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<title>21 August, 2023</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The mathematics of the reproduction number R for Covid-19: A primer for demographers</strong> -
<div>
The reproduction number R is a key indicator to monitor the dynamics of Covid-19 and to assess the effect of control strategies that frequently have high social and economic costs. Despite having an analog in demography’s “net reproduction rate” that has been routinely computed for a century, demographers may not be familiar with the concept and measurement of R in the context of Covid-19. This article intends to be a primer for understanding and estimating R in demography. We show that R can be estimated as a ratio between the numbers of new cases today divided by the weighted average of cases in previous days. We present two alternative derivations for these weights based on how risks change over time: constant vs. exponential decay. We provide estimates of these weights and demonstrate their use in calculating R to trace the course of the first pandemic year in several countries.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/u6ey9/" target="_blank">The mathematics of the reproduction number R for Covid-19: A primer for demographers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The COVID-19 pandemic and fertility decline in Costa Rica: A brief plunge due to psychosocial and economic factors and a baby bust driven by migration decisions</strong> -
<div>
The national birth registry shows a substantial baby bust in 2021 – the first full year plus nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic. The fertility of native Costa Rican women dropped by 13%. This decrease did not deviate from pre-existing fertility trends. A brief plunge in conceptions during the first full month of the pandemic (April 2020) decreased the fertility rate in January 2021 by as much as 24% for some groups. This plunge was a response to the hardships caused by pandemic mitigation measures as well as uncertainties and fears concerning the novel disease rather than to the physiological harm of the disease itself. The 2021 decrease in births among immigrant women (who contribute one-fifth of the birth rate) was 78% larger than among native women, driven mostly by pandemic-induced migration decisions. The data hint at a pandemic baby boom in low-SES communities and, especially, in families with several children.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/m749j/" target="_blank">The COVID-19 pandemic and fertility decline in Costa Rica: A brief plunge due to psychosocial and economic factors and a baby bust driven by migration decisions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Differences in Oligomerization of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein, Poliovirus VP4, and HIV Vpu</strong> -
<div>
Viroporins constitute a class of viral membrane proteins with diverse roles in the viral life cycle. They can self-assemble and form pores within the bilayer that transport substrates, such as ions and genetic material, that are critical to the viral infection cycle. However, there is little known about the oligomeric state of most viroporins. Here, we use native mass spectrometry (MS) in detergent micelles to uncover the patterns of oligomerization of the full-length SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein, poliovirus VP4, and HIV Vpu. Our data suggest that the E protein is a specific dimer, VP4 is exclusively monomeric, and Vpu assembles into a polydisperse mixture of oligomers under these conditions. Overall, these results revealed the diversity in the oligomerization of viroporins, which has implications for mechanisms of their biological functions as well as their potential as therapeutic targets.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.18.553902v1" target="_blank">Differences in Oligomerization of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein, Poliovirus VP4, and HIV Vpu</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Unraveling COVID-19: Descriptive Analytics in a Middle-Income Country, Paving the Path Forward</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The outbreak of COVID-19 unleashed an unprecedented global pandemic, leaving a profound impact on lives and economies worldwide. Recognizing its severity, the World Health Organization swiftly declared it a public health emergency of international concern. Tragically, the Philippines reported the first death case outside China, leading to a surge in cases following the first instance of local transmission. In response to this crisis, collaborative efforts have been underway to control the disease and minimize its health and socio-economic impacts. The COVID-19 epidemic curve holds vital insights into the history of exposure, transmission, testing, tracing, social distancing measures, community lockdowns, quarantine, isolation, and treatment, offering a comprehensive perspective on the nation9s response. One approach to gaining crucial insights is through meticulous analysis of available datasets, empowering us to inform future strategies and responses effectively. This paper aims to provide descriptive data analytics of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, summarizing the country9s fight by visualizing epidemiological and mobility datasets, revisiting scientific papers and news articles, and creating a timeline of the key issues faced during the pandemic. By leveraging these multifaceted analyses, policymakers and health authorities can make informed decisions to enhance preparedness, expand inter-agency cooperation, and combat future public health crises effectively. This study seeks to serve as a valuable resource, guiding nations worldwide in comprehending and responding to the challenges posed by COVID-19 and beyond.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.23294160v1" target="_blank">Unraveling COVID-19: Descriptive Analytics in a Middle-Income Country, Paving the Path Forward</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Strategic use of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentration data could enhance, but not replace, high-resolution community prevalence survey programmes</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been proposed as a tool for public health authorities to monitor community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other agents. Here, we review the utility of WBE for estimating SARS-CoV-2 prevalence using wastewater data from the Environmental Monitoring for Health Protection (EMHP) programme and prevalence data from the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-1 (REACT-1) study in England. Our analysis shows a temporally evolving relationship between wastewater and prevalence which limits the utility of WBE for estimating SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in high spatial resolution without a concurrent prevalence survey. We further characterise WBE for SARS-CoV-2 prevalence as i) vaccination-coverage-dependent and ii) variant-specific. Our work provides a gesopatial framework to map wastewater concentrations to public health boundaries, enabling public health authorities to interpret the relationship between wastewater and prevalence. We demonstrate that WBE can improve the cost efficiency and accuracy of community prevalence surveys which on their own may have incomplete geographic coverage or small sample sizes.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.17.23293589v1" target="_blank">Strategic use of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentration data could enhance, but not replace, high-resolution community prevalence survey programmes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effect of Trait Anxiety and Quarantine on Mood and Decision Making</strong> -
<div>
Our social environment influences our affective states and decisions, which was quite evident during COVID-19 pandemic-imposed quarantine. However, little is understood about recovery from social deprivation, especially for those with high trait anxiety. To understand this, we gathered ~24000 momentary assessments of affect and social interactions over three days of isolation followed by seven days of recovery from 116 young adults returning to a university campus. Quarantine induced a greater desire for social interactions and post-quarantine, individuals attempted to make up for this in different ways. High trait anxious individuals, who experienced more stressful events, higher negative affect, and lower positive affect during and after quarantine, depended more on interaction with people “close” to them. They derived greater emotional benefits from close interactions and experienced greater reductions in negative affect due to such positive events. However, low trait anxious individuals experienced less stress, and post-release, they interacted more with distant companions, which increased their positive affect. We also studied how affective states impacted decision-making through a virtual patch-foraging task played during and after quarantine. Affective states reported in the last 24 hours significantly impacted participants’ near-optimal strategies to maximize rewards in the task. Participants with high fluctuation in affective states tended to over-harvest, while those with high average negative affect tended to under-harvest. Our results highlight how social deprivation impacts affective states as a function of trait anxiety and social interactions and their effects on reward-based decision-making.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/jt6gz/" target="_blank">Effect of Trait Anxiety and Quarantine on Mood and Decision Making</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND: Pediatric COVID-19 cases are often mild or asymptomatic, which has complicated estimations of disease burden using existing testing practices. We aimed to determine the age-specific population seropositivity and risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among children and young adults during the pandemic in British Columbia (BC). METHODS: We conducted two cross-sectional serosurveys: phase 1 enrolled children and adults &lt;25 years between November 2020-May 2021 and phase 2 enrolled children &lt;10 years between June 2021-May 2022 in BC. Participants completed electronic surveys and self-collected finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) samples. Samples were tested for immunoglobulin G antibodies against ancestral spike protein (S). Descriptive statistics from survey data were reported and two multivariable analyses were conducted to evaluate factors associated with seropositivity. RESULTS: A total of 2864 participants were enrolled, of which 95/2167 (4.4%) participants were S-seropositive in phase 1 across all ages, and 61/697 (8.8%) unvaccinated children aged under ten years were S-seropositive in phase 2. Overall, South Asian participants had a higher seropositivity than other ethnicities (13.5% vs. 5.2%). Of 156 seropositive participants in both phases, 120 had no prior positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Young infants and young adults had the highest reported seropositivity rates (7.0% and 7.2% respectively vs. 3.0-5.6% across other age groups). CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among unvaccinated children and young adults was low in May 2022, and South Asians were disproportionately infected. This work demonstrates the need for improved diagnostics and reporting strategies that account for age-specific differences in pandemic dynamics and acceptability of testing mechanisms.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.13.23294036v2" target="_blank">Factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication that has been widely used against SARS-CoV-2, acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus, and many will be lethal, and so molnupiravir-induced elevated mutation rates reduce viral load. However, if some patients treated with molnupiravir do not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, there could be the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses. Here we show that SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases contain extensive evidence of molnupiravir mutagenesis. Using a systematic approach, we find that a specific class of long phylogenetic branches, distinguished by a high proportion of G-to-A and C-to-T mutations, appear almost exclusively in sequences from 2022, after the introduction of molnupiravir treatment, and in countries and age-groups with widespread usage of the drug. We identify a mutational spectrum, with preferred nucleotide contexts, from viruses in patients known to have been treated with molnupiravir and show that its signature matches that seen in these long branches, in some cases with onwards transmission of molnupiravir-derived lineages. Finally, we analyse treatment records to confirm a direct association between these high G-to-A branches and the use of molnupiravir.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.23284998v4" target="_blank">A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How reliable are estimates of key parameters in viral dynamic models?</strong> -
<div>
Mathematical models of viral infection have been developed and fit to data to gain insight into disease pathogenesis for a number of agents including HIV, hepatitis C and B virus. However, for acute infections such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, as well as for infections such as hepatitis C and B that can be acute or progress to being chronic, viral load data are often collected after symptoms develop, usually around or after the peak viral load. Consequently, we frequently lack data in the exponential phase of viral growth, i.e., when most transmission events occur. Missing data may make estimation of the time of infection, the infectious period, and parameters in viral dynamic models, such as the cell infection rate, difficult. Here, we evaluated the reliability of estimates of key model parameters when viral load data prior to the viral load peak is missing. We estimated the time from infection to peak viral load by fitting non-linear mixed models to a dataset with frequent viral RNA measurements, including pre-peak. We quantified the reliability of estimated infection times, key model parameters, and the time to peak viral load. Although estimates of the time of infection are sensitive to the quality and amount of available data, other parameters important in understanding disease pathogenesis, such as the loss rate of infected cells, are less sensitive. We find a lack of data in the exponential growth phase underestimates the time to peak viral load by several days leading to a shorter predicted exponential growth phase. On the other hand, having an idea of the time of infection and fixing it, results in relatively good estimates of dynamical parameters even in the absence of early data.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.17.553792v1" target="_blank">How reliable are estimates of key parameters in viral dynamic models?</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Purification, crystallization, and preliminary structural analysis of multivalent immunogenic effector protein-anchored SARS-CoV-2 RBD</strong> -
<div>
The continuous spread of highly transmissible variants of concern and the potential diminished effectiveness of existing vaccines necessitate ongoing research and development of new vaccines. Immunogenic molecule-anchored antigen has demonstrated superior efficacy in subunit vaccination, primarily due to enhanced cellular uptake facilitated by the affinity between the surface of Immunogenic molecule and the cell membrane. Based on the Immunogenic recombinase B. malayi RecA (BmRecA), we have overexpressed the construct of BmRecA with SARS-CoV-2 RBD (BmRecA-RBD) that exists as a stable helical filament formation; it was purified and crystallized to obtain X-ray diffraction data at 2.7 Angstrom, belonged to the hexagonal symmetry group P65 in the unit-cell parameters of a=b=122.12, c=75.55 and alpha=beta=90 degree, gamma=120 degree. The Matthews coefficient was estimated to be 3.12 Angstrom3 Da-1, corresponding to solvent contents of 52.65.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.17.553661v1" target="_blank">Purification, crystallization, and preliminary structural analysis of multivalent immunogenic effector protein-anchored SARS-CoV-2 RBD</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</strong> -
<div>
Circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB has resulted in the emergence of XBB.1.5, a new Variant of Interest. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that XBB.1.5 evolved from XBB.1 by acquiring the F486P spike (S) mutation, subsequent to the acquisition of a nonsense mutation in ORF8. Neutralization assays showed similar abilities of immune escape between XBB.1.5 and XBB.1. We determined the structural basis for the interaction between human ACE2 and the S protein of XBB.1.5, showing similar overall structures between the S proteins of XBB.1 and XBB.1.5. The intrinsic pathogenicity of XBB.1.5 in hamsters is lower than that of XBB.1. Importantly, we found that the ORF8 nonsense mutation of XBB.1.5 resulted in impairment of MHC expression. In vivo experiments using recombinant viruses revealed that the XBB.1.5 mutations are involved with reduced virulence of XBB.1.5. Together, these data suggest that the mutations in ORF8 and S could enhance spreading of XBB.1.5 in humans.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553332v1" target="_blank">Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</strong> -
<div>
The Nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 compacts the RNA genome into viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complexes within virions. Assembly of vRNPs is inhibited by phosphorylation of the N protein SR region. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern carry N protein mutations that reduce phosphorylation and enhance the efficiency of viral packaging. Variants of the dominant B.1.1 viral lineage also encode a truncated N protein, termed N* or {Delta}(1-209), that mediates genome packaging despite lacking the N-terminal RNA-binding domain and SR region. Here, we show that {Delta}(1-209) and viral RNA assemble into vRNPs that are remarkably similar in size and shape to those formed with full-length N protein. We show that assembly of {Delta}(1-209) vRNPs requires the leucine-rich helix (LH) of the central disordered region, and that the LH promotes N protein oligomerization. We also find that fusion of a phosphomimetic SR region to {Delta}(1-209) inhibits RNA binding and vRNP assembly. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which RNA binding promotes N protein self-association and vRNP assembly, and how this process is modulated by SR phosphorylation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553581v1" target="_blank">Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern (VOC) has multiple mutations in the spike (S) protein, which mediates viral infection and immunity. We analysed a sub lineage of Omicron, designated omicron XBB (XBB), that showed structural and functional changes in the S protein in response to the African selection pressures. We used molecular modelling to compare the S protein structures of the original Omicron and XBB found that XBB had a reduced receptor-binding domain (RBD) due to the loss of some {beta}-sheets, which may increase its affinity to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. We also used Fast Unconstrained Bayesian AppRoximation (FUBAR) and Recombination Detection Program 4 (RDP 4) to perform selection and recombination analysis respectively of the S protein sequences of Omicron and XBB and detected signals of positive selection and recombination in the N terminal domain (NTD) of the S1 subunit, which contains antibody-binding epitopes, and the RBD, which is involved in viral entry. Our results reveal the structural and functional adaptation of the Omicron XBB variant in Africa and its potential implications for viral pathogenesis and immunity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553557v1" target="_blank">Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This paper proposes a simple method to obtain early estimates of life expectancy at any age using data on weekly deaths. Although tailored on weekly deaths data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the logic of the method is applicable to any timely data on infra-annual deaths counts, would they be quarterly, monthly, or other. When the method is applied to a time period still to complete, it is in substance a nowcasting technique whose reliability increases as new data become available, provided a correct specification of the model. It is also presented an application to 30 European countries for the years 2022 and 2023, returning a provisional estimate of life expectancy at birth much earlier than from official statistics. These early estimates show that in Europe the process of recovery in life expectancy at birth from the COVID-19 pandemic will be practically completed in 2023, unless unexpected mortality crises will occur in the second half of the year.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.11.23293993v2" target="_blank">Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the widespread acceptance of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is a growing area of concern in China. The aim of the study is to map the overall acceptance and uptake rates of COVID-19 vaccines across different groups.  Methods: Five peer-reviewed databases bases were searched (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Scopus). Studies that conducted cross-sectional surveys in China to understand the acceptance/willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines were included.  Results: Among 2420 identified studies, 47 studies with 327,046 participants were eligible for data extraction. Males had a higher uptake of COVID-19 vaccines (OR=1.17; 95% CI:1.08 - 1.27) along with Chinese residents with &gt;= 5000 RMB monthly income (OR=1.08; 95% CI:1.02 - 1.14). Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination uptake rates in China need to be improved. To inform public health decisions, continuous vaccination uptake monitoring is required.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.09.23293915v1" target="_blank">Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Obeldesivir in Children and Adolescents With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Obeldesivir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gilead Sciences<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>EFFECT OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON DEPRESSION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH POST COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: rehacom<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and Safety of AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI as a Booster: A COVID-19 Preventive Vaccine in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI;   Biological: Comirnaty Bivalent 0.1mg/mL (tozinameran and riltozinameran)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cellid Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Using Text Messages to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Booking Rate</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccination Hesitancy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Behavioural science-informed text messages;   Behavioral: Control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The Behavioural Insights Team;   Public Health England;   Department of Health and Social Care;   NHS England and NHS Improvement<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ivermectin to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Hospitalisation in Subjects Over 50</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Insud Pharma<br/><b>Terminated</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Methylprednisolone in Patients With Cognitive Deficits in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Methylprednisolone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Charite University, Berlin, Germany<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase II Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of BIMERVAX® When Coadministered With Seasonal Influenza Vaccine (SIIV) in Adults Older Than 65 Years of Age Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS CoV 2 Infection;   Influenza, Human<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: BIMERVAX;   Biological: SIIV<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hipra Scientific, S.L.U<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Mental Health;   COVID-19;   Misinformation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Messaging<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM);   Partners in Health<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Learn About New COVD-19 RNA Vaccine Candidates for New Varients in Healthy Individuals</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pulmonary Artery Pressure in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: right heart catheterization (RHC).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mansoura University Hospital<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Preliminary Efficacy of a Technology-based Physical Activity Intervention for Older Korean Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Cardiovascular Health;   Physical Function<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Golden Circle<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supported Employment COVID-19 Rapid Testing for PWID</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Health Behavior<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Supported Employment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Oregon<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab and Regdanvimab Efficacy for Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 150+150 mg;   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 300+300 mg;   Drug: regdanvimab<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   City Clinical Hospital No.52 of Moscow Healthcare Department;   Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Playing Games to Learn About Children’s Vaccines Project</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   HPV;   COVID-19;   Vaccine-Preventable Diseases<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: vaccination games<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Michigan State University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cereset Research Long-Term Healthcare Worker Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Stress;   Anxiety;   Autonomic Dysregulation;   Acoustic Stimulation;   Hyperarousal;   Health Personnel<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Cereset Research<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Wake Forest University Health Sciences;   Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Management of chronic myelogenous leukemia with COVID-19 and hepatitis B</strong> - The application of immunosuppressive agents and targeted drugs has opened a novel approach for the treatment of hematological tumors, and the application of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia is one of the landmark breakthroughs that has considerably improved the prognosis of CML patients. However, with the extensive use of TKI, the co-infection of CML patients has become increasingly apparent, especially regarding infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity of BNT162b2 in children 6 months to under 5 years of age with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, in the era of Omicron predominance</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Children previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, developed robust neutralizing antibody response against Omicron variant after single-dose BNT162b2. Children with an interval of &gt; 6 months since COVID-19 infection developed higher neutralizing antibody response compared to those with a 3-to-6-month interval.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Neutralizing antibody and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants by heterologous CoronaVac/ChAdOx-1 vaccination in elderly subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease</strong> - CONCLUSION: Heterologous CoVac/ChAd vaccine induced the production of NAb against SARS-CoV-2 WT, Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants, but low for Omicron in COPD patients. Induction of CD4 T-cell subset responses was slightly observed by this vaccine regimen.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cysteamine-mediated blockade of the glycine cleavage system modulates epithelial cell inflammatory and innate immune responses to viral infection</strong> - Transient blockade of glycine decarboxylase (GLDC) can restrict de novo pyrimidine synthesis, which is a well-described strategy for enhancing the host interferon response to viral infection and a target pathway for some licenced anti-inflammatory therapies. The aminothiol, cysteamine, is produced endogenously during the metabolism of coenzyme A, and is currently being investigated in a clinical trial as an intervention in community acquired pneumonia resulting from viral (influenza and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bioengineered Neutrophil Extinguisher Targets Cascade Immune Pathways of Macrophages for Alleviating Cytokine Storm in Pneumonia</strong> - Cytokine storm is a common complication of COVID-19 pneumonia and has been proven to contribute to high mortality rates. However, current treatment approaches exhibit limited potential to balance immune response and overproduction of inflammatory cytokines, leading to poor therapeutic outcomes. Herein, a smart bioengineered neutrophil, Extinguisher, composed of live neutrophils encapsulating the liposome formulation of NF-κB suppressor MLN4924 and STING inhibitor H-151 (Lip@MH), is developed for…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery of GS-5245 (Obeldesivir), an Oral Prodrug of Nucleoside GS-441524 That Exhibits Antiviral Efficacy in SARS-CoV-2-Infected African Green Monkeys</strong> - Remdesivir 1 is an phosphoramidate prodrug that releases the monophosphate of nucleoside GS-441524 (2) into lung cells, thereby forming the bioactive triphosphate 2-NTP. 2-NTP, an analog of ATP, inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase replication and transcription of viral RNA. Strong clinical results for 1 have prompted interest in oral approaches to generate 2-NTP. Here, we describe the discovery of a 5’-isobutyryl ester prodrug of 2 (GS-5245, Obeldesivir, 3) that has low cellular…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Novel mono- and multivalent N-acetylneuraminic acid glycoclusters as potential broad-spectrum entry inhibitors for influenza and coronavirus infection</strong> - N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) is a glycan receptor of viruses spread in many eukaryotic cells. The present work aimed to design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a panel of Neu5Ac derivatives based on a cyclodextrin (CD) scaffold for targeting influenza and coronavirus membrane proteins. The multivalent Neu5Ac glycoclusters efficiently inhibited chicken erythrocyte agglutination induced by intact influenza virus in a Neu5Ac density-dependent fashion. Compared with inhibition by Neu5Ac,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Post-COVID-19 syndrome management: Utilizing the potential of dietary polysaccharides</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant global impact, resulting in long-term health effects for many individuals. As more patients recover, there is a growing need to identify effective management strategies for ongoing health concerns, such as post-COVID-19 syndrome, characterized by persistent symptoms or complications beyond several weeks or months from the onset of symptoms. In this review, we explore the potential of dietary polysaccharides as a promising approach to managing…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alkyne as a Latent Warhead to Covalently Target SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease</strong> - There is an urgent need for improved therapy to better control the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main protease M^(pro) plays a pivotal role in SARS-CoV-2 replications, thereby representing an attractive target for antiviral development. We seek to identify novel electrophilic warheads for efficient, covalent inhibition of M^(pro). By comparing the efficacy of a panel of warheads installed on a common scaffold against M^(pro), we discovered that the terminal alkyne could covalently modify…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery and Mechanism Study of SARS-CoV-2 3C-like Protease Inhibitors with a New Reactive Group</strong> - 3CL^(pro) is an attractive target for the treatment of COVID-19. Using the scaffold hopping strategy, we identified a potent inhibitor of 3CL^(pro) (3a) that contains a thiocyanate moiety as a novel warhead that can form a covalent bond with Cys145 of the protein. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and X-ray crystallography confirmed the mechanism of covalent formation between 3a and the protein in its catalytic pocket. Moreover, several analogues of compound 3a were designed and synthesized….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hypomethylated interferon regulatory factor 8 recruits activating protein-2α to attenuate porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection in porcine jejunum</strong> - Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8) is a key regulator of innate immune receptor signaling that resists pathogen invasion by regulating cell growth and differentiation. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) targets the intestine and damages the mucosal barrier. However, whether IRF8 regulates PEDV replication remains unclear. We revealed that PEDV infection activated IRF8 expression. Moreover, IRF8 deletion drastically promoted PEDV replication and invasion, increasing the virus copies and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Suitable Membrane Distance Regulated by the RBD_ACE2 Interaction is Critical for SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Mediated Viral Invasion</strong> - The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike recognizing the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) initiates membrane fusion between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and cell membrane. Although the structure of the RBD_ACE2 complex has been well studied, its functional mechanism in membrane fusion is still not fully understood. Here, using an in vitro cell-vesicle content-mixing assay, it is found that the cleavage at the S2’ site by thrombin (Thr) protease…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Endotheliopathy of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in liver disease</strong> - Liver is the largest solid organ in the abdominal cavity, with sinusoid occupying about half of its volume. Under liver disease, hemodynamics in the liver tissue dynamically change, resulting in injury to liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs). We discuss the injury of LSECs in liver diseases in this article. Generally, in noninflamed tissues, vascular endothelial cells maintain quiescence of circulating leukocytes, and unnecessary blood clotting is inhibited by multiple antithrombotic…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Convalescent plasma from Norwegian blood donors to treat COVID-19</strong> - BACKGROUND: At the start of the pandemic, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Norwegian blood banks initiated the production of COVID-19 convalescent plasma within the framework of clinical studies. In this article we describe the blood donors who participated.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>De novo design of bioactive phenol and chromone derivatives for inhibitors of Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 in silico</strong> - This work presents the synthesis of 12 phenol and chromone derivatives, prepared by the analogs, and the possibility of conducting an in silico study of its derivatives as a therapeutic alternative to combat the SARS-CoV-2, pathogen responsible for COVID-19 pandemic, using its S-glycoprotein as a macromolecular target. After the initial screening for the ranking of the products, it was chosen which structure presented the best energy bond with the target. As a result, derivative 4 was submitted…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republicans Have Something New</strong> - The thirty-eight-year-old “anti-woke” polemicist and political novice has become one of Trump’s main rivals. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/in-vivek-ramaswamy-the-republicans-have-something-new">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ukrainians Forced to Flee to Russia</strong> - Some are brought against their will. Others are encouraged in subtler ways. But the over-all efforts seem aimed at the erasure of the Ukrainian people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-ukrainians-forced-to-flee-to-russia">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ron DeSantis Slump</strong> - The Florida governor once looked likely to defeat Donald Trump. Where did his campaign go wrong? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/the-ron-desantis-slump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Invisible Fire on Maui</strong> - For those on the Hawaiian island whose jobs depend on tourism, a period of mourning and recovery has also brought fear for their livelihoods. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/maui-hawaii-fire-aftermath-tourism">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fani Willis’s Indictment of Donald Trump and a Voting-System Breach</strong> - The charges include allegations about a largely overlooked incident in Coffee County, Georgia. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/fani-williss-indictment-of-donald-trump-and-a-voting-system-breach">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Why you should divide your life into semesters, even when you’re not in school</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The academic calendar can help you with goal-setting, time management, and motivation.
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The great expanse of time that is a life consists of many days, weeks, and months waiting to be filled. Our earliest years are marked by formal education and structure imposed by parents and other caretakers, not to mention a dedicated break in the form of summer vacation. By early adulthood — and beyond — we’re largely accountable for our time. What to do with this time can prove confounding, as anyone who’s been on the receiving end of “Where do you see yourself in five years?” can attest. When it comes to setting goals and organizing time in adulthood, we’re left to our own devices. “The longer away in time something is, the more abstract or high-level our conception of it is, and we’re not as concrete about what it would be,” says <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/tepper/faculty-and-research/faculty-by-area/profiles/williams-woolley-anita.html">Anita Williams Woolley</a>, a professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. “But as you bring things closer, people have an easier time.”
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While it’s important to <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23486112/attainable-new-years-resolution-goals-life-change">set goals</a>, the roadmap for how to attain them can be murky. Instead of embarking without a plan toward broad ambitions, there’s value in incremental objectives in service of a larger aim. Take a page from the educational system and divide the future into “semesters” — <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-long-is-a-college-semester">traditionally 15 to 17 weeks long</a> at American colleges — in which to implement minigoals to help get you where you want to go. Use the traditional academic year as a guide to help you stay on track, says <a href="http://callalab.com/team/">Rachel Wu</a>, an associate professor of <a href="https://www.vox.com/psychology">psychology</a> at the University of California Riverside. Many community classes and educational opportunities are offered roughly on a quarter or semester basis. “At the very least, it will help people, maybe, feel young again. I think that’s a huge benefit,” Wu says. “They can think back to that point in their life when they had that kind of organization and that might be something that works for them.” (You don’t need to follow a traditional academic structure by any means, but having a firm start and end date within a few months’ span in which to focus on certain skills or activities can help keep you motivated.)
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Just as students tackle specific courses while working toward a degree or certification, you can apply that same focus on targeted aims for clearly defined periods of time, inching you closer to your larger goal in the process. Not only can continuing to learn in any capacity help <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23785695/learn-something-new-every-day-retrieval-practice">preserve cognitive function</a>, but giving yourself consistent goals helps to challenge you. Maybe you want to practice speaking up in meetings for a few months in service of your larger goal of bolstering your confidence. Or you could dedicate the next “semester” to saving $100 a month to put toward a vacation fund. Creating a deadline for a specific action spurs motivation. “If you think about your career goal, [it] is something you need to do in the next several years. It’s unclear what needs to happen now,” says <a href="https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/f/ayelet-fishbach">Ayelet Fishbach</a>, a professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “When you think about this in terms of what needs to happen in the next 14 weeks, something needs to happen this week. You have to do it right now.”
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Bring the future into focus by enrolling in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23719790/post-graduation-advice-life-work-money">“University of You,”</a> no matter your age.
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<h3 id="EX3Rp3">
How to set semester-long goals
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Big-picture goals tend to fall into broad categories, such as financial, relational, professional, and health, says Fishbach, who is also the author of <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ayelet-fishbach/get-it-done/9780316538350/"><em>Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation</em></a>. However, goals are more likely to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6796229/">achieved if they’re specific</a>. This specificity is where people become unique in their pursuits. You should aim to be as precise as possible when it comes to your semester-long missions.
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First, think about what larger goal you’d like to work toward this semester — select the “major” for which you’re picking “classes.” What is presently important to you? Say you’d like to dedicate more time toward creative projects this semester. How, specifically, will you foster that creativity? Maybe you’ll commit to practicing guitar every other day for 30 minutes or you’ll sign up for a pottery class that meets weekly.
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It can be beneficial to bundle goals if you’re prioritizing multiple new skills during one semester, Wu says. Just as school curriculums are organized so students can make connections between subjects, you can structure your own semester similarly. “Math might relate to art and art might relate to history,” she says.
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Plan when and how often you’ll practice your minigoals as much as possible, but allow yourself flexibility for any unexpected disruptions, such as needing to skip a class in order to stay home with your sick child.
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Check in intermittently to gauge your progress, says <a href="https://cecexie.com/">Cece Xie</a>, a writer and lawyer who has used the semester approach in her own life. While you don’t need to quiz yourself as rigidly as you would in school, use periodic assessments to evaluate whether you’re refining new skills or making strides toward your semester goals. This could look like taking time at the end of each week to schedule workouts for the coming days if your <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23344385/beginners-guide-running">overall mission is to run a 5K</a>. “Really prevent yourself from placing any judgment or evaluation of how it’s going until at the end,” Xie says. “Kind of like getting your report card at the end.”
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After about the length of a semester — again, 15 to 17 weeks, or roughly four to five months — measure your overall growth. If you didn’t accomplish your goal of <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23820065/how-to-start-reading-books-habit-hobby-audiobook">reading a book a month</a>, consider what barriers you didn’t anticipate prior to the semester. (Perhaps you read at a slower pace or doze off after a few pages.) Adjust your expectations and set a new related goal — a specific time spent reading a day versus a number of books — or shoot for a similar objective — listening to audiobooks during your commute. If you’re having success with your minigoal of <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23436672/how-to-start-cooking-beginner-guide">learning to cook</a> one new meal a week, you can continue to challenge yourself with more difficult dishes or an additional new recipe a week.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xiRxc2">
You can also use the end of the semester to pivot to something else entirely. (However, if you’re attempting to learn a new skill, like a language or an instrument, Wu suggests giving yourself at least a year before deciding if you want to move on.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0m35N4">
After a few months, these short-term ambitions won’t be entirely ingrained as a habit, Fishbach says, so it’s important to continue them on top of any new semester aims. Still, you’ll have become accustomed to, say, crocheting, and you won’t need to be as purposeful with setting aside time to the practice, Woolley says. “I think that’s important to keep it going, but it doesn’t require as much active concentration or focus by that point,” she says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pIFZJ7">
Don’t feel limited to just one minigoal per semester either, Xie says. If you have the time and mental space, you can, for instance, implement social and health-related aims for the semester.
</p>
<h3 id="yUPXDn">
Why semesters are an ideal length of time to focus on a goal
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u7FJAJ">
Modeling your life after academic years allows you to adequately mark your process. It’s difficult to determine improvement with daily or even weekly goals, Fishbach says. But with a quarterly or biannual milestone, you’re more easily able to track your progress; you can more clearly look back on <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23785695/learn-something-new-every-day-retrieval-practice">what you’ve learned</a> after a 20-week intro to coding class as opposed to after a few days of instruction. The end of a semester allows for these report cards. “It just helps you feel that you’re growing as a person,” Fishbach says. “You’re not the person you were three months ago.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sxIWnL">
This reflection is crucial, Woolley says. At the end of the semester, you can determine whether the minigoal is moving you toward your larger ambitions or if you’d rather focus on something else entirely. “Maybe there’s an adjustment you want to make,” she says. “Maybe you want to keep working toward the same sort of goal, but now you know more.”
</p>
<h3 id="Zqwce4">
Semesters can help you maintain motivation
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mlneCU">
A self-imposed semester system also lends itself to increased motivation due, in part, to the <a href="https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Dai_Fresh_Start_2014_Mgmt_Sci.pdf">fresh start effect,</a> where people are more driven to pursue goals after a “fresh start” like a new year or semester. (Fully embrace the back-to-school energy and buy some new school supplies, Wu says, “and then learn something.”) With goals that have an endpoint, called an all-or-nothing goal, Fishbach says, motivation increases as you approach the deadline. Having a distinct cutoff to your personal semester can help you stay driven knowing there’s an end in sight.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ffTGK9">
This manageable time expectation makes it easier to set more realistic goals, Woolley says. You might not get a promotion five months after starting a new job, but you can focus on your leadership skills for that period of time, which may set you up for the promotion later down the line. When you consistently reach your self-set milestones, you’re more motivated to continue, inching you closer toward your larger aims. “Most people,” Woolley says, “if they have some success, often that motivates them to either want to do something more challenging of the same sort or just more of it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zLZtsE">
However, taking the first step toward a goal can prove the most daunting. Wu frequently works with students who have difficulty setting goals beyond earning a certain dollar amount. Incremental improvements are a way to ease into long-term planning. “Having short-term goals is good because it gets people going and might get people out of a rut,” Wu says. “It might get people off their butts and doing something.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>People forgot how to act in public</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p6ZQ39qqtpO7h0yxtXK69RZ7mWA=/168x0:2847x2009/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72562621/GettyImages_1501290933.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Pink, performing on stage in London, where a fan handed her their mother’s ashes. | Burak Cingi/Redferns
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Why concertgoers keep throwing things at celebrities and no one can shut up at the movies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="asMJZ3">
Some people shouldn’t be out in public right now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6CHQno">
Movie theaters have become a lawless land where some moviegoers have no reservations about using their phones after films have started. Sometimes it’s not just a glance at the time, but full-on <a href="https://www.insider.com/twitter-movie-theaters-phone-etiquette-tiktok-oppenheimer-barbie-2023-8">social media scrolls</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/davidefinitely/status/1683619812763922433">posting</a>. In New York City, <a href="https://www.vox.com/theater">Broadway</a> audiences are drunk, rowdy, and apparently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/22/whodunnit-mysterious-broadway-pooper-strikes-during-the-clintons-night-at-the-theatre">leaving feces</a> in the aisles of theaters. This summer at various concerts, Albanian <a href="https://people.com/bebe-rexha-requires-stitches-hit-in-face-with-phone-mid-show-man-arrested-7549468#:~:text=Bebe%20Rexha%20was%20struck%20in,Pier%2017%20in%20lower%20Manhattan.">pop star Bebe Rexha</a> was beaned in the face, fellow pop princess <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/ava-max-attacked-stage-concert-slapped-1235358625/">Ava Max was slapped</a> by a stage rusher, aerial-enthusiast <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/06/27/pink-concert-fan-throws-ashes-on-stage/70359893007/">Pink was handed someone’s mother’s ashes</a>, fans interrupted country singer <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/country/miranda-lambert-woman-selfie-las-vegas-appalled-reaction-1235373520/">Miranda Lambert’s intimate show</a> with an impromptu photo shoot, and a “fan” threw water on <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/31/cardi-b-microphone-las-vegas-splash-water-concert/">rapper Cardi B</a>. (<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/31/1191157084/cardi-b-throws-microphone-fan-concert-drink">Cardi responded</a> by chucking her microphone at her water-flinger.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TOWpM0">
Large-scale, in-person events are down bad.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JjTW25">
According to experts I spoke to, this rash of bad behavior can probably be traced to the pandemic shutdowns of 2020. During the lockdowns, we didn’t have large-scale social events and, no doubt, some people have sort of forgotten how to act now that they’re back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KQD6S5">
But there’s also something deeper here, reflected in our protectiveness over these spaces and what they mean to us. Going to an in-person entertainment event is about more than just the movie, play, or pop star on display. These events are times when we experience important social connections, a phenomenon that happens so naturally that we don’t think about what these events mean to us — until someone really screws them up.
</p>
<h3 id="1aL9zq">
The “collective effervescence” of live events is something humans crave, whether they know it or not
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0wQb0k">
It might seem obvious why acting out in public is deeply annoying, but it’s important to understand how much these large social events mean to humans. When someone makes a scene in public at a group event, we’re disturbed in large part because these gatherings are extremely important to our intellectual and emotional selves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NZpGJT">
Humans are incredibly social creatures, and these events are moments of highly pleasurable social connections — what <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/psychology/faculty/faculty-directory/gabriel.html">Shira Gabriel</a>, a psychology professor at the University at Buffalo, calls “collective effervescence.” When we buy a ticket to a Broadway musical, or <em>Barbie</em>, or a Carly Rae Jepsen show, we’re purchasing the performance but we’re also buying that electric feeling of a crowd of humans appreciating the same thing.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="0ch2hr">
<q>“When we’re all focused on a concert or a play or a movie, we feel a sense of social connection and it makes us feel really good”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RnzUrC">
“Collective effervescence is the way we feel connected when we’re in a crowd of other people, even if we don’t know them. When we’re all focused on a concert or a play or a movie, we feel a sense of social connection and it makes us feel really good,” Gabriel, who studies social behavior, told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1V5NiA">
Gabriel explained that the strength or weakness of social connections — the relationships we have with friends, romantic partners, acquaintances, and family — are one of the greatest predictors of depression, anxiety, suicide when it comes to our <a href="https://www.vox.com/mental-health">mental health</a>, and wellness when it comes to physical health too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPo8m8">
The same kind of positive benefits can come from people we don’t know the community but feel connected to it or part of it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9ikSd">
When we get home from a play, movie, or concert, our first thought probably isn’t to quantify the collective effervescence of whatever art we just witnessed. I know I’m usually thinking about whether whatever I saw was “good.” Gabriel insists that part of the “good” isn’t just the art or artist, but the general feeling of the people around us and the social connections being made. We pick up on the laughter, cheers, smiles, and vibes and it nourishes us.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cd3Xxd">
“That rush is freaking magic to humans. It feels so good to us and we are so driven by that feeling of connection to other people,” Gabriel said. “That gives us such a high. Some research suggests that kind of high can stick with us to some degree for as much as a year afterward.”
</p>
<h3 id="mzOQXX">
The pandemic screwed up the way we behave at concerts and movie theaters
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qphFnI">
Since humans thrive on collective effervescence, it was a complete shock to our systems in 2020 when the pandemic, seemingly overnight, obliterated these large social gatherings. Finding that in-person collective effervescence became impossible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FFXYEH">
At the same time, we began finding social connections online, primarily on social media. We learned to operate and find these social bonds in different ways. An example: My colleague Rani Molla reported that during the pandemic, users <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22295131/social-media-use-pandemic-covid-19-instagram-tiktok">posted more</a> on social media platforms like <a href="https://www.vox.com/instagram-news">Instagram</a> — sometimes to the point of being overwhelmed. We also figured out ways to see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3JvwKxi-sk&amp;list=PLzOGAM1vNU1odprYpFmt8qIWA4yr8e3uo&amp;index=1">concerts</a>, have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/style/new-york-nightlife-goes-online-coronavirus.html">dance parties</a>, and watch <a href="https://www.polygon.com/21295526/how-to-watch-movies-with-friends-together-online-netflix-party-hulu-kast-disney-plus-watch2gether">movies</a> with people online in the comfort of our own homes. While we carved out a new way to be social, our social skills suffered.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SaDQiY">
“Among younger people, I have noticed, on average, poorer social skills,” Ryan Sultan, an <a href="https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/profile/ryan-s-sultan-md">assistant professor of clinical psychiatry</a> at Columbia University, told Vox. He explained that while there aren’t yet extensive studies on people’s behaviors in movie theaters and concerts, he does think the lockdown’s impact on social gatherings has affected our social skills, such as conversation and general awareness. “Having a period of time not in school — which is the primary way that we are socialized — has impacted academic performance, and I’m sure it has impacted social skills.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4NSjYq">
Sultan explained that, throughout history, large social gatherings have always been integral to human development. “Humans evolved for hundreds of thousands of years to exist in tribes and bands of around 100 people,” Sultan said. “We’d have close relationships with those people. We’d learn from them, modeling behavior, receiving direct and indirect feedback on what are next-level appropriate social skills. Our life was a constant social gathering.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A0mW47">
The pendulum swing from gathering in real life to being relegated to social media to now, in 2023, coming back to real-life events may explain why some people are being disruptive and not fully comprehending the impact they’re having on their fellow audience members. They’re using the modes of social connection they got accustomed to — posting a video from a movie theater, scrolling through social media during a Broadway play, or treating a concert like a performance they’re watching from home — in a setting that’s inappropriate. In some cases, it’s an upsettingly tangible example of the self-interested behavior we’ve come to call <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/9/22825492/carrie-bradshaw-satc-main-character-syndrome">“main character syndrome</a>,” wherein a person seems to believe that everything that happens around them only contributes to their own story.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<aside id="a3sgZI">
<q>“People don’t realize what they’re missing by not just immersing themselves in this social event”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IG5oN9">
“Because we got out of practice on it, people don’t realize what they’re missing by not just immersing themselves in this social event. So people are trying to pull in what they’re more used to, which is social media, because they don’t realize that they’re missing something,” Gabriel said. “People aren’t thinking, ‘I want to go see Taylor Swift because I want to feel connected to all those other people there.’ They think about Taylor, but really, a big motivation is actually being a part of this enormous event.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZpuEcY">
Granted, some of this behavior is violent or bizarre — like the fans who, respectively, threw a phone at Bebe Rexha and gave Pink their mother’s cremated ashes. These are extreme examples of this phenomenon, an extreme version of selfishness.<strong> </strong>That said, these disruptions not only prevent said disruptor from making social bonds, but they’re also affecting other people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0wQcpO">
“When people near you are doing something different, it pulls your attention away. And you don’t feel as if everyone is in this moment,” Gabriel said.
</p>
<h3 id="MUW3la">
We’ll probably stop behaving like animals in public … eventually
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RnqavB">
So why are some people so willing to harsh everyone else’s good time by scrolling through <a href="https://www.vox.com/tiktok">TikTok</a> or taking video of a movie? “I feel like maybe people aren’t realizing how big of an asshole they are,” said <a href="https://drafthouse.com/about/from-the-founder">Tim League</a>, the founder of the national movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x27Nxs">
“Movie theaters are dark by design. Any light, even if you think you’re hiding it, just becomes this beacon, and it’s going to distract anyone in a 10-foot radius around you, if not more if it’s stadium seating. Your eyes will drift down to the person whose light is on and it takes you out of the moment,” League continued. “And it’s so fucking rude and it’s just so selfish.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9T5gDB">
League doesn’t deny that he, like a lot of us in the general population, is addicted to his phone. But he views movies as “therapy from your phone,” a set, mandated time away from our devices and all their apps. “You don’t fully dissolve into a story or appreciate the emotional charge you would if you’re thinking about how you’re going to post something funny on TikTok,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GP6twt">
At League’s Alamo Drafthouse, there’s a strict no-talking, no-texting rule. If an audience member at an Alamo violates this sacred credo, their fellow moviegoers can anonymously report the rule-breaker. If the disruptor is still on their phone after warnings, they’ll be asked to leave the theater. Alamo’s no-talking rule, which went into effect three months after Alamo began in 1997, was created to prevent audience members from answering their phones or sending text messages, but also cut off the rise of TikTok and social media scrolling and posting at the pass.<strong> </strong>League said that, aside from one report of “rowdiness” at a recent <em>Barbie </em>screening, Alamo hasn’t seen a demonstrable uptick in disruptive phone use.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IZKUcr">
“Your policies are always going to fail to a certain extent,” League said, but he said it was an opportunity to restrengthen and reevaluate the rules. “Okay, so maybe you got some new people that don’t understand the policy, let’s get in there and get it right.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="4zbGi8">
<q>“Turn off your goddamn phone during the movie”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LxKfaf">
For moviegoers who don’t have an Alamo near them and want to be good audience members, he has a simple rule: “Don’t be rude. Don’t be a jerk at the movies, but also through life: Just try not to be a jerk. And when you catch yourself being one, just realize you can do better. And turn off your goddamn phone during the movie.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xWVAMW">
For those like League who are a bit dismayed at the turn of public bad behavior, there is some hope that it’ll iron itself out. Gabriel is hopeful that this current spate of annoying antics will subside as we get more exposure to large social events. We’re still relearning our social behaviors, Gabriel said, and as more time passes, people will eventually figure out what’s acceptable and what’s disruptive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qLtqIB">
She also is hopeful because of another important factor: shame.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HExClZ">
Because humans are extremely social beings and value social connections (and our collective effervescence), we are also deeply attuned to the attitudes of the people around us. Generally, humans are very good at negatively communicating our displeasure at inappropriate behavior; also generally, humans don’t like to be shamed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dpilK7">
“People will get the message from other folks that their behavior is not okay. Some people will get mocked eventually — in person or online,” Gabriel said. “A deep sigh is always good. Side-eye can be really helpful. Or you know, if somebody posts something [e.g. a video filmed during a movie], give them a good-natured ribbing about that. I think that people will get that message.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bVlRmV">
Here’s hoping they won’t have to open TikTok during a movie or ruin a concert to find it.
</p></li>
<li><strong>How YIMBYs won over unions in California</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A construction worker builds the frame of a new house. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ncpcETfMAnBpn6yqVwLr_wul20Y=/216x0:2785x1927/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72562545/2410216.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Construction in Rodeo, California. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One of the biggest changes in state politics in years, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3B6EAx">
Over the last decade, whenever California lawmakers tried to pass new legislation aimed at boosting the state’s alarmingly low housing stock, they’d come face to face with a politically powerful barrier: organized labor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ckul50">
It wasn’t that unions wanted no new housing in California, but their top priority was ensuring that any new units would be built with unionized workers, and that the nearly half a million members represented by the State Building and Construction Trades Council, or “the Trades” as it’s locally known, would be well positioned to find good jobs in the future. Keenly aware of how sharply industry standards have declined in parts of the country with less union power, and still reeling from <a href="https://www.smartcitiesprevail.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SCP_HousingReport.0118_2.pdf">job losses during the last recession</a>, the Trades have assertively fought bills they deemed threatening to their way of life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lr2ea6">
In the Democratic and proudly pro-labor state, opposition from the Trades has often been sufficient to kill housing bills. Liberal lawmakers have been sympathetic to union arguments that the state’s housing crisis will not be solved by driving construction workers into poverty themselves. Sometimes unions would object to bills that failed to require certain wage standards, or bills that didn’t require enough union workers to do the jobs. And when they’ve objected, labor leaders have not been hesitant to flex their political muscle, running attack ads against bill sponsors and donating <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-needs-more-affordable-homes-this-union-stands-in-the-way-11618660801?mod=hp_lead_pos6&amp;mc_cid=9cc3f5f6dc&amp;mc_eid=119767cb73">tens of millions of dollars</a> to political campaigns.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oJ46F2">
Today, though, a major sea change is happening across California, with some unions now either actively supporting the major housing bills winding their way through the legislature, or otherwise signaling that they’ll no longer fight them. This shift in pro-construction, “Yes in My Backyard” (or YIMBY) politics has been dramatic, and one that hardly anyone foresaw just three years ago.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lS7yc">
Getting to this point involved some unions being willing to break with the rest of organized labor, as they argued it was worth expanding the number of good-paying construction jobs even if lawmakers could not guarantee those would be union jobs per se. These dissident unions promoted an alternative vision for membership growth, and provided cover to California politicians who worried about being branded as anti-labor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uRs6WJ">
The stakes for workers, though, are high: The vast majority of California construction workers are not unionized, and toil away on sites with weaker protections, earn far less than their unionized counterparts, and fall too frequently victim to injury <a href="https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-public-cost-of-low-wage-jobs-in-californias-construction-industry/">and wage theft</a>. Though construction accounts for about 6 percent of California’s total workers, it makes up <a href="https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/cfoi/CFOI_2017/Fatalities-Report-2013-2017.pdf">16 percent</a> of the state’s fatal workplace injuries.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P9hqP8">
A new coalition of pro-housing activists and labor unions has emerged in the Golden State, hoping to prove what is admittedly still an untested proposition: Can lawmakers accelerate housing production fast enough to meet the needs of their growing population without sacrificing standards for workers?
</p>
<h3 id="xr4dgi">
Early attempts at housing bills went, well, not smoothly
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xTjL42">
A number of issues have stymied housing development in California over decades: restrictive zoning codes that favor existing homeowners over potential new residents, lengthy lawsuit-laden approval processes, soaring costs for construction and land, and a shortage of available workers to build.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hEIKL7">
Starting in 2016, then-Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-housing-cities-20160602-snap-story.html">pushed a plan</a> aimed at tackling at least one element of this stalemate: He proposed accelerating the approval process for certain housing projects in California, so long as they included a portion of units dedicated to affordable housing. One reason housing production has been so slow is because individuals and organizations can challenge development in court, under <a href="https://opr.ca.gov/ceqa/">the California Environmental Quality Act</a>, or CEQA. Originally passed in the 1970s to ensure local construction considers possible effects related to issues like air quality, noise, and natural resources, CEQA court challenges have since become a top tool for NIMBYs (which stands for “not in my back yard”) to block or delay new housing, by dragging out projects in costly litigation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MiROkR">
Today, it’s typical for a proposed housing project to face at least three or four years in court battles, with added costs in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Making this CEQA process both harder for opponents, and faster for developers, is referred to as “streamlining” in California policy circles.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eb6NgeJ259ojVfSusrOflVR65dA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24858212/1409163589.jpg"/> <cite>Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A construction worker measures the weight of a bucket of lightweight cellular concrete as the company pours in a section of the new Mission Rock development near Oracle Park in San Francisco.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Lg0NB">
But unions in 2016 objected to Gov. Brown’s proposed “streamlining” bill, arguing it would <a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/field-right-development-proposal-dies-california-legislature-governor-withholds-400">strip them of needed opportunity</a> to negotiate higher wages for workers. Labor groups worried about accelerating the approval process for private-sector projects but not requiring developers to pay “prevailing wage” — which typically means the going union rate for labor costs in an area. Unions often use CEQA challenges to force developers’ hands on hiring union workers, though laws requiring the payment of “prevailing wage” historically have only been used for publicly financed projects, not the kind of private-sector development targeted by Gov. Brown.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="467Lqr">
The Trades mobilized hard against Brown’s legislative package, ran ads against his top housing official, and framed the whole effort as a giveaway to real estate tycoons. They successfully killed it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DBgaDd">
The following year, to avoid a repeat of 2016, Democratic lawmakers introduced more modest streamlining bills, which notably included a huge shift in the state’s housing policies: Several proposed expanding requirements for prevailing wage from public works projects to also include some private-sector housing development. One of the bills — <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB35">SB35</a> — came from newly elected YIMBY state senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="84S3V9">
In short, Wiener wanted to streamline not only 100 percent affordable housing but some market-rate housing too. If he could promise unions well-paid jobs on both, he reasoned, then labor would hopefully relinquish its fight to preserve CEQA lawsuits as a negotiating tool.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TxiGCP">
To get it across the finish line, however, unions bargained one more request. For any housing project of 50 units or more that was not 100 percent affordable (meaning not entirely subsidized), developers would not only need to pay prevailing wage but also recruit a “skilled and trained” workforce to build. This “skilled and trained” language refers to workers who graduated from state-approved apprenticeship programs, which are mostly free for students, and are almost entirely union-run. Nearly every apprenticeship graduate later joins a construction union, so requiring workers to be “skilled and trained” is effectively requiring the hiring of more unionized workers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ssS9pD">
The Trades still had general qualms about streamlining the housing approval process, and in particular about how eliminating CEQA lawsuits could more easily enable private-sector greed. Rudy Gonzalez, the secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, told Vox his members opposed past housing bills because they weren’t focused enough on dedicated affordable housing. “Who actually benefits from streamlining?” he asked. “I think developers benefit.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9V7BJU">
But ultimately the “skilled and trained” language was enough for the unions <a href="https://calaborfed.org/issues/legislative-wrap-up-2017/">to back SB35</a> in 2017. Developers, meanwhile, didn’t love the idea of paying prevailing wage, but they agreed it was worth it if projects could move through the pipeline faster. SB35 became law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIbj82">
But it soon ran into another issue: a worker shortage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I50DTz">
The Trades acknowledges there’s a shortage of workers for California’s needed residential construction, and they know their existing unionized workforce is getting older. A <a href="https://www.smartcitiesprevail.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SCP_HousingReport.0118_2.pdf">union-backed study from 2019</a> stipulated that to meet the state’s affordable housing goals, California would need to recruit at least 200,000 new workers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u3v7Ti">
But the Trades insist things are not so dire yet that leaders need to abandon “skilled and trained” requirements, and they say more people will be incentivized to become “skilled and trained” only if lawmakers guarantee good union jobs waiting on the other end of an apprenticeship. About 70,500 people have graduated from these apprenticeships between 2010 and 2022, <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/05/california-housing-crisis-unions/">according</a> to the California Department of Industrial Relations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ytxEfi">
In the half-decade since SB35 took effect, it’s become clear that the law has helped significantly increase affordable housing construction in California (a <a href="https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/sb-35-evaluation/?mc_cid=437c33b449&amp;mc_eid=d1399b5d28">recent analysis</a> found it streamlined over 18,000 new housing units between 2018 and 2021), but it’s been far less helpful in accelerating any market-rate construction. This has been partly due to a shortage of available “skilled and trained” workers developers need to hire.
</p>
<h3 id="lu4bM4">
How the Carpenters changed the story
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PautI4">
Battles over whether additional California housing bills would require “skilled and trained” labor continued over the next several years, ultimately killing a slew of pro-housing bills <a href="https://calmatters.org/politics/2020/09/democratic-squabbling-pandemic-year-housing/">in the legislature</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6sIf7t">
The California Conference of Carpenters — a labor organization representing about 80,000 unionized workers who install and repair wood structures — was more open to bills that included language only for prevailing wage. But leaders from both the Carpenters’ northern and southern councils dared not cross the powerful then-president of the Trades, who said unions would accept “skilled and trained” or nothing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gs7Gsa">
Change finally came in August 2021, when Jay Bradshaw, a longtime union organizer, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210812005786/en/Jay-Bradshaw-Wins-Top-Leadership-Spot-in-Election-for-Executive-Secretary-Treasurer-of-Northern-California-Carpenters-Union">successfully unseated </a>a 20-year incumbent to take control of the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, the Carpenters’ northern affiliate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6BZVkx">
“While the labor story has ebbed and flowed and can get really complicated, it really can be simplified to say that one person made a gigantic difference in changing the conversation and that’s Jay Bradshaw,” said Todd David, who led the California YIMBY-aligned Housing Action Coalition between 2016 and 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R6E3ON">
At the same time that Bradshaw ascended to power, the Carpenters’ Southwest Mountain States Regional Council — which represents workers in Southern California — <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pete-rodriguez-elected-to-top-leadership-position-at-southwest-regional-council-of-carpenters-301493217.html">elected</a> its own new leader, Pete Rodriguez. Historically the two California Carpenters’ councils have not been closely aligned on policy, but Bradshaw and Rodriguez saw eye-to-eye not only on organizing new members, but also on making it easier to build housing — even if that meant stirring the pot with the rest of the Trades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mdl0Ko">
This first real test came in 2022. An Oakland Democratic Assemblymember, Buffy Wicks, worked closely with the Carpenters’ new leadership to hash out language the union could endorse. Wicks ultimately introduced AB2011, a bill <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/09/california-housing-podcast-ab-2011/">that would fast-track affordable housing development </a>of old office buildings, strip malls, and parking lots in exchange for paying workers the prevailing wage. On larger projects (meaning at least 50 units) developers would have to provide health care and new tools to guard against wage theft. Larger projects would also require developers to see if “skilled and trained” workers were available, but if they weren’t, the project could proceed without them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zzd1iX">
The Trades, along with the powerful and larger California Labor Federation, fought hard against Wicks’ AB2011, arguing it had too many loopholes and would fail to protect workers in practice. AB2011 had other opponents besides just organized labor, including some <a href="https://caleja.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CEJA-Scorecard-2022-Final-WEB2.pdf">environmental groups</a> and groups that <a href="https://www.livablecalifornia.org/ab-2011-could-be-the-worst-bill-of-2022-for-taking-away-local-control/">advocate for local control</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7tWKhq">
But<strong> </strong>joining forces with the Carpenters on Wicks’ bill were two other dissenting unions: the 250,000-member strong California School Employees Association, which represents janitors, cafeteria workers, and other school support staff, and the influential SEIU, which represents more than 700,000 mostly low-wage service and health care workers across the state.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HfH7xv">
David Huerta, the president of California SEIU State Council, said after surveying members on issues they’re dealing with, it became clear SEIU needed to stand up more on housing. “Regardless of if you’re a janitor or a nurse or a health care worker or a home-care worker, everyone overwhelmingly said the number one issue was housing affordability,” he told Vox. “We have members sleeping in their cars, who have big families sleeping in one-bedrooms, who are traveling hours and hours to get to work because they can’t afford to live near their jobs.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4MYY4E">
Bradshaw, of the Carpenters, argued creating more high-paying jobs for all construction workers was more important than having guaranteed union jobs — and that unions could then aim to organize those workers. “For the elected officials we framed it as they do have a real choice,” Bradshaw told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X78tje">
In the end, California lawmakers didn’t really have to make a choice, and ended up passing Wicks’ bill, along with another similar bill that included the Trades’ preferred “skilled and trained” language. For now, developers basically <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/08/california-housing-crisis-labor-deal/">can choose which law they want</a> to follow if they want to convert strip malls to housing. (Yes, really.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6yeVaU">
“AB2011 was a huge victory, but they allowed the building trades to save face by passing both bills,” said David, the YIMBY activist.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wK64E4BNbXDCV4YCECGjqgtBbvU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24858213/1428461122.jpg"/> <cite>Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks at press conference following the signing of AB2011.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rr0Dsn">
Scott Wiener, author of the 2017 law that has successfully streamlined affordable housing projects but less successfully produced mixed-income and market-rate development, decided this year to run with the labor compromise language Wicks pushed in AB2011. In a new bill — <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB423">SB423</a> — winding its way now through the legislature, Wiener is aiming to strip the “skilled and trained” requirement from his 2017 law, and add in the other labor protections from AB2011, like for wage theft and health care.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dqM0lI">
The new president of the California Trades, Andrew Meredith, declared strong opposition to Wiener’s new bill when it was introduced in February, arguing it would hurt safety standards and housing affordability. The California Labor Federation backed the Trades up, too. “More profits for developers, less benefits for workers,” <a href="https://twitter.com/LorenaSGonzalez/status/1628577627647909888">the labor federation’s leader said</a>. “That makes zero sense from folks who claim to be pro-labor.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D8D6tL">
In the winter and early spring, <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2023/03/22/so-you-want-to-pass-a-housing-bill-00088236">it looked increasingly like</a> Wiener’s SB423 would be one of the most contentious bills in the California legislature this year — a new proxy fight over who was more sufficiently for affordable housing and workers’ rights.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OGTaRM">
But in April a major twist happened: two more construction unions — the California Council of Laborers and the state Conference of Operating Engineers — broke with the Trades to <a href="https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1647998794682826757/photo/2">publicly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1648865856603160577">support</a> Wiener’s housing bill. “We believe the balance that this legislation strikes will result in more available housing and ultimately lead to more affordable housing that could be utilized by our membership and those in need,” said the Operating Engineers <a href="https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1648865856603160577/photo/1">in a public letter</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uic6pX">
Corey Smith, the new head of the YIMBY-aligned Housing Action Coalition, told Vox he thinks the leadership from the Carpenters, and bringing in the other unions, “is perhaps the single most positive shift in California housing discourse, conversations, fights, and politics in the last 40 years.” It’s “such a big deal,” Smith continued, “because the single largest individual problem for homebuilding in California has been local discretion and CEQA and the Carpenters’ union basically said, ‘Hey, we’ll provide a political path to tackle this.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sdh5v2">
In June, two months after the Laborers and Operating Engineers joined the Carpenters in supporting SB423, Meredith, the president of the California building trades, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/california-building-trades-leader-resigns-in-major-labor-shakeup-00104273">resigned from his post</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4wbgdO">
In another big political twist, the Trades have recently announced they are no longer opposing SB423. They’re currently “neutral” on the legislation, <em>and</em> neutral on <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB4">another bill</a> to develop affordable housing on land owned by religious groups, which failed in 2020 and 2022 <a href="https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/12/union-conflict-threatens-housing-legislation/">largely due to labor’s opposition</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DXXW1q">
“We’re still working with the bill author and we would love to be able to support,” the Trades’ new leader Chris Hannan told Vox. “We’re trying to get the labor standards right for workers.” Whether or not the Trades ends up supporting the housing bills, however, won’t really matter as much in Sacramento as the fact that they’re not actively fighting them anymore. Passage for both bills in September looks likely.
</p>
<h3 id="5e5gRT">
Two different visions for growing union membership
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oDodFY">
One important factor shaping the politics in California is that not all labor groups see rapid membership growth as inherently positive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QV2wJF">
Laura Foote, executive director of YIMBY Action, recalls one of her earliest memories of advocating to expand California’s housing supply. “I was just starting to map out who would be pro-housing, and anyone who built housing seemed like a natural ally,” she told Vox. Foote met with a San Francisco planning commissioner who was also a member of the electrical trades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBRwy7">
“I had a one-on-one with him like, ‘Okay, all the construction industry trades are going to be on board? Let’s build a lot of housing!’ And he was very blunt that no we do not want to unleash production … For him, there was a problem that if we unleashed housing production and grew our labor force, then when there’s a downturn all of his guys would be banging down the door at the union hall when times are low and out of work.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PekFjn">
The concern of maintaining union strength in a downturn is a real one. More than <a href="https://www.smartcitiesprevail.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SCP_HousingReport.0118_2.pdf">365,000</a> unionized construction jobs were eliminated in California during the last recession, between 2006 and 2011. “The point for them is not higher wages, the point is steady union jobs,” Foote argued. (The commissioner did not return Vox’s request for comment.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="upB4ex">
Hannan, the new president of the Trades, told Vox his members want to build more housing at all income levels and pointed to the Trades’ support for growing their apprenticeship programs as proof they also want to add to their ranks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DInCy5">
“I don’t believe that to be true,” he said, when asked about certain guilds not supporting membership growth. “People are entitled to draw their own conclusions and come up with their own opinions but the building trade unions that I represent want to grow opportunities for their members and new members. The Trades has been a wonderful career for me and I want that for more people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F4zLYi">
Still, it’s true that membership growth presents more uncomplicated opportunity for the Carpenters compared to other construction unions, making it easier for them to back YIMBY bills. It helps that the Carpenters offers its members 401(k) plans instead of traditional pensions, which are more common among other California trades. This leaves individual carpenters more vulnerable from a retirement perspective, but the Carpenters as a union is less institutionally exposed to downturns. Over the last few years the Carpenters have embraced an aggressive organizing strategy, growing its membership by 8 percent between fiscal years 2019 and 2022, according to the union.
</p>
<h3 id="SkzkQF">
Will the pro-labor compromise actually work?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rIJ1PN">
An outstanding question is whether these union-backed streamlining bills will generate enough new private-sector housing in California, and there are skeptics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mvFiXo">
Making it harder to file CEQA lawsuits should certainly help, advocates say, but the constant debate in <a href="https://www.vox.com/housing">housing policy</a> circles is whether a market-rate project “pencils out” — meaning whether the developers’ projected earnings outweigh their building costs. Prevailing wage and other labor benefits raises the cost of a project.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vzNwvk">
Jennifer Hernandez, an environmental and land-use lawyer <a href="https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2015/08/in-the-name-of-the-environment-litigation-abuse-un">who has studied</a> how CEQA lawsuits get abused by housing opponents, told Vox she thinks whether SB423 works as intended is “a real bet.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RZ2QmS">
She pointed to Los Angeles, where <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/11/9/13571390/measure-jjj-approved-affordable-housing-and-local-hiring">a 2016 ballot measure</a> that <a href="https://labusinessjournal.com/uncategorized/los-angeles-voters-approve-measure-jjj/">required</a> paying prevailing wage <a href="https://la.urbanize.city/post/study-housing-production-slows-los-angeles-following-passage-measure-jjj#:~:text=But%20in%20the%20two%20years,has%20been%20approved%20to%20date.">failed to produce</a> as much mixed-income housing as some LA leaders hoped to see. “It’s been too expensive and there’s not enough workers,” Hernandez said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9mkfVm">
Hernandez thinks SB423 will work best in the most expensive markets where developers can afford to charge tenants higher rents to recoup their costs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0TKMdT">
No one could say exactly how much more a project might cost if prevailing wage is required, and different estimates abound. Ben Metcalf, the managing director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, told Vox his organization believes <a href="https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/LIHTC_Construction_Costs_March_2020.pdf">it increases prices in the 10-20 percent range</a>, but can vary a lot by region. Some estimates have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjir.12663">it lower than that</a>, and some others <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/30/prevailing-wage-would-make-californias-housing-crisis-worse/">have it higher</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dT75cL">
Some YIMBY advocates say the higher wages for workers will “pencil out” if state lawmakers move next year <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-06/high-housing-fees-california">to tackle the high “impact” fees</a> that cities often attach to new housing in exchange for development approval.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9k7vp">
Brian Hanlon, the president of <a href="https://cayimby.org/">California YIMBY</a>, said he’s optimistic about the prevailing wage requirement, but only if these fees and other costly regulations like inclusionary zoning requirements are later addressed. “SB423 is an important law to get rid of a lot of these CEQA lawsuits, but we need to get the math to work right,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fnSWYY">
Smith, of Housing Action Coalition, said it’s not clear yet how much will be saved by streamlining, but developers wouldn’t really care if they paid more for labor if they saved money elsewhere. The Carpenters and other unions have a vested interest in these projects penciling, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VST4Jm">
Ultimately policymakers and advocates of all persuasions recognize California is embarking on a major new chapter for housing politics — one where individuals will have less power to block housing production in court, and where the Trades have less power to block bills they don’t like in Sacramento.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kzjkFV">
“For years the way union politics worked in California is that each union would let the workers in that union lead on that policy, so you wouldn’t see the plumbers having a position on education, or SEIU getting in on housing,” said Foote, of YIMBY Action. “Now it’s like all bets are off.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daily Quiz | On women footballers</strong> - As Spain won the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, here is a quiz on women footballers.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Law to ban polygamy: Assam govt. seeks public views</strong> - Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the people to send their suggestions on the proposed law to ban polygamy in Assam</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Man sentenced to life in prison for triple murder in Gudalur</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>All international flights at Bengaluru airport to operate exclusively from Terminal-2 starting August 31</strong> - Singapore Airlines SQ 508 would be the first flight to land at Kempegowda International Airport after international flight operations shift to T-2 on August 31.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Palaniswami announces solatium to families of eight party workers who died in road accidents</strong> -</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into Moon</strong> - The unmanned craft spun out control before its planned landing on the Moon’s south pole.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Women’s World Cup: Fans rejoice in Madrid as Spain makes football history</strong> - As their team wins its first-ever World Cup in Sydney, supporters of women’s football celebrate back home.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Olga Carmona told after Women’s World Cup final that father has died</strong> - Olga Carmona, who scored Spain’s winner in the Women’s World Cup final, is told after the game against England that her father has died.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russia says drone injures five at Kursk railway station</strong> - Kyiv is accused of attacking the transport hub in Kursk - and also the Rostov and Moscow regions.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Child among 7 dead in missile strike on Ukrainian theatre</strong> - A Russian missile strike hits the heart of the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine says.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron</strong> - Op-ed: PC makers used to need to bring their own add-on bloatware—no longer. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1950522">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon</strong> - A stunning loss for the Russian space program. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961927">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I try synthetic salmon and enter the “uncanny valley” of taste</strong> - Synthetic fish isn’t quite there yet—and may not be worth the effort. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961837">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google announces new algorithm that makes FIDO encryption safe from quantum computers</strong> - New approach combines ECDSA with post-quantum algorithm called Dilithium. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961906">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SanDisk Extreme SSDs are “worthless,” multiple lawsuits against WD say</strong> - Ars cited in two SanDisk SSD failure lawsuits filed yesterday. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961790">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Lady and the Farmer</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A farmer stopped by a hardware store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. Then he stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
However, struggling outside the store, he wondered how to carry all his purchases home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
While he was scratching his head, he was approached by a lady who told him she was lost.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She asked, ‘Can you tell me how to get to this address please?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The farmer said, ‘Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house. I would walk you there, but I can’t carry this lot.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The lady suggested, ‘Why don’t you put the can of paint in the bucket, carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm, and carry the goose in your other hand?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Thats a good idea,’ he said, and proceeded to walk the lady home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the way, he said, ‘Let’s take my short cut and go down this alley. We’ll be there in no time.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The lady looked him over cautiously and said, ‘I am a lonely widow without a husband to protect me. How do I know that when we get in the alley you won’t hold me up against the wall, pull up my skirt, and have your way with me?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The farmer said, ‘Holy smokes, lady! I’m carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you up against the wall and do that?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The lady replied, ‘Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the bucket, and I’ll hold the chickens.’
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Nipsy_uk"> /u/Nipsy_uk </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15x275y/the_lady_and_the_farmer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15x275y/the_lady_and_the_farmer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>All of the passengers on a plane are seated and ready for takeoff.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The pilot and copilot are late, the passengers and crew are getting frustrated. A couple of minutes go by and suddenly the copilot boards and is wearing dark glasses while waving around a mobility cane. He clumsily makes his way to the copilots seat. The passengers feel uneasy. A couple more minutes go by and the pilot finally makes his way into the plane and is also waving around a mobility cane. He also clumsily makes his way into the pilots seat. One of the passengers asks one of the flight attendants if the copilot and pilot are blind?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Yes they are blind, but they are one of the best pilot and copilots we have”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Even with that answer the passengers still feel uneasy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The plane is on the runway and starts rolling forward. It’s picking up speed fast but after 20 seconds the plane still hasn’t lifted off the ground. The passengers feel it’s been too long and they look out the windows. They see that the runway is running out and they haven’t lifted off the ground. The passengers collectively let out a scream and the plane manages to finally take off and starts to gain altitude.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The pilot and copilot turn towards each other and the copilot says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“All of these years flying together, imagine if no one ever screamed. We’d be fucked”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AsscreamSundae69"> /u/AsscreamSundae69 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wu2iq/all_of_the_passengers_on_a_plane_are_seated_and/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wu2iq/all_of_the_passengers_on_a_plane_are_seated_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Another Jewish mother…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Jewish guy calls his mother in Florida.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Hi, Mom. How have you been?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Not so good. I’ve been feeling weak.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Weak? Why are you feeling weak?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I haven’t eaten for 28 days!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Twenty-eight days?! Why? What’s wrong?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I didn’t want my mouth to be full of food in case you should call.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Scott_A_R"> /u/Scott_A_R </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wr2g8/another_jewish_mother/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wr2g8/another_jewish_mother/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jewish mothers, right?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The year is 2028 and the United States has elected the first woman as well as the first Jewish president, Sarah Goldstein. She calls up her mother a few weeks after Election Day and says, “So, Mom, I assume you’ll be coming to my inauguration?” “I don’t think so. It’s a ten-hour drive, your father isn’t as young as he used to be, and my arthritis is acting up again.” “Don’t worry about it, Mom, I’ll send Air Force One to pick you up and take you home. And a limousine will pick you up at your door.” “I don’t know. Everybody will be so fancy-schmantzy; what on earth would I wear? Sarah replies,”I’ll make sure you have a wonderful gown, custom-made by the best designer in New York." “Honey,” Mom complains, “you know I can’t eat those rich foods you and your friends like to eat.” The President-to-be responds, “Don’t worry Mom. The entire affair is going to be handled by the best caterer in New York; kosher all the way Mom, I really want you to come.” So Mom reluctantly agrees and on January 20, 2029, Sarah Goldstein is being sworn in as President of the United States. In the front row sits the new President’s mother, who leans over to a senator sitting next to her and says, “You see that woman over there with her hand on the Torah, becoming President of the United States?” The senator whispers back, “Yes, I do.” Mom says proudly, “Her brother is a doctor.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/myvotedoesntmatter"> /u/myvotedoesntmatter </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wh3hm/jewish_mothers_right/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15wh3hm/jewish_mothers_right/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I got 50 dollars from my mom…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She told me to take my brother to the movies, but not to bring him home before 6, so they had time to prepare his surprise birthday party.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
That’s the day I realized he was the favorite twin.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/helpamonkpls"> /u/helpamonkpls </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15w7cgn/i_got_50_dollars_from_my_mom/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15w7cgn/i_got_50_dollars_from_my_mom/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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