Jimmy Lai arrested, Whistleblower spreads virus details, Sanctuary Cities fight for rights + What Just Happened & 'Flu Brew'
NewsHero - Feb 28, 2020 - Issue 44
Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai, a financial patron of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, has been arrested Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
Welcome to this edition of NewsHero for Friday, February 28, 2020.
Today’s newsletter is a free-for-all! Yes, for subscribers and first-timers alike, this one is free for all.
We decided that being NewsHero—putting the hero of every story in the headlines as our priority—we’d go ahead and readily identify those heroes in each piece of coverage.
Going forward, heroes will be designated as follows:
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, hands down. - Meaning that it wasn’t even a close call.
🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, but… - Meaning that in this situation the call needed to be looked at in a little more detail. For example, they did the right thing but there have been some questionable calls in the past.
🦸♀️ - the hero, but only here, and it was a close call. - Meaning that in this instance they did the right thing but it was either out of character or a maddeningly close call.
We love feedback. Whether it’s about this system or our choice of hero or anything else, feel free to let us know what you think here.
As always, thank you for your support as we strive to grow as an independent news source so we can offer more for our readers.
Please share us with anyone you think might like what we do—or might need another perspective.
NewsHero Notes
Heaven Fitch - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
16-year-old Heaven Fitch made history on Feb. 22 when she became the first girl to win a North Carolina High School Wrestling State Championship. And she did it beating boys. As is the case in many states across the U.S., there are not enough girls wrestling in schools to warrant a separate division. Fitch follows in the footsteps of Michaela Hutchison, who became the first girl to ever win a state-wide high school title in 2006.
Mike Pompeo - 🦸♀️
The U.S. has seen a significant decrease in violence in Afghanistan during the past six days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, one day before Washington hopes to sign a U.S.-Taliban deal on an American troop withdrawal. Pompeo’s comment implies that if the lull continues for a full week as intended, it will be possible to sign the pact as part of a wider effort to promote intra-Afghan reconciliation and to end the United States’ longest war.
Afternoon Brief
Jimmy Lai - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Committee to Protect Journalists reported today that pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested by Hong Kong authorities on suspicion of participating in illegal assembly and criminal intimidation. Lai owns Apple Daily, a widely circulated pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper. The illegal assembly charge relates to a banned anti-government march on August 31, which Lai is accused of attending. The intimidation charge relates to a run-in with a journalist in 2017.
“This arrest is only the latest incident of harassment faced by Jimmy Lai, a critical pro-democracy voice from a prominent independent media house,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Hong Kong authorities should drop all legal proceedings against Lai and focus instead on finding individuals who have physically attacked Lai and other Apple Daily employees.”
Virus Whistleblower - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
A government whistleblower says federal health employees mingled with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper training or gear, then mixed back in with the general population, according to The New York Times. Staff members from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families were “improperly deployed” to two military bases in California to help with the processing of Americans evacuated from China and elsewhere. They were not provided safety-protocol training until five days into their assignment, said the whistleblower, who is reportedly as a senior leader at the health agency. Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved around freely, with at least one person staying in a local hotel and departing California on a commercial flight, the Times reported.
Sanctuary Cities - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Seven states—Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington—along with New York City filed lawsuits after the Justice Department said in 2017 that it would not award grants from a federal program to local governments that withheld information about undocumented immigrants in their jails. Now, a federal appeals court has ruled that the Justice Department can refuse to give money to cities and states that consider themselves sanctuaries and refuse to share information with federal immigration authorities. In the last two years, federal appeals courts in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco have ruled against the federal government, saying it was wrong to withhold the grants from those sanctuary jurisdictions.
“President Trump’s latest retaliation against his hometown takes away security funding from the number one terrorist target in America,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, “all because we refuse to play by his arbitrary rules.”
What Just Happened
A look back at this week’s stories
Protestors, demonstrators, and the courageous women who speak up - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
A women’s event in Mexico planned for next month stemming from anger over a number of high-profile femicides, gained momentum on Friday as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said public servants could participate. The strike is scheduled for March 9. Interior Minister Olga Sanchez declared her support. “Solidarity as a woman, and in my personal capacity, I join the #NationalStrike on March 9," she tweeted.
The journalists and health officials working to spread facts, not fear - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that it’s premature to declare the COVID-19 a pandemic and that the outbreak can be beaten. “The key message that should give all countries hope, courage and confidence is that this virus can be contained, indeed there are many countries that have done exactly that,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva. “Using the word ‘pandemic’ now does not fit the facts but may certainly cause fear,” he added.
Hong Kong government - 🦸♀️🦸♀️
Hong Kong’s government is proposing a nearly $1,300 cash handout for each resident over 18 years old to help alleviate hardships brought on by the spreading viral outbreak and prolonged political protests.
The subsidy was among a bundle of emergency measures in a budget presented to the city’s legislature today by Financial Secretary Paul Chan. “I consider that, with ample fiscal reserves, the government has to increase public expenditure amid an economic downturn to stimulate the economy and ride out the difficult times with members of the public,” Chan said.
Anti-government protesters - 🦸♀️🦸♀️
Peaceful protesters - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
A citizenship law in India introduced last December has led to clashes between those supporting it and those against it. The law essentially makes it easier for non-Muslims from some neighboring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship. Critics say the law is biased against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the new law adopted is of “great concern” and she was worried by reports of police inaction in the face of assaults against Muslims by other groups. “I appeal to all political leaders to prevent violence,” Bachelet said in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Anti-government protests centered in Muslim communities ongoing for months angered India’s Hindu nationalists, resulting this week in the worst communal rioting in New Delhi in decades, with security forces deployed, leaving 32 people dead.
Extra! Extra!
It has likely crossed your mind once or twice that Corona beer has an unfortunate similarity to the coronavirus. Of course, in name only. For some though, it seems the familiar moniker may be frightening enough to keep them away from that brand of beer.
CNN reports that two surveys released this week show that the Corona brand is suffering from negative buzz (nice one). “5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona ‘under any circumstances’ because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn't order a Corona in public. The survey encompasses polling from 737 beer drinkers in the United States.”
737 beer drinkers? That’s like what, one college? Hardly representative of drinking America. But still. Really? Did heavy metal fans stop listening to the band Anthrax during that time we were all worried about getting the bacterial disease? “Don’t touch that LP, man!”
The makers of Corona had to address this lunacy, releasing a statement to ensure that its customers “understand there is no link between the virus and our business.” So much for drinking your cares away, eh? We on the other hand would rather see everyone raise their bottles of flu brew and enjoy stress-free refreshment.
Sources:
Teen girl beats boys to 'make history' as state champion - BBC News
Pompeo: 'significant reduction' in Afghanistan violence - Reuters
Hong Kong police arrest pro-democracy media founder Jimmy Lai over illegal assembly - CPJ
Jimmy Lai: Pro-democracy media tycoon arrested and charged - BBC News
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested on charges of illegal assembly - The Guardian
U.S. Health Workers Responding to Coronavirus Lacked Training and Protective Gear, Whistle-Blower Says - NY Times
HHS whistleblower claims US workers received coronavirus evacuees without proper precautions - CNN
WHO increases coronavirus risk to 'very high'; whistleblower says US workers weren't ready for evacuees - USA Today
Court sides with Trump in ‘sanctuary cities’ grant fight - LA Times
Court rules Trump administration can withhold grants from 'sanctuary cities’ - NBC News
Brandon Judd: Trump’s court win denying sanctuary cities grants is major blow to liberal extremists - Fox News
Mexican women protest murders of activists, target monuments - AP News
Support for women's strike in Mexico gains ground - Reuters
Mexican women protest after gruesome murder reignites debate over femicide - France 24
Mexican women call for a national strike after a series of brutal femicides - El Universal
‘The message he’s sending is I don’t care’: Mexico's president criticized for response to killings of women - The Guardian You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus - The Atlantic
Virus can still be beaten, too early to declare pandemic: WHO - Reuters
In Coronavirus Crisis, Korean City Tries Openness, a Contrast to China - NY Times
Study begins in US to test possible coronavirus treatment - AP News
Iran's deputy health minister: I have coronavirus - The Guardian Hong Kong is giving 7 million people $1,200 in cash to boost its recession-hit economy - CNN
Hong Kong plans $15 billion spending to support its economy amid coronavirus outbreak - CNBC
Hong Kong to Spend Millions Promoting Rule of Law After Protests - Bloomberg
Hong Kong flags record budget deficit as virus, protests cripple economy - Reuters
Hong Kong plans handouts, tax cuts to counter economic woes - AP News Scars of violence haunt India’s capital after deadly riots - AP News
Citizenship riots in Delhi turn deadly while Trump talks up religious unity in India - ABC News
New Delhi riots leave 38 dead as India balks at U.S. reaction to the religious violence - CBS News
Delhi riots: Anger as judge critical of violence removed - BBC News
Death toll rises to 32 in religious violence in India's capital - Reuters
The spread of the coronavirus couldn't have come at a worse time for Corona beer - CNN