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brickol

A New Mission for Nonprofits During the Outbreak: Survival - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Upended by the coronavirus outbreak, nonprofits are laying off workers and seeking help from stretched donors.
  • Nonprofits like No Limits are ubiquitous in the United States: built on a dream, dedicated to good works, thinly capitalized. Like so much in American life, they have been upended — perhaps temporarily, maybe forever.
  • Crucial spring fund-raisers and conferences have been canceled or moved to less lucrative online venues. Donors are stretched in many directions, preoccupied with their own problems, and much less flush than they were two months ago. Nonprofits that are paid by local governments said new rules against large gatherings were making their services impossible to deliver, placing their existence at risk.
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  • “Everyone is losing revenue, and many have skyrocketing demand. You do the math,” said Tim Delaney, chief executive of the 25,000-member National Council of Nonprofits.
  • Relief efforts are underway. Foundations, traditionally not among the spryest of organizations, learned from 9/11 and severe hurricanes that they could move fast. They are quickly retooling to disburse emergency money and relax reporting requirements that are suddenly impossible to meet.
  • Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and 23 other foundations as well as individual donors have created a $78 million Covid-19 rescue fund for New York City nonprofits. Grants will start going out to small and midsize social services and arts and cultural organizations on Monday. Interest-free loans will follow.
  • In hard-hit Seattle, the Seattle Foundation is administering a $14.3 million emergency program funded by local businesses, foundations and government. It released more than $10 million to 120 organizations this week.
  • Nonprofits on the front lines have been forced to be nimble. Meals on Wheels People in Portland, Ore., closed its 22 neighborhood dining locations on March 13 and switched to a no-touch delivery system for its 15,000 clients. To reduce contact even more, deliveries are made only three days a week, although they include more than one meal.
  • Demand, of course, is soaring — from a typical 10 to 15 new requests per day to as many as 100. But perhaps surprisingly, volunteers are signing up at an equally fast rate.
  • If there is any redeeming aspect of the crisis for nonprofits, it might be this: When people are allowed to re-emerge into a changed world, there will be renewed enthusiasm for many causes. Parks and wilderness, for example, have never seemed as alluring as they do now, when so many are restricted to a walk around the block.
  • First, though, things may get dicier. In a 2018 survey by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a consultant, three-quarters of nonprofits said they would run out of cash in less than six months. Nineteen percent said they had only enough funds to last, at the most, for a month. Nonprofits live on the edge, pouring everything they have into their mission.
Javier E

Opinion | The Government Uses 'Near Perfect Surveillance' Data on Americans - The New Y... - 0 views

  • “The federal government has essentially found a workaround by purchasing location data used by marketing firms rather than going to court on a case-by-case basis,” The Journal reported. “Because location data is available through numerous commercial ad exchangesAn ad trafficking system through which advertisers, publishers and networks meet and do business via a unified platform. An ad exchange allows advertisers and publishers to use the same technological platform, services and methods, and "speak the same language" in order to exchange data, set prices and ultimately serve an ad. Glossary, government lawyers have approved the programs and concluded that the Carpenter ruling doesn’t apply.”
  • Last year, a Times Opinion investigation found that claims about the anonymity of location data are untrue since comprehensive records of time and place easily identify real people. Consider a commute: Even without a name, how many phones travel between a specific home and specific office every day?
  • The courts are a ponderous and imperfect venue for protecting Fourth Amendment rights in an age of rapid technological advancement. Exhibit A is the notion that the Carpenter ruling applies only to location data captured by cellphone towers and not to location data streamed from smartphone apps, which can produce nearly identical troves of information.
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  • For far, far too long, lawmakers have neglected their critical role in overseeing how these technologies are used. After all, concern about location tracking is bipartisan, as Republican and Democratic lawmakers told Times Opinion last year.
  • Chief Justice Roberts outlined those stakes in his Carpenter ruling. “The retrospective quality of the data here gives police access to a category of information otherwise unknowable. In the past, attempts to reconstruct a person’s movements were limited by a dearth of records and the frailties of recollection. With access to [cellphone location data], the Government can now travel back in time to retrace a person’s whereabouts, subject only to the retention polices of the wireless carriers, which currently maintain records for up to five years
  • As the world has seen in the streets of Hong Kong, where protesters wear masks to avoid a network of government facial-recognition cameras, once a surveillance technology is widely deployed in a society it is almost impossible to uproot.
  • The use of location data to aid in deportations also demonstrates how out of date the notion of informed consent has become. When users accept the terms and conditions for various digital products, not only are they uninformed about how their data is gathered, they are also consenting to future uses that they could never predict.
  • With that judicial intent in mind, it is alarming to read a new report in The Wall Street Journal that found the Trump administration “has bought access to a commercial database that maps the movements of millions of cellphones in America and is using it for immigration and border enforcement.”
katherineharron

Maryland and Virginia governors unveil road maps to recovery but say states aren't read... - 0 views

  • Hogan, a Republican, said that the state plans to follow the federal guidelines issued by President Donald Trump last week, which call for states to meet specific metrics before considering lifting restrictions, including a 14-day downward trend in key numbers. He warned that the state has not yet hit its peak for coronavirus cases and deaths,.
  • The Democrat explained that phase one of reopening will require downward trends in new cases and hospitalizations for 14 days, increased testing and contact tracing and a sustainable supply of hospital beds and personal protective equipment. The specifics for the second and third phases have not yet been unveiled.
  • The first stage would begin by lifting the state's stay-at-home order. It would include reopening many small businesses, including certain retail shops and golf courses, and restarting many lower-risk community activities, like recreational boating and fishing, tennis and outdoor religious activities, along with outdoor fitness and gym classes. It would also include the resumption of elective outpatient surgeries and procedures in certain counties with lower concentrations of cases.
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  • The second stage would see a larger number of businesses would reopen, nonessential workers who cannot telework return to work and other public activities return. Indoor religious gatherings could resume with limited capacity and physical distancing measures. It would include raising the limits on the number of people in social gatherings. Stage two could also see more normal public transit schedules and opening of restaurants and potentially bars with significant safety restrictions.
  • The third and final stage would reinstitute higher-risk activities, such as larger social gatherings, events, religious gatherings and activities at entertainment venues and a further lessening of restrictions at hospitals and eventually nursing homes.
ethanshilling

Spectators From Overseas Are Barred From Tokyo Olympics - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Spectators from overseas will not be allowed to attend the Summer Olympics in Japan, organizers said on Saturday, making a major concession to the realities of Covid-19 even as they forged ahead with plans to hold the world’s largest sporting event.
  • The Tokyo Games, which begin in July, were originally scheduled for 2020 but were delayed by a year because of the pandemic.
  • Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo committee, promised at a news conference on Saturday that the lack of international spectators would not spoil the Games.
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  • Thomas Bach, the president of the I.O.C., has encouraged national organizing committees to secure vaccines for athletes, and he announced this month that China had offered to provide vaccinations for participants who required one ahead of the Games.
  • Officials said on Saturday that they would meet again in April to discuss how many spectators would be allowed into Olympic venues.
  • The organizing committees will now have the enormous headache of arranging refunds for ticket buyers. Overseas buyers purchased 600,000 tickets to Olympic events, as well as 30,000 tickets to the Paralympic Games starting in August, organizers said.
  • Japanese fans could take up some of the slack. Local demand for tickets far outstripped the supply, at least before the pandemic.
  • Japan declared a widespread state of emergency in early January after a rise in infections. Since then, most areas have lifted the declaration. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced this week that it would be ended in Tokyo.
  • Barring foreign spectators is unlikely to allay the public’s concerns about the Games, given that thousands of athletes, coaches, officials and journalists will still come for the event.
  • “Since we are being barred, it is only right for them to make everyone whole and refund all of the money paid,” Mr. Brown said before the announcement was made.
  • “It would be real painful watching this at home on TV and knowing they have the money, and not knowing when you’re going to get it back.”
anonymous

Boston Marathon Bomber Death Sentence Case To Be Heard By The Supreme Court : NPR - 0 views

  • The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will consider whether to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.The 2013 bombing, which Tsarnaev carried out with his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, killed three people and injured 264 others. The Chechen immigrant was convicted of all 30 charges brought against him in 2015, and a court imposed six death sentences and 11 concurrent life sentences.
  • But last year, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston threw out the death penalty sentences after finding that the trial judge had failed to ensure proper questioning of prospective jurors, including whether their opinions had been influenced by the wall-to-wall press coverage of the bombing.The Trump administration then appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking to revive the capital sentences. And on Monday the justices, in a one-sentence order, agreed to consider reinstating Tsarnaev's death sentences. They will not hear arguments in the case until the next term.
  • Tsarnaev's defense team has not denied that he participated in the attack, in which two pressure cooker bombs were detonated as runners crossed the race's finish line. But they argued that he was under the strong influence of his older brother, who was killed during the massive manhunt that locked down most of the Boston metropolitan area in the days after the attack.Tsarnaev, 27, is being held at the high-security supermax federal prison near Florence, Colo.
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  • A decision in favor of Tsarnev would put President Biden in a difficult position. The initial decision to seek the death penalty in Tsarnaev's case was made by Barack Obama's administration — during Biden's tenure as vice president. But Biden pledged during his presidential campaign to push for the elimination of the death penalty in the federal system.
  • The appeals panel said the judge who presided over Tsarnaev's trial, U.S. District Judge George A. O'Toole, had rejected the defense team's request for a more distant trial venue, one where prospective jurors might be less likely to be biased against Tsarnaev than in eastern Massachusetts, and the panel maintained the judge committed other important trial errors that barred adequate screening of prospective jurors.
  • Appeals Judge Juan Torruella, who died late last year, said that the district judge stopped Tsarnaev's counsel from asking prospective jurors questions such as what they knew about the case before coming to court or what stood out to them from the media coverage they had seen about the bombing and its aftermath.
  • Torruella wrote that the district judge had relied on "self-declarations of impartiality" by prospective jurors, some of whom admitted before the trial that they were convinced Tsarnaev was guilty.For example, Torruella noted that the woman who became the jury's foreperson withheld from the court dozens of relevant social media comments that mourned the death of an 8-year-old victim, praised law enforcement officers and called Tsarnaev "a piece of garbage."
  • The ruling from last July ordered the District Court to impanel a new jury to hold a sentencing retrial for the death penalty convictions. But the appeals panel noted that Tsarnaev, who told the courtroom on the day of his sentencing that he was "guilty of this attack," would remain in prison for the rest of his life regardless of whether the death sentence is imposed.
  • The Trump administration prioritized carrying out federal executions in its final year — resuming a practice that had been paused for nearly two decades and prompting pushback from activists and lawmakers.In the final six months of the administration, 13 people on death row in the federal system were executed, including three in the week before Biden took office.
anonymous

Boulder Shooting: The Victims And Their Stories : NPR - 0 views

  • A gunman shot and killed 10 people at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., on Monday afternoon.The victims ranged from age 20 to 65. Some of them were shopping at the store; some worked there. One was a police officer who arrived to help.
  • Boulder police Officer Eric Talley is being mourned as a brave officer as well as a husband, a brother and father to seven children.
  • Talley served a number of roles in his work for the police department and in support of the local community, Herold said. Talley reportedly held a master's degree in computer science, but he switched careers around age 40.
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  • In 2013, Talley and two other officers drew a crowd – and eventually, a round of applause – when they rescued ducklings that had been swept out of a creek and into a caged drainage ditch. It was Talley who waded into the water to coax the ducklings to a spot where his colleagues could scoop them up.
  • "I am heartbroken to announce that my Dad, my hero, Kevin Mahoney, was killed in the King Soopers shooting in my hometown of Boulder, CO," she wrote on Twitter. "I'm so thankful he could walk me down the aisle last summer."
  • Teri Leiker was a dedicated King Soopers employee who had worked at the store for more than 30 years, her friend Lexi Knutson wrote in an Instagram tribute, calling her "the most selfless, innocent, amazing person I have had the honor of meeting." Knutson said the two met in 2017 through the University of Colorado Boulder chapter of Best Buddies, a program that aims to create one-on-one friendships between students and members of the community with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
  • Rikki Olds worked as a front-end manager at the King Soopers grocery store, according to The Denver Post. Her Facebook page identifies her as a graduate of Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colo., and a student at Front Range Community College, which has multiple campuses in Colorado.
  • United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 7, which represents grocery store employees including those at King Soopers, confirmed that Olds was a worker at the store and a former union member. It also confirmed that "a few" of its members were working during the shooting, and, citing the ongoing investigation, said it would share more details as they become available.
  • Lynn Murray, a retired photo editor, was at the grocery store working as an Instacart shopper when she was killed.Before moving to Colorado, Murray lived in New York City and worked for magazines, including Glamour, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan, according to The Denver Post. She grew up in Mentor, Ohio, and attended Ohio University.
  • Tralona "Lonna" Bartkowiak was a founder with her sister of Umba, a clothing and art store in downtown Boulder.
  • Suzanne Fountain was an actress who had performed with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' theater company.
  • She was also a house manager at eTown Hall, a music venue and community center that produces a radio show.
  • Denny Stong's Facebook profile describes him as a resident of Boulder and an employee of King Soopers since 2018. "I can't stay home. I am a Grocery Store Worker," his profile picture says.A fundraiser for Stong's family said he was "a kind soul with a funny sense of humor and unique interests," and said that he had risked his life to protect others during the attack.
  • Jody Waters had an eye for style and design, which she channeled into a career in fashion. Her friend and business colleague Stephanie Boyle said Waters would help her set up booths at local events for her leather accessories business, and gave her advice on stores with which to collaborate.
clairemann

U.S. Supreme Court weighs Delaware case about politics and judgeships - 0 views

  • "He's really interested here in pursuing a theory that he read about in the law review and not really getting a judgeship," Michael McConnell, one of the attorney's representing Carney, told the justices. 
  • Adams, a former Democrat who later registered as unaffiliated, filed a federal lawsuit in 2017 challenging the political balance requirement claiming it excluded candidates based on their political affiliation. 
  • Yet Adams never applied for any of the judgeships, even before switching party affiliations, McConnell told the court
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  • The arguments were originally scheduled to be heard in March, but the coronavirus pandemic canceled that hearing.
    • clairemann
       
      I was going to go and watch!
  • "As long as this constitutional provision is in effect, and he's an independent, he's not going to get a position," she said. "So why would we insist that he has to file an application?"
  • "Your client said that he was interested in serving as a judge on any court and yet there were several opportunities for him to apply to judgeships for which he was qualified and he didn't do it," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked Finger. "So why shouldn't we not take his standing assertions as serious?"
  • The issue has gained some attention outside the First State since nearly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, making the state's courts a prime venue to arbitrate corporate law.
  • he Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, filed a brief in support of Adams arguing Delaware unconstitutionally discriminates against those who are not members of the two main political parties. "The Supreme Court should make clear that the work of a judge is not dependent on political interests and that supposed concerns over 'political balance' may not be used to justify partisan tests for judicial office," according to Cato's website. 
katherineharron

Baseball's Opening Day reflects a politicized nation caught between Covid-19 and hope -... - 0 views

  • If baseball is a metaphor for American life, Opening Day brought a tantalizing springtime hint of better days ahead, despite reflecting a nation divided by the polarized politics of a pandemic and Georgia's battle over Republican voter suppression.
  • ongoing contact tracing postponed a game in Washington were a reminder of the still potent peril of Covid-19 as the country faces another infection surge.
  • But the fact that there were fans in the seats at all to watch teams play ball underscored how much of the country is tentatively itching for a return to some semblance of normality after a grim winter of sickness and death and as millions of vaccines go into American arms at an increasing pace.
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  • The annual return of the boys of summer carries a sense of renewal and possibility. A similar feeling is being conjured by stunning and welcome news of the success of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
  • The results emerged as vaccine distribution quickly ramps up across the country, with more than 150 million doses of vaccine administered in the US and eligibility for inoculations fast expanding to almost all age groups in many states. The Pfizer news also offered President Joe Biden a powerful weapon in his drive to convince a sizable minority of skeptical Americans to get vaccinated to enable the country to reach the herd immunity that is necessary to eradicate the virus.
  • It's going to take widespread vaccination to drive the virus down sufficiently to allow a return to packed baseball stadiums later in the summer
  • "That's a decision they made. I think it's a mistake," Biden said. "They should listen to Dr. (Anthony) Fauci, the scientists and the experts. But I think it's not responsible," Biden said in an interview with ESPN in lieu of throwing out the opening pitch before the Washington Nationals season opener.
  • At least three players have tested positive for Covid-19 and another is considered a "likely" positive, Nationals manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo confirmed during a video conference Thursday.
  • The President also weighed into another controversy that encroached on the festivities of the first baseball games of the season — a new voting law passed by Republicans in Georgia that discriminates against Black voters and is based on ex-President Donald Trump's lies that the last election was marred by fraud.
  • Trump also openly feuded with sportsmen and women who spoke out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the racial reckoning that followed the death of George Floyd last year. At the same time as baseball was opening its season Thursday, the trial of the police officer charged with murdering Floyd entered its fourth day of testimony in Minneapolis.
  • Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, meanwhile, lashed out at the campaign to shift the venue, accusing Biden of trying to distract attention from a flood of child migrants at the southern border, which Republicans say is the result of his more humane immigration policies."You know, he's focused on trying to get Major League Baseball to pull the game out of Georgia, which is ridiculous," Kemp told Fox News.
  • The Georgia voting law may also be in the background at the Masters next week, the first men's golf major of the year at the Augusta National Golf Club. Racial issues were already to the fore of this year's tournament since Lee Elder, the first Black player to tee off at the Masters, in 1975, will be making his debut as honorary starter alongside Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
  • Most stadiums were much less than half full, with 20% to 30% capacity.
  • "I think today's professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them doing that," Biden told ESPN. "People look to them. They're leaders."
  • At Yankee Stadium in New York, which has been doubling as a Covid-19 vaccine site, fans had to show they were fully vaccinated or post a negative Covid test before passing through the turnstiles.
  • Not all of the Opening Day challenges were caused by a pandemic and politics, however. In one sign of early season normality, the Boston Red Sox were rained out and will have to wait another day to welcome fans back to Fenway Park for the first time in 18 months.
leilamulveny

Stimulus Bill, Merrick Garland and Biden News: Live Updates - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The vote will come seven weeks into Mr. Biden’s presidency, as the growing number of vaccine doses given to Americans offers hope that the country is on course to move beyond the worst of a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people in the United States.
  • The president and House Democrats also sought to increase the $300-per-week unemployment benefit to $400, but the Senate kept it at its current level and tightened income caps for receiving stimulus payments.
  • The legislation establishes an aggressive effort by the new president to drive down poverty, as the measure offers substantial benefits for low-income Americans, including a sizable one-year expansion of the child tax credit.
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  • Mr. McCarthy sought to equate the progressive policies in the bill with socialism, and said “House Democrats have abandoned any pretense of unity.”
  • The bill that will go before the House on Wednesday differs in notable ways from the legislation that the chamber initially approved last month. It no longer contains an increase to the federal minimum wage, which Mr. Biden had proposed and House Democrats had included in their bill, but the Senate omitted.
  • The bill, which cleared the Senate on Saturday, would send direct payments of up to $1,400 to many Americans and extend a $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit until early September. It would provide funding for states and local governments as well as for schools to help them reopen. The bill also contains money for coronavirus testing, contact tracing and vaccine distribution.
  • Mr. Biden is expected to sign the bill Friday. All but one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voted in favor.
  • Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to President Biden’s sweeping, nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus package, as Democrats acted over unified Republican opposition to push through an emergency pandemic aid plan that included a vast expansion of the country’s social safety net.
  • It would provide another round of direct payments for many Americans, an extension of federal jobless benefits and billions of dollars to distribute coronavirus vaccines and provide relief for schools, states, tribal governments and small businesses struggling during the pandemic.
  • “With the stroke of a pen, President Biden is going to lift millions and millions of children out of poverty in this country,” Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said. “It is time to make a bold investment in the health and security of the American people — a watershed moment.”
  • “House Democrats have abandoned any pretense of unity,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader. “This isn’t a rescue bill, it isn’t a relief bill. It’s a laundry list of left-wing priorities that predate the pandemic.”
  • “This bill represents a historic, historic victory for the American people,” Mr. Biden said at the White House following the measure’s approval, thanking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House.
  • The bill also includes $30 billion for transit agencies; $45 billion in rental, utility and mortgage assistance; and billions more for small businesses and live performance venues.
  • Federal unemployment payments of $300 per week would be extended through Sept. 6, and up to $10,200 of jobless aid from last year would be tax-free for households with incomes below $150,000. It would also provide a benefit of $300 per child for those age 5 and younger — and $250 per child ages 6 to 17, increasing the value of the so-called child tax credit.
  • And for six months, it would fully cover COBRA health care costs for people who have lost a job or had their hours cut and who buy coverage from their former employer.
lmunch

Opinion: The case for issuing Covid-19 vaccine passports - CNN - 0 views

  • There was a time when international travelers had to carry a small yellow booklet called an "International Vaccination Certificate." I still have mine, with stamps inside indicating I'd been vaccinated against typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, even bubonic plague. Waves of pandemics involving many of these diseases were the reason for launching this requisite counterpoint to the omnipresent passport. But in 1980 the World Health Assembly declared that the world was free of smallpox and -- other than in a few countries still requiring proof of yellow fever immunization -- the need for vaccination certificates has largely faded as well.
  • The other concern is an ethical one: that it could lead to a two-class society, divided between those who have had the Covid vaccine, and those who haven't or can't get it.
  • "Requiring a vaccine passport would be placing a penalty on those countries that have not been able to get vaccines. This penalty will be most felt by low-income countries, as high-income countries are the ones with greatest access to vaccines."
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  • In Israel, more than half of its 9 million people have been inoculated and have been given access to an app that allows exclusive access to a host of venues, including indoor dining.
mattrenz16

Kyle Rittenhouse Trial In Kenosha Killings Delayed Until November : NPR - 0 views

  • A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday delayed the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is charged with fatally shooting Black Lives Matters protesters in Kenosha last summer.
  • Prosecutors as well as Rittenhouse's defense attorneys had asked for the postponement, arguing they needed more time to build their respective cases. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder also set a meeting for May, to ensure that the new timeline still works for the two legal teams.
  • Months after his release, Rittenhouse was spotted in a Wisconsin bar with possible members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group that federal prosecutors say played a critical role in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
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  • In February, Schroeder refused to issue a new arrest warrant or increase Rittenhouse's bail, after he failed to update his current address with the court. But he did prohibit the shooter from associating with white supremacists.
  • On Wednesday, Rittenhouse's lawyers said they needed extra time to finish up a public opinion poll "to get a feel for whether Rittenhouse can expect to get a fair trial in the county, or if there might be reason to seek a change of venue or a jury pool from another county," the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
martinelligi

Vaccine Passports? From Colleges To Cruise Ships, Proof of Vaccinations Required : Shot... - 0 views

  • A political debate has erupted over the idea of requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry into certain settings. While politicians argue over equity and privacy concerns, some businesses and institutions are moving ahead and developing apps for people to easily and securely prove their status.
  • Schools and colleges have long required proof of vaccination for diseases such as measles and mumps. Kotlikoff says this requirement is similar
  • If some institutions and businesses aim to require vaccination, how will they ask people to show proof — or certification –- of immunity? The Biden administration has ruled out having federally mandated vaccination credentials, so it's up to the private sector to develop their own systems.
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  • "The digital health pass is an electronic version of the index card that you get when you get your full immunization," explains Tim Paydos, a vice president of government industry solutions at IBM. Given that paper records can be misplaced, or forged, there's a benefit to the digital pass. He says it's a free, voluntary and convenient way to share your COVID-19 vaccination or test status.
  • He says there are several ways employers, event venues, cruise lines, or airlines could help ensure a safe environment, and still give people choices. "It may be acceptable to have people show either proof of vaccination, proof of a negative test, or proof of a recent episode with COVID," Parasidis says. "There are a lot of different options."
yehbru

Miami Shooting: 3 Masked Suspects Opened Fire At Banquet Hall : NPR - 0 views

  • A manhunt continued into Memorial Day for three masked suspects who opened fire early Sunday morning outside a Miami banquet hall, killing two men and wounding 21 others
  • The video shows three people getting out of the vehicle, one gripping a handgun, while the other two carried what police described as "assault-style rifles."
  • That's when the gunmen sprayed bullets indiscriminately into the crowd, even though police said the assailants had specific targets in mind.
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  • Police said some in the crowd returned fire
  • In all, 23 people were shot. In addition to the two fatalities, three others were in the hospital in critical condition. Because of privacy laws, police were not releasing the names of any of the victims.
  • Sunday's shooting came a little more than a day after a drive-by shooting claimed the life of one person outside another venue about 13 miles (about 21 kilometers) away in the Wynwood area. Six others were injured. Some witnesses likened the scene to a "war zone" after a barrage of dozens of bullets sent people scurrying in the night.
saberal

How Mitch McConnell killed the US Capitol attack commission | US Capitol breach | The G... - 0 views

  • Days before the Senate voted down the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was adamant: he would oppose the bill, regardless of any amendments – and he expected his colleagues to follow suit.
  • But it also underscored the alarm that gripped McConnell and Senate Republican leadership in the fraught political moments leading up to the vote, and how they exploited fears within the GOP of crossing a mercurial former president to galvanize opposition to the commission.
  • Surrounded by shards of broken glass in the Capitol on the night of 6 January, and as House Democrats drew up draft articles of impeachment against Trump, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, made her first outreach to canvas the prospect of a commission to investigate the attack.
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  • The main objection from House and Senate Republicans, at first, centered on the lopsided structure of Pelosi’s initial proposal, that would have seen a majority of members appointed by Democrats, who would have also held unilateral subpoena power.
  • By the penultimate week of April, Pelosi had deputized Thompson to lead talks as she felt the homeland security committee was an appropriate venue, and because the top Republican on the committee, John Katko, was one of only 10 House GOP members to vote to impeach Trump.
  • Minutes after House Republicans elevated Elise Stefanik to become the new GOP conference chair on 14 May, Thompson and Katko unveiled their proposal for a bipartisan 9/11-style commission.
  • As Hoyer had anticipated when he suggested that Pelosi also offer equal subpoena power to Republicans, McCarthy struggled to demonize the commission, and several House Republicans told the Guardian that they found his complaints about the scope unconvincing.
  • Underpinning McConnell’s alarm was the fact that Democrats needed 10 Senate Republicans to vote in favor of the commission, and seven had already voted to impeach Trump during his second Senate trial – a far more controversial vote than supporting an inquiry into 6 January.
  • As the final vote hurtled towards its expected finale, the Senate minority whip, John Thune, who also switched his position to side with McConnell, acknowledged McConnell’s arguments about a commission jeopardising Republican chances to retake majorities in the House and Senate.
kaylynfreeman

Sports Are Returning to Normal. So Is Their Role in Political Fights. - The New York Times - 0 views

  • American society is redrawing cultural norms and protections for citizens’ rights. It shouldn’t be a shock that sports is the most visible battleground.
  • But as we dream of a return to normalcy, what will we now expect from the games we love? A return to the mythical notion that sports should operate at arm’s length remove from the important issues of the day?
  • Then he zeroed in. We both did. We agreed that sports have become society’s prime cultural battleground for every hot-button social and political issue. No matter the subject — race, religion, sexuality, patriotism, the role of the police — the sports world is more powerful than ever as a venue for the often harsh hashing out of opposing views.
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  • Trump provided a powerful accelerant. He stoked the flames amid his ardent supporters who view sports as a last bastion for the good old days and their gauzy myths. The pandemic forced us inside and limited our lives — and also helped give activist athletes and their supporters more time to think and organize. (Hence the walkouts led by the N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. last summer.) All the while, the ubiquitous, hyperbolic power of the internet and social media continued to grow at breakneck speed.
edencottone

Why the Coronavirus Pandemic Is a Personal Health Wake-Up Call - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The pandemic has shed a blinding light on too many Americans’ failure to follow the well-established scientific principles of personal health and well-being.
  • Older Americans have been particularly hard hit by this novel coronavirus. When cases surged at the end of last year, Covid-19 became the nation’s leading cause of death, deadlier than heart disease and cancer.
  • After old age, obesity is the second leading risk factor for death among those who become infected and critically ill with Covid-19. Seventy percent of Americans adults are now overweight, and more than a third are obese.
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  • These conditions may be particularly prevalent in communities of color, who are likewise disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
  • Several people I know packed on quite a few pounds of health-robbing body fat this past year, and not because they lacked the ability to purchase and consume a more nutritious plant-based diet or to exercise regularly within or outside their homes. One male friend in his 50s unexpectedly qualified for the Covid vaccine by having an underlying health condition when his doctor found he’d become obese since the pandemic began.
  • The government subsidizes the production of both soybeans and corn, most of which is used to feed livestock.
  • Early in the pandemic, when most businesses and entertainment venues were forced to close, toilet paper was not the only commodity stripped from market shelves. The country was suddenly faced with a shortage of flour and yeast as millions of Americans “stuck” at home went on a baking frenzy. While I understood their need to relieve stress, feel productive and perhaps help others less able or so inclined, bread, muffins and cookies were not the most wholesome products that might have emerged from pandemic kitchens.
  • Not only is alcohol a source of nutritionally empty calories, its wanton consumption can result in reckless behavior that further raises susceptibility to Covid.
  • “you can’t eat just one.” (Example: Corn on the cob is unprocessed, canned corn is minimally processed, but Doritos are ultra-processed).
  • As Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, says, “This is not rocket science.” She does not preach deprivation, only moderation (except perhaps for a total ban on soda). “We need a national policy aimed at preventing obesity,” she told me, “a national campaign to help all Americans get healthier.”
anonymous

Derek Chauvin Trial: 14 Jurors Are Seated To Hear Case Of George Floyd Killing : NPR - 0 views

  • A 14th juror was selected in former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial on Monday, one week before opening arguments are scheduled to begin on March 29. The court initially called for 12 jurors and at least two alternates; it could now add additional jurors to the panel, in case anyone drops out.
  • Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, who was Black. Video recordings showed that Floyd was held facedown on the asphalt — and that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.The jury reflects a range of ethnicities, although slightly over half of the jurors have been described in court as white.
  • The trial is expected to last at least four weeks. The two alternate jurors won't know of their status until the panel heads to the deliberation phase. Jury selection in the case has often moved more quickly than was predicted: when it began on March 9, the process was expected to last several weeks, as the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys quizzed dozens of potential jurors about their lives and any opinions they held about Floyd's death in police custody last Memorial Day.
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  • The relatively fast pace endured despite the loss last week of two jurors who were struck from the panel after they said that because of Minneapolis' recent $27 million settlement with Floyd's family, they could no longer promise to be impartial.
  • The jury reached 14 members days after Cahill denied the defense's motions to move the case to another venue or delay the proceedings – steps that Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, called for because of the potential impact of the settlement news on the jury pool.
  • The initial jury pool included 326 people; as of late last week, Cahill said that the court had questioned around 60 of them. The selection process continued on Monday, as the judge and the two sides of the case sought to ensure the jury is fair and impartial. As of around midday Monday, the defense had used 14 of its 18 challenges and the prosecutors had used 8 of their 10 challenges, Cahill said.
  • In another ruling from Friday, Cahill ruled that only a portion of the evidence and details from an earlier police stop of Floyd would be allowed in the trial.Cahill noted similarities between Floyd's interaction with police on May 25, 2020, and the earlier police stop on May 6, 2019. In both instances, the judge said, there were signs that Floyd had ingested drugs after being approached by police officers. In the two cases, Cahill said, Floyd's physical behavior is "remarkably similar."
  • But the judge also said Floyd's "emotional behavior" from that earlier encounter was not admissible. And he restricted how much of a police video recording from the 2019 arrest could be used in court.The only recordings from the 2019 incident that are relevant to the current case, he added, are segments that could be linked to the cause of Floyd's death and his medical condition.The case is being closely watched, with Floyd's death having inflamed widespread protests against racial inequality and police brutality.
Javier E

In Minnesota, a G.O.P. Lawmaker's Death Brings Home the Reality of Covid - The New York... - 0 views

  • while Republicans insist that their freedom was at issue in refusing to wear masks or enforce mandates, such events and the death of Mr. Relph raise urgent questions as to where individual “freedom” ends and where responsibility to others begins in a pandemic during which breathing shared air can be fatal.
  • “It’s ironic that Senator Gazelka, as majority leader, was always the person most outspoken in opposing the governor’s emergency order and would state to us over and over again that Minnesotans would do the responsible thing,” said Richard Cohen, a Democrat who retired from the Legislature last month. “And now it is alleged that because of a caucus event, where apparently many people were not wearing masks, a caucus member became ill and then passed away.”
  • An owner of the catering hall, John Schiltz, said that his servers had worn masks and gloves throughout that evening, and that none had later tested positive. Although masks were offered to guests, state guidelines at the time allowed them to be removed at tables.Mr. Schiltz said the dinner was the only event any group had booked at his venue in November before he had to close on Nov. 20.
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  • Pressed about the dinner in a radio interview in late November, Mr. Gazelka, 61, who is reported to be considering a run for governor, said he had no regrets.
  • “The idea that everyone can just be trusted rings a little hollow with the knowledge” that Republicans did not tell Democrats of the positive cases before the special session, Ms. Kent said in an interview last week.
  • He continued through the year to argue that mask mandates or limits on restaurants and bars were not needed because Minnesotans could be trusted to make responsible choices, and that the harmful effects on schools, the economy and people’s mental health outweighed the value of restrictions.
  • Holding the celebratory dinner wasn’t the only point of contention.Afterward, Republicans alerted their own caucus about the virus outbreak, but not Democrats. They instructed Republican staff members not to go to the Capitol for a special session of the Legislature on Nov. 12 — but did not inform Democrats, who were livid after learning of the positive cases from news reports.
  • “There was a lot of food and a lot of beverage, and when you’re at an activity when the food and beverage is there, that’s when you don’t have your mask,” he said. “I don’t regret that we had the celebration. The Republican majority was the No. 1 target to switch from Republican to Democrat.”
  • She described the working environment of the Senate as poisoned by Republicans’ disregard for masks. Most refuse to wear them on the Senate floor, she said. One Republican senator, she recounted, broke into fake coughing while waiting for an elevator in a cramped vestibule with Democratic colleagues.
  • After learning of the outbreak from Republican leaders, Mr. Relph, who did not have any symptoms, went for a coronavirus test, his daughter said. It came back positive.
  • “None of us can be sure he got sick at that party, but it’s really, really likely,” Dana Relph said. “There wasn’t any other place he would have gotten it.”
  • As one of the Senate’s oldest members, Mr. Relph was one of the few Republicans known for regularly wearing a face covering. He had an underlying condition, mild asthma, his daughter said.
  • As a lab technician for 3M, Ms. Relph tests industrial masks. “The fact that people deny the science behind masks makes me even angrier,” she said. She recalled that a Senate colleague of her father’s had stopped by her family’s house, without a mask, while her father was in the hospital. “Point blank, he said, ‘I don’t think this is as serious as they’re telling us it is,’” Ms. Relph said. “My dad was dying. These are people that think they’re good, kind, compassionate people, and yet they don’t act that way.”
  • Last week, as the Legislature returned for its 2021 session, senators held a moment of silence for Mr. Relph. Mr. Gazelka called him “a great senator, a true friend.”
  • The majority leader also led his party in blocking a Democratic proposal to require masks in public areas of the Capitol, flouting a statewide mask mandate, imposed by the governor, in indoor settings. (The Legislature is not subject to the governor’s orders.) Republicans questioned the effectiveness of masks. But Mr. Gazelka did include language in a resolution “strongly encouraging” mask wearing.
  • Ms. Kent, the Democratic leader, said that she had noticed lately that Mr. Gazelka was always wearing a mask himself in the Capitol, where before he had not worn one. Besides Mr. Relph’s death, Mr. Gazelka’s mother-in-law died in December after contracting Covid-19.
mariedhorne

Covid-19 Surge Ends Seven Months of U.S. Jobs Growth - WSJ - 0 views

  • Employers cut 140,000 jobs last month, the first decline since the pandemic hit the country last spring, the Labor Department said Friday. The jobless rate held steady at 6.7%, far below its April peak of 14.8%—a post-World War II high—but still almost twice its pre-pandemic level.
  • The December figures capped the worst year of job losses on record. The U.S. economy shed 9.4 million jobs last year, the most in any year since records began in 1939 and nearly double the 5 million lost during 2009, after the housing crash.
  • He employs 14 people, down from 30 before the pandemic. He has held off on hiring because he doesn’t know if his business can survive for long. “I put in more hours for myself,” instead of hiring another cook and a server, he said. “I don’t have a host. I’m doing most of the work being the host. I cannot afford extra employees.”
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  • Retailers added 121,000 jobs in December, which may have reflected consumers stepping up spending for the holidays.
  • The jobless rate hit 14.8% in April, the highest on record, instead of the previously reported 14.7%, Friday’s report showed.
  • The pandemic and related restrictions led to 22 million job losses in March and April; about 12 million have been recovered since then.
  • Health-care manufacturers are hiring workers to help make the Covid-19 vaccines. Catalent Inc., based in New Jersey, is dangling $3,000 signing bonuses as it hopes to fill hundreds of jobs.
  • But manufacturing represents only about 14% of the labor market. The vast majority of jobs are in services. Industries tied to in-person sales or interaction continue to struggle. Those include restaurants, hotels, music venues, and amusement parks.
mariedhorne

Solo Extremists Might Pose Higher Risk Than Organized Groups - WSJ - 0 views

  • As Washington, D.C., and state capitals enact security measures, solo actors may pose a threat in coming weeks as extremist groups are advising followers to avoid large rallies but remain opposed to the incoming administration, according to people who track such groups.
  • Nonetheless, extremism watchdog groups and former law-enforcement officials say there is still a threat from lone-wolf extremists who are inspired by such groups. The far-right groups, which don’t accept the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Trump, could become more aggressive in the coming months after security is lowered, the watchdogs and ex-officials said.
  • “These are people that honestly are intent on doing what it is they’re going to do under the cover of darkness. They’re going to do it in a way that people are not going to see them coming.”
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  • In Washington, D.C., the National Mall is ringed by tall metal fencing. Army trucks and police cars, lights flashing, are parked perpendicular at intersections, closing off streets in swaths of the city.
  • Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was recently the target of an alleged kidnapping plot by an antigovernment group known as the Michigan III%ers, called the action “a good start” but said she wanted to see a ban on all weapons at the Capitol.
  • on Robinson, a former supervisory agent for the FBI who specialized in domestic extremist groups and now works as an independent consultant, said he sees the risk across a range of potential actors. “Once the finality of Biden’s inauguration hits them I’m worried that some will act out violently,” said Mr. Robinson. “If one target is a hardened U.S. Capitol they may just seek out another venue.”
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