Viruses have the opportunity to change through mutations that arise naturally as they replicate and circulate in their hosts. The new COVID-19 strain is thought to be 57% to 70% more transmissible than other strains of the virus.
President Donald Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act.
Accented with mint leaves and showered with confectioners’ sugar, it’s a dessert that has the sparkle and elegance to match a glass of bubbly and set just the right mood for watching the ball drop.
If ever a home garden—vegetable or ornamental—was needed, it was this year. It became a place to spend time, safely, with others; to supplement the table; to replace the lost travel destinations; and to provide kids with an alternative to the computer screen.
Human resources advisers, workplace designers, employment lawyers and compensation analysts share predictions for a year that could bring back some normalcy while returning people to workplaces that may never be the same.
Letlow is the highest-ranking U.S. politician to die of COVID-19, which has now killed more than 337,000 Americans.
Researchers have now detected the more transmissible variant in at least 17 countries outside the United Kingdom, including as far away as Australia and South Korea, as of Tuesday afternoon. Officials in Canada had said they had identified two cases.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s move was just the beginning of a saga that is likely to engulf the Senate for the rest of the week. Democrats are pushing for an up-or-down vote on the House bill, while more Republicans see a need for larger stimulus checks.
The Treasury Department is able to move more swiftly than usual to deposit checks for as much as $600 into Americans’ bank accounts as a result of its earlier work this spring, when it disbursed larger sums under an earlier stimulus program.
More than 118,000 people—roughly equivalent to the population of Lansing, Michigan—have been in hospitals with COVID on average over the past seven days. That’s a record, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1.28 million people Sunday at airport security checkpoints across the country.
Employees now working remotely find themselves imagining the new shape of their work lives in a post-pandemic America. Some glimpse a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel; others see an oncoming train.
The massive bill includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for cash-starved transit systems and an increase in food stamp benefits.
The 30-year fixed-rate average, the most popular mortgage product, sank to 2.66% with an average 0.7 point, according to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac.
The authors say their findings offer one clear pathway for policymakers looking to dig their way out of the financial hole created by the coronavirus crisis: Make the rich pay for it.
If Trump does not sign the $900 billion stimulus package, 12 million Americans will lose unemployment aid after Christmas.
In a video posted to Twitter, the president called the $600 checks authorized by the bill “ridiculously low” and complained about a list of provisions that he described as “wasteful spending and much more.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the Justice Department, says the nation’s largest retailer did not properly screen prescriptions at its 5,000 pharmacies. The agency is seeking civil penalties that could total billions of dollars.
Congress has moved to phase out a class of potent planet-warming chemicals and provide billions of dollars for renewable energy and efforts to suck carbon from the atmosphere.
The $600 stimulus checks are part of the pending legislation, which includes $300 in weekly unemployment benefits for 11 weeks, aid for small businesses, money for vaccine distribution, and a range of other measures.
