Wednesday, August 26, 2020
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
Trump got all 2,550 votes, even though only a fraction of that many delegates were actually in the hall in Charlotte, North Carolina. Like the Democratic National Convention last week, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the GOP event this week to stage a nontraditional convention.
But even though they could not be there in person, Arizona delegates expressed enthusiasm Monday for their candidate.
“He took the time to come to Arizona to show that he cared for our state,” said Alberto Gutier, a delegate and sergeant-at-arms for the Arizona Republican Party who was watching the events from home Monday.
The outcome was hardly a surprise: Arizona was one of a number that opted against a Republican presidential primary this year, leaving Trump as the only candidate.
Most delegates focused their comments on law and order, economic issues and, for Arizona delegation Chairman Michael Ward, “miles and miles and miles of big, beautiful wall.”
It took a little more than an hour and a half Monday for the actual roll call of the states that formally nominated Trump, who followed with a speech that went on for almost an hour on everything from election security to COVID-19 to judicial appointments.
This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans.
Near the end of a lengthy indictment detailing fraud allegations against Stephen Bannon, former Donald Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist and his associates, federal prosecutors reveal that they intend to seize the assets of a murky nonprofit organization Bannon launched in 2017 to promote “economic nationalism.”
The group is Citizens of the American Republic, a California-based nonprofit that serves as a platform for Bannon’s films and podcasts that promote Trump’s ideology. Throughout the 24-page indictment, the group appears to be referenced as “Non-Profit-1” in a scheme in which Bannon and his partners were allegedly looting a crowdsourced charity, We Build the Wall, for personal gain. The indictment never outright states that “Non-Profit-1” is Citizens of the American Republic, but it describes it as an “organization founded by [Bannon] with the stated purpose of promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty,” which closely matches the nonprofit’s own stated aims.
The indictment alleges that “Non-Profit-1” received over $1 million through the scheme and funneled part of it to Brian Kolfage, the military veteran who raised money to build a privately funded wall to help Trump block off the southern border.
PHOENIX – Nearly 200 tents stand inches apart on the scorching gravel lots, many covered in blankets for an extra layer of relief from the desert sun. Outside, their occupants sit on hot ground or in folding chairs, nearby palm trees providing no shade. Despite 12-foot-square sections painted in the gravel, there is little social distancing for Phoenix’s homeless population.
Created by local officials in late April as a temporary solution for some of the estimated 3,700 unsheltered homeless, the fenced-in lots on the edge of downtown promised round-the-clock security, social distancing and access to water and toilets. But residents complain that hygiene supplies have become scarce, and measures meant to contain the spread of COVID-19 are not enforced.
“We have been, like, ignored,” said Elisheyah, 61. “There’s no safety, nothing to guarantee you can be safe out here.”
Homeless people are one of the most vulnerable populations in the coronavirus pandemic, yet they’re largely invisible victims of the crisis. Very little is known about how they’re faring, in part because the Department of Housing and Urban Development – the main federal agency overseeing programs for them – has not required its national network of providers to gather information on infections or deaths. That’s despite the fact that unlike other high-risk, congregate-living groups, such as nursing home residents and prisoners, homeless people interact more with the general public.
“I want to clear up some obvious political disinformation that the majority is putting out,” Gosar said at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting where Republicans defended cost-cutting moves by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
But Democrats said DeJoy’s decisions to remove some mail equipment, cut back on overtime and other changes have directly affected the delivery of mail, which they fear could hamper mail-in balloting this fall.
“Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of Mr. DeJoy’s actions,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-New York, and chairwoman of the committee.
The hearing came two days after the House, in a largely partisan vote, approved the “Delivering for America Act” Saturday 257-150, with the no votes coming from 149 Republicans and one independent member.
Arizona lawmakers followed suit, with all five Democrats in the House voting for the bill and all four Republicans opposing it.
Maloney’s office said the bill would provide the Postal Service with $25 billion “to help weather the coronavirus crisis and returns operations to the way they were before the Postmaster General recently caused nationwide delays in the mail.”
