While healthcare workers attempt to save everyone who is sick, other workers deemed essential are putting themselves at risk every day to make sure that society functions during the coronavirus pandemic.

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The SEIU in late March said it found a supplier who had the masks sitting in a warehouse. But investigators now say they were never there to begin with, and the union was the target of a scam.

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The rural area around Sun Valley, Idaho, became one of the earliest hot spots of COVID-19 cases in the US. Now, its residents can teach us something about what’s next.

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The NHL, just like every other sport that doesn’t have an ‘e’ in front of it, remains on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first round of NHL playoffs should be underway, but at this point the regular season hasn’t officially ended and games are still on the books as merely postponed. At this point it seems clear that if the league were to resume play it would have a very different schedule, and possibly play a lot of games in the same venues to mitigate risk of contracting COVID-19.

According to ESPN, the NHL is getting pitches from small towns across North America to be the site of the NHL playoffs, if they are to actually happen this summer. While NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN’s Emily Caplan and Greg Wyshynski that the league was putting together a “laundry list” of things they would need from venues and cities to hold a quarantine league, they haven’t taken any real steps toward making it a reality.

“We do have people putting together the comprehensive laundry list of what we would need from facilities and evaluating some facilities on some level,” Daly said. “But I can’t tell you we’ve even finished creating a list [of potential sites], much less narrowed it down.”

Among the reported possible locations for neutral-site games, which would likely be held in empty arenas, are Grand Forks, North Dakota; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. But Daly said the NHL hasn’t even “created the field yet” in determining which sites would work.

The fact of the matter remains that while many are desperate for hockey to happen, there’s also a laundry list of things that would have to go perfectly for it to happen at all. Members of the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche have officially tested positive, including a third member of the Avs more than three weeks after the initial shutdown of the league itself.

Ensuring everyone in the NHL has consistent access to testing, that people living in these more remote places perhaps not as severely impacted by the pandemic could be safe, and that no one would get sick and shut down the postseason again are just a few of the concerns. There’s also more logistical concerns such as proper practice and workout facilities, lodging and how television contracts can be honored by a more abbreviated postseason and, presumably, the cancelation of the regular season altogether.

These quarantine league ideas are novel and every major sports organization appears to be working on one as we bide our time in isolation, but the fact of the matter is they would be extremely difficult to pull off and offer a bevy of problems that may only make things worse. Good on places like Manchester, New Hampshire to shoot their shot at pro sports in a crisis, though.

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The hockey world was shocked earlier in the week when it learned Edmonton Oilers forward Colby Cave had been hospitalized and was put in a coma after suffering a brain bleed. Sadly, Saturday brought word that he died at just 25 years old. Cave’s wife, Emily, released a statement saying the Oilers and former Boston Bruins player had passed away.

“It is with great sadness to share the news that our Colby Cave passed away this morning,” the statement said according to ESPN. “Both our families are in shock but know our Colby was loved dearly by us, his family and friends, the entire hockey community and many more. We thank everyone for their prayers during this difficult time.”

The Oilers organization was understandably shocked that Cave, a third year player who was claimed on waivers by Edmonton in January of 2019, was so suddenly gone. The team shared his last goal on Twitter on Saturday, which he scored on the road against Pittsburgh before the NHL season was suspended due to COVID-19.

The NHL’s account also showed his first, which he scored as a member of the Bruins.

The Oilers organization was particularly emotional about his shocking death, which stunned an NHL community filled with uncertainty while the season and organized sports in general are wondering when it will be safe to play hockey again. Now it mourns a tragic passing in a world filled already filled with so much loss amid a pandemic.

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Very few people have stood by Harvey Weinstein since he was accused by numerous women of sexual misconduct — some allegations of which led to a 23-year prison sentence, which in turn led him to test positive for COVID-19. Since his sentencing, those who’ve worked or at least met him have shared stories; Ron Perlman recently shared an amusing one. Now Kevin Smith is claiming the fallen producer still owes him royalties on his debut 1994 feature, Clerks.

In a new interview with Variety (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), Smith revealed that Weinstein — who, along with his brother Bob, bought Clerks and distributed it from their initial company Miramax — wound up short-changing him.

“He was notorious for that. I did encounter that. And I’m still out money,” Smith told Variety. Still, he’s not that upset. “But you got to understand, I never cared about the money. My whole career, my reps were like: ‘You’re supposed to be making far more.’ Money’s never been a motivator for me.”

That said, Smith still noticed that he was short some bucks. “This much I know. They bought Clerks for $227,000,” Smith said. “And the movie went out and made $3 million at the box office and stuff. And it took seven years for us to see any profit from that movie. For seven years, they were like, ‘Nope, the movie is still not in profit.’ And we were like, ‘How?’ And then there were things.”

Smith even claimed Weinstein billed the Clerks team for a yacht rental they wound up using for Pulp Fiction’s Cannes Film Festival debut. ” There was a yacht, the Miramax yacht, it was called. That’s where all the stars were. But that yacht wasn’t for us,” Smith said. “When the festival was over, we got the financial statement. They had taken the entire Cannes bill, everything they spent in Cannes, and just chopped it up into four and Clerks was charged as much as Pulp Fiction. So we all paid an equal share. I remember John Sloss, my lawyer, being like, ‘This is nuts. We have to audit them.’ And I said, ‘No, I can’t audit people I’m in business with. That’s gross.’ And we never audited them for years until after Clerks 2.”

For the record, Smith said he did eventually get some payment, but not all he was owed. “If I was a better business person, I would have gone for more money,” Smith said. “But it felt like – ‘Oh, there it is. That’s their process. Movie math.’ And, to be fair, I worked at studios and they have way more paperwork and you can see where every dime is going. But the nature of this business is everybody wants to keep as much money as they possibly can.”

And yet Smith kept working with Weinstein — on Chasing Amy, on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, on Jersey Girl, and, one last time, on Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

“Believe me, I ain’t crying poor,” Smith said. “By the time I did Zack and Miri Make a Porno, I think I made between $5 or $6 million. So come on, that’s ridiculous. But that was my salary. Upfront money was so good. I was never like, ‘Hey man, where’s those nickels and dimes on the back end?’ And perhaps that’s why they kept making movies with me, even though my movies weren’t box-office profitable. Home video, they were goldmines. That’s really why they kept me around.”

(Via Variety and EW)

Donovan Mitchell became the latest adidas basketball player to receive a signature shoe last year. The D.O.N. Issue #1 dropped midway through 2019, with the sneakers getting a collection of unique colorways inspired by Mitchell’s love of Marvel. Now, adidas has announced Mitchell’s second signature sneaker, and is giving those who play NBA 2K20 a first look.

The kicks are currently available to those who ball in 2K’s MyCareer mode for 9,000 VC. While it remains to be seen whether or not adidas will roll out a number of colorways on these, as they did with Mitchell’s first sneakers, the only model on display are vibrant green with orange accents and a light blue/green base.

Mitchell hinted on Friday that some news could be on the horizon regarding the D.O.N. Issue #2s. A video was posted onto the official 2K Twitter account on Saturday of Mitchell showing off a real pair of the sneakers, and 2K announced that he’ll make a cameo at its players tournament on Saturday evening.

There is no exact word on a release date for these outside of them coming out sometime this summer. If these follow a similar timeline as the D.O.N. Issue #1s, we can expect them to hit stores sometime around July 1.