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<title>01 March, 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>SARS-CoV-2 surveillance between 2020 and 2021 of all mammalian species in two Flemish zoos (Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael Zoo)</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of human infections and deaths worldwide. Several other mammal species are also susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and multiple instances of transmission from humans to pets, farmed mink, wildlife and zoo animals have been recorded. We conducted a systematic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in all mammal species in two zoos in Belgium between September and December 2020 and July 2021 in four sessions, and a targeted surveillance of selected mammal enclosures following SARS-CoV-2 infection in hippos in December 2021. A total of 1523 faecal samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 via real-time PCR. None of the samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Additional surrogate virus neutralization tests conducted on 50 routinely collected serum samples during the same period were all negative. This study is a first to our knowledge to conduct active SARS-CoV-2 surveillance for several months in all mammal species of a zoo. We conclude that at the time of our investigation, none of the screened animals were excreting SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.28.530444v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 surveillance between 2020 and 2021 of all mammalian species in two Flemish zoos (Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael Zoo)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rolosense: Mechanical detection of SARS-CoV-2 using a DNA-based motor</strong> -
<div>
Assays detecting viral infections play a significant role in limiting the spread of diseases such as SARS-CoV-2. Here we present Rolosense, a virus sensing platform that transduces the motion of synthetic DNA-based motors transporting 5-micron particles on RNA fuel chips. Motors and chips are modified with virus-binding aptamers that lead to stalling of motion. Therefore, motors perform a mechanical test of viral target and stall in the presence of whole virions which represents a unique mechanism of transduction distinct from conventional assays. Rolosense can detect SARS-CoV-2 spiked in artificial saliva and exhaled breath condensate with a sensitivity of 10^3 copies/mL and discriminates among other respiratory viruses. The assay is modular and amenable to multiplexing, as we demonstrated one-pot detection of influenza A and SARS-CoV-2. As a proof-of-concept, we show readout can be achieved using a smartphone camera in as little as 15 mins without any sample preparation steps. Taken together, mechanical detection using Rolosense can be broadly applied to any viral target and has the potential to enable rapid, low-cost, point-of-care screening of circulating viruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.27.530294v1" target="_blank">Rolosense: Mechanical detection of SARS-CoV-2 using a DNA-based motor</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Engineered Immunogens to Expose Conserved Epitopes Targeted by Broad Coronavirus Antibodies</strong> -
<div>
Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 primarily target the receptor binding domain of the spike protein, which can readily mutate to escape acquired immunity. Other regions in the spike S2 subunit, such as the fusion peptide and the stem helix, are highly conserved across sarbecoviruses and recognized by broadly reactive antibodies, providing hope that targeting these epitopes by vaccination could offer protection against both current and emergent viruses. Here we employed computational modeling to design epitope scaffolds that display the fusion peptide and the stem helix epitopes. The engineered proteins bound both mature and germline versions of multiple broad and protective human antibodies with high affinity. Binding specificity was confirmed both biochemically and via high resolution crystal structures. Finally, the epitope scaffolds showed potent engagement of antibodies and memory B-cells from subjects previously exposed to SARS-CoV2, illustrating their potential to elicit antibodies against the fusion peptide and the stem helix by vaccination.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.27.530277v1" target="_blank">Engineered Immunogens to Expose Conserved Epitopes Targeted by Broad Coronavirus Antibodies</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Neutralizing antibody levels and epidemiological information of patients with breakthrough COVID-19 infection in Toyama, Japan</strong> -
<div>
Breakthrough infection (BI) after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has exploded owing to the emergence of various SARS-CoV-2 variants and has become a major problem at present. In this study, we analyzed the epidemiological information and possession status of neutralizing antibodies in patients with BI using SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped viruses (SARS-CoV-2pv). Analysis of 44 specimens diagnosed with COVID-19 after two or more vaccinations showed high inhibition of infection by 90% or more against the Wuhan strain and the Alpha and Delta variants of pseudotyped viruses in 40 specimens. In contrast, almost no neutralizing activity was observed against the Omicron BA.1 variant. Many cases without neutralizing activity or BI were immunosuppressed individuals. The results of this study show that BI occurs even when there are sufficient neutralizing antibodies in the blood due to exposure to close contacts at the time of infection. Thus, even after vaccination, sufficient precautions must be taken to prevent infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.27.530346v1" target="_blank">Neutralizing antibody levels and epidemiological information of patients with breakthrough COVID-19 infection in Toyama, Japan</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Discovery of anti-SARS-CoV-2 molecules using structure-assisted repurposing approach targeting N-protein</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (N-protein) is a virus specific multitasking protein, responsible for recognition and encapsidation of the viral genome. The N-terminal domain (NTD) of N-protein has a major role of packaging viral RNA genome into a long helical nucleocapsid structure. In this study, using structure-based drug repurposing strategy, small molecules from a FDA approved, natural product, and LOPAC1280 libraries have been virtually screened against the RNA binding pocket of SARS-CoV-2 NTD and twelve candidate molecules with high binding affinity were identified. Highly sensitive isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) method was utilized to confirm binding of these molecules to purified NTD protein. In vitro cell-based SARS-CoV-2 antiviral assays demonstrate that nine of these identified molecules are highly efficacious in inhibiting virus replication with half maximal effective concentration (EC50) ranging from 0.98 M-10 M. FDA approved drugs: Telmisartan, an angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist used in the management of hypertension and Bictegravir, an HIV-1 integrase inhibitor showed significant inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 with a EC50 values of 1.02 M and 8.11 M respectively. Additionally, Bisdemethoxycurcumin, a natural analogue of curcumin and MCC-555, an anti-diabetic drug exerted antiviral activity with EC50 values of 1.64 M and 4.26 M, respectively. Taken together, this is the first report of drug molecules targeting the NTD of SARS-CoV-2 N-protein and the data presented in this study exhibit high potential for development of COVID-19 therapy based on drug repurposing.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.12.484092v2" target="_blank">Discovery of anti-SARS-CoV-2 molecules using structure-assisted repurposing approach targeting N-protein</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A broad-spectrum macrocyclic peptide inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> -
<div>
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had great societal and health consequences. Despite the availability of vaccines, infection rates remain high due to immune evasive Omicron sublineages. Broad-spectrum antivirals are needed to safeguard against emerging variants and future pandemics. We used mRNA display under a reprogrammed genetic code to find a spike-targeting macrocyclic peptide that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain infection and also pseudoviruses containing spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants or related sarbecoviruses. Structural and bioinformatic analyses reveal a conserved binding pocket between the receptor binding domain and other domains, distal to the ACE2 receptor-interaction site. Collectively, our data reveal a hitherto unexplored site of vulnerability in sarbecoviruses that can be targeted by peptides and potentially other drug-like molecules.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.11.516114v3" target="_blank">A broad-spectrum macrocyclic peptide inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Can a brief interaction with online, digital art improve wellbeing?: A comparative study of the impact of online art and culture presentations on mood, state-anxiety, subjective wellbeing, and loneliness</strong> -
<div>
When experienced in-person, engagement with art has been associated—in a growing body of evidence—with positive outcomes in wellbeing and mental health. This represents an exciting new field for psychology, curation, and health interventions, suggesting a widely-accessible, cost-effective, and non-pharmaceutical means of regulating factors such as mood or anxiety. However, can similar impacts be found with online presentations? If so, this would open up positive outcomes to an even-wider population—a trend becoming accelerated due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. Despite its promise, this question, and the underlying mechanisms of art interventions and impacts, has largely not been explored. Participants (N = 84) were asked to engage one of two online exhibitions from Google Arts and Culture (a Monet painting or a similarly-formatted display of Japanese culinary traditions). With just 1-2 minutes’ exposure, both improved negative mood, state-anxiety, loneliness, and wellbeing. Stepdown analysis suggested the changes can be explained primarily via negative mood, while improvements in mood correlated with aesthetic appraisals and cognitive-emotional experience of the exhibition. However, no difference was found between exhibitions. We discuss the findings in terms of applications and targets for future research.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/93atj/" target="_blank">Can a brief interaction with online, digital art improve wellbeing?: A comparative study of the impact of online art and culture presentations on mood, state-anxiety, subjective wellbeing, and loneliness</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapid resistance profiling of SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors</strong> -
<div>
Resistance to nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) has been shown by multiple groups and may already exist in clinical SARS-CoV-2 isolates. Here a panel of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) variants and a robust cell-based assay are used to compare the resistance profiles of nirmatrelvir, ensitrelvir, and FB2001. The results reveal distinct resistance mechanisms (fingerprints) and indicate that these next-generation drugs have the potential to be effective against nirmatrelvir-resistant variants and vice versa.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.25.530000v1" target="_blank">Rapid resistance profiling of SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Binding of SARS-CoV-2 non-structured protein 1 to 40S ribosome inhibits mRNA translation</strong> -
<div>
Experiments have shown that non-structural protein 1 (NSP1) of SARS-CoV-2 is a factor that restricts cellular gene expression and prevents mRNA translation in the ribosome 40S subunit. However, the molecular mechanism of this phenomenon remains unclear. To clarify this issue, all-atom steered molecular dynamics and coarse-grained alchemical simulations were used to compare the binding affinity of mRNA to 40S ribosome in the absence and presence of NSP1. We found that NSP1 binding to the 40S ribosome dramatically increases the binding affinity of mRNA, which, in agreement with experiment, suggests that NSP1 can stall mRNA translation. The mRNA translation has been found to be driven by electrostatic mRNA-40S ribosome interactions. Water molecules have been demonstrated to play an important role in stabilizing the mRNA-40S ribosome complex. The NSP1 residues that are critical in triggering a translation arrest have been identified.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.24.529933v1" target="_blank">Binding of SARS-CoV-2 non-structured protein 1 to 40S ribosome inhibits mRNA translation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cutaneous jet-injection of naked mRNA vaccine induces robust immune responses without systemic vaccine spillage</strong> -
<div>
Locally injected lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based mRNA vaccines migrate systemically, which could raise safety concerns. From a mechanistic viewpoint, whether local or systemic antigen expression contributes to the vaccine effects remains unclear. Herein, we localized the antigen protein expression using naked mRNA and drastically improved the delivery efficiency in the skin by jet injection. Consequently, jet-injected naked mRNA outperformed a widely-used LNP in humoral immunity induction at the highest tolerable mRNA doses of each formulation in mice. A mechanistic investigation suggests that antigen-presenting cells taking up antigens at the jet-injection site of naked mRNA migrate to draining lymph nodes, enabling robust immunization without systemic mRNA distribution. Ultimately, jet injection of SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA provided efficient antibody responses, neutralizing potential and cellular immunity in rodents and non-human primates with no reactogenicity. Conclusively, naked mRNA jet injection is a robust, tolerable, and simple vaccine candidate.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.27.530188v1" target="_blank">Cutaneous jet-injection of naked mRNA vaccine induces robust immune responses without systemic vaccine spillage</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cell Surface Nucleocapsid Protein Expression: A Betacoronavirus Immunomodulatory Strategy</strong> -
<div>
We recently reported that SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid (N) protein is abundantly expressed on the surface of both infected and neighboring uninfected cells, where it enables activation of Fc receptor-bearing immune cells with anti-N antibodies (Abs) and inhibits leukocyte chemotaxis by binding chemokines (CHKs). Here, we extend these findings to N from the seasonal human coronavirus (HCoV)-OC43, which is also robustly expressed on the surface of infected and non-infected cells by binding heparan-sulfate/heparin (HS/H). HCoV-OC43 N binds with high affinity to the same set of 11 human CHKs as SARS-CoV-2 N, but also to a non-overlapping set of 6 cytokines (CKs). As with SARS-CoV-2 N, HCoV-OC43 N inhibits CXCL12{beta}-mediated leukocyte migration in chemotaxis assays, as do all highly pathogenic and endemic HCoV N proteins. Together, our findings indicate that cell surface HCoV N plays important evolutionary conserved roles in manipulating host innate immunity and as a target for adaptive immunity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.24.529952v1" target="_blank">Cell Surface Nucleocapsid Protein Expression: A Betacoronavirus Immunomodulatory Strategy</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Genomic perspectives of SARS CoV-2 in liver disease patients with its clinical correlation: A single centre retrospective study</strong> -
<div>
Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2), is a causative agent of current global pandemic of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Due to propagated outbreak and global vaccination drive an immense immunological selection pressure has been exerted on SARS CoV-2 leading to evolution of new variants. This study was performed to compare the mutational and clinical profile of liver disease patients infected with different variants of SARS CoV-2. Methodology: This was a single-centre, retrospective, cohort study in which clinicogenomic analysis of liver disease (LD) patients infected with SARS CoV-2 was performed. Complete demographic and clinical details were retrieved from Hospital Information System (HIS). QC-threshold passed FASTA files containing sequences from COVID-19 patients (n=174) were compared with a reference genome of SARS-CoV-2 isolate named Wuhan-Hu-1 (NCBI Reference Sequence: NC_045512.2) for mutational analysis. Results: Out of 232 finally analysed patients 137 (59.1%) were LD-CoV (+) and 95 (40.9%) were LD-CoV(-). LD patients with comorbidities were affected more with COVID-19 (p=0.002). On comparing the outcome in the terms of mortality, LD-CoV (+) had 2.29 times (OR 2.29, CI 95%, 1.25-4.29) higher of odds of succumbing to COVID-19 (p=0.006). Multivariate regression analysis revealed, abdominal distention (p=0.05), severe COVID-19 pneumonia (p=0.046) and the change in serum bilirubin levels (p=0.005) as well as Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels (p=0.003) to have an association with adverse outcome in LD patients with COVID-19. In Delta (22%) and Omicron (48%) groups, Spike gene harboured maximum mutations. On comparing the mutations between LD-CoV(+/D) and LD-CoV(+/O) a total of nine genes had more mutations in LD-CoV(+/O) whereas three genes had more mutations in LD-CoV(+/D). Conclusion: We concluded that LD patients are more susceptible to COVID-19 as compared to a healthy adult with associated adverse clinical outcomes in terms of mortality and morbidity. Therefore this special group should be given priority while devising and introducing new vaccination and vaccination policies. The infection with different variants did not result in different outcome in our group of patients. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS CoV-2, Delta, Omicron, Liver disease
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.26.530067v1" target="_blank">Genomic perspectives of SARS CoV-2 in liver disease patients with its clinical correlation: A single centre retrospective study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A comparative analysis of state-of-the-art AI-based protein folding applied to SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
This paper discusses the importance of identifying and understanding the Variants of Concern (VOC) of COVID-19, which are mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have the potential to increase transmission, severity of disease, or the ability to evade immune responses. Protein modeling can be used to understand the structure of SARS-CoV-2 and its components, such as the spike protein. This paper presents a comparative study between the current state-of-the-art software for protein folding by applying them to different variants of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and showcasing the resulting TM-scores.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/vrmxe/" target="_blank">A comparative analysis of state-of-the-art AI-based protein folding applied to SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A myeloid program associated with COVID-19 severity is decreased by therapeutic blockade of IL-6 signaling</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Altered myeloid inflammation and lymphopenia are hallmarks of severe infections, including SARS-CoV-2. Here, we identified a gene program, defined by correlation with EN-RAGE (S100A12) gene expression, which was up-regulated in patient airway and blood myeloid cells. The EN-RAGE program was expressed in 7 cohorts and observed in patients with both COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) from other causes. This program was associated with greater clinical severity and predicted future mechanical ventilation and death. EN-RAGE+ myeloid cells express features consistent with suppressor cell functionality, with low HLA-DR and high PD-L1 surface expression and higher expression of T cell-suppressive genes. Sustained EN-RAGE signature expression in airway and blood myeloid cells correlated with clinical severity and increasing expression of T cell dysfunction markers, such as PD-1. IL-6 upregulated many of the severity-associated genes in the EN-RAGE gene program in vitro, along with potential mediators of T cell suppression, such as IL-10. Blockade of IL-6 signaling by tocilizumab in a placebo-controlled clinical trial led to rapid normalization of ENRAGE and T cell gene expression. This identifies IL-6 as a key driver of myeloid dysregulation associated with worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients and provides insights into shared pathophysiological mechanisms in non-COVID-19 ARDS.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.07.22282049v2" target="_blank">A myeloid program associated with COVID-19 severity is decreased by therapeutic blockade of IL-6 signaling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of primary allied healthcare in patients recovering from COVID-19: first results after six months follow-up in a Dutch nationwide prospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: To report the recovery of patients receiving primary allied healthcare after a COVID-19 infection at a six-month follow-up, and to explore which patient characteristics are associated with the changes in outcomes between the baseline and six-month follow-up. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Allied healthcare in Dutch primary care. Participants: 1,451 adult patients recovering from COVID-19 and receiving treatment from one or more primary care allied health professional(s) (i.e., dietitian, exercise therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and/or speech and language therapist). Results: For participation (USER-P range 0 to 100), estimated mean differences of at least 2.3 points were observed after six months. For HRQoL (EQ-VAS range 0 to 100), the mean increase was 12.31 at six months. Furthermore, significant improvements were found for fatigue (FSS range 1 to 7): the mean decrease was -0.7 at six months. For physical functioning (PROMIS-PF range 13.8 to 61.3), the mean increase was 5.9 at six months. Mean differences of -0.8 for anxiety (HADS range 0 to 21), and -1.5 for depression (HADS range 0 to 21), were found after six months. Having a worse baseline score, hospital admission and male sex were associated with greater improvement between the baseline and six-month follow-up, whereas age, BMI, comorbidities and smoking status were not associated with mean changes in any outcome measure. Conclusions: Patients recovering from COVID-19 who receive primary allied healthcare make progress in recovery, but still experience many limitations in their daily activities after six months. Our findings provide reference values to healthcare providers and healthcare policy-makers regarding what to expect from the recovery of patients who received health care from one or more primary care allied health professionals. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registry (NCT04735744).
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.03.22280639v3" target="_blank">Evaluation of primary allied healthcare in patients recovering from COVID-19: first results after six months follow-up in a Dutch nationwide prospective cohort study</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>Exercise Training Six-Months After Discharge in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Aerobic exercise and strength training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ukbe Sirayder<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm C (Fluticasone)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Fluticasone;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm A (Ivmermectin 400)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>Counter-Regulatory Hormonal and Stress Systems in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Blood sampling<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS<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>Exploratory Efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine in Patients With History of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: N-Acetylcysteine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS<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 Specific miRNA Encoded by SARS-CoV-2 as a Diagnostic Tool to Predict Disease Severity in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: miRNA analysis in plasma<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS<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>Telerehabilitation in the Post-COVID-19 Patient (TRIALS)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Telerehabilitation program<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Istituto Auxologico Italiano<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>Application and Research of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Alleviating Severe Development of COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells implantation;   Other: Comparator<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hebei Medical 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>Cognitive Rehabilitation for People With Cognitive Covid19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Cognitive rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University College, London;   Bangor University;   St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;   University of Brighton;   University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust;   Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust<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>MGC Health COVID-19 &amp; Flu A+B Home Multi Test Usability Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Influenza A;   Influenza B<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Diagnostic Test: MGC Health COVID-19 &amp; Flu A+B Home Multi Test;   Diagnostic Test: MGC Health COVID-19 &amp; Flu A+B Home Multi Test (2 to 13 y/o)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Medical Group Care, LLC;   CSSi Life Sciences<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>Washing COVID-19 Away With a Hypertonic Seawater Nasal Irrigation Solution</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Hypertonic seawater solution<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Larissa University Hospital<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>A Study of HH-120 Nasal Spray in Close Contacts of Those Diagnosed With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: HH-120 Nasal Spray<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Beijing Ditan Hospital<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>Mitigating Mental and Social Health Outcomes of COVID-19: A Counseling Approach</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Social Determinants of Health;   Mental Health Issue;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Individual Counseling;   Other: Group Counseling;   Other: Resources<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   New Mexico State University;   National Institutes of Health (NIH)<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>To Evaluate the Safety, Efficacy,and Pharmacokinetics of Orally Administered Prolectin-M</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS CoV 2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Prolectin-M<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bioxytran Inc.<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>Post COVID-19 REspiratory Mechanisms and the Efficacy of a Breathing Exercise Intervention for DYsregulated Breathing</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Respiratory Disease<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Breathing techniques over 12 sessions / 6 weeks inc yoga<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Nottingham<br/><b>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>Development of a screening platform to discover natural products active against SARS-CoV-2 infection using lung organoid models</strong> - CONCLUSION: This screening platform will open new paths by providing a promising standard system for discovering novel drug leads against SARS-CoV-2 and help develop promising candidates for clinical investigation as potential therapeutics for COVID-19.</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 protection of a variant nanoparticle vaccine that confers broad neutralization against SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged with elevated transmission and a higher risk of infection for vaccinated individuals. We demonstrate that a recombinant prefusion-stabilized spike (rS) protein vaccine based on Beta/B.1.351 (rS-Beta) produces a robust anamnestic response in baboons against SARS-CoV-2 variants when given as a booster one year after immunization with NVX-CoV2373. Additionally, rS-Beta is highly immunogenic in mice and produces neutralizing antibodies against WA1/2020, Beta/B.1.351,…</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>Cyanovirin-N binds to select SARS-CoV-2 spike oligosaccharides outside of the receptor binding domain and blocks infection by SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped positive stranded RNA virus which has caused the recent deadly pandemic called COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 virion is coated with a heavily glycosylated Spike glycoprotein which is responsible for attachment and entry into target cells. One, as yet unexploited strategy for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections, is the targeting of the glycans on Spike. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins produced by plants, algae, 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>Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cellular systems using engineered trimeric receptor-binding domain of spike protein</strong> - Here, we provide a protocol for the design, expression, purification, and functional studies of an engineered trimeric version of the receptor-binding domain (tRBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We describe the use of tRBD to block SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudovirus and true virus binding to cellular angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), thereby blocking viral infection. This protocol is applicable to generate a trimeric version of any protein of interest. For complete details on the use 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>Safety and Biodistribution of Nanoligomers Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Genome for the Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - As the world braces to enter its fourth year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the need for accessible and effective antiviral therapeutics continues to be felt globally. The recent surge of Omicron variant cases has demonstrated that vaccination and prevention alone cannot quell the spread of highly transmissible variants. A safe and nontoxic therapeutic with an adaptable design to respond to the emergence of new variants is critical for transitioning to the treatment of…</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>An approach combining deep learning and molecule docking for drug discovery of cathepsin L</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our approach enables drug discovery from large-scale databases with little computational consumption, which will save the cost and time required for drug discovery.</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>Search of Novel Small Molecule Inhibitors for the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has prompted the necessity of efficient treatment strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic was caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Main protease (Mpro), also called 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL protease), plays an essential role in cleaving virus polyproteins for the functional replication complex. Therefore, Mpro is a promising drug target for COVID-19 therapy. Through molecular modelling, docking…</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>The Interplay among Glucocorticoid Therapy, Platelet-Activating Factor and Endocannabinoid Release Influences the Inflammatory Response to COVID-19</strong> - COVID-19 is associated with a dysregulated immune response. Currently, several medicines are licensed for the treatment of this disease. Due to their significant role in inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokines and lipid mediators, glucocorticoids (GCs) have attracted a great deal of attention. Similarly, the endocannabinoid (eCB) system regulates various physiological processes including the immunological response. Additionally, during inflammatory and thrombotic processes, phospholipids from cell…</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>Efficacy Validation of SARS-CoV-2-Inactivation and Viral Genome Stability in Saliva by a Guanidine Hydrochloride and Surfactant-Based Virus Lysis/Transport Buffer</strong> - To enhance biosafety and reliability in SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnosis, virus lysis/transport buffers should inactivate the virus and preserve viral RNA under various conditions. Herein, we evaluated the SARS-CoV-2-inactivating activity of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl)- and surfactant (hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (Hexa-DTMC))-based buffer, Prep Buffer A, (Precision System Science Co., Ltd., Matsudo, Japan) and its efficacy in maintaining the stability of viral RNA at different…</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 Tetrahydroisoquinoline-Based Heterocyclic Compounds Efficiently Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infection <em>In Vitro</em></strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused over six million deaths and huge economic burdens worldwide. Antivirals against its causative agent, SARS-CoV-2, are in urgent demand. Previously, we reported that heterocylic compounds, i.e., chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), are potent in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro. In this study, we discussed the syntheses of two novel heterocylic compounds: tert-butyl…</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>Antiviral Activity of Micafungin and Its Derivatives against SARS-CoV-2 RNA Replication</strong> - Echinocandin antifungal drugs, including micafungin, anidulafungin, and caspofungin, have been recently reported to exhibit antiviral effects against various viruses such as flavivirus, alphavirus, and coronavirus. In this study, we focused on micafungin and its derivatives and analyzed their antiviral activities against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The micafungin derivatives Mi-2 and Mi-5 showed higher antiviral activity than micafungin, with 50% maximal…</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>Virtual Screening-Based Peptides Targeting Spike Protein to Inhibit Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) Infection</strong> - Due to the rapid mutation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), existing vaccines cannot provide sufficient immune protection for pigs. Therefore, it is urgent to design the affinity peptides for the prevention and control of this disease. In this study, we made use of a molecular docking technology for virtual screening of affinity peptides that specifically recognized the PEDV S1 C-terminal domain (CTD) protein for the first time. Experimentally, the affinity, cross-reactivity 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>Crude Extracts of <em>Talaromyces</em> Strains (Ascomycota) Affect Honey Bee (<em>Apis mellifera</em>) Resistance to Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus</strong> - Viruses contribute significantly to the global decline of honey bee populations. One way to limit the impact of such viruses is the introduction of natural antiviral compounds from fungi as a component of honey bee diets. Therefore, we examined the effect of crude organic extracts from seven strains of the fungal genus Talaromyces in honey bee diets under laboratory conditions. The strains were isolated from bee bread prepared by honey bees infected with chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV). The…</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>How Different Pathologies Are Affected by IFIT Expression</strong> - The type-I interferon (IFN) system represents the first line of defense against viral pathogens. Recognition of the virus initiates complex signaling pathways that result in the transcriptional induction of IFNs, which are then secreted. Secreted IFNs stimulate nearby cells and result in the production of numerous proinflammatory cytokines and antiviral factors. Of particular note, IFN-induced tetratricopeptide repeat (IFIT) proteins have been thoroughly studied because of their antiviral…</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>The D405N Mutation in the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 Inhibits Spike/Integrins Interaction and Viral Infection of Human Lung Microvascular Endothelial Cells</strong> - Severe COVID-19 is characterized by angiogenic features, such as intussusceptive angiogenesis, endothelialitis, and activation of procoagulant pathways. This pathological state can be ascribed to a direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of human lung ECs. Recently, we showed the capability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect ACE2-negative primary human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HL-mECs). This occurred through the interaction of an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif, endowed on the Spike protein at position 403-405,…</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>An Anniversary of Destruction, Loss, and Bravery in Ukraine</strong> - Ukrainians have responded with remarkable dignity and courage, but there is little to romanticize one year into the Russian invasion. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/an-anniversary-of-destruction-loss-and-bravery-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Government Cancelled Betty Ann’s Debts</strong> - For a ninety-one-year-old law-school graduate, the Department of Education discharged more than three hundred thousand dollars in student debt. Could relief be that simple? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-government-forgave-betty-anns-debts">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Is Ron DeSantis Doing to Florida’s Public Liberal-Arts College?</strong> - DeSantis is not simply inveighing against progressive control of institutions. He is using his powers as governor to remake them. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/what-is-ron-desantis-doing-to-floridas-public-liberal-arts-college">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s O.K. to Be Confused About This Economy</strong> - Even the experts don’t really know where inflation and jobs are headed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/its-ok-to-be-confused-about-this-economy">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Battling Corruption in Ukraine—and the U.S.</strong> - The Biden Administration calls for greater financial transparency around the world. This country could use more of it, too. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/battling-corruption-in-ukraine-and-the-us">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Money Talks: The identical twins running a hometown business</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration of two brothers painting T-shirts, backs to each other, with the St. Louis Arch between them." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eEZutSqTkWH4EXj1Ta1PngweZko=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72025190/VOX_MoneyTalks3_FINAL.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Chloe Cushman for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Jeff and Randy run a T-shirt store and community destination that shows off their St. Louis pride.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZUZApA">
<em>Jeff and Randy Vines are 44-year-old identical twins. They’re also the creators and co-owners of </em><a href="https://www.stl-style.com/"><em>STL-Style</em></a><em>, a St. Louis apparel store that has become a destination for locals and tourists alike. STL-Style has been in its Cherokee Street storefront since 2010, with no plans to expand into a bigger location — even though the business has annual sales of just over $1 million.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPibz8">
<em>Here’s how the Vines brothers turned a love for their hometown into a thriving small business, creating not only T-shirts, but also a gathering space for St. Louis residents. </em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u3XM34">
<strong>Randy:</strong> From an early age, we were always obsessed with our city, St. Louis. We wanted to show it off and represent it in a way that was cool and stylish and honest. When we first started toying around with the idea of T-shirts, circa 2000, it was because there wasn’t any St. Louis apparel out there that we wanted to wear. It was all embarrassing touristy stuff, back then.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LjYbnx">
We started cranking out designs that we came up with; we got the help of one of our graphic designer friends, and started doing this side hustle thing on the weekends and after hours. Turning out designs we thought were cool, that we wanted to wear, and printing a few shirts here and there. Sure enough, it resonated with a bigger audience: “I really like your shirt, where can I get one of those?” People started asking if we would make shirts for their friends. It took on a life of its own.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2wOV3h">
We first started printing our shirts with an old-school crank press on our friend’s kitchen table. It was a pretty low-tech process, but it worked for our purposes back then. As we grew, we used the proceeds from our sales to invest in better equipment, and before too long we teamed up with some friends of ours who had a screen printing business. In 2010 we found ourselves with a storefront lease on Cherokee Street, which is in a very cool, up-and-coming neighborhood in South St. Louis, and we’ve been there ever since.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cS7g1p">
We have a retail store that is a destination for St. Louis-centric gift items and apparel, and we also have a robust screen printing business as well. Right now the majority of our revenue comes from custom-designed, screen-printed promotional items for events, schools, corporations, that kind of thing. That’s the bread and butter. The retail store, the online store, that’s the icing. It pays the overhead and helps sustain the business.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pqXgwU">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> It’s a destination. People come to shop at our store.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fwkgpj">
<strong>Randy: </strong>Our store is our favorite part of the business. It also brings in the people who become our clients.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gtBIyu">
<strong>Jeff: </strong>I had previously worked at a bowling shirt company, so I understood how the T-shirt business worked. Randy, at the time, was in hotel management. He had the customer service stuff down. It was a natural fit, the way we came together, but it wasn’t planned at all. I lost my job unexpectedly, and our friend, who is still our landlord, offered us the space.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zfNevm">
<strong>Randy:</strong> It had always been a pipe dream, to sell St. Louis stuff all the time, but we had no business acumen at all. We weren’t expecting to do it as a full-time enterprise. It was always going to be a sideline hobby. A hustle. But we found ourselves with this unique opportunity— we could either run this shop and try to make a go of it, or we could open on the weekends and keep our day jobs. We decided to really dedicate ourselves to this idea, and if it failed, at least we tried.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mqHEns">
It did the opposite of fail. We created an institution in the city.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nCdMVD">
<strong>Jeff: </strong>We never had a business plan, and we never tried to follow a mold. We were freewheeling, trying things out. We actually met with a job counselor. We wanted to know what we should do. At that time we were selling T-shirts for fun, but the job counselor kept coming back to it as the nucleus of all our interests and skills. That was one of the reasons we decided to do it full-time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9RqvgG">
<strong>Randy:</strong> We never worked together in a professional capacity until we opened our shop, but we produced a public access TV show with a couple of friends for four years during the 1990s and that probably influenced the course of our lives more than anything else we’ve ever done. Our great-grandfather emigrated to the US in his early 30s and owned and operated a shoe repair shop on the North Side of St. Louis for decades, so maybe the brick-and-mortar shopkeeping gig is in our DNA!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40qzSj">
We weren’t trying to start a “twin” business. That’s never been our brand. But we’ve always been interested in the same things. We’re also uninterested in anything artificial or contrived or pretentious. We wanted to create a brand that reflected St. Louis in all its glory. We wanted to make sure that whatever we put out there, in the store or online, was an honest reflection of how we perceive the city and how we want our customers to perceive us. We don’t shy away from the grit and the grime, or the potentially controversial designs. These are inherent in our brand and what we’re all about.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aUfBCu">
Our bestselling shirt is “Saint Fuckin Louis.” That’s been our bestseller since we opened the doors. We also run limited-edition, politically inspired items depending on what’s going on locally or nationally. We do not shy away from posting publicly about our progressive politics or our stance on certain issues. We’ve always been told that it’s a bad idea to mix politics and business, but we figured, for every one person we offend and lose, there are another 10 people who respect us. We win their loyalty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UnBcan">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> We intentionally don’t have price tags on a lot of our in-store items. At first it was because we were lazy, and then we realized it was an advantage. It gave us an opportunity to talk to every person who came in. You can’t buy anything without striking up a conversation. It’s really kind of a beautiful thing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iUm59N">
<strong>Randy:</strong> It’s very important to us that the shop creates an experience for everyone who walks in the door. It’s not conventional retail, buy your goods and leave, thank you. We wanted to create an experience that can’t be replicated in any other retail environment. We’re a gathering spot. A place for civic discourse, where people can talk about the city or the political environment. Local elections. National elections! A forum for exchanging ideas and thoughts and good vibes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="96kqCg">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> We also do organized tours in conjunction with the History Museum.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g4t6xm">
<strong>Randy:</strong> Walking tours of Cherokee Street, bus tours of the city.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UR5Msa">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> Talks to school groups.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zuo4wD">
<strong>Randy:</strong> Design workshops for summer camps.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZtrkX">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> Entrepreneurship forums.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zpgDT3">
<strong>Randy:</strong> Our business isn’t just about making money for ourselves and our staff. It’s also about creating something that the city can use.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UgXkk2">
<strong>Jeff: </strong>Cherokee Street is not an established shopping district, so people have to seek us out. We did that intentionally, because we wanted to give people a reason to discover a part of the city [they] might not ever see.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IDUfbI">
We’re in a very artistic part of St. Louis, and many of the people we hire have artistic backgrounds. They help us bring our ideas to life, and they contribute great ideas of their own.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jDlXFL">
<strong>Randy:</strong> We’ve never used conventional hiring practices. It’s a gut feeling. It’s an emotional thing. Some of our employees have been hired when we weren’t even looking to hire and they weren’t even looking for a job!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EJpyB0">
<strong>Jeff:</strong> I think we have one of the lowest turnovers for a retail store in St. Louis. Some of our employees have been with us for five years or more. We’re still in touch with just about everyone we’ve ever hired.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iu2jlu">
<strong>Randy:</strong> Every single employee we’ve had working at the shop — we’re on good terms with all of them. Very rarely have we ever had to let someone go, but even in the cases where we did, we’re on good terms. Former employees, in some cases, we let them hang on to their keys to the shop.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yfjVk5">
<strong>Jeff: </strong>It’s like a second home. We always wanted it to be that way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GwkeW4">
<strong>Randy:</strong> We’ve had these sweetheart offers to expand, open a second location, set up kiosks, move to a bigger space — all of that’s great and we get why other businesses want to do that, but we feel like we’ve immersed everything in our souls into the space we have. There’s no way to create this anywhere else.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s8Blse">
<em>Nicole Dieker is a personal finance writer whose work has appeared in Bankrate, Lifehacker, Morning Brew, and Dwell. She is also the author of the </em><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__shortwavepublishing.com_series_larkin-2Dday-2Dmystery_&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=7MSjEE-cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&amp;r=K3OysPjapihGd3XjPRBuh7gL1yPrgKgJzffvEhj5_vY&amp;m=I1FsbVN-wt271t48SjG6zgXFVjf66d8yt6UNWScIN16rEZdmliJUnAXo7iAznGub&amp;s=J--TBwXu_Z_iXAVCjq3IS5NQnnRGP-b20umkrdibpAA&amp;e="><strong>Larkin Day Mysteries</strong></a><em>, a comedy-cozy mystery series set in eastern Iowa, and </em><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__shortwavepublishing.com_series_what-2Dit-2Dis-2Dand-2Dwhat-2Dto-2Ddo-2Dnext_&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=7MSjEE-cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&amp;r=K3OysPjapihGd3XjPRBuh7gL1yPrgKgJzffvEhj5_vY&amp;m=I1FsbVN-wt271t48SjG6zgXFVjf66d8yt6UNWScIN16rEZdmliJUnAXo7iAznGub&amp;s=x631RAxxBC9qT5lR7XnXI3zn5ZnVfpzFV_Rmc-aSyAo&amp;e="><em><strong>WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT</strong></em></a><em>, a quarterly zine about understanding reality.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>The surprising lesson from a century of Oscar scandals</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="US actress Halle Berry celebrates as she holds her Oscar statuette." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8NhKxuzJF85gpo1QCNHQnMpboQA=/0x0:1600x1200/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72025130/51704004.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Halle Berry strikes a pose after winning her Oscar in 2002. She’s still the only Black woman to win the top award in the Best Actress category. | Lee Celano/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Michael Schulman on why the Oscars are always behind the times, and his new book, Oscar Wars<em>.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfbHDS">
What even is the point of the Oscars?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yXubTY">
Every year, I find myself asking that question, and every year I have a different answer. They’re a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/3/14438768/best-picture-analysis-oscars-elites-diversity">cultural barometer</a>. They’re a way to <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23608698/oscars-popular-blockbuster-2023">spotlight movies</a> that got lost in the mega-blockbuster vortex. They’re <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2020/1/29/21060179/oscars-academy-awards-season">ridiculous</a>. <a href="https://www.vox.com/22999406/coda-oscars-best-picture-sundance">They’re</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/27/14748332/moonlight-best-picture-why-it-won">surprising</a>. They’re a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/28/22999282/ads-academy-awards-tv-save-the-oscars-sponcon">big, hot mess</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H3HPEh">
<em>Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears</em>, by New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman, wades into that perennial question via a terrifically entertaining structure: He looks at a decade of scandals at the Oscars, the things that went horribly wrong, the shenanigans people talked about and argued about and still get a little salty about every year when the Oscars roll around again. In so doing, he traces an evolution in the way the Oscars — and the industry group that gives them out, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences — have evolved. And along the way, we get to learn how scandals around bad behavior, weird winners, snubs, and blow-ups tell us something about ourselves as a country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vtgCjb">
It’s a great book, and I was delighted to talk to Schulman about it. In our conversation (which has been lightly edited for clarity), we discuss some of the zaniest chaos the Oscars has provoked, the reason they even got started in the first place, and what the future could hold, maybe.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X4ZpaO">
<strong>Every year, people ask me the same question: “Is there a cash prize if you win the Oscar?” When I say no, the follow-up is often, “Then why does everyone work so hard to get one?” I explain that winning an Oscar can come with indirect monetary gain (winners may get more and better work), but more importantly, it’s about gaining cultural power.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HW9OQh">
<strong>That’s what you say at the beginning of your book, that the common thread through all of the Oscar controversies is the story of people looking to get power, hang on to power, and decide who else gets to have power. Was there a point that you realized that’s what was behind all of this Oscars hubbub?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fl5uZ4">
I spent four years researching and writing the book, and I think I wrote that section about power at the end, when I was trying to stand back and figure out what the common threads were. Of course, there are a couple, like cultural change and generational conflict.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TorWU0">
But when I really thought about what human theme was beneath every episode covered in the book, it was power. It was people trying to maintain their power or snatch power from outside the system or beat someone else at the Oscar game.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="az9Bus">
From the time that the Academy Awards were created, it was this talisman for people. As soon as there was an award to win, people wanted to win it. And I think there are a lot of psychological reasons for that. I mean, who doesn’t want adulation from their peers and reinforcement for their ego? It’s certainly good for your career most of the time — with the notable exception of the “<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/oscars-2016-oscar-curse-women-hollywood">Oscar curse</a>” that strikes some people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f3v2xJ">
But it’s hard. People are always trying to attain power in Hollywood. It’s a very tumultuous, uncertain, unpredictable business. So besides money and position, the Oscar is one tangible way of attaining power and influence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="80I0Yx">
<strong>I have a friend who always says that it’s relatively easy to tell how much money you have because you just look at your bank account and you kind of know. But it’s impossible to tell how much power you have. So any marker of power is something to grasp after, even if from the outside it looks like you’re a very powerful person.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ajm9nj">
Yeah. Or how much talent you have. People who make any kind of art are always insecure, trying to grasp at some proof that they’re good at what they do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mMeqE4">
<strong>I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0RnIVN">
Writers included!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOyctd">
So prizes for artistic pursuits give you some reassurance. There’s a quote near the beginning of the book from Terry Press, who is a longtime marketing executive. I asked her at one point, what is all this for? Why do people want Oscars?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vO8hIn">
And she said, “Ego and bragging rights. It’s a town built on a rock-solid foundation of insecurity.”
</p>
<aside id="IG1ER6">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VXETcV">
<strong>One thing I love about your narrative is that it’s not just a collection of weird anecdotes, which is certainly a book someone could have written; it’s an argument. You make the case, explicitly but also implicitly, that when we look at Oscars and Hollywood more broadly, we’re seeing a weirdly entertaining encapsulation of very specific anxieties in American culture at that moment. The great film critic and cultural historian Jim Hoberman calls it </strong><a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/dream-life"><strong>the “dream life”</strong></a><strong> of the country. It’s the fantasies and the fears all wrapped up into one.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vDecXc">
<strong>But I think what people forget — and what you bring to life — is that it really all started with fears about respectability, and also labor. Those two issues actually are the reason we have the Oscars at all.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Z2KSj">
The Academy was founded in 1927 by 36 founding members who really represented a cross-section of influence and power in Hollywood in the silent era. Their rhetoric from that time is so utopian. They talk about how they wanted to be “the League of Nations for Hollywood.” They talk about creating harmony and promoting motion pictures throughout the world, and that’s all well and good, but there were basically two underlying, ongoing crises for Hollywood that are the subtexts of those statements.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0jN3nI">
One is that Hollywood was, by and large, not a unionized town in the ’20s. The craftspeople were unionized, but not the artists, not the actors, writers, and directors. There were signs that they might start to organize, and that was a big problem for people like [MGM founder] Louis B. Mayer and the other studio heads.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Mary Pickford, Warner Baxter And Hans Kraly Receiving An Oscar 1929" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Br_3JQ75mIKR6kN9s4iLUpP2_CU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24468518/106504328.jpg"/> <cite>Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
William C. Demille, Mary PIckford, Warner Baxter, and Hans Kraly at the first Academy Awards in 1929.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GUK6De">
So, one of the reasons the Academy was invented was to mediate disputes over salaries or hirings and firings and to oversee contract negotiations. There was a lot of resentment from the rank and file because they saw this as a kind of company union that would preempt actual labor unions. Which was true! The birth of the Academy managed to push off the creation of guilds in Hollywood for about five years, until the Depression hit and the labor movement of the ’30s gave rise to SAG and other guilds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2FcrvB">
The other thing that was happening in 1920s Hollywood is that there was a series of very salacious scandals, like the arrest of Paramount’s Fatty Arbuckle for rape and murder, and other murders and sex scandals and drug scandals. Then as now, there was a culture war in the country. The conservative element saw Hollywood as a cesspool of sin. There was a real threat of censorship laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uW7F4g">
So the Academy, this new organization, helped rebrand Hollywood not as a cesspool but as an “academy,” a very lofty idea. The Academy Awards were originally just kind of one item on a long list of ideas the Academy had. But it has to do with that goal of elevating the idea of motion pictures as an art form, so that it wasn’t seen as this gutter activity that would corrupt whoever stumbled into its path.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AVfNPp">
<strong>All of this points to something I’m always thinking about: that Hollywood is a fundamentally conservative place, in the sense that on the highest levels of decision-making, it’s risk-averse and fixated on what’s “okay” to show the country about itself, on what won’t rock the boat. For a long period in the 20th century, the studio execs even explicitly saw themselves as guardians of America’s morality. That arises in some of the scandals in your book: that they were and are conservative on matters of gender and power, homophobia, race, and more.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OtR5Cf">
<strong>One particularly notable example is what happened with the </strong><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hollywood-blacklist"><strong>Hollywood blacklist</strong></a><strong> and HUAC. I had never heard that wild story about screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TpFpsa">
Oh, isn’t it great?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SwmLi3">
<strong>It’s incredible.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="su4Gp0">
One of my favorite semi-forgotten Oscar scandals, because it’s so weird. In 1957, the award for Best Motion Picture Story — a category that no longer exists — went to someone named “Robert Rich” for a movie called <em>The Brave One</em>, which was about a Mexican boy and his bull. Robert Rich was not in attendance. In the days after the ceremony, no one could locate him. That is because he did not exist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JZtXUu">
The producers of the movie said he was a guy they met in Munich, an ex-GI, who sold them this story, but they didn’t know where he was. Maybe Europe, maybe Australia. Life [magazine] actually ran an illustration of what Robert Rich might look like, based on their recollections. It’s such a funny picture. It says he has an aquiline nose, parted hair, such-and-such height.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ttjhl">
But really, he was a pseudonym, a front for Dalton Trumbo, who was the most famous screenwriter on the Hollywood blacklist. He had actually been to prison already, as one of the Hollywood Ten.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Protesters hold signs that read, “The reds are back in Hollywood,” and, “Preminger, did you have to hire the notorious commie Trumbo?”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3yLuPD9BSi4O8ft6E-klGsCI6kM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24468525/1354029776.jpg"/> <cite>American Stock Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
In 1960, a group of protesters demonstrate. against Communist sympathizers outside the Fox Wilshire Theatre at the premiere of film <em>Exodus</em>, which marked the end of the Hollywood Blacklist. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, a Communist Party member from 1943 to 1948 and a member of the Hollywood Ten, was credited as the screenwriter of the film.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EMNJnI">
What I really love about this story is that once Trumbo saw that this phantom person, “Robert Rich,” won an Oscar for his work, he realized he could use that to turn the tables on the blacklist and try to destroy it by creating a PR crisis for the Academy. He used his wit and his cleverness and his words, and he played the press in order to fan this ridiculous controversy. It went on for two years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4HqjSe">
He actually wrote a poem and sent it in to Life. It’s so funny. It goes, “Come back, Robert Rich, wherever you are / Return so the ghost can be shriven. / Do you live on the moon? Do you live on a star? / Is that where your legends are scriven?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fwpMyj">
Trumbo was such a smart, waggish writer, and at the end of all this, he managed to basically manipulate the Academy into dropping its rule against blacklisted people being eligible for awards. The rule only lasted two years because the Academy realized it was unenforceable, and it just kept creating one embarrassing PR crisis for them after another. It was an open secret that these really prominent screenwriters were working on the black market under fake names and being paid bargain rates. Trumbo exploited that hypocrisy by playing up this Robert Rich scandal to the hilt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dnGjM2">
<strong>It does seem like the history of the Oscars is a history of PR crises that the Academy created for itself and failed to anticipate — right up to the present, with #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo. Is there some reason that this keeps happening?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYCjtP">
Well, yes. Hollywood is built on perception and optics and public relations. And on one very fundamental level, the Oscars are a marketing event. Often, in Hollywood, things don’t happen unless they become a PR problem, and people are forced to change something or move or do something.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JaPEAj">
That sounds very cynical, and it mostly is. But when you think about it, #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite became big movements because of a herd mentality. They had to build until the point where the powers that be felt that it was more damaging to stand still than to enact change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CS174O">
The Academy tends to be more reactive than proactive when it comes to criticism and changing with the times. This is the same story as 1969, 1970, when the Academy was woefully out of step with the baby boom and it hadn’t really reached across the generation gap. The Academy president, Gregory Peck, realized that something had to be done.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SGAW0k">
So, just like in 2016 after #OscarsSoWhite, he realized that the only way the Academy could survive and be relevant was to bring in more people and update the membership. But this was 1969 and the Academy was still giving <em>Oliver!</em> Best Picture.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qEhpqJ">
Then, in a single year, the Best Picture winner went from <em>Oliver!</em>, which was rated G, to <em>Midnight Cowboy</em>, which was rated X. So I asked, what happened in that year to make the Academy change course so drastically and finally embrace the counterculture?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eefPBA">
<strong>What you’re describing when you say that Hollywood is slow to change is, in a sense, the story of American society. One thing you write about that really underlines this is all the racism and tokenism that has marked the Oscars over nearly a century. Something I gleaned from your book is that the milestones illuminate failures rather than wins. It’s not really a win when it’s the 2020s and someone is the first minority to be nominated in their category.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o4zmsJ">
I have a chapter that braids the stories of three pioneering Black Oscar winners: Hattie McDaniel for <em>Gone With the Wind</em>, Sidney Poitier for <em>Lilies of the Field</em>, and Halle Berry for <em>Monster’s Ball</em>. They were all the first Black actors to win in those categories. And I thought it was amazing that their stories had so many parallels. Each won the Oscar, and it was hailed as this historic moment by the Academy and by Hollywood.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wMzfvb">
However, for each of them, it was a very isolating experience. They had to represent everyone, but they were pleasing almost no one. And they all received backlash from the Black community. In Hattie McDaniel’s case, for instance, she won for playing Mammy in <em>Gone With the Wind,</em> and then spent the rest of her career fighting with the NAACP, which was trying to get Hollywood to broaden its role for Black actors beyond mammies and the like. She was really stuck in that mammy archetype.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r92nPs">
Sidney Poitier had a similar issue where he was suddenly criticized for being too wholesome and upstanding, and quickly fell out of fashion during the rise of Blaxploitation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T6V80S">
And then Halle Berry — I think we forget how much criticism and ridicule she received for her speech. It was almost shocking to go back <em>just to 2002 </em>and look at what the public reaction was like. People writing in to newspapers saying that she shouldn’t have made it all about race, that she embarrassed herself by crying so much, that she had been too sexual in her role in <em>Monster’s Ball</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c3BfQv">
All three of them had these experiences where they could be held up by Hollywood as proof of progress, and yet their experience of these victories was something very different.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5AJMmF">
<strong>That is absolutely still true today. Every time I have to come up with a list of “milestones” in the Oscar nominations, it’s like, “Really? This person is the first to be nominated in this?” It’s really kind of shocking.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UHZXzx">
There still hasn’t been a Black Best Director winner. I mean, seriously? A Black person has never won Best Director. No person of color has won Best Actress since Halle Berry. And she was the first! She was the only one!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NlJyW3">
I end that chapter with something Halle Berry said in 2016: She had waited 15 years to see someone follow in her footsteps, and no one did. She said that it was heartbreaking because in her speech, she said, “Tonight a door has been opened.” But 15 years later, she realized she thought it was a moment that was bigger than her, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she hadn’t opened a door. That was heartbreaking to her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5dV8fU">
And there certainly isn’t going to be a Black Best Actress winner this year because nobody is even not nominated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="21xTRn">
<strong>That raises a final question for me. The Oscars hold an outsized place in the minds of ordinary people. People care more about the Oscars than any other awards; they don’t care about the Emmys the same way, or even the Grammys. There are reasons for that. The Oscars story is very neat; it acts like a sports season crossed with a political campaign. It’s got the players and the shockers and the plot twists.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kVdmW7">
<strong>But now that we’ve reached 2023, it’s very clear to me that the Oscars as a cultural phenomenon are on the decline. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. There are factors at play. Having written this book, what do you think the future of the Oscars is?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yd18JM">
It’s an interesting question, but it’s hard to say.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hbUtVj">
We’re in a moment of extreme skepticism toward longstanding institutions in general, whether it’s the Oscars or Washington or the New York Times. We’re in an anti-institutional moment. Maybe that’s a good thing; maybe it’s a bad thing. But it’s undeniably true.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2E4pCQ">
The Oscars’ ratings have been on a downslide. They bumped up a little bit last year; the low point was 2021, the pandemic Oscars that were held in an LA train station.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uisKKU">
But I think part of the problem is that firstly, the monoculture has declined. It’s very hard now to get the entire country, much less the world, to all watch the same thing on TV. Pop culture is much more fragmented. So I don’t think there’s ever going to be an audience for the Oscars like there was 30 years ago.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xclsp8">
The other thing that’s really changed is the role of movies in our lives. Movies themselves aren’t as central to American culture as they once were. In particular, Hollywood is very bifurcated right now between these big tentpole movies like the Marvel movies and <em>Avatar</em>, which seem to be the only thing that people rush out to the theaters to go see, and then on the other side, indie movies and stuff that winds up on streaming that people are very comfortable staying home and watching on Paramount+ or HBO Max or Netflix.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rJn2MM">
What doesn’t exist as much anymore is the mid-level movie. And those have always helped tie the Oscars to mainstream American culture. For instance, when you think back to the ’90s, you had movies like <em>Forrest Gump</em> and <em>The English Patient</em> or <em>Good Will Hunting</em>. Those were adult dramas that everyone saw. They were big hits, and they weren’t superhero movies, but they also weren’t little indie movies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nD4xGr">
Because of that, when the Oscar list came out every year, people had seen these movies. And I think now when the Oscar nominations come out, a lot of people are left scratching their heads. They complain, “I haven’t seen any of these. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23608698/oscars-popular-blockbuster-2023">What the hell?</a>”
</p>
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</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OdJQsR">
But I don’t think that’s the Oscars’ fault, and I don’t think that the Academy can really do anything about that. They keep trying to incorporate more popular movies. Last year, you could vote online for your Audience Favorite. Years ago, they tried to add a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/8/17664682/oscars-popular-film-category-2019">Best Popular Film category</a>, and people ridiculed it so much that they basically just retreated it into the hedges and it never happened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBENnp">
I think that’s fine. I don’t think that’s what the Oscars are for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kckOEx">
But it is an issue for the relevance of the Academy Awards because people need to be invested, they need to be watching the movies, and the Oscars do a great job of lifting up and giving oxygen to little movies like <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23385471/tar-review-cate-blanchett-field"><em>Tár</em></a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23345084/women-talking-review-tiff-augustine"><em>Women Talking</em></a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23484805/best-movies-2022-streaming-theaters"><em>Aftersun</em></a> and stuff that’s nominated now, against the <em>Avatar</em>s and the <em>Top Guns</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eZYaPh">
I don’t have a crystal ball, and I don’t think the Oscars will cease to exist anytime soon. But as I look at the book and the almost century of history that it covers, I do wonder, is this the history of something that is, on some level, over? Or is it just cyclical? There are so many times in Hollywood history where the technology changes or taste changes and it gives birth to something great, like it did in the New Hollywood of the ’70s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="81ZWZq">
I don’t know. I’ll be interested to see.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wUwqWD">
Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears<em> is available at booksellers nationwide.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>It’s time for Biden to take on the NIMBYs</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Row of multifamily houses under construction" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2eVhXFVA1Cf-DwpVaY-04zE1OBI=/807x0:3756x2212/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72025053/1244775498.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Housing under construction in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 13, 2022. | Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The White House could do more to address the housing shortage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d1Pbfz">
For decades, the US has built fewer homes than it needs<strong> </strong>— a trend that has<strong> </strong>led to soaring <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-10/us-rental-housing-crisis-spirals-on-inflation-pressure-pandemic-migration">rent</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/upshot/home-prices-surging.html">home prices</a>, hurt <a href="https://www.worldwideerc.org/news/mobility/us-housing-underproduction-report-released">economic growth</a>, and hampered attempts to address the <a href="https://www.usich.gov/news/help-the-biden-harris-administration-tackle-the-triple-threats-facing-america-climate-change-homelessness-and-housing-shortages">climate crisis</a>.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yTyGS9">
Just how much more housing the US should have is debatable. But the estimates are unanimous that the country needs a lot more — <a href="https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2021/Overcoming-the-Nations-Housing-Supply-Shortage.pdf">1.5 million</a> units, or <a href="https://www.freddiemac.com/research/insight/20210507-housing-supply">3.8 million</a>, or even<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/once-in-a-generation-response-needed-to-address-housing-supply-crisis">5.5 million</a> — to ensure affordable housing for everyone. Low-income housing advocates estimate that America has a <a href="https://nlihc.org/gap">shortage of 7 million affordable rental units</a> for those living in poverty;<strong> </strong>another group found<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/2021-038-white-paper-ldmf-r5.pdf">nearly 11 million households</a> spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YOUwFb">
Last May, the White House announced the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/">Housing Supply Action Plan</a>,<strong> </strong>a grab bag of ideas that the Biden administration called “the most comprehensive all of government effort to close the housing supply shortfall in history.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OQ2gd1">
But 10 months later, there has been minimal progress, and higher interest rates have led to an overall slowdown in construction. The federal government did pass significant new <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23293725/kyrsten-sinema-inflation-reduction-act-climate-taxes">investments in climate and infrastructure</a> but largely failed to authorize new spending to expand the supply of housing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GKbAOp">
There was real<strong> </strong>home-building progress in 2022 — more multifamily projects were started than in any year since 1986 — and the Biden administration<strong> </strong>argues its economic<strong> </strong>stimulus policies helped fueled some of that demand.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pP8I4P">
Yet most of those projects had been in the works for a long time. And although the Biden administration has invested more time and resources into the housing supply issue than its two most recent predecessors, it’s hard to claim the issue has stayed at the top of the president’s agenda. Biden has not pushed hard for expanding housing supply as a legislative priority and has not spent much time talking about building more homes. The housing crisis was barely mentioned in his recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/7/23584680/biden-state-of-union-2023">State of the Union address</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9CxXGa">
“Both to the credit and detriment of this administration, they just have a lot of priorities,” said Ben Metcalf of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, who is a former Obama administration HUD official.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oXgGCI">
Developers say they’ve been begging the Biden administration to take more steps to reduce the cost of construction. Advocates for looser zoning rules say there is more the White House could do to clearly communicate<strong> </strong>what’s driving<strong> </strong>the crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CiPQ16">
In the weeks leading up to the omnibus spending bill that Congress passed in late December, the Biden administration made clear its top legislative priorities were new money for <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2022/11/15/letter-regarding-additional-funding-to-address-assistance-to-ukraine-and-to-support-the-united-states-response-to-covid-19/">Ukraine, Covid-19, and disaster relief</a>. Biden officials defend their broad approach and say housing supply remains a focus that will be reflected in their soon-to-be-released budget proposal. But given how often officials cite resource constraints as a limiting factor, their ever-widening agenda creates obvious challenges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5pIN8">
Many pressing issues don’t receive much attention from the president. But among policy analysts, there’s a growing consensus that America’s housing shortage is the<em> </em>primary issue exacerbating many of the other big problems the country faces — from the climate crisis and homelessness to economic inequality and chronic illness. Unlike many other policy crises, too, housing is one that’s not yet totally polarized yet along partisan lines. The White House has gestured to agreeing <a href="https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything">with this analysis</a>, but at least so far, it hasn’t met the crisis with proportionate urgency.
</p>
<h3 id="uEbGXu">
The feds’ tools against NIMBYism, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Na6iL2">
Housing prices keep rising<strong> </strong>primarily because there’s not enough housing to go around. A top culprit for this scarcity is local zoning laws that bar new construction and empower homeowners who gain financially from restricting housing supply<strong> </strong>to decide whether or not to make room for more neighbors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d8weU3">
It’s illegal to build apartments on more than 70 percent of residential land <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities-across-america-question-single-family-zoning.html">in virtually every major US city</a>. Other regulatory barriers, like minimum parking requirements, minimum lot sizes, and height limits, also make it harder to fit more people onto the available land.<strong> </strong>The popular shorthand for these restrictions is NIMBYism — short for “not in my backyard.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2neVGJ">
Experts praised the Biden administration for elevating zoning issues in its plan released last May because many people don’t grasp, or don’t believe, that these policies and the fundamental imbalance between housing supply and demand fuel the affordability crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m76aQG">
“Getting the president to talk about housing and keeping up a consistent drum beat about supply and these land use barriers is among the most important things the White House could be doing,” said Andy Winkler, the housing director at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mJteKJ">
The Biden administration’s plan proposes deploying new financing tools to build and preserve housing, to improve existing federal financing models, and to offer incentives for communities to reduce their housing development barriers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A7N83U">
In October, the White House announced progress <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/07/biden-harris-administration-announces-progress-in-implementing-its-housing-supply-action-plan/">on executing its plan</a>, and it has taken some steps — like <a href="https://www.paulhastings.com/insights/client-alerts/treasury-issues-final-guidance-on-housing-tax-credit-income-averaging-rule">finalizing a rule</a> to make it easier to build mixed-income projects, and extending several tax credit deadlines so that projects delayed by the pandemic could continue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7V2Azi">
These changes are welcome, but in practical terms, they’re modest. Without an increase in federal funding, the administration’s impact on total housing supply will be limited.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DcAHz8">
Part of the challenge is that building new housing is an area where local governments hold immense power, and cities fiercely defend their right to dictate what kind of housing should exist. Land use policy has also historically been a state responsibility. As a result, federal lawmakers generally opt for strategies that encourage localities to make change, rather than strip money from those that don’t.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pjsGxU">
In his first year in office, Biden proposed a grant program to reward communities that loosened their zoning rules. That idea became the $1.75 billion Unlocking Possibilities program, which was included in the House’s Build Back Better bill but cut from the Senate’s version.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RNTlPI">
In 2022, the Biden administration tried again, proposing <a href="https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastructure/2022/04/bidens-10-billion-proposal-ramps-equity-push-change-neighborhoods-cities/365581/">a new $10 billion grant program</a> to reward states and localities that remove barriers to housing development. The omnibus spending package Congress passed in December did include its first competitive grant program aimed at zoning reform, dubbed a “YIMBY” grant — an acronym that stands for “yes in my backyard.” But it was for <a href="https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases/-schatz-secures-85-million-to-address-national-housing-crisis-help-build-more-affordable-housing">just $85 million</a>, less than 1 percent of what Biden asked for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vZxpX7">
“It’s not a meaningful amount of money; it’s a symbolic amount,” said Eric Kober, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, of the new grant program. Kober is skeptical that the federal government can successfully<strong> </strong>nudge<strong> </strong>cities and states to take action on zoning.<strong> </strong>“Local governments often don’t understand the effects of their own land-use policies, and those that do can feign compliance while quietly undermining housing construction,” he wrote last year <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/biden-housing-supply-plan-will-underdeliver">in a critical assessment</a> of Biden’s housing<strong> </strong>plan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WEaq59">
The concern is warranted. One aspect of Biden’s plan that received early attention is a proposal to use both federal housing and transportation dollars to incentivize zoning reforms. In theory that’s a great idea: investments in new public transit are less useful if few people can actually live nearby the subsidized trains and subways.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O58JZj">
But when the Transportation Department announced recipients of $2.2 billion in new competitive grants in August, <a href="https://reason.com/2022/08/23/joe-bidens-use-of-transportation-dollars-to-incentivize-zoning-reform-is-a-big-flop/?amp">few, if any of the 166 projects</a> were from<strong> </strong>applicants that embraced zoning reforms. Some went to notorious NIMBY cities, like<strong> </strong><a href="http://atalog.dclibrary.org/client/en_US/dcpl/search/redirectafterlogin/http:%24002f%24002fcatalog.dclibrary.org%24002fclient%24002fen_US%24002fdcpl%24002fsearch%24002faccount%24003f?">San Francisco</a>. The White House claims two recipients — in Colorado and Minnesota — were chosen in part due to their adoption of land use policies to promote housing density.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="youvhv">
“That doesn’t strike me as a systematic approach to encouraging future reform,” said Emily Hamilton, the director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center. “There certainly doesn’t seem to be any accountability that these zoning reforms are actually going to build more housing.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QicKzC">
The Transportation Department declined to comment on these<strong> </strong>criticisms but pointed <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/RAISEgrants/raise-nofo">to its rating rubric</a>, which ranks applicants higher if they “coordinate and integrate land use, affordable housing, and transportation planning.” A spokesperson said they also recently announced that transit-oriented development projects <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/TIFIA49">are now eligible</a> to receive better financing, that they have received “dozens” of inquiries so far, and they expect several projects will benefit from that this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ECHgXU">
Another Biden initiative was to<strong> </strong><a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0889">allow states</a> to use federal pandemic funds to address the housing shortage. A few, like Illinois, seized this opportunity. Allison Clements, of the Illinois Housing Council, said her state committed more than $339 million in American Rescue Plan funds to create affordable housing and fight homelessness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zF2eE1">
But most states had no interest in leveraging the funds for housing production, and at the local level there’s often rarely the capacity to manage those kinds of projects, even if there was interest. So while it was a welcome idea, in practical terms it couldn’t support much new housing overall.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ikomf4">
I asked HUD if, beyond the new $85 million YIMBY grant, it was looking to incorporate zoning into any of its other large grants. For example, while HUD cannot condition funding on zoning reforms without congressional approval, it does ask all recipients of its $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program to submit plans identifying barriers to housing development. HUD could specifically mention zoning here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G2rBfQ">
A HUD official said they don’t have plans to do that, but believe that combined with <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23562541/biden-fair-housing-affh-affirmatively-furthering-discrimination-segregation">Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing</a> work, “many communities will come to the conclusion that addressing zoning and land use reform, if it is exclusionary, is part of that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GD4Mso">
To move the needle, Hamilton of the Mercatus Center thinks Congress needs to create a new grant program that specifically awards jurisdictions based on housing market outcomes — like how much housing is actually built and how much it costs. A more heavy-handed federal approach, however, could fuel local backlash and potentially polarize the housing supply issues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JXrSWP">
“It’s definitely a risk,” Hamilton said when asked about the idea’s political viability. “It would not be good for housing policy to become a left or right-coded issue.” But she emphasized there has been conservative interest in deregulating zoning before.
</p>
<h3 id="wJZkTZ">
The federal government is not treating housing construction as urgent
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2sWFHu">
To make a dent on housing supply, the Biden administration will need to invest more political capital in pushing for funding and continue to prioritize barriers to both subsidized and market-rate housing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WdW5Af">
While Biden’s team can tout high rates of multifamily housing construction in 2022, <a href="https://www.apricitas.io/p/americas-homebuilding-boom-that-isnt?s=w">completions have lagged</a>, and analysts are bracing for a construction slowdown now from higher interest rates. Single-family home starts declined in 2022 for the first time for this reason, and the home-builder industry <a href="https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2023/01/housing-downturn-in-2023-followed-by-recovery-in-2024">predicts</a> both single-family and multifamily construction will decline this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JDfaZP">
Some of the biggest pieces of the administration’s plan are bills that Congress failed to pass last year, but that the Biden administration also failed to really lobby for. Those bills would have subsidized the preservation and repair of existing affordable homes, and offered more money for low-income rental construction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AfL0Cs">
The housing shortage has animated conservative think tanks, as well as some Republicans in Congress, like <a href="https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-reintroduces-yes-in-my-backyard-act-to-encourage-communities-to-cut-regulations-and-increase-housing-supply">Indiana Sen. Todd Young</a>. Winkler said he and his colleagues are encouraging the administration to work more proactively with Republicans this year. “They haven’t really yet engaged in those bipartisan conversations,” he said. In October, the Bipartisan Policy Center <a href="https://bpcaction.org/wp-content/uploads/BPC-Action-Housing-Legislative-Brief.pdf">outlined a series of housing bills</a> it believes could unite both parties.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QhV1t5">
“This plan is a departure from the Build Back Better Act — which recognized the severity of the nation’s housing affordability crisis but did not embrace a politically feasible, bipartisan agenda to address it,” Winkler’s team wrote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c9GoWV">
One recurring critique was that the Biden administration has not been as aggressive in working to help the private sector build more homes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1hSL2N">
For example, housing industry groups have been lobbying HUD to raise its large loan limits, which developers say could help them bring about anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 new additional homes annually and does not require congressional approval. The federal housing agency sets limits to mitigate lending risk, but with rising interest rates, builders are finding it harder to make financing deals possible under the status quo.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s56qTm">
“There’s been a bias at HUD toward working with the nonprofit community, and we’ve been trying to get them to be more open to working with private sector partners,” said Bill Killmer, a lobbyist with the Mortgage Bankers Association. A HUD spokesperson said they’re reviewing their loan limits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z8Kkcm">
Builders <a href="https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/top-priorities/sign-nahb-letter-to-white-house">have also been pressing</a> the Biden administration to ease up on certain tariffs to reduce the cost of home construction. Last April, more than 10,000 members of the National Association of Home Builders <a href="https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/top-priorities/sign-nahb-letter-to-white-house">urged</a> the administration to suspend taxes on Canadian softwood lumber. But the trade dispute <a href="https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2022/05/statement-from-nahb-chairman-jerry-konter-on-us-trade-reps-visit-to-canada">continues</a>, and the US actually <a href="https://lbmjournal.com/nlbmda-us-escalates-softwood-lumber-trade-war-with-canada/">increased tariffs</a> on Canadian timber companies in January. Lumber <a href="https://www.wowt.com/2022/11/17/lumber-prices-dropping-supply-chain-issues-subside-new-home-builds-decline/">cost has come down</a> recently, but builders say that’s just because construction is down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0R72yi">
“The Biden administration has done nothing to make lumber cheaper, and in fact, you could argue they are making it more expensive, due to overzealous environmental regulation that’s made it impossible in some cases <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/climate/alaska-tongass-national-forest.html">to harvest in our own national forests</a>,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders. Howard credited Biden’s team for reducing<strong> </strong>the cost of manufacturing chips but lamented that “the administration is focusing all of its efforts on very low-income housing.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dTrmPJ">
Kober, of the Manhattan Institute, argued Biden has embraced protectionist trade policies to help his reelection chances, even if it raises the price of housing construction and feeds into inflation. He criticized the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/26/23375613/buy-america-biden-infrastructure">Buy America rules</a> included in recent federal legislation, arguing they will make building housing more expensive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="95ugjD">
Buy America rules do not apply to market-rate housing or housing built with the low-income housing tax credit, but affordable housing advocates <a href="https://ruralhome.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/BuyAmericaHACComments.pdf">have expressed concern</a> with how these new rules could impact existing subsidized programs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qa0vfD">
A White House spokesperson defended the rules, saying<strong> </strong>“using American-made materials will help make supply chains more resilient and can reduce costly delays that slow down projects<em>.” </em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TgY2Z9">
Advocates remain cautiously hopeful about the potential for increased production of manufactured housing, which are homes largely assembled in factories. These houses are far less expensive to produce at scale than conventional “site-built” housing, and included in the federal omnibus bill was a new $225 million grant program for this sector.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yApzAB">
But current federal policies discourage lenders from offering accessible financing terms to buyers of manufactured homes, and advocates like Jim Gray, a fellow at the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, have been urging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer less expensive products.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oCfw1N">
“It has been an uphill battle,” Gray admitted. The Biden housing supply plan talked about promoting manufactured housing, and HUD <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/Offsite-Construction-for-Housing-Research-Roadmap.html">has been focused on research in the area</a> and working to improve relevant loans, but progress has been slow so far.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SB0Gce">
Yet there’s also been no real push to treat factory-made housing as an urgent federal investment priority like leaders have, say, electric cars or solar energy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oJ3vWu">
“The federal government could be saying, ‘Hey, we have an investor role to play in building American factories for entry-level housing,’ but instead they talk mostly about the <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-trending-071222.html">annual HUD festival [on innovative housing models] they host</a>,” said Metcalf.<strong> </strong>“That’s cool, but that’s not the focus we’ve brought to bear for other industries.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A6V3Fp">
Tackling the housing supply crisis will require big, industrial-level creativity on a scale comparable to what the administration brought to legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. So far, on housing, that’s been missing. Winkler says he thinks the Biden administration has made “a good-faith effort to do what they can administratively, but without the substantial resources they had wanted to get in the reconciliation plan, their hands are somewhat tied.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FFj1ZQ">
Many of the provisions of the administration’s plan “align with our own priorities,” he said, but “on the whole, that cannot in and of itself be transformational.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</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>Count Of Savoy shines</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>Mirra, Siege Perilous, Black Eagle, Northern Lights, Arc De Triomphe and Klimt catch the eye</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>ICC player rankings | Ravichandran Ashwin replaces James Anderson to become top-ranked bowler in Tests</strong> - Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith remain first and second respectively among Test batters</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>Dhoni an impressive captain and one of the best tacticians: Faf du Plessis</strong> - Du Plessis had two long stints with IPL side Chennai Super Kings — 2011-2015 and 2018-2021 — before he moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore as captain last season</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>Ind vs Aus, 3rd Test | Australia takes control on rank turner on day 1</strong> - On a rank turner in Indore, Matthew Kuhnemann took his first international five-wicket haul; Virat Kohli top scored for India with 22</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</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>Outrage over student ‘suicide’ in Hyderabad, action against college sought</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>Chhawla gangrape-murder case: SC to decide pleas seeking review of verdict acquitting 3 death row convicts</strong> - The apex court set aside the high court order and acquitted them of the offences in November last year, sparking a debate on the verdict.</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>BJP has no leaders in State to face elections, says DKS</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>Salary in instalments an arrangement for smooth functioning, KSRTC tells HC</strong> - ‘Affidavit says delay in payment due to acute financial crisis faced by corporation and also due to delay in receipt of government funds’</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>‘Harassed’ over poor grades, Hyderabad student ‘ends life’; lecturers, college management booked</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>Greece train crash: Survivors describe ‘nightmarish seconds’</strong> - Passengers smashed windows to escape burning carriages after two trains collided in central Greece.</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>Greece train crash: Pictures of devastation as dozens killed</strong> - The cause of the crash, that happened shortly before midnight on Tuesday, is currently unknown.</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>Drone crash near Moscow was failed attack, governor says</strong> - A drone that crashed in the Moscow region was targeting infrastructure, the regional governor said.</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>Italy migrant boat shipwreck: Police arrest three for alleged smuggling</strong> - The disaster’s death toll rises to 64, with three detained men accused of being people smugglers.</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>Finland starts construction of Russia border fence</strong> - The Finnish government has sought to boost border security since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.</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>Google adds client-side encryption to Gmail and Calendar. Should you care?</strong> - New service occupies a middle ground between E2EE and mere server-side encryption - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1920868">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Robots let ChatGPT touch the real world thanks to Microsoft</strong> - A new API allows ChatGPT to control robots through natural language commands. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1920803">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FDA official behind Alzheimer’s drug scandal steps down</strong> - Investigations alleged Billy Dunn had inappropriately close relationship with drug maker. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1920838">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Breaks taken during psych experiments lower participants’ moods</strong> - The lowered mood could throw off the results of studies with rest breaks. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1920826">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tesla shareholder suit says Musk and co. lied about Full Self-Driving safety</strong> - Investor lawsuit cites recall of Tesla cars that act dangerously in intersections. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1920791">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>LPT: If you are planning to settle down, don’t date a soccer player.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There’s only a 1/11 chance they are a keeper.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eqyhx/lpt_if_you_are_planning_to_settle_down_dont_date/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eqyhx/lpt_if_you_are_planning_to_settle_down_dont_date/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife told me I have no sense of direction.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Where is this coming from?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/r0gerii"> /u/r0gerii </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11etju1/my_wife_told_me_i_have_no_sense_of_direction/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11etju1/my_wife_told_me_i_have_no_sense_of_direction/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>i think the story of Noah’s life was a bit boring</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But it did have a nice arc
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/martindukz"> /u/martindukz </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eibjj/i_think_the_story_of_noahs_life_was_a_bit_boring/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eibjj/i_think_the_story_of_noahs_life_was_a_bit_boring/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A TV crew went to interview the oldest man living in a small village</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Can you tell us what was the happiest moment you can remember?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That was when Mary Jones got lost on the hills over there. We organized a search party and when we found her we were so happy that we had a special celebration, everybody got drunk and all the men in the village fucked Mary Jones.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well, we can’t publish a story like that, can you tell us about any other happy moment?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“When Jeff Smith’s goat got lost on the hills, we organized a search party. When we found her, we celebrated, everybody got drunk and we all fucked Jeff Smith’s goat!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Okay, enough of happy endings, can you tell us what was the saddest day in this village?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That was when I got lost on the hills…”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MasterFubar"> /u/MasterFubar </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eo1qt/a_tv_crew_went_to_interview_the_oldest_man_living/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eo1qt/a_tv_crew_went_to_interview_the_oldest_man_living/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I saw a one legged man with no arms at the ATM today…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He asked me to help him check his balance…. So I pushed the guy over.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HotAsAPepper"> /u/HotAsAPepper </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eoxx7/i_saw_a_one_legged_man_with_no_arms_at_the_atm/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11eoxx7/i_saw_a_one_legged_man_with_no_arms_at_the_atm/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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