NASA’s Halloween playlist features new ghoulish sounds from space
Brittany A. Roston - Oct 28, 2020, 

NASA is back with new sounds from various parts of space, giving the public the opportunity to hear new — and somewhat creepy — noises from around the galaxy. The tracks are part of the space agency’s fun Halloween offerings, which also include newly published horror-themed space posters as part of its Galaxy of Horrors artwork series. This year’s audio playlist includes space whistles, moans, and more.

NASA has shared the new space audio on its SoundCloud account, where anyone can listen to space noises produced using data from the Mars InSight lander, the ESA’s Planck spacecraft, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the Juno spacecraft. Noises represent things like Jupiter’s magnetosphere plasma waves, sounds from the early universe, a marsquake, and more.

The space agency says these are new sounds made possible using previously collected space data, adding to the growing library of similar noises NASA has released in the past. There are 14 total tracks in this playlist, including one’s featuring Jupiter’s Auroras, a blast wave of high energy from Cassiopeia A, a couple of Martian quakes, plasma waves, ‘Galactic Sonification,’ and more.

A few of the tracks are accompanied by extra details, with NASA explaining, for example, that the ‘Sounds of the Ancient Universe’ track was made possible by the Planck spacecraft, which picked up the fluctuations that happened just after the big bang occurred.

NASA’s SoundCloud account features a number of other playlists, including its Curious Universe podcast, NASA Explorers: Apollo, Watch This Space, InSight Lander Sounds of Mars, Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast, Rocket Ranch, Gravity Assist, and several other series and audio shows.

The U.S. election could change the cannabis industry.

Is Canada ready?

Erica Alini 

As Americans cast their ballots in one of the most acrimonious U.S. elections in history, Canada's cannabis industry is salivating on the sidelines.

© Getty Images The U.S. election will likely expand the number of states where cannabis is legal and may lead to full legalization. But will Canadian marijuana producers still have a competitive edge by then?

In a historical vote that's stoking worries of post-election violence, easing restrictions around marijuana has surprisingly broad bipartisan support.

Read more: ‘It could be a mess’ — Why U.S. election results could be delayed days or weeks

Polls show U.S. public opinion has turned around on the issue of legalization, with a majority of adults now saying cannabis should be legal for both medical and recreational purposes. Republican lawmakers have sponsored marijuana legislation and co-chaired, along with Democrats, the U.S. Congress's Cannabis Caucus.

3:31
What you need to know about cannabis edibles
https://tinyurl.com/yxreeu8b

The incentives to lift restrictions on cannabis have only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. For U.S. states battered by the economic downturn triggered by the outbreak, the industry is a source of both jobs and tax revenues.

For many, legalization has also become an issue of social justice, with the war on drugs now seen as a key driver of disproportionately higher rates of incarceration among Black and Brown Americans.

Read more: COVID-19 pandemic a ‘boon’ for legal cannabis in Canada as marijuana industry turns two

A victory by former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden accompanied by Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress could well lead to full federal legalization, several analysts believe.

But restrictions could lift even if President Donald Trump is re-elected and Republicans keep control of the Senate. Five states will vote on legalizing medical or recreational marijuana — or both. That includes New Jersey and Arizona, which are projected to generate sales of up to $400 million each for the recreational market just in the first year, according to estimates by Marijuana Business Daily.

To say that Canada's cannabis producers have been waiting for Nov. 3 with trepidation would be an understatement. Household names such as Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis, both of which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, say they're ready to make the most of whatever opportunity materializes.

Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris favour legalizing medical marijuana and reclassifying cannabis, which federal law currently treats as something akin to heroin and ecstasy. They also support decriminalizing recreational marijuana, which would eliminate jail time for possession under a certain amount, and expunging all previous cannabis convictions.

And the Democratic presidential ticket says it will leave it up to the states to regulate cannabis for adult use.

Biden has so far stopped short of endorsing federal legalization of recreational marijuana. But a Biden White House might still be persuaded to do just that, says Chris Walsh, CEO and president of Marijuana Business Daily.

Read more: Canadians cite systemic barriers to legal medical cannabis

Biden's views on cannabis have already changed significantly, Walsh says, and could shift even more as lawmakers from big, influential states make the case for legalization.

"That could sway him significantly," he says.

There are also many ways in which Washington could de-facto legalize cannabis without quite saying so, Walsh says.

In addition to reclassifying and decriminalizing cannabis, the federal government could change the banking laws, which currently prevent the industry from accessing a range of mainstream financial services, Walsh says.

Washington could also rethink its tax treatment of cannabis companies, he adds. While marijuana businesses pay federal taxes, they're excluded from tax breaks and financial aid programs.

Those measures, taken together, "would accomplish much of what legalization would," Walsh says.

2:15
Legal cannabis vaping products ignite health concerns
https://tinyurl.com/yxreeu8b

State ballots

Even without much change coming from Washington, the state ballots could make a significant difference, according to Walsh.

Mississippi voters will decide on a medical marijuana program. South Dakota will be voting on both medical and recreational legalization. And Montana, Arizona and New Jersey have ballot initiatives on legalizing recreational cannabis.

Read more: New Zealand votes against legalizing cannabis, preliminary results show

New Jersey, in particular, is seen as a crucial vote, with cannabis advocates hoping legalization there will trigger a domino effect in the state's populous neighbours.

If adult-use cannabis becomes legal in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York state would have to "think long and hard about what they do," says David Culver, U.S. head of government and stakeholder relations for Canopy Growth.

"They want to make sure that they're capturing the tax revenue associated with cannabis, the general economic impact and the jobs, because they're going to be significant," Culver says.

In general, legalization across an ever-larger number of states continues to shift the public perceptions on cannabis, showcases the tax-revenue potential of the industry and forces a growing number of federal lawmakers to reconsider their stance on the issue, Culver says.

If the legalization initiative passes in South Dakota, for example, "you're going to see the federally elected officials, which are all Republican, have to take a second look at cannabis to try to figure out what their policy position is going to be," he says.

If all five measures pass, medical use of marijuana will be legal in 38 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and adult-use in 14 of those, plus D.C.

Does Canada still have a competitive advantage?

Canada's major cannabis producers are studying various election outcomes as they weigh their next move.

Full legalization would unlock the world's largest cannabis market.

For Canopy, it would green-light the acquisition of Acreage Holdings, an American cannabis chain. That would give Canopy, which has a policy of only operating in markets where cannabis use is federally permitted, a ready-made foothold in the U.S. market.

Down the line, legal recreational marijuana will likely attract deals and link-ups from a variety of industries, Walsh says.

"Once those floodgates open, you're going to see a mad rush," he says. "Beverage companies, tobacco companies, food companies, mainstream industries, Big Tech, Big Ag (agriculture) will come in at a much higher level than they have so far in the U.S."

Aurora CEO Miguel Martin believes Canadian producers will have an edge in the race to conquer that new market.

After two years of operating under Canada's federal cannabis framework, the country's marijuana industry has gained valuable experience, according to Martin.

"Those lessons on manufacturing, labelling, sales and marketing, all of those principles ... will be very applicable to the U.S. market," he says.

Not everyone is so optimistic, however.

In Brad Poulos's eyes, Canada has squandered the opportunity to develop a lasting competitive advantage in the global cannabis market.

"The Americans have the advantage," says Poulos, a consultant and professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Ryerson University in Toronto. "They are allowed to do everything that it takes to create a world-class cannabis brand."

In Canada, he says, the rules on advertising of marijuana products are so stringent they've made it impossible for the industry to develop global cannabis brands, he says.

Walsh, though, is more upbeat.

Working under a federal legal framework means Canadian companies have often been able to attract better talent than in the U.S., where working in the industry still carries a stigma, he says.

And Canada's marijuana producers have also been able to tap the U.S. capital markets, while American companies often still struggle to attract funding in a sector with high up-start costs, he notes.

"There's a lot of good growth in Canada's market. There's a lot of potential down the road," he says.

The U.S. election could change the cannabis industry. Is Canada ready?

By Erica Alini Global News
Posted October 30, 2020 

Two years after cannabis legalization in Canada, what has changed? – Oct 17, 2020

As Americans cast their ballots in one of the most acrimonious U.S. elections in history, Canada’s cannabis industry is salivating on the sidelines.

In a historical vote that’s stoking worries of post-election violence, easing restrictions around marijuana has surprisingly broad bipartisan support.

Polls show U.S. public opinion has turned around on the issue of legalization, with a majority of adults now saying cannabis should be legal for both medical and recreational purposes. Republican lawmakers have sponsored marijuana legislation and co-chaired, along with Democrats, the U.S. Congress’s Cannabis Caucus.

What you need to know about cannabis edibles – Jan 10, 2020

The incentives to lift restrictions on cannabis have only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. For U.S. states battered by the economic downturn triggered by the outbreak, the industry is a source of both jobs and tax revenues

For many, legalization has also become an issue of social justice, with the war on drugs now seen as a key driver of disproportionately higher rates of incarceration among Black and Brown Americans.


READ MORE: COVID-19 pandemic a ‘boon’ for legal cannabis in Canada as marijuana industry turns two

A victory by former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden accompanied by Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress could well lead to full federal legalization, several analysts believe.

But restrictions could lift even if President Donald Trump is re-elected and Republicans keep control of the Senate. Five states will vote on legalizing medical or recreational marijuana — or both. That includes New Jersey and Arizona, which are projected to generate sales of up to $400 million each for the recreational market just in the first year, according to estimates by Marijuana Business Daily.

To say that Canada’s cannabis producers have been waiting for Nov. 3 with trepidation would be an understatement. Household names such as Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis, both of which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, say they’re ready to make the most of whatever opportunity materializes.

Federal legalization

Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris favour legalizing medical marijuana and reclassifying cannabis, which federal law currently treats as something akin to heroin and ecstasy. They also support decriminalizing recreational marijuana, which would eliminate jail time for possession under a certain amount, and expunging all previous cannabis convictions.

And the Democratic presidential ticket says it will leave it up to the states to regulate cannabis for adult use.

Biden has so far stopped short of endorsing federal legalization of recreational marijuana. But a Biden White House might still be persuaded to do just that, says Chris Walsh, CEO and president of Marijuana Business Daily.

READ MORE: Canadians cite systemic barriers to legal medical cannabis

Biden’s views on cannabis have already changed significantly, Walsh says, and could shift even more as lawmakers from big, influential states make the case for legalization.

“That could sway him significantly,” he says.

There are also many ways in which Washington could de-facto legalize cannabis without quite saying so, Walsh says.

In addition to reclassifying and decriminalizing cannabis, the federal government could change the banking laws, which currently prevent the industry from accessing a range of mainstream financial services, Walsh says.

Washington could also rethink its tax treatment of cannabis companies, he adds. While marijuana businesses pay federal taxes, they’re excluded from tax breaks and financial aid programs.

Those measures, taken together, “would accomplish much of what legalization would,” Walsh says.

2:15Legal cannabis vaping products ignite health concernsLegal cannabis vaping products ignite health concerns – Dec 17, 2019

State ballots

Even without much change coming from Washington, the state ballots could make a significant difference, according to Walsh.

Mississippi voters will decide on a medical marijuana program. South Dakota will be voting on both medical and recreational legalization. And Montana, Arizona and New Jersey have ballot initiatives on legalizing recreational cannabis.


READ MORE: New Zealand votes against legalizing cannabis, preliminary results show

New Jersey, in particular, is seen as a crucial vote, with cannabis advocates hoping legalization there will trigger a domino effect in the state’s populous neighbours.

If adult-use cannabis becomes legal in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York state would have to “think long and hard about what they do,” says David Culver, U.S. head of government and stakeholder relations for Canopy Growth.

“They want to make sure that they’re capturing the tax revenue associated with cannabis, the general economic impact and the jobs, because they’re going to be significant,” Culver says.

In general, legalization across an ever-larger number of states continues to shift the public perceptions on cannabis, showcases the tax-revenue potential of the industry and forces a growing number of federal lawmakers to reconsider their stance on the issue, Culver says.

If the legalization initiative passes in South Dakota, for example, “you’re going to see the federally elected officials, which are all Republican, have to take a second look at cannabis to try to figure out what their policy position is going to be,” he says.

If all five measures pass, medical use of marijuana will be legal in 38 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and adult-use in 14 of those, plus D.C.
3:38US election misinformation: How foreign interference, voter fraud conspiracies could affect the pollsUS election misinformation: How foreign interference, voter fraud conspiracies could affect the polls – Oct 29, 2020
Does Canada still have a competitive advantage?

Canada’s major cannabis producers are studying various election outcomes as they weigh their next move.

Full legalization would unlock the world’s largest cannabis market.

For Canopy, it would green-light the acquisition of Acreage Holdings, an American cannabis chain. That would give Canopy, which has a policy of only operating in markets where cannabis use is federally permitted, a ready-made foothold in the U.S. market.

Down the line, legal recreational marijuana will likely attract deals and link-ups from a variety of industries, Walsh says.

“Once those floodgates open, you’re going to see a mad rush,” he says. “Beverage companies, tobacco companies, food companies, mainstream industries, Big Tech, Big Ag (agriculture) will come in at a much higher level than they have so far in the U.S.”

Aurora CEO Miguel Martin believes Canadian producers will have an edge in the race to conquer that new market.


After two years of operating under Canada’s federal cannabis framework, the country’s marijuana industry has gained valuable experience, according to Martin.

“Those lessons on manufacturing, labelling, sales and marketing, all of those principles … will be very applicable to the U.S. market,” he says.

Not everyone is so optimistic, however.

In Brad Poulos’s eyes, Canada has squandered the opportunity to develop a lasting competitive advantage in the global cannabis market.

“The Americans have the advantage,” says Poulos, a consultant and professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Ryerson University in Toronto. “They are allowed to do everything that it takes to create a world-class cannabis brand.”

In Canada, he says, the rules on advertising of marijuana products are so stringent they’ve made it impossible for the industry to develop global cannabis brands, he says.

Walsh, though, is more upbeat.

Working under a federal legal framework means Canadian companies have often been able to attract better talent than in the U.S., where working in the industry still carries a stigma, he says.

And Canada’s marijuana producers have also been able to tap the U.S. capital markets, while American companies often still struggle to attract funding in a sector with high up-start costs, he notes.

“There’s a lot of good growth in Canada’s market. There’s a lot of potential down the road,” he says.

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

SASK ELECTION

Mandryk: Mail-ins win NDP Leader Meili his seat, but now he really has to deliver

© Provided by Leader Post Postal workers like this one appear to have delivered NDP leader Ryan Meili a win in Saskatoon Meewasin.

The “Meili-in” ballots have been counted. The Saskatchewan NDP leader appears headed back to the legislature.

Mail-in ballots in Saskatoon Meewasin have put NDP leader Ryan Meili on the top, sparing the Saskatchewan NDP the dubious distinction of becoming the first Official Opposition party in Canada to lose its leader in three consecutive general elections. This is what’s cause for celebration in New Democrat ranks these days. Wither, the once-mighty NDP machine?

Alas, one party’s minor victory is about to become another party’s punchline.

One can already hear the Saskatchewan Party heckles in the chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature next month: “Hey Meili! Did you check your mail this morning to see if you’re still here?” “Hey, Meili! What’s your campaign song next time? Please, Mr. Postman?” “What do we now call the rest of your caucus? The Marvelettes?”

It is a cruel place.

And it might be about to get a little crueler for the NDP and Meili if he doesn’t break the current cycle by rebranding himself and his party.

After being 86 votes behind Sask. Party candidate Ryland Hunter on election night, the first 1,065 of a potential 1,656 mail-in votes counted in Meewasin showed Meili pulling 206 votes ahead. It appears the NDP, at least in Meewasin, won the campaign to get the mail-in vote — perhaps unsurprising, since New Democrats seemed more concerned about voting in person during COVID-19.

Some found it a bit presumptuous for Meili to declare victory after Wednesday’s first round of mail-in ballot count voting with a potential 591 mail-in votes yet to come. But it was surely enough to demonstrate a trend in the remaining mail-ins to be counted that provided valid. Hunter conceded late Thursday afternoon.

And let’s face it: The NDP badly need a win of some sort right now.

They lost fortress-like Saskatoon Riversdale and their 2016 gain in Prince Albert Northcote. They lost ground in Regina north of Dewdney Avenue with the defeat of Northeast incumbent Yens Pedersen. Mail-ins allowed Aleana Young — who had a baby the day before election day — to overcome a 178-vote election night deficit and take Regina University from Tina Beaudry-Mellor. Mohammad Fiaz appears to have held on to Regina Pasqua.

But even with Young’s win over the one-time Sask. Party leadership hopeful and even with modest Saskatoon gains in Eastview and University, the NDP are still only at 13 seats — exactly what they had when the 28th Saskatchewan legislature was dissolved.

However, they will at least have their leader in the house . Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor a disjointed platform shall keep Ryan Meili from his deliveries in the legislature. Having him there is better than not.

As my colleague and Vanier Scholar Merelda Fiddler observed on our CBC election night panel, having to restart the cycle of picking a new leader after the election, introducing him or her to the voting public and getting behind that new leader’s direction and policy shift has been a destructive cycle for the NDP.

Far better would be for all New Democrats — old guard and new — to sheath their swords and get it together.

The 2020 election results can be directly tied to dissension between old and new and left and right since Meili’s selection as leader as 2018 — no place more so than in Regina Walsh Acres, where booting incumbent Sandra Morin stands as a reason why the NDP caucus has one less badly needed seat.

But it’s mostly up to Meili to fix things.

That the Sask. Party probably isn’t all that broken up to see Meili back might have something to do with the fact they already defined him this campaign as too left-wing to be trusted by mainstream Saskatchewan.

If Meili wants to hang around, he is going to have to work on that image; that begins with new approaches and policies that address a broader band of voters and their concerns.

His future and that of the party now depend on it. If he doesn’t, Meili may soon be marked “return to sender.”

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

SASK. ELECTION

Minister Beaudry-Mellor concedes to NDP's Aleana Young in Regina University

The NDP has knocked off a Saskatchewan Party cabinet minister and bumped up its likely seat count to 13, after Regina University incumbent Tina Beaudry-Mellor conceded defeat to challenger Aleana Young on Thursday.

© Provided by Leader Post 

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party candidate Aleana Young speaks to media in Regina on Oct. 24, 2020. The next day, she gave birth to her first child.

Young, who gave birth to a daughter on Sunday, said she always knew the race would be close and didn’t think she’d know the victor until the final count next week.

“I had sincerely been looking at Nov. 7, so had essentially given myself this week to just really enjoy sitting in my new baby bubble and spending time with my husband and my new daughter,” she said.

That’s what she was doing until about 1:05 p.m. Thursday, when she saw a Facebook post from her opponent. “The good people of Regina University have chosen and I would like to congratulate Aleana Young on both of her deliveries,” Beaudry-Mellor wrote.

Young said the next three hours were “particularly bonkers,” as phone alerts streamed in.

But Thursday was bittersweet for the NDP in Regina. The closely fought race of Regina Pasqua looks out of reach, as challenger Bhajan Brar failed to catch up to Saskatchewan Party incumbent Muhammad Fiaz. Brar acknowledged that it’s now hardly possible for him to prevail, and said he was preparing to concede to his opponent.

New results in both races came as election workers count 40,214 mail-in ballots that arrived on or before election night, province-wide. By late Thursday afternoon, they had finished their tallies for all 61 constituencies.

The NDP saw its share of the vote rise from 29.12 per cent on election night to 30.78 per cent in the updated count, while the Sask. Party saw its share drop from 62.95 to 61.57 per cent. The new vote share is barely better for the NDP than in 2016.

There are still potentially 21,000 mail-in ballot packages that were sent to voters but weren’t returned as of election night. They’ll be counted on Nov. 7. But there’s little chance they’ll change the game in Regina University or Regina Pasqua.

Young was trailing by 178 votes in University on election night. But after election workers counted 1,370 mail-in ballots over two days, she has built up an advantage of 226 votes over Beaudry-Mellor.

There are still 444 mail-in ballot packages out there. But Beaudry-Mellor read the tea leaves. She thanked her staff and campaign team, and promised to continue supporting the Saskatchewan Party. Beyond that, her plans are simple.

“I am going to take some time to be with my kids and my dogs and to reflect,” Beaudry-Mellor added. “I’ll see you around soon.”

Young said her daughter, Hara, will likely make a few appearances in the legislative assembly, where rules were recently changed to allow MLAs to bring their young children.

Results for Regina Pasqua came just hours after Young got the news. Brar was trailing Sask. Party incumbent Muhammad Fiaz by 576 votes on election night. The updated count tightened the race somewhat, with Brar now behind by 386 votes.

But Brar told the Leader-Post that it doesn’t look possible for him to make up the difference, even with about 800 ballots potentially out there. He would need roughly 75 per cent of them if they all arrive, and he’s sure they won’t.

He had earlier predicted victory and told the Leader-Post that it would belong to the people of his constituency. But he would not blame them for his defeat.

“It is not the people’s fault. It is my fault,” he said. “I could not convey my clear message to the people.”

awhite-crummey@postmedia.com

Florida unions reach out to infrequent voters in final stretch of campaign

Florida-based union members who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic are making their final push to get out the vote for Joe Biden days before the election.

© CBS News / LaCrai Mitchell seiu-members-meet-downtown-before-canvassing-nearby-neighborhood.png

They're targeting infrequent voters — who in some cases haven't cast a vote since 2008 — and hoping that sharing their personal stories will help get more of them to the polls. With over 7.3 million votes already cast in Florida, where polls show Biden and President Trump are virtually tied, hospitality and fast-food workers are trying to have one more conversation with some of the 7 million Floridians who are registered but haven't voted yet.

High numbers of voters who did not cast a ballot in the last election are turning out in battleground states this year. In Florida, 25.8% of Democrats who have voted early in Florida so far did not vote in 2016, according to the Democratic elections data firm TargetSmart. Among Republicans, 21.8% of the total who've voted so far did not not in 2016.

Most of the members of UNITE HERE, a union representing 34,000 hospitality workers in Florida, were laid off at the start of the pandemic. Seven months later many still haven't returned to their jobs, says Wendi Walsh, the union's state political director. She said UNITE HERE scrambled to get its members access to unemployment benefits and then ultimately hired some who were willing to share their stories with voters as canvassers.

They are "incredibly focused on how they've been treated over these last several months, both by Governor DeSantis and by Donald Trump," said Walsh.

Florida Republicans in the state shut down their in-person voter mobilization efforts during the pandemic, but not for as long as Democratic groups did. Walsh said in June, UNITE HERE took an "educated risk" and restarted its in-person get-out-the-vote efforts. It consulted health professionals, hired hundreds of laid-off members, and a couple dozen began door-knocking again. The group has helped fill the in-person voter engagement gap left by Democratic organizers who were still holding mainly virtual events due to COVID-19.

"As much as we were having some success on the phones...you really can't replace looking someone in the eye and talking to them about their vote," said Walsh.

In September, Biden made his first in-person visit to Florida as the Democratic nominee after the coronavirus forced him to cancel a trip in March. He was here again Thursday, during the last full week of the campaign. By the time Biden landed here in mid-September, Mr. Trump had already been to Florida — now his official residence — at least 10 times since the year began.

More than 300 UNITE HERE members are working as full-time canvassers — making $684 per week — and 500 volunteers are calling voters and sending texts. Since they returned to the field three months ago, none have tested positive for the coronavirus.

CBS News joined UNITE HERE members during a socially-distanced canvass in Central Florida. Lizbeth Concepcion, 33, is a housekeeper at Disney and a Hurricane Maria refugee. Like other Puerto Rican voters in Florida who are working to defeat President Trump, Concepcion said some of his past comments and actions towards the island will be top of mind as she votes. Concepcion is a paid canvasser who said she's also knocking doors in part because of the discrimination she's felt as a member of the LGBTQ community and because of the racism she's experienced.

"I feel like I'm doing something big for this society, and I enjoy it a lot," said Concepcion.

"When I knock at the door, I tell them about my story," said Francesca Clerizier, a 51-year-old mother of six who'd lost her job at Disney before joining UNITE HERE as a canvasser. "I tell them please go out to vote. If you don't want to go to vote, vote for me, because I need it for my kids. I need it for my life."

Concepcion and Clerizier have helped UNITE HERE members connect with more than 100,000 Biden supporters viewed as "low propensity" — those who are less likely to vote and haven't participated in recent presidential elections. These voters receive multiple phone calls and face-to-face visits from the union, Walsh said, to keep pushing them to vote. So far, her team has made 5.3 million phone calls and has knocked on nearly 350,000 doors.

Other groups like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are also hitting the pavement again. In January, it launched a $150 million program — the largest in its history — to reach infrequent voters in Black, LatinX, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

© Provided by CBS News

SEIU members meet before canvassing in neighborhood in Orlando, Florida.

 / Credit: CBS News / LaCrai Mitchell

Alphonso Mayfield, 42, an executive committee member for Florida for All, a group of progressive partner organizations, said SEIU has knocked on 519,000 doors since September.

CBS News joined SEIU on a humid Saturday afternoon in downtown Orlando, where an organizer gathered members for canvassing. Using her iPad, she pulled up a list of addresses of voters in the area. Ten minutes later, the group approached a yard adorned with a Biden-Harris sign and a "Yes on #2" sign. The person on their list had in fact moved, but the middle-aged woman who answered the door said her family had already voted for Biden, eliciting a chorus of cheers from the SEIU members.

After about 30 minutes, the group came across a registered voter who hadn't cast his ballot yet.

"We're trying to get people to go out and vote for the minimum wage to be $15," said Jamelia Fairley, a fast-food employee who was canvassing. "You'll vote yes on Amendment two?" she asked the voter. He said he would, and the SEIU group behind her cheered again.

© Provided by CBS News 

SEIU member Josephy Gourgue knocks on doors in downtown Orlando

Most of the neighborhood encounters were friendly, and they came across no undecided voters. At one home, a resident shooed the canvassers away from a neighbor's yard, accusing them of soliciting, but this didn't faze them.

"The Joe Biden-Harris policy is better suited for the working class. He's talking about raising the minimum wage," said Joseph Gourgue Sr., a 61-year-old wheelchair attendant at the airport who makes $9 an hour.

Fairley, 25, is a leader in the Fight for 15 campaign, an effort to increase the minimum wage in Florida to $15 an hour. She brought her young daughter with her as she knocked on doors to promote the pay hike.

"It's hard living off of $10 an hour because I still can barely afford rent and food on the table," said Fairley. She added, "We're trying to make a change and the only way we can make a change is if we go out and vote."

Coronavirus, consolidation taking toll on energy jobs

By Jennifer Hiller

© Reuters/ANGUS MORDANT FILE PHOTO: 

A long exposure image shows the movement of a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil and gas companies worldwide are taking an axe to their employment rolls, shedding workers to survive what is expected to be a prolonged stretch of weak demand.Exxon Mobil Corp said it will cut its workforce by 15%, or about 14,000 people, along with oil majors Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc .

All told, more than 400,000 oil and gas sector jobs have been cut this year, according to Rystad Energy, with about half of those in the United States, where several big exploration companies and most large oil service companies are headquartered.

Coronavirus has devastated swathes of the global economy, with energy, travel and hospitality among the industries hit hardest. Energy companies were already struggling with weak returns, particularly those operating in U.S. shale regions, but have had to double down on cost cuts as investors pressure companies to improve margins.

© Reuters/Jim Tanner FILE PHOTO: A combination of file photos shows the logos of five of the largest publicly traded oil companies BP, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil Royal Dutch Shell, and Total

"The COVID-era reality across the oil industry is austerity on an epic scale. There is no escaping the fact that this means, among other things, job losses," said Pavel Molchanov, analyst at Raymond James. In addition to Exxon, Chevron Corp, Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc all announced plans in recent weeks to cut staff.

Global fuel demand slumped by more than a third in the spring. While consumption has recovered somewhat, it remains lower than a year ago with major economies resuming lockdowns to contain the pandemic.

Video: US would look different without fracking for natural gas, energy secretary says (Fox Business)  https://tinyurl.com/y4fv9bt5

The downturn has been particularly harsh in the United States, the world's largest crude oil producer. The nation has recorded the most deaths from coronavirus, and the damage from the pandemic has sent unemployment to about 8%.

U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said it is unlikely to return to the peak, near 13 million barrels per day, reached in 2019, largely through the use of fracking technology used by shale companies. The shale industry has been hit hard by the pandemic because it is easy for oil firms to cut staff and spending in the sector.

Fracking has become a hot-button issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. Democratic challenger Joe Biden wants to limit fracking on federal lands, while incumbent President Donald Trump has pushed for more drilling, and argues Biden's position would destroy jobs.Consolidation is helping drive job cuts. Chevron plans to eliminate roughly 25% of the staff acquired with Noble Energy, which it acquired this month. Shell said its oil output likely peaked last year, and it plans to cut roughly 10% of its workforce. Cenovus said it will cut 25% after it buys rival Husky Energy Inc .

In Australia, more than 2,000 oil industry jobs have been cut since March, including at Exxon and Chevron. Top independent gas producer Woodside said earlier this month that it would cut around 8% of its workforce.

Mohammad Barkindo, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, recently expressed concern that the pace of oil demand is below expectations, potentially requiring major producers to maintain production cuts.

Not all companies are throttling back. PetroChina Co Ltd <601857.SS>, Asia's largest oil and gas producer, reported a 350% surge in profit from a year earlier.In an outlook released earlier this month, BP Plc laid out two scenarios that suggest world oil consumption, roughly 100 million barrels per day, peaked last year. BP Plc recently cut about 50% of its exploration team as it shifts operations towards renewable energy development. Currently, futures markets suggest crude prices may not advance beyond $40 a barrel for at least two more years due to weak demand, and that could limit hiring.

"The practical reality is when you have oil prices in the $30 to $40 range, I don't think many companies have the luxury to wait for a recovery," said Alex Pourbaix, chief executive at Cenovus.

(Reporting By Jennifer Hiller; Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London, Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Federal government unveils rules for $750-million emissions reduction fund

OTTAWA — Oil and gas companies that use federal cash to help cut methane emissions from their operations won't have to repay every penny if they eliminate the methane emissions entirely.  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan unveiled rules for the $750-million emissions-reduction fund first announced by the federal government at the end of April.

"Any time we are able to help companies reduce emissions … that is a very good investment for Canada and is a very good investment for Canadians," said O'Regan.

"It's an incredibly effective way for us to reach our targets."

Methane has more than 80 times the global-warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and accounts for more than one-tenth of Canada's total emissions each year.

Almost half of them come from the oil and gas sector.

Canada has committed to cutting methane emissions between 40 and 45 per cent by 2025, but current regulations are only expected to cut 29 per cent by then.

The government has not estimated yet what emissions will be cut through this new program, but said up to half the cost of the loan can be forgiven if a project eliminates methane emissions.

If projects only cut some but not all emissions, the entire loan will have to be repaid.

Several environment groups were critical of the government for tentative agreements it reached with Alberta and Saskatchewan on methane emissions, which the groups argue won't be as strict as the regulations Canada laid out.

The equivalency agreements on methane emissions with Alberta and Saskatchewan will allow them to use their own regulations instead of having to follow Ottawa's.

But Environmental Defence, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund, asked the government not to finalize those agreements until they can be improved to get Canada closer to its target.

Dale Marshall, national climate program manager at Environmental Defence, said the reason Ottawa can't say how many emissions this fund will cut is because it's not tying the cash to meeting the regulations.

"That's the difference with regulations," he said. "The level of reductions doesn't depend on industry coming forward with proposals. It ensures that every oil and gas facility is doing what is needed, especially given that these are very, very cost-effective."

Patrick McDonald, climate director at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the new program offers some flexibility which is good, but how much impact it will have will depend on what companies apply and get accepted.

He said most companies are already looking to move to cut methane emissions, with or without regulations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2020.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Judicial discretion for mandatory minimum sentences for murder would save $8.3M: PBO

Bill S-207, which would also apply to mandatory minimum sentences for other crimes, is being debated in the Senate.

OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget office says allowing judges to use their discretion on whether to apply a lesser sentence for murder could save the federal government $8.3 million per year

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Independent Sen. Kim Pate last month reintroduced legislation that would let judges deviate from mandatory minimum penalties, including for murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison.

Pate and advocates who support the proposed legislation say mandatory minimum penalties do not allow judges to consider extenuating circumstances such as abuse and systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

The parliamentary budget office says that based on a similar law in New Zealand, it expects about three per cent of murder convictions would result in lesser sentences due to exceptional circumstances.

HARPER CONSERVATIVE GOVT BROUGHT IN AMERICAN STYLE MINIMUM SENTENCING 2006-2016

The result would be fewer people in long-term custody at federal correctional institutions as well as in parole programs, which is where the cost savings would come from.

Pate welcomed the budget officer's findings, saying the money saved by her bill could go to supporting marginalized communities.

“Over 50 years of evidence, including findings of the Supreme Court of Canada, make clear that mandatory minimum penalties do not deter crime,” Pate said in a statement Thursday.

“Mandatory sentences fail to respond to the individual and community circumstances in which crime exists and create more harm," she said.

"In both human and fiscal terms, they are one of the most costly and least effective ways of trying to make our communities safer."

Bill S-207, which would also apply to mandatory minimum sentences for other crimes, is being debated in the Senate.

Asked about the issue at a House of Commons committee Thursday, Justice Minister David Lametti said the principle of cabinet confidence limited what he could say.

“I’m well aware of Sen. Pate’s bill, and I’ve discussed it with her,” Lametti said, adding the subject of mandatory minimums was “on my radar screen.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2020.

More pandemics coming if environmental issues not dealt with: report

An international group of scientists has concluded pandemic problems are just starting unless the world moves to deal with the issues creating them.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"The factors driving pandemics are human activities — unsustainable growth in livestock production, deforestation, the wildlife trade and global connectivity," says Peter Daszak, a British expert on disease ecology and head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

The panel, which has 137 member nations, commissioned a report into the environmental roots of pandemics and new diseases including AIDS, H1N1, SARS, Ebola and COVID-19. The authors of the peer-reviewed report drew on the findings of more than 700 journal articles -- about a third published in the last year.

"Pandemics are becoming more frequent, driven by a continued rise in the underlying emerging disease events that spark them," the report says.

"Pandemic risk could be significantly lowered by promoting responsible consumption and reducing unsustainable consumption."

The report estimates mammals and birds host about 1.7 million undiscovered viruses. Somewhere between 540,000 and 850,000 could infect humans.

More than five new viral diseases emerge every year, about three-quarters of which originate in animals.

Growing human populations that push into previously unpopulated lands, as well as the deforestation required to grow crops, are a big part of the problem. The panel found about a third of the new diseases result from land-use changes, agricultural expansion and urbanization.

The trade in wildlife, which has increased more than fivefold in value over the last 14 years, also increases close contact between humans and unfamiliar animals, the report says. So does climate change, which drives migration of both people and animals.

"We are part of the animal kingdom," said report co-author Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio, a Bolivian biologist.

"We can get viruses from animals. What happens is all these human activities are putting together humans more in close contact with animals that have these viruses. In the past, we would never get so close."

It's no longer good enough to wait for pandemics to emerge and rely on a medical response, the report concludes. It points to research that is starting to be able to predict where future pandemics will arise, which animals will host the virus and the environmental and economic changes that drive them.

"Pilot projects, often at large scale, have demonstrated that this knowledge can be used to effectively target viral discovery, surveillance and outbreak investigation," it says.

The report calls for reform in how land-use changes are funded to account for biological risks. Habitat conservation should be stepped up.

People in viral hotspots need education about potential risks. Animals most likely to host dangerous viruses should be blocked from the wildlife trade, which also needs higher safety and cleanliness standards.

Government policies should discourage consumption of products that drive deforestation and habitat loss.

"We have a choice now," Daszak said.

"We can either continue business as usual and have more and more pandemics that emerge quicker, spread more rapidly, kill more people and crash our economies -- or we can shift toward preventing pandemics."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2020.

-- Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

USA

Scaled-back Thanksgiving plans leave turkey farmers in limbo

For the turkey industry, this Thanksgiving is a guessing game.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Millions of Americans are expected to have scaled-down celebrations amid the pandemic, heeding official warnings against travel and large indoor gatherings. That leaves anxious turkey farmers and grocers scrambling to predict what people will want on their holiday tables.

Kroger — the nation’s largest grocery chain — said its research shows 43% of shoppers plan to celebrate Thanksgiving only with those in their immediate household. It has purchased more turkeys than usual — in all sizes — but it’s also predicting an increase in demand for alternatives, including ham, pork roast and seafood. Kroger also expects to see more demand for plant-based meats, like a vegan roast stuffed with mushrooms and squash.

Walmart says it will still carry plenty of whole turkeys, but it will also have 30% more turkey breasts in its stores to accommodate shoppers who don’t want to cook a whole bird.

It’s not always easy to pivot. Angela Wilson, the owner of Avedano’s Holly Park Market in San Francisco, ordered turkeys last year for this Thanksgiving. She can’t cancel the order, so they’re still coming in.

But Wilson said this Thanksgiving might be busier than in the past, since customers who usually go out of town will be staying home. She’s also stocking up on smaller birds like quail and game hen.

Some farmers are making tweaks based on what they think customers will be looking for. Dede Boies raises heritage breed turkeys at Root Down Farm in Pescadero, California. The turkeys she sells for Thanksgiving were born in May, so she has spent months thinking about how the coronavirus might impact the holidays.

Boies decided to harvest some turkeys early this year. It’s a gamble, because the birds gain a lot of fat and flavour in their final few weeks, but she figures customers will want smaller birds. She’s also offering more chickens and ducks.

“We’ve invested so much time and energy and love into these birds, and the whole point is that they go and they are celebrated with people for these great meals. We’re just really hoping that still happens,” Boies said.

Butterball — which typically sells 30% of America’s 40 million Thanksgiving turkeys — said it’s expecting more gatherings, but it’s not convinced people will want smaller turkeys. Its research shows that 75% of consumers plan to serve the same size turkey or a larger turkey than they did last year.

Butterball says about half its turkeys will be in the 10-16 lb. range and half will be in the 16-24 lb. range, the same as usual. Anyone looking for a specific size should plan to shop early, said Rebecca Welch, senior brand manager for seasonal at Butterball.

“Don’t be afraid to go big,” she said. “It’s just as easy to cook a large turkey as it is a smaller one, and it means more leftovers.”

Nancy Johnson Horn of Queens, New York, usually shares a big turkey with her in-laws, her parents and her own family of five. But Horn, who writes The Mama Maven blog, said that gathering won’t happen this year because her kids are attending school in-person and she is worried about spreading the virus.

“As much as it hurts me, I will have to cook myself this year,” she said. She’s not sure what will be on the menu. She’s only cooked a whole turkey once in her life and she’s never made mashed potatoes.

This Thanksgiving comes at an already tenuous time for the $4.3 billion U.S. turkey industry. Thanks to better technology for carving breast meat, per capita consumption of turkey nearly doubled over the 1980s, peaking at 14.4 pounds per person in 1996, according to Mark Jordan, executive director of LEAP Market Analytics in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

But interest in turkey has been steadily falling, thanks in part to price increases five years ago when flocks were hit by bird flu. Annual consumption is now around 12 pounds, Jordan said.

Turkey sales have even been falling at Thanksgiving as consumers explore alternatives, according to Nielsen data. Last November, Americans spent $643 million on turkey, down 3.5% from the previous year. They spent $1.9 billion on beef, which was up 4%. And they spent $12 million — or more than double the prior year — on alternatives like plant-based meat.

Jordan thinks the uncertainty about Thanksgiving demand will hurt groceries hardest. If they discount turkeys, they can sell them but it will hurt profits. If they keep prices high and consumers pass, they’ll be stuck with a lot of turkeys.

“I don’t see many ways that they win this holiday season,” Jordan said.

The uncertainty may well see a repeat at Christmas — both in the U.S. and beyond.

Christmas turkeys are a staple in Britain, where turkey farmers are also bracing for slimmed-down festivities after the government told people not to meet in groups of more than six.

Richard Calcott raises 2,000 Christmas turkeys each year at Calcott Turkeys in Tamworth, England. He bought his turkey chicks — known as poults — in February and March, and it was too late to switch to a smaller breed when pandemic restrictions took hold.

He has tweaked their diets to reduce the weight of each turkey by around 2.2 pounds by the time they’re ready for market. Still, Calcott said he continues to get some orders for larger birds.

“It’s been a very difficult year for a lot of people this year,” he said. “Christmas will be a good time to get families back together.”

___

AP Video Journalist Haven Daley contributed from San Francisco. AP Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

Dee-Ann Durbin, The Associated Press

'They came with dogs:' Genomes show canines, humans share long history

EDMONTON — Somewhere near Lake Baikal on the Siberian steppes, archeologists were opening 7,000-year-old graves. 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The bodies had been carefully interred. One was buried with a long, carved spoon. Another had been honoured with a necklace of elk teeth.

"They look like people being buried — except they're dogs," said Robert Losey, a University of Alberta archeologist.

Those ancient pets are not only moving evidence of their owners' esteem, they're now part of research hinting at how far back dogs and humans go.

"We don't just have a human history that's independent of everything else on Earth," said Losey, one of 56 international authors of a paper published Thursday that links human and canine genetics.

"We've been successful by relying on and altering the histories of other species."

The first dog probably emerged from a type of wolf, but no one knows when, or where, or who domesticated it. It was a while ago. The oldest dog burial dates back about 14,000 years.

Losey and his many colleagues sequenced the genomes of 27 ancient dogs — including the one with the elk-tooth collar — with a maximum age of about 11,000 years. They compared them with genomes of 17 ancient humans who lived in roughly the same time and place as the dogs.

The dog genomes showed that 11 millennia ago, dogs had been domesticated long enough to produce five separate genetic lineages. That suggests the relationship between humans and dogs was old even then.

"They'd already been around for a long time, enough to differentiate groups by the end of the ice age," said Losey.

Scientists also found the movement of those different dog genomes tracked the movement of the human genomes.

"When people migrated, they didn't migrate alone," Losey said. "They came with dogs, often a genetically distinct form of dogs."

When the first farmers came to Europe from what is now eastern Turkey, they didn't adopt the dogs already living there. They brought their own. The genomes of both species track together nicely.

That didn't always happen. But Losey and his colleagues found that throughout most of prehistory, humans lighting out for new territory preferred companions they already knew.

The differences between the genetic strands weren't breeds. Losey said the variation between dogs then was much less than it is today and that most of them would have looked much alike.

"They would have been somewhat diverse," Losey said. "Most or all of them would physically mix right in with a modern dog — some all-black dogs, some all-white dogs, some with floppy ears. If my neighbour were walking one of these dogs from 10,000 years ago, you wouldn't blink an eye."

Losey, a dog lover himself, said studying the relationship between humans and dogs gives him a little insight into that long-ago pet owner who laid his friend to rest by the shores of Lake Baikal.

"There's such a huge public interest in dogs," he said.

"Every time we learn even a little bit more about their long history with people, we get additional insight into what it means to live with these animals."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2020.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

US wages and benefits grow at sluggish pace amid pandemic

WASHINGTON — Wages and benefits for U.S. workers grew slowly this summer as employers sought to hold the line on pay gains in the midst of the pandemic.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

U.S. workers’ total compensation rose 0.5% in the July-September quarter, the second straight quarter of slower growth in wages, the Labor Department said Friday. Growth was the same as in the April-June quarter. That’s down from 0.8% in the first three months of the year.

For the year ending in September, wages and benefits increased 2.4%, the slowest pace in three years. The data comes from the Labor Department's Employment Cost Index, which measures pay changes for workers that keep their jobs. The data isn't affected by the mass layoffs in the spring.

The figures suggest that businesses are holding the line on labour costs, even as they recall millions of the workers that were laid off in March and April when the coronavirus outbreak forced the closures of thousands of businesses nationwide. Still, the U.S. has regained barely more than half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic. The unemployment rate is a still-high 7.9%, though that is down from its 14.7% peak in April.

Pay and benefits fell in the third quarter for employees of colleges, universities and professional schools, for the first time since 2009, during the Great Recession. Compensation for those workers dropped 0.4%, compared with a gain of 0.6% in the second quarter.

Colleges and universities are struggling with declining enrollments amid the pandemic, with many classes conducted online.

Wages for state and local government employees increased just 0.1% in the third quarter, the slowest pace in seven years. State and local governments have also been forced to cut jobs as tax revenues fall. Most states are legally required to balance their budgets.

Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press

Belarus leader threatens to leave protesters 'without hands' as strike rumbles

KYIV (Reuters) - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to leave protesters "without hands" on Friday, sharpening his rhetoric as hundreds marched through the streets and rallied outside universities to keep pressure on the veteran leader to resign.

© Reuters/BelTA FILE PHOTO: Belarusian President Lukashenko meets with Interior Minister Kubrakov in Minsk

Students, factory workers and pensioners answered a call by exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to launch a nationwide strike this week - a fresh move to force Lukashenko to hold new elections after months of mass protests.

The ex-Soviet country sank into crisis after opponents accused Lukashenko of rigging the Aug. 9 presidential election to extend his 26-year rule. He denies vote fraud and has held on to power, buoyed by support from traditional ally Russia.

More than 16,000 people have been detained in a violent crackdown by security forces that has prompted Western countries to impose new sanctions on Minsk.

"If someone touches a serviceman...he must leave at least without hands," Lukashenko said in a televised meeting.

Protesters rallied outside several universities on Friday in solidarity with students who were expelled this week for joining the strike, footage circulating in local media showed.

Video: https://tinyurl.com/y4hx6d5r 

Thousands protest in Belarus as opposition calls for Lukashenko to resign (ABC News)

Several hundred people at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics chanted "well done!" and applauded teachers who went on strike in solidarity with the expelled students, a video by TUT.BY showed.

Dozens, some holding posters saying "solidarity is our weapon", protested near the law faculty of the university, according to a picture published by Radio Svoboda.

More than 100 people protested in front of a school in Minsk, a day after police detained the father of three students who had joined the protests.

"Support students and teachers. Remind the regime: we will not let the future of our country be ruined," Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement.

Dozens of factory workers have been laid off as punishment for joining the strike, according to information given by the strike groups.

The authorities have also closed several cafes and restaurants for supporting the strike, TUT.BY reported.

That included the Brø bakery in Minsk, whose founder Ilya Prokhorov wrote on Facebook that the shop had been shut by the authorities on sanitary grounds.

Lukashenko partially closed the country's land borders, replaced his interior minister and named three security hawks to new roles on Thursday in an attempt to tighten his grip.

(Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

It’s Hard to Enforce Pandemic Health Rules on Halloween. Just Look at What Happened in 1918

The COVID-19 pandemic has already played out like a horror movie script, and yet some Americans are still determined to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31—trading their normal face masks for costume masks, and planning socially distant festivities.

TIME  OCT 30 2020© Influenza Encyclopedia/University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and Michigan Publis... Newspaper headlines about Halloween precautions, 1918

It will no doubt be an unusual holiday, but the cancellation of large costume parties and street celebrations also makes Halloween 2020 eerily similar to one earlier celebration in particular: Halloween 1918, which fell during the deadliest pandemic of the 20th century.

In the 1918 flu pandemic, as during this current pandemic, the virus hit different cities at different times. By Halloween, deaths in East Coast cities were on the decline, after a second wave that had been even deadlier and more contagious than the first wave the prior spring. Further west, the flu was raging.

Just as the state of the pandemic varied, so too did the precautions that cities took for Halloween. Newspaper articles in the digital archive of the Influenza Encyclopedia, produced by the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, provide a glimpse at the range of Halloween safety protocols in major cities nationwide.

One thing they make clear: it’s already hard enough to enforce safety protocols on a day like Halloween, but that challenge gets even more intense during a pandemic.

To avoid another surge, some cities urged residents to stay home, banned Halloween parties and street “jollifications,” and urged youngsters to celebrate quietly. In Rochester, N.Y. the Safety Commissioner told police to keep the noise levels down, out of consideration for the high number of people sick with flu or pneumonia who need “rest and quiet” to get better.

In Maryland, concerned that warm weather would bring people out and too close together, the Baltimore Health Commissioner banned “frolics” such as street celebrations, arguing that “while the epidemic’s sweep was becoming milder, it was still dangerous to permit large assemblages of persons.” Residents were encouraged to wear masks but not to attend masked balls, the Halloween edition of the Baltimore American quipped, and they were advised to avoid activities like blowing horns, which are “particularly dangerous” in terms of spreading germs. The city’s health commissioner also had to clarify that “dancing, which was listed as objectionable from the start, is still regarded as nonessential,” according to the paper.

In Pittsburgh, “ticklers and brushes are particularly forbidden, and confetti throwing will not be allowed because in contact with the hands clothes and the persons of the people throwing enhances the danger of spreading influenza,” reported the Oct. 30 Pittsburgh Gazette Times.

Indoor Halloween parties were banned as well. “Halloween parties are taboo, as are all other indoor gatherings, as the danger of spreading the influenza is still great,” declared Denver Mayor W.F.R. Mills, according to the Denver Post.

In some Midwestern cities, Halloween went on as normal. In Missouri, Kansas City banned Halloween parties of more than 30 people, but in St. Louis, police reported that “the usual number of street lights [had been] extinguished” and “bread boxes overturned” during the night’s festivities. The day after Halloween, an Ohio State Journal headline read “Big Throngs Defy The Health Rules: Thousands of Columbus People Jollify on Halloween Despite Flu Bans.”

In Indianapolis, the top health official lifted the ban on public gatherings just for Halloween, allowing residents to “go ahead and have all the Halloween parties they wanted to,” as long as they stayed away from the streets in the downtown area, according to an article in the Halloween edition of the Indianapolis Star. But being allowed to celebrate didn’t necessarily translate to doing so: an Indianapolis News article did predict fewer, and less rowdy, festivities than usual due to the seriousness of both the virus and World War I, which was still going on.

On the other hand, even where cities tried to target large gatherings, local newspaper coverage of scattered incidents of individual mischief-making suggests that the tricks part of trick-or-treating was especially pronounced.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

In Dallas, “unusually rough and boisterous” celebrations lasted long after midnight. A piano was stolen and so was a horse; an 8-year-old jumped off a barn and miraculously managed only to sprain an ankle; a 2-year-old caught fire, and survived with only “slight” injuries.

In Birmingham, Ala., cabin fever was blamed for the city’s noisiest Halloween ever. “After almost a month of confinement and smarting under the bitterness of a closed city ordinance all of Birmingham ‘cracked under the strain Thursday night,'” according to the Nov. 1 Birmingham News. Revelers tipped over cars, stole porch swings, switched signs and uprooted gates in front of houses. The paper also speculated that excitement over World War I winding down may have also fueled celebrations: “Maybe the fact that Turkey had just surrendered, Austria was about to pull a collapse, and Germany was hanging groggily to the ropes, had something to do with the unusual display.”

It’s unclear what kind of effect these rowdy Halloweens had on case counts more than a century ago, especially given that it wasn’t the only event drawing people into crowds around that time: Election Day was just a week later, and people flocked to the streets again to celebrate the end of World War I just days after that.

Regardless of Halloween’s role, a long winter was ahead, and the flu did continue to spread at pandemic levels well into 1919, spiking in the following winter and in early 1920 as well. In the end, about 675,000 Americans and 50 million people died, and about 500 million people were infected globally.

Then, as now, even though they lacked much of today’s concrete knowledge about the nature of the virus, public health experts knew that social distancing and wearing masks slowed the spread of flu, and could do so on Halloween too. And so the same precautions they urged more than a century ago are getting new life, in hopes that Halloween won’t make this year even scarier than it already is.

Researchers in Toronto are in the early stages of developing what’s being called a "world-first" treatment for Parkinson’s disease.© Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook's Dr. Nir Lipsman is co-leading a study with Dr. Lorraine Kalia and Dr. Suneil Kalia of University Health Network on a new treatment for Parkinson's

Currently in its first phase of clinical trials, the ultimate goal of the new treatment would be to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s, prevent further decline in patients and reduce the amount of medications that people need to take for the illness, according to Dr. Nir Lipsman, the study’s co-principal investigator and a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

4:06     https://tinyurl.com/y3m2khnh
More Parkinson’s surgeries available, but still not enough

“That’s ultimately the goal — to change both the day-to-day activities of patients but also the course of their illness,” he said. “We’re still, again, (in) early days, but this is a critical first step.”

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disorder where patients experience tremors, muscle rigidity and have difficulty with balance, among other symptoms.

More than 100,000 people in Canada have been diagnosed, according to Parkinson Canada, and there is no cure.

Read more: Why are my hands shaking? What to know about tremors

The Toronto researchers, who are based at Sunnybrook as well as University Health Network, are using a focused ultrasound technology to deliver a treatment directly to the regions in the brain that are affected by Parkinson’s.



Gallery: These common diseases are detectable in DNA (Espresso)

https://tinyurl.com/y3m2khnh


This is done by non-invasively opening a passage in the blood-brain barrier — the physical obstacle in the body that prevents compounds, including potentially useful therapies, from gaining access to the brain, Lipsman said.

“What an ultrasound allows us to do is create a kind of temporary window in that blood-brain barrier to allow the delivery of therapies to the brain that ordinarily cannot get in,” he added.

“Now what we can do is open the blood-brain barrier entirely non-invasively with the patient in the MRI scanner, so they don’t have to have skin incision or holes in the skull.”

Researchers are looking at whether delivering an enzyme called Glucocerebrosidas to the brain will help prevent the build-up of a protein that is associated with Parkinson's called alpha-synuclein.

4:59
https://tinyurl.com/y3m2khnh
Larry Gifford on living with Parkinson’s


The goal for this phase of the trial is to have six people undergo three rounds of treatment, with follow up for at least six months. Three patients are already signed up.

Pat Wilson, 56, of Cookstown, Ont., is the first person to participate in the study. While she hasn't had improvement so far, she has had to adjust her medication because she's seen a change in how her body reacts to it.

Wilson was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2013 and her father also had the disease. She wanted to participate in the trial to try to help others.

Read more: When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast: More than care givers, we are partners

"It's important because we need better treatments, longer-lasting treatments, maybe. Anything to help people in the future who might get it."

Over time, as the Toronto researchers gain experience and conduct additional trials, Lipsman said they hope they can demonstrate that they’re moving the dial when it comes to preventing neurodegeneration from taking place.

“If we can do that, then we can prevent disability, we can improve quality of life and we can prolong life as well,” he said.