USA
At least 59,000 meat workers caught COVID, 269 died

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 27 October 2021 |

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - At least 59,000 meatpacking workers caught COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released Wednesday.

The meatpacking industry was one of the early epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic, with workers standing shoulder-to-shoulder along production lines. The U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which examined internal documents from five of the biggest meatpacking companies, said companies could have done more to protect their workers.

The new estimate of infections in the industry is nearly three times higher than the 22,400 that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has said were infected or exposed. And the true number could be even higher because the companies' data didn't generally include coronavirus cases confirmed by outside testing or self reported by employees.

At the height of the outbreaks in the spring of 2020, U.S. meatpacking production fell to about 60% of normal as several major plants were forced to temporarily close for deep cleaning and safety upgrades or operated at slower speeds because of worker shortages. The report said companies were slow to take protective steps such as distributing protective equipment and installing barriers between work stations.

"Instead of addressing the clear indications that workers were contracting the coronavirus at alarming rates due to conditions in meatpacking facilities, meatpacking companies prioritized profits and production over worker safety, continuing to employ practices that led to crowded facilities in which the virus spread easily," the report said.

Martin Rosas, who represents a UFCW chapter based in Kansas with over 17,000 members in three states, said the union pressed companies for better protections.

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo workers wait in line to enter the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Ind. At least 59,000 meatpacking workers became ill with COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

"The harsh reality is that many of the companies were slow to act in the early days of the outbreak, and whatever progress that was achieved was due to the union demanding action," Rosas said.

The report is based on documents from JBS, Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, Cargill and National Beef. Together they control over 80% of the beef market and over 60% of the pork market nationwide.

The North American Meat Institute trade group defended the industry´s response to the pandemic. And Cargill, Tyson, Smithfield and JBS released statements Wednesday saying they worked aggressively to meet federal health and safety standards and took additional measures to protect their employees, such as conducting widespread testing and urging employees to get vaccinated.

"The health and safety of our team members always comes first and our response since the onset of the pandemic has demonstrated that commitment, with an investment of more than $760 million to date. We have taken aggressive action to keep the virus out of our facilities and adopted hundreds of safety measures that often outpaced federal guidance and industry standards," JBS spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said.

The companies expressed regret at the toll the virus has taken.

"Even one illness or loss of life to COVID-19 is one too many, which is why we´ve taken progressive action from the start of the pandemic to protect the health and safety of our workers," Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

The report said infection rates were especially high at some meatpacking plants between the spring of 2020 and early 2021. At a JBS plant in Hyrum, Utah, 54% of the workforce contracted the virus. Nearly 50% of workers at a Tyson plant in Amarillo, Texas, were infected. And 44% of employees at National Beef´s plant in Tama, Iowa, caught COVID-19.

The report said internal documents show Smithfield aggressively pushed back against government safety recommendations after experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention inspected its pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after a major outbreak. A few days earlier, Smithfield's CEO told the CEO of National Beef in an email that "Employees are afraid to come to work."

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration needs to do more to protect meatpacking workers.

"Some of these companies are treating the workers in the plants not much better than the animals that go through them," Raskin said.

Debbie Berkowitz, with Georgetown University's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, said the industry was slow to respond and federal regulators didn't force companies to act.

"When the pandemic hit, of course it was going to hit meatpacking plants really hard and really fast," said Berkowitz, a former OSHA official who testified Wednesday. "What was the industry´s response - not to protect workers and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, not to separate workers 6 feet apart, which was the earlier guidance that came out in late February - but to just keep on going."

 In this April 9, 2020 file photo employees and family members protest outside a Smithfield Foods processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. At least 59,000 meatpacking workers became ill with COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. 

(AP Photo/Stephen Groves File)

US COVID-19 cases unreported in largest meatpacking companies, probe finds

By Mary Yang, Medill News Service

Activists demonstrate to call attention to slaughterhouse workers who have contracted COVID-19 while on the job in Vernon, Calif., on December 11. On Wednesday, a House select subcommittee investigation revealed many U.S. meatpacking plants weren't required to adhere to COVID-19 safety standards.
File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON -- High coronavirus infection and death rates among workers in the U.S. meatpacking industry went unreported because of a "political decision" to not track cases, according to the report released Wednesday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration did not require meatpacking companies to install safety standards to protect workers during the pandemic, the Select Subcommittee found. OSHA is the agency responsible for ensuring worker safety, but scaled back investigations in 2020, according to the subcommittee report.

OSHA "totally abandoned" workers, Debbie Berkowitz, former OSHA chief of staff, said at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended businesses enforce social distancing guidelines, but OSHA did not press meatpacking companies to comply so COVID-19 "spread like wildfire," she said.

The subcommittee did not call OSHA officials to testify.

COVID-19 cases among meatpackers were three times higher than earlier estimates, according to the report, and the virus disproportionately hit workers of color. Last spring, 87% of infected meatpackers were racial or ethnic minorities, the CDC found.

The meatpacking industry is made up largely of immigrant and refugee workers, said Berkowitz, and workers are often afraid to speak out against poor working conditions, fearing punishment from their supervisors.

Workers during the pandemic continued to work in close proximity to each other, said American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska Interim Director Rose Godinez. Godinez is the daughter of two meatpackers, both of whom retired before the pandemic.

More than half of Nebraska's meatpackers are immigrant workers, she said, putting immigrant families and minority communities at higher risk. Last summer, Hispanics accounted for 60% of Nebraska's coronavirus cases, she said, but the Hispanic community is only 11% of the state's population.

Godinez asked subcommittee members to demand OSHA respond to workers' complaints. She also urged members to support comprehensive immigration reform to protect meatpackers who are not U.S. citizens and fear employer retaliation.

Meatpacking companies and the Trump administration "caused enormous pain" to meatpackers and their families, said Select Subcommittee Chairman Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

In an interview before the hearing, Berkowitz said she expects the Biden administration to issue the first protections for meatpacking workers next week by requiring vaccines.

Starbucks to boost US starting wage to $15 per hour, targeting $17 average by 2022

Wed, October 27, 2021, 3:36 PM

Starbucks (SBUX) on Wednesday became the latest company to hike pay for its workers, announcing plans to increase all U.S. hourly wages to at least $15 per an hour, up from the current $12 rate, by the summer of 2022. Yahoo Fiannce's Brooke DiPalma shares the details with Seana Smith.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Want to get to some breaking news. Starbucks is raising its minimum wage for all employees, hiking it to $15 an hour. Brooke DiPalma has more on this for us. Brooke.

BROOKE DIPALMA: Seana, that's right. Certainly a game changer or perhaps even happening in the fast-food industry. So now all hourly wage employees or what Starbucks likes to call partners will have a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Now that moves the average wage of Starbucks employees-- or baristas they like to call them as well-- up to $17 an hour and [? influxes ?] that range of $15 to $23. Now, that's up from the average hourly wage of $14 per an hour and a minimum of $12 an hour range.

Now, in order to raise the floor, they must also raise the ceiling, and so what this means for employees who have two-plus years is a 5% increase, and for employees that have five or more years at Starbucks, they will get a 10% increase.

Now, I do want to note in an internal memo that employees-- or partners as I said Starbucks likes to call them-- received today from North America's executive vice president. Williams noted, "Our wage increases from December 2020 and to the summer of 2022"-- which is when they're going in [INAUDIBLE]-- will mean at least a 17% increase for partners and at least 20% for tenured partners in two years." She goes on to say, "I share all of this only to reaffirm our belief that investing in our partners is not a cost. It's an opportunity, and we intend to let our shareholders and peers know the same."

Now, this is the third investment over the last 24 months that Starbucks has made in order to raise the minimum wage for its employees. But I do want to note that other companies are doing the exact same thing. Here we have Target, $15 minimum wage. Disney World, $15. Costco, $16. Ben and Jerry's going along with their local Vermont minimum wage of $18.13. McDonald's, $13. Chipotle, we just heard from them $15 earlier this year.

All note that as of today, October 27, the federal minimum wage still lies at $7.25 per an hour. So lots of work to do all across the board, Seana.

If bosses want workers, they have to actually try


Ryan Cooper, National correspondent
Wed, October 27, 2021

A help wanted sign. Illustrated | iStock

A class of Americans has become lazy and entitled. Too used to a government that caters to their every whim, they're facing a difficult situation not with grit and determination, but by throwing tantrums and demanding special treatment.

That's right, I'm talking about business owners. Complaints about a labor shortage abound, but it's time these coddled snowflakes learned some discipline. Employers need to put in the work to staff their own businesses instead of relying on the government do it for them.

The plain fact is we've had an employer's economy for a decade. After the Great Recession, unemployment was chronically high — only touching something like full employment in 2019, 11 years after the crash. Bosses got used to having the pick of the litter. With so many credentialed people thrown out of work, hiring managers were able to demand extravagant experience and over-qualification for low-level jobs. Many employers came to believe they were owed workers who would take any position and mutely absorb any abuse.

This sense of entitlement is a major reason both state and federal governments were so eager to end the boost to pandemic unemployment benefits. Without people lining up around the block to take crummy, low-wage positions, employers ran crying to the government for help.

But, as I wrote previously, their strategy didn't work. Some workers took early retirement when they got laid off last year; some parents can't find childcare at a reasonable price, so they are staying home; some workers saved up money during quarantine and would rather not work for the moment; and a great many workers are simply dead.

Meanwhile, among those actively in the job market, millions are changing careers. The pandemic has been a nightmare for the workers who keep America's rattletrap society staggering forward — the cashiers, cooks, nurses, truck drivers, meatpackers, child care workers, fruit pickers, and so on. It was one thing for overeducated millennials to scrape by in dead-end, low-wage jobs, like bagging groceries or getting screamed at while waiting tables. It was quite another to do so while at risk of gruesome death.

Simultaneously, the pandemic rescue packages have created a huge spending boom. Americans are buying stuff at a record pace, creating all sorts of snarls in shipping and production (in part because there was little excess capacity, again thanks to weak demand during the feeble post-2008 recovery). Higher-productivity firms are scrambling to expand, offering jobs with much better pay and benefits. This too puts a strain on employers whose business model is premised on exploited, low-wage labor.

Together, all this has given the American working class its greatest leverage in more than 20 years. People are quitting over pay, benefits, and working conditions. Thousands of workers are on strike at hospitals, tractor factories, and elsewhere. Thousands more may strike soon. Job applicants have turned the tables on employers, treating them with the same apathy they received after 2008 — ghosting hiring managers on outreach, interviews, or even job offers.

Employers don't like it, but they're finally recognizing something has changed. "Our governing body became very used to the job market conditions during the recession and for several years after where the employer had all the leverage," one anonymous public sector worker wrote on a manager discussion blog. "They are only now beginning to realize how the roles have reversed."

They need to realize it faster, and they need to learn how to entice workers. Better wages and benefits are the most obvious mechanism — indeed, we're already seeing wages rising strongly in sectors like hospitality, where jobs are notoriously poorly paid. Employers should also ditch the idea that they can always get someone perfectly experienced for every position. They'll need to train inexperienced people and offer extra training, raises, and new benefits to retain their existing workers.

There's also a less expensive strategy many employers may have to consider: shorter hours and employee say in workplace conditions. As Josh Eidelson writes at Bloomberg, one of the common demands of union workers currently striking or threatening to strike at John Deere, Kellogg's, and in Hollywood is more time off and safer working conditions. These workers are often quite well-paid, but they're sick of mandatory overtime, 12-hour shifts, 7-day weeks, and few vacation days. Onerous schedules leave people no time to relax and recharge — and can even be dangerous. A sleepy person should not be operating heavy machinery.

Overwork is also related to the lousy post-2008 recovery and employers' resultant entitlement. With a huge glut of labor, bosses got addicted to running their workforce ragged and economizing on health and safety systems. When grueling Amazon warehouse jobs destroy people's backs and knees, for instance, the company has typically hired new people instead of changing its practices. This cruel and lazy habit will have to be unlearned.

That will be difficult, because these problems didn't originate in 2008, though certainly the last decade exacerbated them. As I show in a paper for the People's Policy Project, average American working hours have barely declined since the 1970s, while hours have plummeted in all other rich nations. When you think about it, that's how things should work: As nations become wealthier and more productive, people should be able to work less and relax more. If Americans worked as little as Germans, for instance, we'd get almost 11 more weeks of vacation every year.

The pandemic has taught us that reasonable work conditions and plenty of time off are just as important as pay and other benefits. Money isn't much good if you can't enjoy it, and no job is worth your health or your life.

American workers know that now. If they want to have staff, American employers will need to catch up.

REST IN POWER BROTHER
UAW member hit, killed by car near John Deere picket line

Wed, October 27, 2021,

MILAN, Ill. (AP) — A vehicle struck and killed a United Auto Workers member Wednesday as he was walking to a picket line to join striking workers outside a John Deere distribution plant in northwest Illinois, the union and police said.

The man, identified as 56-year-old Richard Rich, was struck at about 6 a.m. CDT at an intersection near a road that leads to the John Deere Parts Distribution Center in Milan, Illinois, Police Chief Shawn Johnson said.

Rich was crossing the Rock Island-Milan Parkway at Deere Drive when he was hit by the motorist, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“We don't believe it to be intentional, but it's still an ongoing investigation and it did happen out near the middle of the intersection where the pedestrian was crossing the roadway," Johnson told The Associated Press.

UAW leaders said Rich was a 15-year employee of the Deere plant. He was a member of UAW Local 79 in Milan, UAW said in a statement.

“On behalf of the UAW and all working families, we mourn the passing of our UAW brother,” said UAW President Ray Curry. “It is a somber time to lose a member who made the ultimate sacrifice in reporting to picket for a better life for his family and co-workers.”

John Deere spokeswoman Jennifer Hartmann said in a statement the company was “saddened by the tragic accident" that killed one of its employees and offered “our deepest condolences" to Rich's family and friends.

More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers went on strike this month at 14 Deere factories in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia after the UAW rejected a contract offer. It was the first major walkout at the agricultural machinery giant in more than three decades.

Union members rejected a contract offer that would have delivered 5% raises to some workers and 6% raises to others at the Illinois company known for its green tractors.

Merck agrees to allow other companies to make COVID-19 pill molnupiravir
By UPI Staff

The agreement means that Merck won't receive royalties from other production of the drug for as long as COVID-19 is considered a global health emergency. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE

Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Pharma company Merck is temporarily allowing other drugmakers to produce its COVID-19 pill molnupiravir in an effort to help fight the disease in poorer countries, officials said Wednesday.

The Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations nonprofit organization, announced the move, which will allow other qualified drug companies to manufacture the pill.

The licensing agreement means that neither Merck nor partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics will receive royalties from other production of the drug, for as long as COVID-19 is considered a global health emergency.

"The interim results for molnupiravir are compelling and we see this oral treatment candidate as a potentially important tool to help address the current health crisis," MPP Executive Director Charles Gore said in a statement.

"This transparent, public health-driven agreement is MPP's first voluntary license for a COVID-19 medical technology, and we hope that MSD's agreement with MPP will be a strong encouragement to others."

MPP intends to make Merck's drug available to poorer countries in Asia and Africa that are having more difficulty fighting the pandemic because drug and vaccine availability is scarce.

Molnupiravir, which has shown to reduce the rate of hospitalizations and deaths, could become the first pill authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19.

Merck formally requested emergency authorization for the pill earlier this month. An FDA advisory panel will vote on the request at a hearing on Nov. 30.

Pfizer has developed a similar pill that's presently undergoing late-stage trials.

BIDENS BUILD BACK BETTER GUTTED
Exacerbated by pandemic, child care crisis hampers economy

APPARENTLY CHILD CARE IS NOT INFRASTRUCTURE 

Paid family leave falls out of Biden bill as tempers rise (apnews.com)

By SALLY HO and JOSH BOAK

1 of 8
Amy McCoy reads a book to preschoolers as they finish their lunch at her Forever Young Daycare facility, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, in Mountlake Terrace, Wash. Child care centers once operated under the promise that it would always be there when parents have to work. Now, each teacher resignation, coronavirus exposure, and day care center closure reveals an industry on the brink, with wide-reaching implications for an entire economy's workforce. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

SEATTLE (AP) — After Bryan Kang’s son was born in July, the occupational therapist and his wife, a teacher, started looking for child care in the Los Angeles area. The couple called eight day care centers: Some didn’t have spots for months; others stopped taking their calls and some never answered at all.

So with no viable options, Kang scrambled to find a new job that would allow him to work remotely.

“I told my manager, ‘Hey, by the end of the month, I have to transition out,’” Kang said. “They were very supportive and very understanding because they’re all mothers. But now there’s one less body to see patients.”

Kang said he’s fortunate he found a job teaching online classes, but the unexpected career pivot forced him to take an 11% pay cut.

The truth is, even if he could find a day care spot for his now 3-month-old son, the $2,500 monthly cost of infant care is so high that taking a lower-paying job so he can work from home and care for the baby is the most financially sensible thing to do.

The child care business has for years operated in a broken, paradoxical market: low wages for workers and high costs for consumers. Yet the critical service somehow managed to limp along.

Now, the pandemic has made clear what many experts had long warned: The absence of reliable and affordable child care limits which jobs people can accept, makes it harder to climb the corporate ladder and ultimately restricts the ability of the broader economy to grow.

“Early learning is no longer seen as just a women’s issue or a children’s issue. It’s really seen as an economic issue. It’s about workforce participation,” said Mario Cardona, policy chief for Child Care Aware of America. “It’s about employers who don’t have to worry about whether they’ll be able to rely upon employees.”

Child Care Aware estimates 9% of licensed child care programs have permanently closed since the pandemic began, based on its tally of nearly 16,000 shuttered centers and in-home day cares in 37 states between December 2019 and March 2021.

Now, each teacher resignation, coronavirus exposure and day care closure reveals an industry on the brink, with wide-reaching implications for an entire economy’s workforce.

The national crisis has forced many people — mostly women — to leave their jobs, reshaping the child care crisis as not just a problem for parents of young children, but also anyone who depends on them. It has contributed to a labor shortage, which in turn has hurt businesses and made it more difficult for customers to access goods and services.

“The decisions we make about the availability of child care today will shape the U.S. macroeconomy for decades to come by influencing who returns to work, what types of jobs parents take and the career path they are able to follow,” said Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan.

President Joe Biden has pledged an unprecedented burst of federal spending in hopes of fixing the child care market. At a recent town hall in Baltimore, he assured parents they would “not have to pay more than 7% of your income for child care.” Federal money would go directly to care centers to cover costs in excess of the 7% cap. This means the median U.S. family earning $86,372 would pay $6,046 annually for child care.

Biden’s plan also includes universal pre-kindergarten, which could further reduce child care expenses for families. The expanded monthly payments from the child tax credit approved in Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package would be extended for another year. The president also proposed increasing the size of a tax credit for the cost of child care, all of which should help improve access for families.

The Congressional Budget Office has yet to score the costs as the measures are still being negotiated ahead of Biden’s departure Thursday for the G-20 conference in Rome. But Donald Schneider, a former chief economist for the House Ways and Means Committee who now works for the consultancy Cornerstone Macro, estimates the child care and pre-kindergarten support would cost $465 billion over 10 years. The one-year price-tag of the expanded child tax credit would be around $120 billion. The credit would cost an additional $940 billion if renewed for nine more years.

It remains to be seen what survives in the brutal negotiations in Congress for Biden’s broad family services agenda, but the pandemic is proving to be a make-or-break catalyst for the future of the child care industry.

At Forever Young Daycare in the Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace, Amy McCoy is burning out fast.

She’s spent half of this year trying to hire a new assistant for her in-home child care, but until then, the former public school teacher works 50 hours a week caring for children herself, and more doing the cooking, cleaning and administrative work needed to run her business.

“At what point is my day care more important than my own family?” McCoy asked.

One of McCoy’s assistants, who worked there for five years, quit the $19-an-hour job in April for a $35-an-hour job nannying. McCoy has posted the opening for an entry-level assistant on Indeed and Facebook, offering $16 per hour — nearly 20% more than the state minimum wage. She’s gotten few responses and all turned her down over pay, making hiring impossible without a tuition increase.

“Nobody wants to work for what I can afford to pay right now,” McCoy said. “I absolutely believe these are $20-an-hour employees, but I hate that, most likely, I will have to raise tuition.”

The U.S. Treasury Department noted in a September report that child care workers earn on average $24,230. More than 15% of the industry’s workers live below the poverty line in 41 states and half need public assistance. The sector has high levels of turnover, with 26% to 40% leaving their job each year. Nor is there much room to give among child care centers that tend to operate on profits of 1% or less.

In nearby Edmonds, Briana McFadden shuttered her business, Cocoon Child Care Center, last month due to the stress of the pandemic, though McFadden thinks she would have stayed open if there were government subsidies to stabilize the industry.

In 12 years in business, McFadden said she never raised tuition and was the rare day care in the affluent northern Seattle suburbs to accept low-income families on a state subsidy. In pre-pandemic times, Cocoon employed seven people to care for 37 children. Now McFadden plans to open a convenience store.

“It really wasn’t worth it to continue,” McFadden said, her voice quivering with emotion. “Day care is a hard business.”

Tatum Russell’s livelihood depended as much on McFadden’s day care as the restaurant that employs her to hand-bread seafood.

During a COVID-19-related day care closure in August, the single mom could only stitch together help from relatives for some of the time. Russell ultimately had to miss four days of work.

“It’s been a nightmare, and it’s not over,” Russell said.

___

Boak reported from Washington, D.C.

COACHING IS ABUSE

‘Animalism’: Blackhawks scandal raises culture questions
By JAY COHEN

 In this May 3, 2021, file photo, the Chicago Blackhawks logo is displayed on a jersey in Raleigh, N.C. The Blackhawks are holding a briefing Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, to discuss the findings of an investigation into allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted a player in 2010. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker, File)

CHICAGO (AP) — For three weeks in 2010, they did nothing. That’s how long it took for the leadership of the Chicago Blackhawks to act on allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted a player.

Three weeks. Three weeks that — more than a decade later — rocked a once-proud franchise and raised more questions about the culture of sports.

In the span of 107 pages, featuring interviews with 139 witnesses, more than 100 gigabytes of electronic records and 49 boxes of hard-copy records, a report by an outside law firm detailed how senior leaders of the Blackhawks seemingly ignored the sexual assault accusations raised with the franchise days before the team won its first Stanley Cup title since 1961.

The ramifications of the independent review, commissioned by the team in response to two lawsuits, stretched into several corners of the NHL, which fined the Blackhawks $2 million for “the organization’s inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response.”

Florida coach Joel Quenneville is slated to meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday, and Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is planning to talk to the commissioner on Monday. Both were with the Blackhawks when the accusations by Kyle Beach were first reported to team leadership.

According to the report, Donald Fehr, the leader of the NHL players’ association, was contacted twice about allegations connected to the assistant coach, including by a Beach confidant. Fehr told investigators he couldn’t recall either conversation, but did not deny that they had occurred.

“Kyle Beach has been through a horrific experience and has shown true courage in telling his story,” Fehr said in a statement Wednesday night. “There is no doubt that the system failed to support him in his time of need, and we are part of that system.

“In his media interview, Mr. Beach stated that several months after the incident he told someone at the NHLPA the details of what happened to him. He is referring to one of the program doctors with the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. While this program is confidential between players and the doctors, the grave nature of this incident should have resulted in further action on our part. The fact that it did not was a serious failure. I am truly sorry, and I am committed to making changes to ensure it does not happen again.”

Beach, a 2008 first-round draft pick playing professionally in Germany, told TSN on Wednesday he felt “alone and dark” in the days following the alleged assault. He said he is only now beginning the healing process.

Beach, 31, had been referred to as John Doe in his lawsuit against the team and the Blackhawks’ report. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly.

In a statement attributed to the team, the Blackhawks commended Beach for his courage in coming forward, and reiterated the organization’s “deepest apologies” for what he has gone through and its failure to promptly respond in 2010.

Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz, the son of team chairman Rocky Wirtz, met with current players Wednesday, a day after the graphic report was released, leading to the departures of President of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac, another top executive.

“I think the overriding message was that we, as in the organization, we’re here for you,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “The family is behind us. The organization’s behind us, and we’re going to do everything we can to move forward here.”

Rocky Wirtz said Tuesday that he and Danny were first made aware of the accusations ahead of a May filing of a lawsuit by Beach alleging sexual assault by then-assistant coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. The team also is facing a second lawsuit by a former student whom Aldrich was convicted of assaulting in Michigan.

The Blackhawks said their lawyers contacted Susan Loggans, an attorney who represents John Doe and the former student in the second lawsuit, on Tuesday about possible settlements. A call was set up for early next week.

According to the report, the encounter between Beach, then a 20-year-old minor leaguer called up in case the Blackhawks needed help in the playoffs, and Aldrich, then 27, occurred on May 8 or 9 in 2010.

Beach told investigators that Aldrich threatened him with a souvenir baseball bat before forcibly performing oral sex on him and masturbating on the player’s back, allegations that he also detailed in his lawsuit.

Aldrich told investigators the encounter was consensual. Asked Wednesday about the law firm’s report, Aldrich responded: “I have nothing to say.”

About two weeks later, on May 23, 2010, right after Chicago advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, Bowman, MacIsaac, team president John McDonough, executive vice president Jay Blunk and assistant general manager Cheveldayoff met with Quenneville and mental skills coach Jim Gary to discuss the allegations.

Former federal prosecutor Reid Schar, who led the investigation, said accounts of the meeting “vary significantly.” But there was no evidence that anything was done about the accusations before McDonough contacted the team’s director of human resources on June 14 — a delay that violated the team’s sexual harassment policy, according to Schar.

During those three weeks, Aldrich continued to work for and travel with the team. Schar said Aldrich also “made an unwanted sexual advance” toward a 22-year-old Blackhawks intern.

Beach told TSN seeing Aldrich around the team made him feel sick.

“I reported this and I was made aware that it made it all the way up the chain of command by (Jim Gary) and nothing happened,” Beach said. “It was like his life was the same as the day before. Same every day.

“And then when they won, to see him paraded around lifting the Cup, at the parade, at the team pictures, at celebrations, it made me feel like nothing.”

McDonough, Blunk and Gary are no longer employed in the NHL. Now Bowman and MacIsaac are out as well.

But the report makes clear that 11 years ago, winning the Cup took priority over taking immediate action on the Aldrich allegations: Bowman recalled that during the May 23 meeting, McDonough and Quenneville talked about the challenge of reaching the Stanley Cup Final and “a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs.”

Bowman’s description of what happened was reminiscent of scandals at Baylor, where assault claims against football players were mishandled by school officials, or at USA Gymnastics, still reeling from its mishandling of convicted serial sex abuser and team doctor Larry Nassar.

Loggans said she hopes what happened with Chicago leads to changes across sports.

“There has to be a change from a mentality of complete animalism, like let’s just completely ramp up the masculinity factor of these players and whatever it takes to win a game, we’ll do that,” she said. “There has to be some context, no different than being concerned about concussions in football games.

“It’s not winning at all costs. These are human beings. They’re not gladiators whose lives are going to be sacrificed in the game.”

___

AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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Kyle Beach reveals himself as Chicago Blackhawks’ ‘John Doe’

Feb 23, 2020; Dallas, Texas, USA; A view of the logo and hockey stick of Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford (50) in action during the game between the Stars and the Blackhawks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

NHL·
Published October 28, 2021

Kyle Beach revealed himself Wednesday as the “John Doe” in the sexual assault investigation that enveloped the NHL and the Chicago Blackhawks franchise the week.

Beach, 31, came forward during an interview with TSN on Wednesday, one day after a damning report excoriated the Blackhawks for their inaction and mishandling of Beach’s allegations in 2010.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman left the organization in the aftermath of Tuesday’s report. Senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac also left his position.

“(Tuesday,) it was a day of many emotions,” Beach told TSN. “I cried, I smiled, I laughed, I cried some more. My girlfriend and I, we didn’t really know how to feel, we didn’t really know how to think.”

The Blackhawks released a statement after the interview aired.

“First, we would like to acknowledge and commend Kyle Beach’s courage in coming forward. As an organization, the Chicago Blackhawks reiterate our deepest apologies to him for what he has gone through and for the organization’s failure to promptly respond when he bravely brought this matter to light in 2010,” the team said in the statement. “It was inexcusable for the then-executives of the Blackhawks organization to delay taking action regarding the reported sexual misconduct. No playoff game or championship is more important than protecting our players and staff from predatory behavior.”

Bowman was concluding his first year as general manager in 2010 when former video coach Bradley Aldrich allegedly assaulted two players. Reid Schar, a former U.S. attorney, interviewed 139 witnesses during a four-month investigation and found the team failed to take action following a May 23, 2010, meeting to discuss the allegations of sexual assault.

Among the members of the organization who were present were Bowman, then-president John McDonough, then-senior vice president Jay Blunk, now-Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville and Kevin Cheveldayoff, now the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, Schar said.

The NHL levied a $2 million fine against the Blackhawks for their “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” to the matter. Half of the money will be donated to Chicago-area organizations that work with survivors of sexual assault and other forms of abuse.


“I think that the step the Blackhawks took yesterday is a great step in the right direction,” Beach said. “They accepted accountability and they took actions necessary, albeit too late.”

Beach was Chicago’s first-round draft pick (No. 11 overall) in 2008. He now plays professionally in Germany.

–Field Level Media

Adults at risk for mental health disorders drawn to city living, study finds

FOUCAULT SAYS MADNESS

IS A MODERN* URBAN PHENOMENA

People with genetic predisposition to certain mental health conditions prefer living in big cities, according to a new study. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 27 (UPI) -- People genetically predisposed to mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anorexia nervosa prefer to live in urban areas as adults, a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry found.

Those with higher genetic risk for these disorders were 5% to 10% more likely to "preferentially move" from rural to urban areas as adults, the data showed.

This means that people with more genetic mutations who increase their risk for mental health problems are drawn to urban environments, which is significant, given that city-living long has been associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, the researchers said.

"This study adds to the evidence against the simplistic nature versus nurture dichotomy, showing that genes and environment are intercorrelated," study co-author Dr. Evangelos Vassos told UPI in an email.

"It shows that genetic predisposition to a variety of mental health conditions ... is associated with where people live," said Vassos, a consultant psychiatrist at King's College London.

Fewer than 1% of people in the United States have schizophrenia, a mental health disorder characterized by disruptions in thought processes, perceptions, emotional responsiveness and social interactions, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions and unusual ways of thinking, as well as reduced expression of emotions and difficulty in social relationships.

Research published in 2017 found that adolescents raised in urban neighborhoods were nearly 70% more likely to have psychotic experiences, such as those associated with schizophrenia, compared with those who grew up in more rural areas.

However, a study published in August by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that cities in the United States have lower rates of depression than more rural areas.

For this study, Vassos and his colleagues analyzed data on nearly 386,000 British adults ages 37 to 73 who participated in the U.K. Biobank, a compendium of health records and genetic information for hundreds of thousands of people.

Polygenic risk scores, or measures of risk for certain health disorders, were available for all participants, the researchers said.

Those with higher polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa were 5% more likely to preferentially move to cities from more rural areas, the data showed.

Similarly, participants with higher risk scores for bipolar disorder, a condition characterized by periods of depression and abnormally elevated mood, were 10% more likely to live in urban areas.

Conversely, those with a genetic predisposition for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were 9% less likely to choose city living over more rural areas.

"Our hypothesis is that people at high or low genetic risk for psychiatric disorders may have subtle characteristics that differ from people with average genetic risk," Vassos said.

So, "it is not as simple as telling people that they need to move out of cities into more rural environments to improve their mental health," he said.

*MODERN BEING FROM THE 18TH CENTURY ON

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA
Kashmir: Artisans fight for survival amid dying art of pottery

Waning demand and the impacts of the COVID pandemic have pushed Kashmir pottery to the brink of extinction. But some artisan families are continuing the craft in exchange for rice just to survive.


If he couldn't barter his goods for food, 70-year-old Muhammad Jamal Kumhar says his family would starve

As the paddy harvest season nears its end with the onset of winter, Dilshada Bilal, 35, is busy producing earthenware, including fire pots and electric cooking heaters.

Her modest workshop in the village of Larm-Ganjipora in southern Kashmir's Anantnag district has a potter's wheel, an oven, and storage space for her work.

She lives a few meters away in a traditional Kashmiri brick house. The sparsely populated village is made up of a few mud roads and a vital stream which is the only source of water for inhabitants.

Bilal and her family are among the 27 Kumhar families, a historically marginalized people traditionally associated with the art of pottery, living in the region.

A mother of three, Bilal has been creating various earthenware objects for nearly two decades.

She learned the craft from her father when she was a young girl. But now, most of the new generation of potters are abandoning the occupation.

"Due to lack of demand, this craft is on the verge of extinction. There is hardly anyone who pays cash for our products," Bilal's father-in-law, Muhammad Jamal Kumhar, tells DW.

Bilal and her family, however, continue the art to survive.

"Most of us gave up on this craft because it won't give you adequate income to sustain [a living]. But my family had no other way to generate income — though meager — so we continued," Bilal tells DW.

Dilshada Bilal's best-selling pottery works include electric cooking heaters and firepots

Kashmir pottery on verge of extinction

Pottery as a craft in Kashmir can be traced to the Neolithic settlement during 3000 to 1200 BC at Burzhome, in the outskirts of Srinagar, according to Adil Zubair, an assistant professor of history at Ambedkar University in New Delhi.

In rural areas of Kashmir, clay-made utensils are still used for the storage of water and grains. Traditional musical instruments made from clay like the Tumbakneer (goblet drum) are still widespread.

Kumhar, 70, says his family — like many others across Kashmir — has been associated with the craft for centuries. His grandfather taught him pottery skills as a child.

As modern kitchenware replaces earthenware, however, Kumhar says the lack of government support to facilitate innovations in their craft has led to its near extinction.

"Now, our children are taking up different occupations and becoming drivers, carpenters, among others, to sustain their families," he says.

Zubair warns that the decline of Kashmir pottery is irreversible owing to the introduction of metal and plastic utensils.

"It has gone out of fashion, and now the government has introduced studio pottery where decorative cups and mugs are being made, but that's not a traditional craft," he says.

Muhammad Jamal Kumhar, 70, molds the clay on a potter's wheel

Surviving on barter trade

Bilal recalls how she felt obligated to continue the craft after marriage and throughout motherhood.

"We don't own land, and my kids are growing, so I have to make a living, hand to mouth," she says, adding that she spends most of her time helping her father-in-law make clay-made products.

Kumhar goes around villages and sells the products in exchange for rice.

For a heater, the villagers pay him 20 kilograms of rice; for a firepot he gets nearly 10 kilograms.

"The barter trade is the only way to sell our products to create some income, otherwise we will starve to death," he says.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to the potter community.

Kumhar says the pandemic has further impoverished his family and stunted their social mobility as restrictions on public movement hinder them from entering localities to sell their products.

Tandoors offer a glimmer of hope

Meanwhile, potters in the village of Palhallan in northern Kashmir are fighting against the odds to keep their tradition alive.

Here, around 35 to 40 families have been making tandoors (cylindrical clay ovens) used by bakers, restaurants and hotels across Kashmir and in parts of India.

Abdul Rashid, 47, a well-known potter in the village, says the tandoor is the only hope of survival for the dying art of pottery.

In 2005, Rashid's family switched to tandoor making, which he says provides them with "enough income" to sustain their families.

It takes two weeks to make a tandoor, Rashid says, from molding and shaping the clay to drying it under the sun.

His business makes around 150 tandoors a year, selling them for 5,000 rupees ($67, €57) each to customers across India.

Afroza Begum, 38, of northernKashmir'ss Manigam village, says pottery is an art passed on by forefathers and is here to stay.

"Art never dies, it will keep changing its forms and will survive in various forms," she said.

Sudan: 'The world has a right to be worried'

The crisis in Sudan is sending shock waves beyond the continent. The country is the focus of disparate interests, making it difficult for the international community to unite in a decisive stand to save its democracy.


The international community is far from united its response to the crisis in Sudan

The United Nations (UN) Security Council met in an emergency session Tuesday to discuss the unfolding crisis in Sudan. But the five permanent members failed to agree on a joint statement after China and Russia refused to threaten sanctions against the coup leaders, should they refuse to comply with demands aimed at de-escalating the situation.

"All states have their own interests and ideas about Sudan," Volker Perthes, a special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

"Yesterday, we saw that the analysis of, for example, Russia on the one hand and the US and Western states on the other hand, are still far apart," Perthes said.

Perthes warned of dire consequences if a "minimum" of unity was not maintained, saying it could potentially resemble the recent conflicts in Libya and Syria.

"Any fragmentation, any major difference in the Security Council between major powers, eventually spills over into the internal situation of countries like Sudan," he said

.
UN special representative Volker Perthes says major powers must stand united on Sudan
Increased pressure on Khartoum

The African Union (AU) acted unanimously on Wednesday when it suspended Sudan's membership.

International pressure at first seemed to produce results after deposed Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was allowed to go home late Tuesday. But many civilian and military leaders remain in detention. On Wednesday, coup leaders arrested several prominent pro-democracy activists.

The World Bank suspended aid to Sudan on the same day, citing concerns over "the dramatic impact this can have on the country's social and economic recovery and development," according to a statement by President David Malpass. Earlier, the US said they would temporarily suspend $700 million (€600 million) in aid.

The European Union has strongly condemned the military takeover. But according to Theodore Murphy, the director of the Africa program at the European Council for Foreign Relations, condemnation alone is not enough.

"When you undertake a coup, you don't expect it to be welcomed," he told DW. "You expect it to be condemned. That's the normal reaction. A statement alone will be interpreted by the military as a statement, meaning that there isn't really going to be consequences."

RESISTANCE TO THE COUP IN SUDAN

The military appeases

The commander general of the Sudanese armed forces justified the coup by saying that there had been a threat to peace and security in Sudan. The democratic course is supposed to be continued after power was transferred to a civilian elected government. Elections should take place as planned in July 2023. International observers fear that this declaration will not hold.

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Calls for Europe to act

The EU has an interest in stability in the region, not least because of the potential of a new wave of refugees. But there are other factors at play, owing to Sudan's central role at the continent's crossroads, according to Murphy.

"Sudan has the potential to play a positive role in Ethiopia, which is of interest to Europe, and in South Sudan, which is also of interest to Europe, and furthermore, in Chad, which is going through its own transition, and, finally, in Libya, to the north," he said. "But the key to all of that is that Sudan has a stable, functioning and democratic government."

Stability and democracy currently seem out of reach in Sudan. Around 60 people were killed and scores more wounded in the street protests that followed the military takeover on Monday. Civilian resistance remains strong and shows no signs of abating.

"The world has a right to be worried," Murithi Mutiga, the Horn of Africa project director at International Crisis Group, told DW.
Repercussions expected beyond the continent

Events in Sudan are bound to have repercussions in Africa and beyond. The military leadership in Khartoum is likely to alter the political dynamics being played out between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia in the dispute over Addis Ababa's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, due to the close relationship between the military leaderships of Sudan and Egypt. Sudan could also take a more active role in the Ethiopian conflict by openly siding with the Tigray forces.

The intentions of coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are still unclear

"What we are seeing is a reversal from what we had about 10 years ago when Sudan was very close to the Ethiopian administration and therefore supported the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam," Mutiga said.

Although it is difficult to make clear predictions at this point, Mutiga believes that "without question, Cairo might see this [military takeover] as a satisfactory outcome."

There is also a chance that Egypt and Gulf states, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, will support a regime that is trying to quash democratic resistance — something they deeply worry about themselves. But according to Mutiga, this would only prolong the crisis, which isn't in anyone's interest.
Human rights on the line

Mutiga believes the merits of negotiation should not be downplayed by the international community when it comes to mitigating the crisis in Sudan.

"All actors, including the Gulf monarchies, have to be conscious about the need for a negotiated solution," he said.

"There is no way Sudan can easily be run through strongman rule, especially after the Sudanese tasted the fruits of freedom in April 2019," Mutiga added, referring to the people's revolution which brought an end to the autocratic rule of President Omar al-Bashir.

Suspending aid as a means of pressuring a junta may not be the best option, with human rights and people's wellbeing at stake.

"The tragedy is that a lot of this financial support was going to be channeled towards the poorest of the poor, as Sudan is going through a terrible economic crisis," Mutiga said.

Surfers or seals all the same prey to near-blind sharks

Pierre CELERIER
Wed, 27 October 2021

WE ARE JUST ANOTHER MAMMAL IN THE SEA

Little is known about why sharks bite humans (AFP/Joseph Prezioso)

Sharks suffer such poor vision that they are unable to distinguish people surfing or swimming from animal prey like seals and walruses, according to a study published Wednesday.

White sharks have a reputation for picking up sound and smell at great distances, but at close range it was thought they relied on eyesight to catch prey.

But a new study published by the Royal Society's Interface review found that the sharks barely pick up colour and have a very poor ability to distinguish shapes.

Their vision is up to six times weaker than a human's and even worse in young white sharks.

That means they have a hard time distinguishing between humans and aquatic carnivorous mammals, called pinnipeds.

"Motion cues of humans swimming, humans paddling surfboards and human swimmers was also similar to that of pinnipeds with their flippers abducted (out)," the study said.

The researchers found there was a bigger difference in shape between the mammals with flippers in or out than between surfers or swimmers and mammals that had their flippers out.

And one group in particular was especially vulnerable.

"As a group, surfers are at the highest risk of fatal shark bites, particularly from juvenile white sharks."

- 'Mistaken identity' -

With little known about why sharks bite humans, the Australian authors of the study set out to test the theory of mistaken identity.

"This is the first study to look at the mistaken identity from the visual perspective of a white shark," lead author Laura Ryan of Macquarie University's department of biological sciences in Sydney told AFP.

Video footage of sea mammals, swimming humans and paddling surfboards was compared from the white shark's perspective, viewing the potential prey from below.

From the animal's point of view, "neither visual motion nor shape cues allow an unequivocal visual distinction" between humans and pinnipeds, the authors wrote.

With fewer than 60 shark attacks recorded globally in 2020, they remain relatively rare.

But the study found they are still frequent enough to maintain a "disproportionate" level of fear linked to ignorance about shark behaviour and particularly unprovoked attacks.

The consequences can lead to campaigns that kill not only endangered sharks, but also other non-target species.

White, tiger and bull sharks are the usual suspects for the majority of attacks on humans.

Ryan said the researchers were now working "to determine if changing the visual cues of potential prey is an effective mitigation technology to protect against white sharks.

"Greater understanding of why shark bite sometimes happen will hopefully lead to improved solutions that not only prevent shark bites but also don’t endanger other marine wildlife."

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