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San Diego Comic-Con in-person canceled again; online-only in 2021
San Diego's biggest annual summer event, Comic-Con International, has been canceled as an in-person event for the second year. Instead, Comic-Con will be online-only, just as it was in 2020. However, organizers said they are planning a different, smaller event sometime in November — although firm details about the plan were not available. In a statement posted online, the nonprofit that operates the event said safety concerns over COVID-19 continue to make holding an in-person event too risky. It also canceled its WonderCon event in Anaheim in late March. "While we are buoyed by the rollout of...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Florida marks 1,700 new COVID-19 cases at one-year mark, the fewest in months
MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health announced 1,700 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the fewest reported in months — on Monday, a year since the state reported its first known infections. The state also announced 150 new deaths. Of those who died, 147 were residents. Monday’s single-day case count is the lowest reported since Oct. 5, when 1,415 cases were added. While Mondays usually see fewer cases because less data processing happens during the weekend, testing was also down. On Monday, the state reported the results of 33,559 residents tested Sunday, the lowest recorded since October. T...
Miami Herald
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No more urine tests: Proposed California law would end most workplace marijuana tests
California adults can smoke marijuana without fear of going to jail, but using it after hours can still have consequences at work. A new bill in the Legislature aims to end a still common employment practice five years after Californians voted to legalize recreational cannabis in which private companies require can workers to test for marijuana use. Assembly Bill 1256, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, is intended to prevent employers from using past evidence of marijuana use, such as a hair or urine test, as justification for discrimination against an employee, such as denying ...
The Sacramento Bee
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Cooling Stress Tips: Variety is the spice of life
Are you upset that life feels hum-drum and kind of empty? Maybe you’re doing well in your career field, keeping up your mortgage payments, and managing life decently well. But still, you feel something is missing. Managing your life, schedule, activities and responsibilities is no small feat. However, at times, you wonder if something major needs addressing. You have a feeling that your life could be better. “I was very aggravated a few months ago,” says a football coach we’ll call Aaron. “I’d wake up feeling depressed and start comparing my own life to my brother’s laid-back lifestyle.” Aaron...
Tribune News Service
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White House confirms Chicago US Attorney John Lausch to stay for now
The White House waited until the eleventh hour before publicly confirming Sunday that Chicago’s top federal prosecutor will not be forced to resign as originally planned. “In very limited exceptions, including the Northern District of Illinois, the administration has opted not to seek new candidates for U.S. Attorney positions at this time,” a White House spokesman said in a statement Sunday when the Tribune asked about the future of U.S. Attorney John Lausch. Lausch, a 2017 nominee of then-President Donald Trump, had been part of a clean sweep by Biden’s team asking holdovers from the previou...
Chicago Tribune
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'An abomination': Group offers $10,000 to remove Kansas City-area Confederate statue
Although she is 70 years old, Theresa Byrd can still feel the sting of growing up Black in Liberty, Missouri — forced in the era of legal segregation to walk away from the white elementary school just blocks from her home to the Black Garrison School nearly a mile away. "In my route, " Byrd recalled, "I went up through town and frequently I was ridiculed, or relegated off the sidewalk, told to get in the street, called the N-word, was spat at." A statue always loomed nearby: At some 20 feet tall, it is a granite likeness of a Confederate soldier, atop a Confederate flag in relief, that some ar...
The Kansas City Star
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Protesters demand ERCOT take responsibility for disastrous failure
AUSTIN, Texas — About 50 people gathered Sunday afternoon outside ERCOT’s campus in suburban Austin, demanding the nonprofit that controls about 85% of the Texas power grid take responsibility for the disastrous failure that plunged millions into darkness without heat or water. Hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Austin Stops Evictions and other groups, the protest at 7620 Metro Center Dr. called for the independent organization to be put under public control and be required to pay for the public crisis it created. “This is the first and hopefully there will be more to come,” sai...
Austin American-Statesman
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San Diego County supervisors to consider making jail phone calls free
SAN DIEGO — When Georgina Mercado was arrested in Chicano Park in 2016 and booked into the Las Colinas women's jail in Santee, her first thoughts were about her children, who were 2, 4 and 6 years old at the time. Mercado ended up spending three months in custody before the charges were dropped. Her grandmother, whose only source of income was a monthly Social Security check, took care of the children. "I couldn't call home because I'm not going to put that extra burden on my grandmother," Mercado said. The initial connection fee alone was $5. "Over three months, I think I only called home thr...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Julius Randle outplays Domantas Sabonis as Knicks beat Pacers, 110-107
NEW YORK — Julius Randle showed why he was an All-Star selection over Domantas Sabonis. In a head-to-head physical battle between the two powerful forwards, Randle won the box score battle and the game, 110-107, pushing the Knicks (17-17) to .500 for the first time since January. Randle finished with 28 points and 10 boards in 42 minutes, but was also subbed out for defensive purposes on the biggest possession of the game. With the Pacers trailing by 2 with the ball, Sabonis’ pass was deflected by Derrick Rose and fell in Frank Ntilikina’s hands with 4.7 seconds remaining. Ntilikina was fouled...
New York Daily News
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Cuomo hails decline in statewide COVID-19 rates to near 3-month lows, even as NYC lags behind
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised New Yorkers on Saturday for staying the course as coronavirus infection rates continued to decline to fresh, nearly three-month lows. Even though COVID rates are declining a bit slower than elsewhere and New York City is lagging, Cuomo said, better days are ahead as more and more people get vaccinated. “New Yorkers have shown strength and resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re going to need more of it as we work to get everyone vaccinated across the state,” he said. “The footrace between the positivity rate and the vaccination rate is progre...
New York Daily News
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