Daily Archives: September 11, 2020

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) The Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce is providing an update on its See You in Terre Haute 2025 Community Plan. The chamber says the plan, whichlaunched a year ago, is designed to address a number of issues, includingdeclines in population and per capital personal income.

Steve Holman, community plan co-chair and chief executive officer of Union Health in Terre Haute, says the effort has made early accomplishments in several key areas.

Its been a much different year than expected, thats for sure, but the positive is that work for the Community Plan and Terre Haute has continued despite all the roads blocks, said Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, who also serves as community plan co-chair. Were encouraged and feel good about the work thats been accomplished and look forward to forging ahead.

The plan is centered around six pillars: economic development, quality of life, talent attraction, health and wellness, and infrastructure.

The chamber says some of the accomplishments include its merger with Launch Terre Haute earlier this year, which it says will develop a stronger business hub and resources in west central Indiana.

Another milestone being celebrated is west central Indiana being named a 21st Century Talent Region by the Indiana Office of Career Connections and Talent.

The chamber says plans are now underway for a variety of other items, including beautification projects at I-70 interchanges, a new comprehensive Community Asset Guide to highlight the regions strengths and attractions for those looking to relocate, and a proposed Reimagined Riverfront Development near Fairbanks Park.

You can learn more about the See You in Terre Haute plan byclicking here.

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Chamber updates progress on 'See You in Terre Haute' plan - WISHTV.com

ACROSS AMERICA Kids are losing a lot of their innocence to the coronavirus pandemic. For millions of them, the pain of the pandemic is hitting the pit of their stomachs.

No Kid Hungry predicts that anywhere from 9 million to 17 million children could struggle to get enough to eat by the end of the year because of the pandemic.

No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by the Share Our Strength nonprofit that works to solve problems of hunger and poverty both domestically and globally. No Kid Hungry works closely with Feeding America, the nation's largest nonprofit hunger-relief organization, which last month offered a startling picture of hunger in America amid a pandemic.

No Kid Hungry estimates that nearly half 47 percent of American families are now living with hunger, according to a national survey and study by No Kid Hungry. It's even worse among Hispanic and Black families, where food insecurity rates are 56 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

In the decade before the pandemic, hunger relief organizations made meaningful headway in cutting food insecurity among children a problem that nonetheless affected one in six U.S. children in 2017 and one in seven two years later, according to Feeding America, the nation's largest nonprofit hunger-relief organization and a No Kid Hungry partner.

Heading into 2020, food insecurity among children was at the lowest rate on record since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking the key measure of childhood well-being in 1998.

Then came crushing job losses and other crises that threw millions of Americans into a vortex of economic uncertainty that no one is sure how long will last.

"It was one in seven," said Adrienne Carter, a spokeswoman for No Kid Hungry. "That's an incredible increase."

No Kid Hungry and other hunger relief programs and organizations have "made a ton of progress" in closing meal gaps for kids with in-school programs that bring breakfast into the classroom and others, Carter said.

"The pandemic has thrown things off and set us back," she said. "It's frustrating to see 10 years of progress being wiped out."

In "The Longest Summer," No Kid Hungry's special report on the effects of the pandemic, the organization found:

"The consequences of this will be felt for years to come," Carter said.

Research shows links between food insecurity and a range of health problems, behavioral issues and mental health conditions that can affect academic performance, the likelihood of graduating from high school and their earning capacity as adults.

Carter also noted that though most parents try to shield them, many kids whose families are struggling are experiencing the pandemic differently than kids from more-affluent families. Parents answering a survey reported that they try to protect their children's innocence so they won't have to worry about whether there will be food on the table.

There's no single profile for America's hungry kids. Some are homeless, but most aren't. Their parents may be among the four in 10 Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Those families were among the most affected as the economy shed 22.2 million jobs when businesses were shuttered under pandemic stay-at-home orders.

These families are facing other crises as well, including a looming eviction crisis that could mean 40 million Americans will lose their homes by year's end. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used its broad powers to halt renter evictions through the end of the year to help control the spread of the coronavirus.

However, the action delays rather than prevents the evictions and "extends the financial cliff for renters to fall off when the moratorium expires and back rent is owed," Diane Yentel, who heads the National Low Income Housing Coalition, told The Associated Press.

"We're talking about really hungry kids the ones who look forward to getting that backpack of food to take home for the weekend," Gay Anderson, the president of the School Nutrition Association, told Patch in an interview last year for a story about childhood hunger.

"I've heard many times, 'Oh my gosh, look what we get,' and seen the excitement in knowing they're going to have some food to eat," Anderson, the child nutrition director for Brandon Valley Schools in South Dakota, said of children's reactions to the backpacks filled with groceries they take home to their families Friday afternoons.

Stopgap measures like those disappeared when schools closed last spring.

Schools are reopening under a smorgasbord of plans that have taken shape amid contentious political debate. A strong point in favor of in-person learning is that the physical classroom is a lifeline for kids whose meals grow skimpier toward the end of the month when their families' food assistance benefits run out, or whose parents may skip meals so they can eat.

Supporting local food banks and community partnerships that provide free food and support school programs are steps people can take in their local communities to provide immediate help, but the "scope and magnitude of this challenge" requires a significant federal response, No Kid Hungry's Carter said.

Calling child hunger "an imminently solvable problem," she said the most effective ways to feed children during the pandemic require congressional action.

Among specific recommendations are for Congress to support and strengthen programs such as SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and P-EBT, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program. The P-EBT program authorizes states to issue food assistance benefits to parents whose children temporarily lost access to free and reduced-price school meals because of the pandemic-related changes.

The USDA extended the more-flexible rules for free and reduced-price meals until year's end, stretching out a program that served nearly 30 million children before schools shuttered in the spring.

Families now can pick up free food from any school campus, regardless of whether their kids are enrolled there or if they qualify for free and reduced meals. Before Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue extended the program for another four months, families faced having to start paying for the food and picking it up only from the schools their children attended.

"The waivers for school lunch are a big win for kids," No Kid Hungry's Carter said, adding that the extension is "just a stopgap until December that needs to go through the entire year."

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.

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Coronavirus Reverses Decades Of Progress In Easing Hunger In Kids - Patch.com

Unexpectedly favorable weather conditions overnight Tuesday helped firefighters make good progress in containing the Oak Fire near Willits, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported Wednesday morning.

(Tuesday) night went really well, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Tricia Austin. We didnt see the high winds (that were expected), and the temperatures were lower than expected.

However, Austin said the fire was in very rugged terrain with lots of ravines that are hard to access, and the poor air quality and low visibility meant that no aircraft could be used to help suppress the fire as of mid-morning Wednesday.

The latest update from Cal Fire that morning had the fire at 863 acres with 10-percent containment. Two structures had been destroyed and 800 homes were still threatened.

The fire was reported around 12:15 p.m. Sept. 7, and the cause is still under investigation. As of Wednesday, the areas of Third Gate Road, Spring Creek, Schow Road, Ryan Creek Road, and Sleepy Hollow were under evacuation orders. The areas of Irmulco Road, Sherwood Rancheria, Shimmins Ridge Road, Hearst Willits Road, String Creek and the Willits Valley north of Highway 20 were under evacuation warnings. To see a map of these areas go to: https://tinyurl.com/MendoEvac

On Wednesday morning, a section of Highway 101 remained closed in both directions at Highway 162 to the north of the fire, and at the Willits bypass to the south of the fire. Around 11:30 a.m. Sept. 9, the California Highway Patrol reported that the latest estimate was that the highway would be closed for at least another 24 hours minimum, and that currently only certain vehicles were being escorted though the closure.

However, by 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, the roadway was reopened to traffic in both directions.

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Firefighters make progress on Oak Fire near Willits; Highway 101 now open - Ukiah Daily Journal

As much as Hollywood has pushed diversity in the past couple of years, there is still a long way to go considering the magnitude of tone-deaf mistakes the film and TV industry has made since its inception. Strides are being made, but no one is going to step in and snap their fingers like Iron Man to make an equal playing ground for everyone who works in film and TV. This is very evident in the new report which dove deep into a comprehensive and intersectional look at film. The annual report from Professor Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism examined 57,629 characters in 1,300 top films from 2007 to 2019 to see where movies stand in terms diversity and inclusion.

The country is in the middle of a civic uprising and a reckoning when it comes to the treatment of marginalized communities especially the Black community. That said, the movies and characters studied in the report aptly titled Inequality in 1,300 Popular Films shows a lack of inclusive representation of those from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, girls and women, the LGBTQ community, and individuals with disabilities.

After 13 years, it is not clear what might convince entertainment companies to change, said Dr. Smith. Despite public statements, the data reveal that there is still apathy and ambivalence to increasing representation of speaking characters overall in popular films. This is both the easiest representational gap to address and one that is essential to strengthen the pipeline to more prominent roles.

The study comes after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its attempt to bolster diversity and inclusion at the Oscars by setting new standards of representation and inclusion to win the coveted Best Picture trophy standards that have been met with praise and skepticism.

The report clocked an increase in leading and/or co-leading characters from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, from 27 films in 2018 to 32 films in 2019. It was found that 17 movies featured a girl or woman from an underrepresented group as a lead or co-lead in 2019 compared to just 11 in 2018, 4 in 2017 and 1 in 2007. In 2019, 43 of the 100 top films had a girl or woman in a leading or co-leading role which is up from 39 in 2018 and a major gain from 20 in 2007. However, only 3 films had a leading or co-leading role filled by a woman aged 45 or older, and only one of these roles went to a woman of color.

As far as speaking female-identifying characters, things have been pretty stagnant for 13 years. The percentage has not meaningfully increased since 2007, reaching only 34% in 2019. Similarly, 34.3% of speaking characters were underrepresented, which is below the U.S. population and a slight decrease from 2018.

The study also found that on-screen representation of characters shown with disabilities and LGBTQ characters is not on par with population norms. In fact, theyre pretty behind. Of the 100 top films of 2019, just 2.3% of characters were shown with a disability, a number consistent over the last five years. In addition, there was a small 1.4% of all LGBTQ-identifying characters in the top films of 2019 even though there has been an increase over the past two years. Across 600 films from 2014 to 2019, only 4 characters were transgender. Not only was representation low with the disabled and LGBTQ community, all the characters did not have an impact on the overall narrative and appear on screen for only 2 minutes in total. Across 600 films and hundreds of hours of storytelling, transgender characters appear on screen for roughly the runtime of a film trailer.

The report also offers up an invisibility analysis to determine how many movies were missing girls and women speaking characters on screen from different underrepresented groups. Of the 100 top films of 2019, the researchers found that 33 films were missing Black/African American girls and women on screen, 55 were missing Asian or Asian American girls or women, 71 were missing Hispanic/Latinas, and 45 were missing girls or women from Multiracial/Multiethnic backgrounds.

Girls and women from other groups were also excluded, including American Indian/Alaskan Native characters (97 movies), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander characters (99 movies), and Middle Eastern/North African characters (92 movies). Further, 77 films did not portray a single girl or woman with a disability and 94 films were devoid of even one female-identified LGBT character.

The erasure of girls and women from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, the LGBTQ community, and those with disabilities remains a hallmark of top-performing Hollywood films, explains Dr. Smith. Intersectional inclusion on screen must be an area for targeted intervention.

The report evaluated a total of 3,891 speaking characters were for race/ethnicity and found that nearly two-thirds of the speaking or named characters assessed were White (65.7%) Far behind were the Hispanic/Latino (4.9%), Black (15.7%), American Indian/Alaskan Native (<1%), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (<1%), Asian (7.2%), Middle Eastern/North African (1.6%) and Multiracial/Multiethnic (4.4%). In total, 34.3% of characters were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. This point statistic was below the U.S. Census (39.9%).

The study also took a look at inclusion behind the camera which saw an good showing of women directors but not so good for underrepresented directors Of 1,447 directors over 13 years, 4.8% were women. Meanwhile, when it came to underrepresented directors 6.1% of directors were Black, 3.3% were Asian, and 3.7% were Hispanic/Latino. There was a significant change in 2018 with an increase in Black directors but then stumbled in 2019. To put things into further perspective, only 13 women of color have directed a top film across 1,300 movies in 13 years.

Dr. Smith pointed out: In contrast to our findings on top-grossing films, 20.7% of Netflix directors of U.S. based films in 2019 were women. The legacy studios may want to take a note out of the streaming giants playbook on how to hire more inclusively behind the camera.

In addition, it unpacked how well legacy studios and distributors performed when it came to indicators of diversity and inclusion. The report also unpacked representation when it came to global box office earnings by studio.

This is a critical moment for the industry to commit to real and substantive change, Dr. Smith said. Too often the results of studies like this one garner attention without action. As protests for racial justice continue, it is imperative that companies move beyond performative statements and commit to take actions that will result in inclusive hiring practices on screen and behind the camera.

Perhaps more studios, decision-makers and gatekeepers in Hollywood will be incentivized by the aforementioned new Academy standards for Best Picture to make these changes happen.

The full annual study from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative can be found here.

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USC Annenberg Comprehensive Study Shines Glaring Spotlight On Slow Progress Toward Inclusion In Hollywood - Deadline

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies is expected to respond on Thursday to the latest salvo of U.S. technology restrictions against it and share its progress on developing a system that is seen as its best bet to replace Googles Android mobile operating system.

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Huawei logo at Huawei Technologies France headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris, France, July 15, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Richard Yu, the head of Huaweis consumer business group, will deliver a keynote speech at its annual developers conference in Dongguan, in what is expected to mark the companys first official response to the Trump administrations efforts to bar its access to chips.

In August the U.S. expanded earlier restrictions aimed at preventing Huawei from obtaining semiconductors without a special license - including chips made by foreign firms that have been developed or produced with U.S. software or technology.

Analysts said the restrictions threaten Huaweis crown as the worlds largest smartphone maker, and that its smartphone business would disappear entirely if it could not source chipsets.

With U.S.-China relations at their worst in decades, Washington is pushing governments around to world to squeeze out Huawei, arguing it would hand over data to the Chinese government for spying. Huawei denies it spies for China.

Huawei will also reveal its progress in developing its proprietary Harmony operating system, which it has billed as an multi-device platform across watches, laptops and mobiles, rather than as a like-for-like challenger to Googles Android mobile operating system. It unveiled the system for the first time at last years developers conference.

We will introduce the community to a range of new technology developments, including HMS Core 5.0 and EMUI 11, and provide opportunities to discuss directly and openly with our engineers and management these new technologies and market opportunities, a Huawei spokesman said, noting that it has 1.6 million developers onboard worldwide.

Huaweis addition to the U.S. entity list in May last year barred Google from providing technical support for new Huawei phone models using Android, and from Google Mobile Services (GMS), the bundle of developer services upon which most Android apps are based.

The company is likely to focus on HarmonyOSs application in devices like wearables and smartscreens, rather than in the smartphone business that is being heavily affected by the U.S. action, said Will Wong, an analyst with consultancy IDC.

It will not want to present HarmonyOS as a genuine Google alternative ahead of the U.S. election in November, in the hope that it might regain access to Google after that, he said.

A key challenge for Huawei is to show that its proprietary AppGallery and Huawei Mobile Services can integrate local apps from different countries and regions, said Tarun Pathak, an industry analyst with Counterpoint.

The lack of Google services seriously impacts these devices appeal against competitors running a full commercial version of Android, he said.

Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Kim Coghill

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China's Huawei to share progress of Google Android OS rival amid U.S. tensions - Reuters