Covid-19 is increasing again in the UK. In England, 4% of the population had Covid-19 last week.

England is showing us what can happen when all transmission-reducing measures are made optional: most people conclude, "These measures are not needed any more." Not legally required is one thing, not needed is another.

Just after reporting the increase, the lab which measures the prevalence of Covid-19 in Britain reported its funding has been terminated.

Georgia proposes to follow Florida in passing a law to restrict discussion in school about sex or gender identity.

Education about those topics is important, so prohibit it is wrong, but we should describe clear what we are criticizing.

The label "don't say gay" misrepresents what these bills do. They do not order students not to talk about their own gender identities or sexual orientations, nor do they explicitly punish students for what they might say about those things.

Rather, they try to make schools and teachers discourage discussions about those topics, except for older students in a way considered "appropriate" for their age. ("Appropriate" is a subjective concept, and whenever it is used in connection with a contentious issue, it invites a subsequent power struggle over whose subjective interpretation will prevail.)

* Brandt's vole found to engineer ecosystem to scan skies for shrikes and deny them perches.*

El Salvador seeks to arrest an ex-president and officers accused of involvement in the 1989 political murder of Jesuit priests.

*Judge [temporarily] blocks Texas from investigating parents of transgender children.*