Monthly Archives: June 2017

‘Modern-Day Slavery’: Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates Working In Governor’s Mansions And Capitol … – The National Memo (blog)

Posted: June 25, 2017 at 2:06 pm

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

When activist Sam Sinyangwe was awaiting a meeting with the governors office at the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge, he noticed something odd.A black man in a dark-blue jumpsuit was printing papers while a correctional guardwith a badge and gunstood watching over him. The pair stood out against the white, middle-aged legislators populating the building.

Sinyangwe said he did not know exactly what he was looking at, until he saw another black man in the same dark-blue outfit serving food at the capitol buildings cafeteria. This time, Sinyangwe noticed that the man had a patch on his chest labeling him a prisoner of the Louisiana State Department of Corrections, complete with an identification number.

Sinyangwe realized that the server, the man printing papers and the other people working in the lunch line were all prisoners.

Inmates working at the capitol building in Baton Rouge is a common sight. Prisoners work in the Louisiana governors mansion and inmates clean up after Louisiana State University football games as well. But the labor practice of having inmates work in state government buildings extends beyond Louisiana; at least six other states in the U.S. allow for this practice: Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Georgia.

The inmates allowed to work in the capitol or at the governors mansion are fairly low in number and are carefully screened. According to NOLA.com, about 20 to 25 people work daily in the capitol, and 15 to 18 other inmates work as groundskeepers outside the building. The inmates may not be serving a sentence for a sex crime or a violent offense like murder and must have a history of good behavior while incarcerated and display good work ethic. Furthermore, only inmates at the Dixon Correctional Institute (a men-only facility) can work at the capitol, as it is only 30 miles away.

A similar process occurs in Georgia, where inmates must receive a referral from the Board of Pardons of Parole or the Classification Committee within a state prison. Working at the governors mansion in Georgia is contingent upon an inmates criminal history, their behavior while incarcerated and their release date, among other factors.

The inmates perform janitorial tasks such as cleaning the floors or the offices of state legislators. In the Louisiana capitol, inmates also perform small tasks for legislators like grabbing lunch for them.

While inmates working in state government buildings are dutifully screened, they are not much better paid than prisoners with other jobs. In Louisiana, inmates in the capitol are paid between 2 and 20 cents per hour. They could opt for earning good-time credit toward early release, but only if they qualify. And with a normal workday of at least 12 hoursfrom 5 in the morning to at least 5 in the afternoon, barring legislative sessions when inmates work more than 12 hoursthe prisoners make between 24 cents and $2.40 a day. Inmates working in the governors mansion in Missouri recently got a small pay raise to $1.25 an hour to make about $10 per day. With the previous arrangement, prisoners earned $9 a day. In Arkansas, the prisoners are not paid at all.

History of the practice

The practice of using prison inmates as laborers stretches back to the end of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. As more black people were freed from slavery, the plantation economy of the South began to falter with the loss of their primary form of labor. The result was the establishment of vagrancy laws, which specifically targeted black communities, in an effort to incarcerate more black people and force them to work once again.

Even the name given to prisoners who work as servants in governors mansions and capitol buildings in some statestrusteeis the same title that was given to prisoners who worked as overseers on infamous prison plantations such as Angola and Parchman. Prison plantations began replacing the convict lease system in the 1920s as a way for prisoners, an overwhelming majority of whom were black men, to work. Back then, it was considered a privilege to be an overseer on a plantation, and the same narrative goes for inmates working in governors mansions today.

All of this, it looks very familiar: having black laborers toiling in the fields under the eye of overseers and having a white governor served by people drawn from that same forced labor pool, said Carl Takei, a staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the ACLU.

Since then, prisoners have been used as underpaid and unpaid laborers, from private companies to state government buildings. The legal loophole that allows this practice to continue is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. While the 13th Amendment is best known for abolishing slavery, a clause in the amendment stipulates for the continued legality of slavery within the criminal justice system.

The clause reads: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

If somebody is being subjected to forced labor as part of their sentence in a criminal proceeding, then that is outside the scope of the 13th Amendment, Takei said.

Modern-day slavery?

Hillary Clinton made waves for a passage in her 1996 book It Takes A Villagewhen a Twitter userposted photosof a passage in the memoir where Clinton talks about the prisoners who worked in the governors mansion. The passage quickly spread through social media, with many people criticizing Clinton and calling the practice a form of modern-day slavery.

Both Sinyangwe and Takei agree that the current system is exploitative in that inmates who work are barely paid.

When you lock people up and force them to work without providing them a fair wage, thats called slavery, Takei said.

Despite scrutiny from criminal justice advocates, many corrections departments in states that still use this practice have justified it on the grounds that having inmates work reduces recidivism rates and is more beneficial to them overall.

Joseph Nix, director of executive security at the governors mansion in Mississippi, told the Los Angeles Times in 1988 that the inmates tend to make the best workers.

George Lombardi, the Missouri Department of Corrections director, defended the departments work release program, in which one of the jobs includes working at the governors mansion. About 700 of the 30,000 inmates in the states prison system are part of the work release program.

Lombardi told Missourinet the program instills great work ethic, pride, self-esteem and compassion in offenders.

It really cuts to the core philosophy of our department, which is in addition to the time you have to serve, you have another obligation to help your community if possible, Lombardi said. So we present you with opportunities to do that in the form of work release and/or our restorative justice efforts that we have throughout the system.

Paula Earls, executive director of the governors mansion in Missouri, told the Los Angeles Timesin 1998that there have been no problems with inmates and touted the benefits of having inmates work at the mansion.

Were their last leg before they get out to society, she said. I treat them like staff. I appreciate the work they do. They are ready to go back out and make something of themselves and we hope we help with that.

Sinyangwe said these justifications for using inmate labor share similarities with the justifications people used for slaverythat it helped civilize black slaves and increased their work ethic.

When you read the history books about the Antebellum South, those are the same arguments being used, he said. So Im not persuaded by them. I dont think theyre original or new.

Arguments that inmate labor can prepare prisoners for integrating into the outside world once they are released also lose weight because of how difficult it is for former prisoners even to get a job to begin with. The hiring practice of asking applicants to indicate their criminal history on job applications has a harmful effect on ex-convicts, as they are less likely to get called back. These results skew along racial lines, as a study by Harvard sociologist Devah Pager found that only 5 percent of black men with a criminal conviction hear back from potential employers. The research also showed that black men with no criminal convictions are less likely to get hired than white men with criminal convictions14 percent for black men with no record compared to 17 percent of white men with a criminal record.

Wendy Sawyer, a policy analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, said a larger issue than recidivism are the economic and racial barriers inmates face once they are released.

Everyones upset about recidivism rates, and its all about trying to keep people out once theyre out, she said. But then we make it as impossible as we can for that to work for people.We set up all these barriers that make it difficult for people to get their lives back together.

Arguments about recidivism and psychological benefits aside, another factor driving this practice is its cost-cutting benefits for the state. Because inmates are severely underpaid or not paid at all for their work, the state saves money on every prisoner working in the capitol or the governors mansion by not having to shell out the minimum wage to compensate them. This was the case in Louisiana when inmates began working in the capitol in 1990, as the state was experiencing a financial crisis. Inmates working at the governors mansion were also employed as a cost-saving measure.

Takei said these arguments made to justify the practice do not excuse the fact that it is a deeply exploitative system.

The fact that performing particular tasks may be part of a rehabilitation strategy doesnt excuse the fact that the people in these positions are denied a fair wage and the labor protections they would be entitled to if they were performing the same work on the outside, he said.

Sawyer noted that the greater underlying problem is that the prison system in the U.S. is hardly rehabilitative. Its really just punitive, she said. Its just people sitting there, kind of locked out of society.

Remembering the big picture

While the practice of using inmate labor in capitol buildings and governors mansions largely stays under the radar, it speaks to a larger issue in the prison labor system. As a whole, inmates who work while incarcerated, whether for a private company, for the state or even within the prison, make little to no money. This is despite the fact that in federal prisons, 100 percent of able-bodied inmates are required to work, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In addition, the average rate of minimum wage for inmates paid by the state is 93 cents, while the average maximum wage is $4.73.

Takei said prisoners working in the governors mansion or the capitol building are caught between a rock and a hard place.

If your choice is between getting paid zero dollars an hour or being paid 25 cents an hour, oftentimes youll choose 25 cents an hour because you need that money, he said.

Sinyangwe said that at the very least, prisoners who are working should get paid a minimum wage for their labor. He noted that reducing recidivism rates could be better accomplished if prisoners earned an adequate wage and could either save the money or spend the money while incarcerated on services like calling family members or buying commissary items. He added that in states like Louisianaone of the poorest states in the countryfamilies of inmates are often financially struggling and shoulder many of the costs their family member incurs while in prison.

I think it would be incredibly impactful to reduce the recidivism rates by making sure that when people get out of jail, they actually have money to actually start a life, he said. That they are not forced to go back into the informal economy or committing crimes just to make a living.

Takei echoed this sentiment. I doubt that if you talk to any of the people who are working as servants in the governors mansion that they would object to the idea of actually being paid a fair wage for their work, he said.

Takei acknowledged that reforming the prison labor system would be difficult, given the precedent set by the 13th Amendment that legalizes this form of modern-day slavery. A number of courts around the country have also affirmed that prisoners arenot protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act.

There is also the complacency of state legislators and governors who interact with these inmates every day, but have not taken any action to better their circumstances.

These were the legislators who had the power to change those dynamics, and yet who are benefiting by preserving them, Sinyangwe said.

Sawyer added that the issue has become a missed opportunity for progressives in particular to draw more attention to a practice that is essentially hiding in plain sight.

Theyre in the state buildings. Theyre in our places of government, she said. And were accepting that thats how this countrys going to be.Our state governments are going to benefit from that kind of labor. It feels like kind of a passive acceptance.

Since witnessing the inmates working in the Baton Rouge capitol building, Sam Sinyangwe said he has been looking at methods of reform, whether that involves administrative regulation, a legislative change or even a constitutional amendment to revise the loophole in the 13th Amendment. But he has not lost sight of the broader goal: ending mass incarceration.

What I would like to see, one, is that we are moving to end mass incarceration, he said, to repeal the policies and the draconian sentencing laws that got us to this place.

Celisa Calacal is a junior writing fellow for AlterNet. She is a senior journalism major and legal studies minor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Previously she worked at ThinkProgress and served as an editor for Ithaca Colleges student newspaper.Follow her at @celisa_mia.

This article was made possible by the readers and supporters of AlterNet.

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'Modern-Day Slavery': Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates Working In Governor's Mansions And Capitol ... - The National Memo (blog)

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John McDonnell on his favourite Glastonbury 2017 acts, Jeremy Corbyn’s visit and whether Michael Eavis could join … – Somerset Live

Posted: at 2:06 pm

Those who want Michael Eavis to be Prime Minister will have to wait, as one fast route for the Glastonbury festival founder to rise to the top of politics has been closed off for now.

Labour shadow chancellor, John McDonnell , said it wasnt possible to let unelected people into the shadow cabinet.

But responding to Somerset Lives light-hearted question, he did suggest there would be room for the ideas of the Eavis family.

And if either Emily or Michael became an MP, perhaps he wouldnt rule out a cabinet slot?

The Labour shadow chancellor, and key ally of Jeremy Corbyn , was speaking to Somerset Live after taking part in a discussion in the Left Field tent called is democracy broken?, which also featured co-leader of the Green party Jonathan Bartley and Faiza Shaheen.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr McDonnell answered questions on:

You can watch the full interview above.

Highlights from the interview

I think Jeremy has engaged with young people, hes engaged with people of all ages actually. But particularly young people have just been inspired by him.

For a long period of time politicians never exuded any sort of hope for the future and what hes done is hes said to young people, if you get engaged you can change the world, you can create the future.

Theyve decided to turn up and vote and more importantly than that, theyre going to pursue their ideas.

Corbyns speeches had encouraged people at the festival to contribute their ideas and people interested in politics should join the Labour party to try to implement them, he added.

Lets look at the reality of whats happened under successive Tory Governments. Not building council housing, allowing housing in London in particular to be used for, not housing need, but for speculative gain.

And then what happens? You then crowd families into unsafe conditions in tower blocks. And you ignore the advice thats been given over the years about safety and sprinklers.

Im so angry about it, we should be angry about it. The anger means we will never allow this to happen again.

We can demonstrate that were picking up votes under the first past the post system and we can win a majority Labour government, Im convinced about that.

Were picking up increased voting all over the country because of the ideas and well always continue to do that.

Over the last ten years or so Ive been believed in proportional representation in some form maintaining the constituency link is the system that I want because I think its a fairer system.

But Im in a minority in the Labour party at the moment and in the overall political debate. I still think we can win that argument and that eventually we need a fairer system.

Theres other reforms which need to take place. I also talked about the abolition of the House of Lords.

How do we bring forward a really detailed rural policy? Thatll mean us coming down here, holding more and more community consultations, and more importantly to engage with people, listening to people. In some ways the election being called interrupted that work.

He added the detail of policies targeted at helping the people of Somerset would be developed in detail after hearing what local people think.

Similar sessions on economic policy in the West Country had always been packed out, he said.

The need for infrastructure investment in this area has been sadly neglected. If we can get fair infrastructure investment around the whole of the country, rather than just piling it into London and the home counties in the south east as it is at the moment, I think we can turn the rural economy around."

I saw Stormzy last night, it was just terrific and hes one of our supporters as well.

And I saw Alison Moyet as well. Shes always superb, her set was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Just the whole crowd rose up in support, it was fantastic.

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New Political Party Offers Empowerment – Scoop.co.nz (press release)

Posted: at 2:05 pm

Sunday, 25 June 2017, 7:25 pm Press Release: Kia Koe

New Political Party Offers Empowerment June 23 2017 Kia Koe Party Press Release Tags: Politics, voting and policies.

Newly launched political party Kia Koe offers empowerment through online submissions.

Best possible parliamentary democracy Empowering people by inclusion in policy development Role of law and justice is constantly reconsidered and reapproved Question and re-approve the various roles of Government re services and expenditure. Limit the role of government to only those functions necessary

As a newly fledged political platform, Kia Koe makes itself available to everyone including minors over the age of 12 while those under 16 are limited in what they can vote for. Nz.kiakoe.org provides a better approach for politics using four of six categories Information (Facts), Financial Info, Environment, Education, Health and Spiritual. Kia Koe is highly transparent, especially in all aspects of accounting. It has easy to use tools to enable the members in their choices. Kia Koes concept originator Chris Kernot says when people sign up for Kia Koe (which means 'You choose.') they can comment using the four categories for a more rounded outcome. This way it enables an effective parallel thinking process that helps commenting and most importantly policy decision making and ranking be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved, Kernot offers. Before you comment you must read all prior comments. I see that as essential in order to add a new view. By reading, embracing, including and refining views, policies take shape in Kia Koe. By ranking how important a policy is to you, it rises in the list. Kia Koe members can then rate their personal reaction to the policy from do not support to strongly support. By including a view called The Other Side of the Coin, members can consider both negative and positive views producing more balanced options or scenarios. This is creating opportunities for policy development at grass roots level across all sectors of society. It ensures current generations are responsible for the ownership of their own political direction. We are setting up platforms for our future custodians, our children, concludes Kernot. nz.kiakoe.org

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Freedom defeat Grizzlies on the road again, go for series sweep today – User-generated content (press release) (registration)

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Balls carried off hitters bats on Saturday at GCS Ballpark, as the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, rode three home runs and a strong start from Tony Vocca to a 6-2 win over the Gateway Grizzlies.

Jordan Brower opened the scoring with a solo home run off Grizzlies (10-29) starter Will Landsheft (2-4) in the top of the fourth inning. The home run was Browers third of the season, and his second of the year at GCS Ballpark. The following inning, Jose Brizuela and Andre Mercurio drew consecutive walks with two out. Collins Cuthrell then drove a Landsheft pitch over the left-field wall for a three-run homer, extending the Freedom (26-12) to 4-0.

The Grizzlies would trim Florences lead in half in the bottom of the fifth, as Matt Hearn followed up base hits by Chase Simmons and Max Bartlett with a two-run bloop single to left-center field off Vocca (5-2). Though he allowed six runs and three walks over six innings, Vocca went on to record his sixth quality start of the season, stranding baserunners by inducing weak contact and benefitting from strong, error-free defense by the Freedom.

With Jackson Sigman on the mound in relief for Gateway in the top of the sixth, and after Austin Wobrock had doubled and advanced to third on a groundout, Daniel Fraga hit a high infield chopper that allowed Wobrock to score in spite of a drawn-in infield. Jose Brizuela added the final run of the night for Florence with a no-doubt solo home run, his team-leading seventh of the season, leading off the seventh.

Keivan Berges, Patrick McGrath, Evan Bickett and Michael Maiocco combined for three innings of scoreless relief. Berges encountered a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh, but a snap throw by catcher Garrett Vail nabbed Cody Livesay at third, and Berges struck out Craig Massoni swinging to strand both remaining runners.

Collecting one hit each in the game, Fraga and Wobrock extended their hitting streaks to twelve and ten games, respectively.

The Freedom will play for the series sweep on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at GCS Ballpark. Left-hander Marty Anderson (5-1) will start for the Freedom against Gateway right-hander JaVaun West (1-3).

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence.

Florence Freedom

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B-17 bomber pieces link history to Freedom Rock at Anthon – Sioux City Journal

Posted: at 2:04 pm

ANTHON, Iowa | The Woodbury County Freedom Rock, in Anthon, contains pieces of a B-17 bomber that crashed three miles southwest of town on May 26, 1944, killing all 10 men aboard.

It was the most significant event at Anthon during World War II. It's now an important piece of the Freedom Rock created by artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II.

"To have pieces of the bomber included in the painting of the bomber makes it more special, connecting the rock to local history," said Sorensen, who began his Freedom Rock career 19 years ago by painting the first boulder north of his home at Greenfield, Iowa. Sorensen has since repainted that original Freedom Rock each May. Four years ago he branched out and took on the challenge of painting one Freedom Rock in each of Iowa's 99 counties. The Woodbury County Freedom Rock at Anthon is his 61st in Iowa.

Sorensen has also painted two Freedom Rocks in Missouri and one in Wisconsin as he embarks on a 50-state Freedom Rock Tour. He heads to Seattle, Washington, to paint a Freedom Rock there next summer.

Artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II is shown at the Woodbury County Freedom Rock in Anthon, Iowa, on Thursday. Sorensen is nearing completion of the painting of this rock, his 61st county effort in Iowa. The Woodbury County Freedom Rock is located at the Anthon Community Center on the east side of town.

Sorensen's work in Anthon is highlighted by pieces from the B-17 wreckage that were picked up at the crash site 25 years ago by Rick Bohle, a Kingsley, Iowa, resident who was doing terrace work southwest of town.

"I think my dad (the late Dean Bohle) was 4 years old when his grandpa showed him the crash site," Rick Bohle said. "And when I was in that area doing terrace work, my dad was with me and he showed me where the plane crashed."

It was in the spring of the year and the ground hadn't been worked by a local farmer. Rick Bohle picked up pieces of metal, studied each piece, and stored them away in a desk drawer.

One of the most decorated soldiers/airmen in U.S. military history, Col. Bud Day, of Sioux City, is depicted in two paintings on the Woodbury County Freedom Rock at Anthon, Iowa. Day, a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years, was presented with the Medal of Honor in 1976. He was 88 when he died in July 2013.

Last Sunday, Bohle, the mayor of Kingsley, met Sorensen as he finished work on the Plymouth County Freedom Rock in Kingsley, which was dedicated on Saturday. Bohle told Sorensen about the pieces he had from the old B-17. Sorensen, who had yet to create the Woodbury County Freedom Rock, decided to paint the B-17 on the rock, his way of attaching a local event to the rock in Anthon.

Sorensen asked Bohle if he'd be able to use a grinder to crush the pieces into what amounted to a metal dust for inclusion in the paint. Bohle did that and had his wife, Karla Bohle, deliver the "dust" to Sorensen at Anthon on Wednesday.

"I'll put the date of the crash, May 26, 1944, here near the B-17," said Sorensen.

A B-17 bomber crashed during a training run in May 1944 southwest of Anthon, Iowa, killing all 10 members of the crew. Pieces of the plane were incorporated into the paint used by Freedom Rock artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II in painting a depiction of the plane, which decorates the east face of the Woodbury County Freedom Rock at Anthon.

The depiction of the bomber is surrounded by 10 bald eagles to represent the 10 airmen killed when the bomber crashed on its last training run from the Sioux City Army Air Base. Crew members included: 1st Lt. Roger G. Jay, 23, instructor pilot, Los Angeles; Flight Officer John B. Smith, 21, pilot, Mooresville, North Carolina; Flight Officer Lyland R. Petersen, 26, pilot, Madison, Wisconsin; 2nd Lt. Hubert B. Godbee, 23, bombardier, Edgefield, South Carolina; Cpl. James A. Williams, 19, engineer/gunner, Providence, Kentucky; Pvt. Fred T. Littlewolf, 26, radio operator/gunner, Bagley, Minnesota; Cpl. James O. Hawkins, 21, gunner, Swartz Creek, Michigan; Pfc. Ray E. Snider, 22, gunner, Shreveport, Louisiana; Pvt. Joseph A. Calvello, 32, gunner, Brooklyn, New York; and Pfc. Norman Lindjord, 23, gunner, Seattle, Washington.

Jay, Godbee and Snider were married. The others were single, according to a Journal story written by Judy Hayworth, an Anthon native. Their remains were returned to their families, who were told little about the crash. Officials at the time could not determine a cause for the crash, which shattered an otherwise picture-perfect late-May morning in Woodbury County. The plane was said to be carrying 1,475 gallons of fuel, 20 practice bombs and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Tony Mireless, of Calumet City, Illinois, noted in a study that some 6,350 U.S. Army Air Corps airplane crashes took place in the U.S. during World War II, resulting in 15,531 fatalities.

The event, which was memorialized on June 24, 2006, will now have another memorial site, so to speak, in the Freedom Rock that stands near the Anthon Community Center on the east side of town.

Sorensen also included images of Sgt. Charles Floyd on this Freedom Rock, as well as two depictions of the most decorated veterans in U.S. history, Col. Bud Day, a Sioux City native.

Floyd was the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, having succumbed to what many believe was peritonitis on Aug. 20, 1804.

Day, who died in July 2013, was shot down over North Vietnam 50 years ago this summer. He was taken prisoner, beaten and hung upside down by his captors before escaping and fleeing to South Vietnam. Before reaching a U.S. Marine Corps outpost, Day was shot twice by Communist patrols and taken prisoner again, this time for more than five years.

Day survived repeated torture and once stood to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" as his North Vietnamese captors, who had interrupted a forbidden worship service, shoved the muzzle of a gun in Day's face.

President Gerald Ford presented Day with the Medal of Honor in 1976.

"You can't have the Freedom Rock without Bud Day," Sorensen said.

Following his completion of the Woodbury County Freedom Rock at Anthon, Sorensen moves on to the Ida County Freedom Rock in Holstein, a project he aims to complete by July 4. After that, he said, he'll start work on the Cherokee County Freedom Rock, which stands outside the Cherokee County Courthouse in Cherokee.

Sorensen said there are only three counties he has yet to book on his 99-county Freedom Rock project in Iowa.

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Richlands readying for Freedom Fest – Southwest Virginia Today

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Freedom will ring and boom in Richlands July 1.

The towns annual Freedom Festival ends a two day run with a fireworks display at dark. Prior to the big show there will be lots of entertainment starting June 28 when the midway rides open a four day run on the police department parking lot.

The midway will open at five p.m. June 28-29 with unlimited rides for one price. They will open at one p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday. Entertainment starts June 30 with the Fallen Warriors Tribute and the Jubalaires at six p.m.

The Fallen Warriors Motorcycle Honor Guard will present flags to families of veterans and pay tribute to those who died in combat. The Jubalaires will be performing patriotic music during the program.

Marcus Boyd takes to the stage at eight and Victor Lawson and Boogie Chillen will close the night at nine. The day starts with a 10k5k run and walk July 1 at eight a.m. Vendors will open at 10 and there will be face painting, history characters, window decorating contest and the Fallen warriors Wall.

There will be a cruise in to the Advance Auto parking lot for cars and bikes. Star 95 radio will have a live remote at 6:15 p.m. with a hula hoop contest and a wear your red, white and blue contest. The winners will be named Mr. and Mrs. Freedom Festival and the childrens winners will be Little Miss and Little Mr. Freedom Festival.

The Giles Artillery Battery will fire its cannon during the opening ceremonies at 8 p.m. and the National Anthem will be performed. The Benny Wilson Band takes the stage at 8:15 and will perform until the fireworks at 10 p.m. Wilson will play through the fireworks show which will last about 30 minutes.

This years theme is God Bless America and Our Veterans. Businesses and home owners are encouraged to decorate in red, white and blue. There will be a window decorating contest for businesses with prizes for the six best as well as most patriotic and Mayors Choice.

The class of 1997 will be having a reunion during the festival and will have a tent set up both days.

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Bill would assure California workers of reproductive freedom – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Legislation to protect California workers from discrimination based on their reproductive choices faces a key test in the state Senate on Wednesday.

AB569, by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, would assure that workers could not be disciplined or fired if they became pregnant, had an abortion or attempted in-vitro fertilization.

This is not an abstract debate. A single woman teaching at a Christian college in San Diego was fired when she became pregnant in 2012. San Franciscans will recall a 2015 attempt by the archdiocese to impose a morality clause that called on faculty members to follow the churchs teachings on matters ranging from contraception to same-sex marriage.

Under AB569, such codes of conduct could not intrude on an employees ability to make her or his own reproductive health care decisions, including the use of a particular drug, device or medical service.

The proposal, which cleared the Assembly on a 54-17 vote, has encountered resistance from some religious groups that regard it as a violation of the First Amendment. However, it is important to note that the church opposition is not universal. The California Council of Churches, which represents certain Protestant and Orthodox denominations, supports AB569. Its view is that restrictions on an individuals ability to make his or her own moral judgment is a greater threat to religious freedom.

Next stop for the legislation is the Senates Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.

While the battle between religious liberty and LGBT and reproductive rights has been more pervasive in other states, California lawmakers should seize the opportunity to protect its citizenry from discrimination. They should send AB569 to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

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Cities vie to become hubs of self-driving technology – USA TODAY

Posted: at 2:04 pm

USA TODAY NETWORK Published 12:08 a.m. ET June 25, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

Are Detroit and the Silicon Valley the hotbeds for driverless car development? Not necessarily, says Brent Snavely of the Detroit Free Press. Video by Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

A self-driving Uber car drives down River Road on Pittsburgh's north side.(Photo: Gene J. Puskar, AP)

The stakes are enormous. Last year, Goldman Sachs projected the market for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles would grow from about $3 billion in 2015 to $96 billion in 2025 and $290 billion in 2035.

In some cities, automakers, suppliers and technology companies are clustering to test their self-driving vehicles. In others, governors and mayors are beckoning the industry by changing laws or touting other inducements.

I think its about being a part of the race, said Alex Fischer, CEO of the Columbus Partnership, a group of top CEOs that helped the Ohio city beat out tech hubs such as Austin, Pittsburgh and San Francisco to win federal grant money through the government's Smart City Challenge.

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Cities are taking different paths to success. In Detroit, for instance, major corporations form the backbone for the emerging technology. In others such as Boston, Pittsburgh and Austin universities with cutting-edge research have spawned talented engineers and start-up companies.

Hereare the nation's hot spots that have emerged as leaders in the race to self-driving cars:

Austin Mayor Steve Adler likes to refer to Texas' capital city as the Kitty Hawk of driverless cars, referencing the site of the Wright Brothers' firstflight in 1903.

That's because Google's self-driving car unit, Waymo, quietly chose Austin for the first fully-autonomous test drive in 2015. Now Austin officials want more.

"We are trying to do everything we can to help promote and advancethe future of this technology," Adler said."We think its the wave of the future. We think it is going to help our city."

The city and the state have put political differences aside to embrace partnerships and legislation designed to attract testing and investment.Austin is a part of a statewide consortium that includes the University of Texas and Texas A&M University to create a network of proving grounds and testing areas.

Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press

In October, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced policies intended to put the city at the forefront.

"Boston is ready to lead the charge on self-driving vehicles," Walsh said in a statement.

Area technology companies are already at work. NuTonomy, a company that emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, is working with French automaker PSA Groupe on a self-driving car.

Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press

In October, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced policies intended to put the city at the forefront.

"Boston is ready to lead the charge on self-driving vehicles," Walsh said in a statement.

Area technology companies are already at work. NuTonomy, a company that emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, is working with French automaker PSA Groupe on a self-driving car.

Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press

Columbus leaders are tickled their city was chosen for $50 million in federal and private funding over seven other finalists.Key to Columbus win was the buy-in of the citys major employers, who have come to view their home citys preparation for autonomous vehicles as part of the companies preparation for profits in the next century.

It combined investments from top local companies, the state of Ohio and Ohio State University to pool more than $400 million for autonomous and electric vehicles.

There are a select group of cities that are going to be a part of the race. And Columbus is in the race, and it always will be," Fischer said. "Some are going to win on certain projects, Columbus will win on others, and collectively the country will win.

Chrissie Thompson, Cincinnati Enquirer

A former industrial site 30 miles southwest of downtown Detroit where Rosie the Riveter worked during World War II is where the Motor City is planting one of its most significant flags in the battle to capture a significant role in the future of self-driving cars.

It is slated to become Michigan's newest testing ground for autonomous and connected vehicles.

What were going to create is ... a lifelike proving ground so we can really exercise these (driverless) vehicles, said John Maddox, CEO of The American Center for Mobility, which is expected to open late this year. No one will have the full scope of what we will have.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra emphasized the company's commitment to maintaining the state's leadership when she announced in December that the automaker will build and test autonomous Chevrolet Bolts in metro Detroit.

Ford Motor Vice Chairman Bill Ford said last year Detroit can be and should be ground zero, for the future of mobility.

Brent Snavely and Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press

Nashville was chosen as one of 10 global cities for an autonomous vehicles initiative launched last year by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute.

It certainly doesn't hurt that Nissan's U.S. headquarters is outside the city in Smyrnaand that the Japanese automaker was among the first to predict when it would field self-driving cars for sale 2020.

The citys newly appointed transportation director, Erin Hafkenschiel, wants to see shared electric autonomous vehicles in Nashville that would operate similar to Uber or Lyft. That would help alleviate congestion problems in tandem with major investments in mass transit, sidewalks and bikeways, she said.

The city has been upgrading its traffic signals to be compatible with autonomous vehicles.

Lizzy Alfs, The Tennessean

Northern Nevada has been at the forefront of self-driving car testing since 2011, when it became the first state to adopt legislation authorizing self-driving car testing.

Google was lured to Nevada by the state's dry weather and its wide-open spaces when it ran into early resistance from California. Plus, Tesla's Gigafactory, a massive 5-million-square-foot factory that began pumping out batteries for its electric cars, is on Reno's outskirts. Tesla has been aggressive in developing self-driving vehicles.

Six years ago, we envisioned people buying self-driving cars, said Bruce Breslow, director of the Nevada Department of Business & Industry. Now it looks like the first major push is going to be in fleets for self-driving cars whether it be a taxicab fleet, a transportation network company like Uber or Lyftor even self-driving trucks.

Jason Hildalgo,Reno Gazette-Journal

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey touts a hands-off regulatory environment in aneffort to lure autonomous vehicle testing to his state, and the tactic has led to some high-profile wins.

In December, Uber joined companies such asWaymo and Ford, which were already testing self-driving cars in the state. Uber promptly trucked its self-driving cars to Arizona in December following a registration dispute in California over not having the correct permits.

In April, Waymo announcedit would begin taking applications from Phoenix-area residents who want to be among the hundreds of riders testingan expanded fleet of Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans outfitted with Waymo's myriad autonomous car sensors.

Ryan Randazzo, Arizona Republic

With talented professionals in the autonomous vehicle space at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania's second-largest city quickly emerged as an attractive base for the world's leading self-driving car companies.

Uber, which recruited many of CMU's self-driving car experts, has located a major R&D facility in Pittsburgh. And Uber made a splash in September when it became the first major American company to offer urban rides to consumers in partially self-driving vehicles, choosing the confusing, pedestrian-filled, bridge-laden streets of Pittsburgh for the pilot program.

But Uber's relationship with the city has soured. Mayor Bill Peduto has publicly assailed Uber for refusing to back the city's application for a federal cities innovation grant and for making a stingy contribution to a philanthropic initiative.

That spat aside, Uber has shown no signs of easing off the accelerator in Pennsylvania. Competitors are fast on its heels. In February, Ford announced it would invest $1 billion over five years in Pittsburgh-based autonomous car start-up Argo AI.

Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY

With Silicon Valley at the heart of developing self-driving cars, California has become a top testing ground.

Google has been letting its high-tech, self-driving cars wheel around the area south of San Francisco for several years. Now, about 30 companies from traditional automakers to upstart tech companies have taken out the paperwork to test self-driving cars in the Golden State.

Silicon Valley is the right place to be doing a lot of this work, says Greg Larson, chief of the Office of Traffic Operation Research for the California DOT. Instead of building a car with a computer, this is building a computer and putting a car around it.

Marco della Cava, USA TODAY

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Southeast Michigan becomes leader in smart road technology – SFGate

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Southeast Michigan becomes leader in smart road technology

DETROIT (AP) Southeast Michigan is becoming a leader in developing "connected" roads and traffic signals that will "talk" directly to the next generation of cars.

The features are the building blocks that will eventually guide self-driving cars safely to their intended destinations without anyone steering the wheel, The Detroit News (http://detne.ws/2s0NBhh ) reported.

General Motors Co. is testing a safety feature in Macomb County that warns drivers when traffic signals are about to turn red.

Test cars on a section of Interstate 75 in Oakland County can read high-tech roadside bar codes that communicate when lanes are closed up ahead, and reflective strips on workers' safety vests also contain information that identifies them as people instead of traffic barrels.

The road is believed to be one of the first "connected" construction zones in the nation.

Macomb County and the state Transportation Department are two of the government units working with carmakers and auto suppliers in testing the life-saving technology. Michigan has established at least 100 miles (160 kilometers) of "connected" highway corridors with roadway sensors for testing in the Detroit metro area, with plans to grow to about 350 miles (560 kilometers).

Numerous automotive suppliers and several automakers with operations in southeast Michigan already are testing autonomous vehicles and automated technology on the state's roadways.

"Smart" traffic signals and sensors in the roadway outside the GM Tech Center in Warren can exchange radio information with Cadillac test sedans equipped with vehicle-to-infrastructure capability. The equipment at the intersections was installed by Macomb County.

"We're just scratching the surface of V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) with red-light violations," said Steve Martin, a spokesman for Cadillac.

___

Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/

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UK electricity grid cyber-attack risk is ‘off the scale’ – The Guardian

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A ransomware cyber-attack is seen on a laptop screen. Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

Concerns over the threat posed by cyber-attacks on power stations and electricity grids is off the scale in the UK energy sector, according to a leading industry figure.

No other country in the world has an energy industry as worried about the risk from cyber threats, such as the WannaCry ransomware attack that recently hit the NHS, the former chief of National Grid told the Guardian.

The UK stands out uniquely on cyber threats. Nowhere else is as worried as the UK about cyber threats: we are just off the scale on our energy system concerns on cyber, said Steve Holliday.

He said the danger posed to energy systems was coming to the fore now because of the trend away from well-protected, centralised large power stations and towards decentralised power, such as lots of small, flexible gas power plants and solar panels on homes.

There were also a growing number of web-connected devices in energy technology, he added.

One obvious target is the smart meters that are being installed in every home by the end of 2020, to automate meter readings. The Capita-run body set up to handle the data, the DCC, is being treated as critical national infrastructure and the companys chief technology officer insists the data is safe.

We dont hold personal information [on energy supplier customers], we dont see any form of sensitive data and we are not connected to the internet, Matt Roderick told a recent industry conference.

Hollidays warning comes as the UK parliament reels from a sustained and determined cyber-attack which left MPs unable to access their emails.

Industry trade body Energy UK said there was a central system for logging threats, to help rapidly counter them. Maintaining the highest level of security against cyber threats is a top priority for the industry, a spokeswoman said.

Security experts from the National Cyber Security Centre and companies including Siemens also recently attended a summit on cybersecurity and energy infrastructure, hosted by Energy UK and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The issue is not just a concern for the power sector, but for oil and gas producers too. BP said recently that we are a target for this activity when asked by shareholders about how seriously it was taking cybersecurity.

Cyber is high on the agenda. It is one of the key risks the company identifies, said Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman at BP. We were not affected luckily by this [Wannacry] attack, primarily because everybody had followed procedures of continuous updates.

Brian Gilvary, chief financial officer at BP, said the firm did not share specific information on the number of attacks it faced. However, he said the company had a strategy of repelling what it could, detecting what got through and then cleansing when cyber-attackers had breached defences.

The World Energy Council, a global network of energy leaders, said cybersecurity in the energy sector had been high on the agenda of a security conference in Munich earlier this year. The issue was also raised in May by the Scottish parliament.

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently found that 65% of UK businesses were significantly concerned over cyber risks to energy technology. Three in five businesses would switch energy supplier if they suffered a cyber breach, according to a survey of 500 businesses by the professional services firm.

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