| Trump won't commit to accepting result if he loses election Posted: 19 Jul 2020 09:40 AM PDT  Brushing aside polls showing his support down amid the worsening coronavirus outbreak, Trump won't promise to accept the 2020 election result.
|
| First human trial of Oxford coronavirus vaccine shows promise Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:44 AM PDT  An experimental vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University against the new coronavirus produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials, data showed on Monday, preserving hopes it could be in use by the end of the year. The vaccine, called AZD1222, has been described by the World Health Organization's chief scientist as the leading candidate in a global race to halt a pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 people. The vaccine from AstraZeneca and Britain's University of Oxford prompted no serious side effects and elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses, according to trial results published in The Lancet medical journal, with the strongest response seen in people who received two doses.
|
| New York restaurant owner burns table where Epstein and Weinstein used to sit Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:12 AM PDT  A restaurant owner in New York burnt a table that Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein used to dine at.Zach Erdem, who owns 75 Main in Southampton, New York, said Table 1 – which both men had dined at – provided only "bad energy".
|
| Portland Police Union Head Slams City Officials: They ‘Have Condoned the Destruction and Chaos’ Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Portland Police Association president Daryl Turner slammed elected officials at a press conference on Sunday, a day after the union's offices were set on fire amid continuing riots in the city.Since the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers, Portland has seen 50 days of protests and riots. Federal law enforcement officers have deployed to the city over the past several weeks, clashing with protesters.Turner alleged that Oregon officials have allowed the violence to continue unabated."The elected officials have condoned the destruction and chaos," Turner said on Sunday, standing with 20 faith and business leaders from Portland. "They have placed their political agenda ahead [of the] safety and welfare of the community. This must stop."Turner continued, "This is no longer about George Floyd, racial equity, social justice reform or the evolution of policing….This is about violence, rioting and destruction. Our city is under siege by rioters."Portland mayor Ted Wheeler on Friday accused the Trump administration of fanning the violence by ordering federal law enforcement to crack down on the riots and protests."Last week, we were seeing the deescalation of the violence. We were seeing things calm down. But the intervention of federal officers reignited tensions," Wheeler said in an online press conference with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. "I think we would have seen the end of this nightly engagement by now."Lovell indicated that federal officers and local police were not coordinating with each other."The federal officers have their objectives, and the Portland police has our objectives. We don't direct federal officers' actions, and they do not direct ours," Lovell said.
|
| Vanessa Guillén's grandmother travels from Mexico to Houston to say goodbye to the soldier Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:08 AM PDT  "Let justice be done," asked the grandmother, who traveled from Zacatecas, Mexico.
|
| Iran executes man convicted of spying on US-slain general Posted: 19 Jul 2020 09:09 PM PDT |
| More than 50 Florida hospitals have run out of ICU beds as coronavirus cases soar Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis over his order to reopen schools and resume in-person classes in August.
|
| Coronavirus: The slow death of the American all-you-can-eat buffet Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Buffets, beloved by many Americans, are rapidly changing their business model to adapt to the virus.
|
| U.S. imposes sanctions on Chechen leader over human rights violations Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT  The U.S. Department of State on Monday imposed sanctions on the leader of Russia's southern region of Chechnya, barring him from traveling to the United States over accusations of gross violations of human rights, including torture. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement he was concerned that Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was using the novel coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to inflict further human rights abuses on people in the region.
|
| What the U.S. Can Learn From Other Countries About Reopening Schools in a Coronavirus Pandemic Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Lessons from Denmark, South Korea and Israel
|
| Coronavirus: 13-year-old dies while self-isolating with Covid symptoms after virus test came back negative, family says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:44 AM PDT  A 13-year-old boy in California has died while self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms after a test for the disease came back negative, his family has said.Maxx Cheng of Claremont fell ill on the Fourth of July and died on Thursday after suffering symptoms of the coronavirus, KCBS-TV reported.
|
| Ky. couple on house arrest after wife tests positive for coronavirus but refuses to sign quarantine order Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:45 PM PDT  The ankle monitors the couple was ordered to wear will alert law enforcement if they travel more than 200 feet from their house.
|
| Ex-SS guard apologises to Holocaust victims ahead of verdict Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:50 AM PDT  In what could be one of the last such cases of surviving Nazi guards, Dey stands accused of complicity in the murder of 5,230 people when he worked as an SS tower guard at the Stutthof camp near what was then Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland. "I would like to stress again that I would never have voluntarily signed up to the SS or any other unit -- especially not in a concentration camp," he said in his final statements before the court delivers its verdict.
|
| Missouri's GOP governor says kids who go back to school will get COVID-19 but they'll 'get over it' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:34 AM PDT  "These kids have got to get back to school," Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said. "They're at the lowest risk possible."
|
| Missing Kansas dog makes 50-mile trip to old home in Missouri Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Cleo, a four-year-old labrador, walks from Kansas to Missouri, leaving her owner "speechless".
|
| A California city removed its Black Lives Matter mural in the middle of the night after a Trump supporter asked to paint 'MAGA 2020' on the same street Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Officials scrubbed the mural late on Thursday after a local lawyer asked whether she could paint "MAGA 2020" on the street, CBS San Francisco said.
|
| Federal agents in unmarked cars, 'wall of moms': Here's what's happening in Portland Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:02 AM PDT  Weeks of protest and the presence of federal agents in Portland have brought the national spotlight on the Oregon city amid calls for racial justice.
|
| Promising COVID vaccine candidates enter next stage of trials Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:31 PM PDT  An Oxford University team working with pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca announced their vaccine candidate produces long-sought 'double protection'; Doug McKelway reports from Washington.
|
| Caught flouting curfew in bar, Kenyan official quits COVID committee Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:36 AM PDT  The chairman of Kenya's senate committee overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus crisis has quit the post after police said he flouted an overnight curfew to enjoy drinks with others in a Nairobi bar. "I will bear responsibility ... I apologise to Kenyans and I will face the full consequences of the law," Johnson Sakaja, who represents Nairobi county and is a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters on Monday. Kenya began easing its lockdown earlier this month, but kept the curfew in place as well as a prohibition on bars.
|
| CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur dead at 26 after moped accident Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:47 AM PDT  Fellow journalists expressed their grief following the young and promising reporter's death.
|
| Congresswoman Maxine Waters jumps out of her car to intervene as black man stopped by police Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:32 AM PDT  California congresswoman Maxine Waters went to assist a black man who was pulled over by police in Los Angeles this weekend.In a video shared online, Ms Waters parked her SUV and said she intervened to see what Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were doing when they pulled a black man over.
|
| Pence Tells Governors Masks Are Helping Turn the Tide on Coronavirus in Arizona Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:49 PM PDT  During a meeting with governors on Monday, the White House Coronavirus Task Force trotted out decreased COVID-19 case counts in Arizona as proof that masks and social distancing work, encouraging other states to impose similar measures as a way to contain and prevent surges."Masks, closing indoor bars, decreasing indoor dining capacity to 25 percent, continued social distancing and personal hygiene messaging, according to the model, dramatically decrease the rate of community spread," Vice President Mike Pence, chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said in the meeting, according to a recording obtained by The Daily Beast. Pence said that evidence of the effectiveness of widespread mask use in particular was visible "today" in Arizona. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center on Monday put the state—which recently had one of the worst case trends on the planet and saw a testing "shitshow"—with the steepest current decline in the nation."The modeling suggested to us that Phoenix was supposed to be at more than 5,000 cases daily and rising, and instead I was informed by our health experts this morning that they are [at] less than 2,300 cases," Pence said on Monday. "Again, we believe that the three actions I just described that are being implemented by Gov. [Doug] Ducey are having a dramatic impact on community spread, and it's a clear example of transmitting science into action and proving this works."Trump's Surgeon General Literally Begs Fox News Viewers to Wear MasksThe call put a stark positive spin on a situation that was, as recently as a few days ago, being panned by local doctors on the front lines who told The Daily Beast they felt abandoned by state leaders. Ducey was one of the first governors to lift lockdown restrictions after a nationwide response to the pandemic caused unprecedented closures and shelter-in-place orders.And though Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force's response coordinator, thanked Ducey and others for their "leadership," the governor has come under harsh criticism for refusing to issue a mask mandate or reinstitute a lockdown order. Ducey did eventually allow cities to pass their own mask ordinances, and as The Daily Beast reported last week, nearly 90 percent of the state is under some kind of local mask mandate.Birx emphasized that models showed those measures, including 100 percent mask use, "came very close to the impact of sheltering-in-place, and it was theoretic, but it was implemented in Phoenix and in the Tucson area, and we can see now the impact."As of Monday, Arizona had hit 143,624 cumulative coronavirus cases, and 2,761 had died, according to Johns Hopkins data."I think this is a very exciting moment for all of us to really see that translation of a model into recommendations that were then executed on the ground and are now having a positive impact," said Birx. "Hospitalizations and mortality are lagging indicators, but we are seeing a decline in test positivity and new cases." Meanwhile, despite his opposition to a national mask mandate, President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted a photo of himself with a face mask, calling it "patriotic" to wear one. Despite widespread science on the effectiveness of masks, Trump had refused to publicly wear one for the first nearly six months of the pandemic's presence in the U.S.On the call, when he reported from the ground, Ducey profusely thanked Pence and Birx for visiting his state, reinforcing that state leaders "continue to encourage and support and advocate and resource for masks," as well as closures and capacity reductions at establishments."We're instructing people they're safer at home," said Ducey, adding, "There's really no victory lap at all. We're going to stay the course."Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, emphasized that these "fundamentals" have the power to turn around surges, as Arizona's turnaround has proved. "This is something everyone should be seriously considering," said Fauci. "If we all do that, not only will we contain the surges, but we will prevent surges."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Iran has executed an alleged CIA and Mossad agent who it says helped spy on Qassem Soleimani before his assassination Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:27 AM PDT  Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was killed by a US drone strike in January. His death almost brought the US and Iran to war.
|
| It’s official: US Air Force to buy Turkish F-35s Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:27 PM PDT  A $862 million contract modification gives another 14 F-35As to the U.S. Air Force...including some Turkish jets.
|
| Paraguay violence flares as smugglers battle coronavirus border closure Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  * Marine killed in shootout with suspected smugglers * Military allegedly responds by torturing 35 civiliansViolence has escalated along the triple border between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, as smugglers attempt to get round strict frontier controls imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.One marine was killed in a fierce shootout between smugglers and the Paraguayan military last week, in an episode which then allegedly led to the detention and torture of 35 civilians.While Brazil and Argentina are struggling with surging coronavirus caseloads, Paraguay boasts some of the lowest rates of Covid-19 infection in Latin America – thanks in part to the fact that its borders have been closed since 24 March.But the lockdown has hit businesses in the country's second city, Ciudad del Este – both legitimate and otherwise – which rely on Brazil for 90% of their sales.Smuggler groups – who move billions of dollars in drugs, cigarettes and electronic goods across the tri-border from Paraguay each year – have adapted to continue their trade despite pandemic restrictions.In addition to the more than 250 clandestine smuggling ports on the Paraná river, smugglers are reportedly using remote control speedboats and drones to take high-value goods over the river.Such tactics appear to be working. According to Brazilian police, drug confiscations in the border state of Paraná – almost all smuggled in from Paraguay – were up 500% in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.The naval commander of Ciudad del Este said that Paraguayan border forces – as well as those of Brazil and Argentina – were seeing escalating violence and a strong presence of notorious Brazilian gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in the region."The situation here has been getting more and more dangerous", he told local press. "Every night in multiple locations … we are being fired at". However, Paraguay's anti-contraband minister, Emilio Fúster, told local press that large-scale smuggling was largely enabled by official corruption."There are agents who have become corrupted through the illegal trafficking of all types of different products," he said.On 16 July, tensions came to a head when a patrol boat from the Paraguayan navy was fired upon by suspected smugglers in what military sources have described as an ambush. One marine, was shot and later died.Following the gun battle, military personnel arrested 35 people, including several adolescents, from the poor riverside neighbourhood of San Miguel in Ciudad del Este, claiming that they had aided the smugglers.Witnesses said that arrests were made at gunpoint and that officials had entered homes without permits. CCTV video was circulated of men being beaten while they were forced into the back of a 4x4 vehicle.Photos and videos were subsequently circulated of deep wounds on many of the men's bodies. One man said that he had been tortured."We all have marks from violence and torture," he said. "They poured hot water and alcohol on my head. A vein exploded inside."José Galeano of the Paraguayan National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture said the marines had clearly committed human rights violations."They may have been affected by the loss of their colleague, but under absolutely no circumstances should this have happened," he said. "These men were flung about like bits of meat."Adm Carlos Velázquez, head of the Paraguayan navy, has called for an official investigation and suspended the local naval commander.
|
| Border Patrol is out of control Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:56 AM PDT  Want to defund the police? A good place to start might be the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.The latest Trumpist assault on American democracy reached a boiling point over the weekend in Portland, Oregon. Video showed two men in military gear — later revealed to be CBP agents — plucking a demonstrator off the street and putting him in an unmarked car. Another protester told The Washington Post a similar story about being detained by unidentified agents, only to be released later without an arrest report. (The agency says its officers identified themselves during arrests, contradicting witness reports.)That wasn't the worst of it: Federal agents reportedly shot another demonstrator in the head with a rubber bullet, fracturing his skull.The result was widespread alarm and anger. "Mr. President, federal agencies should never be used as your own personal army," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) said during a Friday press conference. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) referred to the agents as "unidentified stormtroopers." Oregon's attorney general filed suit against the federal government — including CPB, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Homeland Security — alleging it had violated the rights of protesters. The ACLU filed a similar lawsuit to protect the rights of journalists and legal observers. Even the local U.S. attorney called for an inquiry.While several federal agencies are involved in the mayhem in Portland, the use of border patrol agents here should arouse the most scrutiny — they aren't enforcing immigration law by cracking down on the city's protesters, after all. But even before the recent demonstrations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was a rogue agency with a toxic culture. The agency might not serve as President Trump's "personal army," precisely, but it has long been ripe for use and abuse by an authoritarian-minded executive. Trump fits the bill.Scandals emerge from CBP's toxic soil with regularity — just last week, the Government Accountability Office revealed the agency was misusing its funds, taking money meant to be spent on medical care for migrants in its custody and using it instead to buy dirt bikes and boats. That follows outrageous stories in recent years involving widespread racism among agents, and reports of officials turning a blind eye toward migrant deaths.Even if the agency were somehow free of corruption, its official duties and authorities would still be disquieting.In carrying out Trump's immigration policies, for example, CBP held children as young as 2 or 3 "in jail-like border facilities for weeks at a time without contact with family members, or regular access to showers, clean clothes, toothbrushes, or proper beds," according to Human Rights Watch. Just as alarming is the agency's jurisdiction: The "border" where it carries out its enforcement duties extends 100 miles inland from the country's actual borders — an area that encompasses roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, as well as the entire state of Hawaii.Within that zone, CBP can act as a law unto itself. The government holds that the protections of the Constitution do not fully apply at the border, and agents conduct themselves accordingly — stopping cars and buses without cause to check the citizenship status of passengers, even when those vehicles haven't been involved in actual border crossings. "In practice, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people," the ACLU says in a fact sheet on the matter.The protests sparked by George Floyd's death have broadened CBP's apparent mandate. Agents have been increasingly deployed to do domestic law enforcement — deputized as marshals in Washington, D.C., and ordered to defend monuments and federal property against vandals. That almost seems reasonable. But as The New York Times noted, many of those agents are often trained in dealing with violent drug smugglers, not protesters whose primary crime is scrawling graffiti on a courthouse.In short, this is not an agency predisposed to act humanely or respect Constitutional niceties. Like Trump himself, CBP seems prone to enforcing law and order while shrugging off the actual rule of law."CBP is operating as a shadowy paramilitary force in Portland and other places throughout the country, and this is absolutely horrific and unacceptable," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told The Daily Beast.Portland may just be the beginning. The Trump administration plans to expand the enforcement techniques it is using in Oregon to additional U.S. cities. It is up to Congress and the courts to put a stop to this. How? Congress can narrow CBP's mandate, so that it only deals with border issues. It can redraw the border zone down to just 25 miles. Legislators can also reduce the agency's size, which has ballooned since 9/11. They can require the CBP to demilitarize, encouraging it to use caseworkers to track and keep touch with asylum-seeking migrants. They can make an agency that is less empowered and amenable to abuse.Trump and his cronies would surely look for other ways to crack down on protesters. He will abuse any power he has, and claim powers the Constitution doesn't actually grant him. Congress, however, doesn't need to make it easy for him. It is time to defund U.S. Customs and Border Protection.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden vs. the most interesting man in the world Former Obama adviser lays out why Biden's VP would likely be the 'most powerful in history' Will Congress throw the American economy off a cliff?
|
| Black Lives Matter skirts North Africa despite everyday racism Posted: 19 Jul 2020 07:11 PM PDT  The global wave of anti-racism protests sparked by the US police killing of George Floyd has barely touched North Africa, despite everyday discrimination in a region with a long slave-trading history. Black citizens in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who come to work, study or try to reach Europe, say they suffer endemic day-to-day racism. "Floyd's death awakened the anger and rage dormant within us," said Fabrice, an undocumented Cameroonian in his 40s who lives in Algiers, adding that it twisted "the knife in the wound".
|
| Saudi King Salman, 84, admitted to hospital Posted: 19 Jul 2020 06:50 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world's largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, is undergoing medical checks, the agency added, without giving details. After the news, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a visit scheduled to Saudi Arabia, said Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
|
| Aboriginal Australians 'still suffering effects of colonial past' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:24 AM PDT  The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil explores how the life chances of indigenous Australians are rooted in colonialism.
|
| Kuwait's ruler, 91, undergoes a 'successful' surgery Posted: 19 Jul 2020 01:22 AM PDT  Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler underwent a "successful" surgery Sunday that required the oil-rich nation's crown prince to be temporarily empowered to serve in his place, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday. The state-run KUNA news agency had described Sheikh Sabah's hospitalization Saturday as "medical checks," citing a statement from the country's royal court.
|
| Indonesia says it wants to buy Austria’s entire Typhoon fighter fleet Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:05 AM PDT |
| Trump's chief of staff reportedly wants him to 'avoid drawing attention' to COVID-19 Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:49 AM PDT  As new COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the United States, President Trump's chief of staff reportedly wants the White House to publicly ignore the pandemic as much as possible.A new report in The New York Times focused on Republicans breaking from Trump on the coronavirus crisis describes how White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows "has been particularly forceful in his view that the White House should avoid drawing attention to the virus." In fact, the report says that even amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases around the country, some of Trump's "closest advisers" insist that the "best way forward is to downplay the dangers of the disease."This advice is evidently getting through to Trump, who in a recent interview with Fox News again asserted that the coronavirus is "going to disappear," a prediction he said he'll be right on "eventually."Although the Times report describes how some Republican lawmakers have pushed the White House to bring back regular coronavirus briefings led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, Meadows has reportedly "for the most part opposed any briefings about the virus." Meanwhile, Trump, the Times writes, now "seems less interested in the specific challenges the virus presents," and David Carney, an adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), told the Times, "The president got bored with it."More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden vs. the most interesting man in the world Former Obama adviser lays out why Biden's VP would likely be the 'most powerful in history' Will Congress throw the American economy off a cliff?
|
| Florida must delay reopening of public schools, lawsuit says Posted: 19 Jul 2020 08:18 PM PDT |
| Brazil Bolsonaro's low approval rating improves despite rising COVID-19 cases Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:43 PM PDT  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's low approval ratings rose for a third consecutive month, a poll showed on Monday, as the perception of his handling of the coronavirus crisis and the economy's direction continued to improve gradually. The latest monthly XP/Ipespe poll findings come as the coronavirus-related deaths and cases also continue rising, cementing Brazil's place as the world's second-biggest hotspot for the pandemic after the United States. Bolsonaro's overall approval rating rose two percentage points to 30% this month, the highest since April, while the share of those who think he is doing a bad or terrible job fell three percentage points to 45%, the lowest since April.
|
| It's not poachers killing elephants in Botswana. That worries conservationists. Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:30 AM PDT  "The only thing that kills elephants quickly is people killing elephants," said Keith Lindsay, a conservation biologist.
|
| 'It's insane': DC police look for 3 men after 1 killed, 8 injured in daytime shooting in busy area Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:28 AM PDT |
| Putin attends keel-laying of new warships in annexed Crimea Posted: 20 Jul 2020 10:03 AM PDT  Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine. Speaking during the keel-laying of two landing vessels at a shipyard in Kerch, Putin said that Russia needs a strong navy to defend its interests and "help maintain a strategic balance and global stability." The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
|
| Why Indian American spelling bee success is more than just an endearing story Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Over the past 20 years, Indian Americans have come to dominate the Scripps National Spelling Bee even though they comprise only about 1% of the U.S. population.The bee was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But there were eight co-champions in 2019, seven of whom were Indian American – bringing the total number of Indian American champions since 1999 to 26. There's even a documentary on this this endearing story, "Spelling the Dream." But I contend that their commitment to these competitions stems partly from perceived hurdles they face in higher education. And I believe that their achievements inadvertently further educational inequalities. The academic trackI spent years with Indian American, white and other families engaged in spelling bees, math competitions and other after-school academics while doing research for my book, "Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough."In one chapter, I explained why Indian Americans have come to dominate bees. I believe that their success has to do with a firm commitment by families to spend the time and money necessary to help their kids fully prepare. These children excel not just in spelling bees but also in geography, math and other academic competitions.Most of my book addresses a more revealing question: why families care about such competitions and advanced academics in the first place and the implications around that.Most U.S. kids participate in activities outside school, usually involving sports, the arts, religious or civic activities. Indian immigrant children do these things too, but many of their parents also make them at least try extracurricular academic activities, especially competitive ones.The more than 100 Indian American parents I interviewed between 2011 and 2018 believed that for their children to have a good shot at getting into a prominent university their children would need an undeniably strong academic record to compensate for what they saw as weak networks and a lack of college legacy status.Parents also worried that college admission officers might hold their children, as Asian Americans, to a higher standard in expected test scores. "We have to have 130 points above other groups," one father of a spelling contestant said about the SAT college entrance exam. He assured me that tutoring centers and spelling bees would help his daughter get a higher score, an attitude echoed by other parents and children alike. [Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get expert takes on today's news, every day.]Pursuing after-school education to help their children eventually become more competitive college applicants makes sense to these immigrant parents given their own upbringing with similar tutoring. I think it's only natural for parents to promote what they are most familiar with, and many of these parents have advanced degrees and grew up with intense academic expectations. A cost of achievementAs Indian American children boost their test scores and other academics through studying words, mastering quadratic equations and other intellectual endeavors, they inadvertently contribute to what I see as a troubling trend: the widening educational gaps between higher-income and lower-income families.Achieving in these competitions often requires spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Hexco, a publisher specializing in contest preparation, sells word guides and packages of eight coaching sessions that cost US$1,725. According to its website, 94% of spellers who "advanced to the Scripps finals on ESPN were Hexco customers" in 2019. Indian Americans have an average household income of $100,000, well above the national average of $53,600. Many use this economic edge to advance their children's grades and scores.So, while Indian Americans gravitate toward academic competitions because they worry about otherwise their children will lack equal opportunities, they reinforce educational inequality in the process.This is related to the growing trend of supplemental education by higher-income families generally, which I also studied. The expansion of after-school learning for children who are not struggling at school seems bound to continue as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps going. A fear for parentsMany parents are worried that their children aren't going to learn much while school buildings are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many tutoring companies are advertising their services to families who can afford them as a way to stop the academic backtracking known as the the "COVID slide."The pursuit of after-school education, whether through competitions or tutoring centers, is increasingly common for middle class families. I'm certain that it's prone to grow even more. Why parents pay for and encourage it can have something to do with their ethnic backgrounds, but one outcome is the same: growing educational inequality.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * The Scripps spelling bee is off this year, but the controversy over including foreign words is still on * What does the spelling success of Indian American kids tell us?Pawan Dhingra volunteered as a spelling bee pronouncer at a North South Foundation regional spelling bee in 2016.
|
| ACT exams were canceled with little warning this weekend, and some teens say they weren't notified until they arrived at testing sites Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  The ACT canceled exams at 21 testing sites on Saturday, and around 1,400 students were unable to take the exam.
|
| Republican leaders to meet Trump as talks begin on new Covid-19 relief bill Posted: 20 Jul 2020 10:04 AM PDT  * Democrats scheduled to meet separately to discuss package * President seeking to block billions in track-and-trace funds * US politics – live coverageDonald Trump said discussions about the coronavirus relief package were going well at the White House on Monday, as Congress began negotiations on how best to address the public health and economic crises in the US.Republican leaders joined Trump for the Oval Office meeting, where the president said he also planned to bring back daily coronavirus briefings."I was doing them and we had a lot of people watching," Trump said. "Record numbers watching in the history of cable television, and there's never been anything like it."Democrats were meeting separately as the two sides lined up demands for what could be the last major relief package before the November elections. Congress had previously allocated about $3tn for coronavirus relief in four legislative packages.Points of early disagreement included Republican demands for liability protections for businesses and Democratic demands for more money for states. Democrats also want an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits currently set at $600 a week. Republicans have reportedly eyed reductions, to between $200 and $400.Argument between the parties could be overshadowed by disagreement between Trump and Republicans. The president is seeking to block billions of dollars in funding for coronavirus testing and contact-tracing efforts, sparking objections from Republicans representing states badly hit by Covid-19, according to multiple reports.Trump also told Fox News Sunday he "would consider not signing" any bill "if we don't have a payroll tax cut". As that would mean cuts to social security and Medicare, it is widely seen as a political non-starter."The payroll tax to me is very important," Trump said on Monday.The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, accused his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, of attempting to negotiate the relief package in secret."Leader McConnell has said that he wants to write the next coronavirus legislation behind the closed doors of his office," Schumer said in a letter to colleagues."From what we understand from press reports, leader McConnell's bill will prioritize corporate special interests over workers and main street businesses, and will fail to adequately address the worsening spread of the coronavirus."The negotiations began after the US charted more than 75,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday – breaking its own daily record – and total deaths among nearly 3.8m cases surpassed 140,000. Some elected officials have called for a resumption of localized lockdowns in an effort to stem the outbreak.Initial unemployment claims have settled at between 1m and 2m in recent weeks after topping 6m in April. Small businesses, which have benefited from more than $810bn in relief spending so far, continue to suffer with fewer drop-in customers and retail activity down.The Democratic-controlled House passed a $3tn funding measure, the Heroes Act, in May but the Republican-held Senate has not taken it up. The new relief package is expected to provide funding for schools to reopen safely and an extension of expanded unemployment relief. The current package of $600 payouts is scheduled to expire at the end of July – though this is the last week most people will receive the payment.Republicans have resisted extending enhanced unemployment benefits over concerns, they say, that people make more from unemployment than they did at work. Labor advocates have replied that people relying on unemployment during the pandemic need the money for healthcare, childcare, education and other costs. Economists have warned abruptly pulling the money could strain the economy.In the Oval Office on Monday, the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said the starting point for negotiations was $1tn."We're going to make sure that we don't pay people more money to stay at home than go to work," he said. "We want to make sure that people who can go to work safely can do, so we'll have tax credits that incentivize businesses to bring people back to work, we'll have tax credits for [personal protective equipment] for safe work environment."Republican senators had scheduled a working lunch while House Democrats had a caucus meeting on Monday morning. Mnuchin said he and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, would brief Republicans on the administration's proposals tomorrow.The clock is ticking, with Congress scheduled to go on recess for the entirety of August.
|
| Commentary: COVID-19 leaving most private schools in financial despair Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:31 AM PDT  Across the country, private schools are in existential trouble thanks to COVID-19. Long financially struggling as they have had to compete against free public schools, several have already permanently closed, including two in Baltimore and five across Maryland. We are in danger of losing something precious: the only institutions able to provide something markedly different from ...
|
| McFarland on possible indictments in Durham probe Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT  K.T. McFarland, former Trump administration deputy national security adviser, weighs in on 'America's Newsroom.'
|
