Town of Johnsburg, Warren County Wilderness Rescue: “On Oct. 26 at 9:37 a.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting an injured hunter on a ski trail near Gore Mountain in North Creek. Further information indicated the injury was a broken leg due to entrapment under a boulder. Three Forest Rangers responded to assist. At 11:06 a.m., two of the Rangers reached the injured man, removed him from the boulder entrapment, and performed advanced wilderness first aid to a badly damaged leg with severe lacerations and a compound fracture. Forest Rangers and members of the North River Fire Department carried the 31-year-old hunter from Hudson Falls off the ledge in a litter to a location with ATV access. The hunter was transported to a local hospital for further medical treatment.”
Town of Fine, St. Lawrence County Wilderness Search:“On Oct. 29 at…
1 of 5FILE – In this Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 file photo, minks in a farm in Gjoel in North Jutland, Denmark. Denmark’s prime minister says the government wants to cull all minks in Danish farms, to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans. She said Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in the virus found in 12 people in the northern part of the country who got infected by minks. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More than a quarter million Danes went into lockdown Friday in a northern region of the country where a mutated variation of the coronavirus has infected minks being farmed for their fur, leading to an order to kill millions of the animals.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the move was meant to contain the virus, and it came two days after the government ordered the cull of all 15 million minks bred at Denmark’s 1,139 mink farms.
The coronavirus evolves constantly and, to date, there is no evidence that any of the mutations pose an increased danger to people. But Danish authorities were not taking any chances.
“Instead of waiting for evidence, it is better to act quickly,” said Tyra Grove Krause, head department at Statens Serum Institut, a government agency that maps the spread of the coronavirus in Denmark.
In seven northern Danish municipalities with some 280,000 residents sport and cultural activities have been suspended, public transportation has been stopped and regional borders have been closed. Only people with so-called “critical functions” such as police and health officials and different authorities are being permitted to cross municipal boundaries.ADVERTISEMENThttps://598824f24255f8188d3ac7c9665c3618.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
People in the region have been urged to to be tested. As of Saturday, restaurants must close and school students from fifth grade and up will switch to remote learning Monday.
“We must knock down completely this virus variant,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Thursday, adding that the mutated virus had been found in 12 people.
Last month, Denmark started culling millions of minks in the north of the country after COVID-19 infections were reported among the stock there. Nationwide, at least 216 out of the 1,139 fur farms in Denmark have now been infected.
Kaare Moelbak of Statens Serum Institut said the virus variant was registered in August and September, and no mutations have been found since, so it was not known if it still exists. The mutated virus was found in five mink farms, according to the government body.
WHO officials said each case needs to be evaluated to determine if any of the changes mean the virus behaves differently.
“We are a long, long way from making any determination of that kind,” said Mike Ryan, the WHO emergencies chief. He said that such mutations happen all the time in viruses.
“Right now the evidence that we have doesn’t suggest that this variant is in any way different in the way it behaves,” he said in Geneva.
Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety, said that initial studies on pigs, chickens and cattle “show that these species are not at all susceptible in the same way that mink are, for example. So even if these animals were infected, they would not be able to sustain and spread the disease in the same way.”
Britain on Friday said that people coming from Denmark must self-isolate for 14 days, adding the country to a list of countries it deems risky.
The Danish government said a mutation of the virus had been found in 12 people infected by minks, which farmers have been ordered to cull en masse, but experts said the significance of any variant strain and its effect on humans was unclear because it was yet to be studied.
Denmark, the world’s largest mink fur exporter, produces an estimated 17 million furs per year. Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40% of the global mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong.
The pelts of the mink will be destroyed and Danish fur farmers have said the cull, which is estimated to cost up to 5 billion kroner ($785 million), may spell the end of the industry in the country.
Overall, Denmark has reported 53,180 cases of coronavirus and 738 deaths.
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Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
If you thought living on Earth in 2020 was comparable to hell, planet K2-141b is here to prove you wrong.
On the scorching hot planet, hundreds of light-years away, oceans are made of molten lava, winds reach supersonic speeds and rain is made of rocks. Scientists have referred to the bizarre,hellish exoplanetas one of the most “extreme” ever discovered.
According to a new study published inMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists from McGill University, York University and the Indian Institute of Science Education have uncovered details of one of the newest “lava planets” — a world that so closely orbits its host star that much of it is composed of flowing lava oceans.
The Evergreen State on Tuesday recorded an additional 1,469 cases of the novel virus, a record, according to data from the Washington State Department of Health. In total, the state has reported some 111,480 cases of COVID-19 to date.
Washington state this week reported a record number of daily new coronavirus cases, according to official estimates. (iStock)
Also as of Tuesday, an estimated 16 additional deaths were recorded, bringing the number of lives lost to the novel virus in the state to 2,416.
The last record for daily new cases of the coronavirus was set on Oct. 30, when 1,047 new COVID-19 cases were reported in a single day, according to a news release from the health department at the time. Prior to that, the last daily record was set in mid-July, officials said.
The majority of cases have been reported among the 20-39 age group (40%), while the 40-59 age group follows behind at 28%, per state health data.
The news comes as the U.S. recorded 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day for the first time, surpassing a record set at the end of October when some 99,000 daily new cases were reported.
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg poked fun atPresident Trump’s calls to stop vote counts, using his own words from a 2019 tweet.
“So ridiculous. Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Donald, Chill!” the 17-year-old Swedish activist tweeted, in response to a tweet from the president reading “STOP THE COUNT!”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1324439705522524162&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fblog-briefing-room%2Fnews%2F524674-greta-thunberg-trolls-trump-with-callback-to-his-anger&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px
It ain’t over, not quite, but the finish line for the 2020 presidential election is a few short strides away, and matters are looking grim for The Donald.
As of this morning, the count in the state of Georgia has flipped in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden, an astonishing feat of history. It’s a sliver of proof that the South, a huge brick in the GOP’s mighty red state wall, may be changing right along with everything else, thanks to the strength of grassroots organizing (and particularly the efforts of Stacey Abrams’s Fair Fight and other groups confronting racist voter suppression).
Trump pulled a mini-surge in Arizona over the last couple of days, but it appears to be falling short of knocking Biden out of the lead in that state. Biden also maintains a narrow lead in Nevada, while Trump holds a small lead in North Carolina.
Pennsylvania, however, is the ballgame. Before the Democrat-heavy mail-in vote was counted, Trump led in the Keystone State by as much as 700,000 votes. As the week wore on and those mailed votes were tabulated, that mighty lead melted to almost nothing. And at 8:52 am this morning, CNN reported that Pennsylvania had flipped to Biden by a count of more than 5,000 votes. That margin continues to grow by the hour, and at this point, it is only a matter of time.
The Electoral College (EC) count stands at 253 for Biden and 214 for Trump. Pennsylvania’s 20 EC votes are more than enough to push Biden over the top, with Georgia, Arizona and Nevada adding gravy to the potatoes.
We’re all still going to be here for a while. Trump has made it clear that he will not concede no matter the outcome — though it’s important to keep in mind there is no constitutional requirement for a concession to take place. He has insisted on peddling a stolen-election conspiracy theory too wild even for Twitter to stomach.
“I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST,” Trump shriek-tweeted at 2:22 am. “The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!” Moments later, Twitter labeled the tweet as “misleading.”
Behind the sweaty walls of Trump’s campaign headquarters, all is chaos. “Senior White House and Trump campaign officials are complaining bitterly about poor internal communication, blaming colleagues, pondering what jobs they might try to get next year, and lashing out at their new enemy: Fox News,” reportsAxios.
Recall: The Trump campaign is pissed at Fox for calling Arizona perhaps a shade too early, as if that call is the reason for the math behind all those mailed-in votes in Pennsylvania and Georgia. As for the legal recourse Trump is seeking in several states, well: “Some advisers are also skeptical that the campaign’s lawsuits will do anything to change the vote count,” reportsUSA Today.Trump has been flipping lit matches into a cask of gunpowder for months now. One of them could catch fire any moment now.
“Skeptical” is a kind euphemism. These lawsuits are garbage on the wing, and anyone with a stitch of legal sense knows it. Ben Ginsburg, maybe the top GOP election lawyer, is the Darth Vader of politics in the courtroom. He was at the center of the Bush campaign’s ruthlessly successful 2000 Florida fight, represents the campaign PACs of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, and was until recently a partner at the powerhouse Washington, D.C., law firm Jones Day.
“It’s difficult to see the long-term winning strategy behind these lawsuits,” Ginsburg toldAxios regarding Trump’s legal strategy. “To mix metaphors, it looks like throwing the kitchen sink at the wall and see what sticks.”
Ouch.
The “illegal” mailed-in votes arguments are belied by what went down in Ohio. All the other states counted the in-person votes first, making it seem as if Trump had this massive lead because more Democrats than Republicans voted by mail this time. In Ohio, they did the opposite and counted the mailed-in votes first. You may recall seeing Biden ahead in Ohio by more than 300,000 votes on Tuesday; it was positively surreal.
Soon enough, however, they got to the in-person votes, reality returned to the Buckeye State, and Trump won Ohio handily as expected. No one in the Biden camp complained, because they bothered to understand how the process was going to work this year.
It ain’t over, and the shouting/tantrum portion of this exercise will likely continue long after January 20, 2021, comes and goes. But math is math, and it seems farfetched to believe a Trump legal team comprised of Rudy Giuliani, Corey Lewandowski and the last three people Trump hasn’t fired yet have the horses to get it done in a courtroom. Ginsburg and the other legal heavies like James Baker are sitting this one out.
“What will Trump do now?” is the last, and most pressing question of the hour. Will he signal to his followers that the time for violence has come? Will they make that decision by themselves? On the other hand, will any Republicans finally stand up and shout Trump down if he refuses to accept the inevitable? Will Trump’s last act in office be the final obliteration of the Republican Party?
Trump has been flipping lit matches at an open cask of gunpowder for years now. The next one could drop in at any moment, which is why Joe Biden suddenly has a whole crowd of new, heavily armed friends in black suits with wires in their ears.
November 05, 2020We are calling on the Danish government to turn around the tragedy now playing out on its fur farms by transitioning fur farmers to more humane livelihoods and closing down Denmark’s fur industry for good. Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur/We AnimalsReports from Denmark this week are making it clearer than ever that mink fur farming is a public health minefield and an animal welfare nightmare.The European nation announced that it would slaughter all 15 million mink on its 10,000 fur farms following concerns that a mutation in the virus that has infected the mink could possibly interfere with the effectiveness of a vaccine for humans. According to news reports, 12 people have already been infected with this mutated virus, which shows a weak reaction to antibodies. Half of North Denmark’s 783 human cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus…
Election Day has officially stretched into Election Week, with the presidency hinging on five states that are still wrapping up their ballot counts.
Key swing states Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and are still tallying votes on Friday.
Joe Biden edged out President Trump in the Keystone State early Friday by 5,587 votes — cutting down Trump’s initial haul of 600,000 votes thanks to mail-in ballots that are still trickling in in blue parts of the state.
Trump, who trails the former vice president in confirmed electoral votes with 214, must win Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes in order to see a second term. Conversely, a Pennsylvania win would drive Biden and his 253 electoral votes over the 270 threshold by three — giving him the White House.
Votes are still pouring in from Democratic strongholds including Philadelphia County, where 50,000 mail-in votes are still to be counted, Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt told CNN.
Election officials in Pennsylvania, which was allowed by the Supreme Court to receive ballots until three days after Election Day, have said they could declare a winner on Friday.
Joe Biden was edging out President Trump in Georgia, leading with 1,579 votes as of about 11 a.m.
Late Friday morning, Georgia officials said there were less than 5,000 votes outstanding — and announced a recount would be conducted with the race “too close to call.”
“Out of approximately 5 million votes cast, we’ll have a margin of a few thousand,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger at a press conference.
“As we are closing in on our final count, we can begin to look at our next steps. With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia,” he said.
A Democrat last won the Peach State, which carries 16 crucial Electoral College votes, in 1992.
Biden also leads Trump by 11,438 votes in Nevada, worth six Electoral College votes, and by 47,052 votes in Arizona, worth 11 electoral votes, according to state data.
Some outlets, including Fox News and the Associated Press, have already called Arizona for Biden.
Trump, however, looks primed to collect North Carolina’s 11 electoral votes with a roughly 77,000-vote lead on Biden. The state will be among the last to finish up counting, with ballots accepted until Nov. 12, and final results may not be known until then.
At a press briefing Thursday night, Trump repeated his claim that political foes were trying to “steal” the election, though he did not offer any proof.
“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election, they’re trying to rig an election, and we can’t let that happen,” he said.
Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday fired off a tweet calling for his dad to wage “total war over the election” — while parroting the same allegations of voter fraud that his father has used to explain away his dwindling hopes of staying in the White House.
Twitter quickly hid the message from view for spreading false information about the election.
Trump Jr., who has a long history of using Twitter to fuel conspiracy theories, hit the send button amid a flurry of lawsuits filed by his father’s campaign to turn the election — including one in Pennsylvania that sought to stop vote-counting.
“The best thing for America’s future is for @realDonaldTrump to go to total war over this election to expose all of the fraud, cheating, dead/no longer in state voters, that has been going on for far too long,” Trump Jr. wrote, repeating several conspiracy theories about the election and seemingly calling for Americans to go to war with one another.
“It’s time to clean up this mess & stop looking like a banana republic!” he added.
Twitter flagged the tweet minutes after it was posted for violating its “Civic integrity policy.”
A number of key battleground states have not been called since the 2020 presidential election wrapped Tuesday night, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, which Trump needs to carry to get to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
His campaign has filed a number of lawsuits in both states, including one in Chatham County, Georgia, which was tossed by a judge Thursday.
Although some caribou migrate farther than any other terrestrial mammal, with round-trip distances exceeding 745 miles, others don’t migrate. Understanding how animals use vast landscapes will help predict the impacts of climate change. Credit: Elie Gurarie, UMD
Using a new large-scale data archive of animal movement studies, an international team including University of Maryland biologists found that animals are responding in unexpected ways to climate change. The archive contains data from studies across the global Arctic and sub-Arctic, an enormous region that is experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of global warming, including animal declines.https://9972b52d7057796097f1e1b359d8ac8e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
After developing the archive, the researchers used it to conduct three case studies that revealed surprising patterns and associations between climate change and the behavior of golden eagles, bears, caribou, moose and wolves. This work demonstrates both the feasibility and importance of studying animal ecology on…
