This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor 2½ years, Giancarlo Granda had been telling his family about the generosity of his business partners. The wealthy couple from out of town had taken him under their wing, he said, rewarding the Miami pool attendant’s ambition with a stake in a multimillion-dollar real estate project. Now he wanted them to meet.In a trendy Italian restaurant inside the South Beach property where he’d become a part owner, Granda introduced his parents and sister to his unlikely benefactors: Jerry and Becki Falwell.Over wine and pasta,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor 2½ years, Giancarlo Granda had been telling his family about the generosity of his business partners. The wealthy couple from out of town had taken him under their wing, he said, rewarding the Miami pool attendant’s ambition with a stake in a multimillion-dollar real estate project. Now he wanted them to meet.In a trendy Italian restaurant inside the South Beach property where he’d become a part owner, Granda introduced his parents and sister to his unlikely benefactors: Jerry and Becki Falwell.Over wine and pasta,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareMedical associations and unions pushed back Friday against new federal guidelines for conserving and reusing masks, saying they will leave them unprotected against a dangerous infection carried by waves of patients already at their doors.“Needless to say this is frightening for our staff,” Katie Oppenheim, chair of the union for University of Michigan nurses, said on a conference call with reporters.Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 112,000 health professionals, described...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareMedical associations and unions pushed back Friday against new federal guidelines for conserving and reusing masks, saying they will leave them unprotected against a dangerous infection carried by waves of patients already at their doors.“Needless to say this is frightening for our staff,” Katie Oppenheim, chair of the union for University of Michigan nurses, said on a conference call with reporters.Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 112,000 health professionals, described...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump’s supporters had celebrated for hours on Saturday, waving their MAGA flags and blaring “God Bless the U.S.A.” as they gathered in Washington to falsely claim that the election had been stolen from the man they adore. The crowd had even reveled in a personal visit from Trump, who passed by in his motorcade, smiling and waving.But that was before the people who oppose their hero showed up and the mood shifted, growing angrier as 300 or so counterprotesters delivered a message the president’s most ardent...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump’s supporters had celebrated for hours on Saturday, waving their MAGA flags and blaring “God Bless the U.S.A.” as they gathered in Washington to falsely claim that the election had been stolen from the man they adore. The crowd had even reveled in a personal visit from Trump, who passed by in his motorcade, smiling and waving.But that was before the people who oppose their hero showed up and the mood shifted, growing angrier as 300 or so counterprotesters delivered a message the president’s most ardent...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareMARION, Va. — It had been three weeks since the cross burning. Three weeks since Travon Brown's sense of triumph from leading a Black Lives Matter march was consumed by the fire in his front yard.In the threat-filled days that followed, the 17-year-old black high school student looked at the scorched earth and vowed to protest again.But now it was the morning of the second march, and Brown sat on the porch, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in his Nickelodeon pajamas and bracing himself for confrontation.Half an hour...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareMARION, Va. — It had been three weeks since the cross burning. Three weeks since Travon Brown's sense of triumph from leading a Black Lives Matter march was consumed by the fire in his front yard.In the threat-filled days that followed, the 17-year-old black high school student looked at the scorched earth and vowed to protest again.But now it was the morning of the second march, and Brown sat on the porch, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in his Nickelodeon pajamas and bracing himself for confrontation.Half an hour...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareOne Seattle-area hospital system has set up its own makeshift assembly line — using parts purchased from Home Depot and craft stores — to create protective face shields for workers. Boston nurses are gathering racquetball glasses to use in place of safety goggles. In New York, a dialysis center is preparing to use bandannas in place of masks as protection against .Just 11 weeks into a pandemic crisis expected to last months, the nightmare of medical equipment shortages is no longer theoretical. Health-care workers,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareOne Seattle-area hospital system has set up its own makeshift assembly line — using parts purchased from Home Depot and craft stores — to create protective face shields for workers. Boston nurses are gathering racquetball glasses to use in place of safety goggles. In New York, a dialysis center is preparing to use bandannas in place of masks as protection against .Just 11 weeks into a pandemic crisis expected to last months, the nightmare of medical equipment shortages is no longer theoretical. Health-care workers,...WW…

This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareWORTHINGTON, Minn. — It was the first day of school, so Don Brink was behind the wheel of his bus, its yellow paint glistening in the drizzling dawn. Wearing jeans and a John Deere cap, he turned the radio to an oldies station and, with hands callused thick by 50 years of farming, steered the vehicle toward the edge of town.He stopped in front of familiar farmhouses surrounded by fields of soy and corn, where blond children boarded the bus, chatting in English.“Morning,” the 71-year-old Vietnam veteran said.This was the...…This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareWORTHINGTON, Minn. — It was the first day of school, so Don Brink was behind the wheel of his bus, its yellow paint glistening in the drizzling dawn. Wearing jeans and a John Deere cap, he turned the radio to an oldies station and, with hands callused thick by 50 years of farming, steered the vehicle toward the edge of town.He stopped in front of familiar farmhouses surrounded by fields of soy and corn, where blond children boarded the bus, chatting in English.“Morning,” the 71-year-old Vietnam veteran said.This was the...WW…

His Guatemalan parents sent him to the U.S. for a better life. Then they wanted their 9-year-old back. By FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The boy stood at the airline counter, doodling on a tablet as his foster parents tried to check in the 9-year-old with no passport for an international flight. “He is going back to his mom,” Galo Solorzano told a skeptical Spirit Airlines employee last month. “Her?” the employee asked, pointing to a woman from the Guatemalan consulate who was supposed to accompany Pascual Raymundo from Fort Lauderdale to Guatemala City. “No,” said Galo and his wife, Millie Rosa,...…His Guatemalan parents sent him to the U.S. for a better life. Then they wanted their 9-year-old back. By FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The boy stood at the airline counter, doodling on a tablet as his foster parents tried to check in the 9-year-old with no passport for an international flight. “He is going back to his mom,” Galo Solorzano told a skeptical Spirit Airlines employee last month. “Her?” the employee asked, pointing to a woman from the Guatemalan consulate who was supposed to accompany Pascual Raymundo from Fort Lauderdale to Guatemala City. “No,” said Galo and his wife, Millie Rosa,...WW…

The gunman who terrorized a D.C. pizzeria is out of prison. The QAnon conspiracy theories he helped unleash are out of control. By SALISBURY, N.C. — He slipped out of bed before sunrise and started driving, spurred by the baseless claims he would soon help make famous. As he sped the 350 miles from his hometown in North Carolina to the nation’s capital, tilted his cellphone camera toward himself and pressed record. “I can’t let you grow up in a world that’s so corrupt by evil,” he told the two young daughters he had left sleeping back in Salisbury, “without at least standing up for you and...…The gunman who terrorized a D.C. pizzeria is out of prison. The QAnon conspiracy theories he helped unleash are out of control. By SALISBURY, N.C. — He slipped out of bed before sunrise and started driving, spurred by the baseless claims he would soon help make famous. As he sped the 350 miles from his hometown in North Carolina to the nation’s capital, tilted his cellphone camera toward himself and pressed record. “I can’t let you grow up in a world that’s so corrupt by evil,” he told the two young daughters he had left sleeping back in Salisbury, “without at least standing up for you and...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoGift ShareThe troops were in formation. The residents were told to stay home. The heart of Washington was a fortress of fences, concrete barriers and security checkpoints. But on Sunday, the planned and promoted “armed march” on the nation’s capital never materialized.There were no gathered crowds, large or small, and authorities reported just of an armed man carrying a handgun and ammunition near barricades surrounding the Capitol building just after midnight.The quiet Sunday brought little relief to a city on edge from an attack on the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoGift ShareThe troops were in formation. The residents were told to stay home. The heart of Washington was a fortress of fences, concrete barriers and security checkpoints. But on Sunday, the planned and promoted “armed march” on the nation’s capital never materialized.There were no gathered crowds, large or small, and authorities reported just of an armed man carrying a handgun and ammunition near barricades surrounding the Capitol building just after midnight.The quiet Sunday brought little relief to a city on edge from an attack on the...WW…