Tahoe Talk - 9/9/20

Quick Hits: - 2.2m acres burned, 7,563 total incidents, 8 fatalities, 4k structures destroyed - CA gets approval for 2 more weeks of the $300 supplemental payment to unemployment bringing the total to $1,500 additional funding to those that qualify - Los Angeles Co. bans trick or treating this Halloween due to C19 - Carol Baskin part of the Dancing with the Stars lineup - Walmart Plus: Walmart's new membership program to launch Sept. 15 with same-day delivery, fuel discount - The New York City subway is having a very bad year. Ridership has dropped by over 90% since the pandemic’s onset. The agency that runs the service expects to lose more than $14 billion through 2021 - Amazon Prime Air: Amazon's drone delivery service receives Federal Aviation approval paving the way for it to start offering commercial deliveries on a trial basis - Whole Foods is trying out a "dark store" as part of its vision for the future of grocery shopping… Online only purchases and then pickup (Brooklyn, NY)   Deeper Dives: - A coalition of 160 human rights and advocacy groups have sent a joint letter to the International Olympic Committee, calling on the body to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing due to China's record on human rights - Federal wildlife officials aim to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves across the USA  this year. An official at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they have “biologically recovered,” …. its removal from the list would demonstrate the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act - The unemployment rate dropped to 8.4 percent in August, the Labor Department reported on Friday, marking the fourth month of declines even as the pace of job growth is slowing. The August rate is down from its April peak of 14.7 percent, but still remains far above the 3.5 percent recorded in February, before coronavirus shutdowns took hold. Fact Check: “Kamala Harris can’t be VP, she’s a felon” - FALSE Sunday, 9/13 = National Grandparents Day