| Kamala Harris, shattering racial and gender barriers, makes history as first woman vice president Posted: 07 Nov 2020 08:40 AM PST  Sen. Kamala Harris made history three times Saturday as the first woman, first Black person and first Asian American to be elected to the vice presidency, according to the Associated Press, which called the race.
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| California students say they're 'deeply disappointed' after voters cast ballots against affirmative action Posted: 08 Nov 2020 08:16 AM PST  "It would have been a game-changer in increasing diversity and representation at UC," one student from UCLA said of the rejected Proposition 16.
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| Texas dog accidentally shoots owner after its paw got stuck in trigger of gun, tucked in the man's waistband Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:03 AM PST  Police said the dog owner had a lucky escape as the bullet passed clean his leg.
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| Rep. Jim Jordan on election 'misconduct' Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:26 AM PST  Republican Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan reacts to the latest on the election on 'Fox & Friends Weekend.'
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| Arkansas police chief resigns after appearing to call for violence over election Posted: 08 Nov 2020 04:09 PM PST  "Never let them forget they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done," one message said.
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| Thai police use water cannon to stop pro-democracy march to palace Posted: 08 Nov 2020 04:10 AM PST  Thai police on Sunday fired water cannon on pro-democracy protesters who were trying to march to the royal palace to deliver demands for reform to the unassailable monarchy.
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| French moderate imam requests extra police protection amid death threats over support for Macron Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:06 AM PST  One of France's highest profile imams has appealed to President Emmanuel Macron for increased police protection after receiving "thousands" of death threats over his condemnation of terrorist attacks. Hassen Chalghoumi, imam of the Paris suburb of Drancy and a leading Muslim moderate, said he had received a torrent of new threats since he spoke out against the beheading of a French teacher last month. Mr Chalghoumi described Samuel Paty, the teacher murdered after showing his class cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, as a "martyr for freedom of expression, and a wise man who has taught tolerance, civilisation and respect for others". As president of the Conference of Imams of France, Mr Chalghoumi has worked to improve relations between Muslims and Jews. He supports France's ban on the face veil and has called for tolerance of caricatures of the prophet. The 48-year-old Tunisian-born imam has lived under police guard since Islamic State called for his "execution" following the 2015 Paris attacks. He now believes the danger has risen sharply with the surge in threats on social media. An Arabic post on Twitter said: "We urge true Muslims of France to allow Chalghoumi to join the history teacher and also become a martyr of the nation." Another post intercepted on the Telegram messaging service described Mr Chalghoumi as "your new target" and called on followers to "execute him because he is filthier than those French infidels".
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| 'It's a slaughter,' doctors say of new coronavirus wave Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:25 AM PST  Coronavirus hospitalizations have been rapidly climbing, leading to concerns that we may once more see what we saw over the spring and early summer: crowded intensive care units, overwhelmed hospitals, deaths that could have been prevented.
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| Gottlieb says Biden to take office at likely "apex" of coronavirus surge Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:25 AM PST  Gottlieb predicted the nation will see a record number of hospitalizations this week.
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| A televangelist who referred to the coronavirus as a 'privilege' has died from it Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:42 PM PST  "This coronavirus may be a privilege, because I'll tell you right now, there is a much bigger judgment coming," televangelist Irvin Baxter once said.
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| ‘The pride of our village’: Kamala Harris' historic election as vice president celebrated in India Posted: 08 Nov 2020 10:41 AM PST  Harris' uncle, who lives in New Delhi, said he plans to travel to Washington for the vice president elect's inauguration.
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| Storm Eta hits Cuba after devastating Central America Posted: 08 Nov 2020 07:35 AM PST  The US National Hurricane Center warns of "significant, life-threatening" flooding in Cuba.
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| GOP Sen. David Perdue, Democrat Jon Ossoff headed for Georgia runoff Posted: 06 Nov 2020 06:31 PM PST  Georgia's Senate races will both remain up in the air until at least January.Both Sen. David Perdue (R) and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff have failed to get a majority of the vote in Georgia's Senate race, The New York Times and The Associated Press project. They'll advance to a runoff race in January, as will the Georgia special Senate race between Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock.With 98 percent of votes reported, Perdue secured 49.8 percent of the vote to Ossoff's 47.9 percent. With neither hitting 50 percent, Georgia election law moves the top two candidates to a runoff. In the other race, Warnock got 32.9 percent of the vote to Loeffler's 26 percent, with GOP Rep. Doug Collins getting another 20 percent. Both of these races will be vital in determining which party controls the Senate. North Carolina and Alaska's races still haven't been called, and at the moment both parties are projected to have 48 seats in the next Senate.Georgia's presidential results still haven't been called for either Democratic nominee Joe Biden or President Trump as of Friday evening. Biden has been building a lead in Georgia as more votes are counted, and a win there would put him just one Electoral College vote from victory.More stories from theweek.com Fox News brings Trump to his knees Lindsey Graham warns GOP will 'never win' a presidential race if party doesn't 'fight back' in 2020 The day the world stopped paying attention to Donald Trump
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| Lots of finger pointing as Honolulu rail runs out of money Posted: 08 Nov 2020 07:24 AM PST  Susan Galicha can see Honolulu's rail cars being tested on elevated tracks just minutes from her home. The rail line — one of the nation's most expensive per capita — may have to end a long way from both downtown and the hotel district in a nondescript light industrial area featuring a bus depot and a highway interchange. The latest cost estimate for the 20-mile (32-kilometer) rail line is $9.1 billion — nearly double the $5.5 billion budgeted at the time of the project's 2011 groundbreaking.
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| Beijing loyalists target Hong Kong judges after protester acquittals Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:04 PM PST  The acquittal of dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters -– often accompanied by withering court criticism of police –- has triggered a backlash from Beijing loyalists demanding an overhaul of a judicial system long known for its independence.
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| I saw Donald Trump’s presidency come crashing down at Four Seasons Total Landscaping Posted: 08 Nov 2020 10:54 AM PST  It ended with his personal lawyer in the parking lot of a landscaping company, struggling to be heard over a man in his underpants shouting about George Soros. The president had spent much of the intervening period making grave and entirely unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, but even so he was unusually quiet. Journalists from around the world who had gathered in Philadelphia, most of whom had spent the last four days transfixed by moving maps on CNN, were eager for stimulation, and perhaps as a side note to see evidence of massive election fraud the president and his lawyers had alleged.
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| Cedric Richmond says "defund the police" cost Democrats seats in the House Posted: 08 Nov 2020 07:45 AM PST  Democrats will maintain their majority in the House, but lost seats this election.
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| A New York couple drowned on their Turks and Caicos honeymoon four days after their wedding, report says Posted: 07 Nov 2020 05:09 PM PST  According to Newsday, 35-year-old, Mohammad Malik and 29-year-old, Dr. Noor Shah riptides caused the couple to drown during their honeymoon.
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| Deadly Tropical Storm Eta targets Florida, would be state's first landfall of historic hurricane season Posted: 08 Nov 2020 02:39 PM PST  Eta targeted Florida after storming through Central America as a Category 4 hurricane, triggering deadly mudslides that destroyed entire villages.
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| Israel’s missile defense chief on weapons collaboration with the US Posted: 08 Nov 2020 05:00 PM PST  Hypersonics, lasers and missile interceptors are among the projects that America and Israel may work on as a team.
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| Biden won the Electoral College. Now he should call for it to be abolished. Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:06 AM PST  If Joe Biden wants to combat the narrative that the Democratic Party takes the Black vote for granted, he should call for Electoral College reform.
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| Queen returns to London for private tribute to the fallen Posted: 07 Nov 2020 10:07 AM PST  It was 97 years ago that her mother, then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, laid her wedding bouquet on the grave of the Unknown Warrior. Almost a century later, this poignant gesture cannot have been far from the Queen's mind as she took part in an intensely personal and emotional service at the sacred tomb in Westminster Abbey. The monarch paid a private tribute to the fallen during a brief service held at her own request. Returning to London for the first time since March, the Queen, dressed in black and wearing a face mask for the first time, designed by Angela Kelly, was in good spirits, chatting animatedly to the Dean of the Abbey beforehand. Yet as she stood in sombre reflection at the poppy-lined grave in the centre of the cavernous Abbey, the monarch appeared lost in thought as she paid her own tribute.
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| Jacob Blake accepts plea bargain, dropping sexual assault charges Posted: 07 Nov 2020 08:55 AM PST  Jacob Blake, a Black recovering after being shot in the back by Wisconsin police officers earlier this year, had been facing charges of sexual assault prior to his shooting. Prosecutors decided to drop two of those charges on Friday in exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges. Blake, 29, back in May was accused of one count of third-degree sexual assault and one count of criminal trespass, according to New York Times.
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| Trump lost — so what happens to the GOP? Posted: 07 Nov 2020 09:42 AM PST  The question of what happens to the Republican Party after the Trump presidency is not one that will be resolved by think tanks, symposiums or tidy theories. The most devoted and intense Republican partisans who vote reliably in primary elections will be the tail that wags the dog.
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| Kamala Harris husband: Meet Douglas Emhoff, the lawyer set to become America’s first Second Gentleman Posted: 07 Nov 2020 04:52 PM PST  Vice-president elect Kamala Harris is already making history — becoming the first woman of colour to be elected to the role. Mr Emhoff heaped public praise on his wife as the Biden/Harris campaign celebrated election victory on 7 November, after an agonising days-long wait for key swing states to be declared. Mr Emhoff's path to the White House has not been as clear cut as Ms Harris.
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| Bolivians decorate skulls with sunglasses and cigarettes to honor the dead Posted: 08 Nov 2020 08:17 AM PST  Bolivians celebrated the Day of Skulls over the weekend, a colorful tradition rooted in ancient indigenous beliefs that is meant to bring good fortune and protection by honoring the dead. Known as "ñatitas," the skulls are decorated and paraded to the cemetery a week after All Saints Day. The festival this year coincides with the inauguration of Bolivia's new President Luis Arce, which caps a turbulent year for the Andean country that has been rattled over the last year by political upheaval and the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Levin blasts Pennsylvania gov as 'left-wing kook' amid election fight Posted: 06 Nov 2020 07:19 PM PST  'Life, Liberty & Levin' host demands transparency from state, Philadelphia Democrats on 'Hannity'
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| AOC said she might quit politics, as some centrist Democrats blame progressives for House losses, NYT says Posted: 07 Nov 2020 08:01 PM PST  "I don't even know if I want to be in politics," she told The New York Times. She said the Democratic party has been hostile to progressive causes.
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| Two Virginia men arrested near Philadelphia vote-counting facility did not have permits to carry weapons Posted: 07 Nov 2020 10:00 AM PST  Two men were charged after arrests Thursday near the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia's ballot-counting facility.
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| Rupert Murdoch-owned US outlets turn on Trump, urging him to act with 'grace' Posted: 06 Nov 2020 11:20 PM PST  Fox News, Wall Street Journal and New York Post all show stark change of tone as their former champion faces 'presidential endgame' * US election 2020 live: follow the latest news, results and reaction * Trump v Biden – full results as they come inMultiple Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative media outlets in the United States have shifted their messaging in a seeming effort to warn readers and viewers that Donald Trump may well have lost the presidential election.The new messaging appears to be closely coordinated, and it includes an appeal to Trump to preserve his "legacy" by showing grace in defeat. The message is being carried on Fox News and in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post – all outlets avidly consumed by Trump himself, especially Fox.One Fox News host, Laura Ingraham, an intimate of the president ever since she spoke at the 2016 Republican national convention, made an astounding statement that seemed directed at Trump personally, advising him to accept defeat "if and when that does happen" with "grace and composure" and appealing to his sense of his own legacy.Ingraham said in part: "If and when it's time to accept an unfavourable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, but if and when that does happen, president Trump needs to do it with the same grace and composure he demonstrated at that town hall with Savannah Guthrie. So many people remarked about his tone and presence. Exactly what he needs."Now losing, especially when you believe the process wasn't fair, it's a gut punch. And I'm not conceding anything tonight, by the way. But losing, if that's what happens – it's awful. But president Trump's legacy will only become more significant if he focuses on moving the country forward."> Laura Ingraham prepares her audience for the likely possibility that the President will lose the election pic.twitter.com/tG50EIHj60> > — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 7, 2020The Wall Street Journal has published an opinion piece with almost the exact same message. It is titled "The Presidential Endgame" and subtitled "Trump has the right to fight in court, but he needs evidence to prove voter fraud"."Mr Trump's legacy will be diminished greatly if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept a legitimate defeat," the piece warns.Here is how the article opened: "Perhaps it was inevitable that Donald Trump's re-election campaign would end as his presidency began: with the president claiming victory and his frenzied antagonists denouncing him as a would-be fascist. The reality is that the US can and probably will have a normal election outcome regardless of the shouting between now and then."Mr Biden is leading in enough states to win the presidency, and if those votes survive recounts and legal challenges, he will be the next president."The New York Post – which before the election was the launch vehicle for wild and desperate attacks on Joe Biden's son Hunter – has produced a front page that all but proclaims a Biden victory:> This is a significant front page - the Murdoch empire preparing for a transfer of power..... election2020 pic.twitter.com/tUJE0CdFK4> > — Nick Bryant (@NickBryantNY) November 7, 2020Top editors at the Post have "told some staff members this week to be tougher in their coverage" of Trump, the New York Times reported, citing two anonymous employees of the paper.The Times piece said: "On Thursday, in a sudden about-face, Rupert Murdoch's scrappy tabloid published two articles with a wildly different tone. One accused the president of making an 'unfounded claim that political foes were trying to steal the election'. The headline on the other described Donald Trump Jr as the 'panic-stricken' author of a 'clueless tweet'."News coverage at Fox News has similarly shown little patience with the lies about voter fraud Trump is advancing in hopes of reversing the election.Asked about the Trump campaign's assertion that Republican observers had not been allowed to observe vote-counting, the Fox correspondent states flatly: "That's not true. It's not true. It's just not true."> Holy crap Fox News is going rogue and telling the truth. > > This is amazing...pic.twitter.com/e9xDED5gbq> > — Rex Chapman���� (@RexChapman) November 7, 2020> It is *incredible* to watch Rupert Murdoch assert his power and realize the degree to which *he's* the actual power center in all of this. https://t.co/z3VBvsqVLV> > — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 7, 2020
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| AOC congratulates Biden-Harris before stoking flames of Democratic civil war Posted: 07 Nov 2020 12:27 PM PST  While the country erupted in celebration at Joe Biden's projected election win, Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez focused on the emerging fissures splitting the Democrats in a sign of the incoming president's struggles to come with the progressive wing of the party. After a short congratulations to president-elect Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris, Ms Ocasio-Cortez spent the following two hours tweeting about the Democrats' poor showing in races down the ticket. "One thing I'll say: for the last two years, I and progressive candidates have been unseating powerful Dem incumbents supported by [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]," she said in a tweet.
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| The Indian diver who has saved more than 100 lives Posted: 08 Nov 2020 04:13 PM PST  An Indian diver, who helps police retrieve bodies from lakes, has also saved 114 people from suicide.
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| Army, Marines Want New Machine Guns to Replace the M240 and 'Ma Deuce' Posted: 07 Nov 2020 11:56 PM PST |
| Biden looks to reverse ‘America First’ policy Posted: 08 Nov 2020 04:18 AM PST  National security analyst Rebecca Grant examines President-elect Joe Biden's foreign policy.
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| Young murder victim helps solve her own cold case Posted: 07 Nov 2020 08:09 PM PST  The 1979 case of a murdered 18-year-old baffled local police officers for decades, until they got a break from evidence Michelle Martinko left behind.
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| Rep. Matt Gaetz, a close Trump ally, says he's tested positive for coronavirus antibodies Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:06 AM PST  The Republican Florida lawmaker is one of Trump's staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill and is a fixture in conservative media.
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| Hundreds of African migrants reach Canary Islands Posted: 08 Nov 2020 07:09 AM PST  More than 1,600 African migrants have landed on Spain's Canary Islands over a two-day period, a rate last seen a decade ago, emergency services said. The body of one person who had died during the perilous journey was recovered by rescuers in waters near the island of El Hierro, the Canary Islands emergency services said. Another person was airlifted by helicopter to a local hospital for an unspecified health problem. More than 1,000 arrived Saturday alone on the islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and El Hierro, after setting out on around 20 barely seaworthy craft, a spokeswoman for the Canary services told AFP.
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| A 73-year-old Texas man was accused of stealing posts from 'hundreds' of political campaign signs for 3 years, police say Posted: 08 Nov 2020 12:32 PM PST  The Collin County Sheriff Office said "Republican, Democrat, and Independent have had hundreds of T-posts holding their campaign signs stolen."
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| GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw tells Marjorie Taylor Greene to 'start acting like a member of Congress' Posted: 07 Nov 2020 11:01 AM PST  Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw tells Marjorie Taylor Greene that she's "a member of Congress now" and to "start acting like one" over election remarks.
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| Three states pass amendments that 'only citizens' can vote Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:10 AM PST  Voters in Colorado, Florida and Alabama passed ballot measures Tuesday that codify what is already law: That only U.S. citizens 18 and older can vote. The amendments passed overwhelmingly in all three states, including by a nearly 8-to-1 ratio in Alabama and Florida. Before the 2020 election, North Dakota and Arizona were the only state constitutions that specified non-citizens could not vote in state or local elections.
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| Couple who waved guns at St Louis protesters sue news photographer Posted: 08 Nov 2020 01:55 PM PST  A St Louis couple facing felony charges for waving guns at Black Lives Matter protesters who marched near to their home have alleged that a photographer trespassed onto their property to capture the confrontation. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are both attorneys in their 60s, filed a lawsuit in the St Louis Circuit Court against photographer Bill Greenblatt and United Press International, who provided the photo for publications. The McCloskeys are also suing Redbubble, an online marketplace for print-on-demand products that has carried merchandise featuring the image of the couple.
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| Officials report rampant fraud in Paycheck Protection Program Posted: 08 Nov 2020 12:18 PM PST |
| A Motorcycle Rally in a Pandemic? 'We Kind of Knew What Was Going to Happen.' Posted: 07 Nov 2020 07:06 AM PST  STURGIS, S.D. -- Albert Aguirre was amped as he and a buddy skimmed across the South Dakota plains, heading to join 460,000 bikers for a motorcycle rally shaping up to be a Woodstock of unmasked, uninhibited coronavirus defiance."Sit tight Sturgis," Aguirre, 40, posted on Facebook on Aug. 7 as he snapped a photo of the sun sifting through the clouds. "We're almost there!"A month later, back home in the college town of Vermillion, South Dakota, Aguirre was so sick he could barely take a shower. He had not been tested but told friends that it had to be COVID-19.Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York TimesInfectious-disease experts had warned about the dangers of cramming thousands of revelers into the Black Hills of South Dakota at the height of a pandemic. But it was the 80th anniversary of the annual Sturgis rally, and bikers were coming no matter what.South Dakota's Republican governor, a vocal opponent of lockdowns, gave her blessing, local leaders set aside their misgivings, and thousands of people from every state in the nation rolled down Sturgis' Main Street.In the aftermath, hundreds of people have gotten sick, and Sturgis has become a rumbling symbol of America's bitter divisions over the coronavirus, even now, as cases continue to surge, surpassing more than 121,000 daily infections Thursday, and the nation's death toll crosses 235,000.Some called the rally a declaration of freedom and went home with T-shirts declaring, "Screw COVID I Went to Sturgis." But others in deeply conservative South Dakota now say it recklessly helped seed a new wave of cases raging out of control in the state.Family members who stayed away are angry at relatives who attended and brought the virus home. Sturgis council members who approved the rally have been bombarded with death threats. And health experts and politicians are still fighting over how many cases Sturgis may have caused across the country.After the crowds streamed home like some huge exhalation, coronavirus cases tied to the rally began popping up as far away as New Hampshire. Infection numbers climbed in the Dakotas and in the neighboring states of Wyoming and Nebraska, where thousands of residents had returned from Sturgis.In all, cases spread to more than 20 states and at least 300 people -- including revelers' families and co-workers who never set foot in South Dakota, according to state health officials. Twin sisters who had worked at a bike-washing stand in Sturgis tested positive. So did a local paramedic. And a motorcycle mechanic's family in Rapid City.Health officials said a lack of contact tracing and the sheer scale of the event have made it impossible to know how many people were infected directly or indirectly because of Sturgis."We don't know if we'll ever know the full extent," said Dr. Benjamin C. Aaker, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association. "These people go home and get sick with coronavirus. They don't have any way of knowing whether they picked it up at the rally or back in California."Aguirre's friends said they would likely never know whether he got sick at Sturgis, at a bar or restaurant in his hometown as college students returned, or somewhere else altogether.But friends said that by early September, Aguirre -- a big guy and fiercely loyal friend who loved cooking and the Wu-Tang Clan -- had been sick for more than a week and was struggling to breathe and eat. He called a local clinic but worried he could not afford to go to a hospital because he did not have insurance, according to friends and the chief of the Vermillion Police Department."Hanging in there?" a friend, Dan Herrera, texted Aguirre on Sept. 5."About to get in the shower and see how much energy that uses," Aguirre replied."Good luck."Three days later, Herrera texted Aguirre to check in.This time, there was no answer.'Do You Want Me to Build a Wall Around Sturgis?'Like every year, banners strung across Main Street proclaimed, "Welcome Harley Riders." Downtown was blocked off for motorcycle parking. And despite rising case counts and growing criticism, Gov. Kristi Noem told Fox News in August that the state was handling the virus and glad to host the rally. "We hope people come," she said.But behind the scenes, many in the 7,000-person city of Sturgis were on edge.Three City Council members wanted to call it off, but they changed their votes at the last minute after several large concert venues, including the Buffalo Chip campground and Rushmore Photo and Gifts, sent letters threatening legal action against the city. Sixty percent of residents who answered a city-sponsored survey wanted to postpone the rally, but city officials said they were boxed in."I said back in March, do you want me to build a wall around Sturgis or a wall around South Dakota, because that is the only way we could have stopped them," Mayor Mark Carstensen of Sturgis said.The backlash came quickly. After the rally concluded, city officials were flooded with death threats day and night by phone, email and mail.In response, the city scrubbed its website of all personal contact information and replaced it with a generic phone line. The death threats ramped up another notch after a study suggested the event resulted in an estimated 250,000 coronavirus infections across the country.Mike Bachand, a City Council member, was among those who received death threats for his vote to host the event. The messages continue to come in, he said.Rod Woodruff, owner of the Buffalo Chip, which is outside the city limits of Sturgis and is used as a campground by motorcyclists during the rally, said he could not rationally see how the event could end up being a superspreader event and was skeptical of some of the cases being linked back to the event. Woodruff said he did not know of anyone who contracted the virus at the campgrounds.Democrats and some conservatives in South Dakota say the rally turned their state into a petri dish. They say Sturgis and other mass gatherings like President Donald Trump's Fourth of July rally, the state fair and an early-September Mustang car rally in Sturgis helped send the state's infection rate soaring to one of the highest in the nation. The state is averaging about 1,100 cases a day, compared with fewer than 100 in much of August and September.But other conservatives accuse the news media and Democrats of inflating case counts and exaggerating the rally's toll to smear its bikers. They said the number of infections was negligible compared with the thousands who attended and pointed out that many rallygoers spent the week outdoors, camping and zooming through Spearfish Canyon and the Badlands.'I've Never Seen Him So Sick'Back home, quietly, people were getting sick. And health departments in different states were struggling to trace where they had gotten sick or who else they might have infected on long road trips that spanned hundreds of miles.In Rapid City, Holly Sortland had feared the virus would find her family, especially her 15-year-old son who has a heart defect. Her husband was a motorcycle mechanic in Sturgis, and though he wore a mask and tried to stay away from the rally crowds, a co-worker had been going maskless to the bars. Five people at his bike shop tested positive."We kind of knew what was going to happen," Sortland said. "I've never seen him so sick."By mid-August, Sortland said, her husband was running a 101-degree fever and shed about 10 pounds. When she got flowers for her birthday, she realized that she could not smell them -- a symptom that she, too, had COVID-19. A positive coronavirus test confirmed it.A contact tracer with the South Dakota Department of Health called the family to ask where her husband worked, but he worried about getting into trouble with his boss given the stigma that swirls around the virus, Sortland said. When she talked with the tracer, she said, she was not asked about her family contacts or where she had shopped.To date, the Health Department has reported 125 coronavirus cases among state residents who attended the rally. Derrick Haskins, a department spokesman, said the agency only conducts contact tracing on South Dakota residents.The Minnesota Department of Health in September connected 74 cases to the rally -- 51 people who attended and 23 others who came into contact with them later. A man in his 60s who attended the rally contracted the virus and died. He is the only rallygoer whose death has been attributed to the coronavirus."It is very challenging to trace the infections that attendees may have spread after they returned from Sturgis," said Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious disease epidemiology at the Minnesota Department of Health. "We were able to link several infections at a Minnesota wedding to someone who had gone to Sturgis, but we were not able to definitively state there was a direct link. The web just becomes too complicated."In North Dakota, the Health Department traced 30 cases back to the event, said Nicole Peske, a spokeswoman for the agency. That number, she added, does not include any secondary coronavirus cases that may have resulted if someone contracted the virus from someone who was at the rally.Peske said the agency was still investigating the cases linked to the event.The illnesses cut rifts among friends and families. In the rural panhandle of western Nebraska, Heather Edwards watched with frustration after a cousin who had worked at the rally tested positive and then shrugged off the seriousness because she had a mild case. A woman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, seethed after her sister returned home from Sturgis, went to a wedding with a pasta buffet and tested positive the next day.Heidi Morgan, a conservative Republican who lives in the Black Hills, said some friends from Nebraska who attended Sturgis got sick after returning home. They refused to get tested out of a belief that the rally's opponents wanted to use higher infection numbers as a political weapon."There's that feeling of, 'We're not going to add to the numbers,'" said Morgan, who said her family had taken the pandemic seriously, guided by their Baptist faith in putting others' welfare first. "I'm trying to convince them that's not true."'Not Knowing Is the Hardest Part'Aguirre was found dead at home Sept. 10. The officers who moved his body wore gowns and protective gear because of the coronavirus risk, according to Chief Matt Betzen of the Vermillion Police Department. A posthumous test for the virus came back positive, according to the county coroner.South Dakota's Health Department has not connected any deaths to the rally, and Aguirre's friends said they have been struggling to get answers or information about how and where he got sick, and wondering whether they could have helped."I don't understand why he went to Sturgis and didn't take COVID seriously," said Jon Esmay, a friend who had not spoken with Aguirre in a few months. "Mostly I'm just angry that someone who talked to or saw him more often didn't get him to the ER. I'm angry that I didn't talk to him more often."Dustin Van Balen, who considered Aguirre to be like an adopted brother, said he had been trying to piece together a timeline using Aguirre's phone. But he said they might never have answers."Not knowing is the hardest part," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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