ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PROPOSES TRIO OF LAWS THAT WOULD ALLOW SCHOOLS TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST TRANSGENDER STUDENTS
BY AILA SLISCO ON 1/8/20 AT 12:33 AM EST

ANOTHER BATHROOM BILL
I THINK THESE GUYS ARE AFRAID TO PEE 
NEXT TO A WOMAN PEEING STANDING UP

VIDEO
Mario Lopez: It's 'Dangerous' For Parents To Support Transgender Children

A Republican Arizona state representative has introduced three laws that propose mandating binary sex identification on state documents and legally allowing public school employees to discriminate against transgender students by referring to them with incorrect pronouns.

Rep. John Fillmore proposed House Bill 2082 for the upcoming legislative session, according to a Tuesday report in the Arizona Mirror. The bill would prevent public schools from penalizing employees who use incorrect pronouns for transgender students. It would also prohibit schools from requiring that employees use correct pronouns for students, unless the pronoun "corresponds to the sex listed on that student's birth certificate."

A recent incident that would likely have had a different outcome under the proposed law involved an Arizona teacher who was fired in September 2019. The teacher allegedly insisted on using incorrect pronouns for transgender students, and failed one student for a school project that referred to gender identity. The teacher was also said to have lowered the grade of a student that admitted to being an atheist while proselytizing Christianity and attempting to distribute Bibles to students in class.

Although the law would seemingly help teachers legally discriminate against transgender students, Fillmore insisted the proposal was aimed at helping schools focus on issues like simple math instead of "sexual stuff."

"We've got to get back to 2 plus 2 is 4 and keep basic educational items to allow our kids to grow up and to function in society. And all of this sexual stuff, I don't think should be out there at all," Fillmore told Capitol Media Services.

It's unclear which sexual issues Fillmore believes would be avoided with the new law. Gender identity does not have a direct relationship to sexuality.

One of the three proposed anti-transgender laws would

 prevent schools from taking any action against employees 

who refuse to refer to students by their preferred pronouns.

GETTY

The two other anti-transgender laws proposed by Fillmore deal with amending statutes to mandate binary sex designation on birth certificates and official identification. Although current state law does not have any specific requirement, House Bill 2081 would amend the law to force birth certificates "to include information that indicates the individual's sex as either male or female."

House Bill 2080 would force government agencies, departments, boards and commissions to exclusively refer to people as either male or female on all documents. This law may be aimed at preventing gender-neutral identification from being issued, which has become available in a growing number of states. State Rep. Rosanna Gabaldon, a Democrat, has introduced a competing bill that would make "nonbinary" an option in Arizona.

RELATED STORIESSchool Board Member Caught Saying 'Cry Me a River' Over Trans SuicidesTransgender People with Gender Dysphoria' May Have Brain DifferencesAmerican Medical Association Calls for U.S. to Ban LGBTQ Conversion Therapy

Fillmore claimed he doesn't "have a problem with the LGBT community," while suggesting that the proposed laws would help Arizona society by avoiding "dealing with" the issue of people being transgender, claiming that society didn't have "any problems" for thousands of years, when he says there were "two biological sexes."

"For thousands of years we've had two biological sexes and we haven't had any problems," said Fillmore. "So now if you start introducing all of this other stuff you really muddy the waters up. And I don't think it behooves society, the state of Arizona, and especially the school districts, to be dealing with this."

Other bills sponsored by Fillmore include an effort to prevent schools from teaching economic and social implications of environmental science in order to avoid what Fillmore calls "indoctrination in global warming" and a proposal to eliminate the requirement that children be vaccinated to attend public school.

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SCIENTISTS DISCOVER SIX GENETIC LINKS TO ANXIETY IN LARGEST-EVER STUDY ON SUBJECT

BY HUNTER MOYLER ON 1/8/20

VIDEO
5 Tips For Combating Anxiety



In what they termed the "largest [genome-wide association study] of anxiety traits to date," a team of scientists from two universities and two veterans healthcare offices have identified six genetic variants linked to the development of anxiety disorders.

To find these genetic markers, researchers examined genetic and health data derived from 200,000 veterans of the United States Armed Forces, which was compiled in the Million Veteran Program, a national research program funded by the government to determine "how genes, lifestyle and military exposures affect health and illness."

"This is the richest set of results for the genetic basis of anxiety to date," Joel Gelernter, the co-lead author of the study, said in a Yale press release.

The researchers, who represented Yale University, the Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System, the Veteran Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System and the University California, San Diego, shared their findings in a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry on Tuesday.

Newsweek contacted the study's senior author, Murray Stein, but did not receive a reply before publication.

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According to information from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent mental health issues in the U.S., and affect some 40 million adults in the country every year. A number of factors contribute to the development of an anxiety disorder, including past life experiences, brain chemistry and genetic makeup.

"While there have been many studies on the genetic basis of depression, far fewer have looked for variants linked to anxiety, disorders of which afflict as many as 1 in 10 Americans," Stein, a staff psychiatrist in the VA San Diego Healthcare System, said in the press release from Yale.

In their analysis of the veterans' genomic data, they found six genetic variants associated with higher risks of developing anxiety disorders. Five of these were found in white Americans, while an additional one was found in black Americans.

Dan Levey of the VA Connecticut Healthcare Center and Yale University, another author of the study, said that it was important to include data from minorities in the study.

"Minorities are underrepresented in genetic studies, and the diversity of the Million Veteran Program was essential for this part of the project," Levey said in a news release from the VA. "The genetic variant we identified occurs only in individuals of African ancestry, and would have been completely missed in less diverse cohorts."

The variants that were determined to relate to anxiety disorders were found on chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 7 and 20. One of the variants, the one on chromosome 7, was previously identified to be correlated with higher occurrences of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Another variant, the one on chromosome 7, was associated with the reception of the sex hormone estrogen. However, researchers cautioned those reading the study from drawing conclusions on if this explains why women are affected by anxiety disorders twice as frequently as men. While women veterans were included in this study, more than 90 percent of the veterans whose data is part of the Million Veteran Program are male. Thus, the researchers cited that more research is necessary to confirm or disprove the suspicion.

"This work provides new insights into genetic risk mechanisms underpinning anxiety and related psychiatric disorders," the authors of the study wrote.

A metal plaque on the facade of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs building in Washington, D.C., features a quotation

 by Abraham Lincoln. A study using data compiled by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs was used to determine

 six genetic variants linked to anxiety.

ROBERT ALEXANDER/GETTY

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PSYCHOLOGY

Vaping May Be Just As Bad As Smoking When It Comes to Lung Disease-Causing Bacteria

BY KASHMIRA GANDER ON 12/17/19 

PASCAL KISZON/GETTY

VIDEO
What are E-Cigarettes?

Vaping may carry the same risk as cigarette smoke when it comes to making the lungs more susceptible to infections, scientists have found.

To reach their conclusion, researchers grew bacteria in a lab, and exposed them to e-cigarette vapour and cigarette smoke. The bugs in question—Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa—can live in the lungs without causing problems.

But they often lurk in the lungs of people with conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), bronchitis and asthma, study co-author Dr. Deirdre Gilpin of the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University Belfast told Newsweek, where they can cause infections and increase inflammation.

"This can result in the lungs becoming damaged and not able to function well," Gilpin said.

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When the team treated the bacteria with cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapour, they became more virulent, or potentially harmful, in a way that could lead to diseases such as COPD and asthma, Gilpin explained. The findings were published in the journal Respiratory Research.

She said she didn't expect to find the changes in bacteria exposed to e-cigarette vapour to be the same, and sometimes greater, than those seen with cigarette smoke. "This suggests that vaping may carry the same risk as cigarette smoke in increasing the susceptibility to bacteria infection," Gilpin said.


However, she also highlighted the team generated smoke and vapour in the lab in the same way. But in real life people smoke and vape differently, as the latter requires a deeper inhalation, and people may vape for longer at each session.



"It's possible that the effects we observed with vape could be potentially greater in real life," she said. Gilpin added there are thousands of different e-cigarette flavours on the market, some of which are toxic. Investigating these in the future and with more patient samples is "really important," she said.

"Ideally we would encourage, particularly young non-smokers, not to start vaping," Gilpin continued. She suggested people trying to quit smoking using alternative methods.

Dangers of Vaping: Facts and Statistics on Health Risks of E-Cigarettes

"Vaping is often quoted as being less harmful than smoking," Gilpin stressed. "But less harmful isn't the same as safe, and results from our study suggest that exposing lung bacteria to vape may carry the same risk as smoking.

"We urgently need more research about the long term effects of vaping on the lungs," she concluded.

Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School and a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, who did not work on the research, commented on the paper. Referring to the bacteria which populate the lungs, he told Newsweek the study "tells us that vaping may begin to change the microbiome of our lungs."

"Our lungs' normal microbiomes are made of bacteria that live in an ecological community in a symbiotic relationship with our lungs. When we allow the prevalence of more pathogenic bacteria to increase (e.g. Pseudomonas) and/or become more virulent, then we create a susceptibility to disease initiation and/or progression," explained Galiatsatos.

Asked whether those who use e-cigarettes should stop, he said doctors should tell their patients "to stop smoking, whether combustible or electronic cigarettes."

"More importantly, any activity that has the ability to weaken lung immune defenses and tip the microbiome in favor of pathogenic bacteria, then these persons will be more susceptible to lung-related diseases in the future," Galiatsatos said.

A stock image shows a man vaping. Scientists are investigating how the habit affects bacteria which

 live in the lungs.GETTY

Cynthia Erivo On the 'Powerful, Powerful' Role Music Played in Her Embodying the Spirit of Harriet Tubman
BY H. ALAN SCOTT ON 12/20/19 

ILLUSTRATION BY BRITT SPENCER

HARRIET - Official Trailer

Cynthia Erivo, the Tony, Emmy and Grammy-award winning artist, says the Oscar buzz around her most recent performance as Harriet Tubman in the film Harriet is "very overwhelming" and she "genuinely didn't expect it."

Already nominated for two Golden Globes for the role, Erivo breathes life into the often mysterious public image of the famous abolitionist and unofficial leader of the Underground Railroad.

Erivo says she hopes people learn more about the life lived before and after the period for which Harriet (born Araminta Ross, Erivo's Tubman takes her mother's name—Harriet—in the film after running to freedom) was famous. In order to tap into Tubman's soul, Erivo used a skill she knows a thing or two about: singing, a "powerful, powerful" tool to tap into the spirit of Tubman, and ultimately into the film's message of freedom.

"I think we need to use this film to inspire us to do good things and see the strength we have in ourselves," Erivo told Newsweek. "We as people have agency and the ability to bring about really good change."

Why do you think it's important for people to know Harriet Tubman's various names?

Getting to meet Araminta Ross, we get to humanize her and watch her grow. It took time to get from Araminta to Harriet.

What is often left out of Tubman's story is her military service and her work in the women's suffrage movement. Why are these parts of her story so important?

I don't think many people realize she worked in the army and the suffragette movement—much of that in the script we didn't have time to delve into. It's very exciting that a woman, particularly a woman of color, was one of the first women full stop to lead an armed raid and was a general in the army. There's a life story there that continued for a really long time.

Did the music in the film impact your performance?

Yes. It's a connection to the spirits. Negro spirituals were a way to send a message to one another. It's a powerful, powerful thing.

What sort of impact do you hope Tubman's story has on people?

To help or to make change should be a duty of ours. I hope it gives young men and women the courage and the confidence to see a woman who is the center of her narrative and to be strong and fast and mysterious and have this wonderful heart. It's an example that women can do anything.

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HARRIET+TUBMAN

A Global Green New Deal Could Defeat the Far Right—And Save the Planet

 Opinion BY JOHN FEFFER ON 12/17/19 

RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/GETTY

VIDEO
2020: Race To Save The Planet - Promo

The best way to fight the rising far right is to go green. That's what dozens of academics, researchers, and activists told me over the course of 80 interviews this year.

Over the last decade, the radical right has come to power in the United States, Brazil, India, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere. It has joined forces with autocrats in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Thailand to create a new illiberal ecosystem. Together, they are challenging the rule of law, democratic governance, and the gains made by social movements that have expanded the rights of women and minorities.

The radical right has appealed to all those who feel threatened by the more rapid movement of capital and people across borders. The center parties that have pushed this project of globalization have lost at the polls, while the left has failed to articulate a clear alternative.

Yet despite its political successes, the radical right has an Achilles' heel. It has no credible response to the most urgent threat facing the planet: the current climate crisis.

For the last couple years, radical right leaders like Donald Trump and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro have ignored climate change and boosted support for extractive industries like oil and coal. Thanks to Trump, the United States is the only country to pull out of the Paris climate deal. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, reneged on Brazil's offer to host this year's climate confab, which is has just wrapped up in Madrid instead.

Despite these ostrich moves by Trump and Bolsonaro, the climate crisis hasn't gone away. In fact, it's gotten worse.

According to the most recent UN report, the world has utterly failed to restrain carbon emissions despite dire warnings from the scientific community. The two biggest offenders, the United States and China, actually increased their carbon emissions last year. The scientific consensus is that the world must execute a much faster pivot away from fossil fuels.

The radical right doesn't have a plan to reduce carbon emissions. One wing of the movement continues to deny that there even is a crisis. The other wing is focused on dealing with only the demographic effects of the climate crisis—by proposing higher walls to keep out a future wave of climate refugees.

By comparison, the various Green New Deals on the table offer a comprehensive response that addresses the scale of the problem.

The U.S. version offered by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ed Markey (D-MA) proposes significant investments in making America's infrastructure and transportation carbon-neutral. The Europeans and Canadians are pushing similar plans in parallel. The government in New Zealand, meanwhile, unveiled a "wellbeing budget" this year that also combines a reduction in carbon emissions with improving the livelihoods of those left behind by globalization.

A massive transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy is not only sensible from an environmental point of view. It also addresses the insecurity so many people feel about their economic future in an era of automation and downsizing. The Green New Deal—like its earlier World War II-era cousin, Franklin Roosevelt's New Dea —promises to be a major job creation program.

And not just for the Global North.

A major transfusion of money into the Green Climate Fund would help the Global South leapfrog over existing dirty technologies. By providing jobs in countries currently experiencing economic crisis throughout the Global South, these GNDs would also reduce the massive displacement of people who would otherwise be forced to migrate to find new opportunities—or more habitable land—abroad.

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The current global economic system is clearly broken, which has opened the way for a global far-right reaction. By contrast, the Green New Deal offers a set of principles of sustainability that can help restructure the global economy so that it helps people and the planet—while undermining the far right's appeal.

The radical right has won elections by ramping up fear: of others, of the future, of do-nothing government. It's time to turn that around and revive a politics of hope.

The 80 people I talked to pointed to the student climate strikes as the most promising movement at the moment. But as those students understand better than their elders, there's no politics without a planet. A Global Green New Deal is perhaps out last best hope to save that planet.

John Feffer directs the Foreign Policy In Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies. He's the author of the new IPS study, The Battle for Another World: The Progressive Response to the New Right.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own.​​​​​

Mathematician Kit Yates on Anti Vaxxer Movement, Air Travel Germs and Samoa's Measles Outbreak
BY MEREDITH WOLF SCHIZER ON 12/23/19 

FOTODUETS/GETTY

What To Know About The Anti-Vax Movement

In his new book—The Math of Life & Death: 7 Mathematical Principles that Shape Our Lives—mathematician Kit Yates makes complex mathematical concepts easily accessible to anyone, and which can improve decision making in an increasingly quantitative society.

In this Q&A, Yates discusses why math is relevant to everyday life, what he thinks of the anti-vaxxer movement and whether he worries about the transmission of communicable diseases during air travel.

Kit Yates UNIVERSITY OF BATH

Why this book?

It's the right time. Math is fundamental for grasping the complicated phenomena we experience every day. It's the flow of water through our taps and the electricity that keeps the lights on. It's the ads we see in our internet browsers to the "friend" recommendations pushed at us on Facebook. I want people to know how they can both avoid falling victim to mathematical manipulators and use math to their own advantage.

What is a mathematical biologist?

The job of a mathematical biologist is to use mathematics in order to gain an understanding of complex biological processes. These range from the way in which our genes function at the smallest scales all the way up to the way in which diseases spread through populations at the largest scales.

How do you explain what you do to the layman?

I try to use stories. In the book, we meet athletes banned by faulty tests and patients crippled by faulty genes; innocent victims of miscarriages of justice and the unwitting victims of software glitches. I tell the stories of investors who have lost everything and parents who have lost children, all because of mathematical misunderstandings.

What is the best way to combat the persistent belief that vaccines cause autism?

The science is very clear. There is no connection between vaccines and autism. The best way to best way to combat anti-vax rhetoric is at the grassroots through education programs—arming people with the facts about the benefits of vaccination and dispelling the myths.

To what do you attribute the increased prevalence in autism?

There are prenatal risk factors including, for example, advanced paternal age, which might contribute to a rise in incidence of the disease. However, the number of cases diagnosed has almost certainly increased due to widening diagnostic criteria, better detection and improved awareness. In short, children who were previously being misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all, are now receiving diagnoses of autism

Why do you think the "anti-​vaxxer" movement has so many celebrity supporters?

There has long been a preponderance of new-age beliefs in Hollywood. In reality, however, there are probably more pro-​vaccine than anti-vax celebrities. People like Seth MacFarlane and Kristen Bell are staunchly pro-vaccination and doing great work to encourage people to vaccinate their kids. The anti-vax celebs just get more media attention because they hold such a controversial opinion.

We've seen more cases of measles in the U.S. since the 1990s, and now there's an outbreak in Samoa. Do we need to be concerned that measles will no longer be contained?

Vaping May Be As Bad As Smoking for Lung Disease Bacteria

A Global Green New Deal Could Defeat the Far Right—and Save the Planet


Absolutely. In 2019, Greece, Albania, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom all had their measles-free status revoked by the World Health Organization. The United States itself came within a few weeks of losing its eliminated status. Measles is on the rise again in the U.S., Europe and much of the developing world, placing vulnerable people at risk. If vaccination rates continue to fall, this problem will only get worse.

Do you have any qualms about germs and air travel? How do you protect yourself when you travel?

I wash my hands thoroughly, but I don't go so far as to use a mask. There is relatively little risk of communicable diseases being transmitted on airplanes. Air quality is quite tightly controlled and filtered in order to reduce the risk, so I don't worry too much about it.

Have you always liked patterns?


I was not one of those child prodigies who always knew he was going to be a mathematician. I got into math at high school and I realized that, at its most fundamental, that's all math is—pattern. Pattern is the way that everyone can appreciate our subject. If you spot a pattern in the fractal branches of a tree, or in the multi-fold symmetry of a snowflake, then you are seeing math. When you tap your foot in time with a piece of music, or when your voice reverberates and resonates as you sing in the shower, you are hearing math. If you bend a shot into the back of the net or catch a baseball on its parabolic trajectory, then you are doing math.

What do you do for fun? What are your hobbies?

I have two little kids. They keep me busy. I love to take them out to the park or on muddy walks or just to play games with them at home. I also follow Manchester City Football Club [American soccer] in the English Premier League. And I read a lot, mostly literary fiction.

CBP IS 'GASLIGHTING' IRANIAN AMERICANS BY DENYING IT DETAINED DOZENS AT WASHINGTON BORDER, STATE'S LT. GOVERNOR SAYS

BY CHANTAL DA SILVA ON 1/7/20 AT 7:39 AM EST

Washington state's second-in-command has accused the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency of gaslighting Iranian Americans by denying the claims of dozens who say they were detained and questioned about their connections to Iran at a border crossing in Blaine over the weekend.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Washington Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib, who made history as the first Iranian American to be elected to state legislature, said his office had received multiple reports of Iranian Americans being stopped and questioned about their heritage at the Peace Arch border crossing between the U.S. and Canada over the weekend.

"I have heard directly from people, I know that they—U.S. citizens of Iranian American heritage—have been held at the border for extraordinary lengths of time," Habib said.

In some cases, he said, Iranian Americans had been detained for more than 10 hours at the border, while being "subjected to invasive questioning."

"When we hear story after story of Iranian Americans being singled out based on their ethnicity, stopped for hours, and questioned about their family backgrounds, it is hard to call it anything other than racial profiling," he said.

Ultimately, Habib said: "To have U.S. Customs and Border Protection deny these claims is like being gaslighted from the federal government."

As Newsweek reported on Monday, the Washington state chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) had claimed to have identified more than 60 Iranians and Iranian Americans "of all ages" who said they had been "detained at length and questioned" by CBP officers at the Peace Arch crossing.

In one such case, CAIR-WA said a 24-year-old medical student, identified only as "Crystal," claimed to have been detained with several other people of Iranian descent for more than 10 hours before being released.

RELATED STORIES

• CBP Denies Detaining Iranian-Americans 'Because Of Their Country Of Origin'

Others, the organization said, were reportedly refused entry to the U.S. due to a "lack of capacity" for CBP "to detain them."

CBP has issued a blanket denial of the alleged incidents, however, sharing with Newsweek a statement it had previously posted to Twitter, asserting that "social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false."

The agency also asserted that neither the Department of Homeland Security, nor CBP, had issued any "directive" ordering border agents and officers to detain people of Iranian descent.

CBP further noted that based on the current threat environment, the agency is operating with an enhanced posture at U.S. ports of entry. Processing times, it said, are the result of current circumstances, including staffing levels, volume of traffic and threat posture.

While CBP did acknowledge that wait times had increased on Saturday evening to an average of two hours, with some travelers experiencing longer delays of up to four, the agency said those delays were due to increased volume and reduced staff during the holiday season.

In an interview with Newsweek, National Iranian American Council (NIAC) spokesperson Mana Mostatabi said a number of Iranian Americans had crossed the border into Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday to attend a music show featuring Persian pop duo Masih & Arash Ap.

As a result, Mostatabi said, "there were a lot of folks of Iranian heritage coming across the border at this point."

According to an event listing for the concert, it would have taken place starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Chan Center. Therefore, U.S. concertgoers may have been trying to make their way back home through Washington later that evening or on Sunday.

Vehicles line up to enter the United States at the border crossing between Blaine, Washington and White Rock, British Columbia November 8, 2001 in White Rock, B.C. CBP has been accused of detaining and questioning Iranian Americans, in some cases, for more than 10 hours, over the weekend.

JEFF VINNICK/GETTY

Mostatabi said that even if there had been an influx of people, including Iranian Americans, passing through the Blaine border crossing in connection with the concert, that would not explain why Iranian Americans would have been delayed for upwards of 10 hours and questioned about their ties to Iran.

Mostatabi said she suspected CBP was "using semantics" to try to avoid taking responsibility for the situation. The NIAC spokesperson questioned why CBP's statement only appeared to respond to "social media reports" and why the agency specifically said it did not detain and refuse Iranian Americans entry "because of their country of origin."

"They said social media reports are false that we are detaining and refusing entry, so we think they're using semantics to try to get around this, which is quite concerning," the NIAC spokesperson said.

Newsweek has followed up with CBP for further information.

At least 115 possible graves from a previously lost African-American cemetery have been located on land owned by a restaurant group in Florida.

The Columbia Restaurant Group, which purchased the plot of land on Florida Avenue in Tampa in 2016, immediately halted any further production in the area following the discovery of the possible graves from the Zion Cemetery, believed to be the first black burial ground to exist in Tampa.

Instead, the group are hoping for a land swap or sale which would permanently ensure the protection and preservation of the cemetery.

"We said from the beginning that we would do the right thing," Richard Gonzmart, president of the Columbia Restaurant Group said in a statement. "And this is the right thing. Let them rest in peace."

The group's decision to halt all development on the land where the graves were discovered has been praised.

"I'm very pleased with this quick decision by the Columbia Restaurant Group," said Yvette Lewis, Hillsborough branch president of the NACCP. "It's clear everyone wants the same thing: For this cemetery to be preserved and memorialized."

The Zion Cemetery was believed to have been founded in 1901. The cemetery has since been built over and was erased from all city maps after 1925.

The cemetery was forgotten about until a Tampa Bay Times investigation examined what happened to it last June.

Since then, 314 graves have since been discovered underneath roads, houses and other businesses using radar technology.

Unmarked graves were previously discovered on nearby land owned by the Tampa Housing Authority and the Sunstate Wrecker Services, raising questions about whether there could be more in the surrounding area.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the two-and-a-half acre cemetery could hold as many as 800 graves.

"It seems like nearly everybody was left there," said Rodney Kite-Powell with the Tampa Bay History Center. "It seems that Zion was purposely erased."

The Columbia Restaurant Group previously planned to turn the land into a non-profit culinary school for at-risk high school students.

"Fortunately, though, we're now working with Lena Young [founder and chair of] the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association's upcoming Early Development Center on an educational culinary and nutrition project on Central and Lake," Gonzmart said.

"We're donating all the kitchen equipment. I believe with faith, opportunity, hard work and a bit of assistance, people can rise above their economic situation."

Young added: "We are delighted that he is committed to and fully supporting the culinary training program at our new facility that will serve our residents in north Tampa Heights."

The Columbia Restaurant Group has been contacted for further comment.

Location of the 115 garves believed to be part of the Zion

 Cemetary in Tampa, Florida.GOOGLE EARTH

A lost, predominantly African American, cemetery appears to have been rediscovered underneath a Tampa, Florida high school, after 145 coffins were discovered during a radar scan.

Hillsborough County School Board officials announced in a Wednesday press conference that they believe they have found the remnants of Ridgewood Cemetery, a mid-20th century "pauper's burial ground" under King High School. The school district used a company called GeoView to map and scan areas of the campus after being alerted to the possibility that the cemetery might be located underneath.

"The company found clear evidence of burials. Ground penetrating radar found approximately 145 coffins buried three to five feet deep," said school board chair Tamara Shamburger at the press conference. "This entire area has been fenced off since last month, when a citizen first alerted us about the possibility of a cemetery. This is consistent with the research we've done in collaboration with the Tampa Bay History Center and other partners."

“We believe we have found Ridgewood Cemetery.”
Board Member @T_Shamburger announces results of scans beneath the surface of the @KingHSLions campus. Details: https://t.co/sjPjcdbLPe pic.twitter.com/tXKlWKw46Q— Hillsborough Schools (@HillsboroughSch) November 20, 2019

Ridgewood Cemetery was opened by the city in 1942 and sold to a private company only 15 years later. Almost all of the estimated 268 people believed to have been buried at the segregation-era cemetery were African American. The property was sold to the school district in 1959 and later forgotten. Some locals believe the cemetery was sold off and then forgotten about deliberately.

"I am sick of this," said Hillsborough County NAACP President Yvette Lewis to the Tampa Bay Times Wednesday. "This hurts deeply. It was hate toward people who looked like me. It deeply saddens me that people can hate you this much, that they can treat you less than."

The school district was tipped off about the possible grave site by cemetery researcher Ray Reed. In August, Reed had provided information that led to the discovery of the ruins of another lost burial site for the African American community, Zion Cemetery. That discovery resulted in 130 coffins being found, and inspired Reed to find the location of Ridgewood cemetery.

"This is one of those situations where being proven right is a no-win," said Reed. "You end up learning that this community was so twisted."

The location of the cemetery was said to have been long 

forgotten after the property was sold off to the school 

district in 1959.GETTY

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Officials say there are several explanations for the discrepancy between the number of caskets found and the number believed to have been buried at the cemetery. Many of the people buried are believed to have been children and the remains may have been too small for the scans to pick up. Some of the graves may have decayed to the point where they can no longer be seen. The scanning technology itself is also less than perfect and there could be individuals yet to be discovered.

The area containing the remnants of Ridgewood Cemetery currently houses an agricultural workshop. The school board says they intend to remove the building and are working with a local historical group on how to best memorialize the individuals who were buried there.

AUSTRALIA WILDFIRES MAP UPDATE: AREA THE SIZE OF KENTUCKY HAS BURNT SINCE BLAZES BEGAN AS PROTESTERS TARGET PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON
BY BRENDAN COLE ON 1/8/20 AT 6:07 AM EST

Former Australian Prime Minister Filmed Helping To Fight Wildfires As More Than 100 Continue To Burn

Police in Australia have urged people not to engage in planned protests against Prime Minister Scott Morrison for fear of drawing resources away from the fires presently devastating the country. Rancor has been building against Morrison's response to the blazes amid a series of perceived public relations missteps.

These include staying on holiday in Hawaii at the height of the fire season, walking away from questions from victims in Cobargo, and reiterating that he believes his government's carbon reduction policies are adequate.

A protest organised by Uni Students for Climate Justice will shut down parts of central Melbourne on Friday, with several other actions also planned.
Burnt out forest is seen on January 7, 2020 in Cann River, Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he is considering a federal inquiry into the disaster.DARRIAN TRAYNOR/GETTY IMAGES

Victoria's Acting Assistant Commissioner Tim Hansen described the action as a "distraction" and said that resources should be focused on where the fires are burning.

"We see frontline police returning from the fire ground, returning from the fire zone that are fatigued, that do need a break, and this is now another operation we need to resource," he said, Australia's ABC News reported.

Protest convenor Anneke Demanuele defended the demonstration, saying it was important to express that "we're living in a climate emergency, a climate crisis. The bushfire season started earlier, it's more intense, and it's going to be ongoing."

Protesters are calling for all firefighters to be paid, want a move away from fossil fuels, and the sacking of Morrison.



At least 24 people have died and more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the blazes which have burned an estimated 10.7 million hectares of land, including grassland in the Northern Territory, or around 41,300 square miles, according to Guardian calculations as of January 8. This is an area slightly larger than the U.S. state of Kentucky.
Australia Wildfires Maps
This map shows the extent of the wildfires in the state of New South Wales as of 5 a.m. ET, January 8, 2020. The state's fires service says 119 fires are burning across the state.NEW SOUTH WALES FIRE SERVICE - GOOGLE MAPS
This map shows the areas in Victoria affected by wildfires according to the state government as of 5 a.m. ET, January 8, 2020. The orange icons indicate fire hazard and the yellow icons indicate concerns about air quality.VICTORIA GOVERNMENT
This map shows the areas where fires are in South Australia as of 5 a.m. ET, January 8, 2020.SOUTH AUSTRALIA GOVERNMENT
This map shows the areas in Queensland affected by fires according to state government as of 5 a.m. ET, January 8, 2020. The flame icon signifies that a fire has started in the area but does not pose a threatQUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT

In New South Wales there are 119 fires burning according to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Among the biggest is one in the Wollemi National Park area, across more than 512,000 hectares. Another is burning between Batemans Bay and Nowra and east of Braidwood, across an area of more than 307,000 hectares, which is being controlled, the NSW RFS said.

A huge blaze is burning in the Wollemi National Park, Putty State Forest, Coricudgy State Forest and Nullo Mountain State Forest across 323,000 hectares in size, although it is also being controlled.

The NSW RFS has also said a number of fires are burning north of Adaminaby, in the Bugtown area, with an area of around 20,000 hectares affected in blazes it describes as "out of control."

It has warned people between Yaouk in the north and Lake Eucumbene in the south to monitor conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting "severe fire danger" in some districts in South Australia, including the Lower Eyre Peninsula, Mid North, Mount Lofty Ranges, Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and Lower South East.

Photos of Australia Show Devastation That Could Kill 1 Billion Animals
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In New South Wales, the BOM says there are hot and dry conditions and an increased fire danger for parts of the western slopes and a "very high fire danger" for the southern slopes.

There is the promise of some reprieve with heavy rainfall predicted for Hunter, Northern Tablelands and parts of Mid North Coast, Central Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains Forecast Districts.

In Western Australia, hot and dry conditions are expected in the north-west of the state with extreme fire danger forecast for the Gascoyne Coast and "severe fire danger" forecast for Exmouth Gulf Coast and Gascoyne Island.

For people affected by the wildfires, the NSW RFS advises the following:
Stay up to date on bush fires in the area by checking your local fire service website, listening to the local radio station.
People with respiratory conditions who are affected by bush fire smoke should activate their health management plan and seek medical advice if necessary. Take precautions, such as staying indoors and closing windows.
For information on road closures, check live traffic updates. Roads may be closed without warning.
Monitor weather conditions and weather warnings at the Bureau of Meteorology.

For more information on how readers can support those affected by the bushfires in Australia, Newsweek has rounded up several ways Americans can help.

Correction (1/8/20, 10 a.m. ET): This article was updated to correct figures on estimated area burned and comparisons in size.

TECH & SCIENCE

ASTEROID UP TO 1,800 FEET WIDE IS ONE OF 14 TO PASS EARTH THIS WEEK

BY ROSIE MCCALL ON 1/7/20 


 ACCORDING to CNEOS data, the object (2019 UO) is projected to fly by Earth at 9.4 kilometers per second on Friday January 10, 2020.

It is expected to do so at a minimum possible close-approach distance of 0.03376 astronomical units (au) or 13.07 lunar distance (LD), meaning it is a little over 13 times the Earth-Moon distance.

That is a minimum distance of 3,138,000 miles or 5,050,000 kilometers. The Earth has a circumference of 24,901 miles or 40,075 kilometers.

The closest miss this week will be on Thursday January 9, 2020, with object (2020 AT1) with a minimum possible close-approach distance of 2.46 LD or 0.00631 au—which is still 23 times as long as the circumference of the Earth.

It is estimated to be between 8.3 and 19 meters wide.