BIDEN ADMINISTRATION - Pitching the COVID Relief Law

"With a stop in Pennsylvania, Biden begins his pitch to Americans on new COVID relief law" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden is on the road, aiming to sell his COVID relief law to the American public.  His first stop Tuesday was in Pennsylvania with a visit to a Black-owned flooring business near Philadelphia, highlighting the aid that his administration is providing through small business loans and stimulus checks.  Yamiche Alcindor joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

 

 

"How the economic relief law narrows the equity gap for farmers of color" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2021

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SUMMARY:  The COVID relief and economic package is a massive bill that has a far-reaching impact in ways that many Americans don't know about yet.  One provision calls for debt relief for Black farmers, who have long been denied access to government funding.  John Boyd, a fourth-generation farmer in Virginia and president of the National Black Farmers Association, joins Lisa Desjardins to discuss.

 

 

"How billions of dollars in COVID aid will help schools reopen" PBS NewsHour 3/17/2021

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SUMMARY:  Living through a full year of closed schools and distance learning has taken a heavy toll on students, parents, teachers and school administrators.  The new stimulus bill sets aside roughly $125 billion to help K-12 schools reopen.  Laura Meckler, a national education writer at The Washington Post, joins William Brangham to discuss.

ZIKA - Miami-Dade County

"What Miami-Dade County is doing about Zika" PBS NewsHour 8/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  With 12 confirmed cases of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade County, officials are asking residents to take part in mosquito-prevention efforts, including draining standing water and wearing insect repellent.  Gwen Ifill speaks with Alina Hudak, Deputy Mayor of Miami-Dade County, for details on the identified cases, what containment measures are being utilized and the “many unknowns” about the disease.  (update, 14 confirmed cases)

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  In Florida, workers went door to door today to check for mosquitoes, and to spray in neighborhoods, in the hope of clamping down on the Zika virus.

Officials say 15 people have become infected in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, and it's believed these are the first mosquito-transmitted cases in the mainland U.S.

The CDC says the mosquitoes are proving harder to eradicate than expected.

For an on-the-ground look, I'm joined by Alina Hudak, the deputy mayor of Miami-Dade County.

Thank you for joining us.

We know now of 15 locally transmitted case of Zika infections.  How many more are likely, and are you prepared to handle an increase?

ALINA HUDAK, Deputy Mayor, Miami-Dade County:  Gwen, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight to you and to your viewers.

I would like to clarify first and foremost that the confirmed cases in Miami-Dade County are 12.  I want to reiterate and really just be very clear about our mosquito control program here in Miami-Dade County.  We have a very strong and aggressive program that we have had in place since 1935.  We have many years of a proven track record in managing and controlling disease.

We work together with our Department of Health, with the Department of Agriculture.  We have had consultations with the CDC, and they are working very closely with us.  So we feel very confident that this can be contained and it can be contained to a very small area.

I want the viewers to understand that we're talking about one square mile in a community that is over 2,000 square miles, and I think that's important for context and for people to understand exactly the area that we're talking about.

GWEN IFILL:  Why is it confined so far to this one area, Wynwood, which contains an art district and attracts people from outside of the neighborhood?  Why there?

ALINA HUDAK:  You know, I certainly would be speculating relative to that.

We have a high international presence there and a lot of travel in that community.  It is unknown exactly how it is that the transmission takes place, and obviously there is a lot of focus on the mosquito, but there are many unknowns about this disease.  And, you know, quite frankly, we have been able to isolate at this point these particular cases, in consultation with the Department of Health.

Our crews have been there every single day, and have been on the ground since day one.  The moment that a suspected case is identified, our crews are there.  They do inspection.  They do treatment.  And we have, again, a very aggressive program.

In addition to that, we have a very aggressive outreach program to our residents, and we're communicating with our residents regularly about the part and the role that they play in being our partner with this.  We want our…

(CROSSTALK)

GWEN IFILL:  And pardon me.  What are you asking them to do?

ALINA HUDAK:  We're asking our residents to look in their backyards, to drain any standing water.  We're asking our residents and our visitors to wear repellent.

I heard someone today in a meeting describe it as you leave your house in the morning in Miami and you put on sunscreen.  Put on insect repellent and help us and be preventive and do your part in preventing the spread of this disease.

URBAN IDEAS - Social Media and Restaurant Inspections

"Up to code?  An algorithm is helping Chicago health officials predict restaurant safety violations" PBS NewsHour 2/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  In Chicago, the Department of Public Health has partnered with the city's data team to improve restaurant inspections by using analytics and social media to predict and detect which establishments are more likely to have potential food safety violations.  NewsHour's Megan Thompson reports as part of the series, Urban Ideas.

MEGAN THOMPSON (NewsHour):  Mark Chmielewski is the Executive Chef at Latinicity, a hip new eatery in downtown Chicago.  At this sit-down restaurant, bar, and at 10 food counters customers can watch their sushi being rolled, burgers flipped, and burritos wrapped.

But what they don’t see are the steps behind the scenes that ensure the safety of their food.

MARK CHMIELEWSKI:  All stations have hand sinks.  Probably the most biggest thing is washing your hands.  All the fish gets iced down.

MEGAN THOMPSON:  Chmielewski oversees systems and procedures to ensure that all the food served here is fresh.

MARK CHMIELEWSKI:  Everything up off the ground.  Up off the floor.

MEGAN THOMPSON:  Temperature is key.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends hot food is served at least 140 degrees.  Cold food must be refrigerated 40 degrees and below.  And dirty dishes must be washed in hot water close to boiling.

MARK CHMIELEWSKI:  It’s paramount, to have, you know, great food safety with a lot of different systems in place to prevent the public and your staff from becoming sick from food borne illness.  That can be devastating. It can shut you down. Fast.

MEGAN THOMPSON:  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year about 48 million people in the U.S. get sick from food borne illness…from all sources of contaminated food.  128-Thousand are hospitalized – and 3-thousand die.