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A Pandemic Year: Looking back to when Wisconsin declared a COVID-19 crisis and the road still ahead

March 12 marks a year since Wisconsin issued the first COVID-19 health emergency, and the anniversary offers a moment to consider what comes next for health and for society. When Governor Tony Evers issued the declaration on Thursday, March 12, 2020, five Wisconsin residents had been confirmed positive with the novel coronavirus. A year later that number has multiplied by 110,000. In Wisconsin, the virus SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 566,000 people, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). It has taken nearly 6,500 lives. The world looks very different than it did 12 months ago. And...

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Trumpedemic: America’s death toll and economic loss is a direct result of the sabotaged COVID-19 response

An economy devastated. One in twelve Americans sickened. Millions hospitalized. One half million dead. As we mourn more than 500,000 Americans who have died of COVID-19, we should remember that their deaths were not the inevitable results of a pandemic, not unavoidable acts of God. Most of the dead would likely be alive today—most of the suffering America has endured could have been avoided—but for Donald Trump. In our year of the plague, Trump went from neglect and incompetence to sabotaging the national response, causing massive death. A cynical and self-absorbed man, Trump saw a lethal contagion only an...

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Lower Income, Less Capital: Why the pandemic recession has hit Minority-owned small-business owners so hard

By Carlos Avenancio-Leon, Assistant Professor of Finance, Indiana University; and Isaac Hacamo, Assistant Professor of Finance Department: Finance Campus: Bloomington, Indiana University The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on Main Street, with small businesses across the United States closing by the thousands. But as bad as the overall scene is, for minority-owned businesses the picture is even bleaker. A survey released on Jan. 27 by advocacy group Small Business Majority found that almost 1 in 5 Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs expected to permanently close their business over the course of the next three months – a rate higher...

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Current laws prevent domestic terrorists from being designated and prosecuted like foreign extremists

In the days leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI received intelligence that extremists were planning violence as lawmakers gathered in Washington to certify the electoral victory of President-elect Joe Biden. FBI officials managed to dissuade people in several places from their suspected plans, a senior FBI official said — but there was not enough evidence to issue arrest warrants. “Prior to this event, the FBI obtained information about individuals who were planning on potentially traveling to the protests, individuals who were planning to engage in violence,” said the senior FBI official. “The FBI was...

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Yolanda Medina: The vital role of Latinx women in the United States military

As part of Women’s History Month, local veteran Yolanda Medina shared her thoughts about the contributions of Latinx women in the military, and experiences from her own service in the United States Marine Corps. President Biden said this in his 2021 declaration “Throughout American history, women and girls have made vital contributions, often in the face of discrimination and undue hardship… Our history is also replete with examples of the unfailing bravery and grit of women in America, particularly in times of crisis and emergency— especially the millions [of women] from diverse communities who have strengthened America across every...

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Senator Ron Johnson forces reading of the 628-page coronavirus relief bill in cynical stunt to delay vote

Senator Bernie Sanders accused Senate Republicans on March 4 of showing “contempt” for working class Americans after Senator Ron Johnson delayed a vote on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by forcing Senate floor staff to read all 628 pages of it out loud. Reading the entire bill could take as long as 10 hours. While claiming that he felt bad for making Senate clerks read the entire bill, Johnson (R-WI) attempted to justify his action by saying that “so often we rush these massive bills that are hundreds, if not thousands, of pages long.” “Nobody has...

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