Gas prices continue to rise in Central Florida as restrictions are lifted
Joe Byrnes, WMFE
While the price of gas is starting to rise, drivers will likely find the cheapest summer gas in 15 years.
AAA reports that the states average price per gallon which is a $1.88 is the lowest around Memorial Day since 2003.
Nationwide, people stayed home due to COVID-19. That suppressed demand and caused the price to plummet.
In Florida, it hit the bottom at $1.76 on May 6th. Now its climbing again as Floridas economy begins to reopen.
Around the state, West Palm Beach has the highest prices and the Panhandle the lowest.
Central Florida is right in the middle with an average of $1.86 in Orlando and $1.87 in The Villages.
Blaise Gainey, WFSU
The Florida League of Women Voters is pushing to get an estimated 700,000 felons registered to vote before the November election.
The effort follows a weekend ruling that cleared many felons to register before paying back fines and restitution. Florida League President Patricia Brigham says outreach has changed due to the coronavirus, but will still move forward.
Once it was clear that COVID-19 was a clear and present danger and we all went to a shelter in place which many Floridians are continuing to do, we knew that we could no longer do person-to-person registration so we suspended it as long as we have to. And we are doing voter registration by pointing Floridians to Vote411.org, Brigham said.
The group is also urging registered voters to request a vote-by-mail ballot so they wont have to leave their home to vote during the global pandemic.
She says while some election supervisors are not in favor of a vote-by-mail only election, more people doing so will help keep the number of those going into polling sites low.
Bill Chappell, NPR
People visiting Six Flags theme parks and water parks this summer will be required to wear a face mask at all times, the company says, as it prepares to reopen its first park to visitors since the coronavirus forced mass closures. Six Flags says it also will use thermal imaging to screen temperatures of guests and employees before they can enter.
Frontier City in Oklahoma City will be the first Six Flags park to reopen, on June 5. But before visiting, customers will need to make a reservation and bring a mask; anyone who doesnt have a face covering will need to buy one at the gate, the company says.
All guests over the age of two and all team members will be required to wear face masks covering the nose and mouth throughout their visit/work day, the company announced Tuesday. Special accommodations can be made for people with disabilities, health concerns, religious restrictions, or other circumstances that would prevent them from wearing a mask, Six Flags said.
Capacity will also be restricted, and people will be required to maintain physical distance as they stand in line for rides, food and other attractions. The safety protocols will apply across all of Six Flags 26 locations in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Frontier City, like all Six Flags parks, is an outdoor attraction that poses a significantly lower risk of exposure than indoor venues, Six Flags President and CEO Mike Spanos said in a statement about the plans. He added, Because our parks cover dozens or even hundreds of acres, we can easily manage guest throughput to achieve proper social distancing.
Every U.S. state is now in the process of relaxing at least some of the restrictions that were put in place in the weeks after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Many Americans and public officials alike are nowweighing how to curb the coronaviruswhile also restarting normal activities and planning for the summer.
Oklahoma began allowing a broad range of businesses to reopen on May 1, from restaurant dining rooms to movie theaters and gyms. The state further relaxed restrictions when it entered the second phase of its reopening plan on May 15. Its poised to begin thethird phase on June 1.
Oklahoma was reporting more than 6,000 COVID-19 cases and 315 deaths as of Tuesday morning, according to the stateDepartment of Health. More than 2,800 cases roughly 46% of the current total have been reported in the past 30 days. The state says more than 4,800 people have recovered from the respiratory disease.
Emily Kwong, NPR
Scientists have learned a great deal about how the novel coronavirus spreads. But one of the mysteries theyre still trying to untangle is where the virus, known as SARS-CoV-2, came from in the first place. Scientific evidence pointsoverwhelminglyto wildlife and to bats as the most likely origin point.
Bats are critically important for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds. They catch bugs, the same ones that bite us and eat some of our crops. But bats also harbor some of the toughest known zoonotic diseases those caused by germs that spread between animals and people.
The rabies virus, the Marburg virus, the Hendra andNipah virusesall find a natural reservoir in bats, meaning those viruses can live in bats without harming them. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa wastraced to a bat colony. The SARS virus originates in bats, along withother coronaviruses. And now, SARS-CoV-2 is linked to bats too. The virus has a 96% genetic similarity to coronavirus samples previously found in bats.
Globally, zoonotic diseases havebeen on the risefor decades. The CDC estimates that six out of ten infectious diseases in people come from animals. Increased human interactions with animals through land development that destroys habitat, agricultural practices and livestock and wildlife trade have created a perfect storm for emerging diseases to appearthroughout the world, pathogens both previously known and completely novel.
There is not enough genetic evidence to know how precisely this particular coronavirus transmitted from animals (likely bats) to humans, and whether an intermediate animal was involved in the chain of transmission. Further genetic testing and evidence is needed to fully know where this coronavirus came from. The work of virus hunting of tracking an outbreak to its origin point can take years. The 2003 outbreak of SARS, for instance, took a decade of detective work, sampling the feces, urine, or blood ofthousands of horseshoe batsacross China until a match was found.
Tom Urban, WLRN
Starting Friday, shoppers in Florida emerging from coronavirus stay-at-home orders can avoid paying sales taxes while putting together disaster-preparation stockpiles for the 2020 hurricane season.
Florida lawmakers included the disaster-preparation tax holiday in a 47.7-million-dollar tax package approved in March.
During the period lasting through June 4th, shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on items such as reusable ice packs, flashlights, fuel containers, coolers, batteries, radios and tarps.
The biggest-ticket items included in the holiday are portable generators that cost 750 dollars or less.
In addition to helping consumers, Florida Retail Federation CEO Scott Shalley hopes the seven-day tax holiday can provide a boost for businesses suffering from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Youre going to see, again, additional incentives from the retailers to encourage sales for disaster preparation. Youll continue to see, of course, all of the safe and smart shopping measures in terms of social distancing and sanitizing, Shalley said.
Federal officials have expressed concern about people being prepared for disasters this year. Hurricane season will start Monday and continue through November 30th.
Greg Rosalsky, NPR
COVID-19 is killing African Americans ata rate three times higherthan white people. You can see the disparity on the map with places like the Bronx, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the South Side of Chicago grappling with thousands of deaths from the disease. The health crisis, however, is also an economic crisis, and the virus is clobbering these communities on this front, too.
Job losses are dramatically concentrated in the low end of the wage distribution, says Erik Hurst, an economist at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. He is the co-author ofa new study, The U.S. Labor Market during the Beginning of the Pandemic Recession, which analyzes payroll data from millions of American workers between early March and mid-April.
If you look at the top fifth of income earners as of February, he says, about 9% of them lost their jobs. Thats catastrophically bad. But if you look at the bottom fifth of earners, who aremore likelyto be black and Latino, about 35%of them lost their jobs.
The International Monetary Fund, which historically has not been a bleeding heart institution when it comes to issues of inequality, is now warning that the COVID-19 crisis will increase economic disparities. Inanother new study, it looks at the effects of pandemics like SARS, H1N1, and Ebola over the last few decades. And what we found in the aftermath of these events, inequality was higher on a whole host of measures, says Jonathan Ostry, an IMF official who co-authored the study. Workers at the top are more likely to have the luxury of working remotely and the skills, education, and wealth to help them weather the economic downturns that follow pandemics. Meanwhile, workers at the bottom get squeezed.
In the United States, these disparities are inextricably linked to race. Its undeniable when you look at death rates. However, if you were looking simply at unemployment numbers, you might at first get misled. In good times and bad, the black unemployment rate is typically double the white unemployment rate, says the economist Valerie Wilson, who directs the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. But, if you look at themost recent datafrom the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the black unemployment is 16.7%, which is higher than the white unemployment rate of 14.2%, but not close to double.
The closer parity between black and white unemployment numbers, Wilson says, reflects how widespread the shutdown has been. It also, however, reflects the disproportionate representation of African Americans in what have been deemed to be essential jobs. Think grocery cashiers, mail carriers, security guards, health aides, gas-station attendants, and fast-food cooks.
Wilson says having an essential job is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, essential workers have greater job security, which might come in handy if unemployment benefits expire. But, on the other hand, these workers are on the frontlines, risking their health. People are having to choose between their economic security and their health security, she says. Adding insult to injury, had they been laid off, these workers would have been able to stay home and collect relatively generous unemployment benefits. Instead, they have to work, and theyreoften not compensatedfor lost hours.
Meanwhile, government rescue effortsare failingminority-owned businesses. The new Payroll Protection Program is designed to save small businesses from the crisis, and it has the generous feature of offering forgivable loans to those who keep their employees on the payroll. However,around 96%of black-owned businesses, Wilson says, are sole proprietorships, meaning they dont have employees, whichmakes it harderfor them to get their loans forgiven. The loans are also distributed through private banks, which maylack pre-existing relationshipswith minority business owners and may discriminate when giving out loans. Surveys show that around 38% of all small business applicants report getting the loans they requested butjust 12% of minority applicantsreport getting them.
The cruel irony of the COVID-19 pandemic is that after a decade of wage stagnation following the financial crisis, whichhit them especially hard African Americans werefinally beginning to see wage growthjust as the virus began hitting our shores. Many African Americans lack the wealth needed to help them float through another period of economic turbulence. The median black family has onlyabout 10 percentof the wealth of the median white family, Wilson says. They dont have any backup available in terms of wealth or other kinds of financial resources that they can pull from when they lose a job or when their pay gets cut.
Black Americans are approximately 13% of the nations population, but hold closer to 2.6% of the nations wealth, says William Darity Jr., the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University.
Darity and his wife, the scholar Kirsten Mullen, recently wrote op-eds in thePhiladelphia InquirerandNewsweekarguing that the COVID-19 crisis in black communities is integrally related to their deficit of wealth. Darity says that, like the higher rate of preexisting conditions such asdiabetes,asthma, andobesityseen in black communities which is itself linked to poverty we argue that you should think about the wealth gap as a preexisting condition that leads to greater susceptibility to the harms of the disease. Darity and Mullen, who are authors of a new book calledFrom Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-first Century, argue that the COVID-19 death rate in black communities further strengthens the case for addressing the racial wealth gap through a reparations program.
Valerie Crowder, WFSU
The pandemic didnt stop visitors from traveling to Mexico Beach over Memorial Day weekend. Mayor Al Cathey described the towns white sandy shoreline as packed.
He says hes worried about the coronavirus reaching the small coastal town, which has so far had zero cases.
I hope that we havent reacted to the We have to open pressure too quickly. When I look at the news and I look at other places, and when I drive our beach here, I dont know how much gathering we can do on the beach and not have a problem, Cathey said.
Bay County has reported new coronavirus cases every day for nearly the last two weeks. Visitors began arriving there from other states after the beaches reopened almost a month ago.
Pam Fessler, NPR
No door to door canvassing. Public gatherings are canceled. Motor vehicle offices are closed. Naturalization ceremonies are on hiatus.
Almost every place where Americans usually register to vote has been out of reach since March and its led to a big drop in new registrations right before a presidential election that was expected to see record turnout.
The consequences of that declinecould reshape the electorate ahead of the November election, although its not yet clear how.
Four years ago, organizers for the progressive group New Virginia Majority were able to register 120,000 new voters, who contributed to Hillary Clintons victory in the state and Democrats subsequent takeover of the state legislature.
But this year, in the middle of a pandemic?
The rules of engagement have been completely upended, said Tram Nguyen, New Virginia Majoritys co-executive director.
Were not able to walk the neighborhood streets. Were not able to set up tables at community centers and places where its easy to reach people in community. So organizers have still continued to do the work around engaging folks. It looks a lot different, she said.
The group is now reaching people online, mostly over social media and video chats, but Nguyen doubts that theyll be able to register as many new voters this year as they did in 2016.
Across the country, other interest groups, political parties and election officials are running into similar hurdles.
Until the pandemic struck, the 2020 presidential election had been on track to see a huge surge in new voters.According to data from the Democratic voter targeting firm TargetSmart, voter registrations in January and February of this year far outpaced those in 2016.
February we had a net 7,000 new registrations. And in March we had a net 500 new registrations, said Adams, a Republican. In April, the states voter rolls shrank by more than 1,000.
Like voters in many states, Kentuckians can register online. But Adams said its not the same as, say, going to a booth at the state fair.
People can still register, the governments not closed, but without that personal contact, with people encouraging their friends to register, thats why weve seen such a big drop-off, he said.
Kentucky is hardly alone. Virginia saw 73% fewer registrations last month than it did four years ago. Officials said one reason is the shutdown of Department of Motor Vehicle offices, where voters routinely register. North Carolina had a similar decline and has expanded online registration to pick up some of the slack.
Political parties, which often take an outsize role in registering new voters, have also adjusted.
In Texas, where online registration is not allowed, the states Democrats launched a website last month that provides a registration form with a postage-paid envelope to send it in as part of their goal of registering a million new voters.
Texas Republicans are doing the same, although party chair James Dickey says they started before the pandemic.
In fact, we have seen our voter registration counts continue to increase and our volunteer count continue to increase, said Dickey, who added that the Texas GOP is well on its way to reaching its goal of registering at least 100,000 new voters.
Dickey thinks the pandemic has probably had more impact on some of the partys other activities. It was our plan to be doing all of our voter persuasion and voter turnout efforts in person, he said. Theyre now doing it over the phone.
Organizers of both parties say they always try to meet voters where they are but now that means reaching them at home and online.
One group thats benefiting is the nonprofit Vote.org, which uses technology to register and mobilize voters.
Were having an avalanche of people come to us, as a result of groups ditching their in-person campaigns, said Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey.
The group has helped register more than a half million people so far this year, with a focus on young voters and people of color.
One hurdle, Hailey says, are requirements in some states that voters register by mail and provide photocopies of their ID.
We used to point people to a library if you didnt have a printer, and say go to your nearest library, get them to print it out, but you know libraries are closed right now, she said.
The big question is how all this will affect the November election. Most people can still register until shortly before Election Day and its unclear whether the losses so far this year can be made up in the fall.
The general belief is that Democrats benefit the most by signing up new voters, but thats not necessarily true. What matters most is who ends up casting ballots.
Tram Nguyen of New Virginia Majority says one thing thats been lost in the pandemic is the bond her organizers have with the people they register in person, a relationship that helps them make sure these new voters actually show up and vote.
NPR
On this broadcast ofThe National Conversation,an infectious disease doctor answers your questions about the COVID-19 death toll as the number nears 100,000 in the United States.
Well also answer your questions about immigration and how to deal with tough scenarios, and author Cheryl Strayed joins us to talk about kindness and neighborliness during the pandemic.
Vanessa Romo, NPR
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, made an unannounced visit to the Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Del., on Monday.
Its the first time Biden has left the area around his home in Wilmington, since mid-March when he began self-isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He and his wife Jill Biden, both wearing black masks, placed a wreath before a memorial wall commemorating war veterans from Delaware and New Jersey.
Never forget the sacrifices that these men and women made. Never, ever, forget, Biden said before leaving the wall.
President Trump also honored service members at two events Monday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
Trump has been critical of Bidens decision to remain in self-isolation at his home in Wilmington. Biden canceled in-person campaign events. Over the last two months, Biden has held events virtually with supporters, including fundraisers, and has done a number of television interviews from his home.
In response to a question about being out in public on Memorial Day, Biden said, It feels good to be out of my house.
Tom Flanigan, WFSU
Congress has sent another round of stimulus spending to the Senate. North Florida Congressman Al Lawson thinks its an improvement over the first round.
You know we made a couple of mistakes on the PPP, but now were going to make sure we lower it so its even for those businesses under $50,000. And Ive been checking with a lot of financial institutions to give me a record of how many small businesses they were able to help. So thats coming up next week, Lawson said.
Still, passage in the Senate seems anything but certain as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the package dead on arrival.
Still, Lawson hopes increasing public pressure will carry the day.
The U.S. unemployment rate is now approaching fifteen percent and thousands of businesses may not survive.
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