Trudeau bans assault weapons in Canada; HHS watchdog getting replaced; Fauci testimony reportedly blocked; Student borrower groups sue DeVos, Education Dept.; ACLU says release pregnant inmates
NewsHero - May 4, 2020 - Issue 90
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for May 4, 2020.
Dear Heroes,
As we approach our 100th issue of this letter, I wanted to thank you for your support as we move through these times of immense change and sacrifice. As you know, the team and I gather news from all over the world each and every day, and since the outbreak of this pandemic, the mission to focus on the heroes in the headlines has never felt more important, and more global. Each of us has been touched by COVID-19 and at times it can feel overwhelming, absurd, exhausting, and terrifying, and sometimes it can feel like all of these at once. It is in that spirit that I wanted to share part of a note with all of you that was sent from my daughter's school yesterday.
“Speaking with friends who reside around the world, it is striking how we are all in nearly identical circumstances. Major cities across the globe have empty streets, empty stadiums, empty train platforms, an almost eerie silence punctuated by the sounds of sirens - it can indeed resemble the end of the world. But, what you’re seeing is actually love in action. What you’re seeing, in that negative space, is how much we do care for each other - for our parents, for our grandparents, for the immunocompromised, for strangers we will never meet. It is the most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness in our lifetimes. We truly are all in this together. Belonging.”
So as you go about your day today, whatever that may look like and wherever you are, I hope that, even if just for a moment, you are able to place yourself within this “most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness in our lifetimes,” and that you may receive some comfort from those words as I have today.
We are all in this together and we are surrounded by heroes. We are surrounded by people doing all that they can to make this easier for us. Though they may be frustrated in their efforts at times, they are still there, showing up, sometimes noticed, but mostly not, and we are committed to doing all we can to share their stories, voices, and perspectives with you.
Thanks for being a part of this.
Benji
Co-founder - NewsHero
**Now through June 1, 2020, new annual subscriptions to NewsHero will each be contributing 25% to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund**
At NewsHero we put the heroes in the headlines and give them the attention that they deserve. Our coverage puts the focus on those who are helping, over those causing harm. Here you’ll find the same top-priority issues, but you won’t find clickbait, and what you read won’t be driven by ad sales.
Image: Beautiful News Source: Open Society Institute (Bulgaria)
NewsHero Notes
Educators working against fake news - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Young people in Finland are being taught how to use critical thinking to recognize disinformation, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories. Finland now has the best media literacy in Europe, which means greater resilience to information warfare, writes Beautiful News.
Teachers - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
This week, May 4-8, is Teacher Appreciation Week. We found some good ideas here for virtual gifts to show how much you value the work done by these heroes. Thank you, teachers everywhere!
Afternoon Brief
Justin Trudeau, gun control advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Canada is banning the sale of military-grade assault weapons in the aftermath of the country’s deadliest mass shooting two weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.
“These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time,” Trudeau said at a daily media briefing in Ottawa. “There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada.”
The ban—which includes buying, selling, transporting, importing or using the designated weapons—will become effective immediately by changing government regulations.
Families and friends of gun violence victims “deserve more than thoughts and prayers,” Trudeau said.
Journalists, advocates for independent news media - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
World Press Freedom Day was May 3, marked by celebrations around the world. UNESCO launched a global campaign, with a focus on “Journalism without Fear or Favour,” while May 4-6, there will be several events including: “High-level Dialogue on Press Freedom and Tackling Disinformation in the COVID-19 context,” webinars, and online discussions via Facebook Live, YouTube, and Microsoft teams, amongst other digital platforms. Details are available on the UNESCO site.
Advocates for independent news media used Sunday’s World Press Freedom Day to bring attention to a “coronavirus crackdown,” reports CNN.
According to Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, journalists in many countries have been harassed, threatened, and arrested while trying to cover the coronavirus crisis.
“From the earliest days of this pandemic, when Chinese authorities censored media reports and punished whistleblowers, journalists around the world have been risking their lives, freedom and jobs to share potentially lifesaving information with the public,” said Ashfaq Khalfan, Amnesty International’s director of law and policy.
Another advocacy group, the International Press Institute, said it has registered “162 press freedom violations related to coronavirus coverage over the past two and a half months.”
Al Jazeera posted on Twitter the top ten countries for journalists in 2020, with Norway, Finland, and Denmark taking the top three spots respectively.
Christi Grimm - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Principal Deputy Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Christi Grimm, whose office found major shortages of medical supplies in hospitals as cases of the novel coronavirus surged, is being replaced, reports NPR.
The White House announced Jason Weida Friday as its nominee to take the permanent inspector general post currently occupied by Grimm, who’s had the watchdog position since January.
Grimm was leading the inspector general’s office in April when it issued a report revealing testing delays and supply shortages amid the pandemic.
“Hospitals reported that they were unable to keep up with COVID-19 testing demands because they lacked complete kits and/or the individual components and supplies needed to complete tests,” the survey of 323 hospitals found. “When patient stays were extended while awaiting test results, this strained bed availability, personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, and staffing.”
Grimm is a career official, not a political appointee, and began serving in the Office of the Inspector General in 1999, NPR notes.
Fauci Testimony On Virus Response Reportedly Not Allowed By White House
ACLU calls for release of pregnant inmates amid COVID-19 pandemic
Beneath the masks are smiles of hope. During coronavirus, our work does not stop. @AcnurEcuador delivered 400 food kits of canned food in Latacunga, Ambato, and Baños in Ecuador to Venezuelans in need. (Via UNHCR Twitter)
NewsHero is continuing to offer a compilation of stories and resources that best represent the current state of the coronavirus pandemic, centered on those individuals, institutions, and organizations stepping up to end this crisis as quickly and effectively as possible. The public, too, has a duty. This includes staying responsibly informed and taking the situation seriously, while remaining as cool-headed and as isolated as possible. These are strange and difficult times, but we will endure.
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony, requested by the House Appropriations Committee as part of an investigation into Washington’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will not be allowed next week in Congress, reports NPR. The White House called the request “counter-productive.”
A Department of Homeland Security intelligence report shows that U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak—and how contagious the disease is—to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it.
About 100 research groups are pursuing COVID-19 vaccines with nearly a dozen in early stages of human trials or poised to start. Researchers say the crowded field increases the odds that a few might overcome the many obstacles that remain.
Pope Francis recently supported a small transgender community near Rome, some of whose members have been struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Religion News. The Rev. Andrea Conocchia has turned his small town parish into a haven for about 20 transgender women, most of them from Latin America.
Nearly 100 human rights groups are urging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to include anti-corruption measures in all its COVID-19 related emergency funding. “Egypt is asking the IMF for emergency funding, but Egyptians can’t raise concerns about where the money is going without risking arrest,” said Sarah Saadoun of Human Rights Watch. “The IMF should protect Egyptian organizations’ ability to make sure any funds it gives Egypt are used to help the millions at risk of going hungry because of this crisis.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a request from Ecuador for emergency financing to fight the coronavirus pandemic, granting a $643 million loan, the Andean country’s economy ministry said on Friday.
A report from The New York Times says the Trump administration had long tried to close borders and disrupt migration using public health as its tool well before the coronavirus pandemic.
Healthcare workers arrived for their shifts Tuesday evening and were met with applause from Louisville police officers and firefighters.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking corrections officials to release pregnant inmates in response to the coronavirus crisis, reports NPR. The ACLU estimates that 200,000 prisoners nationwide could die from COVID-19 unless release of inmates increases.
A new report by the International Energy Agency shows that the virus pandemic is causing the biggest changes to the global energy system in seven decades, reports NPR. Global energy demand is expected to fall by 6% this year, seven times the decline brought by the financial crisis ten years ago.
Sen. Mitt Romney on Friday proposed “Patriot Pay,” legislation providing a temporary pay increase for essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic, reports The Hill. “Health care professionals, grocery store workers, food processors, and many others—the unsung patriots on the frontline of this pandemic—every day risk their safety for the health and well-being of our country, and they deserve our unwavering support,” Romney said in a statement. “Patriot Pay is a way for us to reward our essential workers as they continue to keep Americans safe, healthy, and fed.”
A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington by student borrower groups accuses Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Education Department of continuing to “seize wages from distressed federal student loan borrowers” during the virus crisis, reports NBC News.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday on Twitter: “NY, NJ, CT, PA, DE, RI and MA are launching a regional purchasing consortium to jointly procure PPE, tests, ventilators and other medical equipment. This will increase our market power and help prevent price-gouging. States are stronger when we work together.”
A report from Axios says that Republican governors are running a great risk opening up economies too soon, and that their political fortunes will suffer, not just public health.
Extra! Extra!
If you’re like us, the first thing you do when you open the packaging on a new purchase is toss aside the instruction manual. Who wants to start reading something boring when you have this awesome new thing to look at/play with/ignite?
Guess what comes with a huge manual—like 100,000 pages long. Air Force One. Yes, the airplane.
Not only is the manual lengthy, it’s also pricey. A story we saw from The Hill says the new instruction manuals for the Boeing VC-25 will cost $84 million.
“The manuals, which are expected to be completed by January 2025, include more than 100,000 pages with the specifications for flying the plane as well as fixing it, according to Defense One.”
Granted, “how to fly and also fix a jumbo jet” should probably take up a few good chapters, but we can’t help wondering if it covers what that little yellow “check engine” light actually means or if it settles the age-old debate of what really gets rid of a foggy windshield: heat or AC?
We suppose next time we find a few pages tucked under our slick new device upgrade, maybe we’ll flip through it. Who knows, perhaps the manual costs more than the iPad?
Sources:
Finland is teaching school kids to identify fake news - Beautiful News
The best Teacher Appreciation Week virtual gift ideas - NY Post
Canada bans assault-style weapons after its worst ever mass murder - CNN
Canada bans assault-style weapons in aftermath of mass shooting - Reuters
Canada Bans Assault Weapons in Wake of Deadly Mass Shooting - The New York Times
Trudeau announces ban on assault-style weapons in Canada - Axios
World Press Freedom Day - United Nations
According to Reporters Without Borders #PressFreedom Index 2020, these are the best countries for journalists - Al Jazeera, Twitter
World Press Freedom Day in the 'coronavirus crackdown' - CNN
Contrasting messages from Biden and Trump on World Press Freedom Day - Politico
Trump replaces Christi Grimm, HHS watchdog who found shortages in coronavirus testing, supplies at hospitals - The Washington Post
Trump Moves To Replace Watchdog Who Reported Medical Shortages - NPR
Trump Moves to Replace Watchdog Who Identified Critical Medical Shortages - The New York Times
White House Blocks Fauci Congressional Testimony - NPR
DHS report: China hid virus' severity to hoard supplies - AP News
COVID-19 vaccine hunt heats up globally, still no guarantee - AP News
Pope Francis helps a small trans community financially struggling due to the pandemic - Religion News
IMF: Empower Civic Groups Against Covid-19 Corruption - Human Rights Watch
Before Covid-19, Trump Aide Sought to Use Disease to Close Borders - The New York Times
IMF approves $643 million in pandemic aid for Ecuador: ministry - Reuters
Pregnant Inmates Should Be Released To Protect Them From Coronavirus, ACLU Says - NPR
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Predicted To Fall Nearly 8% — Largest Decrease Ever - NPR
Romney proposes temporarily raising pay for essential workers amid pandemic - The Hill
DeVos, Education Department sued for 'seizing' student borrower paychecks - NBC News
“States are stronger when we work together” - Andrew Cuomo, Twitter
Coronavirus reopening is a risk for Republican governors - Axios
New Air Force One instruction manuals cost $84 million - The Hill