thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Ferguson Prepared America For This Moment

‘ In Some Parts Of The World , This Is Unfamiliar ’ ‘ This moment right now is the harvest @ @

It seemed like a turning point.
Six years ago this month, law enforcement officers left the body of an 18-year-old Missourian shot and killed by a police officer lying on the street in the summer heat for more than four hours, and Americans living in the greater St. Louis area decided they’d had enough.
Black citizens, many ruled by bureaucracies originally crafted with the express purpose of excluding them, were tired of being harassed and mistreated by unaccountable armed government agents who locked them in cages to fill municipal coffers.
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The unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 was sparked by the police killing of Michael Brown on Aug. 9 and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement that began with the acquittal one year earlier of a self-styled neighborhood watchman who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
The protests and unconstitutional police response on the streets of a St. Louis suburb seized the nation’s attention and brought about some modest change in the St. Louis region and beyond.
The feds pulled back on distributing military gear to local police forces and forced the city of Ferguson to curb its profit-driven and discriminatory policing practices. The slow-moving local political process ― with the help of federal probes, expanded investigative reporting and activist-driven political pressure ― eventually ousted many of the government and law enforcement leaders who reigned over systems that enabled unconstitutional and abusive policing for decades.
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Yet those reforms already pale in comparison to the swift changes the nation has witnessed since Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd on May 25. Since Floyd’s death ― which followed the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by white vigilantes in Georgia and the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in Kentucky ― there have been sweeping shifts in public opinion on the need for police reform. Just 7% of Americans now said policing is basically sound and requires essentially no changes, while nearly half of Americans said it is “not too sound” or “not sound at all.”
Mourners photograph a mural of George Floyd, whose death in Minneapolis police custody sparked nationwide protests against racial inequality, in Houston on June 8. Callaghan O'Hare / reuters
Black Lives Matter, a movement previously perceived by many white Americans as extremist or anti-cop, has transformed into a corporate-friendly slogan that reaffirms the basic human dignity of Black Americans and adorns suburban lawn signs. And the protests haven’t let up yet, more than two months after Floyd’s death.
Ferguson movement alumni — many of them young men and women who spent countless hours enduring scorching heat, freezing cold and stinging tear gas to call attention to police violence — watched all this unfold with a mix of pride and consternation. How did all their hard work — the trauma they endured that comes from prolonged exposure to chaos and violence and injustice — not lead to this kind of mass national awakening six years ago?
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It’s not that the Ferguson activists haven’t been waiting and hoping this might happen. “There was frustration before this moment,” Kayla Reed, a former pharmacy technician who has emerged as one of St. Louis’ most prominent criminal justice reform activists in the years since Ferguson, told me. “So many people have sacrificed their bodies, their mental health, their freedom. You were questioning what was being produced on the other side of these uprisings.”
Even if it took this long, there is a growing sense among the people who were part of what happened in Ferguson in 2014 that what’s playing out on the streets in 2020 is merely a continuation of what they started, albeit a delayed one. Activist Samuel Sinyangwe called Ferguson “the catalyst” for that current movement in America and the almost “overwhelming consensus” that the nation needs to curb police abuse.
“None of what we’re seeing today would be possible without the protesters who took to the streets in Ferguson,” Sinyangwe told me. “All of that is built off of a foundation of people who got involved in this work in large part in response to the Ferguson uprising.”
Vanessa Lucas and Rona Caldwell in #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/7YZIrcUzjO — Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 18, 2014
Rasheen Aldridge, who was a 20-year-old from St. Louis when he came out to protest in Ferguson, said the movement helped create the “infrastructure” to get to a world now where serious policy change is possible and created an opportunity for “real uncomfortable conversations” around systemic racism.
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“Ferguson played a huge part of the Black Lives Matter movement and allowing people to feel like it is their right to organize and take to the streets against this mass injustice that is taking place all across this country,” Aldridge told me.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who headed the Justice Department as it investigated Ferguson’s discriminatory and unconstitutional policing practices, also credited Ferguson activists with laying the groundwork for the change the country has seen in 2020.
“The background established in Ferguson and the background that was established by those early leaders in Black Lives Matter has really helped push this movement along,” Holder told me. “It wasn’t just a moment that you had in Ferguson, that was the beginning of a movement.”
Ferguson activists took a lot of grief, Holder said, but the nation wouldn’t have been as prepared to seize the moment after Floyd’s death unless they helped clear the path.
“They’re too young to be called it, but they’re almost like the grandfathers of the movement,” Holder said. “They’re the creators of the energy that has now spilled onto the streets of the United States and help to move the nation into a better place.”
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‘Deja Vu All Over Again’
The Ferguson movement may have helped set the stage for the current moment, but it was the enraging video of Floyd’s brutal death that set it off. Eight minutes of former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd, slowly choking the life out of him. The truth was right there, on video, clear as day.
That wasn’t the case in Ferguson, where the underlying facts of Brown’s killing created a major divide, one that often broke along racial or ideological lines. There’s no video of Brown’s death, only of his body lying in the street. The initial narrative was that Brown had his hands in the air and was trying to surrender when he was fatally shot, but it was deemed noncredible by an extensive federal investigation. A progressive local prosecutor elected in the wake of the Ferguson unrest didn’t exonerate former Officer Darren Wilson but recently announced that he couldn’t make a case.
The video of Brown that Americans did see, released by Ferguson police days after Brown’s death, was a surveillance video of Brown shoving a convenience store clerk while stealing a packet of cigarillos shortly before he was killed. That video and the disputed circumstances of Brown’s shooting gave many white Americans a convenient excuse to dismiss or ignore the broader, systemic concerns that were long-simmering in greater St. Louis and that came to a boil after Brown’s death.
In Floyd’s case, the video made the truth undeniable. There’s no remotely plausible excuse for his killing. Millions of white Americans were forced to confront what Black activists have been trying to convince them of for years: that the way many Black Americans were being treated by the police was fundamentally unjust.
“People weren’t ready with Mike Brown. They didn’t have the visual proof,” said Heather Taylor, the president of the Ethical Society of Police, a St. Louis police union for Black officers that formed in 1972 to combat racial discrimination in policing. “Now they just have it. … It’s telling people, ‘Oh, you need to change something, because it’s not working the way that we thought that it was.’”
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Johnetta Elzie, a Ferguson activist who was among the first protesters to hit the streets after Brown’s death and went on to co-found the group Campaign Zero, said it didn’t surprise her that it took a graphic video of police slowly killing a handcuffed Black man to finally force white people to deal with the reality of police violence against Black citizens.
“It’s frustrating, but also I just wasn’t shocked,” Elzie told me. “I went to schools with white people my whole life, and I saw and read their attitudes on Facebook six years ago versus what their attitudes are today.”
Holder, the first Black U.S. attorney general under America’s first Black president, drew a line between the enraging video of Floyd’s death and two other pivotal moments in American media history: the 1955 publication of gruesome images of 14-year-old Emmett Till’s mangled body in his open casket and 1965 visuals of Alabama state troopers cracking the late John Lewis’ skull on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
“You can’t underestimate the power of the visual. We can see what happened to that little boy Emmett Till, and we can see what happened to John Lewis and all those people as they were charged by Alabama law enforcement,” Holder said. “And then you can see what happened to George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.”
“That video ― 8 minutes and 46 seconds ― of seeing this man killed while people are yelling, ‘You’re going to hurt him.’ ‘You’re going to kill him.’ You hear him cry out for this mother. That struck a chord,” Holder said, adding that the video gave many white Americans “tangible evidence” of the misconduct that communities of color have been talking about for years.
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Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the first Black woman to head the second-largest prosecutor’s office in the nation as Chicago’s chief prosecutor, also pointed to Mamie Till’s decision to show her son’s mangled body to the world as a similarly galvanizing moment.
“This is deja vu all over again because this is not new,” Foxx said. “There were lynchings happening regularly, and it had been written about, but it was the actual seeing of that body that really got people moving.”
Foxx agreed it could be frustrating that it took the violent video death of a Black man to help awaken so many white Americans to longstanding injustices, but that such moments make it harder for Americans to ignore or justify away the lived experiences of their fellow citizens.
“If your system has always worked for you, and you’ve always believed it to be fair, you will try to find justification for why something else happened that deviated from that,” Foxx said. “There’s a thing that we do where we just care about our bubble. That’s why we continue to have systems that fail us, when it’s not all hands on deck, when it’s only the Black people who are, like, ‘Yo, their knee is in our neck. We need you on this.’ The busting of that bubble continually is exhausting but necessary.”
Police officers force protesters from the business district into nearby neighborhoods in Ferguson on Aug. 11, 2014. Scott Olson via Getty Images
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The roiling coronavirus pandemic also can’t be separated from any comparison between Ferguson and today — nor can the presence of a president who has used his platform to make less-than-subtle racist political appeals and implemented policies that harm people of color.
“Our history is stained by state violence against Black people,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and former chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division charged with investigating Ferguson. “But the national outcry about racial injustice in policing is also happening against the backdrop of a global pandemic that is disproportionately impacting communities of color. We are in the middle of two pandemics — structural racism in policing and COVID-19 — as we face a national election just three months away in which one candidate uses racism and division as an electoral tactic with our very democracy at stake.”
‘The Whole Damn System’
Protests didn’t erupt from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Buffalo, New York — and last for two months — purely because of one killing in Minneapolis. The nationwide uprising sparked by George Floyd’s death was fueled by deeply held frustrations over the way people of color in America are treated by the country’s power structures and, most of all, by the police. The exact same dynamic played out in Ferguson in 2014, just on a smaller scale.
The men and women who hit the streets back then didn’t do so solely because of Brown’s death. That was just the final straw. National media coverage of Ferguson did focus on the aggressive and unconstitutional police response to the demonstrations. But particularly in the case of cable news coverage, it was tough to capture the broader reality of the broken law enforcement systems at the core of the tension between police and Black residents of greater St. Louis. The media focus on the shooting and the looting often hid a larger truth: that the entire law enforcement apparatus in the St. Louis region was unjust, as even some area police chiefs later conceded.
Some of the first people I interviewed after I first set foot in Ferguson in August 2014 were employees of an auto parts store that was looted after Brown’s death, where two workers explained that police harassment was an everyday fact of life.
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“They see dreads, and they, you know, I’m young, I’m Black, that’s an automatic flag,” one told me. “I’ve gotten harassed, pulled over for no reason. They want to search my car, didn’t find anything. Got mad, you know, still want to write me petty tickets.” His coworker added that “everyone” had a bad experience with police.
He was right. Pluck anyone from the crowds of protesters on the streets of Ferguson that August, and you’d almost certainly hear a story about police misconduct, ranging from excessive ticketing to threats to their lives. One protester recounted the time he was talking on his cell phone only to turn around to see a cop’s gun in his face. “This man almost killed me,” the demonstrator said. “You know what that man said? ‘I want you to have something on you because I’m gonna beat your ass.’ That’s what that man said ― I swear to God on my son ― he said, ‘I’m going to beat your ass if you got something on you.’”
If you’re looking for a place that encapsulates systemic racism, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than greater St. Louis. No sane person would design the patchwork municipal structure in place in St. Louis County, which was largely built from small white-flight towns designed to keep Black residents out. As the demographics shifted over time, many of those municipalities turned to ticket revenue to keep their budgets solvent, employing poorly trained (and often poorly paid) officers to fund their own salaries by fining residents for minor violations of municipal ordinances.
The work of the St. Louis-based group ArchCity Defenders, which put out a paper outlining municipal court abuses days after Brown’s death, helped federal authorities and national reporters connect the dots between the anger on the streets and the injustice in the courts. St. Louis County’s system of dozens of municipalities, many of them strapped for cash, routinely locked people up for outstanding debt for violations municipal ordinances, holding humans in cages until they could extract monetary payment. One corruption-plagued town had an ordinance against saggy pants that resulted in hundreds of dollars in fees and an eventual arrest warrant for an American citizen, giving law enforcement legal permission to seize a man’s body for a fashion crime.
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Over the next few months, in municipal court after municipal court, I watched mostly white police officers, court officials and judges treat Black citizens facing minor municipal ordinance violations with disgust and disdain as they quickly churned through cases in an effort to raise cash. In one municipal court, an elderly white judge ― who held a day job as a St. Louis prosecutor ― told one Black defendant to take his “rag” off, told another Black defendant to “get a job” and complained that a Black mother brought her child to court.
One municipal court operated out of a single-family home, with the courtroom in the family room and the clerk’s office in the dining room. The prosecutor and the judge, who wielded the power to issue warrants allowing police to lock human beings in cages for high crimes such as failing to obtain a $10 parking sticker, sat next to each other at a table near the fireplace.
Yet another self-styled court functioned as detention for poor adults: The city required American citizens who it claimed owed a monetary debt for mundane municipal ordinance violations to sit in a room each month under threat of arrest. The length of their monthly detainment was determined by how much money they could afford to fork over that night.
In Ferguson, the Justice Department’s investigation revealed, the police force, city officials and a part-time municipal judge conspired to raise revenue, and officers competed to see who could issue the largest number of tickets. Ferguson effectively had a regressive tax system, enforced upon Ferguson’s poorest residents by armed police officers, that paid the salaries of an overwhelmingly white police force that disproportionately harassed Black residents for offenses such as “Manner of Walking in Roadway” and arrested domestic violence victims for failing to secure occupancy permits for their abusers.
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The DOJ probe also exposed racist emails inside the city’s government and police department. The city’s former top clerk, one of those fired for sending racist emails, told a local television station that the racist emails “went through the whole station.” Beyond the outright bigots, the data illustrated that Ferguson’s overwhelmingly white police operated off of racial stereotypes. More Black citizens were stopped, and Black drivers were more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched, even though the white drivers that were searched were more likely to have been carrying contraband.
Missouri’s municipal courts had not changed much since the 1960s when a law professor called the money-hungry operations “the misshapen stepchildren of our judicial system” that often functioned as kangaroo courts. Municipal court reform became a major focus in the wake of the Ferguson unrest. Some reforms were made, though the basic structure largely remained in place even after reforms. Some municipalities with egregiously corrupt police departments that survived on ticket schemes voted to abolish their own police forces and contract with other agencies. But calls for reforming the current system avoided a much larger question: Why in the world were tiny municipalities with poorly paid police forces allowed to run their very own profit-driven courts in the first place?
Tony Rice, a front-line Ferguson protester, said it took some time for the movement to figure out where to put pressure to bring about change in the region. Did it make sense to target one particular town or municipal court when the entire structure of the region’s law enforcement system was broken?
“It was a huge learning curve for us in 2014, and we still didn’t know what part of the system to attack,” Rice said. “One thing that we used to chant was, ‘The whole damn system is guilty as hell.’ That’s sort of what the 2020 protesters have figured out: It’s just the whole damn system. We’re not going to try to piecemeal this. Let’s just take the fight to the whole damn system.”
‘In Some Parts Of The World, This Is Unfamiliar’
On my first day in Ferguson, not long after interviewing the workers at the auto parts store, I watched a daytime peaceful protest develop along West Florissant Avenue, a main thoroughfare near the site of Brown’s death, which became a focal point of the protests. A church choir performed from a platform attached to the back of a truck. Ministers led the way, and church members marched along with professionally printed signs calling for love, peace, prayer and nonviolence. A group of protesters of all ages danced to Pharrell’s “Happy.”
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Then the riot cops showed up. Dozens of officers, some in military camouflage, arrived at the scene. In broad daylight, from atop a heavily fortified BearCat, a St. Louis County police officer trained his sniper rifle directly at the crowd of peaceful demonstrators. They were not interested in dialogue.
Riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014. Mario Anzuoni / reuters
The actions of law enforcement agencies in St. Louis County amounted to a tremendous self-own, much like the more recent actions of police departments across the nation who routinely brutalized peaceful protesters, particularly in the early days of the movement. Faced with a protest movement that asserted that police brutality was a problem; that cops weren’t held accountable for misconduct; and that law enforcement officers frequently lied, St. Louis law enforcement chose to help protesters illustrate those exact points.
Police soon began clearing the entire area. As I tapped away on my computer on a story from inside a McDonald’s down the block, I saw the fortified police force march in formation down the road. A few officers made their way into the McDonald’s. Minutes later, a group of officers led me out of the McDonald’s in handcuffs, and a St. Louis County police officer slammed my head on the door for good measure. Outside, I joined Wesley Lowery, then of The Washington Post, who’d been violently seized moments earlier by an officer who didn’t like being recorded. In what seemed almost like a parody of a movie about the civil rights era, they stuffed us into the back of a police car with a minister in a white collar who sang hymns as we made our way to a Ferguson jail cell.
In case we still hadn’t gotten the message that St. Louis County had a fundamentally broken system, county attorneys charged us with municipal ordinance violations a year after our arrests in an attempt to fend off a potential lawsuit. To drive the point home, the municipal court later issued warrants for our arrests in what it claimed was a clerical error. Just to clear up any lingering doubts, St. Louis County also cleared the officer who slammed my head against the door of wrongdoing and promoted him to sergeant.
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The actions of police on Aug. 13 drew even more attention to what was unfolding in Ferguson. The next night, under new law enforcement leadership, police allowed the protests to continue without interference. It was one of the few nights of calm in Ferguson that August.
But it didn’t last long. Many of the aggressive police tactics continued, with little regard for the U.S. Constitution. A ragtag smorgasbord of armed security forces ― seemingly champing at the bit for an excuse to arrest citizens assembled to petition their government ― forced demonstrators to maintain constant motion and seized the bodies of protesters who paused on a public sidewalk for violating a “five-second rule” they made up. (A police chief later said the unconstitutional rule was enforced by mistake.) Even months later, police grabbed peaceful demonstrators off a sidewalk, outfitted them in orange jumpsuits and held them for 18 hours on high bail. Over the course of months of unrest in Ferguson, police came up with any excuse they could to execute arrests, locking up dozens of other reporters along the way.
Ruth Gordon, 73. She's walking to comply with police instructions, just a bit slower than others. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/EtgYmvT37R — Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 19, 2014
Despite widespread evidence of a fundamentally broken system, there was an instinct to cover policing in St. Louis as an issue of “bad apples.” But a lot of people had trouble conceptualizing or refused to acknowledge the existence of a law enforcement system with a rotten core.
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Edward Crawford, who was photographed tossing a police tear gas canister while wearing an American flag T-shirt in what became an iconic image of the Ferguson unrest, told HuffPost in 2015 that he understood that a lot of people didn’t understand the system that Black people in the St. Louis region dealt with every day.
“In some parts of the world, this is unfamiliar,” Crawford told me. “The police crimes are very low. Police officers are respectable in a lot of places. Every police officer isn’t bad. There’s a lot of good police officers out there who protect and serve. But you also have some who seem to not.” (Crawford died in 2017.)
The politics of policing and media coverage of policing have shifted in the past decade. Just a few years before Ferguson, Obama had to invite an officer who’d arrested a Black law professor inside the professor’s own home to visit the White House because the president had mildly criticized an arrest that, based on the officer’s very own police report, was unlawful. Crossing a police union was a political death sentence.
During the Ferguson unrest, Holder ― a former judge who spent much of his professional life in law enforcement and whose brother was a cop ― was frequently smeared as anti-law enforcement based on measured criticism of race and law enforcement. When former FBI Director James Comey spoke out on the contentious issue of race and policing ― stating that law enforcement has historically enforced “a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups” ― the white Republican said he received literally no pushback from the law enforcement community. But Holder’s comments on race and policing were met with an immediate backlash, and in many cases, the racism wasn’t so subtle.
When Holder remarked in 2009 that the United States had been “essentially a nation of cowards” on issues of race ― a statement that barely raises an eyebrow in the 2020 dialogue ― his words set off an immediate backlash in the conservative media. His point, that Americans needed to “find ways to force ourselves to confront that which we have become expert at avoiding,” was somewhat lost in the controversy.
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Holder recently told me he revisited that speech after Floyd’s death and thinks it held up pretty well. “For people in this country to talk about racial things is hard,” he said, echoing his speech a decade ago. “We’re experts at avoiding racial conversation.”
On the local level, there’s certainly been progress in Ferguson, which recently elected its first Black mayor. But some of the changes have been maddeningly slow. Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief who oversaw the violent, unconstitutional response to even peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson, only retired earlier this year after the county paid out more than $10 million dollars to a gay St. Louis Police Department sergeant to whom a jury awarded $20 million in a discrimination and retaliation suit. (That sergeant, who was named to head the police department’s diversity and inclusion unit, recently stepped down from the position, claiming he had faced racial discrimination as a white man.)
Other changes came about more cleanly. Voters in both St. Louis city and St. Louis County elected prosecutors with more than progressive ideas about criminal justice. Aldermen in St. Louis unanimously voted to close the “Workhouse,” a notorious city jail with decrepit conditions widely condemned as inhumane.
And while some Ferguson protesters have become national voices in the movement for social justice, others have followed the path of the late Rep. John Lewis, running for office and working to change the government from within.
Back in 2014, Aldridge was working at a rental car chain when he joined the Ferguson protests, sometimes forming lines to prevent looting that could distract from the protest’s message. He went on to become the youngest member of the Ferguson Commission and a St. Louis city committeeman and was sworn in earlier this year as a state representative.
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Youth leader Rasheen Aldridge of the Ferguson Commission listens as President Barack Obama speaks at the White House on Dec. 1, 2014. Kevin Lamarque / reuters
As a kid growing up in St. Louis, now-state Rep. Aldridge took a bus to a St. Louis County school as part of a desegregation program that gave him an early education in inequality and the long-term legacy of decades of government-backed racism. Educating people on unfairness and injustice since the Ferguson unrest has often felt like pulling teeth, but Aldridge said he tries to maintain a sense of optimism about the progress that has and can be made.
“Ferguson has allowed us to push and hold people accountable,” Aldridge told me. “I know this is a marathon and generational work, but if we can make it a little better now so the next generation doesn’t have to feel like the ball was dropped or that no change is going to happen, I think that’s the goal that I try to look at in the long haul.”
‘This moment right now is the harvest.’
Kareem Jackson, a St. Louis activist and rapper better known by his stage name Tef Poe, said that what people witnessed in Ferguson was people from all different backgrounds come together and “stand up against this police force that morphed into an army.” He sees the Ferguson unrest as a moment that pushed the United States a bit closer to living up to the promise of the Constitution.
“There’s a subversive energy that has radiated from Ferguson all throughout America,” Jackson said. “They saw the people of St. Louis do something that, in my opinion, hadn’t been done since 1776, which was force the democracy to actually be a democracy, to actually be what it said it is.
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“When you’re in a situation like this where the actual republic is being oppressive and not listening to its constituency, you have the right to rebel,” Jackson said. “We’re not drafting our own constitution here. We’re within the framework of how the United States was even designed.”
Whether, as Holder joked, the Ferguson protesters are the grandfathers of the movement ― or perhaps the older siblings ― the largely young protesters who hit the streets of Ferguson less than six years ago said there’s already a change in the movement with the younger protesters coming up, many of whom were coming of age in a world where they’re constantly exposed to gruesome videos that remind them of their vulnerability.
“They were raised in rage,” said Rice, a front-line Ferguson protester. “We thought we were pioneers going out into the streets and protesting. People called us courageous. But what I’m seeing now is kids are just flat out fearless. They are not looking for strategic places to have protests at. They’re taking the fight directly to the problem. They go straight to the police stations.”
Elzie, who was 25 when she hit the streets of Ferguson and is now in her 30s, said that watching injustice unfold online has shaped the world of many of the youngest protesters.
“I think that’s radicalized a whole generation of people, especially because they also just don’t have any hope for the future,” Elzie said, referring to the shrinking economic opportunities for the next generation of Black Americans that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. “Looking at their little baby faces, it’s just heartbreaking.” But social media has also helped raise broader awareness of racial issues in society to a new generation, she said.
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“They have more access to the internet than we ever had. I don’t know what it’s like to grow up on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook, on TikTok,” Elzie said. “Just as much as there’s detrimental and racist bullshit on the internet, there’s also a lot of cool resources on how to unlearn racism or the anti-racism framework.”
The Ferguson unrest “opened up the gate” to a lot of the new faces that took to the streets in the wake of Floyd’s death, Aldridge said. “They are becoming more radicalized. They are becoming more woke,” he said. “The next generation is definitely going to be further along than we are now. ... Folks are not allowing the status quo to be the status quo.”
Visceral moments like Floyd’s death on video, Reed said, help chip away at the walls blocking people from seeing the scale of problems in policing and beyond. But that’s only helpful when there’s a backdrop of work that helps people see the broader picture.
“A lot of people saw Ferguson, saw the uprising in 2014, and they’re seeing this moment as detached. But there’s been consistent work to push the narrative, to build strong campaigns, to stand up new organizations,” Reed said. “It’s been six years of this conversation never ceasing.”
“Freedom struggles have many chapters,” said Brittany Packnett, an early Ferguson activist who served on both the Ferguson Commission and presidential policing task force and has since become a well-known national voice on racial justice.
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“There will be generations who come after us who take this world even further than we can. Every lesson we learned in Ferguson, before and after, were essential for this moment,” Packnett said.
“I do know this: America owes its readiness for this moment to the thousands of people who were on the streets in Ferguson, Baltimore and more,” Packnett said. “We don’t have this time of transformation without that time of sacrifice.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Study Contradicts Steven Mnuchin Claim That Lazy Workers Choose Unemployment Over Jobs

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday was peddling his claim on TV that enhanced unemployment benefits encourage lazy American workers to sit at home .
But a new Yale University study shows him wrong .
Last week , Mnuchin insisted it ’ s “ not fair ” to taxpayers to pay workers to “ sit home.
” Critics pointed out that workers are taxpayers , and they ’ re home because there is no work .
On Sunday , Mnuchin complained that workers were being “ overpaid ” by the $ 600 a week in extra unemployment benefits that expired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re paying people more to stay home than to work , ” he said on ABC ’ s “ This Week.
” That ’ s “ created issues in the entire economy , ” he added .
People who were collecting enhanced benefits actually resumed working at a similar and even quicker rate than others who were not eligible for the extra aid once work was available , according to the study , “ Employment Effects of Unemployment Insurance Generosity During the Pandemic.
” “ The data do not show a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the CARES Act ” enhancement was provided , said economics professor Joseph Altonji , a co-author of the report .
The researchers found that even workers who received larger increases in their unemployment benefits relative to their wages did not experience greater declines in employment once jobs were available .
The plunge in income with the disappearance of the enhanced benefits is expected to result in mortgage defaults and evictions for some 20 million Americans .
It will also damage businesses in an economy overwhelmingly fueled by consumer spending .
Mnuchin ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marked contrast to his overwhelming support for taxpayer-funded payments to business owners , who can use some of the nearly $ 600 billion paid out in the federal Paycheck Protection Program to sit home .
Those loans can be forgiven entirely , turning them into grants if the money is used on certain expenses , such as rent , utilities and payroll — including for business owners .
Mnuchin last month indicated that a portion of those loans should automatically be forgiven to streamline the process — without tracking compliance .
Multimillion-dollar companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , large chains , firms owned by foreign companies , federal lawmakers , and several companies with ties to President Donald Trump have been granted substantial loans under the program .
The dataset largely represented hourly employees who earn relatively low wages , a segment of the labor market that has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic , the researchers noted .
If the enhanced benefits were a disincentive to return to work , the data would have shown a significant drop in employment in the week after the CARES Act took effect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also show subsequent decreases in relative employment as workers with more generous unemployment benefits put off returning to work .
Neither case was supported by the data , the study noted .

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday was peddling his claim on TV that enhanced unemployment benefits encourage lazy American workers to sit at home. But a new Yale University study shows him wrong.
Last week, Mnuchin insisted it’s “not fair” to taxpayers to pay workers to “sit home.” Critics pointed out that workers are taxpayers, and they’re home because there is no work.
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On Sunday, Mnuchin complained that workers were being “overpaid” by the $600 a week in extra unemployment benefits that expired on Friday. In “certain cases we’re paying people more to stay home than to work,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” That’s “created issues in the entire economy,” he added.
But the study by Yale economists found “no evidence” that enhanced benefits authorized by Congress in March decreased employment.
People who were collecting enhanced benefits actually resumed working at a similar and even quicker rate than others who were not eligible for the extra aid once work was available, according to the study, “Employment Effects of Unemployment Insurance Generosity During the Pandemic.”
“The data do not show a relationship between benefit generosity and employment paths after the CARES Act” enhancement was provided, said economics professor Joseph Altonji, a co-author of the report.
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The researchers found that even workers who received larger increases in their unemployment benefits relative to their wages did not experience greater declines in employment once jobs were available.
White House resistance to renewing the aid is a major sticking point in the new COVID-19 relief package being negotiated in Congress.
The plunge in income with the disappearance of the enhanced benefits is expected to result in mortgage defaults and evictions for some 20 million Americans. It will also damage businesses in an economy overwhelmingly fueled by consumer spending.
So according to Mnuchin a few hundred bucks in unemployment benefits makes American workers lazy, but billions in bailouts for Wall St. and corporations is good for the economy? https://t.co/psexsBWqu4 — Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 2, 2020
Mnuchin, a billionaire, said he is also suddenly concerned about “piling on debt” after supporting the $2.2 trillion CARES Act aid package.
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Mnuchin’s stinginess with wage earners is in marked contrast to his overwhelming support for taxpayer-funded payments to business owners, who can use some of the nearly $600 billion paid out in the federal Paycheck Protection Program to sit home. Those loans can be forgiven entirely, turning them into grants if the money is used on certain expenses, such as rent, utilities and payroll — including for business owners.
Mnuchin last month indicated that a portion of those loans should automatically be forgiven to streamline the process — without tracking compliance.
Multimillion-dollar companies, wealthy lobbying and hedge fund operations, large chains, firms owned by foreign companies, federal lawmakers, and several companies with ties to President Donald Trump have been granted substantial loans under the program.
The Yale study analyzed weekly data from a company that provides scheduling and timesheet software to small businesses throughout the U.S.
The dataset largely represented hourly employees who earn relatively low wages, a segment of the labor market that has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, the researchers noted.
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If the enhanced benefits were a disincentive to return to work, the data would have shown a significant drop in employment in the week after the CARES Act took effect, the study noted. It would also show subsequent decreases in relative employment as workers with more generous unemployment benefits put off returning to work. Neither case was supported by the data, the study noted.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--4 Primary Races To Watch On Tuesday

4 Primary Races To Watch On Tuesday

Tuesday ’ s elections will put the strength of the progressive movement to the test once again .
In Tlaib ’ s case , the left wing of the Democratic Party will have to defend one of its biggest stars , who came into power without an absolute majority of votes .
In Missouri , progressives are looking to oust another incumbent Democrat — Rep. Lacy Clay — after failing two years ago .
A Chance For Another Progressive Upset , This Time In Missouri This time though , Bush has more endorsements , money and momentum , enabling her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
She appears to have benefited from the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in which she got her start in politics .
In a TV spot , Bush frames herself as a change agent for the moment , declaring that Clay has “ presided over 20 years of decline.
” Bush also has the support of outside groups spending on her behalf .
Justice Democrats , the left-wing group that recruited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( D-N.Y. ) and Jamaal Bowman ( the Democratic nominee in New York ’ s 16th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worth of TV ads boosting her .
And the anti-monopoly group Fight Corporate Monopolies is spending $ 100,000 on an ad attacking Clay for opposing the Obama administration ’ s fiduciary rule requiring fund managers to act in the best interests of their clients .
( Clay received $ 440,000 from corporate PACs this election cycle alone ; their contributions make up a large majority of his total fundraising haul . )
It is not clear how sophisticated Clay ’ s campaign infrastructure is , but he has delegated much of the work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than one-quarter of the $ 743,000 he raised this cycle on services performed by his sister Michelle , an attorney .
A firm run by Anthony Alexis , Michelle ’ s husband , conducted about $ 30,000′s worth of “ internet engineering ” and other services .
( Michelle Clay , the campaign ’ s point of contact for press inquiries , did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the nature of her role on the campaign . )
Regardless , Clay is clearly not taking Bush for granted .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bush for , among other things , paying herself a salary from her campaign coffers , a practice that is increasingly common among candidates without independent wealth .
“ Her name may be Bush , but she acts more like Trump , ” the narrator warns .
( Bush , a single mother of two , has paid herself just over $ 6,000 a month since the start of April . )
An Embattled Sitting Republican Could Lose His Seat Freshman Rep. Steve Watkins snuck into office by the thinnest of margins in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primary in Kansas ’ 2nd Congressional District with just 26.5 % of the vote after his father poured more than $ 500,000 into a super PAC supporting him .
He won the general election over Paul Davis , a moderate Democrat , by less than a percentage point after The Associated Press and Kansas City Star reported that Watkins exaggerated portions of his resume .

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Five states — Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington — are holding primary elections on Tuesday, and several nominations for key congressional seats are up in the air.
Michigan’s Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the House’s progressive “Squad,” is fighting to keep her place in Congress. Progressives are hoping second time is the charm for their candidate in one of Missouri’s few Democratic strongholds. A voter fraud case is threatening a Kansas Republican’s congressional career. And Arizona Democrats are angling for a heated general election matchup in the Phoenix suburbs.
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Tuesday’s elections will put the strength of the progressive movement to the test once again. In Tlaib’s case, the left wing of the Democratic Party will have to defend one of its biggest stars, who came into power without an absolute majority of votes. In Missouri, progressives are looking to oust another incumbent Democrat — Rep. Lacy Clay — after failing two years ago.
The primary will also tee up a battleground race for Democrats in Arizona, as the party tries to expand its majority in the House. In a state that elected Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema two years ago and has another contentious Senate race this cycle, Democrats are also eying a suburban congressional district that could be ripe for flipping blue.
Here are four races to watch on Tuesday’s primary.
A ‘Squad’ Stalwart Defends Her Seat
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) became the first Palestinian American to be elected to Congress in 2018. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Given Tlaib’s national stardom as a member of “the Squad” of progressive women elected to Congress in 2018, it’s easy to forget that she almost didn’t make it to Washington. In the six-candidate primary in 2018, Tlaib received just 31% of the vote, edging out her closest competitor, Brenda Jones, by a single percentage point.
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In a strange turn of events, Jones, the Detroit city council president, won a special election held the same day as the primary. She served from November 2018 until early January 2019, completing the remainder of the term vacated by John Conyers, who had resigned eight months earlier due to accusations of sexual harassment from former aides.
Jones, who is Black, is trying to unseat Tlaib on Tuesday, with a call for voters to “return” Jones to Congress.
The race tests Tlaib’s ability to transcend the demographic divisions in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. The district, which encompasses parts of Detroit and its adjacent suburbs, is majority Black, and was represented by Conyers, a leader in the civil rights movement, for 52 years.
From the moment that Tlaib won, some Black Detroiters were frustrated that they no longer had a Black member of Congress.
Some more moderate Motor City residents are also cool to Tlaib’s status as a high-profile progressive pugilist whose advocacy for Palestinian rights, including the creation of a single binational state, has sparked controversy. (Tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman in Congress and one of the body’s first two Muslim women.)
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On paper, the policy differences between Tlaib and Jones are difficult to spot. The sparse information on Jones’ website features her support for “Medicare for All,” a cause championed by Conyers for decades that is now a prerequisite for left-leaning Democrats.
But Jones’ legislative style is likely to be less independent than Tlaib, who is part of a small bloc of progressive lawmakers sometimes at odds with party leadership.
Jones, by contrast, is firmly embedded in Detroit’s business-friendly political establishment. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a former Republican, endorsed her 2018 bid.
Tlaib remains the heavy favorite in the race thanks to her enthusiastic progressive base and massive cash advantage. As of mid-July, Tlaib had spent more than $2.1 million and retained more than $900,000 in cash on hand. The progressive Working Families Party and the Muslim American group Emgage have also been funding independent efforts to boost her reelection.
Jones, by contrast, raised just $165,000 and has spent all but $21,000 of it.
A Chance For Another Progressive Upset, This Time In Missouri
Cori Bush speaking to supporters in 2017, during her first campaign against Rep. Lacy Clay. She's running against him again this cycle. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Cori Bush, a progressive pastor and registered nurse, is trying for a second time to unseat Clay, a Missouri Democrat who has represented the St. Louis area since 2001. Clay, whose father was the first Black person to represent Missouri in Congress, defeated Bush in 2018 by nearly 20 percentage points in a four-candidate field.
This time though, Bush has more endorsements, money and momentum, enabling her to air TV ads for the first time. She appears to have benefited from the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in which she got her start in politics. In a TV spot, Bush frames herself as a change agent for the moment, declaring that Clay has “presided over 20 years of decline.”
Bush also has the support of outside groups spending on her behalf. Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that recruited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamaal Bowman (the Democratic nominee in New York’s 16th district), has purchased $150,000′s worth of TV ads boosting her. And the anti-monopoly group Fight Corporate Monopolies is spending $100,000 on an ad attacking Clay for opposing the Obama administration’s fiduciary rule requiring fund managers to act in the best interests of their clients. (Clay received $440,000 from corporate PACs this election cycle alone; their contributions make up a large majority of his total fundraising haul.)
A victory for Bush would be another coup for the Democratic Party’s left wing, fresh off the heels of Bowman’s defeat of veteran New York Rep. Eliot Engel.
It is not clear how sophisticated Clay’s campaign infrastructure is, but he has delegated much of the work to family members. Clay has spent more than one-quarter of the $743,000 he raised this cycle on services performed by his sister Michelle, an attorney. A firm run by Anthony Alexis, Michelle’s husband, conducted about $30,000′s worth of “internet engineering” and other services. (Michelle Clay, the campaign’s point of contact for press inquiries, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the nature of her role on the campaign.)
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Regardless, Clay is clearly not taking Bush for granted. He is running a TV ad attacking Bush for, among other things, paying herself a salary from her campaign coffers, a practice that is increasingly common among candidates without independent wealth. “Her name may be Bush, but she acts more like Trump,” the narrator warns. (Bush, a single mother of two, has paid herself just over $6,000 a month since the start of April.)
Clay (right) beat Bush in 2018. She's better financed and has more national endorsements this time. ASSOCIATED PRESS
An Embattled Sitting Republican Could Lose His Seat
Freshman Rep. Steve Watkins snuck into office by the thinnest of margins in 2018. He won the seven-way GOP primary in Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District with just 26.5% of the vote after his father poured more than $500,000 into a super PAC supporting him. He won the general election over Paul Davis, a moderate Democrat, by less than a percentage point after The Associated Press and Kansas City Star reported that Watkins exaggerated portions of his resume.
Watkins’ thin margin of victory meant he entered Congress with an electoral target on his back: Jake LaTurner, Kansas’ state treasurer, announced a primary challenge to Watkins last September. But his electoral danger became much more real after Watkins was charged with voter fraud on July 14 for registering to vote at a P.O. box — instead of his residential address — and voting in the wrong city council district.
Watkins insists the charges are politically motivated and he’s done nothing wrong, but LaTurner is airing ads linking Watkins’ charges to Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud. Watkins has fired back by emphasizing his military record ― he served in Afghanistan ― and calling LaTurner a career politician who raised taxes. But the attacks have clearly stuck at least a bit: Rep. Ron Estes, who represents the neighboring 4th district, cited the charges when endorsing LaTurner.
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Whoever wins the primary will face Democrat Michelle De La Isla, the first Latina mayor of Topeka, the district’s largest city. Both Republicans would likely be the favorite, but the charges against Watkins would give De La Isla a better shot at victory.
Arizona’s Possible Blue Wave
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), with his daughter Olivia, speaking to supporters on election night in 2018. Democrats, who have a primary on Tuesday, hope to unseat him in November. ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the northeast suburbs of Phoenix, four Democrats are vying for the chance to unseat Republican Rep. David Schweikert, an ideological conservative who has served in Congress for the last 10 years.
Anita Malik, who comes from the tech industry, is looking for a re-match, having lost to Schweikert by 10 percentage points in 2018. She’s in the race with Stephanie Rimmer, a small-business woman, and Karl Gentles, a former John McCain staffer with nonprofit background. But out-raising the three is a name that came within striking distance of turning a ruby-red district just west of Arizona’s 6th blue two years ago: Hiral Tiperneni.
The former emergency room physician and cancer research advocate lost a special election in the neighboring district — Arizona’s 8th Congressional District — by just 5 percentage points in 2018. She made the race about health care, and Republicans’ attacks on Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. She supports a public health insurance option to be offered alongside private insurance.
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The result was shocking; President Donald Trump had won the district by 20 points in 2016 and the seat was previously occupied by one of the most conservative members of the House, Rep. Trent Franks. Two years later, Tipirneni, who lives on the border between Arizona’s 8th and 6th districts, has decided to make a run for Schweikert’s seat instead.
She’s a fundraising heavyweight in the field, having raked in more than $1 million, far more than her competitors.
To be clear, it’s still a long shot for Democrats. The 6th district “leans Republican,” according to nonpartisan election analysis from the Cook Political Report. It’s former senator Jeff Flake’s longtime home, a district he represented in the House for 12 years before Schweikert. It’s conservative, but maybe not as conservative as some of the other Phoenix suburbs. In 2016, Hillary Clinton did better in Arizona’s 6th than President Barack Obama did in 2012. The district is younger, more educated and more affluent than the western suburbs where Tipirneni ran two years ago.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Esther Salas Pleads For Stronger Protection Of Federal Judges After Son’s Murder

In the 2019 fiscal year , the Marshals Service said there were 4,449 threats and inappropriate communications against its protected persons ― a massive increase from 2015 , when it recorded just 926 threats .
The jump , according to the agency , was at least partially attributable to “ improved effectiveness in data collection and reporting of potential threats.
” In her video , Salas , the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey , called for a “ national dialogue ” to find a way to safeguard the privacy of federal judges .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ threat was real and the free flow of information from the internet allowed this sick and depraved human being to find all our information and target us , ” Salas said .
Currently , federal judges ’ addresses and other information is readily available on the internet .
In addition , there are companies that will sell your personal details that can be leveraged for nefarious purposes .
In my case , the monster knew where I lived and what church we attended and had a complete dossier on me and my family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing we can do to stop it and that is unacceptable .
...
This is a matter of life and death .
We can ’ t just sit back and wait for another tragedy to strike .

In the 2019 fiscal year, the Marshals Service said there were 4,449 threats and inappropriate communications against its protected persons ― a massive increase from 2015, when it recorded just 926 threats. The jump, according to the agency, was at least partially attributable to “improved effectiveness in data collection and reporting of potential threats.”
In her video, Salas, the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey, called for a “national dialogue” to find a way to safeguard the privacy of federal judges.
“Unfortunately for my family, the threat was real and the free flow of information from the internet allowed this sick and depraved human being to find all our information and target us,” Salas said.
She continued:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--John Oliver Exposes The Racist Origins Of Trump's Latest Campaign Promise

President Donald Trump ’ s latest campaign talking point is a promise to keep low-income housing out of America ’ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s been slammed for its overt racism .
“ Oh my .
I @ @ @ @ @ not even a dog whistle anymore , ” Sen. Chris Murphy ( D-Conn. ) wrote @ @ @ @ @ president is now a proud , vocal segregationist.
” But as “ Last Week Tonight @ @ @ @ @ on Sunday night , there ’ s been a long and tortured path to this @ @ @ @ @ said , has pervaded American history for centuries in ways rarely taught in school , @ @ @ @ @ has only helped to perpetuate it .
“ A history of America that ignores white @ @ @ @ @ history of America , ” Oliver said .
Then , he shared some of Rep. @ @ @ @ @ on the importance of understanding our history , all of it : Important conversations are @ @ @ @ @ voice !
Join HuffPost Today !

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President Donald Trump’s latest campaign talking point is a promise to keep low-income housing out of America’s suburbs, a vow that’s been slammed for its overt racism.
“Oh my. I mean, it’s not even a dog whistle anymore,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote on Twitter. “Our president is now a proud, vocal segregationist.”
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But as “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver explained on Sunday night, there’s been a long and tortured path to this moment. Racism, he said, has pervaded American history for centuries in ways rarely taught in school, and that lack of education has only helped to perpetuate it.
“A history of America that ignores white supremacy is a white supremacist history of America,” Oliver said.
Then, he shared some of Rep. John Lewis’ last words on the importance of understanding our history, all of it:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Seth Rogen Reveals Why 'Pineapple Express' Sequel Never Happened

Seth Rogen said he and others involved in the stoner hit “ Pineapple Express ” were ready to light up the screens with a sequel , but Sony wouldn ’ t toke .
“ It was something we were very open to several years ago , ” Rogen told Howard Stern last week .
“ But Sony was not that interested in it.
” The 2008 flick starring Rogen , James Franco and Danny McBride earned just over $ 100 million at the box office , or nearly four times its $ 27 million budget , according to Box Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 50 million more on home video , The Numbers reported .
Rogen said they were ready to do a sequel .
“ We tried to make one , ” Rogen told Stern .
“ Thanks to the Sony hack , you can actually find the email when Sony decided to kill the movie and not make it.
” Those hacked emails , released in 2014 , showed producer Judd Apatow seeking a bigger budget of $ 50 million .
Sony held the line at $ 45 million and eventually stubbed out the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably wanted too much money , ” Rogen said , noting the first one was so profitable because “ no one got paid anything ” given its low budget .
See more of his conversation with Stern , in which he also explains the difficulty in making and selling a “ weed action movie , ” below :

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Seth Rogen said he and others involved in the stoner hit “Pineapple Express” were ready to light up the screens with a sequel, but Sony wouldn’t toke.
“It was something we were very open to several years ago,” Rogen told Howard Stern last week. “But Sony was not that interested in it.”
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The 2008 flick starring Rogen, James Franco and Danny McBride earned just over $100 million at the box office, or nearly four times its $27 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. It also took in nearly $50 million more on home video, The Numbers reported.
Rogen said they were ready to do a sequel.
“We tried to make one,” Rogen told Stern. “Thanks to the Sony hack, you can actually find the email when Sony decided to kill the movie and not make it.”
Those hacked emails, released in 2014, showed producer Judd Apatow seeking a bigger budget of $50 million. Sony held the line at $45 million and eventually stubbed out the project completely.
“I think we probably wanted too much money,” Rogen said, noting the first one was so profitable because “no one got paid anything” given its low budget.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Isaias Forecast To Be Near Hurricane Strength When It Reaches Carolinas

Officials dealing with surging cases of the coronavirus in Florida kept a close watch on the storm that was weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon , but still brought heavy rain and flooding .
Parts of the Carolinas were due for up to 6 inches ( 15 centimeters ) of rain , storm surge and possible tornadoes Monday .
Isaias was just shy of a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 70 mph , according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center ’ s 2 a.m. advisory .
A Category 1 hurricane has winds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were expecting a hurricane to develop and it didn ’ t , ” Stewart said Sunday .
“ It ’ s a tale of two storms .
If you live on the west side of the storm , you didn ’ t get much .
If you live east of the storm , there ’ s a lot of nasty weather there.
” Authorities closed beaches , parks and virus testing sites , lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn ’ t blow away .
DeSantis said the state is anticipating power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week ’ s supply of water , food and medicine on hand .
Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary , while also safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus .
In Palm Beach County , about 150 people were in shelters , said emergency management spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda .
The county has a voluntary evacuation order for those living in mobile or manufactured homes , or those who feel their home can ’ t withstand winds .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more evacuations , ” she said , adding that the evacuees are physically distant from each other and are wearing masks , due to the virus .
Officials told TCPalm newspapers that 38 people registered at three schools used as shelters .
Those areas now must be cleaned to ensure no traces of the coronavirus remain as teachers and staff report Monday to prepare for the upcoming school year .
No one checked in with COVID-19 symptoms .
Temperature checks were done at the door , officials said , and isolation rooms were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ symptoms .
“ The center of Isaias will pass just to the east of the Florida east coast through this morning , ” the hurricane center said in its advisory early Monday .
“ The center of Isaias will then move offshore of the coast of Georgia and southern South Carolina later today , move inland over eastern South Carolina or southern North Carolina tonight and move along the coast of the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday.
” A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Volusia/Brevard County Line in Florida to Fenwick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Albemarle Sounds in North Carolina , as well as Chesapeake Bay southward from Smith Point .
The storm did not affect the successful return of two astronauts aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule , which splashed down into calm waters in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola .
Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode the capsule back to Earth less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida .
Isaias already has caused destruction in the Caribbean : On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it uprooted trees , destroyed crops and homes and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico .
One man died in the Dominican Republic .
In Puerto Rico , the National Guard rescued at least 35 people from floods that swept away one woman , whose body was recovered Saturday .
With coronavirus cases surging in Florida recently , the added menace of a storm ratcheted up the anxiety .
State-run virus testing sites closed in areas where the storm might hit because the sites are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high winds .

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VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Isaias was forecast to be near hurricane strength as it approached the Carolinas Monday, just a day after bands of heavy rain from the tropical storm lashed Florida’s east coast.
Officials dealing with surging cases of the coronavirus in Florida kept a close watch on the storm that was weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon, but still brought heavy rain and flooding. Parts of the Carolinas were due for up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain, storm surge and possible tornadoes Monday.
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Isaias was just shy of a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 70 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s 2 a.m. advisory. A Category 1 hurricane has winds of 74 to 95 mph.
The tropical storm was centered 330 miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and 65 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, forecasters said.
“Don’t be fooled by the downgrade,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned at a news conference after the storm — pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs — spent hours roughing up the Bahamas.
Deerfield Beach, Florida as the storm neared the coast. mpi04/MediaPunch/MediaPunch/IPx
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Upper-level winds took much of the strength out of Isaias, said Stacy Stewart, senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center in Miami.
“We were expecting a hurricane to develop and it didn’t,” Stewart said Sunday. “It’s a tale of two storms. If you live on the west side of the storm, you didn’t get much. If you live east of the storm, there’s a lot of nasty weather there.”
Authorities closed beaches, parks and virus testing sites, lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn’t blow away. DeSantis said the state is anticipating power outages and asked residents to have a week’s supply of water, food and medicine on hand. Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary, while also safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
In Palm Beach County, about 150 people were in shelters, said emergency management spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda. The county has a voluntary evacuation order for those living in mobile or manufactured homes, or those who feel their home can’t withstand winds.
“We don’t anticipate many more evacuations,” she said, adding that the evacuees are physically distant from each other and are wearing masks, due to the virus.
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In Indian River County, north of West Palm Beach, Florida, emergency shelters were clearing out Sunday after Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Officials told TCPalm newspapers that 38 people registered at three schools used as shelters. Those areas now must be cleaned to ensure no traces of the coronavirus remain as teachers and staff report Monday to prepare for the upcoming school year.
No one checked in with COVID-19 symptoms. Temperature checks were done at the door, officials said, and isolation rooms were designated in case anyone came in with symptoms.
“The center of Isaias will pass just to the east of the Florida east coast through this morning,” the hurricane center said in its advisory early Monday. “The center of Isaias will then move offshore of the coast of Georgia and southern South Carolina later today, move inland over eastern South Carolina or southern North Carolina tonight and move along the coast of the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday.”
The storm was moving north, northwest at 9 mph, forecasters said.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Volusia/Brevard County Line in Florida to Fenwick Island, Delaware, and included Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds in North Carolina, as well as Chesapeake Bay southward from Smith Point.
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The storm did not affect the successful return of two astronauts aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule, which splashed down into calm waters in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola. Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode the capsule back to Earth less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida.
Isaias already has caused destruction in the Caribbean: On Thursday, before it became a hurricane, it uprooted trees, destroyed crops and homes and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. One man died in the Dominican Republic. In Puerto Rico, the National Guard rescued at least 35 people from floods that swept away one woman, whose body was recovered Saturday.
Isaias snapped trees and knocked out power as it blew through the Bahamas on Saturday.
With coronavirus cases surging in Florida recently, the added menace of a storm ratcheted up the anxiety. State-run virus testing sites closed in areas where the storm might hit because the sites are outdoor tents, which could topple in high winds.
Natalie Betancur, stocking up at a grocery in Palm Beach Gardens, said that the storm itself doesn’t cause her a great amount of concern.
“The hurricane is not that serious, but I feel that the public is really panicking because it’s a hurricane and we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” she said.
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Officials in the Bahamas opened shelters for people in Abaco island to help those who have been living in temporary structures since Dorian devastated the area, killing at least 70 people in September 2019.
___


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Thousands Ordered To Evacuate As Wildfires Scorch Southern California

BANNING , Calif. ( AP ) — Thousands of people were under evacuation orders Sunday after a wildfire in mountains east of Los Angeles exploded in size as crews battled flames in triple-digit heat .
The fire in Riverside County consumed more than 31 square miles of dry brush and timber , according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
There was zero containment at midday .
The cause was under investigation .
Officials allowed flames to run up the side of Mount San Gorgonio , an 11,000-foot ( 3,350-meter ) peak , because it wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such steep , rugged terrain , said Lisa Cox , a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service .
“ We don ’ t want to put firefighters in a dangerous situation , ” Cox told the Riverside Press-Enterprise .
“ It ’ s burning in a straight line up a mountain.
” The Apple Fire in Cherry Valley , California , is estimated to have burned through roughly 20,000 acres by Sunday .
It prompted thousands of people to evacuate in the state already hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic .
The blaze began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Cherry Valley , an unincorporated area near the city of Beaumont about 85 miles ( 137 kilometers ) east of downtown Los Angeles .
Flames leapt along brushy ridge tops and came close to homes while firefighters attacked it from the ground and air .
One home and two outbuildings were destroyed , Cal Fire said .
No injuries were reported .
Evacuation orders and advisories were issued for about 8,000 people in mountain , canyon and foothill neighborhoods .
Campgrounds and hiking trails were closed in the San Gorgonio Wilderness area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The mercury hit 109 degrees ( 43 Celsius ) Sunday in nearby Palm Springs .
The National Weather Service said “ dangerously hot conditions ” were expected to continue because of high pressure over much of Southern California .
To the north , the Pond Fire in San Luis Obispo County was 10 % contained Sunday after burning more than 2 square miles of ( 6 square kilometres ) brush east of Santa Margarita .
The blaze destroyed two structures but officials said it was unclear whether they were homes .

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BANNING, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of people were under evacuation orders Sunday after a wildfire in mountains east of Los Angeles exploded in size as crews battled flames in triple-digit heat.
The fire in Riverside County consumed more than 31 square miles of dry brush and timber, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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There was zero containment at midday. The cause was under investigation.
Officials allowed flames to run up the side of Mount San Gorgonio, an 11,000-foot (3,350-meter) peak, because it wasn’t safe to let crews work in such steep, rugged terrain, said Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
“We don’t want to put firefighters in a dangerous situation,” Cox told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “It’s burning in a straight line up a mountain.”
The Apple Fire in Cherry Valley, California, is estimated to have burned through roughly 20,000 acres by Sunday. It prompted thousands of people to evacuate in the state already hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. ASSOCIATED PRESS / Ringo H.W. Chiu
The blaze began as two adjacent fires reported Friday evening in Cherry Valley, an unincorporated area near the city of Beaumont about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.
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Flames leapt along brushy ridge tops and came close to homes while firefighters attacked it from the ground and air.
One home and two outbuildings were destroyed, Cal Fire said. No injuries were reported.
Evacuation orders and advisories were issued for about 8,000 people in mountain, canyon and foothill neighborhoods. Campgrounds and hiking trails were closed in the San Gorgonio Wilderness area of the San Bernardino National Forest.
A huge smoke plume was visible for miles around and contributed to poor air quality.
The mercury hit 109 degrees (43 Celsius) Sunday in nearby Palm Springs. The National Weather Service said “dangerously hot conditions” were expected to continue because of high pressure over much of Southern California.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Man Fires On Cops With AK-47 After Refusing To Wear A Mask: Officials

Authorities have arrested a Pennsylvania man after he allegedly fired on police with an AK-47 a day after shooting at a store clerk who asked him to wear a face mask .
Adam Zaborowski , 35 , opened fire on three local and state police officers when they pulled him over near his Slatington home the day after the store shooting , Pennsylvania state police said in a statement .
Zaborowski was shot at least twice and arrested .
He ’ s expected to fully recover .
An officer was left with bullet fragments in the arm .
The violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involving Americans refusing to wear face masks to help stem the spread of COVID-19 .
Zaborowski was “ just not handling the pandemic well , ” his attorney , John Waldron , explained Sunday to Lehigh Valley Live .
“ I know there ’ s been some stressors in his life — I don ’ t mean that as an excuse , ” Waldron told The Morning Call .
“ The fact that he got shot twice with non-life-threatening injures when he had an AK-47 and another handgun , Adam is very fortunate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Waldron said .
The string of incidents began last Friday at a cigar shop in Bethlehem Township when a store clerk told Zaborowski to put on a mask .
A witness in the store told WFZM-TV that Zaborowski whipped out what he claimed was a copy of an order from the governor saying he didn ’ t need to wear one .
The state requires masks in public places , including stores .
As the clerk argued with Zaborowski , he allegedly grabbed a couple of cigars and walked out .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ parking lot , police reported that Zaborowski pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and shot once in the air and twice at the clerk , who escaped injury .
Police released video of the shooting , which can be seen above .
Zaborowski has been charged with 22 crimes , including seven counts of attempted homicide , aggravated assault and robbery , and is being held on $ 1 million bail .
He is banned from possessing firearms in Pennsylvania because of a previous aggravated assault case , police said .

Authorities have arrested a Pennsylvania man after he allegedly fired on police with an AK-47 a day after shooting at a store clerk who asked him to wear a face mask.
Adam Zaborowski, 35, opened fire on three local and state police officers when they pulled him over near his Slatington home the day after the store shooting, Pennsylvania state police said in a statement.
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Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin told the Morning Call newspaper that Zaborowski was armed with an AK-47 and a handgun.
Zaborowski was shot at least twice and arrested. He’s expected to fully recover. An officer was left with bullet fragments in the arm.
The violence comes amid a spate of ugly confrontations involving Americans refusing to wear face masks to help stem the spread of COVID-19.
Zaborowski was “just not handling the pandemic well,” his attorney, John Waldron, explained Sunday to Lehigh Valley Live. “I know there’s been some stressors in his life — I don’t mean that as an excuse,” Waldron told The Morning Call.
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“The fact that he got shot twice with non-life-threatening injures when he had an AK-47 and another handgun, Adam is very fortunate he ended up the way he did,” Waldron said.
The string of incidents began last Friday at a cigar shop in Bethlehem Township when a store clerk told Zaborowski to put on a mask. A witness in the store told WFZM-TV that Zaborowski whipped out what he claimed was a copy of an order from the governor saying he didn’t need to wear one. The state requires masks in public places, including stores.
As the clerk argued with Zaborowski, he allegedly grabbed a couple of cigars and walked out. When the clerk followed him to the parking lot, police reported that Zaborowski pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and shot once in the air and twice at the clerk, who escaped injury. Officials released video of the shooting, which can be seen above.
“It’s crazy, just crazy,” the store witness told WFZM. “It’s the mask. The guy was obviously anti-mask.”
Zaborowski has been charged with 22 crimes, including seven counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery, and is being held on $1 million bail.
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He is banned from possessing firearms in Pennsylvania because of a previous aggravated assault case, police said.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--Health Experts Demand Paid Leave Before Schools Reopen

AP Photo/Brynn Anderson A 7-year-old boy wearing a mask waits at the bus stop on Aug. 3 , the first day of school in Dallas , Georgia .
More than 500 health professionals signed a letter calling for universal paid family and sick leave , which was sent on Monday to the White House , Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar .
The letter , which was organized through the Paid Leave for All campaign , urges the Trump officials to push Congress to expand the emergency paid leave policy that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ As public health professionals and organizations dedicated to protecting the public ’ s health , we know that access to comprehensive paid leave is critical to being able to safely return to in-person instruction , ” the letter reads .
“ We write to urge the administration and Congress to ensure universal access to emergency paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave through 2021.
” The Families First Coronavirus Response Act , which Congress passed in March , provides funding for up to two weeks of paid sick days , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care leave if schools or child care facilities are shut down .
( Parents and care givers can take an additional two weeks of unpaid emergency child care leave . )
But this paid leave program is set to expire at the end of this year .
The current policy also excludes all workers at companies with more than 500 employees , leaving millions of front-line workers — like those at big grocery store chains — without leave protections .
The letter calls on lawmakers to end the exemption of large companies .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ comprehensive paid leave program , millions of people will face financial pressure to continue going to work even if they begin to experience COVID-19 symptoms .
And while reopening schools should ease the burden on many parents , those who can ’ t find child care ― for after school , for younger kids , for kids who get sick ― will still be at risk of losing employment .
Monday ’ s missive points to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that urges schools and businesses to “ implement flexible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staff to stay home when they are sick , have been exposed , or caring for someone who is sick.
” The number of coronavirus cases in the United States is rising rapidly in both urban and rural parts of the country .
On Sunday , Dr. Deborah Birx , the physician leading the White House ’ s pandemic response , warned that the virus was “ extraordinarily widespread.
” Still , the White House has supported reopening schools for this academic year , which has already begun in many places .
President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uptick in cases was just due to increased testing and demanded that officials “ Open the Schools !
” The CDC itself has cautioned against full in-person education at both K-12 and college levels , saying it would be the “ highest risk.
” Trump publicly rejected CDC guidance on schools in early July , calling it “ impractical.
” “ As a public health professional and parent , I know that expanded paid leave is critical to the safe and equitable reopening of schools , ” Solange Gould , co-director of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a signer of the letter , told HuffPost .
“ Paid leave can ensure financial security for families and allow parents , teachers , and school staff to care for themselves and their families while stopping the spread of COVID-19.
” Expanding paid leave policy would ultimately be up to Congress .
Lawmakers and top White House officials are currently negotiating another pandemic relief package , as several of the early aid measures have already expired .
Expanded federal unemployment benefits ran out at the end of July as did the federal moratorium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in financial distress .
House Democrats passed a bill extending the unemployment aid through 2021 , but Senate Republicans have refused to sign on to the full measure .
Universal paid leave has not been at the center of the latest negotiations .
The United States remains the only high-income nation without a mandate for paid leave .
As HuffPost ’ s Emily Peck reported , Republicans carved out exemptions for big corporations as well as the health care industry in the Families First package , leaving up to 106 million workers not @ @ @ @ @ @ @

A 7-year-old boy wearing a mask waits at the bus stop on Aug. 3, the first day of school in Dallas, Georgia. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
Hundreds of health experts are cautioning the Trump administration against reopening schools in the fall without the federal government first establishing a paid leave program for all American workers.
More than 500 health professionals signed a letter calling for universal paid family and sick leave, which was sent on Monday to the White House, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. The letter, which was organized through the Paid Leave for All campaign, urges the Trump officials to push Congress to expand the emergency paid leave policy that was enacted earlier during the coronavirus pandemic.
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“As public health professionals and organizations dedicated to protecting the public’s health, we know that access to comprehensive paid leave is critical to being able to safely return to in-person instruction,” the letter reads. “We write to urge the administration and Congress to ensure universal access to emergency paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave through 2021.”
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which Congress passed in March, provides funding for up to two weeks of paid sick days, plus 10 weeks of paid emergency child care leave if schools or child care facilities are shut down. (Parents and care givers can take an additional two weeks of unpaid emergency child care leave.) But this paid leave program is set to expire at the end of this year.
The current policy also excludes all workers at companies with more than 500 employees, leaving millions of front-line workers — like those at big grocery store chains — without leave protections. The letter calls on lawmakers to end the exemption of large companies.
Health experts are concerned that without a comprehensive paid leave program, millions of people will face financial pressure to continue going to work even if they begin to experience COVID-19 symptoms. And while reopening schools should ease the burden on many parents, those who can’t find child care ― for after school, for younger kids, for kids who get sick ― will still be at risk of losing employment.
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Monday’s missive points to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that urges schools and businesses to “implement flexible sick leave policies and practices that enable staff to stay home when they are sick, have been exposed, or caring for someone who is sick.”
The number of coronavirus cases in the United States is rising rapidly in both urban and rural parts of the country. On Sunday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the physician leading the White House’s pandemic response, warned that the virus was “extraordinarily widespread.” Still, the White House has supported reopening schools for this academic year, which has already begun in many places. President Donald Trump baselessly tweeted Monday that the uptick in cases was just due to increased testing and demanded that officials “Open the Schools!”
The CDC itself has cautioned against full in-person education at both K-12 and college levels, saying it would be the “highest risk.” Trump publicly rejected CDC guidance on schools in early July, calling it “impractical.”
The health professionals who signed on to Monday’s letter argue that paid leave is a necessary safety net if schools are to reopen.
“As a public health professional and parent, I know that expanded paid leave is critical to the safe and equitable reopening of schools,” Solange Gould, co-director of the public health group Human Impact Partners and a signer of the letter, told HuffPost. “Paid leave can ensure financial security for families and allow parents, teachers, and school staff to care for themselves and their families while stopping the spread of COVID-19.”
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The letter cites a CDC study estimating that an additional 5 million people contracted the H1N1 virus in 2009 because of a lack of policies like paid sick leave.
Expanding paid leave policy would ultimately be up to Congress. Lawmakers and top White House officials are currently negotiating another pandemic relief package, as several of the early aid measures have already expired. Expanded federal unemployment benefits ran out at the end of July as did the federal moratorium on evictions, leaving tens of millions in financial distress. House Democrats passed a bill extending the unemployment aid through 2021, but Senate Republicans have refused to sign on to the full measure.
Universal paid leave has not been at the center of the latest negotiations. The United States remains the only high-income nation without a mandate for paid leave. As HuffPost’s Emily Peck reported, Republicans carved out exemptions for big corporations as well as the health care industry in the Families First package, leaving up to 106 million workers not covered by the emergency leave policy.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has shown no interest in addressing the policy again, even as more businesses and schools reopen.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-08-03--260 Workers In Georgia's Biggest School District Caught Or Were Exposed To COVID-19

Some 260 employees of Gwinnett County Public Schools , the largest school district in Georgia , have either tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19 and will be quarantined ahead of the start of the fall semester next week .
The district intends to offer all-digital classes with both prerecorded and live components beginning on Aug. 12 , but staff members were still required to come to work and began preplanning activities in-person last Wednesday , according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution .
District spokesperson Sloan Roach told reporters the high number of COVID-19 cases among district employees , which became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for work , is still “ fluid ” as reports continue to come in .
“ Through tracing , we know that the majority of these cases are the result of community spread , meaning we have people who have called in to report who have not been at school or work , ” Roach said .
“ Given the number of COVID cases in Gwinnett , we would expect to see positives among our employees based on the community spread in our county.
” As of Monday , Gwinnett County has experienced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 240 deaths , with over 4,000 of those cases emerging within the last two weeks .
These spiking numbers have caused Gwinnett teachers to request that the school board instate a work-from-home option that a message to staff on the county ’ s website had hinted at before it was removed .
A Change.org petition decrying “ Gwinnett County [ as ] the only county in the state requiring its employees to report back to school full-time ” has received over 3,000 signatures , and at least one Gwinnett teacher , Ashley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work from home was denied .
In response to Newman ’ s resignation , Gwinnett spokespeople told local media that opportunities to work from home were “ very limited ” but that the school board would “ continue to make adjustments to ... a very fluid situation.
” The district announced its plans to present an all-digital fall semester on July 20 after previously offering both in-person ( with face masks required ) and digital learning for students and their families to choose between .
“ There is no replacement for face-to-face instruction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for next year , ” Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said in a news release on the district ’ s website .
“ With that in mind , we offered parents an option between in-person and digital instruction in order to be responsive to their wishes for their children.
” “ However , out of an abundance of concern for our students , families , and employees , we made a very difficult decision based on the increasing number of COVID-19 cases we are seeing in our county , as well as the concerns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , parents , and others in the community , ” he explained .
Wilbanks added that this was “ not the beginning of the school year we had hoped for ; however , it was a possibility we planned for , knowing that keeping students and staff safe had to be a priority.
” In a July 11 letter to superintendent Wilbanks , the Gwinnett County Association of Educators , a nonprofit representing teachers in the district , asked for the start of schools to be “ delayed until health departments and scientific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 .
The group also requested that instructors “ be given a choice as to selecting the format of which to engage their students , ” specifically emphasizing virtual teaching .

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Some 260 employees of Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest school district in Georgia, have either tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19 and will be quarantined ahead of the start of the fall semester next week.
The district intends to offer all-digital classes with both prerecorded and live components beginning on Aug. 12, but staff members were still required to come to work and began preplanning activities in-person last Wednesday, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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District spokesperson Sloan Roach told reporters the high number of COVID-19 cases among district employees, which became apparent a day after they first reported for work, is still “fluid” as reports continue to come in.
“Through tracing, we know that the majority of these cases are the result of community spread, meaning we have people who have called in to report who have not been at school or work,” Roach said. “Given the number of COVID cases in Gwinnett, we would expect to see positives among our employees based on the community spread in our county.”
As of Monday, Gwinnett County has experienced a total of over 17,900 COVID-19 cases and 240 deaths, with over 4,000 of those cases emerging within the last two weeks.
These spiking numbers have caused Gwinnett teachers to request that the school board instate a work-from-home option that a message to staff on the county’s website had hinted at before it was removed. A Change.org petition decrying “Gwinnett County [as] the only county in the state requiring its employees to report back to school full-time” has received over 3,000 signatures, and at least one Gwinnett teacher, Ashley Newman, resigned after her request to work from home was denied.
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In response to Newman’s resignation, Gwinnett spokespeople told local media that opportunities to work from home were “very limited” but that the school board would “continue to make adjustments to ... a very fluid situation.”
The district announced its plans to present an all-digital fall semester on July 20 after previously offering both in-person (with face masks required) and digital learning for students and their families to choose between.
“There is no replacement for face-to-face instruction, and that was our preferred model for next year,” Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said in a news release on the district’s website. “With that in mind, we offered parents an option between in-person and digital instruction in order to be responsive to their wishes for their children.”
“However, out of an abundance of concern for our students, families, and employees, we made a very difficult decision based on the increasing number of COVID-19 cases we are seeing in our county, as well as the concerns that have been expressed by our teachers, parents, and others in the community,” he explained.
Wilbanks added that this was “not the beginning of the school year we had hoped for; however, it was a possibility we planned for, knowing that keeping students and staff safe had to be a priority.”
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