Saints RB Alvin Kamara's camp absence related to contract, sources say - ESPN

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2:23 PM ET

METAIRIE, La. -- Alvin Kamara appears to be making a late push for a contract extension.

The New Orleans Saints running back has been an unexcused absence from training camp since Friday, and the absence is believed to be contract-related, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Saints coach Sean Payton has declined to specify the reason for any player absences in recent days, as teams are not required to release injury reports during camp.

Kamara is scheduled to make $2.133 million in the final year of his rookie contract. He reported for the start of training camp and participated for the first several weeks, insisting at the time that he was not focused on his contract.

• 

The running back said he had even instructed his agent, "Don't tell me anything about a contract until it's like something where it's happening or there's something I need to know."

"It'll happen when it happens," Kamara said at the time. "It's never been something ... like I didn't come in [to the NFL] thinking about like, 'Ooh, I can't wait 'til I get a contract.' It's like, 'I'm playing, and when that comes, it's gonna be well deserved and it's gonna be perfect timing for it.' It's just not something that's at the forefront of my day. It's not something I wake up thinking about."

It's unclear what changed -- and whether Kamara's absence means the two sides are getting closer to an extension or further apart.

By holding out, Kamara could risk losing an accrued season, meaning he would become a restricted free agent after this season instead of unrestricted.

According to the collective bargaining agreement, a player under contract would lose an accrued season if he fails to report to training camp on the mandatory reporting date or if "the player thereafter failed to perform his contract services for the club for a material period of time."

The Saints could also fine Kamara up to $40,000 per day, though those fines are not mandatory since Kamara is still on his rookie contract.

Neither of those things would be an issue, however, if the Saints and Kamara could work out a new deal.

Alvin Kamara is one of only four players, along with Christian McCaffrey, Herschel Walker and Roger Craig, to total at least 2,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards in his first three seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire

Kamara, 25, will likely seek a deal worth somewhere between the new deals signed during the offseason by fellow running backs Christian McCaffrey ($16 million per year) and Derrick Henry ($12.5 million), though that leaves a pretty wide margin in between.

Kamara and McCaffrey have been the two best young dual-threat running backs in the league starting in 2017, when Kamara beat out McCaffrey for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award as a third-round draft pick out of Tennessee.

Kamara had 728 rushing yards, 826 receiving yards and 14 total touchdowns that year. His numbers increased to 883 rushing yards, 709 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns in 2018.

But Kamara was hampered last year by knee and ankle injuries that forced him to miss two games and play "on one leg" for the final three months once he returned. He finished with 797 rushing yards, a career-low 533 receiving yards and a career-low six touchdowns.

Kamara said he is healthy now, and coaches have praised him for looking like his old self early in camp.

The Saints have about $7.5 million in salary-cap space this year, but they will be facing some daunting salary-cap limitations next year if the leaguewide cap drops significantly because of lost revenues in 2020.

The NFL's 2021 cap could drop as low as $175 million per team, down from $198.2 million per team in 2020.

The Saints rank second in the NFL with $246.6 million in salary-cap commitments for 2021, according to ESPN Stats & Information. And Saints starters like cornerback Marshon Lattimore, offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk and linebacker Demario Davis are nearing the end of their contracts.

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Michael B. Jordan pens powerful tribute to Chadwick Boseman - CNN

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Jordan, who starred alongside Boseman in "Black Panther," penned a touching tribute to the late actor, who died last Friday after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016.

"I wish we had more time," Jordan wrote in his post, which included several photos of the two together.

Boseman was viewed as a superhero both on and off the screen. His passing left many, including his costars and fans, mourning..

"Since nearly the beginning of my career, starting with All My Children when I was 16 years old you paved the way for me," Jordan wrote. "You showed me how to be better, honor purpose, and create legacy. And whether you've known it or not...I've been watching, learning and constantly motivated by your greatness."

The thing that hurt Jordan the most, he said, was the fact that Boseman still made movies and even visited children who were fighting cancer while he privately battled the disease himself.

"Through it all, you never lost sight of what you loved most. You cared about your family , your friends, your craft, your spirit. You cared about the kids, the community, our culture and humanity," Jordan wrote. "You cared about me."

He said he will dedicate the rest of his life to live the way Boseman did, "with grace, courage, and no regrets."

Jordan ended his tribute with the famous line from Erik Killmonger, the villain whom he portrayed in "Black Panther."

'"'Is this your king!?'" Jordan wrote. "Yes . he . is! Rest In Power Brother."

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Hamas and Israel Agree to Ease Hostilities Amid Coronavirus - The New York Times

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JERUSALEM — With the coronavirus spreading fast through the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed Monday night to cool its latest round of hostilities with Israel in exchange for a cash infusion from Qatar and for Israel’s agreement to let fuel flow back to Gaza’s power station, officials said.

For several weeks, Gaza, ruled by Hamas, has launched hundreds of balloons laden with incendiary devices and explosives — and more than a few rockets — into southern Israel, torching large tracts of farmland and keeping thousands of Israeli civilians on edge. Israel has responded with frequent airstrikes and tank fire on what it said was Hamas military infrastructure in Gaza.

Far from resolving anything, though, Monday’s agreement — which effectively bought the promise of a month’s calm — was just another familiar step in the miserable minuet that has entangled Israel and Hamas for years.

Hamas again promised that it was to get long-sought progress on major economic projects; it did not detail them, but as of last week it was demanding an extended power line and a new industrial zone that could alleviate Gaza’s appallingly high unemployment rate.

By contrast, Israel announced that it was merely allowing routine cargo activity at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza and permitting Gaza’s fishermen to resume plying the Mediterranean waters up to 15 nautical miles off its shores.

Once again, it was understood by each side that the failure to live up to its promises could bring about another round of escalation.

“This decision will be tested on the ground,” the Israeli military agency responsible for Gaza, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, said in a statement. “If Hamas, which is accountable for all actions that are taken in the Gaza Strip, fails to stand by its obligations, Israel will act accordingly.”

For his part, Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, announced that the agreement would “contain the escalation and halt the Zionist aggression on our people.”

Smoke hung over Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on Friday.Credit...Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Talal Okal, a Gaza-based political analyst, said the understanding had little hope of leading to a long-term cease-fire.

“We’re in the middle of a vicious cycle,” he said. “It seems that the situation hasn’t changed significantly and that the tensions can come back in the snap of a finger.” He said the success of Monday’s agreement would depend on Israel’s willingness to implement it — something he accused the country of evading in past deals with Hamas.

The agreement was trumpeted by Mohammed al-Emadi, a Qatari ambassador who heads that nation’s Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza and has been shuttling back and forth between Israel and Gaza for days. But while he alluded to projects that Hamas has agitated for, he said that the calming of tensions was “paving the way” for their implementation, suggesting that work was not about to begin imminently.

None of the parties publicly disclosed the amount of Qatar’s cash infusion. A person familiar with the agreement, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss it, put the payment at $27 million.

It was not immediately clear what Hamas would use the money for. Officials say that previous payments from Qatar have been used in Gaza, which is in dire economic condition, to buy fuel, pay civil servants’ salaries and provide relief to impoverished families.

Politics has loomed over the heated-up Gaza-Israel border in multiple ways, analysts said — particularly with an election coming up to decide the leadership of Hamas. Khaled Meshal, a former Hamas leader now in exile in Qatar, is believed to be vying to topple Ismail Haniya, the Gaza-based Hamas political director.

Mr. Haniya and Mr. Sinwar have sought to show that they are capable of compelling Israel to make meaningful improvements to conditions in Gaza, whether in easing its blockade or in advancing big projects.

But the political situation in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in a kind of permanent campaign mode, repeatedly dangling the prospect of taking the country to another election, has made it difficult to imagine Israel doing much to benefit Hamas in the near future.

The Coronavirus Outbreak ›

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated August 27, 2020

• What should I consider when choosing a mask?

  • There are a few basic things to consider. Does it have at least two layers? Good. If you hold it up to the light, can you see through it? Bad. Can you blow a candle out through your mask? Bad. Do you feel mostly OK wearing it for hours at a time? Good. The most important thing, after finding a mask that fits well without gapping, is to find a mask that you will wear. Spend some time picking out your mask, and find something that works with your personal style. You should be wearing it whenever you’re out in public for the foreseeable future. Read more: What’s the Best Material for a Mask?

• What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

  • In the beginning, the coronavirus seemed like it was primarily a respiratory illness — many patients had fever and chills, were weak and tired, and coughed a lot, though some people don’t show many symptoms at all. Those who seemed sickest had pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome and received supplemental oxygen. By now, doctors have identified many more symptoms and syndromes. In April, the C.D.C. added to the list of early signs sore throat, fever, chills and muscle aches. Gastrointestinal upset, such as diarrhea and nausea, has also been observed. Another telltale sign of infection may be a sudden, profound diminution of one’s sense of smell and taste. Teenagers and young adults in some cases have developed painful red and purple lesions on their fingers and toes — nicknamed “Covid toe” — but few other serious symptoms.

• Why does standing six feet away from others help?

  • The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It's a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it's windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart.

• I have antibodies. Am I now immune?

  • As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.

• I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?

  • The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.

• What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?

  • Employers have to provide a safe workplace with policies that protect everyone equally. And if one of your co-workers tests positive for the coronavirus, the C.D.C. has said that employers should tell their employees -- without giving you the sick employee’s name -- that they may have been exposed to the virus.

For Qatar, meanwhile, restoring calm can enhance its stature in the region, said Celine Touboul, a Gaza expert and co-director of the Economic Cooperation Foundation, an Israeli think tank. “Simply put, they want to be a player,” she said. “And to be a player for them is to demonstrate that they can contribute to shift the situation and calm it.”

Hamas noted in announcing Monday’s understanding that it would help provide a measure of relief to Gaza in light of its battle with the coronavirus. But the most crucial missing element in that fight was electricity, as Israel had halted shipments of fuel into Gaza in retribution for the flaming balloons and rockets.

Police officers in Gaza City guarded the entrance of Shifa Hospital after patients tested positive for the coronavirus.Credit...Khalil Hamra/Associated Press

That standoff became dire last Monday, when Hamas officials reported the first cases of community transmission. And the spread of the virus in Gaza appears to have accelerated: As of Monday morning, there were 243 active cases of local spread and 37 among returning travelers held at quarantine facilities, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Officials have reported three virus-related deaths in the past week.

Virus testing kits are in short supply in Gaza, the ministry said, and it is testing at a slow pace. As of Monday morning, it had conducted just 670 tests in the preceding 24 hours.

Nickolay E. Mladenov, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, wrote on Twitter that he welcomed Monday’s agreement: “Ending the launching of incendiary devices and projectiles, restoring electricity will allow #UN to focus on dealing with the #COVID19 crisis. All parties should return to the calm understandings.”

Mr. Mladenov and Ambassador Emadi, among other officials, were expected to meet on Tuesday at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Earlier on Monday, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Jamie McGoldrick, called upon Hamas to stop the rockets and balloons and Israel to restore electricity, which was down to just four hours a day, “in line with its obligations as an occupying power.”

“The situation is hindering the provision of services in the quarantine facilities and the capacity of the health system to cope with the increased demands, such as the ability to detect new COVID-19 cases,” Mr. McGoldrick said. “Power outages in hospitals are having serious repercussions, with patients in intensive care, chronic and emergency cases particularly vulnerable.”

David M. Halbfinger reported from Jerusalem and Adam Rasgon from Tel Aviv. Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Gaza City.

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Unique antibody profile sets gluten sensitivity apart from Celiac disease - Science Daily

A new study of the antibodies produced by people with gluten sensitivity may lead to a better way to detect the condition and treat it.

Until recently, many doctors often dismissed the complaints of people who claimed to be sensitive to foods containing gluten but did not have celiac disease, a well-documented autoimmune disease triggered by exposure to the dietary protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.

That view has changed in the past few years, based partly on studies by Armin Alaedini, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, that have delved into the biological basis for non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

But many aspects of non-celiac gluten sensitivity -- including what causes it and how to diagnose it -- remain poorly understood.

The new study by Alaedini shows that people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, like those with celiac disease, produce a high level of anti-gluten antibodies, but the two conditions differ in the types of antibodies produced and the inflammatory responses these antibodies can instigate.

Alaedini and his team analyzed blood samples from 40 patients with celiac disease, 80 patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and 40 healthy controls, all of whom consumed an unrestricted, gluten-containing diet.

"We found that the B cells of celiac disease patients produced a subclass profile of IgG antibodies with a strong inflammatory potential that is linked to autoimmune activity and intestinal cell damage," says Alaedini. "In contrast, the patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity produced IgG antibodies that are associated with a more restrained inflammatory response."

Those antibodies could be used in the future to help physicians more easily detect people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which is currently difficult to diagnose.

The antibody profiles also hint at potential new therapies for celiac disease, which is currently treated only with diet. "The data suggest that celiac patients generate a strong B-cell inflammatory response each time they consume gluten, whereas the immune system in people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity learns from its earlier encounters with gluten and generates less-inflammatory responses to the antigen in subsequent interactions."

"If we can drive specific immune cells of celiac patients toward their less inflammatory states, we may be able to prevent or reduce the severity of the immunologic reaction to gluten."

Story Source:

Materials provided by Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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After drop amid COVID-19, remittances to some nations have rebounded - Pew Research Center

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(Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)

Remittances to several Latin American nations with close migrant ties to the United States declined sharply in the first half of 2020 – especially in April, when much of the U.S. was locked down due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from their national central banks.

Across the six countries included in the analysis – Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico – remittances were  17% (or $981.2 million) lower in April 2020 than in April 2019. Most of these countries rely on the U.S. for the vast majority of their remittances. These nations also are the birthplaces of roughly eight-in-ten of the 20 million Latino immigrants who reside in the U.S.

Some Latin American countries were hit harder than others by this spring’s decline in remittances, or the money sent by migrants to their origin nations. El Salvador experienced a 40.0% drop in remittances in April 2020 compared with April 2019, the largest decline among the six nations analyzed. Remittances to Colombia declined by 38.5% during this time, the second-sharpest drop.

To examine changes in monthly remittances during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this analysis uses central bank data from the following countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines. The analysis also uses global estimates of remittance flows from the World Bank.    

Estimates of a nation’s emigrant population (except for the United States) are drawn from the United Nations publication “International migrant stock: The 2019 revision,” accessed on Aug. 3, 2020. For emigrants living in the U.S., data for 2018 is extrapolated from 2018 American Community Survey data.

The UN uses a taxonomy of nations and territories and classifies migrants born in territories and living elsewhere as international migrants, even if their citizenship is different from their territory of birth. For example, UN data counts people born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, as international migrants, even though they are U.S. citizens by birth. For this reason, some UN estimates of the foreign-born population shown here may differ from other estimates published by the U.S. Census Bureau or Pew Research Center.

Mexico experienced the smallest drop in remittances among the six countries in April, at 2.6%. In March, the country took in $4.0 billion, a record high for Mexico, up 35% from the previous year. The increase in March was partly driven by a favorable exchange rate between the Mexican peso and U.S. dollar; a rise in the number of individual remittance transactions (including electronic transfers and money orders); and an increase in the average amount sent in each remittance transaction.

Overall, remittances during the first six months of 2020 remain below 2019 levels in four of the six nations: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador had the largest drop during this period (-8.0%), followed by Colombia (-5.3%) and Honduras (-4.2%). The Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras each experienced their largest percentage declines in remittances for the first half of any year since 2009, during the Great Recession, though total remittances currently remain well above 2009 levels. By contrast, Mexico and the Dominican Republic have received more remittances through the first six months of 2020 than in the same period in 2019 – up 10.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

Remittance flow data from countries in other regions also suggests a decline during the first six months of 2020 – as well as signs of a rebound. For example, remittances to the Philippines and Bangladesh, two countries that are among the world’s top origins of international migrants, were down 4.2% and 1.4%, respectively, compared with 2019, with especially sharp declines in April. But monthly remittances to both countries rebounded in June.

The decline in remittances through the first half of 2020 follows a record-setting year in 2019. Worldwide, remittances reached a new high of $714 billion in 2019, according to the World Bank. The six Latin American nations in this analysis each received record high remittances in 2019, and together took in $71.5 billion last year. These high levels continued into early 2020, with remittances in January and February exceeding 2019 totals in each of the six countries.

But as the COVID-19 outbreak surged across the globe this spring, remittances from the world’s nearly 272 million immigrants were projected to fall about 20% in 2020. The world’s top remittance-sending nations experienced especially long economic shutdowns, hampering the ability of immigrants to send money to their home countries, according to a June Pew Research Center analysis. The U.S. has by far the world’s largest immigrant population, and has been the top remittance-sending country in recent years by a wide margin.

Remittances play an important role in the economies of some nations. In Honduras and El Salvador, for example, remittances accounted for more than 20% of GDP in 2019, among the highest shares in the world. Remittances were also a considerable share of GDP in Guatemala (14%) and Dominican Republic (8%) in 2019, and a lower share in Mexico (3%) and Colombia (2%).

Most migrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Dominican Republic live in the U.S.

As of 2019, the United States is home to roughly eight-in-ten international migrants (83%) who were born in the six Latin American nations in this analysis. By comparison, the U.S. is home to a smaller share of migrants (67%) from the broader Latin America and Caribbean region as of 2017.

Nearly all international migrants who were born in Mexico live in the U.S. (97%), the highest share among the six countries, followed by El Salvador (89%) and Guatemala (88%). By comparison, only around a quarter (28%) of international migrants born in Colombia live in the U.S.; a plurality (49%) live elsewhere in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Luis Noe-Bustamante  is a research analyst focusing on global migration and Hispanic trends at Pew Research Center.

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Coronavirus missteps from CDC and FDA worry health experts - NBC News

Dr. Stephen Hahn, the embattled head of the Food and Drug Administration, offered an assurance Monday: Any vaccine for public use will be approved "on the basis of science and data."

"We will not make that decision on the basis of politics," he said in an interview with "CBS Evening News." "That's a promise."

Hahn made the pledge after a series of recent public missteps involving the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — two of the federal agencies critical to the U.S. coronavirus response — which have damaged their reputations at a time when they are needed the most, according to seven prominent doctors and scientists who spoke to NBC News. They say that the recent events are clear signs of political interference from the White House and that they have shaken their trust and confidence in the leadership of the agencies.

"It's an enormous scandal," said Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington who has become an outspoken critic of the U.S. pandemic response and has written extensively about misleading health information. "What it looks like at this point is you have a White House altering public health advice to improve election chances to the detriment of American lives."

In an interview published Sunday in The Financial Times, Hahn said the FDA could fast-track a coronavirus vaccine by issuing an emergency use authorization before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials. The comments were met with an outcry from public health experts, prompting him to clarify in the CBS interview that a vaccine wouldn't be politicized.

Before that, Hahn misrepresented data about convalescent plasma, leading him to apologize for having overstated the potential treatment's benefits. He also ousted the agency's chief spokesperson over the fiasco, The New York Times reported.

Aug. 31, 202001:19

The CDC sparked its own crisis when it inexplicably changed its guidance on COVID-19 testing in a way that ran contrary to the best available scientific evidence, Bergstrom said. The updated recommendations, posted on the agency's website Aug. 24, suggested that people exposed to the coronavirus "do not necessarily need a test" unless they exhibit symptoms, are older or have existing medical needs that make them especially vulnerable to the virus.

But it has been known that infected people can be contagious before they experience symptoms and that people can also spread the virus even if they remain asymptomatic.

The CDC's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, backtracked and issued a statement saying that "all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients" may consider getting tested.

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Loren Lipworth, an epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said the recent developments are troubling because they undercut the CDC's mission.

"As epidemiologists, the CDC has always been who we turn to for guidance and for the data," she said.

Bergstrom said anything that compromises clear public health messaging could be very damaging, especially because scientists learn new things about a virus and its effects on humans as a pandemic evolves. About eight months into the worst pandemic in more than a century, research has shown that staving off the coronavirus relies on three pillars that work in concert: testing widely, social distancing and wearing masks.

"If you don't trust the agencies that are telling you to do this, then you don't have your key weapons to fight against a pandemic," he said.

With the FDA commissioner's blunder, Lipworth said, it's particularly important for the person leading the agency responsible for overseeing the development of potential coronavirus treatments and vaccines to convey information correctly.

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The situation has only furthered concerns that the agencies have been politicized. The spokesperson who was let go from the FDA was previously a reporter for One America News Network, a far-right media outlet that has been a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.

Beyond the obvious dangers of mischaracterizing data about a potential treatment, Lipworth said, it's still too early to know whether convalescent plasma is, in fact, beneficial. While the therapy has been shown to be safe, clinical trials to test its effectiveness continue, including at Vanderbilt University.

"The evidence is certainly not conclusive whether or not Dr. Hahn communicated it correctly," she said. "But even if he had, we're still not at a point where we can say there's conclusive evidence of the benefits."

All of the doctors and public health experts who spoke to NBC News expressed concern that Hahn's misrepresentation could tarnish the FDA's reputation. The erosion of trust could be especially problematic at the FDA, the agency responsible for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of vaccine candidates, said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa.

"It's a real worry, especially when we have people who don't trust the government and don't want vaccines and barely believe that this virus is causing a problem," he said.

Dr. Steven Goodman, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Stanford University, said the recent incidents may cause people to question the motives of the federal agencies that respond to public health emergencies.

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"It reduces confidence that they are without political influence," he said. "Any statement that the FDA makes that they have to amend or qualify, or any hint that they are lowering their standards, makes future statements more suspect in the eyes of the public."

And while public health has been shaped by politics throughout history, the recent events raise a different sort of red flag, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who is an investigator for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine clinical trials.

"Politics has always played a role in public health — think about HIV, for example — but it should not be partisan," del Rio said. "It should never favor one party over another."

The missteps add frustration for scientists and public health experts who are already operating in a politically charged environment rife with misinformation.

"I've been concerned before, but this elevates it to angry," Goodman said.

Dr. David Dowdy, an associate professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, called the recent events a "tremendous blow" to the credibility of the CDC and the FDA. He said he hopes the damage isn't permanent.

"Long term, I hope that this is not something that will tarnish them too greatly if and when we have a political situation where science is not a political issue anymore," he said.

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E.P.A. Relaxes Rules Limiting Toxic Waste From Coal Plants - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday relaxed strict Obama-era standards for how coal-fired power plants dispose of wastewater laced with dangerous pollutants like lead, selenium and arsenic, a move environmental groups said would leave rivers and streams vulnerable to toxic contamination.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulation scaled back the types of wastewater treatment technologies that utilities must install to protect rivers and other waterways. It also pushed back compliance dates and exempted some power plants from taking any action at all.

The change is one of several the Trump administration has pushed to try to rescue a coal industry in steep decline, extending the life of aging coal-fired power plants and trying to make them more competitive with cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. The move came days after President Trump’s son Eric described his father as a champion of coal miners who “will fight for you.”

Coal industry executives, who had criticized the original restrictions as costly and overly burdensome, praised the changes. Andrew Wheeler, the E.P.A. administrator and a former coal industry lobbyist, described the revisions as “more affordable pollution control technologies” that would “reduce pollution and save jobs at the same time.”

E.P.A. officials hailed the move as a milestone in Mr. Trump’s policy of achieving “energy dominance.” Environmental activists said the new rule threatened the health of the 1.1 million Americans who live within three miles of a coal plant discharging pollutants into a public waterway.

“There are dozens of water bodies around the country where the local water is significantly impacted by this type of direct dumping of toxic metals from power plants,” said Thomas Cmar, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice.

He said the new rule would help keep older, dirtier coal plants alive longer by allowing companies to use “cheap and ineffective methods of dumping pollution into our waterways.”

Andrew Wheeler, the E.P.A. administrator and a former coal industry lobbyist, said the new rule would “reduce pollution and save jobs at the same time.”Credit...Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Coal plants often use scrubbers to remove mercury, sulfur dioxide and other substances from smokestacks, which are then poured into nearby rivers and streams. In 2015 the Obama administration, revising standards that had not been touched since the 1980s, required industry to set deadlines for power plants to invest in state-of-the-art wastewater treatment technology to keep toxic pollution out of waterways.

The 2015 regulation also required them to monitor local water quality and make more information about the results publicly available. The Obama administration estimated the regulations would stop about 1.4 billion pounds of toxic metals and other pollutants from pouring into rivers and streams and cost industry $480 million a year. The E.P.A. at the time said the public would save about that same amount of money through benefits like lowered health care costs.

On Monday, the E.P.A. estimated that the new rule would save the electric power industry about $140 million annually and eliminate 1 million additional pounds of toxic pollution each year over and above the original regulation by improving efficiency and through a voluntary incentive program.

The revised rule gives companies more time to comply with the installation of new technologies and allows any coal plant scheduled to retire or stop burning coal by 2028 to avoid the requirements altogether.

Michelle Bloodworth, president and chief executive of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group, said in a statement that the Obama-era restrictions “could have forced the closure of additional coal-fueled power plants that are necessary to maintain the reliability and resilience of the nation’s electricity supply.”

Dulce Ortiz, co-chairwoman of Clean Power Lake County, an environmental organization in Waukegan, Ill., who lives about a mile and a half from an NRG coal-fired power plant on the shore of Lake Michigan, said her family members and neighbors already suffered asthma and other respiratory issues they believe are linked to local pollution.

“My community has a painful history of industrial pollution and contamination,” Ms. Ortiz said. The revised rule, she added, “will have a huge impact on our health.”

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Scientists aren't trained to mentor. That's a problem - Science Magazine

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By Adam RubenAug. 31, 2020 , 2:05 PM

Throughout most of grad school, I was impressed by how thoroughly unimportant I was to the people running the labs I worked in. I didn’t expect to have best-buds-on-a-road-trip relationships with my advisers, but I didn’t realize I’d pretty much be thought of as Training Grant Expenditure Number Eight. Day one in a lab usually felt like this:

ME: My mind is open; I am yours to educate! Illuminate the corridors of scientific wonder, and be my true guide as you train me in your ways.

MY ADVISER: Here’s a stack of journal articles. See you in a week.

Yet that’s what an adviser is, at least etymologically: someone who provides advice. Not guidance, not teaching, just … advice.

In other words, we sometimes draw a false equivalence between research advisers and mentors. And while many advisers are excellent mentors, it’s not exactly a prerequisite for running a lab.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Back in the days when traveling and audiences both existed, I gave the keynote address at an event for HSI STEM Impact, a program for undergraduate science students at Texas State University. It’s a pretty remarkable program: Not only does it support students navigating their first experience working in a lab, but it also includes mandatory mentorship training for the professors who run those labs.

Why is this remarkable? Because most professors receive exactly zero minutes of mentorship training—and at most universities, that’s just kind of the end of the story. Your principal investigator (PI) doesn’t know what to do with you? Yeah, they’re like that sometimes.

But not at Texas State. Looking around the lecture hall, I saw undergrads eager to participate in research, and I saw professors who were happy to facilitate that research. But most importantly, I saw a program, funded and sanctioned and promoted by the university, that gave the green light to professors to participate. It told the professors, “The university wants you to be mentors—and we’ll provide the support to help you do it well.”

Programs like this, offering various types of mentorship training, exist at other institutions, too—but still, they’re hardly the norm. Why don’t more schools and programs provide training for faculty to be better mentors? Why don’t they prioritize carving out time for this sort of activity? Why do they just kind of throw everyone to the wolves and see what happens?

The previous Experimental Error

Experimental Error is a column about the quirky, comical, and sometimes bizarre world of scientific training and careers, written by scientist and comedian Adam Ruben.

You’d think graduate programs would be trying to outdo one another with the quality of the mentorship they offer. But then you’d be forgetting that the lifeblood of a science program isn’t happy trainees—it’s grants. Professors can even be told that their job is less secure because they’ve invested too much time and energy working with students, and it’s detracting from their primary role as grant-getters. After all, grant money is a tangible and necessary fuel for university science departments, while mentorship can neither be quantified nor spent on a shiny new endowed provost.

“Professor Diligent, don’t get us wrong,” an administrator will say. “We appreciate that you’ve worked hard to ensure your students have a productive and enjoyable experience training in your lab. But unless one of those students wants to give you $3 million, you should really refocus your efforts. Does … one of those students want to give you $3 million?”

Not only are the incentives for good mentoring misaligned, but some professors are actively disinterested in mentoring students, focusing more on research and relegating the day-to-day hand-holding to whichever postdoc draws the short straw. Others would love to be good mentors but don’t exactly know how—and don’t have easy access to training opportunities that would help.

The whole situation might not be so embarrassing if universities didn’t tout the opportunities for students to work with top-notch researchers so strongly: “Train with our world-class professors! Rub elbows with greatness! Latch onto a future Nobel laureate, open wide, and catch the crumbs!” Then you join a lab, and the trainer to whom you’re apprenticed for the next five to *cough cough* years has neither the desire nor the ability to support trainees. Oops!

This status quo has been accepted for far too long. For the sake of the next generation of students (and, to the extent that well-mentored researchers produce better research, for the sake of the advisers, too) it’s time for a change. It’s time we made science mentorship training more commonplace, or even—dare I say it—mandatory.

Before you professors get your mortarboards in a twist, I hear you. I know you don’t have time for yet another university-mandated obligation. More importantly, I understand that a lot of these training sessions, especially the university-mandated ones, are vague clouds of word fluff. Believe me, I’ve been trapped in plenty of uninformative PowerPoint-based discourses about “engagement” or “implementing deliverables” or “why it was wrong to say that about the dean when you thought you were on mute.”

But that’s not a reason to jettison the whole idea. Not all university-mandated training is bad; only bad university-mandated training is bad. With a little time and effort, surely administrators can figure out how to offer trainings that will benefit everyone. (Well, almost everyone—training probably won’t reform those legitimately horrible advisers that make their trainees’ lives nightmares, but let’s at least start somewhere.)

Simply put, any PI who holds students’ fates in their hands should receive training in mentorship. It may take a village to raise a child (and after 5 months quarantined at home with my kids, I’d be happy to send them to wherever that village is). But it takes a scientist to train a scientist. And it takes a university to officially, without the wink-wink-but-seriously-go-get-grant-money, encourage and train professors to do so. Even if it isn’t the most important aspect of their job to them, for the students working under them, it’s everything.

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Cleveland Indians trade ace Mike Clevinger to San Diego Padres - ESPN

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11:24 AM ET

• ESPN News Services

The San Diego Padres acquired pitcher Mike Clevinger in a blockbuster deal with the Cleveland Indians, the Padres announced Monday.

Cleveland receives right-hander Cal Quantrill, outfielder Josh Naylor and catcher Austin Hedges, along with three minor league prospects -- shortstop Gabriel Arias, left-hander Joey Cantillo and shortstop Owen Miller.

Starter	ERA
Justin Verlander	2.82
Mike Clevinger	2.90
Chris Sale	3.08
Blake Snell	3.17
-- ESPN Stats & Information

The Padres also will receive outfielder Greg Allen and a player to be named later.

Hard-throwing Clevinger represents the front-line starting pitcher long coveted by the Padres, who have won seven of their past 10 games and are five games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West.

"I'm super excited," Clevinger said Monday of playing for the Padres. "It's the most exciting team in baseball by far right now. It's kind of the place to be right now."

The deal marks the fifth trade since Saturday for the Padres, who have also acquired first baseman Mitch Moreland from Boston, catcher Austin Nola from Seattle, catcher Jason Castro from the Angels and closer Trevor Rosenthal from Kansas City.

Clevinger, 29, is 42-22 with a 3.20 ERA and 584 strikeouts in just 523⅓ career innings over four-plus seasons with Cleveland. He was demoted to the minors earlier this season after he and teammate Zach Plesac broke coronavirus-related rules.

2 Related

A few days after Clevinger and Plesac broke the team's code of conduct, they drew the wrath of teammates, who expressed their unhappiness during a team meeting. Clevinger said Monday that he doesn't want this one mistake to define who he is as a player and teammate.

"I wasn't gonna let that moment define me as a person going forward," he said. "I know the changes that had to be put in place and maybe some self-reflecting that needed to be done was done, and I never wanna put any organization let alone the Indians in a predicament like that again. I never was a distraction before and I don't plan on ever being a distraction from anybody."

Led by Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego is going for its first playoff appearance since 2006. Clevinger now figures to head a talented Padres rotation that also includes right-handers Chris Paddack and Dinelson Lamet.

Clevinger is the third front-line starter traded away by Cleveland in the past year. Trevor Bauer was shipped off to Cincinnati at the 2019 deadline, and two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber was dealt to Texas in December.

Even without Clevinger, the Indians, who are in the mix for the AL Central title, have plenty of young pitching with ace Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, Plesac and rookie Triston McKenzie, who has looked like a seasoned veteran in his two starts.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Appeals Court Rejects Justice Department Effort To Shut Down Michael Flynn Case - NPR

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Michael Flynn, here at Trump Tower in December 2016, spent less than a month in the role of President Trump's national security adviser. John Angelillo/Pool/Bloomberg via Getty Images

John Angelillo/Pool/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A federal appeals court has declined to order a criminal case against Michael Flynn dismissed. Instead, it ruled Monday that a judge can hear arguments about the Justice Department's motivations for dropping the case against President Trump's former national security adviser.

The 8-2 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, keeps alive a Department of Justice case that Attorney General William Barr had ordered dropped in May. The court also refused to remove U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has been overseeing the case.

In response to Barr's move this spring, Sullivan had appointed a retired federal judge to look into whether political motives had any bearing on the Justice Department's decision and to argue those findings in court.

In June, a three-judge appellate panel sided with the Justice Department in a 2-1 ruling. But Sullivan asked for a rehearing by the full bench, resulting in Monday's decision, which effectively voids the earlier ruling.

The dissenters in Monday's ruling are the same two Republican appointees — Karen Henderson, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and Trump appointee Neomi Rao — who sided with the Justice Department in June.

Flynn admitted he lied to the FBI in 2016 about contacts with Russia's then-U.S. ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. However, after twice pleading guilty, Flynn suddenly withdrew his plea just weeks before his scheduled sentencing. He is the only former Trump administration official to face criminal charges in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election meddling.

Flynn, who was forced to resign in February 2017, spent less than a month in the role of national security adviser. At the time, White House advisers said he had lied to Vice President Pence and others about his contacts with Kislyak during the transition.

Among other things, transcripts show, Flynn and Kislyak discussed Russia's reaction to sanctions imposed in the waning days of the Obama administration in retaliation for election meddling.

According to the charging document, Flynn asked Kislyak to "refrain from escalating the situation in response" to U.S. sanctions and that Kislyak acknowledged that the Kremlin "had chosen to moderate its response ... as a result of [Flynn's] request."

NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson contributed to this report.

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U.S. Open 2020: Day 1 Schedule and What to Watch for - The New York Times

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Naomi Osaka starts her U.S. Open with a matchup against Misaki Doi on Monday night.Credit...Jason Szenes/EPA, via Shutterstock

How to watch: From noon to 6 p.m., Eastern time, on ESPN, and from 6 to 11 p.m. on ESPN2; streaming on ESPN+ and ESPN3.

The United States Open singles competitions start Monday with neither the women’s nor the men’s reigning singles champion participating. Still, there are plenty of incredible competitors starting their quests for a Grand Slam title, including Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic.

Here’s what you need to know:

• A positive coronavirus test prompts greater restrictions for some players.
• Here are some matches to keep an eye on.
• Here’s this fan’s game plan for juggling the matches.

A positive coronavirus test prompts greater restrictions for some players.

After French player Benoit Paire tested positive for the coronavirus and was withdrawn from the United States Open, several other players in the field, including French doubles specialist Edouard Roger-Vasselin, have been found by tournament organizers to have had close contact with Paire.

But instead of being forced to withdraw, those players have been required to sign a revised agreement in order to remain in the U.S. Open. The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, requires players to submit to daily coronavirus testing. It also strictly limits their movements and behavior inside the controlled environment that has been established at the tournament site and player hotel — with even greater restrictions than those already imposed on all players.

Players who sign the new document are required to stay in their rooms at the hotel unless traveling to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and no longer have access to common areas. No visitors are permitted in their rooms. On site at the tennis center, access to locker rooms and dining areas is now prohibited and the group of players who sign the agreement now will be required to use separate fitness, training and warm-up areas and only by appointment.

They will still have access to their designated practice court or match court.

“To sum up, we are in the bubble within the bubble,” Roger-Vasselin said in an interview with L’Equipe, the French newspaper, that was published on Monday.

Though the names of the players in close contact with Paire in recent days have not been released publicly, the majority are French, according to a tennis official familiar with the list, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released.

The players who sign the revised protocol are also required to “strictly adhere” to the requirement to wear masks at all times “both indoors and outdoors, which also includes isolation areas.”

The decision to offer players the option to sign the revised agreement raises the question of why Guido Pella and Hugo Dellien were not offered the same option when their fitness trainer, Juan Manuel Galvan, tested positive for the coronavirus and was isolated prior to the start of the Western & Southern Open, a tournament that preceded the U.S. Open at the National Tennis Center.

Pella, an Argentine, was withdrawn from the main draw; Dellien, a Bolivian, from the qualifying tournament. Both were required to quarantine for 14 days at the player hotel. Neither tested positive for the virus before or during that period. They were gradually allowed more freedom of movement, including the ability to practice on court. Both are expected to play in the U.S. Open with Pella, the 29th seed, to face American J.J. Wolf in the first round, and Dellien to face Marton Fucsovics of Hungary. Both of those matches are scheduled for Tuesday.

Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director, confirmed on Monday in an interview with Tennis Channel that a group of players in contact with Paire would be allowed to continue in the tournament.

“Contact tracing has been executed, decisions have been made and we’re continuing on to have those individuals in the competition based on the medical science and all of those facts,” Allaster said. “They will be in the competition starting this morning.”

Here are some matches to keep an eye on.

Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best a guess and certain to fluctuate based on the completion time of earlier play. All times are Eastern.

Arthur Ashe Stadium | 1 p.m. At Earliest

Kevin Anderson vs. Alexander Zverev

Kevin Anderson, a finalist at the U.S. Open in 2017, missed last year’s competition as part of a lengthy struggle with injuries. Anderson was ranked fifth in the world at the peak of his career in 2018, but is now ranked outside the top 100. Last week, at the Western & Southern Open, Anderson beat Kyle Edmund, the world No. 44, in a tight three-set match before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Even though Anderson has slipped from his peak, his powerful serves and groundstrokes can still be used as a bludgeon to allow him to press toward the net and control points.

Alexander Zverev, the fifth seed, has beaten Anderson all five times they have played, including three times on hardcourts in the United States in the summer. The one major differentiator coming into this match could be serve consistency, which Zverev has struggled with over the last year. Zverev lost to Andy Murray last week, and double-faulted three times while serving for the match in the third set.

Court 17 | 4:30 p.m.

Anett Kontaveit vs. Danielle Collins

Danielle Collins, unseeded at this year’s U.S. Open, started 2019 with a breakout. She reached the semifinals at the Australian Open, but had a hard time following that success, reaching only the second round at the 2019 U.S. Open. At the beginning of 2020, she rebounded, beating Elina Svitolina, Sofia Kenin and Belinda Bencic during the Australian swing of the WTA season. Collins’s aggressive style is suited to the faster hardcourts, and her powerful baseline game transitions well to the net.

Her opponent, Anett Kontaveit, is built in a similar vein. Kontaveit became the first Estonian, male or female, to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal at this year’s Australian Open. Kontaveit, seeded No. 14, will be looking to replicate that success on a similar hardcourt surface in Flushing Meadows. Kontaveit’s main weapon, an incredibly varied serve, is particularly effective in forcing weak returns, which could make it difficult for Collins to establish her groundstrokes when returning.

Louis Armstrong Stadium | 1 p.m.

Denis Shapovalov vs. Sebastian Korda

In his short career, Shapovalov, the No. 12 seed, has not been knocked out of the U.S. Open before the third round. Shapovalov, 21, possesses one of the best one-handed backhands in the game, with incredible shotmaking ability and power.

Korda, who received a wild card into the U.S. Open, is a promising young American player. He is the son of the Czech players Petr Korda, who won the Australian Open in 1998, and Regina Rajchrtova, who competed in the 1988 Olympics. In 2018, Sebastian Korda won the junior singles title at the Australian Open, but this U.S. Open will be his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam event. The tall, thin player is deceptively quick, and will need to be on the top of his game if he is to challenge his opponent.

Louis Armstrong Stadium | 3 p.m.

Coco Gauff vs. Anastasija Sevastova

Gauff, just 16, is remarkably mature both on and off the court. After a breakout year in 2019, she has shown no signs of slowing her seemingly inevitable ascent into the top echelons of the tennis world. At the Australian Open, she defeated the defending champion, Naomi Osaka, in the third round before losing to the eventual champion, Sofia Kenin, in the fourth. In this draw, she faces yet another seeded player in the first round.

Sevastova, seeded No. 31, reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open in 2018. Her game is comparable to Gauff’s. Sevastova does not have one shot with which to overpower her opponents; she seeks weaknesses in them and craftily constructs points to exploit those weaknesses.

Their match should be a master class in tactical thinking, angled shots and stalwart footwork — unless one player decides her way to win is to lean away from her own strengths to disrupt her opponent. Either player is capable of making that decision and grinding away, if need be.

Here’s this fan’s game plan for juggling the matches.

Starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN+, I will split-screen Angelique Kerber’s match at Louis Armstrong Stadium with Diego Schwartzman’s on Court 5. While both are heavy favorites, they are pleasant to watch, and should provide an easy start to the day.

Next, viewers on ESPN will probably be directed to the Anderson-Zverev match, but I will watch Shapovalov face Korda instead. Anderson and Zverev tend to play long matches, so I’ll go back to it between checking other courts.

At 3 p.m., I will, like most American viewers, be clamoring to watch Gauff. Two years ago, late in the second week at the U.S. Open, I asked a colleague what to do while waiting for the evening session to start. She directed me to a field court on which some young Americans were playing junior doubles. Gauff’s game stood out, and I haven’t missed an opportunity to watch her play since.

Hopefully, by the end of Gauff’s match, Kontaveit and Collins will just be starting, although I will attempt to give some of my attention to Dayana Yastremska on Court 8. A 20-year-old Ukrainian, she had a breakthrough year in 2019. Now that she is working with the renowned coach Sascha Bajin, it is possible that her offense-focused style will start coalescing and become consistent enough to gain all the benefits without creating quite so many unforced errors.

At the end of the night, as ESPN gives way to ESPN2, both 2018 champions, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka, will return to Arthur Ashe Stadium. While watching them, I’ll try to keep an eye on the last match on Court 17, between Reilly Opelka and David Goffin. The two players have extremely different styles. Opelka is the quintessential big man, with a powerful serve designed to be unbreakable. Goffin is much more intricate in his play, with point construction his major strength. It promises to be more interesting than the lopsided routs we’ve come to expect from first-round matches featuring players at the top of the draw.

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