Category Archives: Intentional Communities

After a devastating wildfire season that saw a baby boy die and 1,200 square miles of the state burn, Washington lawmakers are poised to fight fire with money. A lot of money.

Legislation thats received unanimous support would see Washington spend an additional $125 million over the next two years to extinguish, prevent and live with fires. Both legislative houses have passed House Bill 1168 and Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign the bill, which would see the state spend $328 million on the efforts by 2027.

The push, led by Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Hilary Franz, would see the state hire 100 firefighters and replace antique firefighting equipment. A forest restoration workforce paid to make Washingtons state and some federal lands less combustible would be created almost from scratch, and communities in fire-prone areas most of Eastern Washington would be better protected from fire.

To its supporters, the funding represents a consequential step toward combating the fires that are consuming huge swaths of the state. Since 2015, 4,843 square miles of Washington have burned, an area the size of Connecticut that accounts for nearly 7% of Washingtons total land mass. That toll is only expected to grow as climate change shrinks snowpack and delivers hotter, longer summers.

While she stressed that it will take years to change the nature of wildfire in Washington, Franz said the funding will change the trajectory of the states fire fight.

Relying on luck and hope during fire season has turned our wildfire problem into a crisis, Franz said by email. This is absolutely a turning point in our fight to protect Washingtons communities and natural resources from smoke and flames.

A firefighter uses an ignition tank to set underbrush on fire during a prescribed burn in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Liberty, Wash., in May, 2019. More prescribed burning and thinning of forests to promote forest health will be possible now that the Legislature reached bipartisan agreement on funding such projects. (Photo: Dan DeLong/InvestigateWest)

Washingtons fire history can be reduced to numbers and dates, figures Rep. Larry Springer recited for the House in early March. In the 1990s, about 134 square miles of the state burned on average each year. By the 2000s, that number rose to 295 square miles. During the past five years, it stood at 763 square miles.

In the statehouse, though, the story of Washington summers of flame and smoke came through in snapshots offered by senators and representatives. Front of mind were the death of one-year-old Uriel Hyland, a Renton boy killed as his parents fled a central Washington fire in August, and the destruction of Malden, a town of 300 burned in a September firestorm south of Spokane.

Eastern Washington lawmakers also spoke to the smaller pains of life now shaped by fire.

Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, described flakes of ash wafting in the air like it had after Mount St. Helens erupted. Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, spoke of the summer youth soccer practices canceled because of the smoke. With hundreds of homes lost to fires, said Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said Okanogan and Ferry counties now face a homelessness crisis.

When you lose the number of homes weve lost in a tight market, it takes a long time to replace them, said Kretz, who joined Springer in sponsoring the bill. Weve still got people living in camp trailers who lost homes two years ago.

Washingtons bigger burns are the result of two environmental debts coming due climate change driven by humanitys greenhouse gas emissions, and mismanagement of the forests and scrubland in the state. While the legislation acknowledges the former, it addresses the latter.

Following the U.S. Forest Services lead, land managers spent most of the 20th century extinguishing as many wildfires as they could, as fast as they could. Aggressive firefighting has left forests across the western United States primed for megafires like those that devoured 1,600 square miles of Washington timberland in 2015, creating an ash-gray moonscape. On the dry slopes east of the Cascades, brush, branches and dead trees that wouldve burned under natural conditions, clearing out the underbrush and some trees, are now packed too tightly for trees to stay healthy.

A 20-year plan put forward by the Department of Natural Resources estimated that about 1,950 square miles of Washington forest need intervention to be brought back to health. While much of that is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the legislation would expand the states ability to help revive federal land.

Large as it is, infusion of funding wont clear Washingtons summer skies or stop the fires from burning. But it is an important step toward limiting the human and ecological damage they cause, said Rachel Baker, forest program director for the Washington Environmental Council.

The aim isnt to stop all fires everywhere, Baker said. A century of doing so is part of the reason Washington forests are burning so intensely now; forests, particularly those in dry climates like Eastern Washington, are healthiest when they regularly see low-intensity fires that clear the forest floor and destroy the combustible materials that fuel catastrophic blazes.

The reality is that wildfires are going to be an ongoing challenge we face because of climate change, Baker said. Wildfire is here to stay.

A downed tree is engulfed in flames during a prescribed burn in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Liberty, Wash., in May 2019. (Photo: Dan DeLong/InvestigateWest)

That is not to say, Baker continued, that wildfire cant be made less damaging by fixing Washingtons forests.

Removing the excess fuel that has built up will make forests less likely to burn to ash when fire does arrive; larger trees will weather the low fires, as they had for millennia.

For decades, money meant to go to prevent fires by improving forests has been shifted by necessity to firefighting. Going forward, Washington would build up a robust workforce trained to clear underbrush and thin forests either by hand or through controlled burns, a practice used only sparingly in Washington and most western states.

While the funding hike directed toward forest restoration is only half that going to firefighting, that $17 million-a-year boost represents a dramatic shift in the state.

The legislation would enable Washington to set up programs at Washington State University and elsewhere to train a forest restoration workforce. Students would learn to remove underbrush and snags while thinning stands where trees grow too densely. Some would also be certified to use controlled fire to clear out the forests, a technique that is often more efficient and can, if conditions are correct, restore much larger swaths of forest.

At present, the forestry industry lacks trained workers to meet the demands ahead, said Jason Callahan of the Washington Forest Protection Association, a trade group representing private owners of forestland.

If theres no one to do the work, it wont get done, Callahan told the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Labor shortages are a real thing in the forest products industry, he continued. These are skilled, green jobs that pay well above the average wages in rural communities.

Most of the money, though, will go toward firefighting, which would receive 56% of the new funding. Protection is a pressing concern, as about 951,000 homes in Washington sit near forests threatened by wildfire.

The most endangered communities lie in a swath extending from Spokane southwest to the Columbia River, and then running north past Wenatchee into the Methow Valley. Much of Central and Eastern Washington, in other words, where summer fires have become a constant.

Fire season is unfortunately becoming the fifth season, Paul Jewell, a lobbyist for the Washington Association of Counties, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee. During the same hearing, Laura Osiadacz, a Kittitas County Commissioner and volunteer firefighter, described fire as literally an annual event on the east side of the Cascades.

Washington state firefighters rely on Cold War-vintage surplus equipment, making fast and decisive firefighting difficult. As envisioned in the legislation, $35 million a year will be spent to build up the states wildland firefighting force by more than 100 firefighters and 20 bulldozers and bring it into the 21st Century.

A firefighter watches a prescribed burn as it approaches a forest road that will be used to contain the fire in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Liberty, Wash., in May 2019. (Photo: Dan DeLong/InvestigateWest)

The bill would see the Department of Natural Resources fleet of Vietnam War-vintage helicopters upgraded two of the Hueys would be set up, for the first time, to fight fire at night and reinforced by new fixed-wing aircraft. One of the planes, a Pilatus PC-12, would fly high-speed detection missions searching for fires with infrared sensors. The expansion is expected to cost $14 million in 2023, and then about $3.3 million a year going forward.

Another $1.25 million a year would fund a camera system to replace the fire lookouts that generations ago spent the summers living atop dozens of Washington peaks. The lookout system has been dismantled over the past 25 years without replacement. Under the bill, the Department of Natural Resources would place cameras on mountaintops to watch state lands prone to lightning strikes and human-caused fires.

Those investments arent a signal that Washington is poised to return to putting out all fires everywhere, the strategy that landed the state and much of the West in its current predicament, said Baker of the Washington Environmental Coalition. The aim, she said, is to effectively fight the fires that must be fought while shaping the forests and communities near them to thrive with fire.

A couple decades down the line, I would hope to see fires on the landscape that arent affecting people and are in keeping with the character of the ecosystems, Baker said.

Thanks to the legislation, crews made up of inmates from state prisons would also, for the first time, be paid more than a pittance for their time on the fire lines. Department of Corrections-staffed crews, which amount to 330 firefighters, would be paid at least minimum wage for their work.

Beyond that, the Department of Natural Resources is expected to create a firefighting crew comprised of people who learned the trade while incarcerated. The 20-person crew would work year-round rehabbing state forests and conducting controlled burns between fire seasons.

Addressing the House on March 9, Springer told his colleagues that waiting for Mother Nature to deliver deeper snows or wetter summers was delusion. A plan is needed, he argued, and the one Franz brought forward is it.

While legislators dickered over aspects of the bill, not one ultimately voted against it.

In a legislative session that has seen the Republican minority complain helplessly as Democrats acted on nearly all of their environment-related priorities, the fire bill was exceptional. Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, described the bill as the most important piece of legislation to pass through the Legislature this session other than the pandemic relief package.

Legislative Republicans loudly praised the Department of Natural Resources which often serves as a foil for the GOP, and timberland Democrats and its chief, Franz, a Democrat who held leadership roles in several environmental advocacy organizations before being elected as Public Lands Commissioner in 2016.

Commissioner Franz has done an exceptional job of bringing a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm to her position, and, frankly, I believe shes transformed her agency, Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, said on the Senate floor.

Franz or her successors will have to draw on that goodwill deeply in the years ahead. Even those celebrating the landmark investment in firefighting and prevention acknowledge that it is a start, not a solution.

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, Franz said, and we will rise or fall together.

Where the money goes

Firefighting $70.8 million

Aerial firefighting: The state plans to spent $17.2 million to buy new aircraft and improve its aging helicopter fleet. It will also begin contracting for another large air tanker, to dump more fire retardant on large fires.

Firefighters: Adding more than 100 firefighters and paying minimum wage to Department of Corrections crews staffed with incarcerated people will cost about $16.4 million.

Bulldozers: Another $11.3 million will go to buy and staff 20 bulldozers, which will be used to create fire breaks between fires and populated areas. At present, the Department of Natural Resources has only one bulldozer dedicated to firefighting.

Local fire crews: The department will spend $11.8 million expanding local fire departments in fire-prone areas of the state.

Forest restoration $34.5 million

Restoring fire-prone forests: Through a variety of programs, the Department of Natural Resources will spend $14.5 million to clear brush and fallen trees from dense forests, leaving larger trees more likely to survive when fire does come.

Assisting small landowners: The state expects to spend $9.4 million helping owners of small forests clean up their timberland to make it more fire resistant.

Fixing federal land: Another $7.9 million will be spent restoring federally owned forests near state forest land.

Living with fire $19.6 million

Hazard reduction on private land: The Department of Natural Resources will spend $6.6 million helping residents of fire-prone areas make their homes and properties more resistant to fire.

Community grants: Another $4.3 million will be devoted to grants to help communities are risk of catastrophic fires prepare for them.

Feature image: Firefighter Steven Thime hops onto a tree stump to survey the progress of a prescribed burn in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Liberty, Wash., May 7, 2019. (Photo: Dan DeLong/InvestigateWest)

InvestigateWest is a Seattle-based nonprofit newsroom producing journalism for the common good. Learn more and sign up to receive alerts about future stories athttp://www.invw.org/newsletters/.

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Hundreds of firefighters. 20 bulldozers. Intentional burns: Inside Washington's $328M push to break cycle of disastrous fires - InvestigateWest

The pandemic has worsened attitudes toward end-of-life care, a panelist said during an online conference Wednesday.

A recent qualitative study found that older adults are resistant to advance care planning, dont understand palliative care and have low trust in the healthcare system, commented Bill Novelli, professor of practice at Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business; and former CEO of AARP.

They basically see healthcare as politicized and they see healthcare as a business, said Novelli, a panelist during the Nathan Adelson Hospice Multicultural Symposium. Nathan Adelson is a nonprofit hospice in southern Nevada.

The pandemic also has widened ethnic and racial disparities regarding access to end-of-life care, he and other panelists said.

While she does not have the data to prove it, Rutu Ezhuthachan, M.D., medical director of United Healthcares Health Plan of Nevada Sierra Health and Life, said she believes fewer people entered end-of-life care facilities during the pandemic.

Novelli agreed. People were less willing, more reluctant to enter hospice, he said.

The pandemic laid bare racial inequities, as various races, at various points, were dying disproportionately from COVID-19 in Nevada, noted Jose Melendrez, executive director of community partnerships at the School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Its important to engage stakeholders from different racial ethnic communities to help to bridge the equity gaps, he said.

When it comes to diversity, we have to be very intentional about our decision to engage them and they have a voice at every level said Melendrez, a founding member and chair of the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition.

Tom Koutsoumpas, CEO of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, agreed. Underserved communities inability to access quality care is demonstrable, he said. We have to be intentional about creating measurable change, he said.

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Pandemic affected access to end-of-life care, widened inequalities, panelists say - Home Care Daily News - McKnight's Senior Living

Q&A

Heres how Penn Medicine, Trinity Health, and community faith leaders collaborated on operationalizing equity around COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Since mid-February, a health system and community leader collaborative has been working to improve vaccination disparities in Philly. Photograph courtesy Penn Medicine

Nearly four months since the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in Philadelphia, health commissioner Thomas Farley announced on Tuesday that the city administered its one millionth dose. Though a milestone, the city still has a long way to go only 22 percent of Philadelphias total population is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

More urgent, though, is the ongoing racial, economic, and geographic disparities that exist regarding vaccine sign-up and distribution.The city has attempted to close the vaccine equity gap by allowing walk-up appointments at the Center City FEMA site, operating health department clinics in traditionally underserved neighborhoods, and opening a second FEMA location in Hunting Park focused on reaching the Hispanic community. And since February, Ala Stanfords Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium has been administering vaccines for residents of the Philadelphia zip codes with the highest incidence of COVID-19 disease and death.

The disparities in vaccination in Philadelphia have also inspired a collaboration between Penn Medicine, Mercy Catholic Medical Center-Mercy Philadelphia Campus, and community faith leaders, who worked together to launch a rotating vaccine clinic. Since mid-February, the partnership has run seven clinics out of churches, recreation centers, and school gymnasiums in West, Southwest, and South Philadelphia. In their first three clinics, they vaccinated 2,821 people, 85 percent of whom were Black.

On April 7th, the organizers behind the clinic detailed their methods in NEJMsInnovations in Care Deliveryjournal, in an article titled Operationalizing Equity: A Rapid-Cycle Innovation Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination in Black Neighborhoods. In it, the authors describe how the unique partnership between two health systems and community leaders worked to combat the structural barriers preventing communities of color from accessing vaccinations.

To learn more about their efforts, triumphs, and challenges, we spoke with Kathleen Lee, director of clinical implementation at Penn Medicines Center for Health Care Innovation and assistant professor of emergency medicine at Penn, who helped design the clinic model.

NextHealth: Why did this rotating vaccination clinic get started?Lee: The genesis of the clinic stemmed from ongoing conversations our C-suite was having throughout the pandemic about the racial inequities related to COVID-19. Though, its important to note that this was a huge coordinated effort between us at Penn Medicine, Trinity Health, and faith leaders throughout the city, including Terrilynn Donnell, [pastor] W. L. Herndon, and [reverend] William Shaw. When it came to the topic of vaccines, we knew that one of the major driving factors of disparity is the structural barriers that limit vaccine access to underserved communities, specifically Black and Brown communities. Around January, we took an intimate look at those barriers as they emerge across Philadelphia in order to determine how to best create an incredibly inclusive environment for getting vaccinated. Around the same time, conversations started taking place between the health systems and community leaders to cultivate relationships and to leverage community networks and healthcare partnerships.

What did the collaborative identify as major barriers to vaccine access, and what were your solutions?We found that geography and technology were preventing ease of access, so we brainstormed ways to create rapid-cycle solutions for a wide-spread implementation effort. We decided vaccine administration needed to be done in communities themselves, instead of making patients travel to a healthcare setting. Also, we built an SMS-based and an interactive-voice recording system for folks to schedule vaccine appointments. Overall, our objective was to have multiple, low-tech intake strategies with every step coordinated with and for the community to ensure that equity was at the core of every aspect of the endeavor. In a matter of months, we had created the #VaccineCollaborative, a novel multi-health system, community-partnered COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

What have you found to be some of the clinics biggest accomplishments?Seeing the uptake work with the scheduling paradigm we created was truly delightful. Our first clinic location filled so quickly, and it was great to know that people were able to schedule their appointment in a way that is easier to use. Similarly, many folks had signed up a loved one who wasnt able to do it themselves. That digital nudge drove home how communal and community-driven our effort was. But the uptake was reflected in more than just the scheduling system. In our feedback surveys, we had people write, It was like you were glad to see me (we were!) and Thank you for having clinicians who look like me. That kind of feedback is invaluable.

Another major accomplishment was the streamlined process we designed. As I said earlier, we strove to accommodate all types of sign-up strategies, rather than relying on one technique. It allowed us to honor walk-ins, which we know is very important to many people, especially those who need a no-technology method. We also made sure to create a no/low-wait experience by conducting a group-based consent process and having our vaccinators use Ready signs. That way, patients were shuttled through not in a rushed way, though so that they didnt have to deal with long lines. This was especially helpful when it was extremely cold outside. Nobody deserves to wait in the cold!

Those providing the vaccines used Ready signs to keep patients moving through the clinic and reduce wait times. Photograph courtesy Penn Medicine

What challenges did the collaborative face along the way?Setting up a novel clinic in a non-healthcare environment is a big task to take on. We leveraged resources from the healthcare systems to bring all the necessary supplies on site, including vaccine refrigerators, monitoring equipment, medical supplies, wheelchairs, and other items. Seeing a nimble operation happen outside of a hospital setting was amazing. We did run into some infrastructure challenges at the beginning, which we anticipated might happen. For example, at the recreation center, we discovered there werent enough accessible entrances for patients with limited mobility. In response, our health system employees tapped into their networks and got a custom ramp donated.

Another hurdle arose when more people outside of our targeted group became interested in getting vaccinated at our clinics. From the beginning, weve been very transparent and intentional with our mission in order to promote equity for local residents. Thats why we added a preliminary step on all our engagement platforms that required active acknowledgment of our mission statement prior to signing up. (It reads: IMPORTANT: The purpose of this clinic is to address the vast racial inequity in COVID outcomes and vaccine distribution by vaccinating our West & Southwest Philly *Black and Brown* communities hit hard by COVID. Here are the zip codes this clinic is designed to serve: 19104, 19131, 19139, 19142, 19143, 19151, 19153.) Though we didnt turn anyone away or validate based on race or Philadelphia zip code, we found that about 36 percent of individuals who started the text process didnt follow through with signing up after reading the mission disclosure.

How might this model be applied to other communities outside of Philadelphia?Our model was designed for generalized ability and scalability, but putting it into action does require intentional and coordinated effort, resourcing, and leadership. And in order to promote vaccine equity, diversity and inclusion need to be at the forefront every step of the way. I think our article says it best in terms of steps to take: Engage community leaders early to inform design, activate their networks, and build bridges of trust between health systems and the community around vaccination. Embrace no/low-tech platforms to support vaccine ambassadorship and distribution. Reimagine clinic flows to enable an on-time model with minimal to no wait to ensure an uncompromising patient experience. Though partnerships have to be done at every level, I do think leaders in the healthcare system should be role models and take initiative in order to truly help and improve the lives of community members. If not us, then who?

Where do you see this rotating clinic going from here?We plan to be intentional about this long-term and hope to extend the pilot for months to come. We already submitted an RFP to city officials, which has been approved.

More here:

Pop-Up Clinic Working to Improve Philly Vaccination Disparities - Philadelphia magazine

A group of business and community leaders will advise Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter and his team on how to best leverage $244 million in federal funding coming the county's way.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was signed by President Joe Biden last month, which includes billions in COVID-19 assistance for state, county, and local governments.The county is expecting to receive around $244 million in direct funding from the American Rescue Plan.

Coulter's plan is to develop an intentional and targeted strategy in order for these new federal dollars to make the biggest short-term and long-term impact. To help in those efforts, he has reconvened and expanded the 31-member 2021 COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force.

Oakland County communities receiving millions in federal aid from American Rescue Plan

Local governments experiencing 'dramatic change' during COVID-19 pandemic

The group of business and community leaders will provide insight to county officials on the greatest community needs and advise them on how to best utilize the new funding. Individuals representing theeducation, foundation, local government, construction, restaurant, labor, health care and business communities will be on the task force.

Our first priority for this funding from the American Rescue Plan has to be continuing our fight against the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring economic recoveries, said Coulter. But we also will have the opportunity to take on some transformational projects that will help improve the lives of our residents and businesses. This group of advisors can provide invaluable insight into the needs in the community.

The task force will meet for the first time on Monday, with Coulter asking each member to share their thoughts, experiences, and expertise on where the county is in its recovery from the pandemic and what needs to be accomplished in the coming months to ensure a full recovery.

During the meeting, the task force will review current economic and community data, American Rescue Plan funds, and discuss indicators for the county's future.

Last year, we were dealing with the daily demands of an unprecedented public health crisis, said Coulter. But now, we can be more strategic and intentional with the federal funding and I look forward to working with these and other community leaders to help crystalize our short, medium and long term plans.

Last spring, the county received $219 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. The county utilized this funding to award grants to more than 15,000 local businesses; 22 local chambers of commerce; 57 cities, villages, and townships, 278 non-profit and 31 veterans services organizations; 28 local school districts as well as retailers, restaurants, cultural institutions, and community centers.

FEMA money helping families pay for COVID-19 funeral expenses

Business as usual at area high schools, despite Whitmer's request for pause

COVID vaccine hesitancy could be affected by breakthrough cases, Johnson & Johnson pause

Henry Ford COVID model predicts hospital surge to plateau in 2 weeks

Whitmer urges use of COVID treatments; does not place new restrictions

Excerpt from:

Dave Coulter reconvenes task force to leverage $244 million in federal aid - The Daily Tribune

What do we gain when we include diverse communities in the conversation on climate change? And what do we lose when we dont?

On Tuesday, April 20, at 7 p.m., scientists, engineers, experts and leaders from diverse backgrounds including School of Education PhD students Dawn Crim and Yaa Oparebea Ampofo bring their perspectives to the state of the regional, national and global conversation about climate change at a virtual Crossroads of Ideas discussion.

This event is being moderated byCrim, who is the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, and a PhD student with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.

Sign up to receive the webinar link.

The past year has revealed in stark terms what many of us already knew: Every crisis disproportionately affects people, communities and businesses of color, says Crim. It is possible to reverse these patterns of inequity, but to do that we need to be intentional. We must work with and listen to the people, communities and businesses we seek to help.

The April 20 webinar will feature:

The Crossroads of Ideas program is apublic lecture series that addresses vital social science topics.

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Crossroads of Ideas exploring equity and climate change April 20 - School of Education - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ben & Jerrysis standing up for Black lives, calling for the criminal justice system to be defunded and reformed.

Ice cream makers Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield believe white supremacy was the reason why 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb over the weekend, Fox News reported.

The murder of Daunte Wright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities, said Ben and Jerrys official Twitter. This system cant be reformed.

The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities.

This system cant be reformed.

It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.#DefundThePolice

Ben & Jerrys (@benandjerrys) April 12, 2021

The decision to call out white supremacy was met with praise from activists, but there was pushback from those who disagree with its hardline position on police reform.

Never had Blue Bell ice cream. How do we make this happen?

Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 14, 2021

Dear aging hippies from Ben and Jerrys (Even though you sold out to Unilever a long time ago), please stick to making overpriced super sickly ice cream, not lecturing us.

Simon Lord (@MPC3675) April 14, 2021

This is not the first time Ben and Jerrys made its left-leaning politics public. The company is open about its stance on climate change, voting rights, and has collaborated with civil rights athlete Colin Kaepernick, known for taking a knee protests against racial injustice in America, to make a signature ice cream flavor, The Sun reported.

The officer who killed Wright is former police officer Kim Potter. On Wednesday, she was arrested and faces 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine on a second-degree manslaughter charge.

As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer handed in her resignation in a short letter to Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot Tuesday. After Potter handedin her resignation, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon did the same.

I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately, Potter wrote.

This is the third incident of a Black man being killed by an officers hand in the state in the last five years. Philando Castile, who was also fatally shotduring a traffic stopin 2016, andGeorge Floyd, who was killed last year. The police officer who killed Floyd is currently on trial, less than 10 miles from where Wright was shot.

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Ben & Jerry's is Sick and Tired of White Supremacy, Want To Defund The Police - Black Enterprise

Assisted living and other long-term care operators are the victims of politics via legislation signed last week by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that repeals blanket immunity protections for pandemic-related efforts, according to one industry representative.

Senate Bill S5177, sponsored by Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx/Westchester), repeals Article 30-D of the Public Health Law, the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act with the intent of holding healthcare facilities, administrators and executives accountable for harm and damages incurred from treating individuals with COVID-19. Also applying to nursing homes and other healthcare facilities during the pandemic, it immediately leaves providers open to potential civil and criminal liability related to COVID-19 treatment.

The act had protected hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities, including assisted living communities, shielding them from lawsuits alleging misconduct due to resource or staffing shortages.

Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the NYS Health Facilities Association / NYS Center for Assisted Living, told McKnights Senior Living that the repeal is contrary to the original intent of the Legislature, which was to provide limited liability protections in exigent, emergency circumstances: the COVID-19 public health emergency. The protections, he added, were aimed at helping providers deal with contrary and often conflicting federal, state and local orders, rules and regulations.

The law provided a level of certainty follow our rules and orders, and if you do that in good faith, were all in this together, Hanse said, emphasizing that the state and country are still in the pandemic and remain under a public health emergency declaration. Its unfortunate this just became a political issue, he said. The Legislature did not look at the substance of the issue and the importance of protections when you are in a public health emergency.

Hanse, who is an attorney, said his concern is that unscrupulous lawyers will be looking to take advantage of very unprecedented circumstances.

The men and women who work in nursing homes, hospitals and healthcare throughout New York were heroes fighting on the front line, Hanse said. Its unfortunate politics truly dictated the repeal of this bill. At the end of the day we are all in this together. We are working to protect and safeguard our patients, residents and staff who do the very best they can in difficult circumstances.

Biaggi, the senator, said that the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act egregiously uses severe liability standards as a means to insulate healthcare facilities and specifically, administrators and executives of such facilities, from any civil or criminal liability for negligence. Repealing this article is a much-needed step to holding healthcare administrators accountable and doing everything possible to stop more preventable deaths from happening.

New York previously walked back blanket protections granted to senior living communities and nursing homes by signing a law last summer narrowing the scope of immunity to certain healthcare professionals who treat people during the COVID-19 state of emergency. That law amended the definition of healthcare services eligible for immunity by removing prevention of COVID-19 from the definition of healthcare services. It also clarified that the immunities applied to the assessment or care of an individual with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, and removed immunity protections for a healthcare facility or healthcare professional arranging for healthcare services.

Hanse said the amendments last August tightened the law and made it specific only to COVID-related circumstances. Moreover, he said, the law never provided protections for willful or intentional criminal misconduct, gross negligence or reckless behaviors.

S5177 fully repeals the remaining protections under the immunity provision.The move by New York runs counter to actions taken in other states that are extending immunity protections to senior living providers. At least a dozen states have adopted immunity for businesses to limit their exposure to COVID-19-related lawsuits. They include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming

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Providers victims of politics in 'unfortunate' repeal of COVID immunity protections, industry rep says - News - McKnight's Senior Living

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Anissa Weier listens as her attorney, Maura McMahon, questions a witness during an earlier hearing in the Slender Man stabbing case. Weier, who was committed to 25 years for her role in the stabbing, is seeking her conditional release from a mental health facility.(Photo: Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Anissa Weier, one of two women institutionalized for her part in the Slender Man stabbing, should be released from a state mental hospital because she doesn't have any violent tendencies ordelusions and has "extraordinary compliance" to treatment, her attorneys recently said.

She has also had contact with Morgan Geyser the other woman committed in the case and there haven't been any incidents, Weier's attorneys said.

Weieris seeking conditional release nearly seven years after she and Geyser nearly stabbed a middle school classmate to death in a Waukesha park so they could gain favor with afictional internet horror character named Slender Man. The girls, who were 12 years old at the time, said they believed Slender Man would harm them or their families if they didn't kill someone.

Weier, now 19 years old, is serving a 25-year commitment after a jury in 2017 found her not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. Weier wrote to a judge in March that shehas "exhausted" all the resources available to her at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.She's asking for a chance to be "a productive member of society."

While prosecutors said they believe Weier "cannot safely be released," the defense said the court-ordered doctors who evaluated Weier in recent months recommend Weier be conditionally released.

A judge will decide whether Weier poses a significant risk to herself or others or ofseriously damagingproperty during a conditional release hearing June 11.

WHAT WE KNOW: Here are answers to questions about Anissa Weier's conditional release request

If released, Weierwould be assignedcase managers from the stateDepartment of Corrections and Department of Health Services until she turns 37, the length of her commitment.

The three mental health experts said that if Weier is placed on conditional release they don't believe she would be less compliant withsupervisors than she is now at Winnebago.

Weiers father, Bill,has offered his home as an option where Anissa could live, as well as financial assistance for educational and employment opportunities.

Weier wrote that she wants toget "someformof higher education." Weier's attorneys said she has finished high school and has been employed at the institute.

Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Osborne called Weier "adanger to others" in a recent brief to the court.

Maura McMahon, one of Anissa Weier's attorneys, makes a closing argument before Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren during a trial in 2017. McMahon is calling on a judge to have Weier conditionally released from a state mental health facility.(Photo: C.T. Kruger/Now News Group)

The defense, however, said there are multiple examples at Winnebago that show Weier is no longer a threat, as she has advanced to "the highest level attainable while institutionalized and earned numerous privileges," according to attorneys Maura McMahon and Joseph Smith.

McMahon and Smith said Weier hashandled knives and electric power tools, including a bandsaw, without incident, in a kitchen and at the institute's Log Cabin Workshop, which offers volunteer woodworking opportunities and the ability to gain work skills.

Weier also had a roommate after she turned18 in November 2019, and there haven't beenany episodes of reported violence or threats of violence, her attorneys said.

Weier has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and personality disorderly, but the doctorssaid she no longer has a psychotic or delusional disorder.She is prescribed an antidepressant.

TIMELINE: How the Waukesha Slender Man stabbing case played out over the years

Years ago, three mental health experts, includingMelissa Westendorf, aforensic psychologist, said that at the time of the stabbing, Weier suffered from a shared delusional disorder. The condition is a mental health disorder when a delusional belief is held by one person and shared with at least one other person. Westendorf said Weier's friendship with Geyser, who had early onset schizophrenia, created the "perfect storm" of events for the crime.

At Weier's sentencing in December 2017, Bohren mentioned a "startling" report that said Weier had talked of making aOuija board at the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center and of it unleashing spirits.

At Winnebago, Weier was befriended by peers who introduced her tothe pagan witchcraft Wicca religion, her attorneys said. But Weier separated herself about a week after being introduced to the practices and told her mental health providers that she had allowed herself to be drawn into a practice that she realized was not healthy for her.

"She has even expressed distaste for individuals serving commitments who pretend to be well in order to get released," her attorneys wrote.

RELATED: In interview with ABC's '20/20,' Slender Man stabbing victim Payton Leutner says 'without the situation, I wouldn't be who I am'

Robert Rawski, another forensic psychiatrist ordered to evaluate Weier for the conditional release, questioned whether she had ever had a psychotic or delusional disorder. Buthe acknowledged he did not have full access to records the other mental health experts had during the insanity defense evaluations. He added Weier now has "no treatment needs that require institutional care."

Over the past year, Weier has resided in the same unit and wing as Geyser, who is serving a 40-year commitment after she reached a plea and was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

While Weier's attorneys wrote that the two have come into contact with one another, Weier has not developed a re-emergence of her prior delusional belief system or any violent actions.

ContactChristopher Kuhagen at (262) 446-6634or christopher.kuhagen@jrn.com. Followhim on Twitter at @ckuhagenand our newsroom Instagram accounts at MyCommunityNow and Lake Country Now.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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Anissa Weier, one of the women in the Slender Man stabbing, should be released from a state mental hospital, her attorneys say - Milwaukee Journal...

For the fourth night in a row, protesters gathered at the Brooklyn Center police station to demonstrate over the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a Black man, during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb, hours after former police officer Kim Potter was arrested and charged in his death.

A firework was seen going off and police fired flash bombs Wednesday night as a curfew got closer. Officers declared the gathering an unlawful assembly late Wednesday, about an hour before curfew.

The curfew in Brooklyn Center was from 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. CT, Mayor Mike Elliott said Wednesday during a news conference. Surrounding cities have also enacted curfews, but Minneapolis and St. Paul have not, according to their respective websites.

More than 3,000 Minnesota National Guard members have now been activated in the Twin Cities area, according to a tweet from Operation Safety Net.

Wright's death on Sunday has roiled a metropolitan area scarred by other police-involved deaths and reignited national conversations about policing and the use of force.

Earlier this week, then-Police Chief Tim Gannon said Wright's death appeared to be the result of Potter mistaking her gun for her Taser as Wright resisted arrest.

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But Imran Ali, a prosecutor in Orput's office, has said prosecutors intend 'to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser.'

'Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable,' Ali said in a news release.

Potter, who resigned as a Brooklyn Center police officer this week, was arrested and charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office determined Wright died of a gunshot wound and that his death was a homicide.

Potter was arrested late Wednesday morning by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the bureau said. She was booked into the Hennepin County Jail, online records show.

Potter posted bail and was released from custody, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff's official website. She will make her first court appearance via Zoom on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

In Minnesota, second-degree manslaughter applies when authorities allege a person causes someone's death by 'culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another.'

Someone convicted of this charge would face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $20,000. CNN has sought comment from Potter's attorney, Earl Gray.

Protests, some violent, have taken place each night after Wright's death, in and around Brooklyn Center. OSN tweeted 79 people were arrested Tuesday night.

Wright's family had called for charges against the officer. Fencing and barricades are in place around Potter's home, where two police officers and two police vehicles were seen in her driveway Wednesday.

'I share our community's anger and sadness and shock,' Elliott, the mayor, said. 'My message to all who are demanding justice for (Daunte Wright) and for his family is this: Your voices have been heard, now the eyes of the world are watching Brooklyn Center and I urge you to protest peacefully and without violence.'

Developments in the investigation have unfolded daily, including the release of body camera footage and Gannon's statement that the shooting appeared accidental on Monday, and the resignations of Potter and Gannon on Tuesday.

Though Potter has submitted a resignation letter, Mayor Elliott said Tuesday he has not accepted it, adding 'we're doing our internal process to make sure that we are being accountable to the steps that we need to take.' Earlier, he told CBS he thought Potter should be fired.

Potter is still entitled to benefits following her resignation, though it is not clear what those benefits are, Edwards said.

Orput is the prosecutor in Washington County, near Hennepin County, where Brooklyn Center is. The case was given to Washington County prosecutors to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest in Hennepin County, officials have said.

Sunday's killing of Wright is at least the third high-profile death of a Black man during a police encounter in the Minneapolis area in the past five years, after the shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights in 2016 and the death of George Floyd last year. Minneapolis police also were under scrutiny when an officer was convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter for the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk, a White woman.

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing Floyd, is taking place just 10 miles from Brooklyn Center.

Gray, Potter's attorney, also is the attorney for Thomas Lane, one of four officers involved in Floyd's death, and one of the defense attorneys for Jeronimo Yanez, the former police officer who was found not guilty in Castile's death.

Reacting to the manslaughter charge, one of the Wright family's attorneys, Benjamin Crump, released a statement saying 'while we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back.'

'This (shooting) was no accident. This was an intentional, deliberate and unlawful use of force,' Crump's statement reads.

'Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence. A 26-year veteran of the force knows the difference between a Taser and a firearm,' Crump wrote. He added that the Wright family would hold a news conference Thursday afternoon.

As a result of unrest in the city, acting City Manager Reggie Edwards announced the formation of the Brooklyn Center Community Crisis Team. The team includes nine members representing the business, faith, education and nonprofit communities in the city as well as the city government.

Floyd's family left the courthouse during Chauvin's trial Tuesday 'because they thought it was important that they give comfort to Daunte Wright's mother' and family, Crump said Tuesday at a news conference with the two families.

'We will stand in support with you. ... The world is traumatized, watching another African American man being slayed,' said Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd. 'I woke up in the morning with this on my mind. I don't want to see another victim.'

The losses of both Wright and Floyd were acknowledged in Tuesday's protests. Demonstrators knelt for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, to symbolize the amount of time authorities say Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck.

And just as the Floyd family did last year, the Wright family is looking for more answers surrounding their loved one's death.

One of the family's attorneys, Jeffrey Storms, told CNN that Gannon's explanation -- that the shooting appeared to be an accident -- 'is by no means proper or enough.'

'There were a number of intentional events that led to (Daunte Wright) being dead, and we need to find out exactly why each one of those intentional events happened,' Storms said Tuesday.

'Grabbing your sidearm that you've likely deployed thousands, if not tens of thousands, of times is an intentional act,' Storms said. 'A sidearm feels different than a Taser. It looks different than a Taser. (It) requires different pressure in order to deploy it.'

Wright's father, Aubrey Wright, told ABC on Tuesday that he couldn't accept Gannon's explanation that Sunday's shooting was accidental.

'I can't accept that -- a mistake. That doesn't even sound right,' he told ABC's 'Good Morning America.' He cited the officer's length of service -- authorities said she'd been with Brooklyn Center police for 26 years.

Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said she wanted to see the officer 'held accountable for everything that she's taken from us.'

'It should have never, ever escalated the way it did,' Katie Wright told ABC.

Wright was with his girlfriend Sunday afternoon, driving to the house of his older brother, Damik Bryant.

Officers pulled him over in Brooklyn Center for an expired tag and learned he had an outstanding warrant, police said. The warrant was for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, according to the news release from Orput's office.

Wright gave officers his name before calling his mother, Bryant said. His mother, Katie Wright, told reporters that Daunte Wright called her, and she heard a police officer ask him to put down his phone and get out of the car.

Daunte told her he'd explain why he was pulled over after he exited, she said. She eventually heard police ask him to hang up, and then scuffling, before the call ended, she said.

Body camera footage released Monday shows Wright standing outside his vehicle with his arms behind his back and an officer directly behind him, trying to handcuff him. An officer tells Wright 'don't,' before Wright twists away and gets back into the driver's seat of the car.

Orput's office said Potter 'pulled her Glock 9mm handgun with her right hand and pointed it at Wright.'

The officer whose camera footage was released is heard warning the man she's going to use her Taser on him, before repeatedly shouting, 'Taser! Taser! Taser!' It's at this point that Orput's office says Potter 'pulled the trigger on her handgun' and fired one round into the left side of Wright.

'Wright immediately said, 'ah, he shot me,' and the car sped away for a short distance before crashing into another vehicle and stopping,' the release said.

Then, the officer is heard screaming, 'Holy sh*t! I just shot him.'

An ambulance was called and Wright was pronounced dead at the scene, Orput's release states.

Gannon said the portion of body-worn camera footage released Monday led him to believe the shooting was accidental and that the officer's actions before the shooting were consistent with the department's training on Tasers.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension examined Potter's duty belt and found her handgun is holstered on the right side of her belt, while the Taser is on the left side, according to a news release from Orput's office.

Citing a criminal complaint, the release said the Taser is yellow with a black grip and is set in a straight-draw position, 'meaning Potter would have to use her left hand to pull the Taser out of its holster.'

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Protesters gather at Brooklyn Center police station hours after ex-officer is charged in the death of Daunte Wright - WTVA

There are more than enough shots to go around in communities such as Hartsville, Tenn., the seat of Trousdale County, a quiet town tucked in the wooded hills northeast of Nashville.

It's a county that is nearly 90% white and where Donald Trump won nearly 75% of the votes in 2020. There was no special planning to reach underserved communities here, other than the inmates at the state prison, which experienced one of the nation's largest correctional facility outbreaks of COVID-19.

But now Tennessee, like much of the nation, is finding that rural, white residents need a little more coaxing to roll up their sleeves for the shot. This week, the state published results from a statewide survey, and a focus group of unvaccinated residents. More than 45% of white, rural conservatives said they were unwilling even to consider taking the vaccine.

"There's nothing inherently unique about living in a rural area that makes people balk at getting vaccinated. It's just that rural areas have a larger share of people in the most vaccine-resistant groups: Republicans and white evangelical Christians," says Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The foundation's latest survey data find that more rural residents have been fully vaccinated than urban dwellers. But this is likely because there haven't been the same long waits in rural areas to get the vaccine. And now the initial demand has tapered to a drip. Currently, the number of rural residents (21%) saying they'll never get the vaccine is twice the number (10%) in urban areas.

On a recent weekend in Hartsville, the local health department had trouble filling up even half the spots for a COVID-19 vaccination event at the high school. Down the street at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, Cris Weske, 43, stopped in to buy a can of dipping tobacco. He says he isn't even tempted to get the COVID-19 vaccine, no matter how widely available it is.

"Somebody like me that's healthy, with a survival rate of 99%, I don't need it," he says. "I don't want to put that toxin I'm kind of anti-vax, period."

Weske, who is wearing a "We the People" T-shirt, says the U.S. Constitution protects his choice to opt out of the massive nationwide vaccination effort.

Public health officials in Tennessee expected to face some reluctance when the COVID-19 vaccine finally arrived. But they were surprised to realize that the most stubborn group might be white, largely conservative residents in rural Tennessee.

National polling by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist finds that rural, white Republicans particularly supporters of Trump's are among the least likely to get a vaccine. The issue is evident in state-by-state vaccination rates, with Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee trailing the rest of the country. The White House has begun launching new initiatives targeting so-called red states, such as setting up partnerships with NASCAR, professional sports and even country music.

"We voted for Trump, but Trump's got nothing to do with us not taking the vaccine," says Hartsville's Cindi Kelton, 67, as she loads dog food and milk into her minivan outside the Piggly Wiggly. "We were planning on taking it until our doctor passed away."

More scared of the vaccine than the virus

Her physician, Raymond Fuller of Gallatin, Tenn., died of COVID-19 in late January. It's unclear whether he had been vaccinated. Either way, Kelton worried the vaccine could have played a role despite how safe it has been shown to be in rigorous clinical trials.

Kelton has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema lung diseases that put her at high risk of complications with COVID-19 but maintains she's still more scared of the vaccine than the virus.

In many rural communities, scant attention has been paid to batting down rumors or answering vaccine questions. Public health officials in Tennessee and other Southern states have been far more focused on building trust with Black and immigrant groups concentrated in urban areas. And even their outreach in rural communities has targeted those traditionally underserved groups.

But some leaders of rural communities are the ones actively sowing doubts. They include state legislators pushing anti-vaccine legislation and even a few pastors piping up on Sunday mornings. Greg Locke is an outspoken white preacher in Mount Juliet, Tenn., who peppers his sermons with mocking questions.

"People say, 'Well, what are you going to do when they make the vaccine mandatory?' " he asks an audience gathered without masks in late March. "I'm going to tell them to take a hike, like I've been telling them to take a hike. That's what I'm going to do."

Southern states, where vaccination rates are the lowest in the country, have frequently turned to ministers, seeing them as key allies who are trusted at the local level. But it's mostly Black churches, from Mississippi to Georgia, that have agreed to hold informational town halls or organize and host vaccine events.

In recent days, some key white evangelical leaders have stepped forward to advocate more loudly for vaccinations. Among them is J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. But Greear pastors a church in Durham, N.C. hardly a conservative stronghold. And the responses to Greear on social media were impassioned and even irate exposing how divided many conservative churchgoers are.

The white Baptist pastors in Hartsville, when contacted for this story, declined to weigh in, saying they were leaving the decision entirely up to members of their congregations.

"Wait and see"

Pastor Omarn Lee, a hospital chaplain in Nashville, has been working with Black churches in Tennessee to promote vaccination. He says the concerns in Black congregations in his city aren't that different from what he hears from rural, white communities.

" 'We don't trust the government, and we don't trust Joe Biden' is what they say, right?" he says.

But Lee notes that, six months ago, Black communities were saying the same thing when Trump was in office. "Anytime you have a marginalized person, you have people who [feel] left out, they're going to be skeptical."

Skepticism about the vaccine, Lee says, can be overcome if there's an intentional effort to reach people where they are.

But in small towns such as Hartsville, there hasn't been much attention on the issue. People are less likely to hear the message from church leaders, and other communication can be more limited. There's not much in the way of local media providing information about how to sign up and where to go.

"I don't even have a computer. I'm old school," says Brenda Kelley, a 74-year-old widow who says she didn't even know she was eligible to get the vaccine yet, much less that tons of shots are available. The vaccination event at a nearby high school was advertised mostly on Facebook.

"Kinda scared to get it in a way, and in a way I want it," Kelley added. "And my children, neither of them want it. So I don't know."

Plus, Kelley has her own questions she'd like answered first such as whether her diabetes, while elevating her risk of developing serious COVID-19, might also cause problems with the vaccine. Health officials say the vaccine is safe for people like her, but she wants to hear it from her doctor.

"It's not a never thing," she concludes. Just a "wait and see."

This story comes from NPR's health reporting partnership with Nashville Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.

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'It's Not A Never Thing' White, Rural Southerners Hesitant To Get COVID Vaccine - KPCW