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Every year millions of Americans turn their focus to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA as they anxiously await a groundhog’s bold weather prediction. That is right, Groundhog Day as it is known by many, takes place every year on February 2^nd with the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil declaring whether there will be six more weeks of winter. The previous two years Phil has not seen his shadow, predicting an early spring. That pattern was interrupted this morning as the groundhog awoke at 7:30am and made his prediction there would be six more weeks of winter. “Now, when I turn to see, there’s a perfect shadow cast of me. Six more weeks of winter there will be,” one of Phil’s handlers announced on his behalf.

Yesterday morning, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a 6-week lockdown in England due to a surge in Covid-19 infections. Lockdown measures are like ones imposed last spring and include the closures of secondary and primary schools. CNN reported, people will be allowed to leave their homes for limited reasons like shopping for essentials, exercise and medical assistance. other businesses that will be shut down until at least mid-February include sports facilities, restaurants, bars, hair salons, gyms and theaters.

With the impending release of Covid-19 vaccinations, there is much debate among the aviation industry and what requirements should be mandated when it comes to international travel.  Airports Council International (ACI), a non-profit organization that represents the worlds airports, has joined many airlines in calling for a choice between testing or vaccination, fearing a blanket rule imposing pre-flight inoculation would be as disruptive as quarantines, Reuter’s reports.  The ACI World Director General, Luis Felipe de Oliveira stated, “Just as quarantine effectively halted the industry, a universal requirement for vaccines could do the same.”

Earlier this week California announced they are now allowing private entities to sell electricity as motor fuel at charging stations. The announcement was made by Volvo Trucks North America as they worked in conjunction with other companies to facilitate the change. Prior to this news, Transport Topics states “California utilities were guided by a 2010 CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) decision exempting light-duty vehicle charging station providers from being regulated as a utility, but did not explicitly exempt medium and heavy duty charging station providers.” Three of the companies that joined Volvo’s effort include Trillium, a brand of the Love’s family of companies, Greenlots, a member of Shell Group, and Calstart, a non-profit organization focused on clean transportation technology.

Not so fast my friends, this is no ordinary auto business milestone, back in March, General Motors (GM) and Ford struck contracts with the federal government to manufacture ventilators in order to help combat shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These contracts have now been fulfilled, but it was not without the support of some key partners along the way.