Monthly Archives: July 2020

Indian-American in Maine attempting to drive Republican Senator Susan Collins out of office – newsindiatimes.com

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In photo left, Sara Gideon, center, with her family. Gideon, whose father is an Indian-American pediatrician, is running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Photo: Twitter

Just days before the Maine Democratic primary July 14, 2020, analysts and polls show the rising popularity of an Indian-American candidate for the U.S. Senate, Sara Gideon, against long time incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican. Gideon is expected to sail through the July 14 primary to face off against a formidable GOP Senator this November 3.

When the influential organization Emilys List endorsed Gideon for the Senate seat from Maine, it described her as A proven leader and dedicated public servant.

Gideon , the daughter of an Indian-American father and Armenian mother, has positioned herself to defeat Sen. Collins, by building a varied support base and raising millions of dollars. She is expected to sail through the July 14, Democratic primary in her state. In every re-election to her state House of Representatives since she was first elected in 2012, Gideon has garnered more than 65 percent of the popular vote.

An early July poll by RealCearPolitics which called the seat a toss-up showed Gideon 2.5 points ahead of Collins. The Cook Political Report has also called the race a toss-up. A report in Forbes list Collins among the most vulnerable Senators.

Just a few days ago, July 7, 2020, the New York Times ran a telling headline about this heated race Hemmed In by the Pandemic, Collins Battles for Survival in Maine. The Times also called it the toughest re-election race of her (Collins) career. Made even more so because the Republican Partys control of the Senate rests on her win this November.

Currently speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, Gideon, 48, has garnered endorsements from influential groups like Emilys List, and most recently, the Maine AFL-CIO which represents some 160 plus unions across Maine. In endorsing the Indian-American, one of the groups under the Maine AFL-CIO, The Iron Workers Local 7, tweeted, We are proud to endorse Sara Gideon for US Senate because weve worked together to raise wages on construction jobs, promote worker training and apprenticeship, and build an economy that works for all us, not just the wealthy few.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency carried a report July 9, 2020, with the headline, Sara Gideon could flip Susan Collins Senate seat blue. Shes building a wide base of Jewish support to do so.

Collins, a four-term incumbent, has long been seen as a moderate Republican, but some of her votes over the last year, including the support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and for President Trump during the impeachment trial have put her in the crosshairs of many moderates in Maine.

Sara is a champion for Maine working families, and she has an outstanding record of achieving results, Emilys List said. She has passed landmark legislation to help families gain financial independence, and under divided government she worked tirelessly to pass bills that that both lifted Maine families out of poverty and increased the number of higher-skilled workers to grow Maines economy, it said, adding, Lets show this champion for Maine working families our full support to help her flip this seat from red to blue and lets take back the Senate.

Federal Election Commission filings show that as of June 24, 2020, Gideon had total contributions of $22,158,023, of which an overwhelming majority, $21,813,536 was in individual contributions. Her cash on hand by end of June was $5,494,743.

Sen. Collins was a few million short of her rival with total contributions by the same date at $15,169,062, and individual contributions at $12,266, 69. However, her cash on hand was neck-and-neck at $5,006,945.

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Indian-American in Maine attempting to drive Republican Senator Susan Collins out of office - newsindiatimes.com

Advancing Equity: Seeking to create a NKY that is inclusive of the work of all and ensures fair treatment – User-generated content

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First of a series by NKYs nonprofits who stand together against racism and any acts that dehumanize people.

By Wonda WinklerBrighton Center

We all have hopes and dreams. Most people want to be able to take care of themselves and their families, have a safe and decent place to live, a better life for their children. . .to belong and to be happy. One unexpected event at any time, much less this time of COVID-19, such as a job loss or major illness can take any family off course financially. And when you are caught living paycheck to paycheck, sometimes the thought of saving for the future or building wealth seems impossible.

In Northern Kentucky, for 54 years, Brighton Center has been there to partner side by side with families as they work toward financial stability. From meeting those we serve where they are through emergency assistance services, adult and early childhood education, youth programs, and recovery services to setting the stage for long-term success through financial wellness, workforce training, and employment, we have truly offered comprehensive wraparound services that work, with tremendous, measurable results.

Over the years we have learned that families needs are unique and the services that support their journey to financial independence vary quality child care, help with getting a good job or a better job offering opportunities for career advancement, getting a GED or going to post-secondary for skill training or a degree, establishing and building credit, buying their first home, and more. We have also seen that the opportunities and outcomes for everyone we serve are not equal. There are deep disparities that exist for people of color and are most pronounced for those that are black. We have seen through our work the impact of institutional and systemic racism on our families of color. Research validates this racial and ethnic disparities exist in educational access and attainment, workforce training, and quality employment. The implications and impact of this are far-reaching not only for Northern Kentucky but for our country.

Addressing disparities requires a comprehensive and holistic approach on behalf of the community that is inclusive of the work of many partners including employers, educators, government and elected officials, and community-based organizations; partnerships and bundling of services; and policy changes at all levels (public benefits, education, criminal justice, child welfare, and workforce and economic development efforts to name a few). Our hope for Northern Kentucky is a community that ensures the systematic fair treatment of ALL people of ALL races that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone.

Often changes will be required to policies and procedures, including those that address institutional bias. Such changes are critical for each company or organization to advance racial equity. Since the fall 2016 Brighton Center has been on an intentional journey as an organization to look inward at our practices, to challenge ourselves to truly bake in equity into our organizational culture, and how we make decisions. We started with our Board, then reviewed our mission, vision, and values, and added a specific goal to our strategic plan. While racial equity has always aligned with our values, we felt that we needed to be more explicit. As such, we added an agency value: our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and racial equity is imperative to the strength of our organization and community. We are committed to demonstrating this value in action. Today, our journey continues as we look at our outcome data by race/ethnicity and gender variation and include the voice of our families to help us determine what interventions/activities we will need to implement in our services to ensure all families can achieve their full potential and improve the quality of their lives.

Wonda Winkler

One of our staff, Regio Rodriquez, recently shared an article through our Cultural Inclusion Committee entitled Challenging the Status Quo where he wrote, It was just 50 years ago, when my wifes great-grandmother became one of the first black nurses in the State of Missouri, accomplishing her goals, and challenging Jim Crow. It was just 30 years ago, when my high school JROTC sergeant, as a young high school student participated in the Latin American movements in Texas, and California demanding inclusion of cultural studies in their high schools. Those movements inspired him to proudly serve in the Army. It was just five years ago, when my former high school principal, the first openly-gay principal in the state of Oklahoma got to finally marry her wife of 30 years, after the federal ruling approving of gay marriage in all 50 states. These are examples of people in my life who have overcome the odds. These are examples of people who stood up and spoke out against the injustices before them. Each and every one of us have inspirational leaders in our lives. We remember their plights and remember their message. We too must be those leaders. We too must set by example. We too must be brave. Black Lives Matter.

Now is the time for us to listen carefully and respectfully, honor feelings, continue to educate ourselves, ask questions, engage in hard conversations, and encourage others to do the same. We ask that each person commit to taking specific action, and most importantly follow-through. If you are in a position of leadership within your company or organization, start with your Board and ask yourself if your companys values reflect your commitment to racial equity, adopt anti-racism policies, and give your employees of color the opportunity to share their experience and listen.

If you are an employee, offer up suggestions for action to your supervisor, or attend a training on diversity, inclusion, or racial equity Greater Cincinnati Foundation is offering some great ones you can find on their website, or go to Race Forwards website for some helpful resources or materials. Dont be afraid to start a conversation for fear youll say the wrong thing seek, learn, and lead. Find someone further along on the journey than you and engage them in a conversation to advance your learning. And be willing to speak out against racial injustice.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Wonda Winkler is executive vice president of Brighton Center.

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Advancing Equity: Seeking to create a NKY that is inclusive of the work of all and ensures fair treatment - User-generated content

As Economic Futures Remain Uncertain in the Wake of COVID-19, A Triple-Minority Financial Expert, Echo Huang shares her Timeless Plan for Wealth…

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MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB) July 09, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to spread, workers are still losing their jobs, health care systems are being stressed, and local businesses are at risk of closing permanently. Many are witnessing the most tangible and consequential failure of government in recent U.S. history, and Americans are bracing for recession. The timely release of a recent Wealth Management bestseller serves as a call to action, especially for women, looking to protect and grow their wealth in these uncertain times.

Some women prefer talking about money with female financial planners, but only 20% of all financial planners hold the respected Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation, and only 23% of CFP professionals are women. There simply arent enough female CFP professionals to serve other women effectively.

Echo Huang is a female, Chinese-American immigrant and a mother in the male-dominated industry of wealth management and financial planning. Her firm Echo Wealth Management manages over $115 million in assets for clients, many of whom are Fortune 500 executives. As nine-year recipient (2012 2020) of the Five Star Wealth Manager Award, Huang states, I believe that increasing the number of female CFP professionals in America will help transform the financial industry and income inequality between men and women. There has never been a time when people have to be smarter about their money.

Globally, individuals are concerned about their income sources, retirement funds, stocks, bonds, and real estate assets in the current climate. Huang provides solid strategies for recovering from financial loss and how to safeguard and grow wealth regardless of who wins the November elections. She is specifically passionate about educating and assisting single mothers, immigrants managing money globally, and helping more women become successful in the financial industry. Her recent bestseller, Own Your Future, tells her personal story of overcoming adversity as an immigrant and a woman working in American financial markets.

Echo has a rare combination of technical expertise and empathy. This enables her to provide a unique perspective on wealth management that is both informative and motivating, reports Jerry Young, retired General Mills controller.

In her book, Huang provides a variety of guides and tips, such as teaching the nine cognitive and emotional biases holding you back from financial independence, explaining that you can donate to charity the wrong way, and that its possible to claim your social security benefits improperly at significant cost to your financial future.

Own Your Future is available now at all major booksellers. Learn more at http://www.echohuang.com

Huang is available for interviews by contacting TGC Worldwide. Contact us at bookecho@tgcworldwide.com.

About Echo: Echo Huang is Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professional with over 25 years of experience in the financial services and accounting industries. She helps executives and entrepreneurs across the country take the complexity out of their personal and business finances. Born and raised in China, she came to the United States with $800 in her pocket in hopes of pursuing and achieving the American dream. Through higher learning, continued education, and hard work, she gained valuable experience and extensive knowledge about wealth management, investment strategies, and tax planning. After years of working as an accountant, a financial advisor and partnering with other financial firms, she founded Echo Wealth Management in 2015. She offers in-depth financial planning and personalized investment management services for professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs. She is an expert in stock options, trading plans, and Deferred Compensation Plans. As an investment professional with CFP, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter, she is sought after to create personalized financial plans and execute the holistic strategies.

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Could the Domestic Abuse Bill backfire against women? – Spectator.co.uk

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The Domestic Abuse Bill, championed by Theresa May, could easily have fallen foul of Brexit, Boris Johnson, the suspension of Parliament, a new government or coronavirus. But the Bill has beat the odds: it was passed by the House of Commons this week and is currently making its way to the Lords.

Its pure coincidence that this Bill should be in the news at the very point the nation is emerging from lockdown and, collectively, beginning to take stock of the damage wreaked, not just by Covid-19, but the confining of people to their homes.

One sadly predictable result of lockdown is that rates of domestic abuse are likely to have risen. Charities report a huge increase in calls to helplines and traffic to their websites. Back in April, the UN described violence against women and girls as a shadow pandemic. But we need to be wary of alarmism. It is too early to count convictions, and an increase in helpline calls may signal greater awareness that such services exist. Perhaps people who would normally confide in friends have turned instead to helplines and websites.

Thanks to the efforts of campaigners, there is now a heightened awareness of domestic abuse and a renewed determination to root it out. But this comes at a time when, despite far more expansive definitions of abuse, overall rates have been falling for many years. The Office for National Statistics notes that the cumulative effect of small year-on-year reductions has resulted in a significantly lower prevalence of domestic abuse experienced in [...] the year ending March 2019 compared with the year ending March 2005.

It goes on to explain,

The downward trend in prevalence over time is driven by reductions in the prevalence of partner abuse, which has decreased from 6.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent over the same period. Family abuse has also followed a similar trend with a significantly lower prevalence in the year ending March 2019 (2.2 per cent) compared with the year ending March 2005 (3.4 per cent).

Clearly, any abuse is appalling for victims to endure. But falling overall rates, most likely as a result of womens greater financial independence, should be welcomed.

Despite this progress some no doubt very well intentioned campaigners and politicians seem intent on seeing the home not as a haven but as a battlefield. Their solution, in the form of the Domestic Abuse Bill, is for more legislation to protect victims. Some of the proposed legal changes, such as placing a duty on councils to provide shelter for those abused, should be welcomed, although there needs to be enough funding to turn a sensible idea into a practical reality.

But other aspects of the Bill are less straightforward. The proposed new legislation sets out a new definition of domestic abuse that goes considerably beyond physical harm. It includes economic abuse and coercive or controlling behaviour. This takes us into far more subjective terrain. Relationships have a unique dynamic; what one person might consider controlling, another may not. Even within the same relationship, behaviour that may seem normal at one point may come to be considered coercive several years later.

My fear is that some of the proposals now being discussed may backfire against women. Yesterday, Theresa May warned bosses not to enforce working from home after lockdown, as this could increase domestic abuse. Many victims, she said, regarded work as a safe place, and employers need to think about that.

Although May was careful to use gender-neutral language, it is mainly women who are and are commonly perceived to be victims of domestic abuse. I am not convinced it is in womens best interests to be treated differently to men when it comes to working from home. It is a questionable step for womens liberation to ask bosses to look at their female employees as potential victims.

The Domestic Abuse Bill has been widely celebrated for putting an end to what has become known as the rough sex defence, which defendants have used to argue that women consented to sexual activities that resulted in serious injuries or even death. The new legislation is designed to send a message that some behaviours are unacceptable, even if carried out between consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedroom. But we know this already. Thats why assault and murder are illegal. The Bill signals that not all parties have the same capacity to consent, no matter what they say or how enthusiastic they might appear. The danger here is that women become reduced to the status of children.

Locked-down domestic life can be stressful. To dissipate tensions we need to get life fully back to normal as quickly as possible. We need to reboot the economy before the social problems associated with unemployment and poverty have time to take hold. But we need to be wary of legislation that encourages employers, police and juries to treat men and women differently.

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Could the Domestic Abuse Bill backfire against women? - Spectator.co.uk

The Financial Reporting Council Reports On Conviviality And Autonomy – JD Supra

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The Financial Reporting Council has had a busy week. It has published its plans for changes at the Big 4 accountancy firms, and further evidence of its enforcement success on failed audits in Conviviality and Autonomy has emerged. In particular, the finding against Deloitte and two audit partners in the Autonomy case will confirm the need for reform as the Tribunal, chaired by Lord Dyson, has found that they signally failed in their public interest duty to uphold reliability of the reporting of Autonomy, which was an FTSE 100 company. On any view, this is a very serious finding and is only one of a number of other serious findings.

The changes to the way the Big 4 firms are structured came as no surprise. A number of independent reports have called for fundamental change, to remove the appearance that independent auditors are in conflict with other lucrative opportunities for the same client such as consulting. Too often, the evidence shows that auditors are not prepared to challenge management on its accounting policies and financial statements as much as they should. In the jargon of audit, the professional scepticism of what they see in the companys books is not what it should be.

The FRC has stated one of its main objectives of the reforms will be to improve audit quality by ensuring that people in the audit practice are focused above all on delivery of high-quality audits in the public interest. Good timing perhaps in view of the findings by the tribunal in the Autonomy case, but it also follows much criticism of audit firms in the independent reports, Parliament, and the media with the same complaint. The FRC is asking the Big 4 firms to agree to operational separation of their audit practices and to provide a transition plan by October, with implementation by 30 June 2024 at the latest.

The FRC reforms have the following overarching themes:

The Autonomy case resulted from claims by HP in 2012 that, following its acquisition of Autonomy, it had discovered that the valuation of the company was substantially overstated by billions of US dollars. There have been settlements, civil claims, and criminal trials in the UK and the United States, and now the FRC has successfully proved its case against Deloitte and two senior audit partners. The details of the findings are not yet published, as the tribunal must first decide on the appropriate sanctions, including a financial sanction for Deloitte, which is almost certain to be the highest yet as the FRC has suggested 15m and Deloitte has acknowledged that it will be over 7m There will be no discount, as Deloitte challenged the allegations before the tribunal.

The audit by Grant Thornton (GT) of alcohol supplier Conviviality Retail is the other enforcement case that was published this week. This case involved a settlement with GT, which reduced the fine from 3 million to 1.95 million. The allegations involved a failure to follow the strict ethical rules that prevent members of the audit team at GT from joining the audit client without a period of cooling off.

As Director of Enforcement at the FRC between 2012 2017, these developments are not a surprise to me and are a consequence of far greater attention being placed upon the quality of audits and the need for the large accountancy firms to exhibit robust independence in the audit of listed entities where shareholders are entitled to expect that financials statements, reports to regulators, and public announcements are challenged by auditors when appropriate.

The government also has a role in this to ensure further reform. This will include the introduction of rules for boards, directors, and those preparing financial statements to ensure breaches can be dealt with by the FRC successor body the Audit Reporting and Governance Authority. If the auditor is at fault, it usually also involves those at the corporate client, so the powers to investigate all concerned must be equally robust. Perhaps the most important reform that will make a difference alongside the reforms discussed here will be the requirement for auditors to look more carefully at the financial statements to see if there has been fraud or other serious breaches of laws and regulations. That reform does not need an auditor to become a detective, but a far greater degree of curiosity about the accounting for significant sums of money would be a good start.

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The Financial Reporting Council Reports On Conviviality And Autonomy - JD Supra

What will be the new Utopia? – The New Indian Express

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In Jerome K Jeromes The New Utopia, a man wakes up from a 1,000-year-long sleep, and finds himself in a future London where he needs a bath.

No; we are not allowed to wash ourselves. his guide tells him, You must wait until half-past four, and then you will be washed for tea.Be washed! Who by? the man asks.The State, replies the guide.

Replace the state with a corporate or a public-private partnership, carpet the sidewalks with cameras, let AI and neural networks take over every aspect of urban life and you get very close to the vision of a smart city where sensors rule the senses and the Internet of Things is god incarnate.

Now consider an alternative. You step out of your air-cooled, passive solar home and cycle slowly to the terraced wetland park which protects your city from floods while serving as habitat for birds.

Its waters are teeming with fish, community gardens abloom with flowers attract pollinators, the green terraces of every house brim with fresh produce.

Despite the summer sun, you are protected much of the way by the shade of living root bridges that cover the bicycle tracks. Squirrels play overhead, birdsong animates the world.

Living root bridges are not fairy tale nor are wetlands that perform multiple ecological functions, most famously the ones flanking Kolkata.

Julia Watsons book Lo-TEK-Design by Radical Indigenism, presents many such examples of traditional ecological knowledge from 18 countries some of which can be adapted into alternative visions for future cities.

In another 30 years, 68 percent of the world population will be city-based. NASAs Earth Observatory estimates that 18 percent of the global carbon footprint comes from the top 100 high-emission urban areas of the world.

Obviously if we have to fight climate change we will need to address this by building eco-friendly metropolises which are not necessarily smart cities.

A study done by Yigitcanlar and Kamruzzaman has shown that there is no simple linear relation between smartness and carbon-dioxide emissions.

Others have demonstrated that measures for sustainability are not necessarily driven by advanced technologies. Still smartness is often conflated with sustainability and the race for hi-tech nirvana continues.

Acknowledging no singular definition of the concept, India has taken ambitious targets of building 100 smart cities within and around existing urban centres with a total project cost of Rs 2,05,018 crore.

The aim is to create institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure layered with smartness which in some cases involve eco-friendly measures.

Another contentious issue about the use of advanced technologies to power cities of the future is centred on privacy.

In this quest for convenience and efficiency a variety of data-driven, deep learning applications including mobile games to modify transport choices, face-identification based security measures, telemedicine and so on will be employed which will require citizens and governments to hand over personal information to giant tech companies.

The US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence points out how Chinese AI start-up Cloudwalk has been helping Zimbabwe build a national facial recognition database while Kuala Lumpur is adopting a smart city platform called City Brain, developed by Chinese tech giant Alibaba. US corporates are also eager to get into this game.

Naomi Klein writing about the corporate push for tech-enabled solutions in the backdrop of the pandemic rightly points out that not every solution is technological.

Leaving aside the question of privacy it is also worrying that smart solutions are prone to malfunction and tend to eat away jobs. Again, commentators like Ayona Datta draw our attention to questions of equity, justice and ownership surrounding the technopolises of the global South. Where will all the land to build these smart cities come from? she asks.

A deeper critic of smartness that overlaps sustainability concerns points out the anthropocentrism of cities and suggests urban alternatives which are shared domains for multiple species. Christoph Ruprecht from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto says, Multispecies cities are thriving ecosystems, constantly re-shaped by their many-species inhabitants to facilitate mutual flourishing. He points me to an ongoing unique experiment For the Love of Bees a living social sculpture project to imagine Auckland as the safest city in the world for bees.

An ardent champion of the multispecies cities imagination, Ruprecht dismisses the smartness paradigm. A smart city is ultimately a dead city, he avers, not unlike artificial plastic plants, unable of receiving or giving care. We need to keep these warnings in mind before rushing headlong for high-tech dreams.

Rajat ChaudhuriClimate activistEmail: rajat@rajatchaudhuri.net

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What will be the new Utopia? - The New Indian Express

‘And She Could Be Next’ highlights women of color transforming US politics | The Crusader Newspaper Group – The Chicago Cusader

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The New 411

By Raymond Ward

Spearheading a new generation of forward-thinking sales companies primedto reimagine the industry even before COVID-19, Utopia takes POVs first ever mini-series And She Could Be Next to the virtual March Du Film.

The multi-part documentary series directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia follows women of coloras candidates and organizerswho are transforming U.S. politics from the ground up, including history-makers Stacey Abrams (Georgia) and Rashida Tlaib (Detroit).

If ever there was a moment where we need to be reminded of the leadership of women of color, that time is now, said executive producerAva DuVernay. If youre an immigrant, a young person, a person of faith, or simply someone who has felt unseen for too long, you will find yourself reflected in this story.

After being selected for its world premiere this year by the Tribeca Film Festival, PBSs documentary showcase POV aired And She Could Be Next earlier this week in the United States, with Utopia taking it to the virtual Croisette for international sales. Co-founded in 2019by director Robert Schwartzman, Los Angeles-based Utopia offers an array of flexible and filmmaker friendly sales and distribution services.

The world has its eyes on the U.S., comments Utopias Head of Sales, DavidBetesh. We believe there is strongbuyerappetite for socially-driven work of the highest quality, and thats just whatour Emmy and Academy Award-winning partner POV is known for. Its especially a thrill to launch this series internationally during what is unquestionably an epochal and borderless moment of reckoning around issues of race, gender, and representation. The seriesis a natural addition to our slate of high-quality features and documentaries,includingthe Steve Bannon portrait American Dharma from Academy Award-winner Errol Morris.

Other films onUtopiasCannes market slate include the upcoming ensemble comedy,The Argument, starringDan FoglerandMaggie Q;the basketball documentary Jump Shot, produced by and featuringtwo-time NBA champion and MVP Stephen Curry; and the comedy feature Mister America fromAdult Swims Tim Heidecker.

Looking to Advertise? Contact the Crusader for more information.

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'And She Could Be Next' highlights women of color transforming US politics | The Crusader Newspaper Group - The Chicago Cusader

#SecondSaturday Mural Tour in the ViBe Creative District – WAVY.com

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) COVID-19 has not stopped creativity in the ViBe District. Within the last few months, dozens of new works of art have been added to the area.

This weekend, the public will be able to to see them up close and personal.

#SecondSaturday is a guided tour series of the ViBe District murals. The popular event was put on hold when the coronavirus first hit Hampton Roads, but then the tours started up again in June after the state of Virginia moved into phase 2.

We only allow 25 guests at a time. We encourage people to bring masks, especially when we pop into some of the art workshops and studios along the tour, said Executive Director Kate Pittman.

As of now, 31 new pieces are now on display throughout the art district. One of the latest projects includes a new parking lot designed by students.

We have a parking lot on 18th Street painted in partnership with 17 Virginia Beach Schools. Teachers came out to paint the designs they created with their students earlier this year, Pittman added.

Near the Mediterranean Parklet, 11 new community fence murals have been added. The ViBe District reached out to local citizens who created these masterpieces at their homes while quarantined.

The ViBe District is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion in regards to the work they showcase.

The ViBe Creative District and Utopia Feni nonprofits announce a new partnership to spotlight local minority artists in Virginia Beachs arts district.There are three new pop murals on display. We want to make sure all of our featured artists are know we support them and we want to make sure each one is seen in our community, said Pittman.

#SecondSaturdaytour of the ViBe District murals leaving fromFathom Coffee. This tour begins at 10am and will last about one to 1.5 hours. To RSVP, visit the ViBe Creative District Facebook Page.

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#SecondSaturday Mural Tour in the ViBe Creative District - WAVY.com

COMPANY, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, JAGGED LITTLE PILL and More Partner With HeadCount to Promote Voter Registration – Broadway World

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Fourteen major Broadway productions are partnering with HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that promotes civic participation through music, culture, and live performance, to encourage Broadway fans across the United States to register and vote. Although Broadway performances in New York City remain suspended through the remainder of 2020 due to COVID-19, fans of all ages can join their favorite shows in making their voices heard at the polls this fall.

Participating shows whose campaigns launch today include Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations; Chicago; Come From Away; Company; David Byrne's American Utopia (which previously hosted a HeadCount voter registration booth in the Hudson Theatre lobby at each performance); Dear Evan Hansen; Girl From The North Country; Hadestown; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; Jagged Little Pill; Mean Girls; Moulin Rouge! The Musical; Plaza Suite; and TINA - The Tina Turner Musical. Additional participating shows will be announced soon.

Through HeadCount's national organization efforts, fans across the country can register, check, or update their voter registration status online and find localized information about polling dates, sites, and candidates. By doing so, they will be entered to win Broadway show tickets (applicable when performances resume) and more.

More information on each show's initiatives, all of which run through October 1 to encompass National Voter Registration Day on September 22, can be found at the links below:

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations - HeadCount.org/ATP or text VOTER ATP to 40649

Chicago - HeadCount.org/Chicago or text VOTER CHICAGO BWAY to 40649

Come From Away - HeadCount.org/ComeFromAway or text VOTER AWAY to 40649

Company - HeadCount.org/Company or text VOTER COMPANY to 40649

David Byrne's American Utopia: HeadCount.org/DBAU or text VOTER DBAU to 40649

Dear Evan Hansen - HeadCount.org/DearEvanHansen or text VOTER EVAN to 40649

Girl from the North Country - HeadCount.org/GFTNC or text VOTER GFTNC to 40649

Hadestown - HeadCount.org/Hadestown or text VOTER HADESTOWN to 40649

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - HeadCount.org/HarryPotterandtheCursedChild or text VOTER CURSED CHILD to 40649

Jagged Little Pill - HeadCount.org/JLP or text VOTER JLP to 40649

Mean Girls - HeadCount.org/MeanGirls or text VOTER FETCH to 40649

Moulin Rouge! The Musical - HeadCount.org/MoulinRouge or text VOTER MR! to 40649

Plaza Suite - HeadCount.org/PlazaSuite or text VOTER PLAZA to 40649

TINA - The Tina Turner Musical - HeadCount.org/Tina or text VOTER TINA to 40649

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Governor Cuomo is 'Concerned' About Prolonged Shutdown of the Arts in New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he is 'concerned' about the prolonged shutdown of the arts and culture industries in New York City....

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COMPANY, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, JAGGED LITTLE PILL and More Partner With HeadCount to Promote Voter Registration - Broadway World

Geofence warrants to be tested in Va. bank robbery case – Sumter Item

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By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer

RICHMOND, Va. - It was a terrifying bank robbery: Demanding cash in a handwritten note, a man waved a gun, threatened to kill a teller's family, ordered employees and customers onto the floor and escaped with $195,000.

Surveillance video gave authorities a lead, showing a man holding a cellphone outside the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian, Virginia, on May 20, 2019. So like a growing number of law enforcement agencies, they got a court-approved "geofence" search warrant, seeking the location history of any devices in the area at the time.

Google is served with the vast majority of these warrants because it stores information from millions of devices in a massive database known as Sensorvault. If your Android phone or iPhone has Location History enabled, this is where your data is tracked and stored.

A Google spokesman declined to say how many geofence warrants the company has received, but Google's legal brief in the bank robbery says requests jumped 1,500% from 2017 to 2018, and another 500% last year.

Police credit these warrants with helping identify suspects in a fatal shooting in North Carolina, home invasions in Minnesota and a murder in Georgia, among other crimes. Defense attorneys say they unconstitutionally ensnare innocent people and violate the privacy of anyone whose cellphone happens to be in the vicinity.

Now geofence warrants are getting their first significant court challenge. Lawyers for Okello Chatrie want a federal judge in Richmond to suppress the warrant that led to his arrest for the bank heist.

Similar court challenges are being waged against facial-recognition software, persistent aerial surveillance and Stingray cellphone trackers, among other technology, and civil rights advocates are even more concerned now that people are protesting against racial injustice.

"If you are someone who went out on the streets to express your rage, your sadness and your hope that there is a better way to do policing and are then subject to a warrant, I think that would go against everything we are telling people they have the right to do," said New York state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a lead sponsor of a bill to ban geofence warrants.

The legislation was prompted in part by a New York Times report that prosecutors sought Google's cellphone records around the spot where the Proud Boys, a far-right group, brawled with anti-fascist protesters in 2018. Several Proud Boys were later convicted of assault.

In Chatrie's case, bank cameras showed the robber came and went from an area where a church worker saw a suspicious person in a blue Buick. Chatrie's location history matched these movements. Prosecutors say Chatrie confessed after officers found a gun and nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills wrapped in bands signed by the bank teller.

Chatrie's lawyers say all the evidence should be suppressed because it flowed from the geofence warrant in violation of the 4th Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches.

"It is the digital equivalent of searching every home in the neighborhood of a reported burglary, or searching the bags of every person walking along Broadway because of a theft in Times Square," Chatrie's lawyers wrote.

Typically, Google initially turns over anonymized data; police then seek identifying information on a smaller group of suspect devices.

"We vigorously protect the privacy of our users while supporting the important work of law enforcement," said Richard Salgado, Google's director of law enforcement and information security.

Privacy advocates say such broad warrants inherently sweep up innocent people.

Zachary McCoy, a Florida restaurant worker, had the wherewithal to fight back when Google emailed saying Gainesville police were seeking information related to his Google account. Plugging the case number into a police website, he saw a 97-year-old woman's home had been burglarized.

"I was kind of terrified that for some reason I was going to prison even though I hadn't actually committed a crime," he said.

McCoy had to enable Google's location services to track his bike rides on RunKeeper. The exercise-tracking app showed him near the woman's house three times around the time of the burglary as he did laps around the neighborhood.

McCoy borrowed $7,000 from his parents to hire a lawyer, who persuaded police to withdraw the warrant.

Geofence data ensnared a man who seemed to be at the site of a 2018 killing in Avondale, Arizona. Jorge Molina spent six days in jail before his lawyer provided police with evidence exonerating him. His mother's ex-boyfriend was later arrested in the killing. It turns out Molina had given the man his old cellphone, which was still logged in to his Google account.

"Police are basically treating this like it's DNA or fingerprint evidence, but it's not," said Jack Litwak, Molina's attorney. "Jorge was nowhere near there and then he was accused of the worst crime you can be accused of committing."

Prosecutors say they tailor geofence warrants as narrowly as possible.

"There is a process by which the 4th Amendment is followed and where people's privacy concerns and considerations are at least weighed against the public safety interest and the strong governmental investigation interest," said Lorrin Freeman, the district attorney in Wake County, North Carolina.

Prosecutors consider Google "a witness to the robbery" in Chatrie's case and argue he had no reasonable expectation of privacy since he voluntarily opted in to Google's Location History.

Privacy advocates say many cellphone users don't understand how much their movements are being tracked, nor how to opt out. A 2018 Associated Press investigation found that many Google applications store data even when owners used a privacy setting it said would prevent that.

Google later added new privacy controls that allow users to put an expiration date on their data and recently said it will automatically delete location history for new users after 18 months.

"The question of how we would want to govern this novel and extremely comprehensive capability is really something that's up in the air," said Jennifer Stisa Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We just now as a society are just starting to deal with technology like this."

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Geofence warrants to be tested in Va. bank robbery case - Sumter Item

Five items on business for July 10, 2020 – News – Enterprise News

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Send news about your local business to MWBusiness@wickedlocal.com. We're interested in news about business people, expansions, openings and community involvement by MetroWest businesses and business people. Follow Daily News Business Editor Bob Tremblay on Twitter @Bob Tremblay_MW.

Center for Vein Restoration opens in Framingham

Center for Vein Restoration (CVR) recently announced the opening of its flagship location in Framingham. The location marks the 19th state to have a CVR location and the furthest east facility of the bi-coastal organization. The office, which overlooks Sucker Pond, is led by Dr. Pamela Kim, one of the newer physicians to join the company. Kim has dedicated her education and research efforts to the study of vascular surgery and phlebology, making her the perfect fit for the national practice exclusively focused on veins and venous disorders, according to CVR. The company is the largest physician-led practice treating vein disease in the country. With 80 centers and growing, CVR has more than 500 employees and conducts over 200,000 patient interactions annually. For more information, visit http://www.centerforvein.com.

MutualOne awards $7,000 to Family Promise Metrowest

Mark R. Haranas, president and CEO of MutualOne Bank and chairman of the MutualOne Charitable Foundation, has announced a $7,000 grant to support the Local Initiative for Family Empowerment (LIFE) program at Family Promise Metrowest in Natick. The LIFE program is a homelessness prevention program supporting families with children who are not yet homeless, but are at risk of eviction, said Executive Director Sue Crossley. The grant was among awards totaling $63,960 in the foundations most recent round of funding. Established in 1998 as the philanthropic arm of MutualOne Bank, the Framingham-based foundation has since donated more than $4.8 million to charitable, educational and civic initiatives designed to improve and enrich the quality of life in Framingham, Natick and surrounding communities.

Framingham credit union announces scholarship winners

MetroWest Community Federal Credit Union in Framingham recently announced that Joseph Harrington of Ashland High School and Andrew Xu of Belmont High School are this years Richard J. Callahan Memorial Scholarship recipients. Both students excelled academically as they graduated in the top 15% of their schools respectively, but what truly differentiated these two from other candidates was their community service, according to the credit union. Over the course of his high school career, Xu accumulated more than 1,000 volunteer hours between Mount Auburn Hospital, Boston Childrens Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Over the same period, Harrington accumulated more than 300 volunteer hours at Ashland Youth Baseball and made several large donations via fundraisers for organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Jimmy Fund and many more. Callahan, a lifelong resident of Framingham, served on the credit union board for more than 40 years. Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 were awarded to both recipients in Callahan's memory. He died in 2018.

Eversource restarts in-person energy efficiency services

In an effort to ensure the safety and well-being of customers and contractors while also providing money and energy-saving solutions, Eversource is implementing new health and safety guidelines for the restart of energy efficiency services in customer homes and businesses. Eversource worked with Environmental Health & Engineering, a health and safety consulting firm, to develop guidelines specific to energy efficiency work. These guidelines include the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing and enhanced sanitizing requirements in line with the latest recommendations and industry best practices for reducing the spread of COVID-19. For more information, visit Eversource.com.

Dr. Rene Moran Medical Aesthetics Spa re-opens in Newton

Dr. Rene Moran, owner of Dr. Rene Moran Medical Aesthetics of Newton Centre, has teamed up with Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist and Wellness Coach Jennifer Hanway to offer clients a holistic approach to skincare, body contouring and health. The medical spa is now open and is one of the only in the state to offer nutrition services in conjunction with treatments such as Botox, HydraFacials, CoolTone and CoolSculpting to enhance their results with the proper health and wellness approaches customized for each patient. For more information, visit http://www.drmoran.com.

About: Founded in 1941, MetroWest Community Federal Credit Union is fully committed to helping individuals in local communities manage their financial needs by offering a wide range of affordable savings and loan products. For more information, visit mwcfcu.com/About-MetroWest.

Marcus Saint-Louis | Marketing & Business Development Rep.

MetroWest Community Federal Credit Union

200 Concord St. Framingham MA 01702-8384

508-879-5522 Ext.212 | msaint-louis@mwcfcu.com

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Five items on business for July 10, 2020 - News - Enterprise News

Vermont Dance Alliance and Black Freedom Fund Partner to Empower – Seven Days

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Everyone needs to experience joy, perhaps especially as the country navigates a pandemic, political divisiveness and the tumultuous struggle for racial justice. Through dance and philanthropy, the Vermont Dance Alliance and the Black Freedom Fund are working to help people nurture their joy and support racial equality in the Green Mountain State and beyond.

In late June the alliance, a statewide nonprofit that supports dance artists, released the video "TRACES 2020 Virtual Performance." It's the pandemic-era version of the group's annual one-day event. Since 2017, TRACES performers have danced outside in Burlington on sidewalks, alongside public sculptures, on the waterfront where audiences encountered them by design or by chance.

This year, the 11.5-minute video, produced by South Burlington's Extensity Creative, features 31 dancers of all ages performing 30- to 60-second pieces in backyards and woods, on picnic benches and industrial stairs. The pieces are elegantly interwoven and set to music by local musicians. It's the most intriguing and satisfying dance video this viewer has seen in a long time. Clever, energetic and filled with surprises, the video exudes joy and captures normally ephemeral live dance as a forever-accessible gem.

"People need this outlet of movement and connection to community," said Burlington's Hanna Satterlee, founder and executive director of the Vermont Dance Alliance. The group hasn't sponsored in-person events since the pandemic began and won't for a long time, she said. Hungry for interaction, participants enjoyed Zoom rehearsals and collaborating on the video; the alliance is sponsoring more dance video projects as a result. For example, on Monday it launched Dancing Digitally, a five-week interactive series on five local choreographers' new works.

"TRACES 2020" also came at a time when alliance board members "wanted to give back immediately to an organization working for racial and social justice," Satterlee said. After considering numerous national groups, they discovered the Vermont-based Black Freedom Fund, which perfectly fits the alliance's mission of empowerment. Just before the credits at the end of the video, viewers are invited to donate.

Christal Brown is an artist, educator, entrepreneur and chair of the dance program at Middlebury College. In early June, she launched the Black Freedom Fund to support Black artists, families and entrepreneurs who are under-resourced due to COVID-19 or other challenges. Through it, she said, she aims not only to provide monetary gifts but also to help create the conditions that support joy.

"Most of the things that we relish in this country that are African American made are from the outgrowth of joy, not pain," Brown said. "The publicity of the pain overshadows the joy of the music, the dancing, the love. It overshadows a lot of the work we've done to be able to be joyful people."

Brown appreciates using "TRACES 2020" as a vehicle to raise funds because the video exemplifies the complexity of bridging different life experiences. Just as performers must understand each person's part, so must we "recognize what goes into each person's reality" to change systems of racism and oppression, Brown said. The collaboration of the alliance and the Black Freedom Fund is "a way of leveraging our realities."

In the Middlebury area, where Brown and her young son are among the few Black residents, her neighbors and allies recently began asking for advice on how to support racial justice.

One day she responded, "'I can do this. I can make something for you. Hold on. Give me a minute,'" she recalled. Almost that quickly, Brown created the Black Freedom Fund under the auspices of her nonprofit company INSPIRIT.

"There's a pain point that's happening right now, and there's a lot of confusion," she said. "When change happens, it has to happen person to person ... in a meaningful way. I wanted to stand in the gap between different communities" by making it easier to give.

In less than a month, the Black Freedom Fund's crowdsourcing campaign surpassed its $10,000 goal and the gifts keep coming. As of Tuesday, 184 people had made donations of $20 to $1,000, totaling $14,457; some businesses had also donated, bringing the total even higher.

Brown put $10,000 in an investment fund and is using the overage to make a gift of about $500 each month. Through professional and personal networks, she identifies recipients around the country for whom that amount would be significant. To date, there's enough to last about 14 months; after that she'll begin drawing from the investment's accruing interest.

A recent gift went to a man with whom Brown grew up in Kinston, S.C. Initially, he got caught up in crime, but after seeing many of his friends die or be drawn into "the prison pipeline of a small town where there's no opportunity," Brown said, "he totally flipped his life around." He's now married, has a son and is a generous force in his community, serving meals to the homeless, doing fund drives and cooking for neighbors, according to Brown. The man recently underwent a leg amputation and cannot work while waiting for the prosthetic. The Black Freedom Fund covered his July rent.

"Black joy is a reservoir," Brown said, that allows people to persevere despite loss, pain and misfortune. Sometimes a gift can help refill it.

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Vermont Dance Alliance and Black Freedom Fund Partner to Empower - Seven Days

How Equitable Access to Banking Improves Economic Conditions for Everyone – CitiesSpeak

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As cities across the country consider ways that they can address the growing inequities throughout their communities, an important element is where a municipalitys money is located and how it is leveraged for greater social impact. As cities begin to set a path for economic recovery post-COVID-19, local leaders should consider their municipalitys relationship with its financial partners as another means towards eliminating economic inequities caused by institutional racism and financial exclusion.

By now, millions of Americans have received their stimulus funds as part of the federal COVID-19 relief CARES Act legislation. This includes 120 million direct deposit payments, 35 million paper checks mailed to residents of cities and towns across the country and 4 million payments via pre-paid debit card. For most of these people, payments were deposited into their trusted financial institution a bank or credit union. But for many others particularly low wage essential workers such as grocery clerks, childcare workers, security guards, and ride-share drivers who lack access to a bank account they relied on high-cost alternative financial services. These services include check cashers or pawn shops which they used to access the funds minus a substantial fee many cannot afford.

There are roughly 5,200 FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions in the U.S. Among the five largest are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and U.S. Bank. These traditional banks offer customers services beyond just checking/savings accounts, they also provide a variety of financial products from home mortgages, car loans, to small business and personal loans. But these institutions and services, are not typically available in Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color (BIPoC) because of discriminatory redlining practices authorized by the Federal Housing Administration in partnership with state and local governments, and the private industry. The legacy of redlining has led to decades of disinvestment in social, housing and economic services. As a result, many BIPoC communities have a large share of check cash financial services and are home to thousands of unbanked households households that do not have an account at a banking institution.

In 2017, an FDIC study found that approximately 8.4 million households were unbanked and an additional 24.2 million were underbanked (households with a checking or savings account but who also obtained predatory financial services outside of the banking system). Also, nearly half of Latinx (43 percent) and Black (47 percent) households are either unbanked or underbanked. Instead, these households rely on predatory alternative financial services such as check cashers or pawn shops.

Several of the top large banks have racially discriminatory patterns that are well-documented when it comes to locating branches and making loans. These practices include charging Black and Latinx individuals higher fees and rates on mortgages, targeting undocumented immigrants and Indigenous communities to open accounts and lines of credit without their knowledge and even racial discriminatory hiring practices. In addition, the shuttering of Black-owned banks leaves fewer options for financial services particularly for businesses owned by people of color.

Recently, more cities are looking at the creation of public banks as a potential solution. In 2019, the state of California passed legislation that would allow up to 10 cities or counties to create public banks. This legislation has moved several cities like Long Beach, San Francisco, and others to look at the possibilities. This momentum builds off the state-owned Bank of North Dakota (BND) currently the only public bank operating in the US. BND prioritizes public access over profit and offers fair banking services to North Dakotans when private banks cant or wont. It does this through a partnership with other financial institutions and serving as the backstop for those loans that private banks dont feel they can offer.

In addition to supporting public banks, cities can play a key role connecting more BIPoC, and low-income residents, to financial services through established financial institutions that prioritize safe, affordable, and wealth-building financial products and services. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) and credit unions are among them. How to do this?

It is important for local leaders to be aware of their citys financial partners and what they do. Cities can conduct an impact analysis to determine how current financial services affect residents and how such services can improve the lives of BIPOC and low-income people, and as a result the overall financial health of their municipality. A few questions to consider:

Once you have the collective information you can then see how or if there is an opportunity to leverage your municipal financial activities in a way to build a stronger community for all of your residents.

Now more than ever, city leaders have an opportunity to alleviate unfair and unjust economic conditions that have resulted from years of institutional and structural racism, and an opportunity to build wealth in Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color. A citys financial security depends on the financial security of all its residents through partnerships with community-oriented financial institutions and innovative strategies such as public banking equitable financial inclusion can become a reality.

About the Authors:

Katherine Carter is a senior specialist with NLCs Race, Equity And Leadership department. Katherine oversees REALs 2020 Cities Responding to Racial Tension National Technical Assistance Cohort, which aims to strengthen local leaders knowledge and capacity to sustain community conversations on race relations, justice, and equity.

Patrick Hain is the Program Manager for Economic Opportunity and Financial Empowerment in the NLC Institute for Youth, Education, and Families.

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How Equitable Access to Banking Improves Economic Conditions for Everyone - CitiesSpeak

Community organizations are returning to their 19th century roots – Press-Enterprise

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When I needed to donate a box of vegetables recently, I called a nonprofit in my Queens neighborhood in Queens, New York, that organizes low-wage immigrant workers. The organizer, Will Rodriguez, said, You know, Rinku, we dont usually do this stuff, but we just had to jump in because the need is so great. People are suffering so much.

By this stuff, he meant mutual aid, in which members of a community work together to meet each others urgent needs. Normally, the day laborers and domestic workers who are members of his organization, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), work t on direct-action campaigns to fight exploitation and advocate for their rights. But the pandemic has pushed them into organizing mutual aid around food.

They are not alone. In recent months, members of progressive direct-action organizations have developed new systems for checking on their neighbors, dropping off food and medicine, providing protective personal equipment to incarcerated family members, and giving cash to those suddenly unemployed.

Combining mutual aid and direct action might seem like common sense, but in todays corporatized and professionalized nonprofit world, this model had disappeared almost completely. Community-based nonprofits in the United States today are split into distinct silos, with service provision firmly compartmentalized in one box and direct-action organizing in another.

The roots of this split lie in the increasing professionalization of the sector over half a century, driven by sexism, classism and racism.

Throughout American history, mutual aid societies existed wherever poor, disenfranchised people could be found. During and immediately after slavery, free Black people formed mutual aid societies to provide resources denied them by the white community. The first was the Free African Society of Philadelphia, founded in the 1770s to provide a place to worship and financial resources to members. Similar organizations soon sprung up in New York, New Orleans and Newport, Rhode Island, providing non-denominational spiritual guidance and resources such as banks, schools, burial societies, newspapers, and food. W.E.B. DuBois called these the first wavering step of a people toward organized social life.

These organizations threatened the racial status quo. Charleston shut down the Free Dark Men of Color in the 1820s for fear of slave insurrections and Maryland made it a felony to join a mutual aid society in 1842. Despite the crackdowns, thousands more societies formed after the Civil War. Decades later, these self-organized groups would become the infrastructure of the Civil Rights Movement and the inspiration for the Black Panthers, who famously served free breakfasts and health programs alongside their fight against police brutality and exploitation.

European immigrant communities of the 19th and 20th centuries, too, relied on cooperative efforts to learn English, find decent housing, and resist labor abuse. Incorporating a mix of mutual aid, community organizing, and legislative campaigning, the social reformer Jane Addams founded Chicagos Hull House in 1889, sparking a movement that counted more than 400 settlement houses within 20 years. In the late 1890s, Addams training of settlement house volunteers became the basis of early social work college programs.

The settlement houses social reform projects, including sanitation reform, womens suffrage, temperance, legislation against child labor, and labor law, were eventually into the New Deal. The Social Security Act of 1935 created pensions for the elderly, care for the disabled, a state-run medical insurance program for the poor, and unemployment insurance. But the legislation, reflecting the prevailing racism, excluded domestic and farm workers in a compromise that ensured that Southern Democrats and the agricultural industry would still have access to cheap labor.

Left to fend for themselves, those workers relied on mutual aid even as they organized for change. Leaders like Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Jane Patterson founded the Colored Womens League in 1892 to generate racial uplift through self-help. Thyra J. Edwards, virtually unknown in mainstream social work history, was also a trained journalist. These women made lynching their top priority.

Despite political action among social workers of all races, Saul Alinsky is the white man credited with codifying the social action elements. Starting in Chicagos Back of the Yards neighborhood in the 1930s, Alinsky eventually became the nations most famous community organizer by starting with local issues to rally people for broader political change.

The Alinsky model featured highly professionalized, well-paid organizers who kept any radical politics to themselves. The IAF also had a distinctly male culture. Alinsky expected organizers to work around the clock; women, he thought, were too delicate, even if he didnt publicly discourage them from the work.

Alinskys influential rules saw servicesmostly organized by and provided by womenonly as a means to direct action campaigning. By the time the National Association of Social Workers was formed in 1955, providing services via casework and organizing for systemic change had become distinct streams of social work. Philanthropists, too, viewed these functions as separate, driving far more resources to apoliticized service provision than they did to community organizing. When I was learning to organize in the late 1980s, I was consistently told that self-help schemes, lending circles, and cooperative businesses had little to do with real organizing.

Today, though, a new generation of activists is erasing that distinction. The pandemic, in particular, has clarified that organizing cannot be divorced from actually helping people. Some activists fear that politicians will try to replace government care with community care, or that mutual aid will absorb all of our energy, leaving nothing for political fights.

But especially in times when the state dramatically fails to deliver what people need, mutual aid is a powerful way, sometimes even the only way, to help people manage daily life while sustaining their spirits in the struggle for systemic change. Mutual aid fuels the audacity to demand more because it reinforces that we are not alone in our suffering.

Rinku Sen is a longtime journalist, racial justice strategist, and former executive director of Race Forward. She is the author of Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy. She wrote this for Zcalo Public Square.

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Community organizations are returning to their 19th century roots - Press-Enterprise

The Ayn Rand Institute received PPP loan between $350k and $1 million – Archinect

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anchor

Gary Cooper as Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, 1949. (Public Domain)

The Ayn Rand Institute, a nonprofit(??) devoted to applying Rands ideas to current issues and seeking to promote her philosophical principles of reason, rational self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism, has recently acceptedI assume grudginglygovernment assistance to the tune of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan between $350K and $1 million, according to The Wall Street Journals Pat Fitzgerald. Lit Hub

This news comes from a Twitter post fromThe Wall Street Journal's Pat Fitzgerald (@PatFitzgerald23). In the world of architecture, Ayn Rand is perhaps best known for writingThe Fountainhead, a novel that follows Howard Roark, a talented architect who refuses to fit into the status quo of the architectural expression of his time. It is well accepted that Roark's character was inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the descriptions of many of Roark's designs throughout the book could be argued to have a similar nature to Wright's.

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The Ayn Rand Institute received PPP loan between $350k and $1 million - Archinect

Saugatuck ice cream shop denies it received or even asked for millions of federal coronavirus relief funds – Detroit Metro Times

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Owner Lisa Freeman says she learned that her 'Round the Corner Ice Cream LLC was listed as being approved for the funds after journalists, including a reporter from The Detroit Free Press, reached out for confirmation following the release of the database.

"I answered the phone and I thought this was some kind of a joke," Freeman told the Freep.

A representative from the SBA told the paper that the number listed is the amount of funds approved, and not necessarily the amount dispersed. But Freeman says she did not request or even receive the $2 million.

"This is a grave error," she added. She says she asked for and received $20,000 for her ice cream store and less than $100,000 for a spice and tea store chain she also owns.

The small, seasonal ice cream shop only employees 10 people. But the company was listed among corporations that received more than $150,000, including Zehnder's, Buddy's Pizza, and National Coney Island, which all employ 250 people or more.

The apparent error in the PPP loans is just one of many that have surfaced so far, raising concerns that the federal government doled out the money haphazardly. Publicly traded corporations like Shake Shack drew backlash for taking PPP money intended for small businesses.

Somewhat amusingly, the anti-welfare Ayn Rand Institute also requested and received PPP funds.

So many restaurants, so little time. Sign up for our weekly food newsletter delivered every Friday morning for the latest Detroit dining news.

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Saugatuck ice cream shop denies it received or even asked for millions of federal coronavirus relief funds - Detroit Metro Times

Coronavirus Roundup: A Red-Hot Real Estate Market in Upstate New York – The River Newsroom

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This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Monday, July 6.

NEW YORK STATE397,649 cases confirmed (518 new)4,288,131 tests performed (54,328 new)Positive test rate: 1.0%24,913 deaths (9 new)817 hospitalizations170 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus pageNew York State official pressroomHotline: (888) 364-3065

Rentals and real estate sales are booming in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, along with the rest of rural New York. The Times Herald-Record ran a Sunday feature on the local red-hot market, which is a snapshot of a region divided: on the one hand, local excitement about at least one part of the economy doing well, and on the other, a real apprehension about an influx of tourists and relocators from more infected parts of the country. Airbnb found a 40 percent rise in searches for properties in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Adirondacks over the Fourth of July weekend this year, the paper reports.

Coronavirus affects the lungs. In a brutal phrase used to describe what COVID-19 does to the body, doctors sometimes say that patients are drowning on land: in advanced cases of the disease, the lungs flood with inflammatory cells, cutting off the patients access to oxygen. It seems obvious to assume from the way the disease progresses, and the way other coronaviruses work in the body, that the novel coronavirus is first and foremost a respiratory infectionand thats what scientists thought at first. But as more research emerges, some medical scientists think that COVID-19 is a vascular infection, a disease that may enter through the respiratory tract but that spreads in and attacks blood vessels. The good news, if research lends more weight to that theory, is that drugs like statins that are used to treat vascular disease may have some benefit against coronavirus too. ABC News in Australia reported last week on a recent paper in the journal Cell Metabolism that found that statins were associated with a slightly lower mortality risk in COVID-19 patients, though the paper also suggested worryingly that statin use might also make patients more susceptible to infection.

The New York State Department of Health says a controversial state nursing home policy isnt to blame for the deaths of more than 6,000 nursing home residents in the state, according to a report released by the agency on Monday. The March 25 policy prevented nursing homes from denying admission to COVID-19-positive patients on the basis of infection, and was in place until May 10, when the state reversed course. In a press conference about the report, state health commissioner Howard Zucker told reporters that the peak in COVID-19 nursing home deaths in New York came a week before the peak of nursing home admissions, and coincided with a peak of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home staff. State health officials concluded that nursing home outbreaks were mostly sparked by infected staffers in mid-March, before the order went into place.

On Twitter, The City reporter Josefa Velasquez pointed out that its difficult for reporters to fact-check the DOHs claims because of how the state has reported nursing home data: Fatality data for specific nursing homes wasnt released until April 15, making comparisons with earlier data difficult, and nursing home residents who die in hospitals arent counted by the state as part of nursing home fatalities, making it impossible to calculate how many nursing home residents have died in the pandemic. Unless we know the exact methodology, this report is just the state Dept. of Health validating itself, Velasquez wrote. The state legislature plans to hold hearings to investigate the issue, although a date has not yet been set.

The travel quarantine order that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut jointly implemented could soon expand to 21 states covering more than half of the US population, according to a USA Today Network New York analysis. The order applies to travelers coming from a state with at least 10 daily positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents or at least a 10 percent positive test rate, each measure calculated on a rolling seven-day average. Three states not currently on the listDelaware, Kansas, and Oklahomameet at least one of those criteria, and Wisconsin and New Mexico are close. There are already 16 states on the quarantine list.

The Trump administration has released a list of businesses that got more than $150,000 in PPP loans, and its got some head-scratchers, including, perplexingly, the Ayn Rand Institute, which was approved for a loan of between $350,000 and $1 million. The loans to companies on the biggest-borrowers list made up just 13 percent of businesses getting funds, but accounted for almost three-quarters of the money loaned, CNBC reports.

On Sunday, The New York Times published a story billed as The Fullest Look Yet At The Racial Inequality Of Coronavirus, based on data they had to sue the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to obtain. Black and Latino Americans have been three times as likely as whites to contract COVID-19, the paper reports, and nearly twice as likely to die of the virus. Racial disparities persist in both rural and urban areas. And because older Americans are more likely to be white than younger ones, the disparities are even starker when making comparisons within an age group: for instance, Latinos between 40 and 59 have been five times more likely to be infected than whites of the same age. The Times notes that the data do not include recent cases, and is missing a lot of information: There are many cases for which racial and ethnic information was never collected.

Cases are ballooning across a growing swath of the US, and the lack of any clear federal response is making this a dangerous moment for the country. So what should we do now? The Guardian asked six global public health experts how they thought the nation should tackle the threat now, having missed key early opportunities to keep the virus from spreading. A common theme among the answers was the need for a coherent federal message from Trump, top federal advisors, and the CDC, but also a sense of despair over the slim odds of that happening. Columbia University disaster preparedness expert Irwin Redlener spoke directly to state governors: There is no clear exit strategy from this, sad to say. If I were speaking to governors, my advice would be to stop any efforts to reopen immediately. Just stop, he said. The White House is living in a dreamland that everything is under control but you dont have to follow that lead. Instead, give more power to the mayors, especially of the larger cities, to encourage mask-wearing and social distancing.

Announced by New York State on Monday and over the weekend:

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYCounty coronavirus pages: Rockland, Westchester, Putnam

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Chappaqua linked to the Horace Greeley High School drive-in graduation has risen to 27, Westchester County Executive George Latimer confirmed in his press briefing Monday. Four municipalities have cases from the cluster: Chappaqua (21), Mount Kisco (3), Bedford (2), and Pleasantville (1).

Westchester County is cutting back on the number of public COVID-19 briefings given by Latimer and other town and county officials, moving from daily briefings Monday through Thursday to a Monday once-a-week briefing.

Should wearing masks be mandatory? The Town of New Castle is debating the question, and might become the first municipality in New York to act. The Examiner News reports that the town board will hold a public hearing on a proposed law that will require masks on public and private property, as well in places of business in most situations, with fines between $250 and $500 for failure to comply.

As of Monday evening, Putnam Countys COVID-19 dashboard had not been updated in more than a week. The countys last update was published on the county website on Monday, June 29, and included data through Thursday, June 25. According to data from New York State, 12 people have tested positive in Putnam County in the last week.

MID-HUDSON VALLEYCounty coronavirus pages: Orange, Dutchess, Ulster, Columbia

Cases continued to rise in Ulster County over the weekend. Data on the countys coronavirus dashboard show 169 confirmed active cases as of Sunday, July 5, up from 119 on July 1. Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan told the Daily Freeman on Monday that in addition to several clusters found in the county last week, a new cluster emerged over the weekend, traced to a youth softball team that traveled to Pennsylvania for a tournament in violation of state guidelines. Ryan also said hes concerned that a Saturday rally in uptown Kingston to protest coronavirus-related restrictions could lead to even more cases. Some 200 people attended the Occupy Peace rally, most of whom were not wearing masks.

CATSKILLSCounty coronavirus pages: Sullivan, Delaware, Greene, Schoharie

People are over-loving favorite waterfall spots like Fawns Leap in Hunter, and local officials are worried about the increasing impact of trash, crowding, and public use of the great outdoors as a toilet. Overuse of the Catskills most spectacular swimming holes is nothing new, but the pandemic is exacerbating the situation, the Daily Mail reports. There is going to have to be a study done and if they elect not to provide additional parking and monitoring, theyll have to close it, said Greene County coroner Hassan Basagic, who has become something of a local celebrity for daring the 75-foot plunge into Fawns Leap into his mid-70s.

A federal judge on Monday denied a request to allow Orthodox Jewish sleepaway camps to open in the Catskills in contravention of the states ban. Although the State of New York has made progress in limiting the transmission of the virus in recent weeks, the recent resurgence of positive COVID-19 cases in several states raises concerns and is a painful reminder that the fight is far from over, Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby of the Northern District of New York wrote in a 43-page ruling.

Sullivan County officials are relieved that case counts in the county have gone down, the Sullivan County Democrat reports. The county currently has 14 active cases, up slightly from last week, but a far cry from its numbers in March and April, which reached a peak of 516 active cases. Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw has told The River that the county had outbreaks early on in several local food processing facilities, but that public health outreach efforts helped to halt them. McGraw hopes that local and state efforts will continue to pay off for Sullivan County: Weve never dealt with a pandemic like this before. So in the beginning we had no idea what we were facing, and how severe it could be. Now that were seeing our interventions have been successful we want to continue on that trend, she told the Democrat.

Schoharie County Public Health reported that one county resident tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, the countys first new positive case since June 23. The county currently has just one active case.

OF INTEREST?The River has a guide on where, how, and when to get tested for the coronavirus in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. To read more of our coronavirus coverage, visit our coronavirus page.

The River is collaborating with WGXC to announce these updates over the air. To listen, tune in to 90.7 FM at midnight, 5am, 7am, or 9am, or visit the audio archive online.

La Voz, una revista de cultura y noticias del Valle de Hudson en espaol, est traduciendo estos resmenes y co-publicandolos en su pgina web. Leyendo aqui. Tambin puede escuchar actualizaciones diarias por audio en el show La Voz con Mariel Fiori en Radio Kingston.

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Coronavirus Roundup: A Red-Hot Real Estate Market in Upstate New York - The River Newsroom

More SAEs With Biologic Agents vs Placebo in Treatment of Psoriasis? – Dermatology Advisor

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The exclusion of patients with worsening psoriasis from meta-analyses of trials that examine biologic therapies for type-plaque psoriasis reveal that serious adverse events (SAEs) are higher with biologic therapies than placebo, which suggest that findings from many meta-analyses do not reflect the real-world safety of biologic agents for psoriasis. This is according to a study research published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

In this study, researchers from France analyzed 51 randomized clinical trials in the Living Network Cochrane Review that compared a biologic therapy to placebo in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who required systemic treatment (N=24,820).

Trials included in this analysis included 1 anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha arm, 1 anti-interleukin (IL)-17 arm, 1 anti-IL-23 arm, and 1 anti-IL-12/23 arm. The primary outcome of the analysis included the number of SAEs with biologic agents vs placebo after cases of psoriasis worsening were excluded. An additional secondary outcome included the number of adverse events (AEs) of special interest.

The mean age of the overall population was 45 years, and the mean baseline PASI score was 20.5. A higher percentage of patients included in all 51 trial were men compared with women (69% vs 31%, respectively). Approximately 25% (n=6287) of the population were randomly assigned to a placebo group.

In the analysis that included cases of psoriasis worsening, there was no statistically significant difference between biologic therapies and placebo in terms of the risk for occurrence SAEs (risk ratio [RR], 1.09; 95% CI, 0.88-1.36; P =.43). When the investigators excluded cases of psoriasis worsening, however, biologicl therapy was associated with a significantly higher risk for SAEs (RR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.02-1.65; P =.03).

Separated by drug classes, the analysis revealed RRs of 1.68 (95% CI, 1.11-2.54; P =.01) for anti-TNF-alpha, 1.28 (95% CI, 0.88-1.85; P =.20) for anti-IL-17, 0.95 (95% CI 0.59-1.52; P =.83) for anti-IL-23, and 1.18 (95% CI 0.72-1.94; P =.51) for anti-IL-12/23. The small number of AEs of special interest in these analyses prevented the researchers from examining this outcome.

According to the investigators, the reporting of psoriasis worsening has changed over time, which made indirect comparisons not possible by network meta-analysis.

Based on these findings, the investigators added that the results for SAEs overall and SAEs excluding disease worsening should be presented in the results of RCTs and so in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Reference

Afach S, Chaimani A, Evrenoglou T, et al. Meta-analysis results do not reflect the real safety of biologics in psoriasis [published online May 23, 2020]. Br J Dermatol. doi: 10.1111/bjd.19244

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More SAEs With Biologic Agents vs Placebo in Treatment of Psoriasis? - Dermatology Advisor

Psoriasis, Fungal Infections, Are Common in Patients With COVID-19 – Dermatology Advisor

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Psoriasis, superficial fungal infections, seborrheic dermatitis, actinic keratosis, and herpes simplex were the most common dermatologic diseases observed in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) up to 3 years before their COVID-19 diagnosis, according to study research published in Dermatologic Therapy. Psoriasis was most common in the 3 months prior to a COVID-19 diagnosis in this study, which the researchers suggest could have been caused by the stress burden associated with the pandemic.

The retrospective study included 93 patients with COVID-19 (mean age, 55.2819.32 years) who had been admitted to a dermatology outpatient clinic in Turkey in the last 3 years before receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19. Patients were categorized as those who presented to the clinic in the last 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years prior to the COVID-19 diagnosis. A total of 6 patients from the overall cohort were in intensive care, whereas 4 became exitus.

Superficial fungal infections (25.8%), seborrheic dermatitis (11.8%), actinic keratosis (10.8%), psoriasis (6.5%), and eczema (6.5%) were the most common dermatologic conditions in the patients with COVID-19 who had dermatologic diseases 3 years prior to their infection. There were 52 patients with COVID-19 who visited a dermatology clinic for dermatologic diseases in the last year for superficial fungal infections (21.2%), seborrheic dermatitis (13.5%), actinic keratosis (11.5%), psoriasis (9.6%), herpes simplex (5.8%), and eczema (5.8%).

A total of 17 patients with COVID-19 (median age, 58 years) presented to a dermatology outpatient clinic for the last 3 months prior to their COVID-19 diagnosis. In these patients, the most common dermatologic diseases were superficial fungal infections (25%), psoriasis (20%), and viral skin diseases (15%).

Limitations of the study included the small sample size, retrospective design, and the inclusion of patients from a single center in Turkey.

Based on their findings, the researchers wrote that the potential similarity between cutaneous and mucosal immunity and immunosuppression suggests that patients with certain dermatologic diseases are particularly more vulnerable to the COVID-19.

Reference

Kutlu , Metin A. Dermatological diseases presented before COVID-19: Are patients with psoriasis and superficial fungal infections more vulnerable to the COVID-19? [published online May 5, 2020]. Dermatol Ther. doi: 10.1111/dth.13509

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Psoriasis, Fungal Infections, Are Common in Patients With COVID-19 - Dermatology Advisor

Psoriasis injection okayed for limited use to treat COVID patients: Drug controller – Outlook India

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New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) India''s drug regulator has approved Itolizumab, a drug used to cure skin ailment psoriasis for "restricted emergency use" to treat COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress, officials told PTI on Friday.

Considering the unmet medical needs to treat COVID-19, Drugs Controller General of India, Dr V G Somani, approved monoclonal antibody injection Itolizumab, an already approved drug of Biocon, for restricted emergency use for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patients due to COVID-19, they said.

"The approval was given after its clinical trials on COVID-19 patients in India was found satisfactory by the expert committee comprising pulmonologists, pharmacologists and medicine experts from AIIMS, among others, for treatment of cytokine release syndrome, an official told PTI.

"It is already an approved drug of Biocon for treating psoriasis for last many years," the official said.

Written informed consent of each patient is required before the use of this drug, he said. PTI PLB RAXRAX

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI

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Psoriasis injection okayed for limited use to treat COVID patients: Drug controller - Outlook India