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THOMAS SLATER CENTER STARTS DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING FUND DRIVE
WESTCHESTER SPREADING CORONAVIRUS POSITIVE PERSONS AT RATE OF 768 NEW CASES A DAY OVER LAST 7 DAYS.
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WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. January 3, 2020:
Sunday’s New York State Covid Tracker reports Westchester County testest 8,333 persons Saturday, the 2nd, and 591 persons were found to test positive, maintaining infection rate of positives at 7.1% compared to the Friday 7.9%.
In seven days since December 27 , 5,381 Westchesterites have tested positive, a rate of 768 New cases a day.
The Republican 11: What Effects Will the Refusal to Approve Electoral Results Have on Certification of the Electoral Vote? None.
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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2020. News and Comment By Stephen Rolandi January 4, 2021:
Editor’s Note: This weekend 11 Republican Senators announced they would not vote to certify the results of the Electoral College count unless certain state electoral results were recounted. WPCNR asked Stephen Rolandi to comment on what effects this action will have on as the U.S. Senate meets in Washington. Mr. Rolandi’s analysis follows:
Congress passed in 1887 The Electoral Count Act (see US Code Title 3, Chapter 1) which establishes procedures for the counting of the Electoral College votes by Congress following a Presidential election.
This is the last step in the process before a new President/V.P. takes office on January 20th.
The current Vice President (Mike Pence) along with Speaker Pelosi preside over the January 6th joint meeting of House and Senate.
VP Pence has little discretion in this meeting, and a Federal judge threw out a lawsuit brought by Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas to give Pence authority to unilaterally overturn the election results.
In the joint meeting, members of the House may “object’ to a state’s electoral votes. If one Senator agrees with the objection, the both houses adjourn to separately debate and vote on the objection.
Previous objections were raised in 2001 and 2017, but no Senators joined in the objection.
Hypothetically, if enough House and Senate members voted to sustain an objection, a given state’s electoral votes could be disqualified; if enough states were disqualified, then no candidate would have an electoral majority, thus forcing a contingent election by Congress. The last time this occurred for a Presidential election was in 1825.
It looks as if about 120 House members and 12 Senators will object to one or more state’s electoral votes, but that will not be enough (majority required) to disqualify any states.
The meeting on January 6th will be lively, no doubt. Biden and Harris will be certified as the winners by Congress.
In my view, this is nothing more than a ploy to keep the Trump base happy and is the opening salvo in the race for the 2024 GOP Presidential nomination.
Stephen Rolandi analyzed the Presidential Election for WPCNR predicting a Joseph Biden victory. Mr. Rolandi’s views of the Georgia Primary runoff Monday published earlier today are solely his own opinions and do not reflect the views of his employers, Pace University and City University of New York.
WESTCHESTER NEW COVID CASES HIT 1,000 POSITIVES A DAY PACE OF FIRST WAVE. INFECTION RATE: 7.9%–1,013 COUNTY PERSONS TEST POSITIVE ON JAN 1. Highest Total since April 9, 2020
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WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. January 2, 2020 UPDATED JANUARY 3, 12 NOON EST:
Westchester County daily new positive infections numbered 1,013 on New Year’s Day.
This figure approaches the 1,100 positive cases of April 9 within 200 cases of the highest level of infections reached March 25, 2020 of the horrifying sweep of the first surge of the disease.
The hightest number of positive covid cases in Westchester County all of 2020 was 1,300 on March 25 2020 just after New York State shut down.
With the positives going up inexorably the month of December, and the evidence of higher infections within the possible infection period, with the New Years week of gatherings across the county still not over, the infections may continue at this higher rate for another two weeks.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, speaking on Meet the Press said today January 3: “Rather than sit back and throw up our hands and say, ‘oh my goodness, it’s getting worse,’ we need to double down on some of the fundamental things that we talk about all the time — the uniform wearing of masks, the physical distancing and the avoiding of congregate settings and crowds, particularly indoors”
The total number of active cases in Westchester County as of Friday is 9,208, with 870 of those new cases new according to the Westchester County Dashboard today. It should be noted that those cases are not necessarily those that were discovered to be infected yesterday.
FOLLOW-UP TO THE GEORGIA JANUARY 5 RUNOFF: HOW PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN CAN GET BILLS PASSED EVEN IF REPUBLICANS RETAIN 51-49 MAJORITY.
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WPCNR GEORGIA RUNOFF REPORTER. By Stephen Rolandi January 2, 2020:
(Editor’s Note: Following Mr. Rolandi’s analysis of the Georgia runoff primary, this morning I asked him how President Biden can possibly work with a 51-49 Republican majority in the next congress. Mr. Rolandi replies:)
“While it would be a lot easier for President-elect Biden to have an outright majority in the Senate to get nominations, bills, etc. approved, he will still be able to get parts of his agenda passed.
I say this as he has a long standing personal relationship with Senator Leader Mitch McConnell – Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972, McConnell in 1984.
Also, there is now a working group of moderate Senators from both parties — Romney (R-Utah); Collins (R-Maine); Murkowski (R-Alaska); Manchin (D-West Va.); Mark Kelly (D-AZ); and others (about 12 in all) who will be able to get bills passed.
It will be harder for Biden, but not impossible.”
Stephen Rolandi analyzed the Presidential Election for WPCNR predicting a Joseph Biden victory. Mr. Rolandi’s views of the Georgia Primary runoff Monday published earlier today are solely his own opinions and do not reflect the views of his employers, Pace University and City University of New York.
Retired Doctors Could Help in Covid Vaccinations: Feiner
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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. By Paul Feiner Greenburgh Town Supervsor. January 2, 2021:
SUGGESTION–NYS SHOULD OFFER RETIRED MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS WHO ASSIST IN ADMINISTERING COVID VACCINES THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET EARLIER VACCINATIONS FOR THEM AND THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMILIES would help NYS vaccinate more people quickly
New York Should Vaccinate Retired Medical Professionals Who Volunteer to Assist in Administering Covid Vaccines
News reports that New York State has administered less than one-third of the Covid vaccines provided to the State by the Federal government.
The program for the procurement, distribution, prioritization, and delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine, including the logistics of how the doses will be stored and administered, is complex. This is run by each State.
To help alleviate the roadblock in New York, I suggest vaccinating recently retired doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and their immediate families who volunteer to assist in the State-run vaccine program. They would be able to then vaccinate other New Yorkers under the State’s program, and perhaps also free up doctors, nurses and EMTs from those duties. Britain has instituted enlisting the assistance of recently retired medical professionals, and I think the Governor should consider implementing that in New York. I will reach out to state officials with this suggestion.
Paul Feiner
Town Supervisor
Town of Greenburgh
Local Analyst Who Predicted Biden Win and the Chances of Republicans Overturning the Results, Analyzes the Georgia Senate Seat Runoff
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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2021 By Stephen Rolandi January 2, 2020:
Stephen Rolandi analyzed the Presidential Election for WPCNR predicting a Joseph Biden victory. Mr. Rolandi’s views of the Georgia Primary runoff Monday are solely his own opinions and do not reflect the views of his employers, Pace University and City University of New York.
Georgia will hold run-off elections on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 to determine not only who will represent Georgia in the next session of the United States Senate – but also which party will control the Senate. The run-off elections are required as no candidate secured the required 50% majority in November. The candidates are:
- REGULAR 6 YEAR TERM:
David Perdue* (R) Jon Ossoff (D)
- SPECIAL 2 YEAR TERM:
Kelly Loeffler** (R) Raphael Warnock (D)
Here’s how I see these races:
- For many years, Georgia was a very reliable “red” state. Since 2012, the Republican party’s statewide margins have been declining – Mitt Romney received 53% of Georgia’s vote in 2012; Donald Trump 51% in 2016; and Joe Biden (D) narrowly defeated Trump by 12,000 votes (49.5% to 49.2%);
- Similarly, in the Governor’s races, the GOP margins have been declining – the GOP won nearly 53% in 2014; Brian Kemp defeated Stacey Abrams by 55,000 votes in 2018 (50.2% to 48.8%);
- Turnout has been steadily rising statewide – 2.6 million in the 2014 Governor’s race; 4.1 million in the 2016 Presidential race; about the same in 2018; and 5 million in 2020 (Presidential);
- I expect turnout to exceed the 5 million; indeed, as of December 31st, over 3 million early votes have already been cast; approximately 79,000 new voters – mostly African- American – registered to vote since November 3rd.
- President Trump’s largely baseless claims about a fraudulent election in Georgia have undermined GOP efforts there.
- If a “stand alone” stimulus bill is not passed by Congress, this is likely to hurt the GOP, although Perdue and Loeffler have come out for the bill.
– 2-
So, here’s my call:
– WARNOCK (D) wins 51.5%; Loeffler 48.5%
– PERDUE (R) wins 50.3% to Ossoff’s 49.7%
Perdue will run well in Northern Georgia to offset Ossoff’s strength in the metro Atlanta area. Some see Sen. Perdue as more moderate than Trump. Warnick should benefit from a heavy African-American vote. I expect a re-count, particularly in the Perdue-Ossoff race.
GOP will retain its majority in the Senate (51-49). Mitch McConnell remains as Majority Leader. Charles Schumer remains as Minority Leader , both for 2021-23.
Stephen R. Rolandi, MPA
FIRST DAWN OF A NEW YEAR
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! A WPTV “PEOPLE TO BE HEARD”/”WHITE PLAINS WEEK” SPECIAL: “TOP STORIES OF 2020 IN WHITE PLAINS NY USA” ON YOUTUBE NOW
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GEORGE LATIMER END OF YEAR CORONA VIRUS REPORT: SPIKES IN INFECTIONS EXPECTED IN JANUARY. WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER TO COORDINATE ELDERLY VACCINATIONS–PLANS HAVE TO BE MADE
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