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Coronavirus pandemic is bringing rats, mice into Michigan homes

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Rats are coming into our homes. (Photo: Jon Mills, WZZM, Jon Mills, WZZM)

DETROIT – Can it get any more 2020 than this?

Now, we have rats.

Nearly 1 in 4 Michigan households are reporting an increase in rats and mice since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to a survey by a pest-management company.

There are some reasons for this.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledging the nation’s pandemic-related rodent problem, points out that restaurants have reduced service, which means fewer food scraps are ending up in the dumpsters on which rats and mice often feed.

And, according to Smith’s Pest Management, a California service that commissioned the survey via Google Surveys, our houses are the perfect substitute.

We’re home more, which means we’re producing more garbage. Nationwide, 1 in 3 households report a notable increase in garbage accumulation, the Smith’s survey said.

We’re also cleaning less,

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Congress heads home for Thanksgiving without pandemic relief deal

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Congress will head home for a week-long Thanksgiving holiday recess without passing any sort of compromise coronavirus relief bill as the U.S. death toll passes 250,000 and millions of Americans remain on unemployment.



a man wearing a suit and tie talking on a cell phone: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.

© J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.

But there is some hope that renewed talks could see some sort of coronavirus relief aid in the coming weeks even with little time remaining on the legislative calendar before the end of the year.

Democratic aides have told ABC News that staffers of the congressional ‘Big Four’ met Thursday to discuss ways coronavirus relief could be tacked on to a must-pass spending bill that needs to clear both chambers of Congress by Dec. 11 to avert a government shutdown. The ‘Big Four’ includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority

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Doctor Says Stay Home This Thanksgiving Amid COVID-19 Pandemic : Shots

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With coronavirus cases surging and more than 250,000 dead, the CDC is recommending people not travel for Thanksgiving. And doctors worry the holiday could be a superspreader event.
With coronavirus cases surging and more than 250,000 dead, the CDC is recommending people not travel for Thanksgiving. And doctors worry the holiday could be a superspreader event.

Thanksgiving in my childhood home is more of a sport than a meal. Why have one pie when you can have seven? Why have a turkey when you can stuff a chicken inside a duck, and the duck inside a turkey? Why have one family over when you can invite the whole neighborhood?

Some relatives prepare for the day like athletes: My cousin’s game plan, for instance, was to eat heavily for the week before, then fast for 24 hours. “That way, your stomach is stretched out before you get really hungry.”

As an internal medicine doctor, I can’t attest to the soundness of his plan, but as a witness I can say no one could match his insatiable enthusiasm.

But this year, Thanksgiving will be in my apartment in Seattle, far from my parents’ Chicago home. My siblings will be scattered across the country with their children. There will

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Opinion | Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic, Not Home for the Holidays

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But our secure little pods developed leaks whenever our adult children had responsibilities that exposed them to risk. A daughter who’s a lawyer spent days in hearings at the courthouse where someone was infected. Eliza’s mom, a pastor, is back at church, singing with her congregation. One son, who’s an EMT, now swabs suspected Covid patients at an urgent care center.

Now, as I string Thanksgiving garlands across the mantle and pull the straw pilgrims out of their boxes, I face the depressing reality that no one else will be in our home for the holidays. By Thanksgiving, our Covid bubble will have popped.

Even when it worked, when small pods of us had our groceries delivered and worked from home, the waltzing in and out of each other’s bubbles created stress. When does a leak require a confession?

“Your nanny goes to the college with the Covid outbreak?”

“Are

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How I spent $700 upgrading my home office during the pandemic

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  • Sinem Günel is a writer, coach, and the founder of Personal Growth Base, a platform dedicated to helping people grow with resources, newsletters, and articles.
  • Since the start of the pandemic, Günel has been upgrading her home office to improve her productivity and health while working from home. 
  • From fighting wrist pain with rest pads to adding monitor stands for improved posture, she says these small improvements have boosted her happiness and significantly improved her workflow. 
  • Günel also believes joy is just as important to prioritize as ergonomics and health — that’s why she incorporates extras like bouquets of flowers and essential oils throughout her workspace. 
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, my partner and I spent a little more than $700 to upgrade our home office.

We’ve already been working from home before the pandemic, so our daily working patterns didn’t change

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Home Depot is giving $1 billion in raises to its retail employees as it makes pandemic bonuses permanent

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a person standing in a parking lot: Home Depot has enjoyed a massive increase in sales amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images

© CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images
Home Depot has enjoyed a massive increase in sales amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images
  • Home Deport has seen record sales numbers as the pandemic has kept customers home and led to a surge in home improvement projects. 
  • The company is reinvesting some of that money into its core retail employees, to the tune of $1 billion in costs annually going forward. That investment applies primarily to a one-time increase in employee pay, both part-time and full-time, company executives said on Tuesday morning.
  • “We believe that our associates are a competitive advantage to the Home Depot, and they’re critical to the overall customer experience,” they said.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Riding on a wave of surging sales, Home Depot says it’s investing $1 billion annually into employee wages going forward.

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The home improvement retailer

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Home Depot earnings beat as shoppers focus on home, retailer to make pandemic pay raises permanent

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  • Home Depot on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings that beat estimates with sales surging more than 24% compared with a year ago as pandemic home improvement buying continued.
  • The company noted that it’s taking its temporary employee compensation programs that it implemented during the pandemic and making it permanent.
  • Home Depot’s profit also surged 24% to $3.43 billion, or $3.18 per share, during the fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 1, up from $2.77 billion, or $2.53 per share, a year earlier.



A customer wears a protective mask while unloading purchases off a cart outside a Home Depot Inc. store in Reston, Virginia, on Thursday, May 21, 2020.

© Provided by CNBC
A customer wears a protective mask while unloading purchases off a cart outside a Home Depot Inc. store in Reston, Virginia, on Thursday, May 21, 2020.

Home Depot on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings that beat estimates with sales surging about 24% compared with a year ago as pandemic home improvement buying continued.

The company noted that it’s taking its temporary employee compensation programs that it implemented

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The home remodeling business is booming during the pandemic

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When news of the coronavirus hit in early February and businesses starting closing their doors in March M.J. Taylor was worried. Today she is busier than ever.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — If you own a business you want to be busy. More calls and customers are better than no calls and customers. While many businesses are thrilled to be operating at 50% capacity, some are doing more work than before.

“We are very busy. Every single person I talk to in the business is in the same boat,” M.J. Taylor said.

The owner of MJ Design Build does everything from a remodeled bathroom or kitchen, to building a new home from the ground up.

Earlier this year, following the start of the pandemic, Taylor was worried her business would take a hit. Several clients put scheduled jobs on hold as many were worried about job security and uncertainty in the future.

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Amid a pandemic that isolates us, Chicago architecture awards recognize designs that build community

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Shifting its awards program online for the first time, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects on Friday will present honors for a wide range of buildings, many of which encourage a sense of community at a time when the coronanavirus pandemic has forced people apart.

Among the winners are a colorful North Side building that combines a public library and public housing, by John Ronan Architects; the headquarters of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; and a renovation that transformed the Chicago Transit Authority’s Garfield elevated station into a gateway for its South Side neighborhood, by EXP.

“This year’s entries represented a return to community-first ideas, spurred by the lessons this tumultuous year has quite uncompromisingly taught,” the awards jury said in a news release, an apparent reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd

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How Twitter is managing WFH culture during the pandemic

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  • Twitter, like the other major tech firms, is known for a strong company culture and freebies like breakfast and lunch.
  • It can be a major draw for top talent, but that culture is hard to replicate when everyone’s working from home.
  • We spoke to Twitter’s UK MD, Dara Nasr, about how the firm is keeping its culture alive and employee morale up.
  • He described how the firm organized virtual events such as language lessons, bedtime storytelling for employees’ kids, and paid rest days.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

On March 11, Twitter suspended all non-critical business travel and events to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.

Two months later on May 12, CEO Jack Dorsey announced that employees could work from home indefinitely, even after COVID-19 lockdowns end.  

Twitter isn’t totally new to remote work, after Dorsey first approved the practice in 2018. But full, permanent remote working

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