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Rare 19th-century log cabin restored near Lake Mooney

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Mar 1, 2023

Rare 19th-century log cabin restored near Lake Mooney

By JAMES BARON, The Free Lance-Star

STAFFORD, Va. (AP) – Historians say a recently restored log cabin that once
housed enslaved African Americans in southern Stafford County is a rare find in
Virginia, or anywhere else in the country.

“They were never built to last hundreds of years,” said Doug Sanford, a retired
professor from the University of Mary Washington’s department of historic
preservation. “This is truly a rare survivor.”

Sanford, who retired from the university in 2017, said hundreds of small slave
dwellings – such as the log cabin that’s situated on a hill near the southernmost tip of Lake Mooney – were a common sight throughout most of the
South during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In late 2014, Sanford, whose ancestors once owned the land the cabin stands on,
joined University of Maryland associate research professor Dennis Pogue and a
handful of University of Mary Washington students as part of a countywide study
conducted by Dovetail Cultural Resource Group of Fredericksburg. That study ran
until spring 2015, and its purpose was to locate any remaining slave quarters in
the county, along with long-forgotten cemeteries and other sites or structures
associated with slavery in Stafford.

“We realized just in that one year, there were so many of these, it was such a
common form of vernacular architecture,” Sanford said. “Today, what’s left is
just a low, low percentage of what was there.”

Sanford said out of the possible hundreds of slave quarters, only seven are
still standing.

“The modern decline of Stafford County’s agricultural economy and the rapid pace
and extent of residential and commercial development took its toll,” Sanford
said.

The research team also discovered a surprisingly high level of slave ownership
among white households in Stafford by combing through U.S. census reports.
Sanford said in 1860, Stafford County had a 60% slave ownership rate in that
demographic. Sanford’s fourth great-grandfather, Lawrence Sanford, whose 976-
acre farm included the recently restored cabin, owned 20 slaves, according to
Stafford’s 1820 census.

Lawrence Sanford, who was also a captain in Col. Gregory Smith’s company with
the 2nd Virginia Cavalry during the War of 1812, died in 1858 and is buried just
north of the cabin in the family cemetery. He left the farm to his wife Apphia,
who told census takers in 1860 she owned nine slaves who lived in three separate
structures on the property, which was sold four years later after Apphia’s death.
Over the years, the property changed hands until eventually ending up under
county control as part of the Lake Mooney reservoir that opened in 2016.

Pogue said the Lake Mooney cabin probably survived demolition over the years due
to its placement close to the property owner’s own home on the farm. He said in
the 19th century, it was common to erect quarters for enslaved workers away from
the primary residence of the farm.

The Burgess family took ownership of the land in 1860 and later converted the
cabin into a work shed, adding more years to its lifespan. Pogue said several
work tables were found in the structure, and a doorway that was added to the
cabin at some point had weakened the structural integrity of the building.

“It was pitched forward by 12 inches,” Pogue said. “That was a problem.”

Sanford puts the cabin at just over 170 years old, based on the types of nails
used, as well as identifying saw marks and architectural methods commonly used
during that period.

“It’s the late Antebellum era,” Sanford said. “It’s about 1850.”

Brion Southall, the county’s Parks and Recreation director, said when he first
took a look inside the cabin, he knew restoration workers had a difficult task
ahead.

“There was dirt piled up on one edge and the logs underneath that dirt had
gotten insects in them that had rotted.” Southall said. “The whole building was
falling over. Something needed to be done or we were going to lose it.”

Vintage Renovation and Construction of Winchester was hired to work on the 15-by-
12-foot cabin and started the six-month job in July 2021. Workers disassembled
much of the cabin and took the materials off-site for restoration or replacement
after giving the building an inspection from the floorboards to the rooftop.

“The flooring upstairs is quite nice and appears original based on its nails,”
wrote David Logan of Vintage Renovation. “It does appear the upper portion of
the cabin is in good condition.”

Wooden logs of the cabin were professionally treated to weather the elements.
Those that were rotted or damaged were either replaced with similar wood or
pieces were fabricated in a workshop. A new foundation was built at the original
corners of the building before workers returned the cabin and reassembled it at
its original site. Additional work included a new metal roof, lime daubing,
siding, doors and window frames.

Although the exterior of the cabin looks impressive and inviting, the cabin and
the crumbling structures that surround it are not open to the public. Southard
said hikers approaching the area should be cautious due to “several hazards”
that the county will eventually mitigate, including piles of debris, old
building materials and the presence of an old well.

James Tully, chairman of the county’s Historical Commission, said he hopes the
cabin and other historic sites like it across the county will soon be managed by
a county official.

“We’re hoping the cultural resource specialist will assist in not only the
enslaved persons cottage down at Lake Mooney, but all of the cultural resources
across Stafford County,” Tully said.

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For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Free Lance-Star.

Nipsey Hussle’s Killer gets 60 Years to Life in Prison

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Mar 1, 2023

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Nipsey Hussle’s Killer gets 60 Years to Life in Prison

By ANDREW DALTON, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday sentenced the man convicted of gunning down Nipsey Hussle to 60 years to life in prison after hearing testaments to the immense cost of the killing of the hip-hop star and neighborhood leader, and of the lifetime of mental illness, abuse and struggle of the man who shot him.

Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II handed down the sentence to Eric R. Holder Jr., 33, who was found guilty of the 2019 first-degree murder of the 33-year-old Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist outside the clothing store Hussle founded, the Marathon, in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where both men grew up in very similar circumstances.

“I am very mindful of what was presented as to Mr. Holder’ mental health,” Jacke said. “I am also mindful of the devastation caused to the victims and their families. I believe this sentence balances the two.”

After the monthlong trial, jurors in July also convicted Holder of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a firearm for gunfire that hit two other men at the scene who survived.

Jacke sentenced Holder to 25 years to life for the murder, 25 more for a firearm sentencing enhancement and 10 for assault with a firearm. He set several other sentencing additions and ordered that others run concurrent. He also gave Holder credit for the nearly four years he has served since the shooting.

Holder, dressed in orange jail attire, stared straight ahead throughout the proceedings and did not react when the sentence was read, and spoke only to tell the judge he understood the circumstances when he was asked.

In an impact statement before the sentence was handed down, Herman “Cowboy” Douglas, a close friend of Hussle who was standing with him when he was killed and testified during the trial, told the judge that the killing was a tremendous loss both for him personally and for the South Los Angeles community where Hussle was a business leader, and an inspiration.

“Nipsey was my friend, he was like a son, he was like a dad,” said Douglas, who took off his black cowboy hat as he entered the courtroom and wore a sweatshirt with a picture of Hussle on the front. “Our community right now, we lost everything, everything we worked for. One man’s mistake, one man’s action, messed up a whole community.”

Douglas said Hussle’s store and surrounding businesses that he owned and supported have been closed down, and it has meant that “the Homies don’t have nothing to do.”

Douglas told the judge, “I don’t care what you give this guy. It ain’t about the time. I just want to know why. The world wants to know why. Why someone would do that?”

Actor Lauren London, who was Hussle’s partner and the mother of his two young children, did not attend any part of the trial, nor did any of his relatives, and none gave similar impact statements.

Asking for a lesser sentence of 25 years to life that would allow some chance at release and rehabilitation, Jansen detailed a childhood of physical abuse and poverty for Holder.

As he reached adulthood, Jansen said Holder suffered “a terrible descent into mental illness” that led to “years of torment and struggle” with issues including agonizing auditory hallucinations that resisted all attempts at treatment.

He showed photos of a head injury Holder suffered at the hands of other inmates during the trial, saying he has been targeted as Hussle’s killer and that his life behind bars is “going to be brutal. It’s going to be short. He’s already received numerous death threats.”

Jansen also read a letter from Holder’s father, Eric Holder Sr. apologizing to Hussle’s family and to the other victims.

“I know there are not enough words that would fill the void, the pain, the deep sorrow that they feel,” the letter read. “I question myself every day asking if I as a father did everything to help Eric Jr. stabilize his mental health.”

Hussle, whose legal name is Ermias Asghedom, and Holder had known each other for years growing up as members of the Rollin’ 60s in South LA. Both were aspiring rappers. But Holder never found the same success as Hussle, who would become a local hero and a national celebrity.

A year after his death, he was mourned at a memorial at the arena then known as Staples Center, and celebrated in a performance at the Grammy Awards that included DJ Khaled and John Legend.

The evidence against Holder was so overwhelming — from eyewitnesses to surveillance cameras from local businesses that captured his arrival, the shooting and his departure — that Jansen conceded during trial that he had shot Hussle, asking jurors to find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. But jurors took just six hours deliberating before returning with the first-degree murder verdict.

As Holder was taken from the courtroom Wednesday, Douglas sang “Hit the Road Jack” toward him. Jacke shouted “Out!” and deputies led Douglas out.

Teens Confront Epidemic of Dating Violence

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Mar 1, 2023

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Teens Confront Epidemic of Dating Violence

By Peter White, EMS contributor

Young people are coming of age without knowing how to create a loving relationship or what the warning signs are that maybe they’re not in a good one.

So says Ana Campos, 17, who was blinded by “fake love” and thought everything was fine. Her sister recognized the red flags Ana was ignoring.

“He was very manipulative. He would constantly like, check my phone without my permission, and just be angry over the smallest things,” Campos recalled. She has been in therapy for two years. Campos is slowly leaving her toxic relationship behind.

She is one of a growing number of teenage activists dedicated to educating their peers about the dangers of teen dating violence and how to prevent it. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recently flagged an alarming increase in teen dating violence, up from the one out of 12 teens who reported having experienced it in 2021. Some youth surveys report the number of victims at one out of three.

Ana Campos shares the red flags she missed early on in a relationship that became abusive. She says schools should provide education on relationships, including recognizing ‘red flags’ and ‘green flags’, so that teens understand what constitute a safe and healthy relationship and can break the cycle of violence.

An EMS briefing marking February as Teen Dating Violence Prevention month featured four high school students who work with the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. “It’s valuable to have youth speaking out on these issues because they are able to give you an inside peak as to what relationships, both intimate and friends and peers, look like today,” said Megan Tanahashi, communications analyst for the Partnership.

Isha Raheja started working with the House of Ruth women’s shelter last year. She promoted the Awareness through Art Showcase against teen dating violence at her school but it was a hard sell to some of her classmates. Many of the fliers she posted around campus were torn down.

“It’s no surprise to me that teen dating violence can be regarded as taboo by some,” she said. Now a senior, Raheja leads a sex education reform club at her school and she recruited one reluctant classmate whose parents had opted her out of sex education.

When Raheja first talked to her about dating violence, her classmate was taken aback and said it might not be an appropriate subject. But she came back the next day and they kept talking. Soon the girl was regularly attending club meetings.

“Speaking on a personal level with individuals to turn apathy amongst students to empathy helped me build a group of like-minded individuals and further progress,” she said.

Maya Henry said she will never feel safe on public transit. “I ride the bus every day. That is a place where I have been a target of sexual assaulted more than once.

“The thing about it is that it robs you of your innocence forever, and I don’t know if that’s something that you could ever really give back or take back, and I hope one day that’ll happen,” she said.

She volunteers at Peace Over Violence, a youth violence prevention center headquartered in Los Angeles. She says her friends have a buddy system whenever anyone goes out so they can track each other’s whereabouts.

Healing requires unlearning certain behaviors, attitudes, and stigmas, Henry said.

“It starts with making the conscious effort to not judge yourself or others… but to actually sit down with someone who may have inflicted violence on someone else and try and find a place where instead of looking at them and thinking about the violence they caused, think about the potential they have to unfurl that violence and apologize and learn and make right their wrong.”

Restorative justice can’t make the trauma disappear but it can help both victim and perpetrator get beyond it. Henry noted that it’s hard to be joyful without feeling safe but there are places she feels very safe and comfortable.

Armaan Sharma is a sophomore at a small private school in Fremont, a Bay Area suburb with a 60% Asian population.

An open and respectful dialogue on dating and relationships between parents and teens is key to keeping kids safe in their relationships, says Armaan Sharma.

In his freshman year, Sharma took a class called Choices that briefly mentioned relationships. “Why don’t we teach about relationships more? Everyone thinks that developing relationships it’s an natural skill that all humans have. If that were true, why do we see 1 in 3 teens in America experience some sort of dating violence, whether physical, sexual, emotional or psychological?”

Sharma noted that underregulated social media is posing a greater threat to youth with each passing day. Instagram is a platform where perpetrators of violence or predators have easy access to a whole lot of youth, he says.

“Netflix has movies like 365 days, which quite literally romanticize rape.”

Sharma says teen dating violence can affect everyone, including men, and, in fact, marginalized groups like the LGBTQ community, often experience much higher rates of such violence but they are under-represented in the movement to end it. “It makes no sense because we can’t attempt to solve a problem that affects everyone if everyone isn’t involved,” he said.

The conversation should begin at home, says Kandee Lewis, CEO/President of Positive Results Center and Founder of Black Women Leaders of Los Angeles. The Board of Supervisors named Lewis Woman of The Year in 2017. She works with youth and parents on domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide prevention.

“It’s important to talk to our children about what a healthy relationship is, what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable behavior,” says Lewis.

“We all want to be loved and we want to be accepted. And so, if we’re not getting the kind of attention that we need, we will go and seek that negative attention. It’s still attention and we’re gonna get it from wherever we can find it,” Lewis said.

“Your child really wants to know that you care, because if you don’t take the time to talk to your child, someone else will. And that other person could be the abuser.”

Former NFL Star, CBS Anchor Irv Cross had Brain Disease CTE

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Feb 28, 2023

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Former NFL Star, CBS Anchor Irv Cross had Brain Disease CTE

By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Irv Cross was a man of faith and devout fan of football who could no longer in his final years attend Bible study or watch NFL games with friends. The degenerative brain disease that festered inside the former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback had triggered depression, mood swings and the type of memory loss that forced him into isolation.

“He really didn’t want to be with people,” said his widow, Liz Cross. “The only person he wanted to be with was me. When he was with me, he really didn’t want to be with me. He just wanted me to be there.”

Cross, the former NFL defensive back who became the first Black man to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television, is the latest football player diagnosed with the brain disease CTE. Cross, who was 81 when he died Feb. 28, 2021, suffered from stage 4 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Boston University researchers said Tuesday.

Stage 4 is the most advanced stage of CTE, showing the kind of damage that often causes cognitive and behavioral issues in those exposed to repetitive head trauma. He struggled physically with his balance and was paranoid.

“Toward the end,” Cross said, “he saw things that weren’t there.”

Cross said her husband, who was diagnosed with mild cognitive dementia in 2018, often sat in a chair and grimaced from headaches that weren’t going away. He declined any kind of medicine because it didn’t help the pain. He stopped going to church. Once a student of the game, NFL games were mostly background noise because he didn’t know who was playing.

“He was afraid someone would ask him a question,” Cross said, “and he wouldn’t know the answer.”

Irv Cross, of course, was not alone in misery among his former NFL brethren. According to its latest report, the BU CTE Center said it has diagnosed 345 former NFL players with CTE out of 376 former players who were studied, a rate of 91.7%. The disease can be diagnosed only after death.

“He was the nicest, kindest, most helpful, wonderful man I ever met,” Cross said. “But that wasn’t who he was at the end. And that wasn’t who he was. It was the disease that did that.”

Dr. Ann McKee, a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University, said she was not surprised Irv Cross’ brain reached stage 4 given the length of his overall football career (the study counted 17 years) and his age. Irv Cross and his family made the decision to donate his brain to help raise awareness of the long-term consequences of repeated blows to the head.

“I do think there’s more education about the risks of football and I do think there’s more awareness of concussion management but I still think we’re way, way behind where we should be,” McKee said. “We need to educate young athletes that this is a risk that they are undertaking. We need to educate coaches to keep head trauma out of the game. We need to do more managing of athletes by monitoring them better. I still think there’s a very cavalier attitude toward CTE. There’s a lot of denial.”

In fact, Liz Cross said she and her husband were “both in denial” about the cause of the breakdowns in his health until about five years before his death.

“For somebody who had been so active and so able to do everything, and an athlete, not having balance, not having strength, not being able to do any of the things he had done before, it was embarrassing,” she said. “He was pretty much in a constant state of depression.”

One of 15 children from Hammond, Indiana, Cross starred in football and track and field at Northwestern. He was drafted in the seventh round by Philadelphia in 1961, was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1966 and returned to the Eagles in 1969 as a player coach for his final season.

The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback had 22 interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries, eight forced fumbles and a pair of defensive touchdowns. He also averaged 27.9 yards on kickoff returns and returned punts.

Chris Nowinski, the founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said he met with Cross in 2018 and “it was very clear” the former Eagle was suffering.

“It’s important to highlight cases like Irv Cross’ because he was able to live a long and successful life where CTE didn’t dramatically impair him,” he said. “But at the end, it was a struggle.”

Cross joined CBS in 1971, becoming the first Black network sports show anchor. He left the network in 1994, and later served as athletic director at Idaho State and Macalester College in Minnesota. In 2009, he received the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. He was married to Liz for 34 years when he died.

Cross said her husband never experienced regret over his football career.

“He would have done it again in a heartbeat,” she said. “But he didn’t think kids should play football.”

As for diagnosed concussions, Cross said her husband told her he did suffer from several during his playing career but did not keep count. He suffered so many head injuries in his rookie season that his Eagles teammates called him “Paper Head.”

Irv told his wife that after a blow to his head that almost caused him to swallow his tongue, doctors said if he suffered another concussion “he would die.”

“And so did he stop playing? No,” the 76-year-old widow said. “They made him a stronger helmet.”

Liz Cross said she wanted to remember the joy their young grandson brought Irv over his final years and not dwell on how she had to watch the man she loved slip away.

“He was just a wonderful man,” she said, “and this disease changed his life.” ___ AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

Review: Michael B. Jordan Delivers a Brawler in ‘Creed III’

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Feb 28, 2023

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Review: Michael B. Jordan Delivers a Brawler in ‘Creed III’

By LINDSEY BAHR, Associated Press

It must be a daunting prospect to pick up a franchise on the third movie. Add in the pressure of following filmmakers like Ryan Coogler and Steven Caple Jr. in your directorial debut that you’re also starring in and it’s enough to make you wonder what on earth Michael B. Jordan was thinking.

But “ Creed III,” in theaters nationwide Friday, is a new start for Adonis Creed. He’s finally out of the shadow of his father Apollo and Rocky Balboa, whose legacy loomed large over the first two films (Sylvester Stallone decided “Creed II” would be his last). With Rocky out of the way, and the younger Creed solidly in place as the best in the world, the franchise can breathe a little and grow.

Enter the Dame (not that kind of dame).

This one is in the form of Jonathan Majors, an old buddy from their teenage years in a group home in the early 2000s. Dame, or Damian Anderson, is a bit older than Creed. He’s the one who’s boxing in the underground matches at night. The young Creed (Thaddeus J. Mixon), a little awkward, a little too eager to please and a little too ready for trouble, is the one carrying water (and bags and gloves) and helping him strategize. There is a palpable menace established early on with these two — an unequal power and age dynamic, sure, but also the implication that Dame (Spence Moore II) is more than willing to play dirty. He carries a gun. He fixes games. And he has a hold on young Adonis. The flashback ends with a violent altercation outside a convenience store. Dame goes away. Creed becomes Creed.

This flashback is important but does get the film off to a bit of a slow start, jumping forward chronologically to Creed’s last fight and then to his present-day retirement life — a luxurious and tranquil existence in the Hollywood Hills in a modernist mansion with his daughter Amara (Mila Davis Kent) and wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), who has given up singing mostly to produce hit records. Life is nice for the obscenely rich in LA: The clothes are expensive, the cars are price upon request, the house always spotless and the staff unseen (save for a chef in one scene). At the gym run by Duke (Wood Harris), he’s trying to mentor the next generation of champions.

Then Dame re-appears and the movies gets its urgency back. His old pal was locked up for 18 years after that incident and is freshly out of prison, wanting to pick up his life and his boxing aspirations where he left off. Creed is pleasant but guarded — for much of the film he acts like an aloof celebrity, hyper conscious of not letting anyone in too close and compartmentalizing the uglier aspects of his past. Still, he takes him out to lunch and offers to help him in any way he can. This is both the right thing to do and also a huge mistake.

“Creed III” is, among other things, about what happens when men don’t talk about their feelings (and ignore Duke’s advice).

At times, it also feels more like a thriller than a sports film as you watch Dame infiltrate Creed’s world. It’s always Creed’s idea, there’s always an invitation, but Dame’s sudden omnipresence starts to feel unavoidable and ominous. Dame has a bit of Eve Harrington in him, but also a very real, very relatable chip on his shoulder for the time he lost. In another movie, he could very well be the underdog we’re rooting for — some of the audience may be rooting for him even so.

Lurking behind everything is the madness that comes from not being able to do what you were born to do. It’s something athletes grapple with earlier than most other professionals. An injury at 23 could take you out when you’re just getting started and in this film Creed, Dame and Bianca are having similar existential crises — though Dame’s desperation is the driving force behind everything that happens.

Jordan and his filmmaking team craft two particularly stunning matches full of suspense, drama and slow motion sweat beads flying through the air. These are only lessened by the cheesy, unhelpful announcers spouting cliches and no actually helpful exposition or explanation outside the ring. And ultimately, it’s a promising debut for the 36-year-old, who shows here that he’ll never let his own star ego get in the way of a film: Majors steals the show, and Jordan is there to capture it.

There’s a comforting but predictable rhythm to a boxing franchise like Rocky and now Creed. The movies must keep justifying themselves, inventing new challenges that make them all feel different enough. But most essentially boil down to the same framework: You have to knock the champion down to a believable underdog again. While there is a case to be made for the final fight to, let’s just say, go a different way than it does, “Creed III” is still a knockout.

“Creed III,” an MGM release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for, “Violence, some strong language and intense sports action.” Running Time: 116 minutes. Three stars out of four. —- MPA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. —- Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

Hundreds of Protesters Denounce Racism in Tunisia

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Feb 28, 2023

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Hundreds of Protesters Denounce Racism in Tunisia

By Associated Press

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Hundreds of protesters in Tunisia’s capital took to the streets on Saturday to denounce racism and express solidarity towards migrants after the country’s increasingly authoritarian leader claimed there’s a plot to erase his country’s identity by bringing in sub-Saharan Africans.

People shouting “no to racism,” “solidarity with migrants” and “no to police crackdown” marched through central Tunis as part of the demonstration staged by Tunisia’s journalists union and several nongovernmental organizations.

President Kais Saied said earlier this week that “urgent measures” were needed to address the entry of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan countries, “with their lot of violence, crimes and unacceptable practices.”

The spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, Romdhane Ben Amor, deplored an increasing number of racist assaults against sub-Saharan migrants following Saied’s remarks.

“We noted attempts to drive some migrants out of their homes,” he told The Associated Press. “Others are being prevented from taking public transportation.”

Tunisian comedian Fatma Saidane denounced “deplorable actions” targeting some sub-Saharan people and called on people to show a civic-minded attitude.

“We must not assault or insult people who live on our soil, in the same way we don’t accept our compatriots to be ill-treated in Europe,” she said.

In recent days, about 100 sub-Saharan migrants have been detained for having illegally crossed the Tunisian border, according to Riadh Nouioui, the deputy prosecutor of Kasserine, a mountainous region close to Algeria. Other migrants enter the country from neighbouring Libya.

Saied’s comments raised a storm on social media and condemnation from NGOs. Tunisia, once lauded as the only budding democracy in the Arab world, has recently also seen a crackdown on opposition politicians and activists.

Coronavirus Origins Still a Mystery 3 Years into Pandemic

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Feb 28, 2023

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Coronavirus Origins Still a Mystery 3 Years into Pandemic

By LAURA UNGAR and MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab?

Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” in that it began with a lab leak, according to a person familiar with the report who wasn’t authorized to discuss it. The report has not been made public.

But others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree.

“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started,” John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. “There is just not an intelligence community consensus.”

The DOE’s conclusion was first reported over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document. The DOE oversees a national network of labs.

White House officials on Monday declined to confirm press reports about the assessment.

In 2021, officials released an intelligence report summary that said four members of the U.S. intelligence community believed with low confidence that the virus was first transmitted from an animal to a human, and a fifth believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab.

While some scientists are open to the lab-leak theory, others continue to believe the virus came from animals, mutated, and jumped into people — as has happened in the past with viruses. Experts say the true origin of the pandemic may not be known for many years — if ever.

CALLS FOR MORE INVESTIGATION

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the report. All 18 offices of the U.S. intelligence community had access to the information the DOE used in reaching its assessment.

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, said she isn’t sure what new intelligence the agencies had, but “it’s reasonable to infer” it relates to activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. She said a 2018 research proposal co-authored by scientists there and their U.S. collaborators “essentially described a blueprint for COVID-like viruses.”

“Less than two years later, such a virus was causing an outbreak in the city,” she said.

The Wuhan institute had been studying coronaviruses for years, in part because of widespread concerns — tracing back to SARS — that coronaviruses could be the source of the next pandemic.

No intelligence agency has said they believe the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 was released intentionally. The unclassified 2021 summary was clear on this point, saying: “We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon.”

“Lab accidents happen at a surprising frequency. A lot of people don’t really hear about lab accidents because they’re not talked about publicly,” said Chan, who co-authored a book about the search for COVID-19 origins. Such accidents “underscore a need to make work with highly dangerous pathogens more transparent and more accountable.”

Last year, the World Health Organization recommended a deeper probe into a possible lab accident. Chan said she hopes the latest report sparks more investigation in the United States.

China has called the suggestion that COVID-19 came from a Chinese laboratory “ baseless.”

SUPPORT FOR ANIMAL THEORY

Many scientists believe the animal-to-human theory of the coronavirus remains much more plausible. They theorize it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal.

In a 2021 research paper in the journal Cell, scientists said the COVID-19 virus is the ninth documented coronavirus to infect humans — and all the previous ones originated in animals.

Two studies, published last year by the journal Science, bolstered the animal origin theory. That research found that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was likely the early epicenter. Scientists concluded that the virus likely spilled from animals into people two separate times.

“The scientific literature contains essentially nothing but original research articles that support a natural origin of this virus pandemic,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has extensively studied COVID-19’s origins.

He said the fact that others in the intelligence community looked at the same information as the DOE and “it apparently didn’t move the needle speaks volumes.” He said he takes such intelligence assessments with a grain of salt because he doesn’t think the people making them “have the scientific expertise … to really understand the most important evidence that they need to understand.”

The U.S. should be more transparent and release the new intelligence that apparently swayed the DOE, Worobey said.

REACTION TO THE REPORT

The DOE conclusion comes to light as House Republicans have been using their new majority power to investigate all aspects of the pandemic, including the origin, as well as what they contend were officials’ efforts to conceal the fact that it leaked from a lab in Wuhan. Earlier this month, Republicans sent letters to Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others as part of their investigative efforts.

The now retired Fauci, who served as the country’s top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked the Biden administration to provide Congress with “a full and thorough” briefing on the report and the evidence behind it.

Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, emphasized that President Joe Biden believes it’s important to know what happened “so we can better prevent future pandemics” but that such research “must be done in a safe and secure manner and as transparent as possible to the rest of the world.”

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AP reporters Farnoush Amiri, Nomaan Merchant and Seung Min Kim contributed. Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

California AG Opens Civil Rights Probe into Sheriff’s Office

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Feb 28, 2023

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California AG Opens Civil Rights Probe into Sheriff’s Office

By STEFANIE DAZIO, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California attorney general on Thursday opened a civil rights investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, one of the largest law enforcement agencies in Southern California, after deaths in county jails hit a two-decade high last year and other allegations of excessive use of force surfaced.

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the investigation in Los Angeles following what he called “deeply concerning” allegations of misconduct within the sheriff’s office and confinement conditions at the sheriff’s jails. He did not give examples.

While Bonta said no specific incidents were a tipping point to prompt the civil rights investigation, there have been patterns in data — including disparate impacts on communities of color — that, in his words, have been “disturbing for some time.”

Exact figures on in-custody deaths, use of force incidents and misconduct allegations were not immediately available from his office Tuesday.

“It is time for us to shine a light on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and its practices,” he said during a news conference.

Bonta called the status of the trust between the department and the public “in peril” and alluded to the recent line-of-duty deaths of two Riverside deputies in shootings that rocked the county.

“Ensuring public trust and keeping our communities and officers safe is not mutually exclusive,” Bonta said.

Sheriff Chad Bianco, in a video response posted online, called the investigation “a political stunt” and said Bonta, a Democrat, was bowing to anti-law enforcement activists’ demands.

“This will prove to be a complete waste of time and resources,” said Bianco, a Republican.

In 2021, the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the attorney general’s office urging the state to investigate the Riverside department for what it called “its racist policing practices, rampant patrol and jail deaths, and its refusal to comply” with court orders.

The attorney general has the power to open civil investigations to determine whether a law enforcement agency has “engaged in a pattern or practice” of violating state or federal law. These cases are not criminal in nature and are meant to identify potential problems and then work with the agency to correct the issues, which are typically systemic violations of a community’s constitutional rights.

The state agency has similar cases open into the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Those probes are ongoing.

Justice Thomas Wrote of ‘Crushing Weight’ of Student Loans

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Feb 28, 2023

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Justice Thomas Wrote of ‘Crushing Weight’ of Student Loans

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s college loan forgiveness plan.

Justice Clarence Thomas was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation’s highest court when he paid off the last of his debt from his time at Yale Law School.

Thomas, the court’s longest-serving justice and staunchest conservative, has been skeptical of other Biden administration initiatives. And when the Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday involving President Joe Biden’s debt relief plan that would wipe away up to $20,000 in outstanding student loans, Thomas is not likely to be a vote in the administration’s favor.

But the justices’ own experiences can be relevant in how they approach a case, and alone among them, Thomas has written about the role student loans played in his financial struggles.

A fellow law school student even suggested Thomas declare bankruptcy after graduating “to get out from under the crushing weight of all my student loans,” the justice wrote in his best-selling 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son.” He rejected the idea.

It’s not clear that any of the other justices borrowed money to attend college or law school or have done so for their children’s educations. Some justices grew up in relative wealth. Others reported they had scholarships to pay their way to some of the country’s most expensive private institutions.

Of the seven justices on the court who are parents, four have signaled through their investments that they don’t want their own children to be saddled with onerous college debt, and have piled money into tax-free college savings accounts that might limit any need for loans.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch have the most on hand, at least $600,000 and at least $300,000, respectively, according to annual disclosure reports the justices filed in 2022. Each has two children.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett, who has seven children, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has two, also have invested money in college-savings accounts, in which any earnings or growth is tax free if spent on education.

None of the justices would comment for this story, a court spokeswoman said.

Thomas wrote vividly about his past money woes in his up-from-poverty story, recounting how a bank once foreclosed on one of his loans because repayment and delinquency notices were sent to his grandparents’ house in Savannah, Georgia, instead of Thomas’ home at the time in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Thomas was able to take out another loan to repay the bank only because his mentor, John Danforth, then-Missouri attorney general and later a U.S. senator, vouched for him.

Thomas noted that he signed up for a tuition postponement program at Yale in which a group of students jointly paid for their outstanding loans according to their financial ability, with those earning the most paying the most.

At the time, Thomas’ first wife, Kathy, was pregnant. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I signed on the dotted line, and spent the next two decades paying off the money I borrowed during my last two years at Yale,” Thomas wrote.

When he was first nominated to be a federal judge in 1989, Thomas reported $10,000 in outstanding student loans, according to a news report at the time. The Biden administration has picked the same number as the amount of debt relief most borrowers would get under its plan.

Personal experience can shape the justices’ questions in the courtroom and affect their private conversations about a case, even if it doesn’t figure in the outcome.

“It is helpful to have people with life experiences that are varied just because it enriches the conversation,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said. Sotomayor, like Thomas, also grew up poor. She got a full scholarship to Princeton as an undergraduate, she has said, and went on to Yale for law school, as Thomas did.

Keeping people from avoiding the kinds of difficult choices Thomas faced is a key part of the administration’s argument for loan forgiveness. The administration says that without additional help, many borrowers will fall behind on their payments once a hold in place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago is lifted, no later than this summer.

Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income. Recipients of Pell Grants, who tend to have fewer financial resources, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

The White House says 26 million people already have applied and 16 million have been approved for relief. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over the next three decades.

The legal fight could turn on any of several elements, including whether the Republican-led states and individuals suing over the plan have legal standing to go to court and whether Biden has the authority under federal law for so extensive a loan forgiveness program.

Nebraska and other states challenging the program argue that far from falling behind, 20 million borrowers would get a “windfall” because their entire student debt would be erased, Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers wrote in the states’ main Supreme Court brief.

Which of those arguments resonate with the court may become clear on Tuesday.

When she was dean of Harvard Law School, Justice Elena Kagan showed her own concern about the high cost of law school, especially for students who were considering lower-paying jobs.

Kagan established a program that would allow students to attend their final year tuition-free if they agreed to a five-year commitment to work in the public sector. While that program no longer exists, Harvard offers grants to students for public service work.

At the time the program was created, Kagan said she wanted students to be able to go to work where they “can make the biggest difference, but that isn’t the case now.” Instead, she said: “They often go to work where they don’t want to work because of the debt burden.”

‘Dilbert,’ Scott Adams Lose Distributor over Racist Remarks

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Feb 28, 2023

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‘Dilbert,’ Scott Adams Lose Distributor over Racist Remarks

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams continued to see his reach shrink Monday as dozens of newspapers and a major comic strip platform said they would no longer publish his long-running office workplace comic strip over his recent racist remarks.

Newspaper readers around the country were greeted by notes from publishers — and, in at least one instance, a blank space — alerting them to outlets’ decision to stop running the popular comic. Adams’ fate was effectively sealed Sunday evening when “Dilbert” distributor Andrews McMeel Universal said it was severing ties to the cartoonist. By Monday morning, “Dilbert” was gone from the GoComics site, which also features many top comic strips like “Peanuts” and “Calvin and Hobbes.”

In a Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

Readers of The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts, found a blank space in Monday’s edition where “Dilbert” would normally run. The paper said it would keep the space blank throughout March “as a reminder of the racism the pervades our society.”

Newspapers ranging from the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post to smaller papers like the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette have also said they would cease to publish “Dilbert.” The strip, which lampoons office culture, first appeared in 1989.

“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” Cleveland Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote. ”We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

The Andrews McMeel Universal statement said the distributor supports free speech, but Adams’ comments were not compatible with the core values of the company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” the statement jointly signed by the chair and CEO said.

While Adams’ strips are no longer on GoComics, he maintains an extensive archive on his own website. In a YouTube episode released Monday, Scott Adams said that new “Dilbert” strips will only be available on his subscription service on the Locals platform.

“They made a business decision, which I don’t consider anything like censorship,” he said of Andrews McMeel Universal, adding that his comments about Black people were hyperbole.

Adams had previously defended himself on social media against those whom he said “hate me and are canceling me.” He also drew support from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted that the media previously “was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians.”

During the Feb. 22 episode of “Real Coffee with Scott Adams,” he referenced a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase at the center of the question was popularized as a trolling campaign by members of 4chan — an anonymous and notorious message board — and began being used by some white supremacists. Rasmussen Reports is a conservative polling firm has used its Twitter account to endorse false and misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines, elections and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

“But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

“But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

Obesity Care Week Begins as Report Reveals that Nearly 50 Percent of African Americans Have Obesity

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Feb 28, 2023

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Obesity Care Week Begins as Report Reveals that Nearly 50 Percent of African Americans Have Obesity

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Obesity Care Week 2023 (OCW) kicked off on Monday, Feb. 27, with a focus on the disproportionate impact of obesity on communities of color.

Health officials responsible for OCW said racial and ethnic minorities have a higher rate of chronic diseases. African Americans have the highest rate of chronic diseases.
According to recent data, almost 50% of African Americans have obesity, and approximately 4 out of 5 Black women have overweight or obesity.

The causes of obesity are complex, and a person’s access to healthy food, safe places to exercise and play, stable and affordable housing, access to quality health care, and social attitudes about body weight all play a role in whether a person will have obesity.
However, communities of color face unique challenges in each of these areas, health officials stated.

For example, in the United States, only 8% of African Americans live in a census tract with a supermarket, while 31% of white Americans have one.
This means that minorities more often shop in small stores or bodegas or eat at fast food restaurants. These places usually have less fresh food and more processed food.
Cultural attitudes about body weight also play a role, with non-Hispanic white women more satisfied with their body size than non-Hispanic Black women, and Hispanic women more interested in losing weight and eating healthy.

Evidence shows that the African American population has less of an impact on existing weight loss interventions, with Black men and women achieving smaller weight losses.
Health officials noted that this suggests that intensive behavioral programs result in lower levels of adherence in Black people than whites.
Founded in 2015, Obesity Care Week has a global vision for a society that values science and clinically based care and understands, respects, and accepts the complexities of obesity.

Organizers have focused on changing the way society cares about obesity and have worked to empower individuals by providing affordable and comprehensive care and prevention programs, increasing awareness of weight bias, and working to eliminate obesity.
Researchers said obesity not only affects overall health, but it also increases the risk of complications from COVID-19.

According to a recent study of hospitalized patients in the US, obesity may also predispose patients to getting the virus and is the strongest predictor for COVID-19 complications.
Unfortunately, African Americans are also disproportionately affected by COVID-19. According to the CDC, 33% of those hospitalized with the virus were African Americans, compared to 13% of the US population.

Inequities in access to and quality of care result in poor overall health and many chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.
This can affect individuals’ chances of getting COVID-19.

The communities in which African Americans live may place them at greater risk for developing chronic illnesses. For example, they may not have access to healthy foods or safe places to play or exercise.
For people who try to eat healthy, living in a food desert means that they must go to a grocery store.

They often must do this by public transportation.
These disparities need to be addressed so that all communities have the resources and support they need to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
“Obesity Care Week 2023 highlights the need for comprehensive and inclusive approaches to obesity care that consider the unique challenges faced by communities of color,” organizers stated.

Ex-SC Mayor Taking over White House Office of Engagement

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Feb 28, 2023

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Ex-SC Mayor Taking over White House Office of Engagement

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday announced the appointment of formerc as a top adviser, filling a key White House role from a state that has become crucial to the Democratic Party ahead of the 2024 election cycle.

Benjamin will become director of the White House Office of Engagement. He takes over from another former mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who had assumed the role in June and is returning to Atlanta, officials said.

Benjamin will oversee White House efforts “to ensure community leaders, diverse perspectives, and new voices have the opportunity to inform the work of the President in an inclusive, transparent and responsible way,” according to the White House. In a release, Biden called Benjamin a “longtime public servant” whose “deep relationships across the country” would well serve the administration.

Benjamin, 53, has long been considered a rising star in Democratic politics, serving three terms as Columbia’s mayor, and the first Black mayor in the city’s history. Serving as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and African Americans Mayors Association, Benjamin spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and was among the candidates considered for Hillary Clinton’s running mate that year. He opted not to run for a fourth term in 2021.

The appointment comes at a time when Benjamin’s home state is becoming even more critical to Democrats as they face the 2024 presidential campaign. Earlier this year, the Democratic National Committee voted to hold their first nominating contest of the next cycle in South Carolina, supplanting Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada in an effort to more deeply represent the desires of Black voters.

In South Carolina’s 2020 primary, Benjamin met with nearly all of the 2020 Democratic White House hopefuls, offering advice as they wound their way through South Carolina, a state in which support from Black voters is critical to Democratic candidates’ success. Benjamin initially gave his endorsement to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg before supporting Biden, who scored a thundering win in the state’s primary.

Benjamin also served in the administration of Gov. Jim Hodges, who in 1998 was the most recent Democrat elected to South Carolina’s highest office. Earlier this year, his wife, DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, was sworn in as a judge on the 4th US. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, appointed to the post by Biden.