Monthly Archives: June 2021

Distribution center adds 350 jobs in Tennessee

Helen of Troy Limited, a designer and developer of consumer housewares and other products, is expanding in Tennessee.

The company is building a new 2 million-square-foot distribution facility in Gallaway, Tennessee that will create 350 jobs. Julien R. Mininberg, CEO of Helen of Troy Limited, said the new building will house a state-of-the-art automation and direct-to-consumer fulfillment facility.

"Having grown our sales by more than 60 percent since we launched our Transformation Plan seven years ago to over $2 billion, this new distribution center is a critical project to catch up with our expansion and deliver on our future growth strategies with greater scale and efficiency," Mininberg said.. "The new facility expands our distribution operations in the region, allowing us to re-optimize our existing facilities to better fit the specific needs of each of our business segments as we serve our retail and direct-to-consumer customers."

Court rejects claims of child slave labor

The Supreme Court has sided with food giants Nestle and Cargill and thown out a lawsuit that claimed they knowingly bought cocoa beans from farms in Africa that used child slave labor.

The justices ruled 8-1 that an appeals court improperly let the lawsuit against the food companies go forward. The companies had been sued by a group of six adult citizens of Mali who claimed they were taken from their country as children and forced to work on cocoa farms in neighboring Ivory Coast.

"Although respondents' injuries occurred entirely overseas, the Ninth Circuit held that respondents could sue in federal court because the defendant corporations allegedly made 'major operational decisions' in the United States. The Ninth Circuit erred by allowing this suit to proceed," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a majority opinion for the court.

The case had been twice dismissed at an early stage before being revived by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. When the case was argued in December, then-President Donald Trump's administration backed Nestle and Cargill.

The Malian citizens had argued that Minneapolis-based Cargill and the American arm of Switzerland-based Nestle "aided and abetted" their slavery as children by, among other things, buying cocoa beans from farms that used child labor.

Nestle and Cargill have maintained throughout the case that they have done nothing wrong and that they have taken steps to combat child slavery. In statements following the ruling both Nestle and Cargill repeated that they remain committed to working to combat child labor in the cocoa industry.

Southern hospital chains to combine

A large New Orleans-based health system with hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi plans a merger that will deepen its presence in Mississippi.

Ochsner Health and Rush Health Systems said in a news release that officials expect a proposed merger to become final in mid-2022 pending regulatory approval.

Ochsner has 40 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and specialty hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi, plus more than 100 health and urgent care centers.

Rush, based in Meridian, Mississippi, owns six hospitals in east Mississippi and one in west Alabama, along with more than 30 clinics. All but one Rush's hospitals are small and rural.

Officials say more than 400 Rush employees making $7.25 an hour will earn Ochsner's $12 minimum wage after the merger.

The two systems have had a strategic partnership since 2019.

See the rest here:

Distribution center to add 350 jobs in Tennessee and more business news - Chattanooga Times Free Press

When I think of Juneteenth, I cant help but think about a famous speech by Frederick Douglassand about the young Mexican American activist who told me a couple of years ago that he wanted to celebrate Juneteenth instead of the Fourth of July.

On July 5, 1852, at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Frederick Douglass asked What to the slave is the Fourth of July? And he answered that it is a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

As Americans begin to embrace Juneteenth and Douglass wisdom from nearly 170 years ago, we now must ask What to America is Juneteenth?

Despite being completely unfamiliar with Douglass speech, this Mexican American child knew that it made no sense for people of color to celebrate the Fourth of July when we did not get our freedom for another 89 years. July 4, 1776 might have liberated white colonizers from the British, but it amounted to nothing for the Black people they continued to enslave.

As a Black American, I grew up celebrating the Fourth of July and it was not until much later in my life that I learned about Juneteenth. I knew that the Fourth did not celebrate my own freedom, but the lack of an alternative meant that I was encouraged to tacitly celebrate the absence of my own freedom in the name of what America calls freedom.

Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a step in the right direction, but much work still needs to be done for Juneteenth to become a national celebration on par with the Fourth.

Juneteenth occurred on June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order Number 3 that stated that all Slaves are free.

The Emancipation Proclamation had been issued two and a half years earlier, but the Confederacy paid no attention to it as they continued to wage a war to defend slavery.

The Union needed to win the war in order for any iteration of Black freedom to exist in the South, yet even after being defeated the South refused to end slavery. Union soldiers literally had to occupy the South and force Southerners to free their slaves. Since Texas was the most distant western state at the time, it was the last state that Union soldiers needed to occupy to finally free all of Americas enslaved population.

And despite the Union freeing the slaves, General Order Number 3 still advised Blacks to remain quietly at their present homes, and work for wages. This iteration of American freedom still encouraged white supremacy and the subservience of Black Americans.

During Reconstruction, after the Civil War, Union soldiers continued to occupy the former Confederate states to ensure that Black Americans remained free and not terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan, and racist law enforcement and politicians. The constant military presence in the South allowed the federal government to implement the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments, but the removal of federal troops from the South in 1877 ended Reconstruction, precipitated Jim Crow, and birthed the struggle for freedom again.

In the 1960s, a century later, Black Americans finally re-earned many of the freedoms that had been taken away from them after the end of Reconstruction.

As Juneteenth approaches this year, America confronts a resurgent conservative movement that appears somehow emboldened by Donald Trumps defeat. They have attacked the Capitol, passed new laws to make it harder for people of color to vote, and have worked to outlaw the teaching of critical race theory, critical thinking, and the 1619 Project in schools.

The conservative response to the empowered communities of color that helped Joe Biden win the presidency has been the strategic denial of freedom and the silencing of voices of color. Their actions echo the philosophy of the Confederacy and those intent on destroying Reconstruction.

Their version of America cannot coexist with the criticism of Americas systemic oppression that will inevitably occur as people of color obtain more freedom and agency in American society. Instead they respond to criticisms that can reveal the truth about America by silencing dissent, and crafting a new narrative that depicts white Americans as the benevolent rulers of American society.

In 2020, then-President Trump planned to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahomahome of one of the deadliest racist massacres in American historyon Juneteenth. Following national outcry he changed the date of the rally to June 20, but also attempted to take credit for popularizing the holiday.

I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous, said Trump. Nobody had ever heard of it.

For those Americans fighting against freedom and equality, Juneteenth may tragically become another opportunity to corrupt the truth and re-write history into a false narrative to celebrate white supremacy.

For the rest of America, Juneteenth is an opportunity to finally celebrate freedom in our society, but it is also a blunt reminder of the perversity of the Fourth of July.

In 1852, well-meaning white Americans believed that it made sense for a formerly enslaved Black American to celebrate the Fourth of July alongside them and embrace the freedoms that white Americans had given themselves, yet intentionally denied to Black Americans.

When Black Americans vigorously celebrate white freedom and the Fourth of July, America creates a hypocritical double consciousness that normalizes white supremacy and impedes freedom. Through Black celebration, white and Black Americans are encouraged to believe in the existence of an equitable American freedom that has never existed. To create the freedom its promised, America must liberate itself from many of the lies we have long told ourselves.

True freedom in America did not arrive for another 13 years after Douglass speech, so all he could do was denounce the bad-faith lie of the Fourth of July. Luckily for us, Juneteenth now provides America with an opportunity to celebrate the freedom of all Americans.

Continue reading here:

Forget the Fourth of July, It's Time to Celebrate Juneteenth - The Daily Beast

Deliveroo is launching LifeCycle, it's First Aid initiative where riders are being offered the opportunity to learn first aid skills from the Red Cross on August 8, 2018 in London, England. Image: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Deliveroo

Food delivery app Deliveroo will offer riders the option to receive training in how to spot crimes, the company announced last week.

The training will be offered in partnership with Neighborhood Watch, a UK-based crime prevention organization comprised of a number of small local chapters. According to a joint press release sent to Motherboard, participating riders will be trained to spot, among other things, drug dealing, street harassment, and human trafficking.

The press release also claimed that more than 1,000 of the 50,000 Deliveroo riders in the UK have signed up for the free training, which has been certified by the London Metropolitan Police.

Deliveroo riders carried out a vital role in their local communities during the pandemic and are well-placed to spot any concerns in the neighborhoods in which they work and live, the release reads.

In a separate email, a spokesperson from Neighbourhood Watch told Motherboard that the training would consist of a series of animated videos offered over a period of six months.

Are you a Deliveroo rider who has participated in Deliveroo and Neighborhood Watchs crime spotting training? Wed love to hear from you. You can contact Gabriel Geiger securely on Signal at +31 6 36 01 08 68 or email gabriel@gabrielgeiger.me

A Deliveroo spokesperson confirmed to Motherboard that riders will not receive extra compensation or pay for completing the training. Instead, riders will have the opportunity to promote the partnership on their delivery bags after they have completed the training.

The announcement comes just months after Deliveroo riders went on strike to protest poor working conditions and low pay as the company made its debut on the London Stock Exchange. In March, an analysis conducted by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism of thousands of invoices from Deliveroo riders found that nearly half of riders were making below minimum wage.

The Deliveroo spokesperson also claimed that the IWGBa trade union for couriers and delivery ridershad specifically called for Deliveroo to introduce this, and attached an image of the unions alleged demands. Active bystander training, one of the six subjects covered by the training, is listed in the image, but spotting drug dealing and human trafficking are not.

In an email to Motherboard, however, an IWGB spokesperson wrote that the solution is definitely not more policing and that riders are already subject to disproportionate police stop and search and immigration checks.

We condemn the initiative to get couriers policing and call for bystander training in its own right, Alex Marshall, IWGB President, said. Deliveroo needs to do more to protect its workforce and sexual harassment is a huge issue that needs the full attention of the company- not to be rolled into yet another PR stunt.

In the past, police and immigration officers have explicitly targeted Deliveroo riders. On May 18, the Road and Transport authority publicly boasted on Twitter that it had stopped 48 delivery riders in coordination with immigration officials, arresting two of them.

Update: This post has been updated with comment from IWGB.

See the article here:

Deliveroo Is Training Its Gig Workers to Spot 'Modern Slavery' - VICE

Pandemonium in the pandemic

This year of 2020-2021 has been the most phenomenal time in world history where many of us for the first time have seen and experienced some once-in-a-lifetime historic events.

Worldwide attention of the U.S.handling the pandemic, the George Floyd murder and trial, the insurrection at the Capitol, increased mass shootings, the failed acquittal of the former president, voter suppression and the exposure of the 300 murdered and buried in mass graves at the Black Wall Street Massacre have caused many to experience depression and confusion.

Kansas has always been strategically placed on the cutting edge of history.

Kansas was admitted to the Union as an anti-slavery Free State and is known as Bleeding Kansas and the first state to enlist African American soldiers known as the Buffalo Soldiers, a volunteer army.

Charles Curtis was the first Native American vice president.

Susanna Salter was the first female mayor in the USA.

Brown v. Board led the way in the 1954 desegregation case.

President Eisenhower helped to create the national interstate system of highways across the U.S.

A Spiritual Revival occurred at Stones Folly in Topeka.

We ae now challenging our senators, representatives and legislators to focus on affirmative votes on the People's Act, HR-1, HR 2183and 2332. These critical bills should be acknowledged for the health of our Democracy. This includes the disabled and elderly, as well.

Sens. Moran and Marshall, it is an embarrassment that you would not vote for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. If you back the blue, this an opportunity to reveal the truth. Many of them were abused, injured and even killed trying to protect and save you senators. Their blood is on whose hands?

Kansans need courageous leaders who are concerned for ALL PEOPLE and not persuaded by pathetic cowards.

Sandra Lassiter, Topeka

Of the six Kansans in the U.S. Congress, all five of the Republicans refused to support formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate and get to the root causes of who was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection in our nations capitol one of the darkest and most shameful events in American history.

This indicates unwillingness of the five to face up to the truth of what happened that day, including the role played by Donald Trump and perhaps even some others in Congress. They havent been able to bring themselves to clearly and forcefully rebut Donald Trumps ridiculous lie the election was rigged and stolen from him. This indicates they believe him.

Kansas voters should be ashamed of sending these five to Congress. Their behavior in the aftermath of the insurrection borders on despicable. Theyre scared out of their wits at the prospect of offending the deranged criminal Trump and are willing to flush the Constitution down the toilet and abandon the basic principles of democracy in their efforts to cozy up to him. Theyve disgraced and dishonored America. The only proper action will be to kick them out of office at the earliest opportunity.

Richard Schutz, Topeka

Response to "We need more transparency on who has been vaccinated." This letter was in the Sunday, June 6th paper.

When I read the letter, what stood out was the idea that we should repeat what Hitler did to the Jews by tattooing numbers on them. Where is your American respect to democracy? We have been given the option to choose how we care for ourselves. The government should have no part of that choice.

There are too many labels out there now, that are causing unrest. When we allow the government to start dictating everything we do, we give up our rights to the constitution and a free country. Our leaders are shaky at best, so why would we allow them to take away our right to choose?

I do hope the homeless and low-income folks are not forgotten again.

Benna Wasson, Maple Hill

In recent news, Gov. Kelly signed an education deal to increase funding for schools in Kansas. Education is the cornerstone of any childs life. It is also a nonpartisan issue that can uplift our society, increase GDP, and our workforce. Our congressional members should be seeking a similar pledge that could impact the world.

Education around the world has deteriorated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally children have not been provided a well-rounded education. This could ruin an entire generation to come. The Global Partnership of Education fights every day to not let this happen and helps to increase the success of children around the world.

Their current plan is to support child education in lower-income countries, aiding recovery from the pandemic. This investment will educate 175 million children, lift 18 million people out of poverty, and save 3 million lives

America has the power to help. Our Kansas congressional members need to act now by pledging for support of $1 billion for five years to GPE. This will show that the U.S. and our congressional members are committed to working hand-in-hand with the global community to ensure every child can reach their potential.

Marta Richenburg, Kansas City

I have attended a church for many years where the pastor, Jim Congdon, has been lead pastor for a long time. I'm not talking just a little preaching here and there: I am talking sold-out, dedicated compassion and a great ability to teach God's Word. Sure I may differ on some things because hey, not every church is perfect and not everyone agrees all the time. However, Pastor Jim uses his incredible theological knowledge to educate and inspire and to move his congregation forward to embracing a better tomorrow.

At the end of the summer, Pastor Jim will step out of his almost every Sunday preaching role that he has had for so many years, and a new minister, Conner Kraus, will step into that role. Pastors have a special role. I wonder what my grandpa, Pastor Frank Kirkland, a Baptist minister for more than 60 years, would say. He always ended our phone conversations with "stay on the road."

So perhaps that is what Pastor Jim would say to all of us as he transitions out of the role he has had for so many years. It is my understanding he will still be on staff. Maybe he would tell each of us to "stay on the road." Pastors have a very influential role in America and in Topeka. Let's lift them up in prayer and encourage them as they have been so faithful to encourage us.

Rebecca Lyn Phillips, Topeka

As the near 20-year-long war is winding down from 9/11, another war is going on, one that started when Trump began running for president and has continued. A battle between Democrats and Republicans.

Politics didn't used to consist of such bickering and attacking between parties until Trump was elected. Any Republican, Caucasian male was considered a friend of Trump's, but any Democrat holding a position could expect to receive nothing but cheap shots and epithets.

As long as you agreed with Trump and were a Republican, your job was secure. There were some that disagreed with him at times but with expected consequences Liz Cheney a Republican lawmaker in Wyoming was ousted from a leadership post because she voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection.

A Republican on the Michigan state election wasn't renominated by the party after he voted to certify Biden's win. Since when is it legal for one's position to be terminated if they don't agree with the majority of their party?

When I Googled for some of the insults Trump made on Twitter, I found out there were 598 insults listed. To print them out would have taken 97 pages.

Here are just a few of them. This one is about Democrats:All they do is investigate, as it turns out crimes that they instigated and committed. Here's one regarding Joe Scarborough, co-host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC:Morning psycho, has nosedivedand "Angry, dumb and sick.

And finally one on Biden: "Sleepy Joe, I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. This is one wish of Trump's I'm glad got granted because Biden did win, did he not?

Marijo Mastroianni, Topeka

Read the original here:

Letters: Readers are upset at how Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall are conducting themselves in D.C. - The Topeka Capital-Journal

Happy Saturday! How is your weekend going? Its a bit of a weird one here in the Ohio bureau, as for the first time in months we dont have a baseball tournament on the schedule. Im not quite sure what to do with all the free time, though our neighbors would probably appreciate it if we did some yard work.

We love watching our kids play sports, but sometimes it can get overwhelming. Swim meets can last an entire weekend. With baseball tournaments, you dont always find out when the Saturday games are until a couple days ahead of time. Then, the schedule for Sunday is determined by how well you play on Saturday. For some reason, though, whether we win two games, lose two games, or win one and tie one (yes, they have ties when there is a time limit), we always seem to draw the 8 a.m. slot on Sunday.

When Im hauling the kids to 7 a.m. warmups for a swim meet or sitting at a baseball game at 8 p.m. on a Saturday wondering how much sleep our kid is going to get before he has to be back the next day, it reminds me to be grateful for my own parents, who did the same thing for my brother and me when we were kids. And, well, it is Fathers Day weekend, so let me tell you a little bit about my dad.

My parents owned a small grocery store when I was growing up. It had a bakery with homemade pies and cookies and cakes. The meat department was full-service: Nothing was wrapped in plastic three days before you bought it. My dad and the other meat cutters would cut steaks however thick or thin the customers wanted, and restaurants around town used our ground beef for their hamburgers.

It was never easy. My parents spent long hours on their feet. One of the indelible images of my childhood is walking into the back room of the store and seeing my dad at the butchers block, cleaver in hand, chopping up a hunk of meat to make ground chuck. On Tuesdays, wed get our big shipment of dry goods from the wholesalercans of soup and vegetables, boxes of cereal and pasta and rice and hed give my brother and I the pricing guns to put stickers on everything, and then wed stock the shelves.

It wasnt just the physical labor, though. There was the Christmas morning that someone called our house while we were opening presents to complain about their turkey. There were difficult decisions to make when business was slow or when minimum wage would go up, or when employees werent working out.

But even with all of that, my dad found time to get to as many of our events as possible. I remember him standing by the meat counter, yes, but I also remember him standing along the fence at my track meets, near the finish line, yelling for me. He helped out with my brothers baseball team.

My parents might not have realized it in the busyness of the moment, but they were leaving important impressions and setting an example. Watching them helped me develop my own work ethic, and the sacrifices they made for me made me want to do the same for my own kids.

And so we get up early on Saturdays to go sit in the cold, or the heat, or the stifling humidity of a natatorium. We cheer them on when they do well, and we listen to their rants on the way home when things dont go well.

I get frustrated sometimes when our kids complain about going to practice or wonder why we dont want to buy that $300 bat theyll outgrow in a yeardont they realize how much were doing for them?but I dont know how much gratitude I showed myself at that age. But I hopeand expectthat when they have their own kids, theyll get it.

Happy Fathers Day, and thanks for reading.

Farideh Goudarzi lost her husband, sister, brother, cousins, and more than a few friends to the Iranian governments campaign of political violence against its own people. She herself spent six years in prison, during which time she was interrogated and flogged by various Iranian officials. One of them was Ebrahim Raisi, who was announced the winner of Irans presidential election on Friday. In a powerful article, Charlotte talks to Goudarzi about her experiences and also to various experts about Raisi. How did he become the candidate of choice for the mullahs at a time when the Biden administration is trying to sell a return to the 2015 nuclear deal? One problem Charlotte notes is the Islamic Republics plummeting legitimacy in the eyes of its own populace. With a proven track record quelling dissent and putting down uprisings, Raisi is the clear choice to sustain the 82-year-old Khameneis rule during his life and ensure a stable transition of power to the next supreme leader after his death.

The New York Democratic mayoral primary shows that while defund the police might be a popular sentiment on the left after last summers racial justice protests, its at odds with the concerns of New Yorkers in the wake of increasing crime and violence. The frontrunner is Eric Adams, a former cop and one-time Republican who has vowed not to strip NYPD of any funding or disarm police officers. Oliver Wiseman reports from New York: The mayoral race wont just determine who gets to run New York. It will also take the political temperature of urban America as it emerges from a bruising year of pandemic, lockdowns, protests, riots, and rising crime, he writes. Do the residents of Americas biggest city see 2020 as a crisis moment that provides the opportunity for radical change?

The end of June is a sort of high holiday for Supreme Court superfans. The justices typically release their biggest decisions now, and this week did not disappoint. In French Press, David does a deep dive on the major announcements from this week, in particular Fulton v. Philadelphia. The city of Philadelphia had tried to punish Catholic Social Services for its refusal to recommend same-sex couples as foster parents. In a unanimous decision, SCOTUS ruled that Philadelphia had discriminated against CSS. David looks at how the ruling was narrow, not rising to the level of overturning Employment Division v. Smith, a case that effectively limited religious freedom in the workplace, but that there appeared to be five judges who would be willing to do so in a different case. Theres much, much more, including a lecture on getting too worked up about the 6-3 ideological breakdown of the court.

We got a new federal holiday this week, and Jonah is here to celebrate it. On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday andin a rare bit of efficiency in governmentit was observed on Friday. (On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas to enforce the emancipation of slaves.) Jonah marked the occasion by explaining why Juneteenth is a great American holiday. The idea that what makes America great is that were not perfect but were always trying to be better and learn from past mistakes is a theme he hits on frequently, and this is a perfect example. There was nothing hypocritical about slavery in Asia, the Middle East, or Europe. To the extent those civilizations had charters, creeds, or some other form of fleshed-out ideals, slavery was consistent with them. In America, slavery was a grotesque hypocrisy whose horror was eclipsed only by the actual horror of the institution as practiced.

And heres some more stuff you might have missed:

Is it us, or is the omnipresence of Infrastructure Week one holdover from the Trump administration we could do without? in Uphill, Haley reports on bipartisan talks that could yield a deal that, while smaller than Joe Bidens proposal, might appeal to more Republicans by focusing mostly on traditional projects like roads and bridges.

Continuing in our series of way too early looks at key Senate races, Price St. Clair previews North Carolina, the bluest red state in the country. Its a pickup opportunity for Democrats, but the three GOP frontrunners are experienced and well-known: a former governor, a current member of the U.S. House, and a former congressman.

Theres a new theory going around that the January 6 Capitol riot was led by FBI agents. If you think it sounds far-fetched, youre right. Andrew explains how the claim falls apart quickly.

If you see the figure $6 trillion and think Good lord, that is an insane amount of money, well, youre probably not a congressional Democrat. In Uphill, Haley looks at how Democrats are preparing a massive spending package to take care of Bidens big priorities and planning to use reconciliation to push it through without any GOP support.

And on the pods: The gang discusses the controversy over critical race theory in schools on The Dispatch Podcast. On The Remnant, Jonah talks to Tevi Troy about Israels chaotic parliamentary system, Netanyahus legacy, and the dismal state of the Hollywood blockbuster. And if you didnt get your fill of Supreme Court analysis from Davids French Press, he and Sarah have more on Advisory Opinions.

Read more:

Our Best Stuff on Iran, the Supreme Court, and Juneteenth - The Dispatch

VIRUS OUTBREAK-SEATTLE-EVICTIONS

Seattle extends COVID eviction ban until Sept. 30

SEATTLE (AP) Seattle is extending the citys coronavirus moratorium on evictions through Sept. 30. Initially established in March 2020, the moratorium is an attempt by the city to stave off evictions of people who lost jobs because of the pandemic and fell behind on their rent payments. The Seattle Times reports the extension announced Friday is the fifth Mayor Jenny Durkan has ordered. Seattles moratorium applies to residential, nonprofit and small-business tenants, with small businesses defined as those with 50 or fewer employees. Most evictions are prohibited for those tenants, including evictions for nonpayment of rent, though tenants remain obligated to pay rent and can accumulate debt.

CHLORINE SHORAGE

Chlorine shortage: Cities ask people to reduce water use

SALEM, Ore. (AP) City leaders in Lake Oswego and Tigard in Oregon and Anacortes in Washington are among the communities asking residents to reduce their water use during a chlorine shortage. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the chemical used in small amounts by water treatment facilities to prevent harmful bacteria growth in drinking water supply. State officials say they have a plan to help water districts across Oregon get the chlorine they need if their stockpiles run low and theres no threat to the water the public depends on. The shortage occurred after a power outage earlier this month at the Westlake chemical facility in Longview, Washington, the main provider of chlorine for Oregon.

JUNETEENTH-WASHINGTON

Juneteenth becomes official state holiday in WA in 2022

SEATTLE (AP) President Joe Biden this week signed legislation establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery a move state lawmakers made for Washington state earlier this year. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee last month signed a measure making Juneteenth a legal state paid holiday, starting in 2022. In 2007, the Legislature had designated Juneteenth as a day of remembrance. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. That was also about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states. Its the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.

OFFICER KILLED-ARREST

Man accused of stealing officers vehicle at crash arrested

SEATTLE (AP) A 49-year-old Seattle man has been arrested, accused of stealing the vehicle of an off-duty Seattle police officer earlier this week after she was struck by a car and killed while assisting people involved in a crash. The Seattle Times reports the man was arrested by the Washington State Patrol and Seattle Police Department SWAT team late Thursday evening in a hotel in Bellevue. He was taken into custody on investigation of felony hit-and-run, theft of a motor vehicle and other charges. Officer Alexandra Lexi Harris died Sunday after being struck while helping people involved in a three-car collision in Seattle. The man arrested, according to the State Patrol, is the driver of one of those three cars.

COLD CASE-RAPE-ARREST

Deputies arrest man in cold case rape of teen girl

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Grays Harbor deputies arrested a 50-year-old Enumclaw man in connection with a 2003 kidnapping and rape cold case in McCleary. The Olympian reports Paul Bieker was booked into the Grays Harbor County jail on Tuesday. The Sheriffs Office alleges he abducted and sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in 2003 and have indicated they are exploring possible connections to the murder case of Lindsey Baum, who went missing in 2009, according to a Facebook post. Bieker appeared in Grays Harbor Superior Court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, kidnapping, burglary, felony harassment and taking a motor vehicle without permission.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CAPITOL REOPENING

Washington state Capitol reopening to public July 1

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) The Washington state Capitol building will reopen to the public on July 1 after being closed since March 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement Thursday state officials said the Department of Enterprise Services is working to re-establish public tours and is recruiting tour staff. Security fending around buildings on the Captiol campus was removed in early May, four months after the barriers went up during national unrest tied to the presidential election. A crowd of supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the gates to the Governors Mansion in Olympia on Jan. 6, the same day a pro-Trump mob stormed the nations Capitol in Washington, D.C.

GOVERNOR RECALL PETITION-DISMISSED

Judge dismisses Washington state governor recall petition

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Washington state officials have said a petition that was filed last month to recall Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic was dismissed this week. KOMO-TV reports the governors office said Wednesday that a judge ruled to dismiss the petition filed by a citizen group known as Washingtonians to Recall Inslee. The residents could appeal, but it wasnt immediately known if they planned to do so. The group alleged in its May petition that the governors order that limited activities in the state during the pandemic interfered with their rights to assemble, work freely and participate in religious activities.

IMMIGRANT DETAINEES-MINIMUM WAGE

Mistrial halts case on minimum wage for immigrant detainees

SEATTLE (AP) A trial over whether the GEO Group must pay minimum wage instead of $1 a day to immigration detainees who perform tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in Washington state has ended with a hung jury. U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan in Tacoma declared a mistrial Thursday after jurors indicated they could not reach agreement following a two-week trial and about two days of deliberation. Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued GEO in 2017, saying the company had unjustly profited by running the Northwest detention center in Tacoma on the backs of captive workers. GEO maintained that the detainees were not employees.

AP-US-BOEING-LARGE-737-MAX-

Boeings newest version of the 737 Max makes first flight

SEATTLE (AP) Boeings newest version of the 737 Max jetliner has taken flight. A Boeing 737 Max 10 completed a test flight of about 2 1/2 hours on Friday over Washington state. The Max 10 can hold up to 230 passengers. Its a slightly bigger version of Boeing planes that are already flying. Airlines began using those earlier Max jets in 2017, but they were grounded worldwide for nearly two years after two crashes that killed 346 people. The new model is designed to compete against a similarly sized plane from Europes Airbus.

VACCINE INCENTIVE-MILITARY LOTTERY

New vaccine lottery announced for military in Washington

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Washingtons military, veterans and family members will be eligible for a new vaccine incentive lottery announced by Gov. Jay Inslee. There was concern that because the federal government wasnt sharing individual vaccine status of those groups, there werent in the running for Washingtons original lottery, which has already had two drawings for $250,000 prizes. The new separate lottery specifically applies to military, military staff and family members who were vaccinated through the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, or the National Guard. Starting July 20, there will be one drawing a week for three weeks, with cash prizes of $100,000 for the first two weeks and a $250,000 prize for the final week.

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