Putin Says Waging War in Ukraine Defends Russian ‘Sovereignty’

Russia is defending its “sovereignty” and “spiritual values” by waging war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in a video address posted on the Kremlin website.

The speech came a year after Putin signed documents to illegally annex four Ukrainian regions in Europe’s biggest land grab since World War II.

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“We are defending Russia itself, are fighting together for the Motherland, for our sovereignty, spiritual values and unity, for victory,” he said of the invasion Kremlin forces launched in February 2022.  

Putin said Russia has to implement a “large-scale program” to revive and develop the annexed regions, and vowed to achieve its goal. Kremlin forces control only parts of the four regions, whose combined area is roughly the size of Bulgaria. 

The speech sought to demonstrate that Putin has solidified his territorial claims even as Kyiv’s four-month-old counteroffensive, backed by billions of dollars in weapons from the U.S. and other allies, makes halting progress in the country’s east and south.

The Kremlin held sham referendums a year ago to annex the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions. The votes drew condemnation from the United Nations and Ukraine’s allies, and aren’t recognized internationally.

Russia-appointed authorities held elections in those regions earlier this month, even as Moscow’s forces continue to lose parts of the territory they took at the start of the February 2022 invasion. 

Ukrainian units this week moved forward near the village of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region, with troops pushing toward Russian strongholds further south. The Institute for the Study of War, U.S.-based military analysts, called it a “tactical breakthrough” but said the situation remains fluid.

Russia in 2014 annexed the Crimean peninsula, which Ukraine has been targeting recently with more frequent attacks on weapons, bases and supply lines there.

In a speech last year at a signing ceremony to formalize control over the four occupied regions in Ukraine, Putin vowed the annexation would be irreversible and that people on these territories would become Russian citizens “forever.” 

In a post on Telegram, Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister who’s now deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said the war will last “until the complete destruction” of the Kyiv government and “liberation of native Russian territories.” Medvedev, a frequent provocateur on social media, also wrote that Russian will have “more new regions.” 

source https://time.com/6319151/putin-defends-ukraine-war-russian-sovereignty/

Borrowers Are Reassessing Their Budgets as Student Loan Payments Resume

NEW YORK — Millions of Americans must start repaying their federal student loans again in October, with monthly payments averaging hundreds of dollars. To get ready, borrowers are cutting expenses, taking on additional work, and looking for options to reduce their monthly payments.

Megan McClelland, 38, said she has started asking for October shifts with a catering company and a winery to help supplement her income.

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McClelland’s main job is as a counselor at Petaluma High School in California. During the more than three years payments were suspended because of the pandemic, she paid off her car loan and was able to save for the first time. She’ll put the $235 she was spending on her car payment toward her student loan, but that still leaves another $270 or so she’ll have to reallocate or earn.

“It had been a huge relief the past few years to not have that financial burden,” she said. “In the next months, I’m looking to see where I can scale back in my budget. Probably less going out to eat, and more picking up side gigs.”

Justin Cole, 35, of Little Rock, Arkansas, said he doesn’t know how he’s going to come up with the $166 a month he’ll owe starting in October. That’s the estimated payment on his roughly $19,000 of loans from paying for college more than 10 years ago.

“I’m already in a mountain of debt, and while I just got a raise at work, it doesn’t go into effect until we’re full staffed at my family practice clinic,” he said.

Cole works the front office at a medical practice, checking in patients, handling records and managing payment collection. Some of his other debt comes from medical expenses after a car accident early in the pandemic.

“If those loans were forgiven, I could finally work on getting my credit up and actually saving money for once,” he said. “If they were forgiven out of the blue, I’d be ecstatic.”

The Supreme Court in July rejected a plan by President Joe Biden’s administration to wipe away $400 billion in student loan debt.

For now, Cole has applied for adjustments to his payments based on both the new SAVE plan and prior income-driven repayment options, which are listed as processing and “in review” on his account. The SAVE, or “Saving on a Valuable Education,” plan allows borrowers to make lower payments based on a percentage of their discretionary income.

His major household expenses are “rent, car payments, groceries, and utilities — the same as everybody else,” he said.

Not yet clear is how millions of people suddenly having less discretionary income might affect the economy.

On an earnings call last month, the chief financial officer of Target said that student loan payments restarting will “put additional pressure on the already-strained budgets of tens of millions of households,” a sentiment echoed by the financial chiefs of Best Buy and other retailers.

In the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of economic conditions, one restaurant-industry observer in Boston said workers are taking on more hours, and, for the first time, credit card debt has topped $1 trillion. According to credit bureau TransUnion, more than half of student loan holders added credit card debt during the pandemic. Meanwhile, consumer savings, which peaked in 2021, are on the decline.

McClelland qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness as a public school teacher who will have worked in the field for 10 years next March. She’s putting her loans in order to hopefully receive that cancellation next year. The program erases remaining debts for federal student loan holders who work in public service while making 10 years of payments.

“I only have six payments to go, but it’s still stressful,” she said. “I have to find about $500 a month starting next month towards this payment that I haven’t had in so long.”

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is one of several avenues for relief still available to many with student debt. After Biden’s original plan for forgiveness was struck down by the Supreme Court in July, the White House has said it will use the Higher Education Act to bring cancellation to more borrowers. It’s currently undergoing a process known as “negotiated rule-making” to determine the details of that plan.

Other sources for relief for borrowers include: false certification, borrower defense, closed school, total/permanent disability discharges, and alternate repayment programs like income-driven repayment.

McClelland, for her part, said she now spends a lot of time counseling high school students on how to avoid taking on burdensome loans.

“I had no financial guidance when I was younger, from my own parents or from school,” she said. “I didn’t ever understand the long term impact.”

Despite working while in school and since — moonlighting at Starbucks, wineries and restaurants as well as counseling — McClelland still has a balance of about $38,000 in debt, from original loans of $10,000 towards her undergraduate studies and $40,000 for her masters in counseling at Sonoma State.

“I knew I wanted to go to college, and my parents didn’t have any money,” McClelland said. “I tell kids all the time, openly, ‘As someone who was once in your shoes, I highly recommend finding a way to avoid taking out loans.’ When you’re 17 or 18 years old, you think, ‘Oh, sure, I’ll figure this out.’ Then it’s frustrating to still be in this financial situation.”

source https://time.com/6319141/student-loan-payments-resume-borrowers-budget/

What The Golden Bachelor Says About Desirability as We Age

Sept. 28 was the season premiere of The Golden Bachelor, a new show from The Bachelor franchise featuring senior dating. The episode unfolded much like any Bachelor premier where we watch the hopeful lead meet a group of starry-eyed hopefuls. The difference was that the people meeting were not at the beginning of their careers or ready to start families. These folks were searching for someone to spend their next, and final chapter with.

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I started seeing casting calls for The Golden Bachelor a while back. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, other than what a trip it would be to see my mom on a show known for clout chasing, fighting over shrimp, diabolical plotting, and other behaviors that get contestants labeled as being there for the “wrong reasons.” And then, on August 14, 2023, during “The Men Tell All” episode of Charity Lawson’s Bachelorette season, the world was introduced to Gerry Turner, the franchise’s first Golden Bachelor—a 72-year-old widower with two daughters and two grandchildren.

Turner’s introduction was met with boundless enthusiasm and teary eyes as he described his desire to find love again after losing his wife to illness in 2017. The two were high school sweethearts and married for 43 years. When asked by the host, Jesse Palmer, if he believes he’ll find a love like he had with his wife, Turner remarked, “What I look for at the age of 70 is different than what I looked for in high school and college.” My interest was immediately piqued.

During the show’s premiere, we got a glimpse of the complex dynamics of dating later in life as Gerry and the contestants shared their desires for partnership, love, and affection after having already had full lives and for some, multiple loves.

Bachelor Nation will now be privy to the evolution of love after a lifetime of experience, loss, and resilience. I’m rooting for Gerry, as I root for all of the leads, to find love and a life-long partner—but it’s concerning just how much the show is focusing on a narrow population of seniors, all very fit and active, with several contestants working in the fitness industry. Is this who the franchise believes to be worthy of a second chance at love?

Diversity has always been a problem for the franchise, from leads to the contestants. The show’s casting has historically veered towards homogeneity and included little racial, body or ability diversity. Prior to The Golden Bachelor, the age range for contestants has usually fallen between early 20s and late 30s. The show appears to be the franchise’s way of opening up discussions about age andacknowledging a population of daters who are rarely represented in media.

Read More: Why Older Couples Don’t Need Marriage to Have Great Relationships

The cast for Gerry’s season was released on August 30 in a splashy video with Cher’s “Believe” playing in the background. Twenty two women in fashionable gowns revealed themselves to be ready for love and hopeful that it’s with Gerry. Based on who has made the cut, it’s clear that the producers chose contestants who defy what we imagine when we think of senior citizens. But is this casting move breaking stereotypes or reinforcing harmful expectations for people over 60 to be thin, with very few wrinkles, and mostly gray-hair free?

In many ways, The Golden Bachelor is a mirror of our culture’s beliefs about aging. We are already seeing hints of ageism, which the American Psychological Association defines as “discrimination against older people because of negative and inaccurate stereotypes.” One of the final “contestants” to exit the limousine to meet Gerry was Concetta “Aunt Chippy” Potenza, who also happens to be Jimmy Kimmel’s aunt. At 84, she more closely resembles the stereotype of the undesirable older woman. In typical (tasteless) Bachelor fashion, she is meant to be comic relief, but she registered more as the fat, aim of the joke. Cast against women who managed to escape the ravages of age, she seemed to portray a cautionary tale. She is brash, comments that she’s in the wrong place, and falls asleep during the rose ceremony. Whether she voluntarily was there for the joke or not, the point remains the same: she was never even close to being competition.

There are many stereotypes about older people, and one is that older bodies, with their fat and folds and wrinkles, aren’t desirable. This is especially true for women, who experience a tremendous amount of pressure to remain youthful in appearance and get (or stay) thin as they age—some of which is hormonally impossible and gets only more complicated by any number of health issues we face as we age. Perhaps we will hear from the women about their struggles with weight and body image and how they experience inhabiting an older body.

In casting Turner, who is thin and active (he loves pickleball), the show is also holding up an example of what aspirational aging looks like for men. Turner appears to be the picture of “health” with nowhere near a granddad-bod or even a dad-bod. He uses a hearing aid, but other than that he looks as spry as any young man could be. Not all men age this gracefully, but that’s what makes Gerry such an attractive casting choice for the franchise. They want us to see an idealized version of aging, not what most of us will likely experience in our own lives.

Another tricky area for The Golden Bachelor to navigate is sex. Senior sex tends to get erased from the media in favor of a more kindly, sexless representation of aging. When Gerry’s season was first announced on “The Men Tell All,” the topic of Fantasy Suites came up. Fantasy Suits are overnight dates where the final three contestants are able to spend camera-free time with the lead and explore intimacy. Jesse Palmer asked Gerry whether that would be a part of his journey, as the camera panned around the studio audience with puzzled looks on their faces. Gerry remarked that this will depend on the relationships he builds and how comfortable they both feel, which is generally how Fantasy Suites are addressed by younger leads.

The problem is in the question: Why would Gerry be any different? Older people have sex, sometimes the best sex of their lives. What that looks like is largely a mystery because no one talks about it.

During Gerry’s reveal, there were jokes about how he was trending with tweets about how he “can geddit” and is a “grandzaddy.” But somehow the idea of him choosing to explore a sexual connection with one or multiple contestants was unthinkable. This man has been having sex his whole life, and most certainly knows the value sexual connection can have in a relationship.

Based on what we saw in the premier and what was teased in the season trailer, I think we’re in for lots of sexual tension. Gerry makes out with at least two women on the first night and declares he’s in love with multiple women. I’m excited for there to be real moments of lust and passion between Gerry and his hopeful fiancés-to-be. But I also want the show to shed light on how our desires change as we get older. What the show lacks in body and racial diversity I hope will be made up for in allowing the women to tell stories about the process of aging and how that’s impacted their identities.

That includes all of the stuff society tells us time and time again to hide: discussions of menopause, Empty Nest Syndrome, being child-free or what it has been like raising Black children or grandchildren in America. We’ve already started to hear some compelling stories about loss and supporting friends who have severe illness, and I’m hopeful that the show will create more space for harder topics to be explored. I want to learn about the contestants’ defining moments of embracing themselves and their lives. I want to leave this season of the show feeling like I’ve gained more insights on aging and particularly, what it feels like to age in a culture that wants you to remain young.

source https://time.com/6318687/golden-bachelor-dating-aging-desireability-essay/

Rachel Lee Wasn’t Sure She’d Ever Speak About the Bling Ring. Erin Lee Carr Helped Her Find a Way

Rachel Lee doesn’t come across like she could be the leader of a crime ring. At Motel Morris in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, she’s shy and intentional with her words as she sits for an interview alongside director Erin Lee Carr, who has just made a documentary about the time when she was, if not a leader, at least a member, of the Bling Ring. The infamous crime saga involved a group of teens who robbed numerous celebrity homes, including those belonging to Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom, between 2008 and 2009, and became a national sensation. The media firestorm surrounding the case inspired a Sofia Coppola movie, in-depth news coverage, and, more recently, a 2022 Netflix documentary that featured former Bling Ring members Alexis Haines (formerly Neiers) and Nick Norgo (formerly Prugo). But there was a major piece missing from the story: Lee, who never spoke out about the crimes until now.

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The media narrative that formed around Lee when she was on trial as a teenager and serving 16 months of a prison sentence for three counts of residential burglary was one she didn’t take pains to debunk—she was advised not to speak up, not to talk to the press, or ever try to redirect the narrative. It wasn’t until Carr approached her about doing a documentary that she seriously considered talking about that time in her life.

“I was always afraid to open up to somebody who had power through media and that they could twist the story and then it would be more mess,” says Lee, now 33. “For me, every time an article comes out about the Bling Ring, every time a new documentary comes out, I keep in the back of my mind that these victims are still here on this earth triggered by this, so I didn’t want to be a trigger.”

But she felt her story was in good hands with Carr, who at 35 is a contemporary of Lee’s and who has made documentaries about other complicated young women, from Britney Spears (Netflix’s Britney v. Spears) to Michelle Carter, a teen who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after encouraging her boyfriend, via text message, to kill himself (I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter). The trust between them is evident in their dynamic as they sit for an interview about HBO’s The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring, which hits Max on Oct. 1. Every time a question is asked, Lee takes time to process it, closing her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering as the sentences begin to formulate in her head. Carr, by her side, is patient and understanding.

They spoke to TIME about first impressions, lessons learned, and balancing guilt, ego, and respect for victims.

TIME: What are you feeling right now as the documentary is about to come out?

Lee: I’m feeling really grateful for Erin for even approaching me in the first place and then allowing me to feel like I could be myself and speak from the heart so the world could see who I really am.

I’ve noticed a wave of emotions; sometimes I feel very present in my life, and then sometimes it kind of hits me all at once, and I feel overwhelmed and a little bit scared but also confident because I was truly me. I’ve been working on being proud of who I am.

Carr: It feels like the right time for this because it’s almost in reverse. Usually, there’s the documentary, then there’s the scripted—we have the amazing Sofia Coppola film, and there’s been a couple of other pieces about this. But no one knew the whole story because Rachel had not spoken. I think this is a perfect cap to revealing that it’s not just about cultural excess and obsessing about celebrities. It’s about what our brains do to us when we’re teenagers, mental health, loneliness, codependency, drug abuse, and understanding what happened in the houses that night.

What drew you to Rachel’s story?

Carr: When [the Bling Ring] happened, I was obsessed. I remember that I once had stolen one thing in Urban Outfitters: a pair of earrings. I nearly got caught, and it was just red hot shame. So I was blown away by this group of kids entering into these houses and doing this, and my beat is complex women, and you are one.

Lee: Yeah, I am.

Rachel, were you offered a spot in the Netflix documentary?

Lee: I was. I just personally didn’t want to participate in that because, energetically, I was shaking so much, trembling. I just knew I couldn’t.

How did this project come about with Erin?

Lee: A pretty natural flow, but a lot of blind faith and [time]. I was kind of very vulnerable, but not totally. So Erin was very patient with me, never made me feel pressured.

Carr: It was a little uncomfortable because Rachel showed me text messages where—it’s not Netflix, a production company that made the documentary—but where they were talking badly about me, and it was a full-court press on Rachel. That energetically is not going to feel good. I have the benefit of working with organizations like HBO, where they give me the time, and I don’t need to pressure anybody. But I knew the story that I wanted to tell was really different.

Erin, what were your first impressions of Rachel?

Carr: Mystical. Moon baby. Bubbly. Thoughtful. Split.

What do you mean by split?

Carr: There are parts of her that are fractured. There’s the before, the during, and the after, and it’s very hard for her to reconcile who she is today with who she was. She’s pushed it all away, and I’ll let Rachel speak to this, but she’s put a lot of that down. These vestiges come up in the present day sometimes.

Rachel, first impressions of Erin?

Lee: To be honest, I just really liked Erin. I thought that she was a very bold but nice person. I’m not bold in the world, but maybe behind closed doors. I just liked being around Erin’s energy; she was constantly inspiring me to be more out there. I felt really good to be able to talk about things I had been pushing down for so long.

Carr: You were close to backing out; you came very close to canceling the whole thing.

Lee: Yeah, I did.

What was making you want to back out?

Lee: I can talk on the phone all day, but the second a camera is on me, I freeze. But I had to overcome that hurdle because I wanted to share how I felt.

Carr: She’s been burned by the media, and I’m an empath, but I’m also a journalist. I think that in her mind, was I going to come in and try to exploit her? She says it’s about energy, but it really is also about my body of work that I don’t tend to screw people over. I can say with a whole heart that I will do justice by the story and know that no one’s gonna give me notes not to do that.

Erin, what was the biggest misconception about Rachel that you wanted to correct?

Carr: There was this huge question: Was she the ringleader?‘Was she the mastermind behind it all? I think it was a two-person job. I’ve wanted to explore the psychology behind when two people get together and egg each other on. Nick [Prugo] had obviously told the police everything right after everything that happened and was in a very fortunate position to say it was all Rachel. She was in such serious trouble; she was trying to fight for her survival in the criminal justice system, let alone giving an interview to Good Morning America. I think it’s very clear that there was an agenda put out in the world and that didn’t feel correct.

Rachel, what was the hardest thing to talk about in the documentary?

Lee: The hardest things for me were talking about the burglaries themselves, the affected victims, and my family. Those are things I can never go back in time and change. I can only imagine how horribly I affected so many people, so when I talk about it in the documentary, I just feel nervous and sad.

What are your feelings now about the Bling Ring?

Lee: I was having a really hard time forgiving myself, being able to live a full life, because I always felt like I had to punish myself. Not only was the media punishing me, and I was punished by the justice system, but I was also punishing myself. 

Carr: It was very hard for her to go back into those nights and describe what happened during the night of the robberies. We had a moment where we went outside and talked. I told her, “This can’t be a fluff piece where I can’t ask you about what happened. We have built enough trust.” We had to go through it, and you talked about the high you’ve gotten and the clarity you got after it. She’s been told by her family, by the media, to not talk about it. But for people to understand this and for it to feel like a definitive piece about your story, we need to know what it felt like in the house.

Do you feel like you’ve changed?

Lee: Of course. I was honestly not considerate of other people’s feelings, and that’s something I really had to work on. I’ve become a more mindful person. Even when my friends joke about stealing to this day, I’m like, “Don’t ever do that. Don’t ever talk about it. Don’t ever steal. Just don’t joke around about stuff like that.” Growing up, after the Bling Ring happened, some people would say, “Oh my god, that’s so cool.” And I’d ask, “How is that cool? I did something so terrible. Ruined my name and people’s lives.” All I had to do was learn from it, and I’m really grateful I did. 

If Erin had not approached you about this documentary, do you think you would you never have spoken about The Bling Ring?

Lee: For the rest of my life, never. In my mind, I was like, “I’m gonna go the rest of my life and never say anything, ever.”

Why not? You wouldn’t want to clear your name?

Lee: Clearing a name is for ego purposes. I was always afraid to open up to somebody who had power through media, and they could twist the story, and then it would be more messy. For me, every time an article comes out about the Bling Ring, every time a new documentary comes out, I keep in the back of my mind that these victims are still here on this earth triggered by this, so I didn’t want to be a trigger.

That’s a very selfless way of looking at this.

Lee: I would say that is one of the things that Bling Ring gave me is a lot of selflessness. I’m very humbled and was humbled at a young age.

What do you both hope the audience takes away from the documentary?

Carr: I’ve spent such an obsessive, obscene amount of time on these films, so every thought I’ve ever had gets put into the film, and I don’t want to say what my thoughts are; I want the film to speak for me. As a journalist, I want there to be all sides to the story, and you’ll see throughout the films that I work on you can sometimes know my opinion, and sometimes it feels a bit more ambiguous. I try to keep people guessing a little bit.

Lee: I just hope that they just see me as a human and that I’m not perfect, but that I’m trying, in this life, in this current moment. I really hope that the victims know how sorry I am. There will never be a time in my life when I’m not sorry and guilty about it.

source https://time.com/6318609/rachel-lee-interview-ringleader-documentary/

NASCAR to Return $1 Million All-Star Race to North Wilkesboro Again in 2024

RALEIGH. N.C. — The NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race will remain at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2024 after this year’s event — the first race for NASCAR there in 27 years — attracted a capacity crowd thrilled to return to stock car roots.

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State legislators joined NASCAR and track executives on Thursday at the North Carolina Legislative Building for the announcement, which keeps the .625-mile (1-kilometer) asphalt oval, located almost 160 miles (258 kilometers) west of Raleigh, on the Cup Series schedule for another year.

The May 19 non-points exhibition race remains in its traditional slot on the weekend before the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR President Steve Phelps said the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro and the circuit’s first street race, held in Chicago, were the signature events of 2023 during NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season.

“Neither of those events disappointed,” Phelps said. “We are so thrilled to be coming back with the All-Star Race.”

North Wilkesboro was one of NASCAR’s original venues, hosting more than 90 Cup races before it closed in 1996 as the circuit sought to build popularity in other markets. The oval fell into disrepair until Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., local boosters, and state officials pushed efforts to rejuvenate the track.

Federal and state funds helped complete renovations, resulting in the September 2022 announcemen t that it would return in 2023.

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports, which owns both the Charlotte and North Wilkesboro speedways, also said Thursday that North Wilkesboro will be repaved for the first time since 1981 in time for next year’s race.

Kyle Larson dominated this year’s race, which was held before 35,000 fans on the patched-up asphalt track, on the way to the $1 million prize in the winner-take-all event.

The final state budget taking effect next week includes an additional $4 million for the speedway to perform repairs and improvements as long as it agreed to host one more NASCAR Series race there by the end of 2028.

The 2024 All-Star Race satisfies that requirement, according to state Rep. Jason Saine, a top budget-writer.

“It’s right to be in North Carolina. It feels great to have it in North Carolina,” Saine told reporters, “and it means that tourists are going to come from everywhere and spend a week in North Carolina spending dollars.”

Gov. Roy Cooper also has been a big supporter of returning NASCAR to North Wilkesboro and attended this year’s race.

Phelps said that “feeling the love from from the state and its politicians is really important, and it influences decisions that we make.”

It’s unclear whether Thursday’s announcement improves North Wilkesboro’s chances for a return to a regular stop on the points race schedule. Phelps said that holding races in non-traditional markets attracts those who have never attended a NASCAR race before.

“We want to make sure that we stay tied to the history and the DNA and the roots of NASCAR, but continue to push the boundaries on bringing our sport to different places,” he said.

The All-Star Race originally started in 1985 and was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway every year except 1986, when Atlanta Motor Speedway was the venue. The event returned to Charlotte until 2021, when it was held for two years at Texas Motor Speedway.

Speedway Motorsports this year moved it to North Wilkesboro. The All-Star Race has only ever been held at venues owned by Speedway Motorsports.

source https://time.com/6318459/nascar-all-star-race-north-wilkesboro/

New York City Migrants Worry as Deadlines Approach to Leave Shelters

At a former New York City high school converted into a shelter for migrants, washed jeans hang to dry on a fence and hateful messages blare from protesters wielding a loudspeaker: “Wake up, wake up, wake up: get your illegal-alien a–es up and out of bed right now, you are not welcome here,” anti-migrant protesters yelled on September 3, according to a video shot by Ferhana Jalal, an Afghan migrant who currently lives at the facility.

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The school building in Staten Island has been home for Jalal for about a month. (Jalal is a pseudonym; she asked for her name to be withheld because she is scared it could jeopardize her asylum application and placement in the shelter.) But it likely won’t be where she stays for much longer because of a 60-day notice that the city gave to thousands of migrants in all its shelters. Those who received these notices will need to leave and reapply for shelter. If they secure a place to stay, they will have an additional 30 days, supported by “intensified casework services” to find alternative accommodation, according to a new order by the city. If that fails, it’s unclear how bad the situation could get.

“What worries me most is that it could end up with people sleeping on the streets,” says Dave Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. “We don’t want to see anybody relegated to sleeping on the streets of the city ever, but especially now that the weather is starting to turn.” The situation is not that dire yet. As it stands, New York City is legally obligated to provide shelter to anyone who needs it—regardless of the 30- and 60-day deadlines, says Kathryn Kliff, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society. Uncertainty persists, though. “Clients and advocates alike are confused by what it means and how it’s going to operate in practice because the city has not provided a lot of detail,” she says. The 60-day deadline first started kicking in for migrants last weekend and those numbers will only grow in the coming weeks.

New York City has a right-to-shelter law, which means it cannot legally turn away anyone seeking shelter. It’s the only major U.S. city with these rules. They came about as a result of a 1981 consent decree after the Coalition for the Homeless sued state and city officials on behalf of homeless men. But the city is now fighting in court to throw out that standard—arguing that it cannot bear such an extreme burden in the face of a national immigration crisis. “New York is and always will be a city of immigrants and we will always do our part to contribute to this national crisis. But one city cannot support tens of thousands of asylum seekers without additional state and federal partners with no end in sight,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom at a Wednesday press conference.

Read More: Without Work Opportunities, Migrants in NYC Stuck in Overcrowded Temporary Housing

As of Sept. 24, New York City has more than 115,000 people in its care, of which almost 62,000 are asylum seekers. The city says it has opened 210 sites to house them, including 17 humanitarian relief centers. Last week alone, more than 3,000 new migrants arrived. So far, 13,500 migrants have received a 60-day notice and about 690 people have received a 30-day notice, the city said Wednesday.

The city has said these deadlines are primarily needed to help create space for migrant families with children. “We’re past our breaking point and we need to make difficult decisions,” says Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The 30-day rule, instead of the 60-day rule, will now also apply to adult migrants entering New York City’s system for the first time.

Jalal is an Afghan woman who fled with her husband from Iran and trekked from Brazil across the Southern border to San Diego before arriving in New York City five months ago. She says she left Iran because of discrimination towards Afghans in the country. She could not secure a driver’s license, let alone a decently paying job, she says.

The former high school in Staten Island where she’s been staying has its issues. Jalal says she often has to shower with cold water and has gotten lice. But with the city’s limits on shelter stays, the future feels even more fraught. “I am worried because I don’t know what will happen for us,” Jalal says. The couple tried to find more permanent accommodation but couldn’t because they didn’t have credit or proof of income, she says. She plans to go to the arrival center at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan to try to reapply for shelter.

The difficulty for most migrants to secure work authorization further complicates matters. Asylum seekers need to wait 180 days after filing for asylum before qualifying for a work permit. The federal government made it easier for many Venezuelans to skip this waiting period by granting them temporary legal status last week; the city says about 40% of the migrants who arrived since last year are from Venezuela. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York state Governor Kathy Hochul have repeatedly pressed the federal government to speed up work authorization.

For Jalal—and thousands of others—there is still no hope of securing a job quickly through legal means, making it harder to leave the shelter system. “If we had a work permit, we would never stay here,” Jalal says, adding that she studied civil engineering in college. Even a low-level job could suffice until the couple learns more English and takes training courses, she says. 

Local groups helping migrants say many are panicked and fearful about what will happen after the shelter deadlines pass. Pastor Mike Lopez, who helps convert spaces in churches and other religious buildings into shelters, says migrants have been coming to him daily worried about getting kicked out. “It’s very much a concern for them,” he says. Many have misunderstandings around the 60-day deadline and don’t realize that they can reapply at the Roosevelt hotel. 

The 60-day notices are often sent out in English or Spanish, which may not capture the variety of languages that asylum seekers speak, says Sasha Allenby, co-founder of EV Loves NYC, a nonprofit focused on food insecurity in New York City. The spokesperson with the mayor’s office maintains that the notices are available in many different languages and they are not aware of specific grievances of migrants not understanding the new rules.

While Lopez believes the reapplication process is “one of the necessary evils” for the city to reassess the migrant population, Allenby feels the city is intentionally making it more difficult for asylum seekers to dissuade them from coming. “The tiny, tiny, tiny bit of security that they’ve been given, it’s being pulled out from under their feet…with the hope that that many of them will leave,” Allenby says. “There can be no other motive other than to create difficulty for them and to create a system in which they feel that they’re not able to stay.”

The city has essentially said as much. “We want people to know it’s expensive to live here, it’s hard to live here,” Williams-Isom said at the Wednesday press conference, not referring specifically to the notices. “We definitely do want to discourage people from coming here so we can pretty much deal with the 113,000 people in the system right now.”

source https://time.com/6318304/new-york-city-migrants-shelter-deadline/

Why Trump Is Talking About Electric Vehicles

Donald Trump wants to put climate change squarely at the center of the Republican primary—just not in the way those concerned about climate change might want. As his GOP primary opponents debated in California on Wednesday, Trump hosted counterprogramming by way of a rally for non-union auto parts workers in Michigan. Amid all of his usual bluster, he landed one of his new favorite criticisms of President Biden: a sharp critique of Biden’s electric vehicle push.

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“You’re going to lose your beautiful way of life,” Trump told the raucous crowds. “For auto workers, Biden’s forced transition is a transition to hell.”  

Since the early days of the Biden Administration, I’ve been writing about how climate change will become a part of the political landscape in surprising ways, and there is perhaps no better example than Trump railing against EVs.  

It’s an important indicator of how climate policies are likely to play on the campaign trail. Many observers look at the polls to judge how much voters care about climate change, and decide Americans don’t care all that much, even in the midst of record-breaking extreme weather. And yet, if the past months are any indicator, climate policy will be front and center as Biden tries to prove that his economic agenda is delivering green jobs and Trump pushes back.

A version of this story also appears in the Climate is Everything newsletter. To sign up, click here.

At the core of Trump’s professed hatred of Biden’s EV push is an argument that the technology harms American workers. It will come as little surprise to anyone paying attention that Trump’s speech was filled with falsehoods and half truths. He claimed that if the U.S. pursues EVs the American auto industry would shut down within a few years as jobs move to China. In reality, most analysts think building EVs in the U.S. will help the country better compete with China. And he repeated a range of talking points slamming EVs as bad cars. It is true that charging poses a challenge in some places, but surveys find high levels of consumer satisfaction with the cars.

It’s perhaps more interesting to consider the element of Trump’s argument that holds a grain of truth: the messiness of the transition to electric vehicles for labor. Indeed, Republicans participating in the official primary debate also picked up on that point. Simply put, making an electric vehicle requires less labor than making its gasoline counterpart, and so it stands to reason that in the long run the auto industry will employ fewer workers. Moreover, the workers that the industry does employ will need different skill sets. Undoubtedly, Biden has accelerated the transition to electric vehicles with tax incentives and other industry support.

But blaming Biden for the challenges facing labor misses the forest for the trees. The global auto market has increasingly shifted toward electric vehicles, so much so that Biden’s policies are really just helping the U.S. play catch up. And, while companies were keen to take advantage of tax credits, they began their multi-billion dollar electric-vehicle investments while Trump was still in office. What’s more, Biden has sought to minimize friction with programs to train workers for the transition and ensure higher wages. It remains to be seen how well the administration will be able to execute these transition programs, but they do signal that Biden is trying to grapple with realities of a changing market rather than talk it away as Trump does.

All this leads to a tricky political dynamic. Biden’s policies are intended to help the U.S. adapt to a changing global economy and tackle climate change at the same time, but his efforts will take time to unfold. In the meantime, it’s easy for a populist, reactionary politician to point to Biden’s agenda as the cause of complex problems with little political consequence.   

The whole thing reminds me a bit of Trump’s equally impossible claim during his 2016 campaign that he would save the coal industry and its jobs. He held rallies in coal country touting that claim and highlighting it at campaign events. Despite this, employment in the industry flatlined during his presidency and coal-fired power plants in the U.S. continued to close. Nonetheless, he still enjoys support from those constituencies. 

Voters in many auto manufacturing communities aren’t ignorant of the political dynamic playing out. When I traveled to car industry hubs in 2021, I found widespread consternation among workers and a rejection of political talking points. “When they say it’s creating all these new jobs, that’s a lie. I mean, you’re just shifting jobs from here to there,” Dave Green, a GM assembly worker who previously led a United Auto Workers branch in the Mahoning Valley, told me. “I’m a little more hopeful with Joe Biden and Democrats in office, but at the same time, something’s got to give.” 

The Biden Administration is certainly aware of the challenge. From the get-go, Biden has framed his climate agenda around jobs. Now, he just needs to convince the American public.

source https://time.com/6318298/why-trump-talking-about-electric-vehicles/

New York Bans Facial Recognition in Schools

New York state banned the use of facial recognition technology in schools Wednesday, following a report that concluded the risks to student privacy and civil rights outweigh potential security benefits.

Education Commissioner Betty Rosa’s order leaves decisions on digital fingerprinting and other biometric technology up to local districts.

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The state has had a moratorium on facial recognition since parents filed a court challenge to its adoption by an upstate district.

The Lockport Central School District activated its system in January 2020 after meeting conditions set by state education officials at the time, including that no students be entered into the database of potential threats. The district stopped using the $1.4 million system later that year.

The western New York district was among the first in the country to incorporate the technology in the aftermath of deadly mass school shootings that have led administrators nationwide to adopt security measures ranging from bulletproof glass to armed guards. Lockport officials said the idea was to enable security officers to quickly respond to the appearance of disgruntled employees, sex offenders or certain weapons the system was programmed to detect.

But an analysis by the Office of Information Technology Services issued last month “acknowledges that the risks of the use of (facial recognition technology) in an educational setting may outweigh the benefits.”

The report, sought by the Legislature, noted “the potentially higher rate of false positives for people of color, non-binary and transgender people, women, the elderly, and children.”

It also cited research from the nonprofit Violence Project that found that 70% of school shooters from 1980 to 2019 were current students. The technology, the report said, “may only offer the appearance of safer schools.”

Biotechnology would not stop a student from entering a school “unless an administrator or staff member first noticed that the student was in crisis, had made some sort of threat, or indicated in some other way that they could be a threat to school security,” the report said.

The ban was praised by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which sued the state Education Department on behalf of two Lockport parents in 2020.

“Schools should be safe places to learn and grow, not spaces where they are constantly scanned and monitored, with their most sensitive information at risk,” said Stefanie Coyle, deputy director of the NYCLU’s Education Policy Center.

The state report found that the use of digital fingerprinting was less risky and could be beneficial for school lunch payments and accessing electronic tablets and other devices. Schools may use that technology after seeking parental input, Rosa said.

source https://time.com/6318033/new-york-bans-facial-recognition-schools/

Travis Kelce Opens Up About Taylor Swift Relationship Rumors

Ever since Taylor Swift made an appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday, the public has been speculating about whether she and tight end Travis Kelce are exploring a relationship. Swifties immediately sprang into action to learn the rules of football. On Wednesday, Swift’s alleged romantic interest addressed the rumors on New Heights, the podcast that he hosts with his brother Jason, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. On the latest episode of their show, where they typically stick to discussing football highlights, Jason told Travis that they needed to address the Swift-sized elephant in the room.

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At the halfway point, Jason says, “We’ve been avoiding the subject out of respect for your personal life, now we gotta talk about it.” Travis retorts, “My personal life that’s not so personal.” Jason then jokingly asks his younger brother how it feels that Swift “put his name on the map?” The Chiefs’ tight end (whose name, for those who haven’t followed his record-breaking career, is most definitely on the map) says he thought her appearance was “pretty ballsy.” He goes on to say, “I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her—the friends and family. She looked amazing, everybody was talking about her in great light … And then we just slid off in the getaway car in the end… Shout-out to Taylor for coming through and seeing me rock the stage.”

Read more: Swifties Are Studying Up on Football After Taylor Swift Went to the Chiefs Game

Travis Kelce talks about Taylor Swift in the latest episode of his podcast ‘New Heights’:

"Shout out to Taylor for pulling up. That was pretty ballsy. I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her — the friends and family.… pic.twitter.com/9z0z6p96Qu

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 27, 2023

They went on to discuss the skyrocketing sales of Travis’ football jerseys. According to Fanatics, a sportswear and fan merchandise company, Travis’ jerseys saw a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com. He seemed to be shocked by the abrupt uptick in sales and said, “Sounds like the Swifties are also a part of Chiefs Kingdom.” His face seems to suggest this sudden rise in popularity might be coming as a surprise to him, thrusting him further into the spotlight.

@kelleylorraine_

It was way too easy to get him going with this😂 #marriedlife #couplecomedy #taylorswift #traviskelce

♬ original sound – kelleylorraine_

After the two were seen leaving in that getaway car, Swifties posted videos of their football fanatic partners and sons reacting to them saying with a straight face that Swift “helped put” Kelce’s name on the map. Many of the videos featured their partners confused, some playfully annoyed, by the sheer gall of the suggestion.

It’s safe to assume all eyes will be on New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium when the Chiefs face the Jets on Sunday—just four months after Swift played two sold-out shows there.

@bleacherreport

The Justin Jefferson question 😭 (via @S K Y) #traviskelce #taylorswift #taylorswifttok #swifie #nfl

♬ original sound – bleacherreport

@michellediltz

Got em’!! 💀😂 #traylor #taylorswift #traviskelce

♬ original sound – Michelle Diltz

source https://time.com/6317898/travis-kelce-taylor-swift-relationship/

Powerball Jackpot Up to $835 Million After Months Without a Big Winner

DES MOINES, Iowa — An estimated $850 million Powerball jackpot will be up for grabs Wednesday night for players willing to risk a couple dollars and brave incredibly long odds.

The jackpot is the world’s ninth-largest lottery prize of all time, behind earlier prizes in the Powerball and Mega Millions games that all topped $1 billion.

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The jackpot has grown so large because there have been 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner, dating back to July 19. Powerball’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes becoming ever larger as they repeatedly roll over when no one wins.

The largest jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize hit by a player in California in November 2022.

In most states, a Powerball ticket costs $2 and players can select their own numbers or leave that task to a computer.

The $850 million jackpot is for a sole winner who opts for payment through an annuity, doled out over 30 years. Winners almost always take the cash option, which for Wednesday night’s drawing would be an estimated $397.4 million.

Those winnings would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

source https://time.com/6317915/powerball-jackpot-835-million/

The Kevin James Meme That’s Taking Over the Internet

There’s no rhyme or reason as to why so much of what we consume on the internet becomes popular. The internet takes hold of something—thanks to a shared whim or collective need for something meaningless over which to seek connection—and a viral meme is born. In today’s edition: photos of Kevin James.

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Several different photos of James have been making the rounds on X over the past few days, many of them promotional shots for his turn-of-the-millennium sitcom The King of Queens. But the one that’s getting the most traction is a photo of him with his hands in his pocket and a cringey-mischievous smirk painted across his face, his legs askew—a la Lin-Manuel Miranda. Why? One X user commented on a post asking that same exact question with the simple explanation, “We’re just in a silly goofy mood.”

we’re just in a silly goofy mood

— nas (@nascakess) September 26, 2023

As with any viral meme, the origins are impossible to trace with certainty, but the website KnowYourMeme.com says that the trend seems to have originated last week. Users began posting a 1998 photo of James on the set of The King of Queens all over social media, with an array of comical captions. One of the first people to post the photo was a user named @champagneanyone, on Sept. 21, with the caption, “me after [one] double rum and diet” accompanied by this random photo of James. It received over 24,000 likes and seems to have launched a meme format with infinite possibilities.

me after 1 double rum and diet pic.twitter.com/zfJFNCuCbT

— andy from 5 to 7 (@ChampagneAnyone) September 22, 2023

People started using the photo and adding captions that describe scenarios that match the comedian’s stance and facial expression.

“yo my homie thinks you cute”

the homie: pic.twitter.com/DGLMiqvbvG

— juju 💰 (@ayeejuju) September 24, 2023

The NFL cameraman abandoning every other angle to hyperfixate on Taylor Swift in the Kelce suite: pic.twitter.com/BUuUIIRBI9

— Sophie Ross (@SophRossss) September 24, 2023

“I’ll take a shot if you take a shot”

Me: pic.twitter.com/Q6FEYuiWa2

— 𝓝 (@elgueroatl) September 24, 2023

Then, social media users started finding different photos of James from the sitcom’s press shoots. “They just had Kevin James doing anything for those King of Queens press shoots,” one person posted on X with photos of James coming out of a steaming sewer and another in which he’s making that same mischievous smirking face as he holds onto a scaffolding beam.

they just had kevin james doing anything for those king of queens press shoots pic.twitter.com/8YjnDHvjkN

— luca (@LucaGuadagnegro) September 25, 2023

she was the baddest, he was the realest pic.twitter.com/7YPzq9R57n

— Al Shipley (@alshipley) September 25, 2023

The trend took a wholesome turn when Ben Stiller, whose late father Jerry Stiller played James’ character’s father-in-law in the show, posted on X to let the cast know how much his dad enjoyed their company. “Chiming in here to say how much my Dad loved working with everyone on this show and how meaningful all those friendships were and are,” Stiller wrote. Leah Remini, who played James’ wife, also posted a clip from the show.

Chiming in here to say how much my Dad loved working with everyone on this show and how meaningful all those friendships were and are. #KingOfQueens @LeahRemini @KevinJames @pattonoswalt https://t.co/ynldXDPT9L

— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) September 22, 2023

The life cycle of a trend on social media is unpredictable, and this one may not be with us for long. But we’re happy for this random, silly harmless one to stick around.

source https://time.com/6317579/kevin-james-meme/

As Menendez Faces Calls to Resign, Some Notable Democrats Don’t Join In

Three days after federal prosecutors alleged that he and his wife accepted money, gold bars, and a luxury convertible in exchange for political favors, a defiant Sen. Bob Menendez declared that he would be exonerated and rejected calls from a growing number of fellow Democrats that he resign.

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“To those who have rushed to judgment, you have done so based on a limited set of facts framed by the prosecution as salacious as possible,” the New Jersey Democrat said at a news conference. “Remember, prosecutors get it wrong sometimes. Sadly, I know that.” 

The indictment, unsealed on Friday, accused Menendez of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using his political influence in support of several businessmen and the Egyptian government. It quickly drew attention for its eye-popping details, including images of cash-stuffed envelopes in the pockets of jackets with Menendez’s on them. Investigators say they discovered at least $100,000 in gold bars in his home and that his internet history showed he had searched the value of a “kilo of gold” on Google.

The list of Democrats who have called on Menendez to step down since Friday include Gov. Phil Murphy, Reps. Mikie Sherrill, Bill Pascrell, Frank Pallone, Donald Norcross, and Josh Gottheimer, as well as Rep. Andy Kim, who has already announced he will challenge Menendez. According to the New Jersey Globe, several of the other members and the state’s first lady, Tammy Murphy, are considered possible successors as well.

But as the calls for Menendez to leave the Senate seat he’s held for 17 years grow louder, those who have yet to do so are becoming more notable. They include his fellow New Jersey Democrat, Senator Cory Booker, as well as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin.

“Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey,” Schumer wrote in a statement Friday. “He has a right to due process and a fair trial.” Schumer added that Menendez had “rightly” opted to step down from his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

On Saturday, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first Democratic senator to call for Menendez’s resignation. “He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence under our system, but he is not entitled to continue to wield influence over national policy, especially given the serious and specific nature of the allegations,” Fetterman said in a statement.

The next day, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York echoed that sentiment. “The situation is quite unfortunate, but I do believe that it is in the best interest for Senator Menendez to resign in this moment,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.” 

Other Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Adam Schiff of California, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, and former Senator Doug Jones of Alabama have called for Menendez’s resignation as well.

On Monday, Menendez suggested that the push for him to step down wasn’t really about the charges against him.

“Some of the people calling for my resignation for political reasons say I have lost the trust of the people of New Jersey,” Menendez said. “They couldn’t be more wrong.”

Nonetheless, the group of supporters that stood behind Menendez on Monday did not include any prominent Democrats. After defending his record and integrity in both English and Spanish, Menendez left the room without taking questions.

source https://time.com/6317285/senator-menendez-new-jersey-resign-cory-booker/

What a Doctor Is Seeing In COVID-19 Today

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have been on the rise since the beginning of July. Then came the identification of the heavily mutated and possibly highly-transmissible BA.2.86 variant by the global surveillance network. Such a variant has the potential to evade our vaccine- and infection-induced antibodies and cause a surge of seasonal hospitalizations. The recommendation by the FDA’s VRBPAC in June that the Fall updated vaccine be composed of an XBB-lineage of the Omicron variant appeared to be at risk. There was mounting concern we be faced with a similar situation from last year where the virus had already mutated well beyond the BA.4/5-bivalent vaccines by the time they were rolled out.

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But the landscape of the pandemic—especially the clinical disease caused by SARS-CoV-2—has significantly changed. On the front lines of the emergency department (ED), we are seeing a different virus. This is likely a combination of both high levels of population hybrid immunity and evolution of the virus itself to favor infection of the upper airway and cause less severe disease.

The CDC’s recent decision to universally recommend vaccines for everyone, while falling short of a much-needed targeted recommendation for high-risk groups, paves the way for equity of access and insurance coverage for Americans needing to top up their protection against infection. And recent preliminary studies from multiple labs on BA.2.86 has actually been reassuring.

Read More: Pandemics Don’t End. They Echo.

New hospital admissions had increased nationally by 9% in the first week of September and have been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of July driven by EG.5, FL.1.5.1, and the XBB subvariants. At 16,000 current hospitalizations, this is still far below the Omicron peak of 145,000 hospitalizations that overwhelmed our health care system in January 2022.

Hospitalizations are highest in those patients 70 and older. Compared to earlier in the pandemic when our ED and hospitals were overrun with patients suffering from hypoxia and viral pneumonia requiring various oxygen modalities, proning techniques, and ventilators—elderly patients are lately presenting to my ED with weakness, fatigue, dehydration, and electrolyte abnormalities. Even though these symptoms are caused by covid infection, they are less staff- and resource-intensive compared to years past. Management of such illness is less challenging, and patients are discharged home after a few days.

Immunologically, this is not surprising that older Americans are becoming sick with COVID as head into the fall. It’s been a year or more since many of them last had a COVID-19 infection or a vaccine dose. In fact, only 46.5% of those 75 and older ever received the most recent bivalent booster.

Even though protection against severe disease remains robust, protection against any infection has most certainly waned. For healthy individuals under 65 years, current variants are expressing a predilection for the upper respiratory tract and follow a particular pattern. Symptoms typically start with a sore throat, and progress to headache, rhinorrhea, and nasal congestion.

This tracks with what we observed from Omicron in multiple lab studies since early 2022. Omicron family variants are approximately 10-times less efficient than the Delta variants at replicating in lung tissue and mutations favor preference for upper airway tissue.

A UNIVERSAL RECOMMENDATION

Recently the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practice (ACIP) voted to approve the updated XBB.1.5 monovalent vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. ACIP members were likely convinced mostly by data that a universal recommendation will prevent 400,000 hospitalizations and 40,000 deaths due to COVID-19 infection.

Read More: These Are the Vaccines You Should Get

As this is the first vaccine rollout since the end of the pandemic emergency that is not financed by the federal government, a universal recommendation also paves the way for insurance coverage. For those without insurance, the CDC announced its Bridge Access Program for the 25-30 million Americans without insurance.

Some ACIP members and other front-line physicians like myself would still like to see the CDC more strongly advocate for vaccination in high-risk groups who stand to benefit the most from updated protection. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation—the United Kingdom’s version of our ACIP—outlined such a targeted, evidence-based strategy focused on adults 65 and older and those in care homes, frontline health care staff, and those 6 months–64 years with underlying medical problems, such as chronic kidney and lung disease, and those who are immune-compromised, from chemotherapy treatment, for example. The Infectious Diseases Society of America echoed this support for a targeted strategy in its own response to the CDC decision—that certain high-risk groups are at increased risk of severe disease and should be prioritized for vaccination this fall.

Even for healthy individuals under 65, the XBB.1.5 monovalent updated vaccine is a good match for currently circulating variants and enables a top up of protection against any infection. While on the decline, the XBB family subvariants still comprises a large percentage of new infections. In addition, the widespread EG.5 variant is different from XBB.1.5 by just two new mutations, at F456L and Q52H; suggesting the updated vaccine will work well against it. And a switch back to a monovalent formulation ensures that those vaccinated receive a full undiluted dose against the most prevalent variants.

ACIP members were also likely reassured by recent preliminary pseudovirus and sera neutralization studies from four laboratories—two in the U.S. and in Sweden and China—demonstrating that BA.2.86 is likely 1) not more immune evasive than previous variants and 2) not very efficient at infecting our cells.

Most importantly, the sera of those previously infected with XBB was able to generate a significant response against BA.2.86 portending that the updated XBB-targeted vaccine will maintain its protection if BA.2.86 takes hold as the fall and winter unfolds. In the only human clinical trials to date, Moderna announced its XBB.1.5 vaccine generated an 8.7-11-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against BA.2.86, EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants.

source https://time.com/6317170/covid-19-new-variant-vaccine-essay/

Screenwriters Have Reached a Tentative Deal to End the Strike. Here’s What Happens Next With the WGA and SAG

After five grueling days of negotiation, the screenwriters in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have reached a tentative agreement with the studios and streamers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), to end a strike that began in May. The key word here is tentative: Picketing has paused, but writers are still technically on strike until the deal is ratified.

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While we won’t see the fine print of the contract until the final language is agreed upon by both sides, the WGA did craft a residual formula for streamers—like Netflix, Max, Hulu, and Prime Video—in which TV shows and movies that reach certain performance benchmarks are essentially given bonuses. And a formula was created in which the number of episodes in a season will determine, on a sliding scale, how many writers must be hired to work on a show. Using AI to generate content—a major concern for both writers and actors—seemed to be a sticking point, and were among the last details debated before bargaining ended.

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA wrote in an email to its members. “What we have won in this contract—most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd—is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days.”

What does a tentative agreement mean for screenwriters?

Although picketing has been suspended, the strike itself is still in effect, meaning that screenwriters will not yet be returning to work. Once the nitty-gritty language in the contract is finalized, the WGA negotiating committee—the people who were actually at the table with the AMPTP—will vote. That will determine whether the contract will go to a vote by the leaders of the WGA.

If both of those votes go through, then the roughly 11,000 members of the WGA will also decide whether or not to accept the terms. If everyone agrees to the new contract, it will last for three years, until it’s once again up for reapproval.

“To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized to by the Guild,” the WGA wrote in its statement. “We are still on strike until then. But we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing. Instead, if you are able, we encourage you to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines this week.”

What does this mean for the SAG strike?

Of course, even if the writers return, there won’t be anyone to perform their work until the actors’ strike, by those in the Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), also ends. Nor will actors be able to promote their work, a concern that has prompted studios and streamers to push back some releases.

“SAG-AFTRA congratulates the WGA on reaching a tentative agreement with the AMPTP after 146 days of incredible strength, resiliency, and solidarity on the picket lines,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “Since the day the WGA strike began, SAG-AFTRA members have stood alongside the writers on the picket lines. We remain on strike in our TV/Theatrical contract and continue to urge the studio and streamer CEOs and the AMPTP to return to the table and make the fair deal that our members deserve and demand.”

The streaming residual formula that the WGA accomplished should help lay the groundwork for a similar revenue-based residual system for SAG-AFTRA, something the latter has been striking for. For now, it seems likely that the coming end of the WGA strike may convince studios and streamers to move more quickly with SAG-AFTRA as well.

source https://time.com/6317199/wga-strike-tentative-agreement/

Swifties Are Studying Up on Football After Taylor Swift Went to the Chiefs Game

For people who have never watched football before, the rules admittedly can be a little confusing. But today, a whole new population of prospective fans are asking the necessary questions in order to get a handle on the sport. Sunday night, Swifties decided it was time to figure out how the game works after spotting Taylor Swift at the Kansas City Chiefs game. Swift was watching in tight end Travis Kelce’s family box, alongside his mother, following recent reports of the pair spending time together. On X, Swifties started helping each other understand how the game is played for future reference, in case Swift starts attending more regularly between her Eras Tour dates and her fans, in turn, start following along to catch a glimpse of the pop star.

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One Swiftie uploaded a post that broke the game into the simplest possible terms. Many of the replies were from confused Swifties asking questions about the sport. “Okay, so what’s a down?” one person asked. Users asked questions like, “What’s a field goal” and “Do you throw the ball or run with it?”

FOOTBALL EXPLAINER FOR THOSE CONFUSED

you have 4 tries (downs) to go 10 yards, if you do you keep the ball and the cycle repeats, and if you don’t the other team gets it

you can score touchdowns for 6 points or kick a field goal for 3

thats basically all you need to know

— shannon (is celebrating 1989 tv! 🩵) (@holygroundsound) September 24, 2023

Read more: The Staggering Economic Impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

The original poster added a comment to the thread: “I regret to inform everyone who is giggling at this that we have been made to watch football for Taylor like 4 times this year, and I tweet this every time.” They also clarified that, “We are simply watching for Taylor Swift’s lil reactions. No one who doesn’t plan on watching regularly needed to know any of that other stuff.”

“you forgot xyz” baby we are simply watching for taylor swift’s lil reactions no one who doesn’t plan on watching regularly needed to know any of that other stuff 😭

— shannon (is celebrating 1989 tv! 🩵) (@holygroundsound) September 25, 2023

we are living in a world where travis kelce gets a TD and the camera pans to taylor swift screaming lets fucking go . pic.twitter.com/fi3LiAUZ4B

— ella 🫧 (@nhlella) September 24, 2023

Fans are also calling this new period in her romantic history the “American Revolution” because the last person Swift was allegedly romantically involved with was The 1975’s Matty Healy. Healy is from the U.K., whereas Kelce was born and raised in Ohio. “No more ugly British men… Truly, this is the American Revolution.”

“the american revolution” (via @emrofort) pic.twitter.com/HxmOe3V5xn

— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) September 24, 2023

Other Swifties are questioning their relationship to the sport now that Swift might be attending more games. “Do I, a Taylor Swift fan, have to care about football now?” one person posted on X. Someone else seemingly coined the hashtag #FootballTaylorsVersion, in reference to the singer-songwriter’s project of rerecording her old albums to regain the master rights, and calling them all “Taylor’s Version.”

Do I, a Taylor Swift fan, have to care about football now?

— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) September 24, 2023

Someone: do you like football?

Me: only if it’s #FootballTaylorsVersion pic.twitter.com/cB0ncJJnrd

— aims 🦋 IS SEEING TAYLOR SWIFT (@shimmeringtay13) September 25, 2023

In July, the Chiefs tight end said on his podcast that he had attempted to give Swift his phone number on a friendship bracelet (a common accessory brought to her Eras Tour shows) but wasn’t able to. The Messenger reported earlier in September that the two were seen “hanging out” and when Kelce appeared on The Pat McAfee Show podcast, he invited Swift to come watch one of his games. According to PEOPLE, a source said that she is “very focused on work right now and hanging out with her girlfriends.” (She does, after all, have more than 80 shows around the world on a tour that is slated to run through November of 2024.) However, the source says, “Travis invited her to the game, and of course she said ‘yes.’ She thought it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday.”

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce leaving Arrowhead together after the Chiefs game. pic.twitter.com/wuW4eDMMn6

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 25, 2023

There hadn’t been public confirmation of the maybe-possibly budding romance before Swift was seen cheering on the Chiefs with Kelce’s mother. After the game, Swift and Kelce were seen leaving the stadium together in a video posted to X.

source https://time.com/6317151/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-swifties-football/