Daily Archives: April 2, 2021

Title: Deposits from giant floods in Gale crater and their implications for the climate of early Mars (Nature, open access)Authors: E. Heydari, J. F. Schroeder, F. J. Calef, J. Van Beek, S. K. Rowland, T. J. Parker & A. G. FairnFirst author affiliation: Department of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences, and Geoscience, Jackson State University

Thanks to the 8-year trek of NASAs intrepid Curiosity Rover (Fig. 1), Gale Crater is arguably the best-studied place on Mars. The crater has had a tumultuous history its been filled to the brim with rock, then hollowed out again by wind to form a hill at its center, known as Mt. Sharp. It has housed small lakes and had parts of its rim destroyed by rivers. However, to fully understand Gales place in Mars potentially habitable past, these snapshots arent enough. Rover images show tantalizing hints of ancient water inside Gale crater perhaps a billion years before the most recent lakes, and where there was liquid water, there might have been promise for life. But life doesnt just appear on a planet overnight! For an environment to go from habitable to inhabited takes time. So, how long did wet conditions last in Gale? So far theres been an air of cautious optimism, but the re-examination of the rocks in Gale crater in todays paper stands to turn everything we thought we knew about Gales history on its head.

In the conventional version of Gales sedimentological story, rivers washed sand and pebbles and from the crater rim down into a lake over hundreds or thousands of years. Only the fast-moving water in rivers can carry sand and pebbles downstream, so when a lake stops a river in its tracks, all the rocks, sand and mud fall to the bottom, forming deltas. The Earth is covered in deltas like the Bengal Fan off the coast of India, and the Mississippi delta in the Gulf of Mexico, so we have a good idea of what the rocks left behind by deltas look like. As lake levels change, repeating patterns of lake mud, sand, and pebbles build up. These are brought back to the surface (where rovers can see them) when the material above them is removed by wind (think slow-motion sandblasting!). If Gales rocks formed in a delta, it would suggest a long-lived warm, wet climate, which would be very promising for scientists searching for traces of life on Mars. Unfortunately, rocks in unexpected orders, mud and sand in the wrong places, and mysterious ridges (Fig. 1) fly in the face of this delta story, and there hasnt yet been a satisfying explanation as to why.

Instead of comparing Gales rocks to calm lake and river environments, where sand and gravel accumulate slowly in rivers and lakes, the authors of todays paper noticed similarities between the appearance of rock within Gale and rocks left behind by the most dramatic flooding events the Earth has ever seen megafloods! These catastrophic events were generated by the sudden melting of enormous ice caps that used to cover the northern hemisphere (Fig. 3)!

Todays authors propose a single, catastrophic flood with roiling waters 24 meters (72 feet) deep which left behind enormous ripples, hundreds of meters wide (Figs. 2 & 4), like those observed in Washingtons Channeled Scablands (Fig. 3). Gales perplexing pattern of pebbly ridges (Fig 2.) is one of the features the delta hypothesis struggles most to explain, and formation in deep, fast-flowing floodwaters (Fig. 4) is an elegant (if terrifying) alternative.

But where could all this water have come from, and so suddenly? To explain how a lake could exist for thousands of years on Mars, planetary scientists often suggest a thicker past atmosphere with a mixture of greenhouse gasses like water vapor and methane released by volcanoes. The authors of todays paper propose a more dramatic explanation. While volcanic eruptions take a long time to change the atmosphere, giant asteroid impacts can radically change a planets climate by providing an instant injection of heat into the atmosphere. This heat could have been enough to melt and even evaporate glaciers all over Mars, forming rivers, kickstarting rainfall, and releasing methane trapped in Martian permafrost for an extra warming kick. However, climates caused by asteroid impacts cant last. So, while they might be able to generate lots of liquid water through melting ice caps and rainfall, the water might only stick around for a few months not nearly long enough for life to get established!

The jury is still out on whether deltas or megafloods fit Gales geology best, but how scientists choose to interpret these rocks could rewrite Mars history, and completely change our search for life on the red planet. The difference between the two theories could be the difference between a Mars that spent hundreds of millions of years warm, wet, and with promise for life, and a cold, dry Mars where brief snippets of habitable conditions occurred only at the whim of giant asteroid impacts.

Edited by: Laila Linke

Featured image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

About Sasha WarrenI'm a 3rd-year Planetary Science Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago! My background is in geology, but now I use my rock knowledge to study how the atmospheres of Mars and Venus have evolved over time through a combination of numerical modeling and analyzing spacecraft imagery. Outside of my research, I am the proud parent of 2 cats and 20 plants, an amateur singer-songwriter, and a keen home cook!

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Rewriting the geologic history of Mars one megaflood at a time - Astrobites

Black and Asian American communities are uniting against racism. However, during this time, theres also a call to confront divisions between the communities.

SEATTLE Anti-Asian hate crimes rose nearly 150% in major U.S. cities in 2020, according to a new report released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Amid the surge in attacks, Black and Asian American communities are uniting against racism. However, during this time, theres also a call to confront divisions between the two communities.

KING 5's race and equity unit Facing Race looks at the complex history that includes times of tension and solidarity.

The attacks against Asian Americans have been happening unprovoked and in plain sight across the country and in Seattle.

On the evening of Feb. 25, Noriko Nasu was the victim of an attack in Seattles Chinatown-International District.

"He came to Chinatown to look for a victim with a weapon in his pocket. He avoided my partner. He went out of his way to strike me, said Nasu. "I could feel my mask was filling up with blood."

Nasu, a high school teacher, was left with four broken teeth, three facial fractures and a concussion.

"If I smile, my face is lopsided, said Nasu, who is still recovering from her injuries.

Nasu calls it a hate crime, but the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office says, at this point, it does not have the evidence needed to file the case as a hate crime.

As horrible as this attack was, we do not believe we can prove a hate crime before a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Investigators, which are separate from our office, are looking for evidence that would allow us to prove a hate crime beyond a reasonable doubt. However, if convicted for the two felony assault crimes we charged, that defendant would face a longer punishment than if the case were charged as a hate crime, the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office said in a statement.

In the neighborhood where Nasu's attack happened, a Night Watch was formed about nine months ago. Volunteers meet a few nights each week and walk through the neighborhood to offer help to those in need.

The neighborhood is home for Tanya Woo, who is also a Night Watch volunteer.

This is just a small community," said Woo. "We know the business owners. We know people who live here. We know people who work here. And it was like, these small businesses are already suffering from COVID. Having our windows broken, its a lot, having to pay a thousand dollars for a new window when you are already suffering from a lack of business."

"We realized the need, said another volunteer. Some people need protection while walking through this neighborhood. They don't feel safe. So we are trying to see how we can meet that need."

Matt Toles organized the Chinatown-International District Night Watch as a community-based effort to combat the rise in vandalism and violence happening in the neighborhood.

It's terrible, but the only way we can handle it, the only way to move forward, is to get organized and not put up with it, said Toles. Now is the easiest time, at least in my lifetime, to get organized and get together and start a movement like we have been doing.

STOP AAPI HATE, an advocacy group tracking the escalation of xenophobia and bigotry, says it received nearly 3,800 reports of hate incidents targeting Asian Americans across the county since the pandemic began.

Vince Schleitwiler teaches Asian American and African American studies at the University of Washington.

"Anti-Asian violence has been a problem as long as I've been alive. But very rarely does it break through, said Schleitwiler.

Attention is being paid now to cases like the Atlanta mass shooting that claimed eight lives. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent. The shooter, a white man, claims the attack was not motivated by hate.

The violence in Atlanta was an act of hate. We grieve with Atlanta and for the victims and their families, said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Chief of Police Adrian Diaz in a joint statement.

We also stand together with our Asian American community against the rise of hate crimes towards Asian Americans, which especially target Chinese Americans. In Seattle and across our nation, our Asian American neighbors, places of worship, and businesses have been deliberately targeted by racism, xenophobia, and acts of violence related to misconceptions of COVID-19, the statement continued.

There have also been widely circulated videos that show Black men attacking Asian Americans, and that has brought up historical tensions between Black and Asian American communities. The conflicts are well known inside both of those communities, but often not talked about openly.

"We should take this moment to challenge the narratives that would pit one group against another, said Schleitwiler. "Why is it so much easier to get attention for conflicts between Black and Asian people? Why do Asian Americans make the news, make discussions of race, when they can be used against Black, Indigenous and other people of color?"

"Honestly, like part of buying into the model minority myth is buying into anti-Black racism, said Shomya Tripathy, director of policy and civic engagement at Asian Counseling and Referral Service.

The model minority myth claims Asian Americans are successful and downplays racism.

"For a long time, I think many Asian people, including South Asian people, have been sold the narrative that your proximity to whiteness will liberate you," said Tripathy. "The more closer you are to white people, the more money that you make, the more you put your head down, study hard, you will be free from racism, is a narrative that we have been sold and has created this model minority myth. I think seeing this rise in anti-Asian violence is like just the most visceral example that that is not true. I think that white supremacy is 100% where we should be focusing our attention on right now and not how our communities have tension."

It is not only a history of tension between Black and Asian American communities; over the years there has been solidarity too.

"Is there a problem with anti-Blackness in Asian communities? Absolutely. And this history of organizing is a history to try to counter that, said Schleitwiler.

That history of organizing is one that includes Black and Asian American communities coming together to work hand in hand over the years.

A good example of that kind of unity is Seattles Gang of Four, also known as the Four Amigos.Bernie Whitebear, Roberto Maestas, Bob Santos and Larry Gossett were four leaders from four different communities. They came together in the 1960s, 70s and 80s to bring about change.

"They did that because they were friends. They did that because they got along. They did that because their communities had always lived together in Seattle, in segregated Seattle," Schleitwiler explained.

"Seattle's Gang of Four was a very magnificent group of non-white activists who forged unity and brotherhood and very effective multiracial organizing efforts that ended up being successful, said Gossett, the only surviving member of the group.

Gossett says as communities of color were being pitted against one another, Seattles Gang of Four found tremendous power in their united front as they fought for equality and social justice when it came to issues like education, housing and health care.

"Through organized struggle and pressure, it is possible to get change in America. We did it, said Gossett.

Gossett says he is committed to carrying on the legacy.

Recently, in Seattles Hing Hay Park, people came together to take a stand against the hatred toward Asian Americans.

Gossett spoke at the rally.

He told the crowd, "It won't be done unless we are willing to organize across racial lines, Black, Asian, Native, Latino, progressive Whites all together."

The rally in Seattle is one example of how the rise in anti-Asian violence has led to calls for all communities to work together against racism.

"I don't want to suggest that these communities don't have conflicts, right?" said Schleitwiler. "These two things can be true at the same time. You can have a long history of solidarity. And you can also have, at the same time, a history of antagonism and prejudice. Those pressures have always been felt in our communities."

"I just hope that we can build a more united front that involves people from all communities," said Gossett. "That's beneficial to everybody."

More here:

Rise in attacks on Asian Americans highlights history of tension and solidarity - KING5.com

March is Womens History Month an annual celebration of the achievements of women and their role in U.S. history. In its early years as the San Diego Normal School, women formed the majority of the student population. Since then, many of them have played a crucial role in San Diego States history and evolution. To celebrate Womens History Month, here are two women who have helped shape SDSU into what it is today.

Vesta C. Muehleisen

Vesta C. Muehleisen was born on August 7, 1889, in Tabor, Iowa to parents Henry E. Gates and Nettie Fox. She moved to San Diego in 1891 and trained to be an elementary school teacher at San Diego State which at the time was known as San Diego Normal School.

In 1907, Muehleisen earned her undergraduate degree at San Diego Normal School. Muehleisen was a part of the schools eighth graduating class and remained active within her alma mater in ways that resonate with students and alumni today

In 1927, San Diego State Teachers Colleges second president, Edward L. Hardy, appointed Muehleisen to the citizens advisory council formed to assist in finding a suitable site to move the institution. Two previous site selections had fallen through and the issue was becoming urgent. Muehleisen suggested moving the campus to a remote, undeveloped site east of San Diego. In May 1931, she attended the dedication ceremony for the new campus location.

That same year, she founded the SDSU Alumni Association and became its first president.

Decades later, the SDSU Alumni Association is still alive and running. The mission of the alumni association is to create meaningful and beneficial relations between all Aztecs and the university.

Muehleisen passed away on October 19, 1973 in San Diego.

Nancy Marlin

In 1998, the seventh president of San Diego State University, Stephen L. Weber recruited Nancy Marlin to serve as the campuss first woman provost.

Together the two collaborated to turn SDSU into a global campus by increasing partnerships with universities outside the U.S. and encouraging students to study abroad.

Marlin had a target goal of 30% of students studying abroad. At the time this goal seemed unattainable but today SDSU remains one of the top schools for international experiences.

According to the SDSU International Affairs team, 2,940 students studied abroad in the 2019-2020 academic year, ranking SDSU at seventh nationwide for study abroad programs.

Marlin stepped down from her role as SDSUs provost to return to the faculty in 2013 after serving 15 years but her hard work did not go unnoticed.

In 2013, Mary Ruth Carleton, vice president for university relations and development, nominated Marlin for San Diego Business Journals Women Who Mean Business Awards. Out of 160 candidates, 30 women were chosen to receive the award, including Marlin.

This is a recognition that goes to the university as a whole. Everything I do is because of the fabulous people here at SDSU, Marlin said at the time of her nomination. I dont do this job by myself. It takes faculty, administrators and staff. Our success is really the work of everybody.

Marlins tireless commitment to SDSUs students left a huge impact on the campus. Although she was the first female provost of SDSU, she hopes she wont be the last.

Its nice to know that the next woman provost here at SDSU wont have to be the first, she said. This is what were fighting for to no longer be the first woman in the room.

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Feature: How two women helped shape the history of San Diego State - Daily Aztec

And now, the United States faces a pandemic that has disproportionately sickened and killed Americans of color, who are overrepresented in the essential work force yet less likely to have access to medical care. As federal and state governments manage the vaccine rollout, access to testing and treatment, and economic relief packages, its crucial to learn from the past and target policies specifically at reducing the racial and economic inequalities that made the pandemic so devastating in the first place.

If the effects of racism and effects of xenophobia were less systemic within our society, we would likely see fewer deaths as a result of Covid-19, Mr. White said. Bigotry is fundamentally bad for public health.

Even as pandemics have often re-entrenched old prejudices and forms of marginalization, theyve also often given rise to something new, especially when it comes to art, culture and entertainment.

Ancient Rome, for example, was tormented by epidemics, with one occurring every 15 to 20 years for portions of the fourth, third and second centuries B.C., said Caroline Wazer, a writer and editor who completed a dissertation on Roman public health. At the time, the primary public-health response was a religious one, with Romans experimenting with new rites and even new gods in an attempt to stop the spread of illness. In one case, Ms. Wazer said, with an epidemic dragging on for three years and the public increasingly agitated, the Senate adopted a strange, new ritual from northern Italy: they bring in actors to perform onstage. According to the Roman historian Livy, this is how the Romans get theater, Ms. Wazer said, though that fact has been debated.

A spiritual response to disease brought cultural change to 14th-century England, too. Recalling the mass graves of the Black Death, Britons feared dying without a Christian burial and spending eternity in purgatory, Mr. Bailey said. So they began to form guilds, small religious groups that essentially functioned as burial insurance clubs, raising money to give members the proper treatment after death.

Read this article:

What the History of Pandemics Can Teach Us About Resilience - The New York Times

Welcome to the latest installment of Voxs Ask a Book Critic, in which I, Vox book critic Constance Grady, provide book recommendations to suit your very specific mood: either how youre feeling right now or how youd like to be feeling instead.

If you prefer your recommendations in audio form, you can listen to Ask a Book Critic, part of Vox Quick Hits. Hear a new episode of Ask a Book Critic always under 10 minutes long every two weeks wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

Now lets get started.

I am a sucker for every Hallmark movie. Big-city character moves to a small town, adapts to a new place, budding romances, finding oneself, and usually a dog. I think, especially during these times of immense uncertainty, I take comfort from stories where everything is packaged up nicely and everyone drives off into the sunset, happily ever after. I also love great narratives and storytelling, and while I love my cheesy Hallmark movies, the storytelling can sometimes leave something to be desired.

So, do you have any feel-good warm and fuzzy romance books that include some fantastic storytelling?

Try Beach Read by Emily Henry. Its about a womens fiction writer who gets into a contest with a literary fiction novelist where they each agree to switch genres for the summer. Hijinks and romance ensue, and its all extremely fun to read.

I love a sprawling nonfiction book that tells me all about a city. Think Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The last book that has come close for me is Boom Town by Sam Anderson, writing about Oklahoma City. Im sure there are others, but I am in a dry spell.

The two authors I think you should check out are Erik Larson and Thomas Dyja. Larsons Devil in the White City, about a serial killer in Chicago during the Worlds Fair, is kind of a gimme, so its most likely already on your list. But if its not, check it out! Its good! Larson is great at recreating the compulsive pacing of a thriller within the dense historical detail of nonfiction.

Less of a gimme: Dyja is an urbanist who writes histories of cities. His last book, The Third Coast, was about Chicago, and this year he published New York, New York, New York, about the citys transition from its chaotic state of nature in 1978 to the rampant inequality it faces today. A fun bonus here is that Dyja capitalizes all the nouns he thinks are important, like hes writing from the 18th century, which adds an interesting flavor to the reading experience.

Bonus recommendations: Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty uses San Franciscos housing crisis to delve into the problem of income inequality more generally. For more of a philosophical examination of the power of cities, check out N.K. Jemisins science fiction series The City We Became, which we read in the Vox Book Club.

Was wondering if you have any recommendations for a very particular 202021 book mood at the intersection of post-apocalyptic and alternate history fiction: in-depth histories of the end of the world. Think the alternate timeline part of 11/22/63, the book-within-a-book from 1984, lots of World War Z, or the first couple chapters of lots of post-apocalyptic fiction (The Stand does it decently if anecdotally, Station Eleven was mostly unsatisfying in this regard). Basically, Im looking for something that does a deep dive into this world-building (world-destroying?) as an end in itself, rather than a convenient device to either resolve a plot point or set the stage for the A-plot. The more gratuitous political and social detail, the better!

Im going to direct you to Ada Palmer, a history professor at the University of Chicago whose far-future books have really intensive and careful world-building with a lot of information about how the politics of the world are organized. Also check out Parable of the Sower, an Octavia Butler classic that moves through the apocalypse with intense detail, and A Canticle for Leibowitz, in which a Catholic monastery attempts to preserve 20th-century scientific knowledge after a devastating nuclear war.

Im a 68-year-old grandmother, retired, disabled with a wonky back. Besides the Mrs. Pollifax books, are there any reads about senior women having creative, life-altering adventures that dont heavily involve matriarchal family stuff?

I am going to assume you are already aware of Agatha Christies Miss Marple books, but if not, they are classics for a reason. (Charming old lady becomes an amateur detective, solves crimes.) Otherwise, I would recommend Ann Patchetts State of Wonder, which is about two women scientists trying to develop fertility drugs in the Amazon basin the point-of-view character is 42, but her research partner is older and the most compelling figure in the book, really. Also try Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon, about a woman in her 70s living on a space colony who decides to stay behind by herself after the rest of the colony is shut down.

I was wondering if you could recommend some fiction books to me based on this specific problem I have been experiencing for some time now. I have found that for the past year or so, I have enjoyed reading nonfiction books more than fiction reads (and I am definitely more of a fiction person).

Some of the nonfiction books I have loved in recent times are: Cant Even by Anne Helen Petersen, Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, and Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.

Are there any fiction books which you think might mirror the nonfiction ones I have liked?

It sounds like you are in a place for books that spend a lot of time thinking about how media is shaping the way we think. Luckily, theres actually a ton of ambitious fiction coming out right now about just that!

I have three recommendations for you. First, Self Care by Leigh Stein is a dark satire about two women working for a pop-feminist wellness company. It starts with one of the protagonists drinking wine from a mug that says male tears and lying on one of the offices lavender velvet chaise lounges, compulsively hate-reading her mentions after she tweeted something mean at Ivanka Trump, and then it just goes on from there.

Second, Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler is about a woman who learns her boyfriend is an infamous Instagram conspiracy theorist. It starts off in January 2017, right as Donald Trump is taking office and the polite, progressive New York media is aghast at the online disinformation mill, and the narrator finds herself caught between enjoying condemning her boyfriend, whom shes been thinking about dumping anyway, and relationship inertia. Oyler is an extremely talented and insightful literary critic (way meaner than I am, if you want to expand your critical reading list), and a lot of this book is a critique of both contemporary literary fiction and of the way were taught to think and speak by the larger media ecosystem.

Finally, No One Is Talking About This, by the poet Patricia Lockwood, aims to be a stream-of-communal-consciousness novel in which the consciousness is Twitter. The plot is hard to describe because so much of the experience of this book is about the language, but know that it is astonishingly good and beautiful and overwhelming, and it resolves into this very lovely, very tender place at the end.

If youd like me to recommend a book for you, email me at constance.grady@vox.com with the subject line Ask a Book Critic. The more specific your mood, the better!

See the rest here:

Ask a book critic: The history of the end of the world - Vox.com

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 2, 2021) On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order that established the Peace Corps as a volunteer agency in the U.S Department of State. Sixty years later, as the agency celebrates its diamond anniversary, University of Kentucky Libraries Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History is continuing its work with local and national partners to preserve many of the stories and experiences of the more than 241,000 Americans who have served in the Peace Corps.

From stories of volunteers evacuated from their host countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to accounts from some of the first groups to volunteer with the agency, the Nunn Center has helped the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) collect and preserve a wide array of interviews with former volunteers from 1993 to the present.

The Peace Corps interviews document individual stories, but they also record incredible details about countries and cultures around the world during the time of service, Nunn Center Director Doug Boyd said. The RPCVs are not only talking about their own personal experiences and lives, but providing rich details about the communities where they lived and the people with whom they collaborated.

The Nunn Center launched its first partnership associated with the Peace Corps in 2004, collaborating with Angene Wilson, emeritus professor of education, and her husband, Jack, who conducted nearly 100 interviews with RPCVs with connections to Kentucky.

Because of the Nunn Centers work with this project, Boyd was contacted in 2020 by the national Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Archives Project, a project, conducted by former Peace Corps volunteers, that was looking for a new partner to continue preserving the Peace Corps experience through in-depth interviews. The new partnership kicked off in June 2020 and has since spawned nearly 200 interviews in just the first nine months.

The national project launched just as we were pivoting to remote interviews due to COVID-19, Boyd said. It was a major pivot, implementing a new remote interviewing platform called TheirStory and we moved all our workflows and forms to online formats.

The Nunn Center held webinar-style trainings to teach the new platform andworkflows to volunteer interviewers, who then began conducting remote interviews with RPCVs from across the country.

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Archives Project has benefited tremendously from our partnership with the Nunn Center, coordinator Evelyn Ganzglass said. With their help, we are upping our game in terms of the training and support of interviewers.

Users can find interviews (2020-present) from the ongoing Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project through the Nunn Centers digital repository.

For interviews conducted by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Archives Project between 2001 and 2019, visit the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

In addition to conducting over 150 interviews with RPCVs from across the country as part of the national project, the partnership also generated a special project in 2020 to document the stories of volunteers evacuated from their host countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Known as the Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers Oral History Project, the initiative garnered 58 interviews, 50 of which have been indexed by the Nunn Center and volunteer RPCVs using the Nunn Centers groundbreaking OHMS (Oral History Metadata Synchronizer) technology.

As part of the partnership, the National Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Archives Project and the Nunn Center also collaborated on the Many Faces of Peace Corps initiative, which seeks to shed light on the experiences of RPCVs who identify as members of a non-majority group in the United States.

In 2011, Angene and Jack Wilson published Voices from the Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteers based on their interviews housed in the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (Kentucky) Oral History Project. The University Press of Kentucky is releasingthe book in paperback in July with a new foreword by the current president and CEO of the National Peace Corps Association Glenn Blumhorst and a new series foreword by Boyd.

The Nunn Center for Oral History atUK Libraries'Special Collections Research Centeris recognized around the world as a leader and innovator in the collection and preservation of oral histories. The center is home to over 14,500 oral history interviews that provide a unique look into Kentucky and American history and represent an irreplaceable resource for researchers today and generations from now.The Nunn Centers collections focus on 20th century Kentucky history, Appalachia, Kentucky writers, agriculture, Black history, the history of education, politics and public policy, the civil rights movement, veterans, the university, health care, as well asthe coal, equine and Kentucky bourbon industries.

The Special Collections Research Center at UK Libraries sustains the Commonwealths memory and serves as the essential bridge between past, present and future. By preserving materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of Kentucky, the center provides rich opportunities for students to expand their worldview and enhance their critical thinking skills. Special Collections Research Center materials are used by scholars worldwide to advance original research and pioneer creative approaches to scholarship. UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection, the John G. Heyburn Initiative and ExploreUK.

Read more:

60 Years of Peace Corps History Preserved Through New, Continuing Partnerships With UK Libraries' Nunn Center - UKNow

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Effective April 1, 2021, Philadelphia's Fair Criminal RecordScreening Standards Ordinance (FCRSS) will protect not only jobapplicants but also current employees, independent contractors andgig workers.

The FCRSS prohibits employers from inquiring into acandidate's criminal history until after a conditionalemployment decision has been made. Under the amended FCRSS,employers cannot automatically exclude applicants orcurrent employees, independent contractors and gig workers withcriminal conviction records from a job or class of jobs. Instead,employers must make an individualized assessment of therelationship between the conviction and the particular position,based upon six factors listed in the ordinance. If an employerrejects an applicant or current employee based on his or hercriminal record, the employer is required to notify the candidatein writing and provide the basis for its decision as well as a copyof the criminal history report.

Previously, the FCRSS only applied to job applicants. Under theamendments, employers cannot consider an applicant orcurrent employee's criminal history during the "employmentprocess," which includes reemployment or continued employment,such as a promotion, raise or termination. After making theconditional employment decision (whether that be a job offer,promotion, raise or termination), employers can consider acandidate's criminal history in accordance with theindividualized assessment and notice requirements in theordinance.

The amendments provide that employers are permitted to inquireand require employees to respond to inquiries aboutpending criminal charges when certain conditions are metand to require employees to report pending criminalcharges provided that the employer does so pursuant to a writtenpolicy detailing what offenses are reportable. While the amendmentsdescribe the circumstances under which an employer may take adverseaction against an employee based on a pending criminal charge, inlight of the restrictions under Pennsylvania's Criminal HistoryRecord Information Act (CHRIA) relative to applicants, employersshould focus on the conduct giving rise to the arrest and not thearrest itself to minimize (not eliminate) risk.

The amendments also extend protections to independentcontractors, transportation network company drivers, ride-hailingapp drivers and other gig economy workers. Covered employers nowinclude third parties or entities that facilitate the relationshipof work between two other parties as full- or part-time employeesor as independent contractors.

Previously, the FCRSS provided punitive damages not to exceed$2,000 per violation. Under the amendments, a complainant canrecover liquidated damages equal to the payment of the maximumallowable salary for the job subject to the complaint for a periodof one month, not to exceed a total of $5,000.

Note that the requirements under the city's FCRSS are inaddition to the restrictions under CHRIA and the federal FairCredit Reporting Act (FCRA). For example, the FCRA requires (1)written authorization from the applicant or employee, (2) apre-adverse action notice and (3) a post-adverse action notice. TheFCRSS requires an additional step, namely the employer must providethe applicant or employee with a copy of the criminal historyreport and 10 business days to provide evidence of the inaccuracyof the information or provide an explanation.

Effective March 21, 2021, the amendments to Philadelphia'scredit screening ordinance, which prohibits employers from askingfor or using an applicant or employee's credit history inconnection with employment decisions, update the statute'sprocedural requirements and expanded restrictions to lawenforcement and financial institutions.

Under the amendments, employers are required to follow theprocesses in the federal FCRA and, before taking adverse action,provide the individual with a written copy of the informationrelied upon and the right to dispute such information.

Previously, the city's credit screening ordinance exemptedlaw enforcement agencies and financial institutions. Under theamendments, law enforcement agencies and financial institutions canconduct credit screenings only if another exception under theordinance applies. For example, employers may conduct creditscreenings "pursuant to state or federal law" or if"the job requires an employee to be bonded under City, state,or federal law."

Note that the requirements under the city's ordinance are inaddition to the requirements under the FCRA.

Philadelphia, like many other jurisdictions, continues torestrict the use of criminal history in employment decisions. Inlight of the amended FCRSS, Philadelphia employers should assesswhether and under what circumstances to inquire about an applicantor employee's criminal background. Employers also should reviewtheir hiring and employment practices to ensure compliancewith the FCRSS as well as Pennsylvania's CHRIA, including withrespect to gig workers and contractors. In doing so, employers helpensure that they are complying with existing FCRSS website postingrequirements.

Employers should also be mindful that the U.S. Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission (EEOC) and other government agenciesencourage case-by-case evaluation of an applicant's criminalconviction history as a means of combatting unlawfuldiscrimination. For example, in its 2012 Enforcement Guidance on the consideration of criminal recordsin employment decisions, the EEOC stated that the disqualificationof applicants based on criminal records may have a disparate impacton certain racial and ethnic groups. The EEOC Enforcement Guidancerecommends that employers conduct individualized assessments using,as a starting point, the "green" factors, which are: (1)the nature and gravity of the offense or conduct; (2) the time thathas passed since the offense, conduct and/or completion of thesentence; and (3) the nature of the job. Under Philadelphia'sFCRSS, employers must consider additional factors, including anyevidence of rehabilitation. Further, employers operating outside ofPennsylvania must be mindful that states such as California, Illinois and New York impose additional requirements and/orrestrictions, such as with respect to notices to applicants andemployees, convictions that can and cannot be considered andfactors that must be applied when making employment decisions.

Additionally, all Philadelphia employers, including lawenforcement and financial institutions, should reevaluate theircredit screening processes in light of Philadelphia's creditscreening ordinance, in addition to compliance with the federalFCRA.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this Alert, pleasecontact Jonathan A. Segal,Jonathan D.Wetchler, Elisabeth Bassani,any of the attorneys in our Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group orthe attorney in the firm with whom you are regularly incontact.

Disclaimer: This Alert has beenprepared and published for informational purposes only and is notoffered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For moreinformation, please see the firm's full disclaimer.

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Philadelphia Expands Criminal History And Credit Screening Ordinances, Further Restricting Employment Decisions - Employment and HR - United States -...

At first glance, Deliveroos stock market debut should have been a runaway success. The food delivery startup was a darling of the UK tech scene, and growing fast thanks to surging demand during the pandemic. Amazon recently bought 16% of the company in a major vote of confidence.

But Londons biggest IPO since 2011 was an unmitigated disaster. The stock plunged when trading started on Wednesday, and the shares eventually closed 26% below their listing price, wiping almost 2 billion ($2.8 billion) off Deliveroos initial market capitalization. The stock lost another 1.9% on Thursday.

The opening day performance marks the worst London debut for a major IPO in at least two decades, according to data provider Dealogic. One of the companys bankers told the Financial Times that it was the worst IPO in Londons history.

Why did investors shun Deliveroo when they couldnt get enough of rivals including DoorDash, which soared 85% in its Wall Street debut last year? A host of factors were behind the flop, experts say, including pricing, timing, uncertain business prospects, concerns over how the company treats workers and increased regulatory risks facing gig economy companies.

The initial price was just incorrect, said Alasdair Haynes, the CEO of Aquis Exchange, an upstart rival to the London Stock Exchange and the CBOE. The people with egg on the face here are the advisers, he added.

JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were the lead investment banking advisers on the IPO. JPMorgan declined to comment. Goldman Sachs did not respond to a request for comment.

Citing volatile global market conditions, Deliveroo had set the IPO price at the very bottom of the range it was targeting, despite insisting that it had very significant demand from institutions across the globe. But even that was way too high for investors to stomach.

While recent stock market jitters didnt help, concerns about regulatory changes that could affect how gig economy companies pay their workers were a much bigger factor, said Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Several large institutional investors, including Aberdeen Standard Investments and BMO Global Asset Management, pointed to regulatory risk and the limited rights given to Deliveroo workers when they announced days before the IPO that they would not apply for shares.

Deliveroos listing came just two weeks after Uber decided to reclassify all its drivers but not its food delivery couriers as workers, a move that could force other gig economy companies to rethink how they operate.

The decision followed a UK Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers should be classified as workers, and not independent contractors, entitling them to minimum wage, paid vacation time and a pension.

In light of the Uber ruling, Deliveroos practice of hiring riders as independent contractors with limited rights is a significant financial risk for shareholders, James Bevan, chief investment officer at CCLA, an asset manager for charities and religious organizations, said in a video commentary ahead of the listing.

Forced pension contributions would compress Deliveroos already thin margins, added Lund-Yates.

Deliveroo has yet to turn a profit, despite conditions being as good as they have ever been for a food delivery service, and it is losing money on most if not all deliveries, she added. If you add that on top of the regulatory risk theres a huge question over how margins get off the ground.

Investors also expressed concerns about future growth, especially as the United Kingdom exits lockdown and customers return to dining out in restaurants. Deliveroo also faces stiff competition from rivals Uber Eats and Just Eat Takeaway.

We find it very difficult to understand how we can value a company that has yet to turn a profit and yet where the forward looking perspective for the business opportunity is quite so uncertain, said Bevan.

Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu was upbeat about the companys prospects on Wednesday, pointing to plans to invest in delivery-only kitchens and provide customers with more choice. Our aim is to build the definitive online food company and were very excited about the future ahead, he said in a statement.

Deliveroos ownership structure may also have played a role in its icy stock market reception. It has two classes of shares, allowing its founder to retain control of the company following an IPO, which may have been on the minds of some of the institutional investors, according to Lund-Yates.

Dual class shares are allowed on the London Stock Exchange but not for its premium segment, which provides the pool of blue-chip companies that make up indexes such as the FTSE 100. The UK government is considering removing that restriction, despite opposition from major institutional investors.

We have strong reservations about allowing dual class share structures into the premium segment, head of UK equities at Aberdeen Standard Investments, Andrew Millington, said in a statement shared with CNN Business. We believe that the high standards of the premium listing segment are important to provide protection and reassurance to the many millions of individuals who have their savings invested in these companies, he added.

But theres more to the Deliveroo story. After all, many tech companies use the same structure. Brent Hoberman, the co-founder of Founders Factory, an accelerator that helps startups to grow, pointed to e-commerce company The Hut Group, whose shares soared in their London IPO last September, as an example.

Dual class shares are also common in the United States and allowed on stock exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. They are also permitted in Amsterdam, which has overtaken London as Europes top share trading center following Brexit.

The Deliveroo disaster could deal another blow to London, and its renewed efforts to attract more tech company listings.

Brexit has forced banks to relocate some activity away from London, putting its undisputed position as the regions top financial capital at risk.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, who earlier hailed Deliveroo as a true British tech success story, was forced to defend the companys stock market performance on Wednesday during an interview with broadcaster ITV.

Share prices go up, share prices go down Its important businesses like that feel that they can stay in the UK to raise capital, he said.

Thats likely to be of little consolation to the 70,000 retail investors who took part in the IPO buying shares worth 50 million ($68.9 million). Thats the biggest participation by small investors in a London listing in years, and the flop could deter them from taking part in future deals.

Hoberman is still optimistic about the outlook for tech company IPOs in London.

This means that some of the frothier IPOs may get pulled but it wont affect high quality companies, he said. And theres still another tech company on the [London Stock Exchange] worth over 5 billion ($6.9 billion), he added.

Thats Deliveroo, despite its dismal debut.

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London needed a win. Instead it got its worst IPO in history - KTVZ