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dailyrepublic.com | Well said. Well read. covid-19 pandemic
Trucks depart Pfizer facility with vaccines Tribune Content Agency PORTAGE, Mich. — Three semi-trucks loaded with the nation’s first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine rolled out of the parking lot of the Pfizer manufacturing plant early Sunday morning, met with cheering crowds of local residents who said they were proud of their hometown’s contribution to science, and helping to bring the end to the coronavirus pandemic. The caravan of FedEx, UPS and Boyle Transportation trucks – led and tailed by unmarked police cars – pulled out of the parking lot about 8:25 a.m., headed to airports and distribution centers on a historic journey. Millions of doses of the company’s coronavirus vaccine were inside those trucks, and could be injected into the arms of the American people as early as Monday morning. “It’s history, and it’s hope,” said Joyce Hutcheson, 76, of Portage. She teared up as the trucks pulled out of the loading dock because the pandemic has been long and hard, and she misses seeing her great grandchildren. “When the hospitals started filling up, my granddaughter and my grandson said, ‘We don’t want anything to happen to you. We want you to dance at Lizzie’s wedding.’ “ That meant she could no longer see her Lizzie or Lizzie’s brother. But a hint of a smile spread across Hutcheson’s face when she added, “Lizzie is 6. She better get married at 12 because I’m old.” Susan Deur, 62, of Plainwell stood outside the plant for hours in 35-degree See Trucks, Page A8
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file
Robert Lucky plays the guitar in his home in Suisun City, Dec. 4.
Robert Lucky makes own luck decade-plus after losing sight
Amy Maginnis-Honey
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The first FedEx truck reverses into a loading facility at 5 a.m. at Pfizer Global Supply in Portage, Mich., Sunday.
Smartphone exposure alert system signs up 4M Californians Tribune Content Agency
SUISUN CITY — Robert Lucky rides an electric scooter, plays guitar and even waded into the political waters, seeking a seat on the Fairfield-Suisun School District’s governing board. These are just a few of his accomplishments. Lucky, 25, became legally blind due to a rare genetic condition when he was 14. The doctor told Lucky and his mother, Lucia Gillis, on the day of Lucky’s diagnosis that the teen would not be able to drive a car and most likely not have employment. Gillis said she felt sadness as the doctor broke the news to Lucky but also knew her son, whom she had while she in the eighth grade, would make the best of it. “He had a right to know,” Gillis said.
Despite being legally blind, Robert Lucky continues to play music and ride his scooter. Lucky loves to listen to podcasts. His vision doesn’t work for television. It was there he learned about the electric scooter. “I didn’t tell anyone,” he said. When it arrived, a few days before Thanksgiving, he hopped on it to ride from his apartment to his mother’s house. Lucky rode skateboards, bikes and scooters prior to his vision loss.
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On eve of Electoral College cementing Biden victory, Trump says he won’t give in Tribune Content Agency
C a lifor nia’s sma r tphone-based Covid-19 exposure alert system had racked up 4 million sign-ups by Friday afternoon, according to the state Department of Public Health, but needs more residents to opt in to be effective. The system, dubbed CA Notify, officially launched Thursday and builds off of traditional contact tracing methods by sending smartphone alerts to people who’ve spent prolonged time with someone who later tests positive for the novel coronavirus. Public health officials hope the tool will help slow the spread of the virus by providing people with timely information so they can self-isolate and get tested for the disease. However, the system still needs a lot more of California’s 39.5 million residents to opt in, officials said. It launched as coronavirus cases are surging throughout the state. On Saturday, San Diego County public health officials reported 2,490 new positive cases and 14 additional deaths.
WASHINGTON — President Trump this weekend again promoted debunked claims in an apparent attempt to undermine an Electoral College vote Monday that will officially cement his defeat. Speaking to Fox News, Trump asserted the election dispute was “not over.” The interview was aired Sunday but taped on Saturday at the ArmyNavy football game. “And we’re going to continue to go forward,” Trump said. Court after court – and even the Supreme Court as recently as Friday – has rejected attempts by Trump and his supporters to throw out an election he lost. President-elect Joe Biden won the Electoral College 306 to 232, the identical margin by which Trump secured the White House in 2016 and had hailed as a “landslide.” Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes.
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There was some trepidation at first. “I wasn’t sure how fast I should go,” he said. He keeps it at the lowest speed and has devised a way to know if there’s a pothole or pole ahead. The scooter offers him a chance to blow off steam and get out of his apartment, he said. Lucky draws inspiration from the late Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia, who at 21 was the youngest person elected to the council. The young councilman was shot and killed during the first year of his four-year term. Garcia spoke to Lucky’s elementary class when he was running for council. Lucky said he was impressed with Garcia’s “can-do” attitude at such a young age. Lucky is a member of the band
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Claudio Bresciani/TT News Agency/ AFP/Getty Images/TNS file (2019)
British author John le Carre.
John le Carré dies at 89 Tribune Content Agency
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/TNS file
President Donald Trump talks to the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 21.
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Kim Philby, the notorious Soviet mole who burrowed into the upper echelons of Britain’s Cold War-era intelligence services, was a subject of fear-driven fascination for novelist John le Carré. The two men, le Carré felt, had far too much in common as upper-class-hating sons of dissolute fathers “so oversized that your only resort as a child was to subterfuge and deceit.” For le Carré, Philby’s traitorous life could have See Le Carré, Page A8