How Amy Coney Barrett Played a Role in Bush v. Gore ; Canadian Research Project Gave Homeless People $7,500 Each ; and More Picks 10/13
How Amy Coney Barrett Played a Role in Bush v. Gore — and Helped the Republican Party Defend Mail Ballots (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Amy Coney Barrett was just three years out of law school, a 28-year-old associate at a boutique Washington law firm, when she was dispatched to Florida to help George W. Bush’s legal team rescue thousands of Republican absentee ballots. … This year, the Trump campaign and Republicans in Iowa have pushed to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot applications with missing information that had been filled in by county officials. ‘It’s the very antithesis of what we were arguing to the courts back then,’ said Daryl Bristow, who represented the Bush campaign in the Martin County absentee ballot case.”
Canadian Research Project Gave Homeless People $7,500 Each — the Results Were ‘Beautifully Surprising’ (Dana)
From CBC/Radio-Canada: “The results of a B.C. research project that gave thousands of dollars to homeless people are in and, according to one researcher, could challenge stereotypes about people ‘living on the margins.’ The New Leaf project is a joint study started in 2018 by Foundations for Social Change, a Vancouver-based charitable organization, and the University of British Columbia. After giving homeless Lower Mainland residents cash payments of $7,500, researchers checked on them over a year to see how they were faring.”
Looking at the West Coast Wildfires Through an Indigenous Lens (Dan)
From the Progressive: “Dr. Daniel Leavell … works with the institution’s Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Fire Program. He says that the surge of intense wildfires in recent years is due to a combination of climate change and management practices. Lack of sufficient prescribed burning — controlled burns conducted under safe conditions — has allowed fuel to accumulate in the forests, he says. … The technique of prescribed burning originated from Indigenous people across the world, including the Pacific Northwest, and has numerous environmental and cultural benefits. The practice declined after the arrival of European settlers, due to lack of understanding and perceived risk associated with taking a torch to the woods.”
82% of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Had Neurologic Symptoms (Mili)
From MedPage Today: “More than 80% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had neurologic symptoms during their disease course, a retrospective Chicago-area study showed. Neurologic manifestations were present at COVID-19 onset in 42.2% of 509 consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients, at hospitalization in 62.7%, and at anytime during the disease course in 82.3%, reported Igor Koralnik, MD, of Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.”
Tourist Returns Stolen Artifacts to Pompeii After Suffering ‘Curse’ for 15 Years (Dana)
The author writes, “A Canadian woman has returned five artifacts she took from Pompeii in 2005, saying they have plagued her with bad luck. The woman, identified only as Nicole, sent two white mosaic tiles, two pieces of amphora vase and a piece of ceramic wall to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, along with a letter explaining her decision. ‘I wanted to have a piece of history that couldn’t be bought,’ wrote the woman, who said she was ‘young and dumb’ at the time.”
