The Coronavirus Is Here To Stay — Here’s What That Means (Dana)
From Nature: “In January, Nature asked more than 100 immunologists, infectious-disease researchers and virologists working on the coronavirus whether it could be eradicated. Almost 90% of respondents think that the coronavirus will become endemic — meaning that it will continue to circulate in pockets of the global population for years to come. … But failure to eradicate the virus does not mean that death, illness or social isolation will continue on the scales seen so far. The future will depend heavily on the type of immunity people acquire through infection or vaccination and how the virus evolves.”
Oregon Counties To Vote on Joining Idaho — and Bring Northern California Counties Next (Reader Steve)
From the San Francisco Chronicle: “Voters in five Oregon counties this year will vote on initiatives that could serve as the first steps in a longshot bid to eventually re-draw the borders of three states, including parts of Northern California in a move meant to join with the more politically conservative Idaho. Move Oregon’s Border — an organization promoting the ‘Greater Idaho’ movement of having Oregon’s conservative counties join Idaho — announced Sunday that initiatives to relocate the Oregon-Idaho border ‘to make both states better’ will appear on ballots in five Oregon counties on May 18.”
It Violates Free Press Rights To Bring To Trial a Des Moines Register Reporter Arrested While Covering Protests (DonkeyHotey)
From the Des Moines Register: “Freedom of the press stands alongside freedom of religion, speech, assembly and petition as the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That makes the upcoming trial of a Des Moines Register reporter who was doing her job covering a protest last spring all the more troubling. Andrea Sahouri is scheduled to stand trial starting March 8 on charges of failure to disperse and interference with official acts. That this trial is happening at all is a violation of free press rights and a miscarriage of justice.”
Saving the Butterfly Forest (Dana)
The author writes, “Every November, around the Day of the Dead, millions of monarch butterflies descend on a forest of oyamel firs in the mountains of central Mexico. The butterflies have never seen the forest before, but they know — perhaps through an inner compass — that this is where they belong. They leave Canada and the northeastern United States in late summer and fly for two months, as far as three thousand miles south and west across the continent. The journey is the most evolutionarily advanced migration of any known butterfly, perhaps of any known insect. But climate change and habitat loss, both in the forest (photographed here in February last year) and in the U.S., are fast eroding the monarchs’ numbers.”
Arizona Man Is Accused of Faking His Own Kidnapping to Evade Work (Russ)
The author writes, “The authorities in Arizona accused a man of going to extreme lengths to get out of work this month, saying he faked his own kidnapping, bound his own wrists, gagged himself and invented a story of treasure hidden in the desert. The man, Brandon Soules, was arrested last week on a charge of false reporting to law enforcement, the police in Coolidge, Ariz., said in a statement that outlined a scheme they believe was intended to get Mr. Soules excused from his job at a tire store. In the statement, the police said that Mr. Soules, 19, admitted during an interview with detectives that he had made up the kidnapping story, which led to his arrest.”
