States ask teens to staff polling places on Election Day

By  Shirin Ali, The Fulcrum

Poll workers wears protective equipment as they organize ballots in a special election for Maryland's 7th Congressional District on April 28. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 14 (UPI) -- Recruiting enough workers to staff the more than 200,000 polling places across the country has been a longstanding struggle. Now, the coronavirus is making the problem even worse -- because older people, who are the majority of poll workers, are also at the greatest risk of getting the infection.

In response, states are getting creative, increasingly asking their younger populations -- including some not yet old enough to vote -- to step up and play an essential role in the election process. While it's not widely known, people younger than 18 can be poll workers in 45 states and the District of Columbia

Recruiting members of Generation Z has become critical this year because aging Baby Boomers are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. But long before the pandemic transformed the country -- and the way elections are run -- in a matter of weeks, keeping up the supply of election workers has long been a sore subject for election officials. And it has been getting worse.

Even in a year when the share of ballots cast remotely is sure to shatter past records, election officials are generally promising to keep a reasonable number of polling stations open for those who prefer them as well as those who require them, like many disabled or homeless voters. And that means several hundred thousand people will be needed to check in voters, verify their identities, register people in states where that's allowed on Election Day and then answer questions about voting equipment -- which is brand new this year in thousands of locations.engers
The shortage is likely to be particularly acute in Texas and other states that have not done much to promote mail voting despite new surges of coronavirus. Handfuls of polling places have been shuttered in Fort Worth and San Antonio for Tuesday's primary runoffs, for example, because of a lack of people willing to staff them. Wisconsin infamously had to call out the National Guard to replace no-shows for its April primary.

The surge in the number of cities and counties struggling to find sufficient help on Election Day is made plain in the surveys of election officials taken after every election by the federal Election Assistance Commission. The number of jurisdictions reporting at least some difficulty in filling their poll worker jobs rose from only about one-third a decade ago to 70 percent in 2018.

The poll found that for every general election going back at least to 2010, fewer than one in five poll workers was 40 or younger. The surveys also consistently found about one-fourth of poll workers were 71 or older -- results that make intuitive sense, because older people are likelier to be retired and have fewer weekday commitments while people in their 20s and 30s are generally working and committed to family obligations.

Trouble recruiting election workers during the pandemic is magnified by demographics: Three in five poll workers in 2018 were older than 61, an age group at high risk of COVID-19, while just one in five was younger than 40. One way to expand the pool: Grow the share (4 percent last time) not yet old enough to vote, something most states allow.

To help solve its version of the problem, Minneapolis implemented a Student Election Judge Program in the early 1990s and has since seen immense success with recruiting a bilingual, tech-savvy and ethnically diverse corps of high school students to work in its polling centers. The city partnered with local schools to help enlist teenagers, even establishing volunteer advisers at some schools to help advocate for the program and coordinate recruiting. The law in Minnesota, which usually has the strongest voter turnout of any state, permits high school students to work at polling centers after they turn 16.

The coordinator of the program, Caryn Scheel, says that over the years, Minneapolis has received far more applications than it needs -- more than 800 in a typical year, when only about 400 students are needed on Election Day. She estimates that between one-fifth and one-quarter of the city's polling centers have high school students at work.

"They leave really inspired about what it's like to be part of a community during an election," Scheel said. "They really take it seriously, this idea that they are there to help voters to do what they can within the legal process to help people vote. And they find that very empowering."

Three years ago, the EAC singled out the Minneapolis program in a competition for recruiting, training and retaining election workers. Hamilton County, Ohio, won the same award in 2016 for its Youth at the Booth program, which recruits Cincinnati high schoolers older than 17 to work at the polls.

The effort extends to older students, too. Members of the Election Law Society at William & Mary's law school recently started looking for a way to contribute their expertise during the current election, especially in light of the pandemic.

The result, formally launched last week, is ASAP -- the Alliance of Students at the Polls. The nonpartisan program plans to recruit fellow law schools across the country to build an online database of local resources related to voting and the electoral process. The organization also plans to recruit law students to be poll workers either on campus or at home, where many will be studying online this fall.

"Having every state that has in-person voting be a part of our database and have resources available to people that want to volunteer in that state, if we can pull that off, I will consider this a huge success, in terms of just providing access and hopefully recruiting enough poll workers to open some more precincts across the country," said Max Weiss, co-president of the Election Law Society.

Poll work compensation varies widely, although about a quarter of states dictate a flat fee that's often less than the minimum wage for what is sometimes a 12-hour (or longer) day. Other states offer the minimum wage or allow local jurisdictions to pay more.

The National Council of State Legislatures has also promoted the idea of youth poll workers, pointing out that these digital natives have a willingness to operate electronic poll books and other voting technology.

Having more young people part of the electoral process, serving as poll workers or election judges, may motivate a younger voting bloc to cast their own ballots once they turn 18.

Scheel, of Minneapolis' Student Election Judge program, said surveys of participants show students are much more likely to vote as a result of being part of her program.

"You look at research that has been done on youth voter participation and you find that the earlier people get involved, the more likely it is that they'll stay involved," she said.

The notion of using poll worker jobs to promote high school civic engagement crosses ideological lines. The most recent state to allow teens to do the work was reliably Republican Alabama, which made the switch last year.

This article originally appeared at The Fulcrum.

upi.com/7021758

MEDICARE FOR ALL!

Study: 5.4M Americans lost health insurance amid pandemic

Cars idle for miles in line for food being distributed to residents impacted by the COVID-19 crisis at Jordan High School in Long Beach, Calif., on May 9. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

July 14 (UPI) -- An estimated 5.4 million Americans lost their health insurance between February and May because of job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, a new study said, stating it is the greatest loss in healthcare coverage in the country's history.

The 23-page report, published by the nonpartisan Families USA consumer advocacy group on Monday, said the number of people who lost their health insurance during the three-month period is 39 percent higher than any annual increase ever recorded, trumping the previous high of 3.9 million non-elderly adults who became uninsured during the one-year period of 2008 to 2009.

Nearly half of those who lost insurance due to the pandemic reside in the five states of California, Texas, Florida, New York and North Carolina, the report said, adding the new increases also mean that more than 20 percent of adults in the eight states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas are without health insurance.

"Families in America are losing comprehensive health insurance in record numbers," the report said. "This creates particularly serious dangers during a grave public health crisis and deep economic downturn."

The numbers could also be much higher as they do not include the family members of workers who recently lost their jobs and with it their health insurance, said the report, which is the product of compiling data from each state to examine the effects of COVID-19 on workers below 65, the age at which one is guaranteed Medicare.

Between February and May, 21.9 million Americans lost their jobs due to the economic contraction caused by states enforcing strict lockdown measures in an effort to stymie the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than 3.3 million people in the United States resulting in more than 135,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Late last week, the Labor Department said more than 1.3 million American workers had filed new claims for unemployment benefits, representing the 16th straight week of at least 1 million new claims.

Families USA said that despite the historic losses, no COVID-19 legislation has yet to be signed into law to protect comprehensive health insurance, stating that policymakers need to know the magnitude of coverage losses.

"Now is the time to fill that gap by including protections for comprehensive health insurance in the next COVID-19 bill," the consumer advocacy group said.

The report comes as cases continue to surge in the United States, which recorded more than 60,000 new cases a day in three of the past five days with the other two days recording just shy of that figure, according to data compiled by the Baltimore university.

Many of the states where the number of uninsured has climbed are also experiencing dramatic increases in cases, such as Florida, which set a single-day record by any state at more than 15,000 new infections over the weekend, and California, which on Monday ordered dine-in restaurants, bars, movie theaters and the like to again close.

Virus spread, not politics should guide schools, doctors say

Des Moines Public Schools custodian Cynthia Adams cleans a desk in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher.

They’re urging a more cautious approach, which many local governments and school districts are already pursuing.

But U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos doubled down on President Donald Trump’s insistence that kids can safely return to the classroom.

“There’s nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous,” she told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
FILE - In this July 7, 2020, file photo, a teacher holds up a sign while driving by the Orange County Public Schools headquarters as educators protest in a car parade around the administration center in downtown Orlando, Fla. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)


Still, health experts say there are too many uncertainties and variables for back-to-school to be back-to-normal.

Where is the virus spreading rapidly? Do students live with aged grandparents? Do teachers have high-risk health conditions that would make online teaching safest? Do infected children easily spread COVID-19 to each other and to adults?

Regarding the latter, some evidence suggests they don’t, but a big government study aims to find better proof. Results won’t be available before the fall, and some schools are slated to reopen in just a few weeks.

“These are complicated issues. You can’t just charge straight ahead,” Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday during an online briefing.

Children infected with coronavirus are more likely than adults to have mild illnesses, but their risk for severe disease and death isn’t zero. While a virus-linked inflammatory condition is uncommon, most children who develop it require intensive care, and a few have died. Doctors don’t know which children are at risk.

“The single most important thing we can do to keep our schools safe has nothing to do with what happens in school. It’s how well we control COVID-19 in the community,” Frieden said. “Right now there are places around the country where the virus is spreading explosively and it would be difficult if not impossible to operate schools safely until the virus is under better control.”
A bottle of hand sanitizer sits on a cart as Des Moines Public Schools custodian Tracy Harris cleans a chair in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Zahrah Wattier teaches high school in Galveston, Texas, where cases and deaths have been spiking. Until the state recently said schools must reopen to in-person classes, her district had been weighing options many others are considering, including full-time online teaching or a hybrid mix.

Wattier’s school has mostly Hispanic and Black students, many from low-income families; almost 70% qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches and many have parents who work in “essential” jobs that increase potential exposure to the virus. Online education was hard for many with limited internet access, and Wattier knows in-person classes can help even the playing field.

But she’s worried.

“My school has over 2,000 students. That’s over 2,000 exposures in a day,” said Wattier, whose parents live with the family and are both high-risk. “It’s a lot to think about. It’s my job. It’s something I choose to do, it’s something I love. Now it comes at a really high risk.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, whose guidance the Trump administration has cited to support its demands, says the goal is for all students to be physically present in school. But, it adds, districts must be flexible, consult with health authorities and be ready to pivot as virus activity waxes and wanes.

“It is not that the American Academy of Pediatrics thinks this is a done deal because we have put out guidance,” said Dr. Nathaniel Beers, a member of the academy’s school health council. “But what we do know is that we need to have a more realistic dialogue about the implications of virtual learning on the future of children. We have left whole swaths of society behind, whether it’s because they have limited access to a computer, or broadband internet,” or because of other challenges that online education can’t address.

DeVos said local school officials are smart enough to know when conditions are not right.

“There’s going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“And where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school by school or a case by case basis.”

Following CDC and academy guidelines would mean big changes for most schools. Mask-wearing would be strongly encouraged for adult staff and students except the youngest. Desks would be distanced at least 3 feet apart; the CDC recommends 6 feet. Both suggest limiting adults allowed in schools, including parents, and canceling group activities like choir and assemblies. Staggered arrival and dismissal times, outdoor classes, and keeping kids in the same classroom all day are other options.

President Trump has threatened federal funding cuts for districts that don’t fully reopen.

DeVos defended that stance, saying, “American investment in education is a promise to students and their families.”

“If schools aren’t going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn’t get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.”

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called DeVos’ comments “malfeasance and dereliction of duty.”

“They’re messing, the president and his administration are messing with the health of our children,” the California Democrat told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While most funding typically comes from state and local sources, experts say schools will need more federal funding, not less, to reopen safely. Masks, extra cleaning supplies or janitors, additional classroom space, and mental health support for students and staff traumatized by the pandemic are among potential costs. And with more parents out of work, more children will qualify for federally funded school lunches.

Lynn Morales, 49, teaches 8th grade English at a high-poverty public school in Bloomington, Minnesota, that is considering several options including in-person classes; a final decision is expected Aug. 1.

Some colleagues are considering not returning to the classroom because their children’s day care centers aren’t reopening. Some say they won’t come back until there’s a vaccine.

“I am concerned and it’s because of the age group,” Morales said. ’’Middle school students ... are lovely and I love them, but they touch, they get close, they roughhouse. It is their nature. They’re 13 years old. They are defiant.”

“If masks are required and a kid isn’t wearing a mask, is my job description going to be to chase down this kid and insist they wear a mask? And what if they don’t?”

Dr. Emily Landon, a University of Chicago infectious disease specialist, is helping the university and a campus preK-12 school decide how to reopen safely.

“Things are evolving from, ‘We can’t do it unless it’s perfectly safe’ to more of a harm reduction model, with the caveat that you can always step back” if virus activity flares, Landon said.

Single-occupancy dorms, outdoor classes, socially distanced classrooms and mask-wearing by students and faculty are on tap for the university. Face coverings will be required at the school too. Policies may change depending on virus activity.

She dismisses complaints from some parents who say masks are a loss of personal freedom.

“It’s not harmful for your child,” she said. “If you see wearing masks as a loss of personal freedom, then you have to think the same of pants.”

Dr. Tina Hartert of Vanderbilt University is leading a National Institutes of Health-funded study to determine what role children play in transmitting COVID-19. Almost 2,000 families are enrolled and self-test every two weeks. The idea is to find infected children without symptoms and see how easily disease spreads within families. Results may come by year’s end.

“If we don’t see significant transmission within households, that would be very reassuring,” Hartert said.

She noted that in other countries where schools have reopened, evidence suggests no widespread transmission from children.

In France, public schools reopened briefly before a summer break, with no sign of widespread virus transmission. Masks were only required for upper grades, but students stayed in the same classroom all day. A better test will be when the new school year starts Sept. 1.

In Norway, schools closed in March for several weeks. Nursery schools reopened first, then other grades. Children were put in smaller groups that stay together all day. Masks aren’t required. There have been only a few virus cases, said Dr. Margrethe Greve-Isdahl of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, but she noted virus activity is much lower than in the U.S.

Kati Spaniak, a realtor in Northbrook, Illinois, says her five teenage daughters have struggled to cope with pandemic fears, school closures and deficits of online learning. She strongly supports getting kids back in the classroom, and all her girls will return to some form of that in the fall.

It’s been hard for her high school senior, Kylie Ciesla. Prom, graduation and other senior rituals were canceled, and there were no good-byes. “Just to get ripped away from everything I’ve worked for 12 years, it’s really hard,” Kylie said.

At college, classes will be in person, masks mandated and a COVID-19 test required before she can move into her dorm. Kylie isn’t sure all that is needed.

“I hate that this thing has become so political. I just want the science. I want to know what we need to do to fix it,” she said.

___

AP reporters John Leicester and Arno Pedram in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at @LindseyTanner.

___

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.

___

This story was first published on July 12, 2020. It was updated on July 13, 2020, to correct the name of the member of the American Academy of Pediatrics school health council. He is Dr. Nathaniel Beers, not Dr. Nicholas Beers.

Legal experts review Black Minnesota teen’s life sentence

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2020, file photo, Myon Burrell sits inside his cell at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater, Minn. An independent panel of national legal experts will review the conviction of Burrell, who was a teenager when sentenced to life in prison nearly two decades ago for the murder of little girl struck by a stray bullet while studying in her south Minneapolis home, Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions and the New York-based Innocence Project announced Monday, July 13, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An independent panel of national legal experts will review the conviction of an African American man sentenced as a teenager to life in prison for the murder of a little girl struck by a stray bullet, Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions and the New York-based Innocence Project announced Monday.

Myon Burrell, 34, has spent nearly two decades behind bars. His case captured widespread interest, first at the time of his 2002 arrest, and again this year after Sen. Amy Klobuchar touted it during her run for the U.S. presidency. She used it as an example of how — when top prosecutor in Hennepin County — she helped find justice for the African American community outraged by gun violence and the senseless death of Tyesha Edwards, an 11-year-old Black girl killed while doing homework at her dining-room table.

After the Associated Press and APM Reports highlighted flaws in the investigation that pointed to a possible wrongful conviction, Klobuchar called for a review, saying justice was not only about punishing the guilty but protecting the innocent. She and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office expressed support Monday for the new panel, which hopes to release its findings by the year’s end. The senator has also said she would like to see the formation of a Conviction Integrity Unit and a Sentencing Review Board to look into other potentially flawed cases.

Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project and one of the first proponents for Conviction Integrity Units nationwide, called the review of Burrell’s case an important first step.

He and Laura Nirider — co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, who led efforts to identify and select prospective panel members — will act as advisors as the team looks at the evidence that led to Burrell’s conviction and the appropriateness of his sentence.

“A conviction integrity review is a non-adversarial process that seeks cooperation from prosecutors, defenders and police,” said Scheck, who is an expert in best practices in conviction integrity and will help guide the panel. “Best practices today include consideration of excessive sentences as well as a review of guilt or innocence and the fairness of the trial.”

“In the end, CIUs often ask the question after reviewing all the evidence, ‘if we had known all of this at the time we charged the defendant, would we have arrested him in the first place?’”

Nirider, a Minnesota native, who represents innocent juveniles and those widely considered to be wrongfully convicted, including Brendan Dassey, subject of the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” said the panel is filled with some of the country’s top legal minds, including a former state attorney general, the leader of one of the first Conviction Integrity Units in the country, and the past president of the national Innocence Network.

The effort, she said, was undertaken with the support of several Minnesota organizations, including the Minneapolis NAACP, the Innocence Project of Minnesota, and the ACLU of Minnesota and panel members.

“The gross miscarriage of justice that happened in Myon Burrell’s case struck a chord with many in the Black community,” said Leslie Redmond President of the Minneapolis NAACP,, adding that an independent review of his case is long overdue. “We also know that Myon is one of many young Black men who has been railroaded by the criminal justice system in Hennepin County. There is an urgent need for the establishment of a conviction integrity unit to review those cases now.”

The death of George Floyd — who was killed by police in May at a south Minneapolis corner store just three blocks from where Tyesha was shot — has put a spotlight on Minnesota and its long history of racial injustice.

Many members of the state’s African American community feel the system is stacked against them, from the time of their arrest and charges filed, to the length of their sentences.

The 1990s and 2000s resulted in the highest rate of incarceration ever seen in America, and young Black men were disproportionately affected.

A largely discredited theory about a remorseless, teen criminals — dubbed “superpredators” — resulted in a tripling of the number of youths thrown into adult facilities, thousands of them sentenced to life. The vast majority were African American. While that trend has started to reverse, those already convicted remain in prison where many will likely die.

Perry Moriearty, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the state has long prided itself on having a progressive penal system, but that is not true when it comes to the punishment of young African American males.

“Black juveniles in Minnesota are eight times more likely to be prosecuted as adults than white juveniles, and we subject them to extraordinarily harsh sentences,” she said. “Even as states across the country are abandoning life sentences for adolescents, we continue to permit life without parole or its equivalent. We are on our way to becoming an outlier.”

Burrell, 16 at the time of Tyesha’s killing, has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence saying he was not even at the scene.

A yearlong AP investigation found there was no hard evidence — no gun, fingerprints, DNA — linking him to the crime.

Surveillance tape that Burrell told police would clear him was never pulled from Cup Food, the same store that called the police on George Floyd for allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. Much of the state’s case relied on jailhouse informants, several of whom have since recanted. And another man has admitted to the shooting, saying Burrell was not even present.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Offices said in a statement Monday it has been cooperating with Burrell’s current attorney for nearly two years and will continue to be responsive to the panel’s advisors.

Klobuchar, meanwhile, she has been advocating for a review for months.

“As I told Mr. Burrell’s family earlier this year, if any injustice was done in the quest for justice for Tyesha Edwards, it must be addressed,” she said in an emailed statement. “This investigation is an important step forward and I fully support the work of this distinguished panel.”

Dexter Gordon - Jazz Icons Live in '63 & '64 BW SMOKEY LOUNGE

Tucker Carlson announces vacation after his top Fox News show writer resigns for racists posts
The announcement came after Blake Neff, the show’s top writer, was exposed for his history of racism

TOM BOGGIONI
JULY 14, 2020

This article originally appeared on Raw Story

Minutes after Fox News was called out on MSNBC, the embattled host of The Tucker Carlson Show announced that he would be going on a "long-planned" vacation.

The announcement came after Blake Neff, the show's top writer, was exposed for his history of racist, homophobic and misogynistic social media posts.

"We're out of time — gonna spend the next four days trout-fishing. Long-planned," Carlson claimed. "This is one of those years where if you don't get it in now, you're probably not going to."

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy thought it was quite the coincidence how Fox News hosts always go on vacation during major scandals.

"Really remarkable how all these Fox News hosts coincidentally always seem to have pre-planned vacations RIGHT when they ignite controversy!" Darcy tweeted.

Sending hosts who get in PR trouble on vacation is a classic Fox PR tactic, Carlson had one after calling white supremacy a hoax, Hannity amid the Seth Rick conspiracy theories, Ingraham after attacking David Hogg, etc.
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 14, 2020

Tucker Carlson Announces ‘Vacation’ After Top Writer’s Racist, Sexist Posts Revealed

The Fox News host said the show didn't "endorse" Blake Neff's anonymous posts, then he announced he'd be going trout fishing for the rest of the week.

By Carla Herreria Russo, HuffPost US

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson addressed the resignation of Blake Neff, a writer for Carlson’s show who quit soon after a CNN report revealed racist and sexist comments he had posted online.

Carlson admitted to the viewers of his show on Monday night that “what Blake wrote anonymously was wrong.”

“We don’t endorse those words,” Carlson said. “They have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control.”

At the end of his show, the Fox News host announced that he would be going on a previously planned trout-fishing vacation for the next few days.

Tucker Carlson responds to his head writer being a white supremacist ghoul by threatening the people who exposed him pic.twitter.com/FBb02PmpUn— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 14, 2020

According to a report from CNN Business, Neff had been posting messages under a pseudonym on the AutoAdmit message board.

His posts included racial slurs and rants against Black people, as well as continuous posts sent over five years about a woman he mocked and insulted, CNN Business reported.

While Carlson distanced himself and Fox News from Neff, the Fox News host also denounced people who criticized Neff for his explicit posts.

“We should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs,” Carlson said, in part. “We are all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying.”

Carlson’s fishing trip announcement isn’t the first time he’s said he was taking a break amid controversy. In August 2019, he claimed that white supremacy was a “hoax” and not a real problem in the U.S., sparking calls for his firing. In the face of that backlash, Carlson announced at the end of his show he would be taking more than a week off the air.

Other Fox News hosts have taken similar breaks in the face of controversy.

Bill O’Reilly went on vacation after news broke of his sexual harassment settlements, and he eventually left Fox News without returning to his show.

Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and President and Executive Editor Jay Wallance sent out an internal memo to all employees condemning racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.

“We want to make abundantly clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior,” the memo said. “Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.”

Tucker Carlson lashes out at those who exposed writer’s racist posts

Fox News host’s supposed apology turns into screed against self-righteous ‘ghouls’

BEFORE RUNNING AWAY TO GO ON VACATION

Published: July 13, 2020 at 10  Associated Press

Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight " on Fox News. AP

NEW YORK — Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said Monday that his former writer who posted racist comments online was wrong but criticized “ghouls now beating their chest in triumph” after his staffer’s resignation.

“When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all,” the Fox host said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

Carlson, who said the online commentary by Blake Neff had no connection to his show, said he would be taking the rest of the week off to go trout fishing.

Neff resigned Friday after CNN reported that he used the pseudonym CharlesXII to post bigoted remarks about Black and Asian people on the online forum AutoAdmit. He also repeatedly mocked a woman about her dating life.

Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said Saturday in a memo to staff that the company “strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.”

Neff began working on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in 2016 and was known as Carlson’s top writer. Neff previously worked as a reporter for the conservative news outlet The Daily Caller, which Carlson co-founded.

The Dartmouth College graduate was recently written about in the college’s alumni magazine, saying about Carlson that “anything he’s reading off the TelePrompter, the first draft was written by me.” He said he and Carlson “see eye-to-eye on most issues.”

Carlson addressed the story toward the end of his show Monday, noting that Neff was horrified and ashamed by the story.

“What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong,” Carlson said. “We don’t endorse those words. They have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born.”

He added, though, that “we should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs.

“We are all human,” Carlson said. “When we pretend that we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all. And we will be punished for it. There’s no question.”

Carlson joined Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2016 and has made several controversial comments. He has said immigration makes the country dirtier and, following a mass shooting in 2019 by a man who targeted Latinos, said white supremacy was “not a real problem” in America.

He has been sharply critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying “they flood the street with angry young people who break things and they hurt anyone who gets in their way.”

Last week, he took on Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who lost two legs in Iraq, calling her a “deeply silly and unimpressive person.”

On many nights lately, he’s been the most popular host on cable news, routinely drawing more than 4 million viewers a night, and he has had one of the top-rated shows in all of television.

Yet he’s seen an exodus of prominent national advertisers. Monday’s show featured three ads from Fox fan Mark Lindell and his MyPillow.com site, as well as ads touting Bible bedtime stories, medicine to cure toe fungus and a website selling coronavirus masks.

MarketWatch parent News Corp. NWSA, 3.23% and Fox News parent Fox Corp. FOX, 0.20% share common ownership.

Biden unveils climate change plan with energy revamp

TEAL NEW DEAL

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at McGregor Industries in Dunmore, Pa., Thursday, July 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden released a plan Tuesday aimed at combating climate change and spurring economic growth in part by overhauling America’s energy industry, with a proposal to achieve entirely carbon pollution-free power by 2035.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee will discuss the proposal later Tuesday near his home in Wilmington, Delaware. It marks his latest effort to build out a legislative agenda with measures that could animate progressives who may be skeptical of Biden, who waged a more centrist campaign during the Democratic primary.

The plan reflects ideas embraced by some of Biden’s more progressive allies during the primary, like Jay Inslee, whose campaign centered on the issue of climate change. The Washington governor first proposed achieving entirely carbon-free electricity by 2035. But it doesn’t go as far as the Green New Deal, the sweeping proposal from progressives in Congress that calls for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 2030.

Biden’s plan does align with a climate bill spearheaded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in reducing emissions to zero by 2050, however. And it goes farther than that bill on achieving a carbon-neutral power sector. House Democrats’ proposal sets a 2040 deadline for that goal, while Biden’s aims to achieve it five years faster.

In the plan, Biden pledges to spend $2 trillion over four years to promote his energy proposals, a significant acceleration of the $1.7 trillion over 10 years he proposed spending in his climate plan during the primary.

The proposal doesn’t include specifics on how it would be paid for. Senior campaign officials who requested anonymity to discuss strategy said it would require a mix of tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and deficit spending aimed at stimulating the economy.

Unlike several of his Democratic rivals in the primary, Biden makes no mention of banning dirtier-burning coal or prohibiting fracking, a method of extracting oil and gas that triggered a natural gas boom in the United States over the last decade. The issue is politically sensitive in some key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, and during the primary Biden limited his opposition to new fracking permits.

Biden’s new plan instead describes an easing out of burning of oil and gas and coal, through more efficient vehicles and public transport and buildings and power plants.

Instead of an all-out ban on climate-damaging fossil fuels, he talks about carbon capture technologies to catch coal and petroleum pollution from power plant smokestacks. Biden also embraces nuclear power, unlike some other Democratic opponents earlier. He calls for pumping up research on still-developing power technologies like hydrogen power and grid-size storage to stash power from solar and wind, overcoming a key drawback of those carbon-free energy sources now.

Earlier Democratic rivals found themselves targeted by ad campaigns from the petroleum industry after calling for aggressive ramp downs of fossil fuel use. Biden avoids even mentioning fossil fuels in his plan, referring simply to “clean energy” from alternate or cleaned-up sources.

The plan places a heavy emphasis on updating America’s infrastructure, and includes investments in improving energy efficiency in buildings and housing as well as promoting production of electric vehicles and conservation efforts in the agriculture industry.

It also includes a portion focused on environmental justice, including a requirement that 40% of the money he wants to spend on clean energy deployment, reduction of legacy pollution and other investments will go to historically disadvantaged communities.

Trump campaign surrogates on Tuesday described Biden’s energy plan as a waste of taxpayer money and sought to compare it to the Obama administration’s clean energy loan guarantee program created as part of the 2009 stimulus effort to bolster an economy reeling from the Great Recession.

Some companies that benefited from that program, including solar panel manufacturer Solyndra which won a $528 million taxpayer-backed loan guarantee, collapsed after receiving federal subsidies.

“That is Solyndra on steroids,” said Republican House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, in a call with reporters organized by the Trump campaign about the Biden energy plan. “Joe Biden has been here before, you can see his track record.”

On a Monday evening fundraising call with renewable energy executives, Biden pledged to make an irreversible impact on the nation’s efforts to combat climate change.

“God willing I win and even if I serve eight years, I want to make sure we put down such a marker that it’s impossible for the next president to turn it around,” he said.
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Senior campaign officials said Tuesday morning that the plan includes planks that could be achieved by executive action, and others that would require legislation. The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the campaign’s thinking, said many of the energy measures would be included in the first stimulus package Biden plans to bring to Congress.

It would likely face steep opposition from elected Republicans. Democrats need to pick up at least three seats to take back the Senate, and Biden has pledged to campaign hard to help Democrats win back control.

But he argued during his Monday evening fundraiser that the current “historic set of crises — a pandemic, an economic crisis and systemic racism” would make it “easier” to pass major reforms like his climate plan.

Climate change, Biden said, “is the existential threat to humanity, and it is real. It is real. And it is urgent, and the public is becoming aware of it. And it may be the very answer to get us out of this economic situation we’re in.”

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
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Israeli court rejects petition to curb spyware company

FILE - In this March 5, 2020 file photo, journalist and activist Omar Radi speaks after a hearing at the Casablanca Courthouse, In Casablanca, Morocco. On Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Tel Aviv District Court rejected a request to strip the controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group of its export license over the suspected use of the company’s technology in targeting journalists, including Radi, and dissidents worldwide. The case, brought by Amnesty International in January, called on the court to prevent NSO from selling its technology abroad, especially to repressive regimes. The court ruled that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, File)


JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court has rejected a request to strip the controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group of its export license over the suspected use of the company’s technology in targeting journalists and dissidents worldwide.

The case, brought by Amnesty International in January, called on the court to prevent NSO from selling its technology abroad, especially to repressive regimes.

The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence “to prove the claim that an attempt was made to track a human rights activist by trying to hack his cell phone” or that the hacking was done by NSO.

“Granting a license is done after the most rigorous process and also after granting the permit, the authority conducts oversight and close inspection, as necessary,” the court said. If human rights are found to be violated, that permit can be suspended or canceled, it added.

The court issued its ruling on Sunday, but only made it public on Monday.

Gil Naveh, spokesman for Amnesty International Israel, said the group was disappointed but not surprised.

“It’s been a longstanding tradition for the Israeli courts to be a rubber stamp for the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.

The group doesn’t know what evidence NSO or the Defense Ministry gave to the court, because the hearings were closed. “Even if we knew, we were not able to talk about it,” he said.

In 2018, Amnesty claimed one of its employees was targeted by NSO’s malware, saying a hacker tried to break into the staffer’s smartphone, using a WhatsApp message about a protest in front of the Saudi Embassy in Washington as bait.

NSO, an Israeli hacker-for-hire company, uses its Pegasus spyware to take control of a phone, its cameras and microphones, and mine the user’s personal data.

The company has been accused of selling its surveillance software to repressive governments that use it against dissidents. It doesn’t disclose clients, but they are believed to include Middle Eastern and Latin American states. The company says it sells its technology to Israeli-approved governments to help them combat criminals and terrorism.

NSO Group said in a statement that the company “will continue to work to provide technology to states and intelligence organizations,” adding that its purpose is to “save human lives.”

In a report published last month, Amnesty International said Moroccan journalist Omar Radi’s phone was tapped using NSO’s technology as part of the government’s efforts to clamp down on dissent.

A Saudi dissident has accused NSO of involvement in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing in 2018.

AP: Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B

By REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES

July 10, 2020

1 of 7
FILE - In this Sunday, April 12, 2020 file photo, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, right, delivers his homily over mostly empty pews as he leads an Easter Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Due to coronavirus concerns, no congregants were allowed to attend the Mass which was broadcast live on local TV. The Archdiocese of New York received 15 loans worth at least $28 million just for its top executive offices. St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was approved for at least $1 million. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)




NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.

The church’s haul may have reached -- or even exceeded -- $3.5 billion, making a global religious institution with more than a billion followers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts, an Associated Press analysis of federal data released this week found.

Houses of worship and faith-based organizations that promote religious beliefs aren’t usually eligible for money from the U.S. Small Business Administration. But as the economy plummeted and jobless rates soared, Congress let faith groups and other nonprofits tap into the Paycheck Protection Program, a $659 billion fund created to keep Main Street open and Americans employed.

By aggressively promoting the payroll program and marshaling resources to help affiliates navigate its shifting rules, Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools and other ministries have so far received approval for at least 3,500 forgivable loans, AP found.

The Archdiocese of New York, for example, received 15 loans worth at least $28 million just for its top executive offices. Its iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was approved for at least $1 million.

In Orange County, California, where a sparkling glass cathedral estimated to cost over $70 million recently opened, diocesan officials working at the complex received four loans worth at least $3 million.

And elsewhere, a loan of at least $2 million went to the diocese covering Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, where a church investigation revealed last year that then-Bishop Michael Bransfield embezzled funds and made sexual advances toward young priests.

Simply being eligible for low-interest loans was a new opportunity. But the church couldn’t have been approved for so many loans -- which the government will forgive if they are used for wages, rent and utilities -- without a second break.

Religious groups persuaded the Trump administration to free them from a rule that typically disqualifies an applicant with more than 500 workers. Without this preferential treatment, many Catholic dioceses would have been ineligible because -- between their head offices, parishes and other affiliates -- their employees exceed the 500-person cap.

“The government grants special dispensation, and that creates a kind of structural favoritism,” said Micah Schwartzman, a University of Virginia law professor specializing in constitutional issues and religion who has studied the Paycheck Protection Program. “And that favoritism was worth billions of dollars.”

The amount that the church collected, between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion, is an undercount. The Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference, an organization of Catholic financial officers, surveyed members and reported that about 9,000 Catholic entities received loans. That is nearly three times the number of Catholic recipients the AP could identify.

The AP couldn’t find more Catholic beneficiaries because the government’s data, released after pressure from Congress and a lawsuit from news outlets including the AP, didn’t name recipients of loans under $150,000 -- a category in which many smaller churches would fall. And because the government released only ranges of loan amounts, it wasn’t possible to be more precise.

Even without a full accounting, AP’s analysis places the Catholic Church among the major beneficiaries in the Paycheck Protection Program, which also has helped companies backed by celebrities, billionaires, state governors and members of Congress.

The program was open to all religious groups, and many took advantage. Evangelical advisers to President Donald Trump, including his White House spiritual czar, Paula White-Cain, also received loans.

___

‘TRULY IN NEED’

There is no doubt that state shelter-in-place orders disrupted houses of worship and businesses alike.

Masses were canceled, even during the Holy Week and Easter holidays, depriving parishes of expected revenue and contributing to layoffs in some dioceses. Some families of Catholic school students are struggling to make tuition payments. And the expense of disinfecting classrooms once classes resume will put additional pressure on budgets.

But other problems were self-inflicted. Long before the pandemic, scores of dioceses faced increasing financial pressure because of a dramatic rise in recent clergy sex abuse claims.

The scandals that erupted in 2018 reverberated throughout the world. Pope Francis ordered the former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, to a life of “prayer and penance” following allegations he abused minors and adult seminarians. And a damning grand jury report about abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses revealed bishops had long covered for predator priests, spurring investigations in more than 20 other states.

As the church again reckoned with its longtime crisis, abuse reports tripled during the year ending June 2019 to a total of nearly 4,500 nationally. Meanwhile, dioceses and religious orders shelled out $282 million that year — up from $106 million just five years earlier. Most of that went to settlements, in addition to legal fees and support for offending clergy.

Loan recipients included about 40 dioceses that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years paying victims through compensation funds or bankruptcy proceedings. AP’s review found that these dioceses were approved for about $200 million, though the value is likely much higher.

One was the New York Archdiocese. As a successful battle to lift the statute of limitations on the filing of child sexual abuse lawsuits gathered steam, Cardinal Timothy Dolan established a victim compensation fund in 2016. Since then, other dioceses have established similar funds, which offer victims relatively quick settlements while dissuading them from filing lawsuits.

Spokesperson Joseph Zwilling said the archdiocese simply wanted to be “treated equally and fairly under the law.” When asked about the waiver from the 500-employee cap that religious organizations received, Zwilling deferred to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A spokesperson for the bishops’ conference acknowledged its officials lobbied for the paycheck program, but said the organization wasn’t tracking what dioceses and Catholic agencies received.

“These loans are an essential lifeline to help faith-based organizations to stay afloat and continue serving those in need during this crisis,” spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said in a written statement. According to AP’s data analysis, the church and all its organizations reported retaining at least 407,900 jobs with the money they were awarded.

Noguchi also wrote the conference felt strongly that “the administration write and implement this emergency relief fairly for all applicants.”

Not every Catholic institution sought government loans. The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy based in Stamford, Connecticut, told AP that even though its parishes experienced a decline in donations, none of the organizations in its five-state territory submitted applications.

Deacon Steve Wisnowski, a financial officer for the eparchy, said pastors and church managers used their rainy-day savings and that parishioners responded generously with donations. As a result, parishes “did not experience a severe financial crisis.”

Wisnowski said his superiors understood the program was for “organizations and businesses truly in need of assistance.”

___

LOBBYING FOR A BREAK

The law that created the Paycheck Protection Program let nonprofits participate, as long as they abided by SBA’s “affiliation rule.” The rule typically says that only businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including at all subsidiaries, are eligible.

Lobbying by the church helped religious organizations get an exception.

The Catholic News Service reported that the bishops’ conference and several major Catholic nonprofit agencies worked throughout the week of March 30 to ensure that the “unique nature of the entities would not make them ineligible for the program” because of how SBA defines a “small” business. Those conversations came just days after President Trump signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which included the Paycheck Protection Program.

In addition, federal records show the Los Angeles archdiocese, whose leader heads the bishops’ conference, paid $20,000 to lobby the U.S. Senate and House on “eligibility for non-profits” under the CARES Act. The records also show that Catholic Charities USA, a social service arm of the church with member agencies in dioceses across the country, paid another $30,000 to lobby on the act and other issues.

In late April, after thousands of Catholic institutions had secured loans, several hundred Catholic leaders pressed for additional help on a call with President Trump. During the call, Trump underscored the coming presidential election and touted himself as the candidate best aligned with religious conservatives, boasting he was the “best (president) the Catholic church has ever seen,” according to Crux, an online publication that covers church-related news.

The lobbying paid off.

Catholic Charities USA and its member agencies were approved for about 110 loans worth between $90 million and $220 million at least, according to the data.

In a statement, Catholic Charities said: “Each organization is a separate legal entity under the auspices of the bishop in the diocese in which the agency is located. CCUSA supports agencies that choose to become members, but does not have any role in their daily operations or governance.”

The Los Angeles archdiocese told AP in a survey that reporters sent before the release of federal data that 247 of its 288 parishes -- and all but one of its 232 schools -- received loans. The survey covered more than 180 dioceses and eparchies.

Like most dioceses, Los Angeles wouldn’t disclose its total dollar amount. While the federal data doesn’t link Catholic recipients to their home dioceses, AP found 37 loans to the archdiocese and its affiliates worth between $9 million and $23 million, including one for its downtown cathedral.

In 2007, the archdiocese paid a record $660 million to settle sex abuse claims from more than 500 victims. Spokespeople for Los Angeles Archbishop Jose M. Gomez did not respond to additional questions about the archdiocese’s finances and lobbying.

In program materials, SBA officials said they provided the affiliation waiver to religious groups in deference to their unique organizational structure, and because the public health response to slow the coronavirus’ spread disrupted churches just as it did businesses.

A senior official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which worked with the SBA to administer the program, acknowledged in a statement the wider availability of loans to religious organizations. “The CARES Act expanded eligibility to include nonprofits in the PPP, and SBA’s regulations ensured that no eligible religious nonprofit was excluded from participation due to its beliefs or denomination,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, some legal experts say that the special consideration the government gave faith groups in the loan program has further eroded the wall between church and state provided in the First Amendment. With that erosion, religious groups that don’t pay taxes have gained more access to public money, said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor and attorney who has represented clergy abuse victims on constitutional issues during bankruptcy proceedings.

“At this point, the argument is you’re anti-religious if in fact you would say the Catholic Church shouldn’t be getting government funding,” Hamilton said.

___

CASHING IN FAST

After its lobbying blitz, the Catholic Church worked with parishes and schools to access the money.

Many dioceses -- from large ones such as the Archdiocese of Boston to smaller ones such as the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin -- assembled how-to guides to help their affiliates apply. The national Catholic fiscal conference also hosted multiple webinars with legal and financial experts to help coach along local leaders.

Federal data show that the bulk of the church’s money was approved during the loan program’s first two weeks. That’s when demand for the first-come, first-served assistance was so high that the initial $349 billion was quickly exhausted, shutting out many local businesses.

Overall, nearly 500 loans approved to Catholic entities exceeded $1 million each. The AP found that at least eight hit the maximum range of $5 million to $10 million. Many of the listed recipients were the offices of bishops, headquarters of leading religious orders, major churches, schools and chapters of Catholic Charities.

Also among recipients was the Saint Luke Institute. The Catholic treatment center for priests accused of sexual abuse and those suffering from other disorders received a loan ranging from $350,000 to $1 million. Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, the institute has at times been a way station for priests accused of sexual abuse who returned to active ministry only to abuse again.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the church’s aggressive pursuit of funds better than four dioceses that sued the federal government to receive loans, even though they entered bankruptcy proceedings due to mounting clergy sex-abuse claims. Small Business Administration rules prohibit loans to applicants in bankruptcy.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico -- once home to a now-closed and notorious treatment center for predator priests -- prevailed in court, clearing the way for its administrative offices to receive nearly $1 million. It accused the SBA of overreaching by blocking bankruptcy applications when Congress didn’t spell that out.

Yet even when a diocese has lost in bankruptcy court, or its case is pending, its affiliated parishes, schools and other organizations remain eligible for loans.

On the U.S. territory of Guam, well over 200 clergy abuse lawsuits led church leaders in the tiny Archdiocese of Agana to seek bankruptcy protection, as they estimated at least $45 million in liabilities. Even so, the archdiocese’s parishes, schools and other organizations have received at least $1.7 million as it sues the SBA for approval to get a loan for its headquarters, according to bankruptcy filings.

The U.S. church may have a troubling record on sex abuse, but Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie, Pennsylvania, pushed back on the idea that dioceses should be excluded from the government’s rescue package. Approximately 80 organizations within his diocese received loans worth $10.3 million, the diocese said, with most of the money going to parishes and schools.

Persico pointed out that church entities help feed, clothe and shelter the poor -- and in doing so keep people employed.

“I know some people may react with surprise that government funding helped support faith-based schools, parishes and dioceses,” he said. “The separation of church and state does not mean that those motivated by their faith have no place in the public square.”

___

Data journalist Justin Myers contributed from Chicago.


AP: After lobbying, Catholic Church won $1.4B in virus aid

By REESE DUNKLIN and MICHAEL REZENDES

July 10, 2020

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 7, 2019 file photo, a statue of Pope John Paul II stands outside the island's main cathedral, Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, during a Mass in Hagatna, Guam. Over 200 clergy abuse lawsuits led church leaders in the U.S. territory to seek bankruptcy protection, as they estimated at least $45 million in liabilities. Even so, the Archdiocese of Agana’s parishes, schools and other organizations have received at least $1.7 million in coronavirus rescue funds in 2020, as it sues the Small Business Administration for approval to get a loan for its headquarters, according to the archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.

The church’s haul may have reached -- or even exceeded -- $3.5 billion, making a global religious institution with more than a billion followers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts, an Associated Press analysis of federal data released this week found.

Houses of worship and faith-based organizations that promote religious beliefs aren’t usually eligible for money from the U.S. Small Business Administration. But as the economy plummeted and jobless rates soared, Congress let faith groups and other nonprofits tap into the Paycheck Protection Program, a $659 billion fund created to keep main street open and Americans employed.

By aggressively promoting the program and marshaling resources to navigate its shifting rules, Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools and other ministries have so far received approval for at least 3,500 forgivable loans, AP found.

The Archdiocese of New York, for example, received 15 loans worth at least $28 million just for its top executive offices. Its iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was approved for at least $1 million.

A loan of at least $2 million went to the diocese covering Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, where a church investigation revealed last year that then-Bishop Michael Bransfield embezzled funds and made sexual advances toward young priests.

Simply being eligible for low-interest loans was a new opportunity. But the church couldn’t have been approved for so many loans -- which the government will forgive if they are used for wages, rent and utilities -- without a second break.

Religious groups persuaded the Trump administration to free them from a rule that typically disqualifies an applicant with more than 500 workers. Without this preferential treatment, many Catholic dioceses would have been ineligible because -- between their head offices, parishes and other affiliates -- they exceed the 500-person cap.

“That favoritism was worth billions of dollars,” said Micah Schwartzman, a University of Virginia law professor specializing in constitutional issues and religion who has studied the Paycheck Protection Program.

The AP tally of how much the church collected, between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion, is an undercount. The Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference surveyed members and reported that about 9,000 Catholic entities received loans. That is nearly three times the number of Catholic recipients AP could identify.

AP couldn’t find more Catholic beneficiaries because the government’s data, released after pressure from Congress and a lawsuit from news outlets including the AP, didn’t name recipients of loans under $150,000 -- a category in which many smaller churches would fall. And because the government released only ranges of loan amounts, it wasn’t possible to be more precise.

The Paycheck Protection Program was open to all religious groups, and many took advantage. Evangelical advisers to President Donald Trump received loans, as did many big-name churches.

There is no doubt that state shelter-in-place orders disrupted houses of worship and businesses alike. Masses were canceled, depriving parishes of expected revenue and contributing to layoffs in some dioceses.

But other problems were self-inflicted. Long before the pandemic, scores of dioceses faced financial pressure because of a dramatic rise in recent clergy sex-abuse claims.

The scandals that erupted in 2018 reverberated throughout the world, propelled by a damning grand jury report about abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses which revealed bishops had long covered for predator priests.

As the church again reckoned with its longtime crisis, dioceses and religious orders shelled out $282 million during the year ending June 2019 — up from $106 million just five years earlier.

Paycheck Protection loan recipients included about 40 dioceses that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years paying victims. AP’s review found these dioceses were approved for about $200 million, though the value is likely much higher.

One was the New York Archdiocese. Spokesperson Joseph Zwilling said the archdiocese simply wanted to be “treated equally and fairly under the law.” When asked about the waiver from the 500-employee cap that religious organizations received, Zwilling deferred to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A spokesperson for the bishops’ conference acknowledged its officials lobbied for the paycheck program, but said the organization wasn’t tracking what dioceses and Catholic agencies received.

“These loans are an essential lifeline to help faith-based organizations to stay afloat and continue serving those in need during this crisis,” spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said in a written statement. According to AP’s data analysis, the church and all its organizations reported retaining at least 407,900 jobs with the money they were awarded.

Noguchi also wrote the conference felt strongly that “the administration write and implement this emergency relief fairly for all applicants.”

Not every Catholic institution sought government loans. The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy based in Stamford, Connecticut, told AP that even though its parishes experienced a decline in donations, none of the organizations in its five-state territory submitted applications.

Deacon Steve Wisnowski, a financial officer for the eparchy, said pastors and church managers used their rainy-day savings and that parishioners responded generously with donations. As a result, parishes “did not experience a severe financial crisis.”

Wisnowski said his superiors understood the program was for “organizations and businesses truly in need of assistance.”

___

Data journalist Justin Myers contributed from Chicago.

___

Contact AP’s global investigative team at investigative@ap.org.

___

Contact the reporters on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ReeseDunklin or https://twitter.com/MikeRezendes.

Amazon unveils shopping cart that knows what you’re buying

In a photo provided by Amazon, the company's smart shopping cart is seen in spring 2020 in Los Angeles. The cart, which Amazon unveiled Tuesday, July 14, 2020, uses cameras, sensors and a scale to automatically detect what shoppers drop in. It keeps a tally and then charges their Amazon account when they leave the store. No cashier is needed. (Amazon via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has a new cure for long supermarket lines: a smart shopping cart.

The cart, which Amazon unveiled on Tuesday, uses cameras, sensors and a scale to automatically detect what shoppers drop in. It keeps a tally and then charges their Amazon account when they leave the store. No cashier is needed.

It’s the latest attempt by Amazon to shake up the supermarket industry and offer a solution to long checkout lines. The online shopping giant opened a cashier-less supermarket in Seattle that uses cameras and sensors in the ceiling to track what shoppers grab and charge them as they leave. Amazon.com Inc. also has roughly 25 cashier-less convenience stores with similar technology.

The cart, called Amazon Dash Cart, will first show up at a new Los Angeles supermarket Amazon is opening later this year. The store will have cashiers, but Amazon said it wanted to give shoppers a way to bypass any lines. In the future, it could be used at Amazon’s Whole Foods grocery chain or other stores, if Amazon sells the technology, but there are no plans for either right now.

Several startups are already making similar smart shopping carts that are being tested in stores, but many require scanning groceries before dropping them in.

There’s no scanning on the Amazon cart. A screen near the handle lists what’s being charged, and the cart can detect when something is taken out and have it removed from the bill. And there’s also a way to let the cart know if you need to throw a jacket or purse in the cart so you don’t have to carry it around.