The Chicago-based offices of the Levenfeld Pearlstein law firm informed MHProNews of the following today.
“The first known COVID-19 wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in Illinois. Named among the defendants is a landlord that owned and managed a retail center where an employee of one of its tenants allegedly became fatally infected by COVID-19. This lawsuit should come as no surprise, and should serve as a warning for landlords to be cautious that they are following the CDC and OSHA’s guidance and regulations to protect their employees and customers, particularly with respect to common areas and “high touch” elements under landlord control. What precautions should you take as a landlord? You need to make sure that, in addition to your normal lease obligations, your maintenance vendors are following applicable CDC protocols, particularly with respect to common areas and other “high touch” elements. You should also require those tenants who provide their own cleaning and janitorial services to comply with applicable CDC protocols for their respective premises.”
While that alert is intended in part for commercial landlords, it logically applies to others segments of the industry, which includes manufactured home communities and factory-home builders. One could further extend concerns to transporters who hire contracted or employee drivers, installers who have equipment and offices where people meet. The list could go on and on.
That list increases the risk to employers and owners of all sizes. That implies increased risk for investors too. While some associations might have warned members in this or that manner, it is critical to keep this n the stark perspective of life and death risk that the Levenfeld Pearlstein lawfirm frames it in. For this who have shopped grocery, pharmacy, big box or other stories where plexiglas has been put in place between employees and customers, that too is a stark image that frames the risk to health, life, business – and by extension – the economy
Before proceeding to the next topic, let’s touch on the most recent news tips and corporate feedback yet to be published.
New Insider Tips Exclusive to MHProNews
Two developing teasers or promos for upcoming reports.
1) C-Suite level officials in manufactured housing this weekend contacted MHProNews about a developing issue also related to COVID19. This is developing, and a timeline on publishing has not yet been set. It could well tie into the insights about risks from the law firm above.
2) Additionally, another firm’s upper management members provided insights that will likely be published tomorrow related to the manufactured home communities sector. That exclusive, with wide repercussions and implications, is going to be must-reading for thousands of industry professionals.
Several of the runaway most read stories last week in MHVille were found only here on MHProNews and involved news tips and insider insights.
If you aren’t already on our steadily growing x2 weekly emailed headline news list, click here to sign up in seconds. From the largest organizations in manufactured housing, to mom-and pop sized, and all others in between, it is arguably the most influential headline news in manfuactured housing. Public officials, NGOs, attorneys, investors and advocates are among the strong cross section of readers.
When you see the tips and corporate leaks last week linked further below, it may inspire you to provide insights of your own.
For those who see the need or have the desire to provide or “leak” email or other documents, provide whistleblower or other insider insights, click the link here or below. Make sure you write NEWS TIP, Whistleblower Tip, Document Leak, or Insider Insights in the subject line – so that we can more easily spot that heading in our volume of incoming messages.
If you’ve provided leaked or other insights in the past that have not been published, feel free to resend using Bolder Subject Line Headings.
Wuhan or CCP Virus Related News in MHVille
The numbers of stories related to COVID-19 which intersect with business, moral or religious issues could fill volumes. On Easter Sunday, we’ll pick just one that has perhaps not had the type of mainstream reporting arguably merited.
Freedom of religion and assembly are constitutionally guaranteed rights. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney General William Barr has said that the AG’s office is monitoring possible violations of the law. This tweet was posted on April 11, at 8:01 PM.
There are arguments to be made on either side of the “social distancing” vs. freedom of assembly and religious liberty. The debate is already underway, but once this pandemic subsides, it will likely be an issue examined, discussed and perhaps litigated.
While the First Amendment doesn’t mention businesses or other lawful enterprises, that doesn’t mean that freedom of assembly can’t be applied.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – First Amendment, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution.
Given that multiple multi-trillion dollar lawsuits have already been filed against the communist Chinese government for their part in what the anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) news publication the Epoch Times has dubbed the CCP Virus, it shouldn’t be a surprise if a wave of legal issues that bubble up in the days ahead on constitutional or civil rights arguably violated during the pandemic.
From across the left-right media divide, publications ranging from the Star Tribune to Breitbart have reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei encouraged Iranians to pray at home during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This year Ramadan begins in the evening of Thursday, April 23 and ends in the evening of Saturday, May 23.
But this is the middle of the Jewish week of Passover. Some 2.4 billion Christians worldwide celebrate Easter today. Many are under some level of lockdown. There are pastors in the U.S. and elsewhere who have or planned to defy governmental orders to limit gathering sizes.
A growing number of Americans have little or no practical faith, which is of course a free will choice. But tens of millions of others have strong beliefs that move them to practice their faiths publicly.
As a disclaimer, one of those speaking in this video is the brother of this writer, A’kos Kovach. The Arizona town he lives in is thought by many to be a hub of paranormal activity. Mainstream media outlet A&E did the report from which the teaser video below is taken.
A fair take on that A&E video clip is that there is evidence in the world of life that exists in non-corporeal forms. It’s hardly a new thought, but is always timely. There have been print, radio, TV and internet resources that have covered examples of examples of non-corporeal life for centuries.
One common belief among many religions is that an invisible “soul” animates the body and gives it “life.” That’s something that science has examined and there are people on either side of the debate.
Which should make the point that science has limits. Blind faith in science can be as superstitious or errant as in other beliefs. The COVID-19 outbreak is a clear example of how scientists and medical experts have stated an array of often conflicting views.
The immediate point isn’t to denigrate science or medicine, it is merely to point out its obvious limits. Faith, theology and philosophy have valid and proven roles to play in society. Ideally, there shouldn’t be tension between religious beliefs, medicine or science – all forms of true knowledge should work in harmony.
A final word that is Easter-specific will follow our headline review.
Without further adieu, the headlines for reports in MHVille’s largest and most read-media for the week of 4.5 to 4.12.2020 follow.
What’s New from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
The Latest on the Masthead
The Latest on MHLivingNews
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 4.11.2020
Senator Sanders Socialists, Affordable Housing and Most Influential Jew in History
Friday 4.10.2020
Thursday 4.9.2020
Industry Impact Loom$ – Beginning of End for BAU China-U.S. Relations?
Wednesday 4.8.2020
Tuesday 4.7.2020
Monday 4.6.2020
Sunday 4.5.2020
Pragmatic MHProNews Easter Reflection
There are a range of reasons why people believe in God. The movie video posted below is based on a true story of a highly-praised but jaded atheist reporter Lee Strobel who worked for a prominent Chicago newspaper. Strobel was forced by events that caused his wife to become a Christian to attempt to disprove the truths of the claims of believers, because he desperately wanted to talk his wife out of being a Christian.
As millions who know of the life of Strobel or who have already seen the movie, he took a systematic approach that included archeological, medical, psychological, historical and other arguments made by skeptics used in an attempt to disprove the Resurrection of Christ. As a fellow report and character in the movie said, if you can disprove the resurrection, the rest of Christian belief falls apart.
The most recent post of the hundreds of comments made on the video include these.
As was noted above, C-Suite level corporate leaders who happen to be Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) members have recently contacted MHProNews about topics raised in some of the reports above.
To be polite, one made clear their displeasure over aspects of the MHProNews coverage, without denying the accuracy of the reports. Let’s first note that MHProNews welcomes all sorts of feedback. Some critiques can be valid and useful.
That said, those C-Suite level sources confirmed the key facts reported here while at the same time one noted their objection to the terminology or language used in those reports. Let’s examine that briefly.
- When various sides of an issue are accurately quoted, it should be clear that MHProNews doesn’t change the wording used by a source.
- Blaming any media outlet for an accurate quotation is akin to blaming the messenger. That’s hardly new.
- In ancient times – or in some countries or societies, more recently too – blaming or killing the messenger has at times occurred.
It’s a problematic decision for any organization to ignore accurately reported concerns.
What 2020 is revealing is how concentrated power in the hands of a few – one of several examples is Communist China – can be abused. That pattern of abuse of money and/or power has occurred throughout history.
Money and power have often gone and-in-hand with abuses of others.
Overly reducing something as big as the question of faith and what role it should play in people’s lives is not an easy question. Bill Gates says he has studied the thinking of atheists but believes that there are good reasons to believe in God. At the same time, Gates has argued that he isn’t sure what role faith should play in business or other decisions. That’s logically absurd on its face. His money or influence doesn’t make that statement logical.
Any number of professionals in our industry or other professions make their beliefs a light to guide ethical choices. That’s true for Christians celebrating Easter Sunday. It is true for Muslims, Jews or practitioners of other belief systems. Faith naturally can influence decision making.
There is a restatement of a Christian belief that goes like this. “You should love people but can use money and things.” Others take the opposite approach by “Loving money and using people or things.” There have been people for millennia on both sides of that stark divide.
America’s founders were sinners, not saints. Several were slaveholders. Some committed other serious transgressions of the moral law. But that didn’t keep them from banding together and doing something heroic, if imperfect.
America can be better, no question about it. But compared to most any nation on the planet, what country can you point to where your rights are more protected than here? Would you rather be in China, Cuba, North Korea or Iran now, or here in the U.S.A.?
Chief among those rights is freedom of religion. On this Easter Sunday, let’s celebrate all that the light of faith should inspired in our Republic and in nations around the world.
The BBC once called the New York Times’ mantra “All the News That’s Fit to Print” the most famous slogan in journalism. That’s their slogan, not ours.
In MHVille, this is the only place on a Sunday that you’ll find the newest installment of “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where we blend topics of business, culture, faith, politics and more in a manner where – “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, week in review, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
Tornado Devastates, Death Toll at Least 25 – Videos, Reports and Manufactured Housing Lessons
