“It’s just art,” I hear a mother say to her son as they look out the window of the art installation kiosk in Redwood City’s main square, where Fernando Escartiz’s latest piece stands out and sparks conversation.
Since artist Escartiz began installing his new installation, “Stardust,” on November 1, some people in the community have already been asking themselves: “Is that art?”, referring to the meteorite embedded in the roof of the Redwood City art kiosk in collaboration with Fung Collaboratives.
With the care that can only characterize Escartiz's work, in this installation the artist reproduced the kiosk's façade, the roof, and pieces of the floor only to break it all up again. A drop of fluorescent liquid falls from the meteorite, feeding a plant that has grown from the rubble left by the destruction.
Photo courtesy: Fernando Escartiz
“For me, a giant meteorite crashing on us can represent the misfortunes that the planet is facing now, it is the perfect metaphor to understand that from suffering and catastrophe -albeit of enormous dimensions- we can obtain what is necessary to re-emerge with strength towards something spiritually superior,” Escartiz tells us in an interview for Península 360 Press.
The conversation flows in Redwood City around Escartiz’s piece, around the kiosk, on social media… “I don’t understand this art, what’s on top?” asks one person on social media, “art suggests, one imagines,” answers another.
In this sense, art has an important social function in our societies, since it has the characteristic of generating questions in people, possibly transforming them, from those who use it as a means of expression, to those who see it and perceive it as a spectator.
Photo Courtesy: Fernando Escartiz
It is a production of knowledge, a transmitter of knowledge, it is a revealer of what has been unnoticed, overlooked, and which becomes central in the work of art.
We must consider the arts as an integral part of our lives, as it can once again become a fundamental support mechanism for the process of justice and equity.
The Day of the Dead in Redwood City was a massive event organized by Casa Círculo Cultural where the tireless work of Escartiz Studio was recognized in this celebration that, year after year, supports them in the construction of the stage art and the arches that welcome attendees.
They also thanked Fernando Escartiz for installing the Redwood City art kiosk, because for CCC his work, “Stardust,” reminds us that we come from dust and to dust we will return. And every adversity is an opportunity to be reborn. As with the beginning of life, the restart of our lives after the pandemic.
Photo: Anna Lee Mraz
Escartiz's installation is much more than reconstructing a façade and breaking it again. It goes beyond imagining the arrival of a meteorite to Earth and destroying the kiosk dedicated to the diffusion of art in Redwood City. It is provocation, it is generating questions, it is imagining... That is art.
The combined actions of government, workers, port operators and the private sector have resulted in the relief of 32 percent of container cargo ships that have remained at the dock for more than nine days in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the announcement during a tour of these ports on Wednesday accompanied by the port envoy of the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, John D. Porcari.
During his visit, the governor highlighted work to address the global supply chain crisis, including policies to help ease congestion and alleviate delays.
“Major shifts in consumer habits driven by a global pandemic have led to record high volumes of containers moving through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” he noted.
He added that California has taken steps across the board to address congestion and increase capacity to move goods quickly.
To support these efforts and keep goods moving and reduce delays, last month Governor Newsom and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a strategic partnership to help facilitate innovative projects and funding opportunities for multi-billion dollar infrastructure improvements in California, including providing up to $5 billion for ports and supply chain infrastructure.
Additionally, workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have pledged to shift operations to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the coming months.
Just last week, maritime industry stakeholders announced a new, more environmentally friendly training policy, where ships will be assigned a queue position at their port of last call.
According to the governor, the port is also using sweeper vessels to support the movement of empty containers.
Over the past weekend, shippers loaded about 10,000 of the remaining 72,000 containers, with additional sweeper ships due in the coming weeks.
Port Envoy Porcari has also been conducting three weekly meetings with terminal operators, shipping lines and other stakeholders, key to identifying operational issues and immediate solutions at the two ports.
“Many of the biggest challenges facing our ports today have been developing over the years,” said Port Envoy Porcari.
California is home to the two busiest ports in the U.S., Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together process more than 40 percent of the containers arriving on the nation's shores.
“The men and women of the ILWU have been working hard every day during the pandemic to keep America’s shelves stocked, and we appreciate the efforts of federal and state governments to move cargo off the docks and throughout the supply chain,” said ILWU International President Willie Adams.
California port workers have processed 211 million cargo containers since 2010, 2.9 times more than any other state, according to Newsom.
He also stressed that these ports have handled 17 percent more containers between January and mid-October than in 2018, which held the previous record.
Separately, the Governor announced that Caltrans will begin issuing temporary permits that will allow trucks to transport heavier loads of up to 88,000 pounds on state highway and interstate routes between the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and other state ports and distribution centers across the state.
The action will begin on November 19, while cities and counties can issue their own permits to travel on local roads.
The Playland Pediatric Vaccination Clinic, located at the San Mateo County Events Center, continues to provide vaccinations by appointment for children ages 5-11.
The little heroes thus have a safe and fun space when they roll up their sleeves and receive their immunization dose.
According to the county, pediatric appointments for this age group are available at the Playland clinic through November 27. by appointment only through MyTurn.
The San Mateo Health Department said it will offer the pediatric vaccine at select county-operated community clinics, with convenient access for residents in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.
In that regard, she explained that residents can also check MyTurn to book appointments at these clinics and see other offers near where they live, including local pharmacies.
Additionally, County Health has partnered with the County Office of Education to support vaccination clinics at elementary schools at four locations in North, Central, South and Coastal communities during the week of November 15.
"We will continue to identify gaps in vaccine outreach to ensure vulnerable communities have convenient access to vaccination opportunities," it said in a statement.
It is worth noting that local pharmacies, including CVS, Safeway, Lucky Supermarkets and Walgreens, are offering vaccines for the 5-11 age group at some of their locations.
Residents should check MyTurn and the websites of these pharmacy chains to confirm availability. At this time, Costco and Rite-Aid have not indicated a plan to offer these vaccines.
An additional resource is vaccines.gov, useful for searching for locations without having to enter a lot of data.
Reinforcements
San Mateo County Health urges anyone 65 or older or those with underlying medical conditions or risk from a life or occupational situation who received the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer six or more months ago to get a third dose.
Additionally, those who received a single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine two or more months ago are required to receive a booster shot. California's eligibility process allows individuals to self-determine their exposure risk.
Boosters are available at community clinics, health care providers, pharmacies, and the Event Center. See schedules for county-operated clinics here.
By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360] / Bay City News
A 37-year-old businessman has pleaded not guilty to 33 counts of grand larceny and other charges for allegedly running a hemp farm in Half Moon Bay where his employees worked without pay for two months.
The company was shut down by state officials earlier this year, San Mateo County prosecutors said.
Houston resident David Wayne Jenkins Jr. was the owner of Castle Management, also known as Castillo Seed, a company that operated the hemp farm from January 2020 until it officially closed in March, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said the company was unprofitable and ran out of money, but Jenkins had his employees work from December 2020 to January 2021 without pay while promising that payments would come soon.
According to the District Attorney's Office, he also withheld taxes and paychecks without notifying state employment officials, and lost workers' compensation insurance in late December for failing to pay company premiums.
However, he continued to make employees work without insurance until the state Department of Industrial Relations closed the workplace in January.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced the charges against Jenkins on Tuesday and thanked Judith Guerrero, executive director of the local nonprofit Coastside Hope, as well as County Supervisor Don Horsley for bringing the case to his office's attention.
Prosecutors said they ultimately identified 33 victims in the case who lost a total of $138,000 in unpaid wages, of which Jenkins paid about $107,000 in restitution.
Jenkins made his initial court appearance Tuesday morning, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is out of custody on his own recognizance, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Tuesday requested emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational oral antiviral candidate, “Paxlovid” ‒ritonavir‒, for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at higher risk of hospitalization or death.
If approved, Paxlovid would be the first oral antiviral of its kind, a 3CL protease inhibitor specifically designed to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The EUA submission includes clinical data from an interim analysis of the Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR study, which demonstrated an 89 percent reduction in the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death compared to placebo in high-risk adults not hospitalized with COVID-19.
Applications have begun in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
“With more than 5 million deaths and countless lives affected by this devastating disease worldwide, there is an urgent need for life-saving treatment options. The overwhelming efficacy achieved in our recent clinical study of PAXLOVID, and its potential to help save lives and keep people out of the hospital if approved, underscores the critical role that oral antiviral therapies could play in the battle against COVID-19,” said Albert Bourla, President and CEO of Pfizer.
“We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential treatment into the hands of patients, and we look forward to working with the U.S. FDA in reviewing our application, along with other regulatory agencies around the world,” he added.
Pfizer is seeking U.S. agency approval for Paxlovid based on positive results from an interim analysis of an Evaluation of Protease Inhibition for COVID-19 in High-Risk Patients (EPIC-HR) trial, which included non-hospitalized adults 18 years of age or older with confirmed COVID-19 who are at increased risk of progressing to severe disease.
The data demonstrated an 89 percent reduction in the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause in patients treated with Paxlovid compared to placebo within three days of symptom onset, with no deaths in the treatment group.
According to Pfizer, similar results were seen within five days of symptom onset.
In a statement, the pharmaceutical company said that treatment-emergent adverse events were comparable between Paxlovid (19 percent) and placebo (21 percent), most of which were mild in intensity.
On the recommendation of an independent Data Monitoring Committee and in consultation with the FDA, Pfizer stopped enrollment in the study due to the overwhelming demonstrated efficacy.
Pfizer announced that it has begun and will continue to invest up to approximately $1 billion of its own funds to support the manufacturing and distribution of this investigational treatment candidate.
In addition, the pharmaceutical company has signed a voluntary licensing agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to help expand access, pending regulatory approval or authorization, in 95 low- and middle-income countries representing approximately 53 percent of the world's population.
PAXLOVID is an investigational SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor antiviral therapy. It was specifically designed to be administered orally so that it can be prescribed at the first sign of infection or knowledge of an exposure, potentially helping patients avoid severe disease – which can lead to hospitalization and death – experience a decreased symptomatic period, or prevent disease development after exposure.
If approved or licensed, the drug is given at a dose of 300 mg – two 150 mg tablets – with one 100 mg ritonavir tablet, twice daily for five days.
COVID-19 infection and vaccination in pregnant women can result in significant antibodies in breast milk that exhibit different temporal patterns, but both neutralize the live SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center and New York University.
The analysis published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, reports that the study included a convenience sample of 47 lactating pregnant women who had been infected with the virus, in addition to another 30 who were vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the case of breast milk from those who were infected with COVID, the amount of antibodies was dominant and highly variable, while in those who were vaccinated, it was associated with a strong antibody response that began to decline 90 days after the second vaccine dose.
However, milk from both groups showed neutralizing activity against the live SARS-CoV-2 virus, with slow antibody loading of IgA, which is found in the linings of the respiratory tract and digestive system, as well as in saliva, tears and breast milk, and IgG, which are the most abundant antibodies in the body.
“It’s one thing to measure antibody concentrations, but it’s another to say that the antibodies are functional and can neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One of the exciting findings of this work is that the breast milk of both mothers with COVID-19 infection and mothers who received the mRNA vaccine contained these active antibodies that were capable of neutralizing the virus,” said Dr. Bridget Young, one of the study’s lead authors.
"Our data suggest that both IgA and IgG contribute to the neutralizing capacity, implying a clinical benefit for infants receiving breast milk from mothers with COVID-19 infection or who are vaccinated," the document highlights.
This study has the longest follow-up of breast milk after vaccination compared to previously published studies.
“Importantly, whether a dominant IgA or IgG response, both infection and vaccination generated human milk with neutralizing activity. Among other benefits, breast milk provides protection against morbidities, including respiratory and diarrheal diseases, due to specific and nonspecific immune factors, including antibodies,” the study states.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted the 2021 five-year Multi-Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (MJLHMP) for the county and its partners to reduce the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires, floods, extreme heat and landslides.
This action has cemented final approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ensuring San Mateo County and its planning partners continue to receive grant funding for mitigation projects before and after a disaster.
So, San Mateo County, led by the Department of Emergency Management, and its 35 planning partners, began updating the previous plan in January and asked the public for help in identifying solutions to problems associated with natural hazards.
As the plan was developed, the County invited community members to participate in the hazard mitigation plan by reviewing and commenting on the Draft Multijurisdictional Plan and/or attending two virtual public workshops in June and August.
The 2021 update includes all 20 San Mateo County cities, the unincorporated area, and 15 special districts. Together, these plan partners identified more than 700 actions they plan to implement over the next five years to reduce the risk of natural disasters in the county.
It is worth noting that the 2021 update will remain active until 2025.
For more information on the Multi-Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, interested parties can visit the project website at: https://cmo.smcgov.org/multijurisdictional-local-hazard-mitigation-plan, by emailing MJLHMP@smcgov.org; and/or by contacting Ann Ludwig, Project Manager, at 510-734-9831.
"When you see your neighbor's beard cut, put yours to soak," says an old saying. And it could even seem cabalistic that Honduras, along with six other countries, abstained from casting its vote in the Organization of American States (OAS) on the resolution that declared the elections of November 7 in Nicaragua illegitimate, just a few days before Hondurans elect their next president, among other officials.
There are exactly 13 days left until “The” election that could determine the fate of Honduras takes place. However, political violence has not ceased. Just this Sunday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed its “concern” over the violent deaths recorded in recent hours in the Central American country.
"We observe with concern the violent deaths in the electoral context of the current mayor and candidate of the municipality of Cantarranas, Francisco Gaitán; the local leader of San Luis, Santa Bárbara, Elvir Casaña; and Luis Gustavo Castellanos, of San Jerónimo, Copán," the organization highlighted through its Twitter account.
He added that since the call for primary elections, at least 28 deaths have been recorded in the context of political violence.
The OHCHR condemned acts of electoral violence that affect the right to political participation and called on the actors involved to carry out peaceful elections with respect for human rights.
"We stand in solidarity with the victims and their families and call on the authorities to carry out prompt, thorough and impartial investigations to identify and punish those responsible," he said.
Honduras is aware of electoral fraud. In 2014, Juan Orlando Hernández came to power, and just one year later he implemented a constitutional reform to make his re-election possible.
In 2017, general elections were held again to choose who would be in power for 4 years (the time established by the Honduran constitution), however, these were marked by three key points: first, that Hernández's opponents accused him of shaping the institutions to stay in office; second, that on election day the results changed direction after a "blackout", giving Juan Orlando as the winner again; and third, that 33 protesters died in the subsequent protests.
All this, after the country experienced one of its darkest moments, as it suffered a coup d'état in 2009. From then on, the die was cast. The country has suffered serious damage to its economy, job creation, health - which has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic -, education, migration, and a host of other problems that run from one end to the other in the country, which, according to various rankings in the world, has two of the most dangerous cities in the world: Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.
According to the National Observatory of Violence-IUDPAS/UNAH-Honduras, homicides have been "the most common form of violence against political actors in Honduras."
According to the Center for the Study of Democracy in Honduras (CESPAD), since the call for the primary elections until October 25, there have been 27 deaths, 18 cases of coercion, 11 attacks, six threats, one kidnapping and one coercion.
Of the reported incidents, the statement said, 36 were committed with firearms.
They also highlighted that, to date, and according to data from IUDPAS, 36.0 percent of the victims have been militants: 13 leaders and 10 sympathizers.
In light of this, CESPAD has made an urgent call for the imperative need for "electoral institutions to work to at least try to prevent violence from continuing to threaten the electoral process."
This, they stated, makes the National Electoral Council (CNE) use the regulations that allow it to establish administrative sanctions for those who provoke violence and verbal expressions of hatred and offense.
In addition, the CNE initiative for a Pact for Peace, signed by all political parties participating in the electoral contest, is expressly implemented with the purpose of discouraging and neutralizing political violence.
The organization also said that the justice system should act independently and efficiently in the investigation and prosecution of acts of political violence, since impunity, that is, the lack of punishment, is the main stimulus for this phenomenon.
"CESPAD expresses its deep concern about the current climate of political violence, because it does not contribute to the democratic process and, on the contrary, discourages citizen participation, thereby weakening the citizen's right to vote in a peaceful and trustworthy environment," they stressed.
The coming storm
The National Electoral Council of Honduras has considered that everything is on schedule for the general elections to be carried out properly, however, and "in theory" it guarantees that the elections will be clean and without setbacks.
This is what Rixi Moncada, a member of the CNE, told this newspaper. This institution was created in 2019 and will be in charge of these elections for the first time.
When questioned about whether these will be clean elections, the councilor stressed that "formally yes", since "the full councilors have worked with hundreds of obstacles these two years and a month, to have an electoral process different from that of 2013 and 2017".
He also stated that in order to achieve elections of true change, the Council administers, organizes and guarantees that it can arrive on election day with the electoral material in each of the polling stations, despite the fact that the conditions in the country are "quite complex."
However, the official said that the key and most difficult moments of the elections will occur after the polls close, when the counting will begin, and on the evening of November 28, Rixi will be the one to give the preliminary results, and from there, anything could happen.
Violence, Drugs, and Elections: Together and Hand in Hand
Nothing is simple in these elections. Earlier this month, Honduran authorities arrested presidential candidate Santos Rodríguez Orellana, a retired army captain accused of laundering drug money and participating in homicides, including an informant for the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
This is not the only case, as just a few weeks ago, authorities raided properties belonging to the mayor of the municipality of Talanga, department of Francisco Morazán, Roosevelt Eduardo Avilez López, by the Directorate for the Fight against Drug Trafficking - DLCN - for alleged money laundering.
Avilez was unable to justify more than 160 million lempiras - a little over 6.5 million dollars - in relation to the amount he earns as income; while his wife, Nancy Mareyil Santos Ríos - also detained - was found to have another 150 million lempiras - 6.1 million dollars - which could not be accredited either.
The coin is in the air, and in the meantime we can only hope that, despite the scenarios, the "perfect storm" does not occur and trigger post-election terror.
Península 360 Press announced in a timely manner the vaccination of children from 5 years of age against COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that was initially identified in the central city of Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Vaccination will be carried out using the Pfizer-BioNTech formula, and in just the first day of application, a population of nearly 900,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 was vaccinated. Vaccination is one of the prevention methods against COVID-19.
For this reason, frontline workers discussed the advantages of vaccination in the child population and the measures that parents should implement to safeguard the health of this sector of the population, which is considered vulnerable due to its age.
We must remember that vulnerable populations to COVID-19 include the elderly, people with comorbidities or chronic diseases, disabilities, and children.
Ethnic Media Services provided its space to speak in favor of vaccination for children between 5 and 11 years of age.
Dr. Monica Gandhi is a professor of medicine and associate division chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at UCSF/SF General Hospital, said that we are facing a new pathogen. And she explained that, although herd immunity does not have to exist, it is better to think of a “control” that consists of monitoring people's vaccination processes and alternative treatments for people who choose not to get vaccinated. Monica Gandhi suggests vaccinating the population that can be vaccinated and thus create an immune level that is capable of keeping the presence of the coronavirus “at its lowest point.”
On the other hand, Dr. Jennifer Miller, a pediatrician at East Bay Pediatrics, said that “we are seeing numbers going up in California” when talking about recent COVID-19 infections. She said that despite having a good number of people vaccinated, cases of infection with the new coronavirus are rising at alarming rates among the general population, “it is something that worries me,” she said. She pointed out that the Halloween season and the upcoming Hanukkah and Christmas seasons are conducive to the spread of SARS-CoV-2. She called on the general population to continue getting vaccinated as one of the ways to prevent COVID-19 infections.
In another sense, Maria Meraz, founder and director of the Parent Engagement Academy in Los Angeles, pointed out the avalanche of alternative information that could confuse the population, resulting in parents opting for alternatives to vaccination. She stated that those people who choose not to vaccinate are low-income people who do not have access to cable TV and who, in the same way, do not have complete information about the treatments available to avoid COVID-19 infections. She condemned the "chains of misinformation" spread via WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube; "it's terrible," she said. "They don't know what's really going on," said Meraz.
The goal, explained Maria Meraz, is "to be able to share information aimed at parents and we have to send a unanimous message that encourages families to feel comfortable with vaccination" as a method of preventing COVID-19.
The news The New York Times reported this weekend that a US military drone flew over Baghouz, Syria, searching for military targets; however, dozens of women and children were found sheltering on the banks of a river.
The ground attack was carried out by an American F-15E aircraft and dropped a 500-pound (226 kg) bomb, which covered the population in a fireball.
As if that were not enough, the people who managed to survive the first explosion and who were seeking shelter from the area of the first bomb, a jet dropped a second 2 thousand pound bomb –907 kg– which ended up killing most of those who had survived at the beginning.
The events took place on 18 March 2019. The New York TimesHe said several analysts confirmed the deaths of the women and children via chat, giving a total of "about 70 people."
The report says that the attack targeting the Islamic State "was never publicly acknowledged by the US military" and that, in order to cover up the incident, the investigation was delayed internally and preliminary information was withheld from superiors.
The New York Times The paper collected “confidential documents and descriptions from classified reports, as well as interviews with personnel directly involved and officials with top-secret security clearances who discussed the incident on the condition that they not be named.” After the paper forwarded the information to U.S. Central Command for review, it acknowledged the incident “with justification,” saying that 16 people were combatants and “only a small number of civilians were killed,” and that the effects of the bombings were accidental.
The New York Times It concluded that “Satellite imagery from four days later shows that the protected bank and the area around it, which were under coalition control, appeared to have been razed to the ground.” It said the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations declined to comment.
The attacks in Baghouz, Syria, marked the end of the US-led fight against the Islamic State group led by former President Donald Trump.
