Local and regional news

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US to Advise Health Care Workers to Reuse PPE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence says the U.S. government will issue guidance encouraging front-line health care workers to reuse personal protective equipment. Pence said at a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Wednesday that PPE supplies remain “very strong.” But he says the Trump administration will be encouraging healthcare workers “to use some of the best practices” to “preserve and reuse” face masks and other protective equipment. Pence pointed to flattening rates of positive coronavirus tests in the hard-hit states and called for Americans to “keep doing what you’re doing.” But the head of the White House task force says states that have seen a recent spike in cases need to do clamp down on gatherings.

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Protective Gear for Medical Workers Begins to Run Low Again

WASHINGTON D.C. (AP) —The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again. That’s according to doctors, nurses and some lawmakers. The new shortages come as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. Deborah Burger is president of National Nurses United. She says there are shortages of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks and N95 masks. Democratic members of Congress want the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.

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Country Rocker and Fiddler Charlie Daniels Dies at Age 83

In this Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, Charlie Daniels appears at the Charlie Daniels 80th Birthday Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tenn. Daniels who had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia” has died at age 83. A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died Monday due to a hemorrhagic stroke. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country music firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels, who had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” has died at age 83.

A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died Monday at a hospital in Hermitage, Tennessee, after doctors said he had a stroke.

He had suffered what was described as a mild stroke in January 2010 and had a heart pacemaker implanted in 2013 but continued to perform.

Daniels, a singer, guitarist and fiddler, started out as a session musician, even playing on Bob Dylan‘s “Nashville Skyline” sessions. Beginning in the early 1970s, his five-piece band toured endlessly, sometimes doing 250 shows a year.

His edgy, early music raised eyebrows in Nashville, with “Long Haired Country Boy” celebrating marijuana smoking and “Uneasy Rider” poking fun at rednecks. But he softened some verses in the 1990s and in 2008 joined the epitome of Nashville’s music establishment, the Grand Ole Opry.

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President Trump to hold Outdoor Campaign Rally in Portsmouth, N.H.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to hold an outdoor campaign rally Saturday, July 11th, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The rally at Portsmouth International Airport will come three weeks after an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That gathering was the president’s first of the COVID-19 era, and it drew a smaller-than-expected crowd amid concerns of rising infections in the region. The president was narrowly defeated in 2016 in New Hampshire by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Before the pandemic, Trump campaign officials had pointed to the state as a place where they saw a chance to expand the electoral map during the president’s reelection effort.

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NH Nursing Homes Say Feds Sent Useless Protective Equipment

Brendan Williams, president of the New Hampshire Health Care Association, wears an isolation gown with no sleeve openings for hands, which was received in a shipment from the federal government, outside Webster at Rye senior care center on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Rye, N.H.  (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

 

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A group representing New Hampshire nursing homes says shipments of personal protective equipment from the federal government were mostly garbage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced in May that it would send a 14-day supply of masks, gloves and other equipment to nearly 15,000 nursing homes across the country. But Brendan Williams of the New Hampshire Health Care Association says the shipment included isolation gowns with no arm openings, child-sized gloves, surgical masks with ear loops that break when stretched and fabric masks unsuitable for clinical settings. A FEMA spokeswoman says only 1% of facilities have raised such concerns.

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New Hampshire House Passes Tough Drinking Water Standards

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) —The New Hampshire House has passed a bill that would put into law some of toughest drinking water standards for a group of toxic chemicals and providing tens of millions of dollars to help communities in the state meet the rules. The House voted 210 to 116 to put into law the standards that were put forth last year by the state Department of Environmental Services for potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS. The standards limit one chemical to a maximum of 12 parts per trillion and another to 15 parts per trillion, far lower than the 70 parts per trillion the federal Environmental Protection Agency has advised for the chemicals.

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“Red-Flag” Gun Bill Headed to Sununu for Likely Veto

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A bill allowing guns to be taken from people who present a danger to themselves or others is on its way to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who is likely to veto it. The Democratically-controlled Senate voted 14-10 Monday for the bill, which would allow relatives or police to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms. Supporters argue the so-called “red-flag” measure is needed in a state where the suicide rate is rising faster than elsewhere and would be used only in cases of extreme risk. Opponents counter that the bill violates not only the right to own firearms, but also other constitutional guarantees.

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