Sec. 2. Immediate Action Regarding Federal Employees, Contractors, Buildings, and Lands. (a) The heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall immediately take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to require compliance with CDC guidelines with respect to wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, and other public health measures by: on-duty or on-site Federal employees; on-site Federal contractors; and all persons in Federal buildings or on Federal lands.

Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing

... Minimum Wage for Contractors (the Executive Order or the Order), beginning January 1, 2021. Beginning on that date, the Executive Order minimum wage rate that generally must be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $10.95 per hour, while the required minimum cash wage that generally must be paid to tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $7.65 per hour

Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors, Notice of Rate Change in Effect as of January 1, 2021

Coyotes are on the prowl in East Tennessee. It's mating season and homeowners are already catching them on doorbell cameras.

How to stay safe as coyotes are out and about in East Tennessee

The Tennessee River, a 652-mile tributary of the Ohio River, is notoriously polluted. In 2019, researchers said the river was more like a river of plastic, according to CNN affiliate WVLT, possibly with more broken down bits of plastic than any other river in the world.

Volunteers remove more than 9,000 lbs of trash from Tennessee River

Experts call Tennessee River "River of Plastic"

‘Vaccine tourism’ stirs anger as coronavirus cases surge

Florida downplays reports of medical tourism for vaccines

Thinking About Traveling Just to Get Vaccinated? You Need to Read This First

The Secret Service who’ve pledged to give their lives to protect Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have for years been instructed not to use any of the seven bathrooms in the Trump/Kushner home.

Instead, the Secret Service has spent $100,000 in taxpayer money to rent a $3,000-per-month basement studio apartment nearby with a bathroom so that agents can use the toilet.

Jared and Ivanka Aren’t Sharing Toilets With People Who’ve Agreed to Die for Them

Reads like a third world country...

Manning was taken to a hospital 5 hours after the beating...

The lawsuit claims that the county has adopted a policy of releasing prisoners who are injured and taken to the hospital because by releasing them the county is not responsible for their medical bills.

Cocke Co. sheriff and jailers face class-action lawsuit, accused of failing to protect "hundreds" of assaulted inmates

Congress And COVID-19: Members' Cases And Quarantines

The new regulation would restrict regulators’ consideration of findings from public health studies unless the underlying data from them are made public. The rule deals with so-called dose response findings, which look at harm suffered at varying exposures to a pollutant or other toxic agent.

The change could limit not only future public health protections, but “force the agency to revoke decades of clean air protections,” Chris Zarba, former head of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, said in a statement.

A final EPA rollback under Trump curbs use of health studies

Despite warnings to avoid large gatherings over the holidays, Knox County bar Cotton Eyed Joe went on business as usual with their annual New Year’s Eve party, then they followed it up with a concert with 1,200 attendees the next day.

Ward says masks and hand sanitizer were handed out at the door, but for people coming to his bar it’s their choice.

They aren't even trying.

Open earlier and close at 10 pm, require all customers to wear a mask, and come up with a distancing setup.

We all have to share the same air. You cannot do anything about that. So make employees and customers wear a mask.

They walk around people at home and work, and grocery stores, etc. Breathing around people that did not choose to go to a bar. Passing on the virus. They have effectively taken everyone they breathe around to the bar.

‘We’re trying to survive’: Owner of Cotton Eyed Joe speaks out after large events over the weekend violate county regulations

The situation in Los Angeles County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to cut back on their use of oxygen and to not bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival. Officials say they need to focus on patients with a greater chance of surviving.

Ambulance crews told not to transport patients who have little chance of survival

The segment is part of a bigger project to link Knox County with Blount County greenways that will lead to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

New half-mile section of greenway ready for use in South Knoxville

President Donald Trump badgered and pleaded with Georgia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Trump the victory.

Trump, on tape, presses Ga. official to ‘find’ Trump votes

In recorded call, Trump pressures Georgia election official to change results - Washington Post

According to the CDC, flu numbers are down 98%. Possible explanations include fewer people traveling, adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing, and more Americans getting the flu shot.

U.S. flu numbers drop dramatically

Sad to hear of acoustic guitarist Tony Rice passing away. Saw him a few times in Knoxville and am a big fan. Probably the best acoustic guitarist I have ever heard. 69 is too young

Why Tony Rice Was Bluegrass Music’s Great Experimentalist

Tony Rice, A Giant Of The Acoustic Guitar, Dead At 69

Tony Rice, guitarist who brought a touch of jazz to bluegrass, dies at 69

For some, being able to take credit for something is more important than solving the problem

Pandemic Playbook

Evidence Shows Obama Team Left A Pandemic ‘Game Plan’ For Trump Administration

Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm

On Sunday, the General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Base, a Chilean research base located on Antarctica's northernmost Trinity Peninsula, confirmed that 26 army personnel and 10 civilians working as contractors on the base tested positive with Covid-19.

The outbreak comes after at least three people tested positive for Covid-19 on a military vessel that had been supplying logistical support to the O'Higgins base between November 27 and December 10.

Covid-19 is now on every continent as Antarctica records its first outbreak

Who voted for/against?

The ordinance would remove the board's ability to create policies and make it an advisory board.

Knox Co. Commission votes to limit Board of Health's power

After 277 consecutive days at work, Dr. Joseph Varon received a very special gift Monday: one of the first public doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.

"This is like having gold," Varon said, holding a box of doses shortly before he was vaccinated. "I don't cry, but I came very close ... You know how many lives you can save with this?"

The first people to get the vaccines are health care workers and employees and residents of long-term care facilities. Most Americans will have to wait months before getting their inoculations.

The Moderna vaccine is now in some Americans' arms as scientists investigate a new coronavirus variant

Lee seems to be the type to sit back and let things take their own course. Similar to approach he took when running for Governor. I don't get his views not requiring masks..

Grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the nation, Gov. Bill Lee will mandate social gathering restrictions but refuses to require mask-wearing in Tennessee as the deadly illness rampages the state, stretching hospitals to their limits and claiming more than 6,000 lives.

Gov. Bill Lee enacts gathering restrictions, refuses mask mandate as Tennessee COVID-19 outbreak surges