Wednesday, August 26, 2020
“There’s no secret we are a split ticket,” Lizer said during a Navajo town hall Tuesday with President Jonathan Nez. “We are working both sides, and we are well represented in Washington.”
Lizer’s comments came as he was getting ready to address the Republican National Convention, just one week after Nez was featured as a “rising star” who helped deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In a prerecorded prime-time speech, with Shiprock as a backdrop, Lizer credited President Donald Trump with improving relations between federal and tribal governments.
“For years, we’ve fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us. That is, until President Trump took office,” Lizer said in his convention address. “Whenever we meet with President Trump, he has always made it a priority to repair the relationship with our federal family.”
Affected business owners received an email from the Arizona Department of Health Services today giving them the green light to return to business once the department's business dashboard updates in the morning.
"ADHS anticipates that Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal Counties will be in the moderate transmission category when the ADHS business dashboard updates on Thursday. Therefore, on Thursday, August 27, 2020, you will likely be eligible to reopen if you attest to comply with all the requirements for your business type," according to the the ADHS email.
Owners will no longer have to complete an ADHS application to reopen. However, they will need to fill out and submit an attestation form with the department prior to reopening. After the form is submitted, owners are back in business as long as they follow the state's new requirements.
In her daily blog, ADHS Director Cara Christ praised Arizonans in her blog for working together to slow the virus' spread since mid-July. However, she warned business owners and Arizonans alike to stay vigilant, keep wearing masks and staying at home if sick to help keep the state's metrics trending downward.
Christ did have a warning for business owners who fail to follow the new requirements.
"Businesses not complying with the required mitigation measures will be subject to strict enforcement," Christ wrote. "The Department will continue to partner with local authorities, county health departments, and other state agencies to ensure proper compliance and protect the health and safety of customers and employees."
Mendoza was abruptly removed from Tuesday night’s lineup of speakers, where she had been scheduled to have a prime spot on the second night of the convention.
The Trump campaign did not cite the tweet, but said in an email shortly after Tuesday’s convention had started that it had removed Mendoza’s “scheduled video from the convention lineup and it will no longer run this week.”
The tweet, since taken down, was first reported by the Daily Beast. It encouraged Mendoza’s almost 41,000 followers to unroll a Twitter thread that tied Jewish bankers to the Titanic, the Kennedy assassination, global government and alleged crimes of past administrations.
Mendoza apologized for “not paying attention to the whole message. That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.” But that did not appear to be enough to keep her as part of the convention.
Mitchell, 38, has two appeals remaining – a request for a presidential commutation of his sentence and a petition for another court to delay his execution so the commutation request can be heard – but one expert conceded that those were long shots.
“Mr. Mitchell’s life is in President Trump’s hands, and we hope the president will demonstrate his respect for tribal sovereignty and grant Mr. Mitchell the mercy of executive clemency,” said a statement Wednesday from Celeste Bacchi and Jonathan Aminoff, the federal public defenders representing Mitchell.
If the execution goes forward at 6 p.m. EDT in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, it would be the first time in modern history that the federal government carried out the death penalty for a crime between Native Americans on tribal land, over the objections of the tribal government, his attorneys said.
“There’s a feeling that, you know, the matter is something that should be in the hands of the Navajo leaders…. That we have the inherent power to make decisions,” said Robert Yazzie, who was the Navajo Nation chief justice during the time of Mitchell’s crime.
Arizona Daily Star Sports Columnist Greg Hason tweeted prayers for Olson would be welcomed by the Hall of Fame coach while commenting on how he is "in the fight of his life" and ESPN Tucson radio host Justin Speers tweeted "He is easily the most beloved person in Tucson."
If you believe in the power of prayer, your positive thoughts would be welcomed by Lute Olson. The Tucson legend is in the fight of his life.
— Greg Hansen (@ghansen711) August 25, 2020
The 85-year-old coaching legend suffered a stroke in February 2019 and rarely has been seen in public since.Lute Olson is Arizona basketball. Lute is Tucson. Didn’t matter what side of town you grew up on, Foothills or the South Side, he brought so many Tucsonans together every year with his teams. He is easily the most beloved person in Tucson.
— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) August 26, 2020
I’m in disbelief right now.
Olson is the most successful basketball coach in UA athletics history since arriving in the Old Pueblo in 1983. During his time, he led the Wildcats to an NCAA national championship in 1997, three NCAA Final Four appearances, 22 NCAA Tournament appearances and won 11 Pac-10 championships before retiring in 2008.
UA Football defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil tweeted his support for Olson during this time.
Wildcats Radio 1290 assistant program director and co-host Michael Luke tweeted the station would not be discussing Olson's health until a statement from the family is released.Many prayers for my friend and fellow Wildcat Lute Olson. We love you Coach. 🙏🏼 #BearDown
— Chuck Cecil (@chuckcecil26) August 26, 2020
Regarding Lute Olson:
— WildcatsRadio1290 (@Wildcats1290) August 26, 2020
On 1290, we won't be addressing the rumors about Coach's health.
This is, and always should have been a private matter for the family and we will continue to respect those wishes.
When, and if, there is a statement released we will address it.
-Mike
Olson even got some love and support from the voice of his biggest advesary—the ASU Sun Devil nation. ASU announcer Tim Healey commented about the coach's graciousness when interviewed on Healey's pre-game show years back.
Prayers up from Sun Devil Nation for Hall-of-Fame former UA MBB coach Lute Olson. Lute was always gracious with his time visiting with me for pregame interviews when ASU played his Wildcats. The 1990’s Bank One commercials with Lute & Bill Frieder were TV classics! pic.twitter.com/VEtXAI1idP
— Tim Healey (@TimHealeyASU) August 26, 2020
One Olson fan's tweet sums up how we're all feeling right now.
Man. Don’t take Lute Olson. Fuck 2020. 😪
— Michael Evenchik (@Jewlympian) August 25, 2020
Youth in America are criminalized every day, with racial and socioeconomic disparities further increasing their likelihood of being policed, arrested or killed by law enforcement.
Despite overall declines in arrests and incarceration, children of color are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system every step of the way. In 2018, Black youth were arrested more than twice as often as white youth.
“Hispanic/Latino youth are placed in residential facilities at a rate that is 1.3 times greater than their representation in the population,” according to a 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Nearly 730,000 minors were arrested in the United States in 2018, according to federal data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. For thousands across the country, this path is set off by a singular interaction that defines the trajectory of a child’s life: an encounter with police.
For more information, visit harkins.com
The University of Arizona administration announced they will delay their staged reopening plan just one day after the fall semester began on Aug. 24.
In an Aug. 25 email to faculty, students and staff, UA Provost Liesl Folks said the administration decided to continue Stage 1 of the reopening (essential in-person classes only) during the second week of instruction, which begins Monday, Aug. 31.
Stage 2 was originally set to begin on Aug. 31 and would have allowed small classes to resume in person, bringing another 9,000 people to campus. But Folks said they’ve decided to hold off on Stage 2 for the time being, after consulting with local public health officials.
“Based on the test data and discussions with our campus community, we have decided to continue in Stage 1 during Week 2,” Folks said in her letter. “While nearly all the data we have today shows improving trends for limiting the spread of the coronavirus in Arizona, we feel that we should continue in Phase 1 to allow more time for public health data to be collected and analyzed before we move to instruction to Stage 2: Essential In-Person / Outdoor / Small In-Person courses.”
Out of more than 9,000 antigen tests performed in the university community between July 31 and Aug. 25, the UA has uncovered 37 positive COVID-19 cases. On Aug. 25 alone, 342 antigen tests were conducted and six positive COVID-19 results were identified.
The university is using far more antigen tests—which are less expensive and produce rapid results—than traditional PCR tests, which can take 48 hours or longer to produce results. There has been controversy over the effectiveness of antigen testing. During the same time period, only 37 PCR tests were performed and reported no positive COVID-19 results.
For more information, visit covid19.arizona.edu/updates.
Tags: COVID19 , Coronavirus , University of Arizona , Reentry , Testing , Image
The number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases closed in on 200,000 as of Wednesday, Aug. 26, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 20,911 of the state’s 199,459 confirmed cases.
With 104 new deaths reported today, a total of 4,896 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Aug. 26 report.
A total of 996 people visited ERs on Aug. 25 with COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.
A total of 305 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Aug. 25, the lowest that number has been since May 20, when 299 people were in ICU. The number in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.
In Pima County, the week-by-week counting of cases peaked the week ending July 4 with 2,398 cases, according to an Aug. 19 report from the Pima County Health Department. Those numbers have dropped with Pima County requiring the wearing of masks in public but they have plateaued in recent weeks, with 832 cases in the week ending Aug. 8 and 819 cases in the week ending Aug. 15. (Not all recent cases may have been reported.)
Deaths in Pima County are down from a peak of 54 in the week ending July 4 to 19 for the week ending Aug. 8.
Hospitalization peaked the week ending July 18 with 247 COVID patients admitted to Pima County hospitals. For the week ending Aug. 8, 88 COVID patients were admitted to Pima County hospitals.
Huckleberry: No “significant, sustainable decline in infections or deaths
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry warns the fight against COVID is far from over..
“In looking at the long view over the months since the pandemic started, we are not yet seeing any significant, sustainable decline in infections or deaths,” Huckelberry wrote in an Aug. 24 memo. “This data, as reported by the Arizona Department of Health Services, will and has varied significantly from day to day. This daily fluctuation should not and cannot be interpreted as a trend.”
In order to control the virus, Huckelberry said the county needs to focus on testing, contact tracing, and surveillance testing, which involves continually retesting those who have higher risks of being exposed to COVID-19, such as healthcare workers and first responders. He suggests surveillance testing be done through antigen tests, which are less expensive and produces rapid results.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Sunday, Aug. 9 marked five months since Pima County saw its first case of COVID-19. As of that date—now a few weeks in the rear-view mirror—there had been 17,880 recorded infections and 489 deaths across the region.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry says the fight is still far from over.
“In looking at the long view over the months since the pandemic started, we are not yet seeing any significant, sustainable decline in infections or deaths,” Huckelberry wrote in an Aug. 24 memo. “This data, as reported by the Arizona Department of Health Services, will and has varied significantly from day to day. This daily fluctuation should not and cannot be interpreted as a trend.”
This analysis contrasts with what the state health department has been telling the public in recent weeks. Gov. Doug Ducey said the state has made significant progress in decreasing the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths. As of Aug. 24, Pima County has recorded 20,535 COVID-19 cases and 551 deaths related to the virus.
In order to control the virus, Huckelberry said the county needs to focus on testing, contact tracing, and surveillance testing, which involves continually retesting those who have higher risks of being exposed to COVID-19, such as healthcare workers and first responders. He suggests surveillance testing be done through antigen tests, which are less expensive and produces rapid results.
Tags: COVID-19 , Coronavirus , Pima County , Testing , Contact Tracing , Schools , Hospital , Health Department , Image
