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Oregon voter turnout is over 50 percent Curry County ranks third in the state with 59.8 % returned SALEM (AP) — With less than a week to go until Election Day, more than half of the registered voters in Oregon have already cast their ballots. At this point during the last three presidential elections, fewer than 38% of Oregonians had returned their ballots. As of

Wednesday, more than 52% of registered voters in the state had done so, according to the Elections Division of the Secretary of State. According to state numbers, Coos County’s return rate was at 50.2%, while Curry County was at 59.8% (third highest in the state behind Wheeler’s 61.3% and Benton’s 60.3%) and Douglas County was at 51.9%. Coos County’s elections department reported an updated total of 56.55% ballots being

returned this morning. As of Sunday, more than 58 million ballots have been cast across the country. Americans’ rush to vote is leading election experts to predict that a record 150 million votes may be cast and turnout rates could be higher than in any presidential election since 1908. Nearly 3 million people are registered to vote in Oregon. During the last two presidential elections, between 80% and 82% of registered voters in Oregon

returned their ballots. During the last four presidential elections, about 40% of voters cast their ballots during Election Day and the two day days leading up to it. While Oregonians will vote on a candidate for president on the Nov. 3 ballot, they will also vote on U.S. and state Senate and House races as well as decide on ballot measures that could decriminalize possession of small amounts of heroin and cocaine, legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin mushrooms for legal reasons and

Economy grew at 33.1% in 3rd quarter

The end of the market season

Zack Demars, The World

Shoppers work their way through the Coos Bay Farmers Market on Wednesday in downtown. The market was the final one of the shortened season, which saw the booths spread further apart to encourage social distancing and the shoppers and vendors all wearing masks. Read more about the market and its summer season in Saturday’s edition of The World.

Hurricane Zeta speeds across Southeast At least three deaths are attributed to storm after it tore through New Orleans NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zeta sped across the Southeast on Thursday, leaving a trail of damage and more than 2 million homes and businesses without power in Atlanta and beyond after pounding New Orleans with winds and water that splintered homes and were blamed for at least three deaths. A Category 2 hurricane when it hit the southeastern Louisiana coast Wednesday, Zeta was still a tropical storm Thursday morning with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Asheville, North Carolina — unusual even in a region accustomed to hurricanes and their aftermath. Hundreds of schools canceled classes or planned to open late across from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas. The latest punch from a record hurricane season left people shaken. Will Arute said it sounded like a bomb went off when part of a large oak snapped outside his home in New Orleans, and part of the tree crashed into his car and a corner of his home. “I did not anticipate this to happen. It was pretty intense along the eye wall when it went through here,” he said. Mackenzie Umanzor did not prepare much because the last hurricane to threaten her home a few weeks ago in D’Iberville, Mississippi, did little damage. Zeta blew open doors that she had tried to barricade, leaving her with a cut hand, and the top of her shed came loose.

“You could hear the tin roof waving in the wind. ... It was just rattling. And there was a couple of snaps, lots of cracks of branches and trees falling,” she said. “It was pretty scary.” Officials said life-threatening conditions would last into the day, with Zeta crossing the mid-Atlantic states as a tropical storm before moving offshore around Delaware and southern New Jersey. Leslie Richardson, 58, drowned when he was trapped in rising seawater in Biloxi, Mississippi, after taking video of the raging storm, Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said. Richardson and another man exited a floating car and desperately clung to a tree before his strength “just gave out,” Switzer said. About 25 miles (40 kilometers) west in Long Beach, a large boat was washed up on the beachfront highway. In Louisiana, a 55-year-old man was electrocuted by a downed power line in New Orleans, a coroner said. In Georgia, authorities said a man was killed when high winds caused a tree to fall onto a mobile home in Cherokee County. Power outages were reported across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, according to the website PowerOutage.us. Georgia had the most outages before dawn with more than 1 million customers in the dark. Morning rush hour happened anyway in Atlanta, but commuters had to dodge downed trees and navigate their way past signals with no power. Trees blocked lanes on two interstates, the Georgia Department of Transportation said. Northwest of Atlanta in Marietta, many stoplights were out and police directed traffic at a busy intersection. One residential

street was covered by mix of campaign signs, amber and gold leaves, and limbs tossed by the storm. A few streets away, Billy Murdock was out picking up branches in his yard. “These big old trees, they were swaying. It bothers you,” Murdock said. “It’s the worst storm I’ve been through in Atlanta.” The storm raged onshore Wednesday afternoon in the small village of Cocodrie, Louisiana, as a strong Category 2 and then moved swiftly across the New Orleans area. The morning after in New Orleans’ French Quarter, the wind was blowing lightly as a few people walked to work and some residents swept leaves in front of their houses. Waveland Mayor Mike Smith told WLOX-TV that his Mississippi Gulf Coast city, which was part of the area most heavily damaged by 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, had taken what might be the worst hit since then from Zeta. “We’re going to see a whole lot of damage in the morning,” Smith said. Among the many trees blown down was one that fell on Smith’s own house. “It was my next-door neighbor’s and he wanted to give it to me, apparently,” Smith said. In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards was expected to tour the coastal regions hardest hit by the storm Thursday. And as neighbors and church groups started reaching out to help those affected, he also highlighted the need to protect against the coronavirus at the same time. “Offer the help, but do it with a mask on,” he said. Zeta left much of New Orleans and the surrounding area was without power as 200 falling trees and more limbs pulled down utility lines. Signs outside bars and restaurants swayed back

increase the tax on cigarettes. So far, more than two-thirds of registered Democrats in Oregon have returned their ballots. More than half of Republicans have, while only a third of non-affiliated voters have cast their votes. In Oregon, ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. Ballots can either be mailed in or returned to a drop site. Any registered voter who has not received their ballot yet should contact their local election office.

and forth in the wind and palm trees along Canal Street whipped furiously as the storm passed. Along coastal Louisiana, there were reports of some trailers flipped over, a gas station destroyed, and downed power lines and trees. Zeta is the 27th named storm of a historically busy Atlantic hurricane season — with more than a month left to go. It set a new record as the 11th named storm to make landfall in the continental U.S. in a single season, well beyond the nine storms that hit in 1916. This extraordinarily busy season has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms. On Tuesday, Zeta raked across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, toppling trees and briefly cutting power to more than 300,000 people but causing no deaths. It then regained strength over the Gulf of Mexico along a path slightly to the east of those of Hurricane Laura, which was blamed for at least 27 deaths in Louisiana in August, and Hurricane Delta, which exacerbated Laura’s damage in the same area weeks later. The deteriorating weather prompted early voting sites to close for hours in the western Florida Panhandle. One voter in Mississippi worried about how long felled trees and debris might block roads. Thursday was the last day to request an absentee ballot or vote by absentee in person in Alabama, and power was out across parts of the state including heavily populated Mobile on the coast. Mobile County tweeted that the absentee voting office still would be open for normal business hours, but other county offices would be closed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a record 33.1% annual rate in the July-September quarter but has yet to fully rebound from its plunge in the first half of the year — and the recovery is slowing as coronavirus cases surge and government aid dries up. The Commerce Department’s estimate Thursday of third-quarter growth showed that the nation has regained only about twothirds of the output that was lost early this year when the eruption of the virus closed businesses, threw tens of millions out of work and caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression. The economy is now weakening again and facing renewed threats. Confirmed viral cases are surging. Hiring has sagged. Federal stimulus has run out. With no further federal aid in sight this year, Goldman Sachs has slashed its growth forecast for the current fourth quarter to a 3% annual rate from 6%. Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, noted that the record-high third quarter growth in the nation’s gross domestic product “tells us little, if anything, about momentum heading into” the current quarter. “The strong GDP performance gives a false impression of the economy’s true health,” Daco wrote in a research note. “Much of the Q3 gain came from carry-over effects from fast progress in May-July... We anticipate a much slower second phase of the recovery, with output not reclaiming its pre-COVID level until late 2021.” The latest GDP reading is the last major economic report before Election Day, after a campaign that President Donald Trump has sought to build around his economic record before the pandemic hit. Trump has drawn generally solid public support for his handling of the economy. On Thursday, the government also reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 751,000. That was the fewest weekly applications since March, but the level remains historically high and indicates that the viral pandemic is still forcing many employers to cut jobs. Though the unemployment rate, at 7.9%, is down significantly from 14.7% at the start of the pandemic recession, it is still historically high. And hiring has slowed for three straight months. The economy is still roughly 10.7 million jobs short of recovering all the 22 million jobs that were lost to the pandemic. The government’s estimate of the third-quarter jump in the gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services in the United States — was the biggest such increase on records dating to 1947. Please see Economy, Page 2

eEdition

State reports 424 new cases Coos County has seven more cases as state totals continue to rise The World PORTLAND — The Oregon Health Authority reported 424 new coronavirus cases, including seven more in Coos County, and seven more deaths, as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. The deaths include the first in Coos County, which was reported last week, but was not included in the OHA numbers until Wednesday. The state’s death toll now stands at 671. The new cases bring the state total to 43,228 since the pandemic began. The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (8), Benton (3), Clackamas (35), Clatsop (2), Columbia (1), Coos (7), Crook (2), Deschutes (26), Douglas (4), Hood River (2), Jackson (35), Klamath (3), Lake (3), Lane (34), Lincoln (1), Linn (11), Malheur (16), Marion (34), Morrow (1), Multnomah (110), Polk (6), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (17), Union (9), Wasco (1), Washington (48), and Yamhill (3). Oregon’s 665th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on July 18 and died on Sept. 13 at St. Charles Medical Center Madras. He had underlying conditions.

Economy From Page 1

In the January-March quarter this year, GDP had contracted at a 5% annual rate before a record-setting 31.4% annual tumble in the spring. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said he thinks GDP will regain pre-pandemic levels by spring of next year, with GDP expanding 4.2% for 2021. But he warned that the job market might not fully recover until perhaps 2023. “Many of the jobs in retailing, leisure and airlines have been permanently lost,” he said, “and those folks will have to find different work, and that will take time.” The third quarter economic growth was powered by a record 40.7% annual increase in consumer spending. Americans began shopping again after the spring shutdown, which had sent consumer spending sinking by a record 31.4% annual rate. Consumer spending

Oregon’s 666th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 11 and died on Oct. 24 at Adventist Health Portland. He had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 667th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 14 and died on Oct. 24 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. She had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 668th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Oct. 15 and died on Oct. 22 in her residence. She had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 669th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Oct. 13 and died on Oct. 26 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 670th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Sept. 18 and died on Oct. 24 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. He did not have underlying conditions. Oregon’s 671st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Oct. 16 and died on Oct. 23 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed. NOTE: Updated information is available about Oregon’s 447th COVID-19

death, a man in Multnomah County. His age was incorrectly reported as 29. He was 34. OHA regrets this error.

accounts for roughly twothirds of economic activity. Business investment rose a strong annual rate 20.3%, reflecting a 70.1% surge in investment in equipment. Residential investment surged at a a 59.3% rate, reflecting a solid rebound being enjoyed by home builders as demand for homes rises. The government reports the quarterly GDP changes as annual rates. That means the change for any given quarter is calculated as if it had occurred for an entire year. Measured another way, GDP grew 7.4% from the April-June quarter to the July-September quarter, after tumbling 9% from the first quarter to the second and dropping 1.3% from last year’s fourth quarter to the first quarter this year. Overhanging the economy now are growing uncertainty and worry as a resurgence of the virus raises the prospect of new lockdowns and threatens the economy, especially without more federal help. That fear has burst into the open this week across global financial markets.

On Wednesday, U.S. stock averages tumbled roughly 3.5%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 943 points. A new wave of lockdowns and business closings has swept across France, Germany and elsewhere as surging viral infections on both sides of the Atlantic wipe out months of progress against the pandemic. In France, President Emmanuel Macron has declared a new nationwide lockdown starting Friday, saying the country has been “overpowered by a second wave.” In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a four-week shutdown of bars, restaurants and theaters. In the United States, where nearly every state is suffering from a rise in cases, Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, one of the hardest-hit states, has pleaded with people to stay home. Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois has banned indoor dining and drinking in Chicago and limited the size of gatherings in response to a surge in cases.

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Weekly Update The Oregon Health Authority released its COVID-19 Weekly Report Wednesday. During the week of Monday, October 19, through Sunday, October 25, OHA recorded 2,642 new cases of COVID-19. That is a 14% increase from the previous week and a record-high for the pandemic. The number of newly tested Oregonians rose to 31,448 and the percentage of positive tests held steady at 6.5%. Twenty-seven Oregonians were reported to have died in association with COVID-19—compared to 25 the previous week and 143 were hospitalized. People aged 20 to 49 accounted for the largest percentage of infection at 56%, despite accounting for 39% of the total population. Persons under 30 accounted for 37 percent of the cases. People over 80 accounted for 51% of COVID-19 associated deaths and people over 70 accounted for 75% of deaths associated with the illness. As COVID-19 cases continue to surge, OHA reminds people to: • Wear a face covering • Keep physically distant. • Avoid large gatherings and restrict gatherings with people outside of your household. • Maintain good hand hygiene.

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Coos County still far from reopening schools, metrics show The World

COOS COUNTY — The county is still a long way away from being able to reopen to all students for instruction, this week’s COVID-19 metrics show. Under state guidelines, a county’s case rate must be below 10 cases per 100,000 in population for three weeks straight in order to reopen all its school classes. Last week, Coos County saw that rate approach 38 cases per 100,000, the

highest it’s been during the pandemic. The previous two weeks were both well over 25 per 100,000, too, according to Coos Health & Wellness data. The county is meeting the other state metric, which requires the county’s test positivity rate be under 5% in a week, but the case count rate means classrooms that aren’t already open under the county’s exemptions have to remain closed for now. The metrics are a little different for kindergarten

through third grade, which is why some students are already in in-person classes. While they wouldn’t be allowed to reopen under the current case rates, those students are able to remain in classes since they’re already in session, unless public health and school district officials decide otherwise. State officials said earlier this month they’d planned to look at relaxing some state metrics to allow more schools to reopen, but those changes haven’t yet been announced.

Coos Bay plans ditch work on Coos River Highway on Friday The work will stretch from 10th Avenue to the D Street junction and should run from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In order to safely conduct the roadside mainte-

The World

The city of Coos Bay will be conducting roadside ditch work on the Coos River Highway on Friday, Oct. 30.

nance, lane closures will be required, with traffic controlled by flaggers. Drivers are asked to proceed with caution in the work zone and when following equipment.

Jobless claims fall to 751,000, still remain historically high WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 751,000, the lowest since March, but it’s still historically high and indicates the viral pandemic is forcing many employers to cut jobs. Applications for unemployment aid fell 40,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. They fell in 30 states, including big drops in California, Florida and Texas. Claims rose significantly in Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan. Rising confirmed virus cases in nearly every state, along with a cutoff in federal aid, are threatening to weaken the economy in the coming months. As temperatures fall, restaurants and bars will likely serve fewer customers outdoors. And many consumers may increasingly stay home to avoid infection. Those trends could force employers to slash more jobs during the winter.

The seven-day rolling average for confirmed new cases in the U.S. soared over the past two weeks from 51,161 to 71,832, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The government said Thursday that the economy expanded at a record 33% annual rate in the July-September quarter. That’s a sharp rebound after an epic collapse in the spring, when the economy shrank at a 31.4% annual rate. Yet the increase recovers only about two-thirds of what was lost to the pandemic. And growth is believed to be slowing sharply in the final three months of the year to a roughly 3% annual rate. With Congress having failed to agree on any further stimulus this year, millions of unemployed Americans who will lose all their jobless benefits in the coming weeks and months will likely pull back further on spending. Without another round of loans from the govern-

ment, many small companies will also go out of business. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department said the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell more than 700,000 to 7.76 million. The decline shows that some of the unemployed are being recalled to their old jobs or are finding new ones. But it also indicates that many jobless Americans have used up their state unemployment aid — which typically expires after six months — and have transitioned to a federal extended benefits program that lasts an additional 13 weeks. The still-elevated number of jobless claims underscores that a full recovery from the pandemic recession remains far off. Job growth has slowed for three straight months, leaving the economy still 10.7 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate remains high at 7.9%.

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Trump paints apocalyptic portrait of life under Biden WASHINGTON (AP) — The suburbs wouldn’t be the suburbs anymore, the economy would sink into its worst depression ever and police departments would cease to exist. Even America’s older adults would be left to figure out how to get by without heat, air conditioning or electricity. This is the apocalyptic version of American life that President Donald Trump argues would be the dire consequence of turning over the White House to Democrat Joe Biden. “He’ll bury you in regulations, dismantle your police departments, dissolve our borders, confiscate your guns, terminate religious liberty, destroy your suburbs,” Trump said in one of many over-the-top pronouncements about Biden in the campaign’s final weeks. Trump typically makes his warning about the fate of suburbia as he showcases his own decision to end federal regulations that govern the placement of low-incoming housing in the suburbs. Campaign rhetoric can often become heated and hyperbolic as candidates scrap for every last advantage before the votes are counted. Experts say instilling fear in one’s opponent is usually the primary motivating factor behind such talk as candidates seek to

give voters a reason to put a checkmark next to their name on the ballot. “It’s pure fear and fear based on a particular kind of ignorance that only works if your hearers have that particular kind of ignorance,” Robin Lakoff, professor emerita of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, said of Trump’s claims about Biden. Trump made fear — particularly the fear of immigrants — a major theme of his 2016 campaign. Now, he is giving voters a laundry list of mostly implausible reasons to fear a Biden presidency. “This election is a choice between a TRUMP RECOVERY or a BIDEN DEPRESSION,” the president tweeted, echoing what he tells supporters at rallies. “It’s a choice between a TRUMP BOOM or a BIDEN LOCKDOWN. It’s a choice between our plan to Kill the virus – or Biden’s plan to kill the American Dream!” Trump has criticized Biden for saying he’d follow the scientists, and the president claims the Democrat would shut the country down. In fact, Biden hasn’t said whether he’d endorse largescale shutdowns of the nation’s economy, if things get drastically worse, like much of the country did in March. “If you vote for Biden, it

means no kids in school, no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas and no Fourth of July together,” Trump said at a rally Wednesday in Goodyear, Arizona. “Other than that, you have a wonderful life.” Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said Trump’s rhetoric is effective with people who are already disposed to believe such things about Biden. But to a person who is not in the audience, she said, such talk is a “sign of desperation.” “The problem with the rhetoric is it’s an alienating rhetoric for people who hear it as extreme and improbable,” Jamieson said. It’s also problematic, she said, “because you expect a president of the United States to calibrate his rhetoric to reality in at least some plausible way.” Last week in Florida, Trump sought to boost his standing among older Americans angered by his response to the coronavirus by portraying Biden as the one who would do them harm. Trump falsely said Biden’s energy plan “would mean that America’s seniors have no air conditioning during the summer, no heat during the winter and no electricity during peak hours.” During a summer of unrest that followed the police killings

of Black men, Trump sought to portray Biden as beholden to the “radical-left” forces Trump claimed were behind the protests. He also argued that Biden wouldn’t be able to keep such unrest from spreading to the suburbs. David Zarefsky, who teaches courses about presidential rhetoric at Northwestern, said close examination shows the weakness in Trump’s argument about Biden and the suburbs. “I think most people would not put it together as being a sound argument,” said Zarefsky, a past president of the Rhetoric Society of America. Leading Democrats have deployed their own dire talk. In July, Biden said Trump was the country’s first racist president, which glossed over the presidents before Trump who had held slaves. “We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed. They’ve tried to get elected president,” Biden said. “He’s the first one that has.” And in his Democratic National Convention speech, former President Barack Obama said four more years of the Republican in the White House would jeopardize American democracy. “That’s what’s at stake right now. Our democracy,” Obama said. Jamieson said that claim is dif-

ferent because it is grounded in the president’s own norm-busting behavior, such as his attacks on the Justice Department and on the press, or his unfounded challenges to voting by mail and the legitimacy of Tuesday’s election. “Those who are making the argument about Trump are offering evidence from his rhetoric and actions,” she said, adding that the attacks on Biden are “not justified by what he’s said or done.” Vanessa Beasley, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University, said all presidents fall back on “us versus them” rhetoric during campaigns, but that once in office the rhetoric is tempered by the reality of having to govern for all. She cited Obama as an example, noting the disappointment among some of his supporters after he was elected and the aspirational “hope and change” rhetoric that helped power his political rise gave way to more measured discourse. “The difference with Trump,” she added, “is that he never stops the ‘us versus them.’” Beasley added that hyperbolic rhetoric can be optimistic, citing President Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” campaign from the 1980s as a classic example. “Hyperbole doesn’t always have to go to fear,” she said.

Lawsuit: Census workers were pressured to falsify data The U.S. Census Bureau was able to claim it had reached 99.9% of households when the 2020 census ended two weeks ago because census takers were pressured to falsify data as the statistical agency cut corners and slashed standards, according to an amended lawsuit from advocacy groups and local governments. In Baltimore, Southern California and the states of Massachusetts, North Carolina and Texas, some households were marked as completed after only one attempt to reach residents living there, according to the revised lawsuit filed by the National Urban League; the city of San Jose, California; and others. Elsewhere, census takers were pressured by supervisors to close cases as quickly as possible, and they did this by guessing the number of people living in a household, claiming an address was

too dangerous to visit or falsely saying residents of a household had refused to answer questions during door-knocking, said the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose. “Instructions such as those identified above suggested to enumerators that they should falsify data to close cases quickly,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit argues the disregard for accuracy was done to end the count early so that census numbers could be processed while President Donald Trump was still in the White House, regardless of who wins the presidential race. That would allow the Trump administration to enforce a presidential order seeking to exclude people living in the U.S. illegally when congressional seats are divvied up among the states. According to the lawsuit, the Census Bureau also relied heavily on methods other than directly interviewing households during its door-knocking

phase in order to achieve its high completion rate. Those less accurate methods relied on administrative records like IRS returns, interviewing neighbors or landlords and just getting a head count rather than getting details about residents’ race, sex, age, Hispanic origin and relationship to each other, the lawsuit said. In the race to finish field operations for the 2020 census, “Defendants cut many corners and made decisions that do not bear a reasonable relationship to the accomplishment of an actual enumeration,” the amended complaint said. “Such non-direct enumeration methods are less accurate and have a profound effect on immigrants and minorities — the hard-tocount populations.” The revised lawsuit was filed late Tuesday, two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and suspended an order from a district judge allowing the head count to contin-

BOSTON (AP) — Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals are unleashing a wave of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the U.S. healthcare system designed to lock up hospital information systems, which could hurt patient care just as nationwide cases of COVID-19 are spiking. In a joint alert Wednesday, the FBI and two federal agencies warned that they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” The alert said malicious groups are targeting the sector with attacks that produce “data theft and disruption of healthcare services.” The cyberattacks involve ransomware, which scrambles data into gibberish that can only be unlocked with software keys provided once targets pay up. Independent security experts say it has already hobbled at least five U.S. hospitals this week, and could potentially impact hundreds more. The offensive by a Russian-speaking criminal gang coincides with the U.S. presidential election, although there is no immediate indication they were motivated by

anything but profit. “We are experiencing the most significant cyber security threat we’ve ever seen in the United States,” Charles Carmakal, chief technical officer of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said in a statement. Alex Holden, CEO of Hold Security, which has been closely tracking the ransomware in question for more than a year, agreed that the unfolding offensive is unprecedented in magnitude for the U.S. given its timing in the heat of a contentions presidential election and the worst global pandemic in a century. The federal alert was co-authored by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. The cybercriminals launching the attacks use a strain of ransomware known as Ryuk, which is seeded through a network of zombie computers called Trickbot that Microsoft began trying to counter earlier in October. U.S. Cyber Command has also reportedly taken action against Trickbot. While Microsoft has had considerable success knocking its command-and-control servers offline through

legal action, analysts say criminals have still been finding ways to spread Ryuk. The U.S. has seen a plague of ransomware over the past 18 months or so, with major cities from Baltimore to Atlanta hit and local governments and schools hit especially hard. In September, a ransomware attack hobbled all 250 U.S. facilities of the hospital chain Universal Health Services, forcing doctors and nurses to rely on paper and pencil for record-keeping and slowing lab work. Employees described chaotic conditions impeding patient care, including mounting emergency room waits and the failure of wireless vital-signs monitoring equipment. Also in September, the first known fatality related to ransomware occurred in Duesseldorf, Germany, when an IT system failure forced a critically ill patient to be routed to a hospital in another city. Holden said he alerted federal law enforcement Friday after monitoring infection attempts at a number of hospitals, some of which may have beaten back infections. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Associated Press

FBI: ransomware assault threatens healthcare system

ue through the end of the month. The coalition of local governments and advocacy groups had sued the Trump administration to keep the count from ending a month early and to extend the deadline for turning in apportionment numbers from Dec. 31 to the end of April 2021. The Supreme Court decision allowed the Census Bureau to end field operations and start the process of crunching numbers ahead of the yearend deadline for turning in numbers used for divvying up congressional seats by state in a process called apportionment. The Trump administration said in court papers

last week that the courts should not interfere with efforts to meet the yearend deadline for turning in apportionment numbers now that the Supreme Court has ruled. Besides deciding how many congressional seats each state gets, in a process known as apportionment, the census helps determine the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending annually. The amended lawsuit argues that the Trump administration is pushing to finish data processing for the 2020 census by Dec. 31 so that the numbers used for apportionment are completed while Trump is still in office. That would allow

the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, to enforce a Trump directive seeking to exclude people living in the country illegally from the apportionment count, the lawsuit said. Federal courts in New York and California have ruled Trump’s order unlawful and unconstitutional. Trump is appealing the New York case to the Supreme Court. The coalition of local governments and advocacy groups says the Census Bureau doesn’t have enough time to crunch the numbers by Dec. 31, and the apportionment deadline should be moved to the end of next April.

DEAR ABBYBy Abigail Van Buren GRANDPARENTS HAVE NO IDEA WHY THEY’RE OUT IN THE COLD DEAR ABBY: My brother “Brian” and his wife, “Laurel,” have an adult son, “Dick,” who dated a girl I’ll call “Crystal” for 10 years before they got married. Everyone got along fine, until Crystal gave birth. After their first child was born, Crystal started withholding visits from my brother and his wife. Crystal and Dick had two more children. The oldest is now 6. The only way Brian and Laurel see their grandchildren is if there’s a family reunion, wedding, etc. Crystal allows her parents to see the kids and spend time with them whenever. Brian and Laurel are flabbergasted by what has happened. They have no idea why all of a sudden after giving birth, their DIL has not allowed them to visit the grandkids, babysit or anything. My brother and his wife are great people. They don’t drink to excess or use drugs and would be wonderful grandparents for these children. Would it be appropriate as a family member (aunt) to write a letter to Crystal and, in a kind, nonaccusatory way, explain the hurt this has caused and how much their children are missing out from not being around these two great individuals? -- MISSING OUT IN OREGON DEAR MISSING OUT: While it isn’t unheard of for the wife’s parents to take precedence over the husband’s, Crystal’s behavior does appear to be extreme. It also appears the way she’s acting is retaliatory, but the people who must get to the bottom of it are your brother and his wife. I don’t think there is anything to be gained by involving yourself in this sad mess, because if you do, Crystal and her husband will resent it. Sympathize, but stay out of it. DEAR ABBY: Five years ago, my daughter, “Angie,” and her two children moved in with me after she and her husband separated. I hoped she would get her finances and life together and be able to get a place of her own. What I didn’t realize at the time was that Angie had started a relationship and had fallen in love with a man she

met online. Her daughter was very upset about it. Angie was in a custody dispute over her youngest child, and we disagreed more than once about issues concerning the children. After a couple of years, she moved into her own place. She’s still involved with this individual. I haven’t met him and have no desire to. She’s upset with me because of it. I don’t want to see him with her because he has been married several times and is involved with drugs. I realize who Angie is involved with is her business and not mine, but I want nothing to do with him. How can I avoid a rift with her over this? -- SOURED IN SOUTH CAROLINA DEAR SOURED: No law says you HAVE to meet this person, and it is your privilege to avoid him if you wish. I’m not sure what your daughter expects from you. Does she want you to entertain him? Common sense would dictate that you do not want anyone who is involved with illegal substances in your home. However, I do think you should agree to meet him once. If Angie’s relationship with you is predicated on the idea that you will welcome this individual into your life with open arms because she has, you will then have to figure out how to navigate this. That she would allow someone like him to interact with her children shows very poor judgment. ------------------------------Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www. DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: “Abby’s Favorite Recipes” and “More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $16 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

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Pro Picks: How will Falcons lose next? BARRY WILNER

Associated Press

There is losing, and there is LOSING. The Atlanta Falcons have mastered the capitalized version. Blown leads, botched onside kicks and, last Sunday, scoring when they shouldn’t have. It’s all added up to a 1-6 record, a coach and general manager fired, and ridicule across America for what is actually one of the NFL’s best organizations. It might be a stretch to say that the Falcons’ foibles in 2020 date back to when they set a Super Bowl record for losing from ahead in the 2017 game against New England. Or maybe not. Clearly, Atlanta has shown a penchant for monumental collapses. On Thursday, they head to Carolina, already having lost

to the Panthers this season, although not with a spectacular stumble. That was the final game for coach Dan Quinn and GM Thomas Dimitroff. Some believe the best advice for the Falcons is to simply plow ahead, while others insist they must learn from these fiascos. “Playing on Thursday night makes you get out of the funk that you’re in after a tough loss,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “So, I think getting back into a game plan quickly, talking with coaches, starting to make plans for Thursday night kind of helps.” The Panthers, 3-4 in their first season under coach Matt Rhule, have been a pleasant surprise considering they were pegged to be the NFC South’s tail-ender. They hope to get back star running back Christian McCaffrey, who can be a difference-maker

if he’s fully healed from a high ankle sprain. The Panthers, No. 19 in the AP Pro32, are a 2 1-2-point favorite over the floundering No. 28 Falcons … PANTHERS, 28-23 KNOCKOUT POOL: The Chargers had us worried for a while before subduing Jacksonville. We aren’t worried about selecting KANSAS CITY this week. New York Jets (plus 19) at Kansas City: Probably should be our Best Bet, but that’s a ton of points to give. Still ... BEST BEST: CHIEFS, 38-10 Los Angeles Chargers (minus 3) at Denver: Yes, the QB matchup favors LA, but favoring the Chargers overall here? Nope … UPSET SPECIAL: BRONCOS, 22-20 Pittsburgh (plus 5) at Baltimore: Pro Picks’ top NFL rivalry, with the top spot in the AFC

North up for grabs … STEELERS, 22-20 Minnesota (plus 6 1-2) at Green Bay: If not for Jets-Chiefs, this would be our Best Bet … PACKERS, 30-16 New England (plus 3 1-2) at Buffalo: Things have gotten ugly in New England, with no Tom Brady to bail out the Patriots … BILLS, 17-15 No. 6 Tampa Bay (minus 10) at No. 30 New York Giants, Monday night Speaking of Brady, the Giants fared pretty well against him. Not here. BUCCANEERS, 30-16 Los Angeles Rams (minus 3½) at Miami: Aaron Donald, meet newbie QB Tua Tagovailoa … RAMS, 26-16 San Francisco (plus 3) at Seattle: The Seahawks don’t know how to avoid close games, even

with SF banged-up … SEAHAWKS, 31-30 New Orleans (minus 4) at Chicago: Can’t like much of anything the Bears showed in LA. It should be tighter in the Windy City … SAINTS, 24-16 Dallas (plus 7 1-2) at Philadelphia: We will take Philly’s grit and determination over Dallas’ ennui ... EAGLES, 22-10 Las Vegas (plus 3 1-2) at Cleveland: The Browns have proven they can beat bad teams. What are the Raiders? … BROWNS, 26-23 Tennessee (minus 5) at Cincinnati: The Bengals are growing even as they keep losing. But they haven’t grown this much … TITANS, 30-27 Indianapolis (minus 2) at Detroit: Don’t be fooled by the Lions reaching .500 … COLTS, 26-21

MLB: Turner violated protocols by returning to field ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Justin Turner violated coronavirus protocols when he celebrated with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates and he refused instructions from security to leave the field, behavior that Major League Baseball said risked the safety of others. The commissioner’s office said Wednesday it is starting a full investigation of the 35-year-old third baseman. The Dodgers won their first World Series championship since 1988 with a 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay in Game 6 on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field. Turner was pulled from the game following the seventh inning after MLB was notified that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was quarantined in a doctor’s office off to the side, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. Turner later returned to the field with a mask to celebrate the Dodgers’ title. He then took down his mask and posed for a team photo on the field. “Immediately upon receiving notice from the laboratory of a positive test, protocols were triggered, leading to the removal of Justin Turner from last night’s game,” MLB said in a statement Wednesday. “Turner was placed into isolation for the safety of those around him. However, following the Dodgers’ victory, it is clear that Turner chose to disregard the agreed-upon joint protocols and the instructions he was given regarding the safety and protection of others. “While a desire to celebrate is understandable, Turner’s decision to leave isolation and enter the field was wrong and put everyone he came in contact with at risk. When MLB Security raised the matter of being on the field with Turner, he emphatically refused to comply.” Turner became a free agent when his $64 million, four-year contract expired following the victory.

World Series sets new ratings low ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ six-game win over the Tampa Bay Rays received an average television rating 32% below the previous World Series low. The six games on Fox averaged a 5.2 rating, 12 share and 9,785,000 viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday. The previous low was a 7.6 rating, 12 share and 12,660,000 viewers for the San Francisco Giants’ four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in 2012. This year’s rating was down 36% from the 8.1 rating, 16 share and average of 14,067,000 viewers for the Washington Nationals’ seven-game win over the Houston Astros last year. Los Angeles’ 3-1 win in Game 6 on Tuesday night drew a 6.8 rating, 15 share and an average of 12,627,000 viewers, down from a 9.6 rating, 19 share and average of 16,551,000 viewers for Washington’s 7-2 win in Game 6 last year. Last year’s Series average was boosted by Game 7, when the Nationals’ 6-2 win drew a 13.1 rating, 25 share and an Turner’s agent, Greg Genske, did not immediately respond to a text from The Associated Press seeking comment. “Last night, nasal swabs were conducted on the Dodgers’ traveling party,” MLB said. “Both the Rays and Dodgers were tested again today and their travel back to their home cities will be determined after being approved by the appropriate authorities.” Both teams traveled home from the Dallas area on Wednesday in coordination with their local health authorities, a person familiar with the arrangements said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

Timbers clinch playoff spot with win over Galaxy PORTLAND (AP) — Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored a pair of first-half goals and the Portland Timbers clinched a spot in the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night. It is the fourth straight season that the Timbers (10-5-5) have made the postseason. “It’s obvious that it was our goal, not only to play in the playoffs — we want to do something more this year,” Niezgoda said. “I know we can do something more because we have the potential, we have the quality.” Cristian Pavon scored twice for the Galaxy (5-11-3), who have lost eight of their past nine games and are sitting in last place in the Western Conference. The Timbers, who won the MLS is Back tournament over the summer in Florida, were coming off a 1-1 draw with Cascadia Cup rival Seattle last week, conceding a goal in stoppage time for the second straight match. “We always feel that we can work more and be better. I think that is the reason why this group has done so well, and we have to continue to move forward,” Port-

land coach Giovanni Savarese said. “We had a great performance today. And now we have to make sure that we prepare for the next one and try to replicate, get in the game, and try to get another three points.” The Timbers went up early on Niezgoda’s header to the far post in the sixth minute. He got his second in the 19th, giving him seven goals on the season. Portland captain Diego Valeri added a penalty kick in the 30th minute. “Unacceptable start,” Galaxy midfielder Perry Kitchen said. “It’s just not good enough from us.” The Galaxy closed the gap to 3-1 with Pavon’s first goal less than a minute into the second half. But then Eryk Williamson scored in the 60th minute and Andy Polo’s stunning volley in the 74th padded Portland’s lead. Yimmi Chara finished with three assists. Pavon added his second in stoppage time, giving him nine goals this season. Portland was without top scorer Jeremy Ebobisse for the second consecutive game because of a concussion.

average of 23,217,000 viewers. Fox said when Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes and streaming platforms were included, Game 6 averaged 13,215,000 viewers. The audience for the Dodgers’ first title clincher since 1988 peaked at 14,351,000, Fox’s largest Tuesday night audience since Game 6 last year. Game 6 drew a 27.5 rating and 48 share in Los Angeles, the highest for the Dodgers in the market since the Game 7 loss to Houston in 2017 drew a 36.7 rating and 56 share. The final game drew an 18.2 rating and 33 share in Tampa, the highest for the Rays there since the fifth and final game of the 2008 World Series against Philadelphia drew a 29.8 rating and 42 share. This year’s Series averaged a 21.2 rating and 40 share in Los Angeles, and a 15.2 rating and 29 share in Tampa. The rating is the percentage of television households tuned in to a broadcast. The share is the percentage viewing a telecast among those households with TVs on at the time. No additional players received positive results from rapid PCR tests early Wednesday, the person said, but the wife of one Rays player tested positive, the person said. The wife and the player did not travel with the team and were to travel on their own, the person said. A private plane was being arranged for Turner’s travel, the person said. One of the Rays’ two charter planes had a lengthy mechanical delay in Dallas that caused one of the aircraft to be switched, and team said shortly after midnight that both planes had arrived back home. The commissioner’s office said it will consult with the players’ association as

part of its investigation. The union was in the process of gathering facts on the events. Turner hit .307 with four homers and 23 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season and .293 (17 for 58) with three homers and six RBIs in the postseason, including .320 with a pair of solo homers in the World Series. “Having a mask on and staying socially distanced, he wanted to come out and take a picture with the trophy, which can’t state strongly enough how big of a role he’s played in the success of this organization,” Friedman said. “But I think for him, just being a free agent, not knowing exactly how the future is going to play out, I don’t think there was anyone that was going to stop him from going out,” he said. “I think from at least my perspective and not watching it super closely with everything going on, but I think he was mindful of other people, especially other people that he hadn’t already been in contact with. This is something that we’re going to wrap our arms around tonight and in the morning and figure out where we’re going from here.” Turner, however, was visible on the field without a mask during the celebration. And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was nearby, also not wearing a mask. “I haven’t seen the pictures,” Friedman said. “If there are people around them without masks, that’s not good optics at all. I haven’t seen them, so it’s hard for me to speak to it specifically.” “But I think from our standpoint, I think the people who were around him were people that would be in the contact tracing web, anyway, with just how closely a lot of us have been around each other,” he said. “And so now I think the subsequent tests we’re going to take are really important to figure out what we do and to make sure that any of us that are potentially positive do not spread it to other people.”

Kyle Busch wins rain-delayed race in Texas FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Out of contention to defend his NASCAR Cup title, Kyle Busch at least extended his season winning streak to 16 with his first victory of 2020. He also denied a needed victory for Martin Truex Jr., his penalized Joe Gibbs Racing teammate who still has a chance to be one of the four drivers to be the new champion. “I feel like crap,” Busch said. “But I got a win.” Busch won the NASCAR playoff race at Texas that finished Wednesday, three days after it started. He was 0.468 seconds ahead of Truex, and had just enough fuel left to do a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch before needing a push from a tow truck to get the No. 18 Toyota to Victory Lane. “If it was one more lap, the 18 was probably to run out of gas,” said Truex, who led 53 laps. “So, I mean, it just was one of those things ... how close can you get without winning?” It was 12th top-three finish this season for Truex, whose only win came at Martinsville — NASCAR’s oldest and shortest track where the next race is Sunday. He also won there last fall. Truex had to go to the back

of the field when the Texas race started Sunday because of an illegal spoiler and lost crew chief James Small for the extended time in Texas. The 2017 champion and runner-up the last two seasons was also was docked 20 points, a crucial penalty since he was already below the cutoff line for the top four before that. A win would have taken care of that. “Coming here we had a lot of confidence and we had a strong run,” Truex said. “This time of year, second is great, it’s just not good enough.” There are spots for three other drivers to join Joey Logano for a run at the championship in the season finale Nov. 8 at Phoenix. Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski are above the cutline going to Martinsville. Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott are both 42 points behind the cutoff, while Truex is 53 back and Kurt Busch 98. The 57th career victory for Kyle Busch gives him at least one win in every year since 2005. The two-time Cup champion got his fourth Cup win at Texas, and his first Cup win since his championship-crowning win at Homestead last November.

“We got it and I was so nervous,” Busch said. “The last three laps. that’s like winning a championship, that’s how nervous I was.” Busch led five times and was in front for 90 of the 334 laps at the 1 1/2-mile Texas track that was finally dried out after more than three days of misty conditions and drizzle combined with cool temperatures. Temperatures were in the mid40s when the race finally resumed Wednesday after being on hold for 72 hours, 28 minutes, 34 seconds. The race was red-flagged Sunday after 52 laps because of the precipitation that lingered until Wednesday morning. Bowman finished fifth at Texas, just ahead of Keselowski and Kurt Busch. Hamlin was ninth, Logano 10th and Harvick, who had won the previous three fall races in Texas, was 16th after resuming Wednesday a lap back because of damage to his right side when he brushed the wall while leading on Sunday. Elliott finished 20th. “I don’t know about the craziest (race), but certainly the longest. I’m glad it’s over, and I’m glad we had a great run,” Keselowski said. “I’m very much looking forward to Martinsville.”