AP wins feature photography Pulitzer for Kashmir coverage

Women shout slogans as Indian policemen fire teargas and live ammunition in the air to stop a protest march in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 9, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A masked Kashmiri protester jumps on the bonnet of an armored vehicle of Indian police as he throws stones at it during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May 31, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Kashmiri Muslim devotees offer prayer outside the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Dec. 9, 2019. Hundreds of devotees gathered at the shrine for the 11-day festival that marks the death anniversary of the Sufi saint. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Kashmiri men shout freedom slogans during a protest against New Delhi's tightened grip on the disputed region, after Friday prayers on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 23, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)


Masked Kashmiris shout slogans during a protest after Friday prayers on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct. 4, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Anand said the award left him speechless.

“I was shocked and could not believe it,” he said, calling the prize-winning photos a continuation of the work he’s been doing for 20 years with the AP.

“This honor continues AP’s great tradition of award-winning photography,” said AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. “Thanks to the team inside Kashmir, the world was able to witness a dramatic escalation of the long struggle over the region’s independence. Their work was important and superb.

Full Coverage: Photography

In a year when protests arose across the globe, AP photographers Dieu-Nalio Chery and Rebecca Blackwell were Pulitzer finalists for the breaking news photography award for their coverage of violent clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators in Haiti.

Bullet fragments hit Chery in the jaw while he documented the unrest. He kept taking pictures, including images of the fragments that hit him.

“All five of these photographers made remarkable, stunning images despite dangerous and challenging conditions, sometimes at great personal risk,” said AP Director of Photography David Ake. “Their dedication to getting up every morning and going out to tell the story is a testament to their tenacity. The result of their work is compelling photojournalism that grabbed the world’s attention.”

AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee called the Kashmir prize “a testament to the skill, bravery, ingenuity and teamwork of Dar, Mukhtar, Channi and their colleagues” and lauded the recognition of Chery’s and Blackwell’s “brave and arresting work” in Haiti while many journalism outlets were focused elsewhere.

“At a time when AP’s journalism is of more value than ever to the world, these journalists’ courage and compelling storytelling show the absolute best of what we do,” Buzbee said.

The honor for the photographers is the AP’s 54th Pulitzer Prize.

Conflict has flared for decades in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan area that is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

The tension hit a new turning point in August, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir of their semi-autonomy.

India said the moves were needed to forestall protests and attacks by rebels seeking independence or Pakistani control for the region. Thousands of people were arrested.

With communications shut down, AP journalists had to find out about protests and other news by finding them in person. Khan and Yasin took turns roving the streets in and around the regional capital of Srinagar, Yasin said, facing mistrust from both protesters and troops. The journalists were unable for days to go home or even let their families know they were OK.

“It was very hard,” Khan said, but “we managed to file pictures.”

After spotting luggage-toting people walking toward the airport, he said, the photographers decided to ask travelers to serve as couriers. Yasin also recalled how a relative of his, who was also a photojournalist, had told him about delivering film to New Delhi in person as the conflict in Kashmir raged in the 1990s.India poured more troops into the already heavily militarized area, imposed a curfew and harsh curbs on civil rights, laced the area with razor-wire roadblocks, and cut off internet, cellphone, landline and cable TV service.

STILL UNDER INDIAN OCCUPATION DESPITE BEING A UN ENCLAVE

#FREEKASHMIR  #KASHMIR IS #INDIA  'S #GAZA

So the AP photographers went to the Srinagar airport and sought out strangers willing to carry memory cards and flash drives to New Delhi and call AP after landing in the Indian capital.

Some flyers declined, fearing trouble with the authorities, Yasin said. But others said yes and followed through. Most of the memory cards and drives arrived.

All three photographers were born in the semi-autonomous Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir, and Yasin says their prize-winning work has both professional and personal meaning to him.

“It’s not the story of the people I am shooting, only, but it’s my story,” he said. “It’s a great honor to be in the list of Pulitzer winners and to share my story with the world.”

TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS GO HERE 

https://apnews.com/366a717b2c1b9a677fcbd533e9b225c2

‘Riveting’ coverage of Alaska policing wins Pulitzer Prize

1 of 8

In a photograph of a computer screen during a staff Zoom call reporter Kyle Hopkins, bottom, and other staff members of the Anchorage Daily News receive word of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service on Monday, May 4, 2020 in Anchorage. Hopkins was the lead reporter on a series of stories that looked at failures in the criminal justice system in rural Alaska. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)


NEW YORK (AP) — The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica won the Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for illuminating the sparse policing of remote Alaskan villages, as a delayed awards ceremony recognized writing, photos and — for the first time — audio reporting on topics ranging from climate change to the legacy of slavery.

The public service winners contacted 600 village, tribal and other local governments and traveled by plane, sled and snowmobile to reveal that a third of rural Alaska communities had no local police protection, among other findings.

The “riveting” series spurred legislative changes and an influx of spending, the judges noted in an announcement postponed several weeks and held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re humbled by the recognition, but the stories put a bright light on serious problems in Alaska that have needed attention for a long time,” Daily News Editor David Hulen said. “In some ways, we’re just getting started.”

The New York Times won the investigative reporting prize for an expose of predatory lending in the New York City taxi industry and also took the international reporting award for what the judges called “enthralling stories, reported at great risk,” about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government.

The Times also was awarded the commentary prize for an essay that Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote as part of the paper’s ambitious 1619 Project, which followed the throughlines of slavery in American life to this day.

Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet told the staff — in a virtual meeting — that this year’s prizes were “particularly meaningful because they come as we are managing our lives under great difficulty even as we produce great journalism.”

The Washington Post’s work on global warming was recognized for explanatory reporting. The newspaper tracked nearly 170 years of temperature records to show that 10% of the planet’s surface has already exceeded a rise of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times, the threshold world leaders have agreed they’d try not to exceed.

In a development that recognized how podcasting has brought new attention to reporting aimed at listeners rather than readers or viewers, a first-ever award for audio reporting went to “This American Life,” the Los Angeles Times and Vice News for “The Out Crowd,” an examination of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” immigration policy.

In another prize for the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight won the criticism award for what the judges called “extraordinary community service by a critic” in examining a proposal to overhaul of the L.A. County Museum of Art.

The staff of The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, took the breaking news reporting award for unpacking racial disparities and other issues in a spate of governor’s pardons.

Two different projects won the national reporting award: ProPublica’s look at deadly accidents in the U.S. Navy and The Seattle Times’ examination of design flaws in the troubled Boeing 737 MAX jet.

ProPublica Managing Editor Robin Fields said its reporting “laid bare the avoidance of responsibility by the military’s most senior leaders.”

The local reporting award went to The Baltimore Sun for shedding light on a previously undisclosed financial relationship between the mayor and the public hospital system, which she helped oversee.

The New Yorker took the feature reporting prize for Ben Taub’s piece on a detainee at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. New Yorker contributor Barry Blitt got the editorial cartooning award for work that “skewers the personalities and policies emanating from the Trump White House,” as the judges saw it.

The Associated Press won the feature photography prize for images made during India’s clampdown on Kashmir, where a sweeping curfew and shutdowns of phone and internet service added to the challenges of showing the world what was happening in the region.

AP photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand snaked around roadblocks, sometimes took cover in strangers’ homes and hid cameras in vegetable bags to capture images of protests, police and paramilitary action and daily life. Then they headed to an airport to persuade travelers to carry the photo files out with them and get them to the AP’s office in New Delhi.

“These journalists’ courage and compelling storytelling show the absolute best of what we do,” AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said.

Reuters won the breaking news photography award for its coverage of protests that shook Hong Kong. Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said the photos “brilliantly captured the magnitude of the protests.”

While big outlets and collaborations got plenty of recognition, the small Palestine Herald-Press, in East Texas, got a Pulitzer of its own, for Jeffery Gerritt’s editorials on the deaths of jail inmates awaiting trial. Judges said Gerritt “courageously took on the local sheriff and judicial establishment, which tried to cover up these needless tragedies.”

In the arts categories, Michael R. Jackson’s musical “A Strange Loop,” about a man trying to write a musical, won the drama prize. And Colson Whitehead’s “The Nickel Boys” won the fiction prize; he also won in 2017 for “The Underground Railroad.”

The Pulitzer board also issued a special citation Monday to the trailblazing African American journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, noting “her outstanding and courageous reporting” on lynchings.

Wells was a journalist and publisher in the late 1800s and later helped found civil rights and women’s suffrage groups; she died in 1931. The board said the citation comes with a bequest of at least $50,000 in support of Wells’ mission, with recipients to be announced.

The initial Pulitzer ceremony, which had been scheduled for April 20, was pushed to give Pulitzer Board members who were busy covering the pandemic more time to evaluate the finalists.

The awards luncheon, traditionally held at Columbia University in May, will be postponed. Plans are coming for a fall celebration.

The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism were first awarded in 1917 and are considered the field’s most prestigious honor in the U.S.

___

Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela contributed to this report.

Alaska’s largest newspaper wins Pulitzer Prize

By BECKY BOHRER 5/4/2020

Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins and his wife KTUU anchor Rebecca Palsha react while sitting in an empty newsroom during the COVID-19 pandemic to the announcement that the Anchorage Daily News was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in Journalism on Monday, May 4, 2020. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP


JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s largest newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for its work examining law enforcement in rural communities, a feat coming less than three years after the outlet was rescued from the brink of financial collapse.

This is the third such award won by the Anchorage Daily News. The award announced Monday was won in collaboration with ProPublica for “a riveting series that revealed a third of Alaska’s villages had no police protection, took authorities to task for decades of neglect, and spurred an influx of money and legislative changes,” according to the announcement.


Anchorage Daily News Editor David Hulen said the series “called attention to some really serious problems in Alaska that have needed attention for a long time.”

“There’s more to be done,” he said. “We’re going to continue working on this.”

Anchorage Daily News President and CEO Ryan Binkley said the announcement was watched by staff via video conference, a nod to the fact that many are working remotely due to coronavirus concerns.

“This should be a time of being with each other in person and popping champagne corks, and of course we can’t do that these days,” he said, adding later: “We’ve just been receiving all sorts of congratulations from around the country today, which is kind of surreal, actually, considering where we were three years ago.”

Alice Rogoff backed the online Alaska Dispatch before buying in 2014 the Anchorage Daily News, which was rebranded as the Alaska Dispatch News. In 2017, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A federal bankruptcy judge in September 2017 approved its sale for $1 million, calling it a better option than liquidation. Binkley, his two brothers and his sister became the new owners. The name was changed back to the Anchorage Daily News.

“We came very close to not existing after the newspaper went into Chapter 11, but it never stopped,” Hulen said of the outlet’s work.

He said the newsroom’s size is much smaller than it was at its peak and the paper has found ways to adapt, including forging partnerships like the one with ProPublica.

He said the Anchorage Daily News would not have been able to pull off the depth of reporting in the Pulitzer-winning series had it not been for that partnership.

Pentagon: Reports of sexual assault in military increased 3 percent in 2019OLD BOYS CLUB FOR MISOGYNIST DEVIANTS LIKE SENATOR GRAHAM

U.S. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, assigned to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command 19.2. Photo by Sgt. Kyle C. Talbot/U.S. Marine Corps/UPI | License Photo
April 30 (UPI) -- Reports of sexual assault in the military grew by 3 percent last year, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The Department of Defense said in its Congress-mandated report on sexual assault published Thursday that the military received 7,825 reports of sexual assault involving service members in fiscal year 2019 compared to 7,623 reports it received the year prior.

Of those reports, 937 were submitted by U.S. civilians and foreign nationals who accused service members of sexual assault, which the military defines as rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual contact, abusive sexual contact, sexual assault and attempts to commit these offenses.

A total of 652 reports were also submitted from service members for sexual assault that occurred prior to military service, it said.

RELATED Navy's RIMPAC 2020 exercise will be 'at-sea-only' due to COVID-19 concerns

The 25-page report stipulated that it cannot describe the 3 percent hike as an increase in victims of sexual assault coming forward or an increase in sexual assaults as a prevalence survey was not conducted this year.

However, Nate Galbreath, acting director of the department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, told reporters Thursday that he's "cautiously optimistic that it's good news" though he can't say for sure.

"Addressing sexual assault is really one of the most challenging topics that we face in the military but it's so critical we get this right," he said. "We are really aware of the high cost of not succeeding in this."

Of the Pentagon's services, the Air Force experienced the highest increase of 9 percent with a record 1,683 reports of sexual assault in 2019 compared to 1,544 reports last year.

The Army saw the lowest increase of 2 percent with 3,219 reports in 2019 compared to 3,155 in 2018 while the Marine Corps was the only service to show a drop in reporting at about 6 percent.
"Our work to eliminate sexual assault reflects our ongoing commitment to advance a culture of trust, respect and inclusion within the force," said Elizabeth Van Winkle, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency, in a statement. "We are acutely aware of the high cost of not succeeding, not only for the readiness of our country's defense but for the individual Americans who step forward and volunteer to serve our nation."

American Education Secretary 

& BILLIONAIRE PRIVATE SCHOOLING PROPONENT

DeVos sued over seizure of student loan borrowers' wages

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stands during a press briefing on March 27, 2020. She and the Education Department are targets of a class action lawsuit, filed on Friday, charging her with illegally seizing student loan borrowers' wages in violation of the CARES Act. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo

May 1 (UPI) -- The Department of Education and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos face a class-action lawsuit demanding a stop to garnishment of student borrowers' wages.

The suit was filed late Thursday in District of Columbia federal court on behalf of borrowers whose paychecks continue to be garnished for student loans, a violation of the CARES Act. The law, signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, is the $2 trillion economic relief package protecting Americans from the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19, and prohibits garnishment of wages of student borrowers through Sept. 30, 2020.

The organizations Student Defense and the National Consumer Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of about 285,000 people who have had wages garnished. The lead plaintiff is Elizabeth Barber, who works as a home health aide near Rochester, N.Y.

"During the pandemic she has seen her weekly schedule reduced by 10 to 15 hours, greatly adding to her financial strain," a NCLC statement on Friday said. "Ms. Barber has had to leave bills unpaid in order to cover her basic needs... [while] the Department has continued to garnish her paychecks through the pandemic. The very purpose of the CARES Act is to provide immediate emergency relief to Americans, like Elizabeth, suffering the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic."

RELATED Betsy DeVos releases $3B to governors for education relief

The NCLC added that Barber earns $12.89 per hour caring for cerebral palsy patients, with about 12 percent taken to pay for her default on about $10,000 in student loans. It added that her work hours have recently been reduced.

"With the President at her side, Secretary DeVos promised in March that she had stopped federal wage garnishments altogether, which is what the CARES Act requires," said Alex Elson of Student Defense. "The truth is, she keeps on taking wages from the paychecks of Americans struggling to make ends meet. We sued to make her stop."

As of April 21, the Education Department had yet to send letters requesting that employers stop garnishing the pay of student loan borrowers in default. In April, a group of 10 congressional Democrats led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., expressed concern that the Education Department has not fully acted on the requirement to stop wage garnishment.

RELATED Betsy DeVos sends $6B in coronavirus relief aid to colleges

"This is simply unconscionable... we request the Administration promptly issue new guidance halting all involuntary collections effective immediately and provide a clear timeline for refunds to borrowers" they wrote in an April 16 letter to DeVos and to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Analysis: More black Africans die of COVID-19 than white Britons
By
Danielle Haynes
(0)

The street near the British Parliament is empty March 27. 

A new analysis indicates racial minorities are more likely

 to die than white Britons from coronavirus. 

File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

May 1 (UPI) -- Black Africans are nearly four times as likely to die from the novel coronavirus in Britain than white Britons, an analysis released Friday indicates.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the ethnic black African death rate from the virus is 3.7 times as high as that of white Britons. Overall, all racial minority groups are dying at a higher rate than white Britons.

"After stripping out the role of age and geography, Bangladeshi hospital fatalities are twice those of the white British group, Pakistani deaths are 2.9 times as high and black African deaths 3.7 times as high," the IFS said.

"The Indian, black Caribbean and 'other white' ethnic groups also have excess fatalities, with the white Irish group the only one to have fewer fatalities than white British."y

The IFS said that though the elderly have higher death rates with COVID-19, most minority communities in Britain are younger than the overall population, "which should make them less vulnerable." Many ethnic minorities live in larger population centers, such as London and Birmingham, where there are higher rates of the disease.

The analysis said that occupational exposure may explain the disproportionate death rates for some minority groups. According to the IFS, more than two in 10 black African women of working age are employed in the health and social care industries. And Indian men are 150 percent more likely to work in those industries than white counterparts.

Underlying health conditions also are likely a factor, with Bangladeshis over the age of 60 more than 60 percent more likely to have long-term health conditions compared to their white counterparts

Minority groups, meanwhile, are more economically vulnerable, meaning they're more likely to be exposed to the virus in the labor market.

CDC: Nearly 5,000 workers at meat processing plants diagnosed with COVID-19

With cases of COVID-19 rising among employees at meat processing facilities, fears are rising about the pandemic's threat to the food supply chain. Photo by Fred Lehmann/Pixabay


May 1 (UPI) -- Nearly 5,000 workers in 115 meat processing workers across 19 states have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases of the disease, caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, were reported between April 9 and 27, the CDC said, and account for roughly 3 percent of all workers at the impacted facilities. To date, 20 of the workers have died from the virus.
POST MODERN SWEAT SHOP

CARGILL PLANT, BROOKS, ALBERTA

ONE DEATH, CURRENTLY OPEN AND OPERATING

AS OF MAY 4TH


The agency also noted, however, that the list is not comprehensive. Facilities in at least four additional states reported one or more confirmed cases of the virus, but did not submit data in time to be included in the analysis.

In addition to the financial implications of people not working, virus spread at meat processing facilities has already impacted supplies across the country.

To combat potential shortages, President Donald Trump earlier this week signed an executive order under the Defense Production Act, ordering meat processing facilities to remain open during the pandemic.

 

Last week, Tyson Foods suspended operations at its Waterloo, Iowa, plant after almost 200 out of 2,800 workers tested positive for COVID-I9. The company is among more than a dozen meat plants that have closed since the start of the pandemic.

"I think one of the questions, and we don't have an answer, is -- what will be the impact on the food supply?" Dr. Leonard Marcus, co-director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said on a conference call with reporters this week.

Marcus, who is also director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Harvard, said that since food going to urban areas comes from rural areas, there are inherent risks to the food chain.

"If those rural areas were not as careful about the physical distancing, were not as quick jumping into areas where there were cases," he said, "what's that going to mean nationally in terms of the food chain?"

Experts have said that, at least to date, there's no evidence that livestock and poultry -- the animals being processed at these facilities -- are at risk for COVID-19.

RELATED Healthcare workers without insurance, sick leave at risk from COVID-19

Blue Bell to pay $19.35M over deadly listeria outbreak

Blue Bell's former president, Paul Kruse, faces charges accusing him of covering up the listeria outbreak. 
File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI | License Photo

May 1 (UPI) -- Blue Bell Creamery has agreed to pay a $19.35 million settlement and plead guilty to charges it shipped ice cream contaminated with listeria, which led to three deaths in 2015, the Justice Department announced Friday.

The settlement is the second-largest fine paid to settle a food-safety issue.

"American consumers rely on food manufacturers to take necessary steps to provide products that are safe to eat," said Jody Hunt, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division.

The Brenham, Texas,-based company pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice cream products, resulting in a $17.25 million fine. It paid another $2.1 million fine to resolve allegations the company violated the False Claims Act.

RELATED Foodborne illnesses rise 15% in U.S. in 2019, CDC says

In addition to the company's settlement, the Justice Department levied charges against the former Blue Bell President Paul Kruse, accusing him of covering up the contamination. Federal prosecutors said he deceived certain Blue Bell customers after he learned about the listeria contamination.

"Kruse specifically is asserted to have directed other Blue Bell employees to remove potentially contaminated products from store freezers without notifying retailers or consumers about the real reason for the withdrawal," the Justice Department said.

"Kruse also is alleged to have directed employees to tell customers who asked why products were removed that there had been an unspecified issue with a manufacturing machine instead of that samples of the products had tested positive for listeria."

Blue Bell released a statement saying it "should have handled many things differently and better."

"Today we are a new, different and better Blue Bell. Our agreement with the government involves events that took place five years ago before we shut down and revamped our production facilities and procedures."

In 2015, Blue Bell recalled all of its products after three people died and several were sickened following a listeria outbreak. The company temporarily shut down operations and laid off a third of its workforce.

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Damage reported in Puerto Rico following 5.4 magnitude earthquake

AS PER USUAL NO COMMENT FROM TRUMP OR THE WHITE HOUSE, ITS AS IF PUERTO RICO WAS ANOTHER COUNTRY!!!

ByChaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

The initial quake was recorded at 7:13 a.m., 6.8 miles south-southeast of Tallaboa. Image courtesy of the USGS

May 2 (UPI) -- A magnitude-5.4 earthquake jolted some out of bed in Puerto Rico on Saturday morning. A series of less powerful shocks followed ranging from magnitudes 4.9 to 2.6 in the area.

The initial quake was recorded at 7:13 a.m., 6.8 miles south-southeast of Tallaboa, a small community in the south of the island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

People took to social media to share videos and images of damage left behind from the big quake. Pictures show a second-story balcony crashed onto the street in the city of Ponce.

There were also reports of a landslide after a video was uploaded to Twitter showing clouds of dust as rocks were falling near a road.

RELATED Map of tectonic stresses in North America could help assess tremor risk

According to Courtney Travis, an AccuWeather meteorologist, there have been at least 23 earthquakes of a 2.5-magnitude or higher on the Richter scale since Friday afternoon. There have been 33 earthquakes around Puerto Rico of a 4.5-magnitude or higher since the start of 2020, including two 5.6 earthquakes and one 6.4 earthquake on Jan. 7 that prompted a state of emergency.

Saturday's quake hit towns just off the coast including Guánica and Guayanilla, where the deadly Jan. 7 earthquake resulted in hundreds of destroyed homes and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Some people still remain in shelters from the previous quakes earlier this year.

RELATED 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes Japan; no injuries reported



As residents pick up the pieces after this earthquake they may face less-than-ideal weather if recovery spans into the upcoming week.

"Into early next week, it is likely for there to be a few showers or a thunderstorm in the area each day. Temperatures during this time are expected to be in the upper 80s with dew points in the lower 70s making it humid. These conditions are near normal for this time of year," Travis said.

Saturday was an active earthquake day around the world. Earthquakes also jolted parts of Greece, the Dominican Republic and Oklahoma.

COVID-19 USED AS EXCUSE

Federal judge allows clearing of St. Louis homeless encampment

 )

A couple stand by their belongings after taking their tent down in a homeless encampment in St. Louis on Friday. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

May 2 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Missouri ruled Saturday that St. Louis officials can clear a homeless encampment downtown to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy organization against criminalizing poverty, filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of homeless people who reside in the encampment. Ranata Frank, who resides there, was named in the suit, as one representative of the approximately 50 residents of the tent encampment.

The filing of the suit Friday blocked a deadline that same day for the encampment occupants to leave.

City officials said that the tents' crowded and unsanitary conditions risked coronavirus spread. But the suit said clearing the encampment could increase the public health threat.

RELATED New Mexico closes roads into Gallup to halt COVID-19

Clearing the camp would conflict with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that says "clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread."

U.S. copes with COVID-19 pandemic

A man barbaques in a tent camp that has been set up for the homeless in downtown St. Louis on April 30. The tent camp has been in place for several weeks prompting St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to order the homeless be moved on May 1, due to unhealthy conditions and the danger of coronavirus spreading among the 50-plus tent sites. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

The suit also called for a temporary restraining order, arguing that eviction from encampment under threat of arrest violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

RELATED Navajo Nation COVID-19 outbreak predicted to peak in May

Frank said in the lawsuit that she has been seeking a home in St. Louis since November without success.

She added that three week ago she signed up for a bed in a hotel, but hasn't gotten one yet.

"For weeks, the City of St. Louis has stated that they have enough shelter for the people who want it. This is patently false," ArchCity Defenders attorney John Bonacorsi said in a statement. "As unhoused individuals, outreach workers and service providers know firsthand, there is a severe shortage of adequate shelter space for our local unhoused community, which means that there are hundreds of people who are forced to risk punishment and sleep outside."

RELATED 2019 saw record number of internally displaced persons, report shows

City officials said they arranged space in hotels for everyone residing in the encampments. They also denied that they were planning criminal charges or arrests and said the homeless residents have been offered testing for the virus.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk denied plaintiff's request for a temporary restraining order in her ruling.

"The court cannot say that a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from taking the steps it reasonably deems necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 serves the public interest," Pitlyk said.

RELATED Homeless shelters are 'tinderboxes' for coronavirus, studies show

Pitlyk set a preliminary injunction hearing for May 12.

TODAY IN HISTORY  MAY 4
In 1494, on his second expedition to the New World, Columbus discovered (RAN INTO) Jamaica.
In 1904, construction began on the Panama Canal.
In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea began. It was a turning point for the Allies in World War II.
In 1945, French author Marcel Conversy wrote of the 15 months he spent as a prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp, describing it as a "living hell."
In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
In 1980, President Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia died at age 87.
In 1982, an Argentine jet fighter sank the British destroyer HMS Sheffield during the Falkland Islands war.
In 1990, a faulty electric chair shot flames around convicted killer Jesse Tafero's head as he was executed in Florida, prompting several states to abandon the method of execution and switch to lethal injection.
In 2000, the "I Love You" virus crashed computers around the world. 
<3 br="" u="">In 2002, more than 100 people died when an EAS Airlines jet crashed in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
<3 br="" u="">In 2006, confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 37-year-old Moroccan implicated himself in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
In 2009, fighting between feuding families broke out at a wedding in southeast Turkey, with combatants using guns and grenades, leading to the deaths of 44 people, including the bride and groom.
In 2011, rival Palestinian political factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation accord, citing as common causes opposition to the Israeli occupation and disillusionment with U.S. peace efforts.
In 2014, Juan Carlos Varela was elected president of Panama.
In 2019, first-case Maximum Security was disqualified at the Kentucky Derby for interference. It was the first disqualification in the race's storied history. Country House was ultimately declared the winner.

TODAY IN HISTORY MAY 4
In 1959, the first Grammy Awards were presented. "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" by Domenico Modugno won the awards for Record and Song of the Year.

VOLARE WAS A POPULAR HIT THROUGH OUT THE SIXTIES, I KNOW I LIKED IT
AND IT WAS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WORLD MUSIC MAKING IT ONTO AM RADIO
VOLARE AND THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA WERE FAVES.

Domenico Modugno sings Nel blu dipinto di blu also known as Volare on Ed Sullivan's show in 1958. Music by Domenico Modugno, lyrics by Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci.

MAY 4 TODAY IN HISTORY UK GENERAL STRIKE
In 1926, the Trade Union Congress called a general strike in response to government plans to change the working conditions for coal miners. More than 2 million workers across Britain went on strike.

1926: The social general strike - why 1926 failed - Tom Brown
https://libcom.org › library › social-general-strike-1926-failed-brown
Nov 30, 2005 - Why did the British General Strike of 1926 fail? Not because the workers failed to strike. The number of blacklegs was insignificant. The attempt ...


The 1926 General Strike and the Defeat of the Miners ...
https://spartacus-educational.com › Trade Unions › Classroom Activities
The General Strike began on 3rd May, 1926. Arthur Pugh, the chairman of the Trade Union Congress, was put in charge of the strike. The TUC adopted the ...

Britain 1926 General Strike: On the Verge of Revolution
https://www.marxist.com › britain-1926-general-strike-revolution
May 4, 2006 - 75 years ago an earthquake shook the very foundations of British capitalism. In the greatest display of militant power in its history the British ...

General Strike of 1926 | General strikes - WCML
https://www.wcml.org.uk › protest-politics-and-campaigning-for-change
Apr 9, 2020 - Negotiations between the miners and mine-owners failed and with 800,000 coal miners locked out, the General Strike began on 3 May 1926. The ...

May 4 (UPI) -- On this date in history: HAYMARKET RIOT AND BOMBING 
In 1886, four police officers were killed when a bomb was thrown during a meeting of anarchists in Chicago's Haymarket Square protesting labor unrest. Four leaders of the demonstration, which became known as the Haymarket Square Riot, were convicted and hanged.
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HAYMARKET

On This Day: Kent State shootings leave 4 students dead
On May 4, 1970, National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a demonstration against the Vietnam War. The shootings set off a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of schools to temporarily close.

I REMEMBER THIS AS A RADICALIZING MOMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA
I WENT TO MY FIRST DEMO AN ANTI WAR DEMO IN SOLIDARITY



Students dive to the ground as the National Guard fires on faculty and students May 4, 1970, to protest the war in Vietnam. File Photo courtesy of Kent State University Archives | License Photo 

In 1970, National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a demonstration against the Vietnam War. The shootings set off a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of schools to temporarily close.

Read More

UPI Archives: Students remember 1970 Kent State shooting

UPI Archives: Memorial dedicated at scene of Kent State

Intense actual footage from The Kent State protest as it decays into chaos and murder. Including the fall of Saigon video images and the final days of that US occupation. Set to CSNY "Ohio" and "Find The Cost of Freedom" non-commercial music versions. Powerful footage here.

Halley's Comet will spark Eta Aquarids meteor shower late Tonight Monday May 4

May 4 -- The second meteor shower in as many weeks will dazzle stargazers around the globe, but the light show late Monday will battle against the glow of a nearly full moon when it reaches its peak.

The Eta Aquarids is an annual meteor shower in early May, and this year reaches its climax on Monday night and the predawn hours Tuesday.

"This shower happens to be one of if not the best in the Southern Hemisphere," AccuWeather astronomy blogger Dave Samuhel said. "It is a moderate shower for the Northern Hemisphere."

People living south of the equator may count as many as 40 shooting stars per hour at the height of the celestial light show, the American Meteor Society said. This includes Australia, New Zealand, Africa and South America.

"From the equator northward, they usually only produce medium rates of 10-30 per hour just before dawn," the AMS added.

This year, the meteor shower will be peaking just two nights before the final supermoon of 2020. The bright moon may make it difficult to see some of the fainter meteors, but it should not completely wash out the shower.

A view of a shooting star during the Perseid meteor shower.

 Photo by AccuWeather astronomy blogger Dave Samuhel

Of course, weather and cloud cover will significantly factor into how well sky gazers in different parts of the country are able to witness the meteor shower.

Onlookers across the southern United States and the interior West are forecast to have the best viewing contains for 2020's iteration of the Eta Aquarids. Mainly clear conditions are also on tap for parts of New England and into Quebec.

A storm gathering over the central United States will spread disruptive clouds over much of the Midwest and into parts of Appalachia, obscuring the night sky.

Clouds could also spoil the meteor shower over the Pacific Northwest as a storm moves into the region.


The Eta Aquarids will be active on the nights leading up to and immediately following the peak, so people that have cloudy weather on Monday night may be able to spot some shooting stars later in the week when the clouds clear.

No special equipment is needed to watch a meteor shower, although people should pack some patience when heading out to spend some time under the stars.

"Give yourself a solid hour to look for meteors. Get comfortable. Lay down on a blanket, or a reclining chair," Samuhel said.

People should also avoid looking toward the moon, which will be above the horizon for most of the night. Looking at the moon can make it harder to see meteors, so try to focus in the darkest part of the sky.


The best time to watch the meteor shower will be after midnight once the shower's radiant point climbs above the horizon.

The radiant point is simply the part of the sky where the meteors originate, but you do not need to look in this direction so spot meteors. However, as the radiant point climbs higher in the sky, more and more meteors will able to be seen.

Many of the meteor showers throughout the year are caused by debris left behind by comets when they visit the inner solar system. When this debris enters the Earth's atmosphere, it burns incredibly bright for a few brief seconds.

"The majority of visible meteors are caused by particles ranging in size from about that of a small pebble down to a grain of sand, and generally weigh less than 1-2 grams," the AMS said.

The debris that causes the Eta Aquarids is actually dust left behind by one of the most famous comets -- Halley's Comet.

Halley's Comet only orbits the sun once every 75 years, but each year in early May, the Earth passes through some of the debris that it left behind.

"The Eta Aquarids are one of two meteor showers sparked by Halley's comet. The other being the Orionids in October. "


People who miss out on the Eta Aquarids will need to wait a few months before the next opportunity to catch a meteor shower.

According to the AMS, the next major meteor shower will not peak until late July

SENIOR YOGI
After 150 years, rare brown bear captured on video in Spain

A rare brown bear was captured on video by filmmakers in northwestern Spain, after the species had not been seen in the area for about 150 years. File photo courtesy of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain

May 4 (UPI) -- A film crew in Spain announced Monday the release of video of a rare brown bear filmed in a national park -- the first time the species has been seen in the area for more than a century, wildlife officials said.

"The bear, a male aged between 3 and 5, is the first to be filmed in the area and probably the first to have crossed through the region in the past 150 years," Zeitun Films said in a statement.

The bear was filmed by remote cameras during the day and captured by infrared camera at night, eating grubs under a rock in the park, wandering in the rain and scratching its back on a tree.

The bear was spotted in the Invernadeiro national park in northwest Spain in Galicia's Ourense province, where the crew was shooting a film called Montaña ou Morte (Mountain or Death). The bear will make a cameo appearance in the film, the company said.

RELATED Escaped bear captured after 10 months on the loose in Italy

Cantabrian brown bears, native to Europe, have been a protected species in Spain since the 1970s. There might be around 350 brown bears in all of Spain, with about 30 bears living in the Pyrenees mountains of Spain and France, according to the European Wilderness Society.

Filmmakers credited luck and the involvement of two wildlife agents for the chance to capture images of the bear, which likely spent the winter in the national park.

"Years of conservation work in the Invernadeiro national park have allowed it to become a suitable habitat for the brown bear," the film crew said in a statement.

Last year a brown bear was sighted in Portugal, thought to have wandered across the border from northern Spain, the Portuguese Institute for Conservation of Nature and Forests said. The bears had been extinct in Portugal since the end of the 19th Century.

Last Supermoon of 2020 will be this week

A May supermoon occurs this week when the moon's elliptical orbit is closest to the earth, making the moon appear larger and closer. File photo courtesy of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

May 4 (UPI) -- The last supermoon of 2020, May's so-called "Flower Moon," will be visible in the night skies this week, and its brightness will likely obscure the yearly Eta Aquarids meteor showers, according to NASA.

The Flower Moon, named after blooming May flowers, reaches its closest point to Earth's orbit at 6:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, but will be best viewed Wednesday evening when it rises at 7:10 p.m. EDT, according to the National Weather Service.

The moon's elliptical orbit is closest to Earth when it reaches perigee, 221,500 miles away. When perigee happens during a full moon phase, a supermoon occurs, called by astrologists "perigee-syzygy," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

The supermoon's proximity to the Earth makes it appear 30 percent brighter and about 15 percent larger than a normal full moon.

RELATED Halley's Comet will spark Eta Aquarids meteor shower late Monday

The next supermoon won't take place until May, 2021, astronomers say.Several supermoons usually occur in consecutive months. This year the sky was lit up by March's "Worm Moon," April's "Pink Moon" and now the "Flower Moon," according to Native American names for full moons.

The overlapping Eta Aquarid meteor shower takes place every spring when the Earth passes through the debris trail from Halley's Comet, according to NASA. About 40-60 meteors per hour are visible on a good year.

But full moons usually wash out the view when the two celestial events happen simultaneously.

The Farmer's Almanac also lists other Native American and colonial traditional names for May's full moon, including the Corn Planting Moon, Mother's Moon, Frog Moon and Milk Moon. https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-names