I-40 span over Mississippi River shut after crack found

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (AP) — The Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee was shut down Tuesday afternoon after authorities said they found a crack in the span.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation tweeted that it found the crack during a routine inspection of the bridge over the Mississippi River into Memphis, Tennessee. The department said it was working with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to ensure the bridge is safe before reopening.

Arkansas Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Parker said the bridge would be closed at least through Tuesday night. The Tennessee Department of Transportation said the crack was found in the bottom side of the bridge truss.

Drones were being used to take a closer look at the crack, Parker said.

Traffic was backed up for miles in both directions because of the closure and was being rerouted to the 71 -year-old Memphis & Arkansas Bridge that carries Interstate 55 into Memphis, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of the I-40 span. River traffic was also shut down until further notice, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said.

In an inspection for the 2020 National Bridge Inventory report, the Federal Highway Administration said the 1.8-mile (2.9-kilometer) bridge checked out in fair condition overall, with all primary structure elements sound and only some minor cracks and chips in the overall structure. Its structural evaluation checked out “somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is.”

However, height and width clearances for oversize vehicles were “basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action,” the inspectors found. Tennessee recommended “bridge deck replacement with only incidental widening."

The bridge carried a 2020 average of 35,000 vehicles a day across the wide Mississippi, 29% of them trucks, according to the report. Its traffic volume was expected to increase to 56,000 vehicles per day by 2040.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/40-span-over-mississippi-river-214122853.html

Grimes Hospitalized for Suffering Panic Attack Days After SNL Cameo

Grimes is including her fans on her mental health journey.

On Tuesday, May 11, the 33 -year-old-singer shared to Instagram that she had ended up in the hospital on May 10 after suffering a panic attack.

Her post included a pair of photos of herself posing with Miley Cyrus while backstage at Saturday Night Live for the May 8 episode. Miley was the musical guest of the installment hosted by Grimes' longtime boyfriend, Elon Musk, and Grimes herself had a few lines during a cameo as Princess Peach in a Nintendo-themed sketch.

"Forgot to post these cuz I somehow caused myself to have a panic attack and went to the hospital yesterday which tbh was quite scary and I suppose it's a good time to start therapy [three expressionless-face emojis]," Grimes wrote. "But nonetheless - wowwwww @mileycyrus is good live and so chill!"

The performer added praise for Elon, whose choice as host was a polarizing one for fans of the long-running NBC comedy series.

"So grateful to the SNL team for being so kind and letting me sneak in as princess peach snd so proud of my beautiful E (which I know will upset the grimes fans so I apologize in advance) but he killed it," Grimes added.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/grimes-hospitalized-suffering-panic-attack-021647972.html

>>13643219

What Pence’s handling of an HIV outbreak means for his coronavirus role

When President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Vice President Mike Pence would oversee the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus, he pointed to Pence’s record as governor of Indiana.

“When Mike was governor … they established great health care,” Trump said, adding that Pence is “very expert” in that field.

But critics have raised concerns about Pence’s handling of another viral outbreak — HIV in rural Indiana — including what they see as a failure to direct enough funding to public health and for allowing his personal religious beliefs to keep him from acting quickly to implement an evidence-based needle exchange program to slow the outbreak.

In 2015, when Pence was governor, a total of 190 people were infected with HIV, most of them in a Southern Indiana town of only 4,200 people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which stepped in to help Indiana contain the spread, said the situation was “the worst documented outbreaks of HIV among IV users in the past two decades.”

Pence’s defenders say he handled the situation well, coordinating effectively with a variety of local, state and federal stakeholders.

A number of studies have documented issues with the state’s response.

A 2018 study published in the Lancet, a leading medical journal, found that if the state had intervened years earlier based on early warning signs, it could have prevented at least 127 infections.

Another study, funded by the state of Indiana and published in 2016 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found the underlying circumstances of the state’s HIV outbreak, which included widespread opioid and heroin addiction, were not unique to the rural community that was most heavily affected.

Despite the warning signs and a state budget surplus, the Pence administration did not make public health funding a priority, health advocates have said, indicating that the lack of resources to prevent and treat HIV was a major reason for the rapid spread of the disease.

“We had the lowest public health spending per capita in the U.S., and we weren’t pulling down the federal resources that we were entitled to,” said Carrie Lawrence, associate director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at Indiana University.

The lone doctor in the town where the HIV cases were identified had been warning for years that an HIV outbreak in the area was only a matter of time, but resources were not allocated until the disease started to spread quickly. Even then, Lawrence said, the urgency of the situation meant health officials from other counties were being pulled from their own jobs to help stem the spread of the virus, leaving other residents without proper care.

Five years later, Indiana’s public health funding ranks 49th out of all 50 U.S. states for public health funding per capita, according to the Trust for America’s Health.

“It’s been an uphill battle to ensure that we are really protecting the public’s health,” Lawrence said.

Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders added to the criticism Thursday when he called Trump’s response to the virus, including his selection of Pence to lead the response effort, “disgusting.”

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-pences-handling-of-an-hiv-outbreak-means-for-his-coronavirus-role

Was COVID the END Game of the "Decade of Vaccines Collaboration???

Global Health Leaders Launch Decade of Vaccines Collaboration | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The collaboration follows the January 2010 call by Bill and Melinda Gates for the next ten years to be the Decade of Vaccines.The Global Vaccine Action Plan will enable greater coordination across all stakeholder groups – national governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, the private sector and philanthropic organizations – and will identify critical policy, resource, and other gaps that must be addressed to realize the life-saving potential of vaccines.

The structure of the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration includes a Leadership Council to provide oversight for the planning effort, a Steering Committee that holds the primary responsibility for developing the action plan, an International Advisory Committee to assist the Leadership Council in evaluating the action plan, and a Secretariat for administrative support.

Prof. Pedro Alonso, Director for the Institute for Global Health of Barcelona and Dr. Christopher Elias, President and CEO of PATH, have been appointed co-chairs of the Steering Committee and the Secretariat.

“Vaccines are miracles,” said Prof. Alonso, “For just a few dollars per child, vaccines prevent disease and disability for a lifetime. We must make sure that people understand that vaccines are one of the best investments in health.”

The Leadership Council is comprised of:

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO;

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health;

Mr. Anthony Lake, Executive Director for UNICEF;

Ms. Joy Phumaphi, Chair of the International Advisory Committee and Executive Secretary, African Leaders Malaria Alliance

Dr. Tachi Yamada, President of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;

The Steering Committee includes globally recognized experts in vaccine delivery, advocacy, research and development, and access:

Dr. Nicole Bates, Senior Program Officer, Global Health Policy and Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Seth Berkley, President & CEO, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, Founding Chair, Division of Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University

Dr. Lola Dare, CEO, Center for Health Sciences Training, Research and Development International

Ms. Helen Evans, Acting CEO, GAVI Alliance

Dr. Lee Hall, Chief, Parasitology and International Programs Branch, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, NIAID

Dr. T. Jacob John, Professor and Head, Departments of Clinical Microbiology and Virology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (Retired)

Dr. Orin Levine, Executive Director, International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC)

Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, Director, WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals

Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President, Sabin Vaccine Institute

Dr. David Salisbury, Director of Immunization, UK Department of Health

Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC

Dr. Peter A. Singer, Director, McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University of Toronto

Dr. Lucky Slamet, Deputy for Therapeutic Products, Narcotic, Psychotropic and Addictive Substance Control, National Agency of Drug and Food Control, Indonesia

Dr. Gina Tambini, Area Manager, Family and Community Health, PAHO

Dr. Jos Vandelaer, Chief, Immunization, Programme Division, UNICEF

Ms. Sandy Wrobel, CEO and Managing Director, Applied Strategies

The Decade of Vaccines Collaboration expects to complete its work by mid-2012. At that time, all vaccine stakeholder groups will be responsible for implementing the action plan.

“We look forward to working with the global vaccine community to extend the benefits made possible by existing vaccines and new vaccines in development,” said Dr. Elias, “Together we can ensure that all children have a shot at a healthy life.”

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2010/12/global-health-leaders-launch-decade-of-vaccines-collaboration

>>13643426

>74

Interesting…

3 Yr delta, two days ahead.

>>13643470

KEK

Montel was the doorway to introduce the new ASSET.

>>13643506

Sounds more like she's whining that Trump's Comms are KNOWN by gasp the little people. They're having a hard time speaking their coded bullshit.

>>13643570

6 o'clock can be dangerous…

>>13643136

It was all part of the VAX plan. Not the Virus, the "fear" of the virus. 10 yr plan…

see

>>13643364