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It looked down over Celina, Tennessee like a watchful eye, and for decades, Cumberland River Hospital provided a sense of security for this struggling rural county.But now, the hospital sits empty and dark; its hallways filled with silence. The death of this county’s only hospital has thrust this place into darkness, and dozens more like it across the country are potentially about to suffer the same fate.“We are seeing a huge divide in healthcare among Americans,” explained Johnny Presley, the owner of this small rural hospital.Hospitals across the country are struggling now more than ever, as patients are still avoiding elective surgeries because of COVID-19. Those are the bread and butter of most hospital's bottom line.In Celina, Tennessee, a town of about 1,400 people, the hospital also served as the county’s biggest employer. Presley spent months fighting with Medicare for reimbursement payments until he was finally forced to close the emergency room.He’s poured million of his own money into the hospital in an attempt to save its life.“When people can’t live in the rural communities they grew up in without access to healthcare, it’s almost like you’re in a prison,” he said.The cruel irony of a hospital closing in the middle of a pandemic is not lost on anyone who lives in this or any other rural community in America. At this hospital alone, they were able to stabilize or save more than a dozen COVID-19 patients over the past few months. Patients that now will be forced to drive more than an hour for care to the next closest emergency room.“So, many people are going to die. They’re gonna die because they don’t get the emergency care they need,” said Stephen Headrick, who lives in Celina and has relied on this emergency room countless times over the years.Since 2005, a staggering 174 rural hospitals have shut down nationwide. Fifteen of those closures happened this year alone, leaving a vacuum of care in their absence. Texas and Tennessee lead the nation in hospital closures.By the end of this year, hospitals across the country are expected to lose more than 0 billion, a staggering statistic that ripples far beyond the walls of any emergency room.When Cumberland River closed, nearly 100 doctors, nurses and staff were let go. By some estimates, 2020 may end up claiming the lives of nearly 200 more hospitals.“To keep our hospitals open during this pandemic, the government has to intervene,” Presley explained.With federal aid, Presley could reopen the hospital tomorrow, but so far, his pleas to politicians have gone unanswered.“I think it’s just a travesty that this country is going through. This country is so polarized that the most basic human needs of food and healthcare are being overlooked,” he said.Rural lifelines are on life support as American lives hang in the balance. 2841

In the 45 weeks since the year began, 43 law enforcement officers across the US have been shot and killed in the line of duty, including a sheriff's deputy responding to a mass shooting at a bar in California this week.The parameters CNN followed in this count are: 273

It’s no secret we’re living in a very divisive time right now. It seems to be Democrats versus Republicans, or conservatives versus liberals. Whether it’s a family member or life partner, many of us are living with someone of an opposing viewpoint.In recent years, Jim Ryan has gotten used to playing pool by himself, but of course, he’d rather not play alone. He says in his old age he’s really appreciated having somebody else by his side.“I’m a widower and it’s nice to have a significant other that can help you out, and you can help them out,” Ryan said.Two and a half years ago, he met a new partner, but it didn’t take long to find out their political opinions were very different. He says he’s been a lifelong Democrat, and she’s a Republican. In a game of pool, if he were solids, she’d be stripes.“She said well, ‘Is that a dealbreaker since we’re opposite viewpoints?’ And I said 'Well, let me get back to you on that’ and we’ve been dating ever since,” Ryan said.Even though their feelings for each other are mutual, Ryan’s partner did not want to be identified in this story. He says she told him there’s too much tension between parties right now. Nonetheless, they have found a way to continue loving each other regardless of their political differences.“Politics, like religion, can be a game changer,” Couple's Counselor Ray Wynfield said.Ray Wynfield has been a couple’s counselor for nearly four decades. He says he offers advice to couples who politically disagree.“It’s a choice, people need to know it’s a choice. You can end a relationship over a church or religion, you can a relationship over politics – over Trump and Biden.”However, if you want to keep the peace between you and your significant other, or another family member, Wynfield says there’s a simple solution.“Don’t discuss it," Wynfield said. "Unless you can discuss it in a kind and respectful way where both people’s opinions and both people’s positions are respected.”Ryan says that’s something he often practices.“There are times where I have to bite my lip, and usually I’m the one that bites my lip,” Ryan said.According to Wynfield, if you and a loved one are struggling to get along in the midst of election season, you can work on skills to find peace between each other.“We need good communication skills, we need skills on how to be aware of our emotions, how to be aware of other people’s emotions,” Wynfield said.If you really do want to discuss politics, he says you shouldn’t react to another person’s views in a hateful way.“Even if you don’t like their candidate, even if you don’t respect their candidate, even if you think their candidate is evil, you don’t say that,” Wynfield said.In his 70 years of life, Ryan says he’s had civil conversations with people of opposing viewpoints. He’d like to see the same happen at the Capitol and all over the country.“I have a lot of friends that are lifelong Republicans and we get along just fine,” Ryan said.Above all else, Wynfield says we need to focus on the good our loving relationships bring us. He says there is so much more to each of us than our political affiliation.“What I hope people do in the next two weeks and after the election regardless of the results – that people can be kind and loving to each other and really appreciate the magic that they can have with a special friend,” Wynfield said. 3368

In the largest U.S. evacuation of the pandemic, more than half a million people were ordered to flee the Gulf Coast on Tuesday as Laura strengthened into a hurricane that forecasters said could slam Texas and Louisiana with ferocious winds, heavy flooding and the power to push seawater miles inland.More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said as much as 13 feet (4 meters) of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities.Forecasters Tuesday night expected the storm to increase in strength by 33%, from 90 mph (144 kmh) to 120 mph (193 kmh) in just 24 hours. They project Laura to strike the coast as a major Category 3 hurricane. The strengthening may slow or stop just before landfall, forecasters said.“The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane, Category 3 or even higher. The waters are very warm where the storm is now and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Laura is shaping up to look a lot like Hurricane Rita did 15 years ago when it ravaged southwest Louisiana.“We’re going to have significant flooding in places that don’t normally see it,” he said.Ocean water was expected to push onto land along more than 450 miles (724 kilometers) of coast from Texas to Mississippi. Hurricane warnings were issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and storm surge warnings from the Port Arthur, Texas, flood protection system to the mouth of the Mississippi River.The evacuations could get even bigger if the storm’s track veers to the east or west, said Craig Fugate, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Fearing that people would not evacuate in time, Edwards said those in southwest Louisiana need to be where they intend to ride out Laura by noon Wednesday, when the state will start feeling the storm’s effects.Officials urged people to stay with relatives or in hotel rooms to avoid spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Buses were stocked with protective equipment and disinfectant, and they would carry fewer passengers to keep people apart, Texas officials said.Whitney Frazier, 29, of Beaumont spent Tuesday morning trying to get transportation to a high school where she could board a bus to leave the area.“Especially with everything with COVID going on already on top of a mandatory evacuation, it’s very stressful,” Frazier said.The storm also imperiled a center of the U.S. energy industry. The government said 84% of Gulf oil production and an estimated 61% of natural gas production were shut down. Nearly 300 platforms have been evacuated.While oil prices often spike before a major storm as production slows, consumers are unlikely to see big price changes because the pandemic decimated demand for fuel.As of Tuesday evening, Laura was 435 miles (700 kilometers) southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, traveling west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kmh). Its peak winds were 85 mph (140 kph).Laura passed Cuba after killing nearly two dozen people on the island of Hispaniola, including 20 in Haiti and three in the Dominican Republic, where it knocked out power and caused intense flooding. The deaths reportedly included a 10-year-old girl whose home was hit by a tree and a mother and young son crushed by a collapsing wall.As much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain could fall in some parts of Louisiana, said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana.At Grand Isle, Louisiana, Nicole Fantiny said she planned to ride out the hurricane on the barrier island along with a few dozen other people.“It could still change, but we keep on hoping and praying that it keeps on going further west like it’s doing,” said Fantiny, who manages a restaurant.In Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas, mandatory evacuation orders went into effect shortly before daybreak Tuesday. “If you decide to stay, you’re staying on your own,” Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie said.Shelters opened with cots set farther apart to curb coronavirus infections. People planning to enter shelters were told to bring just one bag of personal belongings each, and a mask to reduce the spread of coronavirus.“Hopefully it’s not that threatening to people, to lives, because people are hesitant to go anywhere due to COVID,” Robert Duffy said as he placed sandbags around his home in Morgan City, Louisiana. “Nobody wants to sleep on a gym floor with 200 other people. It’s kind of hard to do social distancing.”Officials in Houston asked residents to prepare supplies in case they lose power for a few days or need to evacuate homes along the coast. Some in the area are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey three years ago.Laura’s arrival comes just days before the Aug. 29 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which breached the levees in New Orleans, flattened much of the Mississippi coast and killed as many as 1,800 people in 2005. Less than a month later, Hurricane Rita struck southwest Louisiana as a Category 3 storm.Laura wasn’t much of a concern for Kerry Joe Richard of Stephensville, Louisiana. As the storm approached, he was angling for catfish from a small dock overlooking the bayou that’s behind his elevated wood-frame home.“The only thing I’m worried about is if the fish quit biting,” he said.___Plaisance reported from Stephensville, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Juan Lozano in Houston; Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge; Louisiana; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Cathy Bussewitz in New York; and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report. 5945

In the midst of an economic downtown, small businesses had to figure out how to stay afloat. The website fundBLACKfounders launched earlier this year, and is providing a platform to help small businesses that are in need, or are looking to launch.“We offer a boutique movie-going entertainment experience,” Kendra Tucker explained. She helps run Next Act Entertainment. The idea for the Maryland business started in 2018, in part with co-owner Anthony Fykes.“2019 we opened up the theater. We took up a 1938 Art Deco theater right outside of Baltimore,” Fykes explained. “And we basically renovated it.”Then COVID-19 hit, forcing businesses like movie theaters to close temporarily.“During this time we knew that we just needed to survive as most small businesses do, and we had a lot of guests that were asking us about, How can we support you?'” Fykes said.For some businesses, closures weren’t temporary. A study out of Stanford University showed the drop in business owners from February to April 2020 was the largest on record, and black-owned businesses saw a 41 percent drop.So Fykes looked for help. “I basically just did a Google search and I found Renee, and the platform looked legit,” he said.He had come across fundBLACKfounders, a crowdfunding platform.“We were super nervous at first around even doing something like this. We were like, how are we going to be perceived, are our guests going to think we’re going belly up?,” Fykes said.“What I noticed with crowdfunding is that not a lot of African Americans were using it for ownership or for building businesses or startups,” Renee King said. She started fundBLACKfounders. She said anyone can start a campaign on the platform -- but unlike other crowdfunding sites, fundBLACKfounders coaches businesses through the process, and gives founders flexibility. The platform takes five percent commission on funds earned.“They can raise or lower their goal amount,” King explained. “As the money starts to come in and our merchant account clears it, the money goes straight to the founder.”“Starting in the end of January 2020 through now, we’ve raised over ,000…for 12 black entrepreneurs,” she said.For Next Act, the platform provided a way for the community to help.“It’s success is really built on the strength of the community that supports it, and fundBLACKfounders, it matches the type of strength and support that we get from our community,” Tucker said.For other companies like Saraa Green’s startup, the platform gives her a way to get an idea going. “We initially wanted to raise capital for our business to bring our tool out into the market,” she said.Her product is called The Braid Releaser. “My mom had to take out our braids and take down our braids and that would take hours, and the tools that she was currently using really wasn't doing its job,” Green explained. “She wanted to create a tool that would decrease the time in taking down braids, that is comfortable to use, and that essentially reduces the hair loss during the process.”That’s when she met Renee King. “I did not want my mother's dream to just come to an end because of this pandemic,” Green said.Nearly eight in 10 small businesses are now fully or partially open as of June, according to a poll by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.“What's good is this is actually helping us think through how do we flex into the entertainment part of our business,” Tucker said. Next Act has expanded to become a broader entertainment space, and is even being used for private events to help stay in business.As fundBLACKfounders grows, King wants the platform to help connect businesses to their communities.“We need to start helping black entrepreneurs a little bit more, and getting them more funding so that they can scale the solutions they need for their communities or they need for the world in general,” King said. 3864