Day: September 20, 2020

Gov. DeWine Did a Number of Things to Address COVID-19 This Week

Ben Kolodny

Governor Mike DeWine’s office released a review of the state’s COVID-19 status and response as well as a list of actions taken by the state.

The governor updated this week’s coronavirus numbers, which saw 69 counties remain at their current level of exposure, and Preble County being downgraded from a level 3 to a level 2. In other COVID-19 news, the state has it’s own dashboard for COVID tracking of children and schools in conjunction with the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and local health departments.

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Commentary: For the Sake of the Constitution, and the Country, Fill Ginsburg’s Seat Quickly

Ohio Star Staff

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday at the age of 87. Her passing was not unexpected. On the contrary, her steadily worsening condition over the past several years left her increasingly incapacitated. After Donald Trump’s election in 2016, many on the Left expressed dismay that she chose to stay on the court rather than resign and let President Obama nominate her replacement. 

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Feds Explored Possibly Charging Portland Officials in Unrest

The Associated Press

The Justice Department explored whether it could pursue either criminal or civil rights charges against city officials in Portland, Oregon, after clashes erupted there night after night between law enforcement and demonstrators, a department spokesperson said Thursday.

The revelation that federal officials researched whether they could levy criminal or civil charges against the officials — exploring whether their rhetoric and actions may have helped spur the violence in Portland — underscores the larger Trump administration’s effort to spotlight and crack down on protest-related violence. The majority of the mass police reform demonstrations nationwide have been peaceful.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski Has Said She Will Not Vote on Any Supreme Court Nominee Until After the Inauguration

Ohio Star Staff

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said she would not vote to replace a Supreme Court justice until after the inauguration.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday evening at her home at the age of 87. Murkowski, a pro-choice moderate from Alaska, is often a swing vote in the Senate.

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Trump Promises to Nominate a New Justice ‘Without Delay’

Ohio Star Staff

President Donald Trump promised Saturday to nominate a new Supreme Court justice “without delay.”

“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices,” the president tweeted Saturday morning, tagging the Republican Party in his tweet.

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Almost 20 Percent of New York Millennials Blame Jews for the Holocaust

Ohio Star Staff

Nearly 20% of New York’s Millennials and Gen Z believe the Jewish people are to blame for The Holocaust, a nationwide survey released Wednesday found.

While The Holocaust resulted in over 11 million deaths, 36% of respondents under age 39 believed the total death count of Jews was “two million or fewer,” according to a nationwide survey of young people by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also known as the Claims Conference.

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Homes Burned as Winds Push California Fire into Desert Floor

The Associated Press

Strong winds pushed a wildfire burning for nearly two weeks in mountains northeast of Los Angeles onto the desert floor and spread it rapidly in several directions, causing it to explode in size and destroy homes, officials said Saturday.

Meanwhile, officials were investigating the death of a firefighter on the lines of another Southern California wildfire that erupted earlier this month from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.

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North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis Says He Will Support Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee

Ohio Star Staff

Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said Saturday that he would support whomever President Donald Trump nominates to the Supreme Court.

Tillis’s statement comes just over six weeks before the presidential election. A seat on the Supreme Court became vacant Friday evening when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died of pancreatic cancer at age 87.

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Commentary: NYU Prof Says More Than 20 Percent of Universities Could Fail Because of the Lockdowns

Ohio Star Staff

As bad as the COVID-19 lockdown has been in any number of sectors of the US economy, colleges and universities have been hit particularly hard. Restaurants and movie theaters have physical plants that continue to cost them money regardless of whether they are serving food or showing movies. Hotels have it even worse, because they are far more expensive to maintain. But colleges and universities have it worse still. Their physical plants include not only housing and dining facilities, but also recreation areas, classrooms, and expansive grounds. In addition, colleges and universities have staff that often number hundreds of times that of hotels.

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Biden in 2016: SCOTUS Confirmation Can Happen ‘a Few Months Before a Presidential Election’ If Senate Is Involved in Pick

Ohio Star Staff

Former vice president Joe Biden said in 2016 that he would have considered a Supreme Court justice nominee in an election year if the president had consulted the senate on the nominee.

“I would go forward with the confirmation process as chairman even a few months before a presidential election. If the nominee were chosen with the advice and not merely the consent of the Senate just as the constitution requires,” Biden said during a 2016 speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

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Black Man Goes on Anti-Trump Rampage in California, Punches Several Women, Including an 84-Year-Old

Ohio Star Staff

A 33-year-old black man went on an anti-Trump rampage in Aliso Viejo, California, Wednesday evening, allegedly assaulting several females—including an 84-year-old woman—during a Trump rally.

One woman was reportedly hospitalized with a neck injury. The elderly woman was left battered and bruised by the attack.

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Ohio Schools Report Low Cases of COVID-19 During Beginning of School Year

Ohio Star Staff

With the majority of Ohio school students back in the classroom, at least on a hybrid learning model, new data show COVID-19 cases related to school districts is relatively low.

Ohio’s new school dashboard and children’s dashboard launched this week, reporting 197 students and 122 staff members across Ohio have tested positive for the virus. That number is less than 1 percent of Ohio’s total cases so far.

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