KEDM | NPR News and Music for northeast Louisiana

ICE Detention Centers Face Hunger Strikes Over Coronavirus Concerns

In late March, hunger strikes broke out at at least two Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Louisiana to protest unsafe conditions from the coronavirus epidemic.

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Thursday Noon Coronavirus Update

White House Announces New Guidance For How Critical Employees Can Return To Work

Monroe Sewers Clogged By Paper Towels And Wipes

By Cory Crowe • 6 hours ago

The City of Monroe is asking residents to quit flushing items other than toiler paper down toilets. Monroe Public Relations Coordinator Rod Washington says that lift stations throughout the city are becoming clogged with paper towels and wipes.

Cotton balls, Q-tips, tissue, paper towels and flushable and non flushable wipes should not be flushed. They will clog up bends in pipes and could cause a backup in your home.

'It's Like Walking Into Chernobyl,' One Doctor Says Of Her Emergency Room

By Leila Fadel • 13 hours ago

At one New York City hospital, a doctor's used mask tore as she performed CPR on her infected patient.

In Seattle, a nurse compares walking into her intensive care unit to bathing in COVID-19.

And in St. Louis, a nurse slips her used N95 mask into a paper bag at the end of her shift and prays that it's disinfected properly.

These are scenes playing out in hospitals across the country, based on interviews with more than a dozen residents, doctors and nurses who go into work every day feeling unprotected from the disease they're supposed to treat.

IRS Budget Cuts, Staffing Challenges Create Coronavirus Payment Headaches

By Kelsey Snell • 13 hours ago

The Internal Revenue Service is under huge pressure to quickly disburse the $1,200 payments promised to most people in the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. Experts say it could take months for everyone to get their checks — with some people possibly waiting until after they file their taxes next year.

White House Announces New Guidance For How Critical Employees Can Return To Work

By Laurel Wamsley • 22 hours ago

The federal government has released new guidelines regarding when people in critical infrastructure roles can return to work after being exposed to a confirmed or suspected case of the coronavirus.

The guidance pertains to essential critical workers who have been exposed to COVID-19. For those individuals, the guidelines advise:

Take your temperature before work.

Wear a face mask at all times.

Deadline Upcoming For 2019 NELA Tornado Claims

By Cory Crowe • Apr 8, 2020

NOAA Photo Library / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Director Tanya N. Garfield of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Disaster Field Operations Center-West today reminded Louisiana small businesses of the May 8, 2020, deadline to apply for an SBA federal disaster loan for economic injury caused by severe storms and tornadoes that occurred in Lincoln Parish that occurred April 24-25, 2019.

Louisiana Department of Health Update

By Staff Report • Apr 8, 2020

The Louisiana Department of Health has extended its Emergency Order to align with the Governor’s Executive Order that has been extended to April 30. The LDH extension applies to all previously issued LDH Notices and Orders and shall remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. on April 30, 2020, but may be further extended by subsequent order of the State Health Officer. Click here to see the order.

4 In 10 U.S. Teens Say They Haven't Done Online Learning Since Schools Closed

By Anya Kamenetz • Apr 8, 2020

With most schools closed nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic, a national poll of young people ages 13 to 17 suggests distance learning has been far from a universal substitute.

The poll of 849 teenagers, by Common Sense Media, conducted with SurveyMonkey, found that as schools across the country transition to some form of online learning, 41% of teenagers overall, including 47% of public school students, say they haven't attended a single online or virtual class.

Lessons from a Crisis: COVID-19 Edition

By Byron Moore • Apr 8, 2020

We find ourselves in the midst of a worldwide health crisis – the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Among the many ripple effects of the disease, and the world’s disparate attempts to contain it, have been significant impact on financial markets.

Now, markets do not like uncertainty. It’s a lot like what happens when the power goes off and you suddenly find yourself in a very dark room. The first thing you do is stop, and then you grope around a while, taking small steps, trying to avoid a collision with something that you can’t see.

Black Communities Are Hit Hardest By COVID-19 In Louisiana And Elsewhere

By Tegan Wendland • Apr 8, 2020

Louisiana has the highest rate of deaths from COVID-19 in the nation and, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards, more than 70 percent of the people who have died so far were black.

Black people make up just 32 percent of the state's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.