Good afternoon. It's for coward with a daily beast. It's Tuesday, July 14th. And these are the top five stories the Chi Chi team is watching right now.
A federal judge has rejected a nearly $19 million settlement and Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct lawsuits. The US District Judge Alvin Heller, Steinham, New York said that the settlement and properly nullifies claims of not participating parties and quote, The idea that Harvey Weinstein can get a defense fund ahead of the claimants is obnoxious. The judge also objected to Weinstein and other officers of the Weinstein company receiving millions and attorneys fees and urged lawyers for the women to move their clients cases forward and try to seize Weinstein's assets. He added that the plaintiffs' experiences are so various that the case should not be handled as a class action.
The attorneys who represent three plaintiffs said in the statement to the Daily Beast that the deal was unfair to the plaintiffs that the quote, terms and conditions were unfair and should never be imposed on sexual assault survivors. This is not really helpful. As Florida has been hitting new records and cases, West Side Gnostics announced Monday that non-priority coronavirus patients are waiting an average of at least seven days for their test results. That's absolutely ridiculous.
The laboratory company has attributed the wait time to the surge of cases nationwide and said that they are not in the position quote, to reduce the turnaround times as long as cases of COVID-19 continue to increase dramatically. They claim that the issue is not exclusive to Quest but the entire lab industry. The company currently has the capacity to perform 125,000 tests daily twice what is capacity had been eight weeks prior. Another task force member is clapping back after an attack from the president.
Admiral Brett Jawar, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, insists that quote, none of us lied to the public after the president retweeted an accusation that the group and other officials lied about the disease. During the Tuesday interview on NBC's Today Show, Jawar acknowledged that the task force has made mistakes but that they quote, are completely transparent with the American people. Jawar also disputed President Trump's claims that the virus will allegedly just disappear. Instead, he stated that Americans must take the necessary measures to control the virus, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
At least somebody is listening. A federal judge has suspended a rule that force women to visit a doctor in person to get access to an abortion pill. During the raging coronavirus pandemic, the ruling which deemed the in person visits as likely unconstitutional will allow healthcare providers to mail Miffer Press Stone out to patients for as long as the public health emergency continues. In his ruling, the US District Judge Theodore Chang said that quote, the in person requirements present a serious burden to many abortion patients as they would otherwise have to quote, decide between foregoing or substantially delaying abortion care or risking exposure to COVID-19 for themselves, their children and family members.
However, the judge did say the federal case will not supersede any state's ability to regulate abortion medication, quote, above and beyond federal requirements. This makes no kind of sense. The Board of Education in Orange County, California has reportedly voted in favor of sending their kids back to school in the fall, despite the area surge in coronavirus cases. The Los Angeles Times reports that measures for schools include temperature checks, frequent hand washing and nightly cleaning, but they did not say anything about students having to wear mandatory face coverings or to keep a social distance from classmates.
The boards of the measures it had laid out are only guidelines and reopening plans will be left up to individual school districts. But the document plays pressure on districts to reopen, saying that remote learning during the pandemic has been, quote, an utter failure. On Monday, the Los Angeles and San Diego Districts announced they would keep a virtual model for schools next month because of the new wave of COVID-19 cases. That's all for today.
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