSata (R-MI-Coloma) and Jim Runestad (R-MI-White Lake) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would allow students in Michigan’s colleges and universities the right to opt out of vaccine mandates imposed by those institutions.
The bill would create a range of medical and non-medical exceptions to requirements for students at any higher-education institution in Michigan to get any kind of vaccine.
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An informal meeting of the Genesee County, Michigan Board of Commissioners on Monday saw residents turn out heavily against a school-mask mandate for students in grades K-6.
County Medical Health Officer Pamela Hackert told attendees she imposed the requirement only on those lower grades because she wanted to provide protection to students who do not yet have the option of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Roughly one-third of the U.S. population had been infected by the coronavirus by the end of 2020, according to a new study that appears to show how widespread but underreported the virus was.
The study was conducted by Columbia University researchers and published Thursday in the science journal Nature.
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Republican lawmakers are talking about suing the University of Wisconsin over mask mandates and test requirements for those who haven’t received a coronavirus vaccine.
State Senator Steve Nass (R-WI) said he will ask permission to begin legal proceedings if the UW System doesn’t change its mind about coronavirus restrictions by next week.
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota – Thousands gathered at a medical freedom rally on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol on Saturday. Estimates ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 participants.
Many protesters held signs saying things like “Stop the mandate” and “My body, my choice.” Others wore shirts that had phrases that stated “Health is not mandated” and “Medical freedom.”
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Shelby County has announced a lawsuit against Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) over his executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates. The county says that the order puts children at risk of contracting COVID and even dying.
The complaint, filed Tuesday, says that “Governor Lee’s executive order makes the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools impossible.” The lawsuit opens by stating that Shelby County is in the middle of a “global pandemic, the likes of which the world has not seen in over a century.”
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Minnesota is launching a program to help students struggling to meet educational standards after a year of “education disruption” due to COVID. The program is called Collaborative Minnesota Partnerships to Advance Student Success (COMPASS) and will be providing students individualized support in struggle areas.
The press release from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) reads that the program will “accelerate learning by meeting students’ academic, social-emotional and mental health needs as Minnesota school communities continue to navigate the pandemic.”
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On Thursday, several Kent County commissioners and a packed room of parents expressed outrage over Health Officer Adam London’s mandate that school children wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
London, who issued the requirement mere days before children in the Grand Rapids area headed back to school this Monday, insisted at a board of commissioners meeting that no negative consequences come to children from wearing masks.
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Tennessee high school sports will not be mandating masks for their players or sporting events, according to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA). They are currently adhering to some of the rules that were instituted for the fall 2020 season, which include distancing and in some cases limiting onlooker capacity for sporting events.
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The 90-day investigation ordered by the Biden Administration into the origins of the Chinese Wuhan coronavirus has come to a conclusion, but remains classified to the general public for the immediate future, according to CNN.
In the month of May, Biden ordered the intelligence community to conduct their own investigation into where the virus originated from, after shutting down previous ongoing investigations that had been initiated by the Trump Administration, and ordered his new investigations to report back in 90 days with their findings. The 90-day deadline was Tuesday.
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Facebook is facing backlash over several decisions in August that critics say indicate a lack of transparency, particularly regarding the problem of misinformation.
The tech company drew criticism after it published a report Saturday detailing the most widely-viewed content on the platform for the first quarter of 2021, showing that the most viewed news article was a factual story published by the Chicago Tribune about a doctor dying two weeks after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Facebook had initially shelved the report and published data on the second quarter of 2021 instead, but released it following an investigation by The New York Times that revealed the tech company withheld the report due to fears it would seem like it was promoting misinformation.
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The report of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona’s Maricopa County has been delayed because the chief executive and two other employees of the audit team reportedly have COVID-19 and are “quite sick.”
A draft report of the findings was expected to be delivered Monday to Republicans in the state Senate, who hired the Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in studio to talk about what it was like working beside icon Phil Valentine during talk radio’s heyday.
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According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 680 U.S. public and private colleges require students to get a coronavirus vaccine. This is a non-negotiable mandate for students to maintain enrollment status.
The vaccination edicts come even as the coronavirus has an extremely low mortality rate among college-aged students — CDC data attributes only 2.8 percent of coronavirus deaths to those under age 45. Regardless of this reality, those favoring mandated vaccines argue that schools already require students to provide proof of other vaccinations.
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While COVID hype and fear is pushed on the American population, Minnesota’s ICU bed capacity continues to decline. Government officials, news outlets, and influencers are encouraging Minnesotans to get vaccinated to stay out of the ICU, citing Minnesota’s “93% full ICUs.”
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval Monday to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a major step that will likely have significant implications for vaccination mandates nationwide. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have not yet received full FDA authorization.
The Pfizer vaccine previously received FDA authorization, which allowed its emergency use but did not give the full approval. Pfizer is the first company to receive full approval in the U.S.
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The Wisconsin state senator who represents the towns around Fort McCoy has issued the strongest objection yet to the still murky plan to bring thousands of Afghan refugees to central Wisconsin.
Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, on Friday sent a strongly worded letter to Gov. Evers asking for answers about who the refugees are and where they will go once they arrive.
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Californians wanting to attend events with more than 1,000 people will have to prove they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The California Department of Public Health announced attending indoor events with 1,000 or more guests will require either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours. The requirement previously was triggered at events with 5,000 or more attendees.
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Jennifer Bridges knew what was coming when her director at Houston Methodist hospital called her up in June to inquire about her vaccination status.
Bridges, a 39-year-old registered nurse, responded “absolutely not” when asked if she was vaccinated or had made an effort to get vaccinated. She was terminated on the spot.
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Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe is famous for his voracious fundraising, from his roles as head of the Clinton money machine to his success the last time he was governor. But now his fund-raising is earning him some infamy.
McAuliffe, in a close race to reclaim the Virginia governorship against GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin, has for decades raised millions for his party and some of its marquee candidates including former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton, a two-time White House candidate.
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While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this spring allocated $1 billion in border security funds to the state’s Department of Public Safety and 1,000 members of law enforcement to secure the border, counties that made disaster declarations over the illegal migrant crisis say they still haven’t received the resources they sought four months later.
“Kinney County has not received anything that we requested from the governor on April 21,” County Attorney Brent Smith told Just The News. “We have heard promises and have been told that all the resources that we so desperately require are available, but thus far, nothing has been delivered. Empty promises don’t keep our residents safe. Empty promises don’t secure our border.”
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The Tennessee mask mandate opt out for school children might violate federal laws, the Department of Education says. Governor Bill Lee (R) signed an executive order that allowed parents the right to opt their children out of mask mandates in schools.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed American Commitment’s Phil Kerpan to the newsmaker line to explain the COVID science and data he found regarding child mask-wearing.
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While they may not agree on nearly anything else, one issue manages to unite Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN: an archaic television ratings system that is known to wildly misrepresent viewership.
At a time when cord-cutting has brought about many new ways to consume television news and entertainment, the industry’s primary measurement tool, Nielsen Ratings, seems stuck in another era. Those chosen as “Nielsen families” have complained for years about the cumbersome, almost primitive methods used to track their viewership.
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The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has recommended that school aged children test at least weekly for COVID. Local districts can choose to take part in the program offering on-site testing at elementary schools and receive a grant to fund it.
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Lawmakers heard testimony on House Bill 4471, which aims to ban employers from requiring certain vaccines and wearing masks.
The bill aims to ban employers from firing or discriminating against employees who choose not to get certain vaccinations, including tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, or COVID-19, or making them wear masks or disclosing vaccination status.
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A judge ordered an Ohio felon to get the COVID vaccine within 60 days of his court date or face additional jail time. Obtaining the vaccination was the condition of his probation. He was sentenced to two years of probation for possession of fentanyl.
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The Minnesota State Fair announced Wednesday that they will not be requiring masks. Their statement reads that, “Mandating masks fairgrounds-wide would be extremely difficult for our organization to enforce, so we are urging you to pitch in and do what’s right.”
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Madison and Dane County residents will have to wear their masks once again.
The city and county’s joint public health office, Public Health Madison & Dane County, on Tuesday reinstated its indoor mask mandate.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that all schools require mask-wearing indoors by teachers and students, vaccinated or unvaccinated against COVID-19.
And many school districts are adopting that requirement, to the dismay of many parents.
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Minnesota activist and parent groups that allegedly represent over 30,000 Minnesota parents have signed on to a letter opposing mandatory masking of children. The letter, which has also been used in Wisconsin to protest mandatory masking, was addressed to Governor Tim Walz and President Joe Biden. The letter was written and released under the group Open Schools USA.
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American colleges continue to face the consequences of COVID, as data show they experienced a significant decrease in returning students this past school year.
Many post-secondary education plans to take classes were canceled in 2020. In August of last year, the US Census Bureau conducted a survey which showed 29.4 percent of households with at least one prospective student had canceled their plans to take classes in the fall of 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.
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Republican members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Friday urged that committee’s chair to commence an investigation into the decisions of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) and several other governors to discharge COVID-19-infected patients into their states’ nursing homes in 2020.
In addition to Whitmer, Tom Wolf (D-PA), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Phil Murphy (D-NJ) are specifically criticized in the letter written to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL).
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Ave Maria University Professor of Law Seana Sugrue to the newsmakers line to discuss her recent piece which addresses the disorder at the CDC.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed California refugee Craig Huey in studio to discuss today’s top headlines regarding Texas house Democrats’ arrests and alleged liberal California professor ignited wildfires.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that the COVID vaccine will be required for government employees in Minnesota. If employees choose not to be vaccinated and get an exemption, they will need to undergo weekly COVID testing. The State of Minnesota is the second largest business to require employees to be vaccinated, with over 40,000 employees, second to Mayo Clinic.
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Michigan voters upset with mask mandates and other school-board actions can organize recall efforts, as Mount Pleasant Public Schools parents are now doing.
Three directors of that central-Michigan school district could be electorally removed owing to public backlash over a requirement that all students up to the age of 12 wear masks in school.
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