TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: "In a press conference on May 5 in which Gov. Greg Abbott updated his reopening plan to add businesses such as hair salons and gyms, he recommended that at-risk populations ""remain at home if at all possible"" and avoid in-person gatherings, such as a church service, funeral or wedding. ""We strongly encourage at-risk populations to try to watch or participate remotely, remembering this very important point, and that is almost 75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older,"" Abbott said. Texas was among the first states to start reopening businesses and lifting restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, allowing retail stores and restaurants to open May 1 at 25 percent capacity. Abbott announced the latest set of reopenings Monday, expanding restaurant capacity to 50 percent and granting bars the ability to open at 25 percent capacity within the next couple weeks. This comes as the state continues to see its number of infections and deaths rise and clusters form mostly in rural parts of the state where meatpacking plants are located. Hospitalizations, however, have decreased since mid-April. With that in mind, we had to ask: Is Abbott right that almost 75% of coronavirus deaths in Texas are people older than 65? Looking at the numbers Abbott's spokesman John Wittman said Abbott's claim is based on figures from the Texas Department of Health Services, which publishes daily numbers on the state's COVID-19 testing and cases. The data includes a breakdown of coronavirus deaths by age, race and gender, but only for those cases where the deaths have been investigated by the local and regional health departments. As of Wednesday, the majority, or 489, were still under investigation. ""The demographic data on cases and fatalities come from the case investigation forms submitted by local health departments and our regional offices,"" said DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen. The purpose of the investigation is to confirm that the person had COVID-19 but also to collect other details about them and the circumstances around their death, Van Deusen said. Wittman said the data showed that 75% of investigated deaths were people 65 and older when Abbott made this statement. ""It alternates almost daily, but it's generally around that range,"" Wittman said. As of May 6, the day after the press conference, the death toll in Texas was 948. Fewer than half, or 433, had been investigated. Of those, about 71 percent were Texans 65 and older. It was still about 71 percent, or 345 out of 489 investigated cases, as of Wednesday. The age groups broke down like so: Ages 10 to 19 years old: 2 deaths, or 0.4% Ages 20-29: 10 deaths, or 2.04 % Ages 30-39: 9 deaths, or 1.8% Ages 40-49: 21 deaths, or 4.29% Ages 50-59: 54 deaths, or 11.04% Ages 60-64: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 65-69: 59 deaths, or 12.06% Ages 70-74: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 75-79: 45 deaths, or 9.2% Ages 80+: 196 deaths, or 40.08% Across the United States, about 79% of coronavirus deaths have been people 65 years and older, according to the National Center for Health Statistics data submitted between the beginning of February to the beginning of May. Like Texas' statistics, the national numbers are also incomplete. The number of deaths represent only those entered between those dates and only include people with confirmed or presumed COVID-19. ""While 80% of deaths are electronically processed and coded by NCHS within minutes, most deaths from COVID-19 must be coded by a person, which takes an average of 7 days,"" the NCHS states on its website. The data is also always somewhat behind because of the lag time between when a death occurred and when a death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes. The delay can last anywhere from one week to eight or more. Our ruling Abbott said almost ""75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older."" Of confirmed coronavirus deaths, close to 75% were people within the age group Abbott provided, but he failed to include the caveat that this statistic leaves out more than half of the total deaths that have not yet been investigated."

SOLUTION: "Almost 75 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Texas are a result of people contracting COVID-19 who are age 65 and older."

PROBLEM: Grant recipient Haichong Zhang, a biomedical engineer at the school, says his surgical imaging robot will be safer and more accurate than current tests, including ultrasounds and biopsies. Zhang tells The Telegram & Gazette he wants to create a minimally invasive, easily accessible and cost-effective way to better detect prostate cancer, which will affect one-fifth of all men at some point in their lives. Zhang is working on the project with Gregory Fischer, a professor of robotics and mechanical engineering at WPI.

SOLUTION: WPI gets $1.9M grant to help better detect prostate cancer.

PROBLEM: The Delta-owned NM Bouboulina vessel was navigating through Brazilian waters at the time and location of the spill, Brazilian police and prosecutors said. Brazil's government has been striving to investigate the cause of the spill that has hit 286 beaches along the northeast coast and hurt fishing and tourism. Authorities have described the spill as one of the country's worst environmental disasters. The specific source of the oil has remained unclear since it began appearing in early September. In a search order seen Friday by The Associated Press, Brazilian prosecutors said "there is no indication of another boat" that could have discharged the Venezuelan crude into the sea. Authorities in Rio de Janeiro coordinated a search Friday at a maritime agency that has previously represented Delta, and the office of a crisis management consultancy. Delta did not immediately respond to requests for comment submitted after business hours in Athens. The 13-year-old Suezmax is among Delta's fleet of 30 tankers controlled by Greek shipping magnate Diamantis Diamantidis. The Brazilian government has said the oil came from Venezuela after state-run oil company Petrobras identified three of the neighboring nation's fields as the source of the crude. The Bouboulina, named for a 19th century heroine of Greece's war of independence, docked in Venezuela on July 15 and departed three days later, according to the Brazilian search order. The Venezuelan government has previously denied its country is the source of the spilled crude. From Venezuela, the tanker embarked with around 1 million barrels of Merey 16 crude. It sailed past the northeast corner of Brazil en route to Cape Town, South Africa and the Malacca coast of Malaysia, according to Kpler, a company that tracks seaborne commodities. On Sept. 3, off the coast of Malaysia, the vessel turned off its transponder signal for 10 days as it unloaded cargo, likely via a ship-to-ship transfer to an unknown vessel or vessels, Kpler said. Ships are required to emit transponder signals but sea captains dealing in Venezuelan crude are increasingly turning off the safety device to help evade U.S. sanctions that prohibit companies from buying crude from Venezuela. Successive round of U.S. sanctions have made it illegal for American companies to do business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In August, the Trump administration hardened its stance further, warning foreign entities that they could see their U.S. assets seized unless they cut ties to the socialist leader's government. A number of European oil companies, as well as Russia, India and China, are major buyers of crude from Venezuela's state-run oil giant, PDVSA. All the companies rely on the U.S. to process financial payments. The ship responsible for the spill had been held in the United States for four days due to problems "in the system to separate water and oil for discharge into the ocean," Brazil's Navy said in a statement. It did not provide more details. A July 29 satellite image showed an oil spill 733 kilometers (455 miles) from northeastern Paraiba state, the Navy said in a statement. Following analysis of maritime traffic, the Navy said it detected that the ship was navigating in the region where the spill appeared and was headed for South Africa. ___ Goodman reported from Miami.

SOLUTION:
Brazil authorities zero in on ship suspected of oil spill.