npr--2020-03-02--A $100 Million HIV Vaccine Project Failed. But All Hope Is Not Lost

A $ 100 Million HIV Vaccine Project Failed .
But All Hope Is Not Lost Infectious disease specialist Glenda Gray spent the last 10 years of her life organizing a clinical trial on HVTN 702 , a vaccine she and her team hoped could protect people from becoming infected with HIV .
But during a call with an independent board that evaluates trial safety and efficacy in January , their hopes were dashed ; the vaccine was not working .
For many in the HIV community , the news came as a huge disappointment .
HVTN 702 was one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Now , scientists are back to the drawing board , focusing on other HIV vaccine trials and research for success .
`` One hopes there 's going to be progress when one does an efficacy trial like this , '' says Mark Feinberg , CEO and president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative , who was not involved with the study .
`` But a lot of people were probably not too surprised , just because the challenge [ to create an HIV vaccine ] is so difficult . ''
There are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HIV/AIDS , and about 1.7 million new people became infected with HIV in 2018 , according to UNAIDS .
Scientists first saw a glimmer of hope in HVTN 702 more than a decade ago .
In a groundbreaking 2009 study on an earlier version of the vaccine , researchers showed — for the first time — that a vaccine could prevent HIV infection .
But the results of the trial conducted in Thailand were modest ; the vaccine was only effective at preventing HIV in 31 % of more than 16,000 trial participants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccinations are at least 85 % effective , according the World Health Organization .
Led by Gray , president of the South African Medical Research Council , researchers worked to improve the vaccine 's effectiveness and try again , this time in South Africa — a country with one of the highest rates of HIV .
The team enrolled 5,407 sexually active men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 .
None had HIV but all lived in communities where HIV is prevalent .
The volunteers were then randomly assigned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ series of six injections — or a placebo .
`` We told all of them , 'You must behave like you are in the placebo arm , ' '' Gray explains , or as if they were not receiving a vaccine .
`` We gave them condoms , contraception , HIV prevention counseling '' and PrEP , medication that can help prevent HIV if taken daily .
Despite their efforts , 129 participants who had received the vaccine became infected with HIV after two years , while 123 infections occurred among participants receiving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine did not prevent HIV , nor did it increase the chances of obtaining the disease .
The four-year trial was expected to end later this year , but after learning the results in January , Gray implemented a plan to quickly stop the study — which has cost upward of $ 100 million , according to Science .
Participants were informed that the vaccine did not work , and all those who contracted HIV , an incurable disease , are now being put on treatment .
`` We had to correspond with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the study staff , the study investigators , '' Gray says .
`` Everyone is upset and sad . ''
HIV is a complex virus that targets and weakens the human immune system , which is normally responsible for fighting off diseases and infections .
It also mutates rapidly , making mistakes as it replicates in the body .
`` [ This results ] in viruses that are not all identical to each other , '' says Feinberg .
`` That means in every HIV infected person , there 's tremendous genetic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immune system to fight off the virus ultimately ca n't keep up with the mutations and fail to fight off HIV .
A vaccine for HIV faces the same challenge : it must trigger the creation of antibodies that can fight off all the different variations and subtypes of HIV .
It also must have a long-lasting effect .
Vaccines trying to meet these standards are in the works across the globe .
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network , an international collaboration focused on the creation of an HIV vaccine , currently has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 705 and HVTN 706 .
HVTN 705 is being tested in Malawi , Mozambique , South Africa , Zambia and Zimbabwe , while HVTN 706 is undergoing tests in Europe and the Americas .
The formulas behind the two vaccines vary slightly , but both are designed to induce immune reactions against a variety of HIV strains .
But Feinberg has his eye on the AMP ( antibody mediated prevention ) Studies , which are also organized by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network .
The first results are due later this year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine and wait for the human body to naturally produce antibodies against a disease or infection , AMP is giving antibodies directly to participants with IV infusions .
Participants in 11 countries are specifically receiving broadly neutralizing antibodies ( BNAs ) , rare antibodies that form in about 20 % of people who are infected with HIV and can block the infection of new cells—no matter the strain of HIV .
`` By infusing people with these antibodies , they are hoping they will protect them from acquiring HIV , '' Feinberg says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offer protection for a number of years , the antibodies would need to be readministered periodically ; they would not be a long-term solution .
If successful , however , these studies will show that the broadly neutralizing antibodies can guard against HIV infection — and will also spur scientists toward creating a vaccine that helps the human body naturally generate these antibodies .
Feinberg 's own organization is working on one such vaccine now .
Despite the most recent failure , giving up on a HIV vaccine is not an option for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemic is out of control ; we need a vaccine , '' says Gray .
`` Just because you fail , you do n't stop trying .
You dust yourself off and get up . ''
For Gray , that means working to understand why HVTN 702 failed .
But she finds cause for hope in HVTN 702 's nickname Uhambo – which stands for 'journey ' in the Zulu and Xhosa languages .
`` We named it Uhambo , '' she says , `` because we are on a journey to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a freelance journalist and science writer .
Her work has appeared in Science , The Washington Post and NPR .
Find her on Twitter @ NadiaMacias .

A $100 Million HIV Vaccine Project Failed. But All Hope Is Not Lost
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jackie Clausen/Gallo Images /The Times/Getty Images Jackie Clausen/Gallo Images /The Times/Getty Images
Infectious disease specialist Glenda Gray spent the last 10 years of her life organizing a clinical trial on HVTN 702, a vaccine she and her team hoped could protect people from becoming infected with HIV.
But during a call with an independent board that evaluates trial safety and efficacy in January, their hopes were dashed; the vaccine was not working.
For many in the HIV community, the news came as a huge disappointment. HVTN 702 was one of the most promising treatments in the industry. Now, scientists are back to the drawing board, focusing on other HIV vaccine trials and research for success.
"One hopes there's going to be progress when one does an efficacy trial like this," says Mark Feinberg, CEO and president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, who was not involved with the study. "But a lot of people were probably not too surprised, just because the challenge [to create an HIV vaccine] is so difficult."
There are currently 37.9 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, and about 1.7 million new people became infected with HIV in 2018, according to UNAIDS.
Scientists first saw a glimmer of hope in HVTN 702 more than a decade ago. In a groundbreaking 2009 study on an earlier version of the vaccine, researchers showed — for the first time — that a vaccine could prevent HIV infection. But the results of the trial conducted in Thailand were modest; the vaccine was only effective at preventing HIV in 31% of more than 16,000 trial participants. By contrast, most routine childhood vaccinations are at least 85% effective, according the World Health Organization.
Led by Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council, researchers worked to improve the vaccine's effectiveness and try again, this time in South Africa — a country with one of the highest rates of HIV.
The team enrolled 5,407 sexually active men and women between the ages of 18 and 35. None had HIV but all lived in communities where HIV is prevalent. The volunteers were then randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine regimen — a series of six injections — or a placebo.
"We told all of them, 'You must behave like you are in the placebo arm,'" Gray explains, or as if they were not receiving a vaccine."We gave them condoms, contraception, HIV prevention counseling" and PrEP, medication that can help prevent HIV if taken daily.
Despite their efforts, 129 participants who had received the vaccine became infected with HIV after two years, while 123 infections occurred among participants receiving the placebo.
Scientists concluded that the vaccine did not prevent HIV, nor did it increase the chances of obtaining the disease.
The four-year trial was expected to end later this year, but after learning the results in January, Gray implemented a plan to quickly stop the study — which has cost upward of $100 million, according to Science. Participants were informed that the vaccine did not work, and all those who contracted HIV, an incurable disease, are now being put on treatment.
"We had to correspond with all of our participants ... the stakeholders, the study staff, the study investigators," Gray says. "Everyone is upset and sad."
HIV is a complex virus that targets and weakens the human immune system, which is normally responsible for fighting off diseases and infections. It also mutates rapidly, making mistakes as it replicates in the body.
"[This results] in viruses that are not all identical to each other," says Feinberg. "That means in every HIV infected person, there's tremendous genetic diversity." Antibodies created by the immune system to fight off the virus ultimately can't keep up with the mutations and fail to fight off HIV.
A vaccine for HIV faces the same challenge: it must trigger the creation of antibodies that can fight off all the different variations and subtypes of HIV. It also must have a long-lasting effect.
Vaccines trying to meet these standards are in the works across the globe.
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network, an international collaboration focused on the creation of an HIV vaccine, currently has two other ongoing vaccine trials: HVTN 705 and HVTN 706. HVTN 705 is being tested in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while HVTN 706 is undergoing tests in Europe and the Americas. The formulas behind the two vaccines vary slightly, but both are designed to induce immune reactions against a variety of HIV strains.
But Feinberg has his eye on the AMP (antibody mediated prevention) Studies, which are also organized by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. The first results are due later this year.
While traditional vaccine trials give people a vaccine and wait for the human body to naturally produce antibodies against a disease or infection, AMP is giving antibodies directly to participants with IV infusions.
Participants in 11 countries are specifically receiving broadly neutralizing antibodies (BNAs), rare antibodies that form in about 20% of people who are infected with HIV and can block the infection of new cells—no matter the strain of HIV.
"By infusing people with these antibodies, they are hoping they will protect them from acquiring HIV," Feinberg says. But unlike vaccines, which can offer protection for a number of years, the antibodies would need to be readministered periodically; they would not be a long-term solution.
If successful, however, these studies will show that the broadly neutralizing antibodies can guard against HIV infection — and will also spur scientists toward creating a vaccine that helps the human body naturally generate these antibodies. Feinberg's own organization is working on one such vaccine now.
Despite the most recent failure, giving up on a HIV vaccine is not an option for both Feinberg and Gray.
"The epidemic is out of control; we need a vaccine," says Gray. "Just because you fail, you don't stop trying. You dust yourself off and get up."
For Gray, that means working to understand why HVTN 702 failed.
But she finds cause for hope in HVTN 702's nickname Uhambo – which stands for 'journey' in the Zulu and Xhosa languages.
"We named it Uhambo," she says, "because we are on a journey to find an HIV vaccine."
Nadia Whitehead is a freelance journalist and science writer. Her work has appeared in Science, The Washington Post and NPR. Find her on Twitter @NadiaMacias.


npr--2020-03-02--Despite Cybersecurity Risks And Last-Minute Changes, The 2020 Census Goes Online

Despite Cybersecurity Risks And Last-Minute Changes , The 2020 Census Goes Online After centuries of putting pen or pencil to paper , the U.S. government is getting ready to rely on digital screens and the cloud for its first-ever primarily online census .
Starting March 12 , households across the country are expected to be able to participate in the once-a-decade national head count by going to my2020census.gov to complete the online census questionnaire , which is set to be open to the public through July 31 .
Under pressure to cut costs and keep up with these increasingly Internet-centric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , based on an earlier test run , about six out of 10 households that fill out a form on their own to do so online .
For those who have limited Internet access or prefer to stay offline , the bureau is also collecting census responses over the phone and on paper forms , which are scheduled to arrive at some homes by mid-March and then in early April to every household that has n't responded by then .
`` People can reply almost anywhere , at any time , '' Census @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a written statement to lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee , while also noting the web form and call centers are available in 13 languages .
But the planned public debut for the online census form comes amidst heightened concerns about cybersecurity risks , disinformation campaigns and technical troubles .
NPR has learned that as a precaution , the bureau has increased its printing order to prepare enough paper forms for every home address in the country .
Still , a snafu with the upcoming digital rollout , some lawmakers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ derail the constitutionally mandated head count and undermine public trust in data that carry at least a decade 's worth of implications across the U.S .
The results of the count are used to redraw voting districts and redistribute congressional seats , Electoral College votes and an estimated $ 1.5 trillion a year in federal funding among the states .
`` The Iowa primary debacle comes to mind '' A nightmare scenario played out less than four years ago with Australia 's census .
After a series of outages caused by distributed denial-of-service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's first-ever `` digital-first '' census in 2016 , the Australian Bureau of Statistics decided to shut down the online form for nearly two days .
In social media , it gave rise to the hashtag # CensusFail .
The U.S. Census Bureau has been looking for lessons from Down Under since then .
But some census watchers in the U.S. say they do n't have to look that far back for an incident that stokes their fears .
`` I must tell you the Iowa primary debacle comes to mind when I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton , a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia , said with a furrowed brow before questioning Census Bureau officials during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing last month .
Unlike the smartphone app that delayed the reporting of results from this year 's Iowa Democratic caucuses , the Census Bureau 's IT systems are not expected to produce new census numbers in a matter of hours .
The bureau has until the end of December to start releasing the results of the 2020 census , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Still , in the months leading up to that legally mandated deadline , the bureau faces an unforgiving timeline that involves not only launching an online census form , but also relying on new IT systems and other technology to hire , train and deploy as many as a half-million temporary workers to help complete the count .
Beginning in mid-May , it 's planning to send workers equipped with an iPhone app to collect and deliver information about people in households that have not self-responded to the census .
For those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the census on their own , the experience will likely boil down to spending about 10 minutes on a government website .
But for the federal government 's largest statistical agency , it will be a culmination of years of largely under-the-radar planning , testing — including a practice run of the census in 2018 — and some last-minute changes that could turn this year 's count into the most complicated yet .
`` The Internet is here to stay '' For decades , the Census Bureau has tried to rely on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ birth , phone numbers and other personal information about every person living in the U.S. for the national count .
A little-known fact is that the first online U.S. census took place in 2000 .
The last-minute rollout was so quiet that the bureau did not push out any advertising or even issue a press release .
`` Unless someone happened to stumble across the link to the on-line form , or had some connection to the Census Bureau , he or she would not likely have known about this response mode , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on its unprecedented online efforts in 2000 , when a sliver of a percent of the country 's more than 281 million residents were counted that way .
Still , that 2002 report noted that a digital census was on the horizon .
`` The Internet is here to stay .
The exact form and function of Census Internet options , however , is largely undeveloped , '' the report said .
Bureau officials ultimately decided to pass on another opportunity to take the count online for the 2010 census , which turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a debacle involving handheld computers that census workers were supposed to use to collect information from non-responsive households .
That count turned out to be the most expensive to date at $ 12.3 billion in 2020 dollars .
`` Behind schedule and rushed to deploy its systems '' This year 's census , estimated to cost $ 15.6 billion , could break that record .
Officials at the Census Bureau hope they can keep that number from ballooning in part by cutting back on paper and collecting most of the country 's census @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other operations by going digital .
But last year , a report by the Office of Inspector General for the Commerce Department , which oversees the Census Bureau , said it found `` fundamental security deficiencies '' with the cloud-based IT systems for the 2020 census .
Among the weaknesses , the internal watchdog group said , were incomplete plans for recovering lost census information stored in the cloud in case of a cybersecurity attack or disaster .
`` Many of these deficiencies indicate that the Bureau was behind schedule and rushed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ OIG wrote in its June 2019 report .
Questioned by Del .
Norton last month during the House oversight committee hearing , Dillingham , the bureau 's director , said the agency has `` remedied '' all of the issues highlighted by the OIG 's report .
`` We store the data in multiple areas in the cloud to ensure security , and we back that up regularly , '' explained Albert Fontenot , an associate director at the bureau in charge of the 2020 census , during the hearing .
`` We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breach or a situation like that . ''
The bureau says it has not identified any census data that have been compromised during the 2018 test run of the census .
But in December , reporting by Reuters , which NPR has not been able to confirm , raised questions among some census watchers about the security of the bureau 's IT systems .
Citing anonymous sources , Reuters reported that while no data was stolen , the website created to collect census responses was `` hacked from IP addresses in Russia during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that `` an intruder bypassed a 'firewall ' and accessed parts of the system that should have been restricted to census developers . ''
In a rare written statement released hours after the report was published online last year , the bureau said the story `` contains inaccuracies and outdated information , '' adding that it was `` looking into every aspect '' of the report and `` taking all concerns seriously . ''
NPR has learned the bureau has since concluded `` no 'hack , ' breach , compromise , or cyber @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run , according to a Feb. 3 letter that Dillingham wrote to Sen. Jack Reed ( D-R.I. ) and the bureau 's public information office provided to NPR .
Asked by NPR whether the incidents highlighted in the report involved IP addresses linked to Russia , Kevin Smith , the bureau 's chief information officer , did not directly answer , saying instead there were no `` nefarious '' actions by `` foreign entities '' during the test run .
`` They basically were able to see the website until we further restricted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. states , '' Smith added .
Reed , the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee , had asked Dillingham to provide an explanation for the incidents by Jan. 10 , according to a letter NPR obtained from the senator 's office .
In a written statement , the bureau says it responds to letters from Congress `` as soon as we are able to . ''
But Reed tells NPR the bureau 's delayed response `` undermines confidence in their ability to function effectively . ''
The bureau says it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its IT systems with help from the Department of Homeland Security , including its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , as well as federal intelligence agencies .
Reed , who has focused on cybersecurity issues when questioning bureau officials during Senate hearings , remains skeptical about whether the agency is ready to deal with ever-evolving threats .
`` The Census Bureau has a burden of proof that they 're building a census that is not going to be compromised either through a lack of manpower or through cyber intrusions , and they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Reed says .
The `` iron door with five locks '' As a precaution for 2020 , the bureau is blocking IP addresses based outside of the U.S. from accessing the online form .
Smith , the bureau 's CIO , acknowledges , though , these geoblocking restrictions are a `` very lightweight security measure , '' especially since bad actors can make themselves look like they 're coming from within the U.S. '' It 's like putting a screen door in front of your iron door with five locks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ door does a little bit , but not much . ''
Exactly how that `` iron door with five locks '' is set up , the bureau wo n't say .
It 's trying to avoid giving potential census disruptors an advantage .
But that , in turn , has created what Smith referred to in a 2018 blog post as `` an ongoing communications challenge '' given the public scrutiny the technological changes for the 2020 count has drawn .
The bureau is on the lookout for phishing attempts that try to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fake census websites .
If any are found , Smith says the bureau is planning to alert the public as soon as possible .
`` But we 're not necessarily in direct control as the census to shut down a website , '' Smith said during a 2018 public meeting at the Census Bureau 's headquarters in Suitland , Md .
Another unknown for the bureau is exactly how many people will try to use the online census form at the same time .
The bureau is trying to avoid repeating the botched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours of its public debut , that federal government website began experiencing outages partly because it drew up to five times more than the expected number of concurrent users .
For the 2020 census online form , the bureau is trying to pace web traffic by staggering the mailing of letters that direct most U.S. households to my2020census.gov .
While it 's expecting about 120,000 users on the census website at the same time , the bureau has been trying to build a system at least five times as strong to handle 600,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expanded if there are any higher spikes in traffic , according to Michael Thieme , an assistant director at the bureau who 's in charge of systems and contracts for the 2020 census .
Internally , Thieme says , some bureau officials have been referring to a hypothetical scenario in which Beyoncé , whose Twitter account has more than 15 million followers , sends a tweet urging people to respond to the 2020 census , driving U.S.-based fans to the online form .
`` That 's what we call our viral load .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ load , '' Thieme adds .
How much web traffic the online census form can actually take on , however , has come under question in recent weeks .
The bureau says it recently discovered the IT system that the bureau was planning to rely on as its primary system for collecting online responses could not handle 600,000 concurrent users `` without experiencing performance issues , '' according to a Government Accountability Office report .
`` It was n't that we could n't scale .
It was that we noticed the slowdown in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vice president of corporate communications for Pegasystems Inc. , a Cambridge , Mass.-based software contractor that developed the system .
The bureau says it decided on Feb. 7 — just over a month before the online form 's public debut — to switch to an in-house system that was intended to be the backup .
The system built by Pegasystems , the bureau added , will still be used for other operations and is expected to be the new alternative option in case the in-house system goes down .
But Nick Marinos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IT and cybersecurity audits of other federal agencies , warns there is little time left for additional testing of the new setup .
`` Late design changes , such as a shift from one system to another , can introduce new risk during a critical moment , '' Marinos told lawmakers during the recent House oversight committee hearing .
As part of a last-ditch backup , the bureau has made a potentially significant change to its census plans by ordering millions of extra paper forms from its Chicago-based printing contractor R.R .
Donnelley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bungled bidding process .
During the House hearing , Dillingham , the bureau 's director , revealed that it was part of a contingency plan in case of `` some type of catastrophe in which people could not reply online . ''
But the exact number of forms the bureau is preparing to distribute has been difficult to nail down .
The bureau previously estimated it would need around 137 million paper questionnaires .
But at a January press conference in Washington , D.C. , Fontenot , the bureau 's associate director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was `` completed '' and `` over 120 million '' questionnaires were ready to be stuffed into envelopes .
Speaking to NPR last month , however , Fontenot said a total of more than 150 million forms have been printed .
That would be enough to provide one to each of the 140 million-plus households in the country , giving the bureau what Fontenot considers `` the maximum margin of safety '' if what it hopes to be the first primarily online U.S. count has to fall back to all-paper .

Despite Cybersecurity Risks And Last-Minute Changes, The 2020 Census Goes Online
Enlarge this image toggle caption Amr Alfiky/NPR Amr Alfiky/NPR
After centuries of putting pen or pencil to paper, the U.S. government is getting ready to rely on digital screens and the cloud for its first-ever primarily online census.
Starting March 12, households across the country are expected to be able to participate in the once-a-decade national head count by going to my2020census.gov to complete the online census questionnaire, which is set to be open to the public through July 31.
Under pressure to cut costs and keep up with these increasingly Internet-centric times, the Census Bureau is expecting, based on an earlier test run, about six out of 10 households that fill out a form on their own to do so online. For those who have limited Internet access or prefer to stay offline, the bureau is also collecting census responses over the phone and on paper forms, which are scheduled to arrive at some homes by mid-March and then in early April to every household that hasn't responded by then.
"People can reply almost anywhere, at any time," Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham said last month in a written statement to lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, while also noting the web form and call centers are available in 13 languages.
But the planned public debut for the online census form comes amidst heightened concerns about cybersecurity risks, disinformation campaigns and technical troubles.
NPR has learned that as a precaution, the bureau has increased its printing order to prepare enough paper forms for every home address in the country.
Still, a snafu with the upcoming digital rollout, some lawmakers and other census advocates worry, could derail the constitutionally mandated head count and undermine public trust in data that carry at least a decade's worth of implications across the U.S. The results of the count are used to redraw voting districts and redistribute congressional seats, Electoral College votes and an estimated $1.5 trillion a year in federal funding among the states.
The U.S. Census Bureau has produced videos showing how to fill out the online 2020 census form. YouTube
"The Iowa primary debacle comes to mind"
A nightmare scenario played out less than four years ago with Australia's census. After a series of outages caused by distributed denial-of-service attacks inundating the website for that country's first-ever "digital-first" census in 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics decided to shut down the online form for nearly two days. In social media, it gave rise to the hashtag #CensusFail. The U.S. Census Bureau has been looking for lessons from Down Under since then.
But some census watchers in the U.S. say they don't have to look that far back for an incident that stokes their fears.
"I must tell you the Iowa primary debacle comes to mind when I think of the census going digital," Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, said with a furrowed brow before questioning Census Bureau officials during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing last month.
Unlike the smartphone app that delayed the reporting of results from this year's Iowa Democratic caucuses, the Census Bureau's IT systems are not expected to produce new census numbers in a matter of hours. The bureau has until the end of December to start releasing the results of the 2020 census, beginning with the latest state population counts.
Still, in the months leading up to that legally mandated deadline, the bureau faces an unforgiving timeline that involves not only launching an online census form, but also relying on new IT systems and other technology to hire, train and deploy as many as a half-million temporary workers to help complete the count. Beginning in mid-May, it's planning to send workers equipped with an iPhone app to collect and deliver information about people in households that have not self-responded to the census.
A public demonstration of the iPhone app census workers are expected to use was held at the U.S. Census Bureau's headquarters in 2018. YouTube
For those who do go online to fill out the census on their own, the experience will likely boil down to spending about 10 minutes on a government website. But for the federal government's largest statistical agency, it will be a culmination of years of largely under-the-radar planning, testing — including a practice run of the census in 2018 — and some last-minute changes that could turn this year's count into the most complicated yet.
"The Internet is here to stay"
For decades, the Census Bureau has tried to rely on the Internet to gather names, dates of birth, phone numbers and other personal information about every person living in the U.S. for the national count.
A little-known fact is that the first online U.S. census took place in 2000. The last-minute rollout was so quiet that the bureau did not push out any advertising or even issue a press release.
"Unless someone happened to stumble across the link to the on-line form, or had some connection to the Census Bureau, he or she would not likely have known about this response mode," according to the bureau's report on its unprecedented online efforts in 2000, when a sliver of a percent of the country's more than 281 million residents were counted that way.
Still, that 2002 report noted that a digital census was on the horizon.
"The Internet is here to stay. The exact form and function of Census Internet options, however, is largely undeveloped," the report said.
Bureau officials ultimately decided to pass on another opportunity to take the count online for the 2010 census, which turned out to be another paper-dependent count after a debacle involving handheld computers that census workers were supposed to use to collect information from non-responsive households. That count turned out to be the most expensive to date at $12.3 billion in 2020 dollars.
"Behind schedule and rushed to deploy its systems"
This year's census, estimated to cost $15.6 billion, could break that record.
Officials at the Census Bureau hope they can keep that number from ballooning in part by cutting back on paper and collecting most of the country's census information online, as well as automating other operations by going digital.
But last year, a report by the Office of Inspector General for the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, said it found "fundamental security deficiencies" with the cloud-based IT systems for the 2020 census. Among the weaknesses, the internal watchdog group said, were incomplete plans for recovering lost census information stored in the cloud in case of a cybersecurity attack or disaster.
"Many of these deficiencies indicate that the Bureau was behind schedule and rushed to deploy its systems," the Commerce OIG wrote in its June 2019 report.
Questioned by Del. Norton last month during the House oversight committee hearing, Dillingham, the bureau's director, said the agency has "remedied" all of the issues highlighted by the OIG's report.
"We store the data in multiple areas in the cloud to ensure security, and we back that up regularly," explained Albert Fontenot, an associate director at the bureau in charge of the 2020 census, during the hearing. "We can recover data if we had a breach or a situation like that."
"A burden of proof"
The bureau says it has not identified any census data that have been compromised during the 2018 test run of the census.
But in December, reporting by Reuters, which NPR has not been able to confirm, raised questions among some census watchers about the security of the bureau's IT systems. Citing anonymous sources, Reuters reported that while no data was stolen, the website created to collect census responses was "hacked from IP addresses in Russia during 2018 testing of census systems" and that "an intruder bypassed a 'firewall' and accessed parts of the system that should have been restricted to census developers."
In a rare written statement released hours after the report was published online last year, the bureau said the story "contains inaccuracies and outdated information," adding that it was "looking into every aspect" of the report and "taking all concerns seriously."
NPR has learned the bureau has since concluded "no 'hack,' breach, compromise, or cyber attack occurred" during the 2018 test run, according to a Feb. 3 letter that Dillingham wrote to Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and the bureau's public information office provided to NPR.
Asked by NPR whether the incidents highlighted in the report involved IP addresses linked to Russia, Kevin Smith, the bureau's chief information officer, did not directly answer, saying instead there were no "nefarious" actions by "foreign entities" during the test run. "They basically were able to see the website until we further restricted the access to just U.S. territories and U.S. states," Smith added.
Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked Dillingham to provide an explanation for the incidents by Jan. 10, according to a letter NPR obtained from the senator's office. In a written statement, the bureau says it responds to letters from Congress "as soon as we are able to." But Reed tells NPR the bureau's delayed response "undermines confidence in their ability to function effectively."
The bureau says it's monitoring for cyber threats and reviewing its IT systems with help from the Department of Homeland Security, including its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as federal intelligence agencies.
Reed, who has focused on cybersecurity issues when questioning bureau officials during Senate hearings, remains skeptical about whether the agency is ready to deal with ever-evolving threats.
"The Census Bureau has a burden of proof that they're building a census that is not going to be compromised either through a lack of manpower or through cyber intrusions, and they haven't done that to my satisfaction yet," Reed says.
The "iron door with five locks"
As a precaution for 2020, the bureau is blocking IP addresses based outside of the U.S. from accessing the online form. Smith, the bureau's CIO, acknowledges, though, these geoblocking restrictions are a "very lightweight security measure," especially since bad actors can make themselves look like they're coming from within the U.S.
"It's like putting a screen door in front of your iron door with five locks," Smith says. "That screen door does a little bit, but not much."
Exactly how that "iron door with five locks" is set up, the bureau won't say. It's trying to avoid giving potential census disruptors an advantage. But that, in turn, has created what Smith referred to in a 2018 blog post as "an ongoing communications challenge" given the public scrutiny the technological changes for the 2020 count has drawn.
The bureau is on the lookout for phishing attempts that try to dupe people into entering personal information on fake census websites. If any are found, Smith says the bureau is planning to alert the public as soon as possible.
"But we're not necessarily in direct control as the census to shut down a website," Smith said during a 2018 public meeting at the Census Bureau's headquarters in Suitland, Md.
Preparing for the "Beyoncé tweet load"
Another unknown for the bureau is exactly how many people will try to use the online census form at the same time.
The bureau is trying to avoid repeating the botched 2013 launch of HealthCare.gov. Within two hours of its public debut, that federal government website began experiencing outages partly because it drew up to five times more than the expected number of concurrent users.
For the 2020 census online form, the bureau is trying to pace web traffic by staggering the mailing of letters that direct most U.S. households to my2020census.gov. While it's expecting about 120,000 users on the census website at the same time, the bureau has been trying to build a system at least five times as strong to handle 600,000 concurrent users. The system can be expanded if there are any higher spikes in traffic, according to Michael Thieme, an assistant director at the bureau who's in charge of systems and contracts for the 2020 census.
Internally, Thieme says, some bureau officials have been referring to a hypothetical scenario in which Beyoncé, whose Twitter account has more than 15 million followers, sends a tweet urging people to respond to the 2020 census, driving U.S.-based fans to the online form.
"That's what we call our viral load. Some people call that the Beyoncé tweet load," Thieme adds.
How much web traffic the online census form can actually take on, however, has come under question in recent weeks. The bureau says it recently discovered the IT system that the bureau was planning to rely on as its primary system for collecting online responses could not handle 600,000 concurrent users "without experiencing performance issues," according to a Government Accountability Office report.
"It wasn't that we couldn't scale. It was that we noticed the slowdown in performance," says Lisa Pintchman, vice president of corporate communications for Pegasystems Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based software contractor that developed the system.
The bureau says it decided on Feb. 7 — just over a month before the online form's public debut — to switch to an in-house system that was intended to be the backup. The system built by Pegasystems, the bureau added, will still be used for other operations and is expected to be the new alternative option in case the in-house system goes down.
But Nick Marinos, a director at the GAO who leads IT and cybersecurity audits of other federal agencies, warns there is little time left for additional testing of the new setup.
"Late design changes, such as a shift from one system to another, can introduce new risk during a critical moment," Marinos told lawmakers during the recent House oversight committee hearing.
The all-paper backup
As part of a last-ditch backup, the bureau has made a potentially significant change to its census plans by ordering millions of extra paper forms from its Chicago-based printing contractor R.R. Donnelley & Sons, which was selected after a bungled bidding process. During the House hearing, Dillingham, the bureau's director, revealed that it was part of a contingency plan in case of "some type of catastrophe in which people could not reply online."
But the exact number of forms the bureau is preparing to distribute has been difficult to nail down. The bureau previously estimated it would need around 137 million paper questionnaires. But at a January press conference in Washington, D.C., Fontenot, the bureau's associate director for the 2020 census, said printing was "completed" and "over 120 million" questionnaires were ready to be stuffed into envelopes.
Speaking to NPR last month, however, Fontenot said a total of more than 150 million forms have been printed.
That would be enough to provide one to each of the 140 million-plus households in the country, giving the bureau what Fontenot considers "the maximum margin of safety" if what it hopes to be the first primarily online U.S. count has to fall back to all-paper.


npr--2020-03-02--Super Tuesday Could Show Just How Blue Texas Is Turning

Super Tuesday Could Show Just How Blue Texas Is Turning For Texas Democrats , the state 's Super Tuesday primary could help define the shape of a party that 's on the rise after more than two decades of being shut out of power .
During the Trump administration , the party has experienced a surge of new voters — ranging from suburban voters in areas of Texas historically dominated by Republicans to a new crop of young , racially diverse voters .
With so many changes , it 's `` really hard to predict virtually anything , '' said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of Houston .
But Super Tuesday , and how progressive the winning candidate is , could be a first look at where the party is headed .
`` All Democrats agree that they want to turn Texas blue , but exactly what shade of blue is still in question , '' Rottinghaus said .
Here 's a few of the shifts happening in the state and trends to watch as Texans cast their ballots during the March 3 primary : In the past decade , Texas has been home to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cities .
While population growth has slowed across the U.S. , in Texas there 's been a consistent growth .
According to the U.S. Census Bureau , in the period from mid-2018 to mid-2019 , Texas grew by 367,000 — bringing the state 's total population to almost 29 million .
A significant part of the state 's growth has been domestic migration — people moving to Texas from other states .
Most of the people moving to the Lone Star State have been coming from Democratic-leaning states , including California , New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moving from Florida , which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans .
`` Texas is booming in a way that is changing the political dynamics , '' Rottinghaus said .
In particular , it 's making Texas politics more like national politics .
Jim Henson , a pollster with the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin , said the state 's Democratic voters have been shifting slightly more to the left as the national Democratic Party has become more liberal .
`` Despite what Texans often want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest of the country , '' Henson said .
`` The national political shifts that we have seen happen elsewhere in the country are happening in Texas a little bit late . ''
2 .
Younger and more racially diverse Texans are turning out to vote .
Democrats saw some fairly significant electoral gains in 2018 .
The party came closer to winning a U.S. Senate race than they had in decades , and they flipped several congressional and statehouse seats .
During the 2018 midterm elections , there was a huge surge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long had one of the lowest voter participation rates in the nation .
In the March primaries that year , Democratic turnout in particular more than doubled compared to four years earlier .
Do n't see the graphic above ?
Click here .
Some of those gains have been attributed to a rise in young people and people of color voting , both groups that skew toward Democrats in the voting booth .
Texas is one of the youngest states in the country .
About 40 % of the population is under the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 60 % those young people are people of color , largely Latino .
It 's projected that by 2022 , 1 in 3 voters in Texas will be under 30 .
And while turnout among voters under 30 has historically been extremely low ( just 8 % in 2014 ) turnout among these voters tripled compared to the previous midterm election .
Do n't see the graphic above ?
Click here .
The midterm electorate in 2018 was also more racially diverse than in past , with turnout among black and Latinx Texans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ graphic ?
Click here .
3 .
Democrats are drawing in voters from the suburbs .
Some of those electoral gains for Democrats were also aided by the support of voters in Texas who have historically supported Republicans .
`` These are places that are suburban Texas that have been the haven for Republicans for so long , but now are shifting . ''
said Rottinghaus .
`` You have got swing voters who are willing to cross the line and vote for Democrats instead of voting for Republicans . ''
Suburban counties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counties flipped to Democrats for the first time in decades .
Do n't see the graphic above ?
Click here .
Democrats also dominated in Fort Bend — the suburban county west of Houston — and made significant gains in the suburban counties around Dallas , which have long considered Republican strongholds .
`` I had worked in Republican politics when I was young and then became a school teacher , '' said 75-year-old Dorothy De La Garza , who is voting for the first time in a Democratic primary .
`` I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be disappointed in a Republican president the way I am in this one . ''

Super Tuesday Could Show Just How Blue Texas Is Turning
Enlarge this image toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images Drew Angerer/Getty Images
For Texas Democrats, the state's Super Tuesday primary could help define the shape of a party that's on the rise after more than two decades of being shut out of power.
During the Trump administration, the party has experienced a surge of new voters — ranging from suburban voters in areas of Texas historically dominated by Republicans to a new crop of young, racially diverse voters.
With so many changes, it's "really hard to predict virtually anything," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. But Super Tuesday, and how progressive the winning candidate is, could be a first look at where the party is headed.
"All Democrats agree that they want to turn Texas blue, but exactly what shade of blue is still in question," Rottinghaus said.
Here are a few of the shifts happening in the state and trends to watch as Texans cast their ballots during the March 3 primary:
1. Texas' overall population has exploded.
In the past decade, Texas has been home to many of the country's fastest-growing cities. While population growth has slowed across the U.S., in Texas there has been consistent growth.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the period from mid-2018 to mid-2019, Texas grew by 367,000 — bringing the state's total population to almost 29 million.
A significant part of the state's growth has been domestic migration — people moving to Texas from other states. Most of the people moving to the Lone Star State have been coming from Democratic-leaning states, including California, New York and Illinois. Many are also moving from Florida, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
"Texas is booming in a way that is changing the political dynamics," Rottinghaus said.
In particular, it's making Texas politics more like national politics.
Jim Henson, a pollster with the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said the state's Democratic voters have been shifting slightly more to the left as the national Democratic Party has become more liberal.
"Despite what Texans often want to think, we are part of the rest of the country," Henson said. "The national political shifts that we have seen happen elsewhere in the country are happening in Texas a little bit late."
2. Younger and more racially diverse Texans are turning out to vote.
Democrats saw some fairly significant electoral gains in 2018. The party came closer to winning a U.S. Senate race than it had in decades, and it flipped several congressional and statehouse seats.
During the 2018 midterm elections, there was a huge surge in turnout in Texas, which has long had one of the lowest voter participation rates in the nation. In the March primaries that year, Democratic turnout in particular more than doubled compared with four years earlier.
Loading...
Don't see the graphic above? Click here.
Some of those gains have been attributed to a rise in young people and people of color voting, both groups that skew toward Democrats in the voting booth.
Texas is one of the youngest states in the country. About 40% of the population is under the age of 30, and more than 60% of those young people are people of color, largely Latino.
It's projected that by 2022, 1 in 3 voters in Texas will be under 30.
And while turnout among voters under 30 has historically been extremely low (just 8% in 2014), turnout among these voters tripled compared with the previous midterm election.
Loading...
Don't see the graphic above? Click here.
The midterm electorate in 2018 was also more racially diverse than in the past, with turnout among black and Latinx Texans significantly higher.
Loading...
Don't see the graphic? Click here.
3. Democrats are drawing in voters from the suburbs.
Some of those electoral gains for Democrats were also aided by the support of voters in Texas who have historically supported Republicans.
"These are places that are suburban Texas that have been the haven for Republicans for so long, but now are shifting," Rottinghaus said. "You have got swing voters who are willing to cross the line and vote for Democrats instead of voting for Republicans."
Suburban counties around Austin, including Hays and Williamson counties, flipped to Democrats for the first time in decades.
Loading...
Don't see the graphic above? Click here.
Democrats also dominated in Fort Bend — the suburban county west of Houston — and made significant gains in the suburban counties around Dallas, which have long considered Republican strongholds.
President Trump has accelerated those shifts.
"I had worked in Republican politics when I was young and then became a schoolteacher," said 75-year-old Dorothy De La Garza, who is voting for the first time in a Democratic primary. "I had no idea that I would ever be disappointed in a Republican president the way I am in this one."


npr--2020-03-02--'Steel City' No More, Pueblo Reinvents Itself And Its Politics

'Steel City ' No More , Pueblo Reinvents Itself And Its Politics Unlike postcard mountain resort towns , or the booming , high-tech corridor centered around Denver , Pueblo is Colorado 's faded industrial relic .
A city struggling to redefine its economy , and its politics following decades as a solidly blue-collar Democratic stronghold .
Pueblo is a two-hour drive south from Denver , through prosperous Colorado Springs with its military bases , defense contractors and megachurches .
Wide open plains stretch for miles , mountains off in the distance .
And then , popping up out of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the mill that gave this place its nickname , Steel City .
Today only about 6 % of Pueblo 's jobs are in manufacturing after a decades-long decline .
Old timers like Rod Slyhoff remember the day everything changed , back in 1984 .
`` It 's in my mind all the time , '' said Slyhoff , president and CEO of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce .
`` I believe it was in March , 6,500 pink slips were issued to the [ steel mill company ] employees , '' Slyhoff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drastically in one day . ''
President Trump has promised to bring steel back , and made American manufacturing a big focus of his administration .
Just last week , Trump held a rally about 45 minutes up the road in Colorado Springs .
`` Remember they said you ca n't do manufacturing jobs anymore ?
Really ?
Tell me about it , '' he said to cheers from the packed arena .
`` Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over one half a century . ''
`` I think his statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ business and manufacturing community because it shows that we have a president that 's interested and knows that industry , '' Slyhoff said .
`` It 's that attitude that you 've got a leader that is really aware of the value of manufacturing , where I think we felt like maybe that has n't been a priority for previous residents . ''
And he worries it may not be a priority for the next president , if he or she is a Democrat .
While it 's true that unemployment is down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the last few years , in Pueblo working people feel like they ca n't catch a break .
This city of 111,750 has only added about 5,000 jobs since 2008 , and median income has barely budged since then .
Today the steel mill , now owned by a Russian company .
does n't have the 24-7 stream of workers that it used to .
`` Quite a slap in the face '' At the mill 's gate stands Chuck Perko , president of United Steelworkers Union Local 3267 , which represents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 2-mile-wide industrial site .
He 's wearing a union t-shirt in cold weather and a baseball cap .
A sign at the visitor 's center says : `` 140 years steel strong . ''
The mill goes back to 1882 , Perko said , but it 's a fraction of the fiery , smoke-belching heart of the city it once was when steel jobs drew immigrant labor from all over the world .
`` It 's now 10 % of the workforce , '' Perko said , meaning 90 % of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At his union hall about a mile from the mill , there 's an antique Pepsi machine and an out-of-tune piano .
He told me some of his union members went to that Trump rally in Colorado Springs .
`` People need that little bit of hope , '' he said , `` even if it does n't take much of a delve to realize that what he 's saying is not what he intends to do .
The message is good , but it 's not gon na be backed up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good for your job . ''
He says he was surprised Trump narrowly won this area in 2016 .
`` I mean , this has been a labor stronghold going back to the 1930s , '' he said , `` when labor came into its own .
And so it was quite a slap in the face . ''
Perko is the fourth generation of his family to work at the mill .
He did n't finish college , but that did n't keep him from getting a good job .
Now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pretty lucky to get a good blue-collar job in Pueblo .
`` One of the things that you see written on a lot of the new hardhats is ' # millmoney , ' because it 's still one of the best paying jobs for somebody out there that may not necessarily have a college degree , '' he said .
Pueblo is 50 % Hispanic .
The Arkansas River that bisects the town was once the border with Mexico .
But the steel mill and nearby coal mines attracted immigrants from all over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his team at the mill has 20 nationalities now , and they take pride in what they do .
`` The steelworkers , when somebody sees someone in that orange jacket walking around , they know there 's someone that 's providing for their family , '' he said .
The phrase `` steel city '' is still all over Pueblo , on restaurants and bars , but that is no longer the reality of the economy here .
People are far more likely to work at the local hospital , or in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marijuana industries .
( Local governments can bar marijuana grow houses and retail in Colorado .
Unlike neighboring Colorado Springs , Pueblo has embraced the sector . )
Other big employers are government , retail and food service .
`` When I hear someone say , that job at McDonalds , they do n't deserve to make even $ 12 an hour because they should pick themselves up by their bootstraps and go do something else — those people work harder than I do , '' Perko said .
`` I 'll be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deserve to be paid for their labor . ''
That sounds like something a Bernie Sanders supporter would say .
That 's because he is .
Perko used to like Joe Biden , Amy Klobuchar , and Elizabeth Warren .
`` They 're all people that either have a blue-collar background or have at least a plan for the working class , '' he said .
`` I can not get behind the parts of the Democratic party that feel like corporate America . ''
When the steel mill laid off all those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of churches got together to open a food pantry called the Cooperative Care Center , and it 's still open today , offering bags of food , clothes , medicine and toiletries .
But the clients are n't laid off steelworkers anymore .
`` It 's the middle class now that are hurting , '' said Mona Montoya , the director here for 27 years .
`` We 've seen people from the police department , the fire department , school teachers , nurses , '' Montoya said .
`` You close your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person - they 're families , and that 's where it really pains us , to see that kind of deal . ''
One morning this week , there were a lot of families waiting for help .
Mestas lives with her disabled adult daughter and two grandkids .
After 20 years working as a librarian , now she 's retired and says her family ca n't afford enough food to get through the month .
`` For my daughter they give her a certain amount of food stamps , and she tries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can , but sometimes it does n't go as far as it should , '' Mestas said .
She believes a president could fix things , but everybody seems too invested in fighting their political opponents .
`` Bad mouthing each other instead of taking into consideration what really matters , '' she said .
Mestas says she has n't decided who she 'll support for president .
`` I do n't like anybody who 's running .
I used to be Republican , '' she said , `` but now at this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' The Cooperative Care Center helped 38,000 people last year .
That 's about a quarter of the local population .
Not surprising , since a quarter of the people in Pueblo live at or below the federal poverty line .
A lot of the food at the Center distributes is donated by grocery stores .
Like the one Don Sena has spent his life stocking the shelves of on the overnight shift .
`` I 've been in the grocery business over 50 years , '' he said at a bar near @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to work .
He was pouring a Dos Equis beer into a glass of tomato juice .
Sena is proud he put his daughter through college , and that his son is a drill instructor in the Marines .
He 's about to retire .
Many would say he 's lived the American dream .
But Sena is n't feeling too good about it .
`` There ai n't no jobs in this town any more , '' he said .
`` There ai n't none .
If you have a job , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are struggling , he says , and rich people are taking advantage of them .
Struggles are easy to find in Pueblo .
But if you look on the city 's walls and in the empty spaces , there 's something else .
Artists and small businesses starting to take root .
Ina Bernard , an artist from Germany , welcomes me to Artisan Textile Company , a shop she opened four years ago in an old part of the city .
Her shop carries handmade items like mittens and paintings , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making .
`` It 's just a really fun small-town community , lovely location , '' she said .
`` The weather is beautiful , lots of sunshine .
Also the mountains . ''
Making artisan textiles may seem like the opposite of manufacturing the commodity Pueblo became known as Steel City for .
But to Bernard , the growing artists ' community is not a sharp break from the industrial past .
`` I think Pueblo is very proud to be a steel city town because that 's really what helped build @ @ @ @ @ @ @ came here , '' she said .
`` But I think Pueblo is now kind of looking at maybe growing from that , and definitely being supportive of the creative economy . ''
Bernard says just like immigrants a century ago , she moved to Pueblo to be in a place where people make things .

'Steel City' No More, Pueblo Reinvents Itself And Its Politics
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
Unlike postcard mountain resort towns, or the booming, high-tech corridor centered around Denver, Pueblo is Colorado's faded industrial relic. A city struggling to redefine its economy, and its politics following decades as a solidly blue-collar Democratic stronghold.
Pueblo is a two-hour drive south from Denver, through prosperous Colorado Springs with its military bases, defense contractors and megachurches. Wide open plains stretch for miles, mountains off in the distance.
And then, popping up out of the horizon, stark vertical lines: Smokestacks from the mill that gave this place its nickname, Steel City.
Today only about 6% of Pueblo's jobs are in manufacturing after a decades-long decline.
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Old timers like Rod Slyhoff remember the day everything changed, back in 1984.
"It's in my mind all the time," said Slyhoff, president and CEO of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce.
"I believe it was in March, 6,500 pink slips were issued to the [steel mill company] employees," Slyhoff said. "And our economy changed drastically in one day."
President Trump has promised to bring steel back, and made American manufacturing a big focus of his administration.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
Just last week, Trump held a rally about 45 minutes up the road in Colorado Springs.
"Remember they said you can't do manufacturing jobs anymore? Really? Tell me about it," he said to cheers from the packed arena. "Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over one half a century."
Trump's promises sound good to Slyhoff.
"I think his statements to me are very positive for the business and manufacturing community because it shows that we have a president that's interested and knows that industry," Slyhoff said. "It's that attitude that you've got a leader that is really aware of the value of manufacturing, where I think we felt like maybe that hasn't been a priority for previous presidents."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
And he worries it may not be a priority for the next president, if he or she is a Democrat.
While it's true that unemployment is down and the stock market has been up for the last few years, in Pueblo working people feel like they can't catch a break. This city of 111,750 has only added about 5,000 jobs since 2008, and median income has barely budged since then.
Today the steel mill, now owned by a Russian company. doesn't have the 24-7 stream of workers that it used to.
"Quite a slap in the face"
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
At the mill's gate stands Chuck Perko, president of United Steelworkers Union Local 3267, which represents some of the workers at this sprawling, 2-mile-wide industrial site. He's wearing a union t-shirt in cold weather and a baseball cap.
A sign at the visitor's center says: "140 years steel strong."
The mill goes back to 1882, Perko said, but it's a fraction of the fiery, smoke-belching heart of the city it once was when steel jobs drew immigrant labor from all over the world.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
"It's now 10% of the workforce," Perko said, meaning 90% of the jobs at the mill are now gone.
At his union hall about a mile from the mill, there's an antique Pepsi machine and an out-of-tune piano. He told me some of his union members went to that Trump rally in Colorado Springs.
"People need that little bit of hope," he said, "even if it doesn't take much of a delve to realize that what he's saying is not what he intends to do. The message is good, but it's not gonna be backed up by anything that is going to be good for your job."
He says he was surprised Trump narrowly won this area in 2016.
"I mean, this has been a labor stronghold going back to the 1930s," he said, "when labor came into its own. And so it was quite a slap in the face."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
Perko is the fourth generation of his family to work at the mill. He didn't finish college, but that didn't keep him from getting a good job. Now, he says, you have to be pretty lucky to get a good blue-collar job in Pueblo.
"One of the things that you see written on a lot of the new hardhats is '#millmoney,' because it's still one of the best paying jobs for somebody out there that may not necessarily have a college degree," he said.
Pueblo is 50% Hispanic. The Arkansas River that bisects the town was once the border with Mexico. But the steel mill and nearby coal mines attracted immigrants from all over the world for generations. Perko says his team at the mill has 20 nationalities now, and they take pride in what they do.
toggle caption Irene Rinaldi/NPR
"The steelworkers, when somebody sees someone in that orange jacket walking around, they know there's someone that's providing for their family," he said.
A "steel city" no more
The phrase "steel city" is still all over Pueblo, on restaurants and bars, but that is no longer the reality of the economy here.
People are far more likely to work at the local hospital, or in the relatively new clean energy or legal marijuana industries. (Local governments can bar marijuana grow houses and retail in Colorado. Unlike neighboring Colorado Springs, Pueblo has embraced the sector.) Other big employers are government, retail and food service.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
Perko, the steelworkers union president, sympathizes with people working low-wage service jobs.
"When I hear someone say, that job at McDonalds, they don't deserve to make even $12 an hour because they should pick themselves up by their bootstraps and go do something else — those people work harder than I do," Perko said. "I'll be the first to admit it. They deserve to be paid for their labor."
That sounds like something a Bernie Sanders supporter would say. That's because he is.
Perko used to like Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren.
"They're all people that either have a blue-collar background or have at least a plan for the working class," he said. "I cannot get behind the parts of the Democratic party that feel like corporate America."
When the steel mill laid off all those workers in the 1980s, a group of churches got together to open a food pantry called the Cooperative Care Center, and it's still open today, offering bags of food, clothes, medicine and toiletries.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
But the clients aren't laid off steelworkers anymore.
"It's the middle class now that are hurting," said Mona Montoya, the director here for 27 years.
"We've seen people from the police department, the fire department, school teachers, nurses," Montoya said. "You close your eyes and you think of a homeless person - they're families, and that's where it really pains us, to see that kind of deal."
One morning this week, there were a lot of families waiting for help.
Like 68-year-old Nancy Mestas, Pueblo born and raised.
Mestas lives with her disabled adult daughter and two grandkids.
After 20 years working as a librarian, now she's retired and says her family can't afford enough food to get through the month.
"For my daughter they give her a certain amount of food stamps, and she tries to stretch it as much as she can, but sometimes it doesn't go as far as it should," Mestas said.
She believes a president could fix things, but everybody seems too invested in fighting their political opponents.
"Bad mouthing each other instead of taking into consideration what really matters," she said.
Mestas says she hasn't decided who she'll support for president.
"I don't like anybody who's running. I used to be Republican," she said, "but now at this point in time I'm unaffiliated."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
The Cooperative Care Center helped 38,000 people last year. That's about a quarter of the local population.
Not surprising, since a quarter of the people in Pueblo live at or below the federal poverty line.
A lot of the food at the Center distributes is donated by grocery stores. Like the one Don Sena has spent his life stocking the shelves of on the overnight shift.
"I've been in the grocery business over 50 years," he said at a bar near the steel mill where his father used to work. He was pouring a Dos Equis beer into a glass of tomato juice.
Sena is proud he put his daughter through college, and that his son is a drill instructor in the Marines.
He's about to retire. Many would say he's lived the American dream. But Sena isn't feeling too good about it.
"There ain't no jobs in this town any more," he said. "There ain't none. If you have a job, you're lucky."
Working class people are struggling, he says, and rich people are taking advantage of them.
"A place where people make things"
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
Struggles are easy to find in Pueblo.
But if you look on the city's walls and in the empty spaces, there's something else.
Artists and small businesses starting to take root.
Ina Bernard, an artist from Germany, welcomes me to Artisan Textile Company, a shop she opened four years ago in an old part of the city. Her shop carries handmade items like mittens and paintings, and offers classes in knitting and card making.
She loves Pueblo.
"It's just a really fun small-town community, lovely location," she said. "The weather is beautiful, lots of sunshine. Also the mountains."
Making artisan textiles may seem like the opposite of manufacturing the commodity Pueblo became known as Steel City for. But to Bernard, the growing artists' community is not a sharp break from the industrial past.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin J. Beaty for NPR Kevin J. Beaty for NPR
"I think Pueblo is very proud to be a steel city town because that's really what helped build it up. That's why people came here," she said. "But I think Pueblo is now kind of looking at maybe growing from that, and definitely being supportive of the creative economy."
Bernard says just like immigrants a century ago, she moved to Pueblo to be in a place where people make things.


npr--2020-03-01--Judge Says Ken Cuccinelli Was Appointed Unlawfully To Top Immigration Post

Judge Says Ken Cuccinelli Was Appointed Unlawfully To Top Immigration Post A federal judge ruled on Sunday that Ken Cuccinelli 's appointment to a top immigration position in the Trump administration was unlawful , saying several directives issued by Cuccinelli to tighten asylum rules must now be `` set aside . ''
In a 55-page ruling , U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said the administration violated the federal Vacancies Reform Act when it tapped Cuccinelli in June 2019 to lead U.S .
Citizenship and Immigration Services , the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees legal immigration into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pair of directives issued by Cuccinelli , an immigration hardliner and the former attorney general of Virginia , that introduced new restrictions on the asylum process .
The first directive shortened the length of time asylum-seekers have to prepare for `` credible-fear interviews '' with officials from 48 or 72 hours to `` one full calendar day from the date of arrival at a detention facility . ''
With the second , Cuccinelli prohibited asylum officers from granting extensions to this new policy `` except in the most extraordinary of circumstances . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ concludes that Cuccinelli was not lawfully appointed to serve as acting Director and that , as a result , he lacked authority to issue the reduced-time-to-consult and prohibition-on-extensions directives , '' Moss wrote in his ruling .
Under the 1998 vacancies law , when a Senate-confirmed leader of a federal office resigns , it falls to the `` first assistant '' of that vacant office to assume responsibility on an acting basis .
But Cuccinelli did n't work at USCIS prior to leading it .
Instead , the acting head of DHS at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cuccinelli 'to serve as the Principal Deputy Director of [ USCIS ] , ' a position that did not exist prior to Cuccinelli 's appointment , '' the judge noted .
Then McAleenan changed the order of succession to make the principal deputy director the `` first assistant , '' allowing Cuccinelli to `` leapfrog '' the existing deputy director to become the agency 's acting director .
`` Here , the acting Secretary created a position that is second in command in name only , '' the judge wrote .
The Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In an email , a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said , `` We obviously disagree with the court 's decision and will be looking closely at the decision . ''
Sunday 's ruling stemmed from a case brought by immigrant advocacy groups on behalf of five asylum seekers from Honduras .
The asylum seekers say Cuccinelli 's directives did not give them adequate time to speak with lawyers and family members about their cases before they met with asylum officials .
Immigration officers found that the asylum-seekers — two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have a credible fear of persecution .
Both women separately said they had been raped and faced other violence back in Honduras .
All five were then subject to orders for expedited removal .
But Moss said because Cuccinelli did not have the authority to issue the directives , the women 's `` credible-fear determinations '' would be vacated and they would not face expedited removal `` until a legally sufficient interview occurs . ''
`` To be sure , the Court has concluded that the two directives are invalid and must be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It remains unclear what the ruling might mean for Cuccinelli , who still leads USCIS and in November became the second-highest official at the Department of Homeland Security .
A vocal supporter of President Trump , Cuccinelli has drawn attention for his controversial rhetoric around immigration .
In an August interview with NPR , he twisted Emma Lazarus ' famous words on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty , changing the quote to say , `` Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charge . ''
Democracy Forward , one of the groups involved in the lawsuit , called the decision `` both a victory for the rule of law and a significant blow to the Trump administration 's xenophobic agenda . ''
`` We are proud to share this legal victory with the brave asylum seekers who brought the Trump administration to court to ensure that the United States stays true to its tradition of providing a haven for those fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in America , '' said Anne Harkavy , the group @ @ @ @

Judge Says Ken Cuccinelli Was Appointed Unlawfully To Top Immigration Post
Enlarge this image toggle caption Samuel Corum/Getty Images Samuel Corum/Getty Images
A federal judge ruled on Sunday that Ken Cuccinelli's appointment to a top immigration position in the Trump administration was unlawful, saying several directives issued by Cuccinelli to tighten asylum rules must now be "set aside."
In a 55-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said the administration violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act when it tapped Cuccinelli in June 2019 to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees legal immigration into the country.
The ruling invalidated a pair of directives issued by Cuccinelli, an immigration hard-liner and the former attorney general of Virginia, that introduced new restrictions on the asylum process.
The first directive shortened the length of time asylum-seekers have to prepare for "credible fear interviews" with officials from 48 or 72 hours to "one full calendar day from the date of arrival at a detention facility." With the second, Cuccinelli prohibited asylum officers from granting extensions to this new policy "except in the most extraordinary of circumstances."
"On the merits, the Court concludes that Cuccinelli was not lawfully appointed to serve as acting Director and that, as a result, he lacked authority to issue the reduced-time-to-consult and prohibition-on-extensions directives," Moss wrote in his ruling.
Under the 1998 vacancies law, when a Senate-confirmed leader of a federal office resigns, it falls to the "first assistant" of that vacant office to assume responsibility on an acting basis.
But Cuccinelli didn't work at USCIS prior to leading it. Instead, the acting head of DHS at the time, Kevin McAleenan, "appointed Cuccinelli 'to serve as the Principal Deputy Director of [USCIS],' a position that did not exist prior to Cuccinelli's appointment," the judge noted.
Then McAleenan changed the order of succession to make the principal deputy director the "first assistant," allowing Cuccinelli to "leapfrog" the existing deputy director to become the agency's acting director.
"Here, the acting Secretary created a position that is second in command in name only," the judge wrote.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision. In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, "We obviously disagree with the court's decision and will be looking closely at the decision."
Sunday's ruling stemmed from a case brought by immigrant advocacy groups on behalf of five asylum-seekers from Honduras. The asylum-seekers say Cuccinelli's directives did not give them adequate time to speak with lawyers and family members about their cases before they met with asylum officials.
Immigration officers found that the asylum-seekers — two women and three children — did not have a credible fear of persecution. Both women separately said they had been raped and faced other violence back in Honduras. All five were then subject to orders for expedited removal.
But Moss said because Cuccinelli did not have the authority to issue the directives, the women's "credible-fear determinations" would be vacated and they would not face expedited removal "until a legally sufficient interview occurs."
"To be sure, the Court has concluded that the two directives are invalid and must be set aside," Moss wrote.
It remains unclear what the ruling might mean for Cuccinelli, who still leads USCIS and in November became the second-highest official at the Department of Homeland Security.
A vocal supporter of President Trump, Cuccinelli has drawn attention for his controversial rhetoric around immigration. In an August interview with NPR, he twisted Emma Lazarus' famous words on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty, changing the quote to say, "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."
Democracy Forward, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, called the decision "both a victory for the rule of law and a significant blow to the Trump administration's xenophobic agenda."
"We are proud to share this legal victory with the brave asylum seekers who brought the Trump administration to court to ensure that the United States stays true to its tradition of providing a haven for those fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in America," said Anne Harkavy, the group's executive director.


npr--2020-03-01--Love Actually: Britain's Prime Minister Is Engaged To Be Married

Love Actually : Britain 's Prime Minister Is Engaged To Be Married After a messy breakup with Europe , British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to enter into a new union .
On Saturday , British media reported that Johnson , known for successfully pushing the United Kingdom to exit the European Union , is engaged to his girlfriend , Carrie Symonds .
The couple is also expecting their first child .
According to The Telegraph , this means Johnson will become the first British prime minister in around 200 years to marry while in office .
This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history .
Last year , it was widely reported that they were the first unmarried couple to move into the prime minister 's official residence at 10 Downing Street .
But Johnson and Symonds wo n't be the first pair to have a child while living at the residence .
In 2010 , former Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife , Samantha Cameron , had a daughter within months of Cameron taking office .
About 10 years earlier , Tony Blair became the first British prime minister in 152 years to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced the news in an Instagram post : `` Many of you already know but for my friends that still do n't , we got engaged at the end of last year ... and we 've got a baby hatching early summer . ''
Symonds was formerly a communications director for Johnson 's Conservative Party , and made headlines last year when she and Johnson had a noisy argument that resulted in a visit from the police .
No charges were filed .
Before Symonds , Johnson 's love life had its ups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen , before marrying attorney Marina Wheeler .
In 2004 , Johnson had a well-publicized affair with British journalist Petronella Wyatt .
Johnson was fired as vice chairman of the Conservative Party for lying about the affair .
Johnson raised four children with Wheeler , and according to The New York Times , has one other child .
He has avoided confirming how many children he has , saying he wants to protect them from the glare of the media .
Several politicians have tweeted their good wishes to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Conservative lawmaker for Bishop Auckland , and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson , Sajid Javid , who resigned last month .
Others have been less congratulatory , with some suggesting the announcement was timed to distract from other news , including the recent resignation of a top official in Johnson 's government .
Member of Parliament Florence Eshalomi tweeted that the announcement was `` very convenient . ''

Love Actually: Britain's Prime Minister Is Engaged To Be Married
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
After a messy breakup with Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to enter into a new union.
On Saturday, British media reported that Johnson, known for successfully pushing the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, is engaged to his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds. The couple is also expecting their first child.
According to The Telegraph, this means Johnson will become the first British prime minister in around 200 years to marry while in office.
This isn't the couple's first time making history. Last year, it was widely reported that they were the first unmarried couple to move into the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street.
But Johnson and Symonds won't be the first pair to have a child while living at the residence. In 2010, former Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha Cameron, had a daughter within months of Cameron taking office. About 10 years earlier, Tony Blair became the first British prime minister in 152 years to have a child while in office.
Symonds announced the news in an Instagram post: "Many of you already know but for my friends that still don't, we got engaged at the end of last year... and we've got a baby hatching early summer."
Symonds was formerly a communications director for Johnson's Conservative Party, and made headlines last year when she and Johnson had a noisy argument that resulted in a visit from the police. No charges were filed.
Before Symonds, Johnson's love life had its ups and downs. He was briefly married to socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen, before marrying attorney Marina Wheeler. In 2004, Johnson had a well-publicized affair with British journalist Petronella Wyatt. Johnson was fired as vice chairman of the Conservative Party for lying about the affair.
Johnson raised four children with Wheeler, and according to The New York Times, has one other child. He has avoided confirming how many children he has, saying he wants to protect them from the glare of the media.
Several politicians have tweeted their good wishes to the newly engaged couple, including Dehenna Davison, the Conservative lawmaker for Bishop Auckland, and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson, Sajid Javid, who resigned last month.
Others have been less congratulatory, with some suggesting the announcement was timed to distract from other news, including the recent resignation of a top official in Johnson's government.
Member of Parliament Florence Eshalomi tweeted that the announcement was "very convenient."


npr--2020-03-01--2020 Presidential Candidates: Which Democrats Are Running

The Democratic presidential field started out as the most diverse ever , and the largest in at least 40 years @ @ @ @ @ down .
Below are the Democrats who are still in the running to try and @ @ @ @ @ well as the candidates who have dropped out of the primary : Do n't see @ @ @ @ @ here .
This story was originally published on Jan. 31 , 2019 .

2020 Presidential Candidates: Tracking Which Democrats Ran
The Democratic presidential field started out as the most diverse ever, and the largest in at least 40 years. It's since winnowed down to one: former Vice President Joe Biden.
Below are also the candidates who have dropped out of the primary:
Don't see the graphic above? Click here.
This story was originally published on Jan. 31, 2019.
Edited by NPR's Arnie Seipel