U.S. investigating whistleblower allegations; vows to keep federal workers safe
Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Sunday said it was investigating complaints that federal workers were not given proper protective gear and training before greeting U.S. citizens evacuated from a cruise ship that had 691 people infected with the new coronavirus.
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told CBS’s “Face the Nation” he was personally involved in the probe, and the government was determined to make sure its workers were kept safe.
Azar told CBS it had been 14 days since any HHS worker had contact with the evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and none had contracted the disease.
About 70 cases have been reported in the United States, including 47 cases among people repatriated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the supposed epicenter of the outbreak, or from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan.
“Even if these allegations proved to be true, there was no spreading of the disease from this,” he said, adding that the department had offered to test any HHS employees involved if they wanted what he called “that extra piece of mind.”
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Azar said the government would not allow any retaliation against the HHS worker who first raised concerns about the issue or other employees.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal and Representative Jimmie Gomez, a Democrat from California, last week asked the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to provide answers within a week about reports that HHS had retaliated against the whistleblower in question.
In a separate letter to Azar, the lawmakers said the whistleblower alleged that “staff were sent into quarantined areas ‘without personal protective equipment, training, or experience in managing public health emergencies, safety protocols, and the potential danger to both themselves and members of the public they come into contact with.’”
They said the whistleblower also reported that when staff raised safety concerns, they were “admonished ... for decreasing staff morale, accused of not being team players, and had their mental health and emotional stability questioned.’”
On Sunday, Azar declined to provide details on whether the whistleblower had been reassigned to a different position, saying it would be inappropriate to discuss personnel matters.
“Nobody would ever be reassigned or discriminated against or prejudiced or retaliated against because of raising concerns about the functioning of the department,” Azar said. “If our employees raise concerns about our processes, if something proves not to be right, we are grateful.”
Sunday, March 01, 2020
Black Democrats turn their backs on Bloomberg at church before Super Tuesday votes
Joseph Ax, Trevor Hunnicutt
SELMA, Ala. (Reuters) - Joe Biden, fresh off a victory in South Carolina propelled by black voters, on Sunday commemorated a landmark civil rights march in Alabama, where some worshippers at an African-American church turned their backs on his rival Michael Bloomberg.
Biden and the others competing for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November hit the campaign trail before Super Tuesday nominating contests in 14 states including Alabama. Biden, whose win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary galvanized his campaign, and the current front-runner, Bernie Sanders, traded jabs on Sunday news shows.
Bloomberg, a former New York mayor, received a chilly reception at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma after pastor Reverend Leodis Strong told the gathering the billionaire businessman initially had turned down the invitation to speak.
“I was hurt, I was disappointed,” Strong said as Bloomberg looked on stonily. “I think it’s important that he came, and it shows a willingness on his part to change.”
About 10 people stood up and turned their backs on Bloomberg as he spoke about racial inequality. Black voters are a key constituency of the Democratic Party.
“I think it’s just an insult for him to come here. It’s the disrespect for the legacy of this place,” Lisa Brown, who traveled to Selma from Los Angeles, told Reuters later. She said the idea to protest Bloomberg’s remarks had circulated but she stood as an individual, not an organized group.
The quiet protest suggests Bloomberg may have an uphill climb with some African-American voters, who have supported Biden in large numbers and carried him to a resounding victory in South Carolina.
Biden and Bloomberg are trying to present themselves as the party’s best choice to take on Trump, arguing that Sanders is too far to the left to win the general election.
Black attendees stand and turn their backs on Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg as he talks about his plans to help the U.S. black community during remarks at commemoration ceremonies for the 55th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march in the Brown Chapel AME church in Selma, Alabama, U.S., March 1, 2020. REUTERS/Joseph Ax
At church in Selma, the vice president to the country’s first African American president, Barack Obama, was clearly the favorite. Biden was seated in a place of honor with the pastor, facing the pews where Bloomberg sat, and got a glowing introduction from U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, a black Alabama lawmaker who supports him.
“Most importantly, he has earned the right to be in this pulpit and to address you now,” Sewell said.
Democratic contenders Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar sat on folding chairs at the margins of the church audience. The pastor yelled at Tom Steyer, who dropped out of the race after finishing third in South Carolina, to sit down. “This is a house of God, this is not a political rally,” he chided.
The candidates were in Selma to mark the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when civil rights marchers were beaten by state troopers and local police while crossing a bridge in Selma.
Bloomberg skipped the first four state nominating contests including South Carolina but has blanketed the nation with about $500 million in advertising and will be on the ballot for the first time on Tuesday, when the biggest prizes are California and Texas.
He has made a concerted effort to reach out to black voters, including apologies for overseeing an increase in the use of a police practice called “stop and frisk” in New York City that disproportionately affected black and other racial minority residents. A federal judge found the practice was an unconstitutional form of racial profiling.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered Democrats and independents, conducted Feb. 19-25, showed Bloomberg garnering the support of 20% of black voters, third among the Democratic candidates behind Sanders (26%) and Biden (23%).
At least five Super Tuesday states - Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia - have big blocs of African-American voters.
‘NOT A SOCIALIST’
Biden won overwhelmingly in South Carolina, drawing 48% of the votes cast compared to 20% for Sanders. Edison Research exit polls showed Biden with 61% of African-American support there to Sanders’ 17%.
Slideshow (10 Images)
The victory led the former vice president to assert himself as a viable moderate alternative to Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist.
Sanders’ calls for a political revolution have rattled a Democratic Party establishment worried he is too far to the left to beat Trump.
“I think the Democratic Party is looking for a Democrat - not a socialist, not a former Republican, a Democrat - to be their nominee,” Biden told “Fox News Sunday.”
Biden’s reference to a former Republican appears to have been aimed at Bloomberg, who switched parties.
Sanders attacked Biden for taking contributions from political organizations called Super PACs and billionaires, courting wealthy donors at what he said was the expense of working-class, middle-class and low-income people.
“I don’t go to rich people’s homes like Joe Biden,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Biden lags Sanders in fundraising and organization in Super Tuesday states and beyond.
Sanders planned to campaign on Sunday in heavily Democratic California, where he leads opinion polls.
The Sanders campaign announced overnight it had raised $46.5 million from more than 2.2 million donations in February, a huge sum dwarfing what any other Democratic candidate had raised last year in any three-month period.
Biden reported his February haul was $18 million. Warren’s campaign said she raised more than $29 million last month.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, continues to spend. He purchased three minutes of commercial air time during on broadcast networks CBS and NBC on Sunday evening to address the coronavirus outbreak.
Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker
Joseph Ax, Trevor Hunnicutt
SELMA, Ala. (Reuters) - Joe Biden, fresh off a victory in South Carolina propelled by black voters, on Sunday commemorated a landmark civil rights march in Alabama, where some worshippers at an African-American church turned their backs on his rival Michael Bloomberg.
Biden and the others competing for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November hit the campaign trail before Super Tuesday nominating contests in 14 states including Alabama. Biden, whose win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary galvanized his campaign, and the current front-runner, Bernie Sanders, traded jabs on Sunday news shows.
Bloomberg, a former New York mayor, received a chilly reception at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma after pastor Reverend Leodis Strong told the gathering the billionaire businessman initially had turned down the invitation to speak.
“I was hurt, I was disappointed,” Strong said as Bloomberg looked on stonily. “I think it’s important that he came, and it shows a willingness on his part to change.”
About 10 people stood up and turned their backs on Bloomberg as he spoke about racial inequality. Black voters are a key constituency of the Democratic Party.
“I think it’s just an insult for him to come here. It’s the disrespect for the legacy of this place,” Lisa Brown, who traveled to Selma from Los Angeles, told Reuters later. She said the idea to protest Bloomberg’s remarks had circulated but she stood as an individual, not an organized group.
The quiet protest suggests Bloomberg may have an uphill climb with some African-American voters, who have supported Biden in large numbers and carried him to a resounding victory in South Carolina.
Biden and Bloomberg are trying to present themselves as the party’s best choice to take on Trump, arguing that Sanders is too far to the left to win the general election.
Black attendees stand and turn their backs on Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg as he talks about his plans to help the U.S. black community during remarks at commemoration ceremonies for the 55th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march in the Brown Chapel AME church in Selma, Alabama, U.S., March 1, 2020. REUTERS/Joseph Ax
At church in Selma, the vice president to the country’s first African American president, Barack Obama, was clearly the favorite. Biden was seated in a place of honor with the pastor, facing the pews where Bloomberg sat, and got a glowing introduction from U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, a black Alabama lawmaker who supports him.
“Most importantly, he has earned the right to be in this pulpit and to address you now,” Sewell said.
Democratic contenders Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar sat on folding chairs at the margins of the church audience. The pastor yelled at Tom Steyer, who dropped out of the race after finishing third in South Carolina, to sit down. “This is a house of God, this is not a political rally,” he chided.
The candidates were in Selma to mark the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when civil rights marchers were beaten by state troopers and local police while crossing a bridge in Selma.
Bloomberg skipped the first four state nominating contests including South Carolina but has blanketed the nation with about $500 million in advertising and will be on the ballot for the first time on Tuesday, when the biggest prizes are California and Texas.
He has made a concerted effort to reach out to black voters, including apologies for overseeing an increase in the use of a police practice called “stop and frisk” in New York City that disproportionately affected black and other racial minority residents. A federal judge found the practice was an unconstitutional form of racial profiling.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered Democrats and independents, conducted Feb. 19-25, showed Bloomberg garnering the support of 20% of black voters, third among the Democratic candidates behind Sanders (26%) and Biden (23%).
At least five Super Tuesday states - Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia - have big blocs of African-American voters.
‘NOT A SOCIALIST’
Biden won overwhelmingly in South Carolina, drawing 48% of the votes cast compared to 20% for Sanders. Edison Research exit polls showed Biden with 61% of African-American support there to Sanders’ 17%.
Slideshow (10 Images)
The victory led the former vice president to assert himself as a viable moderate alternative to Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist.
Sanders’ calls for a political revolution have rattled a Democratic Party establishment worried he is too far to the left to beat Trump.
“I think the Democratic Party is looking for a Democrat - not a socialist, not a former Republican, a Democrat - to be their nominee,” Biden told “Fox News Sunday.”
Biden’s reference to a former Republican appears to have been aimed at Bloomberg, who switched parties.
Sanders attacked Biden for taking contributions from political organizations called Super PACs and billionaires, courting wealthy donors at what he said was the expense of working-class, middle-class and low-income people.
“I don’t go to rich people’s homes like Joe Biden,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Biden lags Sanders in fundraising and organization in Super Tuesday states and beyond.
Sanders planned to campaign on Sunday in heavily Democratic California, where he leads opinion polls.
The Sanders campaign announced overnight it had raised $46.5 million from more than 2.2 million donations in February, a huge sum dwarfing what any other Democratic candidate had raised last year in any three-month period.
Biden reported his February haul was $18 million. Warren’s campaign said she raised more than $29 million last month.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, continues to spend. He purchased three minutes of commercial air time during on broadcast networks CBS and NBC on Sunday evening to address the coronavirus outbreak.
Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker
South Africa probes apartheid-era death in police custody
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME February 3, 2020
FILE — This Aug. 22, 2017 file shows the upper floors of the Johannesburg Central Police Station, formerly known as John Foster Square, in Johannesburg, where medical doctor and former activist Neil Aggett is alleged to have committed suicide while in police custody in 1982. An inquest into the death of Aggett is being held Monday Feb. 3, 2020, where his family and others say they believe he died as result of torture by authorities. (AP Photo/Denis farrell/File)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Being hanged upside down until unconsciousness. Daily beatings. Being forced to do strenuous exercises while naked.
These are some of the abuses perpetrated by South Africa’s police when activist Neil Aggett died in custody in 1982, according to witnesses who were jailed at the same time.
The harrowing testimony came at the inquest into the death of Aggett, a medical doctor and union activist, who police at the time said hanged himself. But his family and others say they believe he died as a result of torture by authorities during apartheid, South Africa’s previous and brutal regime of racial discrimination.
Aggett, 28, was held by police for 70 days without charges before he died. Fellow prisoners who saw him said he appeared to have been badly tortured.
“He was struggling to walk. He was bending forward almost like he was unable to pick his body up. It felt like the time I myself had my hands chained against my feet,” said the Rev. Frank Chikane, an anti-apartheid activist who saw Aggett while both were held by police.
“He was slow like a patient, he looked very weak and stressed,” said Chikane.
Chikane, a prominent former anti-apartheid activist, described how he was tortured by police in the same police building, now known as Johannesburg Central Police Station.
“They hanged me head down. They put me on a broom and hanged me with my head facing down until I lost consciousness. I don’t know how long that lasted. By the time I regained consciousness, they took me back to the cell, ” said Chikane.
Another former prisoner, Barbara Hogan, told how a handcuffed Aggett gave her a defiant clenched fist salute as police officers led him through a corridor.
Hogan, who later became a Cabinet minister in South Africa’s post-apartheid government, said she was subjected to daily abuse by police.
According to Hogan, she was handcuffed to a chair and repeatedly slapped in the face, among other punishments. She said had attempted to kill herself to end the abuse.
“I saw no way of getting out of the situation. I had friends who had been tortured badly,” she said.
Hogan said she regretted that a report she had compiled had been intercepted by the apartheid police and led to the arrest of activists including Aggett.
Aggett had been forced to do strenuous exercises while naked, said another former prisoner Maurice Smithers.
Aggett’s family has pursued the case for years.
The inquest into Aggett’s death follows that of Ahmed Timol, an anti-apartheid activist who also died in police detention. That investigation determined that Timol did not die of suicide, as the apartheid regime had said, but had been killed. Former policeman Joao Rodrigues is set to go on trial for Timol’s killing after a South African court last year declined his application for a permanent halt of his prosecution.
At least 67 detainees had died while in the custody of the apartheid government’s secret police, said Jabulani Mlotshwa of the National Prosecuting Authority.
“Those are the ones which we know of. The grim reality is that the count was probably higher,” he said.
Representing the Aggett family, advocate Howard Varney said their aim is to get the 1982 ruling that Aggett killed himself overturned.
The inquest is expected to continue throughout February.
By ANDREW MELDRUM February 5, 2020
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The dream of an equitable, non-racial South Africa was the driving force of the struggle against apartheid and remains a goal today, those who returned to the grave of an activist who died in police custody 38 years ago said Wednesday.
The memorial for Neil Aggett was held as South Africa begins to re-investigate his death in police custody after battling apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial discrimination that ended in 1994 with all-race elections.
Infuriated by the death of the 28-year-old doctor and trade union activist, an estimated 15,000 people carried his coffin from central Johannesburg to the Westpark cemetery, which in 1982 was for whites only.
A band of 30 people returned to the grave on Wednesday, the anniversary of Aggett’s death, as harrowing descriptions of police torture have emerged from several people jailed at the same time and who saw Aggett in terrible condition. He was held for 70 days without charges.
The initial inquest in 1982 found that Aggett had hanged himself, despite evidence that he had been repeatedly abused by police.
“The testimony of the abuse is difficult to hear, but I hope this new inquest will find that my brother did not kill himself,” said Aggett’s sister, Jill Burger. “That was very traumatic for our family. It is a wound that needs to be healed and the truth about his death will help that.”
She said she hopes the case will “open the doors for more families to come forward and demand the truth about how their loved ones died.”
More than 65 anti-apartheid activists died in police custody during the apartheid era.
“I hope this re-opened inquest will allow others who lost loved ones to get justice,” Burger said. “This will help families find peace at last.”
Fellow prisoner Prema Naidoo, who spoke at the memorial service, said he became emotional when giving testimony but said it was important to remain committed to the goals of the anti-apartheid struggle.
“Our struggle was about non-racialism. It was a struggle about human rights,” Naidoo said. “Those remain our ideals. We want to see the law take its course against those who perpetuated abuse.”
Janine Ward said her brother and father were detained by police during the apartheid years.
“Let the legacy of Neil and so many others not be wasted,” Ward said. “These stories must come out. We must carry on believing in the beautiful South Africa that we must have.”
SOUTH AFRICA; ELEPHANT SPIRIT ANIMAL SAVED FROM POACHERS TRAP
In this photo taken Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020, Adine Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center (HERD), plays with Khanysia, a five-month-old albino elephant in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snare set by a poacher in the lower Kruger park . She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to the Hoedspruit elephant reab center. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
SHEER FEAR SHEER TERROR
In this photo taken Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020, a vies of Khanysia, a five-month-old albino elephant, at the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center (HERD), in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snare set by a poacher in the lower Kruger park . She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to the Hoedspruit elephant reab center. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this photo taken Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020, Adine Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center (HERD), and Juan Ferreira, HERD curator, secure a blanket on Khanysia, a five-month-old albino elephant in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snare set by a poacher in the lower Kruger park . She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to the Hoedspruit elephant reab center. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay
In this photo taken Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020, Adine Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center (HERD), plays with Khanysia, a five-month-old albino elephant in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snare set by a poacher in the lower Kruger park . She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to the Hoedspruit elephant reab center. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this photo taken Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020, Adine Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center (HERD), plays with Khanysia, a five-month-old albino elephant in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snare set by a poacher in the lower Kruger park . She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to the Hoedspruit elephant reab center. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa (AP) — Khanysia did not see the trap set by a poacher in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. She dove head first into the sharp wire snare, which cut her mouth, face and underneath her ear and chin.
It was days before the four-month-old albino elephant was found badly dehydrated but alive, and taken to the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center, three hours away.
One month later, Khanysia, named after the Tsonga word for light, weighs a healthy 150 kilograms (330 pounds), is adding 500 grams (1 pound) every day and spends her time playing with caretakers.
“She is a little albino elephant, so it is a bit different than your normal elephant just in caring, especially when the sun is kind of severe,” said Adine Roode, founder of the center, in the heart of Kapama game reserve. “Due to the animal human conflict, we are sitting with orphans. Because of the decreasing land and habitat, we will see an increase, in the future, of elephant orphans.”
It is not known how Khanysia was separated from her mother and herd, said Roode.
For the past 22 years, the center has looked after orphaned elephants, and now has 17 pachyderms on site, she said. The young elephants are eventually released to the private game reserve, she said.
Khanysia is separated from the rest of the herd for the time being. At night she stays in a heated room and in the daytime she goes outside to a large enclosure with tall grass and a mud pool. Under 24-hour supervision, the blue-eyed, pink-skinned toddler seems to be in a non-stop play mood, craving attention and only stopping now and then to scratch her itchy scars on the wood pillars surrounding her pen.
After two hours of cavorting with Khanysia, causing the little elephant to trumpet repeatedly, Roode leaves her in the care of Liverson Sande, the center’s senior carer.
Outside, the 17 other elephants line up for a walk. “It’s so easy to get too attached,” says Roode. “It is difficult to let go.”
AP
South Africa seeks more renewable energy amid power cuts
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME February 13, 2020
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Sumaya Hisham/Pool Photo via AP)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s president said Thursday the coal-dependent country will turn to more renewable energy as one way to help ease power cuts that have “severely set back” efforts to rebuild the weak economy. But he warned of more blackouts in the immediate future.
South Africans have been outraged by rolling power cuts in the current mid-summer that also have worried investors. The country relies on coal for some 77% of power needs, according to the department of energy, and some citizens were astounded when officials blamed “wet coal” in part for the blackouts.
The outages are just the latest grievance in a country with 29% unemployment, widespread corruption and certain state-owned companies teetering on the edge of collapse. The economy is estimated to grow by less than 1% this year, and more than half of young people are without jobs.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech was delayed by an hour and a half as lawmakers with the populist Economic Freedom Fighters party told him to sit down and argued that the public enterprises minister, Pravin Gordhan, should step down.
“We can’t gather like normal here when things are abnormal,” EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi called out. Party members later walked out of the chamber.
Ramaphosa quickly acknowledged South Africa’s problems. “Our economy has not grown at any meaningful rate for over a decade,” he said, and “our public finances are under severe pressure.”
The president warned that the “debilitating” power blackouts will continue as the struggling power utility, Eskom, makes needed changes including long-delayed maintenance.
“Over the next few months as Eskom works to restore its operational capabilities, we will be implementing measures that will fundamentally change the trajectory of energy generation in our country,” Ramaphosa said.
Among the solutions the government is pursuing is allowing commercial and industrial users to generate their own electricity and allowing municipalities to purchase electricity from independent power producers. South Africa also will purchase more from existing wind and solar plants.
“We undertake this decisive shift in our energy trajectory at a time when humankind faces its greatest existential threat in the form of climate change,” the president said, and he vowed to finalize the Climate Change Bill with its framework to reduce the country’s vulnerability to global warming.
Ramaphosa’s term that began when the ruling African National Congress won last year’s elections with its weakest victory ever has been challenging. He has promised to eradicate corruption after his predecessor resigned amid scandal and has vowed to turn around the economy and create jobs for millions of people.
But Ramaphosa faces growing calls to provide clear solutions for the country’s pressing issues.
Many state-owned enterprises, including South African Airways, now rely on government bailouts for survival.
“After years of ... corruption and mismanagement, we are working to ensure that all SOEs are able to fulfil their developmental mandate and be financially sustainable,” the president said.
The economy remains grim. “Low levels of growth mean that we are not generating enough revenue to meet our expenses, our debt is heading towards unsustainable levels and spending is misdirected towards consumption and debt-servicing rather than infrastructure and productive activity,” Ramaphosa said. “We cannot continue along this path.”
He promised not to let up in the fight against corruption but acknowledged that efforts so far have “not been enough to free our economy from the grim inheritance of our past, nor from the mistakes that we ourselves have made.”
Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party Julius Malema, center, and his members dance on the steps of parliament after walking out of Parliament at the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Brenton Geach/Pool Photo via AP)
AP NEWS
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Sumaya Hisham/Pool Photo via AP)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s president said Thursday the coal-dependent country will turn to more renewable energy as one way to help ease power cuts that have “severely set back” efforts to rebuild the weak economy. But he warned of more blackouts in the immediate future.
South Africans have been outraged by rolling power cuts in the current mid-summer that also have worried investors. The country relies on coal for some 77% of power needs, according to the department of energy, and some citizens were astounded when officials blamed “wet coal” in part for the blackouts.
The outages are just the latest grievance in a country with 29% unemployment, widespread corruption and certain state-owned companies teetering on the edge of collapse. The economy is estimated to grow by less than 1% this year, and more than half of young people are without jobs.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech was delayed by an hour and a half as lawmakers with the populist Economic Freedom Fighters party told him to sit down and argued that the public enterprises minister, Pravin Gordhan, should step down.
“We can’t gather like normal here when things are abnormal,” EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi called out. Party members later walked out of the chamber.
Ramaphosa quickly acknowledged South Africa’s problems. “Our economy has not grown at any meaningful rate for over a decade,” he said, and “our public finances are under severe pressure.”
The president warned that the “debilitating” power blackouts will continue as the struggling power utility, Eskom, makes needed changes including long-delayed maintenance.
“Over the next few months as Eskom works to restore its operational capabilities, we will be implementing measures that will fundamentally change the trajectory of energy generation in our country,” Ramaphosa said.
Among the solutions the government is pursuing is allowing commercial and industrial users to generate their own electricity and allowing municipalities to purchase electricity from independent power producers. South Africa also will purchase more from existing wind and solar plants.
“We undertake this decisive shift in our energy trajectory at a time when humankind faces its greatest existential threat in the form of climate change,” the president said, and he vowed to finalize the Climate Change Bill with its framework to reduce the country’s vulnerability to global warming.
Ramaphosa’s term that began when the ruling African National Congress won last year’s elections with its weakest victory ever has been challenging. He has promised to eradicate corruption after his predecessor resigned amid scandal and has vowed to turn around the economy and create jobs for millions of people.
But Ramaphosa faces growing calls to provide clear solutions for the country’s pressing issues.
Many state-owned enterprises, including South African Airways, now rely on government bailouts for survival.
“After years of ... corruption and mismanagement, we are working to ensure that all SOEs are able to fulfil their developmental mandate and be financially sustainable,” the president said.
The economy remains grim. “Low levels of growth mean that we are not generating enough revenue to meet our expenses, our debt is heading towards unsustainable levels and spending is misdirected towards consumption and debt-servicing rather than infrastructure and productive activity,” Ramaphosa said. “We cannot continue along this path.”
He promised not to let up in the fight against corruption but acknowledged that efforts so far have “not been enough to free our economy from the grim inheritance of our past, nor from the mistakes that we ourselves have made.”
Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party Julius Malema, center, and his members dance on the steps of parliament after walking out of Parliament at the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Brenton Geach/Pool Photo via AP)
AP NEWS
Wonder Woman interrupts SA cricket game in climate protest
February 16, 2020
1 of 3
A pitch invader runs past England players during the final T20 cricket match between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — Climate activists dressed as Wonder Woman and other movie superheroes interrupted a cricket game in South Africa on Sunday by invading the field, and protesters also climbed a floodlight pylon to display a banner.
The protest at the SuperSport Park stadium near the South African capital Pretoria was meant to draw attention to air pollution in South Africa and was carried out by Greenpeace Africa, it said on its Facebook page.
The action came during a series-deciding game between South Africa and England.
The protest was directed at South Africa’s national electricity supplier, which operates coal-burning plants and is causing “runaway air pollution,” Greenpeace Africa said.
The game resumed after a short delay. England, which was batting at the time of the protest, went on to win the game and series.
February 16, 2020
1 of 3
A pitch invader runs past England players during the final T20 cricket match between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — Climate activists dressed as Wonder Woman and other movie superheroes interrupted a cricket game in South Africa on Sunday by invading the field, and protesters also climbed a floodlight pylon to display a banner.
The protest at the SuperSport Park stadium near the South African capital Pretoria was meant to draw attention to air pollution in South Africa and was carried out by Greenpeace Africa, it said on its Facebook page.
The action came during a series-deciding game between South Africa and England.
A stadium security officer chases a pitch invader during the final T20 cricket match between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Numerous protesters in costumes managed to get on the field during play. One of them, wearing a Wonder Woman costume, reached South Africa captain Quinton de Kock in the middle of the field and spoke to him before handing him a white face mask. Smiling, de Kock took the mask. Another South Africa player, fast bowler Dale Steyn, joined the conversation and gave the protester a high five. Steyn was also given a white face mask.
Protesters also managed to climb one of the floodlight pylons and unfurl a bright yellow banner high above the field. It read: “Toxic Air Is Not Just A Game” and “(hashtag)BowlOutAirPollution.”
On Facebook, Greenpeace Africa posted a photo of a man and a woman in Superman and Wonder Woman outfits high up on the floodlight pylon and said they were activists.
A pitch invader runs onto the field during the final T20 cricket match between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Numerous protesters in costumes managed to get on the field during play. One of them, wearing a Wonder Woman costume, reached South Africa captain Quinton de Kock in the middle of the field and spoke to him before handing him a white face mask. Smiling, de Kock took the mask. Another South Africa player, fast bowler Dale Steyn, joined the conversation and gave the protester a high five. Steyn was also given a white face mask.
Protesters also managed to climb one of the floodlight pylons and unfurl a bright yellow banner high above the field. It read: “Toxic Air Is Not Just A Game” and “(hashtag)BowlOutAirPollution.”
On Facebook, Greenpeace Africa posted a photo of a man and a woman in Superman and Wonder Woman outfits high up on the floodlight pylon and said they were activists.
A pitch invader runs onto the field during the final T20 cricket match between South Africa and England at Centurion Park in Pretoria, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
The protest was directed at South Africa’s national electricity supplier, which operates coal-burning plants and is causing “runaway air pollution,” Greenpeace Africa said.
The game resumed after a short delay. England, which was batting at the time of the protest, went on to win the game and series.
Dozens of HIV-positive S. African women forcibly sterilized
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME February 25, 2020
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A scathing new report reveals that dozens of HIV-positive women were forced or coerced into sterilization after giving birth at public hospitals in South Africa.
The Commission for Gender Equality’s report this week says it investigated complaints by at least 48 women of “cruel, torturous or inhumane and degrading treatment” at the hospitals. At times it occurred when women were in labor.
In many cases, “the hospitals’ staff had threatened not to assist them in giving birth” if they didn’t sign the consent forms for sterilization, the report says. The commission is a statutory body that operates as an independent watchdog.
The forced sterilizations at 15 public hospitals in South Africa between 2002 and 2005 have sparked public outrage. Some of the hospitals are in some of the country’s largest cities such as Johannesburg and Durban.
“When I asked the nurse what the forms were for, the nurse responded by saying: ’You HIV people don’t ask questions when you make babies. Why are you asking questions now? You must be closed up because you HIV people like making babies and it just annoys us,” the report quotes one complainant as saying.
The commission said its investigation took time because of challenges including some hospital staffers who tried to hide documents or refused to cooperate.
It will refer its report to the Health Professions Council of South Africa, which has a mandate to act against health care practitioners.
The World Health Organization says South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world with more than 7 million people living with the illness. Some 19% of the people around the world with HIV live in the country, which also has 15% of new infections.
The commission has recommended that further research be done into how widespread the practice of forced sterilization of women living with HIV might be in South Africa.
Study is halted as HIV vaccine fails test in South Africa
By The Associated Press February 3, 2020
FILE - In a Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, pharmacist Mary Chindanyika looks at documents on a fridge containing a trial vaccine against HIV on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. The latest attempt at an HIV vaccine has failed. Researchers announced Monday, Feb. 3, 2020 they've stopped giving the experimental shots in a major study in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest HIV rates. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
The latest attempt at an HIV vaccine has failed, as researchers announced Monday they have stopped giving the experimental shots in a major study.
The study had enrolled more than 5,400 people since 2016 in South Africa, a country with one of the world’s highest HIV rates. Last month, monitors checked how the study was going and found 129 HIV infections had occurred among the vaccine recipients compared with 123 among those given a dummy shot, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
“An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work. Regrettably, it does not,” said NIH infectious diseases chief Dr. Anthony Fauci.
There were no safety concerns, but NIH, which sponsored the study, agreed that vaccinations should stop.
The experimental shot was based on the only vaccine ever shown to offer even modest protection against HIV, one that was deemed 31% effective in Thailand. That wasn’t good enough for real-world use but gave scientists a starting point. They beefed up the shot and adapted it to the HIV subtype that’s common in southern Africa.
Two other large studies, in several countries, are under way testing a different approach to a possible HIV vaccine.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME February 25, 2020
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A scathing new report reveals that dozens of HIV-positive women were forced or coerced into sterilization after giving birth at public hospitals in South Africa.
The Commission for Gender Equality’s report this week says it investigated complaints by at least 48 women of “cruel, torturous or inhumane and degrading treatment” at the hospitals. At times it occurred when women were in labor.
In many cases, “the hospitals’ staff had threatened not to assist them in giving birth” if they didn’t sign the consent forms for sterilization, the report says. The commission is a statutory body that operates as an independent watchdog.
The forced sterilizations at 15 public hospitals in South Africa between 2002 and 2005 have sparked public outrage. Some of the hospitals are in some of the country’s largest cities such as Johannesburg and Durban.
“When I asked the nurse what the forms were for, the nurse responded by saying: ’You HIV people don’t ask questions when you make babies. Why are you asking questions now? You must be closed up because you HIV people like making babies and it just annoys us,” the report quotes one complainant as saying.
The commission said its investigation took time because of challenges including some hospital staffers who tried to hide documents or refused to cooperate.
It will refer its report to the Health Professions Council of South Africa, which has a mandate to act against health care practitioners.
The World Health Organization says South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world with more than 7 million people living with the illness. Some 19% of the people around the world with HIV live in the country, which also has 15% of new infections.
The commission has recommended that further research be done into how widespread the practice of forced sterilization of women living with HIV might be in South Africa.
Study is halted as HIV vaccine fails test in South Africa
By The Associated Press February 3, 2020
FILE - In a Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, pharmacist Mary Chindanyika looks at documents on a fridge containing a trial vaccine against HIV on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. The latest attempt at an HIV vaccine has failed. Researchers announced Monday, Feb. 3, 2020 they've stopped giving the experimental shots in a major study in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest HIV rates. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
The latest attempt at an HIV vaccine has failed, as researchers announced Monday they have stopped giving the experimental shots in a major study.
The study had enrolled more than 5,400 people since 2016 in South Africa, a country with one of the world’s highest HIV rates. Last month, monitors checked how the study was going and found 129 HIV infections had occurred among the vaccine recipients compared with 123 among those given a dummy shot, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
“An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work. Regrettably, it does not,” said NIH infectious diseases chief Dr. Anthony Fauci.
There were no safety concerns, but NIH, which sponsored the study, agreed that vaccinations should stop.
The experimental shot was based on the only vaccine ever shown to offer even modest protection against HIV, one that was deemed 31% effective in Thailand. That wasn’t good enough for real-world use but gave scientists a starting point. They beefed up the shot and adapted it to the HIV subtype that’s common in southern Africa.
Two other large studies, in several countries, are under way testing a different approach to a possible HIV vaccine.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
South Africa removes migrants squatting in Cape Town
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
1 of 6
A woman sorts out her belongings, outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict them. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
A young girl gathers her belongings outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict people. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hundreds of foreign migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off.
The migrants, who were moved in an operation Sunday, had demanded to be relocated to other countries, claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. But the group lost their court bid to compel the government to fly them to what they said would be safer countries, including the U.S. and Canada.
The foreigners had camped outside the Central Methodist Church at Cape Town’s Green Market Square. South African authorities said they will verify their identities and will process those seeking asylum.
The Nigerian government last year evacuated about 600 of its citizens from South Africa following violent demonstrations against foreigners.
The removal of the foreigners was largely a calm operation, with the authorities getting little resistance from the migrants, except for some heckling and chanting.
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
1 of 6
A woman sorts out her belongings, outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict them. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
A young girl gathers her belongings outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict people. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
A woman reacts to a police officer outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict people. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
People sit with their belongings, outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict them. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
A woman and a boy move their belongings, outside the Central Methodist Mission Church in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 1, 2020 as city officials and police move in to evict them. Hundreds of migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off. The migrants removed on Sunday had demanded to be relocated to other countries claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. (AP Photo)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hundreds of foreign migrants have been removed from central Cape Town by South African authorities following a months-long stand-off.
The migrants, who were moved in an operation Sunday, had demanded to be relocated to other countries, claiming they had been threatened by xenophobic violence last year. But the group lost their court bid to compel the government to fly them to what they said would be safer countries, including the U.S. and Canada.
The foreigners had camped outside the Central Methodist Church at Cape Town’s Green Market Square. South African authorities said they will verify their identities and will process those seeking asylum.
The Nigerian government last year evacuated about 600 of its citizens from South Africa following violent demonstrations against foreigners.
The removal of the foreigners was largely a calm operation, with the authorities getting little resistance from the migrants, except for some heckling and chanting.
Emergency goalie protocol talk on tap for NHL GMs meeting
By STEPHEN WHYNO
Dave Ayres signs autographs on a shirt with his name and number before an NHL hockey game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Dallas Stars in Raleigh, N.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. Ayres became a sudden hero to Hurricanes fans when he came into the game as an emergency goaltender in Toronto on Saturday and the Hurricanes won the game. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
When a 42-year-old Zamboni driver entered as an emergency goaltender and won an NHL game, it became one of the best stories in sports.
But David Ayres going from practicing with the Toronto Maple Leafs to playing against them in the thick of a playoff race also generated debate about what should happen in those rare instances. So emergency goalie protocol will be a significant topic of conversation when general managers open their annual March meeting Monday in Boca Raton, Florida.
“This was a perfect storm,” Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said. “You never think it’s going to get to the point where you get two guys hurt, but it did happen. ... Is it something that happens once every 20 years? Is it a great story? That’s what we’ll have to discuss.”
Ayres is not employed by the Maple Leafs and works as operations manager at the former Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He has for years been one of the organization’s on-call practice goalies and even backed up for their top minor league affiliate during a game.
Despite going in for Carolina in a blue and white mask and equipment, Ayres stopped eight of the 10 shots he faced to help the Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs. Because of that result, Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford didn’t think much about the oddity of the situation.
“I guess if the result of the game had’ve gone the other way, I might’ve put more thought into it,” Rutherford said. “What’s going on now is everybody’s talking about what if, a lot of what ifs. We can talk in circles about what ifs and everything. I don’t have an issue with what just took place. But, like always, I’m open to listen to everybody’s thoughts and what everybody’s ideas are.”
CORRECTS SPELLING OF LAST NAME TO AYRES, NOT AYERS - Emergency backup goaltender David Ayres appears with his goalie stick at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, on Friday, Feb. 28 , 2020. Ayres donated the stick he used when he appeared in an NHL game for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is the second emergency goaltender to record a win in league history. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
The current rule of each arena making an emergency goalie available for a game stemmed from 2015 incident in Florida that almost caused an assistant coach to put on the pads and play. Because an emergency goalie has only been required to play twice — Ayres and Scott Foster for Chicago in 2018 — executives and officials might find the current protocol better than the old-school notion of making a skater go in net.
“We said it’s unfair to the guy on the ice to have to go in there,” St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. “It didn’t make any sense. So, now we said let’s see if there’s someone locally that can go in the net. It’s difficult to find 31 A-plus goalies that go to 41 home games a year. There’s always ways to try and see if we can improve it.”
Armstrong said he wouldn’t be in favor of the expense of carrying a third goalie all season, which would also be impractical. One possibility calls for each team to have a full-time employee at home and on the road ready to serve in goal if needed.
“What, do you go find a guy that’s not too bad of a goalie that can practice every day and work in your marketing department or wherever he’s working?” Nill said. “He’s got to travel with the team all the time. We look at those scenarios. With everything, there’s CBA issues involved, there’s labor laws involved, so just different things that you have to check off the boxes before you can decide what to do.”
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL has to work with the Players’ Association on collective bargaining concerns, like determining who counts as a player. Those complications make it no easy fix with perhaps no perfect solution.
“Obviously we want what’s best for the game, and we want to make sure people aren’t putting themselves in danger by playing goal in a National Hockey League game,” Daly said. “That’s obviously something we have to continue to work through.”
Some other topics that could come up when GMs meet Monday-Wednesday:
— Some offside reviews are disputable because a player’s skate might be in the air, making it unclear even on replay. Coach’s challenges are down after a rule change making an unsuccessful challenge a penalty, but this is more about officials getting it right.
“The offside rule I think is going to be discussed again where just breaking the plane would make it a little bit easier to view it on the video,” Rutherford said. “It’s always hard for the linesmen regardless which way we do this because everything’s happening so fast.”
— A few seasons into hybrid icing, Rutherford is concerned there are too many icing stoppages because players are skating back slower to get the call from linesmen.
“It appears to me that we now have more icings than are necessary where a guy going back for a puck may turn the opposite way where he could’ve got the puck or he may just play the opposing player at the blue line when he could’ve got the puck,” he said. “I have to find out if other GMs feel the same way, but if we do, maybe tighten that up a bit.”
— Commissioner Gary Bettman said recently the NHL isn’t planning to make radical changes to its playoff format like the NBA is considering. But with two of the top three teams in the league -- Boston and Tampa Bay -- playing in the same division, the current divisional format of those teams potentially facing off in the second round might again be questioned.
“We were in 1 to 8 (in each conference) and there was a disparity in travel and so we went to this format,” Armstrong said. “There’s going to be pros and cons to whatever decision is made. I understand the logic of talking about 1 to 8, but that’s an easy talk in the Eastern Conference. It’s a difficult talk in the Western Conference.”
— In-arena medical procedures worked when Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench earlier this month with a cardiac event. Because of the success of those protocols in situations involving Jiri Fischer, Rich Peverly and Bouwmeester, it’s not an area that needs immediate attention but will continue to be looked at to see what can be better.
“It’s not something that I think anyone looks at and says, ‘OK, this is perfect’ because it’s such an important thing,” Armstrong said. “It’s not something that will just stay stagnant. We’ll always try to evolve to make sure player safety and fan safety is at the forefront of our game.”
By STEPHEN WHYNO
Dave Ayres signs autographs on a shirt with his name and number before an NHL hockey game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Dallas Stars in Raleigh, N.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. Ayres became a sudden hero to Hurricanes fans when he came into the game as an emergency goaltender in Toronto on Saturday and the Hurricanes won the game. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
When a 42-year-old Zamboni driver entered as an emergency goaltender and won an NHL game, it became one of the best stories in sports.
But David Ayres going from practicing with the Toronto Maple Leafs to playing against them in the thick of a playoff race also generated debate about what should happen in those rare instances. So emergency goalie protocol will be a significant topic of conversation when general managers open their annual March meeting Monday in Boca Raton, Florida.
“This was a perfect storm,” Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said. “You never think it’s going to get to the point where you get two guys hurt, but it did happen. ... Is it something that happens once every 20 years? Is it a great story? That’s what we’ll have to discuss.”
Ayres is not employed by the Maple Leafs and works as operations manager at the former Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He has for years been one of the organization’s on-call practice goalies and even backed up for their top minor league affiliate during a game.
Despite going in for Carolina in a blue and white mask and equipment, Ayres stopped eight of the 10 shots he faced to help the Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs. Because of that result, Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford didn’t think much about the oddity of the situation.
“I guess if the result of the game had’ve gone the other way, I might’ve put more thought into it,” Rutherford said. “What’s going on now is everybody’s talking about what if, a lot of what ifs. We can talk in circles about what ifs and everything. I don’t have an issue with what just took place. But, like always, I’m open to listen to everybody’s thoughts and what everybody’s ideas are.”
CORRECTS SPELLING OF LAST NAME TO AYRES, NOT AYERS - Emergency backup goaltender David Ayres appears with his goalie stick at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, on Friday, Feb. 28 , 2020. Ayres donated the stick he used when he appeared in an NHL game for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is the second emergency goaltender to record a win in league history. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
The current rule of each arena making an emergency goalie available for a game stemmed from 2015 incident in Florida that almost caused an assistant coach to put on the pads and play. Because an emergency goalie has only been required to play twice — Ayres and Scott Foster for Chicago in 2018 — executives and officials might find the current protocol better than the old-school notion of making a skater go in net.
“We said it’s unfair to the guy on the ice to have to go in there,” St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. “It didn’t make any sense. So, now we said let’s see if there’s someone locally that can go in the net. It’s difficult to find 31 A-plus goalies that go to 41 home games a year. There’s always ways to try and see if we can improve it.”
Armstrong said he wouldn’t be in favor of the expense of carrying a third goalie all season, which would also be impractical. One possibility calls for each team to have a full-time employee at home and on the road ready to serve in goal if needed.
“What, do you go find a guy that’s not too bad of a goalie that can practice every day and work in your marketing department or wherever he’s working?” Nill said. “He’s got to travel with the team all the time. We look at those scenarios. With everything, there’s CBA issues involved, there’s labor laws involved, so just different things that you have to check off the boxes before you can decide what to do.”
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL has to work with the Players’ Association on collective bargaining concerns, like determining who counts as a player. Those complications make it no easy fix with perhaps no perfect solution.
“Obviously we want what’s best for the game, and we want to make sure people aren’t putting themselves in danger by playing goal in a National Hockey League game,” Daly said. “That’s obviously something we have to continue to work through.”
Some other topics that could come up when GMs meet Monday-Wednesday:
— Some offside reviews are disputable because a player’s skate might be in the air, making it unclear even on replay. Coach’s challenges are down after a rule change making an unsuccessful challenge a penalty, but this is more about officials getting it right.
“The offside rule I think is going to be discussed again where just breaking the plane would make it a little bit easier to view it on the video,” Rutherford said. “It’s always hard for the linesmen regardless which way we do this because everything’s happening so fast.”
— A few seasons into hybrid icing, Rutherford is concerned there are too many icing stoppages because players are skating back slower to get the call from linesmen.
“It appears to me that we now have more icings than are necessary where a guy going back for a puck may turn the opposite way where he could’ve got the puck or he may just play the opposing player at the blue line when he could’ve got the puck,” he said. “I have to find out if other GMs feel the same way, but if we do, maybe tighten that up a bit.”
— Commissioner Gary Bettman said recently the NHL isn’t planning to make radical changes to its playoff format like the NBA is considering. But with two of the top three teams in the league -- Boston and Tampa Bay -- playing in the same division, the current divisional format of those teams potentially facing off in the second round might again be questioned.
“We were in 1 to 8 (in each conference) and there was a disparity in travel and so we went to this format,” Armstrong said. “There’s going to be pros and cons to whatever decision is made. I understand the logic of talking about 1 to 8, but that’s an easy talk in the Eastern Conference. It’s a difficult talk in the Western Conference.”
— In-arena medical procedures worked when Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench earlier this month with a cardiac event. Because of the success of those protocols in situations involving Jiri Fischer, Rich Peverly and Bouwmeester, it’s not an area that needs immediate attention but will continue to be looked at to see what can be better.
“It’s not something that I think anyone looks at and says, ‘OK, this is perfect’ because it’s such an important thing,” Armstrong said. “It’s not something that will just stay stagnant. We’ll always try to evolve to make sure player safety and fan safety is at the forefront of our game.”
‘He’s one of us’: Sanders energizing red-state progressives
By SEAN MURPHY and SARA BURNETT
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., arrives to speak during a campaign rally in Springfield, Va., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — It isn’t easy being a Bernie Sanders supporter in a conservative state like Oklahoma. Travis Wyman, a 40-year-old construction worker and online “social justice warrior,” says he and other Sanders fans can hear “fear-mongering words” like socialist and communist thrown at them many times a day.
It’s done nothing to deter Wyman, who volunteers for Sanders’ presidential campaign at phone banks and was among roughly 200 people who turned out to hear the candidate’s wife, Jane Sanders, speak last week in Tahlequah, an eastern Oklahoma city and home to the Cherokee Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the country.
“Man, this is a revolution. We’re here to change the world. There’s only one way to do that, and that’s to be active,” said Wyman, a Cherokee Nation citizen who had never voted for any presidential candidate before he cast an early vote for the self-described democratic socialist on Thursday, days before Oklahoma holds its primary.
If places like Oklahoma are tough for the Sanders faithful, it would seem to be even rougher territory for Sanders himself. The state and others like it — solidly conservative places like Utah, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas __ overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in 2016. Republicans dominate politics at almost all levels, and successful Democratic candidates usually reject ideas embraced by progressives like Sanders, such as “Medicare for All.”
But these states, which make up roughly half of those voting in the Super Tuesday contests and where Democrats often are further to the left, are also providing an opportunity — unexpected as it may seem — for the front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination to run up the score on his more moderate opponents.
A progressive on the campaign trail — particularly one who has an actual chance of winning — is such a rare sight that Sanders’ candidacy is energizing a core base of progressives who are hungry for a chance to support someone who shares their values. And because the total Democratic primary electorate is small and a half dozen or so other candidates are splitting the more moderate vote, Sanders can scoop up delegates with even a modest showing at the polls.
Sanders leads the delegate count heading into Tuesday, after essentially tying former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg in Iowa then winning New Hampshire and Nevada. He came in second in South Carolina on Saturday, behind former Vice President Joe Biden
Some of these smaller red states have been friendly to Sanders before. He easily won both Oklahoma and Utah in 2016, garnering almost 80% of the vote in the Utah caucuses over Hillary Clinton, who didn’t hold any public events before the late March vote. Sanders held a Salt Lake City rally before the caucuses that was so large, he scheduled another one days later.
University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank saw the enthusiasm firsthand when he returned home on caucus night to find all the parking spots on his street near a caucus site were taken.
“I think progressives in the party said, ‘This is our chance,’” he said. “There was a sense of ‘he’s one of us.’”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greets the audience after speaking at a campaign rally in Springfield, Va., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
But this time around his more moderate rivals also have been working to win the state, where Republicans outnumber Democrats more than three to one but there’s also a significant slice of the voters who aren’t affiliated with either party. There’s also an undercurrent of discomfort with Trump because of his brash style, his history with women and disagreements over the treatment of immigrants and refugees. Utah is welcoming to them, in part because members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in the state, were historically driven across the country because of their beliefs and because the faith now has strong growth overseas.
Buttigieg and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a billionaire who has spent millions on TV ads leading up to his Super Tuesday debut, are hoping those voters will turn out for them in the Democratic primary. Buttigieg has racked up endorsements from several politicians in and around the liberal-leaning capital of Salt Lake City. Bloomberg, meanwhile, counts the state’s lone congressional Democrat, Ben McAdams, among his supporters. He’s also built the state’s largest campaign staff.
Sanders’ positions on issues like climate change are especially resonant in Utah, where skiers and other outdoors people worry about wildfires and snow pack, Burbank said. Sanders is scheduled to campaign there Monday.
Rachel Frost, 38, a real estate appraiser from Murray, Utah, said she’s settled on Sanders because he’s been consistent for decades on policy, even when he wasn’t taken seriously.
“He may not be the most likable person, but I don’t need to get a beer with the president. I need someone whose policies will help a majority of the people,” she said.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, photo, Jane Sanders meets with community leaders in Nashville, Tenn., as she campaigns for her husband, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.. The Republican strongholds that vote on Super Tuesday are providing an opportunity for the self-described democratic socialist to run up the score on his more moderate opponents. In Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee and elsewhere, seeing a progressive on the campaign trail with an actual chance of winning is a rare. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Sanders’ success in this year’s primaries has been in his ability to expand his coalition to include African Americans, Latinos and others in addition to white working people. In Oklahoma, that’s meant building support among Native Americans who make up about 9% of the state’s population. Last fall, Sanders attended the largest annual gathering of the Comanche Nation in the state, where he participated in the annual powwow. On Thursday, the event with Jane Sanders opened with a Kiowa Flag Song and a traditional Cherokee-language prayer.
Sanders’ message of ending inequality and providing health care as a human right resonates with Native Americans like Pam Edgar, a Creek Nation citizen from Tahlequah. So does his commitment to tribal sovereignty, which includes opposing opening tribal lands to mining.
“Being a tribal member, we have the good fortune of having health care for tribal members, so we don’t have to worry about costs, and having that for all citizens is important,” said Edgar, 45.
Sanders’ relationship with Oklahoma’s tribes also serves as a reminder of rival Elizabeth Warren’s own sensitive history in her home state. Warren has apologized to Native Americans after she was criticized for releasing a DNA test meant to bolster her claim to Native American heritage.
Before Jane Sanders’ visit to Tahlequah she visited the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce in Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District, where a race massacre 100 years ago left an estimated 300 of the city’s black residents dead and its thriving black community in rubble. At a souvenir shop, Cleo Harris Jr. sold her a Black Wall Street T-shirt and said he’s considering supporting Sanders on Tuesday, noting the 78-year-old was active in the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
Jane Sanders also spent her time during a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, earlier in the week visiting the city’s more racially and culturally diverse neighborhoods. She told The Associated Press that while Tennessee is a more conservative state, it’s also “a working-class state,” which plays to her husband’s strengths.
Sanders’ campaign has employed five staffers and purchased its first television ad in the state last week. It’s unknown how much support he’ll have in a state where Clinton got 66% of the primary vote in 2016.
Brooke Madow, 39, was one of a few dozen people who packed into a modest Nashville coffee shop on Wednesday to see Jane Sanders. Having a chronic, autoimmune disease has made Sanders’ trademark Medicare for All a top issue for her, Madow said.
Like Wyman, she said being a progressive in a conservative state can be isolating, but attending Sanders campaign events helps.
“It feels a little crushing at times, but I think coming to things like this make me feel less like I’m living in a red state,” she said. “Maybe there are more people like me out there who believe in the things I believe in.”
___
Burnett reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
By SEAN MURPHY and SARA BURNETT
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., arrives to speak during a campaign rally in Springfield, Va., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — It isn’t easy being a Bernie Sanders supporter in a conservative state like Oklahoma. Travis Wyman, a 40-year-old construction worker and online “social justice warrior,” says he and other Sanders fans can hear “fear-mongering words” like socialist and communist thrown at them many times a day.
It’s done nothing to deter Wyman, who volunteers for Sanders’ presidential campaign at phone banks and was among roughly 200 people who turned out to hear the candidate’s wife, Jane Sanders, speak last week in Tahlequah, an eastern Oklahoma city and home to the Cherokee Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the country.
“Man, this is a revolution. We’re here to change the world. There’s only one way to do that, and that’s to be active,” said Wyman, a Cherokee Nation citizen who had never voted for any presidential candidate before he cast an early vote for the self-described democratic socialist on Thursday, days before Oklahoma holds its primary.
If places like Oklahoma are tough for the Sanders faithful, it would seem to be even rougher territory for Sanders himself. The state and others like it — solidly conservative places like Utah, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas __ overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in 2016. Republicans dominate politics at almost all levels, and successful Democratic candidates usually reject ideas embraced by progressives like Sanders, such as “Medicare for All.”
But these states, which make up roughly half of those voting in the Super Tuesday contests and where Democrats often are further to the left, are also providing an opportunity — unexpected as it may seem — for the front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination to run up the score on his more moderate opponents.
A progressive on the campaign trail — particularly one who has an actual chance of winning — is such a rare sight that Sanders’ candidacy is energizing a core base of progressives who are hungry for a chance to support someone who shares their values. And because the total Democratic primary electorate is small and a half dozen or so other candidates are splitting the more moderate vote, Sanders can scoop up delegates with even a modest showing at the polls.
Sanders leads the delegate count heading into Tuesday, after essentially tying former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg in Iowa then winning New Hampshire and Nevada. He came in second in South Carolina on Saturday, behind former Vice President Joe Biden
Some of these smaller red states have been friendly to Sanders before. He easily won both Oklahoma and Utah in 2016, garnering almost 80% of the vote in the Utah caucuses over Hillary Clinton, who didn’t hold any public events before the late March vote. Sanders held a Salt Lake City rally before the caucuses that was so large, he scheduled another one days later.
University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank saw the enthusiasm firsthand when he returned home on caucus night to find all the parking spots on his street near a caucus site were taken.
“I think progressives in the party said, ‘This is our chance,’” he said. “There was a sense of ‘he’s one of us.’”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greets the audience after speaking at a campaign rally in Springfield, Va., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
But this time around his more moderate rivals also have been working to win the state, where Republicans outnumber Democrats more than three to one but there’s also a significant slice of the voters who aren’t affiliated with either party. There’s also an undercurrent of discomfort with Trump because of his brash style, his history with women and disagreements over the treatment of immigrants and refugees. Utah is welcoming to them, in part because members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in the state, were historically driven across the country because of their beliefs and because the faith now has strong growth overseas.
Buttigieg and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a billionaire who has spent millions on TV ads leading up to his Super Tuesday debut, are hoping those voters will turn out for them in the Democratic primary. Buttigieg has racked up endorsements from several politicians in and around the liberal-leaning capital of Salt Lake City. Bloomberg, meanwhile, counts the state’s lone congressional Democrat, Ben McAdams, among his supporters. He’s also built the state’s largest campaign staff.
Sanders’ positions on issues like climate change are especially resonant in Utah, where skiers and other outdoors people worry about wildfires and snow pack, Burbank said. Sanders is scheduled to campaign there Monday.
Rachel Frost, 38, a real estate appraiser from Murray, Utah, said she’s settled on Sanders because he’s been consistent for decades on policy, even when he wasn’t taken seriously.
“He may not be the most likable person, but I don’t need to get a beer with the president. I need someone whose policies will help a majority of the people,” she said.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, photo, Jane Sanders meets with community leaders in Nashville, Tenn., as she campaigns for her husband, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.. The Republican strongholds that vote on Super Tuesday are providing an opportunity for the self-described democratic socialist to run up the score on his more moderate opponents. In Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee and elsewhere, seeing a progressive on the campaign trail with an actual chance of winning is a rare. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Sanders’ success in this year’s primaries has been in his ability to expand his coalition to include African Americans, Latinos and others in addition to white working people. In Oklahoma, that’s meant building support among Native Americans who make up about 9% of the state’s population. Last fall, Sanders attended the largest annual gathering of the Comanche Nation in the state, where he participated in the annual powwow. On Thursday, the event with Jane Sanders opened with a Kiowa Flag Song and a traditional Cherokee-language prayer.
Sanders’ message of ending inequality and providing health care as a human right resonates with Native Americans like Pam Edgar, a Creek Nation citizen from Tahlequah. So does his commitment to tribal sovereignty, which includes opposing opening tribal lands to mining.
“Being a tribal member, we have the good fortune of having health care for tribal members, so we don’t have to worry about costs, and having that for all citizens is important,” said Edgar, 45.
Sanders’ relationship with Oklahoma’s tribes also serves as a reminder of rival Elizabeth Warren’s own sensitive history in her home state. Warren has apologized to Native Americans after she was criticized for releasing a DNA test meant to bolster her claim to Native American heritage.
Before Jane Sanders’ visit to Tahlequah she visited the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce in Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District, where a race massacre 100 years ago left an estimated 300 of the city’s black residents dead and its thriving black community in rubble. At a souvenir shop, Cleo Harris Jr. sold her a Black Wall Street T-shirt and said he’s considering supporting Sanders on Tuesday, noting the 78-year-old was active in the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
Jane Sanders also spent her time during a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, earlier in the week visiting the city’s more racially and culturally diverse neighborhoods. She told The Associated Press that while Tennessee is a more conservative state, it’s also “a working-class state,” which plays to her husband’s strengths.
Sanders’ campaign has employed five staffers and purchased its first television ad in the state last week. It’s unknown how much support he’ll have in a state where Clinton got 66% of the primary vote in 2016.
Brooke Madow, 39, was one of a few dozen people who packed into a modest Nashville coffee shop on Wednesday to see Jane Sanders. Having a chronic, autoimmune disease has made Sanders’ trademark Medicare for All a top issue for her, Madow said.
Like Wyman, she said being a progressive in a conservative state can be isolating, but attending Sanders campaign events helps.
“It feels a little crushing at times, but I think coming to things like this make me feel less like I’m living in a red state,” she said. “Maybe there are more people like me out there who believe in the things I believe in.”
___
Burnett reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
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