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The impact of the pandemic appears to have reached the North Pole. For this holiday season, Santa may be stuck behind Plexiglas. Malls across the country are planning pandemic-minded visits to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Mall Santa Steve Miller has been putting on the red suit full-time for four years.“I prefer to do the mall, because I do it for the kids,” sad Miller.But this year, there won’t be any hugs or sitting on Santa’s knee.“Because of the virus, it's going to take a little of fun out of it, but it's going to be much more safe, which is the number one thing that we want,” said Miller.Appearances by St. Nick at malls, corporate events and private appearances is a holiday tradition that’s already being impacted by the pandemic.“We've been working with a lot of retailers as well as malls too. How can we still have the experience of Santa, but keep everybody safe?” said Mitch Allen, founder of HireSanta.com.According to entertainment staffing firm Hire Santa, bookings that usually peak beginning in early November were down 95% due to coronavirus concerns. But after advertising their safety efforts, demand is up 20% compared to this time last year.“The Santa Claus entertainers, as you can imagine, they're a high-risk group. So, we want to make sure that Santa's safety is our number one priority,” said Allen.Allen says they’ve developed a Plexiglas "Santa shield" that creates a physical barrier to allow for photos with Santa.“We at HireSanta.com are also working on virtual Santa visits where you can literally visit with Santa within the confines of your own home,” said Allen.Brookfield Properties, the second largest operator of U.S. malls, says it will host Santa in 134 of its 150 plus malls with "touchless experiences."Santa’s Village, a popular Illinois amusement park temporarily shut down by the pandemic, is taking Santa on the road.“For over 60 years, boys and girls have come to the house here in the park to visit me. But now we're going to take my house to your house,” said the amusement park’s Santa Claus.Their mobile Santa home has a separate entrance and exit to maintain social distancing, and a working fireplace will keep visitors warm and plenty of masks and "Santa-tizer" will be on hand as well.“It's great, because we can actually bring again that magic from the park to people's individual homes in local communities,” said Santa’s Village marketing director Brian Wright. “That way people can actually have a personalized visit with Santa.”Whether behind Plexiglas or inside a traveling "One North Pole," changes are afoot to ensure that Santa Claus is still coming to town. 2653

The Olmsted Locks and Dam project, located on the Ohio River between Illinois and Kentucky, has taken 30 years and billion to complete.  But after three decades, the project is slated to be operational in October.The engineers and workers behind the development say the investment is worth it."The Ohio flows into the Mississippi 16 miles downriver from us, and then it's open passage all the way down to New Orleans and into the ocean,” explains Mick Awbreyk, the Army Corps of Engineers deputy chief for the Olmsted Division. “There is no locks and dams from the Olmsted to the ocean."He says the innovative details that went into the project are “phenomenal and truly world class.”Awbreyk will see the opening of the project, which began in 1988.So, why has it taken so long to complete?“The nature of the project; a lot of different things have led to the duration,” explains Awbreyk of the timeline. “One: it hasn't been fully funded until calendar 2013, fiscal years 2014 and that’s the nature of civil works projects."The dam crosses one of the busiest shipping lanes in the United States. Awbreyk says about 91 million tons of goods on average come through the area per year.“The equivalent of 25,000 semi-trucks worth of cargo passes through this site every year,” says Awbreyk. “You can imagine the wear and tear on the interstates and the highways that would have an extra 25,000 vehicles that will be on there per day."The project's price tag has grown to around billion. Workers here say it's money Americans will see come back to them."It’s widely important. The return on investment on this particular project is 0 million per year to the nation,” says Awbreyk. “That’s a net number, so ultimately it’s a little under a billion price tag; it will pay for itself in five years.” 1817

The political and judicial world were turned upside down on Friday following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While many questions remain in Washington, like whether President Donald Trump has the votes to replace Ginsburg before the election, one thing is clear: issues will come before the Supreme Court very soon.HEALTH CARE ARGUMENTS IN NOVEMBERWhile election issues are expected, the future of the Affordable Care Act is an issue guaranteed to come up before the Supreme Court soon. A hearing is set to take place one week after the election regarding whether the law can be struck down. Essentially, Republicans from around the country believe that the only reason the Supreme Court upheld the law in 2012 was because the opinion said Congress has the power to tax. Since that time, however, Trump has removed the tax penalty for not having health insurance. The thinking from some conservatives is that since the tax penalty is gone, the entire law can be struck down now, too. WHERE THE COURT STANDS Prior to Ginsburg's death, the general thinking was that the law would still stand. It faced a challenged in 2012, but Chief Justice John Roberts sided with four liberal justices to uphold it. With Ginsburg's passing, there are only three liberal justices on the court. If Roberts joins the liberal justices it would create a 4-4 tie. "If there is a 4-4 split on the court, then no precedent is set and whatever the lower court decided stands," Professor Paul Schiff Berman with George Washington University said. That would mean parts of the Affordable Care Act can be struck down since lower courts have already ruled in that way. If Trump is able to get another nominee on the court before the hearing, it would only make the court more conservative. Berman cautioned though that other conservatives could potentially join the liberals on this case since the lawsuit's legal standing is murky. Still, the future of the Affordable Care Act is in more jeopardy today than it was last Thursday. 2020

The pandemic has resulted in a major increase in donated items, so the selection at stores like Goodwill is better than ever before.Families that are trying to make ends meet are benefiting a lot from this surge in donations."It’s not just a little bit. It’s carloads of donations," said Goodwill store manager Sarah Guthrie. "It’s just been crazy. Donation after donation. The first weekend I was here, we did over 1,000 donations between Saturday and Sunday. It's about a car for every 12 seconds."Guthrie has been store manager at the Castle Rock, Colorado, Goodwill location for about a month and a half. She's seen the same thing just about every day since."Right now, our donation center starts at 10 a.m., but starting around 9:15 or so, we start getting cars in our line and a lot of times it’ll wrap all the way around the building and into the street," said Guthrie.They see car after car of people dropping off bags of things they no longer need."Spring cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning this year," said Goodwill Industries International CEO Steve Preston.He says this isn’t just unique to this one store. Donations are up across the country where stores are open, which means now is the time to go shopping for a bargain."That is the logical connection. So, when we get a lot of great donations coming in, it is a super time to hit the store because our category is called “Treasure Hunting”, category in retail, and there are just a ton of treasures in there because so many people have been bringing in those donations," said Preston.Some stores are seeing an increase of up to 50% in donations, and they’re having a hard time storing it in their stores."Many of our local stores are renting additional warehouse space. They’re finding trucks to be able to hold those donations," said Preston.Which is the case back at Guthrie’s store."We store what we can here in the store. We process what we can here in the store. But, a lot of what we get in through our donation line actually goes to our warehouses," said Guthrie.More donations mean selling more goods, which turns into more job training for people who are now finding themselves unemployed. 2179

The handwriting is on the wall: Sears appears to be nearing bankruptcy.One of Sears' major shareholders just dumped a chunk of his stock for pennies on his original investment. The company added a new director who is familiar with bankruptcies and restructuring. Reports circulated that the company is talking to advisers and banks in preparation for a bankruptcy filing.Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, faces an October 15 deadline to pay 4 million on its debt. CEO and primary shareholder Eddie Lampert told the company's board that it was crucial it restructure more than billion it owes "without delay," according to a recent regulatory filing. 684