npr--2020-08-29--Scientists Explore Why Some People Are Able To Live With An Infection Unscathed

Scientists Explore Why Some People Are Able To Live With An Infection Unscathed One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection , people feel healthy .
Instead of staying home in bed , they may be out and about , unknowingly passing the virus along .
But in addition to these pre-symptomatic patients , the relentless silent spread of this pandemic is also facilitated by a more mysterious group of people : the so-called asymptomatics .
According to various estimates , between 20 and 45 percent of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more , according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — sail through a coronavirus infection without realizing they ever had it .
No fever or chills .
No loss of smell or taste .
No breathing difficulties .
They do n't feel a thing .
Asymptomatic cases are not unique to COVID-19 .
They occur with the regular flu , and probably also featured in the 1918 pandemic , according to epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London .
But scientists are n't sure why certain people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tremendous mystery at this point , '' says Donald Thea , an infectious disease expert at Boston University 's School of Public Health .
The prevailing theory is that their immune systems fight off the virus so efficiently that they never get sick .
But some scientists are confident that the immune system 's aggressive response , the churning out of antibodies and other molecules to eliminate an infection , is only part of the story .
These experts are learning that the human body may not always wage an all-out war @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may also be capable of accommodating an infection , sometimes so seamlessly that no symptoms emerge .
This phenomenon , known as disease tolerance , is well-known in plants but has only been documented in animals within the last 15 years .
Hints that 'disease tolerance ' is at work Disease tolerance is the ability of an individual , due to a genetic predisposition or some aspect of behavior or lifestyle , to thrive despite being infected with an amount of pathogen that sickens others .
Tolerance takes different forms , depending on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infected with cholera , which causes watery diarrhea that can quickly kill through dehydration , the body might mobilize mechanisms that maintain fluid and electrolyte balance .
During other infections , the body might tweak metabolism or activate gut microbes — whatever internal adjustment is needed to prevent or repair tissue damage or to make a germ less vicious .
Researchers who study these processes rely on invasive experiments that can not be done in people .
Nevertheless , they view asymptomatic infections as evidence that disease tolerance occurs in humans .
At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tuberculosis bacterium do n't get sick .
The same is true for many of the 1.5 billion of people globally who live with parasitic worms called helminths in their intestines .
`` Despite the fact that these worms are very large organisms and they basically migrate through your tissues and cause damage , many people are asymptomatic .
They do n't even know they 're infected , '' says Irah King , a professor of immunology at McGill University .
`` And so then the question becomes , what does the body @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infections ? ''
While scientists have observed the physiological processes that minimize tissue damage during infections in animals for decades , it 's only more recently that they 've begun to think about them in terms of disease tolerance .
For example , King and colleagues have identified specific immune cells in mice that increase the resilience of blood vessels during a helminth infection , leading to less intestinal bleeding , even when the same number of worms are present .
`` This has been demonstrated in plants , bacteria , other mammalian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Why would we think that humans would not have developed these types of mechanisms to promote and maintain our health in the face of infection ? ''
he adds .
Maybe germs are n't the enemy : A more nuanced view In a recent Frontiers in Immunology editorial , King and his McGill colleague Maziar Divangahi describe their long-term hopes for the field : A deeper understanding of disease tolerance , they write , could lead to `` a new golden age of infectious disease research and discovery . ''
Scientists have traditionally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach that has generated invaluable antibiotics and vaccines .
But more recently , researchers have come to understand that the human body is colonized by trillions of microbes that are essential to optimal health , and that the relationship between humans and germs is more nuanced .
Meddlesome viruses and bacteria have been around since life began , so it makes sense that animals evolved ways to manage as well as fight them .
Attacking a pathogen can be effective , but it can also backfire .
For one thing , infectious agents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Moreover , the immune response itself , if unchecked , can turn lethal , applying its destructive force to the body 's own organs .
`` With things like COVID , I think it 's going to be very parallel to TB , where you have this Goldilocks situation , '' says Andrew Olive , an immunologist at Michigan State University , `` where you need that perfect amount of inflammation to control the virus and not damage the lungs . ''
Some of the key disease tolerance mechanisms scientists have identified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ window .
For example , immune cells called alveolar macrophages in the lung suppress inflammation once the threat posed by the pathogen diminishes .
Much is still unknown about why there is such a wide range of responses to COVID-19 , from asymptomatic to mildly sick to out of commission for weeks at home to full-on organ failure .
`` It 's very , very early days here , '' says Andrew Read , an infectious disease expert at Pennsylvania State University who helped identify disease tolerance in animals .
Read believes disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some infected people have mild symptoms or none at all .
This may be because they 're better at scavenging toxic byproducts , he says , `` or replenishing their lung tissues at faster rates , those sorts of things . ''
The mainstream scientific view of asymptomatics is that their immune systems are especially well-tuned .
This could explain why children and young adults make up the majority of people without symptoms because the immune system naturally deteriorates with age .
It 's also possible that the immune systems of asymptomatics have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a milder coronavirus , like those that cause the common cold .
Asymptomatic cases do n't get much attention from medical researchers , in part because these people do n't go to the doctor and thus are tough to track down .
But Janelle Ayres , a physiologist and infectious disease expert at the Salk Institute For Biological Studies who has been a leader in disease tolerance research , studies precisely the mice that do n't get sick .
The staple of this research is something called the `` lethal dose 50 '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group of mice enough pathogen to kill half .
By comparing the mice that live with those that die , she pinpoints the specific aspects of their physiology that enable them to survive the infection .
She has performed this experiment scores of times using a variety of pathogens .
The goal is to figure out how to activate health-sustaining responses in all animals .
A hallmark of these experiments — and something that surprised her at first — is that the half that survive the lethal dose are perky .
They are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pathogen that kills their counterparts .
`` I thought going into this ... that all would get sick , that half would live and half would die , but that is n't what I found , '' Ayres says .
`` I found that half got sick and died , and the other half never got sick and lived . ''
Ayres sees something similar happening in the COVID-19 pandemic .
Like her mice , asymptomatic people infected with the novel coronavirus seem to have similar amounts of the virus in their bodies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet for some reason they stay healthy .
Studies show that their lungs often display damage on CT scans , yet they are not struggling for breath ( though it remains to be seen whether they will fully escape long-term impacts ) .
Moreover , a small recent study suggests that people who are asymptomatic mount a weaker immune response than those who get sick — suggesting that mechanisms are at work that have nothing to do with fighting infection .
`` Why , if they have these abnormalities , are they healthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because they have disease tolerance mechanisms engaged .
These are the people we need to study . ''
The goal of disease tolerance research is to decipher the mechanisms that keep infected people healthy and turn them into therapies that benefit everyone .
`` You want to have a drought-tolerant plant , for obvious reasons , so why would n't we want to have a virus-tolerant person ? ''
Read asks .
A 2018 experiment in Ayres ' lab offered proof of concept for that goal .
The team gave a diarrhea-causing infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trial , then compared tissue from the mice that died with those that survived , looking for differences .
They discovered that the asymptomatic mice had utilized their iron stores to route extra glucose to the hungry bacteria , and that the pacified germs no longer posed a threat .
The team subsequently turned this observation into a treatment .
In further experiments , they administered iron supplements to the mice and all the animals survived , even when the pathogen dose was upped a thousandfold .
When the pandemic hit , Ayres @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the signature malady of COVID-19 , acute respiratory distress syndrome , which can be triggered by various infections .
Her lab has identified markers that may inform candidate pathways to target for treatment .
The next step is to compare people who progressed to severe stages of COVID-19 with those who are asymptomatic to see whether markers emerge that resemble the ones she 's found in mice .
If a medicine is developed , it would work differently from anything that 's currently on the market because it would be lung-specific , not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regardless of which pathogen is responsible .
But intriguing as this prospect is , most experts caution that disease tolerance is a new field and tangible benefits are likely many years off .
The work involves measuring not only symptoms but the levels of a pathogen in the body , which means killing an animal and searching all of its tissues .
`` You ca n't really do controlled biological experiments in humans , '' Olive says .
In addition , there are countless disease tolerance pathways .
`` Every time we figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 more things we do n't understand , '' King says .
Things will differ with each disease , he adds , `` so that becomes a bit overwhelming . ''
Nevertheless , a growing number of experts agree that disease tolerance research could have profound implications for treating infectious disease in the future .
Microbiology and infectious disease research has `` all been focused on the pathogen as an invader that has to be eliminated some way , '' says virologist Jeremy Luban of the University of Massachusetts Medical School .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , `` what we really should be thinking about is how do we keep the person from getting sick . ''
Emily Laber-Warren directs the health and science reporting program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY .
This story was produced by Undark , a nonprofit , editorially independent digital magazine exploring the intersection of science and society .

Scientists Explore Why Some People Are Able To Live With An Infection Unscathed
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexander Spatari/Getty Images Alexander Spatari/Getty Images
One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection, people feel healthy. Instead of staying home in bed, they may be out and about, unknowingly passing the virus along. But in addition to these pre-symptomatic patients, the relentless silent spread of this pandemic is also facilitated by a more mysterious group of people: the so-called asymptomatics.
According to various estimates, between 20 and 45 percent of the people who get COVID-19 — and possibly more, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — sail through a coronavirus infection without realizing they ever had it. No fever or chills. No loss of smell or taste. No breathing difficulties. They don't feel a thing.
Asymptomatic cases are not unique to COVID-19. They occur with the regular flu, and probably also featured in the 1918 pandemic, according to epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London. But scientists aren't sure why certain people weather COVID-19 unscathed. "That is a tremendous mystery at this point," says Donald Thea, an infectious disease expert at Boston University's School of Public Health.
The prevailing theory is that their immune systems fight off the virus so efficiently that they never get sick. But some scientists are confident that the immune system's aggressive response, the churning out of antibodies and other molecules to eliminate an infection, is only part of the story.
These experts are learning that the human body may not always wage an all-out war on viruses and other pathogens. It may also be capable of accommodating an infection, sometimes so seamlessly that no symptoms emerge. This phenomenon, known as disease tolerance, is well-known in plants but has only been documented in animals within the last 15 years.
Hints that 'disease tolerance' is at work
Disease tolerance is the ability of an individual, due to a genetic predisposition or some aspect of behavior or lifestyle, to thrive despite being infected with an amount of pathogen that sickens others. Tolerance takes different forms, depending on the infection. For example, when infected with cholera, which causes watery diarrhea that can quickly kill through dehydration, the body might mobilize mechanisms that maintain fluid and electrolyte balance. During other infections, the body might tweak metabolism or activate gut microbes — whatever internal adjustment is needed to prevent or repair tissue damage or to make a germ less vicious.
"Why, if they have these abnormalities, are they healthy? Potentially because they have disease tolerance mechanisms engaged. These are the people we need to study."
Researchers who study these processes rely on invasive experiments that cannot be done in people. Nevertheless, they view asymptomatic infections as evidence that disease tolerance occurs in humans. At least 90 percent of those infected with the tuberculosis bacterium don't get sick. The same is true for many of the 1.5 billion of people globally who live with parasitic worms called helminths in their intestines. "Despite the fact that these worms are very large organisms and they basically migrate through your tissues and cause damage, many people are asymptomatic. They don't even know they're infected," says Irah King, a professor of immunology at McGill University. "And so then the question becomes, what does the body do to tolerate these types of invasive infections?"
While scientists have observed the physiological processes that minimize tissue damage during infections in animals for decades, it's only more recently that they've begun to think about them in terms of disease tolerance. For example, King and colleagues have identified specific immune cells in mice that increase the resilience of blood vessels during a helminth infection, leading to less intestinal bleeding, even when the same number of worms are present.
"This has been demonstrated in plants, bacteria, other mammalian species," King says.
"Why would we think that humans would not have developed these types of mechanisms to promote and maintain our health in the face of infection?" he adds.
Maybe germs aren't the enemy: A more nuanced view
In a recent Frontiers in Immunology editorial, King and his McGill colleague Maziar Divangahi describe their long-term hopes for the field: A deeper understanding of disease tolerance, they write, could lead to "a new golden age of infectious disease research and discovery."
Scientists have traditionally viewed germs as the enemy, an approach that has generated invaluable antibiotics and vaccines. But more recently, researchers have come to understand that the human body is colonized by trillions of microbes that are essential to optimal health, and that the relationship between humans and germs is more nuanced.
Meddlesome viruses and bacteria have been around since life began, so it makes sense that animals evolved ways to manage as well as fight them. Attacking a pathogen can be effective, but it can also backfire. For one thing, infectious agents find ways to evade the immune system. Moreover, the immune response itself, if unchecked, can turn lethal, applying its destructive force to the body's own organs.
"With things like COVID, I think it's going to be very parallel to TB, where you have this Goldilocks situation," says Andrew Olive, an immunologist at Michigan State University, "where you need that perfect amount of inflammation to control the virus and not damage the lungs."
Some of the key disease tolerance mechanisms scientists have identified aim to keep inflammation within that narrow window. For example, immune cells called alveolar macrophages in the lung suppress inflammation once the threat posed by the pathogen diminishes.
Much is still unknown about why there is such a wide range of responses to COVID-19, from asymptomatic to mildly sick to out of commission for weeks at home to full-on organ failure. "It's very, very early days here," says Andrew Read, an infectious disease expert at Pennsylvania State University who helped identify disease tolerance in animals. Read believes disease tolerance may at least partially explain why some infected people have mild symptoms or none at all. This may be because they're better at scavenging toxic byproducts, he says, "or replenishing their lung tissues at faster rates, those sorts of things."
Asymptomatic COVID-19 infections
The mainstream scientific view of asymptomatics is that their immune systems are especially well-tuned. This could explain why children and young adults make up the majority of people without symptoms because the immune system naturally deteriorates with age. It's also possible that the immune systems of asymptomatics have been primed by a previous infection with a milder coronavirus, like those that cause the common cold.
Asymptomatic cases don't get much attention from medical researchers, in part because these people don't go to the doctor and thus are tough to track down. But Janelle Ayres, a physiologist and infectious disease expert at the Salk Institute For Biological Studies who has been a leader in disease tolerance research, studies precisely the mice that don't get sick.
The staple of this research is something called the "lethal dose 50" test, which consists of giving a group of mice enough pathogen to kill half. By comparing the mice that live with those that die, she pinpoints the specific aspects of their physiology that enable them to survive the infection. She has performed this experiment scores of times using a variety of pathogens. The goal is to figure out how to activate health-sustaining responses in all animals.
A hallmark of these experiments — and something that surprised her at first — is that the half that survive the lethal dose are perky. They are completely unruffled by the same quantity of pathogen that kills their counterparts. "I thought going into this ... that all would get sick, that half would live and half would die, but that isn't what I found," Ayres says. "I found that half got sick and died, and the other half never got sick and lived."
Ayres sees something similar happening in the COVID-19 pandemic. Like her mice, asymptomatic people infected with the novel coronavirus seem to have similar amounts of the virus in their bodies as the people who fall ill, yet for some reason they stay healthy. Studies show that their lungs often display damage on CT scans, yet they are not struggling for breath (though it remains to be seen whether they will fully escape long-term impacts). Moreover, a small recent study suggests that people who are asymptomatic mount a weaker immune response than those who get sick — suggesting that mechanisms are at work that have nothing to do with fighting infection.
"Why, if they have these abnormalities, are they healthy?" asks Ayres. "Potentially because they have disease tolerance mechanisms engaged. These are the people we need to study."
The goal of disease tolerance research is to decipher the mechanisms that keep infected people healthy and turn them into therapies that benefit everyone. "You want to have a drought-tolerant plant, for obvious reasons, so why wouldn't we want to have a virus-tolerant person?" Read asks.
A 2018 experiment in Ayres' lab offered proof of concept for that goal. The team gave a diarrhea-causing infection to mice in a lethal dose 50 trial, then compared tissue from the mice that died with those that survived, looking for differences. They discovered that the asymptomatic mice had utilized their iron stores to route extra glucose to the hungry bacteria, and that the pacified germs no longer posed a threat. The team subsequently turned this observation into a treatment. In further experiments, they administered iron supplements to the mice and all the animals survived, even when the pathogen dose was upped a thousandfold.
When the pandemic hit, Ayres was already studying mice with pneumonia and the signature malady of COVID-19, acute respiratory distress syndrome, which can be triggered by various infections. Her lab has identified markers that may inform candidate pathways to target for treatment. The next step is to compare people who progressed to severe stages of COVID-19 with those who are asymptomatic to see whether markers emerge that resemble the ones she's found in mice.
If a medicine is developed, it would work differently from anything that's currently on the market because it would be lung-specific, not disease-specific, and would ease respiratory distress regardless of which pathogen is responsible.
But intriguing as this prospect is, most experts caution that disease tolerance is a new field and tangible benefits are likely many years off. The work involves measuring not only symptoms but the levels of a pathogen in the body, which means killing an animal and searching all of its tissues. "You can't really do controlled biological experiments in humans," Olive says.
In addition, there are countless disease tolerance pathways. "Every time we figure one out, we find we have 10 more things we don't understand," King says. Things will differ with each disease, he adds, "so that becomes a bit overwhelming."
Nevertheless, a growing number of experts agree that disease tolerance research could have profound implications for treating infectious disease in the future. Microbiology and infectious disease research has "all been focused on the pathogen as an invader that has to be eliminated some way," says virologist Jeremy Luban of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. And as Ayres makes clear, he says, "what we really should be thinking about is how do we keep the person from getting sick."
Emily Laber-Warren directs the health and science reporting program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
This story was produced by Undark, a nonprofit, editorially independent digital magazine exploring the intersection of science and society.


npr--2020-08-28--'Black Panther' Star Chadwick Boseman Dies Of Cancer At Age 43

Updated at 4:50 a.m .
ET Saturday Actor Chadwick Boseman , who starred in Black Panther , has died at the age of 43 .
A statement posted on Boseman 's Twitter account on Friday said the actor had battled colon cancer for the last four years .
The statement said `` he died in his home , with his wife and family by his side . ''
`` A true fighter , Chadwick persevered through it all , and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much , '' the statement said .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy . ''
Boseman was born in South Carolina and is a graduate of Howard University .
Throughout his career , he was known for his portrayals of iconic historical Black figures such as Jackie Robinson in 42 and James Brown in Get on Up .
In his role as the Marvel Studios superhero Black Panther and his alias , king T'Challa of Wakanda , Boseman became the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe 's first film headlined by a Black actor .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Black Panther in Captain America : Civil War , garnering excitement for the character 's own feature film .
Black Panther , directed by Ryan Coogler , would go on to break several box office records and become the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for best picture .
The film earned six other nominations and won three , becoming the MCU 's first Oscar-winning film .
He went on to portray the Black Panther in two more Marvel films , fighting alongside the eponymous heroes of Avengers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Black Panther , which starred a predominantly Black cast , was lauded during the 2019 awards season for its Black representation .
In his speech at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards , where the film was honored with the award for Outstanding Cast In A Motion Picture , Boseman addressed the film 's cultural impact , and why the cast was inspired to participate in the groundbreaking superhero flick .
`` To be young , gifted and black , we all know what it 's like to be told that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be featured , '' Boseman said .
`` Yet you are young , gifted and black .
We know what it 's like to be told that there is not a screen for you to be featured on , a stage for you to be featured on .
We know what it 's like to be the tail and not the head .
We know what it 's like to be beneath and not above . ''
`` And that is what we went to work with every day .
Because we knew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ award season or that it would make a billion dollars , but we knew we had something special that we wanted to give the world , '' Boseman added .
`` That we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing , that we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see . ''
Boseman graduated from Howard University in Washington , D.C. with a Bachelor degree in directing in 2000 .
In 2018 , months after the release of Black Panther , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commencement .
After a year marked by protests over a financial aid scandal , campus housing , and tuition increases , Boseman praised the university 's student activists , telling them that `` everything that you fought for was not for yourself , it was for those who came after you . ''
`` Savor the taste of your triumphs today , '' Boseman told the graduates .
`` Do n't just swallow the moment whole without digesting what is actually happening here .
Look down over what you conquered and appreciate what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boseman was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony , where Wayne A. I. Frederick , the university 's president , called him `` a shining exemplar of our cherished core values of leadership , excellence , truth and service . ''
Across social media , fans , celebrities and public officials expressed their sympathies and reactions .
On Twitter , Joe Biden and Kamala Harris , the Democratic candidates for president and vice president , expressed their condolences .
`` He left too early but his life made a difference , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ portrayals of the Black Panther and Jackie Robinson , saying that the actor `` inspired generations and showed them they can be anything they want – even super heroes . ''
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly , actor Denzel Washington remembered Boseman as `` a gentle soul and a brilliant artist , who will stay with us for eternity through his iconic performances over his short yet illustrious career . ''
In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone , Boseman revealed when he did not have the money to attend a summer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Washington became his benefactor .
Boseman did n't find out who paid for his program until he came home and received a beneficiary letter .
`` Denzel paid for me .
I 'm sure he has no idea , '' he said .
`` I 've been waiting to meet him , so I can tell him . ''
Many of Boseman 's Marvel costars publicly mourned their friend .
`` All I have to say is the tragedies amassing this year have only been made more profound by the loss of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who portrayed Dr. Bruce Banner , also known as the Hulk , wrote .
Captain Marvel star Brie Larson said Boseman was someone who `` radiated power and peace . ''
Larson portrayed Carol Danvers , or Captain Marvel , in the MCU 's first film headlined by a woman .
The newly introduced characters Captain Marvel and Black Panther were set to lead the next phase of Marvel films following Avengers : Endgame .
Don Cheadle , who portrayed War Machine in the Iron Man and Avenger films , said Boseman was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him .
Angela Bassett , Boseman 's onscreen mother in Black Panther , reminisced about the day when she received an honorary degree from Howard University .
Boseman was still a student then , and was assigned to escort her that day .
Years later , she wrote that they would spend `` weeks prepping , working , sitting next to each other every morning in makeup chairs , preparing for the day together as mother and son . ''
`` I am honored that we enjoyed that full circle experience , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's dedication was awe-inspiring , his smile contagious , his talent unreal .
So I pay tribute to a beautiful spirit , a consummate artist , a soulful brother . ''

'Black Panther' Star Chadwick Boseman Dies Of Cancer At Age 43
Updated Saturday at 4:50 a.m. ET
Enlarge this image toggle caption Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Actor Chadwick Boseman, who starred in Black Panther, has died at the age of 43. A statement posted on Boseman's Twitter account on Friday said the actor had battled colon cancer for the past four years. The statement said "he died in his home, with his wife and family by his side."
"A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much," the statement said. "From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods ... all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy."
Boseman was born in South Carolina and is a graduate of Howard University. Throughout his career, he was known for his portrayals of iconic historical Black figures such as Jackie Robinson in 42 and James Brown in Get on Up.
In his role as the Marvel Studios superhero Black Panther and his alias, king T'Challa of Wakanda, Boseman became the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first film headlined by a Black actor. He won praise for his first appearance as the Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, garnering excitement for the character's own feature film.
Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler, broke several box office records and become the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for best picture. The film earned six other nominations and won three, becoming the MCU's first Oscar-winning film.
He portrayed Black Panther in two more Marvel films, fighting alongside the eponymous heroes of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Black Panther, which starred a predominantly Black cast, was lauded during the 2019 awards season for its Black representation. In his speech at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards, where the film was honored with the award for Outstanding Cast In A Motion Picture, Boseman addressed the film's cultural impact and why the cast was inspired to participate in the groundbreaking superhero flick.
"To be young, gifted and black, we all know what it's like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured," Boseman said. "Yet you are young, gifted and black. We know what it's like to be told that there is not a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on. We know what it's like to be the tail and not the head. We know what it's like to be beneath and not above."
"And that is what we went to work with every day. Because we knew not that we would be around during award season or that it would make a billion dollars, but we knew we had something special that we wanted to give the world," Boseman added. "That we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing, that we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see."
YouTube
Boseman graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor's degree in directing in 2000. In 2018, months after the release of Black Panther, the actor addressed students at the university's commencement. After a year marked by protests over a financial aid scandal, campus housing, and tuition increases, Boseman praised the university's student activists, telling them that "everything that you fought for was not for yourself, it was for those who came after you."
"Savor the taste of your triumphs today," Boseman told the graduates. "Don't just swallow the moment whole without digesting what is actually happening here. Look down over what you conquered and appreciate what God has brought you through."
Boseman was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony, where Wayne A. I. Frederick, the university's president, called him "a shining exemplar of our cherished core values of leadership, excellence, truth and service."
YouTube
Across social media, fans, celebrities and public officials expressed their sympathies and reactions.
On Twitter, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for president and vice president, expressed their condolences.
"He left too early but his life made a difference," Harris wrote.
Heartbroken. My friend and fellow Bison Chadwick Boseman was brilliant, kind, learned, and humble. He left too early but his life made a difference. Sending my sincere condolences to his family. pic.twitter.com/C5xGkUi9oZ — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 29, 2020
Biden praised Boseman's portrayals of the Black Panther and Jackie Robinson, saying that the actor "inspired generations and showed them they can be anything they want – even super heroes."
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, actor Denzel Washington remembered Boseman as "a gentle soul and a brilliant artist, who will stay with us for eternity through his iconic performances over his short yet illustrious career." In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, Boseman revealed when he did not have the money to attend a summer theater program at Oxford University in England, Washington became his benefactor. Boseman didn't find out who paid for his program until he came home and received a beneficiary letter.
"Denzel paid for me. I'm sure he has no idea," he said. "I've been waiting to meet him, so I can tell him."
Many of Boseman's Marvel co-stars publicly mourned their friend. "All I have to say is the tragedies amassing this year have only been made more profound by the loss of #ChadwickBoseman," Mark Ruffalo, who portrayed Dr. Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk, wrote.
Captain America's Chris Evans called Boseman "a true original" and a "deeply committed and constantly curious artist."
Captain Marvel star Brie Larson said Boseman was someone who "radiated power and peace." Larson portrayed Carol Danvers, or Captain Marvel, in the MCU's first film headlined by a woman. The newly introduced characters Captain Marvel and Black Panther were set to lead the next phase of Marvel films following Avengers: Endgame.
Don Cheadle, who portrayed War Machine in the Iron Man and Avenger films, said Boseman was always "light and love" to him.
Angela Bassett, Boseman's onscreen mother in Black Panther, reminisced about the day when she received an honorary degree from Howard University. Boseman was still a student then and was assigned to escort her that day. Years later, she wrote that they would spend "weeks prepping, working, sitting next to each other every morning in makeup chairs, preparing for the day together as mother and son."
"I am honored that we enjoyed that full circle experience," Bassett added. "This young man's dedication was awe-inspiring, his smile contagious, his talent unreal. So I pay tribute to a beautiful spirit, a consummate artist, a soulful brother."


npr--2020-08-29--President Trump Visits Areas Hardest Hit By Hurricane Laura

President Trump visited Louisiana and Texas on Saturday afternoon to survey damage caused by Hurricane Laura .
The storm killed at least 14 people and caused as much as $ 12 billion in damage .
Air Force One first touched down in Lake Charles , La.
, to scenes of debris , downed trees and badly damaged buildings and homes .
Trump deplaned wearing a red had that said `` USA '' on the front , and `` TRUMP '' on the back .
He was not wearing a mask .
After a tour of some of the hardest hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responders , local leaders , FEMA and DHS officals and members of the press .
`` This is some devastation , '' he said to the assembled crowd , asking Louisiana Gov .
John Bel Edwards how many people affected had insurance .
The governor responded that about 50 % did .
`` I 'm here to support the great people of Louisiana , it 's been a tremendous state for me .
I love the people , '' Trump said .
`` One thing I know about this state , they rebuild @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And we 'll supply what we have to supply . ''
He said FEMA has delivered 2.6 million liters of water and 1.4 million meals to the area so far , and that local officials are working hard to restore water and power to hundreds of thousands of households .
While Trump did note that storms are more frequent and stronger than those decades ago , he did not directly connect that to climate change when asked , saying this area has always been prone to storms .
Scientists say that hurricanes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more powerful when they form over hotter ocean water .
Climate change is causing global sea surface temperatures to rise .
`` This was a tremendously powerful storm , '' he said .
`` In fact , when it came in it was actually much bigger than Katrina , I would say , Katrina being somewhat of a landmark . ''
Saturday is the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina , which made landfall as a Category 3 storm and devastated New Orleans .
Hurricane Laura was a Category 4 storm when it hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only the costliest-ever U.S. hurricane , but as the most expensive natural disaster in the country 's history , according to NOAA .
The storm killed 1,836 people , left millions homeless and caused an estimated $ 160 billion in damage .
Noting the anniversary , President Trump stressed that Louisiana would rebuild after this disaster too .
`` You came together and you rebuilt .
America helped , '' he said .
`` And here we are today , and you 're going to have this situation taken of very , very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that although Hurricane Laura did not cause as much damage as forecasts originally predicted , the storm left an incredible mark on the state .
`` With Katrina , people heard more about it because the levees broke , '' he said .
`` But this is as bad as I 've ever seen it , folks . ''
The president then departed for Orange , Texas , another area hit hard by the hurricane earlier this week , where he was met with a round table of members of his own administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials .
He began the briefing by noting the damage to Louisiana , saying the state `` went through something pretty bad . ''
`` I do n't think that you got anything like that , so that 's good , '' Trump said of the damage Texas faced in comparison to Louisiana .
`` In many ways we had a blessing with this hurricane in that it could have been much , much worse , '' Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said , adding that while the damage was profound , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ done to Louisiana .
Texas Gov .
Greg Abbott said Thursday that the state sustained less damage than expected .
Thousands of Texans lost power , and at least four people died in Texas from the storm , according to reports .
Trump was asked , again , in Texas about the connection of climate change to the hurricane .
`` We 've had tremendous storms in Texas for many decades and for many centuries and that 's the way it is , '' he said .
`` We handle them as they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handle them as they come and that 's what we do and nobody has ever done a better job of it . ''

President Trump Visits Areas Hardest Hit By Hurricane Laura
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Alex Brandon/AP
President Trump visited Louisiana and Texas on Saturday afternoon to survey damage caused by Hurricane Laura. The storm killed at least 14 people and caused as much as $12 billion in damage.
Air Force One first touched down in Lake Charles, La., to scenes of debris, downed trees and badly damaged buildings and homes. Trump deplaned wearing a red had that said "USA" on the front, and "TRUMP" on the back. He was not wearing a mask.
After a tour of some of the hardest hit neighborhoods, the president spoke to first responders, local leaders, FEMA and DHS officals and members of the press.
"This is some devastation," he said to the assembled crowd, asking Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards how many people affected had insurance. The governor responded that about 50% did.
"I'm here to support the great people of Louisiana, it's been a tremendous state for me. I love the people," Trump said. "One thing I know about this state, they rebuild it fast, there's no problem. And we'll supply what we have to supply."
He said FEMA has delivered 2.6 million liters of water and 1.4 million meals to the area so far, and that local officials are working hard to restore water and power to hundreds of thousands of households.
While Trump did note that storms are more frequent and stronger than those decades ago, he did not directly connect that to climate change when asked, saying this area has always been prone to storms.
Scientists say that hurricanes are more likely to be larger and more powerful when they form over hotter ocean water. Climate change is causing global sea surface temperatures to rise.
"This was a tremendously powerful storm," he said. "In fact, when it came in it was actually much bigger than Katrina, I would say, Katrina being somewhat of a landmark."
Saturday is the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm and devastated New Orleans. Hurricane Laura was a Category 4 storm when it hit the Gulf Coast. Katrina ranks not only the costliest-ever U.S. hurricane, but as the most expensive natural disaster in the country's history, according to NOAA. The storm killed 1,836 people, left millions homeless and caused an estimated $160 billion in damage.
Noting the anniversary, President Trump stressed that Louisiana would rebuild after this disaster too.
"You came together and you rebuilt. America helped," he said. "And here we are today, and you're going to have this situation taken of very, very quickly."
Gov. Edwards said that although Hurricane Laura did not cause as much damage as forecasts originally predicted, the storm left an incredible mark on the state.
"With Katrina, people heard more about it because the levees broke," he said. "But this is as bad as I've ever seen it, folks."
The president then departed for Orange, Texas, another area hit hard by the hurricane earlier this week, where he was met with a round table of members of his own administration, members of Congress and local public officials.
He began the briefing by noting the damage to Louisiana, saying the state "went through something pretty bad."
"I don't think that you got anything like that, so that's good," Trump said of the damage Texas faced in comparison to Louisiana.
"In many ways we had a blessing with this hurricane in that it could have been much, much worse," Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said, adding that while the damage was profound, it was not as extreme as the damage done to Louisiana.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that the state sustained less damage than expected. Thousands of Texans lost power, and at least four people died in Texas from the storm, according to reports.
Trump was asked, again, in Texas about the connection of climate change to the hurricane. "We've had tremendous storms in Texas for many decades and for many centuries and that's the way it is," he said. "We handle them as they come. All I can do is handle them as they come and that's what we do and nobody has ever done a better job of it."


npr--2020-08-29--Director Of National Intelligence Cancels Verbal Election Security Briefings

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed Senate and House intelligence committees that it will no longer brief Congress in person on foreign efforts to interfere in the November election .
In a letter to congressional leaders Friday , Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said his office will instead `` primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed leading into the Presidential election through written finished intelligence products . ''
In a joint statement released Saturday , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff , the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on election security in mid-September .
But briefings for members of Congress , including the House and Senate intelligence committees , by Ratcliffe 's office have now been called off , they said .
`` This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed , and a betrayal of the public 's right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy , '' Pelosi and Schiff said in the statement .
`` This intelligence belongs to the American people , not the agencies which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people have both the right and the need to know that another nation , Russia , is trying to help decide who their president should be , '' they said .
News of the change was first reported Saturday by CNN .
According to the report , agencies including the Department of Defense , Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will continue briefing Congress on election security .
CNN reported that an ODNI official confirmed the change was made in order to prevent `` unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ NPR , Ratcliffe wrote that providing written updates would better ensure ODNI information `` is not misunderstood nor politicized .
It will also better protect our sources and methods and most sensitive intelligence from additional unauthorized disclosures or misuse . ''
Speaking from Orange , Texas , on Saturday , where he was surveying damage from Hurricane Laura , President Trump said Ratcliffe was ending the briefings in order to prevent leaks .
`` He wants to do it in a different forum because you have leakers on the committee , '' Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes as intelligence officials warn that multiple nations may attempt to influence the November election .
Earlier this month , the top counterintelligence official in the U.S. government warned of ongoing interference and influence efforts by China , Iran and Russia .
The assessment by William Evanina , head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center , said that China prefers to see Trump lose the election because leaders there consider him `` unpredictable '' and that Russia is working to undermine the campaign of Democrat Joe Biden .
`` Ahead of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters ' preferences and perspectives , shift U.S. policies , increase discord in the United States , and undermine the American people 's confidence in our democratic process , '' Evanina wrote in his assessment .
The statement echoed a similar warning from other top officials in the intelligence community .
In January , Shelby Pierson , the intelligence community 's election threats executive , told NPR that more countries may attempt to interfere in U.S. politics given the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential election .
`` This is n't a Russia-only problem , '' Pierson said .
`` We 're still also concerned about China , Iran , nonstate actors , 'hacktivists . '
And frankly ... even Americans might be looking to undermine confidence in the elections . ''

Director Of National Intelligence Cancels Verbal Election Security Briefings
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg via Getty Images
Updated at 8:25 p.m. ET
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed Senate and House intelligence committees that it will no longer brief Congress in person on foreign efforts to interfere in the November election.
In a letter to congressional leaders Friday, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said his office will instead "primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed leading into the Presidential election through written finished intelligence products."
In a joint statement released Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Congress had been set for briefings on election security in mid-September. But briefings for members of Congress, including the House and Senate intelligence committees, by Ratcliffe's office have now been called off, they said.
"This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed, and a betrayal of the public's right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy," Pelosi and Schiff said in the statement.
"This intelligence belongs to the American people, not the agencies which are its custodian. And the American people have both the right and the need to know that another nation, Russia, is trying to help decide who their president should be," the two California Democrats said.
News of the change was first reported Saturday by CNN. According to the report, agencies including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will continue briefing Congress on election security. CNN reported that an ODNI official confirmed the change was made in order to prevent "unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information."
In copies of letters obtained by NPR, Ratcliffe wrote that providing written updates would better ensure ODNI information "is not misunderstood nor
politicized. It will also better protect our sources and methods and most sensitive intelligence from additional unauthorized disclosures or misuse."
Speaking from Orange, Texas, on Saturday, where he was surveying damage from Hurricane Laura, President Trump said Ratcliffe was ending the briefings in order to prevent leaks.
"He wants to do it in a different forum because you have leakers on the committee," Trump said.
The apparent shift in protocol comes as intelligence officials warn that multiple nations may attempt to influence the November election.
Earlier this month, the top counterintelligence official in the U.S. government warned of ongoing interference and influence efforts by China, Iran and Russia.
The assessment by William Evanina, head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said that China prefers to see Trump lose the election because leaders there consider him "unpredictable" and that Russia is working to undermine the campaign of Democrat Joe Biden.
"Ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections, foreign states will continue to use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters' preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people's confidence in our democratic process," Evanina wrote in his assessment.
The statement echoed a similar warning from other top officials in the intelligence community. In January, Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community's election threats executive, told NPR that more countries may attempt to interfere in U.S. politics given the success of Russian efforts during the 2016 presidential election.
"This isn't a Russia-only problem," Pierson said. "We're still also concerned about China, Iran, nonstate actors, 'hacktivists.' And frankly ... even Americans might be looking to undermine confidence in the elections."
NPR's Greg Myre contributed reporting.


npr--2020-08-29--The Census Scales Back A Critical Step: Checking Its Own Work

The Census Scales Back A Critical Step : Checking Its Own Work With scores of people displaced because of the coronavirus pandemic and other disasters , the U.S. Census Bureau is facing an especially daunting challenge of meeting its once-a-decade goal of tallying every person living in the country `` once , only once and in the right place . ''
After counting is set to end on Sept. 30 , the bureau has about three months to process all of the information it 's gathered this year for the once-a-decade , constitutionally mandated head count .
`` If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ checks are as important as the initial enumeration itself , '' says former Census Bureau Director Ken Prewitt , who oversaw the 2000 count .
But the last-minute schedule changes the Trump administration directed the bureau to make have left the agency 's staff scrambling to decide what quality checks to trim or toss out .
In recent weeks , Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross , who oversees the bureau , has been pushing bullish claims that the new approach is not `` sacrificing quality . ''
A growing number of former Census Bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , are raising the alarm that the truncated time for processing responses is likely to further undermine the accuracy of the data and exacerbate undercounts of people of color , immigrants and other historically undercounted groups .
`` It is literally impossible to say that with less time than we 've ever had before , with more problems than we 've ever had before , we 're going to have better results than we ever had before , '' says Arnold Jackson , the chief operating officer for the 2010 census who also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ count .
`` Still working '' on steps to `` streamline '' A report released this week by the Government Accountability Office , the investigative arm of Congress , warns that the bureau is behind in finishing tests of the dozen IT systems it uses for processing census responses .
`` If the Bureau does not complete all required testing , it may face an increased number of system defects or other issues , '' wrote Chris Mihm , managing director of the GAO 's strategic issues team , and Nick Marinos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ team , `` which could affect the quality and accuracy of the census count . ''
Any technical problems could also slow down the bureau 's staff , many of whom are already spread thin trying to carry out President Trump 's request from last year to use government records to produce data on the U.S. citizenship status of every adult living in the country , as well as his recent call for information on unauthorized immigrants .
Even without any IT issues , the bureau is hard-pressed to swiftly sort through what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complicated mess of census responses .
Because of COVID-19 , many residents have scattered from where they were living on Census Day , April 1 , including renters and homeowners who can no longer afford their housing and college students who fled campuses shortly before the bureau had planned to start counting them in person at their school addresses .
Some census watchers are also worried about whether the bureau can verify all of the online responses it has been collecting without a 12-digit `` Census ID '' that 's assigned to each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been preparing fixes for these kinds of situations for years .
But cutting short the time left to correct errors heightens the risk that the 2020 census results will count some residents more than once and at the wrong location , which could result in unfair distributions of federal funding and political representation for the next decade .
In a charged political climate churning with anti-immigrant sentiment and government distrust , the curtailed schedule could also leave the bureau with more gaping holes in information about unresponsive households than in past counts .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ — known for releasing detailed plans years before carrying out its operations — has yet to put out any specifics about how it will , according to a statement by the bureau 's current director , Steven Dillingham , `` streamline '' its processing work .
Meanwhile , the bureau emphasizes that it is committed to meeting the legal deadline of Dec. 31 for delivering the latest state population counts to the president .
Those numbers are used to reapportion the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states before they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next year .
`` We are still working to identify which processing steps may need to be adjusted , '' the bureau tells NPR in a statement that offered no timeline for providing updates to the public .
`` Our focus is to identify processes that can be started earlier , run in parallel , or be deferred until the redistricting phase of processing . ''
Frank Vitrano , a former associate director for the 2020 census who helped manage the 2010 count and retired in 2018 , says the bureau generally builds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give itself some wriggle room when carrying out the count .
`` Part of streamlining could potentially be removing some of that contingency time , '' Vitrano says .
`` But then what happens when something unexpected happens ? ''
This month , the bureau quietly cut at least one of its quality-checking efforts short , rattling many census advocates .
While the bureau sent an email to representatives of the states and territories involved with the program , it has not made a public announcement about the change .
Relying on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ count review operation has helped the Census Bureau identify more than 240,000 housing units and 6,500 group living quarters , such as nursing homes and prisons , that were missing from the bureau 's records , the agency confirmed to NPR in a statement .
Qian Cai , a demographer who directs the Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia 's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service , had been preparing to do another review of the bureau 's data files in September to help make sure college student housing in her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lined up the resources and the personnel ready to provide input , '' Cai says .
`` And all of sudden , that 's canceled . ''
Huda Alkitkat , the manager of the Population Estimates Program at Portland State University 's Population Research Center , said she was relieved that her team had already completed most of its work on data about Oregon .
`` We are lucky that we were able to finish this phase before the pandemic , '' Alkitkat says .
But at the Arkansas State Data Center , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bit nervous '' now that his team has lost an opportunity to review the Census Bureau 's files again .
`` The thing that concerns me and my coworkers the most are nursing homes , since they tend to pop up and close down pretty often , '' Caraballo says .
`` Some of them we know for a fact are located near county boundaries or city boundaries , so it could cause some funding problems down the line if that 's not correct . ''
Thomas Louis , a former chief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its research and methodology , has cautioned against curtailing the bureau 's count review operation .
`` Eliminating it will help the Bureau achieve the December 31 , 2020 deadline for delivery of apportionment data , but will do so at a considerable cost in the quality and credibility of that data , '' Louis wrote in a court filing this week for a federal lawsuit led by the National Urban League that 's trying to get the administration to go back to the extended schedule the bureau developed in response to COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurtling into a fog of uncertainty in its final months as bureau officials rush to deliver numbers from which Trump says he wants to exclude unauthorized immigrants despite the 14th Amendment 's requirement to include the `` whole number of persons in each state . ''
`` A lot of those changes , without a very clear explanation or justification , make data users wonder , 'How much can I trust the census ? '
There 's a big trust issue , '' says Cai , the University of Virginia demographer .
Katherine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ close to 25 years as the chief statistician within the White House Office of Management and Budget , overseeing the federal government 's statistical policies , worries that skepticism about the quality of 2020 census data could taint public perception about the reliability of other critical information the federal government releases that is based in part on census data .
`` We 're actually endangering all of government statistics because it just feeds the notion , '' Wallman says , `` that those guys , they just make up the numbers , right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the approval process for the 2000 and 2010 census forms , says she finds the rush to produce the 2020 results amid the pandemic perplexing .
`` I am not finding any rationale that I can accept as an objective reason for rushing through , ending up with crummy data and destroying the trust in a system that depends almost entirely on the voluntary cooperation of the American public , '' Wallman says .
The recent additions of three political appointees at the bureau — including two new deputy directors at an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades by one deputy director who is a career official — have heightened worries that the Trump administration is trying to manipulate the 2020 count to benefit the Republican Party .
To help assuage concerns , many census advocates are calling for the bureau to release more detailed indicators of the level of public cooperation door knockers are experiencing among households that have not yet participated in the count , many of whom are among historically undercounted groups with high levels of distrust of the government .
Tim Olson , the bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tells NPR that in the coming days , the bureau is planning to release data `` a little more detailed below the state level '' on its website .
`` There 's nothing to hide , '' Olson says .
`` When people do see that greater level of detail , they will see areas that are way ahead and areas that are behind .
And that 's the normal churn . ''
`` At this point , it will take an unprecedented level of transparency for this count to have the credibility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a senior fellow with the National Conference on Citizenship who once co-directed the Data Center in New Orleans .
`` When they 're out there in the field and they 're counting a household , did they actually reach people in that household or did they ask a neighbor , for example ? ''
These technical details could help put into focus exactly how precise this once-a-decade portrait of the U.S. population is .
The bureau says it has `` enumerated '' more than 80 % of housing units in the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not a clear indicator how much of the U.S. population has been counted so far .
Some of those housing units could have been verified by the bureau 's workers as vacant or not actual home addresses .
Others may have been added to the head count through dubious information door knockers have collected from neighbors .
That 's one of the bureau 's back-up methods for filling in information gaps , in addition to looking to government records and , as a last-ditch effort , generating educated guesses through a statistical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more the bureau relies on these alternative processes to finish the count , the higher the risk of producing inaccurate information about historically undercounted groups , including people of color , resulting in national statistics that show a country much whiter than it actually is .
In 2010 and 2000 , close to 1.2 million people were added to each count through imputation .
In a court filing in support of the National Urban League 's lawsuit , former Census Bureau Director John Thompson , who has worked on four past U.S. head @ @ @ @ @ @ @ greater need for imputation for this year 's count given the challenge in retaining enough door knockers and the time crunch they 're working under .
Thompson also cautions against census workers relying more on `` proxy '' interviews with neighbors to get households counted — a method that the bureau found was more than twice as likely to produce an error compared to the overall error rate for the 2010 census .
All of this uncertainty is leading many census advocates to wonder what kind of data the bureau is preparing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this year — and to the states next year .
Louis , the bureau 's former chief scientist , spelled out in the court filing concerns about how census data are used in `` key pillars of our democratic society . ''
`` The Bureau will most likely release numbers at the end of the census process , '' Louis wrote .
`` But if the quality of those numbers is low , fair apportionment and redistricting will be compromised . ''

Running Out Of Time, Census Scales Back A Critical Step: Checking Its Own Work
Enlarge this image toggle caption LM Otero/AP LM Otero/AP
Updated at 9:56 a.m. ET on Aug. 31
With millions of people displaced because of the coronavirus pandemic and other disasters, the U.S. Census Bureau is facing an especially daunting challenge of meeting its once-a-decade goal of tallying every person living in the country "once, only once and in the right place."
After counting is set to end on Sept. 30, the bureau has about three months to process all of the information it's gathered this year for the once-a-decade, constitutionally mandated head count. "If you want an accurate census, the quality checks are as important as the initial enumeration itself," says former Census Bureau Director Ken Prewitt, who oversaw the 2000 count.
But the last-minute schedule changes the Trump administration directed the bureau to make have left the agency's staff scrambling to decide what quality checks to trim or toss out.
In recent weeks, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, has been pushing bullish claims that the new approach is not "sacrificing quality."
A growing number of former Census Bureau officials and other census advocates, however, are raising the alarm that the truncated time for processing responses is likely to further undermine the accuracy of the data and exacerbate undercounts of people of color, immigrants and other historically undercounted groups.
"It is literally impossible to say that with less time than we've ever had before, with more problems than we've ever had before, we're going to have better results than we ever had before," says Arnold Jackson, the chief operating officer for the 2010 census who also served as a consultant on the 2020 count.
"Still working" on steps to "streamline"
A report released this week by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, warns that the bureau is behind in finishing tests of the dozen IT systems it uses for processing census responses.
"If the Bureau does not complete all required testing, it may face an increased number of system defects or other issues," wrote Chris Mihm, managing director of the GAO's strategic issues team, and Nick Marinos, a director on its IT and cybersecurity team, "which could affect the quality and accuracy of the census count."
Any technical problems could also slow down the bureau's staff, many of whom are already spread thin trying to carry out President Trump's request from last year to use government records to produce data on the U.S. citizenship status of every adult living in the country, as well as his recent call for information on unauthorized immigrants.
A lot of those changes, without a very clear explanation or justification, make data users wonder, 'How much can I trust the census?' There's a big trust issue.
Even without any IT issues, the bureau is hard-pressed to swiftly sort through what could turn out to be an unusually complicated mess of census responses.
Because of COVID-19, many residents have scattered from where they were living on Census Day, April 1, including renters and homeowners who can no longer afford their housing and college students who fled campuses shortly before the bureau had planned to start counting them in person at their school addresses.
Some census watchers are also worried about whether the bureau can verify all of the online responses it has been collecting without a 12-digit "Census ID" that's assigned to each known home address.
The bureau has been preparing fixes for these kinds of situations for years. But cutting short the time left to correct errors heightens the risk that the 2020 census results will count some residents more than once and at the wrong location, which could result in unfair distributions of federal funding and political representation for the next decade.
In a charged political climate churning with anti-immigrant sentiment and government distrust, the curtailed schedule could also leave the bureau with more gaping holes in information about unresponsive households than in past counts.
What's more is that the bureau — known for releasing detailed plans years before carrying out its operations — has yet to put out any specifics about how it will, according to a statement by the bureau's current director, Steven Dillingham, "streamline" its processing work. Meanwhile, the bureau emphasizes that it is committed to meeting the legal deadline of Dec. 31 for delivering the latest state population counts to the president. Those numbers are used to reapportion the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states before they start receiving more detailed data for redistricting next year.
"We are still working to identify which processing steps may need to be adjusted," the bureau tells NPR in a statement that offered no timeline for providing updates to the public. "Our focus is to identify processes that can be started earlier, run in parallel, or be deferred until the redistricting phase of processing."
Frank Vitrano, a former associate director for the 2020 census who helped manage the 2010 count and retired in 2018, says the bureau generally builds into its plans a cushion of time to give itself some wriggle room when carrying out the count.
"Part of streamlining could potentially be removing some of that contingency time," Vitrano says. "But then what happens when something unexpected happens?"
A quiet cut to a quality check
This month, the bureau quietly cut at least one of its quality-checking efforts short, rattling many census advocates.
While the bureau sent an email to representatives of the states and territories involved with the program, it has not made a public announcement about the change.
I am not finding any rationale that I can accept as an objective reason for rushing through, ending up with crummy data and destroying the trust in a system that depends almost entirely on the voluntary cooperation of the American public.
Relying on the local expertise of demographers, the count review operation has helped the Census Bureau identify more than 240,000 housing units and 6,500 group living quarters, such as nursing homes and prisons, that were missing from the bureau's records, the agency confirmed to NPR in a statement.
Qian Cai, a demographer who directs the Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, had been preparing to do another review of the bureau's data files in September to help make sure college student housing in her state was correctly counted.
"We lined up the resources and the personnel ready to provide input," Cai says. "And all of sudden, that's canceled."
Huda Alkitkat, a demographer who manages the Population Estimates Program at Portland State University's Population Research Center, said she was relieved that her team had already completed most of its work on data about Oregon.
"We are lucky that we were able to finish this phase before the pandemic," Alkitkat says.
But at the Arkansas State Data Center, demographer Diego Caraballo says he feels "a bit nervous" now that his team has lost an opportunity to review the Census Bureau's files again.
"The thing that concerns me and my coworkers the most are nursing homes, since they tend to pop up and close down pretty often," Caraballo says. "Some of them we know for a fact are located near county boundaries or city boundaries, so it could cause some funding problems down the line if that's not correct."
Thomas Louis, a former chief scientist at the Census Bureau who oversaw its research and methodology, has cautioned against curtailing the bureau's count review operation.
"Eliminating it will help the Bureau achieve the December 31, 2020 deadline for delivery of apportionment data, but will do so at a considerable cost in the quality and credibility of that data," Louis wrote in a court filing this week for a federal lawsuit led by the National Urban League that's trying to get the administration to go back to the extended schedule the bureau developed in response to COVID-19.
At this point, it will take an unprecedented level of transparency for this count to have the credibility it needs.
Instead, the 2020 census is hurtling into a fog of uncertainty in its final months as bureau officials rush to deliver numbers from which Trump says he wants to exclude unauthorized immigrants despite the 14th Amendment's requirement to include the "whole number of persons in each state."
"A lot of those changes, without a very clear explanation or justification, make data users wonder, 'How much can I trust the census?' There's a big trust issue," says Cai, the University of Virginia demographer.
"Endangering all of government statistics"
Katherine Wallman — who retired in 2017 after close to 25 years as the chief statistician within the White House Office of Management and Budget, overseeing the federal government's statistical policies — worries that skepticism about the quality of 2020 census data could taint public perception about the reliability of other critical information the federal government releases that is based in part on census data.
"We're actually endangering all of government statistics because it just feeds the notion," Wallman says, "that those guys, they just make up the numbers, right?"
Wallman, who was part of the approval process for the 2000 and 2010 census forms, says she finds the rush to produce the 2020 results amid the pandemic perplexing.
"I am not finding any rationale that I can accept as an objective reason for rushing through, ending up with crummy data and destroying the trust in a system that depends almost entirely on the voluntary cooperation of the American public," Wallman says.
The recent additions of three political appointees at the bureau — including two new deputy directors at an agency where day-to-day operations have been overseen for decades by one deputy director who is a career official — have heightened worries that the Trump administration is trying to manipulate the 2020 count to benefit the Republican Party.
To help assuage concerns, many census advocates are calling for the bureau to release more detailed indicators of the level of public cooperation door knockers are experiencing among households that have not yet participated in the count, many of whom are among historically undercounted groups with high levels of distrust of the government.
Tim Olson, the bureau's associate director for field operation, tells NPR that in the coming days, the bureau is planning to release data "a little more detailed below the state level" on its website.
"There's nothing to hide," Olson says. "When people do see that greater level of detail, they will see areas that are way ahead and areas that are behind. And that's the normal churn."
"At this point, it will take an unprecedented level of transparency for this count to have the credibility it needs," says Denice Ross, a senior fellow with the National Conference on Citizenship who once co-directed the Data Center in New Orleans. "When they're out there in the field and they're counting a household, did they actually reach people in that household or did they ask a neighbor, for example?"
These technical details could help put into focus exactly how precise this once-a-decade portrait of the U.S. population is.
If the quality of those numbers is low, fair apportionment and redistricting will be compromised.
The bureau says it has "enumerated" more than 80% of housing units in the country as of Thursday. But that rate is not a clear indicator how much of the U.S. population has been counted so far. Some of those housing units could have been verified by the bureau's workers as vacant or not actual home addresses. Others may have been added to the head count through dubious information door knockers have collected from neighbors. That's one of the bureau's back-up methods for filling in information gaps, in addition to looking to government records and, as a last-ditch effort, generating educated guesses through a statistical technique known as imputation.
But the more the bureau relies on these alternative processes to finish the count, the higher the risk of producing inaccurate information about historically undercounted groups, including people of color, resulting in national statistics that show a country much whiter than it actually is.
In 2010 and 2000, close to 1.2 million people were added to each count through imputation. In a court filing in support of the National Urban League's lawsuit, former Census Bureau Director John Thompson, who has worked on four past U.S. head counts, warns there may be a greater need for imputation for this year's count given the challenge in retaining enough door knockers and the time crunch they're working under.
Thompson also cautions against census workers relying more on "proxy" interviews with neighbors to get households counted — a method that the bureau found was more than twice as likely to produce an error compared to the overall error rate for the 2010 census.
All of this uncertainty is leading many census advocates to wonder what kind of data the bureau is preparing to give to the president by the end of this year — and to the states next year.
Louis, the bureau's former chief scientist, spelled out in the court filing concerns about how census data are used in "key pillars of our democratic society."
"The Bureau will most likely release numbers at the end of the census process," Louis wrote. "But if the quality of those numbers is low, fair apportionment and redistricting will be compromised."


npr--2020-08-29--On Path To Normalize Relations, UAE Formally Ends Boycott Of Israel

On Path To Normalize Relations , UAE Formally Ends Boycott Of Israel The ruler of the United Arab Emirates has formally ended the country 's boycott of Israel , marking one more step toward normalized relations between the two countries following a U.S.-brokered deal earlier this month .
Emirati ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued the decree on Saturday , allowing trade and commerce between the oil-rich nation and the longtime U.S. ally .
The UAE 's state-run WAM news agency said the decree allows Israelis and Israeli firms to officially do business with the federation of seven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ According to the AP , the WAM said the decree provides `` a roadmap toward launching joint cooperation , leading to bilateral relations by stimulating economic growth and promoting technological innovation . ''
The decree formally ends a 1972 law establishing a boycott , a common policy towards Israel in the Arab world for its treatment of Palestinians .
The decree puts the UAE one step further on the path to normal ties with Israel and follows the Aug. 13 announcement that President Trump and the leaders of the two countries had established @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two Arab nations — Egypt and Jordan — currently have normal diplomatic ties to Israel .
Prior to the diplomatic breakthrough , the two countries had kept informal security and economic ties , albeit quietly .
Avi Barssessat , an Israel-based seller of luxury mattresses , told NPR that he had been routing his products through Slovakia to skirt the official boycott .
He said he recently phoned his Emirati distributor at the promise of normal relations .
`` I said , you should pack your suitcase because you 're able to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen very soon , I promise you , '' he said .
Israeli airline El Al is scheduled to make its first direct commercial flight to the UAE on Monday with a passenger list including Israeli officials and President Trump 's son-in-law , Jared Kushner .
Kushner is visiting the region to hammer out details of the UAE and Israeli relationship .
Optimism in high among some UAE residents , Emirati journalist Mahmood Alawadi told NPR .
`` A lot of my friends and families , they said enough is enough .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to stability in the region .
Enough hatred , '' Alawadi said .
Though supported by leaders in both countries , the deal has had its detractors .
Palestinians have voiced dismay at the break with the established practice among Arab nations of refusing ties with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians .
And in a Washington Institute poll earlier this summer , roughly 80 % of Emiratis questioned opposed business contacts with Israel .
Israel did agree to halt settlements in the West Bank as part of the agreement .
Palestinian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparent defection from their cause .
Hanan Ashrawi , a member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization , tweeted about Saturday 's decree , referring to the global boycott , divest and sanctions movement to pressure Israel to change its policies towards Palestinians .
`` While # BDS is proving to be an effective tool of peaceful resistance & responsible , ethical investment & consumer responsibility to hold Israel to account , this happens ! ''
Ashrawi tweeted .
Ashrawi had previously criticized the agreement between Israel and the UAE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for not declaring openly what it 's been doing to Palestine illegally & persistently since the beginning of the occupation . ''
NPR 's Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Jerusalem .

On Path To Normalize Relations, UAE Formally Ends Boycott Of Israel
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ariel Schalit/AP Ariel Schalit/AP
The ruler of the United Arab Emirates has formally ended the country's boycott of Israel, marking one more step toward normalized relations between the two countries following a U.S.-brokered deal earlier this month.
Emirati ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued the decree on Saturday, allowing trade and commerce between the oil-rich nation and the longtime U.S. ally.
The UAE's state-run WAM news agency said the decree allows Israelis and Israeli firms to officially do business with the federation of seven sheikdoms, the Associated Press reported.
According to the AP, the WAM said the decree provides "a roadmap toward launching joint cooperation, leading to bilateral relations by stimulating economic growth and promoting technological innovation."
The decree formally ends a 1972 law establishing a boycott, a common policy towards Israel in the Arab world for its treatment of Palestinians.
The decree puts the UAE one step further on the path to normal ties with Israel and follows the Aug. 13 announcement that President Trump and the leaders of the two countries had established a deal to do so.
Only two Arab nations — Egypt and Jordan — currently have normal diplomatic ties to Israel.
Prior to the diplomatic breakthrough, the two countries had kept informal security and economic ties, albeit quietly.
Avi Barssessat, an Israel-based seller of luxury mattresses, told NPR that he had been routing his products through Slovakia to skirt the official boycott. He said he recently phoned his Emirati distributor at the promise of normal relations.
"I said, you should pack your suitcase because you're able to come to visit my factory. It will happen very soon, I promise you," he said.
Israeli airline El Al is scheduled to make its first direct commercial flight to the UAE on Monday with a passenger list including Israeli officials and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner is visiting the region to hammer out details of the UAE and Israeli relationship.
Optimism in high among some UAE residents, Emirati journalist Mahmood Alawadi told NPR.
"A lot of my friends and families, they said enough is enough. They say, we want economy. We want to stability in the region. Enough hatred,"Alawadi said.
Though supported by leaders in both countries, the deal has had its detractors. Palestinians have voiced dismay at the break with the established practice among Arab nations of refusing ties with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. And in a Washington Institute poll earlier this summer, roughly 80% of Emiratis questioned opposed business contacts with Israel.
Israel did agree to halt settlements in the West Bank as part of the agreement. Palestinian officials have still criticized the UAE's apparent defection from their cause.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, tweeted about Saturday's decree, referring to the global boycott, divest and sanctions movement to pressure Israel to change its policies towards Palestinians.
"While #BDS is proving to be an effective tool of peaceful resistance & responsible, ethical investment & consumer responsibility to hold Israel to account, this happens!" Ashrawi tweeted.
Ashrawi had previously criticized the agreement between Israel and the UAE, saying "Israel had been rewarded for not declaring openly what it's been doing to Palestine illegally & persistently since the beginning of the occupation."
NPR's Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.


npr--2020-08-29--Southern States Assessing The Damage From Laura As Storm Continues To Weaken

Southern States Assessing The Damage From Laura As Storm Continues To Weaken After pummeling the Gulf Coast , Hurricane Laura has been downgraded several levels to what 's called a remnant low , moving through Arkansas and into the Mid-Atlantic .
But even in its weakened state , the storm continues to cause significant damage , with many areas now bracing for heavy rainfall as Laura makes its way toward the Atlantic Ocean .
Much of Arkansas was affected on Friday , with heavy rain and high winds reported throughout the state .
The storm entered the state Thursday night @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mph before eventually weakening .
Multiple tornadoes touched down , leaving extensive damage to homes and buildings in the northeastern corner of Arkansas .
More than 5 inches of rain were reported in southern areas of the state .
Tens of thousands were left without power as the strong winds downed trees and power lines .
The most severe damage from the storm remains in Louisiana and eastern Texas , where Hurricane Laura made landfall and ravaged the coasts .
At least 14 deaths have been attributed to the storm , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a Category 4 storm , one of the most powerful to hit the area in decades , bringing winds as high as 150 mph and over 9 feet of storm surge in some places .
In Louisiana , hundreds of thousands were left without water and power as officials in the state scramble to fix downed lines , broken pipes and restore water pressure .
Over 400,000 homes and buildings were still without power as of Saturday morning , according to poweroutage.us .
In the Louisiana city of Lake Charles , one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to return .
NPR member station WNNO reports that many are finding damage to be haphazard , with some buildings completely destroyed while others escaped untouched .
Lake Charles resident Austin Thorne , 24 , spoke to WNNO as he helped clear tree branches off homes .
He said officials have been asking residents to stay away , at least for now .
Thorne said that 's a hard ask when it 's your friends and neighbors who need help .
`` They 're saying , 'Look and leave , ' `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of folks who are hooking up a window unit with a generator , and they 're planning on staying , doing whatever they can and just trying to get everybody back on their feet as soon as possible . ''
While the massive storm surge — and resulting damage — was nowhere near as bad as predicted , officials say it will take days to fully assess the aftermath , as more remote areas still remain inaccessible .
President Trump is scheduled to visit some of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Saturday .
Trump has approved emergency declarations for Louisiana , Texas , Mississippi and Arkansas to assist with response to the storm .
Meanwhile , Laura continues to move through the Mid-Atlantic , bringing heavy rainfall through several states on Saturday , but it is losing much of its strength and severity in the process .

Southern States Assessing The Damage From Laura As Storm Continues To Weaken
Enlarge this image toggle caption Aubri Juhasz/WNNO Aubri Juhasz/WNNO
After pummeling the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Laura has been downgraded several levels to what's called a remnant low, moving through Arkansas and into the Mid-Atlantic. But even in its weakened state, the storm continues to cause significant damage, with many areas now bracing for heavy rainfall as Laura makes its way toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Much of Arkansas was affected on Friday, with heavy rain and high winds reported throughout the state. The storm entered the state Thursday night and brought winds of up to 55 mph before eventually weakening.
Multiple tornadoes touched down, leaving extensive damage to homes and buildings in the northeastern corner of Arkansas. More than 5 inches of rain were reported in southern areas of the state. Tens of thousands were left without power as the strong winds downed trees and power lines.
The most severe damage from the storm remains in Louisiana and eastern Texas, where Hurricane Laura made landfall and ravaged the coasts. At least 14 deaths have been attributed to the storm, according to reports. At its peak, Laura was a Category 4 storm, one of the most powerful to hit the area in decades, bringing winds as high as 150 mph and over 9 feet of storm surge in some places.
In Louisiana, hundreds of thousands were left without water and power as officials in the state scramble to fix downed lines, broken pipes and restore water pressure. Over 400,000 homes and buildings were still without power as of Saturday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
In the Louisiana city of Lake Charles, one of the hardest-hit areas, residents have started to return. NPR member station WNNO reports that many are finding damage to be haphazard, with some buildings completely destroyed while others escaped untouched.
Lake Charles resident Austin Thorne, 24, spoke to WNNO as he helped clear tree branches off homes. He said officials have been asking residents to stay away, at least for now.
Thorne said that's a hard ask when it's your friends and neighbors who need help.
"They're saying, 'Look and leave,' " he said, "but I know a lot of folks who are hooking up a window unit with a generator, and they're planning on staying, doing whatever they can and just trying to get everybody back on their feet as soon as possible."
While the massive storm surge — and resulting damage — was nowhere near as bad as predicted, officials say it will take days to fully assess the aftermath, as more remote areas still remain inaccessible.
President Trump is scheduled to visit some of the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana and Texas, including Lake Charles, on Saturday. Trump has approved emergency declarations for Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas to assist with response to the storm.
Meanwhile, Laura continues to move through the Mid-Atlantic, bringing heavy rainfall through several states on Saturday, but it is losing much of its strength and severity in the process.