Day: August 3, 2020

Demand for Electric Cars Fuel Detroit Manufacturers to Invest in Car Charging Stations

The Associated Press

As the automotive industry fills the demand for electric cars, the country – and the world – will need thousands more plug-in charging stations for vehicles powered by batteries alone. And because they’re being asked to invest before that demand arrives, automakers and charging companies are struggling to raise the numbers.

Currently electric vehicles make up only about 1.3% of total new vehicle sales in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com auto site. Electrics are much bigger in other countries, accounting for 2.6% of global new vehicle sales last year, the International Energy Agency says. There are now 26,000 electric vehicle charging stations open to the public in the U.S., with more than 84,000 plugs.

Read More

Commentary: New Evidence Shows Key Fans Unhappy with Sports Leagues Kowtowing to Black Lives Matter

Michigan Star Staff

If anyone was hoping that the return of the long-awaited Major League season would lift our spirits and bring us together, they had to be disappointed to learn that we are more divided than ever over the National Anthem kneeling debate. And although President Trump has not chosen to join the burgeoning #BoycottMLB movement on Twitter, the president has joined a growing number of disheartened baseball fans who are unhappy that their favorite teams are taking the knee. Even before the start of the season, President Trump tweeted that he was “looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!”

Read More

Study: 68 Percent of Workers Earned More on Unemployment with $600 Weekly Enhancement

Michigan Star Staff

Some unemployed workers received nearly twice as much money through unemployment insurance (UI) payments authorized through the CARES Act than they earned when they were employed, a new study from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) found.

In response to states shutting down economies over coronavirus fears, Congress passed several relief bills, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These two bills expanded the UI benefit period, suspended work search requirements, included newly eligible individuals, and added a $600-per-week unemployment benefit enhancement through July 31.

Read More

Academics’ Campaign to Remove Harvard Professor for Tweets Backfires

Michigan Star Staff

by Maria Copeland   Hundreds of academics signed a letter written by members of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), calling for a Harvard professor’s removal from the LSA list of “distinguished fellows,” as well as their list of media experts. The LSA did not accept their demands; and the…

Read More

The Status of the Coronavirus Vaccine Continues to Advance Rapidly

Michigan Star Staff

Researchers, governments and pharmaceutical companies worldwide have been working rapidly to develop an effective vaccine against coronavirus, which has infected over 4.5 million and killed over 150,000 people in the United States alone.

Testing has advanced quickly and there’s optimism that a vaccine will be developed before 2021. But there are also concerns that a vaccine won’t be sufficiently stockpiled or efficiently distributed. There’s additional worry that the growing distrust in vaccines will result in large numbers refusing the injection, making it less beneficial.

Read More

Analysis: Rhetoric About a New Civil War Is on the Rise

Michigan Star Staff

In June, we counted 23 articles written about the prospect of a new or cold civil war in the United States. In July, that number doubled to 46. That’s no mere “uptick.”

Right or wrong, these prognostications from both Left and Right are significant for what they reveal about the nature of the political division in the United States. Interest in this topic will only increase as we approach the election in November and whatever lies beyond it.

Read More

SpaceX Capsule and NASA Crew Make First Splashdown in 45 Years

The Associated Press

Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

It was the first splashdown by U.S. astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.

Read More

Commentary: The Deep Church Helps Biden

Michigan Star Staff

Were Joe Biden given a Catholic rating, it would be zero. He not only stands against central moral teachings of the Church but has also promised to violate her religious freedom. Should he win, he would resume the persecution of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other Catholic groups. Despite all of this, Biden seeks the Catholic vote, and is receiving help from bad Catholics burrowed within the Church. What Archbishop Carlo Viganò has called the “deep Church” is working hard for Biden’s election.

Exhibit A of this perverse phenomenon is the National Catholic Reporter’s recent puff piece on Biden — “How Joe Biden’s Catholic roots have shaped his public life.”

Read More

Texas County Commissioners Vote Unanimously to Keep Confederate Monument Outside Courthouse

Michigan Star Staff

A Confederate statue will remain on a Texas county courthouse lawn, commissioners voted unanimously Thursday.

Parker County Judge Pat Deen said county documents did not provide any evidence that the statue had ever been officially owned by the county, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reported. Deen said the statue is actually property of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. United Daughters of the Confederacy was founded in Nashville in 1894 and seeks to preserve the history of the Confederate States, according to its website.

Read More

Police Budgets Nationwide In Crisis After Covid, Activism Cut Funding in Half: Study

Ben Kolodny
Nashville Police

Police Departments across the country are in crisis as calls to defund the police, rioting, and the Covid Crisis threaten to sap existing resources. 

A new study by the Police Executive Research Forum showed that almost half of the 258 departments surveyed are facing budget cuts. Portland City council approved a $15,000,000 dollar budget cut last month as the city struggled with riots. The Portland Police Department was forced to pay over $5,000,000 in overtime to deal with the unrest. 

Read More