Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela’s MaduroBy JOSHUA GOODMAN

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FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2018 file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, security guards surround Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with protective gear as an unidentified drone interrupts his speech in Caracas, Venezuela. An exiled Venezuelan national guardsman accused of partaking in this drone attack on Maduro is among voluntary combatants in three safe houses of former soldiers plotting a military incursion from neighboring Colombia, according to an Associated Press investigation. (Xinhua via AP, File)

MIAMI (AP) — The plan was simple, but perilous. Some 300 heavily armed volunteers would sneak into Venezuela from the northern tip of South America. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest.

What could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything.

The ringleader of the plot is now jailed in the U.S. on narcotics charges. Authorities in the U.S. and Colombia are asking questions about the role of his muscular American adviser, a former Green Beret. And dozens of desperate combatants who flocked to secret training camps in Colombia said they have been left to fend for themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The failed attempt to start an uprising collapsed under the collective weight of skimpy planning, feuding among opposition politicians and a poorly trained force that stood little chance of beating the Venezuelan military.

“You’re not going to take out Maduro with 300 hungry, untrained men,” said Ephraim Mattos, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who trained some of the would-be combatants in first aid.

This bizarre, untold story of a call to arms that crashed before it launched is drawn from interviews with more than 30 Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters who were directly involved in or familiar with its planning. Most spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.

When hints of the conspiracy surfaced last month, the Maduro-controlled state media portrayed it as an invasion ginned up by the CIA, like the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. An Associated Press investigation found no evidence of U.S. government involvement in the plot. Nevertheless, interviews revealed that leaders of Venezuela’s U.S.-backed opposition knew of the covert force, even if they dismissed its prospects.

Planning for the incursion began after an April 30, 2019, barracks revolt by a cadre of soldiers who swore loyalty to Maduro’s would-be replacement, Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader recognized by the U.S. and some 60 other nations as Venezuela’s rightful leader. Contrary to U.S. expectations at the time, key Maduro aides never joined with the opposition and the government quickly quashed the uprising.

A few weeks later, some soldiers and politicians involved in the failed rebellion retreated to the JW Marriott in Bogota, Colombia. The hotel was a center of intrigue among Venezuelan exiles. For this occasion, conference rooms were reserved for what one participant described as the “Star Wars summit of anti-Maduro goofballs” — military deserters accused of drug trafficking, shady financiers and former Maduro officials seeking redemption.


Among those angling in the open lobby was Jordan Goudreau, an American citizen and three-time Bronze Star recipient for bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as a medic in U.S. Army special forces, according to five people who met with the former soldier.

Those he interacted with in the U.S. and Colombia described him in interviews alternately as a freedom-loving patriot, a mercenary and a gifted warrior scarred by battle and in way over his head.

Two former special forces colleagues said Goudreau was always at the top of his class: a cell leader with a superb intellect for handling sources, an amazing shot and a devoted mixed martial arts fighter who still cut his hair high and tight.
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At the end of an otherwise distinguished military career, the Canadian-born Goudreau was investigated in 2013 for allegedly defrauding the Army of $62,000 in housing stipends. Goudreau said the investigation was closed with no charges.

After retiring in 2016, he worked as a private security contractor in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. In 2018, he set up Silvercorp USA, a private security firm, near his home on Florida’s Space Coast to embed counter-terror agents in schools disguised as teachers. The company’s website features photos and videos of Goudreau firing machine guns in battle, running shirtless up a pyramid, flying on a private jet and sporting a military backpack with a rolled-up American flag.

Silvercorp’s website touts operations in more than 50 countries, with an advisory team made up of former diplomats, experienced military strategists and heads of multinational corporations -- none of them named. It claims to have “led international security teams” for the president of the United States.

Goudreau, 43, declined to be interviewed. In a written statement, he said that “Silvercorp cannot disclose the identities of its network of sources, assets and advisors due to the nature of our work” and, more generally, “would never confirm nor deny any activities in any operational realm. No inference should be drawn from this response.”

`CONTROLLING CHAOS’

Goudreau’s focus on Venezuela started in February 2019, when he worked security at a concert in support of Guaidó organized by British billionaire Richard Branson on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

“Controlling chaos on the Venezuela border where a dictator looks on with apprehension,” he wrote in a photo of himself on the concert stage posted to his Instagram account.

“He was always chasing the golden BB,” said Drew White, a former business partner at Silvercorp, using military slang for a one-in-a-million shot. White said he broke with his former special forces comrade last fall when Goudreau asked for help raising money to fund his regime change initiative.

“As supportive as you want to be as a friend, his head wasn’t in the world of reality,” said White. “Nothing he said lined up.”

According to White, Goudreau came back from the concert looking to capitalize on the Trump administration’s growing interest in toppling Maduro.

He had been introduced to Keith Schiller, President Donald Trump’s longtime bodyguard, through someone who worked in private security. Schiller attended a March 2019 event at the University Club in Washington for potential donors with activist Lester Toledo, then Guaidó’s coordinator for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Last May, Goudreau accompanied Schiller to a meeting in Miami with representatives of Guaidó. There was a lively discussion with Schiller about the need to beef up security for Guaidó and his growing team of advisers inside Venezuela and across the world, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Schiller thought Goudreau was naive and in over his head. He cut off all contact following the meeting, said a person close to the former White House official.

In Bogota, it was Toledo who introduced Goudreau to a rebellious former Venezuelan military officer the American would come to trust above all others — Cliver Alcalá, ringleader of the Venezuelan military deserters.

Alcalá, a retired major general in Venezuela’s army, seemed an unlikely hero to restore democracy to his homeland. In 2011, he was sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly supplying FARC guerrillas in Colombia with surface-to-air missiles in exchange for cocaine. And last month, Alcalá was indicted by U.S. prosecutors alongside Maduro as one of the architects of a narcoterrorist conspiracy that allegedly sent 250 metric tons of cocaine every year to the U.S.

Alcalá is now in federal custody in New York awaiting trial. But before his surrender in Colombia, where he had been living since 2018, he had emerged as a forceful opponent of Maduro, not shy about urging military force.

Over two days of meetings with Goudreau and Toledo at the JW Marriott, Alcalá explained how he had selected 300 combatants from among the throngs of low-ranking soldiers who abandoned Maduro and fled to Colombia in the early days of Guaidó’s uprising, said three people who participated in the meeting and insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.

Alcalá said several dozen men were already living in three camps he maintained in and around the desert-like La Guajira peninsula that Colombia shares with Venezuela, the three said. Among the combatants in the camps was an exiled national guardsman accused of participating in a 2018 drone attack on Maduro.

Goudreau told Alcalá his company could prepare the men for battle, according to the three sources. The two sides discussed weapons and equipment for the volunteer army, with Goudreau estimating a budget of around $1.5 million for a rapid strike operation.

Goudreau told participants at the meeting that he had high-level contacts in the Trump administration who could assist the effort, although he offered few details, the three people said. Over time, many of the people involved in the plan to overthrow Maduro would come to doubt his word.

From the outset, the audacious plan split an opposition coalition already sharply divided by egos and strategy. There were concerns that Alcalá, with a murky past and ties to the regime through a brother who was Maduro’s ambassador to Iran, couldn’t be trusted. Others worried about going behind the backs of their Colombian allies and the U.S. government.

But Goudreau didn’t share the concerns about Alcalá, according to two people close to the former American solider. Over time, he would come to share Alcalá’s mistrust of the opposition, whose talk of restoring democracy was belied by what he saw as festering corruption and closed-door deal making with the regime, they said.

More importantly to Goudreau, Alcalá retained influence in the armed forces that Maduro’s opponents, mostly civilian elites, lacked. He also knew the terrain, having served as the top commander along the border.

“We needed someone who knew the monster from the inside,” recalled one exiled former officer who joined the plot.

Guaidó’s envoys, including Toledo, ended contact with Goudreau after the Bogota meeting because they believed it was a suicide mission, according to three people close to the opposition leader.

Undeterred, Goudreau returned to Colombia with four associates, all of them U.S. combat veterans, and begin working directly with Alcalá.

Alcalá and Goudreau revealed little about their military plans when they toured the camps. Some of the would-be combatants were told by the two men that the rag-tag army would cross the border in a heavily armed convoy and sweep into Caracas within 96 hours, according to multiple soldiers at the camps. Goudreau told the volunteers that — once challenged in battle — Maduro’s food-deprived, demoralized military would collapse like dominoes, several of the soldiers said.

NO CHANCE TO SUCCEED

Many saw the plan as foolhardy and there appears to have been no serious attempt to seek U.S. military support.

“There was no chance they were going to succeed without direct U.S. military intervention,” said Mattos, the former Navy SEAL who spent two weeks in September training the volunteers in basic tactical medicine on behalf of his non-profit, which works in combat zones.

Mattos visited the camps after hearing about them from a friend working in Colombia. He said he never met Goudreau.

Mattos said he was surprised by the barren conditions. There was no running water and men were sleeping on the floors, skipping meals and training with sawed-off broomsticks in place of assault rifles. Five Belgian shepherds trained to sniff out explosives were as poorly fed as their handlers and had to be given away.

Mattos said he grew wary as the men recalled how Goudreau had boasted to them of having protected Trump and told them he was readying a shipment of weapons and arranging aerial support for an eventual assault of Maduro’s compound.

The volunteers also shared with Mattos a three-page document listing supplies needed for a three-week operation, which he provided to AP. Items included 320 M4 assault rifles, an anti-tank rocket launcher, Zodiac boats, $1 million in cash and state-of-the-art night vision goggles. The document’s metadata indicates it was created by Goudreau on June 16.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of cowboys in this business who try to peddle their military credentials into a big pay day,” said Mattos.

AP found no indication U.S. officials sponsored Goudreau’s actions nor that Trump has authorized covert operations against Maduro, something that requires congressional notification.

But Colombian authorities were aware of his movements, as were prominent opposition politicians in Venezuela and exiles in Bogota, some of whom shared their findings with U.S. officials, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

True to his reputation as a self-absorbed loose cannon, Alcalá openly touted his plans for an incursion in a June meeting with Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate and appealed for their support, said a former Colombian official familiar with the conversation. Alcalá also boasted about his relationship with Goudreau, describing him as a former CIA agent.

When the Colombians checked with their CIA counterparts in Bogota, they were told that the former Green Beret was never an agent. Alcalá was then told by his hosts to stop talking about an invasion or face expulsion, the former Colombian official said.

It’s unclear where Alcalá and Goudreau got their backing, and whatever money was collected for the initiative appears to have been meager. One person who allegedly promised support was Roen Kraft, an eccentric descendant of the cheese-making family who — along with former Trump bodyguard Schiller — was among those meeting with opposition envoys in Miami and Washington.

At some point, Kraft started raising money among his own circle of fellow trust-fund friends for what he described as a “private coup” to be carried out by Silvercorp, according to two businessmen whom he asked for money.

Kraft allegedly lured prospective donors with the promise of preferential access to negotiate deals in the energy and mining sectors with an eventual Guaidó government, said one of the businessmen. He provided AP a two-page, unsigned draft memorandum for a six-figure commitment he said was sent by Kraft in October in which he represents himself as the “prime contractor” of Venezuela.

But it was never clear if Kraft really had the inside track with the Venezuelans.

In a phone interview with AP, Kraft acknowledged meeting with Goudreau three times last year. But he said the two never did any business together and only discussed the delivery of humanitarian aid for Venezuela. He said Goudreau broke off all communications with him on Oct. 14, when it seemed he was intent on a military action.

“I never gave him any money,” said Kraft.

`WE KNEW EVERYTHING’

Back in Colombia, more recruits were arriving to the three camps — even if the promised money didn’t. Goudreau tried to bring a semblance of order. Uniforms were provided, daily exercise routines intensified and Silvercorp instructed the would-be warriors in close quarter combat.

Goudreau is “more of a Venezuelan patriot than many Venezuelans,” said Hernán Alemán, a lawmaker from western Zulia state and one of a few politicians to openly embrace the clandestine mission.

Alemán said in an interview that neither the U.S. nor the Colombian governments were involved in the plot to overthrow Maduro. He claims he tried to speak several times to Guaidó about the plan but said the opposition leader showed little interest.

“Lots of people knew about it, but they didn’t support us,” he said. “They were too afraid.”

The plot quickly crumbled in early March when one of the volunteer combatants was arrested after sneaking across the border into Venezuela from Colombia.

Shortly after, Colombian police stopped a truck transporting a cache of brand new weapons and tactical equipment worth around $150,000, including spotting scopes, night vision goggles, two-way radios and 26 American-made assault rifles with the serial numbers rubbed off. Fifteen brown-colored helmets were manufactured by High-End Defense Solutions, a Miami-based military equipment vendor owned by a Venezuelan immigrant family.

High-End Defense Solutions is the same company that Goudreau visited in November and December, allegedly to source weapons, according to two former Venezuelan soldiers who claim to have helped the American select the gear but later had a bitter falling out with Goudreau amid accusations that they were moles for Maduro.

Company owner Mark Von Reitzenstein did not respond to repeated email and phone requests seeking comment.

Alcalá claimed ownership of the weapons shortly before surrendering to face the U.S. drug charges, saying they belonged to the “Venezuelan people.” He also lashed out against Guaidó, accusing him of betraying a contract signed between his “American advisers” and J.J. Rendon, a political strategist in Miami appointed by Guaidó to help force Maduro from power.

“We had everything ready,” lamented Alcalá in a video published on social media. “But circumstances that have plagued us throughout this fight against the regime generated leaks from the very heart of the opposition, the part that wants to coexist with Maduro.”

Through a spokesman, Guaidó stood by comments made to Colombian media that he never signed any contract of the kind described by Alcalá, whom he said he doesn’t know. Rendon said his work for Guaidó is confidential and he would be required to deny any contract, whether or not it exists.

Meanwhile, Alcalá has offered no evidence and the alleged contract has yet to emerge, though AP repeatedly asked Goudreau for a copy.

In the aftermath of Alcalá’s arrest, the would-be insurrection appears to have disbanded. As the coronavirus spreads, several of the remaining combatants have fled the camps and fanned out across Colombia, reconnecting with loved ones and figuring out their next steps. Most are broke, facing investigation by Colombian police and frustrated with Goudreau, whom they blame for leading them astray.

Meanwhile, the socialist leadership in Caracas couldn’t help but gloat.

Diosdado Cabello, the No. 2 most powerful person in the country and eminence grise of Venezuela’s vast intelligence network, insisted that the government had infiltrated the plot for months.

“We knew everything,” said Cabello. “Some of their meetings we had to pay for. That’s how infiltrated they were.”

___

Investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York and investigative reporter James LaPorta in Delray Beach, Florida, contributed to this report

Joshua Goodman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APjoshgoodman

Georgia man’s death raises echoes of US racial terror legacy

By AARON MORRISON and RUSS BYNUM 5/9/2020

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 https://apnews.com/f5e06bb8e51cd0db9679d465157064e7/gallery/88f53051e6df4a4785d057d29bf57873
People react during a rally to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Brunswick Ga. Two men have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)


BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead.

The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to a much darker period of U.S. history — when extrajudicial killings of black people, almost exclusively at the hands of white male vigilantes, inflicted racial terror on African Americans. It frequently happened with law enforcement complicity or feigned ignorance.

The footage of Arbery’s death was not the only thing that rattled the nation’s conscience. It took more than two months for his pursuers — who told police they suspected he was a burglar — to be arrested and taken into custody. That is fueling calls for the resignation of local authorities who initially investigated the case and reforms of Georgia’s criminal justice system.

A memorial at the spot where an unarmed black man was shot and killed is shown Friday, May 8, 2020, in Brunswick Ga. Two men have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

“The modern-day lynching of Mr. Arbery is yet another reminder of the vile and wicked racism that persists in parts of our country,” said the Rev. James Woodall, state president of the Georgia NAACP. “The slothfulness and inaction of the judicial system, in this case, is a gross testament to the blatant white racial privileges that permeates throughout our country and our institutions.

The case appeared frozen as it was handled by police in the small city of Brunswick.

After the video emerged on social media this week, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took one day after launching its probe Wednesday to arrest Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34. They are jailed on murder and aggravated assault charges and did not have lawyers as of Friday who could comment on their behalf.

Several hundred people crowded outside the Glynn County Courthouse on Friday to mark what would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday, with many saying it’s too soon to celebrate because the case must still go before a grand jury that will decide whether to indict the McMichaels.

WHITE SUPREMACY RULES IN AMERIKA

ADDS THAT THE AP HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO VERIFY THE SOURCE OF THE VIDEO - This image from video posted on Twitter Tuesday, May 5, 2020, purports to show Ahmaud Arbery stumbling and falling to the ground after being shot as Travis McMichael stands by holding a shotgun in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23, 2020. The AP has not been able to verify the source of the video. (Twitter via AP)

Arbery’s killing reminds some of Emmett Till, a black teen from Chicago who was kidnapped in 1955 in Mississippi, lynched and dumped in a river after he was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. An all-white jury acquitted the white men accused of killing Till, who was 14. His death helped fuel the civil rights movement and brought about the eventual passage of federal civil rights protections.

During Friday’s protest, demonstrator Anthony Johnson said he sees echoes of Till and others. Arbery “died because he was black like the rest of them did. For no reason,” Johnson said.

FILE - An undated photo shows Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old Chicago boy, who was brutally murdered near Money, Miss., Aug. 31, 1955, after whistling at a white woman. The Feb. 23, 2020, shooting of Ahmaud Arbery is drawing comparisons to the dark period of U.S. history and reminds some of Till. (AP Photo/File)

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was jogging for exercise before he was killed.

Gregory and Travis McMichael told police they suspected Arbery was the same man recorded by a security camera committing a break-in. When they saw Arbery running on a Sunday afternoon, the McMichaels grabbed guns, got into a pickup truck and pursued him.

Video footage shows a runner grappling with a man armed with a shotgun. Shots are fired and the runner staggers and falls. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement said the McMichaels confronted Arbery with two firearms and that Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery.

Arbery’s death has drawn sharp reactions and expressions of sadness across the U.S. A Change.org petition calling for justice hit over 700,000 signatures on Friday, President Donald Trump called the video “very disturbing” and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said it was like seeing Arbery “lynched before our very eyes.”

The Players Coalition, a racial justice group made up of professional athletes, sent a letter Friday to the FBI and prosecutors requesting a federal investigation into Arbery’s death.

“The absence of justice is ever present,” said Malcolm Jenkins, a safety for the New Orleans Saints and the foundation’s co-founder. “Another black life has been taken by a bullet and the slaying justified by white fear.”

In this Friday, May 8, 2020 photo, a group of around 30 to 40 people participated in a 2.23 mile walk for Ahmaud Arbery in Ypsilanti, Mich. It was a symbolic gesture for Arbery who was shot and killed while running in Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23, 2020. (Nicole Hester\/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Others joined demands from Arbery’s family for the resignations of local law enforcement authorities. Before the case was turned over to special prosecutor Tom Durden, Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson and Ware County District Attorney George Barnhill recused themselves because of their connections to the McMichaels. Gregory McMichael was an investigator for Johnson’s office before retiring last year and before that served as a local police officer.

Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery, poses for a photo by a mural in the likeness of Arbery painted by artist Theo Ponchaveli in Dallas, Saturday, May 9, 2020. Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was jogging for exercise before he was killed on Feb. 23. After a video of the shooting emerged on social media, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, on Wednesday, arrested Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, and they were jailed on murder and aggravated assault charges. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Johnson and Barnhill “must be held accountable for their shameless dereliction of duty,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and a former head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division during President Barack Obama’s administration. She also called on the Justice Department to investigate Arbery’s killing under the federal hate crimes statute.

While likening Arbery’s death to a lynching may seem like an apt comparison, doing so isn’t sufficient for understanding why the man’s death is a tragedy, said Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. The organization has cataloged more than 4,400 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. that took place between Reconstruction and World War II.

“Law enforcement did nothing about lynchings for a century,” Stevenson said. “It should be a national priority to eliminate this kind of racial terror so that we do more, not less, when someone like Ahmaud Arbery is killed in this manner.”

He added: “Our nation continues to underestimate the painful burden that has been placed on black people and the traumatic injury we continue to aggravate when our justice system refuses to hold accountable perpetrators of unnecessary violence if they are white and invoke some public safety defense.”

The shooting of Arbery has also been compared to the 2012 case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

The shooter, George Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, suspected without evidence that Martin was casing the area for burglaries. Zimmerman was not charged initially after claiming self-defense under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which provides immunity to people who use lethal force out of fear for their lives.

Phillip Agnew, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, said vigilantism involving black victims has been “driven by hate, resentment and generations-old racial anxiety.”

“We need to make people afraid to do something like this to other people,” Agnew added. “And until we do that, this is going to continue to happen.”

___

Morrison reported from New York and is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

USA 

A distinct possibility: ‘Temporary’ layoffs may be permanent --- CANADA TOO 

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER 5/8/2020

1 of 5In this Thursday, May 7, 2020 photo, Nelis Rodriguez poses at her home in Chicago. Rodriguez has worked at the same restaurant for 21 years and in that time she never had to so much as think about getting another job. So, while she knew that much of the money she earns comes from tips and not the her $10-an-hour salary, she did not really appreciate what that meant until it was time to apply for unemployment. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)


WASHINGTON (AP) — In late March, Britney Ruby Miller, co-owner of a small chain of steakhouse restaurants, confidently proclaimed that once the viral outbreak had subsided, her company planned to recall all its laid-off workers.

Now? Miller would be thrilled to eventually restore three-quarters of the roughly 600 workers her company had to let go.

“I’m being realistic,” she said. “Bringing back 75% of our staff would be incredible.”

Call it realism or pessimism, but more employers are coming to a reluctant conclusion: Many of the employees they’ve had to lay off in the face of the pandemic might not be returning to their old jobs anytime soon. Some large companies won’t have enough customers to justify it. And some small businesses won’t likely survive at all despite aid provided by the federal government.

If so, that would undercut a glimmer of hope in the brutal April jobs report the government issued Friday, in which a record-shattering 20.5 million people lost jobs: A sizable majority of the jobless — nearly 80% — characterized their loss as only temporary.

That could still turn out to be the case for some. The federal government may end up allocating significantly more financial aid for people and small businesses. And more testing for the coronavirus, not to mention an eventual vaccine or an effective drug therapy, would make more Americans comfortable returning to the restaurants, shops, airports and movie theaters they used to frequent. That, in turn, would lead companies to recall more laid-off workers.

Yet Congress remains sharply divided about additional aid, with some Republicans expressing concern about escalating federal debt. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said Friday that negotiations have “paused.”

If most layoffs become permanent, the severe recession the economy has slid into would likely last longer, the recovery would be slower and the toll on laid-off workers would be harsher, economists say. Unemployment soared to 14.7% in April — the highest rate since the Great Depression — and analysts predict it will rise still further in May. It could remain in double-digits into next year.

“For a lot of those furloughed workers, a non-trivial number will have no job to go back to, because the company they worked for will have failed or will need fewer workers than they used to,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist who is now director of macroeconomic policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

In March, MGM Resorts let go 63,000 employees and described them as furloughed, meaning temporarily laid off. Yet this week, the company acknowledged that many of those people will become permanently laid off by Aug. 31. The hotel and casino operator didn’t provide precise figures.

“We were optimistic at the time of the initial layoff in March that we would be able to reopen quickly,” Laura Lee, head of human resources, said in a layoff notice letter to the state of Michigan. “However, we have had to reassess our reopening date, given the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In some ways, Miller, the restaurant owner, is more hopeful than she was when the shutdowns began: The states her company operates in — Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee — have begun to gradually reopen portions of their economies. Customers are phoning to see when they can make reservations. She hopes to reopen the five Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouses and two other restaurants the company operates by early June.

Yet business won’t be returning to what it was before. In Kentucky, the restaurants will be limited to 33% of capacity. They are putting six feet between tables in all their restaurants, thereby limiting seating. Miller estimates that the company’s revenue will plunge by half to three-quarters this year.

And expenses are rising because the company must buy face masks and other equipment for the workers it does recall and restock its food, drink, and equipment supplies.

If many of the job losses do prove only temporary, it would raise the possibility of a relatively swift economic recovery. It’s much easier for someone out of work to return to a former job than retrain for a new one or shift to a new industry. After the previous three recessions, the vast majority of people who were laid off lost their jobs permanently. Some were essentially replaced by new software or factory robots. In other cases, their employers folded or entered new lines of business.

After those recessions, the unemployment rate took so long to fall back to normal levels that economists began applying a chilling label: “Jobless recoveries.”

If a substantial number of small businesses are forced into bankruptcy, a similar dynamic could emerge this time, economists warn. Most job cuts by small companies in this recession have occurred because the business has shut down, whether by government order or from lack of demand, according to research released this week by Tomaz Cajner at the Federal Reserve and seven other economists. If those companies can’t reopen, those layoffs will become permanent.

Research by the JPMorgan Chase Institute has found that only half of all small businesses have enough cash on hand to last a month without revenue.

Even after government closure orders are lifted, many consumers won’t likely be comfortable shopping, eating out or attending concerts, movies or sporting events, especially as they used to — as part of tightly seated crowds. Not until the virus is well under control can a full economic recovery likely happen, economists say.

In the meantime, structural changes in the economy might help make many temporary layoffs permanent. It’s not clear, for example, when restaurants will need anywhere near as many workers they did before the virus struck.

Nelis Rodriguez has worked as a server at the M Restaurant & Lounge in the Warwick Hotel in downtown Chicago for 21 years. But revenue at the restaurant steadily disappeared as conventions that are critical for spring sales were canceled. She received two days’ notice of her layoff before the restaurant closed March 15th.

Rodriguez, 45, never thought she’d be thrown out of work, so she’d never thought about finding another job. But now she fears that as the coronavirus lingers, she might be laid off again and again.

“I think I will try to get out of the restaurant business altogether because I am afraid now,” she said.

___

AP Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

May the 4th Lethbridge stormtrooper takedown an embarrassing twist as Skywalker saga ends
 

Fish Griwkowsky POSTMEDIA 5/7/2020

Ahsoka Tano considers a bleak future — we'll see her again on The Mandalorian.

 DISNEY+ / supplied

Let’s just say we’d like to avoid any Lethbridge entanglements …

Like every week under COVID-19, it was a tense one here on outpost Alberta as that special cocktail of libertarian freedom riders and finger-wagging snitches has now boiled and brewed in the heat together for a week.

I was actually here to talk about the spectacular end of George Lucas’ Star Wars as we knew it for 43 years, as Disney+ unleashed the finale episode of The Clone Wars and The Rise of Skywalker on Monday. And we’ll get there eventually, promise.

But what happened that same afternoon in southern Alberta deserves to be underlined and remembered.

Apparently jealous of someone outperforming them in a representation of uniformed authoritarianism — with firearms including a shotgun pulled — Lethbridge police handcuffed, humiliated and even slightly injured a 19-year-old restaurant staff member dressed as an Imperial Stormtrooper, working in a parking lot for a May the Fourth, Star Wars day promotion.


It’s a story becoming increasingly international as NBC has picked it up, while Canadian Star Trek legend William Shatner sent “my contempt” to the police force and chief on Twitter: “Rifles drawn for a plastic toy Cosplayer? Didn’t comply right away?” Shatner chided, crossing franchise lines in support. “Are you blind Chief? Watch the video to see how quickly she complied.

“This cannot be covered up.”

Shatner has famously dressed as a stormtrooper, including to move through sci-fi conventions incognito.

In the spirit of the de-escalation one would hope any respectable police officer is trained in, I’m going to note how being a cop is clearly a tough gig — imagine a job where almost every person lies to you to cover their ass? And the LPS was quite correct to respond to those two, let’s admit somewhat bewildered complaints of a person standing in a parking lot holding a weapon.



But besides there being zero violence or mayhem of any sort, the second the armoured troopers arrived on the scene of a universally recognizable Star Wars character standing in front of a bar called Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina should have been a moment your average five-year-old could tease out, threat-wise. And when she dropped her plastic gun and raised her hands, well, to quote Aliens, game over, man.
Instead, weapons drawn, the cops handcuffed and even hurt the sobbing teenager, ignoring people around them literally explaining what a plastic toy is. Unfortunately not atypically, one of the officers then threatened to arrest the kid filming the debacle — then rather pathetically pulled his truck in front to block the view.

It’s pretty obvious who’s leaning into scum and villainy here. It’s also an embarrassment in a province lately repeatedly broadcasting how people in power have their own set of rules that apply to us, but not them.

In a big way beyond some “internal investigation,” the LPS owes it to the 19-year-old who did nothing wrong and the trust of Lethbridge’s citizens to make this really right — while also demonstrating that their well-armed public servants and protectors can pass such an elementary comprehension puzzle as happened Monday without threatening lethal force, and, because of their escalating incompetence, the arrest of bystanders.

Following the incident as a sort of punchline, someone in a Darth Vader costume stood outside the restaurant holding a sign reading, “Missing trooper, plz help! :(“

It’s a great callback, and demonstrates the enduring power of one Force over another … from a certain point of view.

Darth Vader stands outside Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina in Lethbridge after local police handcuffed and arrest a teenage employee dressed as an Imperial Stormtrooper with a plastic toy gun. LARRISSA MAXWELL/supplied

Which brings us, belatedly, to the final episode of The Clone Wars, a terrifying masterpiece.

If you haven’t watched Season 7 of The Clone Wars, it gets off to a rough start — but the last four episodes have been nothing short of breathtaking.

Set in the midst of the fascism-coup events of Revenge of the Sith, the Clones were recently tremendous allies of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the series’ ultimate hero, Ahsoka Tano — who in the last few episodes demonstrates more intelligence, character and moral fabric than pretty much anyone in the Star Wars universe.

She alone turned her back on the simplistic Jedi for becoming too lost in their rising hypocrisy. And (SPOILERS) when the Emperor’s Order 66 comes and instantly converts an army of her Clone friends spanning the galaxy into the Jedi execution machine, Ahsoka still refuses to be the one to kill even one of those trying to kill her — extra heartbreaking as they’re wearing her tribute face colours on their helmets. And when they blast those helper droids we’ve come to love, damn.

It all gets back to the core moral lesson of the original trilogy and prequels, which is to be wary of summoning power you can’t control.

Even the once underused Darth Maul — now a totally panicking chatterbox — has a simply awe-inspiring finale, tearing apart a Star Destroyer with his bare hatred.

And then we come to that final, two-beat moment at the Old Republic’s metaphorical crash site.

First, without a word, Ahsoka stands at the grave of longtime friends, letting her Jedi’s lightsaber fall to the dirt. Then, years later, surrounded by wary Snowtroopers and Probots, her former master Darth Vader takes the sword he gifted Tano in an echo of Obi-Wan doing the same to his, glimpsing the last of the light hovering over the dead snow. It’s hard to imagine writer Dave Filoni could have done a better job and Kevin Kiner’s rusted, Blade Runner-ish score is just perfect.

Darth Vader makes a tragic appearance in the final moments of The Clone Wars. DISNEY+/supplied

And thus, finally, one last note of the Skywalker song — this time for real — with a meaningful shot of Vader reflected walking away in a dead Clone’s helmet with Tano’s face on it — the fallen hero whittled down to almost nothing but the hope of his boy. And when that boy is an old man’s ghost a generation later, the Phantom Menace will finally be dealt with for good.

But for my money, this moment in a makeshift graveyard on some unnamed moon was the most crushing sequence since Rogue One and, before that, Empire Strikes Back. Nowhere else was the pure tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, consumed by Darth Vader, so barren and crisp, like twisted bones on the tundra.

fgriwkowsky@postmedia.com

COVID-19: Alberta doctors send open letter to province, AHS over concerns about medical masks


Lauren Boothby POSTMEDIA 5/9/2020

A group of about 150 doctors have sent an open letter to the premier and AHS saying masks being provided to health-care workers are substandard. Submitted image. SUPPLIED

A group of more than 150 Alberta doctors have sent an open letter to the health ministry and Alberta Health Services, saying the most recent supply of medical masks won’t properly protect them while treating patients with COVID-19.

The doctors, who are in a group called abdocs4patients, say the current disposable Vanch brand masks do not properly filter particles or protect from splash contamination that could spread the novel coronavirus. They say the masks fit poorly around the nose, and can cause skin irritation, nausea and headaches.

“These masks are of poor quality, substandard, consistently malfunction, and do not provide adequate personal protection against a very capable viral pathogen,” reads the letter sent to Health Minister Tyler Shandro and the Dr. Verna Yiu, CEO of AHS on Thursday. 
“#abdocs4patientsdisagree with AHS’ assessment and government reassurance about this substandard equipment further dismissing our concern as ‘preference.’ Our personal safety is not a prefer

The doctors say they are hiring a toxicology firm to investigate the effectiveness of the personal protective equipment provided to them.

Dr. John Julyan-Gudgeon, a family physician and spokesman for abdocs4patients, says doctors on the frontline dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic deserve to have equipment that keeps them safe.

“We should be offering them a level of protection, adequate to ensure that they themselves do not become victims of this simply because of their duty and their desire, and the position to help others,” Julyan-Gudgeon said Thursday.

The group, previously called Concerned Alberta Doctors, also claimed responsibility for the open letter sent to the health minster signed by 800 doctors at the end of March, about pay changes. The group was renamed to mimic a popular hashtag on social media.

Masks meet safety standards: AHSThe Alberta government did not provide comment Thursday, as the masks were purchased by AHS, but previouslydefended the masks’ quality after United Nurses of Alberta and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees raised similar safety concerns.

AHS says the masks are certified and meet regulatory requirements and safety standards, and has created a quality control group to test PPE. The Vanch brand masks were tested for EU Standards EN14683 Type II and Type II R., which align with ASTM Level 1 and 2, it says.

AHS says they are working with the mask manufacturers to have nose pieces adjusted, masks lengthened for a better fit, and to package masks differently to remove the odour. Until then, they are reminded to wear a mask, face shield and gloves when dealing with patients who may have COVID-19.

“We are extremely pleased with their responsiveness and are confident that we can resolve the issues that have been identified,” said James Wood, a director of media relations for AHS, in a statement.

AHS has also released instructions on how to adjust Vanch masks on its website and on YouTube.

As for concerns that high quality masks may have been shipped to other provinces, AHS says no masks from standard suppliers were sent.

Staff with concerns are asked to report problems through the medical device incident or problem website or email ppe@ahs.ca.

Dentists warn of ‘grey market’ masks

Meantime, the Alberta Dental Association and College (ADAC) discouraged dentists in a notice posted Wednesday not to buy masks outside the dental supply chain.

Association president Dr. Troy Basarab said price and scarcity could drive some dentists to buy masks on the “grey market” that appear similar but may not have the same protections.

“But without those assurances that they’ve come from a reputable dealer through reputable supply chains, then you start to get into some product that can look and feel very much like the right thing but they don’t perform like the official products do,” he said Thursday.

The ADAC says it is “critical” personal protective equipment be compliant with the Dental Industry Association of Canada (DIAC), have a Health Canada product licence, and be sold by a dealer with a Health Canada establishment licence.

Open letter from doctors on... by edmontonjournal on Scribd

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Riots, escapes and pepper spray: Virus hits juvenile centers

By MARGIE MASON and ROBIN McDOWELL  May 2, 2020

FILE - In this July 8, 2010 file photo, teenagers head toward the gym at Caddo Juvenile Detention Center in Shreveport, La. Fear and frustration is raging as fast as the coronavirus in some juvenile detention centers, with riots and escapes reported in hotspot facilities such as New York and Louisiana. (Val Horvath/The Shreveport Times via AP, File)


Nicole Hingle wasn’t surprised when the call came. Frustrations had been building inside juvenile detention centers nationwide as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. Now, her 17-year-old son Jace, was on the phone telling her around 40 kids had rioted at his facility in Louisiana — the same state where more than a dozen youths escaped during two breakouts at another site this month.

Hingle said her son described whirring helicopters above the Bridge City facility just outside New Orleans. Juveniles kicked down their doors, a SWAT team swarmed in, kids were pepper-sprayed and a staffer was injured during the melee.


“It’s a real mess,” the teen told his mother. “Everything is destroyed.”

Due to coronavirus lockdown measures, it’s been more than two months since Hingle has been able to visit her son. She has accused administrators of keeping her in the dark, and said she was growing increasingly upset by the lack of a clear plan to protect or release those held inside. Ten youths have tested positive at Bridge City in recent weeks.

“This could be life or death for my child,” said Hingle, adding that her son was among a group transferred to the Acadiana Center for Youth after the brawl, where they were pepper-sprayed twice over the weekend by parole officers brought in to help due to short staffing.

“I don’t want condolences from the state. I don’t want condolences from the governor,” she said. “I do not want sympathy. I want them to do what is right on behalf of our kids because they cannot save themselves nor can we save them without the help of these politicians.”

As more and more state and local officials announce the release of thousands of at-risk inmates from the nation’s adult jails and prisons, parents along with children rights’ groups and criminal justice experts say vulnerable youths should be allowed to serve their time at home. But they say demands for large-scale releases have been largely ignored. Decisions are often not made at the state level, but instead carried out county by county, with individual judges reviewing juvenile cases one by one.

Such legal hurdles have resulted in some kids with symptoms being thrown into isolation for 23 hours a day, in what amounts to solitary confinement, according to relatives and youth advocates. They say many have been cut off from programs, counselors and school. Some have not been issued masks, social distancing is nearly impossible and they have been given limited access to phone calls home. One mother reported that her daughter was so cut off from the outside world — with no TV and staff not wearing any protective gear — that the girl had no idea a deadly virus was even circulating in America. In some states, authorities have been shuttling kids between facilities, trying to make sure sick and healthy young people are kept apart.

Growing fears and frustrations have led to violence and mayhem not just in Louisiana, but at juvenile centers in other coronavirus hot spots such as New York. Young people are calling their parents to say they’re scared and desperate to escape. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a facility in Portland, Oregon, this month after a “disturbance” broke out, but no injuries were reported.

“The department has maintained essential staff at the juvenile detention center in accordance with national standards throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, and is working hard to balance the social and emotional needs of youth in our care during this extraordinary time,” the Multnomah County Juvenile Services Division said in a statement.

Vincent Schiraldi, co-director at Columbia University Justice Lab and a former correctional administrator, said he hoped these problems would serve as a warning to other juvenile facilities, especially those that have not yet been hit by the virus.

“If this storm is coming in your direction, don’t wait until you have 100 mile-an-hour winds to put the boards up on the windows,” he said. “Deal with it now. Come up with your COVID plan now. Get everybody out of your facility that can be gotten out, start training your staff, start developing your lines of communication, so that if people start getting sick and staff start calling in sick, then you can manage it as best you can.”

As of Monday, 150 juveniles and 283 staff had tested positive for COVID-19 at facilities nationwide, according to an unofficial log being kept by Josh Rovner at the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit The Sentencing Project. He said because testing has been so limited, it’s likely the real numbers are “much, much higher.”

New York is one of the few cities that operates two juvenile facilities. At the first sign of illness there, the city agency that oversees the sites decided to put healthy kids at the Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn, while moving all of the infected residents to the Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx.

Fernando Cabrera, a Bronx council member, said he saw the potential danger of suddenly ripping kids away from familiar staff and routines, especially during a time of crisis.

“You transfer all these kids to another borough, they are going to be anxious,” he said after dozens of police responded when a fight broke out in Crossroads about two weeks ago. “They are in self-preservation mode.”

The city’s Administration for Children’s Services provided few details about the brawl, but said some staff suffered minor injuries, including one who needed offsite medical treatment.

A similar situation occurred at two branches of the Swanson Center for Youth in Louisiana. Its facility in Columbia had been designated for healthy youths, while its Monroe site was reserved for the infected, resulting in kids being transferred back and forth. So far, at least 17 have tested positive for the coronavirus in the two facilities, according to The Sentencing Project. In addition, two escapes occurred this month at Monroe involving 13 youths, according to a statement from the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice.

One of the main obstacles to monitoring the spread of the coronavirus in youth lockups is that so few tests are being administered. In addition, some juvenile justice agencies, citing privacy concerns, have refused to release even basic information, including the number of people infected.

Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice initially didn’t release figures. But on April 17, it revealed that more than two dozen kids had tested positive at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center outside Richmond, accounting for a quarter of all reported cases at youth facilities nationwide at that time, according to The Sentencing Project. On Monday, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said 26 youths have tested positive at the Memphis Center for Success and Independence.

No severe cases were reported at Bon Air, and the majority were asymptomatic, according to a statement from Christopher Moon, the department’s chief physician.

But Rachael Deane, of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Just Children Program, accused the department in a letter of not providing proper medical care to kids housed at Bon Air. She said one client with symptoms was not tested and another whose swab came back positive was never examined by a doctor. Deane also alleged that the department wasn’t communicating with parents when their kids became infected and that some clients had been denied access to counseling for weeks. She charged that legal rights were also being violated.

“Our clients report they are kept in their rooms for at least 23 hours per day. Although they are supposed to receive one hour per day outside their rooms, this is not always honored,” the letter said. “Even when their free hour is made available, residents are sometimes forced to choose between using it for essential activities, like taking a shower, instead of exercise and recreation.”

Valerie Boykin, director of the Virginia department, said in a statement that Bon Air residents’ parents and loved ones are kept informed in a timely manner.

More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the United States — more than anywhere in the world. But the threat posed by COVID-19 extends well beyond the prison walls. Even though most personal visits have been stopped, hundreds of thousands of guards, wardens and other correctional facility administrators go in and out every day, potentially carrying the virus home to their families and communities.

The juvenile population behind bars has been decreasing over the past couple of decades and stood at around 43,000 in 2017, the last available count. Roughly 70% were accused of low-level crimes.

It’s unclear exactly how many kids have been released due to the coronavirus, but a new survey by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation looked at a snapshot of juvenile justice agencies in 30 states housing more than 3,700 youths. The survey found the number of young people in local secure detention centers — where they are held until a court decides whether to confine them until their hearings or allow them to wait at home — dropped 24% from March to April, mostly due to fewer admissions. However, the data only represents about one-tenth of counties nationwide.

Nate Balis, director of the foundation’s juvenile justice strategy group, said far more young people should be released to home confinement to prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially given that the overall population is only a fraction of the number of adults behind bars.

“Whether or not kids are being released has to do with who’s calling the shots and that is very different from state to state,” he said. “We’re talking about states that may have a couple hundred young people in custody or less.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a petition earlier this month asking it to limit new admissions and allow for the immediate release of some detained youths to prevent the spread of the virus in juvenile facilities.

Maryland’s Court of Appeals denied a similar petition but offered guidance to administrative judges, saying the health and well-being of the juveniles should be taken into consideration during the public health crisis. Since the filing, 164 juveniles have been released, according to the public defender’s office. There are now about 450 kids remaining in the system.

The coronavirus doesn’t typically hit young people hard, but it has been shown to attack anyone with underlying health problems. Locked-up children face much higher rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments, along with substance abuse issues.

Up to 70% have mental health problems and many have learning disabilities or are illiterate, with more than half placed in a grade level below their age, according to the nonprofit Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.

Seven youths and 11 staff have tested positive in juvenile detention centers in Connecticut.

Jibrelle Milner said her 17-year-old son is only getting out of his two-person room at the Manson Youth Institution in New Haven County for one or two hours a day. She said he’s supposed to graduate high school this year, but he’s a special education student who’s only receiving learning packets to complete on his own.

She said he suffers from allergies and asthma and is still recovering from injuries after being shot twice last year. She worries about the virus but is equally concerned about his mental health.

“There’s no visitation, there’s no school going on,” Milner said. “I feel like it’s incarceration on top of incarceration.”

____

UPDATED
Cannabis shows promise blocking coronavirus infection: Alberta researcher

Bill Kaufmann POSTMEDIA 5/7/2020

University of Lethbridge researcher Igor Kovalchuk is leading a study on medical cannabis as a potential therapy for COVID-19. SUBMITED PHOTO

Cannabis extracts are showing potential in making people more resistant to the novel coronavirus, says an Alberta researcher leading a study.

After sifting through 400 cannabis strains, researchers at the University of Lethbridge are concentrating on about a dozen that show promising results in ensuring less fertile ground for the potentially lethal virus to take root, said biological scientist Dr. Igor Kovalchuk.

“A number of them have reduced the number of these (virus) receptors by 73 per cent, the chance of it getting in is much lower,” said Kovalchuk.

“If they can reduce the number of receptors, there’s much less chance of getting infected.”

Employing cannabis sativa strains over the past three months, the researcher said the effective balance between cannabis components THC and CBD — the latter more typically associated with medical use — is still unclear in blocking the novel coronavirus.

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“It will take a long time to find what the active ingredient is — there may be many,” said Kovalchuk, whose Pathway RX is owned partly by Olds-based licensed cannabis producer Sundial Growers and partnered with Alberta cannabis researcher Swysh.

But it’s generally the anti-inflammatory properties of high-CBD content that have shown most promise, he added.

“We focus more on the higher CBD because people can take higher doses and not be impaired,” said Kovalchuk.

The study under Health Canada licence using artificial human 3-D tissue models has been seeking ways to hinder the highly contagious novel coronavirus from finding a host in the lungs, intestines, and oral cavity.

If successful, the work could find practical medical use in the form of mouth wash, gargle, inhalants or gel caps, said Kovalchuk.

“It would be cheaper for people and have a lot less side-effects,” he said.

But the absence of clinical trials remains a barrier, and funding from an increasingly cash-strapped cannabis industry isn’t there to fuel that, said Kovalchuk.

“We have clinicians who are willing to work with us but for a lot of companies in the cannabis business, it’s significant cash that they can’t afford,” he said.

The scientist emphasized the findings wouldn’t lead to a vaccine — something “less specific and precise” but nonetheless another possible weapon against COVID-19.

“The extracts of our most successful and novel high CBD C sativa lines, pending further investigation, may become a useful and safe addition to the treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy,” said Kovalchuk.

“Given the current dire and rapidly evolving epidemiological situation, every possible therapeutic opportunity and avenue must be considered.”

Israeli researchers have begun clinical trials of CBD as a treatment to repair cells damaged by COVID-19 by using its anti-inflammatory abilities.

It’s thought CBD could enhance the traditional effect of steroids in such treatment of patients in life-threatening condition and also bolster the immune system.

It’s the kind of research and his own that deserves government support in Canada, whose federal government has pledged $1.1 billion in funding for COVID-19 research said the U of L scientist.

“Our work could have a huge influence — there aren’t many drugs that have the potential of reducing infection by 70 to 80 per cent,” he said.

Coronavirus: The tide is coming for medicinal cannabis

Cannabis researchers in Canada say the plant-based drug may provide resistance to SARS-CoV-2. Their preliminary findings are part of broader research into the use of medicinal cannabis in treating cancer.



The search for a vaccine for the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, or indeed a medicinal drug to cure it, has taken researchers down both traditional and less traditional avenues.

They have looked at existing drug candidates, such as remdesivir, which was original developed to treat Ebola. In Germany, the first clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine are based on a candidate developed for cancer immunology.

There's a study out of France that suggests nicotine — typically ingested via the often-lethal pastime of smoking — may protect people against the novel coronavirus, itself a potentially fatal lung infection.

And, now, preliminary research is emerging out of Canada that certain strains of the psychoactive drug cannabis may also increase resistance to the coronavirus. If the study, which is not yet peer reviewed, can be verified, it would appear that cannabis works in a similar way to nicotine.

"The results on COVID-19 came from our studies on arthritis, Crohn's disease, cancer and others," says Dr. Igor Kovalchuck, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge, in an email to DW.

Read more: Cannabis in Thailand: How far will the green gold rush go?
Thailand opens first clinics offering free cannabis

Blocking gateways

As with the research into nicotine's effect on the coronavirus, it is thought that some strains of cannabis reduce the virus' ability to enter the lungs, where it takes hold, reproduces and spreads.

In a paper on preprints.org, where scientists can publish non-peer-reviewed results, Kovalchuck and colleagues write that their specially developed strains of cannabis effectively stop the virus from entering the human body.

The study is one of many papers globally that have been shared on preprint websites, including preprints.org, in a bid to disseminate preliminary findings into potential COVID-19 treatments that have yet to undergo rigorous peer review.

The coronavirus needs a "receptor" to enter a human host. That receptor is known as an "angiotensin-converting enzyme II," or ACE2.

ACE2 is found in lung tissue, in oral and nasal mucus, in the kidneys, testes, and gastrointestinal tracts, they write.

And the theory is that by modulating ACE2 levels in those "gateways" to the human host, it may be possible to lower our susceptibility, or vulnerability, to the virus. It could basically reduce our risk of infection.

"If there's no ACE2 on tissues, the virus will not enter," says Kovalchuck.


Dr. Igor Kovalchuk, cannabis researcher at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, and co-founder of Inplanta BiotechnologyNo common or garden cannabis

Some in the science community say medicinal cannabis may help to treat a range of conditions from nausea to dementia. But medicinal cannabis is not the same as what you might call recreational cannabis.

Those more "common or garden varieties" of cannabis — or street cannabis — are known for their Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. That's the main psychoactive agent in the drug.

The Alberta-based researchers, meanwhile, have focused on strains of the plant, Cannabis sativa, that are high in an anti-inflammatory cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD) — one of the other main chemicals in cannabis, aside from THC.

They have developed over 800 new Cannabis sativa variants, with high levels of CBD, and identified 13 extracts which they say modulate ACE2 levels in those humans gateways.

"Our varieties are high in CBD, or balanced CBD/THC, because you can give a higher dose and people will not be impaired due to the psychoactive properties of THC," says Kovalchuck.

Read more: Angela Merkel's party mulls legalizing cannabis in Germany

Inside Europe: The benefits and challenges of medical cannabis

Low funding, low knowledge

Kovalchuck also heads a company called Inplanta BioTechnology, with Dr. Darryl Hudson, who has a PHD from the University of Guelph — another Canadian institute where research is ongoing into the use of cannabinoids in medicine.

But funding for cannabinoid research is "still hard," he says. And that's the case in other countries, too.

Some researchers in the UK say that may be because there are misconceptions among the general public and politicians about medicinal cannabis, perhaps even a fear that people will become addicted or try to self-medicate, using just any old form of cannabis they can find.

Those researchers say themselves that it is vital to be clear about the information and to avoid sensationalism.

"Researchers have to be particularly careful when disseminating their results given the socio-political volatility of medicinal cannabis use," says Chris Albertyn, a Research Portfolio Lead at King's College London, and an expert on cannabinoids and dementia.

The best way to get through that, says Albertyn, is to implement open, transparent research methods.

"In this instance, the current research from Canada has just unveiled a potential therapeutic 'mechanism of action' but that would need to be validated and tested in well-designed, robust clinical trials before any meaningful clinical conclusions can be drawn," he says.

That would include pre-registering clinical protocols and analysis methods, publishing in open access journals, double-blind placebo controlled trials, and strict, independent peer review by the clinical academic community, says Albertyn.

A turning tide

The problem is that without sufficient funding and further research, there is too little knowledge about cannabinoids — whether it's positive or negative research results — some say we just won't know until we do the research.

"But there is ENORMOUS interest now," said Kovalchuk in his email. And that's his emphasis. "The tide is coming."

While he and his co-authors say even their most effective extracts require large-scale validation, they say they may be a "safe addition" to the treatment of COVID-19. An addition, mind, alongside other treatments.

So, large-scale verification pending, medicinal cannabis could be developed into "easy-to-use preventative treatments," such as a mouthwash or a throat gargle in both clinical and home use.

COVID-19: RIP

 ‘It is a big blow’: Army and Navy, Doan’s permanently close in Old Strathcona

ALL THINGS MELT INTO AIR

Jeff Labine POSTMEDIA  5/ 9/ 2020

Crews put up boarding around the Army and Navy Department Store, 10411 82 Ave., April 16, 2020. The company announced May 9, 2020 that all its stores would close permanently. IAN KUCERAK / Postmedia

Two family-owned businesses located in Old Strathcona are closing for good because of the financial challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jacqui Cohen, owner of Army and Navy, announced Saturday all five stores including the one in Edmonton on Whyte Avenue will be closed permanently. Cohen said she had hoped to reopen after temporarily closing and laying off staff in March.

“This time last year we were celebrating the centenary of Army and Navy — a company my grandfather started in 1919 — and we were looking forward to the years ahead,” Cohen said in a news release. “Now we are closing a company that was at the heart of eight communities in Western Canada over its 101 years. Army and Navy stood alongside Canadians for the country’s highs and lows, but the economic impact of this global pandemic is beyond anything we have experienced.”

Samuel “Sam” Cohen opened the first storefront location on Hastings Street in Vancouver, B.C. in 1919. He sold mostly military surplus, which is where the company’s name originates from. The company grew into a chain with nine stores and a mail-order business in Western Canada.

Jacqui Cohen took over as owner in 1998.

Cherie Klassen, executive director of the Old Strathcona Business Association, said Army and Navy was one of three founding pillars for the area with the others being United Cycle and Pruden’s.

“Army and Navy has a long history in Old Strathcona,” she said. “It goes back to the ’60s or ’70s. It is a big blow. It is going to leave a big hole. Those three really set the tone of (the area) being a retail business district in the city.”

Meanwhile, the family-run Doan’s Vietnamese Restaurant made a similar announced on Thursday. The restaurant was forced to close its doors for dine-in service in March but began to offer take-out and delivery. However, a closure announcement was made on March 21 followed weeks later with the post about the closure being permanent.

“This decision wasn’t easy for us and from the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate everyone that has supported us over the past 32 years,” the family said in the post. “We will miss all of our loyal staff and customers. Thank you for all your kind words and heartfelt messages! We love you all so much!”

Doan’s first opened in 1988 with a small 10-table restaurant in Edmonton’s Chinatown before moving to Strathcona in the’ 90s. The family was later able to expand to a downtown location on 107 Street in 2001. The family announced the permanent closure of that location in March.

Klassen said she’s sad to see a family-owned business go.

“For the independent businesses, it is a little bit more disheartening because you know a family or individuals have put everything into that business,” she said. “It hits a little bit harder.”

Extreme lockdown shows divide in hard-hit Navajo border town

By MORGAN LEE 5/8/2020

1 of 15 https://apnews.com/34453564211d6bb77ba85a2fa5ce85a3
Mexico state police officers screen cars for compliance with an emergency lockdown order that bans nonessential visitors and limits vehicle passengers to two people as they enter Gallup, N.M., Thursday, May 7, 2020. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham renewed the lockdown order amid concerns about the rapid transmission of COVID-19 in the area. Gallup and surrounding McKinley County are one of the worst rural hot spots for coronavirus infections in the U.S. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)


GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — Like clockwork, payday arrives and tens of thousands of people from the Navajo reservation and other rural stretches along the New Mexico-Arizona border flood into Gallup, a freewheeling desert oasis of just 22,000 that can quickly quadruple in size with all the visitors.

Not now.

As the modern-day trading post reels under a coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 1,450 people and killed at least three dozen in the city and surrounding rural county — overrunning a patchwork health care system — Gallup has gone into extreme lockdown. Barricades are manned by state police and the National Guard, keeping out anyone who doesn’t live there or face an emergency.

That has sent thousands of people scrambling for options other than the city’s coin-operated bulk water station and monthly shopping runs to Walmart and Tractor Supply Co. Up to one-third of homes on remote stretches of the Navajo Nation lack full plumbing, and grocery stores are mostly tiny and limited.

The roads into Gallup may open up Friday evening, but the rules allowing only essential shopping will remain, and the reservation has its own lockdown that prevents people from leaving on evenings and weekends. Navajo police patrol for people breaking the rules.

On Thursday, hundreds of cars idled at a roadblock in hopes of entering town, just before the lockdown was extended for three more days under the state Riot Control Act.

The effectiveness of the lockdown, enacted by the governor and endorsed by Gallup’s fledgling mayor, is up for debate. Infections are still mounting in town, with about 240 confirmed cases within one ZIP code, and more than 2,650 across the Navajo Nation that extends into portions of Arizona and Utah. If the Navajo Nation were its own state, it’d have the second highest per capita rate of positive coronavirus cases in the country, behind only New York.

The dividing line traced by roadblocks also is tugging on sensitivities about birthrights and inequities, as Native American visitors worry about the social stigma of being locked out because of the contagion.

The outbreak on the huge Navajo reservation, the nation’s largest with 175,000 people, has made people in Gallup nervous. Many see hints of the racism that has divided people in the town for centuries.

“They targeted the people around here. They’re going to be coming to Gallup to shop, so they put a stop to that,” said Johnnie Henry, adding that two of his relatives from the Navajo Nation were apparently infected with COVID-19 while working at a Gallup hospital. “We kind of look at each other and say, are we the ones bringing it? No, it’s all over.


“There’s a lot of people who want to go back into Gallup, but they’re afraid that they’re going to call us names ... say that we are the carriers,” Henry said.


A visitor stocks up on drinking water at a city pumping station in Gallup, N.M., Thursday, May 7, 2020. An emergency lockdown banned nonessential visitors and limits vehicle passengers to two people, while police allowed many trucks through to haul crucial household water from Gallup to rural areas. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham renewed the lockdown order amid concerns about the rapid transmission of COVID-19 in the area. Gallup and surrounding McKinley County are one of the worst rural hot spots for the coronavirus infections in the U.S. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

In Gallup, the streets are empty, with downtown thoroughfares largely free of cars. The lockdown idled pawn shops, halted informal jewelry sales by walking vendors, and thinned out crowds at grocery stores and Walmart.

“The lockdown has been awesome, you don’t have to worry about any crowds,” Andrew Sandoval, a delivery worker for Home Depot, said as he ducked into a grocery store to buy his wife a cup of coffee.

At Gallup’s main hospital, Rehoboth McKinley Christian, the battle against the virus has taken a toll, with 32 infections among employees. The hospital’s sole pulmonologist left Wednesday without a replacement, and patients with serious respiratory conditions are being flown to Albuquerque, Chief Medical Officer Val Wangler said.

For most, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The trajectory of the pandemic could hinge on Gallup’s homeless population — many who left the Navajo Nation and struggle with alcoholism.

Infections raced through a detox center in early April. Now, free room and board are offered at four local motels — including the famous El Rancho hotel visited by legendary actor John Wayne and President Ronald Reagan — to about 140 homeless patients who are quarantined. They are tested repeatedly before being cleared with a certification card that can let them back into shelters.


Krita Stead jogs past an iconic mesa as an evening coronavirus curfew approaches at Zuni Pueblo, N.M., Thursday, May 7, 2020. Pueblo leaders have been supportive of a lockdown order in nearby Gallup with police roadblocks by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, in efforts to stem the rapid transmission of COVID-19 in the area. Gallup and surrounding McKinley County are one of the worst rural hot spots for the coronavirus infections in the U.S. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

Beyond Gallup, New Mexico’s stay-at-home restrictions expire May 15, and there’s uncertainty about what’s next.

“I’m so confused. What is going to really work if this doesn’t?” state Sen. George Munoz of Gallup said of the community lockdown. He has taken to buying giant pallets of bottled water for indigenous communities with campaign funds. “I don’t know the answer.”

At a motel, Dr. Caleb Lauber opens a conversation with a coronavirus-positive patient in the Navajo language before administering a nasal swab test to see if the infection persists.

“There’s more than one benefit from doing this,” he said. “It allows us the opportunity to ensure that the community is protected.”

But the program is financially unsustainable, Lauber said.


A homeless woman sleeps on a park bench, Thursday, April 7, 2020, in Gallup, N.M. A police officer arrived quickly to check on her health. More than 100 homeless people in Gallup are being housed temporarily motel rooms and tested for the coronavirus to contain an outbreak that raced through a detox center in early April. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

South of Gallup in Zuni Pueblo, a tribal community of 800 residents set amid red rock mesas, Lt. Gov. Carleton Bowekaty supports extending the Gallup lockdown, noting that it keeps more pueblo members safely at home. He said the tribe has stockpiled food and water to help support members who have to quarantine after being exposed to the virus.

He said a COVID-19 outbreak in the pueblo is far from contained, with about 55 confirmed infections and two deaths amid intensive testing, evening curfews and a daytime roadblock aimed at discouraging nonessential travel.

An end to the Gallup lockdown would likely mean stricter restrictions in the pueblo, where Bowekaty says tribal members are struggling with social distancing in ceremonial life, including burials.

Thoughts have turned to preserving oral traditions that might be lost with more coronavirus casualties.

“How do we capture their knowledge if they pass on?” he asked.

___

Associated Press data editor Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.

___

This story has corrected the spelling of President Ronald Reagan’s last name.
DID YOU ORIGINALLY SPELL IT RAY GUN.....

Certified Medical Assistant Shaniya Wood displays a certification card that homeless residents can use to show they are free of the coronavirus to gain access to shelters and other services, Thursday, May 7, 2020 in Gallup, N.M. More than 100 homeless people in Gallup are being housed temporarily in motel rooms and tested for the coronavirus to contain an outbreak that raced through a detox center in early April. Gallup was under a lockdown order with police roadblocks from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in efforts to stem the rapid transmission of COVID-19 in the area. Gallup and surrounding McKinley County are one of the worst rural hot spots for the coronavirus infections in the U.S. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

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