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Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges Firing of 66 Unvaccinated Workers at Akron Children’s
Akron Beacon Journal reported:
Akron Children’s Hospital is “confident” that its firing of dozens of unvaccinated employees will withstand a federal class-action lawsuit. And the attorney making a First Amendment issue of the matter is already preparing for an appeal.
The lawsuit names two lead plaintiffs: certified surgical technologist Brian Tessane and help desk worker Richard Brimer. Tessane worked five years at Akron Children’s Hospital and Tessane for two years before each was let go in late January, about two weeks after missing the hospital’s deadline for all staff members to get their initial COVID-19 vaccine shot.
The plaintiffs, according to the lawsuit, were denied “reasonable accommodations” due to their Christian faith. Mendenhall said his clients were ultimately forced “to choose between violating their sincerely held religious beliefs or losing their jobs.”
Lift Municipal Vax Mandate and Reinstate Workers, Bayside Police Demands
New Yorkers livid over Mayor Eric Adams’ executive order lifting the vaccine mandate for professional city athletes and performers but not municipal workers, gathered in Queens this week at a news conference organized by Bayside’s City Council Member.
“You guys showed up each and every day for work when it was at its worst and how were you rewarded? You were rewarded with a pink slip,” said Council Member Vickie Paladino Tuesday, speaking to an audience of mostly frontline workers, many of whom are among the 1,430 people who lost their jobs after choosing to not get vaccinated.
At the news conference, Paladino, who herself was granted a vaccine exemption by the city, called on the mayor to reinstate unvaccinated city workers and compensate them for missed wages.
“It’s not science to peel off the mandate from an athlete but not from a teacher,” said Brooklyn City Council Member Inna Vernikov.
COVID Vaccine: Court Injunction Stops Air Force Action Against Wright-Patterson Personnel
Springfield News-Sun reported:
A new federal court preliminary injunction stays any separation or disciplinary action against 18 Air Force plaintiffs who have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, as mandated by the Air Force.
Eleven of the 18 — 10 officers and one enlisted Airman — are serving at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base or served there recently.
“No disciplinary or separation measures can be taken against these folks” as their lawsuit proceeds, attorney Christopher Wiest, who represents the plaintiffs in the case, told the Dayton Daily News Friday. “A class-action motion is pending to extend it to all of the Air Force.”
Judge Matthew McFarland, in Cincinnati’s U.S. District Court, issued the ruling Thursday, enjoining the Air Force from taking action against the plaintiffs, who contend that the military branch has perfunctorily dismissed requests for exemptions for religious reasons from the service’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
In Finland, a Win for Free Speech Everywhere
A Finnish member of parliament has won on all charges in a groundbreaking free speech trial involving a Bible tweet. While far away in Finland for now, the magnitude of this victory promises to have a ripple effect across the world.
In a unanimous ruling, announced on March 30, 2022, the Helsinki District Court held that “it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts.” Free speech is a fundamental human right that no government can take away. The ruling represents a resounding rejection not only of censorious cancel culture, but also of the growing trend of criminalizing speech.
Long-time civil servant and former minister of the interior, Dr. Päivi Räsänen, was brought to trial on three criminal charges for sharing her faith-based beliefs, including on Twitter. Finland goes so far as to criminalize any “expression of opinion or another message” deemed to be “threaten[ing], defam[ing]” or even just “insult[ing]” with the penalty of up to two years jail time.
Germany Heads to Summer With Few COVID Rules
Starting Friday, a number of rules and restrictions went away in much of Germany. That means no more masks in most shops, and no more proof of vaccination or day-of test in restaurants. Though some public transportation systems, individual businesses and institutions will keep mask requirements in place, the move to drop the majority of mandates tracks with many of Germany’s neighbors.
Germany hasn’t undertaken certain surveillance measures, such as the comprehensive wastewater monitoring that the United Kingdom does as a sort of early-warning system.
One solution that has been discussed for months is a general vaccine mandate. However, there is little support for it. Although the three-party governing coalition put forward a bill in February, enough of their own lawmakers oppose it that getting it passed is unlikely.
Shanghai Moves to 2nd Part of Lockdown as Testing Lines Grow
About 16 million residents in Shanghai are being tested for the coronavirus during the second stage of the lockdown that shifted Friday to the western half of China’s biggest city and financial capital.
Meanwhile, residents of Shanghai’s eastern districts who were supposed to be released from four days of isolation have been told their lockdowns could be extended if COVID-19 cases are found in their residential compounds.
The lockdown in Shanghai, being done in two phases over eight days to enable testing of its entire population, has shaken global markets worried about the possible economic impact. China’s manufacturing activity fell to a five-month low in March, a monthly survey showed, as lockdowns and other restrictions forced factories to suspend production.
In China’s ‘Zero-COVID’ Lockdowns, Patients With Other Diseases Are Struggling to Survive
In a locked-down city in China’s northeastern Jilin province, Chang Liping had been struggling to get her husband, who suffers from a kidney condition, into dialysis for four days — a routine treatment that’s become a seeming impossibility after their city of Changchun was forced into a strict lockdown earlier that month, in response to an outbreak of COVID-19.
She’d taken him to the hospital designated for residents whose housing blocks — like theirs — had positive COVID-19 cases, Chang said. Even still, they were turned away. The best a community worker could do, according to Chang, was add her husband to a queue.
“But how can he wait? … He has been afraid to eat and drink for four days … for fear of poisoning his body,” Chang said. “The hospital won’t let us in, and we don’t know where to go …. now do I have to watch him die?”
Even After Singapore Lifts Restrictions, Residents Stick to Their Masks
Throughout the pandemic, Singaporean design student Andi Naszeri kept his mask practically glued to his nose. Last week, when the 22-year-old heard that the government was eliminating its outdoor mask mandate, he stepped outside barefaced and thrilled. Then he looked around.
“I felt like I was the only person not wearing one.”
For two years, Singaporeans have been forced to wear masks inside and out or face fines and jail time. But on Tuesday, after the country lifted an outdoor mask mandate that had been in place continuously since April 2020, a majority of people kept their masks firmly on.
According to the local Straits Times newspaper, a whopping 90 percent of residents seen on the streets, sidewalks and beaches of the tropical Southeast Asian country were still wearing masks.
Facebook’s Latest Faceplants
Facebook parent Meta found itself back in the spotlight this week, largely through controversies of its own making.
Meta’s stock has already struggled to rebound from the “Facebook Files” fiasco and Apple’s app changes (down 33% year-to-date), but it had begun to rally in March. Now, a series of setbacks could further hinder its comeback.
The Verge reported Thursday that, for months, misinformation has been flowing more freely into at least half of all Facebook users’ News Feeds because of a glitch in the system that is supposed to downrank potentially problematic content.
Meta’s AI Exodus: Top Talent Quits as the Lab Tries to Keep Pace With Rivals
Facebook parent Meta has lost some of its top artificial intelligence scientists this year as the company continues its pivot toward the metaverse.
At least four prominent members of Meta AI have departed in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter and LinkedIn analysis. Between them, the scientists have published dozens of academic papers in world-renowned journals and made multiple breakthroughs that Meta has used to enhance Facebook and Instagram.
Karl Hermann, an AI entrepreneur who used to work at rival lab DeepMind, told CNBC on Monday the true figure could be more like half a dozen, adding that the company’s London AI lab had seen an alarming number of exits.
Ex-Google CEO Promotes Digital West Point
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt hit Capitol Hill this week to urge lawmakers to create a digital service academy that would train Americans in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity in exchange for government service.
Schmidt told Axios in an interview that getting AI and cyber talent into the government is “crucial”: “The systems that are coming are so complicated that the government, who’s well-meaning, will not be able to manage them. You’re going to need better talent.”
The federal government faces a severe shortage of workers skilled in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, according to a Government Accountability Office report from November.
Central Bank Digital Currencies: The Next Money Milestone?
On March 8, President Biden announced a landmark executive order that, among other things, directs the Federal Reserve to study digital currencies stating “My Administration places the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.”
The proliferation of privately-issued digital currencies such as Bitcoin has played a leading role in the transformation of the global economy. Because of the difficulties of effectively regulating these new forms of currency, central banks around the world have begun issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in an attempt to keep pace with or respond to these major developments. Now, the U.S. is joining the charge.
Critics cite a lengthy list of legal issues and risks raised by CBDCs that may delay or prevent their widespread use.
Lapsus$: Two UK Teenagers Charged With Hacking for Gang
Two teenagers from the UK have been charged by police over hacking for a notorious cybercrime gang.
The boys have been charged with multiple cyber-offenses and remain in police custody. The teens were arrested as part of an international police investigation into the Lapsus$ gang, which is relatively new but much-talked-about.
The cyber-crime group successfully breached major firms like Microsoft, and then bragged about it online.
According to Det Insp Michael O’Sullivan, from the City of London Police, both teenagers have been charged with three counts of unauthorized access to a computer with intent to impair the reliability of data, one count of fraud by false representation and one count of unauthorized access to a computer with intent to hinder access to data.
