Ruins in Pompeii Indicate That Romans Invented Recycling: Researchers
Why COVID-19 Makes Some People Sicker Than Others ; Seattle Tenants Eye Rent Strikes ; and More Picks
Why COVID-19 Makes Some People Sicker Than Others ; Seattle Tenants Eye Rent Strikes ; and More Picks 4/28
‘No Evidence’ Yet That Recovered COVID-19 Patients Are Immune, WHO Says (Chris)
From NPR: “In a scientific brief … the United Nations agency said the idea that one-time infection can lead to immunity remains unproven and is thus unreliable as a foundation for the next phase of the world’s response to the pandemic.”
Why COVID-19 Makes Some People Sicker Than Others (Russ)
The author writes, “‘There’s a big difference in how people handle this virus,’ says Robert Murphy, a professor of medicine and the director of the Center for Global Communicable Diseases at Northwestern University. ‘It’s very unusual. None of this variability really fits with any other diseases we’re used to dealing with.’ This degree of uncertainty has less to do with the virus itself than how our bodies respond to it. As Murphy puts it, when doctors see this sort of variation in disease severity, ‘that’s not the virus; that’s the host.’”
With May Rent Looming, Some Seattle Tenants Eye Rent Strikes (Reader Steve)
The authors write, “As May rent deadlines approach, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and some other activists have added their voices to nationwide calls urging tenants to use tactics like rent strikes to push landlords and the government to cancel rent payments and provide other help. Yet missed payments could yield dire consequences for tenants when Washington’s emergency moratorium on evictions ends, some tenant advocates have warned, with no guarantee the gambit will succeed.”
Portland to Pay Nearly $400K to Family of Teen Killed by Driver Suspected of Fleeing to Saudi (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Portland City Council members are scheduled to vote Wednesday to approve a $395,000 settlement with the family of a 15-year-old girl killed in 2016 by an alleged hit-and-run driver who authorities suspect may have been helped by the Saudi Arabian government to flee the U.S. while awaiting trial. … Portland, through the Bureau of Transportation, was accused of negligence for not making the intersection at Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and 43rd Avenue, where Smart was hit August 16, 2016, more safe for pedestrians.”
Seuss–‘Star Trek’ Copyright Battleship Makes Landing at Ninth Circuit (Chris)
From Courthouse News: “Just weeks before graduates receive copies of the Dr. Seuss classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go as graduation gifts, an attorney for the publisher told a Ninth Circuit panel Monday a Star Trek mash-up of the children’s classic violates copyright law and was created to compete in the graduation gift market.”
