White House disputes reports of federal funds for crack pipes

Brett Samuels - The Hill - Yesterday 

The Biden administration on Wednesday pushed back on what it called "misinformation," saying a federal grant program meant to reduce harm to drug users does not include taxpayer funding for pipes that can be used to smoke crack or meth.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out a statement clarifying "no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki later told reporters at a briefing that reports that crack pipes would be included in the safe smoking kits being distributed as part of the program were inaccurate.

"Even though this has never been a part of what's been funded, we felt it was important to put out a public statement from the federal government to make that clear because we saw the spreading of misinformation and the fact that it was having an impact on a range of communities," Psaki said. "And we felt, even though it was never true, that we needed to put out a proactive statement."

Psaki said the safe smoking kits being distributed as part of a $30 million harm reduction program might include materials such as alcohol swabs, lip balm, clean syringes and other materials intended to promote hygiene and reduce the risk of spreading diseases such as HIV and hepatitis.

"I would note that what we're really talking about here is steps we're taking as a federal government to really address the opioid epidemic, which is killing tens of thousands, if not more, Americans, every single day, week, month of the year," she said.

The grant program through HHS funds safe smoking kits and supplies that could be purchased for communities trying to address the opioid epidemic in ways that might reduce the risk of spreading disease among users. The Associated Press reported that the grant solicitation did not specifically mention the inclusion of pipes for smoking, though such materials can be part of safe smoking kits.

Reports circulated on Fox News and other conservative outlets that the grant program was being used to fund "crack pipes," however, and the narrative quickly spread among conservative lawmakers.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra expressing concerns about providing crack pipes, and she has tweeted multiple times about the issue this week.

"End government-funded crack pipes," Blackburn tweeted on Tuesday.

"Will you have to show your vaccine passport to get your crack pipe?" Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tweeted mockingly.

"There is no end in sight for this lunacy," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in response to the reports.

HHS spokeswoman Sarah Lovenheim called Rubio's comments "blatant misinformation," adding that the grants "must stick to federal, state, local laws or regs."

Rubio on Wednesday welcomed the comments from the White House about the program and said he would introduce legislation in the coming days "to make sure this program can never pay for crack pipes."

Updated at 5:39 p.m.

Tesla says California plans to sue over alleged discrimination, harassment

By Matt McFarland,  CNN Business - Wednesday



The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing will sue Tesla, alleging systematic racial discrimination and harassment, the automaker said in a blog post Wednesday.

Department spokesperson Fahizah Alim declined to confirm or comment on the expected lawsuit. If filed, the lawsuit would be the latest in a series of allegations of racism in Tesla's workplace.

A former Tesla employee, Owen Diaz, was awarded $136.9 million last year when a jury concluded he was subject to a racially hostile workplace. Other lawsuits have alleged a toxic culture. Last week Kaylen Barker, a Black woman who worked at a Tesla manufacturing plant, filed a lawsuit claiming the automaker tolerates "rampant acts of racism" in its factories. Barker's lawsuit focuses on her employment at Tesla in 2021.

Tesla said the anticipated lawsuit from the California DFEH appears to focus on incidents between 2015 and 2019. It called the expected lawsuit "misguided" and objected to the potential claims.

"Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment," the blog post said. "Tesla continues to seek to provide a workplace that is safe, respectful, fair, and inclusive-—all of which are vital to achieving our mission."

Tesla also claimed that the department had been investigating Tesla in the past three years regarding discrimination and harassment and never found misconduct previously.

"It therefore strains credibility for the agency to now allege, after a three-year investigation, that systematic racial discrimination and harassment somehow existed at Tesla," the blog post said.

Tesla said it plans to ask the court to pause the lawsuit, once it is filed.

Kurt Zouma, West Ham United player, fined by club for slapping and kicking cat in video

By Hannah Ryan, CNN

West Ham United's French international defender Kurt Zouma has been fined by the English Premier League club and is facing an investigation from the UK's leading animal welfare charity after a video emerged online that showed him kicking and slapping a cat.

On Wednesday, West Ham released a statement on its website, saying Zouma and the club are "co-operating fully" with an investigation by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) -- the UK's leading animal welfare charity.

The statement added "the player has willingly complied with the steps taken in the initial stage of the process, including delivering his family's two cats to the RSPCA for assessment."

The fine and RSPCA investigation comes after Zouma was filmed seemingly hurling shoes at his pet cat, slapping it across the face, chasing it around the room and kicking it across the floor in what looks to be a private residence.

The video was first published by the Sun newspaper on Monday. Laughter could be heard in the background of the footage. CNN has not independently verified the video.

West Ham added that the French defender is "extremely remorseful and, like everyone at the club, fully understands the depth of feeling surrounding the incident and the need for action to be taken."

The club also said Zouma had been fined for the actions: "Separate to the RSPCA's investigation and pending further sanction once the outcome of that process is determined, West Ham United can confirm that Kurt Zouma has been fined the maximum amount possible following his actions in the video that circulated.

"The player has immediately accepted the fine and has requested that it is donated to animal welfare charities."

West Ham said it wanted to "reiterate our condemnation of Kurt's actions and make it clear that the matter continues to be handled with the utmost seriousness."

The club said it believes "it is now important to allow the RSPCA to conduct their investigation in a fair and thorough manner" and that it will be "making no further comment at this stage."

In a statement issued to CNN on Wednesday, an RSPCA spokesperson said: "The two cats are now in RSPCA care. Our priority is and has always been the wellbeing of these cats.

"They've been taken for a check-up at a vets and then will remain in our care while the investigation continues.

"We're grateful to everyone who expressed their concern for these cats. We were dealing with this issue before the video went viral online and are leading the investigation."

In the wake of the incident, Adidas told CNN Wednesday that it was dropping its sponsorship of the player.

"We have concluded our investigation and can confirm Kurt Zouma is no longer an adidas contracted athlete," an Adidas spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, West Ham has seen one of its sponsors -- Vitality, a health and life insurance company based in the UK -- suspend its relationship with the club.

In a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the company said it was "very distressed by the video" of Zouma and that it condemned animal cruelty and violence of any kind.

Vitality said it was suspending its sponsorship of West Ham effective immediately and would be "engaging with the club to understand what actions they will be taking to address the situation."

A petition on Change.org calling for Zouma to be prosecuted for animal cruelty has over 100,000 signatures.

In a statement to CNN on Tuesday, London's Metropolitan Police force said: "We have received and are aware of such reports and have been in contact with the RSPCA who look into, and if necessary, investigate any complaints made about animal welfare."

Zouma's management team did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Mask mandates to remain at University of Alberta and University of Calgary

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Advanced education minister directed universities to align

policies with provincial plan

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2022

The University of Calgary and the University of Alberta plan to keep mask mandates in place when they open for in-person learning on Feb. 28. (David Bell/CBC/University of Alberta)

The University of Alberta and the University of Calgary have announced that students will return to campus on Feb. 28 as planned and masking will remain mandatory for the time being. 

Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said on Wednesday that as of March 1, post-secondary institutions will be able to return to pre-pandemic delivery without physical distancing, masking and vaccine mandates.

"It is my expectation that all of Alberta's universities, colleges and polytechnics will align their COVID-19 policies and practices with that of Alberta's Government," he wrote in a letter to board chairs.

If hospitalizations continue to decrease, the provincial mask mandate will be removed on March 1.

The University of Calgary announced on Thursday that it would be removing its vaccine mandate for future semesters. Masking will still be required indoors until the end of the winter term and while the City of Calgary maintains a mask bylaw. 

SAIT announced Thursday that students and employees no longer need to be fully vaccinated to attend class in person and as of March 1, masking will become recommended, not mandatory.

In the U of A's Thursday update, the school said academic accommodations are available for immunocompromised students.

MacEwan University is expected to announce its plans Friday and Concordia University of Edmonton, the King's University, Mount Royal University and NAIT are reviewing their policies and future plans. 

What do students think?

Nicole Schmidt, president of the students' union at the University of Calgary, said there has been a mixed response from students over Thursday's announcement, with some expressing concern over the vaccine mandate going away.

"We obviously want students to feel safe and to feel protected attending in-person classes once they are able to do so," Schmidt said. 

Austin Ashbaugh, a third-year U of C masters student who is also a teaching assistant, said students are tired of being thrown back and forth between in-person and online learning.

"If we immediately throw students back to in-person, there is going to be a level of social anxiety that is so astronomically high," he said. 

Ashbaugh said he is also concerned about disappearing vaccine and mask mandates because that could create "the perfect playground" for COVID to adapt and spread

Rowan Ley, president of the students' union at the U of A, said about 500 students responded to a survey about Nicolaides' letter to board chairs.

He said 80 per cent were opposed to the minister's letter, but there is some appetite among students for removing restrictions.

"The broad consensus is that the mask and vaccine mandates are popular — gathering restrictions less so," he said.

Trevor Liu, a fourth-year software engineering student, said he would support a hybrid model, where students choose between learning online and in-person. 

U of A has not yet announced whether its vaccine mandate will stand.

Liu, who is vaccinated, said he hopes the school gets rid of it.

"I know some people who do not prefer to get vaccinated because of personal reasons or personal choice," he said. 

Amber Mckenzie, a third-year nursing student at MacEwan, said she wants to feel safe knowing everyone around her at school is vaccinated and masked. 

"Every other restriction could be lifted, but leave the vaccination requirement and masking in public spaces," she told CBC.

Mickey Tidsbury, a fifth-year anthropology student in her last semester at the U of A, said she thinks schools moving back to in-person learning is reckless.

"Getting hospitalized and dying from COVID is not the only serious thing about COVID," she said. 

Union representing contracted grounds crews for WestJet say they're close to calling a strike

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The IAMAW union and employer ATS have been negotiating

 since September 2021

Lucie Edwardson · CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2022 

Negotiations between the company that WestJet contracts its grounds crew from and the union representing the workers have reached a critical juncture, where a strike could be called with 72 hours notice at any time. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Contract negotiations between the union representing WestJet's grounds crew and baggage staff at the Calgary Airport have reached a boiling point with their employer, Airport Terminal Services (ATS).

The two parties have been in negotiations since September, but haven't been able to come to a new agreement. 

Union representative Kevin Timms with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) says ATS recently provided employees a "substandard" offer.

"We held a vote on Monday for a tentative agreement that was voted down — rejected, and voted in favour of a strike in very high numbers," Timms said.

• WestJet cuts 20 per cent of flights in March, calls for reopening timeline

Since then, ATS has asked the union to come back to the table, and negotiations have been rekindled.

But, if an agreement can't be met, Timms said the union is ready to provide ATS with the mandatory 72 hours notice prior to striking.

Without grounds crews, Timms said ATS would have a hard time getting planes moving off or onto gates.

"When people drop their baggage off at the counter it goes on the conveyor belt into the back room where it's these employees that bring them to the aircraft, these employees that load and unload the aircraft," he said. 

"They are in charge of pushing that aircraft out for the departure, as well as when the planes come in, they would be in charge of parking it in the proper spots … emptying the lavatories as well as filling the potable water and towing the aircraft from gate to gate."

ATS did not respond to a request for comment, but in an emailed statement WestJet said it has been informed that both parties are committed to negotiating an agreement.

Minority NFL head coaches hired to lose amid lawsuit over alleged racial discrimination

Morgan Campbell- CBC - Tuesday

On Monday afternoon the Houston Texans promoted defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to head coach, a routine transaction if you focus on the merits.

Smith, 63, spent nine seasons as head coach of the Chicago Bears, compiling 81 wins and 63 losses, and leading the team to its first Super Bowl appearance since its mid-1980s glory days. The Bears fired Smith in 2012, after the team went 10-6. In 2014 he resurfaced in Tampa Bay, where he went 8-24 over two years with the rebuilding Bucs.

The other main candidate for the Texans' head coaching job? Recently retired quarterback Josh McCown, who has never coached in the NFL in any capacity.

A simple decision if you're seeking the best résumé.

Except McCown is white, and if you follow NFL head coach hiring patterns, you know that detail gives McCown more than an inside track in a job competition against a Black person. It gives him a head start, too. And sympathetic race marshals.

A week ago, McCown was the favourite to win the Texans' job, vacated when the club fired David Culley. Smith surfaced late in the coaching search, even though he was already on the Texans' staff. His name appeared in media reports last Friday, and by Monday the Texans had named him their new on-field boss. In promoting Smith, the Texans become only the second franchise in NFL history to hire two consecutive Black coaches.

If you're curious about who did it first — it was the Indianapolis Colts who replaced Tony Dungy with Jim Caldwell in 2009.


© Darron Cummings/The Associated Press

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is suing the NFL for racial discrimination.

The Flores effect

And if you're wondering how Smith went from afterthought to top candidate in 48 hours, credit the Flores effect.

That's Brian Flores, the former Miami Dolphins head coach who, after being fired, then enduring what he calls a sham interview with the New York Giants, sued the NFL and three of its teams for racial discrimination. Flores, who is Black, alleges that the Giants and Broncos interviewed him only to satisfy a league-mandated diversity requirement, and not to offer him a legitimate chance at their head coaching jobs. His class-action suit contends that Black coaches labour under systemic racism that limits head coaching opportunities, and double standards that threaten job security.

Flores, 40, also alleges that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross tried to bribe him to lose games — $100,000 US per loss, the lawsuit says — hoping the team could finish last and get the top pick in the 2020 draft.

Soon after the lawsuit made news, the NFL published a statement saying Flores' claims, which haven't been proven in court, were "without merit," even though it hadn't investigated them, and even though the league implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003 hoping to jolt teams out of racially biased hiring patterns.

While Flores might have set his long-term head coaching goals aflame in taking the NFL to court, smart money said that in the short run, just to try to weaken his argument, one of the NFL's open head coaching jobs would go to a candidate of colour — a Black person, if possible.

Of course, it's always possible. Qualified Black coaches — paging Jim Caldwell — outnumber head coaching vacancies every off-season. This winter, Flores lost his job after leading a denuded Miami roster to its second consecutive winning season. The public pressure his lawsuit created possibly vaulted Smith past McCown for the Houston job, and helped get Mike McDaniel hired in Miami.

If you have googled McDaniel and seen his picture, you might wonder about where he fits into a discussion of the job market for Black football coaches. Hold your questions. I'll address them. I promise.
Doomed to fail

First, let's discuss what else we knew about the places new Black head coaches would land: At jobs with drawbacks, big red flags waving alongside the Stars and Stripes at the team facility.

Smith, for one, was hired to lose, just like Culley was last year. DeShaun Watson, the club's franchise quarterback, is facing 10 criminal complaints, and lawsuits from 22 massage therapists, alleging a broad range of non-consensual sexual touching. He spent last season in limbo, and if he ever plays again, it likely won't be in Houston.

His absence leaves second-year pro Davis Mills, who, unlike Watson in his peak years, can't lean on All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded to Arizona in 2020. The Texans could, potentially, pivot to a Tennessee Titans-style, run-first offence. Except Tennessee has Derrick Henry, while Houston's leading rusher, Rex Burkhead, totalled 427 yards last season.


© Brett Coomer/The Associated Press

Lovie Smith speaks at an introductory press conference as new head coach of the Texans on Tuesday at NRG Stadium in Houston.

So Smith inherits an offence about as robust as the job market for Black head coaches, at 63 years old, on a team that picks third in the upcoming draft. It all points to the Texans installing him as a placeholder and foundation-builder, who will move or be moved aside once the team looks ready to contend.

McDaniel, meanwhile, goes from coordinating the San Francisco 49ers' formidable run game to directing a team whose featured running back is Myles Gaskin, and whose star quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, doesn't even show up on the first page of NFL.com's list of 2021 passing yardage leaders. McDaniel will also work for Stephen Ross, whom Flores alleges offered bribes when more organic ways to torpedo the team's 2019 results failed.

The glass cliff

Workplace equity experts identified a pattern years ago — award a long-overdue promotion to a member of a marginalized group, then put them in charge of a project that's doomed to fail. They call it the glass cliff, and if you see parallels in this winter's cohort of new Black head coaching hires, you're not wrong.

But McDaniel? Is he Black? By phenotype, not really. But he identifies as biracial. Many people, including some former co-workers, didn't realize it until McDaniel clarified it to correct a Deadspin article that had, erroneously, labelled him a "white guy."

For the record, McDaniels' paternal grandmother is African-American, which makes him Black under the One Drop Rule, and gives him a legitimate claim to African-American identity, if he chooses to exercise it. For an NFL team looking to burnish its diversity record by hiring a visible minority candidate it makes him more than Black enough.

And the hire came the week after podcast host Joe Rogan, who apparently has discovered 70 contextually appropriate uses for the N-word, Jordan Peterson, who left his tenured position at the University of Toronto to protest… something, declared that African-American scholar Michael Eric Dyson is not Black.

Rogan and Peterson were referring to Dyson's skin, which, they discovered, to their amazement, isn't literally black. But in missing the point on race, they, along with NFL teams under sudden pressure from Flores, highlighted a fundamental feature of colour lines.

They're less fixed barriers than velvet ropes, and they bend, open and close at white people's discretion.

Next year's off-season hiring cycle might look like this one did, but for now, Smith and McDaniel are members of an exclusive club. They should each send Flores a thank you card, and a bottle of whatever he's drinking.

---

Minnesota authorities can't arrest or threaten journalists after judge approves settlement arising from George Floyd protests

By Joe Sutton, 
CNN - Wednesday

A federal judge has approved a settlement prohibiting Minnesota authorities from arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against journalists.

In addition, officials with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) are not permitted to use chemical agents or to seize or intentionally damage journalists' equipment, according to an order from US District Judge Wilhelmina Wright.

Tuesday's settlement stemmed from police tactics used against journalists during protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright.

And journalists are not required to disperse even if police order protesters to do so during demonstrations, the order says.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the action groundbreaking and said it requires state law enforcement to be held accountable to the First Amendment.

"We need a free press to help us hold the police and government accountable. Without a free press, we don't have a free society, and we can't have justice," Teresa Nelson, the legal director of the ACLU of Minnesota, said in a statement.

A payment of $825,000 to the ACLU was agreed to in the settlement, as well as additional training for state officers, the DPS and MSP said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The ACLU of Minnesota, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of several journalists, said the payment would go to media members who were "attacked and injured" by police covering the protests over the police killings of Floyd in 2020 and Wright last year.

Ed Ou, a freelance video journalist who was a plaintiff in the suit, was struck by a projectile and pepper sprayed, while covering the George Floyd protests.

"When authoritarian governments in other parts of the world see U.S. law enforcement targeting the press, it empowers them to act with impunity," he said in the ACLU's news release.

"This injunction sends a message that freedom of the press is an ideal the United States continues to hold as one of its core values ... I am glad there is still some semblance of accountability to address attacks like this. I hope this case sets the precedent that any assault of a journalist is one too many."

The settlement between journalists and state law enforcement comes amid a tense time again in the city of Minneapolis. On Tuesday night, hundreds of people marched to protest last week's fatal shooting of Amir Locke, who was killed by police who were executing a no-knock warrant as part of a warrant as part of a homicide investigation into Locke's cousin, who has since been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder. The cousin was not at the apartment at the time of the raid.


© Nathan Howard/Getty Images

A racial justice march for Amir Locke moves through downtown 

Minneapolis on February 5, 2022.

Protestors could be heard chanting slogans calling for police accountability and shouting, "What's his name? Amir Locke! Say his name. Amir Locke!"

Less than two years ago, chants of "Say his name. George Floyd!" rang throughout dozens of cities as demonstrators voiced outrage over the shocking manner of Floyd's death.

MSP Chief Col. Matt Langer said the organization had learned from the incidents over the last two years. "That's why we have already implemented several improvements, including the use of an ombudsman for media, a public information officer in the field, and the deployment of body-worn cameras," he said in a statement.

"The ability of journalists to cover civil unrest in our communities must be protected and encouraged," DPS Commissioner John Harrington said in the same statement. "The hallmarks of this agreement are transparency, accountability and excellence in policing. Our agency is committed to those principles as we work with members of the media to implement the terms of this agreement."

Some journalists faced harsh crowd control measures from police during protests in and around Minneapolis, which included the arrests of CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez while in the middle of a live television report on May 29, 2020.

Jimenez could be seen holding his CNN badge while reporting, identifying himself as a reporter, and telling the officers the crew would move wherever officers needed them to. An officer gripped his arm as Jimenez talked, then put him in handcuffs.

Police told the crew they were being detained because they were told to move and didn't, one member of the CNN crew relayed to the network. The three were released from custody about an hour later.

CNN was not part of the lawsuit, which referenced the crew's arrest as one of several examples of forceful acts by police.
Decision 'serves the public interest,' order says

The settlement prohibits certain specific behavior by law enforcement toward people believed to be journalists during protests.

Officials, according to the order, are prevented from "arresting, threatening to arrest, or using physical force -- including through use of flash bang grenades, non-lethal projectiles, riot batons, or any other means -- directed against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a Journalist unless the State Defendants have probable cause to believe that such individual has committed a crime," the order said.

The decision was based on "constitutional rights" and "serves the public interest," the order says.

Officials with DPS and MSP are not permitted to use chemical agents, seize or intentionally damage journalists' equipment, the order says, unless the journalist is posing in imminent threat of violence or harm to people or property.

Journalists, to be identifiable, can wear "visible identification as a member of the press, such as by carrying a professional or authorized press pass or wearing a professional or authorized press badge or other official press credentials or distinctive clothing that identifies the wearer as a member of the press."

Any official that is responding to a protest or civil unrest that is covered by a journalist should "prominently display their agency name and badge number readable from a distance of twenty feet;" the order said, and copies of the order should be provided within 48 hours to officials from either agency that is going to respond to civil unrest or protests covered by journalists.

The ACLU continues to move forward with its civil suit against the City of Minnesota, its police chief, and sheriff.

Ugandan author flees after alleged torture, says lawyer

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A prominent writer and government critic who accused Uganda's security forces of torture has gone into exile ahead of a looming criminal trial, his attorney said Wednesday.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija fled Uganda across the land border with Rwanda and will settle at least temporarily in an unnamed European country, Eron Kiiza told The Associated Press.

“Conditions had become impossible for him," he said of Rukirabashaija. “They kept surveilling him. They took away his passport. He had no option but to go and save his life.”

Rukirabashaija alleged that he was tortured by officials while in detention, and photographs of his mutilated back shocked many in this East African country. Opposition politicians, activists and others increasingly accuse the security forces — especially the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence — of torturing suspects in custody.

The international community is also taking notice. The European Union's delegation to Uganda on Monday issued a statement expressing concern over “a situation that for more than a year has seen a significant increase of reports of torture, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, harassment" and other attacks.

Last week the U.S. cited “recurring credible accounts” of forced disappearances and torture by the security forces which “reflect poorly” on the government of President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986.

Rukirabashaija alleged that he was a recent victim of torture at the hands of state agents who repeatedly attacked him while in detention. A magistrate ordered him freed late last month but kept his passport as a condition of his bail. He had been in custody for nearly a month.

“They started using a pair of pliers and plucked flesh from my thighs and everywhere,” Rukirabashaija said in an account to the local Daily Monitor newspaper. “That day I thought I was dying and thought of denouncing my Ugandan citizenship.”

Kiiza, Rukirabashaija’s attorney, believes his client was in the custody of the Special Forces Command, an army unit that protects the first family. The Special Forces Command has not commented on allegations its members held the writer. Nor has it responded to the torture allegations.

Rukirabashaija, who said in court that he needed to have his wounds treated abroad, lost his bid on Monday to regain his passport when a magistrate ruled there was no urgent need for him to travel.

His trial on charges related to offensive communication was due to start in March.

Prosecutors charge that, using Twitter, the writer aimed to "disturb the peace” of Museveni and his son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands Uganda’s infantry forces.

In a series of tweets late last year, Rukirabashaija described Museveni as an election thief and Kainerugaba as an overweight and “intellectually bankrupt” soldier who hopes to succeed his father as president.

Rukirabashaija, who writes satirical fiction, has been detained twice before over his work highlighting Museveni’s failures. He was last year awarded the PEN Pinter Prize for an international writer of courage.

His case has renewed focus on the alleged excesses of the security forces in enforcing Museveni’s authority.

Museveni, once praised as part of a new generation of African leaders and a longtime U.S. security ally, still has support among many Ugandans for bringing relative stability to the country. He once criticized African leaders who refused to step aside but has since overseen the removal of term limits and an age limit on Uganda's presidency.

Rodney Muhumuza, The Associated Press

Brazil’s expected soy crop losses already a modern era record -Braun

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Reuters) - A Brazilian soybean crop as large as 134 million tonnes seemed unimaginable just a couple of years ago, but that figure now represents unprecedented losses in the soybean market as it is known today.

These drought-induced harvest reductions keep this year’s global soybean carryout projection at an eight-year low relative to demand, but the blow is softened by top importer China’s diminishing needs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday cut No. 1 exporter Brazil’s 2021-22 soybean crop to 134 million tonnes from 139 million in January and 144 million in December, which was the original outlook.

The 7% decline from December to February is USDA’s largest two-month cut since the 2012 crop, which also battled drought. But the global soybean market has transformed drastically since then.

The 2011-12 season was the last time the United States was the top soybean exporter, but it has increasingly been Brazil’s game ever since. Brazil’s share of world soybean exports a decade ago was 40% versus about 55% today.

Brazil’s exports have grown more than 150% in the last decade and even with the drought this year are set to outpace U.S. shipments by more than 60%. Ten-year U.S. export growth is about 50%.

Brazil’s soybean boom has been made possible by the doubling of its crop over the last decade on both area and yield expansions. Brazil’s harvest first surpassed the U.S. one in 2017-18.

USDA’s latest reductions are among many industry outlooks calling for a smaller 2022 Brazilian soybean crop, but the agency’s number is on the higher side. Some analysts have predicted a harvest up to 14% off original ideas, double the USDA’s markdown.

Historical crop estimates do not give a great indication of how much further Brazil’s soybean crop may fall because there are so few examples. The 2009 crop suffered similar losses as 2012, and final production in both years came in close to USDA’s lowest estimates of the season.

Brazil’s statistics body, CONAB, will publish fresh outlooks for the soybean crop on Thursday, but its starting point and cuts have been more conservative. The group in December saw the crop at 142.8 million tonnes but last month scaled back to 140.5 million.

USDA’s Wednesday report supported recent ideas that China’s soybean demand has slipped, and the current year import outlook was chopped to 97 million tonnes from 100 million last month, a relatively large monthly decline. That is below the year-ago 99.8 million.

Some market participants assumed Brazil’s crop losses would be reflected on the U.S. balance sheet with an export bump, which did not pan out due to China’s lower imports. But global buyers have recently been snapping up old-crop U.S. soybeans, so U.S. business could be due for a lift if Brazil’s fortunes get any worse.

Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Jamaican bobsledder, who competed for Team USA, fights through grief to make Olympic return


USA TODAY SPORTS
Dan Wolken, - Wednesday

BEIJING – Team Jamaica’s entrance to Friday’s opening ceremony was a joyous sight, with Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian leading a band of dancing, waving, gyrating bobsledders in unmistakably neon yellow pants

But for Fenlator-Victorian, every moment in Beijing is a struggle between joy and grief, between the emotions pulling her home and the understanding that this is where she needs to be, between the sense of accomplishment in just getting here and the sacrifices she made to bring her third trip to the Olympics into existence.

“I’m so happy to be here and press on and share that part of my journey,” she told USA TODAY Sports. “But I’d lying if I said it wasn’t extremely difficult.”

Raised in New Jersey and now living in Texas, Fenlator-Victorian knew full well when she left Team USA after the 2014 Olympics to compete under the Jamaican flag that she was choosing the harder road. In some ways, that was the point.

Just making it back here again, given the lack of funding and infrastructure while also trying to run her own social media and branding business, was going to be the capstone of a trailblazing career.

But on Dec. 28, while Fenlator-Victorian was home with her husband in Dallas on a short break between eight straight weeks on the road and Beijing, unspeakable tragedy struck. After two days of failing to get her 27-year-old sister Angelica to respond to texts, their mother found her dead in their Florida home.

Immediately, there was massive grief, doubt and regret. Fenlator-Victorian wondered whether she should even continue on the path toward these Games, and not just because she was uncertain of her own mental well-being.

Beyond the obvious process people go through when a loved one unexpectedly dies, there were responsibilities and bills and the logistics of caring for her mother, who has health challenges of her own. On every conceivable level, leaving for the other side of the world was going to be very, very hard.

“While I was there with my mom, I let her know I bought a one-way ticket, and if I have to move or stay with her long-term, that’s what I have to do,” Fenlator-Victorian said. “Anybody who knows her knows she’s very strong-willed and was adamant that I need to go. I kind of thought about it, and I let her know that if I were to go, this is the timeline and I’m not confident in her being home alone and navigating these things. But we talked about it further and decided it was time for me to go.”

'Nobody would be able to recognize the heartbreak'

In bobsled, you may not navigate the curves and slopes of the track correctly, but at least you know where they are. Right now, Fenlator-Victorian is on a different course where every day reveals a new emotional weight that she cannot prepare for, and she has no real sense of what life will be like when she returns home.

Even living in the moment here in Beijing isn’t easy. When she FaceTimed her mother after the opening ceremony, her next impulse was to call Angelica.

“And I can’t. She’s not here,” Fenlator-Victorian said. “And that’s a reality that every day feels like I’m still dreaming. The process of grief has no timeline, the process of dealing with that has its highs and lows.”

Fenlator-Victorian talks so openly about that grief because it’s real, and it’s just as much part of any Olympian’s story as the triumph in getting here. Whether that’s her sister’s death or one of her men’s bobsled teammates missing the first six months of his daughter’s life to qualify and train or another giving up their job and income in pursuit of this dream, they are all branches of the same tree.

“Our vibes, our dancing, our smiles – not to get emotional but nobody would be able to recognize the heartbreak, the near-giving up even the possible depression we all have faced,” she said. “The outpour of love and people who woke up early to physically just see me walk through opening ceremonies, whether they’re supporters I know or people I don’t know tagging me on Instagram with all of these amazing messages of positive energy, it kind of reiterates why I’m doing what I’m doing and how much it’s touched them and inspired them and motivated them to make moves in their own way.”

After all, that’s what competing for Jamaica was originally about for Fenlator-Victorian. As a former track and field athlete in college who was recruited into the U.S. bobsled program, she had the best of everything from health insurance, a stipend and endless training resources. She broke through in 2014, finishing 11th at the Sochi Olympics as a driver teamed with Lolo Jones.

Deciding to leave the U.S. team

In the end, though, the narrative around that celebrated team as the most diverse in the history of women’s bobsled wasn’t necessarily all it was cracked up to be. Though she knew there would be consequences to leaving, her frustration about perceived inequities in the U.S. system had reached a boiling point. She felt she could have a bigger impact by building a Jamaican team pretty much from scratch.

“I’m so grateful and honored to have been part of that Olympic team, those teammates I still consider them friends,” Fenlator-Victorian said. “But the system itself is very much tainted, and there’s multiple people who have left the sport because they no longer can mentally take jumping through those hoops and the treatment they faced and the politics behind it. And it’s often people of color within that system who step away.”

The decision to leave Team USA brought death threats, racial slurs and accusations that she was chasing money, she said. In fact, the opposite was true. Going to a smaller federation brought immeasurable challenges, including the loss of her ranking after she had established herself as one of the best in the world and the never-ending funding issues that continue to this day. There’s a link on her Instagram right now that sends people to a site selling sweatshirts where part of the proceeds go to paying her expenses.

“I wasn’t looking to fill my pockets and wasn’t looking for publicity,” she said. “What I was looking for was to feel I was being represented for myself, that I had a safe space that didn’t put me in a box and wasn’t discriminatory.”

Fenlator-Victorian thought making the 2018 Olympics and finishing 18th would be the end, but the addition of the women’s monobob event lured her back for one more shot. The circumstances, obviously, aren’t ideal. Beyond navigating her grief day by day, she is trying to make up ground on her competitors who were able to familiarize themselves with the Yanqing Sliding Center track at the test event in November.

After this, the 36-year-old will leave the sled behind to focus on her business, help bolster Team Jamaica from behind the scenes to secure long-term funding for the program and open a foundation in her sister’s name to support mental health causes.

But she is a competitor, and despite everything that’s happened over the last couple months, she plans to give it her best, last shot.

“Someone asked me earlier how important representation is to me and I really can’t put it into words,” she said. “It’s priceless. For someone to see someone that looks like them, comes from the same cultural identities as them representing themselves at some type of level they’d hope to aspire to opens the floodgates. Now I need to pass the torch.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jamaican bobsledder, who competed for Team USA, fights through grief to make Olympic return