truthout--2020-12-26--Trump Administration Pushes Rules Facilitating Religious Discrimination at Work

It was the hectic week before Thanksgiving , and Amrith Kaur — the legal director of an advocacy group called the Sikh Coalition — was not prepared for a surprise update from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could have dramatic consequences for her clients .
With little warning , the EEOC published a 112-page overhaul of its guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace .
The feedback period was proceeding with no time to spare — she would have to file any comments by Dec. 17 .
“ To my knowledge , that was the first time that pretty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Kaur , who was busy handling home schooling for her children , ages 8 and 10 , when the announcement popped up .
“ There ’ s so much happening , and I think it ’ s very strategic the way this was brought out.
” The guidance is among scores of last-minute actions that ProPublica is tracking on their way through the approval process , many of them accelerating as it became clear that President Donald Trump ’ s time in office would end on Jan. 20 .
The EEOC ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal precedent that govern how employers must deal with religious freedom issues in the workplace .
It doesn ’ t have the force of law , but it can be cited in lawsuits , and it serves as a manual for managers navigating thorny situations .
As she dug into the document ’ s dense language and footnotes , Kaur was particularly distressed because of what she found to be a slant toward large Christian employers like colleges and social service agencies , rather than smaller religions like Sikhism , which face widespread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days , she ’ s had to focus on advising health care workers who keep long beards as part of their religious practice .
Some hospitals and nursing homes ban facial hair to ensure a proper fit for face masks , but Kaur has been able to work out accommodations that are both COVID-19-safe and allow medical staff to observe their faith — which the new guidance doesn ’ t address .
As the comment period ended , dozens of other civil rights groups and Democratic leaders filed letters appealing for more time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allow for more discrimination under the guise of religious freedom , rather than less .
Unlike many midnight regulations that President-elect Joe Biden could roll back , the EEOC commissioners have multiyear terms , so the Biden administration won ’ t be able to change the board ’ s composition until 2022 .
Meanwhile , Kaur fears that adverse case law could accumulate .
“ It is our belief that these proposed changes in the manual , and what I think is a clear bias towards Christian viewpoints at the expense of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have profound negative effects for years to come , ” she said .
Most administrations kick rule-making into high gear once they know their party is leaving the White House , and Trump ’ s is no exception .
A flood of new entries in the Federal Register includes several rules and guidance documents that widen lanes for religious institutions to exclude those who do not share their faith , or narrow the options for beneficiaries of federal programs who feel uncomfortable receiving services in a religious context .
Some of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Trump issued in 2018 declaring that faith-based organizations should have full access to government grant programs without having to modify their operations .
They deliver on the promises that Trump made to evangelical Christians during his presidential run , and which he and Vice President Mike Pence campaigned on again in 2020 — the White House ’ s website contains 228 mentions of “ religious freedom , ” in posted speeches , press releases and other official statements .
Earlier in the term , Trump ’ s religious freedom agenda focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which adopted a rule that protects health care providers who object to certain procedures — namely abortion — on religious grounds , among a host of other actions .
Even now , HHS is witholding funds from states that require their insurance plans to cover abortion .
Later , Trump moved on to further integrating religious organizations into the operations of government itself .
In an October interview with the Religion News Service , Trump touted his administration ’ s work to install religious freedom liaisons in every Cabinet agency .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Initiative is working to remove barriers which have unfairly prevented faith based organizations from working with or receiving funding from the federal government , ” Trump said in a written Q & A .
On that front , the first big change finalized Dec. 7 was at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs , an agency within the Labor Department that enforces compliance with civil rights laws among recipients of federal dollars .
The new rule clarifies that private companies can qualify as “ religious employers ” under certain conditions , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who do not subscribe and adhere to their faith .
That could include not hiring people in same-sex relationships or someone of a different religion .
Advocates for marginalized communities say that the rules open the door for religious institutions to use faith as a pretext for firing or simply declining to hire people whom they would prefer not to employ because of other factors — such as sexual orientation or medical disability — even though discriminating on those bases is still illegal .
“ If that employer just throws up their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s like a get out of jail free card , ” said Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow , referring to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act , a 1993 law that strengthened the test for what can be considered a burden on the free exercise of religion .
Religious employers say that situation likely won ’ t occur often , but they still supported the change .
Jamison Coppola , legislative director of the American Association of Christian Schools , said that most people who work for his member institutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of the deal .
“ It ’ s a rare occurrence where people enter an employment decision and then realize , ‘ Oh , I guess we have some difference of opinion about this , ’ ” Coppola said .
“ I just think that we don ’ t run into it that often , because of how we approach the totality of what we ’ re trying to do as an assembly of believers.
” Among the largest supporters of the rule was Catholic Charities , which , according to USAspending.gov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal contracts and grants in 2020 across all of its affiliated organizations .
The second change , finalized a few days later after a lightning-fast trip through the Office of Management and Budget , was a joint effort of nine agencies that elaborated on the religious freedom exemptions for recipients of their own spending .
It gets rid of the earlier requirement that religious providers of federally funded social services , from food banks to job training , provide referrals to secular alternatives .
In the case of “ indirect ” aid that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care and housing vouchers , it eliminates the requirement that there must be a secular option available .
The concerns with those rules center around the possible exclusion of people who may feel uncomfortable getting aid in an explicitly religious setting , even if providers are not allowed to proselytize as part of the programming .
“ They are really putting what they believe are the interests of these large social service providers ahead of the people who receive the service , ” said Maggie Garrett , vice president of public policy at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State .
“ Their priority is not the LGBTQ youth who is seeking services because they were kicked out of their home.
” Not all religious organizations — or even Christian organizations — support the changes .
Some have recommended that the requirements for secular alternatives be kept because of the delicate political balancing that has gone into these rules over the years .
“ It eased peoples ’ conscience or concerns about having more faith-based groups be involved in these services , ” said Stanley Carlson-Thies , founder and senior director of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ represents Christian employers .
Now , he fears a backlash .
“ I personally don ’ t know of anybody who was asking for this change , but there it is , and I don ’ t think it ’ s a good change , ” Carlson-Thies said .
“ And I think that one thing that ’ s going to happen is that the next administration is going to go through a regulatory process and take those out , and they ’ ll do other things too that to my mind won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Trump administration is moving forward with its guidance for all employers , whether they contract with the federal government or not , through the EEOC .
The last time the agency updated its religious freedom guidance , in 2008 , it went through an expansive , yearslong process that incorporated feedback from a panoply of groups that represent faith communities and those impacted by them , such as advocates for LGBTQ people and women ’ s reproductive rights .
Trump ’ s EEOC has shifted its emphasis toward supporting the rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example , it took up the case of two Kroger employees who were fired after they objected to wearing a rainbow heart emblem on their uniforms , which they interpreted as a symbol of support for gay rights .
In a November online forum hosted by the conservative Federalist Society , EEOC General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson articulated the new focus .
“ The EEOC has an interest in the courts getting all aspects of employment discrimination right , whether getting it right helps the employee , or whether getting it right helps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Religious liberty has been a high priority for the current administration , where everyone I have spoken with has been unequivocally supportive of religious liberty for all.
” However , many religious groups felt left out of the process that led to the EEOC ’ s new guidance .
The updates were put together in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision in June that declared gender identity and sexual orientation to be protected classes in an employment context , making it much more difficult to discriminate against gay , lesbian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer said the new guidance was drafted by the agency ’ s office of legal counsel , with no input from external stakeholders .
Many groups that closely track religious freedom issues found out about the updates during a three-day listening session convened by the commission ’ s Religious Freedom Work Group , which is led by Assistant General Counsel Christine Lambrou Johnson .
According to her LinkedIn profile , Lambrou Johnson is a member of the Christian Legal Society , which describes itself as “ a fellowship of Christians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice and study of law , the defense of religious freedom and life , and the provision of legal aid to the needy.
” Nazer said the Religious Freedom Work Group ’ s duties are separate from the development of the guidance , and that the commission voted to publish the guidance for public comment on Nov. 9 , giving additional time for discussion .
But at that meeting , the body ’ s two Democratic commissioners said that they hadn ’ t had enough time to provide input or that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members .
The Democratic commissioners also raised questions about the legal soundness of some of the guidance ’ s interpretations and pleaded for the vote to be delayed .
It wasn ’ t .
In addition to liberally interpreting exemptions from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for religious employers to hire and fire on religious grounds , the guidance also raises the bar for intervention when one employee might be harassing another on religious grounds .
And it says little about some of the common questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kaur has been helping negotiate accommodations with hospitals , which would be easier if the EEOC had set out a clear position .
In response to these concerns , Nazer said that the commission is “ carefully considering all of the comments provided to us by our stakeholders as we finalize the guidance.
” “ Manuals like this , that are sort of taken as law even though they ’ re not , are what our government is going to rely on to make a decision on whether discrimination took place , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Title VII protections in the Civil Rights Act for a reason , and to try and decimate it in a way that ’ s not supported by the law is a sad and disappointing attempt at getting around having to be fair to everybody .
”

The Biden administration might not be able to roll back some of these rules for at least a couple years.
It was the hectic week before Thanksgiving, and Amrith Kaur — the legal director of an advocacy group called the Sikh Coalition — was not prepared for a surprise update from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could have dramatic consequences for her clients.
With little warning, the EEOC published a 112-page overhaul of its guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace. The feedback period was proceeding with no time to spare — she would have to file any comments by Dec. 17.
“To my knowledge, that was the first time that pretty much everybody heard about it,” said Kaur, who was busy handling home schooling for her children, ages 8 and 10, when the announcement popped up. “There’s so much happening, and I think it’s very strategic the way this was brought out.”
The guidance is among scores of last-minute actions that ProPublica is tracking on their way through the approval process, many of them accelerating as it became clear that President Donald Trump’s time in office would end on Jan. 20.
The EEOC’s guidance explains the complicated statutes and legal precedent that govern how employers must deal with religious freedom issues in the workplace. It doesn’t have the force of law, but it can be cited in lawsuits, and it serves as a manual for managers navigating thorny situations.
As she dug into the document’s dense language and footnotes, Kaur was particularly distressed because of what she found to be a slant toward large Christian employers like colleges and social service agencies, rather than smaller religions like Sikhism, which face widespread prejudice. For example, in recent days, she’s had to focus on advising health care workers who keep long beards as part of their religious practice. Some hospitals and nursing homes ban facial hair to ensure a proper fit for face masks, but Kaur has been able to work out accommodations that are both COVID-19-safe and allow medical staff to observe their faith — which the new guidance doesn’t address.
As the comment period ended, dozens of other civil rights groups and Democratic leaders filed letters appealing for more time and agreeing that the new guidance could allow for more discrimination under the guise of religious freedom, rather than less.
Unlike many midnight regulations that President-elect Joe Biden could roll back, the EEOC commissioners have multiyear terms, so the Biden administration won’t be able to change the board’s composition until 2022. Meanwhile, Kaur fears that adverse case law could accumulate. “It is our belief that these proposed changes in the manual, and what I think is a clear bias towards Christian viewpoints at the expense of all others, it’s just going to have profound negative effects for years to come,” she said.
Most administrations kick rule-making into high gear once they know their party is leaving the White House, and Trump’s is no exception. A flood of new entries in the Federal Register includes several rules and guidance documents that widen lanes for religious institutions to exclude those who do not share their faith, or narrow the options for beneficiaries of federal programs who feel uncomfortable receiving services in a religious context.
Some of the freshly finalized rules codify an executive order that Trump issued in 2018 declaring that faith-based organizations should have full access to government grant programs without having to modify their operations. They deliver on the promises that Trump made to evangelical Christians during his presidential run, and which he and Vice President Mike Pence campaigned on again in 2020 — the White House’s website contains 228 mentions of “religious freedom,” in posted speeches, press releases and other official statements.
Earlier in the term, Trump’s religious freedom agenda focused on the Department of Health and Human Services, which adopted a rule that protects health care providers who object to certain procedures — namely abortion — on religious grounds, among a host of other actions. Even now, HHS is witholding funds from states that require their insurance plans to cover abortion.
Later, Trump moved on to further integrating religious organizations into the operations of government itself.
In an October interview with the Religion News Service, Trump touted his administration’s work to install religious freedom liaisons in every Cabinet agency. “Led by Pastor Paula White, this Initiative is working to remove barriers which have unfairly prevented faith based organizations from working with or receiving funding from the federal government,” Trump said in a written Q&A.
On that front, the first big change finalized Dec. 7 was at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, an agency within the Labor Department that enforces compliance with civil rights laws among recipients of federal dollars. The new rule clarifies that private companies can qualify as “religious employers” under certain conditions, and that religious employers may deny positions to people who do not subscribe and adhere to their faith. That could include not hiring people in same-sex relationships or someone of a different religion.
Advocates for marginalized communities say that the rules open the door for religious institutions to use faith as a pretext for firing or simply declining to hire people whom they would prefer not to employ because of other factors — such as sexual orientation or medical disability — even though discriminating on those bases is still illegal.
“If that employer just throws up their hands and says ‘RFRA!’ it’s like a get out of jail free card,” said Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow, referring to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law that strengthened the test for what can be considered a burden on the free exercise of religion.
Religious employers say that situation likely won’t occur often, but they still supported the change. Jamison Coppola, legislative director of the American Association of Christian Schools, said that most people who work for his member institutions accept that abiding by faith-based principles is part of the deal.
“It’s a rare occurrence where people enter an employment decision and then realize, ‘Oh, I guess we have some difference of opinion about this,’” Coppola said. “I just think that we don’t run into it that often, because of how we approach the totality of what we’re trying to do as an assembly of believers.”
Among the largest supporters of the rule was Catholic Charities, which, according to USAspending.gov, received approximately $189 million in federal contracts and grants in 2020 across all of its affiliated organizations.
The second change, finalized a few days later after a lightning-fast trip through the Office of Management and Budget, was a joint effort of nine agencies that elaborated on the religious freedom exemptions for recipients of their own spending. It gets rid of the earlier requirement that religious providers of federally funded social services, from food banks to job training, provide referrals to secular alternatives. In the case of “indirect” aid that travels with the beneficiary, like child care and housing vouchers, it eliminates the requirement that there must be a secular option available.
The concerns with those rules center around the possible exclusion of people who may feel uncomfortable getting aid in an explicitly religious setting, even if providers are not allowed to proselytize as part of the programming.
“They are really putting what they believe are the interests of these large social service providers ahead of the people who receive the service,” said Maggie Garrett, vice president of public policy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Their priority is not the LGBTQ youth who is seeking services because they were kicked out of their home.”
Not all religious organizations — or even Christian organizations — support the changes. Some have recommended that the requirements for secular alternatives be kept because of the delicate political balancing that has gone into these rules over the years.
“It eased peoples’ conscience or concerns about having more faith-based groups be involved in these services,” said Stanley Carlson-Thies, founder and senior director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, which represents Christian employers. Now, he fears a backlash.
“I personally don’t know of anybody who was asking for this change, but there it is, and I don’t think it’s a good change,” Carlson-Thies said. “And I think that one thing that’s going to happen is that the next administration is going to go through a regulatory process and take those out, and they’ll do other things too that to my mind won’t be so positive.”
Finally, the Trump administration is moving forward with its guidance for all employers, whether they contract with the federal government or not, through the EEOC.
The last time the agency updated its religious freedom guidance, in 2008, it went through an expansive, yearslong process that incorporated feedback from a panoply of groups that represent faith communities and those impacted by them, such as advocates for LGBTQ people and women’s reproductive rights.
Trump’s EEOC has shifted its emphasis toward supporting the rights of religious employers and employees. For example, it took up the case of two Kroger employees who were fired after they objected to wearing a rainbow heart emblem on their uniforms, which they interpreted as a symbol of support for gay rights.
In a November online forum hosted by the conservative Federalist Society, EEOC General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson articulated the new focus. “The EEOC has an interest in the courts getting all aspects of employment discrimination right, whether getting it right helps the employee, or whether getting it right helps the employer,” she said. “Religious liberty has been a high priority for the current administration, where everyone I have spoken with has been unequivocally supportive of religious liberty for all.”
However, many religious groups felt left out of the process that led to the EEOC’s new guidance.
The updates were put together in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision in June that declared gender identity and sexual orientation to be protected classes in an employment context, making it much more difficult to discriminate against gay, lesbian or transgender people in the workplace. EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer said the new guidance was drafted by the agency’s office of legal counsel, with no input from external stakeholders.
Many groups that closely track religious freedom issues found out about the updates during a three-day listening session convened by the commission’s Religious Freedom Work Group, which is led by Assistant General Counsel Christine Lambrou Johnson. According to her LinkedIn profile, Lambrou Johnson is a member of the Christian Legal Society, which describes itself as “a fellowship of Christians dedicated to serving Jesus Christ through the practice and study of law, the defense of religious freedom and life, and the provision of legal aid to the needy.”
Nazer said the Religious Freedom Work Group’s duties are separate from the development of the guidance, and that the commission voted to publish the guidance for public comment on Nov. 9, giving additional time for discussion. But at that meeting, the body’s two Democratic commissioners said that they hadn’t had enough time to provide input or that it was rejected by the commission’s Republican members. The Democratic commissioners also raised questions about the legal soundness of some of the guidance’s interpretations and pleaded for the vote to be delayed. It wasn’t.
In addition to liberally interpreting exemptions from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for religious employers to hire and fire on religious grounds, the guidance also raises the bar for intervention when one employee might be harassing another on religious grounds. And it says little about some of the common questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the Sikh nurses that Kaur has been helping negotiate accommodations with hospitals, which would be easier if the EEOC had set out a clear position.
In response to these concerns, Nazer said that the commission is “carefully considering all of the comments provided to us by our stakeholders as we finalize the guidance.”
Kaur is not comforted.
“Manuals like this, that are sort of taken as law even though they’re not, are what our government is going to rely on to make a decision on whether discrimination took place,” Kaur said. “We have the Title VII protections in the Civil Rights Act for a reason, and to try and decimate it in a way that’s not supported by the law is a sad and disappointing attempt at getting around having to be fair to everybody.”
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truthout--2020-12-26--Extinction Rate Is Doubling in One of the Most Biodiverse States in the Country

When longtime environmental journalist Ben Raines started writing a book about the biodiversity in Alabama , the state had 354 fish species known to science .
When he finished writing 10 years later , that number had jumped to 450 thanks to a bounty of new discoveries .
Crawfish species leaped from 84 to 97 during the same time .
It ’ s indicative of a larger trend : Alabama is one of the most biodiverse states in the country , but few people know it .
And even scientists are still discovering the rich diversity of life that exists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basin .
All this newly discovered biodiversity is also gravely at risk from centuries of exploitation , which is what prompted Raines to write his new book , Saving America ’ s Amazon : The Threat to Our Nation ’ s Most Biodiverse River System .
The Revelator talked with Raines about why this region is so biodiverse , why it ’ s been overlooked , and what efforts are being made to protect it .
Tara Lohan : What makes Alabama , and particularly the Mobile River system , so biodiverse ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ defines the present in Alabama .
During the ice ages , when much of the nation was frozen under these giant glaciers , Alabama wasn ’ t .
The glaciers petered out by the time they hit Tennessee .
It was much colder but things here didn ’ t die .
Everything that had evolved in Alabama over successive ice ages is still here .
We have a salamander , the Red Hills salamander , that branched off from all other salamander trees 50 million years ago .
So this is an ancient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ here because it never died out .
The other thing you have here , in addition to not freezing , is that it ’ s really warm .
Where I am in Mobile , we ’ re on the same latitude as Cairo .
So the same sun that bakes the Sahara Desert is baking here .
But we also have the rainiest climate in the United States along Alabama ’ s coast .
It actually rains about 70 inches a year here .
By comparison , Seattle gets about 55 inches .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect where we have this intense sun and then plenty of water .
Alabama has more miles of rivers and streams than any other state .
The pitcher plant bogs of Alabama , for example , are literally among the most diverse places on the planet .
In the 1960s a scientist went out and counted every species of flowering plant in an Alabama pitcher plant bog .
He came up with 63 .
That was the highest total found on Earth in a square meter for a decade or more .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Park was thought to be the center of oak tree diversity in the world because they have about 15 species of oaks in the confines of the park .
Well , two years ago scientists working in this area called the Red Hills along the Alabama River found 20 species of oak trees on a single hillside .
It ’ s just staggering .
Why is Alabama ’ s rich biodiversity not well known or studied ?
The state was never known for being a biodiverse place until the early 2000s , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ survey of all the states .
It surprised everyone because it showed Alabama leading in aquatic diversity in all the categories — more species of fish , turtles , salamanders , mussels , snails .
This blew everybody away because Alabama in everybody ’ s mind is the civil rights protests of the 1960s , the KKK , steel mills and cotton fields .
But that ’ s not what ’ s in Alabama , that ’ s what we ’ ve done to Alabama since we ’ ve been here .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with being a long way from Harvard and Yale and Stanford and the great research institutions that were sending biologists all over the world .
Alabama just wasn ’ t really studied or explored .
Again and again , the story in Alabama is that nobody has ever looked .
That ’ s one of E.O .
Wilson ’ s big messages about Alabama .
He is our most famous living scientist , I would say , or certainly biologist .
He grew up here , and now in his twilight years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ save Alabama .
And he describes it as less explored than Borneo and says we have no idea what miracle cures and things we may find in the Mobile River system , which is what I call “ America ’ s Amazon.
” As you write about in your book , all this newly discovered biodiversity is at risk .
What ’ s happening ?
Alabama is in a very precarious situation .
We have the worst environmental laws in the country and the state environmental agency has been the lowest funded of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s very little enforcement .
Maybe that ’ s because nobody realized how rich this place was in terms of diversity , so there was no move to protect it .
But Alabama ’ s early history , from the discovery of coal , which happened in the 1800s , has been one of exploitation .
Massive amounts of forests were taken down in the 1800s for cotton fields .
This state produced more cotton than any other back then , and that took a huge natural toll .
And typically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or even other countries , coming here to harvest the natural resources .
When I was born in Alabama in 1970 , there were 15 steel mills in Birmingham going full blast .
The air and water pollution from the steel mills and the coal mines were on a scale that ’ s almost unbelievable .
So even when we talk about the biodiversity we have now , we can ’ t even imagine what we ’ ve already lost .
And this history of exploitation is still going on today .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ States in the last 25 years was built in Alabama .
Alabama is inviting industry — and industry is coming because you can get a permit here in 30 to 60 days from the state environmental agency .
That same permit in California would probably take 10 to 20 years to secure .
One example is the way Alabama does water permits : There ’ s no limit on how much water industries can take , no matter what environmental havoc may occur .
A couple of years ago we had droughts so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state ’ s major rivers run dry .
The Cahaba River is 150 miles long and it has 120 fish species — more than in the entire state of California .
And during this drought , the industries and golf courses were allowed to suck so much water out of the river it went dry .
It only started flowing again downstream from a sewage plant .
The entire flow of one of the most diverse rivers in America was the outfall from a sewage plant .
It ’ s the kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States , but it happened here and there were no laws to stop it .
Are there forces pushing back against this , and are people beginning to see the value of Alabama ’ s biodiversity ?
Environmental groups here are having an amazing growth spurt .
Twenty years ago our Baykeeper group , which is part of the Riverkeeper alliance , was a one-woman show .
Now it has about a dozen employees and a huge membership .
There are many other environmental groups now that have appeared and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state .
As ecotourism is spreading across the country , it ’ s starting to happen here , too .
The state is quickly catching up .
There was great outrage among the populace when I wrote a story about the rivers running dry and now there ’ s an effort at the state level to make a water plan and to actually limit how much water industry can take .
It sounds like there ’ s still a long way to go for Alabama to catch up with environmental regulations — what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
I write a lot in the book about wetlands because so much of our diversity is in these edges where water and land meet .
I would like to see the edges protected , but of course the problem is that ’ s where people want to be .
They want to live on the river , on the bay , on the beach .
When you couple that with rising sea levels , there ’ s a collision that ’ s coming between people and the edges .
We have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buy the uplands behind it to get ready for sea-level rise because otherwise our coastal habitats will have nowhere to go .
I would also really like to see Alabama adopt the pollution standards that you see in the surrounding states .
For reasons that escape me , the levels of PCBs in fish we allow people to consume before we issue a warning is 10 times higher than any other state .
There ’ s no scientific reason why we would be so far out of step with our neighboring states .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue .
The rate of extinctions in Alabama is roughly double that seen anywhere else in the continental United States .
It has more extinctions than Louisiana , Mississippi , Georgia , Florida and Tennessee put together .
We ’ re going to go from being the king of diversity to the king of extinctions .
And that ’ ll be a terrible thing not just for Alabama , but for what we know about nature .
Alabama has more than twice as many species per square mile as any other state .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we ’ re going to have no idea what we ’ ve lost .
What do you hope people do after reading your book ?
I would hope they come to Alabama to see some of these things , because that ’ s what will make the powers that be care — when ecotourism becomes an industry that can rival industrial manufacturing , then ecotourism will carry as much weight among the lawmakers .
I ’ ve been here about 20 years , much of that time as the environment reporter for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Those papers were the environment ’ s best friend .
But they ’ ve been basically destroyed .
The papers are just too anemic .
In Mobile , we had a newsroom with 90 people in it , and now they have three reporters .
The last thing you ’ re going to see is an in-depth environmental story anymore .
So the book is a love letter and it ’ s a call to arms , and it ’ s saying , “ love this place , but help.
” I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the story in Alabama about the natural world has been a story of taking and never giving back or appreciating what was here in the first place .
That ’ s what has to change .
Because if you just keep taking , you know how it will end .
There ’ ll be nothing left .

Alabama could “go from being the king of diversity to the king of extinctions,” says journalist Ben Raines.
When longtime environmental journalist Ben Raines started writing a book about the biodiversity in Alabama, the state had 354 fish species known to science. When he finished writing 10 years later, that number had jumped to 450 thanks to a bounty of new discoveries. Crawfish species leaped from 84 to 97 during the same time.
It’s indicative of a larger trend: Alabama is one of the most biodiverse states in the country, but few people know it. And even scientists are still discovering the rich diversity of life that exists there, particularly in the Mobile River basin.
All this newly discovered biodiversity is also gravely at risk from centuries of exploitation, which is what prompted Raines to write his new book, Saving America’s Amazon: The Threat to Our Nation’s Most Biodiverse River System.
The Revelator talked with Raines about why this region is so biodiverse, why it’s been overlooked, and what efforts are being made to protect it.
Tara Lohan: What makes Alabama, and particularly the Mobile River system, so biodiverse?
Ben Raines: The past kind of defines the present in Alabama.
During the ice ages, when much of the nation was frozen under these giant glaciers, Alabama wasn’t. The glaciers petered out by the time they hit Tennessee. It was much colder but things here didn’t die.
Everything that had evolved in Alabama over successive ice ages is still here. We have a salamander, the Red Hills salamander, that branched off from all other salamander trees 50 million years ago. So this is an ancient salamander, but it’s still here because it never died out.
The other thing you have here, in addition to not freezing, is that it’s really warm. Where I am in Mobile, we’re on the same latitude as Cairo. So the same sun that bakes the Sahara Desert is baking here.
But we also have the rainiest climate in the United States along Alabama’s coast. It actually rains about 70 inches a year here. By comparison, Seattle gets about 55 inches. It makes for a sort of greenhouse effect where we have this intense sun and then plenty of water. Alabama has more miles of rivers and streams than any other state.
Things just grow here.
The pitcher plant bogs of Alabama, for example, are literally among the most diverse places on the planet. In the 1960s a scientist went out and counted every species of flowering plant in an Alabama pitcher plant bog. He came up with 63. That was the highest total found on Earth in a square meter for a decade or more.
For a long time the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was thought to be the center of oak tree diversity in the world because they have about 15 species of oaks in the confines of the park. Well, two years ago scientists working in this area called the Red Hills along the Alabama River found 20 species of oak trees on a single hillside. It’s just staggering.
Why is Alabama’s rich biodiversity not well known or studied?
The state was never known for being a biodiverse place until the early 2000s, when NatureServe came out with this big survey of all the states. It surprised everyone because it showed Alabama leading in aquatic diversity in all the categories — more species of fish, turtles, salamanders, mussels, snails.
This blew everybody away because Alabama in everybody’s mind is the civil rights protests of the 1960s, the KKK, steel mills and cotton fields. But that’s not what’s in Alabama, that’s what we’ve done to Alabama since we’ve been here.
I think part of it also has to do with being a long way from Harvard and Yale and Stanford and the great research institutions that were sending biologists all over the world. Alabama just wasn’t really studied or explored.
Again and again, the story in Alabama is that nobody has ever looked.
That’s one of E.O. Wilson’s big messages about Alabama. He is our most famous living scientist, I would say, or certainly biologist. He grew up here, and now in his twilight years his big mission has become trying to save Alabama. And he describes it as less explored than Borneo and says we have no idea what miracle cures and things we may find in the Mobile River system, which is what I call “America’s Amazon.”
As you write about in your book, all this newly discovered biodiversity is at risk. What’s happening?
Alabama is in a very precarious situation. We have the worst environmental laws in the country and the state environmental agency has been the lowest funded of any state going back decades. So there’s very little enforcement. Maybe that’s because nobody realized how rich this place was in terms of diversity, so there was no move to protect it.
But Alabama’s early history, from the discovery of coal, which happened in the 1800s, has been one of exploitation. Massive amounts of forests were taken down in the 1800s for cotton fields. This state produced more cotton than any other back then, and that took a huge natural toll. And typically it’s people from other places, or even other countries, coming here to harvest the natural resources.
When I was born in Alabama in 1970, there were 15 steel mills in Birmingham going full blast. The air and water pollution from the steel mills and the coal mines were on a scale that’s almost unbelievable.
So even when we talk about the biodiversity we have now, we can’t even imagine what we’ve already lost. And this history of exploitation is still going on today. The largest factory built in the United States in the last 25 years was built in Alabama.
Alabama is inviting industry — and industry is coming because you can get a permit here in 30 to 60 days from the state environmental agency. That same permit in California would probably take 10 to 20 years to secure.
One example is the way Alabama does water permits: There’s no limit on how much water industries can take, no matter what environmental havoc may occur.
A couple of years ago we had droughts so bad we actually saw some of the state’s major rivers run dry. The Cahaba River is 150 miles long and it has 120 fish species — more than in the entire state of California.
And during this drought, the industries and golf courses were allowed to suck so much water out of the river it went dry. It only started flowing again downstream from a sewage plant. The entire flow of one of the most diverse rivers in America was the outfall from a sewage plant. It’s the kind of thing you can’t imagine happening in the United States, but it happened here and there were no laws to stop it.
Are there forces pushing back against this, and are people beginning to see the value of Alabama’s biodiversity?
Environmental groups here are having an amazing growth spurt. Twenty years ago our Baykeeper group, which is part of the Riverkeeper alliance, was a one-woman show.
Now it has about a dozen employees and a huge membership. There are many other environmental groups now that have appeared and are doing good work all over the state.
That’s a big change.
As ecotourism is spreading across the country, it’s starting to happen here, too. The state is quickly catching up. There was great outrage among the populace when I wrote a story about the rivers running dry and now there’s an effort at the state level to make a water plan and to actually limit how much water industry can take.
It sounds like there’s still a long way to go for Alabama to catch up with environmental regulations — what else would you like to see happen?
I write a lot in the book about wetlands because so much of our diversity is in these edges where water and land meet. I would like to see the edges protected, but of course the problem is that’s where people want to be. They want to live on the river, on the bay, on the beach. When you couple that with rising sea levels, there’s a collision that’s coming between people and the edges.
We have to protect that intertidal habitat now and then buy the uplands behind it to get ready for sea-level rise because otherwise our coastal habitats will have nowhere to go.
I would also really like to see Alabama adopt the pollution standards that you see in the surrounding states. For reasons that escape me, the levels of PCBs in fish we allow people to consume before we issue a warning is 10 times higher than any other state. There’s no scientific reason why we would be so far out of step with our neighboring states.
And then there’s the extinction issue. The rate of extinctions in Alabama is roughly double that seen anywhere else in the continental United States. It has more extinctions than Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee put together.
We’re going to go from being the king of diversity to the king of extinctions. And that’ll be a terrible thing not just for Alabama, but for what we know about nature. Alabama has more than twice as many species per square mile as any other state. And if we start losing that diversity, we’re going to have no idea what we’ve lost.
What do you hope people do after reading your book?
I would hope they come to Alabama to see some of these things, because that’s what will make the powers that be care — when ecotourism becomes an industry that can rival industrial manufacturing, then ecotourism will carry as much weight among the lawmakers.
I’ve been here about 20 years, much of that time as the environment reporter for the state’s three biggest newspapers. Those papers were the environment’s best friend. But they’ve been basically destroyed. The papers are just too anemic. In Mobile, we had a newsroom with 90 people in it, and now they have three reporters. The last thing you’re going to see is an in-depth environmental story anymore.
So the book is a love letter and it’s a call to arms, and it’s saying, “love this place, but help.”
I guess at the end of the day, the story in Alabama about the natural world has been a story of taking and never giving back or appreciating what was here in the first place. That’s what has to change. Because if you just keep taking, you know how it will end. There’ll be nothing left.
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--2020-12-26--Housing Justice Advocates Call on CDC to Extend Federal Eviction Moratorium

Warning that President Donald Trump ’ s refusal to sign the recently passed coronavirus relief bill could have devastating consequences for tens of millions of American families on the brink of homelessness , housing justice advocates are urging the CDC to act immediately — independently of the president and Congress , if necessary — to avert a humanitarian disaster by extending the federal eviction moratorium set to expire at year ’ s end amid a surging pandemic and plunging temperatures .
Although critics of the roughly $ 900 billion aid package say it would deliver an inadequate amount of assistance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commitment to austerity even in the midst of an economic calamity , it does include crucial , life-saving items , not least of which is an extension of the national eviction moratorium through January 31 as well as the provision of $ 25 billion in emergency rental assistance .
Prolonging the moratorium by only one month is insufficient and $ 25 billion is only a quarter of what the National Low-Income Housing Coalition ( NLIHC ) says is needed , but as a result of Trump ’ s last-minute disapproval of the relief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owe $ 70 billion in back-rent and are on the verge of a life-threatening eviction will receive no help from the federal government and will be stripped of tenant protections on New Year ’ s Eve .
Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) and Democrats — including Georgia Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock , whose victories on Jan. 5 would disempower Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) by ending GOP control of the chamber — have endorsed Trump ’ s call to increase the direct payments in the relief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while Republicans rejected it .
As Sanders pointed out , however , it would be a mistake to treat the existing Covid-19 aid package and bigger checks as an either-or proposition .
The democratic socialist lawmaker said that Trump must sign the relief bill to prevent unemployment insurance and housing protections from lapsing , while also insisting that Congress approve $ 2,000 direct payments .
If Trump follows through on his threat to veto the legislation , a government shutdown will ensue , and “ tens of millions of Americans will lose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and face eviction , ” Sanders tweeted , calling it “ a level of governmental cruelty not seen in our lifetimes.
” NLIHC president Diane Yentel told USA Today on Thursday that “ we ’ re facing potentially the worst housing and homelessness crisis in our country ’ s history.
” “ The least the federal government can do during a once-in-a-century pandemic , ” she added , “ is assure each of us that we ’ re not going to lose our homes in the middle of it.
” In a letter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Robert Redfield on Dec. 16 , the NLIHC and more than 1,500 housing organizations that co-signed requested funding for emergency rental assistance and an extension of the federal eviction moratorium issued in early September by the public health agency .
Until Trump ’ s Tuesday night curveball , it looked as if the groups had secured a partial victory , with the congressional aid package representing an important start .
With the relief bill now in limbo , the moratorium ’ s original expiration date of December 31 is rapidly approaching , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of millions of people being displaced in the midst of freezing temperatures and while the Covid-19 pandemic is at its peak .
Although the CDC ’ s intervention was imperfect — containing loopholes that some landlords took advantage of to evict tenants during the pandemic — it did prevent millions of additional renters from being kicked out of their homes .
Housing justice advocates this week , acting with a renewed sense of urgency , are reiterating their demand to Redfield for the CDC “ to take immediate action to prevent a catastrophic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , improving , and enforcing the federal eviction moratorium.
” Former HUD secretary Julián Castro tweeted that the tens of millions of people at risk of being tossed from their homes in one week “ can ’ t wait for Trump and McConnell to get on the same page , ” adding that the CDC “ must extend the moratorium immediately.
” In addition to pressuring Congress and the CDC , the NLIHC is also demanding that governors and mayors protect their residents .
Yentel called reluctance to do so “ baffling.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said , state and city officials “ will have to respond to the homelessness crisis.
” The Partnership for the Homeless , one of the signatories to the letter , noted that “ the holidays can ’ t be jolly if your family is not safely housed .
”

Warning that President Donald Trump’s refusal to sign the recently passed coronavirus relief bill could have devastating consequences for tens of millions of American families on the brink of homelessness, housing justice advocates are urging the CDC to act immediately — independently of the president and Congress, if necessary — to avert a humanitarian disaster by extending the federal eviction moratorium set to expire at year’s end amid a surging pandemic and plunging temperatures.
Although critics of the roughly $900 billion aid package say it would deliver an inadequate amount of assistance to U.S. households and reflects a bipartisan commitment to austerity even in the midst of an economic calamity, it does include crucial, life-saving items, not least of which is an extension of the national eviction moratorium through January 31 as well as the provision of $25 billion in emergency rental assistance.
Prolonging the moratorium by only one month is insufficient and $25 billion is only a quarter of what the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) says is needed, but as a result of Trump’s last-minute disapproval of the relief bill, millions of renters who collectively owe $70 billion in back-rent and are on the verge of a life-threatening eviction will receive no help from the federal government and will be stripped of tenant protections on New Year’s Eve.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democrats — including Georgia Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, whose victories on Jan. 5 would disempower Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) by ending GOP control of the chamber — have endorsed Trump’s call to increase the direct payments in the relief bill from $600 to $2,000, while Republicans rejected it.
As Sanders pointed out, however, it would be a mistake to treat the existing Covid-19 aid package and bigger checks as an either-or proposition. The democratic socialist lawmaker said that Trump must sign the relief bill to prevent unemployment insurance and housing protections from lapsing, while also insisting that Congress approve $2,000 direct payments.
If Trump follows through on his threat to veto the legislation, a government shutdown will ensue, and “tens of millions of Americans will lose their unemployment benefits, go hungry, and face eviction,” Sanders tweeted, calling it “a level of governmental cruelty not seen in our lifetimes.”
NLIHC president Diane Yentel told USA Today on Thursday that “we’re facing potentially the worst housing and homelessness crisis in our country’s history.”
“The least the federal government can do during a once-in-a-century pandemic,” she added, “is assure each of us that we’re not going to lose our homes in the middle of it.”
In a letter (pdf) sent to CDC director Robert Redfield on Dec. 16, the NLIHC and more than 1,500 housing organizations that co-signed requested funding for emergency rental assistance and an extension of the federal eviction moratorium issued in early September by the public health agency. Until Trump’s Tuesday night curveball, it looked as if the groups had secured a partial victory, with the congressional aid package representing an important start.
With the relief bill now in limbo, the moratorium’s original expiration date of December 31 is rapidly approaching, as are the deadly consequences associated with tens of millions of people being displaced in the midst of freezing temperatures and while the Covid-19 pandemic is at its peak.
Allowing tens of millions of people to be evicted in the dead of winter in the middle of a resurgence of #COVID19 cases & deaths is unconscionable, & would have lasting harmful impacts to children, families, communities & our country’s ability to contain the virus. @dianeyentel https://t.co/U2ff2ZYctd — National Low Income Housing Coalition (@NLIHC) December 24, 2020
Although the CDC’s intervention was imperfect — containing loopholes that some landlords took advantage of to evict tenants during the pandemic — it did prevent millions of additional renters from being kicked out of their homes.
Housing justice advocates this week, acting with a renewed sense of urgency, are reiterating their demand to Redfield for the CDC “to take immediate action to prevent a catastrophic wave of evictions this winter by extending, improving, and enforcing the federal eviction moratorium.”
Former HUD secretary Julián Castro tweeted that the tens of millions of people at risk of being tossed from their homes in one week “can’t wait for Trump and McConnell to get on the same page,” adding that the CDC “must extend the moratorium immediately.”
In one week, the moratorium on evictions lapses and tens of millions could be tossed out of their homes. They can’t wait for Trump and McConnell to get on the same page—the @CDCgov must extend the moratorium immediately. https://t.co/Lz587x2EYI — Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) December 24, 2020
In addition to pressuring Congress and the CDC, the NLIHC is also demanding that governors and mayors protect their residents. Yentel called reluctance to do so “baffling.” If millions of people are evicted, she said, state and city officials “will have to respond to the homelessness crisis.”
The Partnership for the Homeless, one of the signatories to the letter, noted that “the holidays can’t be jolly if your family is not safely housed.”
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--2020-12-26--US’s Mass COVID Vaccination Effort Has Had a Rough Start

One tray of COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital in Arkansas .
But with the logistical gymnastics required to safely get the Pfizer vaccine to rural health care workers , splitting the trays into smaller shipments has its own dangers .
Once out of the freezer that keeps it at 94 degrees below zero , the vaccine lasts only five days and must be refrigerated in transit .
In Arkansas — where over 40 % of its counties are rural and COVID infections are climbing — solving this distribution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jennifer Dillaha , the state ’ s epidemiologist .
“ If their providers come down with COVID-19 , ” Dillaha said , “ there ’ s no one there to take care of the patients.
” Such quandaries resonate with officials in Georgia , Kentucky , Utah , Indiana , Wisconsin and Colorado .
The first push of the nation ’ s mass COVID vaccination effort has been chaotic , marked by a lack of guidance and miscommunication from the federal level .
With Washington punting most vaccination decisions , each state and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ send vaccines first and which of two vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use makes the most sense for each nursing home , hospital , local health department and even school .
And after warning for months that they lacked the resources to distribute vaccines , state officials are only now set to receive a major bump in funding — $ 8.75 billion in Congress ’ latest relief bill , which lawmakers passed late Monday .
The feat facing public health officials has “ absolutely no comparison ” in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers .
Officials who thought the H1N1 swine flu shot in 2009 was a logistical nightmare say it now looks simple in comparison .
“ It was a flu vaccine .
It was one dose .
It came at refrigerator-stable temperatures , ” Hannan said .
“ It was nothing like this.
” Within just a few days , the logistical barriers of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech were laid bare .
Many officials now hang their hopes on Moderna , whose vaccine comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t require deep freezing and is good for 30 days from the time it ’ s shipped .
The federal government had divvied up nearly 8 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna ’ s vaccines to distribute this week , on top of roughly 3 million Pfizer shots that were sent last week , said Army Gen. Gustave Perna , chief operating officer of the Trump administration ’ s Operation Warp Speed effort .
Perna said he took “ personal responsibility ” for overstating how many Pfizer doses states would receive .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dillaha said : “ Sometimes we don ’ t have information from CDC or Operation Warp Speed until right before a decision needs to be made.
” Officials in other states painted a mixed picture of the rollout .
Georgia ’ s Coastal Health District , which oversees public health for eight counties and has offices in Savannah and Brunswick , spent more than $ 27,000 on two ultra-cold freezers for the Pfizer vaccine , which it ’ s treating “ like gold , ” said Dr. Lawton Davis , its health director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to travel , some up to 40 minutes , to get their vaccinations , because shipping them would risk wasting doses , he said .
Vaccination uptake has been lower than Davis would like to see .
“ It ’ s sort of a jigsaw puzzle and balancing act , ” he said .
“ We ’ re kind of learning as we go.
” In Utah , sites to vaccinate teachers and first responders starting in January had no capability to store the Pfizer vaccine , although officials are trying to secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of health spokesperson said .
Very few of Kentucky ’ s local health offices could store the Pfizer shots , because of refrigeration requirements and the size of shipments , said Sara Jo Best , public health director of the Lincoln Trail District .
Indiana ’ s state health department had to identify alternative cold storage options for 17 hospitals following changes in guidance for the vaccine thermal shippers .
And in New Hampshire , where the National Guard will help administer vaccines , officials last week were still finalizing details for 13 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care workers are due to get vaccinated later this month .
Jake Leon , a state Health and Human Services spokesperson , said that while the sites will be able to administer both companies ’ vaccines , most likely they ’ ll get Moderna ’ s because of its easier transport .
Even as the earliest vaccines are injected , much remains up in the air .
“ It ’ s day to day and even then hour by hour or minute by minute — what we know and how we plan for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We ’ re building the plane while flying it.
” In all , the Trump administration has bought 900 million COVID vaccine doses from six companies , but most of the vaccines are still in clinical studies .
Even the front-runners whose shots have received FDA emergency authorization — Pfizer and BioNTech on Dec. 11 , Moderna on Dec. 18 — will require months to manufacture at that scale .
The Trump administration plans to distribute 20 million vaccine doses to states by early January , Perna said Saturday .
By spring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deployment beyond top-priority populations of health care workers , nursing home residents and staff , as well as first responders .
During the effort to vaccinate Americans against H1N1 , Dillaha said , health departments set up mass vaccination clinics in their counties and delivered doses to schools .
But hospitals are taking charge of parts of the initial COVID immunization campaign , both because health care workers are at highest risk of illness or death from COVID-19 , and to pick up the slack from health departments overwhelmed by case investigations and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new infections .
Best said her workforce is struggling to keep up with COVID infections alone , much less flu season and upcoming COVID vaccinations .
Public health department personnel in Kentucky shrank by 49 % from 2009 to 2019 , according to state data she supplied .
Across the country , 38,000 state and local health positions have disappeared since the 2008 recession .
Per capita spending for local health departments has dropped by 18 % since 2010 .
Nationally , Pfizer and Moderna have signed contracts with the federal government to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the end of March ; Moderna is set to deliver a second tranche of 100 million doses by June .
States were playing it safe last week , directing Pfizer vials mainly to facilities with ultra-cold freezers , Hannan said .
“ A lot of that vaccine is destined for institutional facilities , ” Sean Dickson , director of health policy for West Health Policy Center , said of the Pfizer shots .
The center , with the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy , found that 35 % of counties have two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administer COVID vaccines .
The analysis found tremendous variation in how far people would need to drive for the vaccine .
Residents of North Dakota , South Dakota , Montana , Wyoming , Nebraska and Kansas face the longest drives , with more than 10 % living more than 10 miles from the closest facility that could administer a shot .
Counties with long driving distances between sites and a low number of sites overall “ are going to be the hardest ones to reach , ” said Inmaculada Hernandez , an assistant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Pharmacy and lead author of the analysis .
Certain vaccines could be better suited for such places , including Johnson & Johnson ’ s potential offering , which is a single shot , and health departments could distribute in rural areas through mobile units , she said .
The company is expected to apply for FDA emergency authorization in February , Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser Moncef Slaoui said this month .
Until then , Pfizer and Moderna are the companies supplying doses for the country , and they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 90 % effective at reducing disease .
In Wisconsin , the Moderna vaccine “ gives us many more options ” and “ allows for us to get doses to those smaller clinics , more-rural clinics , in a way that reduces the number of logistics ” needed for ultra-cold storage , Dr. Stephanie Schauer , the state ’ s immunization program manager , told reporters Wednesday .
Alan Morgan , head of the National Rural Health Association , echoed that the Moderna vaccine is being looked to as a “ rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kansas have shown that a Pfizer rural rollout can be done .
“ It ’ s where these states put a priority — either they prioritize rural or they don ’ t , ” he said .
“ It ’ s a cautionary tale of what we may see this spring , of rural populations perhaps being second-tier when it comes to vaccination.
” Virginia , too , has a plan for getting the Pfizer vaccine to far-flung places .
It ’ s shipping the vaccines to 18 health facilities with ultra-cold freezers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distributed widely enough so vaccinators can bring shots from there to health workers even in thinly populated areas before they spoil , said Brookie Crawford , spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health ’ s central region .
Washington , on the other hand , allows hospitals without ultra-cold freezers to temporarily store Pfizer vaccines in the thermal boxes they arrive in , said Franji Mayes , spokesperson for the state ’ s health department .
That means a box needs to be used quickly , before doses expire .
“ We are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allow hospitals who don ’ t expect to vaccinate 975 people to transfer extra vaccine to other enrolled facilities , ” she said .
“ This will reduce wasted vaccine.
” Kaiser Health News ( KHN ) is a national health policy news service .
It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente .

The initial push to distribute the vaccine has been marked by logistical challenges and a lack of federal guidance.
One tray of COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital in Arkansas.
But with the logistical gymnastics required to safely get the Pfizer vaccine to rural health care workers, splitting the trays into smaller shipments has its own dangers. Once out of the freezer that keeps it at 94 degrees below zero, the vaccine lasts only five days and must be refrigerated in transit.
In Arkansas — where over 40% of its counties are rural and COVID infections are climbing — solving this distribution puzzle is urgently critical, said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state’s epidemiologist.
“If their providers come down with COVID-19,” Dillaha said, “there’s no one there to take care of the patients.”
Such quandaries resonate with officials in Georgia, Kentucky, Utah, Indiana, Wisconsin and Colorado. The first push of the nation’s mass COVID vaccination effort has been chaotic, marked by a lack of guidance and miscommunication from the federal level.
With Washington punting most vaccination decisions, each state and county is left to weigh where to send vaccines first and which of two vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use makes the most sense for each nursing home, hospital, local health department and even school. And after warning for months that they lacked the resources to distribute vaccines, state officials are only now set to receive a major bump in funding — $8.75 billion in Congress’ latest relief bill, which lawmakers passed late Monday.
The feat facing public health officials has “absolutely no comparison” in recent history, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.
Officials who thought the H1N1 swine flu shot in 2009 was a logistical nightmare say it now looks simple in comparison. “It was a flu vaccine. It was one dose. It came at refrigerator-stable temperatures,” Hannan said. “It was nothing like this.”
Within just a few days, the logistical barriers of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech were laid bare. Many officials now hang their hopes on Moderna, whose vaccine comes in containers of 100 doses, doesn’t require deep freezing and is good for 30 days from the time it’s shipped.
The federal government had divvied up nearly 8 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines to distribute this week, on top of roughly 3 million Pfizer shots that were sent last week, said Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed effort.
Perna said he took “personal responsibility” for overstating how many Pfizer doses states would receive.
Federal delays have led to confusion, Dillaha said: “Sometimes we don’t have information from CDC or Operation Warp Speed until right before a decision needs to be made.”
Officials in other states painted a mixed picture of the rollout.
Georgia’s Coastal Health District, which oversees public health for eight counties and has offices in Savannah and Brunswick, spent more than $27,000 on two ultra-cold freezers for the Pfizer vaccine, which it’s treating “like gold,” said Dr. Lawton Davis, its health director. Health care workers are being asked to travel, some up to 40 minutes, to get their vaccinations, because shipping them would risk wasting doses, he said. Vaccination uptake has been lower than Davis would like to see. “It’s sort of a jigsaw puzzle and balancing act,” he said. “We’re kind of learning as we go.”
In Utah, sites to vaccinate teachers and first responders starting in January had no capability to store the Pfizer vaccine, although officials are trying to secure some ultra-cold storage, a state department of health spokesperson said. Very few of Kentucky’s local health offices could store the Pfizer shots, because of refrigeration requirements and the size of shipments, said Sara Jo Best, public health director of the Lincoln Trail District. Indiana’s state health department had to identify alternative cold storage options for 17 hospitals following changes in guidance for the vaccine thermal shippers.
And in New Hampshire, where the National Guard will help administer vaccines, officials last week were still finalizing details for 13 community-based sites where first responders and health care workers are due to get vaccinated later this month. Jake Leon, a state Health and Human Services spokesperson, said that while the sites will be able to administer both companies’ vaccines, most likely they’ll get Moderna’s because of its easier transport. Even as the earliest vaccines are injected, much remains up in the air.
“It’s day to day and even then hour by hour or minute by minute — what we know and how we plan for it,” Leon said Friday. “We’re building the plane while flying it.”
In all, the Trump administration has bought 900 million COVID vaccine doses from six companies, but most of the vaccines are still in clinical studies. Even the front-runners whose shots have received FDA emergency authorization — Pfizer and BioNTech on Dec. 11, Moderna on Dec. 18 — will require months to manufacture at that scale. The Trump administration plans to distribute 20 million vaccine doses to states by early January, Perna said Saturday.
By spring, officials hope to stage broader vaccine deployment beyond top-priority populations of health care workers, nursing home residents and staff, as well as first responders.
During the effort to vaccinate Americans against H1N1, Dillaha said, health departments set up mass vaccination clinics in their counties and delivered doses to schools. But hospitals are taking charge of parts of the initial COVID immunization campaign, both because health care workers are at highest risk of illness or death from COVID-19, and to pick up the slack from health departments overwhelmed by case investigations and contact tracing from an unending stream of new infections.
Best said her workforce is struggling to keep up with COVID infections alone, much less flu season and upcoming COVID vaccinations. Public health department personnel in Kentucky shrank by 49% from 2009 to 2019, according to state data she supplied. Across the country, 38,000 state and local health positions have disappeared since the 2008 recession. Per capita spending for local health departments has dropped by 18% since 2010.
Nationally, Pfizer and Moderna have signed contracts with the federal government to each provide 100 million vaccine doses by the end of March; Moderna is set to deliver a second tranche of 100 million doses by June. States were playing it safe last week, directing Pfizer vials mainly to facilities with ultra-cold freezers, Hannan said.
“A lot of that vaccine is destined for institutional facilities,” Sean Dickson, director of health policy for West Health Policy Center, said of the Pfizer shots. The center, with the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, found that 35% of counties have two or fewer facilities per 10,000 people to administer COVID vaccines.
The analysis found tremendous variation in how far people would need to drive for the vaccine. Residents of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas face the longest drives, with more than 10% living more than 10 miles from the closest facility that could administer a shot.
Counties with long driving distances between sites and a low number of sites overall “are going to be the hardest ones to reach,” said Inmaculada Hernandez, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and lead author of the analysis.
Certain vaccines could be better suited for such places, including Johnson & Johnson’s potential offering, which is a single shot, and health departments could distribute in rural areas through mobile units, she said. The company is expected to apply for FDA emergency authorization in February, Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser Moncef Slaoui said this month.
Until then, Pfizer and Moderna are the companies supplying doses for the country, and they’re not considered equal even though each is more than 90% effective at reducing disease.
In Wisconsin, the Moderna vaccine “gives us many more options” and “allows for us to get doses to those smaller clinics, more-rural clinics, in a way that reduces the number of logistics” needed for ultra-cold storage, Dr. Stephanie Schauer, the state’s immunization program manager, told reporters Wednesday.
Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association, echoed that the Moderna vaccine is being looked to as a “rural solution.” But he said states including Kansas have shown that a Pfizer rural rollout can be done.
“It’s where these states put a priority — either they prioritize rural or they don’t,” he said. “It’s a cautionary tale of what we may see this spring, of rural populations perhaps being second-tier when it comes to vaccination.”
Virginia, too, has a plan for getting the Pfizer vaccine to far-flung places. It’s shipping the vaccines to 18 health facilities with ultra-cold freezers across the state. The hubs are distributed widely enough so vaccinators can bring shots from there to health workers even in thinly populated areas before they spoil, said Brookie Crawford, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health’s central region.
Washington, on the other hand, allows hospitals without ultra-cold freezers to temporarily store Pfizer vaccines in the thermal boxes they arrive in, said Franji Mayes, spokesperson for the state’s health department. That means a box needs to be used quickly, before doses expire. “We are also working on a policy that will allow hospitals who don’t expect to vaccinate 975 people to transfer extra vaccine to other enrolled facilities,” she said. “This will reduce wasted vaccine.”
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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--2020-12-26--Politicians Failed Us in 2020. Our Movements Built Lasting Power.

Even as 2020 took turns for the worst , the seeds of justice and liberation extended their roots .
For decades to come , 2020 will be remembered for the failures of politicians and capitalism .
In a selfish bid to “ save the economy ” and rally his base ahead of the election , President Trump and his allies spread disinformation about COVID-19 and threw common-sense public health measures into the meatgrinder of partisan politics .
Predictably , the United States became one of the world ’ s worst hot spots for COVID-19 , exposing every crack and fault @ @ @ @ @ @ @ writing , the death toll is nearing 300,000 .
To say that the Trump administration failed to flatten the curve is a gross understatement .
Meanwhile , Congress has failed to provide pandemic relief for months , even as millions of children go hungry and families struggle to afford even basic expenses .
Just this week , lawmakers compromised on legislation containing massive handouts for the rich and stimulus payments that won ’ t even cover one month ’ s rent for most people .
But even that meager , last-ditch effort is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theatrics .
In a last-minute flip-flop , Trump suggested he would not sign legislation without larger stimulus checks and other changes opposed by his own party , putting the relief bill in peril ahead of crucial deadlines .
The failures , however , stretch back much farther than the tumultuous Trump era .
Systemic racism has been entrenched in the U.S. for centuries , leaving communities of color particularly vulnerable to the pain of the pandemic and a shattered economy .
For decades , politicians have failed to address the racism endemic in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal system built on mass incarceration .
The Truthout series “ Despair and Disparity : The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19 ” examines the oppressive systems behind the pandemic ’ s disparate impacts .
Popular anger finally exploded in 2020 in the form of widespread and sustained protests for racial justice , forcing white Americans to reckon with their privilege and the face of stark inequality .
Indeed , 2020 must be remembered for Black Lives Matter : for the neighbors who put on their masks and showed up for one another , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mutual aid that blossomed even in an era of social distancing .
We will soon put 2020 behind us , but the power built by our movements this year will continue to grow .
There was far too much organizing in 2020 to fit into one article , but here ’ s a snapshot of activism that defined a year when everything changed .
On May 25 , Minneapolis police officers arrested and murdered George Floyd .
As author and academic Terry Anne Scott wrote in August , the word “ murder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a killing that occurred on a busy street corner .
Like the murders of Ahmaud Arbery , who was shot and killed by vigilantes in February while jogging in Georgia , and Elijah McClain , who was put in a chokehold and killed by police in Colorado last year , Scott wrote that the murder of George Floyd felt like a lynching to many Black people .
Floyd ’ s death at the hands of police sparked a sustained uprising in Minneapolis .
Across the city , murals and graffiti broadcast words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Black Lives Matter .
Abolish the Police .
Protests quickly spread from Minneapolis to the rest of the nation and echoed across the world .
In Louisville , Kentucky , activists were already demanding justice for Breonna Taylor , a Black woman killed by police during a botched drug raid .
Millions of people marched through the summer demanding that police be defunded and abolished altogether , chanting the names of the dead .
And there were many : Police killed at least 164 Black people in the first eight months of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lives became a target for Trump and the right , but activists pushed back to defend their communities from white supremacists and Trump ’ s threats of paramilitary invasion .
As protesters took to the streets , the long-running movement to abolish policing and the caging of human beings in jails and prisons gained national attention .
Activists made clear that “ abolish the police ” is not a metaphor or a call for reform .
As Garrett Felber wrote in July , police reform has never prevented murders by police .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often an extension of carceral violence .
Abolition is about building a safer , healthier world through healing and the reallocation of resources ; it ’ s a step toward ending white supremacy and capitalism .
Truthout launched a series in 2020 , “ The Road to Abolition , ” to connect the dots , explore how economic justice can reduce violence , and amplify the Black feminists and other visionaries working to build this world every day .
While the mainstream media focused much of its attention on property destruction and clashes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , activists everywhere harnessed the collective power of the protest movement to better their communities .
Mutual aid flourished during the uprising in Minneapolis , for example , where Truthout reported on street corners and empty shops that transformed into free markets , and a hotel taken over by houseless activists and their allies .
Rooted in anarchist thinking and a longtime practice among leftists of all stripes , mutual aid became a household term in 2020 as the capitalist system proved incapable of responding to the COVID-19 crisis .
Across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deliver food and supplies to people who could not leave their homes during the pandemic .
As historic wildfires threatened communities across the U.S. West , Black Lives Matter activists in Portland shifted gears , temporarily halting protests to focus on mutual aid .
As the pandemic hit new peaks this month , Brant Rosen explored mutual aid within the Hannukah tradition , urging readers to resist COVID by caring for each other .
As Noam Chomsky pointed out in an interview with Chris Steele , there is a long history of mutual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world — and it is key to our survival .
The pandemic further exposed the painful and dangerous conditions inside jails and prisons , where the number of cases recently surpassed 250,000 in prisons and immigration jails alone .
Across the country in 2020 , activists both inside and outside prisons demanded that officials release as many people as possible — if not everyone — under the banner of # FreeThemAll .
In November , Ella Fassler reported that prisoners staged over 100 protests and rebellions nationwide as the virus spread quickly behind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professionals and incarcerated people had warned .
To reveal the crisis within houses of incarceration , Truthout published accounts directly from incarcerated people and their family members .
Social distancing is impossible in jails and prisons , and authorities have increasingly responded to the pandemic by putting people in solitary confinement , which is considered a form of torture .
However , the movement to free incarcerated people was buoyed by Black Lives Matter in 2020 and people are working to decarcerate jails and prisons nationwide .
Right now , mothers in Illinois @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prison and protect them from COVID .
In Alabama , prisoners are preparing for a New Year ’ s strike on all prison labor , which “ amounts to slavery , ” according to the organizers .
Lawsuits and the sheer reality of the pandemic have already forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) and other jailers to release people at risk from COVID .
There was already a housing crisis before COVID — and then the pandemic put millions of people out of work .
With Congress failing to provide the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizers are taking matters into their own hands .
Since the early days of the pandemic , housing justice activists and local tenant unions have effectively resisted evictions and fought to cancel rent payments to landlords .
While there is a long history of rent strikes in the U.S. , they have become a “ widespread response to brutal economic pressure , ” as David Bacon recently reported .
Rent strikes involving thousands of people broke out in cities across the country in 2020 , revealing the sheer power that renters have in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizing .

Even as 2020 took turns for the worst, the seeds of justice and liberation extended their roots.
For decades to come, 2020 will be remembered for the failures of politicians and capitalism. In a selfish bid to “save the economy” and rally his base ahead of the election, President Trump and his allies spread disinformation about COVID-19 and threw common-sense public health measures into the meatgrinder of partisan politics. Predictably, the United States became one of the world’s worst hot spots for COVID-19, exposing every crack and fault line in society. As of this writing, the death toll is nearing 300,000. To say that the Trump administration failed to flatten the curve is a gross understatement.
Meanwhile, Congress has failed to provide pandemic relief for months, even as millions of children go hungry and families struggle to afford even basic expenses. Just this week, lawmakers compromised on legislation containing massive handouts for the rich and stimulus payments that won’t even cover one month’s rent for most people. But even that meager, last-ditch effort was threatened by Trump’s latest theatrics. In a last-minute flip-flop, Trump suggested he would not sign legislation without larger stimulus checks and other changes opposed by his own party, putting the relief bill in peril ahead of crucial deadlines. Trump finally caved Sunday evening.
The failures, however, stretch back much farther than the tumultuous Trump era. Systemic racism has been entrenched in the U.S. for centuries, leaving communities of color particularly vulnerable to the pain of the pandemic and a shattered economy. For decades, politicians have failed to address the racism endemic in health care, policing and a criminal legal system built on mass incarceration. The Truthout series “Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19” examines the oppressive systems behind the pandemic’s disparate impacts.
Popular anger finally exploded in 2020 in the form of widespread and sustained protests for racial justice, forcing white Americans to reckon with their privilege and the face of stark inequality.
Indeed, 2020 must be remembered for Black Lives Matter: for the neighbors who put on their masks and showed up for one another, for the revolts against state violence, and the mutual aid that blossomed even in an era of social distancing. We will soon put 2020 behind us, but the power built by our movements this year will continue to grow. There was far too much organizing in 2020 to fit into one article, but here’s a snapshot of activism that defined a year when everything changed.
Abolish the Police
On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested and murdered George Floyd. As author and academic Terry Anne Scott wrote in August, the word “murder” fails to convey the extraordinary cruelty of a killing that occurred on a busy street corner. Like the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed by vigilantes in February while jogging in Georgia, and Elijah McClain, who was put in a chokehold and killed by police in Colorado last year, Scott wrote that the murder of George Floyd felt like a lynching to many Black people.
Floyd’s death at the hands of police sparked a sustained uprising in Minneapolis. Across the city, murals and graffiti broadcast words that would change the national conversation forever: Black Lives Matter. Abolish the Police.
Protests quickly spread from Minneapolis to the rest of the nation and echoed across the world. In Louisville, Kentucky, activists were already demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police during a botched drug raid. Millions of people marched through the summer demanding that police be defunded and abolished altogether, chanting the names of the dead. And there were many: Police killed at least 164 Black people in the first eight months of 2020. The broad movement for Black Lives became a target for Trump and the right, but activists pushed back to defend their communities from white supremacists and Trump’s threats of paramilitary invasion.
As protesters took to the streets, the long-running movement to abolish policing and the caging of human beings in jails and prisons gained national attention. Activists made clear that “abolish the police” is not a metaphor or a call for reform. As Garrett Felber wrote in July, police reform has never prevented murders by police. In fact, popular criminal legal reforms are often an extension of carceral violence. Abolition is about building a safer, healthier world through healing and the reallocation of resources; it’s a step toward ending white supremacy and capitalism. Truthout launched a series in 2020, “The Road to Abolition,” to connect the dots, explore how economic justice can reduce violence, and amplify the Black feminists and other visionaries working to build this world every day.
Mutual Aid
While the mainstream media focused much of its attention on property destruction and clashes with police during the revolts of 2020, activists everywhere harnessed the collective power of the protest movement to better their communities. Mutual aid flourished during the uprising in Minneapolis, for example, where Truthout reported on street corners and empty shops that transformed into free markets, and a hotel taken over by houseless activists and their allies.
Rooted in anarchist thinking and a longtime practice among leftists of all stripes, mutual aid became a household term in 2020 as the capitalist system proved incapable of responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Across the country, people organized mutual aid groups to deliver food and supplies to people who could not leave their homes during the pandemic. As historic wildfires threatened communities across the U.S. West, Black Lives Matter activists in Portland shifted gears, temporarily halting protests to focus on mutual aid. As the pandemic hit new peaks this month, Brant Rosen explored mutual aid within the Hannukah tradition, urging readers to resist COVID by caring for each other. As Noam Chomsky pointed out in an interview with Chris Steele, there is a long history of mutual aid in the U.S. and across the world — and it is key to our survival.
Pandemic Solidarity With Incarcerated People
The pandemic further exposed the painful and dangerous conditions inside jails and prisons, where the number of cases recently surpassed 250,000 in prisons and immigration jails alone. Across the country in 2020, activists both inside and outside prisons demanded that officials release as many people as possible — if not everyone — under the banner of #FreeThemAll. In November, Ella Fassler reported that prisoners staged over 100 protests and rebellions nationwide as the virus spread quickly behind bars, just as doctors, health professionals and incarcerated people had warned. To reveal the crisis within houses of incarceration, Truthout published accounts directly from incarcerated people and their family members.
Social distancing is impossible in jails and prisons, and authorities have increasingly responded to the pandemic by putting people in solitary confinement, which is considered a form of torture. However, the movement to free incarcerated people was buoyed by Black Lives Matter in 2020 and people are working to decarcerate jails and prisons nationwide. Right now, mothers in Illinois are organizing to free their children from prison and protect them from COVID. In Alabama, prisoners are preparing for a New Year’s strike on all prison labor, which “amounts to slavery,” according to the organizers. Lawsuits and the sheer reality of the pandemic have already forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other jailers to release people at risk from COVID.
Cancel Rent
There was already a housing crisis before COVID — and then the pandemic put millions of people out of work. With Congress failing to provide the economic aid that people need, grassroots organizers are taking matters into their own hands. Since the early days of the pandemic, housing justice activists and local tenant unions have effectively resisted evictions and fought to cancel rent payments to landlords. While there is a long history of rent strikes in the U.S., they have become a “widespread response to brutal economic pressure,” as David Bacon recently reported. Rent strikes involving thousands of people broke out in cities across the country in 2020, revealing the sheer power that renters have in numbers and laying the groundwork for future organizing.
This story has been updated.
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.