Joe Biden Calls for Nationwide Mask Mandate

Joe Biden is calling for a nationwide protective mask mandate, citing health experts’ predictions that it could save 40,000 lives from coronavirus over the next three months.

”Wearing the mask is less about you contracting the virus,” Biden said. “It’s about preventing other people from getting sick.”

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Weekly Jobless Claims Fall Below One Million for First Time Since March

Around 963,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last week, marking the first time the figure dropped below one million since March, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease of 228,000 new jobless claims compared to week that ended August 1. That number also beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations, according to CNBC.

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Montgomery County Gave ICE a 28-Minute Warning Before Releasing Illegal Immigrant Charged with Second Degree Rape

Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, gave Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a 28-minute notice before releasing an illegal immigrant charged with second-degree rape and sexual abuse back into the public, according to county data obtained by the Immigration Reform Law Institute.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich had pledged to allow more cooperation with ICE on Nov. 4 when he rolled back a sanctuary policy he signed into law three months prior that prohibited county officials from working with ICE.

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Commentary: Baseball Season, Our Distorted View of COVID-19, and What the Facts Tell Us

If you’re not convinced that Americans have been sold a distorted view of COVID-19 risk, consider Major League Baseball.

Most of the league’s players are among the 46 million Americans between ages 25 and 34. A total of 992 people in this age group have died with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a mortality rate of 2 per 100,000.

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Sumner Redstone, Who Built Media Empire Including CBS, Dies

Sumner Redstone, who joined his family’s drive-in movie chain in the 1950s and used it to build a vast media empire that included CBS and Viacom, has died. He was 97.

Under his watch, Viacom became one of the nation’s media titans, home to pay TV channels MTV and Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures. ViacomCBS Inc., which he led for decades, remembered Redstone for his “unparalleled passion to win, his endless intellectual curiosity and his complete dedication to the company.”

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FBI Investigates Trump Support Detail Helicopter Shot Mid-Flight Over Virginia

The FBI is investigating the shooting of a military helicopter during a training mission this week in northern Virginia, injuring one crew member who was aboard, officials said Wednesday.

The Air Force helicopter was flying over Middleburg on Monday when it was shot from the ground nearby, according to authorities. The helicopter made an emergency landing at the Manassas Regional Airport, and federal agents were called to the scene to investigate, the FBI said in a statement.

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No Prosecution for Many Arrested at Portland’s Protests

People arrested in Portland since late May on non-violent misdemeanor charges during the protests that have racked Oregon’s largest city for more than two months won’t be prosecuted.

The new policy announced Tuesday recognizes the outrage and frustration over a history of racial injustice that has led to the city’s often violent protests and the practical realities of the court system, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said. It is running more than two months behind in processing cases because of COVID-19.

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Music Spotlight: Jamie O’Neal

Those who have been following country music their whole lives know already who Jamie O’Neal is as an artist. Off her first album, Shiver, released in 2000, she had two number one hits, “There Is No Arizona,” and “When I Think About Angels.” Her next top ten hit came in 2005, “Somebody’s Hero.”

I wanted to find out more about this country star who was born in Australia. Having no Australian accent, O’Neal said, “I was born in Sydney, Australia, where my parents (Jimmy and Julie Murphy) were performers who moved to America when I was two. I always say that I am the opposite of Nicole Kidman who was born in Hawaii and was raised in Australia. It was the opposite for me, I was born there but raised in the U.S.”

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Georgia School District Orders Quarantine for Over 900 Students and Staff After Reopening

A Georgia school district has ordered the quarantine of 925 students and staff following a local outbreak of the coronavirus in their school system, The New York Times reported.

The Cherokee County School District, located north of Atlanta, Georgia, opened for in-person learning on August 3 for over 30,000 students, but is now shuttering one high school in the school district and ordering the quarantine of hundreds of students and school officials.

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Commentary: RIP, Kamala

James Harris was born in Senatobia, Mississippi, in 1950, to parents who owned a furniture store.

But when James was four, his father was shot dead in an altercation involving a dice game. The comfort of his early youth thus being stripped away, he turned to sharecropping and burglary to help make his family’s ends meet, and then, following the advice of the local police chief that it would be best if he left the small town of Coldwater, Mississippi, where he was living at age 17, Harris moved to Florida to work as a truck driver and fruit picker.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Wins Democratic Primary, Shares Reelection Promises

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) has won the 2020 Democratic primary, beating her foremost challenger Antone Melton-Meaux. Omar will now face off with Republican candidate Lacy Johnson on Election Day.

Although the votes are still trickling in, Omar has secured the win with 58 percent of the vote compared to Melton-Meaux’s 40 percent.

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More Than $37 Million in Grant Funding Available to Close Technology Gap, Provide Mental Health Support in Schools

School districts seeking additional funding to help offset the coronavirus pandemic can now apply for a grant from the Education Equity Fund.

The fund, created by the Michigan Department of Education, is aimed at helping to close the technology gap and provide mental health services for students and staff.

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