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<title>19 August, 2023</title>
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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>Factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND: Pediatric COVID-19 cases are often mild or asymptomatic, which has complicated estimations of disease burden using existing testing practices. We aimed to determine the age-specific population seropositivity and risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among children and young adults during the pandemic in British Columbia (BC). METHODS: We conducted two cross-sectional serosurveys: phase 1 enrolled children and adults &lt;25 years between November 2020-May 2021 and phase 2 enrolled children &lt;10 years between June 2021-May 2022 in BC. Participants completed electronic surveys and self-collected finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) samples. Samples were tested for immunoglobulin G antibodies against ancestral spike protein (S). Descriptive statistics from survey data were reported and two multivariable analyses were conducted to evaluate factors associated with seropositivity. RESULTS: A total of 2864 participants were enrolled, of which 95/2167 (4.4%) participants were S-seropositive in phase 1 across all ages, and 61/697 (8.8%) unvaccinated children aged under ten years were S-seropositive in phase 2. Overall, South Asian participants had a higher seropositivity than other ethnicities (13.5% vs. 5.2%). Of 156 seropositive participants in both phases, 120 had no prior positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Young infants and young adults had the highest reported seropositivity rates (7.0% and 7.2% respectively vs. 3.0-5.6% across other age groups). CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among unvaccinated children and young adults was low in May 2022, and South Asians were disproportionately infected. This work demonstrates the need for improved diagnostics and reporting strategies that account for age-specific differences in pandemic dynamics and acceptability of testing mechanisms.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.13.23294036v2" target="_blank">Factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication that has been widely used against SARS-CoV-2, acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus, and many will be lethal, and so molnupiravir-induced elevated mutation rates reduce viral load. However, if some patients treated with molnupiravir do not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, there could be the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses. Here we show that SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases contain extensive evidence of molnupiravir mutagenesis. Using a systematic approach, we find that a specific class of long phylogenetic branches, distinguished by a high proportion of G-to-A and C-to-T mutations, appear almost exclusively in sequences from 2022, after the introduction of molnupiravir treatment, and in countries and age-groups with widespread usage of the drug. We identify a mutational spectrum, with preferred nucleotide contexts, from viruses in patients known to have been treated with molnupiravir and show that its signature matches that seen in these long branches, in some cases with onwards transmission of molnupiravir-derived lineages. Finally, we analyse treatment records to confirm a direct association between these high G-to-A branches and the use of molnupiravir.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.23284998v4" target="_blank">A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How reliable are estimates of key parameters in viral dynamic models?</strong> -
<div>
Mathematical models of viral infection have been developed and fit to data to gain insight into disease pathogenesis for a number of agents including HIV, hepatitis C and B virus. However, for acute infections such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, as well as for infections such as hepatitis C and B that can be acute or progress to being chronic, viral load data are often collected after symptoms develop, usually around or after the peak viral load. Consequently, we frequently lack data in the exponential phase of viral growth, i.e., when most transmission events occur. Missing data may make estimation of the time of infection, the infectious period, and parameters in viral dynamic models, such as the cell infection rate, difficult. Here, we evaluated the reliability of estimates of key model parameters when viral load data prior to the viral load peak is missing. We estimated the time from infection to peak viral load by fitting non-linear mixed models to a dataset with frequent viral RNA measurements, including pre-peak. We quantified the reliability of estimated infection times, key model parameters, and the time to peak viral load. Although estimates of the time of infection are sensitive to the quality and amount of available data, other parameters important in understanding disease pathogenesis, such as the loss rate of infected cells, are less sensitive. We find a lack of data in the exponential growth phase underestimates the time to peak viral load by several days leading to a shorter predicted exponential growth phase. On the other hand, having an idea of the time of infection and fixing it, results in relatively good estimates of dynamical parameters even in the absence of early data.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.17.553792v1" target="_blank">How reliable are estimates of key parameters in viral dynamic models?</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Purification, crystallization, and preliminary structural analysis of multivalent immunogenic effector protein-anchored SARS-CoV-2 RBD</strong> -
<div>
The continuous spread of highly transmissible variants of concern and the potential diminished effectiveness of existing vaccines necessitate ongoing research and development of new vaccines. Immunogenic molecule-anchored antigen has demonstrated superior efficacy in subunit vaccination, primarily due to enhanced cellular uptake facilitated by the affinity between the surface of Immunogenic molecule and the cell membrane. Based on the Immunogenic recombinase B. malayi RecA (BmRecA), we have overexpressed the construct of BmRecA with SARS-CoV-2 RBD (BmRecA-RBD) that exists as a stable helical filament formation; it was purified and crystallized to obtain X-ray diffraction data at 2.7 Angstrom, belonged to the hexagonal symmetry group P65 in the unit-cell parameters of a=b=122.12, c=75.55 and alpha=beta=90 degree, gamma=120 degree. The Matthews coefficient was estimated to be 3.12 Angstrom3 Da-1, corresponding to solvent contents of 52.65.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.17.553661v1" target="_blank">Purification, crystallization, and preliminary structural analysis of multivalent immunogenic effector protein-anchored SARS-CoV-2 RBD</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</strong> -
<div>
Circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB has resulted in the emergence of XBB.1.5, a new Variant of Interest. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that XBB.1.5 evolved from XBB.1 by acquiring the F486P spike (S) mutation, subsequent to the acquisition of a nonsense mutation in ORF8. Neutralization assays showed similar abilities of immune escape between XBB.1.5 and XBB.1. We determined the structural basis for the interaction between human ACE2 and the S protein of XBB.1.5, showing similar overall structures between the S proteins of XBB.1 and XBB.1.5. The intrinsic pathogenicity of XBB.1.5 in hamsters is lower than that of XBB.1. Importantly, we found that the ORF8 nonsense mutation of XBB.1.5 resulted in impairment of MHC expression. In vivo experiments using recombinant viruses revealed that the XBB.1.5 mutations are involved with reduced virulence of XBB.1.5. Together, these data suggest that the mutations in ORF8 and S could enhance spreading of XBB.1.5 in humans.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553332v1" target="_blank">Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</strong> -
<div>
The Nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 compacts the RNA genome into viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complexes within virions. Assembly of vRNPs is inhibited by phosphorylation of the N protein SR region. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern carry N protein mutations that reduce phosphorylation and enhance the efficiency of viral packaging. Variants of the dominant B.1.1 viral lineage also encode a truncated N protein, termed N* or {Delta}(1-209), that mediates genome packaging despite lacking the N-terminal RNA-binding domain and SR region. Here, we show that {Delta}(1-209) and viral RNA assemble into vRNPs that are remarkably similar in size and shape to those formed with full-length N protein. We show that assembly of {Delta}(1-209) vRNPs requires the leucine-rich helix (LH) of the central disordered region, and that the LH promotes N protein oligomerization. We also find that fusion of a phosphomimetic SR region to {Delta}(1-209) inhibits RNA binding and vRNP assembly. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which RNA binding promotes N protein self-association and vRNP assembly, and how this process is modulated by SR phosphorylation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553581v1" target="_blank">Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern (VOC) has multiple mutations in the spike (S) protein, which mediates viral infection and immunity. We analysed a sub lineage of Omicron, designated omicron XBB (XBB), that showed structural and functional changes in the S protein in response to the African selection pressures. We used molecular modelling to compare the S protein structures of the original Omicron and XBB found that XBB had a reduced receptor-binding domain (RBD) due to the loss of some {beta}-sheets, which may increase its affinity to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. We also used Fast Unconstrained Bayesian AppRoximation (FUBAR) and Recombination Detection Program 4 (RDP 4) to perform selection and recombination analysis respectively of the S protein sequences of Omicron and XBB and detected signals of positive selection and recombination in the N terminal domain (NTD) of the S1 subunit, which contains antibody-binding epitopes, and the RBD, which is involved in viral entry. Our results reveal the structural and functional adaptation of the Omicron XBB variant in Africa and its potential implications for viral pathogenesis and immunity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553557v1" target="_blank">Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This paper proposes a simple method to obtain early estimates of life expectancy at any age using data on weekly deaths. Although tailored on weekly deaths data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the logic of the method is applicable to any timely data on infra-annual deaths counts, would they be quarterly, monthly, or other. When the method is applied to a time period still to complete, it is in substance a nowcasting technique whose reliability increases as new data become available, provided a correct specification of the model. It is also presented an application to 30 European countries for the years 2022 and 2023, returning a provisional estimate of life expectancy at birth much earlier than from official statistics. These early estimates show that in Europe the process of recovery in life expectancy at birth from the COVID-19 pandemic will be practically completed in 2023, unless unexpected mortality crises will occur in the second half of the year.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.11.23293993v2" target="_blank">Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the widespread acceptance of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is a growing area of concern in China. The aim of the study is to map the overall acceptance and uptake rates of COVID-19 vaccines across different groups.  Methods: Five peer-reviewed databases bases were searched (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Scopus). Studies that conducted cross-sectional surveys in China to understand the acceptance/willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines were included.  Results: Among 2420 identified studies, 47 studies with 327,046 participants were eligible for data extraction. Males had a higher uptake of COVID-19 vaccines (OR=1.17; 95% CI:1.08 - 1.27) along with Chinese residents with &gt;= 5000 RMB monthly income (OR=1.08; 95% CI:1.02 - 1.14). Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination uptake rates in China need to be improved. To inform public health decisions, continuous vaccination uptake monitoring is required.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.09.23293915v1" target="_blank">Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry: Comparisons between immigrants and US-born workers</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic reduced employment in the U.S., across many industries. The restaurant industry was particularly hard hit, losing 2.5 million jobs in 2020 alone. Now in the recovery from the pandemic, the restaurant industry is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of workers, forcing many restaurants to raise their offered wages, reduce their hours of service, or close altogether. How have workers been affected by these demand shocks? Understanding the demand for restaurant workers during the pandemic and the recovery has important policy implications because restaurant workers make up the third largest occupation group and have the lowest wages of any occupation group. Foreign-born workers in particular are overrepresented in restaurants and in the back-of-house jobs that are lower paying and more dangerous. Using results from our nationally-representative survey of restaurant owners and hiring managers and our analysis of Community Population Survey data, we found that foreign-born workers fared worse than native-born workers as the restaurant industry shed jobs during the height of the pandemic. Our findings are consistent with previous studies suggesting that foreign-born workers are more vulnerable to negative business cycles than their native-born counterparts. But during the various stages of the recovery, when the restaurant industry experienced worker shortages, we also found that there was very little shifting toward foreign-born workers. These results are at odds with previous studies suggesting that foreign-born workers would be more attractive in these circumstances because they are more adaptable to changing labor demands (including dangerous working conditions like a pandemic) and do not have access to social safety net benefits like unemployment compensation. Part of the explanation for this surprising result may be found in recent, more restrictive immigration policies that have decreased the pool of available foreign-born workers.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/d5bc6/" target="_blank">Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry: Comparisons between immigrants and US-born workers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Post-recovery health domain scores among outpatients by SARS-CoV-2 testing status during the pre-Delta period</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Symptoms of COVID-19 including fatigue and dyspnea, may persist for weeks to months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study compared self-reported disability among SARS-CoV-2-positive and negative persons with mild to moderate COVID-19-like illness who presented for outpatient care before widespread COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: Unvaccinated adults with COVID-19-like illness enrolled within 10 days of illness onset at three US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network sites were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by molecular assay. Enrollees completed an enrollment questionnaire and two follow-up surveys (7-24 days and 2-7 months after illness onset) online or by phone to assess illness characteristics and health status. The second follow-up survey included questions measuring global health, physical function, fatigue, and dyspnea. Scores in the four domains were compared by participants SARS-CoV-2 test results in univariate analysis and multivariable Gamma regression. Results: During September 22, 2020 - February 13, 2021, 2,712 eligible adults were enrolled, 1,541 completed the first follow-up survey, and 650 completed the second follow-up survey. SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were more likely to report fever at acute illness but were otherwise comparable to SARS-CoV-2-negative participants. At first follow-up, SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were less likely to have reported fully or mostly recovered from their illness compared to SARS-CoV-2-negative participants. At second follow-up, no differences by SARS-CoV-2 test results were detected in the four domains in the multivariable model. Conclusion: Self-reported disability was similar among outpatient SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative adults 2-7 months after illness onset.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.14.23294086v1" target="_blank">Post-recovery health domain scores among outpatients by SARS-CoV-2 testing status during the pre-Delta period</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The predictive and prognostic value of peripheral blood antigen-specific memory B cells in phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy (PLA2R-MN) is an anti-PLA2R antibody (PLA2R-Ab) mediated autoimmune kidney disease. Although antibody titer correlates closely with disease activity, whether it can provide longer-term predictions on disease course and progression is unclear. Rituximab, a B-cell depletion therapy, has become the first-line treatment option for PLA2R-MN; however, the response to Rituximab varies among patients. Methods We developed a flow cytometry-based test that detects and quantifies PLA2R antigen-specific memory B cells (PLA2R-MBCs) in peripheral blood, the primary source for PLA2R-Ab production upon disease relapse. We applied the test to 159 blood samples collected from 28 patients with PLA2R-MN (at diagnosis, during and after immunosuppressive treatment, immunological remission, and relapse) to evaluate the relationship between circulating PLA2R-MBC levels and disease activity. Results The level of PLA2R-MBCs in healthy controls (n=56) is less than or equal to 1.5% of the total MBC compartment. High circulating PLA2R-MBC levels were detected in two patients post-Rituximab despite achieving immunologic and proteinuric remission, as well as in two patients with negative serum autoantibody but increasing proteinuria. Elimination of these cells with Rituximab improved clinical outcomes. Moreover, five patients exhibited elevated PLA2R-MBC levels before disease relapse, followed by a rapid decline to baseline when relapse became clinically evident. COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly affected the dynamics of circulating PLA2R-MBCs. Conclusions This study suggests that monitoring PLA2R-MBC levels in patients with PLA2R-MN may help refine and individualize immunosuppressive therapy and predict disease course and progression. The technology and findings may also have broader applications in the clinical management of other autoimmune diseases.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.14.23292885v1" target="_blank">The predictive and prognostic value of peripheral blood antigen-specific memory B cells in phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Coronaviruses Spike glycoprotein endodomains: the sequence and structure-based comprehensive study</strong> -
<div>
The flexibility of proteins makes them available to interact with many biomolecules in the cell. Specifically, such interactions in viruses help them to perform more functions despite having a smaller genome. Therefore, these flexible regions can be exciting and essential targets to be explored for their role in pathogenicity and therapeutic developments as they achieve essential interactions. In the continuation with our previous study on disordered analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike cytoplasmic tail (CTR), or endodomain, here we have explored the disordered potential endodomains of six other coronaviruses using multiple bioinformatics approaches and molecular dynamics simulations. Based on the comprehensive analysis of its sequence and structural composition, we report the varying disorder propensity in endodomains of spike proteins of coronaviruses. The observations of this study may help to understand the importance of spike glycoprotein endodomain and creating therapeutic interventions against them.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553512v1" target="_blank">Coronaviruses Spike glycoprotein endodomains: the sequence and structure-based comprehensive study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predicting host-based, synthetic lethal antiviral targets from omics data</strong> -
<div>
Traditional antiviral therapies often have limited effectiveness due to toxicity and development of drug resistance. Host-based antivirals, while an alternative, may lead to non-specific effects. Recent evidence shows that virus-infected cells can be selectively eliminated by targeting synthetic lethal (SL) partners of proteins disrupted by viral infection. Thus, we hypothesized that genes depleted in CRISPR KO screens of virus-infected cells may be enriched in SL partners of proteins altered by infection. To investigate this, we established a computational pipeline predicting SL drug targets of viral infections. First, we identified SARS-CoV-2-induced changes in gene products via a large compendium of omics data. Second, we identified SL partners for each altered gene product. Last, we screened CRISPR KO data for SL partners required for cell viability in infected cells. Despite differences in virus-induced alterations detected by various omics data, they share many predicted SL targets, with significant enrichment in CRISPR KO-depleted datasets. Comparing data from SARS-CoV-2 and influenza infections, we found possible broad-spectrum, host-based antiviral SL targets. This suggests that CRISPR KO data are replete with common antiviral targets due to their SL relationship with virus-altered states and that such targets can be revealed from analysis of omics datasets and SL predictions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.15.553430v1" target="_blank">Predicting host-based, synthetic lethal antiviral targets from omics data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evidence of Leaky Protection Following COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in an Incarcerated Population</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Whether SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccines confer exposure-dependent (“leaky”) protection against infection remains unknown. We examined the effect of prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity on infection risk among residents of Connecticut correctional facilities during periods of predominant Omicron and Delta transmission. Residents with cell, cellblock, and no documented exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infected residents were matched by facility and date. During the Omicron period, prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity reduced the infection risk of residents without a documented exposure (HR: 0.36 [0.25-0.54]; 0.57 [0.42-0.78]; 0.24 [0.15-0.39]; respectively) and with cellblock exposures (0.61 [0.49-0.75]; 0.69 [0.58-0.83]; 0.41 [0.31-0.55]; respectively) but not with cell exposures (0.89 [0.58-1.35]; 0.96 [0.64-1.46]; 0.80 [0.46-1.39]; respectively). Associations were similar during the Delta period and when analyses were restricted to tested residents. Although associations may not have been thoroughly adjusted due to dataset limitations, the findings suggest that prior infection and vaccination may be leaky, highlighting the potential benefits of pairing vaccination with non-pharmaceutical interventions in crowded settings.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.17.23286049v2" target="_blank">Evidence of Leaky Protection Following COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in an Incarcerated Population</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Obeldesivir in Children and Adolescents With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Obeldesivir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gilead Sciences<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>EFFECT OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON DEPRESSION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH POST COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: rehacom<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and Safety of AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI as a Booster: A COVID-19 Preventive Vaccine in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI;   Biological: Comirnaty Bivalent 0.1mg/mL (tozinameran and riltozinameran)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cellid Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Using Text Messages to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Booking Rate</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccination Hesitancy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Behavioural science-informed text messages;   Behavioral: Control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The Behavioural Insights Team;   Public Health England;   Department of Health and Social Care;   NHS England and NHS Improvement<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ivermectin to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Hospitalisation in Subjects Over 50</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Insud Pharma<br/><b>Terminated</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Methylprednisolone in Patients With Cognitive Deficits in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Methylprednisolone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Charite University, Berlin, Germany<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase II Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of BIMERVAX® When Coadministered With Seasonal Influenza Vaccine (SIIV) in Adults Older Than 65 Years of Age Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS CoV 2 Infection;   Influenza, Human<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: BIMERVAX;   Biological: SIIV<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hipra Scientific, S.L.U<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Mental Health;   COVID-19;   Misinformation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Messaging<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM);   Partners in Health<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Learn About New COVD-19 RNA Vaccine Candidates for New Varients in Healthy Individuals</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pulmonary Artery Pressure in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: right heart catheterization (RHC).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mansoura University Hospital<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Preliminary Efficacy of a Technology-based Physical Activity Intervention for Older Korean Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Cardiovascular Health;   Physical Function<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Golden Circle<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supported Employment COVID-19 Rapid Testing for PWID</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Health Behavior<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Supported Employment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Oregon<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab and Regdanvimab Efficacy for Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 150+150 mg;   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 300+300 mg;   Drug: regdanvimab<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   City Clinical Hospital No.52 of Moscow Healthcare Department;   Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Playing Games to Learn About Children’s Vaccines Project</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   HPV;   COVID-19;   Vaccine-Preventable Diseases<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: vaccination games<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Michigan State University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cereset Research Long-Term Healthcare Worker Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Stress;   Anxiety;   Autonomic Dysregulation;   Acoustic Stimulation;   Hyperarousal;   Health Personnel<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Cereset Research<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Wake Forest University Health Sciences;   Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alkyne as a Latent Warhead to Covalently Target SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease</strong> - There is an urgent need for improved therapy to better control the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main protease M^(pro) plays a pivotal role in SARS-CoV-2 replications, thereby representing an attractive target for antiviral development. We seek to identify novel electrophilic warheads for efficient, covalent inhibition of M^(pro). By comparing the efficacy of a panel of warheads installed on a common scaffold against M^(pro), we discovered that the terminal alkyne could covalently modify…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery and Mechanism Study of SARS-CoV-2 3C-like Protease Inhibitors with a New Reactive Group</strong> - 3CL^(pro) is an attractive target for the treatment of COVID-19. Using the scaffold hopping strategy, we identified a potent inhibitor of 3CL^(pro) (3a) that contains a thiocyanate moiety as a novel warhead that can form a covalent bond with Cys145 of the protein. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and X-ray crystallography confirmed the mechanism of covalent formation between 3a and the protein in its catalytic pocket. Moreover, several analogues of compound 3a were designed and synthesized….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Suitable Membrane Distance Regulated by the RBD_ACE2 Interaction is Critical for SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Mediated Viral Invasion</strong> - The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike recognizing the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) initiates membrane fusion between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and cell membrane. Although the structure of the RBD_ACE2 complex has been well studied, its functional mechanism in membrane fusion is still not fully understood. Here, using an in vitro cell-vesicle content-mixing assay, it is found that the cleavage at the S2’ site by thrombin (Thr) protease…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Endotheliopathy of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in liver disease</strong> - Liver is the largest solid organ in the abdominal cavity, with sinusoid occupying about half of its volume. Under liver disease, hemodynamics in the liver tissue dynamically change, resulting in injury to liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs). We discuss the injury of LSECs in liver diseases in this article. Generally, in noninflamed tissues, vascular endothelial cells maintain quiescence of circulating leukocytes, and unnecessary blood clotting is inhibited by multiple antithrombotic…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Convalescent plasma from Norwegian blood donors to treat COVID-19</strong> - BACKGROUND: At the start of the pandemic, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Norwegian blood banks initiated the production of COVID-19 convalescent plasma within the framework of clinical studies. In this article we describe the blood donors who participated.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>De novo design of bioactive phenol and chromone derivatives for inhibitors of Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 in silico</strong> - This work presents the synthesis of 12 phenol and chromone derivatives, prepared by the analogs, and the possibility of conducting an in silico study of its derivatives as a therapeutic alternative to combat the SARS-CoV-2, pathogen responsible for COVID-19 pandemic, using its S-glycoprotein as a macromolecular target. After the initial screening for the ranking of the products, it was chosen which structure presented the best energy bond with the target. As a result, derivative 4 was submitted…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Endothelial FoxM1 reactivates aging-impaired endothelial regeneration for vascular repair and resolution of inflammatory lung injury</strong> - Aging is a major risk factor of high incidence and increased mortality of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Here, we demonstrated that persistent lung injury and high mortality in aged mice after sepsis challenge were attributable to impaired endothelial regeneration and vascular repair. Genetic lineage tracing study showed that endothelial regeneration after sepsis-induced vascular injury was mediated by lung resident endothelial proliferation in young adult mice, whereas this…</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>Forodesine and Riboprine Exhibit Strong Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Repurposing Potential: <em>In Silico</em> and <em>In Vitro</em> Studies</strong> - Lately, nucleos(t)ide antivirals topped the scene as top options for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Targeting the two broadly conserved SARS-CoV-2 enzymes, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and 3’-to-5’ exoribonuclease (ExoN), together using only one shot is a very successful new tactic to stop SARS-CoV-2 multiplication irrespective of the SARS-CoV-2 variant type. Herein, the current…</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>Anticancer pan-ErbB inhibitors reduce inflammation and tissue injury and exert broad-spectrum antiviral effects</strong> - Targeting host factors exploited by multiple viruses could offer broad-spectrum solutions for pandemic preparedness. Seventeen candidates targeting diverse functions emerged in a screen of 4,413 compounds for SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. We demonstrated that lapatinib and other approved inhibitors of the ErbB family receptor tyrosine kinases suppress replication of SARS-CoV-2, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), and other emerging viruses with a high barrier to resistance. Lapatinib…</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>Pyronaridine tetraphosphate is an efficacious antiviral and anti-inflammatory active against multiple highly pathogenic coronaviruses</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to be one of the largest dangers to human health around the world. The need for effective antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments is still extremely high as newly emerging variants threaten the efficacy of currently used treatment options. Many compounds are effective at inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro but fail to recapitulate that efficacy in vivo….</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>Identification of Promising Sulfonamide Chalcones as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CL<sup>pro</sup> through Structure-Based Virtual Screening and Experimental Approaches</strong> - 3CL^(pro) is a viable target for developing antiviral therapies against the coronavirus. With the urgent need to find new possible inhibitors, a structure-based virtual screening approach was developed. This study recognized 75 pharmacologically bioactive compounds from our in-house library of 1052 natural product-based compounds that satisfied drug-likeness criteria and exhibited good bioavailability and membrane permeability. Among these compounds, three promising sulfonamide chalcones were…</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>TGF-β1 inhibition of ACE2 mediated by miRNA uncovers novel mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 utilizes receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike glycoprotein to interact with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Decreased cell surface density of ACE2 contributes to mortality during COVID-19. Studies published early during the pandemic reported that people with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) treated with the high efficiency CFTR modulators ETI (elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor) had higher ACE2 levels and milder COVID-19 symptoms, compared to people without CF. Subsequent studies did…</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>WASF3 disrupts mitochondrial respiration and may mediate exercise intolerance in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome</strong> - Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterized by various disabling symptoms including exercise intolerance and is diagnosed in the absence of a specific cause, making its clinical management challenging. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying this apparent bioenergetic deficiency state may reveal insights for developing targeted treatment strategies. We report that overexpression of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Family Member 3 (WASF3),…</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>Endogenous and Therapeutic 25-hydroxycholesterols May Worsen Early SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis in Mice</strong> - Oxysterols (i.e., oxidized cholesterol species) have complex roles in biology. 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), a product of activity of cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H) upon cholesterol, has recently been shown to be broadly antiviral, suggesting therapeutic potential against SARS-CoV-2. However, 25HC can also amplify inflammation and be converted by CYP7B1 to 7α,25HC, a lipid with chemoattractant activity via the G protein-coupled receptor, EBI2/GPR183. Here, using in vitro studies and two…</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>Design of a bifunctional pan-sarbecovirus entry inhibitor targeting the cell receptor and viral fusion protein</strong> - Development of highly effective antivirals that are robust to viral evolution is a practical strategy for combating the continuously evolved severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Inspired by viral multistep entry process, we here focus on developing a bispecific SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitor, which acts on the cell receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and viral S2 fusion protein. First, we identified a panel of diverse spike (S) receptor-binding domains (RBDs) and…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republicans Have Something New</strong> - The thirty-eight-year-old “anti-woke” polemicist and political novice has become one of Trump’s main rivals. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/in-vivek-ramaswamy-the-republicans-have-something-new">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ukrainians Forced to Flee to Russia</strong> - Some are brought against their will. Others are encouraged in subtler ways. But the over-all efforts seem aimed at the erasure of the Ukrainian people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-ukrainians-forced-to-flee-to-russia">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ron DeSantis Slump</strong> - The Florida governor once looked likely to defeat Donald Trump. Where did his campaign go wrong? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/the-ron-desantis-slump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Surviving the Phoenix Heat</strong> - Researchers at Arizona State University are bringing relief to the residents who need it most. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/surviving-the-phoenix-heat">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Robo-Taxis Are Legal Now</strong> - In San Francisco, it’s getting easier to hail a ride from no one. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/robo-taxis-are-legal-now">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>San Francisco’s robotaxi experiment is getting out of hand</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="City traffic in San Francisco with a Cruise driverless car in the middle of it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y5aHOIvPYlFt7vDHNTYbZ4R8jKU=/371x0:3290x2189/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72558661/GettyImages_1497019989.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A Cruise self-driving taxi pauses at an intersection in San Francisco. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The city’s bumpy experiment with self-driving taxis is spreading nationwide, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3o6wVM">
Self-driving taxis are ferrying passengers across <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/31/23579426/cruise-waymo-cpuc-trips-growth-robotaxi-sf">San Francisco</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/16/23511719/waymo-airport-phoenix-sf-av-robotaxi-driverless">Phoenix</a>, and they could be coming to a street near you very soon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bPsHLR">
The two leading robotaxi companies, GM’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo, are <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/3/23817441/waymo-robotaxi-austin-passenger-service-map">expanding commercial services</a> to cities across the country, including <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/3/23817441/waymo-robotaxi-austin-passenger-service-map">Austin</a>, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City. They’re scaling up fast, and a third company, Amazon’s Zoox, is playing catch-up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="veGAmW">
On August 10, the California Public Utilities Commission handed Cruise and Waymo a victory by allowing them to operate across San Francisco at all hours and charge fares. During a six-and-a-half-hour hearing, hundreds of residents testified for and against the robotaxis. Supporters claimed they were safer and more reliable than human-driven vehicles, and disabled people said they were more accessible, especially for service animals. Opponents, including transit and fire officials, argued that the taxis had repeatedly gotten in the way of emergency responders and had <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/10/23789905/waymo-cruise-sf-cpuc-vote-orange-cone">become a nuisance</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jdZe82">
The very next day, Cruise cars snarled traffic in the city’s North Beach neighborhood after the Outside Lands Music Festival being held in the western part of the city caused wireless service problems and the cars lost contact with their central office. The <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/15/23831170/robotaxi-cpuc-sf-waymo-cruise-traffic-halt">traffic meltdown</a> was proof to many that the cars were not ready for a larger rollout.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hX5mIR">
Then, on Wednesday, August 16 — less than a week after California regulators lifted restrictions on Cruise and Waymo — <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/driverless-taxi-cruise-waymo-18300237.php">San Francisco officials</a> asked for that approval to be halted, arguing the city “will suffer serious harm” with the services expanded to daytime hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a8vMjB">
Liz Lindqwister, a data journalist at the nonprofit news startup the San Francisco Standard, has been documenting the bumpy expansion of robotaxis — while using them herself to commute around town.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qo1Bcj">
“People like to say that San Francisco is at the heart of the robotaxi revolution. And they’re practically everywhere in the city now. You can see them crawling on every single street,” Lindqwister said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGxC3G">
To learn more about riding in cars with robots, <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> host Sean Rameswaram spoke to Lindqwister on Vox’s daily news explainer podcast. Read on for a partial transcript of the conversation, edited and condensed for length and clarity, and listen to the full conversation <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/todayexplainedpod">wherever you find podcasts</a>.
</p>
<div id="Fa6s1p">
</div>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="Ux6Os2"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qPm4F6">
<strong>This isn’t an experiment. This is the future. This is reality.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BC8qzL">
It’s very real. And it’s happening right in my backyard. You’ll see them every single day when you’re going to work. I’ve taken them out to go get drinks with friends and stuff, and they’ve become about as ubiquitous as an Uber or a Lyft.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jZ1x6k">
<strong>I did not know it was so ubiquitous that people were just taking them out to go get drinks with their friends on a Friday night or whatever. What was the experience like?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwEPdi">
It’s very surreal because in a lot of ways the experience of riding in a robotaxi is just like an Uber. It’s a normal car. When you’re in a Waymo, it’ll be a Jaguar …
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HDiOKR">
<strong>A Jaguar robot car?!</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i4UKXe">
Yeah, it’s very bougie-bougie. It feels very fancy and luxurious. But you’ll just be riding through town, and it just doesn’t have a driver. You’ll see the wheel moving and spinning and the pedals going, but there won’t be any driver up front.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iWXNoo">
<strong>Do you tip the robot taxi?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3vVBNO">
I have never tipped a robot taxi. Maybe that makes me a stingy rider, but I don’t really feel the need to tip the technology.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1uNKu0">
<strong>Does it ask you to tip the robot driver?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5AunQ6">
No, it doesn’t. And in the case of Waymo, it wasn’t able to even charge me for rides up until literally Thursday of last week. Basically, this robotaxi revolution really got kicked into high gear last Thursday because of this big state vote by the California Public Utilities Commission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DOIbE5">
There were dozens of people who lined up outside of the meeting on Thursday, and they gave six hours of public comment to say how much they really dislike these cars or how much they love them. Waymo and Cruise, they had a pretty big contingent there and support. Mothers Against Drunk Driving like to support Cruise because they like to plug that these robotaxis are safer than the average driver.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qaqKay">
On the flip side, there’s just a whole slew of people that have seen how they’ve really disrupted life in San Francisco. There’s been a lot of pushback from city officials, from the fire department, and from local activists who really don’t want to see more cars on the street. But it still passed. They basically granted these robotaxis the ability to expand, unlimited, through all parts of the city and drive all hours of the day and charge money for it, basically making them like taxis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7eFN5u">
<strong>So these rides were free for a time. How much are they now that they’re not free?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B6k0p3">
It depends on the company, because until now, Cruise was actually able to charge for its rides. The confusing part about this is that different companies had different rules. But basically Waymo hasn’t released its pricing model. They say that there’s going to be a base fee, and that there’s going to be cost per mile, cost per time. And the same thing with Cruise, except Cruise has been more public about their base fee of $5 and the additional costs on top of it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aaTrsM">
<strong>How is this changing the experience of calling a cab? Are people doing different things in the car now that they’re alone?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="he0gav">
In some of my reporting, we found that people are starting to do <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cruise-debauchery/">debaucherous things</a> or unseemly things in the car. We found a handful of people who had either had sex or hooked up in the back of a robotaxi because there’s just no driver to tell you you can’t do that. And I’d imagine the same goes for alcohol or drugs. The companies obviously don’t plug this as something that you should do in their vehicles.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SbhCyQ">
<strong>Why not?! Is sex illegal in San Francisco?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6VOyNe">
Definitely not in robotaxis, according to some of our more adventurous readers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JB3f7k">
<strong>Well, have there been any problems yet with these robocars?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RJpVxW">
That’s an understatement, honestly. It’s pretty crazy. These cars will just get caught. Let’s say there are 10 fire trucks coming down to stop a blaze in San Francisco. The Cruise cars don’t know what to do. They’ll just brick up on the street and not move. The issue with that is that they’ll be blocking traffic. They’ll be blocking the emergency vehicles.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d35vBz">
<strong>So they crumble under pressure.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2bFNkv">
They definitely crumble under pressure. And they were put to the test this Friday. San Francisco has this pretty famous music festival called Outside Lands. Tens of thousands of people attend. It’s a really big event for the city. And Cruise and Waymo were still operating around the park where the festival was held.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JLLuzp">
<strong>This was day one of the new world that we were living in in San Francisco.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rLAjNZ">
Day one of the new world. And they had a meltdown. As many as a dozen stalled Cruise cars blocked the streets in a neighborhood in the north part of the city. The company said that it was because all of the people at Outside Lands disrupted the cellphone signal or the signal that the Cruise cars use to operate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PD6HCI">
<strong>The robots blamed the people.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2zDADv">
Yeah, the robots blamed the people. A lot of people said that the robotaxis just couldn’t handle the floods of people walking on the street. They’ll just stop. And it’s kind of funny to see because the cars kind of look clueless. And there’s no driver in them either. So you really can’t yell at them to move or honk at them either. I think something that people don’t talk enough about too, with Cruise, is that they’re such cute little cars, that it really, truly is comical when they mess up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LYjw9T">
<strong>But of course, it’s all cute and fun until someone gets hurt. And hearing that these cars just have a meltdown when there’s emergency vehicles flying through a crowded street or when there’s lots of people around is concerning.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iKoxRp">
Yeah. Having driven in so many robotaxis at this point, it’s most interesting to see humans’ relationships to these robot cars and not necessarily the robot cars themselves. When I’m inside them, I’ll see people flipping me off or just glaring or yelling at me because they feel so strongly about it. They’re so frustrated with these dinky little robot cars.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aa22XU">
They’re also <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2023/07/07/we-spoke-to-one-of-the-activists-coning-cruise-and-waymo-robotaxis-in-san-francisco/">coning the cars</a>. It sounds funny, but it’s literally traffic cones that activists are placing on top of robotaxi sensors so that they can’t move. The city has even taken it into their own hands where, a firefighter in an emergency situation, they coned a Cruise car because they didn’t want it to keep moving into an emergency situation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zMb9od">
<strong>Even the firefighters are getting in on it. So it hasn’t been a totally smooth transition. But that’s sort of to be expected, I imagine.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CZGnDd">
Yeah. And I think the big question now, too, is where this is going to fit in in the broader transportation landscape of not just San Francisco, but the state and the country. We have Ubers and Lyfts that still exist. But I imagine a lot of those drivers are frustrated that there are all these self-driving cars that might take their positions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H7U62h">
And then, of course, there are transit problems with funding in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Our public transportation system is really struggling. So for another car option, private option, to show up like this, that gets a lot of folks really frustrated. Like, is this the right use of our time, of our priorities, of our funding? I don’t know.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b8xRYY">
<strong>Right. Is the answer more cars?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zkBzV0">
Yeah, And that’s a lot of the criticism, is that San Francisco’s a dense city. It’s a small city. Does it really need thousands more of these robotaxis?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8wxKxe">
<strong>It sounds like what you’re saying is that people ought to get used to the idea of being driven around by robots.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ECtLrm">
I think the CPUC vote basically said that. Whether or not San Franciscans like it, robotaxis are here to stay. And now they have unlimited access to the city and can charge money for it. And there are a lot of people excited about it. Waymo likes to say that they have a wait list of over 100,000 people. That’s a lot of people that are excited to drive in their cars.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AgA8eO">
<strong>Or it’s just 100,000 people who are really excited about having sex in a robot car.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QVO23v">
I mean, you said it, not me!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YcGoYR">
At the end of the day, it’s definitely a novelty to try out one of these cars. My parents are going to come visit in a month, and that’ll be the first thing I do, is show them the future in a robotaxi.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Florida’s restrictive sex ed rules are causing back-to-school mayhem</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Ron DeSantis, wearing a navy suit and red tie, speaks from a wooden podium at the front of a crowded press room, with a banner saying “Florida: The Education State” in front of him." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qCG8nq1ycD_pvKnnI6Bt4wob8Ec=/860x33:7243x4820/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72558601/GettyImages_1255657321.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talks with reporters after signing a flurry of education bills in May. An increasingly complex web of rules in the state has school districts confused over which courses they can teach — and which run afoul of the law. | Thomas Simonetti/Washington Post via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The new war over AP Psychology is a glimpse at the confusing future of education<strong> </strong>in the state.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WB4DgK">
Amid the usual back-to-school preparations this month, yet another College Board AP course was caught in the crossfire of Florida’s ongoing culture war.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XZZ5We">
This time, it’s <a href="https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-psychology-course-and-exam-description.pdf#page=113">AP Psychology</a> that’s pitting school districts and the College Board against the state, with college-bound students caught in the middle. Thanks to a vague law and even vaguer directions from Florida’s education department, some school district leaders remain unsure if the course is even legal to teach. It’s a situation that highlights how difficult — and confusing — it has become for schools to navigate the state’s increasingly restrictive education policies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zBejKU">
The drama began in May, when the Florida Department of Education sent a <a href="https://allaccess.collegeboard.org/allaccess/pdf/gj3lk7d.pdf">letter</a> asking the College Board, an organization that administers coursework and exams for college access, to audit and make potential changes to its AP Psychology course, which includes teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity. According to the letter, the course now needed to comply with the new House Bill 1096, otherwise known as the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/3/24/23649277/dont-say-period-florida-republicans-restricting-sex-education">Don’t Say Period</a>” law, which states that high school lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation must be “age appropriate.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2GGZnU">
Unlike its actions in <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23583240/ap-african-american-studies-college-board-florida-ron-desantis">the recent controversy</a> over AP African American Studies in Florida, the College Board <a href="https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/statement-ap-psychology-and-florida">didn’t cave</a> to the state’s request. In a stern statement, the organization announced that it would neither modify the course, which it has offered in Florida for 30 years, nor consider college credits for students from schools that watered down the curriculum. According to the College Board, it began receiving messages from teachers “heartbroken that they are being forced to drop AP and instead teach alternatives that have been deemed legal because the courses exclude these topics.” (About 30,000 students statewide had registered for the course, according to the College Board.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1pJrSi">
Florida, the College Board declared, had <a href="https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/statement-ap-psychology-and-florida">“effectively banned AP Psychology.”</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DMcMi7">
The controversy is only the latest imbroglio changing the face of education for Florida students this term. Earlier this year, the state’s Board of Education rejected the AP African American Studies curriculum, claiming it “lacks educational value,” even after the College Board removed topics such as <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination">intersectionality</a> and reparations. Then the state adopted new <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/8/10/23825778/florida-black-history-standards-ron-desantis">social studies standards</a> that teach that enslaved people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills, drawing ire from across the country, as even Republican Party leaders denounced the standards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XYWq4B">
The state has <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/24/23736215/florida-book-ban-amanda-gorman-the-hill-we-climb#:~:text=The%20concerning%20rise%20and%20impact%20of%20book%20bans&amp;text=In%20Florida%2C%20a%20new%20law,by%20a%20parent%20or%20teacher.">banned books</a> with LGBTQ themes, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/6/2/23742508/ron-desantis-florida-higher-education-ideological-war">eliminated DEI programs</a> and initiatives at state universities, disrupted the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23762357/republican-attack-higher-education">state’s tenure system</a>, targeted trans health care at universities, limited <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/3/24/23649277/dont-say-period-florida-republicans-restricting-sex-education">sex education</a>, and made a mockery of the tiny <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/21/23690415/ron-desantis-florida-higher-education-colleges-universities">New College of Florida</a>. The changes all coincide with Gov. Ron DeSantis’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination against former <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> and other contenders. As the campaign season picks up, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23593369/ron-desantis-florida-schools-higher-education-woke">critics say</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23762357/republican-attack-higher-education">they expect</a> DeSantis’s puppeteering of education in the state to only become more chaotic.
</p>
<h3 id="6bLJy9">
How AP Psychology became the latest culture war target
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rezl5Y">
The timeline of events is dizzying. Ahead of the 2023-2024 academic year, Florida’s education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. directed his office to conduct a review of the AP Psychology course to ensure that it aligns with the law, in particular<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/3/24/23649277/dont-say-period-florida-republicans-restricting-sex-education">Florida’s new “Don’t Say Period” law</a>. The AP course had one target that requires students to “Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.” Around the same time, the department made its <a href="https://allaccess.collegeboard.org/allaccess/pdf/gj3lk7d.pdf">request</a> to the College Board.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v9KSXa">
As the summer crawled closer to the start of the school year, Florida provided no signal that it would allow the course to be taught in its entirety, while the College Board insisted it was banned. So, many rightfully confused school districts began refusing to offer the course.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rxokr1">
Díaz sent a letter to district leaders on August 4 to clear things up. “The Department of Education is not discouraging districts from teaching AP Psychology,” it read. When district leaders asked for further clarification, Díaz responded in a follow-up letter on August 9 — <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeStofan/status/1689417111859306496/photo/1">just a day before the school year was set to begin in much of the state</a> — insisting, “It is the Department of Education’s stance that [the] learning target … can be taught consistent with Florida law.” Díaz again rejected the assertion that the state had banned the course.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZTxkr3">
Districts have had to do a frenzied dance to keep up with the quick changes. One day, Mike Burke, Palm Beach County’s school chief, apologetically announced that he was removing AP Psych, stating, “If there was a way we could teach this course and not have our teachers get arrested, we would do it in a second,” according to the <a href="https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/education/2023/08/09/palm-beach-county-schools-switch-will-offer-ap-psych-this-year/70558894007/?csp=chromepush">Palm Beach Post</a> — and he reversed that decision just days later.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mWBxE3">
Other districts aren’t adding back AP Psychology, having already ordered textbooks for alternate courses, while some are refusing to re-adopt the course because they’re fearful that teachers could still face legal consequences. Meanwhile, some districts were prepared to just ignore the state’s mixed messages all along. “I have communicated to our staff to respect the law and follow the law, but not to fear the law and do more than it requires,” Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said <a href="https://twitter.com/LeonSchools/status/1688995014154555397?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">in a statement</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FjUNaI">
For many, however, the fear had already taken hold. Seven of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in the course said they would make the switch to an alternative class, rushing to catch teachers up on the new material, according to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/09/florida-schools-drop-ap-psychology-class/">Washington Post</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Outside a set of large windows, people gather, one holding a sign that reads “Support real education, not DeSantis indoctrination.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qICA0VM9iD4XHtaazy_J_l-BOOQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859038/1252063814.jpeg"/> <cite>Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Students and others attend a “Walkout 2 Learn” rally to protest Florida education policies outside Orlando City Hall on April 21.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yvVQoZ">
Jason Wheeler, the coordinator for communications for Flagler Schools, a public school district on Florida’s northeast coast, told Vox that the district will not offer the course despite the commissioner’s new guidance. Though it was available to students last year, students this year are enrolled in International Baccalaureate Psychology, which also provides college credit, due to what the district has called “<a href="https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1691431474/flaglerschoolscom/fwzcotm4p6qd9hsevw0f/APPsyUpdate1-1.pdf">the evolving educational landscape</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w1oarZ">
Pinellas County Superintendent Kevin Hendrick told the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/08/09/florida-says-ap-psychology-course-meets-state-law-as-is-adding-clarity/">Tampa Bay Times</a> that he did not want to put his teachers and students through more change. The district plans to use the Cambridge AICE course, an alternate course that provides college credit. Teachers recently received training for the course in light of the education department’s initial guidance. Hillsborough County’s superintendent, who oversees 1,800 students who take the course, <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/08/09/florida-says-ap-psychology-course-meets-state-law-as-is-adding-clarity/">told the Tampa Bay Times</a> his district also didn’t have immediate plans to change course and offer AP Psychology, then <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/ap-psychology-course-back-in-hillsborough-county-public-schools/">backtracked and added AP Psych back</a> to the curriculum, after all.
</p>
<h3 id="hwCTy9">
The AP Psychology saga is a bellwether for what’s to come
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SrjQhc">
A series of laws signed by Gov. DeSantis in the past two years have created significant challenges for educators. The laws, which critics call “classroom gag orders,” build on one another, creating a web of restrictions that educators must navigate to avoid legal consequences. The AP Psychology course could technically be considered illegal under three of the state’s restrictive education laws — the “Don’t Say Period” law, the “Don’t Say Gay” law, and the Stop WOKE Act, which bans schools and businesses from teaching anything that could make anyone feel “guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress” because of their race, gender, sex, or national origin.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two high school students hold a sign reading, “Gender doesn’t harm kids, you’re just a homophobe.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ueUn0sGg0n61p44kSL5BHxsboUg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24856842/1252050399.jpg"/> <cite>Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Students hold a “Walkout 2 Learn” rally to protest Florida education bills.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S2JW1z">
<a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1069/BillText/c1/PDF">House Bill 1069</a>, the law cited in the AP Psychology letter, is also known as the “Don’t Say Period law” and took effect little more than a month before the school year began. It states that<strong> </strong>“Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation of gender identity may not occur in prekindergarten through grade 8 […] If such instruction is provided in grades 9 through 12, the instruction must be in a manner that is age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bRIKJx">
The law reinforces 2022’s <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/?Tab=BillText">Parental Rights in Education Act</a>, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay law,” which states that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” In April 2023, the state expanded the law to include grades 4-12.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s41ppJ">
Each of the laws has been criticized for using vague language. The Parental Rights in Education Act, for example, does not define key phrases such as “age appropriate,” “developmentally appropriate,” or “classroom instruction.” As a result, virtually any kind of classroom discussion and material can be called into question, and under the law, educators can face third-degree felony charges for a violation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="851hZm">
Educators in the state are now scratching their heads over what is and isn’t legal under the law, while heated debates about <a href="https://winknews.com/2023/08/08/lee-county-public-schools-media-access-form/">which books</a> can be made available to students in school libraries and <a href="https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-schools-nicknames-permission/44766231">permission slips</a> for students to be called by anything other than their legal names are flustering parents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5GmJ68">
The tapestry of laws and controversies is causing teachers at various levels to leave the profession, specifically citing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/13/florida-teachers-woke-law-ron-desantis">intimidation</a>, <a href="https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2023-06-30/florida-teachers-quitting-anti-lgbtq-laws">anti-LGBTQ laws</a>, and an off-putting “<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/florida-education-brain-drain-hitting-schools-hard">war on wokeness</a>.” Academic freedom advocates <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23762357/republican-attack-higher-education">told Vox</a> the attack on education will take “years to undo.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZWOluy">
The AP Psychology debacle highlights just how deeply that fear has permeated education in Florida at all levels. “Education in Florida has just gotten very politicized,” Kurt Browning, the superintendent of Pasco County Schools, told the Washington Post. “Teachers teach in fear. They’re scared. It’s no way to educate kids.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>What I saw in Maui</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An aerial photo shows hundreds of flattened and burned out homes reduced to their foundations." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/poAMG8txW3DGaaTcKmorQCYQ5SY=/660x0:4620x2970/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72558544/GettyImages_1622172370.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Aerial footage shows the destruction wrought by a wildfire on August 17, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawai‘i. | Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The social ties keeping Lahaina fed in the wake of disaster.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XOektV">
MAUI, Hawai‘i — When Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green held a press conference on Wednesday, he revealed the state government’s focus on procuring federal resources, securing housing, preventing land grab profiteering in affected areas on Maui, and coordinating agencies operating in response to the catastrophe. Nearly 2,500 housing units, including hotel rooms and Airbnbs, have been secured for displaced people, and the death toll has surpassed 110 with more than half of Lāhainā yet to be searched.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z76zAk">
That was the hard news of it, the nuance of the event was equally important.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J8lZnQ">
A confrontation between Maui County officials and the press over the decision to not sound warning sirens highlighted not only the chaos wrought by the wildfires last week but also the disconnect between people of this place and those who came from the continental United States to cover the disaster and help with the recovery. After defending his decision to not sound the alarms at the press conference, the head of the county’s emergency management agency, Herman Andaya, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/world/asia/maui-emergency-chief-resigns.html">resigned abruptly on Thursday</a>, citing health reasons. But as someone who grew up in Hawai‘i, and who watched the scuffle unfold from Honolulu, I know the situation is far more complex than national headlines make it appear.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IFVgOp">
Forty-one minutes into the press conference, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen stepped out of the scrum of officials lined up on stage and stood alongside Andaya to confront a CBS News reporter who had asked about the decision not to sound warning sirens and questioned his qualifications. Andaya had previously served as chief of staff to former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa and did not have previous direct emergency management experience.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VoTZnM">
Bissen came forward like a good local boy defending his own. The reporter kept talking over Andaya, demanding answers. Bissen snarled, “You want him to give you the answer? Or you wanna give?” Even with Bissen’s undertone of pidgin English he came through, loud and clear — you gone have one problem you keep this up. “If you want to talk, come up here,” Bissen added after a back and forth. The hint of threat was palpable. Like a tourist surfer exceeding their visitor bounds in a local surf line-up, the reporter was shown his place here, quickly and efficiently. We are not anybody’s “main-land.” This is Hawai‘i. Get it or go. We need help in this terrible catastrophe but people want to be met half-way, in part on our terms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K15VZq">
When reporters asked whether he regretted his decision not to sound the sirens, Andaya said, “I do not.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two people stand on a patch of smoky, burned grass, holding a rusty metal bucket between them." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CQ7jWpJgJwTLe2vPTNQHdbjWNgM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859299/GettyImages_1611032092.jpg"/> <cite>Justin Sullivan via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Brook Cretton (right) and Spencer Kim (left) use a bucket of water to put out hot spots after a wildfire moved through the area on August 12, 2023, in Kula, Hawai‘i.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DMidT9">
To be fair, likely not knowing the lay of the land, the CBS reporter couldn’t have known that sounding the sirens might also have <em>cost</em> many lives by sending people uphill into the fire. The sirens he asked about were built to be coastal tsunami warning horns, part of a system <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2014.0371">inaugurated in 1949</a> in response to the devastating tsunami of 1946 which killed 159 Hawaiian residents — we learned the hard way to seek high ground. Though the sirens do have a range of purposes, mass evacuation in the face of a firestorm bearing down on a major town as fast as 60 miles per hour with temperatures <a href="https://visura.co/jmatt/stories/butte-county-camp-fire-100-day">as hot or hotter than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit</a> is not one of them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6utOgp">
“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” Andaya explained at the press conference. “Had we sounded the siren that night, we’re afraid that people would have gone mauka,” or toward the mountains. “And if that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iQI6K7">
There are no sirens upland where the fire had blazed. They aren’t designed to be heard upcountry, incredibly loud as they are. For those standing at the podium, from this place, members of <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">the media</a> appeared to have committed a grave sin: that of assuming an understanding of Hawai‘i, from an outsider’s point of view which only rarely is at all accurate. And in this disaster, people here are sick of it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IGpPlt">
It is important, at this point, to note that Hawai‘i was once a politically thriving, progressive monarchy, then an illegally overthrown republic, and then a United States plantation colony and military garrison. It is still effectively a collection of garrison towns, bearing little relation to the way life is lived on the American continent at large. Media as well as non-local emergency response from other states and the federal government are thrust into a situation that requires them to learn fast — sometimes the hard way — that “the way it’s done” in the continental US is not compatible with the network of community systems and social protocols in Hawai‘i. There is a precipitous cultural competency learning curve that people from the rest of the US just don’t see coming to Hawai‘i, when to them, they are merely working in another one of fifty states.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n2fPxe">
And frustration isn’t only supplied by people and organizations from the continental US. Like everyone from Hawai‘i, I know we can create it for ourselves too, bountifully.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="People in a cafeteria tape and carry large white coolers." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SBOlAp8z-VoC3Ygv2mI8BTUdL4Q=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859328/GettyImages_1597900695.jpg"/> <cite>Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Volunteers prepare free meals to donate to West Maui families affected by wildfires, at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College in Kahului, Maui, Hawai‘i on August 13, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hwpk21">
On Tuesday, August 8, the night that the fires took off and burned their hottest, and as residents and visitors became refugees, Kainoa Horcajo, the leader of <a href="https://mauirapidresponse.org/">Maui Rapid Response</a>, called Greg Shepherd, who has worked for nearly two decades in Maui’s restaurant industry, to tell him that local emergency operations were struggling to feed evacuees. Shepherd is a volunteer manager with the food aid cooperative <a href="https://www.chefhui.com/">Chef Hui</a>, and in the hours that followed that call, he helped secure space to prepare meals and meet the local need, well before state or federal emergency assistance arrived. Shepherd told me that the volunteer staff of the newly marshaled Chef Hui Maui response cranked out 600 meals, with virtually no notice, in the middle of the night, as Lāhainā burned to the ground. “It’s a phone call, a group text message. Nobody ever says no — that’s the thing about Maui,” Shepherd told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="66uixQ">
The next morning Shepherd was frustrated by the inertia of meetings and slow decision-making that he says he observed in Maui County’s response. His team had worked a miracle, feeding fire refugees at Wailuku airport that night. The following day, according to Shepherd, county officials were still talking about collecting information in order to start distributing meals. “We’ll probably be at 60,000 meals by the time you guys tell us what you think we should do,” Shepherd told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hz1rh0">
Shepherd and Chef Hui are a critical node in the relationship map of Maui, providing a social safety net during disaster. Their local response had the benefit of an already established ecosystem of farms, ranchers, hunters, fishermen, slaughterhouses, and distributors that supply ingredients for everything from basic local plate lunches to the poshest of resort meals on Maui. As fires swept through Lāhainā, their mission was to feed Lāhainā’s displaced people efficiently, sustainably, and well. In the middle of the climate-charged disaster, Chef Hui’s response provided not only food — but restored dignity.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Volunteers wearing plastic gloves stand in rows along a long line of cafeteria tables laden with soup cups on trays. They spoon food into cups." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tJ_mTXTN5gdJ4RjRyMkMSXcOpuY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859332/GettyImages_1597902260.jpg"/> <cite>Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Volunteers prepare free meals at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College in Kahului, central Maui, Hawai‘i, on August 13, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vLaBp6">
The level of state support for such efforts is unclear. When I asked whether or not the state had plans to fund or otherwise aid Chef Hui, the governor’s office said my question could not be answered. How could it be? Here was a maverick non-profit in the disaster area taking pressure off a state that was facing its vast post-fire burdens. The state likely could have prepared better for the sort of hell befalling Maui, but this would have required imagining something that, at least for most in Hawai‘i, was unimaginable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kCtRNc">
An assessment will come — many will. Right now, we local folks, from the governor to the dishwashers at Chef Hui, are doing everything we can to help our ‘ohana, our extended family, on Maui. That is the urgent work at hand.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CgCAuR">
Formed in 2018 by local chefs and food service partners, <a href="https://www.chefhui.com/">Chef Hui</a> has a mission to serve its communities healthy local food and create a more direct connection to the area’s domestic food systems. On the Friday after the fires started, I visited Chef Hui’s emergency operation at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College Culinary Academy, about an hour away from Lāhainā. Chef Hui’s many local volunteers had been there for days, working around the clock preparing and delivering meals, and by Sunday, the collective had delivered more than 10,000 meals to those displaced by wildfire. It was in the fire zones in Lāhainā and Upcountry where there had been a total absence of food relief coming from official government channels. A week later, Chef Hui told me it was still serving as many as 10,000 meals a day as the county and state still struggled to deliver food aid.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man kneels on a jet ski beside a larger boat wearing a blue swimsuit and swim shirt. A man onboard the larger boat hands him a propane tank. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dpcadF25DD3QFpjWg4CgXe7OYb8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859304/GettyImages_1615369855.jpg"/> <cite>Justin Sullivan via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Volunteers load propane tanks onto jet skis to be ferried to shore on August 14, 2023, in Kaʻanapali, Hawai‘i.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6fyES8">
Meanwhile, there is some food aid from organizations based on the continent. The local Salvation Army has been preparing and serving about a thousand meals to refugees assembled in Wailuku’s War Memorial Gym, nearly 40 miles from Lāhainā. Volunteers from World Central Kitchen, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that provides meals in the wake of <a href="https://www.vox.com/natural-disaster">natural disasters</a> and man-made crises, are also on the ground, albeit supporting Chef Hui exclusively. When I was there last week, there was palpable tension between local volunteers and those with World Central Kitchen. The principal issue was, as it often is, a lack of cultural understanding. As aid workers traveled to fire and burn zones to deliver food, World Central Kitchen workers weren’t always trusted by people who were grieving and frightened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6CRl6n">
As someone from Hawai‘i, I understand the sometimes insular nature of our islands — on top of being innately suspicious of outsiders in a place where tourists regularly behave in ways that are disrespectful of our ‘āina (the land) or Kānaka Maoli (Indigenous Hawaiians) as well as longtime, local residents. There’s tremendous anguish felt here by those who have been priced out of home ownership by real estate costs inflated by speculation, second homes, and investment properties. This place is fraught, an entire state being gentrified, crawling with tourists like a poi dog (that’s a mutt to you, haole) has fleas.
</p>
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman’s hands hold a stack of painted ceramic dishes against a backdrop of grey rubble and broken dishware. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fJYi-uNCwpOywzOAo_WR1P-frgA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859339/GettyImages_1611050884.jpg"/> <cite>Justin Sullivan via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A resident holds a stack of dishes salvaged from the rubble of a home that was destroyed by wildfire on August 12, 2023, in Kula, Hawai‘i.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6bKSqU">
In 2018, I covered the aftermath of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which, like Lāhainā, was leveled by a disaster. I thought I knew what to expect in Lāhainā, but it was still a kick in the gut. In my home, on the land that shaped me into the person I am, it was a painful reminder that <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">global warming</a> caused by human activity means that deadly wildfires will be more common — and, unfortunately, stand the chance of becoming ever more deadly, as has happened here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLeQfQ">
I found myself in the aftermath again last Sunday. Traversing the devastation with Chef Hui and World Central Kitchen volunteers, we arrived at the Napili Market, a strip mall turned response hub in Lāhainā. Hot meals were moved from box trucks into pickups and vans. Volunteers counted the flats of water, sports drinks, Vienna sausages, Spam, bundles of towels, toilet paper, and underwear. And then they ventured into the town’s still-standing neighborhoods to distribute the supplies where power was spotty at best, and water, if service had been restored, was still not safe to drink. At all of the distribution centers in Lāhainā, Chef Hui and World Central Kitchen were the only ones supplying hot, ready-to-eat food to people at that time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nhPNKN">
As a journalist welcomed by Chef Hui for my local roots to cover their efforts, it wasn’t immediately clear to me that I would have ended up sitting on a tailgate calling out, “Hot meals! Water! You folks need dinner?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4moSwg">
I handed out dinners and hugged people breaking down in tears. Every time Shepherd, the food service veteran, or Keli’i Heen, a Chef Hui organizer, got out from behind the wheel to help me hand out meals, their courtesy, kindness, and connection to this Maui community was evident and helped me cope. For some evacuees, it was their first hot meal in days. Shepherd, Heen, and the other volunteers understood that the prepared food, their mere presence answering questions and hearing concerns, and their open smiles all told the people of Lāhainā that they had not been forgotten, that they had dignity and would be treated accordingly, in a way that more formalized aid groups had not yet been able to muster.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A dinghy is pulled up onto the beach and people carry supplies inland." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zyE-jIwJZxAIch3ZtNLGmUeqBpU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24859340/GettyImages_1595209286.jpg"/> <cite>Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Mercy Worldwide volunteers unload supplies to West Maui towns at Black Rock Beach in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawai‘i, on August 12, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4xuu97">
But really, what could the state or county have mustered? Andaya has resigned, but would a more seasoned emergency manager dealt the same hand have fared any better? Again, locally, here in Hawai‘i, a previously inconceivable firestorm juiced by a nearby hurricane ravaged the landscape, moving as fast as 60 miles per hour and burning at 1,000 degrees in the middle of the night.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DzIhyJ">
This conflagration bears down on a sleepy town of single-wall, wood-frame structures dating back to the 1700s, when streets were laid out for horses. It is served by a modern warning system that depends on cell phone alerts and cell towers, which fall prey to both hurricane-force winds and fires. And what is <em>perhaps</em> a more robust alert system, the sirens, is still electrically operated, not designed for this, and may signal a tsunami to the population and cause them to flee uphill, which in this case, would have been into an inferno.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GMIWMY">
Underpinning it all is the fact that, nationally, we have not acted meaningfully on climate change or faced the consequences of our contemporary and historical land use. Will this year be another record-breaking carbon pollution year?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lWqeoS">
Lāhainā is a glimpse of the accelerating future, as was Paradise, California, five years ago. The Camp Fire grew at the rate of a football field a second. The wildfire in Maui destroyed Lāhainā in the time it takes to watch a kids’ soccer match, or less. Imagining and planning for the inconceivable must become the norm after these two catastrophes — our obligation. From where I sit, having reported in both places after decimating firestorms, it is something we owe the dead and the living, those who have lost so much and will pick up their lives again, forever changed, able to not just imagine the inconceivable — but recall their experience of it.
</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>FIFA Women’s WC | Sweden beats Australia 2-0 to win another bronze medal</strong> - A 2-0 win over Australia in the third place playoff ensured that Sweden won its fourth World Cup bronze medal</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>Indian compound archers strike gold twice at World Cup Stage 4</strong> - India now have two gold and two bronze from the last World Cup of the 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>Paine hits out at Stokes for coming out of ODI retirement to play in World Cup</strong> - While England are excited about the all-rounder’s return to the ODI side ahead of the World Cup in India from October 5, Paine indicated Stokes was being selfish.</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>Harry Kane sparkles for Bayern in Bundesliga debut with goal and assist against Bremen</strong> - It was for such scoring prowess that Bayern brought Kane to Munich, with the Bavarians having struggled for goals since the departure of Robert Lewandowski.</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>Morning Digest | Manipur CM says 212 Meiteis who crossed over to Myanmar brought back; wrestler Panghal creates history by defending 53kg title, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</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>Sloth bear walks into cage near Srisailam</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>BC leaders raise voice in Congress as PCC takes up process for picking candidates</strong> - Congress BC Garjana to be held soon to strengthen party before polls: VHR</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 travails of travellers mount as MMTS suburban train services veer off-track</strong> - Recently, local train services have become erratic with the railway authorities frequently cancelling services citing “maintenance” or “lack of patronage”, leaving travelling low-income workers and small-businesspersons high and dry</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>Evidence-based digital investments can help governments save up to 15% of health system costs: World Bank report</strong> - The World Bank in its statement said that it is committed to helping low-and middle-income countries make digital-in-health a reality to improve health for everyone.</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>Hat stones in abundance at archaeology site near Tirunavaya</strong> - The findings may throw light on the life and culture of people who lived in those parts more than 2,000 years ago; Local people says government should consider the historic significance of Tirunavaya on the banks of Bharathapuzha and declare it as a heritage village</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>Ukraine war: US allows transfer of Danish and Dutch F-16 war planes to Kyiv</strong> - US-made jets in Denmark and the Netherlands can be sent to Ukraine when its pilots are fully trained.</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>Cat and dog influencers help Ukrainians cope with war</strong> - How animals’ accounts have been bringing Ukrainians hope and even practical advice at a time of war.</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>Albania: Italy pays bill for tourists’ dine and dash</strong> - In a unique act of diplomacy, Italy’s prime minister tells her government to settle the unpaid bill.</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>Russian priest investigated for blessing Stalin statue</strong> - The cleric’s local diocese says it is investigating the incident in the city of Velikiye Luki.</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>Russia sanctions UK politicians and journalists</strong> - Those on the list include Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.</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 announces new algorithm that makes FIDO encryption safe from quantum computers</strong> - New approach combines ECDSA with post-quantum algorithm called Dilithium. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961906">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SanDisk Extreme SSDs are “worthless,” multiple lawsuits against WD say</strong> - Ars cited in two SanDisk SSD failure lawsuits filed yesterday. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961790">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>X suspends pro-Nazi account after two brands halt advertising</strong> - X will soon allow brands to block ads from appearing next to specific profiles. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961835">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wi-Fi sniffers strapped to drones—Mike Lindell’s odd plan to stop election fraud</strong> - Lindell wants to fly drones near polling places to monitor voting machines. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961867">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peter Beck pushes toward a Neutron debut in 2024, but acknowledges challenges</strong> - “We don’t believe in signing janky, fake contracts.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961816">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>A woman, cranky because her husband was late coming home again, decided to leave a note, saying, “I’ve had enough and have left you. Don’t bother coming after me.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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Then she hid under the bed to see his reaction.
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After a short while, the husband comes home and she could hear him in the kitchen before he comes into the bedroom.
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She could see him walk towards the dresser and pick up the note.
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After a few minutes, he wrote something on it before picking up the phone and calling someone.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"She’s finally gone…yeah I know, about bloody time, I’m coming to see you, put on that sexy French nightie.
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I love you…can’t wait to see you…we’ll do all the naughty things you like."
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He hung up, grabbed his keys and left.
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She heard the car drive off as she came out from under the bed.
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Seething with rage and with tears in her eyes she grabbed the note to see what he wrote…
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I can see your feet. We’re outta bread: be back in five minutes.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Dry_Career_2304"> /u/Dry_Career_2304 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ur0w2/a_woman_cranky_because_her_husband_was_late/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ur0w2/a_woman_cranky_because_her_husband_was_late/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A middle-aged married couple live in a small house on the beach. One afternoon they get into a huge fight. The woman says to the man, “I’m so angry I can’t even stand to look at you right now,” and hands him a large bucket.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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“Go down to the beach and fill that bucket up with snails for tonight’s dinner,” The woman tells her husband, “and once you’ve done that maybe I’ll be able to stand being around you again.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man reluctantly agrees and heads down to the beach with the bucket. It takes him several hours, but he is finally able to catch enough snails to fill the bucket just as the sun is starting to set. The man gets ready to head back home when he suddenly sees a beautiful young blonde woman walking along the beach.
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The man sets down his bucket, approaches the blonde, and starts up a conversation with her. After they talk for a while, the blonde invites the man to come home with her, which he eagerly agrees to.
</p>
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The man ends up spending the night with the blonde. He wakes up early the next morning and suddenly realizes that his wife must be frantically looking for him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man runs back to the beach as quickly as he can, gathers up his bucket full of snails, and sprints back home. When he gets there, he dumps the snails out all over the walkway leading up to this front door.
</p>
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The man’s wife hears the commotion and comes to the door. “Where the hell have you been all night?” She demands angrily.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man turns around, looks down at the snails, and says, “Come on, little guys, you can do it! We’re almost there!”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/thenakedzombie"> /u/thenakedzombie </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v0wyg/a_middleaged_married_couple_live_in_a_small_house/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v0wyg/a_middleaged_married_couple_live_in_a_small_house/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The strange case of albinism</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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An American anthropologist has been studying a tribe in Africa by living with them for a year.
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One day, the chief called him into the chief’s hut.
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The chief sighed. “Well, my friend, it seems that we must ask you to leave.” The anthropologist was surprised by this; he thought he had gained the tribe’s trust.
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“Why, what’s the matter?” he stammered.
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“It seems that a woman in our tribe has given birth to a baby… a white baby,” said the chief.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The anthropologist began to laugh. “Oh, is that all? No, that’s just a classic case of albinism. It’s caused by inheriting recessive pigment genes and…”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The chief didn’t look convinced, so he pointed at a nearby flock of sheep. “See those sheep? All of them are white except for that one. It’s like that!”
</p>
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The chief was silent for a moment and said, “Listen, you don’t talk about the sheep, and I won’t talk about the baby.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Paryanoid__Guy"> /u/Paryanoid__Guy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v8oon/the_strange_case_of_albinism/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v8oon/the_strange_case_of_albinism/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tommy…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A young guy called Tommy bought a horse from a farmer for $250 and the farmer agreed to deliver the horse to Tommy the following day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The next day though, the farmer turned up at Tommy’s house and said, “Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.”
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Tommy replied, “Well, then just give me my money back. That’s fine.”
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The farmer said, “Sorry, I can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”
</p>
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Tommy then said, “Okay, then, just bring me the dead horse.”
</p>
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The farmer was surprised and asked Tommy, “Why? What ya gonna do with him?”
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Tommy replied, “I’m going to raffle him off.”
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The farmer laughed and said, “You can’t raffle off a dead horse! Who’d buy a ticket?”
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Tommy answered, “Sure I can, just watch me. I just won’t tell anybody the horse is dead.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A month later, the farmer met up with Tommy again and asked, “What happened with that dead horse in the end. Did you raffle him off?”
</p>
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Tommy said, “I sure did. I sold 500 tickets at $5 a piece.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The farmer said, “Didn’t anyone complain?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Tommy smiled and said, “Just the guy who won. So I gave him his $5 back.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MercyReign"> /u/MercyReign </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v18wm/tommy/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15v18wm/tommy/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Once there was an inflatable boy.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He lived in his inflatable house with his inflatable parents, and every morning when the inflatable clock struck seven, he would come down the inflatable stairs and eat his breakfast at the inflatable table, then go and catch the inflatable bus to his inflatable school.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But one day for some reason he decided he was tired of all this, so when he left his inflatable house he took a knife from the inflatable kitchen and smuggled it into the inflatable school. At break time, he went to his inflatable locker and took out the knife, and he ran around the inflatable school slashing and stabbing the inflatable walls, and the inflatable school began to collapse around him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As he stood there laughing insanely at the sight of the inflatable school falling down, he suddenly heard a stern voice saying “Inflatable boy, what in the inflatable world do you think you are doing?”, and he turned and saw the inflatable headmaster standing right next to him. In a panic, the inflatable boy stuck his knife into the inflatable headmaster, who also began to collapse – and then, stricken with horror, the inflatable boy turned the knife on himself, and as the air hissed out of him, everything went black.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His eyes opened. He was in an inflatable bed in the inflatable hospital, his stab wound was patched, and an air pump was gently re-inflating him. And he heard a familiar voice and rolled over to see, in the next inflatable bed, his inflatable headmaster receiving the same life-saving treatment.
</p>
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“Boy, boy, inflatable boy,” said the inflatable headmaster, shaking his inflatable head sorrowfully,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“… you’ve let me down, you’ve let the school down, but most of all, you’ve let yourself down.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gil-Gandel"> /u/Gil-Gandel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15vaewb/once_there_was_an_inflatable_boy/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15vaewb/once_there_was_an_inflatable_boy/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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