Category Archives: Progress

The City of Boston has achieved consistent and measurable progress towards its goal of eliminating serious and fatal crashes in the city, but needs to work harder to reduce the overall number of deadly cars and trucks on city streets, according to a new progress report from the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition.

In 2015, the City of Boston adopted a Vision Zero policy, setting a goal to eliminate serious and fatal crashes on city streets by 2030.

As part of that effort, the city adopted a citywide 25 mph speed limit in 2017, and has also implemented targeted safety improvements for some of the citys most dangerous streets and intersections.

For the past decade, the number of fatal crashes that have killed bike riders or pedestrians in the rest of the country has been increasing, as have the total number of injuries from crashes.

But the most recent crash data from 2020 suggests that Bostons efforts have helped the city buck those trends:

The pandemic likely played a role in these results. For most of 2020, city-dwellers were staying home as much as possible: there were fewer dangerous vehicles on the streets, and reckless drivers had fewer potential victims to crash into.

However, in spite of the lockdown, the number of roadway killings involving people in cars, trucks, or motorcycles in the City of Boston more than doubled in 2020:

Local victims of traffic violence included

The Vision Zero Coalition speculates that these deaths were likely a result of an increase in speeding enabled by empty roadways.

With fewer people on the roads in 2020, some people took that as a cue that they could drive faster with deadly consequences, said Stacey Beuttell, WalkBostons executive director, in a press release accompanying the new progress report.

The progress report encourages Boston officials to update the citys Vision Zero Action Plan, which hasnt been revisted since 2018, and to focus more effort on reducing the risk of crashes by reducing motor vehicle use in general (which also aligns with the citys climate strategies).

The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition is an organization of nonprofits, businesses, civic groups, and individuals from across the state that advocate for Vision Zero policies (disclosure: three of the Coalitions lead organizations, the the LivableStreets Alliance, WalkBoston, and Boston Cyclists Union, have leadership staff who also serve on the StreetsblogMASS board of directors).

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Bucking National Trends, City of Boston Marks Progress on 'Vision Zero' - Streetsblog MASS

Last week, Alpena and Alpena Township released a joint statement saying the governing boards of both communities believe a water authority is the best option to end a years-long court battle over water and sewer rates and serve residents long-term.

The two sides have fought in court for eight years. The township buys water and sewer services from the city and balked over a proposed rate increase years ago, with officials then saying the city should treat the township as a wholesale customer.

The recent statement did not promise an imminent agreement, saying the governing boards want public comment they havent been able to get because of crowd restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, officials have continued behind-the-scenes dialogue and research, the statement said.

Were glad to see talks progressing in an apparently amiable and productive manner. Having Alpena Countys two largest communities at odds with one another only hurts opportunities for growth and collaboration.

Were also glad to hear officials say they dont want to get too far without hearing from the public, first. Water and sewer services and pocketbooks for thousands of residents are at stake, and the public deserves to have a say in the plan before its finalized.

Well keep a close eye on talks as they continue, but, so far, we see good things, making us cautiously optimistic the page may soon turn on this sad chapter of Northeast Michigan history.

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Glad to see progress on water-sewer issue - Alpena News

The U.S. Department of Agricultures Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is making headway in the development of an African Swine Fever (ASF) virus vaccine. A vaccine candidate has now been adapted to grow in a cell line. Senior ARS scientist Dr. Manuel Borca said that the discovery is an important step in the process. Working with a cell line is helpful for making the set toward large-scale production. Researchers will no longer be dependent upon live pigs and their fresh cells.

Traditionally we used freshly isolated swine cells to produce vaccine candidates and this constitutes a significant limitation for large-scale production senior ARS scientist Dr. Douglas Gladue said in a press release. But now we can retain the vaccine characteristics while simultaneously replicating the vaccine in lab-grown cell cultures. We no longer have to rely on gathering fresh cells from live swine.

Growing the vaccine candidate will address one of the major obstacles for large-scale production. The recent discovery was published in the Journal of Virology. Tests of the continuous cell line vaccine candidate determined it to be safe when used in a commercial breed of pigs. No negative effects were recorded, and the pigs were protected against ASF. The vaccine grown in a continuous cell line contained all the same characteristics as the one produced using fresh swine cells.

While there have not been any outbreaks of ASF in the U.S., the virus has resulted in several deadly outbreaks in areas of Eastern Europe and Asia. If a domestic outbreak were to occur, it is estimated that it could cost more than $14 billion over a period of two years, and $50 billion over a decade. The virus does not pose a threat to human health, but outbreaks have led to substantial losses and pork shortages on a global scale.

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Progress Made in ASF Vaccine Development - Southeast AgNet

With Monday's announcement that the U.S. FDA has expanded emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer and BioNtech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty (tozinameran), to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age, and the EMA expected to follow suit in short order, the COVID vaccination campaign is expanding its age range.

Clinical trials for younger children are ongoing. Comirnaty is in trials in children 2 years and older, while Moderna's mRNA-1273 and AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria (AZD-1222) are in trials for infants 6 months and older.

While the expansion of vaccines into younger populations was welcome news and will be important for herd immunity, in some ways, the more urgent question is how to further improve vaccine protection for the elderly, who face a vastly higher risk of severe disease and death upon infection.

At the 2021 virtual annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI), researchers shared their insights into optimizing immune responses to vaccines in the elderly.

In a session on "Vaccines and immunotherapy against SARS-CoV-2," Ebony Gary, a postdoctoral scholar at the Wistar Institute, discussed her team's work on using adenosine deaminase (ADA) as a molecular adjuvant to improve immune responses in elderly mice.

Gary and her team are focused on DNA vaccine antigens, which have some of the simplicity advantages of mRNA vaccines, and are shelf-stable for extended periods of time making them "especially suitable for emerging infectious disease work," Gary said. In collaboration with Inovio Pharmaceuticals, the team has developed experimental vaccines for Zika virus, Ebolavirus and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, as well as a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that is currently in phase II/III trials.

Adenosine deaminase 1 (ADA-1) is a metabolic enzyme that metabolizes deoxyadenosine, which is toxic to B and T cells. Lack of ADA-1 results in severe immunodeficiency in infants, and the enzyme plays a key role in supporting follicular helper T cells, which support the maturation of antigen-producing B cells. ADA expression naturally declines with age, leading to more plentiful but less effective follicular T-helper cells and weaker immune responses. Gary and her colleagues have previously demonstrated that plasmid-encoded ADA (p-ADA) could improve vaccination-induced responses to HIV.

In her presentation at the AAI meeting, Gary showed data that in aged animals, co-vaccination with DNA antigens to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and p-ADA improved immune responses in a way that was "dramatic, and apparent after one immunization," she told the audience.

Compared to mice immunized with DNA vaccine only, co-immunized animals that were 72 weeks old had increased spike-specific IgG antibodies as well as increased T-cell responses after both the first and the second immunizations.

Young animals whose vaccinations were adjuvanted by p-ADA also showed increased immune responses after the first vaccination, but their antigen-only peers caught up after the second vaccination. However, Gina Cusimano, a graduate student at Drexel University College of Medicine, showed that young animals' immune responses to adjuvanted vaccines were more durable. How long-lasting are immune responses to vaccination and infection has been a key question in the fight against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, preclinical research into vaccination of youngsters is also ongoing. Alan Curtis, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reported on the results of vaccinating infant macaques.

Although children rarely suffer from serious bouts of COVID-19 if they get infected with SARS-CoV-2, turning SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations into one more routine childhood vaccination would have several benefits, Curtis told the audience in his talk "SARS-CoV-2 vaccines induce potent immune responses in infant rhesus macaques."

Vaccinating infants could eliminate both severe pediatric disease and transmission from infants to adults, who face a much higher risk of severe disease. Vaccinating infants would also have "the unique advantage of curbing the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic due to school closings, etc.," he said.

In their work, Curtis and his team vaccinated 2-month-old macaques, which is roughly the equivalent of 6 months in human babies. They tested two vaccines, an mRNA vaccine that is "a preclinical cousin" to Moderna's authorized vaccine mRNA-1273 and a stabilized prefusion spike protein vaccine from the NIH's Vaccine Research Center.

Both vaccines, Curtis said, elicited "strong and durable immune responses" in infant rhesus macaques "justifying urgent clinical translation."

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SARS-CoV-2 vaccines make progress in the young, the old, the in-between - BioWorld Online

The Spurs began the final week of a frantic regular season Monday at 32-35 and in 10th place in the Western Conference.

This, believe it or not, counts as progress for a team still in the early stages of a rebuilding project.

Weve had so many ups and downs, injuries, the whole COVID situation, travel we can find every excuse in the world, guard DeMar DeRozan said. We are still sitting here with an opportunity to continue playing.

Clearly, the idea of angling for 10th would seem cute to players who dotted the Spurs roster during the clubs 22-season playoff streak that ended last year.

On ExpressNews.com: Teammate: 'Flame thrower' Bryn Forbes excited about return to AT&T Center

Yet this iteration of the Spurs can feel good about bringing the 2020-21 campaign to its crescendo with something still on the table.

Thanks to the NBAs new playoff format, the Spurs remain in firm position to claim the 10th spot in the West, which would earn the final spot in the play-in tournament to decide the final playoff seeds.

If the Spurs can get through a final-week gauntlet still in 10th place, they will keep their season alive for at least one more game after Sundays finale against Phoenix.

Whenever this offseason starts, Im not looking for it to start right away, point guard Dejounte Murray said. We are still playing for something. I hope everyone in the locker room understands that.

In fitting with a second half of the season that has felt at times like cruel and unusual punishment, the Spurs closing schedule will do them no favors.

Their 72-game slate is down to its final five, which began with Mondays visit from Milwaukee.

It features four playoff-bound opponents with winning records and includes a trip to play a back-to-back in Brooklyn and New York, before returning home to close the regular season with a home back-to-back against the Suns.

On ExpressNews.com: Spurs' long-distance drought comes at bad time

The good news is, the Spurs might not have to win many of them to postpone their vacations at least a little while.

They can eliminate 11th-place New Orleans with a combination of three victories or Pelicans losses. For good measure, the Spurs can keep 12th-place Sacramento at bay with a combination of two victories or Kings defeats.

If they had their druthers, the Spurs would prefer to take care of their play-in fate on their own.

Record-wise, I think we are a better team than the record shows, Murray said. We just have to focus on the next game and try to get a win.

Even if the Spurs hang on to the 10th spot, their odds of restarting a streak of postseason appearances remains low.

In the play-in, the Spurs would need to win two games against two different opponents in two different road gyms in order to punch the No. 8 seed in the final playoff bracket.

A member of four 50-win teams during his time in Toronto, DeRozan has played in bigger games than he will this week.

On ExpressNews.com: replace this text with your teaser head and add hyperlink

Reserve guard Patty Mills, the teams longest-tenured player, has appeared in a pair of NBA Finals series.

The rest of the players on the Spurs roster could use the experience of playing games that matter in the final week of the season.

Every opportunity you have, you try to make the best out of it, DeRozan said. Whether its the one (seed) or in the position we are in now for the first time.

When the Spurs season at lasts ends be it Sunday or beyond they will look back on a mid-February COVID outbreak as the game-changer.

On Feb. 14, the Spurs won 122-110 in Charlotte to open their rodeo trip 2-0. It brought their overall record to 16-11, five games above .500.

We felt good, DeRozan said. We were rolling.

That would prove to be the highwater mark of the Spurs season.

Two days later, a spate of five positive COVID-19 tests among the Spurs resulted in the NBA pressing pause on their schedule.

When the Spurs were allowed to return to play 10 days later in Oklahoma City, they did so with two players (Derrick White and Devin Vassell) still in health and safety protocols and DeRozan out following the death of his father.

In all, five games from the first half of the season had to be rescheduled to after the All-Star break, which forced the Spurs into the unfortunate situation of having to finish an already grueling season with 40 games in 68 nights.

The Spurs are still feeling the scheduling effects of their unscheduled COVID break this week. Thursdays game in New York was originally supposed to be played during the scuttled rodeo trip in February.

Take away that, we wouldnt be in such a strenuous schedule now, DeRozan said. It would give ourselves an opportunity to have practice times, work on things on the court that we can see and be able to go out on the court and work on.

For the worn-out Spurs, the past two months have been akin to running what was supposed to be a marathon in the pace of a sprint.

They appeared to hit a wall in late March, losing 10 of 12 at one point. As it stands, the Spurs are left to fight through fatigue and the most difficult closing schedule in the NBA to try and finish 10th.

Now, everything is on the fly so much, it becomes tough, mentally, emotionally, physically, draining at times, DeRozan said.

If there is a silver lining to the Spurs situation, its that they still have something left to fight for.

As a competitor, you just want to go out there and give yourself an opportunity, DeRozan said. If this is our opportunity to get into the playoffs, we have to take full advantage. Lets make it.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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San Antonio Spurs still have something to play for and thats progress - San Antonio Express-News

Written by Ryan Johnston May 10, 2021 | STATESCOOP

Much of the progress being made around artificial intelligence is currently driven by regional and local government agencies and thats a good thing for everybody, a civic technology researcher at New York University said on Monday.

Despite the prevalence of AI in the booming tech industry, the lack of international or national regulations around the technology have made way for a concept Stefan Verhulst, a cofounder of NYUs Governance Lab, calls AI localism. Cities and other local governments, Verhulst said during an AI Week panel hosted by Scoop News Group, are the new laboratories of innovation for AI in government.

AI, to a large extent, on the one hand, has a massive opportunity to do good at the local level, Verhulst said. On the other hand, it goes through a whole range of ethical and governance challenges attached to using AI for local challenges as well. Because theres a far quicker feedback loop between the implementation of AI, [we see the] the impact of AI both positive and negative and how we can steer it into a positive way through governance innovation. By AI localism, we mean really the innovation that happens at the local level in order to steer AI that can serve society at large.

Verhulst, who is also the labs chief research and development officer, said the concept of AI localism is best understood by watching how cutting-edge cities like New York; Barcelona, Spain; and Copenhagen, Denmark, share their best practices and strategies, though theyre still grappling with how to ethically adopt AI into their government services. New York, for example, recently completed an assessment of its own algorithms to register whether they were biased or not, and other U.S. cities, including Pittsburgh, have followed suit.

Cities have also taken action to ban or investigate AI applications, like facial recognition. A host of cities, including San Francisco, Oakland and Portland, Oregon, have banned the use of facial recognition by government, and Massachusetts last week became one of the first states to pass a statewide law limiting the use of facial recognition.

The transparency around these decisions, as well as the work cities are doing to inform residents about how AI and facial recognition work, is progress, Verhulst said.

What we see at the national level is a lot of talk about AI and a lot of AI strategy, but quite often its really about industrial policy. Its not often about governing AI that can benefit society, its really about how do we get a slice of the investment of AI, he said.

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Cities are driving the progress behind AI in government - StateScoop

FOX2 Sports is your home for the latest information about the St. Louis Cardinals, the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Illinois.

Are the Cardinals making a big trade? Are the Blues ready for another Stanley Cup run? Is someone going to sign a major free-agent deal? Are the Tigers, Billikens and Illini bringing in the next big recruiting class? We cover all the big games that matter.

The MLS is coming to St. Louis in 2023 and well be here for the start of STL SC too. The XFL thrived in its reboot season playing at the Dome at Americas Center, and if the BattleHawks return in 2022, well be there to tackle it.

St. Louis is home to some of the best high school student-athletes who go on to succeed in the pros and beyond. Before Larry Hughes, Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum made a name for themselves as Division I NCAA basketball stars at SLU, Florida, and Duke, they played at CBC and Chaminade. Before Ezekiel Elliott, Sheldon Richardson and Jeremy Maclin became Ohio State Buckeyes and Missouri Tigers and NFL first-round draft picks, they went to John Burroughs, Gateway Tech and Kirkwood. All of them were featured in the FOX2 Prep Zone before they went off to the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and beyond.

Members of our team, including Sports Director Martin Kilcoyne, Charlie Marlow, and Rich Gould have covered every significant moment in St. Louis sports since 1987, from the football Cardinals departure for Arizona to the arrival of the St. Louis Rams; from the Mark McGwire home run chase to the Cardinals World Series titles, to the St. Louis Rams and the Greatest Show on Turf eras Super Bowl crown; from Brett Hull to Vladimir Tarasenko, weve covered the Blues all the way to the teams first Stanley Cup.

Think of all the great characters in St. Louis area sports history. Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Charlie Spoonhour, Norm Stewart, Whitey Herzog, Tony LaRussa, Stan Musial, Dick Vermiel, Lou Brock, Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Ozzie Smith, Hull, Pat Maroon, Keith Tkachuk, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, David Freese. All of them talk to us.

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Persimmon Woods Golf Club tracks progress from one year ago - KTVI Fox 2 St. Louis

In a Tuesday retrospect of 2020, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. delivered a first ever State of the County address in video format, a new normal in the age of the coronavirus pandemic.

The county executive gave the videoed remarks against the backdrop of The Innovare Advancement Center, a county-owned facility at Building 100 on Romes Griffiss Business & Technology Park.

The 150,000-square-foot research and development facility was created through a partnership between Oneida County Government, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Griffiss Institute and the state. The facility houses research space, two quantum labs and two neuromorphic and nanoelectronics-focused labs.

In his address, Picente highlighted projects like Innovare that have amplified the regions capabilities, and have been able to flourish despite setbacks from the coronavirus pandemic.

This past year presented challenges unlike any we have faced as a community. And even though our economy was for a time shut down, together Oneida County found a way to persevere and move forward in a real and significant way, Picente began. ... Weve learned a lot over the past year and have made great strides in battling COVID-19, but its not over. That is why as County Executive I continue to make plans to manage this crisis into 2022 and possibly beyond. While we can see the end of this pandemic, we must never forget what we have been through and those we have lost.

The county executive gave insights of ongoing projects around the county that will drive the regions economy forward, that include:

...Adjacent to Innovare, and currently under construction, is the nations largest indoor drone test site, SKYDOME. It will attract companies and researchers from around the world to test their drones.

Strategic Global Aviation, also a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, is adding jobs at Griffiss Strategic Global Aviation is a world-class military aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. We will partner with the company and Mohawk Valley Community College to create a painting curriculum to augment the schools premier Airframe and Powerplant Technology Program.

Cree (in Marcy), one of the biggest private sector technology investments in North America, is rising from the ground. When complete, this $1.2 billion high-tech manufacturing facility will be the worlds largest Silicon Carbide Fabrication plant

A growing 21st century economy needs and deserves a first-class healthcare system and the $600 million Wynn Hospital at (Mohawk Valley Health System) continues construction in downtown Utica. With the hospital will come a connected parking garage, allowing patients, visitors and staff to access the hospital year round, away from the elements. County Government is committed to building this garage. It is a necessity and we will see it to fruition.

Directly across the street (from the under construction hospital in Utica) is the Nexus Center. This critical tourism project already has seen $11 million in county investment, and together with the Auditorium Authority, it will be home to hundreds of thousands of visitors annually competing in hockey, lacrosse, soccer and other sporting tournaments. This project will be completed with an expected opening of June 2022.

COVID-19 in retrospect

Switching gears to address a hopeful post-COVID-19 world, Picente noted that more than 400 Oneida County residents have died from the virus that infected over 21,000 so far.

In remembrance, Picente has tasked the Oneida County COVID-19 Memorial Committee with creating a memorial that will mark the community struggle and collective fight to overcome hurdles derived from the pandemic.

To prepare for the possibility of another public health emergency at any time in the future, Picente tasked Dr. Dan Gilmore, the countys Director of Health, to initiate an after-action report that will evaluate our performance and make recommendations for future preparedness.

Fiscal health

Speaking to the economic health of the county government, Picente noted actions taken that made the bad situation financially manageable.

When COVID-19 infections began to appear in the region, We acted swiftly to cut operating expenses in 2020 by $8 million. We asked our employees to do more and they stepped up to help fight the pandemic, cross training in a variety of ways and volunteering to work vaccination sites, he said.

Picente said that the county was recently acknowledged by all three credit rating agencies who reaffirmed an A bond rating this year.

Looking forward

This year, Picente said he will spearhead efforts to create new housing, based on recommendations of the Vision 2020 Housing Committee, a group of community leaders that examines potential growth initiatives.

The recommendations include: extending the Oneida County Industrial Development Agencys Housing Policy for the next five years. Re-igniting the construction of new housing through OCIDA housing policy that incentivizes new construction of single-family subdivisions, townhomes and duplexes, and educating municipal planning boards and school boards on the importance of single-family housing.

Picente noted the need to continue thinking outside the box to re-imagine and reignite the hard hit tourism economy as well as build out the regions broadband internet infrastructure to improve access capabilities for all.

This, at a time when virtual learning and work at home opportunities are showing signs of staying power even after COVID-19 infections are under control.

Which, Picente urged everyone to get a vaccine if they had not already done so.

COVID has taken much from us, but it cannot take away our spirit to move this community forward. It cannot take away how far we have come and I refuse to let it rob us of a future that weve fought so hard to secure. Good days remain ahead and together we will get there, Picente said in closing.

To watch the full video of the State of the County address, visit:https://youtu.be/erL9HU0BUBY

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Progress amid the pandemic | Rome Daily Sentinel - Rome Sentinel

Facts, not fear: We're tracking the latest coronavirus numbers and vaccination efforts across the San Antonio area.

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas We're tracking the latest numbers from the coronavirus pandemic as well as the vaccine efforts in San Antonio and across Texas.

Vaccine Progress in Bexar County

Across Bexar County, just over 1.39 million vaccine doses have been administered, as of May 10.

The Department of State Health Services defines "population" as residents who are 16 years of age or older; in Bexar County, this represents more than 1.55 million people. The CDC states that "when a high percentage of the community is immune to a disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness)," that community will have reached herd immunity, "making the spread of this disease from person to person unlikely."

62,263 vaccines were administered last week in Bexar County, according to DSHS; a total of 1,390,448 million vaccine doses have been administered in the county since vaccination efforts began four months ago.

Across Texas, 11.476 million residents are fully vaccinated. In total, the state has administered 19,568,058 million vaccine doses, as of May 10. Texas is in the middle of the pack among the rest of the states, with between 30 to 40 percent of its population fully vaccinated, as of May 9:

Latest Coronavirus Numbers

Here are the latest numbers reported by Bexar County and state officials:

Bexar County (data as of Monday, May 10):

Metro Health reports new data at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Texas (data as of Monday, May 10):

More county case information is available through theTexas Department of Health Services COVID-19 dashboard.

Bexar County COVID-19 Trends

This week's update of the Warning Signs and Progress Indicators for Bexar County saw Bexar County holding steady at the low-risk level for another week. The positivity rate dropped by nearly a full percentage point in the last week from 2.6% to 1.7%, as of Monday, May 10.

The county's seven-day moving average of daily COVID-19 is 184 cases per day. That number is down 85 over the last week.

Coronavirus symptoms

The symptoms of coronavirus can be similar to the flu or a bad cold. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Most healthy people will have mild symptoms. A study of more than 72,000 patients by the Centers for Disease Control in China showed 80 percent of the cases there were mild.

But infections can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organization. Older people with underlying health conditions are most at risk.

Experts determined there was consistent evidence these conditions increase a person's risk, regardless of age:

Human coronaviruses are usually spread...

Help stop the spread of coronavirus

Find a Testing Location

City officials recommend getting a COVID-19 test if you experience fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.

Here's a Testing Sites Locatorto help you find the testing location closest to you in San Antonio.

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Vaccine Progress in Bexar County: Nearly 52% of people have had at least one dose - KENS5.com

The word filibuster derives from the Spanish filibustero, itself deriving originally from the Dutch vrijbuiter, privateer, pirate, robber. The Spanish form entered the English language in the 1850s, as applied to military adventurers from the United States then operating in Central America The term was revived in the mid-19th century to describe the actions of adventurers who tried to take control of various territories by force of arms. Wikipedia

As the U.S. Senate proceeds with its business, split 50-50 between Republicans on one side and Democrats and independents on the other, lawmakers and the public at large are concerned about the future of the filibuster. Under the rules of the U.S. Senate, if just one lawmaker doesnt want a bill to progress, they can attempt to delay its passage indefinitely by giving a principled speech, or even just reading Green Eggs and Ham, as Ted Cruz did in 2013. A supermajority of three-fifths of the senators, or 60 of the 100, is required to stop the filibuster or signal that one would not succeed and proceed to a vote.

As a result of the current Senate split, the majority party the 48 Democrats and two independents who generally caucus with them, plus Vice President Kamala Harris cannot unilaterally decide to block filibusters and end debate on a bill. This effectively prevents most bills from ever being voted on without a sizable number of Republicans also agreeing to end debate.

Many critics have called for the filibusters elimination. Its continued use was briefly in question during negotiations between the parties over how to run an evenly split Senate. But the filibuster has survived, and it will likely continue to be a major obstacle to passing legislation.

As a comparative politics scholar, I have come to the conclusion that because many democratic constitutions already include so many other checks and balances, giving the minority party veto power over widely supported legislation is unnecessary, which is why most U.S. states and most democratic countries do not allow their legislators to filibuster.

Plenty of checks and balances

According to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the filibuster ensures that slim majorities cant ram through half-baked ideas. But even without the filibuster, its actually quite hard to pass legislation in the U.S., thanks to the Constitutions robust separation of powers.

Bills need to pass both chambers of Congress with majority support, which can be a huge hurdle. Founder James Madison argued that having two chambers was beneficial, as it prevents the passage of improper acts of legislation. Not every government has two legislative chambers, however. There is only one chamber in Nebraskas legislature just like the national legislatures of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Norway.

Even if the bill has the support of the majority in both the Senate and the House, it still faces a potential presidential veto, which can be overridden only by a two-thirds supermajority in both congressional chambers. Yet, at the state level, many legislatures can override vetoes by their governor with a simple majority, which is the same threshold needed to override presidential vetoes in Estonia, France and Italy. Other democracies, such as Austria and Germany, dont even have a presidential veto.

If a bill somehow gets passed by Congress and is signed by the president, the Supreme Court can still declare it unconstitutional and strike the law off the books. Not all democracies give their highest court this power: The Constitution of the Netherlands, for instance, explicitly prohibits this. In Switzerland, the highest court can strike down laws passed by the cantons, which are similar to U.S. states, but cannot overturn federal legislation.

The creation and weakening of the filibuster

McConnell argues that the filibuster plays a crucial role in our constitutional order. Yet, its important to point out that the founders did not include the filibuster in the U.S. Constitution, and the filibuster became part of the Senates rules only by mistake when then-Vice President Aaron Burr recommended that the Senate clean up its rulebook by removing redundant language.

One of the rules that was axed in 1806 at Burrs behest empowered a simple majority to cut off debate. Eventually, this mistake was realized and exploited when the Senate endured its first filibuster in 1837.

Since that time, there have been many efforts to restrict the use of the filibuster. A frustrated Woodrow Wilson the only U.S. president to have earned a Ph.D. in political science once noted that the Senate of the United States is the only legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is ready for action. In 1917, he successfully curbed the use of the filibuster by pressuring the Senate to adopt a rule that allowed for a two-thirds supermajority to end debate.

In 1974, the Senate further limited the use of the filibuster by agreeing that when using a process called reconciliation to pass a budget-related bill, debate in the Senate is limited to 20 hours. Effectively this means that reconciliation bills cannot be filibustered, as debate cannot continue in perpetuity.

After the maximum allotted time for debate has elapsed, reconciliation bills require only the approval of a simple majority. This process was used in 2017 to pass Donald Trumps tax cuts with only 51 votes. This same process is being used to try and pass President Joe Bidens coronavirus relief package.

In 1975, senators reduced the two-thirds supermajority required to end debate to the present three-fifths, thereby creating the current 60-vote threshold.

In 2013, the filibuster was again weakened when Democrats, then in the majority, eliminated its use on all presidential nominees except those to the Supreme Court, in response to the repeated Republican obstruction of Barack Obamas nominees.

In 2017, Republicans, having retaken the Senate, went one step farther by eliminating the use of the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees. All three of Trumps nominees to the nations highest court Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were confirmed with fewer than 60 votes.

The obstruction of progress

In recent years, the filibuster has not hurt Republicans as much as Democrats because the GOP has focused on cutting taxes and confirming judges, both of which can now bypass the filibuster thanks to Senate rule modifications. Democrats, on the other hand, are going to have a hard time making major health care changes or enacting immigration reform, as both would be vulnerable to a Republican filibuster.

The U.S. system has been designed with more checks and balances than many other successful democracies. Eliminating the filibuster would bring the federal government in line with the majority of U.S. states and democratic countries around the world.

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An obstruction of progress: The word "filibuster" was derived from the term for "pirate" - Milwaukee Independent