washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Montana's mountain grouse offer long seasons in high country

HELENA , Mont .
( AP ) - Few things may be more heart-pounding for a hiker or hunter than a mountain grouse ’ s unexpected flush along a quiet trail .
Whether it ’ s a chance encounter while archery hunting for elk , or toting a shotgun in the company of a bird dog for long jaunts along the Continental Divide , hunting Montana ’ s trio of mountain grouse species often falls somewhere between opportunistic and intentional .
However hunters find them , visiting the birds ’ mountainous haunts and hearing the echo of beating wings is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ table fare .
Montana has multiple native grouse species .
The prairie and breaks country are prime areas for sharp-tailed and sage grouse .
The central and western mountains are home to blue grouse , also known as dusky grouse , ruffed grouse , and spruce grouse , sometimes called Franklin ’ s grouse .
White-tailed ptarmigan , which can not be hunted , also occupy some alpine areas of northwestern Montana .
The huntable mountain varieties have among the longest seasons of all upland birds in the state , stretching from Sept. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed three per day in any combination and 12 in possession .
“ They live in similar areas but each exploits slightly different aspects of the habitat as far as forest canopy and have some differences in their diets , ” Brian Wakeling , Game Management Bureau chief for Montana Fish , Wildlife & Parks , told the Independent Record .
Blue or dusky grouse , the largest of the mountain species , are slate in color mixed with brown and white-tipped feathers .
Males have yellow combs over their eyes , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chicken-sized birds thrive in the high country .
Blues typically seek out ridgelines and grassy meadows of bunchgrass for hunting grasshoppers and other insects , but also feed on a mix of plants and berries depending on the time of year .
Blues can be the wariest of the mountain species , tending to flush more quickly but still apt to alight in a close tree , believing the height provides safety from predators .
Ruffed grouse are smaller than blues with brownish bodies and black bands of feathers on their tails .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wide variety of habitats , the birds are more likely to be found in lower elevation creek bottoms and riparian areas , and according to the field guide , spend their lives in a small home range .
There , they eat a combination of insects and plants .
Bumping a flock of ruffed grouse from a thicket can be like opening a floodgate , with birds flushing in multiple directions - some landing in trees and others flying out of sight - or some simply walking briskly away on the ground .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ mountain varieties , with dark gray to nearly black coloration and sprinkles of white plumage .
Males have dark red eye combs making them easily identifiable from the other species .
Spruce grouse , as their name implies , seek out dense conifer forests where they eat needles and other vegetation and insects .
Their lack of wariness has earned the birds the dubious nickname “ fool hen , ” as they often stand or walk only a short distance when spooked and fly up into a nearby tree to observe .
Montana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lightly hunted and common in many areas , including the state ’ s remotest stretches , so much of the information game managers receive about their population health comes from hunters .
“ They ’ re difficult to get a survey , ” Wakeling said .
“ It ’ s cost prohibitive and difficult , so for many species harvest data is an indication on how those populations are doing.
” In some circumstances , FWP has asked hunters to provide a wing from upland birds to study populations and trends .
During @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Butte-area biologist Vanna Boccadori said the wings provide a variety of data including sex and ratio of juvenile to adult birds .
“ That gives us an indication of how the population as a whole is doing , ” Boccadori said at the time , adding that biologists want to monitor trends over time rather than year to year .
Because of where they live , mountain grouse tend to see fewer disease outbreaks than birds such as waterfowl that migrate and are exposed to a variety of areas and conditions , Wakeling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations by far is the weather .
“ Sometimes I feel like a farmer talking about these things because it ’ s always either it didn ’ t rain , it rained too much , invertebrates didn ’ t take off , but it is a range of conditions and they affect grouse species differently , ” he said .
Grouse are dependent on good green-up in the spring to help with nutrition after winter and going into nesting season when male forest grouse put on legendary drumming displays .
Then , birds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a full clutch is laid .
If a spring cold snap comes , that could cause them to lose the nest , although some birds may re-nest , Wakeling said .

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Few things may be more heart-pounding for a hiker or hunter than a mountain grouse’s unexpected flush along a quiet trail.
Whether it’s a chance encounter while archery hunting for elk, or toting a shotgun in the company of a bird dog for long jaunts along the Continental Divide, hunting Montana’s trio of mountain grouse species often falls somewhere between opportunistic and intentional.
However hunters find them, visiting the birds’ mountainous haunts and hearing the echo of beating wings is a great way to find some fine table fare.
Montana has multiple native grouse species. The prairie and breaks country are prime areas for sharp-tailed and sage grouse. The central and western mountains are home to blue grouse, also known as dusky grouse, ruffed grouse, and spruce grouse, sometimes called Franklin’s grouse. White-tailed ptarmigan, which cannot be hunted, also occupy some alpine areas of northwestern Montana.
The huntable mountain varieties have among the longest seasons of all upland birds in the state, stretching from Sept. 1 through Jan. 1, with hunters allowed three per day in any combination and 12 in possession.
“They live in similar areas but each exploits slightly different aspects of the habitat as far as forest canopy and have some differences in their diets,” Brian Wakeling, Game Management Bureau chief for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, told the Independent Record.
Blue or dusky grouse, the largest of the mountain species, are slate in color mixed with brown and white-tipped feathers. Males have yellow combs over their eyes, according to the Montana Field Guide.
The chicken-sized birds thrive in the high country. Blues typically seek out ridgelines and grassy meadows of bunchgrass for hunting grasshoppers and other insects, but also feed on a mix of plants and berries depending on the time of year.
Blues can be the wariest of the mountain species, tending to flush more quickly but still apt to alight in a close tree, believing the height provides safety from predators.
Ruffed grouse are smaller than blues with brownish bodies and black bands of feathers on their tails. While they may be found in a wide variety of habitats, the birds are more likely to be found in lower elevation creek bottoms and riparian areas, and according to the field guide, spend their lives in a small home range. There, they eat a combination of insects and plants.
Bumping a flock of ruffed grouse from a thicket can be like opening a floodgate, with birds flushing in multiple directions - some landing in trees and others flying out of sight - or some simply walking briskly away on the ground.
Spruce grouse are the darkest of the mountain varieties, with dark gray to nearly black coloration and sprinkles of white plumage. Males have dark red eye combs making them easily identifiable from the other species.
Spruce grouse, as their name implies, seek out dense conifer forests where they eat needles and other vegetation and insects.
Their lack of wariness has earned the birds the dubious nickname “fool hen,” as they often stand or walk only a short distance when spooked and fly up into a nearby tree to observe.
Montana’s mountain grouse species are both lightly hunted and common in many areas, including the state’s remotest stretches, so much of the information game managers receive about their population health comes from hunters.
“They’re difficult to get a survey,” Wakeling said. “It’s cost prohibitive and difficult, so for many species harvest data is an indication on how those populations are doing.”
In some circumstances, FWP has asked hunters to provide a wing from upland birds to study populations and trends. During a 2018 collection in southwest Montana, Butte-area biologist Vanna Boccadori said the wings provide a variety of data including sex and ratio of juvenile to adult birds.
“That gives us an indication of how the population as a whole is doing,” Boccadori said at the time, adding that biologists want to monitor trends over time rather than year to year.
Because of where they live, mountain grouse tend to see fewer disease outbreaks than birds such as waterfowl that migrate and are exposed to a variety of areas and conditions, Wakeling said. The biggest factor driving grouse populations by far is the weather.
“Sometimes I feel like a farmer talking about these things because it’s always either it didn’t rain, it rained too much, invertebrates didn’t take off, but it is a range of conditions and they affect grouse species differently,” he said.
Grouse are dependent on good green-up in the spring to help with nutrition after winter and going into nesting season when male forest grouse put on legendary drumming displays. Then, birds may wait to incubate eggs until after a full clutch is laid. If a spring cold snap comes, that could cause them to lose the nest, although some birds may re-nest, Wakeling said.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--In Breonna Taylor's name: Devastation and a search for hope

LOUISVILLE , Ky. ( AP ) - Chea Woolfolk searched the crowd until she found the face of the woman she ’ d come to regard as a second mother .
And then she watched the tears roll down Rose Henderson ’ s cheeks .
Looking into Mama Rose ’ s eyes , Woolfolk could see that her heart was breaking .
This formidable woman looked off balance , like she might topple .
Mama Rose has been the matriarch of “ Injustice Square , ” a block downtown that protesters , many of them Black women , have occupied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tear gassed by police together , arrested , threatened online , shot with pepper bullets .
They lost jobs and friends and homes to show up every day because they had hope : that there would be justice for Breonna Taylor , the 26-year-old emergency medical technician shot and killed by police when they burst into her house in the middle of the night in a botched raid .
And that in that justice America would signal that their lives and the lives of other Black women have value .
Now they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the Commonwealth of Kentucky announced no charges would be filed against officers for Taylor ’ s death .
“ That broke me , ” Mama Rose cried , and that agony rippled across the country , as protesters took to the streets for days to say Taylor ’ s name , and to display rage , despair , powerlessness , exhaustion .
“ It was like sitting at a funeral , it was a collective feeling like someone died , and everyone was grieving , ” said Woolfolk , a 45-year-old radio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early days .
She didn ’ t expect then that she would be back every day for four months , and that she would come to refer to the protesters as “ us.
” That she ’ d be enveloped in what would become a family .
“ It was probably one of the heaviest moments I ’ ve ever felt in my life , ” Woolfolk said .
Beyond Louisville , the decision reverberated widely across Black America .
For months , Taylor ’ s name has been a rallying cry for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths at the hands of police would finally receive the same attention given to cases concerning the extrajudicial killing of Black men .
And to some degree , that has happened .
Famed musicians , actors , athletes and politicians said her name and called for the arrests of the officers involved in the raid that killed Taylor .
Then , on Wednesday , the grand jury decision c ame down to charge one officer with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing wildly into the apartment building .
But the charges were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No one was charged in connection with Taylor ’ s death .
There followed the kind of coast-to-coast protests not seen since the start of summer , along with a rising sense of doom and despair .
On social media , some noted that the decision came 65 years to the day after an all-white jury acquitted white men of murdering Emmett Till , a Black teen from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after he was said to have whistled at a white woman .
“ I am completely mortified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Breonna Taylor , her family and friends , and frankly , it has failed our country , ” said Patrisse Cullors , co-creator of Black Lives Matter and executive director of its network of BLM chapters .
The grand jury ’ s decision was “ just another reminder of how the system doesn ’ t value Black life , ” said Zellie Thomas , a BLM organizer in Paterson , New Jersey , who led a vigil Thursday night , in the aftermath of the announcement .
“ Breonna got featured on covers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she got streets named after her , ” he said .
“ But she didn ’ t get justice .
All these things seem nice , but it ’ s nothing compared to justice.
” For the Rev .
Starsky Wilson , the grand jury ’ s failure to indict in Taylor ’ s death was all too familiar .
He was a co-chair of the Ferguson Commission , which recommended wide-ranging policy reforms after the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson , Missouri .
The announcement that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indicted sparked an uprising by residents in the majority Black city .
Wilson , incoming president of the Children ’ s Defense Fund , said the system “ was never designed to give people the kind of care or sense of accountability that people are looking for.
” The Taylor case “ is a watershed moment for the Black Lives Matter movement , ” said Alvin Tillery Jr. , an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University .
“ The activists are going to have to supplement their disruptive protests with political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to change the environment in Kentucky.
” Some Louisville activists say their goals remain unchanged .
They want the immediate firing and revocation of the pensions of the officers involved in the raid that killed Taylor ( one of whom has been fired already ) , defunding or divesting from the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department and creating independent civilian oversight of police .
But to the stalwarts in the Louisville square , Taylor is much more than a rallying point .
Even if they never never met her , they feel that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she could have been any one of them .
“ It ’ s reiterating to me that my life does not matter , that I ’ m unsafe , ” said Millicent Cahoon , a therapist who started a counseling network for the movement .
For months , protesters came to her describing panic attacks and nightmares ; they couldn ’ t eat or sleep .
Some don ’ t know how to process their experience and what it means about their city and their world .
“ How do I tell my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she worries fatigue and hopelessness could settle in .
Her group is offering free therapy to any protester who is struggling .
“ You get tired of fighting after a while , ” she said .
“ We want to make sure hope stays alive , so we can keep going.
” The night the decision was announced , Rose Henderson was tending to the memorial to Taylor : a portrait that stands nearly 8 feet tall , circled by signs , painting and flowers that others have left in tribute .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ her fellow protesters to be peaceful and to take care of themselves so they can keep up the fight : Pull up your mask , she tells them , drink more water .
But around her , people were angry .
Some set small fires , and threw plastic bottles at police .
About a mile away , two police officers were shot and wounded , and that , too , broke Henderson ’ s heart .
She felt like she ’ d lost control .
Lines of officers in riot gear descended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ordered everyone to disperse , threatening to use chemical agents if they stayed .
She and Woolfolk both cried themselves to sleep , and cried again when they awakened the next morning .
Though Henderson had barely missed a day at the square , Woolfolk worried she might not come back right away ; it had been a hard day .
But then Mama Rose walked in , arranged the memorial just right , scolded people to pull up their masks and drink more water .
Woolfolk asked her if she was OK. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Henderson said , “ but I ’ m going to keep going.
” Morrison , who reported from New York , is a member of AP ’ s Race and Ethnicity team .
Follow him on Twitter : https : //www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison .
Galofaro is a National Writer based in Louisville .
Follow her on Twitter : https : //www.twitter.com/clairegalofaro .

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Chea Woolfolk searched the crowd until she found the face of the woman she’d come to regard as a second mother. And then she watched the tears roll down Rose Henderson’s cheeks.
Looking into Mama Rose’s eyes, Woolfolk could see that her heart was breaking.
This formidable woman looked off balance, like she might topple. Mama Rose has been the matriarch of “Injustice Square,” a block downtown that protesters, many of them Black women, have occupied for 120 days.
They have been tear gassed by police together, arrested, threatened online, shot with pepper bullets. They lost jobs and friends and homes to show up every day because they had hope: that there would be justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency medical technician shot and killed by police when they burst into her house in the middle of the night in a botched raid. And that in pursuing justice for Taylor, America would signal that their lives and the lives of other Black women have value.
Now they were standing in the square, listening together as the Commonwealth of Kentucky announced no charges would be filed against officers for Taylor’s death.
“That broke me,” Mama Rose cried, and that agony rippled across the country, as protesters took to the streets for days to say Taylor’s name, and to display rage, despair, powerlessness, exhaustion.
“It was like sitting at a funeral, it was a collective feeling like someone died, and everyone was grieving,” said Woolfolk, a 45-year-old radio personality who documented the movement from its early days.
She didn’t expect then that she would be back every day for four months, and that she would come to refer to the protesters as “us.” That she’d be enveloped in what would become a family.
“It was probably one of the heaviest moments I’ve ever felt in my life,” Woolfolk said.
Beyond Louisville, the decision reverberated widely across Black America. For months, Taylor’s name has been a rallying cry for activists who hoped Black women and their deaths at the hands of police would finally receive the same attention given to cases concerning the extrajudicial killing of Black men.
And to some degree, that has happened. Famed musicians, actors, athletes and politicians said her name and called for the arrests of the officers involved in the raid that killed Taylor.
Then, on Wednesday, the grand jury decision came down to charge one officer with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing wildly into the apartment building. But the charges were for endangering Taylor’s neighbors. No one was charged in connection with Taylor’s death.
There followed the kind of coast-to-coast protests not seen since the start of summer, along with a rising sense of doom and despair. On social media, some noted that the decision came 65 years to the day after an all-white jury acquitted white men of murdering Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after he was said to have whistled at a white woman.
“I am completely mortified that our criminal justice system has failed Breonna Taylor, her family and friends, and frankly, it has failed our country,” said Patrisse Cullors, co-creator of Black Lives Matter and executive director of its network of BLM chapters.
The grand jury’s decision was “just another reminder of how the system doesn’t value Black life,” said Zellie Thomas, a BLM organizer in Paterson, New Jersey, who led a vigil Thursday night, in the aftermath of the announcement.
“Breonna got featured on covers of magazines, she got TV specials, she got streets named after her,” he said. “But she didn’t get justice. All these things seem nice, but it’s nothing compared to justice.”
For the Rev. Starsky Wilson, the grand jury’s failure to indict in Taylor’s death was all too familiar. He was a co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, which recommended wide-ranging policy reforms after the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The announcement that the officer who killed Brown would not be indicted sparked an uprising by residents in the majority Black city.
Wilson, incoming president of the Children’s Defense Fund, said the system “was never designed to give people the kind of care or sense of accountability that people are looking for.”
The Taylor case “is a watershed moment for the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Alvin Tillery Jr., an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University. “The activists are going to have to supplement their disruptive protests with political organizing and voting if they are going to change the environment in Kentucky.”
Some Louisville activists say their goals remain unchanged. They want the immediate firing and revocation of the pensions of the officers involved in the raid that killed Taylor (one of whom has been fired already), defunding or divesting from the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department and creating independent civilian oversight of police.
But to the stalwarts in the Louisville square, Taylor is much more than a rallying point. Even if they never met her, they feel that they’ve known her deeply, that she could have been any one of them.
“It’s reiterating to me that my life does not matter, that I’m unsafe,” said Millicent Cahoon, a therapist who started a counseling network for the movement.
For months, protesters came to her describing panic attacks and nightmares; they couldn’t eat or sleep. Some don’t know how to process their experience and what it means about their city and their world. “How do I tell my kids?” they wonder.
Now, she worries fatigue and hopelessness could settle in. Her group is offering free therapy to any protester who is struggling.
“You get tired of fighting after a while,” she said. “We want to make sure hope stays alive, so we can keep going.”
The night the decision was announced, Rose Henderson was tending to the memorial to Taylor: a portrait that stands nearly 8 feet tall, circled by signs, paintings and flowers that others have left in tribute. This is her space. She orders her fellow protesters to be peaceful and to take care of themselves so they can keep up the fight: Pull up your mask, she tells them, drink more water.
But around her, people were angry. Some set small fires, and threw plastic bottles at police. About a mile away, two police officers were shot and wounded, and that, too, broke Henderson’s heart. She felt like she’d lost control.
Lines of officers in riot gear descended on the square, and a loudspeaker ordered everyone to disperse, threatening to use chemical agents if they stayed.
So she left.
She and Woolfolk both cried themselves to sleep, and cried again when they awakened the next morning.
Though Henderson had barely missed a day at the square, Woolfolk worried she might not come back right away; it had been a hard day.
But then Mama Rose walked in, arranged the memorial just right, scolded people to pull up their masks and drink more water.
Woolfolk asked her if she was OK.
“No, I’m not,” Henderson said, “but I’m going to keep going.”
____
Morrison, who reported from New York, is a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison. Galofaro is a National Writer based in Louisville. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/clairegalofaro.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Attorney: No law violation by professor in 'scholar strike'

JACKSON , Miss .
( AP ) - The state auditor has no justification to accuse a University of Mississippi professor of engaging in an illegal work stoppage by participating in a nationwide “ scholar strike ” to bring attention to racism and injustice , says an attorney representing the professor .
The attorney , Rob McDuff , said in a statement Friday that sociology professor James Thomas was not trying to change his work conditions or increase his pay - two elements required to define participation in a strike .
Mississippi law bans public employees from striking .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law , ” McDuff said .
“ Unfortunately , the auditor , in this letter and in many public statements , interviews and social media posts about Professor Thomas since , has failed even to mention this particular provision of the law .
Instead , without justification , he has continued to claim that Professor Thomas ’ s actions were illegal.
” Auditor Shad White , a Republican , sent a letter Sept. 14 to University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce , saying Thomas participated in a Sept. 8-9 work stoppage .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and others halting their classes and other duties .
White ’ s letter said Mississippi law bans strikes or any other “ concerted work stoppage.
” White told Boyce that the university should recover money it paid Thomas for those days of work and should go to court to try to remove him from his job .
Thomas was granted tenure in 2019 , which gives him additional job security .
In a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger , White said his office sent two agents to Thomas ’ home but Thomas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White said he began pursuing the case after seeing Twitter posts from Thomas about the scholar strike .
White said he also found an email Thomas sent to his students about the strike that “ was circulating on the internet.
” McDuff said Friday that Thomas is teaching classes online because of the coronavirus pandemic .
McDuff said the professor prepares lectures and reading assignments and allows students to work at their own pace each week , including the week that included the “ scholar strike.
” “ Professor Thomas met his responsibilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he does every week , ” McDuff said .
A university spokesperson has said Ole Miss does not comment on personnel matters .
White was appointed state auditor in July 2018 by then-Gov .
Phil Bryant , a Republican .
After Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2018 , Thomas came under broad criticism by conservatives after the professor said on Twitter that people should disrupt U.S. senators ’ meals .
“ They don ’ t deserve your civility , ” Thomas wrote .
Bryant , at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is no place in a civilized society , and particularly on a college campus , for urging individuals to harass anyone , ” Bryant wrote on Twitter .

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The state auditor has no justification to accuse a University of Mississippi professor of engaging in an illegal work stoppage by participating in a nationwide “scholar strike” to bring attention to racism and injustice, says an attorney representing the professor.
The attorney, Rob McDuff, said in a statement Friday that sociology professor James Thomas was not trying to change his work conditions or increase his pay - two elements required to define participation in a strike. Mississippi law bans public employees from striking.
“His actions clearly did not violate this law,” McDuff said. “Unfortunately, the auditor, in this letter and in many public statements, interviews and social media posts about Professor Thomas since, has failed even to mention this particular provision of the law. Instead, without justification, he has continued to claim that Professor Thomas’s actions were illegal.”
Auditor Shad White, a Republican, sent a letter Sept. 14 to University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce, saying Thomas participated in a Sept. 8-9 work stoppage. The nationwide “scholar strike” involved professors and others halting their classes and other duties.
White’s letter said Mississippi law bans strikes or any other “concerted work stoppage.” White told Boyce that the university should recover money it paid Thomas for those days of work and should go to court to try to remove him from his job. Thomas was granted tenure in 2019, which gives him additional job security.
In a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger, White said his office sent two agents to Thomas’ home but Thomas wasn’t interested in talking. White said he began pursuing the case after seeing Twitter posts from Thomas about the scholar strike. White said he also found an email Thomas sent to his students about the strike that “was circulating on the internet.”
McDuff said Friday that Thomas is teaching classes online because of the coronavirus pandemic. McDuff said the professor prepares lectures and reading assignments and allows students to work at their own pace each week, including the week that included the “scholar strike.”
“Professor Thomas met his responsibilities as a teacher that week just as he does every week,” McDuff said.
A university spokesperson has said Ole Miss does not comment on personnel matters.
White was appointed state auditor in July 2018 by then-Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican. After Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2018, Thomas came under broad criticism by conservatives after the professor said on Twitter that people should disrupt U.S. senators’ meals. “They don’t deserve your civility,” Thomas wrote.
Bryant, at the time, criticized Thomas. “There is no place in a civilized society, and particularly on a college campus, for urging individuals to harass anyone,” Bryant wrote on Twitter.
____
Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Poland's ruling party signs new coalition deal with partners

WARSAW , Poland ( AP ) - The three parties in Poland ’ s conservative coalition government signed a new coalition agreement on Saturday , putting aside disagreements sparked by a power struggle .
However , they gave no details about the agreement and took no questions from journalists , leaving lingering uncertainty about how the Cabinet will look in practice after an expected reshuffle .
Jarosław Kaczyński , the head of the senior party , Law and Justice , told reporters in Warsaw that he and the leaders of two junior parties reached an agreement that would allow them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , until the next scheduled general election .
Amid the crisis , Law and Justice had warned it might try to govern without them , as a minority government , or even call for early elections .
But on Saturday Kaczyński declared : “ We have a good future ahead of us.
” He signed the deal alongside the the hard-line justice minister , Zbigniew Ziobro , who heads a right-wing party , United Poland , and Jarosław Gowin , leader of the more moderate conservative group , Agreement .
Gowin said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coalition “ but also internal unity.
” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki , who was also present , expressed satisfaction that unity and stability were being preserved .
Tensions have been building for some time in the coalition over ideological issues as Ziobro has pursued a hard line against LGBT rights and threatened to withdraw Poland from an international convention protecting women from domestic violence .
Polish political commentators say there ’ s also a power struggle between Ziobro , 50 , and Morawiecki , 52 , for eventual control of Poland ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is 71 , prepares to withdraw from front-line politics .
Kaczyński did not address claims made days earlier that he would also formally join the government as a deputy prime minister .

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The three parties in Poland’s conservative coalition government signed a new coalition agreement on Saturday, putting aside disagreements sparked by a power struggle.
However, they gave no details about the agreement and took no questions from journalists, leaving lingering uncertainty about how the Cabinet will look in practice after an expected reshuffle.
Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the senior party, Law and Justice, told reporters in Warsaw that he and the leaders of two junior parties reached an agreement that would allow them to govern together for three more years, until the next scheduled general election.
Amid the crisis, Law and Justice had warned it might try to govern without them, as a minority government, or even call for early elections.
But on Saturday Kaczyński declared: “We have a good future ahead of us.”
He signed the deal alongside the the hard-line justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, who heads a right-wing party, United Poland, and Jarosław Gowin, leader of the more moderate conservative group, Agreement.
Gowin said that pluralism had always been the strength of the coalition “but also internal unity.”
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was also present, expressed satisfaction that unity and stability were being preserved.
Tensions have been building for some time in the coalition over ideological issues as Ziobro has pursued a hard line against LGBT rights and threatened to withdraw Poland from an international convention protecting women from domestic violence.
Polish political commentators say there’s also a power struggle between Ziobro, 50, and Morawiecki, 52, for eventual control of Poland’s political right as Kaczyński, who is 71, prepares to withdraw from front-line politics.
Kaczyński did not address claims made days earlier that he would also formally join the government as a deputy prime minister.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--AP FACT CHECK: Trump's wrongs on court, virus; Biden errs

WASHINGTON ( AP ) - In a momentous week , President Donald Trump painted a fantastical portrait of a coronavirus that affects “ virtually nobody ” among the young as he faced a grim U.S. milestone of 200,000 deaths and he asserted a constitutional basis that doesn ’ t exist for rushing a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg over her dying wishes .
As Americans absorbed news of a grand jury decision not to prosecute Kentucky police officers for killing Breonna Taylor , Trump ’ s campaign pointed to purported economic progress for Blacks under his administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story .
And with their first debate days away , Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden botched details about the pivotal Supreme Court vacancy and exaggerated his early statements on COVID-19 , saying he declared it a pandemic in January when he didn ’ t .
A sampling of the misstatements on these topics and more : TRUMP , speaking hours before the U.S. hit a milestone of 200,000 virus deaths : “ It affects elderly people , elderly people with heart problems , and other problems .
If they have other problems , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
… In some states thousands of people - nobody young - below the age of 18 , like nobody - they have a strong immune system - who knows ?
… It affects virtually nobody.
” - rally Monday in Ohio .
THE FACTS : No , it ’ s affected quite a few .
In all , the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday , by far the highest in the world , hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days .
It is roughly equal to the population of Salt Lake City or Huntsville , Alabama .
Kids certainly aren ’ t immune and Trump ignores racial disparities among those who get infected .
He is also brazenly contradicting what he privately told journalist Bob Woodward .
“ Now it ’ s turning out it ’ s not just old people , Bob , ” he told Woodward in March .
“ It ’ s plenty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ true that children are less likely than adults to develop COVID-19 , the CDC has nevertheless counted more than 419,000 infections in Americans younger than 18 , or about 8.5 % of all cases .
Racial disparities in the U.S. outbreak also extend to children , with Hispanic and Black children with COVID-19 more likely to be hospitalized than white kids .
“ It isn ’ t just the elderly , ” Dr. Anthony Fauci , the government ’ s top infectious diseases expert , told CNN on Tuesday .
He noted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health conditions is at significantly higher risk of serious effects if they get COVID-19 .
The total number of kids who have been infected but not confirmed is almost certainly far higher than the CDC figures , experts say , because those with mild or no symptoms are less likely to get tested .
Kids also can spread disease without showing symptoms themselves .
The CDC in May also warned doctors to be on the lookout for a rare but life-threatening inflammatory reaction in some children who ’ ve had the coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 100 children in New York , and in some kids in several other states and in Europe , with some deaths .
TRUMP : “ We ’ re rounding the corner - with or without a vaccine.
” - interview Monday on “ Fox & Friends.
” TRUMP , asked if the virus will “ go away ” if there isn ’ t a vaccine immediately available : “ Sure , with time it goes away .
And you ’ ll develop - you ’ ll develop herd-like , a herd mentality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ - it ’ s going to be herd-developed , and that ’ s going to happen.
” - ABC News town hall on Sept. 15 .
THE FACTS : Trump appeared to promote a “ herd immunity ” approach to the virus if a vaccine isn ’ t immediately available that would require millions more people to get infected and significantly higher deaths .
Public health officials say that to reach herd immunity , which is when the virus can no longer spread easily , at least 70 % of the population , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to develop antibodies .
The U.S. currently has 7 million COVID-19 cases .
“ Developing herd immunity doesn ’ t just take time , it works by infecting over a hundred million and killing hundreds of thousands , ” University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers tweeted .
“ He ’ s describing a massacre.
” Fauci last month called a herd immunity approach “ totally unacceptable ” because “ a lot of people are going to die.
” He also disagrees the virus is “ rounding the corner , ” saying Americans should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will “ need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it ’ s not going to be easy.
” Fauci and other health experts such as Dr. Robert Redfield , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , have warned of a potentially bad fall because of dual threats of the coronavirus and the flu season .
TRUMP , on Ginsburg ’ s request that her replacement be chosen by the next president : “ I don ’ t know that she said that , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Schiff , and Schumer and Pelosi .
That came out of the wind .
It sounds so beautiful , but that sounds like a Schumer deal , or maybe Pelosi or Shifty Schiff.
” - interview Monday with “ Fox & Friends.
” THE FACTS : He ’ s making a baseless assertion that congressional Democrats invented Ginsburg ’ s request , which Trump is ignoring by announcing a new nominee Saturday .
In the days before her death on Sept. 18 , Ginsburg told her granddaughter Clara Spera that “ my most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be replaced until a new president is installed , ” according to NPR ’ s Nina Totenberg , a longtime veteran Supreme Court reporter .
Totenberg , who is close to the Ginsburg family , reaffirmed her reporting this week .
She told MSNBC on Monday that others in the room at the time also heard Ginsburg make the statement , including her doctor .
“ I checked because I ’ m a reporter , ” Totenberg said .
There is certainly no evidence that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , Rep. Adam Schiff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ginsburg ’ s request , as Trump asserts .
“ Mr .
President , this is low .
Even for you , ” Schiff tweeted Monday .
TRUMP , on why he ’ s moving forward with a nomination so close to the Nov. 3 election : “ I have a constitutional obligation to put in nine judges - justices.
” - remarks Tuesday to reporters .
THE FACTS : To be clear , there is no constitutional requirement to have nine justices on the Supreme Court .
The Constitution , in fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court , and Congress has the power to change its size .
Over its history , the high court has varied in size from five to 10 justices , depending on the number of judicial circuits in the U.S. , according to Russell Wheeler , a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and former deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center .
He explained that a major duty of the justices until the late 19th century was to try cases in the old circuit courts .
Congress decided on nine circuits in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed to expand the high court in the 1930s in a bid to gain broader judicial support for his New Deal policies , but that effort failed .
BIDEN , arguing that a Supreme Court nomination should be decided by the next president so voters can “ have their voice heard in who serves on the court ” : “ There ’ s no court session between now and the end of this election.
” - remarks Sept. 20 in Philadelphia .
THE FACTS : He ’ s wrong on the scheduling .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 5 , nearly one month before the election on Nov. 3 .
The justices are set to hear oral arguments in several cases during that time .
TRUMP : “ We need nine justices .
You need that .
With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they ’ re sending , it ’ s a scam ; it ’ s a hoax .
Everybody knows that .
And the Democrats know it better than anybody else .
… So doing it before the election would be a very good thing because you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ - remarks Tuesday to reporters .
THE FACTS : There ’ s nothing fraudulent about mail-in ballots , and Trump ’ s repeated false assertions certainly don ’ t provide a valid justification to speed up a judicial nomination .
First of all , there is no such thing as an “ unsolicited ” ballot .
Five states routinely send ballots to all registered voters so they can choose to vote through the mail or in person .
Four other states and the District of Columbia will be adopting that system in November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Montana .
Election officials note that , by registering to vote , people are effectively requesting a ballot , so it makes no sense to call the materials sent to them “ unsolicited.
” More broadly speaking , voter fraud has proved exceedingly rare .
The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004 % to 0.0009 % , based on studies of past elections .
In the five states that regularly send ballots to all voters who have registered , there have been no major cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Of the four states adopting the system of universal mail balloting this year , only Nevada is a battleground , worth six electoral votes and likely to be pivotal only in a national presidential deadlock .
It ’ s true that many states are expecting a surge in mail-in voting because of the coronavirus pandemic , which may lead to longer times in vote counting .
But there is no evidence to indicate that massive fraud from “ unsolicited ” balloting is afoot .
BIDEN : “ We can ’ t keep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our cherished system of checks and balances .
That includes this whole business of releasing a list of potential nominees that I would put forward .
They ’ re now saying , after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away , they said , ‘ Biden should release his list.
’ It ’ s no wonder the Trump campaign asked that I release the list only after she passed away.
” - remarks Sept. 20 in Philadelphia .
THE FACTS : It ’ s not true that the Trump campaign waited until Ginsburg ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s list of potential Supreme Court nominees .
Trump was calling for it last month .
On Sept. 9 , Trump released a list of 20 additional people he would consider nominating to the high court if there were vacancies .
He released a similar list in 2016 .
In a press release that same day , Trump ’ s 2020 campaign manager , Bill Stepien , said “ Voters deserve transparency and a clear view of what direction candidates for president would take our federal courts .
We now forcefully demand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump called for a list from Biden even earlier , during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 24 .
“ Remember this , I ’ m saying that - I ’ m demanding actually , a list .
Let Biden put up a list of the judges he ’ s going to appoint , ” Trump said .
Biden has pledged to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court but hasn ’ t offered additional details .
TRUMP : “ The historic action I ’ m taking today includes the first-ever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ official policy of the United States government to protect patients with preexisting conditions .
So we ’ re making that official.
” - remarks Thursday in North Carolina .
THE FACTS : It ’ s already been the official federal policy to protect people with preexisting medical conditions because “ Obamacare ” already does that , and it ’ s the law of the land .
Trump is currently trying to dismantle that law .
If he persuades the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ executive order would offer in place of the law .
President Barack Obama ’ s health law states that “ a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage may not impose any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to such plan or coverage.
” Other sections of the law act to bar insurers from charging more to people because of past medical problems and from canceling coverage , except in cases of fraud .
In the past , there were horror stories of insurers canceling coverage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancer .
It ’ s dubious that any president could enact such protections through an executive order , or Obama would never have needed to go to Congress to get his health law passed .
Likewise , President Bill Clinton could have simply used a presidential decree to enact his health plan , or major parts of it , after it failed to get through Congress .
TRUMP , on Republicans : “ Democrats like to constantly talk about it , and yet preexisting conditions are much safer with us than they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Republicans were unable to muscle their replacement for “ Obamacare ” through Congress when they controlled the House and Senate in 2017 during Trump ’ s first year .
Various GOP bills would have offered a degree of protection for people with preexisting conditions , but the proposed safeguards were seen as less than what the law already provided .
The general approach in the Republican legislation would have required people to maintain continuous coverage to avoid being turned down because of a preexisting condition .
Trump has frequently claimed he will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the contrary and has even asserted falsely that he was the one who “ saved ” such protections .
One of Trump ’ s alternatives to Obama ’ s law - short-term health insurance , already in place - doesn ’ t have to cover preexisting conditions .
Another alternative : association health plans , which are oriented to small businesses and sole proprietors and do cover preexisting conditions .
Neither of the two alternatives appears to have made much difference in the market .
Democratic attacks on Republican efforts to repeal the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proved successful in the 2018 midterms , when Democrats won back control of the House .
TRUMP CAMPAIGN : “ Black Americans don ’ t have to imagine what the economy would be like under Joe Biden because they ’ ve already lived through it .
He oversaw the slowest recovery since the Great Depression , with stagnant wage growth and anemic job creation.
” - statement Wednesday from Katrina Pierson , the campaign ’ s senior adviser .
THE FACTS : That ’ s not fully accurate .
The economy was healthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Even if the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis was agonizingly slow , Trump took office with unemployment at a low 4.7 % , steady job growth and a falling federal budget deficit .
The longest expansion in U.S. history began in the middle of 2009 and continued until the start of the year , spanning both the Obama and Trump presidencies .
The U.S. economy did benefit from Trump ’ s 2017 tax cuts with a jump in growth in 2018 , but the budget deficit began to climb as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies and the wealthy in hopes of permanently expanding the economy .
Annual growth during Obama ’ s second term averaged about 2.3 % .
Trump notched a slightly better 2.5 % during his first three years , but the country swung into recession this year because of the coronavirus and will probably leave Trump with an inferior track record to his predecessor over four years .
TRUMP CAMPAIGN : “ President Trump , on the other hand , has a real record of accomplishments for the Black community , including achieving record-low @ @ @ @ @ @ @ …President Trump is a far better choice for Black Americans and it isn ’ t even a close call.
” - Pierson ’ s statement .
THE FACTS : The campaign is skirting key facts .
Republicans can talk successfully about the decline in unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic workers .
But that ’ s just one gauge - and plenty of troubles and inequalities abound for minorities .
Minority groups still lagged behind white people with regard to incomes , wealth and home ownership before the pandemic .
And when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economy did not work well for everybody as the job losses and infections disproportionately hit minorities .
Black unemployment now stands at 13 % .
Hispanic unemployment is 10.5 % .
The white unemployment rate is 7.3 % .
For every dollar of total wealth held by white households , Blacks have just 5 cents , according to the Federal Reserve .
It ’ s 4 cents for Hispanics .
BIDEN , criticizing Trump for posing for pictures while holding a Bible in front of a church near the White House after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The protesters were removed so Trump could “ walk across to a Protestant church and hold a Bible upside down - I don ’ t know if he ever opened it - upside down , and then go back to a bunker in the White House.
” - CNN town hall on Sept. 17 .
THE FACTS : To be clear , Trump was not holding a Bible upside down .
His administration did fire off chemical irritants and smoke bombs in June to clear demonstrators who had gathered in Lafayette Park @ @ @ @ @ @ @ George Floyd , a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee onto his neck .
Trump then walked across the park to hold up a Bible at St. John ’ s Church for the cameras .
Associated Press photos and other videos show the Bible was right side up .
Trump also took shelter in a White House bunker in the days before his visit to St. John ’ s , not after , as Biden asserts .
MORE ON THE VIRUS BIDEN , contrasting his approach to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Imagine had he at the State of the Union stood up and said , when back in January , I wrote an article for USA Today saying , ‘ We ’ ve got a pandemic .
We ’ ve got a real problem.
’ Imagine if he had said something .
How many more people would be alive ?
” - CNN town hall on Sept. 17 .
THE FACTS : Biden is incorrect that Trump didn ’ t mention the coronavirus in his State of the Union address .
The former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said about it in a Jan. 27 op-ed in USA Today .
Trump made brief mention of COVID-19 in his Feb. 4 address , which came five weeks before it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization .
He said : “ Protecting Americans ’ health also means fighting infectious diseases .
We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China .
My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.
” A few days later on Feb. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Woodward as “ more deadly than even your strenuous flus.
” It ’ s unclear if Trump knew or believed that at the time of his State of the Union address , although he later acknowledged in Woodward ’ s book ” Rage ” that he often played down the virus threat in public , so as to avoid panic .
Biden ’ s op-ed makes clear his own view that the coronavirus in the U.S. “ will get worse before it gets better , ” but Biden does not declare it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The possibility of a pandemic is a challenge Donald Trump is unqualified to handle as president.
” TRUMP , calling Biden ’ s handling of the swine flu during the Obama administration a “ disaster ” : “ Joe Biden ’ s incompetent … They had no clue.
” - interview Tuesday with Detroit ’ s WJBK Fox 2 TV station .
THE FACTS : Trump frequently distorts what happened in the pandemic of 2009 , which killed far fewer people in the United States than the coronavirus is killing now .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t running the federal response .
And that response was faster out of the gate than when COVID-19 came to the U.S. Then , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s flu surveillance network sounded the alarm after two children in California became the first people diagnosed with the new flu strain in this country .
About two weeks later , the Obama administration declared a public health emergency against H1NI , also known as the swine flu , and the CDC began releasing anti-flu drugs from the national stockpile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contrast , Trump declared a state of emergency in early March , seven weeks after the first U.S. case of COVID-19 was announced , and the country ’ s health system struggled for months with shortages of critical supplies and testing .
More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S .
The CDC puts the U.S. death toll from the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic at about 12,500 .
Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson in Seattle , Jessica Gresko , Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar , Jill Colvin , Kevin Freking and Darlene Superville @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report .
EDITOR ’ S NOTE - A look at the veracity of claims by political figures .

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a momentous week, President Donald Trump painted a fantastical portrait of a coronavirus that affects “virtually nobody” among the young as he faced a grim U.S. milestone of 200,000 deaths and he asserted a constitutional basis that doesn’t exist for rushing a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg over her dying wishes.
As Americans absorbed news of a grand jury decision not to prosecute Kentucky police officers for killing Breonna Taylor, Trump’s campaign pointed to purported economic progress for Blacks under his administration that didn’t tell the full story.
And with their first debate days away, Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden botched details about the pivotal Supreme Court vacancy and exaggerated his early statements on COVID-19, saying he declared it a pandemic in January when he didn’t.
A sampling of the misstatements on these topics and more:
200,000 DEATHS
TRUMP, speaking hours before the U.S. hit a milestone of 200,000 virus deaths: “It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems, and other problems. If they have other problems, that’s what it really affects. … In some states thousands of people - nobody young - below the age of 18, like nobody - they have a strong immune system - who knows? … It affects virtually nobody.” - rally Monday in Ohio.
THE FACTS: No, it’s affected quite a few.
In all, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a referendum on his handling of the crisis. The number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days. It is roughly equal to the population of Salt Lake City or Huntsville, Alabama.
Kids certainly aren’t immune and Trump ignores racial disparities among those who get infected. He is also brazenly contradicting what he privately told journalist Bob Woodward.
“Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob,” he told Woodward in March. “It’s plenty of young people.”
Although it’s true that children are less likely than adults to develop COVID-19, the CDC has nevertheless counted more than 419,000 infections in Americans younger than 18, or about 8.5% of all cases. Racial disparities in the U.S. outbreak also extend to children, with Hispanic and Black children with COVID-19 more likely to be hospitalized than white kids.
“It isn’t just the elderly,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, told CNN on Tuesday. He noted that a person of any age with underlying health conditions is at significantly higher risk of serious effects if they get COVID-19.
The total number of kids who have been infected but not confirmed is almost certainly far higher than the CDC figures, experts say, because those with mild or no symptoms are less likely to get tested. Kids also can spread disease without showing symptoms themselves.
The CDC in May also warned doctors to be on the lookout for a rare but life-threatening inflammatory reaction in some children who’ve had the coronavirus. The condition had been reported in more than 100 children in New York, and in some kids in several other states and in Europe, with some deaths.
___
TRUMP: “We’re rounding the corner - with or without a vaccine.” - interview Monday on “Fox & Friends.”
TRUMP, asked if the virus will “go away” if there isn’t a vaccine immediately available: “Sure, with time it goes away. And you’ll develop - you’ll develop herd-like, a herd mentality. It’s going to be - it’s going to be herd-developed, and that’s going to happen.” - ABC News town hall on Sept. 15.
THE FACTS: Trump appeared to promote a “herd immunity” approach to the virus if a vaccine isn’t immediately available that would require millions more people to get infected and significantly higher deaths.
Public health officials say that to reach herd immunity, which is when the virus can no longer spread easily, at least 70% of the population, or 200 million people, would need to develop antibodies. The U.S. currently has 7 million COVID-19 cases.
“Developing herd immunity doesn’t just take time, it works by infecting over a hundred million and killing hundreds of thousands,” University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers tweeted. “He’s describing a massacre.”
Fauci last month called a herd immunity approach “totally unacceptable” because “a lot of people are going to die.”
He also disagrees the virus is “rounding the corner,” saying Americans should not “underestimate” the pandemic and they will “need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it’s not going to be easy.” Fauci and other health experts such as Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have warned of a potentially bad fall because of dual threats of the coronavirus and the flu season.
___
GINSBURG
TRUMP, on Ginsburg’s request that her replacement be chosen by the next president: “I don’t know that she said that, or if that was written out by Adam Schiff, and Schumer and Pelosi. That came out of the wind. It sounds so beautiful, but that sounds like a Schumer deal, or maybe Pelosi or Shifty Schiff.” - interview Monday with “Fox & Friends.”
THE FACTS: He’s making a baseless assertion that congressional Democrats invented Ginsburg’s request, which Trump is ignoring by announcing a new nominee Saturday.
In the days before her death on Sept. 18, Ginsburg told her granddaughter Clara Spera that “my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg, a longtime veteran Supreme Court reporter.
Totenberg, who is close to the Ginsburg family, reaffirmed her reporting this week. She told MSNBC on Monday that others in the room at the time also heard Ginsburg make the statement, including her doctor. “I checked because I’m a reporter,” Totenberg said.
There is certainly no evidence that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Adam Schiff or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer manufactured Ginsburg’s request, as Trump asserts. “Mr. President, this is low. Even for you,” Schiff tweeted Monday.
___
COURT NOMINATION
TRUMP, on why he’s moving forward with a nomination so close to the Nov. 3 election: “I have a constitutional obligation to put in nine judges - justices.” - remarks Tuesday to reporters.
THE FACTS: To be clear, there is no constitutional requirement to have nine justices on the Supreme Court.
The Constitution, in fact, specifies no size for the Supreme Court, and Congress has the power to change its size.
Over its history, the high court has varied in size from five to 10 justices, depending on the number of judicial circuits in the U.S., according to Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and former deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center. He explained that a major duty of the justices until the late 19th century was to try cases in the old circuit courts. Congress decided on nine circuits in the late 1860s.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed to expand the high court in the 1930s in a bid to gain broader judicial support for his New Deal policies, but that effort failed.
___
BIDEN, arguing that a Supreme Court nomination should be decided by the next president so voters can “have their voice heard in who serves on the court”: “There’s no court session between now and the end of this election.” - remarks Sept. 20 in Philadelphia.
THE FACTS: He’s wrong on the scheduling. A new Supreme Court session begins Oct. 5, nearly one month before the election on Nov. 3. The justices are set to hear oral arguments in several cases during that time.
___
TRUMP: “We need nine justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they’re sending, it’s a scam; it’s a hoax. Everybody knows that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. … So doing it before the election would be a very good thing because you’re going to probably see it.” - remarks Tuesday to reporters.
THE FACTS: There’s nothing fraudulent about mail-in ballots, and Trump’s repeated false assertions certainly don’t provide a valid justification to speed up a judicial nomination.
First of all, there is no such thing as an “unsolicited” ballot. Five states routinely send ballots to all registered voters so they can choose to vote through the mail or in person. Four other states and the District of Columbia will be adopting that system in November, as will almost every county in Montana. Election officials note that, by registering to vote, people are effectively requesting a ballot, so it makes no sense to call the materials sent to them “unsolicited.”
More broadly speaking, voter fraud has proved exceedingly rare. The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections.
In the five states that regularly send ballots to all voters who have registered, there have been no major cases of fraud or difficulty counting the votes.
Of the four states adopting the system of universal mail balloting this year, only Nevada is a battleground, worth six electoral votes and likely to be pivotal only in a national presidential deadlock.
It’s true that many states are expecting a surge in mail-in voting because of the coronavirus pandemic, which may lead to longer times in vote counting. But there is no evidence to indicate that massive fraud from “unsolicited” balloting is afoot.
___
BIDEN: “We can’t keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, ignoring our cherished system of checks and balances. That includes this whole business of releasing a list of potential nominees that I would put forward. They’re now saying, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, they said, ‘Biden should release his list.’ It’s no wonder the Trump campaign asked that I release the list only after she passed away.” - remarks Sept. 20 in Philadelphia.
THE FACTS: It’s not true that the Trump campaign waited until Ginsburg’s death last week to call for Biden’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Trump was calling for it last month.
On Sept. 9, Trump released a list of 20 additional people he would consider nominating to the high court if there were vacancies. He released a similar list in 2016.
In a press release that same day, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said “Voters deserve transparency and a clear view of what direction candidates for president would take our federal courts. We now forcefully demand that Joe Biden do the same.”
Trump called for a list from Biden even earlier, during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 24.
“Remember this, I’m saying that - I’m demanding actually, a list. Let Biden put up a list of the judges he’s going to appoint,” Trump said.
Biden has pledged to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court but hasn’t offered additional details.
___
HEALTH CARE
TRUMP: “The historic action I’m taking today includes the first-ever executive order to affirm it is the official policy of the United States government to protect patients with preexisting conditions. So we’re making that official.” - remarks Thursday in North Carolina.
THE FACTS: It’s already been the official federal policy to protect people with preexisting medical conditions because “Obamacare” already does that, and it’s the law of the land. Trump is currently trying to dismantle that law. If he persuades the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional, it’s unclear what degree of actual protection the executive order would offer in place of the law.
President Barack Obama’s health law states that “a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage may not impose any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to such plan or coverage.”
Other sections of the law act to bar insurers from charging more to people because of past medical problems and from canceling coverage, except in cases of fraud. In the past, there were horror stories of insurers canceling coverage because a patient had a recurrence of cancer.
It’s dubious that any president could enact such protections through an executive order, or Obama would never have needed to go to Congress to get his health law passed. Likewise, President Bill Clinton could have simply used a presidential decree to enact his health plan, or major parts of it, after it failed to get through Congress.
___
TRUMP, on Republicans: “Democrats like to constantly talk about it, and yet preexisting conditions are much safer with us than they are with them.” - North Carolina remarks.
THE FACTS: That’s highly questionable.
Republicans were unable to muscle their replacement for “Obamacare” through Congress when they controlled the House and Senate in 2017 during Trump’s first year. Various GOP bills would have offered a degree of protection for people with preexisting conditions, but the proposed safeguards were seen as less than what the law already provided. The general approach in the Republican legislation would have required people to maintain continuous coverage to avoid being turned down because of a preexisting condition.
Trump has frequently claimed he will always protect preexisting conditions despite evidence to the contrary and has even asserted falsely that he was the one who “saved” such protections.
One of Trump’s alternatives to Obama’s law - short-term health insurance, already in place - doesn’t have to cover preexisting conditions. Another alternative: association health plans, which are oriented to small businesses and sole proprietors and do cover preexisting conditions. Neither of the two alternatives appears to have made much difference in the market.
Democratic attacks on Republican efforts to repeal the health law and weaken preexisting condition protections proved successful in the 2018 midterms, when Democrats won back control of the House.
___
RACIAL PROGRESS
TRUMP CAMPAIGN: “Black Americans don’t have to imagine what the economy would be like under Joe Biden because they’ve already lived through it. He oversaw the slowest recovery since the Great Depression, with stagnant wage growth and anemic job creation.” - statement Wednesday from Katrina Pierson, the campaign’s senior adviser.
THE FACTS: That’s not fully accurate. The economy was healthy when Trump arrived at the White House.
Even if the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis was agonizingly slow, Trump took office with unemployment at a low 4.7%, steady job growth and a falling federal budget deficit. The longest expansion in U.S. history began in the middle of 2009 and continued until the start of the year, spanning both the Obama and Trump presidencies.
The U.S. economy did benefit from Trump’s 2017 tax cuts with a jump in growth in 2018, but the budget deficit began to climb as a result of the tax breaks that favored companies and the wealthy in hopes of permanently expanding the economy. Annual growth during Obama’s second term averaged about 2.3%. Trump notched a slightly better 2.5% during his first three years, but the country swung into recession this year because of the coronavirus and will probably leave Trump with an inferior track record to his predecessor over four years.
___
TRUMP CAMPAIGN: “President Trump, on the other hand, has a real record of accomplishments for the Black community, including achieving record-low unemployment prior to the global pandemic. …President Trump is a far better choice for Black Americans and it isn’t even a close call.” - Pierson’s statement.
THE FACTS: The campaign is skirting key facts.
Republicans can talk successfully about the decline in unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic workers. But that’s just one gauge - and plenty of troubles and inequalities abound for minorities. Minority groups still lagged behind white people with regard to incomes, wealth and home ownership before the pandemic. And when the coronavirus struck, it became clear that the economy did not work well for everybody as the job losses and infections disproportionately hit minorities.
Black unemployment now stands at 13%. Hispanic unemployment is 10.5%. The white unemployment rate is 7.3%. For every dollar of total wealth held by white households, Blacks have just 5 cents, according to the Federal Reserve. It’s 4 cents for Hispanics.
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BIDEN, criticizing Trump for posing for pictures while holding a Bible in front of a church near the White House after protesters in a park were forcibly removed: The protesters were removed so Trump could “walk across to a Protestant church and hold a Bible upside down - I don’t know if he ever opened it - upside down, and then go back to a bunker in the White House.” - CNN town hall on Sept. 17.
THE FACTS: To be clear, Trump was not holding a Bible upside down.
His administration did fire off chemical irritants and smoke bombs in June to clear demonstrators who had gathered in Lafayette Park to speak out against the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee onto his neck. Trump then walked across the park to hold up a Bible at St. John’s Church for the cameras. Associated Press photos and other videos show the Bible was right side up. St. John’s is an Episcopal church.
Trump also took shelter in a White House bunker in the days before his visit to St. John’s, not after, as Biden asserts.
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MORE ON THE VIRUS
BIDEN, contrasting his approach to the coronavirus vs. Trump’s: “Imagine had he at the State of the Union stood up and said, when back in January, I wrote an article for USA Today saying, ‘We’ve got a pandemic. We’ve got a real problem.’ Imagine if he had said something. How many more people would be alive?” - CNN town hall on Sept. 17.
THE FACTS: Biden is incorrect that Trump didn’t mention the coronavirus in his State of the Union address. The former vice president also exaggerates what he himself said about it in a Jan. 27 op-ed in USA Today.
Trump made brief mention of COVID-19 in his Feb. 4 address, which came five weeks before it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. He said:
“Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”
A few days later on Feb. 7, Trump privately described the coronavirus to Woodward as “more deadly than even your strenuous flus.” It’s unclear if Trump knew or believed that at the time of his State of the Union address, although he later acknowledged in Woodward’s book ”Rage” that he often played down the virus threat in public, so as to avoid panic.
Biden’s op-ed makes clear his own view that the coronavirus in the U.S. “will get worse before it gets better,” but Biden does not declare it a pandemic. He wrote: “The possibility of a pandemic is a challenge Donald Trump is unqualified to handle as president.”
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TRUMP, calling Biden’s handling of the swine flu during the Obama administration a “disaster”: “Joe Biden’s incompetent … They had no clue.” - interview Tuesday with Detroit’s WJBK Fox 2 TV station.
THE FACTS: Trump frequently distorts what happened in the pandemic of 2009, which killed far fewer people in the United States than the coronavirus is killing now. For starters, Biden as vice president wasn’t running the federal response. And that response was faster out of the gate than when COVID-19 came to the U.S.
Then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s flu surveillance network sounded the alarm after two children in California became the first people diagnosed with the new flu strain in this country.
About two weeks later, the Obama administration declared a public health emergency against H1NI, also known as the swine flu, and the CDC began releasing anti-flu drugs from the national stockpile to help hospitals get ready. In contrast, Trump declared a state of emergency in early March, seven weeks after the first U.S. case of COVID-19 was announced, and the country’s health system struggled for months with shortages of critical supplies and testing.
More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. The CDC puts the U.S. death toll from the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic at about 12,500.
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Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson in Seattle, Jessica Gresko, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking and Darlene Superville in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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EDITOR’S NOTE - A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck
Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Paris names park after Black woman who resisted slavery

PARIS ( AP ) - The city of Paris inaugurated a public garden Saturday honoring a woman who fought for the liberation of slaves on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe .
Mayor Anne Hidalgo also announced plans to erect a statue to the woman , Solitude , at the site in northeastern Paris .
It will be the city ’ s first statue honoring a Black woman .
Amid global protests against monuments to white men linked to colonialism or the slave trade , French leaders have resisted taking down statues but pushed instead to design new monuments to more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was born around 1772 to an African slave who was raped by a white sailor on the ship bringing her to the Antilles , according to newspaper Le Monde .
She won her freedom after the French Revolution , but then Napoleon reinstated slavery in French colonies and Solitude joined Guadeloupe ’ s resistance movement , according to city hall .
Napoleon ’ s forces arrested a then-pregnant Solitude , and sentenced her to death .
She gave birth on Nov. 28 , 1802 , and was hanged the next day .
France @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remains part of France , and saw protests earlier this year against racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death in the U.S .

PARIS (AP) - The city of Paris inaugurated a public garden Saturday honoring a woman who fought for the liberation of slaves on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo also announced plans to erect a statue to the woman, Solitude, at the site in northeastern Paris. It will be the city’s first statue honoring a Black woman.
Amid global protests against monuments to white men linked to colonialism or the slave trade, French leaders have resisted taking down statues but pushed instead to design new monuments to more diverse, lesser-known historical figures.
Solitude was born around 1772 to an African slave who was raped by a white sailor on the ship bringing her to the Antilles, according to newspaper Le Monde.
She won her freedom after the French Revolution, but then Napoleon reinstated slavery in French colonies and Solitude joined Guadeloupe’s resistance movement, according to city hall. Napoleon’s forces arrested a then-pregnant Solitude, and sentenced her to death.
She gave birth on Nov. 28, 1802, and was hanged the next day.
France abolished slavery again in 1848. Guadeloupe remains part of France, and saw protests earlier this year against racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the U.S.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Alps surprised by early snowfall, Swiss town sees new record

BERLIN ( AP ) - Parts of Austria and Switzerland were surprised by unseasonably early snowfall overnight , after a @ @ @ @ @ heavy precipitation .
The Swiss meteorological agency said Saturday that the town of Montana , @ @ @ @ @ state ) of Valais , experienced 25 centimeters ( almost 10 inches ) of snowfall @ @ @ @ @ this time of year .
Authorities were out in force across mountainous regions in the @ @ @ @ @ roads blocked by snow and ice .
In parts of Austria , snowfall was recorded @ @ @ @ @ ( 1,805 feet ) above sea level .

BERLIN (AP) - Parts of Switzerland, Austria and Germany were surprised by unseasonably early snowfall overnight, after a sharp drop in temperatures and heavy precipitation.
The Swiss meteorological agency said Saturday that the town of Montana, in the southern canton (state) of Valais, experienced 25 centimeters (almost 10 inches) of snowfall - a new record for this time of year.
Authorities were out in force across mountainous regions in the two Alpine nations to clear roads blocked by snow and ice.
In parts of Austria, snowfall was recorded as low as 550 meters (1,805 feet) above sea level.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Gas prices drop more in NJ, tick up across nation overall

TRENTON , N.J. ( AP ) - Gas prices dropped further in New Jersey but ticked up across the nation @ @ @ @ @ .
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New @ @ @ @ @ 2.17 , down two cents from last week .
The national average price for a @ @ @ @ @ $ 2.19 , up a penny from the previous week , amid a slight increase @ @ @ @ @ in gasoline stocks .
Analysts say prices could climb if demand continues to grow , @ @ @ @ @ whether road travel and road trips pick up as the fall progresses .

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Gas prices dropped further in New Jersey but ticked up across the nation on average, analysts say.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $2.17, down two cents from last week.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.19, up a penny from the previous week, amid a slight increase in demand and a decrease in gasoline stocks.
Analysts say prices could climb if demand continues to grow, but that will depend on whether road travel and road trips pick up as the fall progresses.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Vermont Fish and Wildlife to celebrate 100th wildlife area

SHREWSBURY , Vt. ( AP ) - Officials from the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife , the town of @ @ @ @ @ are going to be celebrating the state ’ s 100th Wildlife Management Area .
The @ @ @ @ @ in which the name of the area in Shrewsbury will be held Saturday from noon @ @ @ @ @ will give tours of the area .
The 526-acre property was acquired by the Fish @ @ @ @ @ year and connects other parcels of conserved land .
In addition to being Vermont ’ @ @ @ @ @ , 2020 is also the 100th anniversary of the state having wildlife management areas .

SHREWSBURY, Vt. (AP) - Officials from the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, the town of Shrewsbury and others on Saturday are going to be celebrating the state’s 100th Wildlife Management Area.
The Rutland Herald reports the event in which the name of the area in Shrewsbury will be held Saturday from noon until 2 p.m.
Biologists will give tours of the area.
The 526-acre property was acquired by the Fish and Wildlife Department earlier this year and connects other parcels of conserved land.
In addition to being Vermont’s 100th wildlife management area, 2020 is also the 100th anniversary of the state having wildlife management areas.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Man points gun at protesters outside GOP candidate's rally

WILMINGTON , Del .
( AP ) - Police are investigating a confrontation in which a man pointed a gun toward protesters outside a campaign rally for a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Delaware .
Lauren Witzke , the Republican challenger to Sen. Chris Coons , a Democrat , said she saw a video of Thursday ’ s incident and denounced the behavior of the armed man , whom she identified as one of her supporters .
“ Firearms should only ever be used to defend life and property , ” she said Friday in a post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I denounce this behavior completely , and will support law enforcement as they work to resolve the situation.
” Delaware State Police Cpl .
Jason Hatchell told the News Journal that troopers monitoring the rally were about a block away when the incident occurred outside the state Republican Party ’ s headquarters .
“ In this particular case , once troopers were notified of the incident , they responded to contact the suspect , but he had fled the area , ” Hatchell said .
The incident remains under investigation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said police were slow to react .
“ I have never in my lifetime been met with violence and especially with guns being pointed at me for voicing my opinion , ” Kelly said .
Witzke won the Republican primary earlier this month , defeating the party ’ s endorsed candidate , and faces Coons in the November general election .
Witzke is one of dozens of current or former candidates who have promoted or expressed an interest in the QAnon conspiracy theory , which centers on the baseless belief that President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enemies in the “ deep state ” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals .
Witzke has been photographed wearing a QAnon T-shirt and has used the QAnon slogan “ WWG1WGA , ” which stands for “ Where We Go One , We Go All , ” in some of her Twitter hashtags .
Witzke told The Associated Press in January that she had stopped promoting QAnon months earlier .

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Police are investigating a confrontation in which a man pointed a gun toward protesters outside a campaign rally for a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Delaware.
Lauren Witzke, the Republican challenger to Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, said she saw a video of Thursday’s incident and denounced the behavior of the armed man, whom she identified as one of her supporters.
“Firearms should only ever be used to defend life and property,” she said Friday in a post on her campaign’s Facebook page. “I denounce this behavior completely, and will support law enforcement as they work to resolve the situation.”
Delaware State Police Cpl. Jason Hatchell told the News Journal that troopers monitoring the rally were about a block away when the incident occurred outside the state Republican Party’s headquarters.
“In this particular case, once troopers were notified of the incident, they responded to contact the suspect, but he had fled the area,” Hatchell said. The incident remains under investigation, he said.
Protest organizer Kristina Kelly said police were slow to react.
“I have never in my lifetime been met with violence and especially with guns being pointed at me for voicing my opinion,” Kelly said.
Witzke won the Republican primary earlier this month, defeating the party’s endorsed candidate, and faces Coons in the November general election.
Witzke is one of dozens of current or former candidates who have promoted or expressed an interest in the QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the baseless belief that President Donald Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
Witzke has been photographed wearing a QAnon T-shirt and has used the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA,” which stands for “Where We Go One, We Go All,” in some of her Twitter hashtags.
Witzke told The Associated Press in January that she had stopped promoting QAnon months earlier.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Alabama jail going to digital mail system for inmates

HUNTSVILLE , Ala. ( AP ) - Inmates in one Alabama county jail will no longer get their mail in the usual manner beginning next month .
The Madison County Sheriff ’ s Office , in a news release , said it ’ s moving to digitize incoming mail , including letters , cards and photographs .
The mail will be scanned into the commissary system and delivered to inmates in digital form only , al.com reported .
Inmates will have access to their personal mail through a kiosk inside the housing areas .
After the mail is scanned and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County Detention Facility will retain the items for a week from the date received , the sheriff ’ s office said .
Sheriff Kevin Turner said the change is prompted by the threat from COVID-19 , and to keep inmates from receiving drugs or “ dangerous substances ” through the mail system .
Books and magazines are not affected by the change .
“ By offering this service , we hope to provide an extra barrier for those seeking to send illegal drugs and other contraband into our jail facility , ” Turner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a proactive response to ensure the health and safety of the jail staff and inmates of the jail .
We believe that this will enhance our security tremendously.
” Several law enforcement agencies have adopted the practice of scanning mail and delivering it digitally to inmates including Shawnee County , Kansas ; Walton County , Florida and Sangamon County , Illinois .

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Inmates in one Alabama county jail will no longer get their mail in the usual manner beginning next month.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office, in a news release, said it’s moving to digitize incoming mail, including letters, cards and photographs. The mail will be scanned into the commissary system and delivered to inmates in digital form only, al.com reported.
Inmates will have access to their personal mail through a kiosk inside the housing areas.
After the mail is scanned and delivered to the inmates, the Madison County Detention Facility will retain the items for a week from the date received, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff Kevin Turner said the change is prompted by the threat from COVID-19, and to keep inmates from receiving drugs or “dangerous substances” through the mail system. Books and magazines are not affected by the change.
“By offering this service, we hope to provide an extra barrier for those seeking to send illegal drugs and other contraband into our jail facility,” Turner said. “This mail process is a proactive response to ensure the health and safety of the jail staff and inmates of the jail. We believe that this will enhance our security tremendously.”
Several law enforcement agencies have adopted the practice of scanning mail and delivering it digitally to inmates including Shawnee County, Kansas; Walton County, Florida and Sangamon County, Illinois.


washingtontimes--2020-09-26--Dartmouth-Hitchcock opens donor milk depot, dispensary

LEBANON , N.H. ( AP ) - Dartmouth-Hitchcock has opened a donor milk depot and dispensary at its Women ’ s Health Resource Center in Lebanon .
The health system has partnered with Mothers ’ Milk Bank Northeast to offer a location where women with excess milk can donate it to babies in need after registering and being screened .
Families of infants with prescriptions for pasteurized human donor milk can pick up the milk to take home .
Babies can get donor milk at 11 New Hampshire hospitals , but once they leave the hospital , families must travel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a milk bank .
Milk Bank Northeast has five dispensaries in four states , including two in New Hampshire , and 30 depots in 10 states , including five in New Hampshire .
“ A donor milk dispensary is a forward-thinking and innovative way to foster health and ensure that as many babies as possible have access to human milk , ” said Ann Marie Lindquist , director of community relations for Mothers ’ Milk Bank Northeast .
“ It is especially meaningful for the community to have a location where families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ”

LEBANON, N.H. (AP) - Dartmouth-Hitchcock has opened a donor milk depot and dispensary at its Women’s Health Resource Center in Lebanon.
The health system has partnered with Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast to offer a location where women with excess milk can donate it to babies in need after registering and being screened. Families of infants with prescriptions for pasteurized human donor milk can pick up the milk to take home.
Babies can get donor milk at 11 New Hampshire hospitals, but once they leave the hospital, families must travel to a dispensary or arrange for shipping from a milk bank.
Milk Bank Northeast has five dispensaries in four states, including two in New Hampshire, and 30 depots in 10 states, including five in New Hampshire.
“A donor milk dispensary is a forward-thinking and innovative way to foster health and ensure that as many babies as possible have access to human milk,” said Ann Marie Lindquist, director of community relations for Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast. “It is especially meaningful for the community to have a location where families can both donate and receive milk.”