Encore president Brian Gullbrants demonstrated how patrons will play blackjack table games while shielded by plexiglass (Lane Turner/Globe Staff).
Oddly enough, the hou$e now looks like the thief that is.
"Mass. Gaming Commission says no dice to poker, roulette, craps; Regulators fear COVID-19 levels are still too high to expand casino offerings in Everett, Springfield" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff, August 13, 2020
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday declined to allow casinos to offer tournament poker, roulette, or craps in the state, citing concerns about the continued risk from COVID-19 even as the facilities have reopened with other games.
Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield have been open for a month with offerings that include slot machines and blackjack, but regulators have not allowed them to offer games that may be harder to play with social distancing. While some small-scale poker games are available, poker rooms and large games are off-limits.
You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em!
Plainridge Park, the state’s other casino, has only slot machines.
Commission members and staff said the casinos have been doing a good job of adhering to the health protocols that are under their control. The facilities require patrons to wear face masks at all times, have reduced the number of people allowed inside, and have installed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of plexiglass and other safety equipment, but regulators said that adding more games, particularly after Governor Charlie Baker has moved to scale back some aspects of the state’s reopening, would not make sense now.
Encore operates in a particularly high-risk area. Its home community of Everett ― along with nearby Chelsea, Saugus, Lynn, and Revere ― have levels of COVID-19 that are among the highest in the state, according to calculations released by Baker’s administration.
You should have gambled and built it somewhere else!
Encore and MGM had both requested to be able to resume craps and roulette games while using plexiglass dividers, social distancing, and sanitation protocols that they hoped would reduce the risk of anyone transmitting coronavirus.
After four months without revenue amid the COVID-19 lockdown, the casinos are awaiting the opportunity to move closer to offering their normal range of gaming offerings. Other resort services, such as providing live entertainment and hosting conferences, remain closed for the foreseeable future.
It's too late, and you are now down too much. $houldn't have let the chip leaders and their dealers lock you down.
Gaming commission staff said during the meeting that they would continue talking to Encore and MGM about when and how it would be appropriate to begin running games that are currently darkened.
All right, who $tole your chips?
“We appreciate the Gaming Commission’s thoughtful consideration and will continue to work collaboratively to determine when it’s appropriate to offer more amenities to our guests,” the leadership of MGM Springfield said in a statement.
Encore public affairs chief Eric Kraus said the casino also will continue to comply with rules set by the state.
“We fully support the directives given by the State and the MGC and will adhere to them,” Kraus said in a statement.
They must be holding a lo$ing hand.
--more--"
The lobby carousel at the Encore Boston Harbor casino was decorated with fresh flowers, along with face masks for the horses (Lane Turner/Globe Staff).
Yup, round and round we go!
At least you can bet on the $port$ games, right?
Related:
"Roxi Harvey, chair of the Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council. She said some parents have reported that their children had a good experience with remote learning in the spring, but others said their children were denied services. “There are children and families in complete crisis,” she said. “I hear a lot of people say: I can go to a casino, the gym, get my hair and nails done, but my kid can’t go to school? Hmm.”
You do not want them in school to read ’em and not weep with the help of Australian crime fiction:
"New Zealand beat the virus once. Can it do it again?" by Damien Caveand Serena Solomon New York Times, August 13, 2020
SYDNEY — As the week began, New Zealanders were celebrating 100 days without community spread of the coronavirus, drinking at pubs, packing stadiums, and hugging friends.
Maybe they should wear yellow badges or something. I seem to remember something from the ancient past regarding people having to wear yellow symbols, and it seems like it is something we are all $till paying for.
Two days later, that suddenly changed: Four new cases, all related, emerged in Auckland. On Thursday, officials said the cluster had grown to 17, as they struggled to map out how the virus had returned to an isolated island nation championed for its pandemic response.
One theory is that it could have come through cargo. Some of the infected New Zealanders worked at a cold storage warehouse with imported food. Another focus is quarantine facilities for returning travelers, the source of an outbreak tearing through Melbourne, Australia.
A "theory" in my new$paper?
A mystery and a few cases — that’s all it took for New Zealand to say goodbye to normalcy. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern immediately announced a new lockdown for Auckland, a city of 1.7 million people, along with a huge testing, contact tracing, and quarantine blitz that aims to quash COVID-19 for the second time.
“Going hard and early is still the best course of action,” Ardern said Thursday as she had relaunched her daily coronavirus news briefings. “We have a plan.”
The virus had allegedly been vanquished in New Zealand, or so I was told, and she is acting like a real tyrant!
See: Martial law coming to New Zealand
She has directed the military to use whatever force is necessary to go door to door to remove family members from the home, and what a GHOUL!
Kiwis just take it, huh?
Many other places have faced a similar challenge — Hong Kong, Australia, and Vietnam have all confronted new waves after early triumphs. New Zealand, while disappointed by the abrupt resurgence, has reacted with an extraordinary level of urgency and action that it hopes will be a model for how to eliminate a burst of infection and rapidly get on with life.
I need to get on with mine and quit reading this insulting slop.
“We were totally back to hugging, handshaking, restaurants, cinemas — all the stuff apart from going on holiday overseas,” said Siouxsie Wiles, a microbiologist at the University of Auckland. “What we’ve had time to do in the meantime is massively ramp up our testing and contact tracing, so this is going to be a real test of how quickly you can stamp it out again. Everything about the time frame,” she added, “has been really compressed.”
The infamous second simulation kicking into gear, as per WHO protocol?
Jeremy Hutton, 28, who works in finance and was out for a walk and a take-away coffee Thursday morning, asked what seemed to be on the minds of many: “Are we just going to keep doing this every couple of months?”
Ardern first heard about a potential positive case at 4 p.m. Tuesday while traveling in a van a few hours outside the capital, Wellington, after visiting a factory that makes face masks. At 9:15 p.m., she and Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health, appeared at a news conference where they announced the new cases — all four were from the same family; none had recently returned from overseas — and a lockdown that would start the following day.
Potential positives?
“We have come too far to go backwards,” Ardern said. “Be strong and be kind.”
(Expletive deleted)
--more--"
You can go watch a video regarding the situation as well.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Not two months after battling back the coronavirus, Spain’s hospitals have started seeing patients who are struggling to breathe returning to their wards. The deployment of a military emergency brigade to set up a field hospital in the northeastern city of Zaragoza this week is a grim reminder that Spain is far from claiming victory over the virus that overwhelmed the European country in March and April. Authorities described the field hospital as a precaution, but no one has forgotten the earlier scenes of Spanish hospitals filled to capacity and the devastating period when the country’s COVID-19 death toll grew by more than 900 a day. While an enhanced testing program is revealing that a majority of the newly infected are asymptomatic and younger, making them less likely to need medical treatment, concern is increasing as hospitals admit more patients again. The Spanish government’s top virus specialist, Fernando Simón, said Thursday that the 3,500 hospital beds occupied nationally by coronavirus patients represented just 3 percent of the total capacity. “I would not say that what we are seeing now is similar to what we experienced in March and April,” Simón said, “but it is true that transmission is increasing in every region, and we can’t drop our guard. We are still facing an important risk.” Specialists are working to determine why Spain is struggling more than other countries after Western Europe had achieved a degree of control over the virus."
Re-erecting the COVID CAMPS, 'eh?
"Britain will require all people arriving from France to isolate for 14 days — an announcement that throws the plans of tens of thousands of holiday travelers into chaos. The government said late Thursday that France is being removed from the list of nations exempted from quarantine requirements because of a rising number of coronavirus infections, which have surged by 66 percent in the past week. The Netherlands, Malta, Monaco, and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Turks & Caicos also were added to the quarantine list. France is one of the top holiday destinations for British travelers, who now have until 4 a.m. Saturday to get home if they want to avoid two weeks in isolation. The number of new infections in Britain is also rising."
That comes in the face of the numbers drop in England, and it just confirms that my pre$$ is a two-faced liar.
Why does Europe now look like Germany from the past?
"Tens of thousands of travelers who were tested for the coronavirus upon entering Germany in the last two weeks waited Thursday to learn whether they were infected as Bavaria state officials acknowledged that many recipients had yet to be notified, including hundreds with positive results. Bavarian Governor Markus Soeder postponed his own vacation to the North Sea coast to deal with the holdup, which came as Germany reported its highest number of new virus cases since May 1. The state Health Ministry said there had been delays in releasing 44,000 test results to people who were checked on their way into Germany, primarily at highway rest stops, including 908 who had tested positive for COVID-19. “The breakdown that occurred is very irritating and regrettable,” Soeder told reporters. The governor said that state Health Minister Melanie Huml offered her resignation, but that he did not accept it and Huml still had his confidence."
They then have the gall to ask for public’s help in finding the former COO of Wirecard.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Should ride them out on a rail:
"MBTA tests new Red Line train, the first of fleet expected to start running this fall" by Caroline Enos Globe Correspondent, August 13, 2020
The first train in a new Red Line fleet was taken for a test run this week, and officials said it went off without a hitch.
The train operated between Braintree and Alewife stations for about three hours Wednesday night. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said engineers reported “nothing out of the ordinary” with the train during the test.
The first of 252 new Red Line cars, which will expand the fleet by 34, will start running this fall, Pesaturo said. All new Red Line vehicles are expected to be in service by 2023.
Each car will have more handrails, larger interiors, wider doors, LED lighting systems, new visual and audio door open and closing warnings — along with other new communications systems — and two more accessibility areas.
The new vehicles are a part of the MBTA’s five-year capital investment program. Through the program, which started in July 2018, the MBTA said it will spend $8 billion to rebuild subway lines, modernize fare collecting systems, remodel stations, and make other improvement to bus, subway, and ferry service.
“This work, including signal upgrades, a new test track and vehicle testing facility, and an upgraded yard and maintenance facility, will result in faster, more comfortable trips on the Red Line, as well as less crowding on platforms and in stations,” the MBTA wrote on its website.
The MBTA said it is spending $1 billion to replace vehicles on the Red and Orange lines.
The first of 152 new Orange Line trains rolled out last August. Since then, the new vehicles have been taken out of service several times mainly due to problems with the underbody of the cars.
The new Red and Orange Line cars are being produced by the Chinese-owned railcar manufacturer CRRC MA, Pesaturo said. The cars are partially built in China and assembled at the company’s factory in Springfield.
Modifications that were made to fix issues on the new Orange Line cars have been added to the new Red Line cars, he said.
Pesaturo said another new train will go into service on the Orange Line within a week.
--more--"
Somehow COVID is MAGICALLY MISSING from the MBTA cars as management and the Globe act as if EVERYTHING is HUNKY-DORY NORMAL with smooth sailing ahead!
Where the money will come from is another matter (they will expect your taxes due on that bankrupt and defunct business you once had; I suppose it will be Great Re$et ca$h, huh?), but they will get you to the movie on time:
"AMC to reopen 10 Massachusetts theaters on Aug. 20" by Diti Kohli Globe Correspondent, August 13, 2020
AMC Theaters in Massachusetts reopen on Aug. 20 with a new set of COVID-era rules and regulations.
The movie giant detailed plans to welcome the public back to two-thirds of its theaters by Sept. 3 — a process that will begin by opening 100 locations next week, according to an announcement made Wednesday morning. The first batch of theaters includes locations in Assembly Row, Boston Common, Braintree, Burlington, Framingham, Dartmouth Mall, Liberty Tree Mall, Methuen, South Bay Center, and Tyngsborough.
“The remaining AMC locations will open after we get further clearance from state and local authorities that it is safe to do so,” an e-mail to AMC A-List members read.
AMC has repeatedly delayed its reopening in response to spikes in positive COVID cases across the country. A phased reopening was first slated for July 15, then July 30, until it was pushed to “mid to late August.”
All AMC theaters will now operate at 30 percent capacity, and every other row will be blocked off to allow for social distancing in traditional theaters, and unlike a June AMC announcement that said masks would be optional in AMC theaters, face coverings are now required, except when consuming food and drinks. CEO Adam Aron told Variety two months ago that AMC would not mandate face masks because it “did not want to be drawn into a political controversy.” He quickly reversed his decision after facing public backlash.
If nothing else, it will minimize the chatter, and every other row doesn't add up to six feet.
New routine cleaning measures are also in place. Every auditorium will be disinfected with electrostatic sprayers before every show, and staff will vacuum carpeted areas every night with HEPA filter vacuums. HVAC systems have been upgraded and installed with MERV 13 filters.
“We recognize that the world has changed,” said Aron in a video about the reopening. “As a result, the health and safety of our movie theater guests and our movie theater staff is our absolute highest priority at AMC.”
Then what is with the filth-covered screens?
Should I close my eyes?
The company also debuted special reopening offers for returning customers.
On the 20th, all tickets to a number of classic and already-released films theaters will play — like “Back to the Future,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Star Wars: Episode V” — will be 15 cents. These movies will be ticketed at $5 after opening day, and matinee showings before 5 p.m. will be discounted at 30 percent of the usual ticket price for a limited time.
Who wants to go watch reruns even on the big screen?
There are enough of those on TV; in fact, that's pretty much all there is!
AMC is also offering new deadlines and $5 deals for its A-List subscription, which gives audiences access to three showings per week, discounted tickets, and early reservations. The company says current subscribers whose memberships were deactivated during the pandemic have until Dec. 1 to reactivate or cancel their account before AMC begins charging them again.
Though there are fewer new releases coming out of Hollywood during the pandemic, AMC will still be showing unseen premieres. Russell Crowe’s “Unhinged” debuts Aug. 21, followed by “The New Mutants” (Aug. 28), and “Tenet” (Sept. 3), among others.....
Those won't be getting me into the theater!
--more--"
The tickets cost how much now?
"963,000 workers seek US jobless aid as layoffs fall below 1 million for first time in 5 months" by Christopher Rugaber The Associated Press, August 13, 2020
WASHINGTON — The number of laid-off workers applying for unemployment aid fell below 1 million last week for the first time since the pandemic intensified five months ago yet still remains at a high level. The viral pandemic keeps forcing layoffs just as the expiration of a $600-a-week federal jobless benefit has deepened the hardships for many.
The Labor Department said the decline suggests that layoffs are slowing, though last week's figure still exceeds the pre-pandemic record of just under 700,000.
"The pumps are working, sir!" -- (member of the crew to Captain Smith of the Titanic).
The pandemic, the shutdowns that are meant to fight it, and the reluctance or inability of many people to shop, travel or eat out are continuing to weaken the economy and force companies to cut staff. Twenty-three states have paused or reversed their business reopenings. In a hopeful sign, the rate of new confirmed viral cases has declined in the past couple of weeks, though it remains far above the rates that prevailed in May and June.
Look at this disgusting, piece of $hit reporter and pre$$ blame the $traight-jacketed con$umer who has had their livelihood destroyed by these agenda-pu$hing pre$$titutes and political tyrants for which they cover for not buoying up the economy with our $pending.
All told, fewer people are also continuing to receive state jobless aid in Massachusetts and nationally, the supplemental $600 a week in federal aid had enabled many jobless Americans to afford rent, food, and utilities, and its expiration threatens to weaken consumer spending and further slow the economy. Unemployment benefits have accounted for roughly 5 percent of national income since April, a larger share than even Social Security. The loss of the $600 has shrunk benefits for the average recipient by one-half to three-quarters.
Btw, you will owe state, federal, and local taxes on all the unemployment and PPP money (last 5 minutes of show) -- even if you have been permanently shut down.
Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says that the loss of the additional aid will reduce Americans’ incomes by $18 billion a week. “That’s a big hit to purchasing power,” she said.
In addition to people who applied last week for state benefits, nearly 489,000 others sought jobless aid under a new program that has made self-employed and gig workers eligible for the first time. That figure isn’t adjusted for seasonal trends, so it’s reported separately, but including that group, the Labor Department says 28.2 million people are receiving some form of unemployment benefits, though that figure may be inflated by double-counting by some states.
Can't you guys count anything right?
First coronavirus cases and deaths, and now this!
For states to set up systems to distribute a new $300 federal jobless benefit, their labor departments would need more guidance from the federal government, noted Michele Evermore, a senior researcher at the National Employment Law Project. The money, which is supposed to come from a federal disaster relief fund, would likely require states to hire more people and possibly contract with software vendors to establish a system to process the payments, Evermore said. Washington state, for one, eventually called in National Guard troops to help process applications.
That's Trump trying to buy your vote, and his opponents blocking it.
It's all about November, folks.
In the meantime, with confirmed virus cases still high, it’s not clear when business owners will be able to reopen or will have enough customers to rehire.
Grace Della is one of them. She opened her food tour business in Miami a decade ago with $300 from her mother. On weekends, she led the tours herself and eventually built up a business with 13 tour guides, averaging 10 tours a day through culinary hot spots in South Beach and Little Havana, yet with the risk of infection still high and with scant customer demand, it’s been more than four months since Miami Culinary Tours has taken out guests, and Della, 46, says she doesn’t expect to recall her employees anytime soon.
She hopes to reopen later this month but isn’t sure she can, given the state’s high level of confirmed infections. Della said she tries to stay positive but confesses to moments of crippling fear. At one point, hyperventilating with anxiety, she contacted firefighters.
“There’s no money coming in,” Della said. “We’re all scared.”
Would it help her to know that Amazon's $tock has advanced more than 65 percent this year, or that the banks have been enriched by underwriting?
--more--"
$peaking of $tocks:
"Another afternoon fade for stocks left Wall Street just shy of its record heights on Thursday, after the S&P 500 briefly crossed above its all-time closing high for the second straight day. The S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent. At one point, it climbed above 3,386.15. That’s the record closing level it set in February, before investors appreciated how much devastation the new coronavirus would cause. It’s just the second loss for the S&P 500 in the last 10 days. The index began stumbling in the early afternoon, as Treasury yields were accelerating following an auction of 30-year bonds by the US government. Higher yields mean prices for bonds were falling. “We saw a sell-off in bonds, and that led to a little bit of weakness in stocks,” said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. “It’s not a terrible day by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s also a summer day.....”
Summer, summer, happened so fast....
"Yields had already perked up before the auction, following a report showing that 963,000 US workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. It’s an incredibly high number of layoffs, but it’s also the first time the tally has dropped below 1 million since March, before widespread business lockdowns caused a tsunami of layoffs. Economists said the drop in jobless claims, which was better than the market was expecting, is an encouraging step, but they also cautioned that it could be more of an outlier than a trend, and more data reports are needed to confirm it. Wall Street has erased almost all of the nearly 34 percent drop the S&P 500 suffered from late February into March, even though the economy is still hobbled despite some recent improvements. Massive efforts to support the economy by the Federal Reserve and US government helped trigger the rally, and investors are now waiting for Congress and the White House to deliver another round of aid after unemployment benefits and other measures in the last tranche expired. Democrats and Republicans are still far apart, but hope remains on Wall Street that they’ll reach a deal on stimulus that investors say is crucially needed. “The news out of D.C. has really been shrugged off by the market,” said Jason Draho, head of asset allocation for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management. He said investors have also gained more confidence about a broader economic recovery as data reports continue to show steady improvements. Through it all is also the power of the Fed’s massive actions, which continue to support the market. The central bank has slashed short-term interest rates to nearly zero and has plunged into far-reaching corners of the bond market to keep lending running smoothly. Most stocks in the S&P 500 and across Wall Street were weaker on Thursday. Energy producers had some of the sharpest losses, but resilience for Apple and several other Big Tech stocks helped to keep the losses in check. “The pause in stocks right now is more related to the fact that the S&P 500 is essentially battling with an all-time high right now,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading & derivatives at Charles Schwab. “There’s a huge level of [technical] resistance.” He said it’s similar to how the market scuffled for several weeks until late July, when it turned positive for 2020 again....."
What a di$connect.
WhoTF is able to afford to borrow?
The Fed money is being used to buy back shares and prop up the market so CEOs don't go broke!
$peaking of loans:
"HarborOne Bank is trimming more than 40 jobs as it reacts to a big slowdown in branch transactions, in what marks the first round of layoffs in the institution’s history. The Brockton-based bank had been seeing the volume of transactions slow by 8 percent, year over year, in 2018 and 2019, but the drop in activity accelerated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic with year-over-year declines exceeding 40 percent, according to chief executive Jim Blake. Initially, the bank only operated drive-through windows during the pandemic, but Blake has now reopened all 25 of its branches as of two weeks ago, although more than 200 bank employees are still working from home. Blake said 42 workers were told on Wednesday they would be losing their jobs, or about 9 percent of the bank’s 454 workers (a number that excludes employees of a mortgage banking affiliate). They will receive severance pay and job search assistance. Most of those job losses are taking place among the branches. The bank plans to report a restructuring expense of $640,000 as a result during this quarter, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, while it plans to save $2.8 million a year with the cuts. The bank is continuing to add branches, despite this slowdown, but they will be smaller in size than what has been typical in the past. Branches in South Boston and Quincy are in the works."
More like their jobs were taken from them, and what do you mean you didn't get the loan?
Must be a bug in the computer $oftware:
"Cisco Systems Inc. shares tumbled more than 11 percent Thursday after the company gave a lackluster sales forecast, signaling that businesses are spending less in the pandemic-driven recession. Chief executive Chuck Robbins pledged to reduce expenses by $1 billion through a reorganization that will include job cuts and early retirement for some workers. The plan will cost about $900 million, which will include severance and other ‘‘termination benefits,’’ the company said in a regulatory filing. Chief financial officer Kelly Kramer is also leaving. A large chunk of Cisco’s revenue comes from government agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, and providers of Internet and online video services. While some larger companies are still spending, many smaller customers have cut spending to adjust to an economic slowdown sparked by Covid-19 lockdowns."
Didn't Nader invest in Ci$co?
What a $ell out and hypocrite!
Should put him on the next plane to anywhere:
"American Airlines is planning to drop flights to up to 30 smaller US cities if a federal requirement to continue those flights expires at the end of next month, an airline official familiar with the matter said Thursday. American agreed to keep serving those smaller cities as a condition of receiving $5.8 billion in federal payroll help this spring; however, the money and the requirement to serve those destinations both expire Sept. 30 unless they are extended. The move by American could put more pressure on Congress and the White House to give passenger airlines another $25 billion for labor costs. Airline unions and the airlines, which are struggling with a steep downturn in revenue as the pandemic undercuts air travel, are lobbying Congress for the money. The American Airlines official did not detail which cities could lose service, but the changes could appear in schedules as early as next week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss planning that has not been made public. American’s plans were first reported by CNBC."
The planes have been grounded and turned into an unemployment program!
You will have to hoof it from now on:
"Franklin Templeton is in talks to invest in shoemaker Allbirds Inc. at a premium to its $1.4 billion valuation in 2018, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Founded by Joey Zwillinger and Tim Brown, the San Francisco-based company posted around $190 million in net revenue last year, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Allbirds, which last year called out Amazon.com Inc. for allegedly copying its $95 sneakers made from fine merino wool, raised funds from investors including T. Rowe Price and Fidelity in 2018. Its best-known shoes made from wool fleece became a Silicon Valley staple after their 2016 launch. Other Allbirds investors include Tiger Global Management, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Maveron, a consumer-focused venture capital firm co-founded by former Starbucks Corp. chief executive Howard Schultz."
I ju$t dumped out the coffee because it ta$ted like hypocri$y!
