Kickstart: Sticking up for safe voting

You may have heard something about an election happening next week in the U.S.

If you're a voter in Ohio's Lake, Cuyahoga or Geauga counties doing in-person voting, you can thank a plastics company, as well as poll workers, for helping to keep things safe. Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions in Mentor, Ohio, donated 10,000 vinyl floor markers to help voters at 351 precincts find the proper social distance spot to stand on while they wait.

While other sites may have to rely on a generic X taped on the floor, Avery's film-based graphic stands out clearly while also thanking voters.

"We knew we had to come up with a solution to maintain social distancing at the polls for this election and as I was considering how we would procure floor markers, I recalled seeing Avery Dennison's graphics team on LinkedIn and seeing these amazing car wraps they were producing," Lake County Elections Board Director Ross McDonald told The News-Herald of Willoughby, Ohio. "Knowing this, I saw an opportunity to reach out to see if floor markers were within their capability and it went from there."

Hurricane Zeta avoided most of the communities in Louisiana damaged by Hurricanes Laura and Delta earlier this year, but the fast-moving storm still resulted in power outages for more than 1 million people across multiple states as it raced from the Gulf Coast to Virginia from late Wednesday through Thursday.

Widespread power outages and damage to railroads and transportation links may likely impact production beyond any direct damage.

Most chemical companies near the Gulf Coast were able to continue operating while keeping an eye on the storm's path, ICIS reported.

At least three deaths were blamed on the storm, which dropped up to 3 inches of rain as it moved across the Southeastern U.S., the National Weather Service reported.

This spring, teams of workers at two Braskem plants received attention from national and local media when they agreed to spend 28 straight days at their plants to make sure COVID-19 wouldn't interrupt the flow of materials needed for the health care industry.

Senior reporter Frank Esposito recently had the chance to get the inside story from three workers at the sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. All three said they knew the work was important, but they also had to consider their families' needs. Making the project work involved people beyond the factory gates.

"I had wanted to participate and had my family's full support from the initial talk of the live-in," Joe Boyce said. "After very meaningful discussion with my family and the development of plans for them based on varying scenarios, we had tremendous support from family and friends that enabled me to be comfortable with committing to the live-in."