The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution

Harvard University Press

The thesis of Lindsay Chervinskys excellent new book is that the U.S. Constitution of 1787 established the national government of the United States in general terms, but it did not descend to particulars. Article II, which lays out the powers and responsibilities of the executive, left so many things vague that the first presidents had in many ways to invent the American presidency. None played a more important role than the hero of the American Revolution, George Washington. To which we must say, thank goodness.

Washington did not particularly want to be the president of the United States. After the war of independence ended, he resigned his commission on Dec. 23, 1783, with a characteristic show of republican modesty. He had saved the country. All he wanted now was to retire to his beloved estate at Mount Vernon, like the Roman hero Cincinnatus in the pages of Plutarchs Lives, and spend the rest of his life in the quiet enjoyment of agricultural pursuits. As early as 1776, Washington wrote to his brother John, Nothing in this world would contribute so much to mine as to be once more fixed among you in the peaceable enjoyment of my own vine and fig-tree.

Washington had to be cajoled even guilted into attending the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787, and then to accept the unanimous summons of the people to serve as the first president of the United States. He wound up fulfilling two terms, mostly because his closest associates, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, assured him that he must stay at his post long enough to secure the post-revolution settlement. By the time he left public life once and for all for Mount Vernon in March 1797, the great man was spent. He had only two years and nine months to sit under his fig tree and bask in his fame before his death on Dec. 14, 1799. Even Great Britains King George III had conditionally called Washington the greatest man in the world.

Washington assumed the presidency on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City. He was 57 years old. Because the Constitution was silent on so many questions and he had no prior American tradition on which to model himself, President Washington had to invent a large number of presidential protocols, including the cabinet. As always, he was acutely aware that he was playing a role in the theater of the world. To his friend Catharine Macaulay Graham, he wrote, I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any action, whose motives may not be subject to a double interpretation. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.

The whole world was watching. Washington knew that history was watching, too, and the future of the American republic depended on his getting it right. He understood that if his presidency for any reason failed, the fragile American republic might not survive. As he traveled to New York City to take the oath of office, Washington wrote an astonishing letter to his friend Henry Knox: My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

Washington was determined to bring dignity, formality, a somewhat severe deportment and perhaps even a touch of what we would call majesty (a term he would have disclaimed) to the office. He did not want to behave like a king. Americans had had enough of that and Washington was genuinely committed to the creation of a sustainable American republic. But he did not want to be so informal that the American people would fail to show sufficient respect to the office, to the one individual who represented the entire country, not merely a state or a congressional district. Washington wanted the American people to look up to their president as a person of unimpeachable decorum a man of substance who measured his words before releasing them from his pen or mouth, a person of exquisite civility, perhaps a slightly aloof civility, a man who embodied the best qualities of the American experiment, a person who carefully avoided anything that was low, vulgar, indecorous, or demagogic. He sought to be the president of all of the American people, not merely those whose political views he preferred. Washington put up with Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state for two and a half years, even though Jefferson was somewhat disloyal and already, with his closest friend James Madison, laying the groundwork for an opposition party.

Washington had to make a dizzying number of decisions about presidential deportment and protocol with the whole world watching (and judging) his every move. How should a president travel? Should the president ever stay in a private citizens home? Should he shake hands with mere citizens? Should he wear a ceremonial sword? Should he have a formidable title? Who makes the first visit, the president or the other gentleman or woman? (If youve ever read a Jane Austen novel, you know that this was a big issue in the 18th century.) Should the president address Congress in person or through intermediaries? Should he hold public receptions, which any decently attired American could attend? What exactly did the Constitution mean by indicating that the president should seek the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate on some issues? Should the president tour the country? How does the president balance his ceremonial functions and his political ambitions? What is the role of the presidents wife (not yet known as the First Lady)? How much should the president cooperate with congressional requests and investigations; when should the president invoke executive privilege? Under what circumstances should a president veto congressional legislation? Can he do so over policy disagreements, or must he believe the legislation to be unconstitutional? Should the president write a veto message? Should the Supreme Court be consulted informally on constitutional questions? How strictly should the separation of powers doctrine be interpreted? If the country goes to war, should the president serve as commander in chief in the field?

Lindsay Chervinksy, author of The Cabinet.

One of the great strengths of Chervinskys book is her interest in the social behavior of the first couple. George and Martha Washington had to establish the protocols of how the presidential couple made themselves available to the government insiders and average citizens of the republic. The Washingtons erred on the side of a somewhat frigid formality. At his weekly levees (on Tuesday afternoons), Washington bowed slightly, but did not shake hands with his guests. Martha Washington hosted slightly less intimidating gatherings for women (and some men) on Friday evenings. When the democrat Jefferson assumed the presidency in 1801, he swept aside the pomposities, walked to his first inaugural, met guests in his house slippers, corresponded freely with a wide range of citizens, rich and poor, powerful and plain, and let his pet mockingbird Dick wander freely through the White House. His presidential protocol, he famously said, was pell-mell.

The Constitution Washington had helped to create and now embodied did not establish a formal cabinet. It authorizes but does not compel the president to require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." The Constitution does not specify what the executive departments will be, or how many, or what their responsibilities should be. The First Congress of the United States (1789-91), which settled some of these questions, is regarded by some historians as an extension or at least application of the Constitutional Convention.

One reason the Constitution is silent about a presidential cabinet, Chervinsky argues, is because the Founding Fathers still had a bad taste in their mouths about the British cabinets that had preyed upon the liberties of the American people during the colonial era. Perhaps partly for that reason, Chervinskys painstaking research reveals that Washington was slow to establish a cabinet and that once he had put it together, he soon ceased to find it a useful or congenial way to sort out administration policy. The first cabinet meeting was held on Nov. 26, 1791, fully two-and-a-half years into his first term. The four-man cabinet met only three times in 1791, and six times in 1792, but then 51 times in 1793, a crisis year in America. Thereafter, the president convened the cabinet significantly less often. By reducing the role of his cabinet in his last years as president, Washington ensured, says Chervinsky, that the cabinet developed very little institutional power.

Today there are 15 cabinet members, each one requiring Senate confirmation. In the first few administrations, there were only four: The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney General. For Washington, these positions were filled by Jefferson of Virginia (state), Alexander Hamilton of New York (treasury), Henry Knox of Massachusetts (war), and Edmund Randolph of Virginia (AG).

Chervinsky opens the book with one of the most important pivot points in the history of the presidency. On Aug. 22, 1789, just four months into his first term, Washington appeared before the U.S. Senate to seek advice about Indian relations. He believed that such consultation was the intention of the Constitution makers, that on certain questions the president would seek advice from the Senate before acting or making a decision. Washington had sent the relevant paperwork ahead, including a specific list of questions he wished to discuss with the 22 senators. Sen. William Maclay of Pennsylvania, who was something of a contrarian, stood up to suggest that the matter be referred to the appropriate Senate committee for careful deliberation, after which the president would be invited to come back for a final discussion. At this, President Washington, who had a volcanic temper which he usually managed to keep under tight control, blew up and shouted, This defeats every purpose of my coming here! Says Chervinsky, As he returned to his carriage, Washington muttered under his breath that he would never return for advice. He kept his wordAugust 22, 1789, was the first and last time he visited the Senate to request guidance on foreign affairs.

If Maclay and the Senate had spent the afternoon sorting these things out with the president, American administrative history might have played out in a very different way. In this case, a negative precedent was set. Later presidents have occasionally visited Capitol Hill to meet with congressmen and senators, but Washingtons frustrating experience largely foreclosed that option and helped to cement the separation of powers doctrine at the heart of the American Constitutional system.

One of the best moments in the book is Chervinskys account of a cabinet meeting on April 19, 1793, as the administration attempted to find a peaceful path for the infant U.S. as the wars of the French Revolution began to disrupt the Atlantic world. The five men, Washington plus his four secretaries, met in the presidents private study on the second floor of his residence in Philadelphia, where the national government was headquartered during the 1790s. The room was modest, just 15 by 21 feet, and was dominated by the presidents 5-foot-long desk, a wood burning stove, a dressing table, a large globe, and bookshelves, plus a table and chairs brought into the room for the meeting.

Five of Americas most important men were in that small room. This quintet included Washington, the Father of His Country, a 6-foot-2-inch man who was already a living legend; the physically imposing Henry Knox (who weighed at least 250 pounds); Edmund Randolph, the proud but indecisive scion of one of Virginias most distinguished families; and two giants of the early national period, Americas Renaissance Man Thomas Jefferson, also 6 feet, 2 inches, but less bulky and formidable than the president, and the idefatigable policy wonk Alexander Hamilton, who like him or not was perhaps Americas greatest secretary of the treasury. Thats a lot of ego for one small room. Jefferson later admitted that he and Hamilton were daily pitted in the cabinet like two cocks. Washington did not say much at these meetings, but Hamilton, according to Jefferson, tended to hold forth with all of his overweening confidence for interminably long periods of time. Chervinsky concludes, When Washington and the four secretaries gathered in the room, it would have been rather cozy at best, claustrophobic at worst.

Chervinsky also carefully examines the first cabinet scandal in American history. In August 1795, Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, Jeffersons replacement, was accused of taking bribes from the French government in exchange for trying to influence the administrations foreign policy. We now know that while Randolph was the weakest of Washingtons cabinet ministers, and undoubtedly guilty of bad judgment, he almost certainly did not take bribes or betray his country. Randolph resigned immediately, under a cloud, then promptly wrote a long defense of his honor and his conduct. Chervinsky provides an excellent analysis of Washingtons invocation of executive privilege, the first instance in American history, when Congress requested that he turn over documents relating to the highly controversial Jay Treaty of 1795. And the first presidential veto, April 5, 1792, of an apportionment bill.

Washingtons immediate successors accepted the idea of the cabinet though each of them handled them differently. John Adams made the terrible, perhaps fatal, mistake of retaining Washingtons cabinet when the venerable old man retired. This meant that he was never able to surround himself with men of his own stamp. It meant, too, that these holdover cabinet members never felt genuine loyalty to him. In fact, several of them took their marching orders from Alexander Hamilton, who had retired from Washingtons cabinet in early 1795, but who took joy in playing shadow president from New York, where he had undertaken a lucrative law practice.

Hamilton despised Adams for not being decisive and warlike enough, but particularly for not governing in a Hamiltonian fashion. Adams returned the contempt. It was he who called the illegitimately born Hamilton the bastard brat of a Scotch Pedler. Adams greatest act as president sending a second peace delegation to France in 1800 after the first one was mistreated, thus ratcheting down the likelihood of war was undertaken without any consultation with his disloyal cabinet. They were livid, of course, but Adams later decided it was his greatest achievement as the second president of the United States.

Jefferson was too shrewd to hamstring his administration with holdovers, particularly since he regarded his election in 1800 as the second American revolution. The suave and conflict-averse Jefferson assembled what still ranks as perhaps the most harmonious cabinet in American history. His principal coadjutor was one of the most talented men in American history, Secretary of State James Madison, soon enough to be the fourth president of the United States. The harmony was so cordial among us all, Jefferson wrote, that we never failed, by a contribution of mutual views, of the subject, to form an opinion acceptable to the whole.

This well-researched, thoughtful, and fascinating book points to the strength and the weakness of the U.S. Constitution. Because it lays out the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of the national government in only general terms, it gives each president considerable freedom to define the office to suit his purposes and his management style. So long as the office is occupied by an individual who understands the gravity, dignity, and fragility of a republic, America is in good hands. Between 1789 and 1797, George Washington formulated the standards against which all subsequent presidents must be measured.

See the original post:
George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution - Governing

Israel boots son of US media mogul for breaking quarantine

Brandon Korff, the grandson of American media tycoon Sumner Redstone, is being kicked out of Israel after failing to adhere to quarantine rules, the Interior Ministry announces.

According to the ministry, Korff got special permission to enter Israel claiming he wanted to visit his brother, who is serving as a lone soldier in the IDF, and arrived Friday.

Instead of hanging out alone for 14 days, though, he went out almost immediately to surprise his girlfriend, named in press reports as actress, model and soldier Yael Shelbia.

According to media reports, Shelbia planned on spending quarantine with her squeeze.

Korff signed a statement committing to adhere to isolation according to guidelines and said he would not come into contact with anyone else. Despite that, he met his partner and stayed with her in the same apartment, the ministry says.

Because of this, authorities have ordered that he leave immediately, it adds.

The incident appears to be the first case of a tourist being deported for breaking quarantine rules.

There has been rising unhappiness about the rich and well-connected seemingly being able to skirt virus rules.

Korffs mother is Shari Redstone, who controls CBSViacom and movie theater proprietor National Amusements.

Read this article:
Fewer than 100 new daily infections reported for first time in over week - The Times of Israel

An artists impression of a C130J-30 Super Hercules in Royal New Zealand Air Force livery. (New Zealand government)

The New Zealand government has confirmed its set to buy five Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules for more than NZ$1 billion.

The planes will replace the militarys existing fleet of Hercules planes, whichhave suffered a number of embarrassing breakdowns over the years.

Defence Minister Ron Mark said, Last year, cabinet selected these aircraft as the preferred option to replace the current Hercules fleet. Procurement of the Super Hercules has been my highest capability priority as Minister of Defence.

Along with the new fleet, the $1.521 billion project will deliver a full mission flight simulator and other supporting infrastructure.

Minister Mark said the new planes would be used for operations in New Zealand, the South Pacific and Antarctica.

Generations of New Zealanders have grown up and grown old with the Hercules, and they know these aircraft are an essential first line of response. This decision ensures the Defence Force will have the capability it needs to meet expected future tasks, he said.

This fleet will ensure the Defence Force can continue to support New Zealands community resilience, our national security, our contribution to our Pacific neighbours and the wider global community.

This decision ensures tactical airlift will remain available to undertake operations in New Zealands immediate region, as well as support our interests in Antarctica, often in support of other government agencies.

The new aircraft offers an upgrade in capability on the old retiring Hercules aircraft.

The new aircraft will carry a greater payload, is faster and can travel further than the current Hercules aircraft,MinisterMarkcontinued.

Each aircraft will also be fitted with additional specialist capabilities, including wide bandwidth, high-speed satellite communications system and an electro-optical/infra-red camera.

This equipment will make our new Super Hercules among the most capable in the world. The satellite communications system will allow imagery, video and data to be streamed in real-time, and the camera allows for aerial surveillance, including at the same time as the aircraft is undertaking transport tasks, particularly useful on humanitarian and disaster relief operations and search and rescue missions.

Three of the nations current C-130 Hercules planes date back to 1965 and the other two to 1969. They have been upgraded over the years, but frequent breakdowns have hampered some high-profile missions. At one point last year, the entire fleet was temporarily grounded.

New Zealand will take delivery of the first of the new Hercules aircraft in 2024, with the full fleet operating by 2025.

The price tag of NZ$1.5 billion includes a flight simulator and supporting infrastructure.

Continued here:
New Zealand to buy five Super Hercules for $1bn - Australian Aviation

WORK to replace a historic bridge that is a lifeline for a community is set to start up again after the lockdown.

The task of replacing Witton Park Bridge, near Bishop Auckland, is due begin next week, starting on Monday.

A 2.5m project will see the demolition and replacement of the crossing, which was found to be suffering from structural issues in 2018.

Since its temporary closure two years ago, engineers have been exploring a number of options for its replacement.

As a result, a detailed design and construction programme was developed. This included the demolition of the existing structure, repairs to the abutments and piers and the installation of the new bridge.

The replacement bridge is scheduled to open in late autumn 2020.

Durham County Councillor Brian Stephens, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships at Durham County Council, said: "This is an important crossing for local residents. I am delighted our engineers have been able to identify a solution and work can now start on the replacement.

Brian Buckley, strategic highways manager at Durham County Council said: The planning of this project has been a thorough process. The installation of the new bridge is a complicated one, due to the rail bridge which passes diagonally over.

"But it is necessary work and is important to ensure safety and long-lasting accessibility.

The health and safety of our workers is paramount and will dictate how we work going forward. We will ensure that current government guidance is adhered to in relation to social distancing.

The C93 will remain closed between the villages of Witton Park and High Grange, with a signed diversion continuing via the A68 and the neighbouring village of Witton-le-Wear.

As a result of the closure the area around the bridge has become a hot spot for fly tipping, with chunks of meat being disposed of the side of the road in February.

Durham County Councillor for West Auckland Rob Yorke said: Most of the steelwork and fabrication work has been carried out offsite, we expect to have workman on site within the next few week to dismantle and erect the new bridge. We are hoping the new bridge will be completed as planned by this autumn.

More here:
Work begins to replace historic Witton Park bridge - The Northern Echo

The term "race" should be removed from the German constitution, two leadingGreen politicians said Monday. In recent weeks, Germany has seen widespread anti-racism protests and dialogue around systemic racism in a German context following the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in the US.

"We have to unlearn racism," Green co-chair Robert Habeck and party vice-president for the state of Schleswig-Holstein Aminata Tour wrote in the German daily Taz. "Racism is also a German phenomenon. As a black woman and a white man we are affected differently by this, but it affects us all."

"The word race should be removed from the Basic Law," they added. "There is no such things as race, there are only people."

Read more:Germany struggles to face its own police racism

Germany's Basic Law is the country's constitution, penned in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, and so goes to great lengths to forbid the Nazi regime's worst crimes.

"No person shall be favored or disfavored because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavored because of disability," section 3 of Article 3 says.

Habeck and Tour argue that the term race implies the existence of different categories of people, claiming it undermines anotherkey clause of the Basic Law: "All people are equal before the law."

The politicians did not suggest a replacement word or an exact alteration.

The word "Rasse" in German, renderedas "race" in the official translation of German law, is described in the German Duden dictionary as dated and potentially discriminatory. It also has an ambiguity not as present for the word "race" in English; as itcan also refer to different breeds of animals.

Defense minister: 'Discrimination exists'

The German cabinet is planning to discuss all aspects of racism and xenophobia in a special sitting, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told DW on Monday.

"It's a fact that discrimination exists in day-to-day life here in Germany as well," said the one-time possible successor of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Read more:Opinion: George Floyd killing opens racism wounds for European blacks

One of the key talking points will be possible laws to allow people to anonymously apply for accommodation or jobs, to remove possible discrimination based on name or appearance.

The Greens believe that sensitizing institutions and organizations to racism through training and education could offer a solution. Tour and Habeck cite training for the police on racism as key.

Recent polling has put Germany's Greens in secondor third place after Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of theday's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up toreceive it directly here.

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Greens call for 'race' to be removed from German constitution - DW (English)

SINGAPORE - Chief engineer Awadhesh Prasad was looking forward to going home to India after his four-month contract with shipping company Executive Ship Management ended.

But the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic scuppered his plansas borders were closed, and he and the crew of the Crimson Monarch could not disembark from the bulk carrier.

This meant that Mr Prasad, 54, could not return home to Ranchi, capital city of eastern Jharkand, in February as planned.

He ended up continuing on the ship's journey to Canada, Brazil and Australia, among other countries, for about four more months, before his employer found him a way back on a chartered flight.

The bulk carrierhad not reached any port since May 9, when it left Brazil.

"Finally, today, I can go home," he told The Straits Times at Changi Airport Terminal 1 Departure Hall on Friday (June 12).

Mr Prasad was one of 87 ship crew members who boarded a chartered flight to Mumbai on Friday afternoon, after he disembarked from the Crimson Monarchto a smaller vessel which took him to Marina South Pier.

The chartered plane had flown 54 crew members from Mumbai to Singapore to replace the departing crew on six ships for their onward journey from the Port of Singapore.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Friday that it has approved more than 4,000 cases of crew sign-on and sign-off for more than 300 companies and 500 ships since March 27.

Chief engineer Awadhesh Prasad was looking forward to his return to India. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

Signing-on and signing-off refer to the ship's handover process when one crew replaces another.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan raised the issue of seafarers being stranded due to Covid-19 restrictions worldwide on his Facebook page on Tuesday in response to a Financial Times article.

"Many crew have worked several months beyond their contracts, due to recent travel restrictions which bar crew from disembarking to return home," said Mr Khaw.

"This has led to the international shipping industry threatening to cease sailing unless replacement crew can be brought in."

Mr Khaw said this issue could potentially disrupt or clog up the global supply chain, given that commercial vessels carry 80 per cent of world trade.

Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health Lam Pin Min said in a Facebook post on Friday that the Republic has been facilitating crew change with a new protocol outlined in the Singapore Crew Change Guidebook.

The guide was developed by the Singapore Shipping Association and the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union, with MPA's support.

Seafarers posing for a selfie after disembarking from the STI Carnaby vessel. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

MPA chief executive Quah Ley Hoon said: "We have seen a sharp increase in the daily crew change applications since our last Port Marine Circular (on May 22)... Singapore has a responsibility to facilitate crew change in a safe manner for both the country and the ships, given the ongoing pandemic.

"The (guidebook) sets out a 'safe corridor' which companies can now use consistently and reliably for crew changes."

Getting a flight into India, which has banned air travel, was not easy, said Executive Ship Management managing director S.P. Singh.

"International flights are banned in India... In order to charter a plane, we had to go through a long process to get the relevant permissions. The Singapore authorities had been very cooperative," he added.

The crew checking in at Changi Airport Terminal 1 before leaving for Mumbai. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

The back-up plan was to wait for governments to reinstate international flights, which Mr Singh felt was not a viable option.

"The seafarers were having a tough time, not seeing their families," Mr Singh said, adding that the crew's family members in India had been asking the company when their loved ones could come home.

Mr Prasad said that he called his wife and daughter every couple of days to check in.

"They are very understanding of the situation because it's all reported in the news. They kept asking me to take care," he said.

The vessel was never at risk of running out of food, and the crew could use high-speed Internet to call home, but it was the uncertainty of securing a way home before the pandemic ceased that frustrated Mr Prasad.

"It's very difficult, not knowing when I can go home... I worry for my family," he said.

Continued here:
87 ship crew members fly home to India from Singapore on chartered plane after being stranded at sea - straits times

A NSW Government department has defended spending more than $1.2 million on indoor plants for its new corporate offices in Parramatta.

The Department of Planning recently approved a contract worth $1,246,000 for the indoor plants in the 4 Parramatta Square building, not including external landscaping costs.

The three-year contract with supplier Tropical Plant Rentals includes the "supply, installation, watering, maintenance and replacement" of indoor vegetation.

A department spokeswoman said the indoor plants would complement the new building's green-star rating across 30 floors.

"Environmental sustainability of the built environment is one of the key focuses of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and the offices at 4 Parramatta Square will have a 5-star Green-Star Rating in accordance with the Green Building Council of Australia," she said,

A website for the local supplier offers indoor plant options including green walls, cabinet walls and vertical pot plants, although the exact details for the offices has not been released.

Stewart Little from the Public Service Association the union currently fighting a bid to freeze public sector wages said the contract "beggars belief".

"It's astonishing," he said.

"In the wake of the worst bushfire crisis we've ever seen, but also going into the COVID-19 crisis where really everyone's had to work under very, very strained circumstances, and you've got a situation now where the Government's seeking to impose a wage freeze.

"To have one department sign up to well over $1 million on indoor plants it's just extraordinary.

"They often tend to just look at one section of the budget and not look at where that's money could be spent elsewhere this is a classic example of that.

"You'd have to question that when you have an expenditure like this, what else is out there that we're missing?"

While not commenting directly on the Government contract, Tonia Gray from Western Sydney University said incorporating nature into workplaces otherwise known as biophilic design could have benefits.

"Biophilic design means letting nature in and that in itself has a myriad of benefits," Professor Gray said.

"Not only was productivity better but mood states and the fact that absenteeism was declined and just general camaraderie seemed to have an enormous spike as a result of bringing nature in.

"Even water features or the sound of water is cathartic and soothing in itself.

"A babbling brook is a lot better sound than the ping-pong of your emails coming in, isn't it?"

The Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, declined to comment.

See original here:
More than $1.2 million spent on indoor plants for new NSW Government office - ABC News

Your medicine cabinet is your first go-to in times of illness, and sometimes it gets a little bare. But we're in the midst of a global health crisis. And whether you get Covid-19 or not, it's important to be prepared.

We know, we know. Some of these may be a little obvious, but go ahead and actually check your supplies now.

Let this be your friendly reminder to confirm you do, in fact, have the basics. If not, add these to your shopping list. Like now.

Here's a list of what you can use to make sure your household's medicine chest is well-stocked for the length of the pandemic.

Pandemic essentials

Do you think you have Covid-19? A fully stocked medicine cabinet can help you make an initial assessment.

"There are certain signs and symptoms that tip people off to whether they have Covid-19," said Dr. Gary LeRoy, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and an associate professor of family medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

But also know how to use the thermometer right: Timing is everything. Check your temperature first, before you take your pain or fever reducer. "These medicines artificially lower your temperature," LeRoy said. Once you know how bad your fever is, then take your medicine.

Doctors recommend using rectal thermometers for infants. For children and adults, a thermometer under the tongue works just fine.

More advanced no-contact infrared thermometers also have their virtues, especially by eliminating the need to physically touch a symptomatic person.

"Infrared thermometers are easy to use, but they are more expensive," LeRoy said.

Cough drops and cough syrup: These stalwarts of the home health arsenal are a good initial line of defense to help reduce the coughing symptoms that are a key indicator of Covid-19.

Acetaminophen: It helps reduce the muscle ache pains associated with Covid-19 and other viruses, as well as fevers (again, check your or your child's temperature first before administering this pain and fever reliever).

Ibuprofen: This anti-inflammatory is also great for reducing pain and fevers. Use with caution, though, if you have gastrointestinal issues such as acid reflux, LeRoy said.

For all of these medications, make sure to read the labels carefully to ensure you take the right dosage.

The new additions everyone should have

"You should also have extra masks for visitors to your house who don't have one," LeRoy said.

Make sure you've got a supply of face masks for your whole family. You might not be doing much flying this summer, but you can still keep in mind a familiar line from flight attendants: Put on your mask before assisting others. We mean this literally.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes: Read the labels and try to focus on products that contain a base of 60% or more of alcohol.

At home, experts say the average person doesn't necessarily need a fancy device to measure blood oxygen levels. If shortness of breath is an issue, call your doctor.

"It is not physically possible to measure SpO2 (oxygen saturation levels) using current smartphone technology," the authors concluded.

More general items are still key in the pandemic

You ought to be keeping a supply of general health items at home, too.

Some of the symptoms of Covid-19 mirror those of other conditions, particularly allergies.

Antihistamines: Spring and summer mark allergy season, so if your symptoms feel a little better when you're not outside, you could be suffering from allergies. If these antihistamines aren't clearing up coughing or congestion, that could be a sign that something else is causing your symptoms.

"If it's not getting better, don't just keep treating it," LeRoy said. "Talk to your doctor."

Calamine lotion: It's a great standby if you're spending more time outdoors this summer and get exposed to poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac.

Check expiration dates and dispose of medicine properly

Use the pandemic as motivation for an overall inventory check. As you're updating your stockpile, it's a great time to get rid of medications or other products past their use-by date. Besides avoiding a stomach ache or other complications, you'll be able to make room for new remedies.

Know when to seek care

Your home medicine cabinet is your first stop for routine scrapes or runny-nose symptoms. But it's no substitute for sound medical advice.

The contents of your medicine cabinet are a "tool, not a replacement for medical intervention or a conversation with your physician," LeRoy said.

Pay close attention to how you're feeling. "Chart what those symptoms are and then treat those symptoms," LeRoy said.

But before any of this gets out of hand, fulfill this homework assignment for us.

Seriously, check your medicine cabinet.

Now add this to your to-do list: Replace those last few items that are missing. You'll be glad you did.

Jen Rose Smith, Sandee LaMotte, Susan Scutti and Harmeet Kaur contributed to this story.

Read the original:
Time to stock your medicine cabinet for the pandemic - CNN

Ocracoke trouble spot along N.C. 12 shown Aug. 29, 2011. Photo: NCDOT Communications

This is the fifth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of thePulitzer Centers nationwide Connected Coastlinesreporting initiative.

Twenty-seven years ago, an interagency panel of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists gathered for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, to study how to save a North Carolina coastal highway skirting the volatile waters of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

No one back then talked about resilience or adaptation, and certainly not retreat. Still, the diverse group turned out to be pioneers of brainstorming and collaborating to solve the multitude of challenges from sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

The Outer Banks Task Force met six times before being shelved after one year for lack of funds and staff. But that was only one iteration of numerous transportation study groups that assembled over the years to address N.C. 12, a sliver of roadway stretching about 65 miles on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

The two-lane road has been a headache for the state practically from the day the first tire hit the pavement. In 1962, the infamous Ash Wednesday Storm ripped open an inlet in Buxton and destroyed 25% of the dunes that buffered the road from ocean waves.

Still, the extreme and worsening coastal conditions for N.C. 12 serve as both lesson plan and cautionary tale for teams like the Outer Banks Task Force, working against time while begging for funds to maintain vital transportation infrastructure into the future.

Gov. Roy Coopersexecutive orderin 2018 directed 10 cabinet agencies and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to integrate climate adaptation and resiliency planning into their policies, programs and operations. In response, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency was created to coordinate agencies and assist communities facing storm recovery and/or risks of future climate change impacts.

But complex problems that involve many players, a slew of stakeholders and tons of money can become unwieldy and paralyzing.

At least 10 government entities federal, state and local were represented on the task force, in addition to several coastal engineers and scientists from different universities.

How do we simplify what were trying to do so that we get something done? former Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Geneva Perry asked the revived task force in November 1998, as quoted then in The Virginian-Pilot. This thing has been going on forever, and unless we keep kicking it, it dies again.

Built in phases during the 1950s, N.C. 12 bisects Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and seven villages. It is also the only route for millions of tourists that contribute to the Outer Banks $1 billion tourism economy.

The roadway, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the massive Pamlico Sound on the other, is inches above mean sea level and crosses numerous weak spots on skinny barrier islands that are subject to severe beach erosion. To add to its vulnerabilities, the islands are close to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the super-highway for Atlantic hurricanes.

Over the decades, the road has been repeatedly over-washed by ocean and sound tide; undermined by ocean surge; inundated by moon tide and rain deluges; buried by mountains of sand from storm-flattened dunes; broken apart by hurricanes and nor-easters; and covered by telephone poles, trees and debris from destroyed buildings.

Sections of road have been replaced, elevated, bridged or moved further from the ocean. Adjacent beaches have been widened and walkways have been built to protect dunes.

And the dunes between the beach and the road have been built, knocked down and rebuilt, higher, longer and stronger. Then flattened again.

Its a very good example of a corridor being impacted by climate, Jerry Jennings, Division 1 engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said in a recent telephone interview. Certainly, from Division 1s perspective, theres not another road that has the challenges that N.C. 12 has.

Located in the northeast corner of North Carolina, Division 1 is a huge, mostly rural territory that encompasses 14 counties. It not only includes the second-largest estuarine system in the nation, its coastal area the Outer Banks is one of the most vulnerable regions in the U.S. to the impacts of sea level rise.

Maintenance and repair of the road from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke village has cost NCDOT about $75 million in the last 10 years, not including N.C. 12 improvements that were part of the recently completed Bonner Bridge replacement project.

Opened last year, the new Marc Basnight Bridge spans the inlet and incorporates phased work on the road to just south of Rodanthe.

The only other comparison in the state to N.C. 12 cited by some transportation officials could be the heavily traveled Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains, which is subject to costly landslides and intense winter weather.

But a lot of environmental changes generally have been observed over time in coastal regions and in low-lying areas, Jennings said. Shoreline erosion along water bodies, for example, can impact roadway shoulders and potentially threaten the road. Flooding is a persistent problem on roads in Mackeys Island, Aydlett and Water Lily in Currituck County and on N.C. 94 at Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County.

Theres a number of those out there, he said. Its not just a beach thing.

An ongoing improvement project on Colington Road in Kill Devil Hills includes elevation of parts of the road vulnerable to tidal flooding, he said, which seems to be a longstanding problem.

That project will attempt to resolve that, Jennings said. Its hard to say what is directly related to climate change.

NCDOT had been working with the new North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR. But NCDOTs resiliency work has been suspended indefinitely while the agency addresses severe budgetary shortfalls aggravated by COVID-19 shutdowns.

Unspecified cuts are also expected in NCDOTs Ferry Division, which operates about 20 ferries on seven regular routes on the coast. The passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands has been canceled for the season.

In March, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies released theNorth Carolina Climate Science Report, an assessment of current and projected climate impacts to the state. The report is a component of the comprehensiveN.C. Risk Assessment and Resilience Planthat is expected to be completed this summer.

The report found that future impacts in the state from climate change some effects are already apparent will likely be more intense storms, increased rain volume, more wildfires and drought, more hot days and higher humidity, increased flooding including sunny day tide and higher sea levels, especially on the northeast coast.

For transportation, it means offering people multiple ways to get around, by better connecting roads and sidewalks and providing quality transit services, the report said.

Jessica Whitehead, chief resilience officer with NCORR, said that NCDOT has been an engaged participant in discussions about such critical needs as building redundancy and updating old infrastructure.

Even with NCDOTs and other state agencies budgetary woes from the pandemic, Whitehead said that resiliency work will continue.

The thing about climate change in any of this, its not going to go away, she said. Were still going to figure out ways to plan for it.

Transportation projects in North Carolina have already been engineered for environmental changes, said Chris Werner, director of technical services at NCDOT.

Resiliency is a critical part of how we design and build our infrastructure, he said. We work with all our partners across the state.

Werner said that the agency has an inbuilt culture that fosters innovative and proactive approaches to problem solving.

Were always looking for cutting-edge analytics and software, he said. Most of us are engineers. The more data we can get, the more analytics we can perform.

One example is application of the states data-richFlood Inundation Mapping Alert Network, or FIMAN, to not only predict flooding on roads and bridges, but also to design for it by looking at trends in the data.

The agency, he said, is in the process of expanding the FIMAN gauge system from a property-impact focus to provide data specific to transportation infrastructure. For instance, data collection can be tailored so it can be used to prevent future road washouts.

Its not just a matter of fixing a damaged structure, he explained, the goal is to keep it from happening again by building redundancy and resiliency.

When severe flooding on U.S. 421 in Wilmington in 2018 during Hurricane Florence damaged the road and cut off traffic, Werner said, the agency took the opportunity to build better and stronger. After analysis of historic and current data, instead of just replacing ruined culverts, the department replaced them with a new bridge. Another bridge was also built nearby, providing the transportation corridor with both redundancy and resiliency in the event of future flooding.

Our goal is to build infrastructure thats durable and safe and resilient as possible, Werner said. As civil engineers, were constantly improving what weve done in the past. Thats what we do. It all stems from field observation and data.

Other measures NCDOT has put in place, he said, are monitors of water levels at low bridges, and identifying alternative travel routes on itsREADY NC app. The department has partnered with Google Maps and WAZE to feed their traffic data into the app. Also,DRIVENC.govshows up-to-date closures and maintenance work on the states roads.

In reality, the feats of engineering for NCDOT are not so much in dramatic crane work at bridge construction sites or road restorations after storms. Its mostly what goes on behind the scene at research centers and laboratories.

We do a lot of work with our universities, said Neil Mastin, NCDOT Research and Development manager. We work with business units and academics.

In May 2019, the department presented its first Research & Innovation Summit at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to discuss transportation-related innovations and research.

Although it is not often a focus of public discussion, NCDOT has been studying numerous issues that could result in transportation improvements, although its research program for 2021 has been postponed, Mastin said.

Ongoing or planned research projects include the following:

Mastin said that NCDOT is also hyper-aware of the public concern about drainage issues. The state is responsible for the ditches and culverts within road right of ways, as well as the nine ocean outfalls in the state, all of which except one is on the Outer Banks.

Water in general, he said, is the enemy of transportation networks.

In the past, locations of all small and medium drainage pipes around the state were mapped, he added, with the ambitious goal yet mostly unfulfilled of eventually replacing them. But thats just pipes and flooding is getting increasingly worse.

Eastern North Carolina in particular, with land as flat as it is, makes it extremely challenging, Mastin said. We can fix one problem somewhere and it makes it worse somewhere else.

Drones are being used more often by NCDOT to provide footage of flooded areas and to help manage flood gates, he said. Theyre also used to build wetlands, to identify plant types, to measure elevation and to help determine where to send crews after disasters. Researchers are also studying development of drones to inspect bridges.

Improvements of material mostly concrete and asphalt are constantly being studied, Mastin said. One example of research results is the proposed bridge replacement on Harkers Island, which would be the states first fully composite reinforced bridge. Rather than using corrosion-prone steel rebar, he said, the structure will be built with a mixture of carbon fiber prestressed strands and fancy fiberglass.

Well be monitoring this closely, he said. This is really exciting.

The new Marc Basnight Bridge over notoriously wild and wicked Oregon Inlet was designed to last 100 years and was built with high-performance, less-permeable concrete made to better endure corrosive salt air and water. It is the first bridge project in the state to use stainless reinforcing steel, and the bridge has longer and deeper pilings to withstand scour.

The Outer Banks Task Force, in a significant way, laid the groundwork for the bridge and the N.C. 12 improvements by determining where the problems were and what to do about them. Most importantly, the panel recognized the need for safety and access for both the bridge and the road and linked them together as a single corridor.

Jennings, the division engineer, said that over the last few years, feasibility studies have been completed looking at long-term options for eroded areas in Buxton, Hatteras and Ocracoke, as well as costs of the alternatives and how long projects would last.

Years before the panel was replaced by a merger team that worked on planning and permitting for the road and bridge projects, the Outer Banks Task Force had designated six vulnerable hot spots between Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke village that were critical to address, and started the planning process on each one.

Predictions about the dire risks at each of the hot spots from storm surge, beach erosion, road loss, dune breaching, even another inlet cutting through have since played out all too often.

In 1999, John Fisher, a N.C. State University civil engineer and then-chair of the task force science panel, called a reconstructed dune lost during Hurricane Dennis at the eroding Ocracoke hot spot a Band-Aid that wouldnt last.

We seriously think you should think about abandoning that whole stretch of road and relocating the ferry system, he told the task force, according to The Virginian-Pilot on Nov. 7. It didnt make sense to us to try to maintain the highway.

That is exactly what NCDOT is now considering. After storm after storm over the last 20 years wiped out dunes in the same hot spot, it seems Hurricane Dorian last September may end up taking that one off N.C. 12s list.

Read more here:
Resilience Bigger Part of Plan to Save NC 12 - Island Free Press

Researchers are learning more about howCovid-19affects children, and a new study finds that among a group of children and adolescents in New York who were hospitalized with the disease, about a fifth 22% had obesity.

The study,published in the journal The Lancet on Wednesday, suggests thathaving obesity could put a child at an increased risk of getting severely ill withCovid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

"Obesity was the most significant factor associated with mechanical ventilation in children 2 years and older," the researchers added. "Contrary to some previous reports, infants seemed largely spared severe manifestations."

More on the study: The study included data on 50 young people, ages 21 and younger, who were diagnosed withCovid-19between March 1 and April 15 and hospitalized for at least a day or longer.

The data, which came from the patients' electronic medical records, showed that about half of the patients 52% had an adult family member or was living with someone with symptoms associated withCovid-19. None of the patients had a history of international travel around the time they were diagnosed.

Most of the patients 80% had a fever, and 64% had some respiratory symptoms, but three of the patients only experienced gastrointestinal problems, the researchers found. Nine of the patients, or 18% of them, needed mechanical ventilation and one patient died.

Overall, the researchers found that obesity was significantly associated with needing mechanical ventilation among children ages 2 or older. Among the patients who required mechanical ventilation, six of them 67% had obesity.

About the study: The study had some limitations, including that the group of patients included in the datawas smalland half of the patients were Hispanic.The researchers noted thatthe hospital serves a predominantly Hispanic community.Somore research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a more diverse group of patients.

Yet overall, "studies such as this one emphasize that certain groups of children may be disproportionally affected. In this study, 50% were Hispanic,"Dr. Jason Newland of theWashington University School of Medicine in St Louis, and Dr. Kristina Bryant of theUniversity of Louisville in Kentucky, co-wrote in an editorial that accompanied the new study.

"As theCovid-19 pandemic has spread and created adversity for many people physically, emotionally, and economically, the groups most affected have been those of color," Newland and Bryant wrote.

"Going forward, multicenter collaborative studies are needed to define the infectious and postinfectious sequelae ofCovid-19in children in communities across the US, including rural communities, and in all racial and ethnic groups. We also need to understand the association of the pandemic with adverse health outcomes in children beyond the consequences of viral infection," they wrote.

The researchers noted that on May 15, "the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a precipitous drop in the ordering and administration of pediatric vaccines. Are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases on the horizon? That could be the next important chapter of the evolvingCovid-19story."

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WHO says coronavirus is not mutating, but that doesn't mean it is not dangerous - CNN