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Study connects climate hazards to 58% of infectious diseases

Climate hazards such as flooding, heat waves and drought have worsened more than half of the hundreds of known infectious diseases in people, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera and anthrax, a study says. Researchers looked through the medical literature of established cases of illnesses and found that 218 out of the known 375 human infectious diseases, or 58%, seemed to be made worse by one of 10 types of extreme weather connected to climate change, according to a study in Monday's journal Nature Climate Change. The study mapped out 1,006 pathways from the climate hazards to sick ...

After COVID delay, cosplayers resume Plunge in summer rain

NEW ULM — Downtown Minnesota Street was host to one of the warmest — but also wettest — Arctic Plunges Saturday. Since 2019, Lamplighter owner Herb Knutson has hosted an Arctic Plunge event to raise money for charitable organizations in the community. Typically the plunges are held in ...

Thousands stranded in China resort city amid COVID lockdown

BEIJING (AP) — Some 80,000 tourists are stranded in the southern Chinese beach resort of Sanya, after authorities declared it a COVID-19 hot spot and imposed a lockdown. The restrictions came into force on Saturday morning, as authorities sought to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the city on tropical Hainan Island. There were 229 confirmed cases on Friday and an additional 129 on Saturday. China's ruling Communist Party sticks steadfastly to a "zero-COVID" approach that is increasingly at odds with the rest of the world. A recent outbreak in Shanghai spread so widely that ...

West Virginia woman admits COVID-19 loan fraud scheme

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia woman has admitted accepting more than $42,000 in paycheck protection loans under a federal COVID-19 assistance program for businesses that were not engaged in substantial activity. Alexis Ransom, 24, of Logan, pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud in federal court in Charleston. Ransom obtained three loans that were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the CARES Act, which provided emergency financial assistance to Americans hit by the economic impact caused by the pandemic. The SBA would forgive the loans if the borrower ...

Munich’s Oktoberfest finally back on after pandemic pause

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's annual Oktoberfest festival is finally on again for this fall, following a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the famous Bavarian beer festival said Thursday. "The Wiesn will take place," Clemens Baumgaertner told reporters in Munich using the locals' Bavarian colloquialism for the Oktoberfest which is referring to the big lawn, or Wiese, where the boozy celebrations are taking place. He said said the popular beer festival in the Bavarian capital will be held without any pandemic restrictions from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3 — Germany's ...

Vegas-based rental firm faces probes over pandemic evictions

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas-based corporate owner of thousands of residential rental properties in several U.S. states is facing investigations about whether it improperly evicted tenants during the coronavirus pandemic, while it received millions of federal dollars aimed at keeping people in their homes. Probes of The Siegel Group announced by Nevada state Attorney General Aaron Ford's office and Clark County officials followed findings by a congressional oversight panel that company executives used "potentially unlawful" tactics last year to force tenants out. "Siegel's pandemic ...