News Room

For the past hundred days, all across the country, people have questioned how long the current COVID-19 pandemic will last and when life will return to normal. Our society’s eagerness to be free of our homes combined with economic turmoil have led to many states and cities easing restrictions and physical distancing measures. Communities are asking when everything can fully open, from gyms to bars to churches. Children are asking when they can see their friends, and grandparents are asking when they can see their grandchildren.

For more than 40 years, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has made it illegal to bribe public officials to win government business. Since the act’s adoption in 1977, the Department of Justice has brought more than 390 enforcement actions under the law. In 2019, the agency, together with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also is responsible for enforcement, imposed a total of $2.6 billion in fines, the most ever for a single year.

The expected return of 15,000 University of Massachusetts Amherst students to campus dormitories and nearby apartment complexes next month has alarmed neighboring residents and town officials, who fear the influx of young people will lead to a spike in coronavirus cases. In a sharply worded letter to UMass Amherst chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman warned that the flagship public university’s decision to hold most classes online but invite students to return to campus could be dangerous. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been deeply disruptive for supply chains as businesses grapple with fluctuations in supply and demand, intermittent outbreaks in different parts of the world, and speculation about reshoring and reducing reliance on China. Many companies are looking at restructuring their supply chains, trying to balance resilience with efficiency and reduced costs — a process either started or accelerated because of the pandemic.

North Carolina’s COVID-19 metrics don’t bode well for the future. Although not as concerning, the numbers don’t look so great for Wilkes County either. Public health experts say the extent to which North Carolinians rise to the occasion with social distancing, facial coverings and other safety measures will have a great bearing on whether conditions here become as bad as they have elsewhere before a vaccine for the virus becomes available for mass distribution. This isn’t expected until 2021.