usatoday--2020-08-13--Tropical Storm Josephine forms in Atlantic, the 10th storm of a record-setting season

Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning , forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said .
The storm , which is the 10th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season , has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph .
Josephine shattered the early-season formation record for the J-named storm in the basin : The previous record belonged to Jose , which developed on Aug. 22 , 2005 .
In an average hurricane season , the 10th named storm doesn ’ t form until Oct. 19 .
As of the 5 p.m .
ET advisory from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about 865 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands and traveling west-northwest at 16 mph .
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect .
Josephine is riding the underbelly of the Bermuda High .
Once it reaches a weakness in the counterclockwise swirl that typically lives between Bermuda and the Azores , it will take a more northerly heading .
AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said that `` we expect this system to move on a curved path to the west-northwest and then to the northwest in the coming days . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ close to the Leeward Islands in the northeastern part of the Caribbean this weekend .
Even if the center of the storm stays over the open water , the system could pass close enough to bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the Leeward Islands .
The storm is not forecast to strengthen into a hurricane , forecasters said , and may actually dissipate within the next five days .
So far this year , Cristobal , Danielle , Edouard , Fay , Gonzalo , Hanna and Isaias have also set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ storms of their respective place in the alphabet .
Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes .
Kimberly Miller reports for the Palm Beach Post ; Doyle Rice for USA TODAY On the heels of Isaias , forecasters say 10 more hurricanes are likely this season With 9 storms so far this hurricane season , what happens if we run out of names ?

Kimberly Miller and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

Tropical Storm Josephine forms in Atlantic, the 10th storm of a record-setting season
Show Caption Hide Caption Josephine to pass east and north of the Leeward Islands The tropical storm is slowly moving west-northwest and could make impacts through Saturday morning. Accuweather
Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning, forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm, which is the 10th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
Josephine shattered the early-season formation record for the J-named storm in the basin: The previous record belonged to Jose, which developed on Aug. 22, 2005.
In an average hurricane season, the 10th named storm doesn’t form until Oct. 19.
As of the 5 p.m. ET advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Josephine was about 865 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands and traveling west-northwest at 16 mph.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.
Josephine is riding the underbelly of the Bermuda High. Once it reaches a weakness in the counterclockwise swirl that typically lives between Bermuda and the Azores, it will take a more northerly heading.
AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said that "we expect this system to move on a curved path to the west-northwest and then to the northwest in the coming days."
This projected path could take Josephine relatively close to the Leeward Islands in the northeastern part of the Caribbean this weekend.
Even if the center of the storm stays over the open water, the system could pass close enough to bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the Leeward Islands.
How to prepare for hurricane season It's important to take these steps before hurricane season. ProblemSolved, USA TODAY
The storm is not forecast to strengthen into a hurricane, forecasters said, and may actually dissipate within the next five days.
So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna and Isaias have also set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Kimberly Miller reports for the Palm Beach Post; Doyle Rice for USA TODAY
Hurricane season:
On the heels of Isaias, forecasters say 10 more hurricanes are likely this season
With 9 storms so far this hurricane season, what happens if we run out of names?


usatoday--2020-08-13--Police officer saves man in wheelchair seconds away from oncoming train

Officer saves man in wheelchair seconds away from oncoming train Bodycam footage shows a police officer saving a man in @ @ @ @ @ on a set of tracks just before the train came through .

Officer saves man in wheelchair seconds away from oncoming train
Bodycam footage shows a police officer saving a man in a wheelchair who was stuck on a set of tracks just before the train came through.
USA TODAY, Storyful


usatoday--2020-08-13--When systemic racism meets the coronavirus, Black women suffer economically

This story was published in partnership with The 19th , a nonprofit , nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender , politics and policy .
The first time Dr. NanaEfua Afoh-Manin stationed her coronavirus testing pop-up site on the edge of a “ Black Lives Matter ” protest , George Floyd ’ s face looked down at her from the wall of a boarded up building in West Oakland .
The words “ can ’ t be in vain ” dripped red from his forehead .
This season of suffering had incensed 43-year-old Afoh-Manin .
Black people , sick and alone , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked .
She set up testing pop-ups across the region , trying to help people before they ended up in her emergency room .
Then the death of George Floyd threw the nation into turmoil over a different kind of Black death .
So she took her pop-ups from parking lots to protests , enlisting volunteers to swab nostrils and hand out “ protest survival kits ” packed with goggles and face shields .
I hope white women will help us change America in 2020 .
But so far I 'm not counting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been a protester herself , fighting for affirmative action in California .
She had chosen to study medicine after seeing her mother , a respected registered nurse with cervical cancer , treated with apathy by her oncologist .
And Afoh-Manin had known fear of the police , the first time as a 15-year-old girl in the back of a patrol car .
Standing among the protesters this summer , she returned to that memory , the one she had repressed .
To the stop and the hour-long interrogation .
To the handcuffs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her wrist .
She had cried so hard she fainted .
Driving without a license , the officers later said .
Afoh-Manin ’ s journey , like that of many Black women in America , has been a story of resistance and persistence .
But this year brought a new test when two pandemics converged at once .
The original pandemic , racism , has ensured Black women have been at a disadvantage in every conceivable arena — hiring , education , health care , banking — victims of the incomplete crawl toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has rotted away what little safety net many of these women could rely on .
Black women represent about 11 percent of essential workers even though they ’ re only 6 percent of the workforce .
They ’ re also one of the only groups for whom unemployment during the pandemic went up from one month to the next , while for others it went down .
About 1.4 million jobs held by Black women have vanished since February .
And yet , many are turning this into a moment of action , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call for respect toward Black lives and , in some cases , to drive the course of progress forward .
So that change isn ’ t gradual or imperceptible , but tangible and real and now .
Afoh-Manin felt that urgency when a Black mother and daughter entered her Los Angeles emergency room in March , coronavirus in their lungs .
What is systemic racism ?
Here 's what it means and how you can help dismantle it The mother went straight to the intensive care unit .
The daughter — a single @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst of it , but she was asthmatic .
Afoh-Manin knew she had to keep her in the hospital , but the young mother didn ’ t have anyone who could take care of her kids .
The hospital was going to fail this woman , Afoh-Manin realized , because it , too , didn ’ t have a plan.They ’ d have to turn to child welfare — a historically punitive system for many Black mothers .
“ That ’ s when I was like , ‘ No .
Not on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live with myself , and I can ’ t be part of this , ” Afoh-Manin said .
“ You know something ’ s happening and there ’ s a reason why all my lived experiences got me to this point , and it was to get me to get out and say , ‘ No , you ’ re not going to take the kids away from this mom.
’ ” In the short-term , Afoh-Manin and her team devised a way for the children to stay in the hospital so they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The experience inspired her and two fellow Black female doctors to put together $ 16,000 to create myCovidMD , a nonprofit that provides testing to communities being ravaged by the virus .
But like many Black women-owned businesses , they were denied for the federal government ’ s coronavirus business stimulus , the Paycheck Protection Program loan .
In fact , their first 39 grant applications seeking money earmarked for small businesses , for women-led businesses , for emergency response , were denied .
It was only through Afoh-Manin ’ s punishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and her fundraising schedule , that she was able to put together enough in donations for her program to finally take off , serving more than 3,000 people as of July from Queens to Los Angeles .
To make it happen , she lives by her mom ’ s mantra : “ Mountain , move out of my way.
” Afoh-Manin has thought about the mountains still ahead of her often this year .
She ’ s thought about Breonna Taylor — the 26-year-old EMT was “ one of us , ” — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus , but at the hands of police .
She ’ s thought about the faces in the murals .
“ I ’ m gon na resist the knee on my neck , ” she said .
“ No matter what.
” For decades , Black women have been fighting to control their fiscal future .
They have historically had the highest labor force participation of any female group — 63 percent at the start of 2020 compared to 58 percent of White women .
And they ’ re avid voters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other groups .
But systems dating back to slavery relegated many of them to work in the agricultural field and as domestic servants in the early 20th century , and racism kept them there long after emancipation .
During the New Deal era in the 1930s , southern Democrats in Congress worked to exclude farm workers and domestic service from labor protections like minimum wage , overtime pay and collective bargaining rights .
It wasn ’ t until the 1970s that Black women started to finally experience some occupational diversity .
But they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in low-wage service jobs — the kinds of jobs now labeled “ essential ” but still lack labor protections such as paid sick leave or even access to health care .
Today , Black women are more than twice as likely as White women to work in service occupations .
Despite the challenges , Black women are starting new businesses at the fastest rate of any group .
In the past decade , the number of Black women with more than a four-year degree has risen by 37 percent — compared to 23 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black women continue to have the highest rate of student loan debt .
That means Black women , who have been part of the labor force at higher rates than other groups and spend more to attain an education , are far less likely to reap the benefits of that work — even when they are in higher-wage positions .
Now , even that marginal progress stands to be eroded as coronavirus threatens women across the socioeconomic spectrum , from business owners to frontline workers .
“ When you think about the progress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of times that progress is somewhat precarious .
It rests on a set of factors that , if they get pulled out , you realize that the progress that you think has been made is somewhat illusory , ” said Jocelyn Frye , a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress , a left-leaning think tank .
“ When a disruption the magnitude of the pandemic happens , we sort of have to go back to the drawing board and some of the underlying systemic problems rear their head.
” In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black women out of the labor force altogether , cutting the final tether for women like Anastancia Cuna , a nanny in the Boston area who has lived with little economic protection for years .
When the pandemic hit , she found herself without health insurance — only one in five domestic workers in the nation , who are 92 percent female and 52 percent women of color , are provided health insurance by their employers .
Her job was to go into people ’ s homes when everyone was being advised to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effects of COVID-19 , yes , but more importantly for her , she “ could not afford to get sick.
” Now , with her husband out of work , too , the family has had to cut back on buying meat , poultry and seafood to save money .
They buy tofu instead .
They don ’ t have enough to buy their 12-year-old daughter , Nyeleti , a new pair of sneakers .
“ It ’ s hard to have to see the pandemic , which we were not prepared for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the racial injustice that we ’ re going through , ” said Cuna , 38 .
“ It ’ s just too hard.
” Across the country , Black women are bearing a larger share of that burden as the heads of their households .
Nearly 70 percent of Black women are the primary or only breadwinner in their family , according to a report from the Center for American Progress .
That ’ s about twice the rate for White women .
Black households have less in the bank in the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic .
In general , they have about fives times less in liquid assets — checking and savings accounts , cash and directly held stocks , bonds and mutual funds — than White households : About $ 8,800 compared to $ 49,500 , according to the Economic Policy Institute .
And Black families are also making less overall .
The median household income for a Black household is about $ 41,700 , 70 percent lower than a White household , according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau .
That ’ s due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black women until August to catch up to the wages White men made the year before .
Like the Cunas , many Black families also have fewer benefits to rely on .
Black workers are 60 percent more likely to be uninsured than White workers .
All of those factors build an insecure bedrock for Black families that is extremely vulnerable to any disruption .
The impact shows up in the numbers : In May , for example , Black female unemployment went up to 16.5 percent when it was going down for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Asian women , it also went up month-to-month , from 15.6 percent in April to 16.4 percent in May . )
The reason , said Fatima Goss Graves , president and CEO of the National Women ’ s Law Center , is systemic racism that has put Black women in the most susceptible jobs .
For instance , Black women are the only group whose share of the frontline worker labor force is almost double their share of the overall workforce .
“ I worry that people will not be able to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Goss Graves said .
“ There ’ s a risk that people misunderstand the connection between racial justice and economic justice , and so we want to take on only one and not the other .
But the economy isn ’ t actually rebounding if Black women are losing more jobs.
” Black women are at risk of losing their foothold in the labor force if their role in American households — as primary breadwinners and caretakers , in particular — isn ’ t addressed .
This includes women like McDonald ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ income earner in her St. Louis household .
Douglas makes $ 10 an hour and cares for her brother , who is disabled , her oldest son , who is recovering from a brain tumor , and her youngest son , who just graduated high school .
Since the pandemic started , she ’ s had to fight to keep hours and the full-time status she recently earned after 14 years with the company .
“ ’ I ’ ve worked from the grill , cashiering , lobby , maintenance — everything , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I put the burgers together .
I ’ m all over the place .
I clean the refrigerator .
I ’ m pulling stuff out of the toilet , I ’ m a plumber .
You name it .
I ’ ve done it there.
” And yet she still can ’ t scrape together enough to buy a refrigerator .
So she rides the bus every day to the grocery store , a task that costs her more in the long run .
For five months this year , she ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I haven ’ t even opened the bills because I ’ m afraid .
I ’ ve just been collecting them , ” she said .
“ Life shouldn ’ t be this big of a struggle .
I ’ m just trying to live an honest life.
” And then there ’ s the relentless racism she said she lives with “ on a daily basis.
” Douglas said she hopes this is the moment that moves the needle — with the twin pandemics pushing the conversation forward to help address the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ What I can say is that this moment feels different from any other moment I have experienced in my lifetime , ” said Nina Banks , associate Professor of Economics at Bucknell University and an expert on Black women in the labor force .
She ’ s worried some changes will be more symbolic than seismic .
But she knows substantive change is coming .
She sees it and hears it in the students at her university .
“ This is generational , ” Banks said .
“ Younger people get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ path toward change starts with intent .
Intentionality about collecting data on race and ethnicity could help lead to policies that illuminate the barriers to mobility that have long existed for communities of color , said Frye at the Center for American Progress .
It wasn ’ t until The New York Times sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more data on the racial impact of coronavirus , for example , that the scope of the virus ’ assault on people of color came into focus .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , but it ’ s a host of long-term policies that target resources into the areas that breed disparities .
“ It ’ s not easy work , to be sure , but it is very intentional work that is intended to surface disparities that are happening not just to women generally , but to women of color specifically , and to set those as baseline measures , ” Frye said .
“ If you ’ re not fixing the pay gap for Black women then you ’ re not fixing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addressing the way national crises , like the child care shortage , impact women of color severely .
A recent proposal by Senate Democrats , for instance , aims to spend $ 350 billion over five years to address economic inequalities in communities of color that have been highlighted by coronavirus , including by dedicating funds to stabilizing daycare facilities and giving more families access to child care .
And a recent survey by Lean In found that Black women spend an estimated 12 hours more a week on child care responsibilities than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care providers have lost their jobs since January , weakening a system Black mothers rely on heavily .
“ White women in the United States have been socially valued as mothers , but Black women have primarily been viewed as workers without regard to their caregiving needs as mothers , ” Banks said .
The Senate proposal is unlikely to get bipartisan support .
In the Bronx , Brigette Brantley has grown up knowing the system wasn ’ t ever really built to help people like her .
When her mom lost her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example , a worker at the local Human Resources Administration tried to convince her she would be fine with just unemployment insurance , and that she shouldn ’ t access any other public assistance .
It took Brantley speaking up for her mother for her to get the help she needed .
Now Brantley , 30 , is also out of a job after her contract teaching eighth grade social studies wasn ’ t renewed when the pandemic hit .
She ’ s relying on unemployment insurance for the first time in her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and she ’ s wondering if she can send her 8-year-old son to school in the fall if she doesn ’ t even know how she can afford to buy him shoes or do his laundry .
This summer , Brantley has watched the anger bubble in her community , in her students who have nothing to do in a season filled with rage .
She ’ s marched alongside those who are turning their anger into action .
Something has changed for her , too .
A clip of her speaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Bronx went viral in June because it amplified what so many Black women , and Black mothers in particular , were feeling .
“ I ’ m a Black mother and I ’ m a social studies teacher and I ’ m raising a Black son in America so I have no choice but to fight and walk , ” Brantley says in the video , answering questions about the protests that at times turned violent .
“ The government gave $ 1,200 to people to survive on in March , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You took summer youth away from the youth , what you thought was gon na happen ?
They need jobs .
Feed our babies and we don ’ t have this problem.
” At the encouragement of her students , Brantley set up a GoFundMe to launch a tour of five cities , speaking with organizers across the country tackling systemic racism .
The fund has collected more than $ 55,000 .
But with coronavirus threatening those plans , she ’ s decided to instead take busloads of children from her community to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 57-year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. ’ s “ I Have A Dream ” speech .
Brantley , who proudly shares that she has the same birthday as activist Angela Davis , believes this is her Angela Davis moment .
It ’ s her chance to see what happens after everything crumbles and a movement is reborn from those ashes .
Does policy change ?
Does the world ?
She needs to see it for herself .
“ When the press leaves , does the activism die because it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be that way , it should always be watched .
I was tired of watching it from my TV screen .
I want to see it physically , ” Brantley said .
“ I need to physically go see what is the aftermath of what happens .
”

When systemic racism meets the coronavirus, Black women suffer economically
Show Caption Hide Caption Systemic racism: What is it exactly and how do we fight it? The movement to end systemic racism has never been stronger. How can you be part of the solution to end it? Associated Press, USA TODAY
This story was published in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.
The first time Dr. NanaEfua Afoh-Manin stationed her coronavirus testing pop-up site on the edge of a “Black Lives Matter” protest, George Floyd’s face looked down at her from the wall of a boarded up building in West Oakland. The words “can’t be in vain” dripped red from his forehead.
This season of suffering had incensed 43-year-old Afoh-Manin. Black people, sick and alone, filled the Los Angeles hospital where she worked. She set up testing pop-ups across the region, trying to help people before they ended up in her emergency room. Then the death of George Floyd threw the nation into turmoil over a different kind of Black death. So she took her pop-ups from parking lots to protests, enlisting volunteers to swab nostrils and hand out “protest survival kits” packed with goggles and face shields.
Long ago, she had been a protester herself, fighting for affirmative action in California. She had chosen to study medicine after seeing her mother, a respected registered nurse with cervical cancer, treated with apathy by her oncologist. And Afoh-Manin had known fear of the police, the first time as a 15-year-old girl in the back of a patrol car.
Standing among the protesters this summer, she returned to that memory, the one she had repressed. To the stop and the hour-long interrogation. To the handcuffs pushing on her bracelet, cutting into her wrist.
She had cried so hard she fainted. Driving without a license, the officers later said.
Afoh-Manin’s journey, like that of many Black women in America, has been a story of resistance and persistence. But this year brought a new test when two pandemics converged at once.
The original pandemic, racism, has ensured Black women have been at a disadvantage in every conceivable arena — hiring, education, health care, banking — victims of the incomplete crawl toward change. Now, coronavirus-induced economic turmoil has rotted away what little safety net many of these women could rely on.
Black women represent about 11 percent of essential workers even though they’re only 6 percent of the workforce. They’re also one of the only groups for whom unemployment during the pandemic went up from one month to the next, while for others it went down. About 1.4 million jobs held by Black women have vanished since February.
And yet, many are turning this into a moment of action, to seize their economic destiny, to call for respect toward Black lives and, in some cases, to drive the course of progress forward. So that change isn’t gradual or imperceptible, but tangible and real and now.
Afoh-Manin felt that urgency when a Black mother and daughter entered her Los Angeles emergency room in March, coronavirus in their lungs.
The mother went straight to the intensive care unit. The daughter — a single mother herself with two children — avoided the worst of it, but she was asthmatic. Afoh-Manin knew she had to keep her in the hospital, but the young mother didn’t have anyone who could take care of her kids.
The hospital was going to fail this woman, Afoh-Manin realized, because it, too, didn’t have a plan.They’d have to turn to child welfare — a historically punitive system for many Black mothers.
“That’s when I was like, ‘No. Not on my watch.’ I can’t live with myself, and I can’t be part of this,” Afoh-Manin said. “You know something’s happening and there’s a reason why all my lived experiences got me to this point, and it was to get me to get out and say, ‘No, you’re not going to take the kids away from this mom.’”
In the short-term, Afoh-Manin and her team devised a way for the children to stay in the hospital so they wouldn’t go into foster care. The experience inspired her and two fellow Black female doctors to put together $16,000 to create myCovidMD, a nonprofit that provides testing to communities being ravaged by the virus.
But like many Black women-owned businesses, they were denied for the federal government’s coronavirus business stimulus, the Paycheck Protection Program loan. In fact, their first 39 grant applications seeking money earmarked for small businesses, for women-led businesses, for emergency response, were denied.
It was only through Afoh-Manin’s punishing seven-day work weeks, between the hospital and her fundraising schedule, that she was able to put together enough in donations for her program to finally take off, serving more than 3,000 people as of July from Queens to Los Angeles.
To make it happen, she lives by her mom’s mantra: “Mountain, move out of my way.”
Afoh-Manin has thought about the mountains still ahead of her often this year. She’s thought about Breonna Taylor — the 26-year-old EMT was “one of us,” — a health care worker taken not by the virus, but at the hands of police. She’s thought about the faces in the murals.
“I’m gonna resist the knee on my neck,” she said. “No matter what.”
A broken system
For decades, Black women have been fighting to control their fiscal future.
They have historically had the highest labor force participation of any female group — 63 percent at the start of 2020 compared to 58 percent of White women. And they’re avid voters, showing up at consistently higher rates than other groups.
But systems dating back to slavery relegated many of them to work in the agricultural field and as domestic servants in the early 20th century, and racism kept them there long after emancipation. During the New Deal era in the 1930s, southern Democrats in Congress worked to exclude farm workers and domestic service from labor protections like minimum wage, overtime pay and collective bargaining rights.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that Black women started to finally experience some occupational diversity. But they were, and still are, concentrated in low-wage service jobs — the kinds of jobs now labeled “essential” but still lack labor protections such as paid sick leave or even access to health care. Today, Black women are more than twice as likely as White women to work in service occupations.
Despite the challenges, Black women are starting new businesses at the fastest rate of any group. In the past decade, the number of Black women with more than a four-year degree has risen by 37 percent — compared to 23 percent for White women — even though Black women continue to have the highest rate of student loan debt.
That means Black women, who have been part of the labor force at higher rates than other groups and spend more to attain an education, are far less likely to reap the benefits of that work — even when they are in higher-wage positions.
Now, even that marginal progress stands to be eroded as coronavirus threatens women across the socioeconomic spectrum, from business owners to frontline workers.
“When you think about the progress that Black women have made, a lot of times that progress is somewhat precarious. It rests on a set of factors that, if they get pulled out, you realize that the progress that you think has been made is somewhat illusory,” said Jocelyn Frye, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. “When a disruption the magnitude of the pandemic happens, we sort of have to go back to the drawing board and some of the underlying systemic problems rear their head.”
In some instances, the pandemic has pushed Black women out of the labor force altogether, cutting the final tether for women like Anastancia Cuna, a nanny in the Boston area who has lived with little economic protection for years.
When the pandemic hit, she found herself without health insurance — only one in five domestic workers in the nation, who are 92 percent female and 52 percent women of color, are provided health insurance by their employers. Her job was to go into people’s homes when everyone was being advised to socially distance. Cuna feared the physical effects of COVID-19, yes, but more importantly for her, she “could not afford to get sick.”
She quit in March.
Now, with her husband out of work, too, the family has had to cut back on buying meat, poultry and seafood to save money. They buy tofu instead. They don’t have enough to buy their 12-year-old daughter, Nyeleti, a new pair of sneakers.
“It’s hard to have to see the pandemic, which we were not prepared for, and then on top of that the racial injustice that we’re going through,” said Cuna, 38. “It’s just too hard.”
Across the country, Black women are bearing a larger share of that burden as the heads of their households. Nearly 70 percent of Black women are the primary or only breadwinner in their family, according to a report from the Center for American Progress. That’s about twice the rate for White women.
Black households have less in the bank in the case of, say, an economy-tanking global pandemic. In general, they have about fives times less in liquid assets — checking and savings accounts, cash and directly held stocks, bonds and mutual funds — than White households: About $8,800 compared to $49,500, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
And Black families are also making less overall. The median household income for a Black household is about $41,700, 70 percent lower than a White household, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s due, in part, because it takes Black women until August to catch up to the wages White men made the year before.
Like the Cunas, many Black families also have fewer benefits to rely on. Black workers are 60 percent more likely to be uninsured than White workers.
All of those factors build an insecure bedrock for Black families that is extremely vulnerable to any disruption. The impact shows up in the numbers: In May, for example, Black female unemployment went up to 16.5 percent when it was going down for White women and Latinas. (For Asian women, it also went up month-to-month, from 15.6 percent in April to 16.4 percent in May.)
The reason, said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, is systemic racism that has put Black women in the most susceptible jobs. For instance, Black women are the only group whose share of the frontline worker labor force is almost double their share of the overall workforce.
“I worry that people will not be able to understand what’s complicated around that,” Goss Graves said. “There’s a risk that people misunderstand the connection between racial justice and economic justice, and so we want to take on only one and not the other. But the economy isn’t actually rebounding if Black women are losing more jobs.”
Black women are at risk of losing their foothold in the labor force if their role in American households — as primary breadwinners and caretakers, in particular — isn’t addressed.
This includes women like McDonald’s worker Bettie Douglas, the sole income earner in her St. Louis household. Douglas makes $10 an hour and cares for her brother, who is disabled, her oldest son, who is recovering from a brain tumor, and her youngest son, who just graduated high school.
Since the pandemic started, she’s had to fight to keep hours and the full-time status she recently earned after 14 years with the company.
“’I’ve worked from the grill, cashiering, lobby, maintenance — everything,” said Douglas, 62. “I put the burgers together. I’m all over the place. I clean the refrigerator. I’m pulling stuff out of the toilet, I’m a plumber. You name it. I’ve done it there.”
And yet she still can’t scrape together enough to buy a refrigerator. So she rides the bus every day to the grocery store, a task that costs her more in the long run.
For five months this year, she’s watched the bills pile up.
“I haven’t even opened the bills because I’m afraid. I’ve just been collecting them,” she said. “Life shouldn’t be this big of a struggle. I’m just trying to live an honest life.”
And then there’s the relentless racism she said she lives with “on a daily basis.” Douglas said she hopes this is the moment that moves the needle — with the twin pandemics pushing the conversation forward to help address the issues that have long plagued Black women.
“What I can say is that this moment feels different from any other moment I have experienced in my lifetime,” said Nina Banks, associate Professor of Economics at Bucknell University and an expert on Black women in the labor force.
She’s worried some changes will be more symbolic than seismic. But she knows substantive change is coming. She sees it and hears it in the students at her university.
“This is generational,” Banks said. “Younger people get it.”
What comes after protest
The path toward change starts with intent. Intentionality about collecting data on race and ethnicity could help lead to policies that illuminate the barriers to mobility that have long existed for communities of color, said Frye at the Center for American Progress. It wasn’t until The New York Times sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more data on the racial impact of coronavirus, for example, that the scope of the virus’ assault on people of color came into focus.
It’s not anti-bias training one time, Frye said, but it’s a host of long-term policies that target resources into the areas that breed disparities.
“It’s not easy work, to be sure, but it is very intentional work that is intended to surface disparities that are happening not just to women generally, but to women of color specifically, and to set those as baseline measures,” Frye said. “If you’re not fixing the pay gap for Black women then you’re not fixing the pay gap.”
It’s also addressing the way national crises, like the child care shortage, impact women of color severely. A recent proposal by Senate Democrats, for instance, aims to spend $350 billion over five years to address economic inequalities in communities of color that have been highlighted by coronavirus, including by dedicating funds to stabilizing daycare facilities and giving more families access to child care.
And a recent survey by Lean In found that Black women spend an estimated 12 hours more a week on child care responsibilities than White women. One in five child care providers have lost their jobs since January, weakening a system Black mothers rely on heavily.
“White women in the United States have been socially valued as mothers, but Black women have primarily been viewed as workers without regard to their caregiving needs as mothers,” Banks said.
The Senate proposal is unlikely to get bipartisan support.
In the Bronx, Brigette Brantley has grown up knowing the system wasn’t ever really built to help people like her. When her mom lost her job in the last recession, for example, a worker at the local Human Resources Administration tried to convince her she would be fine with just unemployment insurance, and that she shouldn’t access any other public assistance.
It took Brantley speaking up for her mother for her to get the help she needed.
Now Brantley, 30, is also out of a job after her contract teaching eighth grade social studies wasn’t renewed when the pandemic hit. She’s relying on unemployment insurance for the first time in her life. She already cut the cable, and she’s wondering if she can send her 8-year-old son to school in the fall if she doesn’t even know how she can afford to buy him shoes or do his laundry.
This summer, Brantley has watched the anger bubble in her community, in her students who have nothing to do in a season filled with rage. She’s marched alongside those who are turning their anger into action. Something has changed for her, too.
A clip of her speaking to a reporter during a protest in the Bronx went viral in June because it amplified what so many Black women, and Black mothers in particular, were feeling.
“I’m a Black mother and I’m a social studies teacher and I’m raising a Black son in America so I have no choice but to fight and walk,” Brantley says in the video, answering questions about the protests that at times turned violent. “The government gave $1,200 to people to survive on in March, what you thought was gonna happen? You took summer youth away from the youth, what you thought was gonna happen? They need jobs. Feed our babies and we don’t have this problem.”
At the encouragement of her students, Brantley set up a GoFundMe to launch a tour of five cities, speaking with organizers across the country tackling systemic racism. The fund has collected more than $55,000. But with coronavirus threatening those plans, she’s decided to instead take busloads of children from her community to the Aug. 28 March on Washington — the 57-year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Brantley, who proudly shares that she has the same birthday as activist Angela Davis, believes this is her Angela Davis moment. It’s her chance to see what happens after everything crumbles and a movement is reborn from those ashes.
Does policy change? Does the world?
She needs to see it for herself.
“When the press leaves, does the activism die because it’s not being watched? It shouldn’t be that way, it should always be watched. I was tired of watching it from my TV screen. I want to see it physically,” Brantley said. “I need to physically go see what is the aftermath of what happens.”


usatoday--2020-08-13--Suspect arrested in KC child's killing; case launched DOJ's politically charged violent crime crackd

A 22-year-old man was arrested and charged Thursday in connection with the slaying of a Kansas City , Missouri , child whose case became the namesake of a controversial Trump administration violent crime crackdown that now extends across the country .
Kansas City police said that Ryson B. Ellis has been charged in the death of LeGend Taliferro , 4 , who was killed while asleep in a local apartment June 29 .
`` Great work by detectives getting justice for his family , '' the Kansas City Police Department announced in a tweet .
Ellis faces charges of second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weapon and two counts of armed criminal action .
The arrest comes a month after Attorney General William Barr dispatched more than 200 federal agents to the city as part of an effort known as Operation Legend , despite the widespread concerns for the tactics used by federal officers deployed to Portland , Oregon , Washington , D.C. , and other cities to quell protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police .
Last week , Barr announced the latest expansion of the operation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. cities grappling to contain surging violent crime .
`` Today ’ s arrest of LeGend Taliferro ’ s suspected murderer marks a significant step forward in his case and illustrates the potential of Operation Legend more broadly , '' Barr said in a statement .
`` The arrest and state charges resulted from cooperation among Kansas City police officers , the FBI , and U.S .
Marshals .
This development is a model for joint efforts to solve crimes and reduce violence in other cities . ''
Barr said the arrest would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the federal operation .
`` Operation Legend will go on , '' the attorney general said .
Barr has maintained that the additional officers are only assisting in combating local violence and will not take part in crowd control duties that have drawn federal agents into clashes with street protesters .
Since last month , Barr has dispatched dozens of officers to Kansas City , Chicago , Albuquerque , New Mexico , Detroit , Cleveland and Milwaukee .
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland was the latest municipal official to express a mix of hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal agents were headed to his city .
Strickland said the assistance `` is a violent crime reduction effort , with additional resources being provided to federal , state and local law enforcement to assist with traditional crime-fighting directed at gang violence , narcotics-related shootings and illegal firearms . ''
`` That 's what it is , '' he said .
`` What it is not is an introduction of federal riot police , uniformed personnel , or other federal agents to protect federal property , and is not intended to introduce any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resources to enforce immigration offenses . ''
The federal forces in Portland and D.C. included large contingents of immigration enforcement authorities drawn from the Department of Homeland Security .
Operation Legend officers are being largely dispatched from the FBI , Drug Enforcement Administration , U.S .
Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives .
`` Operation Legend is not to harass , '' said Charron Powell , the mother of the young Kansas City victim , at a White House event last month to call attention to the effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harm or to hurt .
It is to help investigate unsolved murders , in which one of those happens to be our innocent , four-year-old son .
This operation is personal to us .
We want justice for our son and others .
We have to take a stand in our communities and speak up to help this operation be successful . ''

Suspect arrested in KC child's killing; case launched DOJ's politically charged violent crime crackdown
A 22-year-old man was arrested and charged Thursday in connection with the slaying of a Kansas City, Missouri ,child whose case became the namesake of a controversial Trump administration violent crime crackdown that now extends across the country.
Kansas City police said that Ryson B. Ellis has been charged in the death of LeGend Taliferro, 4, who was killed while asleep in a local apartment June 29.
"Great work by detectives getting justice for his family," the Kansas City Police Department announced in a tweet.
Ellis faces charges of second degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
The arrest comes a month after Attorney General William Barr dispatched more than 200 federal agents to the city as part of an effort known as Operation Legend, despite the widespread concerns for the tactics used by federal officers deployed to Portland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and other cities to quell protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Last week, Barr announced the latest expansion of the operation, which now has a presence in eight U.S. cities grappling to contain surging violent crime.
More: Federal agents, officers head to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee as Operation Legend expands
More: Feds expand officer deployments to Memphis, St. Louis in anti-violence push
"Today’s arrest of LeGend Taliferro’s suspected murderer marks a significant step forward in his case and illustrates the potential of Operation Legend more broadly," Barr said in a statement. "The arrest and state charges resulted from cooperation among Kansas City police officers, the FBI, and U.S. Marshals. This development is a model for joint efforts to solve crimes and reduce violence in other cities.''
Barr said the arrest would not result in pulling back resources from the federal operation.
"Operation Legend will go on," the attorney general said.
Barr has maintained that the additional officers are only assisting in combating local violence and will not take part in crowd control duties that have drawn federal agents into clashes with street protesters. Since last month, Barr has dispatched dozens of officers to Kansas City, Chicago, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland was the latest municipal official to express a mix of hope and apprehension after learning last week that federal agents were headed to his city.
Strickland said the assistance "is a violent crime reduction effort, with additional resources being provided to federal, state and local law enforcement to assist with traditional crime-fighting directed at gang violence, narcotics-related shootings and illegal firearms."
"That's what it is," he said. "What it is not is an introduction of federal riot police, uniformed personnel, or other federal agents to protect federal property, and is not intended to introduce any additional (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) resources to enforce immigration offenses."
The federal forces in Portland and D.C. included large contingents of immigration enforcement authorities drawn from the Department of Homeland Security. Operation Legend officers are being largely dispatched from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
"Operation Legend is not to harass," said Charron Powell, the mother of the young Kansas City victim, at a White House event last month to call attention to the effort. "It’s not to harm or to hurt. It is to help investigate unsolved murders, in which one of those happens to be our innocent, four-year-old son. This operation is personal to us. We want justice for our son and others. We have to take a stand in our communities and speak up to help this operation be successful."


usatoday--2020-08-14--Michael Cohen previews tell-all Trump book, alleges Russia collusion, other sordid scandals

Michael Cohen is moving forward with his tell-all memoir about President Donald Trump , weeks after a judge ruled that his being sent back to prison was a retaliatory act over the book .
The former attorney and self-described fixer for the president announced on Twitter Thursday that his book , `` Disloyal : A Memoir : The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump , '' is now available for pre-order online , where people can also read the book 's foreword .
`` The day has finally arrived , '' he wrote .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to share my truth . ''
The memoir will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing .
Cohen did not list a publisher for the book and , as of midday Thursday , it was not listed on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com .
Skyhorse has a history of taking on books by controversial public figures , including a memoir this spring by Woody Allen that had been dropped by Hachette Book Group .
`` 'Disloyal ' is the most devastating business and political horror story of the century , ” according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Associated Press .
`` It is a story that you haven ’ t read in newspapers , or on social media , or watched on television .
These are accounts that only someone who worked for Trump around the clock for a decade — not a few months or even a couple of years — could know . ''
A hardcover copy costs $ 32.50 and a signed copy $ 40 , according to the book 's website .
White House representative Brian Morgenstern criticized the memoir in a statement to USA TODAY @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is fan fiction , '' he said .
`` He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales .
It ’ s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump . ''
In the foreword , Cohen describes Trump as a `` mob boss '' who `` wouldn ’ t mind if I was dead . ''
He also recalls the events leading up to his testimony before the House Oversight Committee in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ memoir `` longhand on a yellow legal pad '' from his upstate New York prison .
According to Cohen , his history with Trump gives him unique insight into how the president thinks .
`` Trump ’ s theory of life , business and politics revolved around threats and the prospect of destruction—financial , electoral , personal , physical—as a weapon , '' he writes .
`` I knew how he worked because I had frequently been the one screaming threats on his behalf as Trump ’ s fixer and designated thug .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wanted me gone before I could tell the nation what I know about him . ''
`` I was exactly the person Trump was talking about when he said he could shoot and kill someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it , '' he adds .
Freed from gag order , Mary Trump has one word of advice for her uncle , President Trump : 'Resign' According to the lawyer , those who believe Trump is `` a Russian-controlled fraud '' and those who believe `` the entire Russian scandal was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Rather , Cohen writes Trump did collude with Russia , `` but not in the sophisticated ways imaged by his detractors . ''
`` Trump had cheated in the election , with Russian connivance , as you will discover in these pages , because doing anything—and I mean anything—to 'win ' has always been his business model and way of life , '' he continued .
Cohen also previewed other scandals , including that he lied to first lady Melania Trump to cover up her husband 's sexual infidelities and that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back channel '' for Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin .
`` From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas , to tax fraud , to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union , to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump ’ s clandestine lovers , I wasn ’ t just a witness to the president ’ s rise—I was an active and eager participant , '' he writes .
Cohen adds : `` If you want to know how the mob really works , you ’ ve got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I was one of Trump ’ s bad guys . ''
Cohen is completing the last two years of a three-year prison sentence at home after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress .
Last month , Cohen was released to home confinement after a federal judge in New York found that he was sent back to prison as a retaliatory act over his decision to write a tell-all book about Trump .
`` I can not believe fairly that it was not in purpose ... to stop his exercise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a book and discuss it on social media , U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said at a hearing on July 23 .
The judge ordered the Bureau of Prisons to release Cohen back to his family by afternoon the next day .
In a statement , Danya Perry , Cohen 's attorney , said the judge 's ruling confirms that the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons ca n't block Cohen from publishing a book about the president as a condition of his home confinement .
A bizarre White House dinner with Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s book '' This principle transcends politics , and we are gratified that the rule of law prevails , '' Perry said .
The Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that assertions officials retaliated against Cohen were `` patently false . ''
Cohen was furloughed to home confinement in May because of coronavirus fears in the federal prison system .
He was sent back to prison in Otisville , N.Y. after he refused the conditions of his home confinement .
Officials were finalizing Cohen 's processing to home confinement as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's Federal Location Monitoring program .
Michael Cohen was sent back to prison as a retaliatory act over tell-all book about Trump , federal judge rules Lanny Davis , Cohen 's legal adviser , said Cohen was meeting with authorities to go over final conditions of home confinement and to obtain an ankle bracelet monitor when he balked at a required provision that he not speak to the media or pursue a previously announced book project during the term of his sentence .
The media and book prohibitions , Davis said , were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cohen .
Davis said officials departed the meeting to discuss Cohen 's disagreement , then U.S. marshals returned about an hour later , carrying shackles .
Cohen ’ s charges stemmed from his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from speaking out about their alleged extramarital affairs with Trump , who has denied the affairs .
He has said that Trump directed him to make the payments .

Michael Cohen previews tell-all Trump book, alleges Russia collusion, other sordid scandals
Show Caption Hide Caption 4 things to know about Trump's niece's tell-all-book President Trump's niece, Mary Trump, will release her tell-all-book on July 14. Here are some of the most notable excerpts. USA TODAY, Wochit
Michael Cohen is moving forward with his tell-all memoir about President Donald Trump, weeks after a judge ruled that his being sent back to prison was a retaliatory act over the book.
The former attorney and self-described fixer for the president announced on Twitter Thursday that his book, "Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump," is now available for pre-order online, where people can also read the book's foreword.
"The day has finally arrived," he wrote. "I have waited a long time to share my truth."
The memoir will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing. Cohen did not list a publisher for the book and, as of midday Thursday, it was not listed on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com. Skyhorse has a history of taking on books by controversial public figures, including a memoir this spring by Woody Allen that had been dropped by Hachette Book Group.
"'Disloyal' is the most devastating business and political horror story of the century,” according to a Skyhorse statement shared with the the Associated Press. "It is a story that you haven’t read in newspapers, or on social media, or watched on television. These are accounts that only someone who worked for Trump around the clock for a decade — not a few months or even a couple of years — could know."
A hardcover copy costs $32.50 and a signed copy $40, according to the book's website.
White House representative Brian Morgenstern criticized the memoir in a statement to USA TODAY.
"Michael Cohen’s book is fan fiction," he said. "He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales. It’s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump."
In the foreword, Cohen describes Trump as a "mob boss" who "wouldn’t mind if I was dead." He also recalls the events leading up to his testimony before the House Oversight Committee in 2019 and says he started writing the memoir "longhand on a yellow legal pad" from his upstate New York prison.
The day has finally arrived. I have waited a long time to share my truth. To read the foreword and pre-order my book DISLOYAL, visit https://t.co/Va4Rt0Zear — Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) August 13, 2020
According to Cohen, his history with Trump gives him unique insight into how the president thinks.
"Trump’s theory of life, business and politics revolved around threats and the prospect of destruction—financial, electoral, personal, physical—as a weapon," he writes. "I knew how he worked because I had frequently been the one screaming threats on his behalf as Trump’s fixer and designated thug."
He also claims that Trump "wanted me gone before I could tell the nation what I know about him."
"I was exactly the person Trump was talking about when he said he could shoot and kill someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it," he adds.
Freed from gag order, Mary Trump has one word of advice for her uncle, President Trump: 'Resign'
According to the lawyer, those who believe Trump is "a Russian-controlled fraud" and those who believe "the entire Russian scandal was a witch hunt" are both wrong. Rather, Cohen writes Trump did collude with Russia, "but not in the sophisticated ways imaged by his detractors."
"Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything—and I mean anything—to 'win' has always been his business model and way of life," he continued.
Cohen also previewed other scandals, including that he lied to first lady Melania Trump to cover up her husband's sexual infidelities and that Trump tasked him with creating a "secret back channel" for Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant," he writes.
Cohen adds: "If you want to know how the mob really works, you’ve got to talk to the bad guys. I was one of Trump’s bad guys."
Cohen is completing the last two years of a three-year prison sentence at home after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress. Last month, Cohen was released to home confinement after a federal judge in New York found that he was sent back to prison as a retaliatory act over his decision to write a tell-all book about Trump.
"I cannot believe fairly that it was not in purpose ... to stop his exercise of First Amendment rights" to publish a book and discuss it on social media, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said at a hearing on July 23.
The judge ordered the Bureau of Prisons to release Cohen back to his family by afternoon the next day.
In a statement, Danya Perry, Cohen's attorney, said the judge's ruling confirms that the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons can't block Cohen from publishing a book about the president as a condition of his home confinement.
A bizarre White House dinner with Donald Trump and more cringeworthy moments from Mary Trump’s book
"This principle transcends politics, and we are gratified that the rule of law prevails," Perry said.
The Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that assertions officials retaliated against Cohen were "patently false."
Cohen was furloughed to home confinement in May because of coronavirus fears in the federal prison system. He was sent back to prison in Otisville, N.Y. after he refused the conditions of his home confinement. Officials were finalizing Cohen's processing to home confinement as part of the U.S. Probation Office's Federal Location Monitoring program.
Michael Cohen was sent back to prison as a retaliatory act over tell-all book about Trump, federal judge rules
Lanny Davis, Cohen's legal adviser, said Cohen was meeting with authorities to go over final conditions of home confinement and to obtain an ankle bracelet monitor when he balked at a required provision that he not speak to the media or pursue a previously announced book project during the term of his sentence.
The media and book prohibitions, Davis said, were part of an eight-point list presented to Cohen. Davis said officials departed the meeting to discuss Cohen's disagreement, then U.S. marshals returned about an hour later, carrying shackles.
Cohen’s charges stemmed from his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from speaking out about their alleged extramarital affairs with Trump, who has denied the affairs. He has said that Trump directed him to make the payments.
Contributing: Kristine Phillips, USA TODAY; Hillel Italie, Associated Press


usatoday--2020-08-13--Feds say Yale discriminates against Asian, white students in admissions

WASHINGTON ( AP ) — A Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants , in violation of federal civil rights law , officials said Thursday .
Yale denied the allegation , calling it “ meritless ” and “ hasty.
” The findings detailed in a letter to the college ’ s attorneys Thursday mark the latest action by the Trump administration aimed at rooting out discrimination in the college application process , following complaints from students about the application process at some Ivy League colleges .
The Justice Department had previously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups who had levied similar allegations against Harvard University .
The two-year investigation concluded that Yale “ rejects scores of Asian American and white applicants each year based on their race , whom it otherwise would admit , ” the Justice Department said .
The investigation stemmed from a 2016 complaint against Yale , Brown and Dartmouth .
“ Yale ’ s race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants , including in particular Asian American and White applicants , ” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband , who heads the department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a letter to the college ’ s attorneys .
Prosecutors found that Yale has been discriminating against applicants to its undergraduate program based on their race and national origin and “ that race is the determinative factor in hundreds of admissions decisions each year.
” The investigation concluded that Asian American and white students have “ only one-tenth to one-fourth of the likelihood of admission as African American applicants with comparable academic credentials , ” the Justice Department said .
“ Unlawfully dividing Americans into racial and ethnic blocs fosters stereotypes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said in a statement .
“ It is past time for American institutions to recognize that all people should be treated with decency and respect and without unlawful regard to the color of their skin.
” The investigation also found that Yale uses race as a factor in multiple steps of the admissions process and that Yale “ racially balances its classes.
” The Supreme Court has ruled colleges and universities may consider race in admissions decisions but has said that must be done in a narrowly tailored way to promote diversity and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also bear the burden of showing why their consideration of race is appropriate .
In a statement , Yale said it “ categorically denies this allegation , ” has cooperated fully with the investigation and has been continually turning over “ a substantial amount of information and data.
” “ Given our commitment to complying with federal law , we are dismayed that the DOJ has made its determination before allowing Yale to provide all the information the Department has requested thus far , ” the university said in a statement .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weighed this information , it would have concluded that Yale ’ s practices absolutely comply with decades of Supreme Court precedent.
” The university said it considers a multitude of factors and looks at “ the whole person when selecting whom to admit among the many thousands of highly qualified applicants.
” “ We are proud of Yale ’ s admissions practices , and we will not change them on the basis of such a meritless , hasty accusation , ” the statement said .
'Affirmative action for the rich ' : Wealthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ college system .
And it 's perfectly legal The Justice Department has demanded that Yale immediately stop and agree not to use race or national origin for upcoming admissions .
The government also says that if Yale proposes that it will continue to use race or national origin as a factor in future admission cycles , the college must first submit a plan to the Justice Department “ demonstrating its proposal is narrowly tailored as required by law , including by identifying a date for the end of race discrimination.
” The Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about Harvard University , which prosecutors accused of “ engaging in outright racial balancing , ” siding with Asian American students in a lawsuit who allege the Ivy League school discriminated against them .
A federal judge in 2019 cleared Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants in a ruling that was seen as a major victory for supporters of affirmative action in college admissions across the U.S. That ruling has been appealed and arguments are scheduled for next month .
In the Harvard case , the Justice Department had argued that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of race , but the judge disagreed .
Though the Supreme Court has ruled that colleges ’ use of race in admissions must be “ narrowly tailored ” and can be only a “ plus factor , ” past rulings still give colleges wide latitude in considering a wide range of factors , including race , as they build their classes .
Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report .

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The Education Department planned to adjust how it calculates student loan payments to correct past errors, resulting in about 804,000 people balances erased.
With potential Georgia indictment of Donald Trump looming, news report lists possible charges
2023-08-14 22:01 UTC by USA TODAY
As Donald Trump awaits a potential indictment in Georgia, a local court site briefly posted possible charges. But no indictment has been filed yet.
Hunter Biden's attorneys accuse prosecutors of reneging on immunity plea deal
2023-08-14 19:39 UTC by USA TODAY
As the Hunter Biden case takes on special counsel status, his attorneys say prosecutors "proposed and largely dictated" terms of a scrapped plea deal.
A landmark case: In first-of-its-kind Montana climate trial, judge rules for youth activists
2023-08-15 16:43 UTC by USA TODAY
District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled that the policy the state uses in evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits is unconstitutional.
OnPolitics: This Supreme Court case could change how Americans with disabilities travel
2023-08-14 18:29 UTC by USA TODAY
Millions of Americans living with disabilities fear they'll show up to a hotel that doesn't have necessary accommodations.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich 'in good health' in Russian prison: Updates
2023-08-14 19:18 UTC by USA TODAY
Gershkovich is being held at Moscow's Lefortovo Prison on espionage charges that he, his employer and the Biden administration deny.
With affirmative action gone, Biden administration offers tips for colleges on diversity
2023-08-14 19:55 UTC by USA TODAY
New White House resources stress colleges can practice holistic admissions, in which students are evaluated on a case-by-case basis as individuals.
'Daring the judge': Donald Trump attacks judge in 2020 election case, despite her warnings
2023-08-15 09:46 UTC by USA TODAY
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan "obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!" Trump said in a Truth Social post just after 1 a.m. ET
Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would support a federal abortion ban after three months, but walked back the comments.
Trump may be indicted in Georgia. But 2020 still casts a shadow over its elections
2023-08-14 19:38 UTC by USA TODAY
Voting rights advocates say Election 2020 and its aftermath left an enduring imprint on voter access and simple trust in one of America's most pivotal swing states.
'Sleeping in my car.' This Supreme Court case could change how disabled Americans book hotel rooms
2023-08-14 18:18 UTC by USA TODAY
Some advocates fear a Supreme Court case on ADA 'testers' could make it harder to force hotels to include accessibility information at booking.
Mike Pence avoids saying whether he's a MAGA Republican as he ramps up criticism of Donald Trump
2023-08-13 20:31 UTC by USA TODAY
Former Vice President Mike Pence dodged calling himself a "MAGA Republican," appearing to avoid former President Donald Trump's longtime slogan.
Hunter Biden lawyer says special counsel naming was merely a title change. Was it?
2023-08-13 20:47 UTC by USA TODAY
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, had confidence the Department of Justice's special counsel investigation will produce "no new evidence."
Ron DeSantis says 'China is laughing at us' as protesters disrupt Iowa speech
2023-08-13 18:36 UTC by Des Moines Register
"I'm not running to be somebody. I'm running to do things on behalf of the country and for the American people," DeSantis said.
Prosecutors have evidence Trump's team involved in Georgia voting breach, reports say
2023-08-13 20:36 UTC by USA TODAY
Georgia prosecutors have evidence tying Donald Trump's legal team to a voting systems breach related to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
7 people, including 23-day-old baby, killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine
2023-08-13 16:26 UTC by USA TODAY
Seven people – including a 23-day-old baby girl – were killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's southern Kherson region
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