Author: CensorBiz

U.S. Congressman Justin Amash says he is exploring a presidential run as a Libertarian Party candidate. He announced his plans Tuesday, saying the country is ready for a president who brings people together and restores respect for the Constitution. Amash drew attention last July when he left the Republican Party to become an independent, citing a dissatisfaction with the state of partisan politics. He has also been a critic of President Donald Trump and joined Democrats in voting for Trump’s impeachment. The Libertarian Party welcomed Amash’s interest and said it anticipates a “robust debate” among several candidates. 
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China’s parliament will hold its annual session in late May, two months later than scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday that the National People’s Congress will convene in Beijing on May 22.   The 3,000-member ceremonial legislature was originally scheduled to meet on March 5, but the session was postponed after the COVID-19 outbreak that originated in the central city of Wuhan spread throughout the mainland. The gathering indicates that Chinese leaders are growing increasingly confident that the country has overcome the pandemic, which has infected nearly 83,000 people in China and killed more than 4,600.   China’s official number of infections have dwindled dramatically over the last month, with no new deaths reported for two consecutive weeks. 
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Tribes urged the federal government to quickly disburse coronavirus relief funding after a judge handed them an early victory in a case centered on who is eligible for a share of the $8 billion allocated to tribes. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of the tribes late Monday in their bid to keep Alaska Native corporations from getting any of the money — at least for now. The decision clears the U.S. Treasury Department to send payments to 574 federally recognized tribes in response to the coronavirus. At least 18 tribes sued the Treasury Department, alleging that Congress intended the funding to go only to tribal governments. They said the corporations that own most of the Native land in Alaska don’t fit within the definition of “Indian Tribe” in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act signed into law last month. FILE – Then-attorney Amit Mehta speaks in Bronx state Supreme Court in New York, March 28, 2012.Mehta said the tribes easily showed they would suffer irreparable harm unless he limited the funding temporarily to tribal governments while he awaited more argument on the question of eligibility of Alaska Native corporations.  “These are monies that Congress appropriated on an emergency basis to assist tribal governments in providing core public services to battle a pandemic that is ravaging the nation, including in Indian Country,” Mehta said. The U.S. Justice Department, which represented Treasury, declined comment Tuesday. The Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment. Justice Department attorney Jason Lynch had argued that the Treasury Department’s decision to include Alaska Native corporations wasn’t subject to judicial review because the funding is for a public health emergency. Mehta rejected the argument.  The Treasury Department has said it could start sending payments to tribes Tuesday — two days past the deadline in the coronavirus relief bill. But it has not said how it would determine who gets what. Congress set aside $8 billion for tribes in the $2.2 trillion bill. Mehta did not order the Treasury Department to disburse all the money to tribal governments.  Harry Pickernell Sr., chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation in Washington state, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision. “This ruling will help tribal governments to lead in the aid and recovery of their people,” he said in a statement. The tribes that have sued are in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Washington state. Alaska Native corporations Alaska Native corporations are unique to Alaska and own most of the Native land in the state under a 1971 settlement known as the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Mehta said neither the corporations nor the Treasury Department showed the corporations are providing public services comparable to tribal governments to combat the coronavirus. The corporations, which are not parties to the lawsuit, have said they support Alaska Natives economically, socially and culturally.  Two associations that together represent most of the corporations — the ANCSA Regional Association and the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association — said they believe the corporations ultimately will be deemed eligible for funding.  “This will mean a delay in necessary resources and economic assistance for Alaska Native people in our communities and our state,” the groups said. “However, Alaska Native people have a history of resilience and strength. Together we will prevent the spread of COVID-19, care for those who get sick, and repair our economies.” For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and death. The vast majority of people recover. 
 
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday named a family friend to head the federal police, days after his justice minister quit and accused the president of meddling in law enforcement for political motives. The controversy over the appointment and allegations by outgoing minister Sergio Moro of improper interference in the police force triggered talk of impeachment and a criminal investigation approved by the Supreme Court, distracting from the coronavirus epidemic that has killed 5,017 people in Brazil, hundreds more than in China. The government’s official gazette confirmed the appointment of new federal police chief Alexandre Ramagem, 48, who took charge of the president’s security after he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018. The selection comes amid investigations of alleged wrongdoing by Bolsonaro’s sons. FILE – Alexandre Ramagem, general director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), speaks during his inauguration ceremony, in Brasilia, Brazil, July 11, 2019.Ramagem, who joined the federal police in 2005, has the fewest years of service of any officer tapped to lead the force. He has run the Brazilian Intelligence Agency since July. On Friday, Justice Minister Sergio Moro alleged in a stunning televised address that Bolsonaro had repeatedly said he wanted a “personal contact” in the top police job “from whom he could get information, intelligence reports.” Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday gave the green light for the top public prosecutor to investigate the allegations against Bolsonaro of interfering in law enforcement. Justice Celso de Mello gave the federal police 60 days to carry out the investigation requested by Brazil’s chief public prosecutor Augusto Aras. Based on the results of the police investigation, the public prosecutor will decide whether to press charges against the president. An indictment would have to be approved by the lower house. The biggest political storm since Bolsonaro took office last year came during Brazil’s worst public health crisis. The Health Ministry reported that a record 474 people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 5,017. Confirmed cases have risen at 5,000 a day in the last 48 hours, to 71,866. On Tuesday, the opposition Democratic Labor Party asked the Supreme Court to block Ramagem’s nomination, alleging an abuse of power. The affair has sparked talk in Congress of impeachment, just four years after such proceedings toppled former President Dilma Rousseff. However, a poll by Datafolha published on Monday evening showed Brazilians divided on impeachment, with 45% supporting the move and 48% against. Crucially, Bolsonaro appears to be keeping core supporters, the poll showed, with 33% of those surveyed saying they thought he was doing a good or excellent job. Political interference FILE – Brazil’s Justice Minister Sergio Moro attends a news conference in Brasilia, Brazil, April 13, 2020.Still, the accusations from the popular “super minister” Moro, who locked up scores of powerful politicians and businessmen as a judge, has dented Bolsonaro’s corruption-fighting image, which was central to his 2018 campaign. Moro said he had never seen political interference of the kind sought by Bolsonaro over Brazil’s federal police, even under previous governments whose officials and allies were convicted of participating in sweeping corruption schemes. A New Year’s party photo on social media of Ramagem grinning beside the president’s son Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, circulated widely on Tuesday, emphasizing the close ties between the family and the new top cop. FILE – Flavio Bolsonaro, left, and Carlos Bolsonaro, sons of Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro (not pictured), are seen in Brasilia, Brazil, Dec. 10, 2018.Carlos Bolsonaro is the subject of a Supreme Court probe looking at his role in disseminating “fake news,” according to newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. His brother, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, was accused in a congressional investigation of participating in a “fake news” scheme. Their eldest brother, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is also being investigated by state prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro over alleged money laundering and misuse of public funds. All three have denied any wrongdoing. They and the president have decried the probes as politically motivated attacks. Over the weekend, Bolsonaro took to Facebook to defend Ramagem, after word of his nomination leaked to the press. “So what? I knew Ramagem before he knew my children. Should he be vetoed for that reason? Whose friend should I pick?” the president said in a post.
 
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily DebunkClaim: Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, cures the coronavirus.Verdict: FalseRead the full story: “False belief poison cures virus kills over 700 in Iran,” Associated Press.​ Social Media Disinfo​News NT screenshotCirculating on social media: The claim that one of Britain’s first volunteers to be injected with a trial coronavirus vaccine has died.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: “Britain’s first coronavirus vaccine volunteer has not died after trial jab,” Agence France-Presse​ Factual Reads on CoronavirusHello, social distancing. Goodbye, handshakes?
Our hands can carry Salmonella, E. coli, norovirus and respiratory infections like adenovirus and hand-foot-mouth disease.
— Reuters, April 28​
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The first major test of an almost completely vote-by-mail election during a pandemic is unfolding Tuesday in Ohio, offering lessons to other states about how to conduct one of the most basic acts of democracy amid a health crisis.The process hasn’t been smooth as state officials have navigated election laws and the need to protect citizens and poll workers from the coronavirus. Ohio’s in-person primary was delayed just hours before polls were supposed to open last month, prompting legal challenges and confusion.Tuesday’s election replacing it requires voters to run at least three pieces of mail — an application, a blank ballot and a completed one — through the U.S. Postal Service.With Joe Biden emerging as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, there’s little suspense in the results. Ohio’s vote is instead being closely watched as a case study for how to proceed with elections if the pandemic doesn’t ease. States have taken drastically different approaches, with Wisconsin proceeding with in-person voting earlier this month and New York saying Monday it would cancel its presidential primary, which was scheduled for June.Some governors have suggested they would consider moving to an all-mail voting system for the November general election, something President Donald Trump has strongly opposed. The National Conference of State Legislatures says five states currently conduct all elections entirely by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.As he prepared for the results, Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose warned the process could be bumpy.”A lot of things will look like election night, but then some things won’t,” LaRose said in an interview last week.There will still be some in-person voting on Tuesday. Ohio law guarantees that any voter who doesn’t receive a ballot they requested by the legal deadline has the right to vote in person, meaning they could appear at county boards if they don’t get one by Tuesday afternoon — or potentially sue.Maryland was also grappling with how to vote safely on Tuesday as polling centers opened to conduct a special election to finish the term of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings.But most of the focus was on Ohio, where the mail-in election is playing out at a time when support for such a process is rising. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds Democrats are now much more likely than Republicans to support their state conducting elections exclusively by mail, 47% to 29%. In 2018, about half as many Democrats were in favor, and there was little difference in the views of supporters from each party.LaRose and Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, have both been longtime supporters of increasing voting-by-mail options, but the political dynamics could change as the coronavirus redraws the political landscape.Trump has lately railed against expanding voting by mail, and many Republicans share his concerns. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans worry that voter fraud would be a major problem with all-mail voting, according to the AP-NORC poll. Two months ago, about as many described voter fraud as a major problem in U.S. elections in general. In fact, voter fraud is rare.Lynne Marshall, of Sylvania, Ohio, opened her mailbox Tuesday and was disappointed to see that her ballot had not arrived after a monthlong wait and countless calls to the state and local election offices.She spent the next minutes agonizing over whether to cast a provisional vote in person at the election board and put her health at risk or stay home and skip voting for the first time that she can remember.”I don’t know what to do,” she said. “What should I do? I’m just really disgusted with it all. Of course, I’ll feel guilty if I don’t vote.”Jen Miller, the head of the League of Women Voters in Ohio said it will be impossible to know how many people stayed home because they didn’t get a ballot in time.”I do suspect a lot of people are waiting to see if their ballot comes in the mail today,” said Miller, the organization’s state director. “We’ve had people waiting weeks and weeks.”One thing that won’t be in doubt Tuesday is the presidential primary results since Biden is the only candidate left in the race. Still, early voting began Feb. 19, so Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders could pick up Ohio delegates, despite suspending his campaign nearly three weeks ago. 
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Having access to local, organic fruits and vegetables is often a key to a nutritious diet. The following story, reported before the COVID-19 outbreak, tells of one man trying to make getting good food easier.  And a little update – his service is busier than ever due to the pandemic. VOA’s Marsha James has more from Columbia, Maryland.
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Communities in the United States and around the world are talking about when and how to ease lockdown measures as they grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. This disease and how it spreads presents some unique challenges. People without symptoms can infect others, and for some, it can be deadly. What if a smartphone app could let you know if you have been exposed? Michelle Quinn reports.
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Dozens of police officers took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Monday to demand the government pay them the money it owes them. The group, who fanned out on motorbikes, pickup trucks, SUVs and on foot, were accompanied by some civilian supporters.  
 
“We’re out in the street today because we still haven’t received what we asked for,” a policeman, dressed in uniform, wearing a black face mask and holding a rifle told VOA Creole. He said he is part of a group that calls itself “Fantom 509” and who represent those killed on the job.  Fantom means ghost.Earlier this afternoon in #Haiti shots fired as police from a group calling itself Fantom 509 hit the streets to protest. No social distancing in Port au Prince, where there are over 70 #COVID19 cases. 📹Matiado Vilme pic.twitter.com/tZTXpje5CC— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) April 27, 2020The officer said they are asking the government to put a credit of 25,000 Haitian dollars on their debit cards and pay them a 50,000 Haitian dollar base salary. Overall, they want better work conditions and a better salary. 
 
The officer, who did not give his name, also accused the Office National d’Assurance-Vieillesse (ONA), a government agency that oversees retirement benefits for government employees, of corruption and favoritism.  
 
“We know ONA doesn’t provide loans to poor people like us, they only know lawmakers (and their relatives) like Youri’s mother (Senator Latortue), senators and deputies,” he said.   
 
“The living officers asked us to join them in the street today,” a man, dressed in black clothing, a black hat, dark sunglasses and a black face mask told VOA.  Asked who exactly the ‘living officers’ are, the masked man said they are the officers who work out of the police stations, responding to 911 calls, direct traffic and perform other law enforcement duties.Haiti police and some civilian supporters took to the streets of Port au Prince, April 27, 2020 to demand back pay and better working conditions. (VOA Creole/Matiado Vilme)While he was talking to reporters, VOA heard shots being fired on the street –  one of which was so loud it caused the officer to flinch. He said they are prepared to continue protesting until their demands are met.  
 
At one point, the protesters exchanged fire with a group of policemen who arrived on the scene in armed vehicles to disperse them. At least one person was injured, VOA Creole has learned.  But the attempt to disperse the protest was unsuccessful, and the group made its way to the Ministry of Economy and Finance where they rammed the gate with an SUV, then set fire to four vehicles.#Haiti police protesters forced their way into the Finance Ministry and set fire to cars – video MTiado Vilme pic.twitter.com/JwyjinN0RL— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) April 27, 2020During the protest, which lasted several hours, VOA saw some protesters wearing masks, but many others were not social distancing at a time when the coronavirus continues to spread in the country.    
 
As of April 26, Haiti has a total of 74 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Public Health Ministry. Seven people have recovered and six have died.   
 
Shortly after the protest, Haitian President Jovenel Moise addressed the nation in a pre-planned speech about the government’s coronavirus response.  During the address, Moise said he has instructed Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe to release back pay for the police officers who have not been paid. He made no mention of Monday’s police protest.
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The head of Japan’s medical association says it will be difficult for Tokyo to restage the Summer Olympics next year without an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus. Yohsitake Yokokura offered his opinion Tuesday during a videoconference with journalists  in Tokyo.  Japan and the International Olympic Committee agreed back in March to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were scheduled to start on July 24, for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.   Laboratories around the world are working on vaccines to guard against COVID-19, but experts say it could take months or even years to determine if any vaccine is safe and effective before they can be used. Yokokura did not say whether the Tokyo Olympic Games should be cancelled if a vaccine is not developed. A Japanese infectious disease expert said last week he does not think it is likely the Tokyo Olympic games will be held next year because of what he foresees as the lingering threat of the coronavirus. In a teleconference interview at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Kobe University Infectious Diseases Professor Kentaro Iwata said because the Olympics involve bringing in athletes and spectators from all over the world, the risk would be high that the COVID-19 outbreak could restart. 
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Actress Olivia Cheng was recently volunteering in Vancouver when she says she witnessed a man drive up to an elderly Chinese woman, roll down his window and yell, “This is your fault!” before throwing trash at her.The incident enraged Cheng, and also served as another reason why she feels it’s so important for celebrities of Asian descent to use their voices and speak up against anti-Asian attacks, which authorities say are increasing during the coronavirus pandemic.”I don’t think we can pretend that this isn’t happening,” Cheng, who stars in “The Stand” on CBS All Access, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “For now, it would not be unwise to be a little more careful, to maybe have buddy systems when possible to go get your groceries if you’re not feeling safe.” The FBI reports there has been an uptick in hate crimes and harassment against Asian Americans since the outbreak of COVID-19, which first appeared in Wuhan, China, late last year.Some people have blamed China and Asians in general for the spread of coronavirus; President Donald Trump at times has called it the “Chinese virus.”In New York, state Attorney General Letitia James has set up a hotline to report harassment or other targeted crime. Some of those incidents have been filmed and posted online.Tzi Ma arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of “Mulan” at the Dolby Theatre on Mar. 09, 2020.”Tigertail” star Tzi Ma says he’s been a victim of such harassment. He was entering a grocery store in Pasadena, California, recently when he was confronted by a man in a car.”He looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘You should be quarantined’ and took off,” said the veteran actor, who was born in Hong Kong but moved to the United States as a child. “I got very angry obviously, flush with this kind of cold in your body. And I started screaming at him, but he was way too far away for him to hear me.” Actor Alain Uy, a star of the upcoming Hulu series “Marvel’s Helstrom,” worried early on that such incidents would occur after the virus’ spread. “Once this outbreak happened in Wuhan, we all kind of went, ‘OK, we know what this is gonna mean,'” said the actor, who was born in the Philippines.”Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu said he’s been feeling more cautious than usual.”It’s very sad when I feel a little bit weird when I’m going to go for a walk around the block,” he said. Jeannie Mai arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif.”The Real” co-host, Jeannie Mai, who is half-Vietnamese and half-Chinese, revealed recently that for the first time, she needed someone to monitor her social media posts to delete racist comments.”The Good Doctor” actor Will Yun Lee is even nervous about taking his baby son to the grocery store: “My wife is Caucasian, but my son is half Korean and half white. But he looks very Asian.”But Ma and other stars are speaking up and working to combat the ignorance and harassment. Ma joined actress Celia Au and other celebrities and influencers in the recent campaign called ” Wash the Hate, ” created by IW Group, an Asian American-focused marketing agency. The PSA features Ma, Au and others washing their hands and reminding people that hygiene, not xenophobia, is the way to help combat the virus. “If I can start the conversation, why not?’ said Au, who was also born in Hong Kong. “If we don’t talk about it, then it’s not going to be talked about at all.”For Cheng, the recent wave of anti-Asian sentiment brought back painful memories of her childhood growing up in Edmonton, Canada, where she was the victim of a bias attack as a teen.She went down an internet rabbit hole of attacks posted online. “I had to stop watching,” she said. “It brought up all those feelings again from being a kid and not being able to do anything.”Mai says that it’s not only important for Asian stars to speak out against these attacks, but people of other races as well. “These are the conversations you need to be having with your kids in your house. You need to, even if you’re not Chinese. You should be explaining that this is terrible, that racism is coming out of this pandemic,” she said. “So, have that talk with your kid. Have that talk with your friends. If one of your friends says, ‘Yo, this ‘Chinese Virus’ is crazy.’ Say, ‘No. Actually, man it’s called COVID-19. It’s not the ‘Chinese Virus.” Just check them.”Earlier this month, Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” defended calling coronavirus the “Chinese Virus,” comparing it to the Spanish flu. “While people say it’s innocuous and that it came from China, it’s the undertones,” Lee said. “Certain people will grab those undertones and attach to it.” There’s also a worry that anti-Asian American sentiment could translate to a regression in Hollywood after recent success of telling Asian stories. Bong Joon Ho and the cast of “Parasite” pose at the 92nd Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Feb. 9, 2020.This year, the South Korean film “Parasite” won the best picture Oscar, and Chinese-American director Lulu Wang took home the Independent Spirit Award for her film, “The Farewell.” “Crazy Rich Asians” was a hit at the box office in 2018 and last year, Sandra Oh became the first Asian woman in 39 years to win the best leading TV actress Golden Globe for “Killing Eve.” “I worry, is this going to impact our chances so soon after it feels like we finally made inroads?” Cheng said. “Is this going to regress us and put us however many steps back?” Ma says the only way to proceed is to keep putting out diverse stories.”There’s no relenting. We’ll keep moving forward. And hopefully one day, people are going to say, ‘You know what? I not only accept the differences, but I also accept the fact that we’re very much alike.'” 
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With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation.  The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs.  Van Beek and other farmers say they have no choice but to cull livestock as they run short on space to house their animals or money to feed them, or both.  The world’s biggest meat companies – including Smithfield Foods Inc, Cargill Inc, JBS USA and Tyson Foods Inc – have halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants in North America since April as workers fall ill, stoking global fears of a meat shortage. Crisis in supply chainVan Beek’s piglets are victims of a sprawling food-industry crisis that began with the mass closure of restaurants – upending that sector’s supply chain, overwhelming storage and forcing farmers and processors to destroy everything from milk to salad greens to animals. Processors geared up to serve the food-service industry can’t immediately switch to supplying grocery stores.  Millions of pigs, chickens and cattle will be euthanized because of slaughterhouse closures, limiting supplies at grocers, said John Tyson, chairman of top U.S. meat supplier Tyson Foods.  Pork has been hit especially hard, with daily production cut by about a third. FILE – Eggs are staged for packaging at Wilcox Family Farms, April 9, 2020, in Roy, Wash. The average retail price of eggs was up nearly 40% for the week ended April 18, compared to a year earlier, according to Nielsen data.In Minnesota, farmers Kerry and Barb Mergen felt their hearts pound when a crew from Daybreak Foods Inc arrived with carts and tanks of carbon dioxide to euthanize their 61,000 egg-laying hens earlier this month.  Daybreak Foods, based in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, supplies liquid eggs to restaurants and food-service companies. The company, which owns the birds, pays contract farmers like the Mergens to feed and care for them. Drivers normally load the eggs onto trucks and haul them to a plant in Big Lake, Minnesota, which uses them to make liquid eggs for restaurants and ready-to-serve dishes for food-service companies.  But the plant’s operator, Cargill Inc, said it idled the facility because the pandemic reduced demand. Daybreak Foods, which has about 14.5 million hens with contractor-run or company-owned farms in the Midwest, is trying to switch gears and ship eggs to grocery stores, said Chief Executive Officer William Rehm.  But egg cartons are in shortage nationwide and the company now must grade each egg for size, he said. Rehm declined to say how much of the company’s flock has been euthanized. Farmers call for helpAs the United States faces a possible food shortage, and supermarkets and food banks are struggling to meet demand, the forced slaughters are becoming more widespread across the country, according to agricultural economists, farm trade groups and federal lawmakers who are hearing from farmer constituents.  Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, along with both U.S. senators from a state that provides a third of the nation’s pork, sent a letter to the Trump administration pleading for financial help and assistance with culling animals and properly disposing of their carcasses.  “There are 700,000 pigs across the nation that cannot be processed each week and must be humanely euthanized,” said the April 27 letter.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said late Friday it is establishing a National Incident Coordination Center to help farmers find markets for their livestock or euthanize and dispose of animals if necessary.  Shame and griefThe latest economic disaster to befall the farm sector comes after years of extreme weather, sagging commodity prices and the Trump administration’s trade war with China and other key export markets.  But it’s more than lost income. The pandemic barreling through farm towns has mired rural communities in despair, a potent mix of shame and grief. Farmers take pride in the fact that their crops and animals are meant to feed people, especially in a crisis that has idled millions of workers and forced many to rely on food banks. Now, they’re destroying crops and killing animals for no purpose.  Farmers flinch when talking about killing off animals early or plowing crops into the ground, for fear of public wrath. Two Wisconsin dairy farmers, forced to dump milk by their buyers, told Reuters they recently received anonymous death threats.  “They say, ‘How dare you throw away food when so many people are hungry?'” said one farmer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They don’t know how farming works. This makes me sick, too.”  Grocery prices upEven as livestock and crop prices plummet, prices for meat and eggs at grocery stores are up. The average retail price of eggs was up nearly 40% for the week ended April 18, compared to a year earlier, according to Nielsen data. Average retail fresh chicken prices were up 5.4%, while beef was up 5.8% and pork up 6.6%.  Hog farmers nationwide will lose an estimated $5 billion, or $37 per head, for the rest of the year due to pandemic disruptions, according to the industry group National Pork Producers Council.  A recently announced $19 billion U.S. government coronavirus aid package for farmers will not pay for livestock that are culled, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation’s largest farmer trade group.The USDA said in a statement the payment program is still being developed and the agency has received more requests for assistance than it has money to handle.  
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Chinese authorities allowed a leading human rights lawyer to reunite with his family late Monday, ending more than four years of detention, most of it without communications with his friends and family.Quanzhang Wang returned home to his wife and son in the capital, Beijing. They burst into tears as a friend recorded the reunion.一个等待5年的拥抱！ pic.twitter.com/B6rZXWcWsH
— Suyutong 🎗️ (@Suyutong) April 27, 2020Wang had been released from jail earlier this month, following a four-and-a-half year sentence for “subversion” that the U.S. had called “unjust.”Right before the long overdue reunion, Wang told VOA that he was very happy to be back in Beijing. He said, “I really want to hold my son. I was always imagining that moment when I was in jail. When they visited me in jail, we could only talk across the glass. Now I can finally hug my wife and son.”He also told VOA that this time he’s not temporarily visiting but permanently back in Beijing. Release delayed by quarantineWang was one of more than 200 lawyers and activists detained in a notorious crackdown on Chinese civil rights lawyers starting in July 2015. The government argued that rights lawyers had exploited some cases to enrich themselves.Rights activists say the campaign was a hallmark of China’s President Xi Jinping’s tightening grip on power. Wang had defended political campaigners and victims of land seizures as well as followers of the Falun Gong movement, a banned spiritual group in China.Prosecutors accused him of “subversion of state power.” During the trial, journalists and foreign diplomats were barred from the courthouse.After serving his time, Wang was scheduled to be released April 5. However, instead he was sent to Jinan, a city that is 400 kilometers away from his home, for a mandatory quarantine required by the Chinese authorities. The authorities told him that he would be freed after the 14-day quarantine, but they made him wait a third week before allowing him to go back to Beijing Monday.A day before his scheduled return, on April 26, his wife was hospitalized with an acute appendicitis. Wang tried to meet with her but was stopped on the way home by the police. He argued it’s his basic human right and responsibility to reunite with and take care of his family.He told VOA that the authorities also prohibited him from talking with the press.The U.S. State Department released a statement last week calling for the Chinese government to allow Wang’s “freedom of movement, including the ability to join his family in Beijing.”The Chinese Foreign Ministry replied that the Chinese government objects to interference in its “domestic affairs” by any country. 
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Nicole Hingle wasn’t surprised when the call came. Frustrations had been building inside juvenile detention centers nationwide as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. Now, her 17-year-old son Jace, was on the phone telling her about 40 kids had rioted at his facility in Louisiana — the same state where more than a dozen youths escaped during two breakouts at another site this month.  Hingle said her son described whirring helicopters above the Bridge City facility just outside New Orleans. Juveniles kicked down their doors, a SWAT team swarmed in, kids were pepper-sprayed and a staffer was injured during the melee. “It’s a real mess,” the teen told his mother. “Everything is destroyed.” Due to coronavirus lockdown measures, it’s been more than two months since Hingle has been able to visit her son. She has accused administrators of keeping her in the dark, and said she was growing increasingly upset by the lack of a clear plan to protect or release those held inside. Ten youths have tested positive at Bridge City in recent weeks. “This could be life or death for my child,” said Hingle, adding that her son was among a group transferred to the Acadiana Center for Youth after the brawl, where they were pepper-sprayed twice over the weekend by parole officers brought in to help due to short staffing.  “I don’t want condolences from the state. I don’t want condolences from the governor,” she said. “I do not want sympathy. I want them to do what is right on behalf of our kids because they cannot save themselves nor can we save them without the help of these politicians.” Calls for releaseAs more and more state and local officials announce the release of thousands of at-risk inmates from the nation’s adult jails and prisons, parents along with children rights’ groups and criminal justice experts say vulnerable youths should be allowed to serve their time at home. But they say demands for large-scale releases have been largely ignored. Decisions are often not made at the state level, but instead carried out county by county, with individual judges reviewing juvenile cases one by one.  Such legal hurdles have resulted in some kids with symptoms being thrown into isolation for 23 hours a day, in what amounts to solitary confinement, according to relatives and youth advocates. They say many have been cut off from programs, counselors and school. Some have not been issued masks, social distancing is nearly impossible and they have been given limited access to phone calls home. One mother reported that her daughter was so cut off from the outside world — with no TV and staff not wearing any protective gear — that the girl had no idea a deadly virus was even circulating in America. In some states, authorities have been shuttling kids between facilities, trying to make sure sick and healthy young people are kept apart.  Growing fears and frustrations have led to violence and mayhem not just in Louisiana, but at juvenile centers in other coronavirus hot spots such as New York. Young people are calling their parents to say they’re scared and desperate to escape. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a facility in Portland, Oregon, this month after a “disturbance” broke out, but no injuries were reported. “The department has maintained essential staff at the juvenile detention center in accordance with national standards throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, and is working hard to balance the social and emotional needs of youth in our care during this extraordinary time,” the Multnomah County Juvenile Services Division said in a statement.  FILE – Vincent Schiraldi, co-director of the Columbia University Justice Lab, 2013. (A. Phillips for VOA)Vincent Schiraldi, co-director at Columbia University Justice Lab and a former correctional administrator, said he hoped these problems would serve as a warning to other juvenile facilities, especially those that have not yet been hit by the virus.  “If this storm is coming in your direction, don’t wait until you have 100 mile-an-hour winds to put the boards up on the windows,” he said. “Deal with it now. Come up with your COVID plan now. Get everybody out of your facility that can be gotten out, start training your staff, start developing your lines of communication, so that if people start getting sick and staff start calling in sick, then you can manage it as best you can.” As of Sunday, 150 juveniles and 283 staff had tested positive for COVID-19 at facilities nationwide, according to an unofficial log being kept by Josh Rovner at the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit The Sentencing Project. He said because testing has been so limited, it’s likely the real numbers are “much, much higher.” Separate facilitiesNew York is one of the few cities that operates two juvenile facilities. At the first sign of illness there, the city agency that oversees the sites decided to put healthy kids at the Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn, while moving all of the infected residents to the Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx. Fernando Cabrera, a Bronx council member, said he saw the potential danger of suddenly ripping kids away from familiar staff and routines, especially during a time of crisis.  “You transfer all these kids to another borough, they are going to be anxious,” he said after dozens of police responded when a fight broke out in Crossroads about two weeks ago. “They are in self-preservation mode.”  The city’s Administration for Children’s Services provided few details about the brawl, but said some staff suffered minor injuries, including one who needed offsite medical treatment.  A similar situation occurred at two branches of the Swanson Center for Youth in Louisiana. Its facility in Columbia had been designated for healthy youths, while its Monroe site was reserved for the infected, resulting in kids being transferred back and forth. So far, at least 17 have tested positive for the coronavirus in the two facilities, according to The Sentencing Project. In addition, two escapes occurred this month at Monroe involving 13 youths, according to a statement from the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice. Data lackingOne of the main obstacles to monitoring the spread of the coronavirus in youth lockups is that so few tests are being administered. In addition, some juvenile justice agencies, citing privacy concerns, have refused to release even basic information, including the number of people infected. Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice initially didn’t release figures. But on April 17, it revealed that more than two dozen kids had tested positive at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center outside Richmond, accounting for a quarter of all reported cases at youth facilities nationwide at that time, according to The Sentencing Project. On Monday, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said 26 youths have tested positive at the Memphis Center for Success and Independence. No severe cases were reported at Bon Air, and the majority were asymptomatic, according to a statement from Christopher Moon, the department’s chief physician. But Rachael Deane, of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Just Children Program, accused the department in a letter of not providing proper medical care to kids housed at Bon Air. She said one client with symptoms was not tested and another whose swab came back positive was never examined by a doctor. Deane also alleged that the department wasn’t communicating with parents when their kids became infected and that some clients had been denied access to counseling for weeks. She charged that legal rights were also being violated.  “Our clients report they are kept in their rooms for at least 23 hours per day. Although they are supposed to receive one hour per day outside their rooms, this is not always honored,” the letter said. “Even when their free hour is made available, residents are sometimes forced to choose between using it for essential activities, like taking a shower, instead of exercise and recreation.”  Valerie Boykin, director of the Virginia department, said in a statement that Bon Air residents’ parents and loved ones are kept informed in a timely manner. The juvenile population behind bars has been decreasing over the past couple of decades and stood at around 43,000 in 2017, the last available count. Roughly 70% were accused of low-level crimes.  The coronavirus doesn’t typically hit young people hard, but it has been shown to attack anyone with underlying health problems. Locked-up children face much higher rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments, along with substance abuse issues.   
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Face masks have gained worldwide importance as we battle the deadly coronavirus together. Most countries have recommended their citizens wear face masks to stem the spread of COVID-19.  But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do so.  Here’s what you need to know.
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Around the world, women are a critical part of the essential workforce, holding jobs considered too important to stop, even in the face of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders.
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In farming, there are many unknowns. The economy, weather and customer demand can affect crops and ultimately a farmer’s bottom line.
This year the agricultural industry was thrown a curve ball with COVID-19. Now as harvest season approaches, farmers are facing new questions about the availability of workers and how to keep them safe.
Farms in Adams and Franklin counties rank No. 1 and 3, respectively, in Pennsylvania for fruit, tree nut and berry sales.
“Generally, one of the biggest concerns right now and we’re hearing from our members, especially Adams and Franklin and areas where fruit growing is the primary agriculture sector, it’s just access to workers,” said Liam Migdail of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
The potential shortage comes from recent restrictions to international workers in light of COVID-19 and fears about what to do if too many employees get sick.
“That would shut us down in a heartbeat. If we all got the coronavirus, OK, nobody could work, the fruit falls on the ground … ,” said Kay Hollabaugh, co-owner and manager at Hollabaugh Bros. Inc. in Butler Township. But, in the meantime, the farm is trying to stay positive and keeping their workers “safe and healthy.”
Not only could a shortage of workers affect a farmer’s ability to pick their produce to sell, but it could also mean fewer options available for customers in stores and an increase in unemployment.
But some farmers say it’s too early to tell if coronavirus regulations are going to affect their ability to harvest fruits and vegetables since many begin between May and July.
“We don’t even know if (workers are) going to be able to come, so working on stuff that we may not have to work on is not something that we tend to do,” said Chris Baugher, co-owner of Adams County Nursery in Menallen Township.’Locals don’t want the work’
In 2016, the fruit industry contributed $580 million to the Adams County economy, creating 8,500 jobs and $16.4 million in local tax revenue, according to a study commissioned by Adams County Fruit Growers, Penn State Extension and others.
The South Mountain Fruit Belt produces 70 percent of Pennsylvania’s total crop, which is about 400 to 500 million pounds of apples a year.
Franklin County is also ranked No. 2 in the state for production of vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
In 2019, there were more than 1,800 guest workers in Pennsylvania through the H-2A visa program.
Denton Benedict, co-owner of Benedict’s Produce in Franklin County, usually employs around 90 workers through this visa program.
The program allows agricultural employers to hire temporary workers from outside the U.S. to perform temporary or seasonal work when there’s a lack of available domestic workers, according to Farmers.gov.
“Not being able to find good help locally is the reason that we went to the H-2A program,” said Baugher, who usually hires around 24 workers out of Honduras.
The H-2A program requires that participants attempt to fill jobs with domestic workers, which farmers say is difficult.
“For example, we’ve had our (job) ad out since two months or something, I haven’t got a single response, so if that tells you anything (it’s) that locals don’t want to work (picking vegetables),” Benedict said.
At Adams County Nursery, one apple picker will pick 150 to 200 bushels of apples a day within the span of three months. Baugher said the year before he began employing H-2A workers in 2017, they lost 5,000 bushels, that’s between $4 to $10 a bushel.
Hollabaugh said that they do not hire H-2A workers, but they also have a hard time hiring domestic workers because people aren’t interested.
“We’ve been in business since 1955, I’ve been involved in the business for probably 35 years, and I would say in the last 10 to 15 years there’s been a dramatic shift away from anyone domestic wanting to apply for any of our jobs,” Hollabaugh said.
Hollabaugh said some of the factors in this includes:
— People don’t have the skills to do this kind of work anymore.
— It’s hard physical labor. Domestic workers don’t want to work in the 95 degree weather, with humidity, carrying a crate around their neck that weighs 35 pounds.
— The pay is lower than what a domestic person will work for. Hollabaugh said they pay $10 to $15 an hour for people with skills and minimum wage for those without any skills, like high school students.
“There is a skill set involved,” Hollabaugh said. “The people who work for us who harvest our fruits and vegetables are very skilled, they’re very fast, they come to work in the morning with the sole purpose in mind to work to the best of their ability because we’re giving them a job, and they’re so grateful for it.”
On March 20, the U.S. Department of State temporarily suspended routine visa services like in-person interviews at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates in response to the pandemic. Embassies in Mexico, which last year supplied 91 percent of H-2A workers to the U.S., were the first to implement this policy.
On March 26, the State Department released an announcement allowing consular officers to waive visa interview requirements for first-time and returning H-2 applicants who have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility.
“There was some changes that happened at the State Department to try and make it available for more workers to come in but it didn’t fix the whole problem. We’re still advocating to try to get more access to H-2A workers,” Migdail said.
While Benedict said that his application seems to be moving along he does expect that his workers’ arrival date will be pushed back.
“If we don’t get our help, I mean, we’re already laying plastic, we got the greenhouses full of plants so we’re counting on that,” Benedict said. “If that would fall through, I mean that would be devastating.”Keeping workers healthy, virus-free
Employers that use the H-2A program are required to provide transportation and housing for their workers.
At Adams County Nursery, migrant workers are housed in a barrack-style camp that fits about 16 people and two house trailers that can house 12 more.
These living conditions do not allow for self-quarantine in case an employee gets coronavirus. Baugher hopes that by the time he needs these employees in June it won’t be a problem anymore.
“We’ve thought about maybe the need to quarantine them when they arrive for two weeks, but we haven’t thought about what a quarantine would look like if when we had them here we would need to quarantine them (individually),” Baugher said.
Hollabaugh hires migrant workers that are already in the country. She said they have not looked into how their employees can self-quarantine yet either since their harvesting season isn’t until the Fourth of July.
“Right now we are going like the rest of the world, day to day. … Certainly my hope and prayer is that by the Fourth of July it’s not an issue anymore. That’s my prayer, but if it still is an issue that is absolutely something that we will be addressing, we will be following the CDC guidelines and doing whatever is required of us,” Hollabaugh said.
Their camp is made up of apartment units available for singles and families, which would allow individuals to self-quarantine.
“I think it’s reasonable to say that we can expect that there’s going to be some shortages as a result of this,” Migdail said. “I mean if people’s kids are out of school or daycares close, they get sick, a family member gets sick, I think those ripple effects of not necessarily being able to have the workers you usually do are absolutely a concern.”
As part of the U.S. government’s attempt to help encourage employees to choose their health over their paycheck, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19.
This includes farmers who employ less than 500 people, Migdail said.
“We are also mindful of the financial strain this places on many farms, who are already operating on tight margins and contending with the economic fallout of the pandemic,” Migdail said. “We are advocating for farms to be able to access the assistance they need to remain viable during this time.”
‘If we don’t have the workers … you’re also gonna lose farms’
A shortage of farm workers has much greater consequences than just less hands to pick the fruits and vegetables grown in Franklin and Adams counties. Nationally, this shortage could mean less produce available for customers and less employment opportunities.
“There’s a lot of jobs in between the apple tree on the farm and in the orchard and the bin at the grocery store. … The whole industry as a whole employs a lot of people, and it generates extra economic boom for the areas as a result of that,” Migdail said.
Benedict said he knows a lot of farmers that rely on H-2A workers to keep their farms going.
“If they would shut down the H-2A … that would drastically impact the food for sure and prices will go up or else there will be a shortage of it,” Benedict said. “That’s why I think they’re trying pretty hard to let the H-2A stuff still go because I think they realized that it would cripple agriculture.”
Baugher said that if this shortage goes too far, the effects could be much more long term.
“The ag industries have not been faring well the last three or four years, and if they can’t pay the bank they’re gonna go away. … If we don’t have the workers to harvest the crops, you’re gonna lose jobs, you’re gonna have higher price produce on the shelves and you’re also gonna lose farms, I believe,” Baugher said.
For Benedict, one challenge he thinks he will have is selling his “crooked cucumbers or mis-shapen peppers” because of restaurant closures.
“Whereas the stores all want your nice looking, No. 1 stuff, so I have a feeling there’s gonna be a lot dumped because of that,” Benedict said.
But he knows that in the end, people have to eat.
“We’re just rolling with it and we’ll see what happens, not much else you can do. … We’re gonna do our best to provide it to them as long as we can get a reasonable price for stuff and we have the help to do it,” Benedict said.
All he asks of the public is to shop local and fresh when possible.
“Maybe with this virus people will pay more attention to that, they might want local, fresh stuff and know where it’s coming from. … We just keep on doing what we’re doing and try to make a living.” Benedict said.
Trying to stay up-to-date with precautions
In the meantime, farmers are doing what they can to stay sanitary and ensure that the public can get their produce.
At Hollabaugh Bros., market employees are wearing masks and gloves while all employees are also being asked to stay at home if they feel sick or don’t feel safe coming into work.
“My son takes care of the production crew, and he has been talking regularly with them about the CDC mandates, if you’re sick stay home, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, keep the distance,” Hollabaugh said.
Baugher said they are doing what they can to keep employees at the nursery separated by keeping groups smaller then 10 and staggering lunches. At times it can be hard though, like when workers are packaging trees into boxes that are 5 feet long.
Baugher said they are hesitant to use N95 masks because of the shortage.
“We didn’t figure we (should) put any more pressure on that market at the moment, than there already is.”
While farms are doing everything to stay compliant, Hollabaugh said it can be hard to keep up with all the changes that come with every passing day.
“Every day is a new day with a new set of challenges that we’re reading, what are the regulations now, what are they saying now, can we do this, should we do this or wait? It’s crazy,” Hollabaugh said.
One change they’re now facing is how they are going to market their crop. Usually, the Hollabaugh farm allows customers to pick out their individual produce but that isn’t safe to do this year
“Everything that’s coming in here right now that is not grown by us is being packaged in plastic, I mean with a worker who has a mask on and gloves on, that person is packing it in plastic so that no hands are ever touching it,” Hollabaugh said.
If this continues, they will have to take the same precautions for peaches. Though, there is no evidence that human or animal food or food packaging is associated with transmission of COVID-19, according to a news release from the Pa. Department of Agriculture.
“It’s vital that they’re able to keep doing what they’re doing through this and that creates a whole other set of challenges,” Migdail said. “OK, you are essential and you’re going to keep operating but how do you do that in a way that you know works with the new regulations or rules that we’re seeing state, national level and how do you do that in a way that’s safe for yourself, your workers, your family, the public?”
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