Cardiologist Ricardo Cigarroa ’80, who has become a top COVID crusader along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, blasted political leaders in a Facebook address for allowing the virus to rampage. He said he’s signing five to seven death certificates a day and asked for a city shutdown of two or three weeks. — The New York Times
Barack and Michelle Obama ’85’s production company, Higher Ground Productions, is adapting Mohsin Hamid ’93’s “critically adored” 2017 novel Exit West into a movie that will be streamed on Netflix. — The New York Times
Princeton associate professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta ’06 says the field of classics needs to rid itself of white supremacy even if doing so destroys the discipline. — The New York Times
To reestablish trust in government institutions, Harvard professor Danielle Allen ’93 called for expansion of Congress, term limits for Supreme Court justices, and the immediate end to the Senate filibuster. — WGBH
On the first episode of a new Rappler interview series titled #HoldTheLine, journalist Maria Ressa ’86 interviewed Sonny Swe of Myanmar about “why he keeps speaking truth to power” even after spending nearly eight and a half years in jail. — Rappler
The Jewish Repertory Theatre of Western New York is staging an online reading of Alice Eve Cohen ’76’s The Year My Mother Came Back. — Buffalo News
New York Times cyber security reporter Nicole Perlroth ’04 discussed the December Solar Winds breach and other U.S. vulnerabilities — as well as her new book, This is How They Tell Me The World Ends — on Fresh Air. — NPR
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell ’86 talked about service when she was highlighted in a series of “Black Women Breaking Barriers,” and said that as Black excellence and achievement continues, “what we do with it matters.” — WVTM
Former Australian Treasury minister Martin Parkinson *90 said the country doesn’t have to choose between the U.S. and China and that framing it that way sets up a dangerous Cold War scenario. — The Sydney Morning Herald
“Loving New York, which I do, has often made me feel morally compromised, even alien to myself. Moving to the neighborhood, for pragmatic reasons, solved that emotional tangle for me. Almost no one likes this neighborhood or wants to live here.”
— Writer Rivka Galchen ’98 on living near the Port Authority Bus Station and Penn Station in New York City for a decade. — The New Yorker
Soccer player Diana Matheson ’08 is among the teammates from Kansas City’s new National Women’s Soccer League team named to the Canadian roster for the SheBelieves Cup. — The Kansas City Star
Bouchra Ezzahraoui *11, co-founder of AUrate, said customers are buying more online and earlier in the year, but otherwise the jewelry company hasn’t seen much difference from prior Valentine’s Day seasons. — Morning Brew
Meg Whitman ’77, a former eBay chief executive and former chief executive of defunct video streaming app Quibi, is one of the self-made women named to a Forbes billionaires list for 2020. — Thomson Reuters Foundation News
During the pandemic, American Ninja Warrior host Matt Iseman ’93 has been hosting a new trivia podcast, Factorius, and posed on Instagram with a puppy. — American Ninja Warrior Nation
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