Thought it was going to be a real squeaker and we are definitely happy with the outcome, but we have worked hard for a long time, said David LaCasse, a leader of the Protect Portland Parks organization and a major funder of the on 1 campaign. Square needs work but this really was, for us, about the big picture. We thought all of the parks needed better protection, which we got tonight.

Article content LOS ANGELES “Grey’s Anatomy”‘s fictional surgeon Meredith Grey was stricken with COVID 19, while the “Superstore” staff hoarded toilet paper. But Christmas complete with carol singers, family gatherings and romance will be a largely coronavirus free zone on television.TV shows are adopting varying approaches to the pandemic in their regular season storylines, with shows like “The Conners” embracing it, comedies like “Mom” ignoring it completely, and drama “This is Us” working it in, but not as a central theme.But, when it comes to Christmas, escapism still rules.The Hallmark Channel and sister network Hallmark Movies Mysteries is putting out some 39 holiday TV movies this year all of them made since the pandemic yet none of them mentioning the virus.Article content In original Hallmark movies this year like “Heart of the Holidays” and “Christmas She Wrote,” millions of viewers will see characters heading home for the holidays, falling in love, and gathering around festive tables.Despite strict filming protocols that meant more special effects and less kissing, Hallmark’s holiday movies have all the comforting touches that viewers have come to expect, Vicary said.”There’s a lot of places where you can get darker or edgier or issue related movies, but what people come to us for is to feel happy and positive and warm and loved,” she said.Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, said Christmas movies aren’t meant to reflect reality.”That isn’t to say there isn’t waiting out there ‘A Very Pandemic Christmas,’ in which people at a small Vermont inn find they can’t join each other for Christmas because one of them is quarantined,” Thompson quipped.On the other extreme, “Grey’s Anatomy,” set in a busy Seattle hospital, returned in November set in the early weeks of the pandemic. It quickly combined the shock of star Ellen Pompeo’s Dr.

The US president said the rate of vaccination had to be accelerated to meet the target of 75 per cent of Americans getting the jab set by infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. Mr Biden said his administration had been led to believe there was far more vaccine available than turned out. “So that’s why we’ve ramped up every way we can,” he added.