Journalist
“Life is what is important right now. I wouldn’t take that risk. I just wouldn’t,” one Bureau of Indian Education educator told the agency in mid-July. The U.S. Department of the Interior – Indian Affairs, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Education, announced last week that it would reopen “brick and mortar schools” under its […]
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People who live near the dying lake are caught in a perfect storm of environmental neglect, poverty, and Covid-19. When Alexis Rodriguez laughs too hard, she sometimes gets such a bad cough that she needs to use her inhaler. It’s been this way for the 29-year-old since she was first diagnosed with asthma as a […]
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Two new studies show some coronavirus survivors suffer long-lasting cardiac injury, possibly from the virus invading the heart. Two studies published Monday provide the strongest evidence yet that some patients who survive the respiratory ravages of COVID-19 may suffer long-lasting heart problems—the latest indication that the fallout from the pandemic goes well beyond the death […]
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By Miranda Green The coronavirus has made face masks a fact of life, at least for now. So how do you choose one that will keep you safe without being too hard on the environment? There are basically four choices: N-95 respirators, surgical masks, reusable cloth face coverings and disposable paper masks. N-95 respirators, which create […]
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LOMPOC, Calif. — Residents of this central California agricultural community are keenly aware of their town’s reputation. Wedged in a valley just north of ritzy coastal Santa Barbara, the town established originally as a temperance colony is 30 percent low-income, had its highest number of homicides ever last year and is home to a federal […]
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The pandemic has hit Native American communities particularly hard. A Bureau of Indian Affairs employee is the first Interior Department staffer to die from COVID-19, according to internal numbers obtained by HuffPost. The death, reported Tuesday, comes as the number of cases at the Interior Department has continued to increase. The unnamed Bureau of Indian […]
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Internal data reviewed by HuffPost reveals how widespread the coronavirus has become within the department. At least 40 employees across the Department of the Interior have tested positive for COVID-19 and are considered contagious, resulting in mandatory employee quarantines, office closures and deep cleanings, according to internal data reviewed by HuffPost. Almost every bureau of […]
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Major parks remain open. And despite rangers and employees testing positive, the government is encouraging use of the parks as a social-distancing solution. Frustrated by what he considered inadequate answers about why some staff could telework while others had to show up to work, Lyndon B. Johnson Historic Park maintenance worker Trevor Wright took matters […]
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The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on milk sales, the seasonal labor force, restaurant contracts, and more. For longtime central Michigan farmer Bob Thompson, the coronavirus comes at a particularly bad moment. “It has been a tumultuous period these four or five years in agriculture. It has pushed many smaller farmers to the brink of […]
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The Interior Department is leaving it up to individual parks whether they close. While some may have hoped to escape there for fresh air, the momentum is headed toward closings. It is whispered behind the ever closing walls of city apartments and texted about in anxiety-riddled group chats—perhaps if things got really bad in the […]
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