truthout--2020-12-19--US Population Growth Falls to Lowest in a Century Amid Pandemic Fallout

The United States is on pace for the slowest population growth in a century amid the coronavirus pandemic , according to analysts , and economists worry it will hamper economic recovery .
The number of American residents is expected to increase by just 700,000 , or about 0.2 % , in 2020 , according to Moody ’ s Analytics .
That would put the country on its slowest pace since 1918 , when the country faced a Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I , according to USA Today .
The trend could “ make the economy less dynamic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zandi told the outlet .
“ Fewer people means fewer homes ( purchased ) , fewer cars , fewer vacations.
” Zandi estimated that about a quarter-percentage point of this year ’ s projected 3.5 % decline in the US economy was attributed to the drop in population growth .
The coronavirus has already killed more than 310,000 people in the U.S. and is projected to cost nearly 540,000 lives by April , according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington .
But the virus has also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ birth rate , potentially resulting in up to 500,000 fewer births next year , according to the Brookings Institution .
The pandemic has also resulted in an unprecedented decline in immigration , with new visa issuances down 84 % from last year , according to State Department data .
The confluence of rising mortality and declining birth and immigration rates threatens to exacerbate the country ’ s years-long decline in population growth and threatens to impact the economy .
“ Economic growth is driven by a combination of productivity and population , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a former senior Treasury Department official and co-author of “ The Wolf at the Door : The Menace of Economic Insecurity and How to Fight It , ” told Salon .
“ So when you ’ ve got a smaller number of workers , you ’ re going to have a smaller economic growth.
” U.S. population growth has been in decline for years .
The Census Bureau estimated that the country ’ s population has grown just 8 % over the last decade , the slowest rate since the 1930s , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slowed population growth to 7.2 % , according to The Wall Street Journal .
And the problem is hardly limited to the U.S. , with many European and Asian countries seeing even slower growth rates .
The long-term trend has resulted in an aging population , with the number of retirees rising by an estimated 37 % over the last decade , while the fertility rate fell to its lowest level since the government began tracking it in the early 1900s .
Economists are concerned about “ dependency ratios , ” said Graetz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Columbia University .
“ Retirees and children are not producing wage income .
So the decline in the birth rate reduces the dependency ratio because it reduces the number of children.
” With the ratio of workers to retirees increasing , “ more of the workers ’ income will have to go to support expenditures on retirees unless those expenditures are dramatically cut , ” he said , referring to Social Security benefits and health care expenses .
The most obvious way to address the slowdown is to increase immigration , Graetz argued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immigration restrictions already reduced net migration into the country from around 1 million to fewer than 600,000 last year , and the coronavirus is likely to slash that figure by another 250,000 , Zandi estimated .
The USA Today report noted that President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse many of the Trump administration ’ s immigration restrictions .
And fertility rates are expected to grow slightly by 2028 , while still falling below the replacement-level rate .
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the U.S. population will hit 374 million by 2046 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimate two years earlier .
The slowed population growth ’ s economic impact is just one long-term implication of the pandemic .
The closure of businesses and social distancing restrictions have resulted in an accelerated transition to technology , Graetz noted .
“ We ’ ve seen this with remote work .
We ’ ve seen it with companies that have substituted technology for workers , and they ’ re doing that more rapidly than they had , ” he said .
“ The transformation of technology has accelerated because of the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threats to economic security of those workers has also accelerated.
” The import of industrial robots increased by 5 % through the first eight months of the year even as other imports fell by more than 10 % , according to the U.S. International Trade Commission .
The pandemic “ has accelerated the use of robotics and other technologies to take on tasks that are more fraught during the pandemic ” Elisabeth Reynolds , the head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ’ s Task Force on the Work of the Future , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is fair to assume that some firms have learned how to maintain their productivity with fewer workers and they will not unlearn what they have learned.
” A recent paper by researchers at MIT and Boston University found that robots could replace as many as 2 million people in manufacturing alone by 2025 .
Many telecommunications firms , call centers , customer service firms , and food-service companies have already downsized their workforces by thousands by deploying robots and artificial intelligence systems , Time reported .
AI firms have seen business boom since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The pandemic could also expand the gig economy and the number of part-time and temporary jobs , particularly with the decline of union power across the country .
“ The combination of that , with the fact that an adult in the United States today can expect to change jobs maybe a dozen times over their lifetime , creates a lot of insecurity for people who are not well equipped to deal with it , ” Graetz explained .
“ Temporary and part-time work doesn ’ t supply a living , doesn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re going to be able to pay for food , clothing , all the things that your family needs.
” The gig economy has already expanded by millions of workers since 2010 , and the tens of millions of layoffs early in the pandemic led to a flood of new contractors at companies like Amazon , Instacart , Uber Eats , Door Dash , and Upwork , according to Time .
For gig workers already earning low wages without benefits , this surge of new workers has cut into their incomes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have raised concerns that the economic recovery after the mass vaccine rollout may not be as swift as some optimistic predictions .
“ What the pandemic has done… is to shine a spotlight on just how precarious workers ’ and their families ’ connections are to the workforce and to jobs .
And how quickly jobs can disappear unexpectedly , ” Graetz said .
“ A lot of those jobs that have disappeared , and a lot of the businesses that have gone , that have closed as a result of the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So I think we ’ re going to see a fairly slow return to the kind of prosperity that we had in February before the pandemic hit .
”

The United States is on pace for the slowest population growth in a century amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysts, and economists worry it will hamper economic recovery.
The number of American residents is expected to increase by just 700,000, or about 0.2%, in 2020, according to Moody’s Analytics. That would put the country on its slowest pace since 1918, when the country faced a Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I, according to USA Today.
The trend could “make the economy less dynamic,” Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi told the outlet. “Fewer people means fewer homes (purchased), fewer cars, fewer vacations.”
Zandi estimated that about a quarter-percentage point of this year’s projected 3.5% decline in the US economy was attributed to the drop in population growth.
The coronavirus has already killed more than 310,000 people in the U.S. and is projected to cost nearly 540,000 lives by April, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. But the virus has also been linked to a predicted decline in birth rate, potentially resulting in up to 500,000 fewer births next year, according to the Brookings Institution. The pandemic has also resulted in an unprecedented decline in immigration, with new visa issuances down 84% from last year, according to State Department data.
The confluence of rising mortality and declining birth and immigration rates threatens to exacerbate the country’s years-long decline in population growth and threatens to impact the economy.
“Economic growth is driven by a combination of productivity and population, the number of workers,” Michael Graetz, a former senior Treasury Department official and co-author of “The Wolf at the Door: The Menace of Economic Insecurity and How to Fight It,” told Salon. “So when you’ve got a smaller number of workers, you’re going to have a smaller economic growth.”
U.S. population growth has been in decline for years. The Census Bureau estimated that the country’s population has grown just 8% over the last decade, the slowest rate since the 1930s, when the Great Depression and immigration restrictions slowed population growth to 7.2%, according to The Wall Street Journal. And the problem is hardly limited to the U.S., with many European and Asian countries seeing even slower growth rates. The long-term trend has resulted in an aging population, with the number of retirees rising by an estimated 37% over the last decade, while the fertility rate fell to its lowest level since the government began tracking it in the early 1900s.
Economists are concerned about “dependency ratios,” said Graetz, who is now a professor at Columbia University. “Retirees and children are not producing wage income. So the decline in the birth rate reduces the dependency ratio because it reduces the number of children.”
With the ratio of workers to retirees increasing, “more of the workers’ income will have to go to support expenditures on retirees unless those expenditures are dramatically cut,” he said, referring to Social Security benefits and health care expenses.
The most obvious way to address the slowdown is to increase immigration, Graetz argued. But President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions already reduced net migration into the country from around 1 million to fewer than 600,000 last year, and the coronavirus is likely to slash that figure by another 250,000, Zandi estimated.
The USA Today report noted that President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse many of the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions. And fertility rates are expected to grow slightly by 2028, while still falling below the replacement-level rate. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the U.S. population will hit 374 million by 2046, down by 10 million from its estimate two years earlier.
The slowed population growth’s economic impact is just one long-term implication of the pandemic. The closure of businesses and social distancing restrictions have resulted in an accelerated transition to technology, Graetz noted.
“We’ve seen this with remote work. We’ve seen it with companies that have substituted technology for workers, and they’re doing that more rapidly than they had,” he said. “The transformation of technology has accelerated because of the pandemic. Which means that technology’s threats to economic security of those workers has also accelerated.”
The import of industrial robots increased by 5% through the first eight months of the year even as other imports fell by more than 10%, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The pandemic “has accelerated the use of robotics and other technologies to take on tasks that are more fraught during the pandemic” Elisabeth Reynolds, the head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Task Force on the Work of the Future, told the Financial Times. “It is fair to assume that some firms have learned how to maintain their productivity with fewer workers and they will not unlearn what they have learned.”
A recent paper by researchers at MIT and Boston University found that robots could replace as many as 2 million people in manufacturing alone by 2025. Many telecommunications firms, call centers, customer service firms, and food-service companies have already downsized their workforces by thousands by deploying robots and artificial intelligence systems, Time reported. AI firms have seen business boom since the pandemic began, according to Wired.
The pandemic could also expand the gig economy and the number of part-time and temporary jobs, particularly with the decline of union power across the country.
“The combination of that, with the fact that an adult in the United States today can expect to change jobs maybe a dozen times over their lifetime, creates a lot of insecurity for people who are not well equipped to deal with it,” Graetz explained. “Temporary and part-time work doesn’t supply a living, doesn’t enable you to know that you’re going to be able to pay for food, clothing, all the things that your family needs.”
The gig economy has already expanded by millions of workers since 2010, and the tens of millions of layoffs early in the pandemic led to a flood of new contractors at companies like Amazon, Instacart, Uber Eats, Door Dash, and Upwork, according to Time. For gig workers already earning low wages without benefits, this surge of new workers has cut into their incomes even more.
All of these factors have raised concerns that the economic recovery after the mass vaccine rollout may not be as swift as some optimistic predictions.
“What the pandemic has done… is to shine a spotlight on just how precarious workers’ and their families’ connections are to the workforce and to jobs. And how quickly jobs can disappear unexpectedly,” Graetz said. “A lot of those jobs that have disappeared, and a lot of the businesses that have gone, that have closed as a result of the pandemic, and are not coming back. So I think we’re going to see a fairly slow return to the kind of prosperity that we had in February before the pandemic hit.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-12-19--Warren Introduces Bill Banning Members of Congress From Owning or Trading Stock

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday reintroduced legislation that would bar members of Congress from owning or trading individual stock as two of her Republican colleagues — Georgia Sens .
David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — continue to face criticism from their Democratic runoff opponents over suspiciously well-timed transactions earlier this year .
Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal ( D-Wash. ) , the lead sponsor of companion legislation in the House , alluded to the controversy surrounding Perdue and Loeffler ’ s trades , some of which came around the time senators were receiving briefings from the White House as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States .
Faced with accusations of insider trading , Perdue and Loeffler have both denied wrongdoing .
“ After nearly four years of the most corrupt president in American history and with U.S. senators brazenly trading stocks to profit off a raging pandemic , the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act is more urgent than ever in order to rein in corruption , strengthen ethics , end lobbying as we know it , improve the integrity of our judiciary , reform campaign finance laws and finally ensure that we put people over profits and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jayapal said in a joint statement Friday .
As the New York Times reported earlier this month , Perdue — who made an estimated 2,596 trades in a single Senate term — “ purchased up to $ 260,000 worth of Pfizer stock between February 26 and February 28 , in the early days of a market downturn .
On the 28th , he issued a news release reporting that he had regularly attended briefings led by the coronavirus task force ; records subsequently showed that he had bought the third tranche of Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Perdue ’ s Democratic challenger , has repeatedly called attention to the Georgia senator ’ s prolific trading and labeled him a “ crook.
” “ His blatant abuse of his power and privilege to enrich himself is disgraceful , ” Ossoff said of Perdue during a “ debate ” earlier this month that the Georgia senator refused to attend .
Loeffler , one of the richest members of Congress , has also come under fire for her stock trades .
As Mother Jones reported last month , “ On January 24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ career , Loeffler attended a private Senate briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , and Dr. Robert Redfield , the head of the Centers for Disease Control , about the coronavirus threat.
” “ Afterward , Loeffler continued to publicly downplay the risk from the virus and its economic impact , ” Mother Jones noted .
“ But in the three weeks following the meeting , Loeffler and [ her husband Jeff ] Sprecher made more than 20 stock sales amounting to between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Loeffler also bought stock in two companies that produce teleworking software.
” During a debate earlier this month with Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock , Loeffler was asked directly whether she believes members of Congress should be barred from trading stock while in office .
Loeffler dodged the question , saying , “ What ’ s at stake here in this election is the American dream .
That ’ s what ’ s under attack.
” In addition to prohibiting members of Congress from owning and trading stock , Warren and Jayapal ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cabinet secretaries , federal judges , and other top government officials from serving on corporate boards ; impose a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress ; and overhaul the nation ’ s campaign finance system .
“ This legislation would dramatically improve some of the greatest systemic weaknesses in our laws and enforcement structures that allow corruption — both illegal and legal — to pervert the powers of government against the people , ” Liz Hempowicz , director of Public Policy at Project on Government Oversight , said in a @ @

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday reintroduced legislation that would bar members of Congress from owning or trading individual stock as two of her Republican colleagues — Georgia Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — continue to face criticism from their Democratic runoff opponents over suspiciously well-timed transactions earlier this year.
Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the lead sponsor of companion legislation in the House, alluded to the controversy surrounding Perdue and Loeffler’s trades, some of which came around the time senators were receiving briefings from the White House as the coronavirus first began spreading in the United States. Faced with accusations of insider trading, Perdue and Loeffler have both denied wrongdoing.
“After nearly four years of the most corrupt president in American history and with U.S. senators brazenly trading stocks to profit off a raging pandemic, the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act is more urgent than ever in order to rein in corruption, strengthen ethics, end lobbying as we know it, improve the integrity of our judiciary, reform campaign finance laws and finally ensure that we put people over profits and communities over corporations,” Warren and Jayapal said in a joint statement Friday.
As the New York Times reported earlier this month, Perdue — who made an estimated 2,596 trades in a single Senate term — “purchased up to $260,000 worth of Pfizer stock between February 26 and February 28, in the early days of a market downturn. On the 28th, he issued a news release reporting that he had regularly attended briefings led by the coronavirus task force; records subsequently showed that he had bought the third tranche of Pfizer shares that same day.”
Jon Ossoff, Perdue’s Democratic challenger, has repeatedly called attention to the Georgia senator’s prolific trading and labeled him a “crook.”
“His blatant abuse of his power and privilege to enrich himself is disgraceful,” Ossoff said of Perdue during a “debate” earlier this month that the Georgia senator refused to attend.
Loeffler, one of the richest members of Congress, has also come under fire for her stock trades. As Mother Jones reported last month, “On January 24, just three weeks into her Senate career, Loeffler attended a private Senate briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, about the coronavirus threat.”
“Afterward, Loeffler continued to publicly downplay the risk from the virus and its economic impact,” Mother Jones noted. “But in the three weeks following the meeting, Loeffler and [her husband Jeff] Sprecher made more than 20 stock sales amounting to between $1.25 million and $3.1 million. Loeffler also bought stock in two companies that produce teleworking software.”
During a debate earlier this month with Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, Loeffler was asked directly whether she believes members of Congress should be barred from trading stock while in office.
Loeffler dodged the question, saying, “What’s at stake here in this election is the American dream. That’s what’s under attack.”
Asked directly if senators should be barred from trading stock while in office, Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) refuses to answer. She called the focus on her stock trades "an attack on every single Georgian … who wants to live the American dream." pic.twitter.com/vxQX6kIOhc — The Recount (@therecount) December 7, 2020
In addition to prohibiting members of Congress from owning and trading stock, Warren and Jayapal’s legislation would also ban lawmakers, cabinet secretaries, federal judges, and other top government officials from serving on corporate boards; impose a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress; and overhaul the nation’s campaign finance system.
“This legislation would dramatically improve some of the greatest systemic weaknesses in our laws and enforcement structures that allow corruption — both illegal and legal — to pervert the powers of government against the people,” Liz Hempowicz, director of Public Policy at Project on Government Oversight, said in a statement.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-12-19--North Dakota Residents Fight Loopholes Allowing Fracking to Poison Their Water

Lisa Finley-DeVille started drinking bottled water around the same time her friend ’ s horses began to get sick and die .
A half decade ago on the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota , Deville drove up to see her friend in the New Town area .
The horses looked dehydrated and brittle , just skin and bones .
They ’ re eating , but it ’ s like they ’ re not eating , her friend told her .
It was down the hill , at the pond the horses drank from , where the answer lurked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gas production leaked there , where the horses drank it up , poisoned .
“ I ’ m always worried , ” Finley-Deville says .
“ This is why we don ’ t drink the water.
” Finley-DeVille is a member of the Mandan , Hidatsa , and Arikara Nation , known as the Three Affiliated Tribes in Fort Berthold .
Just a half mile ( 800 meters ) from her house , in the town of Mandaree , oil and gas are produced by hydraulic fracturing ( fracking ) , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that involves injecting pressurized water , sand , and chemicals into the Earth to release the gas or oil within .
Legal loopholes that exempt fracking from elements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and EPA hazardous waste laws are endangering surrounding communities , and putting drinking water at risk of contamination .
Now , national , state , and local grassroots efforts , some led by Finley-DeVille , are calling for change .
The Fort Berthold Reservation , along with the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to the south , blister with oil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prolific Williston Basin , a large rock unit stretched across North Dakota , South Dakota , Montana , and regions of Canada .
From the first discovery of a natural gas well in the state in 1892 to today , western North Dakota has been home to the fossil fuel industry for more than a century .
As of 2020 , the state is the second largest crude oil producer in the United States ( after Texas ) and accounts for 2 % of the nation ’ s natural gas reserves .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ production in North Dakota increased fourfold since 2010 , with the state producing an unprecedented 45 million barrels in 2019 .
Although a collapse in oil demand in 2020 curbed the boom , fracking has left its mark .
Wastewater — a combination of “ flowback , ” a portion of the water used to fracture the rock to release fossil fuels that flows back to the surface , and naturally occurring “ produced ” water that the fracking process forces to the surface — is still ever present .
According to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earthworks , fracking produced 19 billion gallons of wastewater in North Dakota in 2018 alone .
The risk to drinking water comes in two major ways .
First , water used in the hydraulic drilling process can leak into aquifers and other groundwater supplies .
Second , the wastewater that fracking produces can contaminate supplies when waste leaks from landfills that accept oil remains , when waste spill from trucks or pipelines moving it , when equipment fails , or when it leaks from unlined disposal pits .
Both flowback and produced water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and lead , hydrocarbons , naturally occurring radioactive material ( NORM ) , and incredibly high levels of salinity .
Flowback and produced wastewater can also include chemical additive formulas , with volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) like benzene , ethylene glycol , methanol , and toluene .
Between 2005 and 2013 , the EPA identified 1,084 different chemicals reported in fracking formulas .
In North Dakota , wastewater is normally disposed of in storage pits or underground disposal wells , taken to treating plants that process the waste , or in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de-icer .
But sometimes , whether in transportation or equipment malfunction , the wastewater can spill into the environment , contaminating the land and water around and beneath it .
A pipeline rupture in 2014 spilled a million gallons of wastewater on the Fort Berthold Reservation and contaminated Bear Den Bay in Lake Sakakawea , a quarter mile from where the town of Mandaree draws its drinking water .
Bill Suess , the program manager for spill investigation at the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality , says his team checked the intake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elevated levels of contaminants , likely due to the amount of freshwater in the lake .
Avner Vengosh , a professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University , led a study in 2016 that found elevated levels of fracking-related contaminants in North Dakota at sites including Bear Den Bay .
The researchers detected high levels of salts , ammonium , selenium , lead , and other toxics as well as radium , a naturally occurring radioactive element found in wastewater as many as four years after original spills .
The team @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , says Vengosh , but did not find any elevated levels .
“ There ’ s a large amount of the waste from the different parts of the oil and gas cycle , ” says Amy Mall , a senior advocate at NRDC and consultant on the Earthworks report .
“ The waste can be very toxic and it also can leak or spill or otherwise get into the environment .
So there are concerns about how the waste is regulated , whether it ’ s being regulated in a way that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concern is an exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act , known as the Halliburton loophole , that exempts industry from having to disclose the chemicals it uses in fracking and prevented the EPA from regulating fracking fluids .
The loophole was established in an energy bill passed by the Bush/Cheney administration in 2005 and has been in effect ever since .
“ The purpose of the [ Safe Drinking Water Act ] is to protect our drinking water , and the industry that is pumping toxic chemicals , carcinogenic chemicals , underground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us what those are , ” says Melissa Troutman , research and policy analyst for Earthworks .
The oil and gas industry is also exempt from federal EPA hazardous waste regulations and Superfund regulations , which exclude waste associated with the exploration , development , and production of crude oil and natural gas .
Drilling fluids , produced water , and other waste are not disposed of as hazardous and are exempt from the hazardous cleanup process when it comes to spills or leaks .
The industry has been exempt from these regulations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ temporarily proposed that oil and gas waste was not hazardous .
This ruling became permanent in 1988 when the EPA determined the cost of treating the waste would slow production .
Several portions of North Dakota ’ s sandstone aquifers are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act .
The organization FracTracker Alliance calculated hundreds of brine and crude oil spills throughout the region .
More recently , a 34,000-gallon wastewater pipeline spilled north of New Town in June this year and two pipeline spills deposited 21,000 gallons of wastewater into a Missouri @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the North Dakota government ’ s spill database , more than 400 wastewater spills were reported in 2018 .
Several portions of North Dakota ’ s sandstone aquifers are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act .
The EPA has determined the portions do not currently serve as a source of water and will not serve as one in the future , allowing the oil and gas industry to use the aquifer for extraction and disposal of waste .
There are three aquifer exceptions in the Fort Berthold Reservation , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used for produced water disposal .
Once used , that portion of the aquifer can never be used for drinking water in the future if needed .
For Finley-DeVille , solving fracking and wastewater comes down to these regulations .
She is co-founder and treasurer of the Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights , or POWER— an organization formed in 2015 to reduce the impacts of the oil boom in her community .
Since its start , she and her husband , Walter DeVille , have worked with the nonprofit environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among others , to campaign for more regulations and more information on what contaminants are involved in fracking .
“ There ’ s a right way to do this , ” Finley-DeVille says .
“ It ’ s creating those laws and environmental justice and enforcing it … making sure [ industry ] is held accountable and responsible.
” Fort Berthold POWER sued the Bureau of Land Management in 2018 after the agency rolled back the methane waste prevention rule , which is meant to reduce venting , flaring , and leaking from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Fort Berthold POWER also went to speak in Washington D.C. , where they presented infrared images of harmful methane emissions from well pads – a spot where multiple wells are drilled – within their community .
This rollback was struck down in 2020 .
Currently , the organization is fighting the recent rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA ) , a 50-year-old law requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impacts of their actions , such as permit applications or land and water management .
The new rollbacks limit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joe Biden has vowed to reverse these rollbacks .
This past summer , New York became the first state to close the hazardous-waste loophole , meaning that oil and gas waste will now be treated as other hazards.
“ NEPA is very important and significant , ” Finley-DeVille says .
“ Everything that ’ s under NEPA protects us as [ Indigenous and Native ] peoples , that protects our gravesites , our historical and traditional cultural sites , it protects our water … all that ’ s in danger now.
” Troutman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be closed to prevent further spilling , clean up current spills , and address drinking water contamination .
This past summer , New York became the first state to close the hazardous-waste loophole , meaning that oil and gas waste will now be treated as other hazards .
Pennsylvania and New Mexico are looking to do the same .
While North Dakota has not closed these regulatory gaps , local efforts such as DeVille ’ s work have picked up steam .
Just this month , Williams County , northwest of the Fort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a proposed landfill for radioactive oilfield waste by six months , with the county board of commissioners citing a desire to consider options for regulations and restrictions first .
Finley-DeVille , for her part , recently took an bigger step toward change as well , running for state senate in November .
Though she didn ’ t win , she is working with the Native American Caucus now to get specific representation for the reservation at the North Dakota senate and the house .
The quest for clean land , air , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ That ’ s the reason I do what I do , ” she says .

Lisa Finley-DeVille started drinking bottled water around the same time her friend’s horses began to get sick and die. A half decade ago on the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota, Deville drove up to see her friend in the New Town area. The horses looked dehydrated and brittle, just skin and bones. They’re eating, but it’s like they’re not eating, her friend told her.
It was down the hill, at the pond the horses drank from, where the answer lurked. She believes wastewater from nearby oil and gas production leaked there, where the horses drank it up, poisoned. “I’m always worried,” Finley-Deville says. “This is why we don’t drink the water.”
Finley-DeVille is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes in Fort Berthold. Just a half mile (800 meters) from her house, in the town of Mandaree, oil and gas are produced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), an increasingly popular approach to fossil fuel extraction that involves injecting pressurized water, sand, and chemicals into the Earth to release the gas or oil within.
Legal loopholes that exempt fracking from elements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and EPA hazardous waste laws are endangering surrounding communities, and putting drinking water at risk of contamination. Now, national, state, and local grassroots efforts, some led by Finley-DeVille, are calling for change.
The Problem
The Fort Berthold Reservation, along with the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to the south, blister with oil underneath. The two areas sit within the prolific Williston Basin, a large rock unit stretched across North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and regions of Canada. From the first discovery of a natural gas well in the state in 1892 to today, western North Dakota has been home to the fossil fuel industry for more than a century. As of 2020, the state is the second largest crude oil producer in the United States (after Texas) and accounts for 2% of the nation’s natural gas reserves.
Thanks largely to fracking technology, oil production in North Dakota increased fourfold since 2010, with the state producing an unprecedented 45 million barrels in 2019. Although a collapse in oil demand in 2020 curbed the boom, fracking has left its mark.
Wastewater — a combination of “flowback,” a portion of the water used to fracture the rock to release fossil fuels that flows back to the surface, and naturally occurring “produced” water that the fracking process forces to the surface — is still ever present.
According to a report published by the nonprofit environmental organization Earthworks, fracking produced 19 billion gallons of wastewater in North Dakota in 2018 alone.
The risk to drinking water comes in two major ways. First, water used in the hydraulic drilling process can leak into aquifers and other groundwater supplies. Second, the wastewater that fracking produces can contaminate supplies when waste leaks from landfills that accept oil remains, when waste spill from trucks or pipelines moving it, when equipment fails, or when it leaks from unlined disposal pits.
Both flowback and produced water may contain heavy metals such as barium and lead, hydrocarbons, naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), and incredibly high levels of salinity. Flowback and produced wastewater can also include chemical additive formulas, with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, ethylene glycol, methanol, and toluene. Between 2005 and 2013, the EPA identified 1,084 different chemicals reported in fracking formulas.
In North Dakota, wastewater is normally disposed of in storage pits or underground disposal wells, taken to treating plants that process the waste, or in some cases spread on roads as a de-icer. But sometimes, whether in transportation or equipment malfunction, the wastewater can spill into the environment, contaminating the land and water around and beneath it.
A pipeline rupture in 2014 spilled a million gallons of wastewater on the Fort Berthold Reservation and contaminated Bear Den Bay in Lake Sakakawea, a quarter mile from where the town of Mandaree draws its drinking water. Bill Suess, the program manager for spill investigation at the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, says his team checked the intake system and didn’t find any elevated levels of contaminants, likely due to the amount of freshwater in the lake.
Avner Vengosh, a professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University, led a study in 2016 that found elevated levels of fracking-related contaminants in North Dakota at sites including Bear Den Bay. The researchers detected high levels of salts, ammonium, selenium, lead, and other toxics as well as radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element found in wastewater as many as four years after original spills. The team checked the Mandaree water intake as well, says Vengosh, but did not find any elevated levels.
Regulatory Issues
“There’s a large amount of the waste from the different parts of the oil and gas cycle,” says Amy Mall, a senior advocate at NRDC and consultant on the Earthworks report. “The waste can be very toxic and it also can leak or spill or otherwise get into the environment. So there are concerns about how the waste is regulated, whether it’s being regulated in a way that is adequately protective to human health.”
One concern is an exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act, known as the Halliburton loophole, that exempts industry from having to disclose the chemicals it uses in fracking and prevented the EPA from regulating fracking fluids. The loophole was established in an energy bill passed by the Bush/Cheney administration in 2005 and has been in effect ever since.
“The purpose of the [Safe Drinking Water Act] is to protect our drinking water, and the industry that is pumping toxic chemicals, carcinogenic chemicals, underground doesn’t even have to tell us what those are,” says Melissa Troutman, research and policy analyst for Earthworks.
The oil and gas industry is also exempt from federal EPA hazardous waste regulations and Superfund regulations, which exclude waste associated with the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas. Drilling fluids, produced water, and other waste are not disposed of as hazardous and are exempt from the hazardous cleanup process when it comes to spills or leaks. The industry has been exempt from these regulations since the 1970s, when the EPA temporarily proposed that oil and gas waste was not hazardous. This ruling became permanent in 1988 when the EPA determined the cost of treating the waste would slow production.
Several portions of North Dakota’s sandstone aquifers are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The organization FracTracker Alliance calculated hundreds of brine and crude oil spills throughout the region. More recently, a 34,000-gallon wastewater pipeline spilled north of New Town in June this year and two pipeline spills deposited 21,000 gallons of wastewater into a Missouri River tributary in 2019. According to the North Dakota government’s spill database, more than 400 wastewater spills were reported in 2018.
Several portions of North Dakota’s sandstone aquifers are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The EPA has determined the portions do not currently serve as a source of water and will not serve as one in the future, allowing the oil and gas industry to use the aquifer for extraction and disposal of waste. There are three aquifer exceptions in the Fort Berthold Reservation, according to the EPA Underground Injection Control Program, all used for produced water disposal. Once used, that portion of the aquifer can never be used for drinking water in the future if needed.
Citizen Action
For Finley-DeVille, solving fracking and wastewater comes down to these regulations. She is co-founder and treasurer of the Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights, or POWER— an organization formed in 2015 to reduce the impacts of the oil boom in her community. Since its start, she and her husband, Walter DeVille, have worked with the nonprofit environmental organization Dakota Resource Council and Earthworks, among others, to campaign for more regulations and more information on what contaminants are involved in fracking.
“There’s a right way to do this,” Finley-DeVille says. “It’s creating those laws and environmental justice and enforcing it … making sure [industry] is held accountable and responsible.”
Fort Berthold POWER sued the Bureau of Land Management in 2018 after the agency rolled back the methane waste prevention rule, which is meant to reduce venting, flaring, and leaking from oil and gas operations. Members of the Fort Berthold POWER also went to speak in Washington D.C., where they presented infrared images of harmful methane emissions from well pads – a spot where multiple wells are drilled – within their community. This rollback was struck down in 2020.
Currently, the organization is fighting the recent rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a 50-year-old law requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impacts of their actions, such as permit applications or land and water management. The new rollbacks limit this review and community input. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to reverse these rollbacks.
This past summer, New York became the first state to close the hazardous-waste loophole, meaning that oil and gas waste will now be treated as other hazards.“NEPA is very important and significant,” Finley-DeVille says. “Everything that’s under NEPA protects us as [Indigenous and Native] peoples, that protects our gravesites, our historical and traditional cultural sites, it protects our water … all that’s in danger now.”
Troutman of Earthworks says the regulatory loopholes must be closed to prevent further spilling, clean up current spills, and address drinking water contamination. This past summer, New York became the first state to close the hazardous-waste loophole, meaning that oil and gas waste will now be treated as other hazards. Pennsylvania and New Mexico are looking to do the same.
While North Dakota has not closed these regulatory gaps, local efforts such as DeVille’s work have picked up steam. Just this month, Williams County, northwest of the Fort Berthold Reservation, extended a yearlong moratorium on a proposed landfill for radioactive oilfield waste by six months, with the county board of commissioners citing a desire to consider options for regulations and restrictions first.
Finley-DeVille, for her part, recently took an bigger step toward change as well, running for state senate in November. Though she didn’t win, she is working with the Native American Caucus now to get specific representation for the reservation at the North Dakota senate and the house. The quest for clean land, air, and water is far from over. “That’s the reason I do what I do,” she says.
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truthout--2020-12-19--Parents Have Faced Fines and Threats of Court for Their Kids’ Remote Tech Issues

Hayden , 12 , had been having panic attacks about school even before a letter arrived at his home last month , threatening legal action for his alleged absences from distance learning .
The sixth grader has been attending online class from his home outside Austin , Texas , since August , and having difficulties adjusting .
When his grades dropped , he started having intense bouts of anxiety , working himself up until he cried so hard he could barely catch his breath .
He wailed that he hated himself and wished he could do better in school .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ School District in November , saying that legal charges punishable by fines or court action could be brought against his mother for his absences , Hayden spiraled into a dayslong episode , says his mother Holly Barentine .
He started crying even before they finished reading the letter , disclosing fears about worst-case scenarios that he would fail his classes .
When he went to stay the night at his dad ’ s house , the crying continued .
His father emailed Barentine , expressing concern for their son ’ s well-being .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ t actually been missing online school .
However , his school district only counts kids present in some classes if they both show up and submit their homework for the day .
Some of Hayden ’ s homework hadn ’ t been reaching his teachers due to apparent technological glitches on the school ’ s online platform , or in some cases because he hadn ’ t handed it in ― an oversight he didn ’ t expect to be met with potential legal action .
Around the country , school districts are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , as the coronavirus pandemic has turned schools upside down and put most learning online , some of these rules are bumping against new realities involving technology gaps or a lack of parental supervision .
Amid a global health crisis , threats like the one Round Rock sent to Barentine strike her as particularly archaic .
Barentine immediately emailed her son ’ s school upon receiving the letter .
“ I have received a truancy notification for my son , who has been having extreme technical issues , ” she wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with his teachers and gone over this , and I think it ’ s highly inappropriate to be sending out these notices to anyone during a pandemic , when we ’ re all doing the best we can.
” In recent years , truancy policies have started shifting away from punitive measures to providing more support for students who are chronically absent .
Most states have some sort of truancy laws on the books , but only about half still have policies punishing truancy with potential penal measures , according to the national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Where Barentine lives in Texas , the law changed several years ago so kids would no longer face potential criminal sanctions for truancy , instead putting in place school-level prevention programs .
Students who are 12 and older may still get referred to truancy court , and parents found to have contributed to nonattendance can face fines and charges .
In other states , like Alabama , parents who contribute to a child ’ s truancy “ may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than 90 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s no uniform way of counting attendance , Hedy Chang , director of the advocacy group Attendance Works , has seen districts rethinking some of these rules , with their ability to do so varying on state flexibility .
“ Threatening families with court isn ’ t what allows you to unpack what ’ s going on or come up with solutions , and I think this was true before the pandemic , and the pandemic , as with many situations , has made it even more clear , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acknowledged the difficulties of following these policies during remote learning , noting that technological problems can sometimes erroneously show when an assignment was turned in .
She said the district is closely following guidance issued by the Texas Education Agency , which says that teachers leading asynchronous classes can use the completion of daily assignments as a measure of attendance .
In synchronous classes , it is enough for a student to be present .
The letter Barentine received from her son ’ s school said that he had 10 unexcused absences and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with legal action against her and to refer her son to truancy court .
“ If you , with criminal negligence , fail to require the child to attend school as required by law , legal charges can be brought against YOU for Parent Contributing to Nonattendance , ” says the letter , noting that “ conviction of this offense is a Misdemeanor punishable by fines ranging from $ 100.00 for first offense up to $ 500.00 for each additional offense.
” After HuffPost contacted the district , LaCoste-Caputo said it would reword @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more “ solution and intervention-oriented.
” “ We do understand that the current wording of the warning letter is in need of updating given our current climate , ” LaCoste-Caputo wrote .
“ This environment presents a very real challenge on all sides , but we also must identify students who are not engaging in school virtually so we can do all we can to support them and bring them back.
” Barentine is now considering pulling Hayden and his older brother , an eighth-grader , out of school to enroll in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come with some of the same challenges , but with fewer technology issues and fewer legal threats .
She ’ s still exploring this option — she emailed the kids ’ school for information on the withdrawal process , but they ’ re first going to finish the semester and then evaluate their options later this month .
Hayden , typically an A or B student , has had difficulty making the transition from elementary school to middle school online .
He was never a frequent user of computers , instead playing video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has found adjusting to the school ’ s online learning platform challenging .
It sometimes takes him hours to type assignments .
There have been more than a handful of instances , too , when technology simply failed him .
Barentine recalls sitting next to him , watching him submit homework via the Schoology learning management platform used by the district , that the teacher never received .
( Hayden has started directly emailing some of his assignments to teachers out of frustration . )
Barentine ’ s older son , more fluent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time making the adjustment , though sometimes his completed assignments don ’ t reach teachers , either .
“ There have definitely been issues to work through with the platform but we are happy with the support Schoology has provided , ” said LaCoste-Caputo .
Barentine , a single mother , hasn ’ t been around as much as she would like to help to coach Hayden through his difficulties .
Her job as an escrow officer for a title company requires her to go into the office in person , leaving her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the day .
The office is only about 10 minutes away from their home , and she regularly drops in unannounced .
She ’ s been surprised at how well her children seem to be handling their new independence .
They load the dishwasher and take out the trash before she gets home .
Her eldest has started occasionally making his own lunch .
They seem to be staying focused , even without supervision , she said .
Still , staying on top of her kids ’ learning this year feels like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work than previous stints on the school PTA .
She ’ s started checking in every day with all her sons ’ teachers .
They all individually send weekly updates — 14 different emails , all containing potentially vital information .
There ’ s also the issue of her son ’ s well-being .
Hayden has always had anxiety and has been seeing a therapist about it .
But in the past his anxiety was rarely focused around school , where he did well .
Now he calls his mom in a panic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gets bumped from class , afraid he will get marked absent .
“ It ’ s sad to see your kid passing with flying colors to failing everything , ” says Barentine .
“ He ’ s already trying his best and not doing well because of everything .
Then to hear you might have to fail or get kicked out or go to court.
” The district has referred 22 truancy cases to court this school year , a number LaCoste-Caputo says is significantly down from the 65 referrals during the fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the large district with over 50,000 students have been following up with families to ensure they are “ true truancy cases ” before making these referrals , she said .
In Chicago , Kishonna Gray decided to pull her children out of public school after receiving a similar letter .
Gray , an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago , had been working remotely , supervising her kids ’ learning , when one of them received a truancy notice in October .
There was the time she took her kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with her to a doctor ’ s appointment so they wouldn ’ t be left without supervision .
Another time , she took them with her when she went to get her car fixed , an activity that took hours .
While Gray ’ s husband is working remotely , his job is less flexible and he ’ s usually unable to pull himself away from the computer to watch the kids .
Gray allowed her youngest child to turn his camera off during class , which caused him to be marked as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
Her child prefers to sit on a bouncy ball during class to help him focus , but his teacher told him it was distracting and asked him to stop .
Gray gave him permission to turn off his camera to prevent him from distracting others if the ball would help him learn .
A few weeks later , she received a truancy letter , explaining that her youngest had missed five unexcused days of school .
It warned that if the pattern continued , they could be subject to the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Should your child be found to be a chronic truant and should you , your child , or both , fail to comply with any sanctions imposed by the hearing officer , the Department of Chronic Truant Adjudication may refer the matter to the Office of Cook County State ’ s Attorney for prosecution , ” read the letter .
April Shaw , Namaste Charter School ’ s executive director , said parents had been told cameras should be on during live instruction .
They were encouraged to reach out if they had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number have been granted .
The truancy letters , required by Chicago Public Schools , are automatically generated , Shaw wrote in an email .
But Gray had already been having issues with her sons ’ school .
Remote learning had given her a look into their classrooms , and she didn ’ t like what she saw .
Her older child ’ s teacher would rally kids back to class after breaks by sounding a police siren — a noise Gray , who is Black , found inappropriate , given the context @ @ @ @ @ @ @ optics of a white teacher exercising control in that way over a majority Black and brown classroom .
Her younger child ’ s classroom was constantly being divided for activities based on gender , a pattern Gray found frustrating — he is transgender .
( Once she reached out to the school complaining about these issues , they made adjustments , Gray said . )
But at a time where teachers had the opportunity to reimagine the architecture of learning , Gray says she witnessed an emphasis on compliance and authority as opposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegation seemed emblematic of these larger issues .
“ I realized this space was going to do more harm to my kids at such an early age because they have the rest of their lives to be disappointed by the world , ” Gray says .
“ At this time I would like them to be connected to advocates and people who support them.
” When Gray received the truancy letter , she sat her kids down and explained the situation to them ― that their mom could get in legal trouble for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her youngest to turn off his camera .
They didn ’ t understand .
They equated courts and punishment with crimes like murder and stealing — mommy had only tried to help them .
She asked them how they felt about home schooling instead .
Now , Gray spends her day teaching her kids about the tenants of physics through at-home basketball games , and about kinesiology through dance and movement .
She gives her kids Mondays off so she can work , while at-home school is in session Tuesday through Friday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ asynchronous this semester , making her schedule mostly flexible .
A sample home school schedule shared by Gray in mid-October shows her teaching her children about decimals and plants and poetry .
When and if she puts her kids back in school , she says she ’ ll be looking for another one .
“ I measure success by their mental well-being , they ’ re happier kids , ” says Gray , noting that her fourth-grader almost immediately stopped wetting the bed when she took him out of school .
She hadn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such a stressor .
Shaw takes issue with Gray ’ s characterizations , noting that the school took steps to address her complaints , and emphasized its commitment to diversity , parent connectivity and a personal approach to learning .
“ When the parent reached out with the concern , we immediately responded with ways to support the students , ” including options to have the camera off and an alternative schedule , wrote Shaw .
“ We can confidently say that Namaste ’ s commitment to diversity , equity and inclusion , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support were in place throughout the student ’ s time at Namaste.
” Now , Gray spends her day teaching her kids about the tenants of physics through at-home basketball games , and about kinesiology through dance and movement .
She gives her kids Mondays off so she can work , while at-home school is in session Tuesday through Friday .
As a professor , her classes are asynchronous this semester , making her schedule mostly flexible .
A sample home school schedule shared by Gray in mid-October shows her teaching her children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When and if she puts her kids back in school , she says she ’ ll be looking for another one .
“ I measure success by their mental well-being , they ’ re happier kids , ” says Gray , noting that her fourth-grader almost immediately stopped wetting the bed when she took him out of school .
She hadn ’ t known that school had become such a stressor .
Shaw takes issue with Gray ’ s characterizations , noting that the school took steps to address her complaints , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connectivity and a personal approach to learning .
“ When the parent reached out with the concern , we immediately responded with ways to support the students , ” including options to have the camera off and an alternative schedule , wrote Shaw .
“ We can confidently say that Namaste ’ s commitment to diversity , equity and inclusion , along with parent and community communication and support were in place throughout the student ’ s time at Namaste.
” He ’ s also been plagued by technological glitches in which completed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to his teachers .
His parents have had trouble sorting out which absences were a result of him not logging on for class and which were for not doing homework .
Cooper ’ s teachers , some of whom taught him in previous years , say he doesn ’ t participate like he used to .
At one point this semester , he was failing all but one class , and the situation has only barely improved since .
Seaver and her husband have opted to keep Cooper home for safety reasons , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they wonder if they should enroll him in the district ’ s hybrid option .
They wonder if the consequences of remote learning — the poor grades , the legal threats — make it worth the tradeoff , even though going back would make her son incredibly anxious over potential exposure to COVID-19 .
“ Combined with being stuck home all day and never seeing his friends except occasionally on FaceTime , I could imagine how it all feels altogether overwhelming , ” says Seaver .
“ It feels like they made this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given any additional resources or anything.
” Local news reports say grades in the district have fallen this semester , as in districts around the country .
( Seaver notes her appreciation for a recently rolled out virtual tutoring program . )
LaCoste-Caputo says Round Rock ’ s decline in student grades has been in line with peer districts and “ most of the issues were not from low grades on assignments but from missing assignments as students were getting accustomed to this brand new and unfamiliar way of learning.
” Barentine worries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ son ’ s long-term relationship with school and his view of himself as a student .
“ It ’ s hurting his self esteem , ” says Barentine , who spoke with her son ’ s counselor and learned that most other students are struggling with the same issues .
Hayden still feels nervous that the family could be upended with legal consequences for truancy , no matter how hard he tries in school .
“ I don ’ t think he really believes that nothing is going to happen , ” says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we have to do the best we can , and if you feel like you ’ re going to have a panic attack , tell the teacher you need a few minutes and give me a call.
” *This story has been updated with a comment from a spokesperson from Chicago Public Schools .
This story about truancy was produced as part of an ongoing series on school discipline in the pandemic , reported by HuffPost and The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit , independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hechinger newsletter here .

Hayden, 12, had been having panic attacks about school even before a letter arrived at his home last month, threatening legal action for his alleged absences from distance learning.
The sixth grader has been attending online class from his home outside Austin, Texas, since August, and having difficulties adjusting. When his grades dropped, he started having intense bouts of anxiety, working himself up until he cried so hard he could barely catch his breath. He wailed that he hated himself and wished he could do better in school.
When the letter arrived from Round Rock School District in November, saying that legal charges punishable by fines or court action could be brought against his mother for his absences, Hayden spiraled into a dayslong episode, says his mother Holly Barentine. He started crying even before they finished reading the letter, disclosing fears about worst-case scenarios that he would fail his classes. When he went to stay the night at his dad’s house, the crying continued. His father emailed Barentine, expressing concern for their son’s well-being.
Hayden, a sixth-grader, hadn’t actually been missing online school. However, his school district only counts kids present in some classes if they both show up and submit their homework for the day. Some of Hayden’s homework hadn’t been reaching his teachers due to apparent technological glitches on the school’s online platform, or in some cases because he hadn’t handed it in ― an oversight he didn’t expect to be met with potential legal action.
Around the country, school districts are subject to state truancy laws and regulations. However, as the coronavirus pandemic has turned schools upside down and put most learning online, some of these rules are bumping against new realities involving technology gaps or a lack of parental supervision. Amid a global health crisis, threats like the one Round Rock sent to Barentine strike her as particularly archaic.
Barentine immediately emailed her son’s school upon receiving the letter.
“I have received a truancy notification for my son, who has been having extreme technical issues,” she wrote to administrators. “I have met with his teachers and gone over this, and I think it’s highly inappropriate to be sending out these notices to anyone during a pandemic, when we’re all doing the best we can.”
In recent years, truancy policies have started shifting away from punitive measures to providing more support for students who are chronically absent. Most states have some sort of truancy laws on the books, but only about half still have policies punishing truancy with potential penal measures, according to the national policy group Education Commission of the States.
Where Barentine lives in Texas, the law changed several years ago so kids would no longer face potential criminal sanctions for truancy, instead putting in place school-level prevention programs. Students who are 12 and older may still get referred to truancy court, and parents found to have contributed to nonattendance can face fines and charges. In other states, like Alabama, parents who contribute to a child’s truancy “may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than 90 days.”
During a pandemic, when there’s no uniform way of counting attendance, Hedy Chang, director of the advocacy group Attendance Works, has seen districts rethinking some of these rules, with their ability to do so varying on state flexibility.
“Threatening families with court isn’t what allows you to unpack what’s going on or come up with solutions, and I think this was true before the pandemic, and the pandemic, as with many situations, has made it even more clear,” said Chang.
Round Rock spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo acknowledged the difficulties of following these policies during remote learning, noting that technological problems can sometimes erroneously show when an assignment was turned in. She said the district is closely following guidance issued by the Texas Education Agency, which says that teachers leading asynchronous classes can use the completion of daily assignments as a measure of attendance. In synchronous classes, it is enough for a student to be present.
The letter Barentine received from her son’s school said that he had 10 unexcused absences and that it may be necessary to proceed with legal action against her and to refer her son to truancy court.
“If you, with criminal negligence, fail to require the child to attend school as required by law, legal charges can be brought against YOU for Parent Contributing to Nonattendance,” says the letter, noting that “conviction of this offense is a Misdemeanor punishable by fines ranging from $100.00 for first offense up to $500.00 for each additional offense.”
After HuffPost contacted the district, LaCoste-Caputo said it would reword the automatically generated truancy letters to be more “solution and intervention-oriented.”
“We do understand that the current wording of the warning letter is in need of updating given our current climate,” LaCoste-Caputo wrote. “This environment presents a very real challenge on all sides, but we also must identify students who are not engaging in school virtually so we can do all we can to support them and bring them back.”
Barentine is now considering pulling Hayden and his older brother, an eighth-grader, out of school to enroll in a virtual program. She figures it would come with some of the same challenges, but with fewer technology issues and fewer legal threats. She’s still exploring this option — she emailed the kids’ school for information on the withdrawal process, but they’re first going to finish the semester and then evaluate their options later this month.
Hayden, typically an A or B student, has had difficulty making the transition from elementary school to middle school online. He was never a frequent user of computers, instead playing video games on a handheld device, and has found adjusting to the school’s online learning platform challenging. It sometimes takes him hours to type assignments.
There have been more than a handful of instances, too, when technology simply failed him. Barentine recalls sitting next to him, watching him submit homework via the Schoology learning management platform used by the district, that the teacher never received. (Hayden has started directly emailing some of his assignments to teachers out of frustration.)
Barentine’s older son, more fluent in technology, has had an easier time making the adjustment, though sometimes his completed assignments don’t reach teachers, either.
“There have definitely been issues to work through with the platform but we are happy with the support Schoology has provided,” said LaCoste-Caputo.
Barentine, a single mother, hasn’t been around as much as she would like to help to coach Hayden through his difficulties. Her job as an escrow officer for a title company requires her to go into the office in person, leaving her two sons to work independently during most of the day. The office is only about 10 minutes away from their home, and she regularly drops in unannounced.
She’s been surprised at how well her children seem to be handling their new independence. They load the dishwasher and take out the trash before she gets home. Her eldest has started occasionally making his own lunch. They seem to be staying focused, even without supervision, she said.
Still, staying on top of her kids’ learning this year feels like a full-time job in itself, more work than previous stints on the school PTA. She’s started checking in every day with all her sons’ teachers. They all individually send weekly updates — 14 different emails, all containing potentially vital information.
There’s also the issue of her son’s well-being. Hayden has always had anxiety and has been seeing a therapist about it. But in the past his anxiety was rarely focused around school, where he did well. Now he calls his mom in a panic after their internet cuts out and he gets bumped from class, afraid he will get marked absent.
“It’s sad to see your kid passing with flying colors to failing everything,” says Barentine. “He’s already trying his best and not doing well because of everything. Then to hear you might have to fail or get kicked out or go to court.”
The district has referred 22 truancy cases to court this school year, a number LaCoste-Caputo says is significantly down from the 65 referrals during the fall semester last year. Staff members in the large district with over 50,000 students have been following up with families to ensure they are “true truancy cases” before making these referrals, she said.
In Chicago, Kishonna Gray decided to pull her children out of public school after receiving a similar letter. Gray, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, had been working remotely, supervising her kids’ learning, when one of them received a truancy notice in October.
There was the time she took her kids, in second and fourth grade, with her to a doctor’s appointment so they wouldn’t be left without supervision. Another time, she took them with her when she went to get her car fixed, an activity that took hours. While Gray’s husband is working remotely, his job is less flexible and he’s usually unable to pull himself away from the computer to watch the kids.
Gray allowed her youngest child to turn his camera off during class, which caused him to be marked as absent at his charter school, she says. Her child prefers to sit on a bouncy ball during class to help him focus, but his teacher told him it was distracting and asked him to stop. Gray gave him permission to turn off his camera to prevent him from distracting others if the ball would help him learn.
A few weeks later, she received a truancy letter, explaining that her youngest had missed five unexcused days of school. It warned that if the pattern continued, they could be subject to the “chronic truant adjudication hearing procedures.”
“Should your child be found to be a chronic truant and should you, your child, or both, fail to comply with any sanctions imposed by the hearing officer, the Department of Chronic Truant Adjudication may refer the matter to the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney for prosecution,” read the letter.
April Shaw, Namaste Charter School’s executive director, said parents had been told cameras should be on during live instruction. They were encouraged to reach out if they had concerns or needed accommodations, and a number have been granted. The truancy letters, required by Chicago Public Schools, are automatically generated, Shaw wrote in an email.
But Gray had already been having issues with her sons’ school. Remote learning had given her a look into their classrooms, and she didn’t like what she saw.
Her older child’s teacher would rally kids back to class after breaks by sounding a police siren — a noise Gray, who is Black, found inappropriate, given the context of protests against law enforcement and the optics of a white teacher exercising control in that way over a majority Black and brown classroom.
Her younger child’s classroom was constantly being divided for activities based on gender, a pattern Gray found frustrating — he is transgender. (Once she reached out to the school complaining about these issues, they made adjustments, Gray said.)
But at a time where teachers had the opportunity to reimagine the architecture of learning, Gray says she witnessed an emphasis on compliance and authority as opposed to curiosity and ideas. The truancy allegation seemed emblematic of these larger issues.
“I realized this space was going to do more harm to my kids at such an early age because they have the rest of their lives to be disappointed by the world,” Gray says. “At this time I would like them to be connected to advocates and people who support them.”
When Gray received the truancy letter, she sat her kids down and explained the situation to them ― that their mom could get in legal trouble for taking them to the doctors or allowing her youngest to turn off his camera. They didn’t understand. They equated courts and punishment with crimes like murder and stealing — mommy had only tried to help them. She asked them how they felt about home schooling instead.
Now, Gray spends her day teaching her kids about the tenants of physics through at-home basketball games, and about kinesiology through dance and movement. She gives her kids Mondays off so she can work, while at-home school is in session Tuesday through Friday. As a professor, her classes are asynchronous this semester, making her schedule mostly flexible. A sample home school schedule shared by Gray in mid-October shows her teaching her children about decimals and plants and poetry. When and if she puts her kids back in school, she says she’ll be looking for another one.
“I measure success by their mental well-being, they’re happier kids,” says Gray, noting that her fourth-grader almost immediately stopped wetting the bed when she took him out of school. She hadn’t known that school had become such a stressor.
Shaw takes issue with Gray’s characterizations, noting that the school took steps to address her complaints, and emphasized its commitment to diversity, parent connectivity and a personal approach to learning.
“When the parent reached out with the concern, we immediately responded with ways to support the students,” including options to have the camera off and an alternative schedule, wrote Shaw. “We can confidently say that Namaste’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, along with parent and community communication and support were in place throughout the student’s time at Namaste.”
Now, Gray spends her day teaching her kids about the tenants of physics through at-home basketball games, and about kinesiology through dance and movement. She gives her kids Mondays off so she can work, while at-home school is in session Tuesday through Friday. As a professor, her classes are asynchronous this semester, making her schedule mostly flexible. A sample home school schedule shared by Gray in mid-October shows her teaching her children about decimals and plants and poetry. When and if she puts her kids back in school, she says she’ll be looking for another one.
“I measure success by their mental well-being, they’re happier kids,” says Gray, noting that her fourth-grader almost immediately stopped wetting the bed when she took him out of school. She hadn’t known that school had become such a stressor.
Shaw takes issue with Gray’s characterizations, noting that the school took steps to address her complaints, and emphasized its commitment to diversity, parent connectivity and a personal approach to learning.
“When the parent reached out with the concern, we immediately responded with ways to support the students,” including options to have the camera off and an alternative schedule, wrote Shaw. “We can confidently say that Namaste’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, along with parent and community communication and support were in place throughout the student’s time at Namaste.”
He’s also been plagued by technological glitches in which completed assignments have failed to make their way to his teachers. His parents have had trouble sorting out which absences were a result of him not logging on for class and which were for not doing homework.
Cooper’s teachers, some of whom taught him in previous years, say he doesn’t participate like he used to. At one point this semester, he was failing all but one class, and the situation has only barely improved since.
Seaver and her husband have opted to keep Cooper home for safety reasons, even after in-person classes resumed. Now they wonder if they should enroll him in the district’s hybrid option. They wonder if the consequences of remote learning — the poor grades, the legal threats — make it worth the tradeoff, even though going back would make her son incredibly anxious over potential exposure to COVID-19.
“Combined with being stuck home all day and never seeing his friends except occasionally on FaceTime, I could imagine how it all feels altogether overwhelming,” says Seaver. “It feels like they made this policy and then we weren’t given any additional resources or anything.”
Local news reports say grades in the district have fallen this semester, as in districts around the country. (Seaver notes her appreciation for a recently rolled out virtual tutoring program.)
LaCoste-Caputo says Round Rock’s decline in student grades has been in line with peer districts and “most of the issues were not from low grades on assignments but from missing assignments as students were getting accustomed to this brand new and unfamiliar way of learning.”
Barentine worries about how this year will impact her son’s long-term relationship with school and his view of himself as a student.
“It’s hurting his self esteem,” says Barentine, who spoke with her son’s counselor and learned that most other students are struggling with the same issues.
Hayden still feels nervous that the family could be upended with legal consequences for truancy, no matter how hard he tries in school.
“I don’t think he really believes that nothing is going to happen,” says Barentine. “I just tell him that we have to do the best we can, and if you feel like you’re going to have a panic attack, tell the teacher you need a few minutes and give me a call.”
*This story has been updated with a comment from a spokesperson from Chicago Public Schools.
Caroline Preston contributed reporting.
This story about truancy was produced as part of an ongoing series on school discipline in the pandemic, reported by HuffPost and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter here.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-12-19--Let’s Reject the Violent vs. Nonviolent Crime Dichotomy to End the War on Drugs

November ’ s election saw criminal legal system and drug policy reform win big at the polls .
Oregon became the first state to decriminalize all drugs , and voters overwhelmingly passed other reforms to drug laws , even in deeply red states like South Dakota .
Policing took center stage in the national dialogue .
And both the vice president and president-elect in their first addresses to the nation promised to “ root out systemic racism ” in the criminal legal system .
The people have spoken , and we are on the precipice of a new moment for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scope of this collective call for change — and the challenge to which Biden and Harris will have to rise — stands to shape what our new world may look like for decades to come .
Central to determining the outcome of that question will be whether or not we as a nation move past one particular old and dangerous habit : for decades , reforms have underscored a dichotomy between nonviolent and violent offenses .
This contrast often gets good traction , since it allows people who support drug policy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to grapple with the question of violence .
It has been a winning strategy — but only for certain victories and people , and not without long-term costs .
The first shortcoming of this false binary is straightforward : it curtails the chance of ending mass incarceration .
More than half of the people incarcerated in the U.S. are serving jail or prison sentences for charges of violence .
This means truly transformative reductions in the number of people locked up in the U.S. will have to include changing our responses to these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about it .
A more subtle but no less insidious cost to this narrow understanding of reform is that the reinforcement of the violent vs. nonviolent dichotomy has at best ignored — and , at worst , amplified — the narrative that has long underpinned mass incarceration in the United States : the familiar though fabricated story of an imagined monstrous “ other ” from whom we have to be protected at any cost .
It is that well-worn story that makes us choose prisons over hospitals , prisons over schools , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treatment .
It ’ s a story as old as our country ’ s founding and steeped , as our nation is , in deep-seated racism .
From a human perspective , reformers ’ failure to contend with this narrative has left a critical dimension of our nation ’ s racism unchallenged and unchecked .
From a policy perspective , it has inadvertently reinforced the notion that some people are beyond the reach of reform efforts and , in so doing , has exacerbated barriers to sentencing reform and alternative strategies like restorative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in a much more transformative way .
So , while it has obviously limited the prospects of ending mass incarceration for crimes of violence , it has also inadvertently created barriers to ending the war on drugs .
Just like the stories about merciless “ superpredators ” or “ gang members , ” year after year , Hollywood cranks out the same one-dimensional tropes of violent international drug trade organizations with stories that are almost entirely divorced from the very real daily harms caused by prohibitionist policies — from increasing the likelihood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from meeting people ’ s basic needs and into enforcement .
Like the narrative about “ robbers ” and “ murderers , ” this narrative of the malicious drug seller ( almost always Black or Brown ) is disconnected from the reality of people who sell drugs and conceals the structural harm done to communities behind stories of individual evil .
Together , these stories limit what we can envision and tolerate in our responses to violence , whether related or unrelated to the drug trade , even as evidence shows prison actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likelihood that someone will cause further harm .
But this imaginary division is not our only option .
Instead , we can choose to confront the historical roots and systemic racism of the drug war and mass incarceration and to see the alignment between people who want to end both .
Moving past the violent vs. nonviolent false binary will allow the drug policy reform movement to affirm that while drug markets are not inherently violent , at the same time , unregulated drug sales can cause harm .
Drug reform work can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alternative responses to violence work and allow us to find ways of repairing harm that do not over-rely on punishment .
When the wide sphere of people who say they are committed to drug policy and justice reform set aside this tired and harmful narrative , we will no longer have to pretend that instances of drug users causing harm to themselves or others do not exist in order to win .
Policymakers will then be able to broaden the terrain beyond rethinking drug possession , but also include reforming our nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This will give us an opportunity to address the challenges associated with drugs and violence , recognizing that prohibition has made them inextricable from each other .
We can then adopt transformative justice responses to violence that allow us to imagine what it might look like for our nation not just to stop criminalizing drugs , but to also enact reparations for the harm inflicted on our communities after many years of criminalization , harm that often drives both problematic drug use and violence .
And people committed to criminal legal reform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrain of other violent crimes like assault , robbery and murder that do not always arise from the drug trade but almost always arise from the same underlying conditions that gave birth to the war on drugs .
Then we can advance solutions that align with what the evidence proves time and again : that alternatives to incarceration produce better results and more safety — including in responding to violence .
If 2020 has shown us anything , it ’ s that our survival is tied to one another in countless ways and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s freedom or well-being by depleting the dignity and chances of another .
It will not be enough for policymakers , including the president- and vice-president-elect , to just stay in cautious political territory and only tinker with our nation ’ s responses to nonviolent crime while avoiding the rest .
The mandate of this moment and the people is far greater .
The sooner our new leadership comes to terms with the scope of what will be expected of them , the sooner we will become , for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of safety and equity for all .

November’s election saw criminal legal system and drug policy reform win big at the polls. Oregon became the first state to decriminalize all drugs, and voters overwhelmingly passed other reforms to drug laws, even in deeply red states like South Dakota. Policing took center stage in the national dialogue. And both the vice president and president-elect in their first addresses to the nation promised to “root out systemic racism” in the criminal legal system.
The people have spoken, and we are on the precipice of a new moment for justice reform. But how we understand the scope of this collective call for change — and the challenge to which Biden and Harris will have to rise — stands to shape what our new world may look like for decades to come.
Central to determining the outcome of that question will be whether or not we as a nation move past one particular old and dangerous habit: for decades, reforms have underscored a dichotomy between nonviolent and violent offenses. This contrast often gets good traction, since it allows people who support drug policy and lower-level criminal legal reform to avoid having to grapple with the question of violence. It has been a winning strategy — but only for certain victories and people, and not without long-term costs.
The first shortcoming of this false binary is straightforward: it curtails the chance of ending mass incarceration. More than half of the people incarcerated in the U.S. are serving jail or prison sentences for charges of violence. This means truly transformative reductions in the number of people locked up in the U.S. will have to include changing our responses to these crimes. There is no other way about it.
A more subtle but no less insidious cost to this narrow understanding of reform is that the reinforcement of the violent vs. nonviolent dichotomy has at best ignored — and, at worst, amplified — the narrative that has long underpinned mass incarceration in the United States: the familiar though fabricated story of an imagined monstrous “other” from whom we have to be protected at any cost. It is that well-worn story that makes us choose prisons over hospitals, prisons over schools, and prisons over — yes — noncoercive drug treatment. It’s a story as old as our country’s founding and steeped, as our nation is, in deep-seated racism.
From a human perspective, reformers’ failure to contend with this narrative has left a critical dimension of our nation’s racism unchallenged and unchecked. From a policy perspective, it has inadvertently reinforced the notion that some people are beyond the reach of reform efforts and, in so doing, has exacerbated barriers to sentencing reform and alternative strategies like restorative justice that would tackle serious violence differently and in a much more transformative way. So, while it has obviously limited the prospects of ending mass incarceration for crimes of violence, it has also inadvertently created barriers to ending the war on drugs.
Just like the stories about merciless “superpredators” or “gang members,” year after year, Hollywood cranks out the same one-dimensional tropes of violent international drug trade organizations with stories that are almost entirely divorced from the very real daily harms caused by prohibitionist policies — from increasing the likelihood of overdoses to diverting critical resources away from meeting people’s basic needs and into enforcement. Like the narrative about “robbers” and “murderers,” this narrative of the malicious drug seller (almost always Black or Brown) is disconnected from the reality of people who sell drugs and conceals the structural harm done to communities behind stories of individual evil. Together, these stories limit what we can envision and tolerate in our responses to violence, whether related or unrelated to the drug trade, even as evidence shows prison actually increases, rather than decreases, the likelihood that someone will cause further harm.
Moving past the violent vs. nonviolent false binary will allow the drug policy reform movement to affirm that while drug markets are not inherently violent, at the same time, unregulated drug sales can cause harm.
But this imaginary division is not our only option. Instead, we can choose to confront the historical roots and systemic racism of the drug war and mass incarceration and to see the alignment between people who want to end both. Moving past the violent vs. nonviolent false binary will allow the drug policy reform movement to affirm that while drug markets are not inherently violent, at the same time, unregulated drug sales can cause harm. Drug reform work can then build on and borrow from existing alternative responses to violence work and allow us to find ways of repairing harm that do not over-rely on punishment.
When the wide sphere of people who say they are committed to drug policy and justice reform set aside this tired and harmful narrative, we will no longer have to pretend that instances of drug users causing harm to themselves or others do not exist in order to win. Policymakers will then be able to broaden the terrain beyond rethinking drug possession, but also include reforming our nation’s approach to people who sell drugs. This will give us an opportunity to address the challenges associated with drugs and violence, recognizing that prohibition has made them inextricable from each other. We can then adopt transformative justice responses to violence that allow us to imagine what it might look like for our nation not just to stop criminalizing drugs, but to also enact reparations for the harm inflicted on our communities after many years of criminalization, harm that often drives both problematic drug use and violence.
And people committed to criminal legal reform more broadly can finally move into the terrain of other violent crimes like assault, robbery and murder that do not always arise from the drug trade but almost always arise from the same underlying conditions that gave birth to the war on drugs. Then we can advance solutions that align with what the evidence proves time and again: that alternatives to incarceration produce better results and more safety — including in responding to violence.
If 2020 has shown us anything, it’s that our survival is tied to one another in countless ways and that we cannot win one group’s freedom or well-being by depleting the dignity and chances of another. It will not be enough for policymakers, including the president- and vice-president-elect, to just stay in cautious political territory and only tinker with our nation’s responses to nonviolent crime while avoiding the rest. The mandate of this moment and the people is far greater. The sooner our new leadership comes to terms with the scope of what will be expected of them, the sooner we will become, for the first time, a nation that keeps its promise of safety and equity for all.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.