Tag: tax

A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization

Could 13,000 smart thermometers keep Nebraska COVID-19-free?

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The vast majority of Nebraska is composed of rural territory: wide swaths of land occupied by pockets of roughly 2,500 people. Despite the state’s diffuse populous, it, like others, has struggled to contain the spread of COVID-19 over the past year. School officials are especially wary, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recently released guidelines that reduce social distancing for students to 3 feet. Towns in rural Nebraska and several other regions around the U.S. are investing in new measures to keep schools safe from COVID-19 and future viral outbreaks. To finance these initiatives, they’re turning to local government organizations as well as corporate sponsors. A health tech company called Kinsa has sent some 21 school districts and six private schools in Nebraska 13,000 of its smart thermometers to help keep better track of sick students. School principles and nurses get a digital dashboard where they can view students’ anonymized symptom and fever data, broken down by grade. Parents are encouraged to take their children’s temperature before coming into school, where students are also required to wear masks. “Nebraska is very independent,” says Burke Harr, a former state senator who now counsels the Nebraska Cooperative Government, a group that ensures 93 small counties and towns in the state have the funding for roadway repairs and other common local infrastructure. “We were trying to find the least intrusive way to help predict where COVID may or may not be and to stop its spread or to at least alert us of where there was an issue.” In May 2020, Nebraska saw a small spike in cases, a significant portion of which were coming from meatpacking plants. Then in November, the state saw a steep incline, reaching a peak of 3,500 new cases per day. Some of the most high-risk areas were also some of the least populated. Boone County, for example, currently has one of the worst rates of COVID-19 infection in the state and has a population of only 5,200. “It hit rural Nebraska because there were less precautions taken,” says Harr, noting that in some parts of the state you’d be hard-pressed to find someone wearing a mask. “There isn’t the compactness of the cities, but there were spreader events Read More …

Why Amazon workers in Alabama are trying to unionize

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This article was produced by Capital & Main, an award-winning journalism nonprofit. It is co-published here with permission. The union organizing drive at the mammoth Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama located 20 miles south of Birmingham, Alabama, has the feel of both a social and religious movement. There are five days until the mail-in ballots will be counted to determine whether the company’s 5,800 employees will gain union representation. Last week, organizers and workers gathered at the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union’s scruffy office to go over their final push and to talk to reporters from around the world who have descended upon Birmingham. Jennifer Bates, an African American “learning ambassador” at the Amazon facility—she trains new workers—believes that her courage to fight the corporate giant comes from a spiritual source, “the Almighty, the creator of all things.” She also traces her personal strength to the civil rights movement that rocked Birmingham in the early 1960s. “I really believe that in this organizing drive we are following the foot soldiers who came before us,” she says. Josh Brewer, the union’s lead organizer, is an ordained minister from Michigan who found his way into the labor union movement while trying to ensure his life had purpose, and he was immediately given some of the toughest organizing challenges. Brewer sees the Amazon campaign as a “David vs. Goliath” battle, his biggest career challenge so far. On this day Brewer has one eye on the office television to see if a tornado sweeping through Mississippi and Alabama is going to require moving into the basement, as he reflects on the five-month and 24/7 commitment that he has made to the unionization effort Read More …

How Biden is using internal government startups to lure tech talent to D.C.

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As the Biden years begin, there are hopeful signs that the new administration is serious about using technology to streamline the work of the government. The U.S. Digital Service and 18F —tech-forward “startups” that formed within the government during the Obama years—may get renewed attention and funding. While those groups were successful within government agencies, much work needs to be done to better coordinate federal programs with states and counties, work that was largely ignored during the Trump years. Read More …

The 10 most innovative transportation companies of 2021

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This year’s most innovative transportation companies continue to push back on the carbon-heavy transportation industry with electric alternatives—for driving, biking, freight hauling, and even flying. Also losing traction: Human operators, with advances in cars, taxis, trailers, and planes that pilot themselves. 1. Tesla For powering a global movement toward electric vehicles Last March, the leader in high-performance electric vehicles, Tesla , made its 1 millionth car. The January prior, it became the most valuable American automaker of all time, and by July the most valuable in the world. After reaching profitability for the first time in 2019, Tesla remained profitable in 2020, rolled out the Model Y SUV, announced a new factory in Texas, and became a major player in the Chinese electric car market. 2. Rad Power Bikes For electrifying the pandemic biking experience This was the year that Americans finally, really embraced e-bikes. The successful launch of new budgeted-minded e-bikes and surging sales of its $1,500 RadRover electric fat tire bikes helped Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes —which sells directly to consumers through its website—grab the lion’s share of the market, and roughly tripling its 2019 sales. [Illustration: Jacob Pinson ] 3. RepairSmith For calling the mechanic to your driveway On-demand mechanic RepairSmith launched in August 2019. The Daimler AG–backed service deploys a fleet of specially equipped Mercedes Sprinter vans to make house calls in metropolitan areas of California, Nevada, Arizona, and more, and uses data-driven logistics to ensure that most customers can get repairs within two to three days of booking. Offering no-contact repairs throughout the pandemic, RepairSmith expanded service from two to 325-plus locations in 2020. 4. Read More …

With this Black History Month misstep, Google forgot how racist the internet is

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This February, Google made it easier for everyone to support Black businesses with its “search Black-owned near you” feature. This new feature has been heavily advertised and promoted. However, businesses and customers noticed a downside to Google’s Black History Month stunt: a surge of overwhelmingly racist reviews on business profiles. We live in a world where online reviews matter. After stock trading app Robinhood shut down Gamestop’s stock purchases, thousands of angry people took to the Google Play Store reviews section of the app. In just one day, Robinhood’s rating fell from five stars to one star and Google swept in to delete nearly 100,000 negative reviews, saying that the reviews were “inorganic.” Forbes reports that 93% of people read local reviews to make a shopping decision Read More …