The measure would set up a referendum for voters to consider in the November general election. If approved, it would grant nine sports gambling licenses.

This content was republished with permission from WTOPs news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters free email subscription today.

A measure to allow Marylanders to gamble on sporting events cleared an important hurdle on Tuesday when a Senate committee voted unanimously to approve a bill sponsored by a Montgomery County lawmaker.

Under the watchful gaze of nearly a dozen lobbyists in the back of the room, the Budget and Taxation Committee made up of nine Democrats and four Republicans gave its approval to Senate Bill 4.

The measure would set up a referendum for voters to consider in the November general election. If approved, it would grant nine sports gambling licenses.

Six would go to the states casinos; Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, the states busiest horse tracks, would share a license; one would go to the State Fairgrounds in Timonium; and one would go to a new Washington Redskins stadium in Prince Georges County.

Marylands four off-track betting parlors would also have the right to accept bets on professional and college athletics.

Each licensee would be forced to pay an upfront fee. For the Redskins, the Maryland Jockey Club (the company that owns Laurel and Pimlico) and the larger casinos, the fee would be $2.5 million.

For casinos with fewer than 1,000 slot machines, the fee would be $1.5 million.

The bulk of the states take from sports gaming would fund K-12 public education.

This is something that we hear Marylanders want, said Sen. Craig J. Zucker, D-Montgomery, a member of the committee and the legislations chief sponsor.

This is something that theyll have a chance to vote on come this next election. And it will make sure that were making sure that were doing what we can to invest in the future of Marylanders education.

In addition to on-site gambling, license holders would get a skin industry parlance for an online betting app.

Licenses could be good for five years. After that, the venues would pay a renewal fee equal to 25% of their original levy.

Venues that offer sports betting would get to keep 80% of their net revenue. Nineteen percent would go to the state, and 1% would go into a minority contracting fund.

Unlike casino gambling, an established industry where the odds favor the house, sports gambling outside of Las Vegas is relatively new. Sportsbooks occasionally have losing days.

That makes it a challenge to estimate how much money sports wagering would generate. According to a legislative analysis, Maryland would take in approximately $21 million a year.

The license for the Redskins follows an intense lobbying effort by the teams majority owner, Dan Snyder, who has traveled to Annapolis to meet with top lawmakers from both chambers.

To get a license, the team, which currently plays at the outdated FedEx Field in Landover, would have to meet certain conditions:

In addition, all license applicants would have to meet minority business participation goals established by the states Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs.

As currently drafted, there is no license for the Baltimore Orioles or the Baltimore Ravens, though that could change as the measure continues to work its way through the legislative process.

Because the measure establishes a constitutional amendment, the bill must pass both chambers by a three-fifths margin and be signed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. It would then be put to voters in November.

The 19-page bill may well undergo further amendment, a point Sen. Guy J. Guzzone, D-Howard, the chairman of the budget committee, alluded to when he said, Well hear from our friends in the back, a reference to the lobbying contingent eyeing the panels deliberations.

The measure now goes to the full Senate. If ultimately approved, Maryland would join a growing list of states to legalize gaming on pro and college sporting events, including many neighboring states.

In a recent survey by Goucher College, Marylanders were divided on the issue of legalized sports betting.

By a margin of 47% to 43%, the public narrowly supports allowing people to gamble on sporting events online. But nearly half opposed sports gambling at casinos, race tracks or stadiums. Goucher found that 45% of the public is OK with betting on sports at those locations, with 49% opposed.

Gambling on high school sports would not be allowed. Athletes, coaches, referees, trainers and team owners would not be allowed to wager, nor could those with exclusive information.

This article was written by WTOPs news partners atMaryland Mattersand republished with permission.Sign up for Maryland Matters free email subscription today.

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Sports gaming bill headed to Maryland Senate floor - WTOP

As hospitals across the country prepare for an expected influx of coronavirus patients, officials at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (PSHMC) and University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)two hospitals that treated some of the nation's first coronavirus patientsshare their lessons learned, Patti Neighmond reports for NPR's "Shots."

Our analysis: The 'recurring themes' of disease outbreaks

Reports of the newcoronavirusfirst surfaced in early December 2019 in Wuhan, China. According to theWorld Health Organization(WHO), the main symptoms of the virus are fever and lesions in both lungs. Some patients also have reported difficulty breathing, WHO said.

In the United States, state and federal officials as of Wednesdayreporteda total of 129 confirmed or presumed positive cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths linked to the virus, theTimesreports. CDC as of Wednesdaysaid49 of the cases involved Americans who contracted the virus elsewhere and then repatriated to the United States, 24 cases involved patients who had contracted the virus while traveling abroad and were diagnosed after returning to the United States, and 16 cases involved patients who contracted the virus via human-to-human transmission in the United States. CDC said 40 cases were under investigation.

Globally, officialshave reportedmore than 94,300 cases of the virus as of Wednesday, with most of those cases occurring in mainland China, theNew York Timesreports. Officials said as of Wednesday there had been at least 3,210 deaths linked to the virus, and all but 229 of the deaths occurred in mainland China.

PSHMC is treating four patients who were infected with the new coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Amy Compton-PhillipsEVP and CCO at Providence St. Joseph Health, the hospital network that oversees PSHMCsaid each of the patients are stable, but she noted that "their level of symptomatology is pretty variable."

The patients are being treated in the hospital's special isolation rooms, which are designed to keep the virus from spreading.

"All the air is sanitized before being exhausted out," Compton-Phillips said, "so that germs cannot go from being in the room, through a vent system into the rest of the hospital, or out into the air of the community."

Compton-Phillips said the patients are being treated at the hospital instead of at home as an extra level of precaution.

"They aren't necessarily sick enough to be in the hospital, but because the virus is new and because it's different and nobody knows exactly how it's going to progress and we're still at the phase where we're trying to prevent the genie from getting out of the bottletrying to prevent this from becoming the next big pandemic," she said.

Meanwhile, UNMC has treated 14 patients. According to the hospital, four patients have been cleared and discharged, two patients tested negative for the virus and are still being monitored, and two patients initially tested positive but are now symptom-free and have recently tested negative for the virus.

Like PSHMC, UNMC is treating the patients in special isolation rooms designed to keep the virus from spreading. Shelly Schwedhelm, executive director of emergency management and bio-preparedness at UNMC, said most of the patients have exhibited "minimal symptoms and are stable."

Schwedhelm likened caring for coronavirus patients to caring for severe cases of the flu or other infectious diseases.

"Putting them in a private room, no matter what that looks like is best," Schwedhelm said. "Certainly, getting them masked even before moving them from the front door or reception area is best. While we don't completely know how this virus is transmitted, like most respiratory viruses, the most important routes of transmission certainly are going to be direct contact and droplet."

In a webinar advising hospitals on how to prepare for the new coronavirus, Schwedhelm and a physician colleague told attendees to "do the best that you can and use the resources that you have available in terms of an airborne isolation roombut, if not, do the best that you can, and that is probably going to be good enough in most cases."

Both Compton-Phillips and Schwedhelm noted that resources, including hospital beds and protective gear, could become a problem if the new coronavirus reaches pandemic levels, and cases in the United States surge.

For instance, Compton-Phillips said many hospitals are already strained from treating flu patients. "And so, if we have another (big epidemic of respiratory illness around the same time), it could wreak havoc," she said.

In addition, Schwedhelm said UNMC's 41 isolation beds won't be enough to treat all of the severely ill patients if the case count rises quickly. PSHMC has 10 isolation rooms, Neighmond reports.

"If this virus becomes a virus of pandemic potential, every health system, every organization is going to need to be all in," Schwedhelm said.

Another potential problem for providers is a shortage of protective gear, including gloves, gowns, and masks, Neighmond reports. Compton-Phillips said this is a common problem in a large outbreak because the gear has to be thrown away after it's used.

"The first [coronavirus] patient we hadwhen he was doing well, it took about six changes a day per shift for nurses and caregivers to take on and take off, as they were caring for that person," she said. "And then, as he started getting sicker, it got to 22 changes per shift."

Since much of the protective gear is made in China, "suppliers are triaging to where the need is highest," Compton-Phillips said. She added PSHMC is working hard to be "creative, conservative, and judicious" in its use of protective gear.

That said, Schwedhelm said hospitals and health care organizations across the United States are taking the right steps. They're "doing a lot with education and communication, sharing resources, sharing information," Schwedhelm said, "starting to prepare for that scenario, should it evolve" (Neighmond, "Shots," NPR, 3/2; Lai et al., New York Times, 3/4; CDC website, 3/4).

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What these 2 American hospitals learned from treating coronavirus - The Daily Briefing

Dr. Sarah Rhoads MD16 RES20, a University practitioner who is a resident at Hasbro Childrens Hospital, has several tricks up her sleeve for helping children who come into the hospital with asthma exacerbations.

When young patients exacerbations begin to subside, Rhoads asks them to blow bubbles or puff on pin wheels. This helps them practice taking deep breaths, making sure theyre keeping their lungs open. Sometimes shell give patients Popsicles. When a Popsicle melts it can be a secret way of keeping a kid hydrated, if theyre willing to take the bait, she said.

Mnica Huertas, a Providence resident, has three children who have asthma. She and her children have started calling the doctors at Hasbro the Popsicle doctors.

From the moment a child enters the emergency room with an asthma exacerbation, the medical staff at Hasbro launch into a well-rehearsed protocol. It is a situation they see often: Asthma is the most common chronic illness among Rhode Islands children, The Herald previously reported. Asthma also disproportionately burdens urban, low-income communities of color.

For a child with chronic asthma, the illness can have multiple consequences, from Intensive Care Unit stays to school absences. In addition, asthma medication and ER visits can impose a financial burden on families.

Most children who come into the hospital with asthma exacerbations receive an albuterol dose, which helps open up their airways and is found in prescription rescue inhalers. Sometimes children also receive steroids to calm inflammation. Most kids at that point are doing okay, Rhoads said.

The staffs goal is to make sure that children can go four hours or more without needing albuterol. If their condition necessitates breathing treatment every one to two hours, they get transferred into more intensive treatment areas.

In that scenario, Rhoads will communicate the message to the family by telling them that their child has shown that he is getting a little bit better, but we think he needs to be watched closely.

Dr. Nicholas Nassikas MD 15, a University Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine fellow specializing in asthma, treats patients who have been transferred to the ICU for asthma exacerbations. He helps the ICUs staff navigate life support machines that can provide oxygen for those patients, or even breathe for them. Asthma is scary because it can get very bad very quickly, he said.

In 2016, when Rhoads was an intern at the hospital, a girl suffering from an asthma crisis was brought into the emergency room by Emergency Medical Services. She was having such a hard time breathing that she couldnt even talk. The girl was taken into a specialized room within the ER where she received heightened treatment before being transferred to the ICU. The breathing treatments she received helped her recover and she went home a day or two later, Rhoads said. It was the first time in her medical career that she had witnessed a situation where a child with asthma ended up in the ICU.

In most cases, children leave the hospital relatively quickly, Rhoads said. When a child who is having a really tough time breathing receives a few simple therapies that make them feel better, and they end up running out the door, that feels great, she said.

After an asthma exacerbation, the child leaves the hospital with a piece of paper explaining how to treat asthma if it happens again. One of the hardest parts of Rhoads job is seeing children come to the emergency room repeatedly because their asthma is not well controlled.

Sometimes she has to write absence notes for those children if they missed school while they were in the hospital because of asthma.

Asthma contributes to school absenteeism, according to Dr. Daphne Koinis-Mitchell, professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Pediatrics and director of the Community Asthma Program at Rhode Island Hospital.

We see the rates of absenteeism are much higher in children with asthma in urban school districts compared to children without asthma, she said, adding that children with asthma miss, on average, two more weeks of school than children without asthma. In some districts with high asthma prevalence, this difference is larger.

There are multiple factors causing asthma-related absenteeism, just as there are multiple factors causing asthma itself.

After spending time in the hospital, children might be tired and parents may choose to keep them home. Some caregivers do this for fear that (their children) may experience asthma symptoms when theyre in a school setting, Koinis-Mitchell said.

Even if they go to school, lost sleep due to asthma can affect a childs academic performance, because it can make it harder for them to pay attention and concentrate in class, she said.

In order to help families better control their childrens asthma, Hasbro has established programs on asthma management education tailored to caregivers and children. Some of these efforts have existed for over 20 years, Koinis-Mitchell added.

One of these, the Rhode Island Asthma Integrated Response (RI-AIR), is one of only four programs of its kind in the country and receives federal funding. RI-AIR identifies children with asthma living in high-risk areas, conducts screenings and designs tailored, evidence-based interventions. If (families) adhere to the intervention, their asthma outcomes will improve, Koinis-Mitchell said, adding that these outcomes include school absenteeism and academic performance.

The intervention might include coordinating with the school nurse and other staff at the childs school.

Some schools have multiple systems in place to help address their students asthma. Individual schools have target teams, made up of administrators, social workers, the school nurse and other staff members, who regularly analyze attendance data and suggest interventions for students with high absenteeism, wrote Laura Hart, Providence Public Schools District director of communications, in an email to The Herald. If the cause of a students high absenteeism is asthma management, the school will often reach out with additional referrals and supports.

Beyond affecting their school performance, a childs recurring asthma can also have a high financial cost for their family.

Huertas, the Providence mother whose children frequent the Popsicle doctor for their asthma, has seen these costs firsthand. On her healthcare plan, the co-pay for chewable steroid tablets is $5, and inhalers cost her $35, she said. She buys four inhalers a month.

In addition, Huertas estimates that she pays $100 every time one of her children goes to the emergency room. Shes been there 11 times in the past three years, bringing the cost up to $1,100, she estimated.

This cost can impose a financial strain on some families. A few years ago, an adult family friend of Huertas with chronic asthma died from an exacerbation, leaving two children behind, because she couldnt afford her pump medication, Huertas said. I was like, heres an albuterol, take mine, but I guess it just wasnt enough. She died from a(n) asthma attack, its so sad, and I always get scared, I take my kids right to the doctor.

And at the doctors, the cycle of asthmas effects on childrens everyday lives begins all over again.

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Asthma impacts Providence kids' daily lives - The Brown Daily Herald

Welcome to 319 Echandia, where you will find standing tall, this updated and full of charm, character home in the highly desirable Mount Pleasant tract of Boyle Heights.

Upon arrival, you will be greeted by the landscaped front yard and welcoming front porch where you can enjoy your morning coffee or beverage of choice. As you step into the living room, you will notice the high ceilings and original character that makes this home ever so charming. The dining room and updated kitchen, including newer cabinets and granite countertops, are beyond the living room making it easy to entertain. The two bathrooms are also newly remodeled. In addition there is a laundry area off thekitchen and access to the backyard.

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On top of all that... did someone say extra office space? she shed? man cave? yoga studio? the possibilities are endless for the detached, newly remodeled bonus room.

The property is located near: DTLA, Arts District, White Memorial, Dodger Stadium and all the restaurants the area has to offer. This is a must see.

Presented by

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Remodeled character home in Boyle Heights | Calendar - The Eastsider LA

DES MOINES At a brief training the Sunday before the Iowa caucuses, Iowa Democratic Party officials told the volunteers tasked with staffing a telephone hotline system to arrive Monday morning with books, puzzles and games they were unlikely to be busy for hours.

But throughout the day and into the night, the phones rang almost constantly in the so-called boiler room, where about 50 phone stations had been set up in a security-encased call center at the downtown Des Moines Iowa Events Center.

On the other end of the phone lines were dozens of precinct leaders and county party chairs from across the state who could not download or log into a new cell phone app designed to allow easy tabulation and transmission of caucus night results.

The volunteers tasked with helping the local leaders said they had never seen the app, nor had they been trained to use it.

Iowa Democrats inside the room later described the chaos to the Des Moines Register, accounts that were bolstered by publicly available information from party officials, campaigns and candidates. But the clear problems did not trigger a change in strategy from the organizations tasked with ensuring the 2020 Iowa caucuses ran smoothly.

Instead, officials with the party tightened communication from their centralized location and forged ahead with a plan that relied almost entirely on the functionality of a cell phone app that, hours before most Iowans would caucus, was already showing signs of collapse.

Party officials would not publicly acknowledge any problems until hours later. A full tally of the caucus results would not be available for days. And the future of Iowas prized first-in-the-nation caucuses hangs in the balance as party leaders sort through the aftermath.

"The failures of this are larger than any one person," one Iowa Democrat said. "These failures were systemic."

11 a.m.

The set-up inside the Iowa Democratic Partys Caucus Day headquarters prevented easy communication among those involved. The boiler room sequestered those taking phone calls. Another room had been set up nearby for important political figures. And a strategy room acted as a command center.

Few people had access to more than one room.

So as calls piled up, it was unclear to those inside the boiler room whether party leaders located elsewhere were aware of the problems. The app, which was not complete until "pretty close to caucus time" and party chairman Troy Price had never tried to use, had not yet collapsed, but precinct leaders were having problems accessing it.

The app had been layered with security precautions, requiring both a PIN and precinct ID, that were among the features confusing many users.

Volunteers entered the day expecting to answer phone calls from Iowans looking for their caucus locations. They were armed only with an FAQ page related to the app.

Soon, a backlog of calls developed inside the boiler room as volunteers struggled to answer questions related to the app and as precinct leader after precinct leader said they would instead plan to call in results later that night, after their caucus.

The volunteers answering phones had no official directive for how to adjust their plans as a result of the meltdown.

The first caucus in Iowa a satellite location in Ottumwa kicked off at noon that day. Others were scattered throughout the afternoon.

Fifteen Wapello County-area Democrats came to satellite-caucus on Feb. 3, 2020 at the UFCW Local 230 Union in Ottumwa. Upon first alignment, 14 caucusgoers stood for Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and one for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.Buy Photo

Fifteen Wapello County-area Democrats came to satellite-caucus on Feb. 3, 2020 at the UFCW Local 230 Union in Ottumwa. Upon first alignment, 14 caucusgoers stood for Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and one for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. (Photo: Olivia Sun/The Register)

5 p.m.

About 40 people had arrived by 5 p.m. to staff the phones.

Its busy and its hard and its not a lot of fun, but its not chaos, one volunteer said.

Still, most calls focused on the app, as precinct chairs tried to log in and download it. Paper signs hung from the wall of the room listing categories of phone calls. They included things like, chairperson not present, delegate misallocation, and where is my caucus location? Each had a handful of tally marks beneath the corresponding heading.

But volunteers said there were between 75 and 100 tally marks noted under the headline, the app isnt working.

Our initial instructions were if someone was having problems with the app to tell them to just call in their results, another volunteer said.

7 p.m.

The vast majority of precincts convened their caucuses at 7 p.m. in Iowa nearly 1,700 precincts across the state. Each precinct would need to report results back to the state party.

With county party chairs already publicly critiquing the app, many precinct leaders said they planned to report their results through the hotline no matter what.

Sean Bagniewski is Democratic chair in Polk County, home to Des Moines and surrounding suburbs, which make up roughly 20% of the state's caucus precincts. He said he told his precinct leaders to abandon the app and use the phones.

"At that point, it should have been clear to every person we were going to be taking almost all of these 1,700 reports over the phone," one volunteer said.

As the calls came in, volunteers had begun taking down results on paper forms and passing them into the strategy room, which had morphed into a makeshift data entry center. One person who was in the room said the "system they created involved taking the data and compiling it through Google Docs.

People sat in clusters with their laptops papers piling up around them. Boxes were labeled new results for those that needed to be added, and another still f---ed for those that had problems with the math, the person said.

8:30 p.m.

Around 8:30 p.m., a few results had begun to flow into the public reporting system. Some of the larger precincts across the state were still wrapping up. Yet on cable television stations, which had hyped the caucus results live from Iowa for days, pundits already had started to speculate forcefully that something had gone wrong behind the scenes.

"I just think the idea of the caucus has failed to reach the viability threshold," Van Jones said on CNN. "This is starting to feel like a real debacle."

Those inside the boiler room knew something had gone wrong. About 60 people were staffing phones, but the incoming calls had reached an avalanche by 9 p.m. It didn't subside until hours later.

It was hell, said one volunteer.

The volunteers were getting complaints and pranks, including some from supporters of Republican President Donald Trump. Other callers tried to report fake results after the ID and PIN numbers from some precincts were posted in photos on Twitter. Many more callers were journalists seeking information.

"On Caucus Day, the Iowa Democratic Party experienced an unusually high volume of inbound phone calls to its caucus hotline, including supporters of President Trump," Mandy McClure, communications director for the party, said in a statement to the Des Moines Register later. "The unexplained, and at times hostile, calls contributed to the delay in the Iowa Democratic Partys collection of results, but in no way affected the integrity of information gathered or the accuracy of data sets reported."

Iowa state auditor Rob Sand was among those answering phone calls in the boiler room.

"It just became very clear that members of the public in general had started calling," he said.

"One call would be someone screaming at me that CNN was screaming about the results," said a different volunteer. "And then the next call would be somebody actually calling in the results. Or journalists were phone banking the phone bank. So we couldnt talk to precinct captains because CNN was having their entire staff f---ing phone bank us."

Some were friendly Iowans seeking to give the call center volunteers a boost.

"We had, every so often, the sweet calls from someone asking, Hows it going? Im thinking of you guys," said one volunteer. "But it was like, Get off the phone!"

When precinct leaders did get through, some were hung up upon. Shawn Sebastian, a Story County precinct leader, was live on CNN with Wolf Blitzer as he waited on hold with the call center. He was still live when someone from the call center connected to him and, apparently impatient while waiting for him to transfer over, hung up.

Others reported results with numbers that didnt add up properly, volunteers said. The non-working app was designed to ensure the caucus math was correct and awarded the correct number of delegates.

10 p.m.

Just before 10 p.m., McClure, the Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman, issued the partys first public statement of the night.

"The integrity of the results is paramount," she said. "We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the IDP is reporting out three data sets for the first time. What we know right now is that around 25% of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016."

The statement did not indicate how severe the delay was likely to be. But about 20 minutes later, a call went out to Iowa Democrats frantically seeking extra volunteers for the boiler room, said one volunteer who got the call.

As the incoming calls began to slow, volunteers were put to work making outgoing calls to try to track down missing data from precincts that had not yet reported their results.

Though the process was chaotic, it mirrored what happens in most presidential caucus years, those involved said. An Iowa Democratic Party statement early Thursday also confirmed that practice.

Democrats in the room divvied up assignments based on where they had personal connections and began calling local elected officials, friends and county chairs, asking for the results data. Other times, they asked those friends to knock on the doors of precinct leaders who still owed the party data.

Meanwhile, McClure had issued a second public statement about 10:30 p.m. acknowledging a depth of problems that had not yet been conveyed to those in the boiler room.

"We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results," she said in a statement. "In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results."

"Nobody was communicating theres this massive math issue from the other room that will take days to resolve," said one volunteer.

For the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party released not only state delegate results but also the number of supporters each candidate had in first and second alignments. The three figures meant more reporting required from volunteer precinct officials and more ways for the public to check the calculations.

Inside the strategy room, data entry continued as the hour grew later.

"At that point, were already tired and miserable," said a person in the room. "I am certain that between the 15 people that were entering results between 11 p.m. caucus night and noon the next day when we did not go to bed that there are human errors that happened in the reporting of those results. Because of course there were. Do I think that (the results) are greatly affected? No. But I dont think they are 100% accurate, and they will never be."

1 a.m. Tuesday

Multiple Iowa Democrats inside and outside the boiler room complained the party did not disseminate talking points or respond to offers of assistance on a communications front.

"They let the national media say for 12 hours straight that this is the end of the Iowa caucuses," said one Iowa Democratic operative. "They didnt allow us to even have a response."

Price, the Iowa party chair, had yet to weigh in on the unfolding situation.

A news release was issued at 12:52 a.m. that Price would address the media on a phone call eight minutes later.

"At this point, the IDP is manually verifying all precinct results, he said. We expect to have numbers to report later today. We are validating every piece of data we have within that paper trail and it is taking longer than expected to ensure we are eventually able to report results with full confidence."

The statement took Price fewer than two minutes to read.

"Well be in touch soon," he said, quickly hanging up the phone without taking questions.

Epilogue

Soon would translate into 15 hours. Price did not address the public again until just after 4 p.m. Tuesday, when he said the first batch of results would flow shortly. It took until late Thursday for the party to declare it had released a full tally from Monday's caucuses.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg held a two-delegate lead over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a finish the Associated Press declared too close to call.

Originally posted here:
Inside the Iowa Democratic Partys boiler room, where hell preceded the results catastrophe - Burlington Hawk Eye

The Grafton Middle and High School complex. (WYDaily file/Courtesy York County School Division)

York County School Division has announced plans to alternate school days for students impacted by the Grafton fire last week.

Administrators informed parents Friday that students who attend Grafton High School and Grafton Middle School would be returning to school starting Tuesday, but with a new schedule.

This following an electrical fire Monday which caused the Grafton School Complex to be evacuated late that afternoon.

The new schedule requires students at the two schools and at York High School and Tabb Middle School to alternate school days, according to the letter sent to parents from Victor Shandor, the divisions superintendent.

All Grafton complex students will attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to 10 Saturdays. York High and Tabb Middle students will attend school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The alternating schedule has been adopted through May 22. With the new schedule, students will still have holidays for Presidents Day weekend, spring break and Memorial Day weekend.

In addition to the alternating days, the bell schedule throughout the school day has been altered to fit the change. This means the schools will change from the current A/B block rotation to a seven or eight-period day depending on the school level.

In regards to transportation, Shandor said information on a new system will be updated as soon as possible. This includes information for students in special education programs at the Grafton Complex, students at the Governors School, New Horizons, York County School of Arts, and the Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp

Shandor said the division recognized the change might cause a significant impact on students and families.

We have been in constant communication with state education officials regarding this plan and it is likely we will have to make some adjustments, he wrote.

In addition, the school division will host two public forums on Saturday to hear from the schools communities. The first will be at 1 p.m. at York High School and the second will be at 4 p.m. at Tabb High School.

Over the course of the next week, the division will continue to develop plans for blended learning opportunities and instructional support for students when they are not in school.

These potential blended learning opportunities might also reduce the number of Saturdays students have to spend in school. (Story contnues below the video)

While we recognize that this plan may not be ideal for all families, this option best aligns with the divisions criteria for meeting the needs of all students with the resources available, Shandor said in the letter.

He said further details regarding the plan will be shared during the public forums on Saturday.

Mondays fire, though contained to the electrical room, resulted in a total loss of the main electrical distribution panel for the complex leaving the building without power, Katherine Goff, division spokeswoman, wrote in an email Thursday night. While smoke spread through the entire complex, the only sprinkler heads activated were those in the electrical room. The greatest impact of the smoke damage is on the middle school side of the complex.

Goff said division officials are working withwith the York County Department of Fire & Life Safety, Dominion Energy, county officials, insurance companies, engineers and electrical contractors and they determined that restoring even temporary power to the complex will take months.

The fire happenedin electrical switch gear/equipment located in the Grafton School Complex electrical equipment room. This room serves the entire complex, according to the fire department.

The cause of the fire remains unknown and fire officials said is very complicated to determine.

Majority of the fire damage was in the equipment room, but the entire complex sustained smoke damagewith the worse area appearing to have been the middle school portion of the complex, fire officials said.

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Here's what the York County School Division decided to do about the Grafton High, Middle schools schedules - Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

Workday (WDAY) - Get Report shares were working hard and rising after a Goldman Sachs analyst added the shares of the financial-management and human-capital-management software vendor to the firm's Conviction List.

Analyst Heather Bellini wrote in a note to investors that she was including the Pleasanton, Calif., company's shares "as we continue to see a path towards outperformance over the course of the year, especially as we see a path for subscription revenue growth to accelerate in the back half of fiscal 2021 (calendar year 2020) as comparisons get easier."

The Conviction List is a group of stocks that Goldman's research team expects to outperform.

"Furthermore, while not modeled at this time," Bellini said, "we see the potential for subscription revenue growth to accelerate in fiscal 2022 (calendar 2021) as migration to cloud financials starts penetrating the F500 and as add-on products such as planning and analytics increase their penetration into the installed base."

Bellini said that investor concerns about the pace of deceleration in human capital management, Workday's cloud-based HR-management software, and a weaker-than-expected fiscal 2021 subscription revenue guide have weighed on recent performance.

"[But] our initial thesis remains intact and we think recent underperformance creates an even more attractive entry point for the stock," she wrote.

With the fiscal 2021 subscription guide out of the way, Bellini said, "we see room for outperformance over the course of the year and note Workday has historically raised subscription revenue guidance over the course of the year."

"While we believe the market has been overly optimistic about the pace of financials adoption in the past, our field work highlights accelerating momentum in this multiyear cycle of migrating financials to the cloud, while investors confidence level about adoption has become more muted," she said.

At last check Workday shares were 2.8% higher at $192.82. They're up 24% from their 52-week low around $151 in mid-October.

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Workday Shares Added to Goldman Conviction List - TheStreet

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI A new building addition to help students in the health field at Central Michigan University learn and adapt collaboratively is complete.

The $26 million Integrated Health Studies building adds 50,000-square-feet to the universitys Health Professions Building on Preston Street. The project was funded in part by a $19.5 million investment from the state, according to Central Michigan University officials.

Construction of the project began in April and wrapped up late fall. Students began classes in the new facility the week of Jan. 13.

The building features upgraded labs and equipment focused on physician assistant and physical therapist training, according to the universitys website.

In todays world, health care professionals need to be trained in real-life environments. That includes learning and working alongside colleagues with different clinical training and using high-definition mannequins and students role-playing as patients, said Tom Masterson, dean of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions.

The Interprofessional Education and Practice Center is one of the spaces where students will get the chance to practice and learn.

The center features a two-room simulation suite equipped for use with a variety of high-tech clinical mannequins, eight patient rooms for role-playing medical scenarios, and all rooms monitored for observation and feedback.

The health professions building has programs such as athletic training, audiology, communication sciences and disorders, environmental health and safety, exercise science, kinesiology, health administration, nutrition and dietetics, physician assistant, physical therapy, public health, physical education and sport management.

Related:

$26 million Integrated Health Studies building coming to CMU

CMUs new $95 million Biosciences Building focuses on research, learning

Read more:
Central Michigan finishes $26 million addition to health studies building in Mount Pleasant - mlive.com

Above the Sunset Strip, a hillside home once owned by actress-singer Judy Garland and her husband, film and stage director Vincente Minnelli, has come up for sale at $6.129 million.

Garland and Minnelli lived at the house in the mid-1940s with daughter Liza Minnelli. It was later owned by television actor and comedian Wally Cox, who sold it in 1955 to Rat Pack entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. During Davis stay, musical acts such as the Band lived and recorded on the property.

What was once Liza Minnellis bedrooms sits off the downstairs living room. The bedroom features a hidden door that leads to the so-called Judy Garland suite, or what was the original master suite.

(Todd Goodman)

The main house, designed and built in 1941 by architect-to-the-stars John Elgin Woolf, has been updated but still contains relics from its Hollywood residents. The downstairs living room is next to what was once Liza Minnellis bedroom. The room has a hidden door behind the bookcases that leads to the original master bedroom, which has a dressing area and walk-in closet. The dressing room, untouched through the decades, retains its original mirrors.

Other spaces include a living room with a fireplace, a step-up dining room and an office. The kitchen, accessed from both the living and dining rooms, has been remodeled.

Outside, grounds designed by Davis himself feature a swimming pool, a pool house with two bathrooms, fruit trees and tropical landscaping. A fire pit is a more recent addition to the property.

Alexandra Pfeifer of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties holds the listing.

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Hollywood Hills home where Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. once lived seeks $6.129 million - Los Angeles Times

Premier Inn says it will add 735 rooms to its Scottish portfolio this year, with five new openings and additional room capacity at three other properties.

The five new hotels include a 60-room property in Aviemore, a 136-room hotel on Edinburghs Princes Street, and an 85-room hotel in Thurso.

The Glasgow area will welcome two new Premier Inn properties a 96-room hotel in Hamilton (located around 12 miles southeast of Glasgow), and a 249-room property on the citys St Enoch Square.

In addition the group says it will add room capacity at its Edinburgh East, Fort William and Inverness West hotels.

The five new properties are part of plans to add 37 hotels UK-wide this year, totalling around 4,000 rooms.

Commenting on the news Premier Inns managing director Simon Ewins said:

Were gearing up for an exciting year in Scotland with a variety of new hotels ranging from a 249-bed mega-hotel in one of Glasgows most iconic central locations to our most Northerly site in the UK in Thurso.

From its world-class cities to jaw-dropping Highlands, Scotlands tourist offer is hard-to-beat and were pleased to help make it even easier for both leisure and business travellers to enjoy the country affordably.

Premier Inns owner Whitbread recently launched its Force for Good sustainability programme which it says will eliminate the use of unnecessary single-use plastics by the middle of the next decade.

premierinn.com

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Premier Inn to open five Scottish properties in 2020 - Business Traveller