4 LOS ANGELES (AP) — California could witness a stunning turnabout in a nation of deeply polarized politics if the liberal state dumps Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and elects a Republican to fill his job in a September recall election. With the country’s political center largely vanished, it’s rare to see governors win elections on adversarial ground, making the notion of a Republican upset in one of the nation’s Democratic strongholds seem implausible. Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in California since 2006. But there are exceptions: Republican governors have defied the odds in solidly Democratic territory — Vermont, Massachusetts and Maryland. Their success looks even more striking when considering those states delivered the largest percentage victories for Joe Biden in the presidential election last year. That could provide a dose of encouragement for Republican recall candidates, but the circumstances don’t square neatly with … [Read more...]

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Support Surfside 5K brought together hundreds of people from all across South Florida on Saturday morning to show their support for the town of Surfside and the families of victims of the Champlain Tower South condo collapse. Runners were on their mark, ready and set, to run for a cause far beyond themselves. READ MORE: COVID-19 Testing Sites In South Florida “Praying for all the souls that can’t be here today,” says participant Julie Castro with Team Fort Lauderdale. “We are out here for them and for their families,” Organized by Victory Sports and Runner’s Depot, all of the registration costs went directly to SupportSurfside.org, which is a relief fund to help those impacted. “When it happened, we wanted to know what we could do to help. We can’t go pull rubble. We aren’t psychologists to go and talk to people. But we could put a race on to raise money for those families,” says Danny Howard, one of the event organizers and President of Victory … [Read more...]

At their regular pandemic response meetings over the past year, officials in Suffolk County, N.Y., found themselves returning, again and again, to questions of geography. “One of the common questions I used to get was, ‘Where is it bad?” said Dr. Harsha Rajashekharaiah, the senior project coordinator for the county’s Covid-19 response. “Where is the Covid transmission bad? Where is the testing bad? Where should we improve? Where should we invest our resources?” To find answers, Dr. Rajashekharaiah used geospatial data, brandishing brightly colored maps that pinpointed the exact neighborhoods where cases were rising or where testing rates were lagging. And after inoculations began, he started using digital mapping tools — commonly known as geographic information system, or G.I.S., software — to explore how vaccination rates varied across the county and how they correlated with a variety of demographic factors. Several patterns soon emerged on the color-coded maps. In March, … [Read more...]

TOKYO — In the morning, Raven Saunders of the United States captured the silver medal in the shot-put. At night, Saunders delivered the first political demonstration on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics when she raised her arms and crossed them in the shape of an X after receiving her medal, setting the stage for a standoff between the International Olympic Committee and Olympic leaders for the United States. The organizations have conflicting rules and views regarding the exercise of free speech during the Olympics. Asked after the medal ceremony as she walked toward a phalanx of television cameras about the meaning of the gesture, Saunders said it was “for oppressed people.” Minutes later, an American fencer, Race Imboden, went to the podium at a different venue after the United States took the bronze medal in foil. He had a circled X written on his hand. In 2019, Imboden knelt during the playing of the national anthem at the Pan American Games. Photos taken … [Read more...]

5 TOKYO (AP) — One of the best rivalries on the track moves into the spotlight on Day 10 of the Tokyo Games and takes a step closer to a big finish when United States teammates Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad size each other up in the semifinals of the women's 400-meter hurdles. Here are some things to watch Monday (all times Eastern): RIVALRY ON THE TRACK For more than a month now, McLaughlin has been the proud holder of the world record in the 400-meter hurdles. Her mark of 51.90 seconds could be broken at the Tokyo Games — maybe even by her. Probably not Monday, though, in the semifinals of the competition. She and her biggest rival, teammate Dalilah Muhammad, are in different heats. They each hope to make it through to the final and set the stage for what could be another record-breaking day. This time, with an Olympic gold medal on the line. Each time they’ve met at a big competition, the record has fallen. … [Read more...]

6 The number of Americans receiving financial help through the nation's welfare system ebbed last year, even as economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic gripped the nation. As the pandemic destroyed jobs and health officials urged people to stay home to avoid exposure to the virus, 13 states left in place rules requiring residents to work or look for a job to qualify for monthly checks from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the main public program of cash assistance for the very poor. The work requirements were part of dramatic state-to-state variations in the way the welfare program, known by the acronym TANF, responded to the pandemic, according to federal caseload figures and other data analyzed by The Washington Post. As a result, the odds of being able to get - and stay - on welfare has hinged on where someone lives. In all but three of the 13 states that continued their work rules, scattered across the South, … [Read more...]