May 11, 2020 - Sports

MLB owners send plan for July start to players' union

Fenway Park in Boston remains closed. Photo: Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

MLB owners approved a proposal to send to the league's players' union that would start this year's baseball season without fans around the Fourth of July, AP reports.

Details: Under the plan, spring training would start in early to mid-June. Teams would then play roughy 82 regular-season games, mostly against teams in their own division. The playoffs would be expanded from 10 teams to 14 by doubling the number of wild cards in each league.

  • Teams in jurisdictions where they couldn't get permission to play in their home stadium would play in spring training stadiums or on neutral fields.
  • The All-Star Game, which is currently scheduled for July 14, would likely be canceled.
  • The proposal also temporarily expands the use of a designated hitter to the National League.

Yes, but: It's not going to be easy. A key aspect of the proposal involves players' salaries being paid through a 50/50 revenue split with the league.

  • An owners' proposal in 1994 that included a revenue split and salary cap led to a players' strike that saw the World Series get wiped out that year.

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Axios
Aug 18, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus forces rethinking of safety net for working women

Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Photo: "Axios on HBO"

The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for working women, but one prominent women's policy expert says it could provide a new opportunity to create the kinds of social supports they should have had all along.

Driving the news: In an interview with "Axios on HBO," Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said the pandemic has created a "she-cession" — a loss of jobs that has disproportionately affected women and highlighted the gaps in the safety net for working families.

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Axios
Updated Oct 7, 2020 - Health

World coronavirus updates

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand now has active no coronavirus cases in the community after the final six people linked to the Auckland cluster recovered, the country's Health Ministry confirmed in an email Wednesday.

The big picture: The country's second outbreak won't officially be declared closed until there have been "no new cases for two incubation periods," the ministry said. Auckland will join the rest of NZ in enjoying no domestic restrictions from late Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, declaring that NZ had "beat the virus again."

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Rebecca Falconer
Aug 18, 2020 - World

CDC lifts travel warning as Bermuda ramps up testing to suppress coronavirus

A view of Coral Beach, Bermuda. Photo: Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The CDC has lifted its coronavirus warning against nonessential travel to Bermuda, as the island ramps up a scheme to attract foreign workers on year-long residencies and marks 57 days with no detected community spread.

Driving the news: Over half of the British Overseas Territory's population has been tested for COVID-19 since on-island capabilities were set up on March 17. Premier David Burt told Axios the strict testing has left him "confident that we are going to be able to catch any clusters before they spread."

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