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Wife’s racist tweets about Harris spur official to resign

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A school board president in the San Francisco Bay Area has resigned after his wife’s racist comments about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris raised an outcry.

Jon Venverloh announced Sunday that he was stepping down from his position with the Las Lomitas Elementary School District in Menlo Park.

His wife, Mehridith Philips Venverloh, tweeted Sunday in response to comments about Harris’s qualifications that “all she needs to be qualified is a black (crude term for female genitalia)! No brain needed!”

She also posted several other crude remarks, prompting dozens of parents to demand her husband’s resignation.

In announcing his resignation, Venverloh said he didn’t agree with his wife’s “reprehensible views” but that given her posts, “I know that my continued service would be a distraction from the work that needs to be done.”

Venverloh, a former Google executive, was elected to the school board in 2018 and had two years left in his term.

Venderloh, a supporter of President Donald Trump, later apologized in another post, saying her “vulgar” words were written “in a moment of disappointment.”

“I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” she said and added that she has been taking medications for a “debilitating neurological disease” but had been weaning herself from them in preparation for a scheduled hospitalization.

“I believe that the change in medication reduced my judgment between right and wrong when I made the posts,” she said.

Other board members of the district, which includes a middle school in Menlo Park and an Atherton elementary school, condemned the remarks as “racially-based and gender-based hatred.”

Texas tops 1 million cases as COVID-19 surge engulfs the US
By DAVID CRARY

Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said all restaurants, bars and gyms statewide will have to close at 10 p.m. starting Friday, a major retreat in a corner of the U.S. that had seemingly brought the virus largely under control months ago. He also barred private gatherings of more than 10 people.

Texas, the second-most populous state, has recorded 1.01 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 991,000 cases.

The U.S. has recorded over 240,000 deaths and about 10.3 million confirmed infections, with new cases soaring to all-time highs of well over 120,000 per day over the past week. Health experts have blamed the increase in part on the onset of cold weather and growing frustration with mask-wearing and other precautions.

Cases per day are on the rise in 49 states, and deaths per day are climbing in 39. A month ago, the U.S. was seeing about 730 COVID-19 deaths per day on average; that has now surpassed 970.

Among the many health officials sounding the alarm was Dr. Julie Watson of Integris Health in Oklahoma.

“We are in trouble,” she said. “If nothing is done soon to slow the rise in cases, our hospitals will be more overwhelmed than they already are and we won’t be able to be there for all of those who need it.”

Oklahoma’s health department said Wednesday that 1,248 people were hospitalized for confirmed or probable coronavirus, shattering the previous one-day record of 1,055.

Texas reported 10,865 new cases on Tuesday, breaking a record set in mid-July. One of the hardest-hit places is the border city of El Paso; its county has nearly 28,000 active cases and has suffered more than 680 COVID-19 deaths.

The American Medical Association renewed its plea for mask-wearing, physical distancing and frequent hand-washing.

“With the holidays quickly approaching, each of us must do everything possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19, “ AMA President Susan Bailey said. “Failing to do our part will prolong the suffering and disruption to our lives and inevitably lead to more deaths of our friends, neighbors and loved ones.”

Meanwhile, many traditional Veterans Day celebrations gave way to somber virtual gatherings Wednesday. Many veterans homes have barred visitors to protect their residents from the virus.