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Frustrated by the lack of response to their complaint of the “imminent danger” posed by COVID-19, three meatpacking workers at the Maid-Rite Specialty Foods plant outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, took the unusual step Wednesday of filing a lawsuit against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

The lawsuit, filed in a Pennsylvania federal court, accuses the government of failing to protect essential workers from dangerous conditions that could expose them to the coronavirus. It relies on a rarely used provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act that allows workers to sue the secretary of labor for “arbitrarily or capriciously” failing to counteract imminent dangers.

On May 19, the Maid-Rite workers had turned to a Pennsylvania organization called Justice at Work to help them file an anonymous complaint with OSHA that detailed the lack of protections at the plant and described how they were required to work elbow-to-elbow with their co-workers on the production line.

Their complaint followed a similar report from another Maid-Rite employee in early April, which the workers weren’t aware of at the time.

PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey has asked Arizona’s congressional delegation to focus on unemployment and other matters important to Arizonans in the next federal COVID-19 relief package.

Ducey’s July 21 letter seeks funds to guarantee the unemployed will be eligible to receive at least 100% of their weekly earnings, and to replenish the state’s $1 billion unemployment trust fund, which has paid out $640 million since the pandemic began.

“We know we will continue to have needs over the coming weeks and months and we are working to be good stewards of those dollars to the benefit of all Arizonans,” Ducey wrote.

The governor also asked for an extension beyond the Dec. 30 deadline for tribal leaders to spend money allocated by Congress “to ensure they can target their highest areas of need, including infrastructure that will allow them to continue providing needed services.”

A spokeswoman for Sen. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, told The Arizona Republic the senator is “deeply engaged” in crafting the next relief package, a followup to the CARES Act Congress passed in March.

“Employees who are unable to return to work should receive sustained financial relief with expanded unemployment benefits,” McSally said in a later statement. “Congress should provide more support to small businesses that continue to be impacted by restrictions so they can stay afloat.”

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This year, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign filed defamation lawsuits against three of the country’s most prominent news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN. Then it filed another suit against a somewhat lower-profile news organization: northern Wisconsin’s WJFW-TV, which serves the 134th-largest market in the country.

The Trump campaign sued the station over what it claims is a false and defamatory ad WJFW aired that showed Trump downplaying the threat of the coronavirus as a line tracking new COVID-19 infections ticks up and up on the screen.

Dozens of stations ran the ad. But the Trump campaign chose to sue just NBC-affiliate WJFW, which is owned by a relatively small company that only has two other local TV stations, both in Bangor, Maine. The campaign did not initially sue the political organization that produced the ad. That group later joined the case as a defendant.

The curious lawsuit is part of a larger, aggressive and exceedingly expensive legal operation by the Trump campaign that’s the focus of our latest “Trump, Inc.” podcast.

In today's coronavirus news: AZ closes in on 153K cases … Death toll tops 3,000 … hospitalizations are trending downward as Arizonans embrace masks … Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to let Arizonans know what's up with schools today … UA expands antibody testing … and more details below.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona closed in on 153,000 as of Thursday, July 22, after the state reported 2,335 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County had seen 14,143 of the state's 152,944 confirmed cases.

The death toll topped 3,000 today after the state reported an additional 89 deaths. A total of 3,063 people have died after contracting the virus, including 405 in Pima County.

Maricopa County had 102,247 of the state's cases.

Hospitals remain under pressure, although they report in slight decrease in the number of Arizonans hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms. The report shows that 2,966 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state, down from a peak of 3,517 on July 13. That's the lowest it's been since July 1, where 2,938 people where hospitalized with COVID complications.

A total of 1,327 people visited ERs yesterday with COVID symptoms.That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.

A total of 851 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday, the lowest that number has been since July 5, when 839 COVID patients were in ICU. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.

SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED TODAY

Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to address the question of reopening school and universities at his usual Thursday press conference today. Ducey said at last week’s press conference that he was in conversations with school leaders and university presidents about the best way to move forward with the school year. Many school officials are anticipating an announcement this week from Ducey regarding a further delay in starting the school year.

While Arizona schools are tentatively scheduled to open on Aug. 17 (with some districts starting online programs sooner), Ducey said he would be meeting with Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman and other state educational stakeholders in hopes of providing more complete information on the game plan for reopening schools.

“I know people want clarity around this and we’re going to provide clarity,” Ducey said. “I’m going to tell you our kids are going to be learning in the fall.”

Hoffman said this week that instead of picking a date to reopen schools, Ducey should instead use metrics regarding the spread of the virus.

“School leaders should be empowered to work with local public health officials to examine data and determine when it’s safe to reopen for in-person learning, rather than relying solely on dates,” Hoffman said in a prepared statement. “Metrics, including but not limited to those listed below, will provide communities with clear targets for mitigating COVID-19.”

Those metrics should include a downward trajectory of confirmed new cases, a decrease in positivity rates in testing and widespread availability of tests, Hoffman said.

She added that Ducey should guarantee full funding for distance learning programs, which districts have been assembling in one form or another since March.

“Whether their school buildings are safe to reopen or not, schools need flexibility and budget stability for students and educators to succeed in the upcoming year,” Hoffman said. “Many public schools have already invested considerably in technology, online learning platforms, and other tools needed during distance learning. Students need access to services that support their well-being and academic success across multiple scenarios and conditions during a pandemic.”

Some public health experts say that community transmission is too widespread to safely open the schools as planned. Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, recently warned that while states that have taken more aggressive steps earlier to slow the spread of the virus will be able to reopen schools, he can’t see the same thing happening in Arizona because of the state of community spread.

Humble, who headed up the Arizona Department of Health Services in the administration of former Gov. Jan Brewer, said there are two main factors to consider when opening schools in the fall: mitigation measures alongside the level of community spread within a school district.

“Because we have the level of community spread that we have, I just don’t see that mitigation measures, which help but don’t eliminate transmission, are going to be adequate to make it a safe environment for teachers and schools and families,” Humble said.

Got a short attention span these days? MOCA has got you covered with their third annual 5-Minute Film Festival, showcasing 20 short films that clock in at 300 seconds or less. Arizona residents submitted their film art to this juried, shortform online festival, and the first, second and third place winners received cash prizes from the UA Hanson FilmTV Institute.

Join the fun on MOCA's YouTube channel at 6 p.m. tonight

ICYMI, here are the stories we covered today:

• In today's coronavirus news: AZ has passed the 150K threshold in cases … hospitalizations are trending downward as Arizonans embrace masks … Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to give more guidance to schools tomorrow as State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman calls for metrics rather than calendar dates to determine when it is safe to return to schools … Ducey calls on Congress to extend the unemployment benefit that provides an extra $600 a week to out-of-work Arizonans … and more.
• Conservationists expressed anger and frustration over the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision not to hear an appeal to stop construction of the southern border wall.
• Navajo leaders said the tribe could begin moving toward the phased reopening of the reservation as early as next week, but they continued to urge members to take precautions to keep the number of COVID-19 cases trending downward.
• President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will exclude undocumented immigrants in the 2020 Census when it comes to allocating seats in Congress, a move critics called unconstitutional and unenforceable.
• Opponents to the effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona filed a legal challenge in Maricopa County Superior Court Tuesday in an attempt to stop the initiative from making the state's November ballot.
• A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected a long-simmering challenge to Proposition 123, the voter-approved 2016 measure that is set to redirect an estimated $3.5 billion to Arizona public schools over a decade.
• Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement Tuesday that fans will not be allowed to attend college sporting events in the state of New York during the fall shed light on an interesting discrepancy between New York and Arizona.
• With Arizona's COVID-19 cases now topping 150,000, the University of Arizona and the State of Arizona have expanded their free COVID-19 antibody testing program to include 15 new categories of essential workers considered at high risk for exposure.

With Arizona's COVID-19 cases now topping 150,000, the University of Arizona and the State of Arizona have expanded their free COVID-19 antibody testing program to include 15 new categories of essential workers considered at high risk for exposure. The antibody test, developed by researchers at UA Health Sciences, determines who has been exposed to and developed an immune response against COVID-19.

PHOENIX – Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement Tuesday that fans will not be allowed to attend college sporting events in the state of New York during the fall shed light on an interesting discrepancy between New York and Arizona.

One has a lot of colleges. The other does not.

New York has 102 schools that sport Division I, II or III programs. Arizona? Try four: Arizona, Arizona State, Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon.

The abundance of schools in New York made Cuomo’s decision a significant story.

“Fanless, the game can go on, the game can be televised, but no fans,” Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters.

PHOENIX – A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected a long-simmering challenge to Proposition 123, the voter-approved 2016 measure that is set to redirect an estimated $3.5 billion to Arizona public schools over a decade.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling in the case, which has been pending since the day after Prop 123 was passed by a margin of just 1.5%.

Phoenix resident Michael Pierce had argued that the state could not transfer funds from the state’s land trust, as the proposition does, without congressional approval and a federal district court agreed. But the appeals court said Tuesday that Congress made the necessary approvals in 2018, leaving Pierce “without a case or controversy,” and it reversed the lower court.

The legal challenges did not hold up the school money, but Chris Thomas, general counsel for the Arizona School Boards Association, said it is still “good to get this chapter behind us.”

Opponents to the effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona filed a legal challenge in Maricopa County Superior Court Tuesday in an attempt to stop the initiative from making the state's November ballot.

But rather than challenge the validity of the signatures, Arizonans for Health and Public Safety is taking issue with what they call misleading language in Smart and Safe Arizona's 100-word summary. Among other complaints, they say the group redefines marijuana because the initiative includes cannabis extracts along with marijuana flower. The opposition group believes marijuana extracts should be defined differently since they contain more THC than typical marijuana buds.

"Cannabis THC is highly concentrated," said Arizonans for Health and Public Safety chair Lisa James. "For example, five grams of marijuana concentrate that they allow is approximately 2,800 doses of pure THC for one person."

The group's lawsuit also challenges the Smart and Safe Arizona proposition essentially eliminates restrictions on weed-impaired drivers by not relying on marijuana metabolites tests to check if a person is impaired while driving.

"(Smart and Safe) eliminates all current marijuana DUI violations based on the percentage of marijuana impairing metabolites in the driver's system," James said. "That's no longer enough to convict for a DUI."

Critics of marijuana metabolite testing cite the test's unreliability to determine when the last time a person used marijuana since those metabolites can stay in a person's system for weeks or months.