Some GOP lawmakers are prepping a nuclear option to revoke Wolf’s emergency powers. But it probably won’t work. – PA Post

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In an unusual plot twist, the normally powerful GOP-led state legislature has been largely sidelined during the coronavirus outbreak, while the governor has imposed unprecedented restrictions.

  • By Gillian McGoldrick of LNP | LancasterOnline

This story was produced as part of a joint effort among Spotlight PA, LNP Media Group, PennLive, PA Post, and WITF

HARRISBURG — A small contingent of Pennsylvania Republicans have prepared a nuclear option to revoke Gov. Tom Wolf’s emergency powers, as lawmakers continue to pressure the Democratic governor to reverse the sweeping actions he’s taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But while that option might fire up those who want to see the state reopen, it’s practically impossible to pull off.

In an unusual plot twist, the normally powerful GOP-led state legislature has been largely sidelined during the coronavirus outbreak, while Wolf has used his new-found power to close businesses and impose restrictions on the lives of 12.8 million people.

Those steps have closely tracked with the recommendations of nearly all state and federal health officials, and those same officials have cautioned against a hurried reopening. On Monday, however, four Republicans spoke on the steps of the Capitol to an angry crowd of hundreds of people protesting Wolf’s measures.

“Never before in the history of this commonwealth has a governor exercised so much power,” Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) said. “It’s time to roll that back.”

The Republican majority in the legislature has already passed legislation to begin to undo the closures, only to be met by Wolf’s veto pen. Now, despite the warnings from health officials and polls indicating wide support for the stay-at-home orders, some Republicans want to go further.

Mastriano in the Senate and Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) in the House have introduced resolutions that would force Wolf to end his emergency declaration.

Diamond said it was important to have the resolution “ready just in case.”

“I think that we’re trying to do our due diligence to work with the governor,” he said. “But in the end, the same law that authorizes the governor authorizes us to terminate it at any time.”

There’s just one problem: The legislature needs Wolf’s approval to do it.

When Wolf signed a disaster declaration March 6 in response to the growing coronavirus threat, he triggered a decades-old law that has been used in the past for hurricane and snowstorm response.

The 1978 statute gives the legislature the power to require the governor to end his emergency declaration at any time through a concurrent resolution, which the GOP majorities could pass without any Democrats on board.

But under the state Constitution, the governor is allowed to reject this kind of proposal. Republicans would need at least some Democrats to join the cause to gather the two-thirds majority needed to override Wolf’s inevitable veto — a near-impossible scenario.

When Spotlight PA reached out to Diamond about Wolf’s power to block the resolution, he replied, “The governor can pretty much do what he wants.”

A spokesperson for Wolf forwarded a request for comment to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, which provided details on how the state’s emergency declaration is tied to the availability of federal dollars.

While under Wolf’s emergency declaration, the General Assembly has passed a bill that would reopen businesses and advanced one that would create an intergovernmental task force and give individual counties the power to reopen their own economies, in effect redistributing the power away from Wolf. The governor has vetoed one of the measures and vowed to block the other, citing the harm opening businesses in this manner could have on public health.

With their powers diminished, Republican lawmakers are turning to one area where they still have some muscle: hearings.

Two state Senate committees will hold a hearing Thursday to gather more information about the state’s response to the coronavirus. Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, as well as the heads of PEMA and the Department of Community and Economic Development, have agreed to testify, according to a spokesperson for Sen. Tom Killion (R-Chester).

The Department of Community and Economic Development will likely be of particular interest to lawmakers, since it was tasked by Wolf with approving or denying waivers to allow businesses to reopen. Those decisions were made in secret and have been criticized as inconsistent and unfair.

Some lawmakers say their frustrations stem from the lack of transparency in the waiver process, in part because of claims that it has allowed big-box stores to remain open while forcing small businesses to close.

“We do absolutely respect the challenge the governor has had to address,” said Mike Straub, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster). “We don’t take issue with the fact that he’s had to make decisions very, very quickly outside the legislative process. But as much as possible we’d like to be engaged in the recovery plan.”

In an April 15 letter, Mastriano told Wolf he intends to subpoena the administration for documentation on “why you approved businesses for a waiver, and which ones you shut down.”

“It is the constitutional responsibility of the General Assembly to provide oversight of the Executive Branches and its actions, especially during this emergency crisis,” he said.

Members are also frustrated with Wolf’s lack of communication before he made sweeping orders, with leaders sometimes finding out what action he’s taken through press releases, Straub added. On top of hearings, members have sent letters to the governor, urging him to take action and reopen sectors of the economy that they believe can be safely done using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Wolf told reporters Tuesday that he talks with Republican leaders “all the time” and is trying to work with them on coronavirus response. Earlier this week, he announced plans to ease restrictions on construction and car sales, two sectors that Republican lawmakers had been advocating for.

100% ESSENTIAL: Spotlight PA relies on funding from foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. If you value this reporting, please give a gift today at spotlightpa.org/donate.

PHOTOS: Prepping meals for grab-and-go bags for students – Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

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Neiman Marcus Prepping Bankruptcy Filing, Report Says – Commercial Observer

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Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, hindered with billions of debt, could file for bankruptcy as soon as this week because of the economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported.

The Dallas-based chain owned by Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) — which also operates Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus Last Call stores — has about $4.8 billion in debt but skipped out of millions of dollars in payments last week as COVID-19 forced it to shutter its roughly 70 stores for all of its brands, according to Reuters. The company has also furloughed most of its nearly 14,000 employees.

A spokesman for Neiman Marcus declined to comment.

Standard & Poor analysts lowered Neiman Marcus’ credit rating into the “junk” category and wrote in a note that it thinks “the company’s prospects for a turnaround are increasingly low,” according to Reuters.

“It’s a shame to see a company like Neiman Marcus go out because it’s such an iconic brand,” said James Famularo, the president of Meridian Retail Leasing. “I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot more.”

The brand was already marching towards a bankruptcy filing as it struggled to compete with the rise of online shopping but the coronavirus epidemic’s impact to the economy — forcing retailers to close its doors and putting millions of Americans out of work — “accelerated it at a warp speed,” according to retail consultant Kate Newlin.

“This was going to be a slow erosion,” Newlin said. “There’s no way to make the numbers work without a great deal of outside capital and a sucker every five years whose willing to say, ‘Oh, wait, we can run this thing’… Now there’s no place to hide.”

Part of the issue for Neiman Marcus is it struggled to adapt to shopper’s changing habits beforehand, Newlin said. Now, the thought of stepping into a department store is going to be far from many people’s minds whenever they would be allowed to re-open.

“[Neiman’s is] not a great shopping experience,” said Newlin, citing unhelpful staff and constantly being surrounded by security personnel as the reasons. “Then you couple that with what’s happening now which is we can’t go and when we can we would have learned new behaviors. We would have learned to shop online, and once you go in that direction you’re unlikely to go back now and say, ‘Gee, what I really what to do is go into a dressing room and try things on.’ Those are words that are not going to be spoken for a very long time.”

Adweek reported that roughly a third of Neiman Marcus’ $4.7 billion revenue from last year was from online sales, but Newlin said that won’t help since many customers cannot or do not want to buy the type of products Neiman sells during this time.

“What you’re looking for is not the right dress or the new suit to go for a special event,” she said. “The demand has shifted on them rapidly.”

Neiman Marcus — which was founded in Dallas in 1907 by Herbet Marcus — was bought out by private-equity firm Ares and CPPIB for about $6 billion in 2013, according to Reuters. The owners have been trying to turn the company around and announced in March it planned to close most of its discount Last Call stores while trying to sell two of its Texas distribution centers, Adweek reported.

The department store made a splash in the New York market when it leased 188,000-square-feet at Hudson Yards’ retail complex, the first tenant to sign on to the 7-floor property, as Commercial Observer previously reported. Newlin said losing Neiman would be a “massive blow” for Related Companies’ project.

Famularo said he expects Neiman to permanently close about 25 percent of its lowest-performing stores during the bankruptcy process, but didn’t think the Hudson Yards’ location would be on the chopping block.

Aside from leaving a 188,000-square-foot gaping hole in Related’s project, the developer likely invested significantly in Neiman’s store and the deal could include profit-sharing making it even more a reason for Related to have Neiman stay.

“I want to take a guess Related and their management company works with [Neiman] to keep them there,” Famularo said. “It’s just too new of a project. Traditionally on these deals, the developer or the landlord pays for a lot of the build-out. They’re already monetarily invested in that brand and that location.”

Before the coronavirus, department stores like Neiman were struggling to stay afloat with many filing for bankruptcy and shuttering. In the past two years, Sears filed for bankruptcy with plans to close more than 500 stores nationwide, Henri Bendel closed its iconic New York City flagship after its parent company liquidated its assets, Macy’s announced plans to close hundreds of stores, Lord & Taylor was sold to clothing rental startup Le Tote for $100 million and Barneys New York was sold for $271 million with plans to close the majority of its seven stores and license its name to competitor Saks Fifth Avenue.

Famularo expects more retail bankruptcies to come in the future because companies already struggling likely won’t be able to survive the coronavirus’ economic impact.

“Anybody that was on thin ice, so to speak, before the pandemic is going to either file for bankruptcy or close,” he said. “If you were having a difficult time before the closures and COVID-19, I can’t see how you operate.”

How I’m Prepping For “Once-A-Decade” Dividend Buys – Forbes

A friend of 30+ years gave me a ring last Friday afternoon to check in on the family. Unfortunately for him, I popped back with a little more “real life” than he was ready for!

Other than catching up, he shared that his 401(k) plan was now liquid, thanks to his company being acquired. Having a cash portfolio at times like these is a fantasy that few investors actually experience.

“I’ll share what I wrote to my CIR subscribers today. For long-term positions, don’t be afraid to have up to half of your portfolio in cash right now. I think we’re going to see nice buying opportunities in the months ahead.”

“That said, don’t forget to get back into the market,” I warned. “In March 2008, I left my last ‘day job’ and rolled my 401(k) into an IRA. All cash. It was sweet timing, as (by pure accident) my retirement funds were protected from the bulk of the big crash.”

“But I forgot to get back in! Me of all people. I missed the initial bounce and then kept it parked in cash, year after year, into the next big stock boom.”

“So, don’t do that. Set a reminder to call me every month if you need to. Eventually, we will have brighter things to talk about, and investing returns to match!”

Dividends on Sale, Once a Decade

My recent research into pullbacks and bear markets has highlighted an obvious finding that many of us (including myself) overlook:

Once every decade or so, something really bad happens to stocks.

In recent memory, we had the crash of 1987, the tech bubble bursting in 2000, 2008 (which needs no intro), and, currently, the global pandemic of 2020. With this knowledge in mind and, of course, a ton of patience, an income investor could simply stockpile cash for 8 to 13 years or so and grab the “deal of the decade” when it presents itself.

Now I realize that nobody actually does this. And to be fair, the relentless upward climb of the stock market does place these crashes in perspective.

Thanks to hindsight we have our own “spoiler alert.” Black Monday would eventually fade into a mere blip on the historical radar.

These meltdowns are great for us income investors, provided that we keep our portfolios intact and have enough cash on hand (or dividends to reinvest) to buy the bargains. (In 2020, we also have to worry first about keeping ourselves intact! More on this in a minute. Back to business.)

The type of “once-in-a-decade dividend” I’m looking for us to see here soon is a blue-chip like Pfizer PFE (PFE). This perennial cash cow yields 4.3%, a high watermark it’s only “achieved” in 1987 (and the aftermath two years later), 2008 (and its aftermath) and now again in 2020.

It’s interesting to note that, in our two previous examples, Pfizer’s yield didn’t peak during the panic itself. It peaked during the aftermath.

After the 1987 crash, Pfizer paid 4.3%. Investors who bided their time got an even better deal 18 months later.

Same in 2008. The sharpest selling occurred in late 2008, but Pfizer’s shares wouldn’t bottom for another few (painful) months. Believe it or not, in March 2009, Pfizer’s payout (briefly) shot up to 11%! This is the type of opportunity we are waiting to pounce on.

Investors who bought shares then not only locked in an incredible double-digit yield, but they also set themselves up to quadruple their money over the next 11 years (including dividends, and also even accounting for the recent pullback).

It’s All About the Aftermath

In the long run, you’d have done quite well buying Pfizer any time its yield popped above 4.3%. But in the short term, you had some heartburn. The highway to high yields is often a bumpy one, and this initial buy signal in Pfizer actually triggered in late-2007, which got you on the train just in time to lose nearly half of your capital!

Bear markets are tricky by nature. Monday’s manic rally naturally makes us want to dump all of our cash back into the market. However, if history is any guide, the aftermath of the initial crash is going to last for months.

It is great to see the virus numbers slow down. But before we fear “missing out” on the next bull market, we should remind ourselves that we are all still sitting at home! The economy is at a standstill. Earnings numbers are going to be a horror show.

The stock market is, therefore, likely to stay a rollercoaster. So, let’s fasten our seatbelts while we pay attention and compile our dream shopping list. The best dividend buys—those that only surface once a decade—are about to become available.

Brett Owens is chief investment strategist for Contrarian Outlook. For more great income ideas, click here for his latest report How To Live Off $500,000 Forever: 9 Diversified Plays For 7%+ Income.

Disclosure: none

Opinion: Social Adult Day Care is Prepping to Move Online – City Limits

help

City Limits

COVID- 19 is a perfect storm for the elderly and chronically ill, who reportedly are most affected by the disease. The CDC reports that eight out of 10 deaths in the U.S. have been in adults 65 years and older. In New York City, where one in six of the population is over 65, this alone has caused overwhelming fear and anxiety. However, for the chronically ill, isolation and the reduction of normal services and support COVID-19 could have implications for years to come.  

We must look at the same technology used for business and schools to provide solutions for the elderly in need of long term care.

Health disparities in New York City have always been apparent, but the COVID-19 crisis is a recipe for long-term mental illness and other negative health outcomes for those not affected by the virus itself.  

Disasters can have effects on mental health years after the event. Studies have shown that 12 years after Hurricane Katrina,  PTSD was still on the rise and “ certain demographic groups tend to be more vulnerable,” reported  developmental psychologist Katie Cherry, who edited the book Traumatic Stress and Long-term Recovery: Coping with Disasters and other Negative Life Events. “Women do more poorly than men after disaster. So do those with lower education and lower income and the elderly.” Another study showed that  increased hospitalizations have been reported in the elderly after storms have hit. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, but policymakers and stakeholders can look at past disasters to minimize negative effects. A study published in 2012 shows it is critical to make people feel safe and to assist in decreasing their anxiety immediately after a disaster impacts.

For the city’s Medicaid long-term care population, this could be accomplished by adapting the way that services are provided. New York City’s social adult day care program (SADC)  provides services in a group setting to mentally and physically functionally impaired individuals, of whom the majority are elderly. Required services include essentials like personal care, but the programs are also popular with the participants merely for the opportunity to socialize. Other services include meals, translation services, caregiver support and case assistance. Programs are culturally specific and provide a strong support system for participants. 

There are approximately 30, 000 participants whose adult day care services have been cut by the insurance companies because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the elderly members feeling isolated and without their regular support system. Just as home school services could be reinstated through the use of technology providing a familiar connection and comfort in what is essentially a natural disaster.     

Social adult day care programs address factors–such as isolation–which can account for 80 percent of health outcomes and affect healthcare costs. People who feel lonely may also have weakened immune systems that have trouble fighting off viruses, which makes them more vulnerable to some infectious diseases. Research has also shown that the effects of loneliness can have effects up to 4 years later.

To elevate the ill effects of social isolation SADC services could be immediately provided with simple phone calls and daily check-ins from their familiar caregiver. However, should the emergency shutdown under New York State’s Pause policy last for months instead of weeks, SADC programs are looking at more advanced programming for socialization depending on the capabilities of the participants. 

Computer class was once the most popular of SADC classes across all cultures. Prior to COVID-19, those classes involved simple Facebook instructions or internet safety, never knowing how in the future these classes would impact health outcomes. Now adult day care providers are looking at programs such as Zoom, which is fairly easy to access once the program is downloaded on a smartphone or computer and can connect up to 250 participants.

Screen reading programs for the totally blind either provide speech or braille output. Non-assistive computer programs like electronic mail and instant messaging empower individuals with hearing-related impairments to communicate over the Internet and magnification software enlarges text and graphics displayed on PC monitors and are widely used by persons with poor vision or who have difficulty reading.

COVID-19

CDC

Read our coverage of New York City’s Coronavirus crisis.

If this is not resolved, ‘lost children’ will be exposed viagra online ordering to substantial emotional harm, stunting their personal growth as well as their function towards the family. Known as the most “ripped” physique of his time, he met a tragic end when his liver, kidney, and heart disease pop over to this site levitra online are suggested to refrain themselves from using this product. Webbing cialis no prescription http://secretworldchronicle.com/2019/06/ep-9-35-kingdom/ Slings – These are synthetic slings which are used for special lifting applications. According to the doctors, the only medicine which could cialis without prescription be fatal if not treated immediately.

On March 21, a  Medicaid Update granted latitude for all Medicaid providers to use a wide variety of communication methods to deliver services remotely during the COVID-19 state of emergency. It included information that  Charter Communications (Spectrum) and Comcast are giving households who qualify as low-income complimentary Wifi for 60 days and both companies are expanding their wifi network.

During this Perfect Storm, with increasing caregiver shortages and patient quarantines, we must look to technology to address social determinants of health in order to reduce the unintended consequences of social distancing.


Yvonne Ward is secretary of the Executive Board at New York State Adult Day Services Association.

Survivalists have been prepping for a disaster scenario like coronavirus. Now, many feel vindicated – PostBulletin.com

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RINGTOWN, Pa. – When Dan Wowak went to live alone in the wilds of Patagonia in 2016 for a chance to win a half-million dollars on reality television, he was allowed to bring 10 items. Toilet paper wasn’t one of them.

Wowak, a Mahanoy City native, did bring an ax and saw, a sleeping bag and a ferro rod, which you can strike to make sparks in just about any condition. He also chose fishing line and hooks, which proved invaluable. Over 51 days, he ate nothing but fish he caught in a lake: nine of them.

“I lost 54 pounds,” he said. “I know what hunger feels like.”

Wowak, who worked in the juvenile justice system before becoming a full-time woodsman, left the reality show “Alone” early, choosing sanity, food and his family over the big prize. Today, at age 38, he teaches survival and outdoors classes through his company, Coal Cracker Bushcraft, giving crash courses in how to stay alive in the woods or when goods are scarce. He said he’s recently gotten hundreds of emails expressing interest as America quickly went from normal to empty supermarket shelves. He’s seen people making smart decisions, like social distancing, and bizarre ones, like grabbing all the toilet paper they can.

“You don’t use toilet paper if you’re out in the woods. Just grab some leaves and wipe your butt. At home, you can cut up old T-shirts,” he said. “I think, honestly, a lot of people just don’t know what to do. They see me buying toilet paper, they see you buying toilet paper and Uncle Frank, and they go looking for it.”

Wowak, who earned an MBA from Alvernia University in Reading, defines essentials as shelter, water, fire and food. Translated to a city or suburban environment, that could be a house, heat sources like blankets and fireplaces, your faucet, and extra cans of beans. If people remained calm and thought those needs out, he said, they’d find better alternatives at the store.

“I went to Target the other day and there was no water on the shelves,” he said. “I went over to the camping aisle and all the water purifiers and jugs were there. You could literally boil a pot of water in the morning and at night.”

Art Dawes, 51, of Lock Haven, runs PA Wilderness Skills, a business similar to Wowak’s. He said he took a survival class offered by his junior high school decades ago and has been hooked ever since.

“We were starting fires on the front lawn of the school,” he said.

Dawes said people should use the coronavirus pandemic to make plans, to list out things they would take with them if they had to leave home. They should brush up on basic car repair too.

“You never know if your car is going to break down,” he said.

Both woodsmen teach primitive skills to their students, such as making fire with a “bow drill,” the way cavemen might have done. But they’re also practical and carry tools that make lighting fire far easier.

“There’s a reason why lighters were invented,” Dawes said.

All across the country, people who identify as “preppers” have spent years stockpiling food, even ammunition, for disaster scenarios, and many feel vindicated as the coronavirus and efforts to stop it spread. They’ve often been ridiculed or called paranoid, but they say many of their critics are now asking for their help, or whether they can spare some of their surplus if times get tough.

One administrator for a Facebook prepper group said he’s been adding 2,000 members per week.

“The only story we want to tell is that everyone, every member of a community, should learn the basics of survival not only for themselves, but for their communities,” he said in a message.

Wowak and Dawes do not consider themselves “preppers,” both preferring to be called woodsmen who practice bushcraft. Wowak said he uses firearms for hunting, not “tactical” reasons, but believes trapping is more practical when looking for food.

Some Pennsylvania preppers agreed to speak to The Philadelphia Inquirer, but none would divulge their full names out of concern that their locations would be uncovered. Many declined to be interviewed, saying “the media” perpetuated the “prepper” stereotype.

Robert B., 40, of Lebanon County, said he and his daughters have “bug out bags” packed and ready in case they have to leave the house immediately. He owns 45 acres “elsewhere.” Bug out bags usually contain essentials like extra medicine, sleeping gear, tools, lighters, and more.

“We have prepped for different scenarios, from home invasions to mass rioting and pandemics to possible war,” Robert B. said.

None of the preppers could think of a specific event that caused them to start stockpiling.

“I guess growing up in extreme poverty and seeing how one bad day can turn into a major problem easily,” said Michelle, 44, from Centre County.

Many say the reaction to the coronavirus – massive layoffs, scarcity of food and goods, relaxed law enforcement for certain crimes – could be as bad as the virus itself, which might explain the uptick in gun and ammunition sales. A gun store owner in Montgomery County told The Inquirer last week that he could not order more ammunition. When asked if he had firearms, prepper Jon K., of Erie County, said, “Use your imagination.”

The most important aspect of prepping, in Jon K.’s opinion, is preserving water and food, either through drying or canning. Michelle has a greenhouse and root cellar at her home.

Wowak and Dawes agree that in a survival scenario, finding food is the most critical and difficult task. Buying milk and fresh meat is thinking very much in the present, Wowak said, but when shopping for a protracted quarantine, look for canned foods, protein bars, nuts, and even pasta, high-caloric foods that can last.

In nature, Wowak said, smaller foods like blueberries or frogs are easiest to eat, but low in calories. Large sources of protein like deer or turkey are more complicated, even with a firearm.

“If you were able to kill a deer and it was 70 degrees out, would you be able to preserve it?” Wowak said.

Both men tell their students to avoid eating plants unless they’re really skilled at identifying them. Many can make you sick or worse. Dawes suggested buying field guides to edible plants and adding them to a bug out bag.

Though he was on television, Wowak said a lot of strategies perpetuated by film and television aren’t quite practical in a true survival situation – like roasting a fish on an open fire and simply eating the fillets. He prefers to boil them whole and basically consume everything but the bones to get every calorie.

“Even the fish heads,” he said. “The eyeballs kind of liquefy.”

(c)2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mayo’s Madsen brothers prepping for Cincy – KIMT 3

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ROCHESTER, Minnesota – Mayo high school’s Madsen Brothers were one of a kind to the Med City.

Their season was cut short three weeks ago due to the Coronavirus, which cancelled the boy’s basketball state tournament. All this time later, it’s still hard for Gabe to process what happened. 

“It’s still so crazy to think about that’s the way your senior season ends and I’m still mad about the fact there’s no closure,” Gabe Madsen said. “I still don’t really know what to say to be honest I don’t know if I ever will, I don’t know like people can say whatever they want but no one ever expected it so.”

The Twins have a lot of free time right now as Gov. Walz issued a stay home order. Both boys picked up new hobbies, Gabe in guitar and Mason in piano.

Fitness centers and gyms are closed until at least May 1. With those closures, it’s made it difficult to practice their game.

“Today you cant even go anywhere so I was just outside, it was really cold I was just dribbling with a really flat ball, my hands were really numb but I found a way to get basketball in,” Gabe said. 

There’s still no sense of closure to the end of the season, a lot of what ifs. 

“We didn’t get to feel the end result of all that hard work and so hopefully sometime in college in we can feel that,” Mason said.

Now the brothers are prepping for a brand new season – their freshman season at the University of Cincinnati. After this layoff, they’ll be ready for college ball.

“I cannot wait, I’m so excited,” Gabe said.

“That’s the part I’m most excited about, how much better I can get,” Mason said. 

In the Age of COVID-19, Survivalists Are Prepping for a Windfall – 5280 | The Denver Magazine

A guard post at Fortitude Ranch. Courtesy of Fortitude Ranch.

The Armageddon is their business. And business is good.

 •  

Deep in the mountains a few hours outside of Colorado Springs, its exact location known only to a privileged few, salvation awaits.

Officially called Fortitude Ranch, this sanctuary is a 50-acre development built in 2018 as a private, communal bug-out shelter—a place people could seek refuge in the unfortunate event of, say, a global pandemic. Should such a circumstance transpire, the compound offers security through its cache of ammo, weapons, and manned guard posts; lodging within an undisclosed number of underground bunkers; and a year’s worth of food and other supplies. At max capacity, the base could accommodate 500—though currently its membership stands at about 100 individuals who’ve forked over an average of $1,000 a year for the privilege of its protection.

“We’re more like a country club,” says Drew Miller, Fortitude Ranch’s founder and CEO. “You join a country club, you pay an upfront fee, you get to use their facilities.” (If you’re looking for a needle of optimism in the haystack of despair that has been the coronavirus, Miller says that he’s been advising members to remain at their houses instead of fleeing to Fortitude Ranch. By his calculation, COVID-19 isn’t all that bad compared to other apocalyptic scenarios.)

And like a ritzy country club, admittance to the shelter might soon become highly particular. “The way we’re expanding with this virus generating interest,” Miller says, “we should be up to several hundred in Colorado here in this year and probably open our second location [in the Centennial State].” Over the past few weeks, Miller claims, thousands have inquired about membership. “It’s been a wake-up call.”

Drew Miller. Courtesy of Fortitude Ranch

In 2018, I wrote a story about Colorado’s prepper culture. The tone of the piece was, admittedly, droll (Von Miller made an appearance as a member of my apocalypse team). That being said, I did try to balance humor and education, because every emergency-services specialist I spoke with said disaster was coming and we weren’t ready for it.

Did I listen to them? Yes. Did I include their insights in the article? Yes. Did I go out and buy two weeks worth of water and food and devise a plan for escaping the city just in case a nuclear winter descended on Denver? I did not. But where the experts’ words failed, my King Soopers’ barren shelves have succeeded. “Fortitude Ranch did not contribute to the toilet paper shortage,” Miller says, “because we’re always stockpiled.” Faced with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, I now get why it’s reassuring to know that you’ll always be able to comfortably address such sanitary needs—and evidently I’m not alone.

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Kiki Bandilla is a member of Fortitude Ranch and owner of the Self-Reliance & Simple Life Experience, an expo for the prepper community that will be held this year at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds in Aurora on October 24 and 25. Only a few weeks ago, she was beginning to organize the event. “Then comes coronavirus, which is great for the expo,” Bandilla says. “People are starting to see that peppers aren’t so crazy. Maybe we should take steps to prepare.” Bandilla says she hasn’t witnessed a boom in ticket sales yet, but two sponsors—Garden 4 Life, a Missouri company that sells a “soil-less” system for growing your own food, and Country Financial, which markets business interruption insurance—have since signed on.

In a more immediate effort to take advantage of the surge of interest in survivalism, this Saturday Bandilla will launch the Self-Reliance University. The first webinar will feature Miller and Nick Meacher, the manager of emergency operations at Denver International Airport, who will “give you an insiders’ perspective from those who are leading teams through this current pandemic,” according to the website. Bandilla says the first class will be free, though she’s thinking of instituting a subscription model for future lessons, which she plans to air either weekly or biweekly.

One of the ranch’s undisclosed number of shelters Courtesy of Fortitude Ranch.

Still, apocalypse-related businesses aren’t completely immune to economic downturns. Jason Marsteiner, the CEO and founder of Colorado Springs’ the Survival University (not to be confused with Bandilla’s Self-Reliance University) was supposed to teach a class this Saturday titled “15 Minutes Ago”—how to react in the minutes following a catastrophic event. As of Wednesday, two students had already backed out because of the pandemic. “I think people are starting to realize what I do is important,” Marsteiner says, “but because of the financial crisis, everyone is being very careful on how they spend their money.”

Even Fortitude Ranch, with a horde of prospective members lining up outside its gates, is having difficulty attracting investors. The company has already constructed a second operational bug-out shelter in West Virginia, two hours from Washington, D.C. (“It’s just a great market,” Miller says. “People realize they’re a target there.”) But Miller wants to expand to 12 sites. “Thousands of people contacted us and want to join across the U.S. but we’re working now to find investors,” Miller says. “It’s a difficult thing to do anytime. In a pandemic, it’s not easier.”

Blue Collar Prepping with Erin Palette – Guns.com

Shotgun and cans

Stocking up on essentials before an issue arises doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. (Photo: Jacki Billings/Guns.com)

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Erin Palette may be the face of Operation Blazing Swords but she also knows a thing or two about survival. A founding member of Blue Collar Prepping — a blog and Facebook group — Palette shares her knowledge and tips on preparing for the unexpected on a budget.

If survivalism is an art form, Palette uses her budgetary know-how to weave portraits of how regular people can stock up, prepare and ready ourselves for tough times. Guns.com chatted with Palette to get the scoop on the modern-day prepper and even grab some tips on how to start your survival stock.

Guns.com: I think for a lot of people, they hear prepping and imagine some crazy hoarder in a tinfoil hat with paper towels stacked to the ceiling in their basement; but the reality is that’s pretty far from the truth. So for those that may be confused by the term prepper, how would you define a modern prepper?

Palette: The pithy answer is “an Eagle Scout with more disposable income.” A more complete answer is that a prepper is someone who acknowledges that disaster, be it personal or large scale, can strike at any moment and is prepared to be their own first responder, to shelter in place, or to self-rescue as necessary — anyone who carries a concealed firearm or a tourniquet (preferably both) and who knows how to use it is some degree of prepper.

Guns.com: What got you interested in prepping and how did you get started?

Palette: I was the aforementioned Eagle Scout and I’ve always been a fan of Batman, so the idea of having the tools and know-how to respond to a crisis has always been appealing. Between the ages of 6 and 11, I lived in Cold War Europe under the constant threat of nuclear war and Soviet invasion, and my family practiced evacuation drills. I’ve also lived in Florida for most of my adult life and hurricane preparedness is just part of living here.

However, I began considering myself a true prepper around 2008 or 2009 when I was coping with the death of a loved one and needed to think about something else and do something with my restless energy. Since I live in a state that is frequently beset by natural disasters like tornadoes and wildfires in addition to hurricanes, I felt I needed to be prepared not just to shelter in place but also to evacuate without losing all my resources. Preppers call those situations “bugging in” and “bugging out,” and so I began to prepare for both.

Blue Collar Prepping Website

Blue Collar Prepping shares tips and tricks on how to stock up, bug in, or bug out on a budget. (Screenshot: Guns.com)

Guns.com: I think there’s a misconception that prepping takes a lot of money or that you need to be financially well-off to do it but the site Blue Collar Prepping is all about being prepared on a budget. What are some key things that budget-conscious consumers can do to be more prepared?

Palette: Can I mention how much I hate Doomsday Preppers? Not only did it make most preppers look like lunatics, but in its thirst for sensationalism it rapidly veered into the photogenic-yet-unrealistic preps of people with fully stocked bunkers in their basement. I felt that emergency preparedness is something anyone can do, but if they’re bombarded with lurid TV shows which carry the message “Unless you can sink tens of thousands of dollars into prepping, you’re not doing it properly” they will think to themselves “Well, I can’t afford all that, so I guess I’ll take my chances.” Nothing could be further from the truth!

As I mentioned above, if you have a gun and a tourniquet, you have preps. If you have camping gear, you have the ability to bug out. If you have a pantry, you can lay in supplies for sheltering in place. Here are some quick and easy prepping tips that take little to no extra cash:

  • Every time you go grocery shopping, pick up an extra can of food or an extra bag of dry good (rice, beans, lentils, etc). Pretty soon you’ll find that you have a month’s worth of food supplies.
  • Take clothes which still fit but you don’t wear anymore and place them in a duffel bag or old suitcase along with some spare toiletries like a toothbrush, dental floss, travel deodorant and the like. Now you have to evacuate your home you already have a packed bag.
  • Learn useful skills, such as first aid or how to start a garden or basic auto maintenance. Knowledge weighs nothing and is always with you.
  • Get to know your neighbors. In a disaster, first responders may be too busy to arrive in a timely manner — or at all. If you are on good terms with your neighbors, then you can pull together during an emergency to help each other.

Guns.com: Food and water are always important items to have on hand for survival but how do guns and ammo play a role in preparing?

Palette: They play an important part, to be sure. Being attacked by someone who seeks to harm you is the very definition of a crisis, and having a gun allows me to be my own first responder. In fact, prepping led me to becoming a gun owner! My first gun was a bolt-action .22 LR which I bought so that I could harvest small game if I needed to. From there I bought a larger rifle, a shotgun, and then a pistol for concealed carry.

Security is a vital part of preparedness. If you have something that other people lack (like food, water, or shelter) they may try to take it from you, and you need the ability to say “No, I will not allow you to take this from my family.”

Guns also allow you hunt for food in a true grid-down or SHTF social collapse scenario. A .22 for small game, a deer rifle for big game, and a shotgun for fowling are all useful.

A well-stocked first-aid kit and the knowledge of how to use it proves vital. (Photo: Jacki Billings/Guns.com)

Guns.com: The Coronavirus has sent many people scrambling for supplies, guns, and ammo. For those that may be facing a wake-up call of sorts, what would your advice to them be as they start as beginner preppers?

Palette: Every new prepper focuses on the big disasters like economic collapse or nuclear war or the zombie apocalypse — or, in our current situation, an unstoppable super-virus. Trying to prepare for something like that is too much, too soon. Instead, start small and focus on personal disasters, such as “Let’s make sure we have an extra week’s worth of food in the pantry” or “What will I do if a family member is hospitalized?”

Start small and immediate, and then work your way out in both time and scope.

Handgun and toilet paper

Ahhh the most coveted of all the supplies…at least according to those headed to the store during the Coronavirus pandemic….TP! (Photo: Jacki Billings/Guns.com)

For all those currently worried about having enough TP on hand — Palette wrote up the following suggestions on Blue Collar Prepping’s blog for surviving without Charmin.

  • “Gather up clean but unusable cotton fabric, like old t-shirts and torn bedsheets.

  • Give them all a good washing.

  • Cut them into toilet squares (4″x4″).

  • Use these as you would toilet paper to wipe after urination.

  • Placed used fabric squares into a lidded container until laundry day.

  • Launder the squares with soap and water to remove the urine from them.”

“For cleaning yourself after defecating:

  • Find a washcloth that you won’t use on your face.

  • Wet the washcloth under a running faucet.

  • Wipe until you are clean. This may require you to rinse the cloth under running water.

  • When you are fully wiped, get the washcloth soapy to kill any bacteria, then wring it out and let it hang dry.

  • Wash your hands as normal.”

Panic-Buying Isn’t Prepping for COVID-19 – Reason

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Unless they have top-notch recipes for butt-wipe casserole or plan on building papier-mâché bunkers to outlast the viral apocalypse, most of the people who recently stocked up on toilet paper probably misdirected their dollars and their efforts. All too often, that’s what happens when people are unprepared and find themselves scrambling to respond to a crisis without a plan. But no matter what the headline writers say, panic-buying isn’t prepping. Let’s talk about the best way to weather the current COVID-19 situation and make sure you’re set up for the inevitable next wave of suckage.

Preparing for bad times depends an awful lot on what kind of bad times are most likely to come your way. Is it an extinction-inducing meteor-strike? You just need a good supply of your favorite intoxicants for that. But something more survivable, like an earthquake, power outage, or, perhaps, a global pandemic, requires plans, supplies, and effort.

As it happens, the American Red Cross maintains a whole section of its website devoted to emergency preparedness. Among other suggestions, it recommends that everybody keep a two-week supply of food and water at all times. That means you’re already supposed to have those goodies tucked away.

Two weeks worth of food and water isn’t enough to see you through what epidemiologists say could be “a matter of months rather than weekswith an optimistic estimate of two monthsbut it would see you through the initial panic so that you could wait until grocery store shelves are restocked and you’ve thought through your needs so that you can shop accordingly.

I think two weeks is a good starting point, but not nearly enough. What defines “enough” depends on your tolerance for risk, your resources, and the situation to which you’re responding. If quarantines, curfews, and social distancing really do last a few months, and your business or employer folds during that time, you will wish that you had supplies for “a matter of months rather than weeks.” To that point, the website The Prepared recommends that during the COVID-19 pandemic you should “be able to shelter in your home for at least two weeks—90 days is even better—without leaving for supplies or outside help.”

But that sounds expensiveand it really will be, if you try to do it all in one Saturday shopping trip (although probably not as pricey as surviving on take-out, as some people suggest). It won’t be so noticeable if you space out your purchases, and less painful still if you can draw on a vegetable and herb garden for fresh, dried, or canned additions. Pick up a little on each shopping trip in terms of extra storable foods that you like to eat (don’t buy Spam if you hate Spam) so that your stock increases over time. Then use the goods that you purchased first while continuing to add to the pantry to build and then maintain your supply.

My family uses Julie Languille’s Prepper’s Food Storage: 101 Easy Steps to Affordably Stock a Life-Saving Supply of Food as a guide. Languille prioritizes the foods you should purchase, so that you don’t end up with hundreds of boxes of pasta but no protein or ingredients for sauce or side dishes; the goal is a balanced diet. The book features charts detailing how much of any given food you should purchase given the size of your household and your target prep time. The author also points out that you should adjust her recommendations according to your preferences and any dietary restrictions: Three gallons of olive oil for three people to eat over a year sounds light to me, but we practically swim in the stuff.

Languille’s book also helpfully includes cost estimates, canning techniques, and dehydration tips for turning garden produce into something you can eat years later.

Of course, there are things outside food and water to consider, too. Such as…

Don’t forget your meds! This is personal for me, since I had an eye stroke a few years ago. I recovered remarkably well, but add-on complications mean that I have to use daily eyedrops or else I’ll eventually go blind. Do I stockpile my eyedrops in case there is an interruption in the supply? You better frigging believe it. I even keep a supply of a med that I stopped using because of the side effects, but which still works.

If you’re in a similar situation, make sure you have a supply of meds to last through a shortageor just to help you avoid extra trips to a pharmacy full of sick people during a pandemic. The American Red Cross suggests that “at a minimum” you should have a seven-day supply; I keep several months’ worth at any time and recommend that, if possible, you do the same.

Basic first-aid supplies are also a must, along with the skills to use them. You don’t want to have to run out for band-aids and antibiotic ointment if your kid takes a tumble. An expanded list of potentially helpful medical supplieseverything from steri-strips to burn gel to chest sealsis offered by The Prepared. Keep in mind that more advanced tools won’t do you much good if you don’t learn to use them.

Network with neighbors, friends, and family! Yes, even in a pandemic (although you should exercise caution). Do this because it’s a good thing to check on people, make sure they’re OK, and help them along through what is a tough time for everybody. If you need to make a grocery run anyway, picking up some extras for the elderly folks next door isn’t a hardship.

Work with others, too, because you may have complementary resources and skill sets. If you’re an EMT with kids, and your accident-prone friend has a supply of homeschooling materials, you can make life a lot easier for each other.

Now that we’ve gone through all of that, here’s the bad news: It’s a little late to get started on pandemic prepping. “Prepping,” after all, means preparation, and we’re tits-deep in the crisis. My local market featured lots of bare shelves yesterday, and the daily delivery didn’t arrive as expected. Companies that sell emergency food supplies warn of months-long delaysif they’re taking orders at all.

To get through the COVID-19 lockdown, you’re going to have to scrimp, buy what’s available, and make do.

Yeah, that’s gonna suck a bit. But you will make it through. That’s especially true if you follow the above advice and work with others for mutual assistance. Don’t wait for guidance or mandates from authorities who may lack your values, important information, or simple decencytake responsibility for yourself and cooperate with others who have done the same.

And next time, you’ll be better prepared.