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Armed with automatic weapons, riot gear and black ski masks, the Albanian police and Special Forces units moved under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Sunday when the capital was sleeping and stormed the premises of the National Theater in Tirana, detaining a handful of artists and activists that had barricaded themselves in there.

The activists were forcibly put into police vans and detained, while a bulldozer moved in to turn the building into rubble, before dawn broke and the citys residents awoke to discover the nighttime raid.

Built between 1938 and 1939, during the Italian occupation of Albania, the National Theatre Complex was first built as a cultural centre. Designed by the Italian architect Gulio Berte, it was originally named the Skanderbeg, after Albanias national hero, and comprised two parallel buildings, housing a cinema and a theatre, divided by a pool.

In 2018, the government proposed to demolish the historic building and replace it with a new theatre designed by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, through a Public Private Partnership, PPP, scheme with a Tirana-based developer and government contractor, Fusha Sh.p.k. Under the proposed concessionary agreement, Fusha sh.p.k would build Ingels project in exchange for public land and the right to construct six tower blocks adjunct to the new theatre, worth 119 million euros.

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Why a Theatre's Demolition Has Sparked Outrage in Albania - Balkan Insight

The novel coronavirus isnt the only thing that has ravaged the U.S. this year.

Tornadoes have killed 76 people in the first five months of 2020, already making it the worst year for tornado-related deaths since the historically deadly year of 2011. The National Weather Service tracked 351 tornado reports last month, making it the second most-active April on record.

It is a frequent and deadly phenomenon. But scientists say the public has a misperception of who is truly at risk: The Deep South and Florida can be more prone to twisters than Tornado Alley itself.

Professor P. Grady Dixon, a physical geographer at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, says Tornado Alley the Great Plains states running from South Dakota to Texas is a vernacular that he wishes would go away, because it doesnt accurately describe the regions most susceptible to powerful tornadoes.

Its a misleading term, Dixon said. I understand why people use it, but I wish it would go away because I dont want people to think its only those square states in the Great Plains that get tornadoes.

He is one of the authors of a 2011 study that discovered some parts of the South and Southeast are the most prone to tornadoes in the nation. So far in 2020, southern states have suffered the most deaths: Tennessee leads the nation with 28 deaths and Mississippi has lost 13. No lives have been lost in Florida this year.

The study concluded that the Tampa Bay region and other parts of the Interstate 4 corridor experience as many tornadoes as some parts of the Great Plains however, theyre not powerful enough to cause significant damage.

Youre not going to have strong tornadoes most of the time in Florida, Dixon said. Counting the number of days with tornadoes, though, Florida has as many as any other state in the country.

The Washington Post wrote about how prevalent and deadly tornadoes have been in the south and why Tornado Alley is misleading.

Villanova University assistant professor Steven Strader, who specializes in environmental hazards and societal interactions, told the Post that the South is more vulnerable to tornadoes because it is denser than the spread-out farmland communities of the Plains.

Not only do Southern states have more sprawl, he said they also have more people living in mobile and manufactured homes. In Florida, those residents are always the first to be evacuated during a hurricane.

When a tornado does occur in either region, odds are much greater in the [South or Southeast] of it hitting something, Strader told the Post.

But Florida also has a natural advantage that protects it from the kinds of powerful tornadoes that have taken lives in other southern states. Its the Gulf of Mexico.

Tornadoes form when fronts cold or warm collide, producing severe weather. Thunderstorms are the most common result. Pressure and temperature changes can also come together to form a tornado. Those violent columns last minutes, but can produce devastating winds of 100 mph to an extreme of 300 mph.

Cold fronts can cause tornadoes in states such as Louisiana and Mississippi, but those fronts typically lose a lot of its power by the time they reach Central Florida.

"The warm Gulf has a way of helping slow down the forward momentum of cold air that causes tornadoes elsewhere," Dixon said. "It comes down to latitude."

The problem in Florida, he said, is that residents seem to keep being surprised by tornadoes.

"Anytime this happens, people in Florida who have grown accustomed to great weather, say Oh my gosh, this isnt supposed to happen here, he said. Well, theyre wrong. Florida has tornadoes frequently.

The difference between Alabama or Oklahoma with Florida is, they have far fewer tornadoes per event."

Floridians should be especially cautious now that hurricane season is almost here. Twisters often accompany storms as they make landfall, and hurricane season officially starts June 1.

The last thing you need during a hurricane is another hazard embedded with it, which is what makes the hurricane-induced tornadoes so scary, Dixon said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season could be an extremely active one. If that prediction holds, that also means residents may find themselves dealing with more tornado watches and warnings this year.

A tornado watch means conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form in the area, so residents should start seeking shelter or take precautions, according to the weather service. A tornado warning is issued when a potential twister has been detected or reported.

During a tornado watch or warning, Dixon suggests residents take shelter toward the center of their home. An underground shelter isnt necessary.

What about manufactured housing? Its not the units themselves that are at risk, Dixon said, its how theyre anchored to the ground. If those fail, the results could be catastrophic.

For any tornado youre going to experience in Florida, you dont need a really strong storm shelter, Dixon said. Its about putting walls between you and the outside.

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Florida is more prone to tornadoes than you think - Tampa Bay Times

EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ARE STARTING TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO START GETTING READY FOR IT NOW. BUT AS WESH 2S MEGAN MELLADO REPORTS, THEY SAY PREPARATIONS WILL LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR. MEGAN: THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE FOR THIS UPCOMING HURRICANE SEASON HAS TO DO WITH SHELTERS. MANY OF THE SHELTERS IN OSCEOLA COUNTY USUALLY ACCOMMODATE ABOUT 200 PEOPLE, BUT WITH CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS IN MIND, EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ARE LIMITING THAT NUMBER TO 50. >> WERE ENCOURAGING OUR RESIDENTS THIS YEAR, BECAUSE OF COVID AND THE IMPACT IT WILL HAVE ON OUR EMERGENCY SHELTERS, TO, IF YOU CAN, AND YOURE IN A SITE-STRUCTURED BUILT HOME, TO SHELTER IN PLACE AT YOUR HOME. IF YOU CANT DO THAT, THEN WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO GO WITH FRIENDS OR FAMILY IN THE AREA TO RIDE OUT THE STORM. MEGAN: PEOPLE WHO FALL INTO THESE THREE CATEGORIES WILL TAKE PRIORITY WHEN IT COMES TO SHELTERS -- FIRST, IF YOU LIVE IN A MANUFACTURED HOME, LIKE A MOBILE HOME OR RV, SECOND, IF YOU LIVE IN A LOW-LYING OR FLOODPLAIN AREA, AND THIRD, IF YOU HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS OR REQUIRE MEDICAL CARE DUTCH MEDICAL CARE. THE SHELTERS WILL REQUIRE SCREENING AND TEMPERATURE CHECKS. >> WERE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE ISOLATION CENTERS. IF WE HAVE A SICK PERSON, ITLL BE TO MOVE THEM FROM THE POPULATION, ESPECIALLY IF THERES WINDS UP AND ITS A HURRICANE OUTSIDE, WE CANT MOVE THEM AT THAT POINT IN TIME. MEGAN: OSCEOLA COUNTY IS WORKING ON FINALIZING EXACT LOCATIONS AND PLANS. IN THE MEANTIME, THEY SAY NOW IS THE TIME FOR RESIDENTS TO PLAN AHEAD, BUILD A KIT,

Hurricane shelters will have limited capacity due to COVID-19

Many of the hurricane shelters in Osceola County usually accommodate about 200 to 300 people, but with COVID-19 concerns in mind, emergency officials are limiting that number to 50.

Updated: 6:21 PM EDT May 22, 2020

Many of the hurricane shelters in Osceola County usually accommodate about 200 to 300 people, but with COVID-19 concerns in mind, emergency officials are limiting that number to 50.Were encouraging our residents this year, because of COVID and the impact it will have on our emergency shelters, to if you can, and youre in a site-structured built home, to shelter in place at your home. If you cant do that, then we encourage you to go with friends or family in the area to ride out the storm, Emergency Management Director, Bill Litton, said.People who fall into these three categories will take priority when it comes to shelters:-Those who live in manufactured homes, like mobile homes or RVs-Those who live in low-lying or flood prone areas-Those who have special needs or require medical careThe shelters will require screening and temperature checks. They'll also have isolation areas if someone tests positive for COVID-19.Were going to have to have isolation centers. If we have a sick person, itll be to move them from the population especially if theres winds up and its a hurricane outside, we cant move them at that point in time.Osceola County is working on finalizing exact locations and plans In the meantime, they say NOW is the time for residents to plan ahead, build a kit, stay informed, and take action.

Many of the hurricane shelters in Osceola County usually accommodate about 200 to 300 people, but with COVID-19 concerns in mind, emergency officials are limiting that number to 50.

Were encouraging our residents this year, because of COVID and the impact it will have on our emergency shelters, to if you can, and youre in a site-structured built home, to shelter in place at your home. If you cant do that, then we encourage you to go with friends or family in the area to ride out the storm, Emergency Management Director, Bill Litton, said.

People who fall into these three categories will take priority when it comes to shelters:

-Those who live in manufactured homes, like mobile homes or RVs

-Those who live in low-lying or flood prone areas

-Those who have special needs or require medical care

The shelters will require screening and temperature checks. They'll also have isolation areas if someone tests positive for COVID-19.

Were going to have to have isolation centers. If we have a sick person, itll be to move them from the population especially if theres winds up and its a hurricane outside, we cant move them at that point in time.

Osceola County is working on finalizing exact locations and plans In the meantime, they say NOW is the time for residents to plan ahead, build a kit, stay informed, and take action.

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Hurricane shelters will have limited capacity due to COVID-19 - WESH 2 Orlando

Ted Fujita examines the circulation produced by a tornado vortex generator in his lab at the University of Chicago.

When people challenge a long-held belief, there is often pushback, and the famed weather researcher Dr. Tetsuya Theodore Ted Fujita was no exception. In his landmark studies of thunderstorms and tornadoes, Fujita made more than one discovery that his peers just couldnt acceptuntil they did.

Fujita, who carried out most of his research while a professor at the University of Chicago, will be profiled on Tuesday in Mr. Tornado, an installment of the PBS series American Experience.

Fujita is best known for the scale he created with meteorologist Allen Pearson to estimate tornado winds by the level of destruction found. Introduced in 1971, and updated as the Enhanced Fujita Scale in 2007, the scale (also known simply as the F-scale, running from EF0 to EF5) is the near-universally accepted yardstick for gauging tornado strength.

Fujita was delighted when the National Weather Service adopted the original Fujita-Pearson Scale in the 1970s. He wasnt so thrilled when people refused to accept the concept of suction vortices. These mini-whirls spin around the edge of a multiple-vortex tornado, completing a circuit in mere seconds and adding as much as 100 mph to the parent tornados top winds.

A multi-vortex tornado developing near Katie, Oklahoma, on May 9, 2016.

Countless photos and videos have confirmed the existence of suction vortices, which produce some of the worst tornado damage as well as its often-haphazard-seeming nature.

Such images werent available in 1970, when Fujita first came up with the concept after analyzing damage from a tornado in Lubbock, Texas. His colleagues literally couldnt see it.

I got into a tremendous argument, Fujita recalled in a 1988 oral history conducted by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. You talk about a tornado; people take lots of pictures of a nice tornado [which has] one funnel. How can I say there's a small vortex running around, dancing around?

[They] said: You're dead wrong. But I still pursued my concept.

What turned the tables was a catastrophe: the Super Outbreak on April 3, 1974, which produced 148 twisters across the eastern U.S. and killed more than 300 people. The only comparable event in modern U.S. history is the Super Outbreak of April 27, 2011, that ravaged the South.

Fujita carried out aerial and ground surveys of the extensive damage, and they made the existence of suction vortices crystal clear.

Indianapolis TV stations sent me a beautiful [movie] that showed my suction vortices dancing around, and I went to the spot to find exactly what I expected. One house was damaged; the one right next to it was standing, untouched. Houses located in between the path of suction vortices left standing confirmed everything.

Fujita's aerial surveys in 1974 helped spur another of his great contributions: the discovery of microbursts. These compact, intense downdrafts led to the deaths of hundreds of air passengers in catastrophic wrecks, until a warning system was developed and implemented in the 1990s.

Since 1994, not a single U.S. airline passenger has been killed by a microburst.

In this 1980s photo, rain-cooled air from a thunderstorm crashes to the ground in the form of a downburst near Denvers former Stapleton International Airport, one of the main sites where microburst warning systems were developed and tested.

As a 24-year-old assistant university professor in Japan during World War II, Fujita visited Nagasaki and Hiroshima just weeks after nuclear bombs dropped by the U.S. devastated both cities. He mapped out how the catastrophic damage radiated from a central point, and theorized that thunderstorms must have similar downdrafts.

A landmark U.S. study in the 1940s and 1950s called the Thunderstorm Project independently came up with the same conclusion. But the dynamics behind these downdrafts didnt seem to be intense enough to cause major damage.

Fujita returned to the downdraft concept after he noticed starburst-like damage patterns from the 1974 Super Outbreak. These differed dramatically from the cyclonic swirls typical of tornado damage.

On June 24, 1975, an Eastern Airlines flight crashed in a thunderstorm at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, killing 113 of the 124 people aboard. Fujita was asked to investigate the accident. I analyzed about an eighteen-minute period when there were more than ten aircraft around [the apparent weather feature]. Some reported very bad wind shear, but the next one didn't. Even the control tower was confused.

Harking back to his first hand look at nuclear bomb damage, Fujita concluded that a much smaller, more intense downdraft must have been at work.

I got quite a bit of resistance at the time, but I'm glad that I went through it, Fujita said. What rescued me at the time were the pilots.They said, We had the same experience. It looked very innocuous and we went through it and all of a sudden, it was not a downdraft, there was a loss of airspeed.

Fujita surmisedand later studies confirmedthat the loss of airspeed occurred as pilots encountered a headwind, sinking air, and tailwind in rapid succession while flying through a microburst.

Among Fujitas other key insights:

He coined the terms collar cloud, tail cloud, and wall cloud in a paper analyzing a 1957 tornado that devastated Fargo, North Dakota. Storm spotters and chasers still use these terms often.

He introduced the concept of tornado families, in which a long-lived supercell thunderstorm produces several tornadoes in sequence. Storm surveyors now watch for distinct breaks between damage paths in order to distinguish members of a tornado family.

Greg Forbes, the longtime severe weather expert with The Weather Channel, was among those who earned a doctoral degree with Fujita as his advisor. Another was Roger Wakimoto, an eminent tornado researcher and former AMS president who is now vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

I consider my time spent with Ted the personal highlight of my professional career, Wakimoto said in an email. I started at the University of Chicago unsure of my abilities to succeed. I left with a wealth of knowledge and confidence that I could successfully embark on a teaching and research career."

Fujita was a demanding advisor, but his enthusiasm, deep insights, and ability to conceptualize mesoscale processes were truly inspiring," Wakimoto added. "Ted loved to argue with other researchers when there was pushback for his suction vortex model, the existence of microbursts, and the accuracy of his windspeed estimates based on the F-scale. Debates on these topics seem to energize him, and he often said that time would prove that his theories were correct."

I was always in awe that his seminars and other public events would be literally packed to the rafters. He was a brilliant speaker and one of the greatest spokespersons for our community. I often think that today's TED talks were appropriately named after him.

Fujitas research continues to influence and inspire scientists delving into severe weather.

As a tornado nerd growing up in Minnesota in the 1980s, Fujita was a supernatural figure, said Robin Tanamachi, an assistant professor at Purdue University. Though Tanamachi never met him, I consider myself an heir of his scientific legacy. No matter which line of scientific inquiry I make in my tornado research, I always seem to come back to Fujita's books and papers.

While based at the University of Oklahoma, Tanamachi carried out measurements with a University of Massachusetts mobile Doppler radar of the very first tornado rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scalethe one that decimated Greensburg, Kansas, on May 4. 2007. She marvels at Fujitas exhaustive work in developing the original version of the scale.

Even today with mobile Doppler radars, accurate wind measurements in tornadoes are exceedingly rare, said Tanamachi. Fujita recognized that the only consistently available indicator of a tornado's wind speed is the damage path that it leaves behind.

By studying hundreds of tornado damage tracks, he was able to correlate damage to a standard indicator (a well-built house) to wind speeds, thereby creating the Fujita scale that is the basis for the Enhanced Fujita scale that we use today. All of this research was done without the aid of Doppler radars, drones, or machine learning.

This three-dimensional illustration of a microburst by Roger Wakimoto is based on a figure produced by Ted Fujita in 1985.

Tanamachi also points to Fujitas exceptionally meticulous illustrations, which became legendary in meteorological circles.

I was struck, as a child first learning about Fujita's work, by how even I could understand many of his graphics. They were simultaneously highly complex and yet crystal clear in their content and messaging.practically works of art, even more so because each image or frame of animation was painstakingly drafted by Fujita's own hand."

As a junior scientist, the lesson I took is that one can almost never spend too much time perfecting a figure," Tanamachi said. "It will be remembered long after the accompanying, explanatory text is forgotten.

Fujitas best-known legacythe tornado intensity scalehas continued to evolve long after Fujitas death in 1998 at age 78. Interest in an upgrade to the original F-scale grew as it became increasingly clear that peak tornado winds were likely lower than originally thought and that construction quality has a huge impact on tornado damage.

Following the April 26-28, 2011, tornado outbreak in the southeastern United States, James LaDue and Kevin Scharfenberg (NOAA/NWS) provided on-the-ground reports which, combined with information from aerial reconnaissance and emergency manager reports, led to an EF4 rating for the tornado affecting this location.

The Enhanced Fujita Scale that debuted in 2007 includes 28 separate damage indicators, ranging from single-family homes, manufactured homes, motels, and malls to transmission lines and hardwood trees. Each indicator has its own mini-scale that feeds into the tornados overall EF-scale rating. (The scale is calibrated so that a tornado with a given F rating in the old scale is comparable to the same EF rating in the new scale, even though estimated winds are now lower.)

Now theres another major upgrade in the works. James LaDue (NWS Warning Decision Training Division) is co-chairing a committee with the American Society of Civil Engineers that is charged with incorporating other types of data into the EF-rating process. For example, this could include observations from mobile radars, which can estimate peak winds in places where no visible damage occurred.

Ted had an amazing curiosity to investigate everything, said LaDue. He noted that when Fujitas health began to decline in the late 1990s, he applied his usual observational rigor and graphic skills to documenting his own health indicators, an account that was published in his memoirs.

Ted Fujita's publications still set the standard which we can only improve upon but never replace, LaDue said.

The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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How Ted Fujita Revolutionized Tornado Science and Made Flying Safer Despite Many Not Believing Him - The Weather Channel

Rick Gilder, site manager at allnex North Augusta and Langley, and his team recently delivered drums of its hand sanitizer to more than a dozen community organizations, including hospitals, first responders and a variety of nonprofits.

Our team is privileged to be able to assist our community organizations during this challenging time, Gilder said. It is tremendously fulfilling knowing that our healthcare workers, first responders and neighbors will benefit from our work.

The South Carolina team joins its fellow allnex colleagues across the globe who have been producing the much-needed product as demand continues to rise amid the COVID-19 crisis. Following the guidelines from the World Health Organization, the pharmaceutical-grade hand sanitizer will help many in the community to stay healthy.

Like other allnex sites, the raw materials for the "liquid gold" were sourced through new vendors and other allnex locations to support the Langley initiatives. Once permits were in hand, operators were able to quickly and easily manufacture the hand sanitizer, making it readily available to their colleagues and their families.

The FDA recently published guidelines on the production of hand sanitizers for industries who are not currently licensed or registered drug manufacturers. The document provides detailed information about acceptable ingredients and measurements, ensuring that the product is being manufactured in a safe and clean environment.

Im especially proud of the team at Langley and our entire organization, who have demonstrated their commitment to giving back as well as to keeping colleagues and their families safe and healthy, Gilder said.

Current recipients include: ACTS, CanHope, Child Advocacy Center, Childrens Place, Community Medical Clinic, Family Y, Golden Harvest, Helping Hands, Helpline 211, Project Vision, Tri Development Center, United Way of Aiken County, 360 Mechanical, Aiken County EMS, Aiken County Sheriff Department, Aiken Housing Authority, Augusta Industrial, Augusta Industrial, Augusta Industrial, Brothers And Sisters, Halocarbon, Helping Hands Hospice, Langley Volunteer Fire Department, Mental Health America, Pruitt Nursing Homes, SFC, University Hospital, UW Aiken Center and Walking Tall.

Allnex is the leading global producer of industrial coating resins and additives for architectural, industrial, protective, automotive and special purpose coatings and inks. Allnex is recognized as a specialty chemicals pioneer and offers an extensive range of products including innovative liquid resins and additives, radiation cured and powder coating resins and additives, and cross linkers for use on wood, metal, plastic and other surfaces. Today, allnex has a strong global presence with 4,000 employees worldwide, 35 manufacturing sites, two of which are in Augusta, Georgia and Langley, and 23 research and technology support facilities.

Excerpt from:
Allnex South Carolina donates hand sanitizer to area organizations - Aiken Standard

With more emphasis than ever on the supply of protective equipment for health care professionals, universities, nonprofits and businesses around the nation have figured out creative ways to help.

3-D printing has proven to be one viable way to increase the production of this equipment and Lehigh is taking advantage.

Using the 3-D printers in Wilbur Powerhouse and the laser cutters in the Design Labs on Mountaintop, Brian Slocum, Michael Moore, and Trevor Verdonik, all Wilbur staff members, have manufactured and donated 1,500 face shields for local hospitals in the Lehigh Valley. They plan to make about 2,000 more over the next three weeks.

Among the organizations receiving the shields are Lehigh Valley Hospital, Good Shepherd Hospital and the Lehigh and Northampton County Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs). The EMAs distribute the shields to first responders such as EMS, police and fire, as well as nursing homes and others in need.

Brian Slocum, managing director of Lehighs Wilbur Powerhouse and design labs, said he was contacted in March by hospitals who knew of Lehighs 3-D printing capabilities and were in need of more personal protective equipment, or PPE.

We were exploring this to maybe send to New York, not knowing that we would have the need right here, in the Lehigh Valley, Slocum said.

After receiving approval from the university, Slocum said he began working with Moore and Verdonik, assistant managers of Wilbur Powerhouse, to 3-D print and laser cut the face shields.

Slocum, Moore and Verdonik developed the prototype for the face shields with the help of a Lehigh alum at Knoll Inc. in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. Slocum said they began with a vetted design for face shields from the Czech Republic, which they modified to meet the needs of hospitals.

The face shields consist of five components, Slocum said. These include a headband which lays across the forehead, a neoprene comfort band and roof which wrap over the face shield, an adjustable neoprene strap in the back, the clear PET plastic shield and a 3-D printed component at the bottom of the shield which curves the plastic to the face, he said.

Verdonik oversees the 3-D printing process at Wilbur, while Moore works at Mountaintop doing the laser cutting. Slocum serves as the project manager and delivers the shields to the hospitals.

These face shields are designed to be washed and reused, and many doctors who have received the shields said that they are tremendously more comfortable than the commercially available shields.

Ive heard that theyve been fighting over the ones that were providing, Slocum said.

Verdoniks wife, who is a physician assistant, can attest to the shields quality. Verdonik said she was one of the primary reasons why he was excited to start this project.

Moore and Slocum, too, said this project has proved to be impactful.

You sit back and ask, What can I do in this crisis, and its nice to be able to at least do something, Slocum said. You dont feel quite so inept.

Moore said being able to physically work on this project has helped him with the negative mental effects brought by social distancing.

Wilbur Powerhouse already had the filament necessary for 3-D printing, but Slocum said he needed to source the neoprene and PET plastic for the face shields. DuPont chemical company has donated an additional 1,000-foot roll of PET plastic to Lehigh, he said.

This project has been fully funded by Lehigh, but they are relying on donations of materials to continue manufacturing once the budget is exhausted. However, Lehigh has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help raise $5,000 so they can continue. Theyve also shared their design so other universities can continue to help.

The face shields are not replacements for face masks, and are intended to be worn in conjunction with an N95 respirator, Slocum said. He said the face shield protects the eyes and most of the face from any droplets, which a mask does not.

Slocum, Moore and Verdonik are the only people working to produce the masks, but volunteers from the Lehigh Valley Health Network have helped to assemble the masks, Slocum said.

Tim Docherty, director of occupational safety and health management at LVHN, and Frank Hyland, executive director of Good Shepherd, said they are appreciative of the face shields Lehigh has provided.

Im truly appreciative of the phenomenal generosity, innovation and expertise that the Lehigh University school of engineering has offered, Docherty said. We certainly want to extend our gratitude to the entire Lehigh community.

Good Shepherd has been getting out-of-state referrals for rehabilitation, making the demand for face shields much higher, Hyland said.

Slocum said in the coming weeks, face shields will be sent to Lehigh and Northampton County emergency agencies, so that they may be distributed to first responders, nursing homes and doctor offices throughout the area.

Read more:
Lehigh Works to Produce Face Shields - The Brown and White

This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of Midland, Mich., Thursday, May 21, 2020, with floodwaters along the Tittabawassee River. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - It took seven years to settle on a plan for cleansing two rivers and floodplains polluted with dioxins from a Dow Chemical Co. plant in central Michigan. The work itself has lasted nearly twice as long, with plenty still to do.

Now, scientists and activists fear some of the progress may have washed away with floodwaters that overwhelmed two dams this week, chasing 11,000 people from homes in and near Midland, the company's headquarters city.

The Tittabawassee River flows past the Dow plant and eventually meets the Saginaw River, which continues into Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. That 50-mile stretch is tainted with dioxins - highly toxic compounds that researchers say can damage reproductive and immune systems and cause cancer. The area is on the federal Superfund list of hazardous sites.

Regulators and company officials said Thursday it was too early to tell whether the swollen river had damaged spots that had been repaired or swept pollutants farther downstream. Dow said it would inspect each cleanup location as floodwaters recede and sample for new contamination.

The projects "held up remarkably well" during a 2017 flood "and we are confident that we will see a similar outcome this time," spokesman Kyle Bandlow said.

This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows Sanford Dam in Sanford, Mich., Thursday, May 14, 2020, before it was damaged. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows Sanford Dam in Sanford, Mich., Thursday, May 21, 2020, after it was damaged. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would team with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to evaluate any chemical releases from the plant, although Dow had reported none. Damage from the flood three years ago was "minimal" and required only minor repairs, EPA's regional office in Chicago said.

But a similar outcome is unlikely after this week's considerably bigger flood, said Allen Burton, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan.

"There's no reason to expect that everything would remain in the same place after a massive flood like this," Burton said. "No scientist out there would predict that will happen."

Erik Olson, a toxic chemicals specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said floods produced by hurricanes have covered hazardous waste sites and carried contaminated wastes long distances.

"You can think you've contained toxic chemicals to a limited area, but a flood can scour that up and move it," Olson said. "We saw that with Katrina. What happened there is exactly what we're worrying about happening in Midland."

This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows Edenville Dam in Beaverton, Mich., Thursday, May 14, 2020, before it was damaged. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows Edenville Dam in Beaverton, Mich., Thursday, May 21, 2020, after it was damaged. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

In a report last year, the Government Accountability Office said EPA should take additional steps to safeguard Superfund sites from the effects of climate change, including flooding that might result from heavier downpours. It said 60 percent of Superfund sites not on federal property were vulnerable to floods, storm surge, wildfires, and sea level rise associated with global warming.

Dioxins are byproducts of some of the hundreds of chemicals manufactured over the years at the Dow plant, which began operating in 1897. It now produces silicones used in a variety of home and personal care products and electronics.

The plant also has a small nuclear reactor, used for research, Bandlow said. Dow notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday that it had been shut down earlier because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Liquid wastes containing dioxins from the plant were dumped into the river in the early 20th century. The compounds later were incinerated, producing air pollution that settled into sediments, riverbanks and floodplains over decades.

Their discovery along the Tittabawassee River in 2000 sparked a lengthy clash between Dow, regulators and environmental groups over the seriousness of the problem and how to fix it.

Dow began cleanup in 2007, supervised by EPA. The Tittabawassee and its banks were divided into seven segments. The first five are mostly complete. Work on the remaining two began last year.

A Cadillac sits in a pile of sand as residents and business owners dig out after flooding swept through the town of Sanford, Thursday, May 21, 2020. Senior citizens are among the scores of displaced people staying in shelters after flooding overwhelmed two dams, submerged homes and washed out roads in Central Michigan. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP)

Thousands of cubic yards of contaminated sediments have been removed and banks have been stabilized. In areas where digging up the dioxins was judged too difficult or impractical, tainted soils were covered with protective mats and deep-rooted plants.

More cleanup is planned along 21 miles of floodplains. EPA expects the Tittabawassee section to be finished next year, followed by work on the Saginaw River.

"We've been feeling pretty confident that this is going to be a successful cleanup," said Terry Miller, chairman of the advocacy group Lone Tree Council and member of a community advisory panel. "But this 500-year flood is a wild card."

Thorough inspections and analysis will be crucial to determine whether the projects are intact and need repairs, he said.

"The post-flood assessments will help identify if any additional cleanup is needed," EPA said.

Environmentalists said they were concerned about releases of pollutants aside from dioxins, although Dow said there had been none.

"The long-term threats to the health and safety of the community are significant, given what we know is in the river and the holding ponds and the Superfund site," said Lisa Wozniak, executive director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

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The Daily Standard World News - The Daily Standard

The modular homes are manufactured in a factory setting, meaning that minimal work is needed once it arrives on site. This allows completion to take days not weeks and enables work to be finished safely while fully respecting all social distancing and safety rules.

ilke Homes can restart delivery immediately with minimal workers on site, meaning that developers and housing associations can deliver homes faster and safer than through traditional methods of construction.

The company delivers modules by road to sites fully-complete with kitchens, bathrooms and interiors, before being craned into their final position.

With utilities and foundations pre-installed, the houses are connected within a matter of hours with minimal labour, ensuring social distancing is maintained.

In just three days in April, ilke Homes safely installed four homes onsite at Wykebeck, Leeds.

The modular housing developer is continuing work on six other sites across Leeds, Derbyshire, Wakefield, Kent, Cumbria and London which will be completed in May and June.

Additionally, ilke Homes new land and partnership team, which is headed up by former Crest Nicholson Midlands managing director Ben Miller, has made three land acquisitions that will see the development of 205 homes across Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Hereford.

The company has also been proactively refining and improving the technology that it employs at its 250,000 sq ft factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. This technology will ensure the safety of ilke Homes employees, eliminating any personal contact while maintaining the efficient production of homes.

Dave Sheridan, executive chairman at ilke Homes, said:We have had to make adjustments to ensure we can follow safety guidelines and protect our staff, but because homes manufactured in a factory can arrive to site fully-finished, we have been able to keep working and minimise delays.

Offsite manufacturing is the safest and most effective means of building new homes in line with the governments guidelines.

We are now turning our attention to the long-term, as we look to build resilience into the industry by delivering high-quality, energy-efficient homes safely and at speed.

This will be essential to the post-Covid recovery phase, and we want to be working with the government and partners across the industry to rapidly kickstart the countrys housebuilding mission.

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Modular housing developer safely completes site in Leeds - Planning, BIM & Construction Today

A full-size Chevrolet Silverado is ready to roll off the assembly line at Flint Assembly.(Photo: Jeffrey Sauger, Jeffrey Sauger for General Motors)

Thousands of General Motors union members will remain laid off at least another week and a speedy ramp-up inproduction ofthe automaker'shighlyprofitable pickups is now in a holding pattern.

GM can't get the flow of parts it needs to support bringing backsecond shiftworkers at GM's Flint Assembly and Fort Wayne Assembly plants, several sources toldthe Free Press on Friday.

That means GM'splans to nearlydouble pickup output at the two factoriesaredelayed.

Any delay in pickup production is bad newsfor GM. The vehiclesalreadyfacelower-than-usual supply because of the 40-day UAW strike against GM last fall. The pickups, which carry fat profit margins,are crucial to GM's bottom line.

In fact, during GM's first-quarter earnings, CEO Mary Barra said as GM restarts its production after the coronavirus shutdown"trucks and full-size SUVs will remain a very high priority." GM idled its North American plans in March because ofthe pandemic.

Union members told the Free Press that GM is delaying its callback of more than 2,000 workers in Michigan and Indiana.

The workers were scheduled to returnTuesday. Instead, those at Fort Wayne in Indiana will return June 1, saidRich LeTourneau, shop chairman for UAWLocal 2209, which represents workers at Fort Wayne where GM builds the light-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

We had all intentions of bringing back second shift on the 26th; however, because of the COVID pandemic in Mexico we get some harnesses from them they have not opened up their doors 100% yet, LaTourneau said.We cant bring on a second shift.

A GMC Sierra 1500 travels down the assembly line at GM's Fort Wayne Assembly in Fort Wayne, Indiana.(Photo: Ryan Hake, General Motors)

A harness is a bundle of wires wrapped togetherfor easy installation in a vehicle, located under the dash. It connects the electronics in the pickup, LaToureanu said, explaining that everything thats digital goes through that harness. The truck cant run without it.

About 80% of wiring harnesses that go invehicles built in North Americaare madein Mexico, mostly in the Maquiladora plants alongthe U.S.-Mexico border with some work done on each side, said Jon Gabrielsen, auto industry consultant.

"The border area of Mexico is one of the biggest hot spots for COVID-19, half of the Mexican states with the highest number of cases and deaths are border states," Gabrielsen said. "So it may not get better supply soon."

GM spokesman Jim Cain declined to discuss the specifics of the production schedule or when employees will return, saying: We continue to plan to ramp up production in a gradual cadence."

At GM's Flint Assembly, where the heavy-duty and regular-cab pickups are made, management told workerslate Thursday that the return of a second shift has been delayed.

In aGM alert to workers, obtained by the Free Press, it read:"As you know, a portion of our production operations resumed the week of May 18, 2020. At this time, we have NOT established a return to work date for remaining production operations. Return to work updates will be shared with employees as soon as additional information becomes available."

A worker at Flint, who asked to not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said, "Weve been told by management its a parts shortage from suppliers, but no idea where its from."

A message from the UAW local shop chairman to workers, also obtained by the Free Press, said: "The launch of the second shift next week has been delayed. The expected start timing will not be understood until sometime next week. We believe this is only a minor delay."

Flint employees said they have been told second shift could start June 1, but it is not confirmed. Cain declined to comment.

GM employs about 5,200 people at the Flint Assembly plant, according to its website. About 1,200 to 1,500 people work per shift, several employees said.

At Fort Wayne, LeTourneau said there are about 1,300 people scheduled for each shift. With second shift pushed back to June 1, it will likely mean the third shift will also be pushed back. Third shift was supposed to start June 1, but LeTourneausaid, GM won't bring back two shifts at the same time.

If we dont get the partwe need, theyll delay the shifts again," LeTourneau said. "Right now, there is one plant open in Mexico getting us what we need."

It's enough for the first shift to churn out 200 pickups a day, but normally they build 440 pickups a shift, or 1,290 a day, he said.

GM's Flint and Fort Wayne factories accounted for about 62% of GMs output of large pickupslast year, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from researcher Wards Intelligence.

The Journal cited Credit Suisse sayingGMs truck sales brought in nearly$10.7 billion in pretax profit last year,or about 90% of the companys total, excluding the impact of the strike.

Meanwhile, GM got approvalfrom the government of Mexico onThursday to restart its plants south of the border.GM is opening three assembly plants and powertrain and stamping plants that support them in a gradual restart beginningThursday night.

More: GM to restart its plants in Mexico as soon as Thursday night

More: GMs Barra, leaders want to experience factory work conditions

Here are GM's plants in Mexico:

GM said it was restarting the engines and transmissions plants in Ramos Arizpe and Silao complexes, located in Coahuila and Guanajuato states respectively, Thursday evening.

GM said its assembly plantswithin the Ramos Arizpe and Silao complex could tentatively restart operations Friday, depending on the status of their suppliers.

But the Silao plant is the third pickup factory GM has,so presumably it will also be constrained by the same Mexican supplier of wiring harnesses, Gabrielsen said.

The restart date of GM's manufacturing operations in the complexes in Tolucaand San Luis Potos is still being determined, GM said.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.

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Thousands of GM UAW members told to stay home, pickup production stalled - Detroit Free Press

NEW DELHI More than 80 people were killed by the powerful cyclone that slammed into India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, wiping out thousands of homes and drenching low-lying areas in torrential rain, officials said on Thursday.

Many of the dead were crushed by falling trees, electrocuted by downed wires or buried inside collapsing buildings as Cyclone Amphan pummeled the region, leaving a wide swath of devastation and grief.

The worst damage was reported in the Indian state of West Bengal, which includes the metropolis of Kolkata and many small, coastal villages where people live in shacks made from mud and sticks.

The storm ripped through there, and though many villagers had evacuated beforehand, as the Indian authorities had urged, some had resisting packing into shelters because they feared the coronavirus.

The authorities said it was too early to know the full damage or the final death toll. Many areas were still inaccessible because of a dangerous maze of split-open trees and live electricity wires sprawled across the roads.

But West Bengals chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, one of Indias most powerful women, said she had never seen such a disaster before.

At one end there is this small Covid virus that is terrifying people, she said in a video conference. This was another virus from the sky.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, as the storm barreled up the Bay of Bengal, emergency crews plied beach roads, shouting to people through megaphones to leave their homes and go to evacuation shelters. Around three million people in India and Bangladesh heeded the calls and moved to safety.

But Indian police officers said some villagers resisted, fearful of being stuck in a closed space with thousands of others at a time when India is struggling to contain the coronavirus.

Just this week, the country reported its 100,000th infection; many health experts believe the real numbers are far higher, but hidden because of Indias relatively low rates of testing.

On Thursday, as the day wore on, more stories of death flowed in.

Khanat Begum, a mother in a village in southern Bangladesh, was cooking when a blast of wind uprooted her neighbors tree, crashing it through the roof of her home. Her 13-year-old daughter was also inside the house. They both died.

Like many homes in Chandpur village, Ms. Begams house has been obliterated. The roads leading to the village were still blocked on Thursday.

Our village has been reduced to rubble, said Israar Kamal, a resident of Chandpur.

The cyclone weakened further as it moved into northeastern India on Thursday, with a wind speed of 37 miles per hour. The skies over many of the cyclone-damaged areas were clear.

Many villagers who had fled to cyclone shelters were still inside them; others were beginning to trickle back to their villages, only to find their homes smashed to the ground, scatterings of sticks and clumps of mud.

Among the reported deaths, the authorities said 10 people had died in Bangladesh and at least 73 in India.

One of the hardest-hit places was the metropolis of Kolkata, a former capital during colonial times and one of Indias biggest cities, with around 15 million people in the greater urban area. The authorities said the cyclone had killed at least 15 people there. On Thursday, its streets were littered with trees, and parked cars bumped into one another as workers struggled to clear the roads.

The cyclones eye had passed nearby, bringing with it 100-mile-an-hour winds and nearly nine inches of rain.

Ms. Banerjee, the West Bengal minister, said that the region was in a warlike situation, and that the loss of lives could surpass the toll of Covid-19 there so far.

Videos on social media showed uprooted trees blocking roads and water cascading down the stairs of apartment buildings. The runway of Kolkatas international airport, typically one of Indias busiest, was completely underwater and looked like a long pond.

I was very scared when water started coming into my flat, said Anushree Hamirwasia, 22, a student in Kolkata.

Sankar Halder, who runs a nonprofit organization in West Bengal, said many people in his area did not take the cyclone seriously.

Villagers had become complacent, he said, having lived through cyclones before, and this time their biggest fear was coronavirus and crowding into a place where they might get infected.

Even the local news was focused more on coronavirus than the cyclone, Mr. Halder said. When the government finally started evacuating people and people realized the intensity of the storm, it was too late.

The majority of the dead, he said, could have escaped but died inside their homes.

Mohammed Salah Uddin, 42, said he and 10 others returned to his village in southern Bangladesh on Thursday after crisscrossing knocked-down trees and electrical poles littering the roads. He said that the shelter he had fled to was very crowded inside, and that people had not maintained a safe distance from one another, despite the threat of the coronavirus.

It looked scary, Mr. Uddin said. It is better to live in a destroyed home than catch the diseases.

Photographs from other shelters in Bangladesh showed huge crowds of people, few of them wearing masks.

Another area that got walloped was the Sundarbans, the worlds largest mangrove forest and a wildlife refuge, home to endangered species including Bengal tigers.

The cyclone whipped right through the Sundarbans, which stretches across the border of India and Bangladesh along the Bay of Bengal.

Villagers in that area told Belinda Wright, the executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, that there wasnt a tree standing.

But the villagers also relayed that no one had been injured in the storm.

They dont like leaving their homes, Ms. Wright said, but most did because they knew how terribly dangerous cyclones can be, she added.

Rescue operations intensified on Thursday across the entire belt of devastation. Jawhar Sircar, a retired government administrator who lives in Kolkata, said that in his part of the city, the situation was calm. Electricity was back on, though essential supplies like vegetables and fruits were still not available because street vendors were unable to move on the roads.

The mood in Kolkata is like it is all over now, he said.

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.

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Cyclone Amphans Death Toll Rises to 80 in India and Bangladesh - The New York Times