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Like a bad penny, legislation to hide public notices from the public is back in N.C. General Assembly.

House members have filed separate bills that would allow 14 counties in the Piedmont and mountains and 12 counties in Eastern North Carolina to run public notices on their websites instead of in newspapers. This has been a bad idea over the past 10 years and it is arguably a worse idea today when a public health crisis calls for greater transparency, not less.

Why are public notices important?

Public notices catalog government actions in cases of competitive bidding,rezonings, budget hearings, auctions, property transfers, delinquent tax notices, street name changes and more. They alert the public to disruptive land-use changes for things like sewer plants, asphalt plants and garbage incinerators. They tell the public in advance about proposals for traffic-clogging high-density developments and plans for wider roads or new roads.

Although they cost local government a small amount of money, public notices generate revenue by compelling the collection of past-due taxes. Indeed, the threat of having their names published in the local newspaper (and on its website) for nonpayment incentivizes the timely payment of property taxes by an incalculable amount.

Instead of eroding the publics right to know, county commissioners and city council members should be providing as much information as possible to all their constituents, including the many who have no internet access or poor service.

What role do newspapers play?

Newspapers are a community forum. That role does not change with the manner in which you receive local news important to you.

Newspapers have proved to be a lifeline of community news vital to the public during the pandemic; instead of killing the messengers, counties and cities should continue running legal notices in newspapers and help maintain this vital line of communication to the local community.

Current law ensures that public notices reach the largest possible cross-section of the community. The death of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated since the invention of the telegraph machine, radio and television. While the internet has reduced dissemination of news via a printed product, newspapers almost universally have added 24-7 web-based products that in many cases reach a larger audience than those news companies did before websites proliferated. Traffic on county websites is infinitesimally small compared to newspaper websites and print circulation.

A recent study done by the North Carolina Press Association showed newspaper websites drew 4-5 times as much traffic as county websites. Keep in mind, too, that at no extra cost and without being forced to by law newspapers are already posting public notices online and uploading them to a central statewide website http://www.ncnotices.com where the public can read notices from around the state for free.

The survey the NCPA commissioned in December 2020 found that:

6.6 million North Carolina adults read a newspaper product every month for information about their local community.

72 percent of adults read public notices in local print or digital newspapers.

68 percent believe governments should be required to publish notices in a newspaper as a service to the community.

86 percent cite local newspapers as their most trusted source for public notices vs government websites.

The survey broadly undergirds what most people would regard as intuitive fact: The public relies on newspapers more often than any other source of information and its not even close.

What about access to these notices?

According to many studies, fully 30 percent of North Carolinians either live where there is no internet service, they cant afford it, or wont read online even if available (most seniors).

Rep. Warren thinks that everyone has a cell phone with capability to reach county websites, a position that is simply not supportable (there is a comparable group of seniors or those who cant afford wireless or find themselves out of service range).

Readers and viewers still look to newspapers to get community news that no other organization provides. So its a false echo for Rep. Warren and others to argue that its time now (when it wasnt time 10 years ago when he voted against earlier legislation to kill public notice) to allow counties to pull notices because newspapers may publish less frequently today.

Would this save money for our counties?

The fact is legal notice advertising is a tiny fraction of the budget in every county.

It is an important check and balance service that newspapers have provided to local governments for decades, and yes they are paid for it. These notices do not subsidize the operation of small town newspapers.

They keep the public informed.

Removing the newspaper publication cost would scarcely be noticed on local government budget ledgers except to the extent it may reduce their leverage to collect unpaid taxes, making the repeal of the public notices pound foolish.

If our papers didnt play this role, many vulnerable taxpayers would be left in the dark about meetings of local governments that their tax dollars pay for, as well as the decisions and taxes to which those meetings might lead.

Finally, legal ads sometimes more than pay for themselves, either by heading off a costly governmental controversy by drawing public attention early or bringing in cash.

For instance, Moore County paid its local paper, The Pilot, $8,000 to meet a legal requirement to publish the names of delinquent taxpayers who collectively owed $1.37 million. After the ad, Moore County collected $821,000 of the outstanding debt.

This is not about cost savings for the counties. This is about hiding the business of the people and an attempt to strike back at newspapers for doing their job. We are the public watchdogs and occasionally we report on news that is not favorable to elected officials. That role will never change. This is about accountability and transparency.

As described by former Republican lawyer House member Bonner Stiller, giving local governments the choice to suspend notice publication to the public in newspapers would create havoc for free press rights every time a newspaper criticized the government.

Limiting public notice to government websites is a bad idea.

Because as many as one-third of North Carolinians do not have internet access, cant afford it, and would not visit government operated websites even if they had internet access. This bill would bury public notices on a website that few if any citizens visit and effectively would kill the publics right to know.

These measures put local governments into private business, expandinggovernment reach. Posting of public notices to government sites is not a healthy option for democracy. Newspapers are an independent third party responsible for printing and archiving a permanent record of these public notices who would be held accountable if these notices were only required to post on a government run website?

The attempts at retribution against local newspapers are a bad idea.

Contact your local legislator and county commissioners and tell them to keep the fox out of the henhouse. Tell them to keep public notices in newspapers so that the public can see them.

Philip M. Lucey is executive director of the North Carolina Press Association.

Editors Note: To show your support for removal of Stanly County from this bill, contact N.C. Rep. Wayne Sasser Wayne.Sasser@ncleg.gov, N.C. Rep. Ben Moss Ben.Moss@ncleg.gov, N.C. Sen. Carl Ford Carl.Ford@ncleg.gov, County Commission Chairman Bill Lawhon blawhon@stanlycountync.gov, Vice Chairman Tommy Jordan tjordan@stanlycountync.gov, Commissioner Zach Almond zalmond@stanlycountync.gov, Commissioner Peter Asciutto pasciutto@stanlycountync.gov, Commissioner Mike Barbee mbarbee@stanlycountync.gov, Commissioner Scott Efird tefird@stanlycountync.gov and Commissioner Lane Furr mlfurr@stanlycountync.gov and let your voice be heard.

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GUEST EDITORIAL: Counties once again looking to operate in the dark - The Stanly News & Press - Stanly News & Press

Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaoften sharetheir adorable photos on theirsocial media handles and set major couple goals for fans. Ahead of Valentine's Day, Rajkummar Rao took to Instagram to share a fun video wherein he and Patralekha are trying cheesiest one-liners on each other. Scroll to see the video and know more.

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In the video shared by Rajkummar, he starts the fun game by asking Patralekha, "Why doesn't he like the alphabet Q?"When Patralekha asks him why, he replies, "Because it comes between P (Patralekha's initial) and R (Rajkummar'sinitial) and I don't like anything that comes between us". The next one-liner is said by Patralekha who asks Rajkummar, "Are you wifi? Because I can feel the connection". Further ahead in the video, Rajkummar asks Patralekha to pinch him and says, "Because you are a dream to me. You are the queen of my dreams and I the king of yours".

The video garnered a lot of love from their fans and followers as it hit 80K likes within two hours of uploading. Several fans have praised their chemistry by commenting using the fire and red heart emojis.and even called them the 'best couple'. See their reactions below:

The couple has been together for eight years now. Speaking to Humans Of Bombay, Patralekha said that she first saw Rajkummar in the movie LSD and he was like the weird guy he had played on-screen. His image in her mind was already tarnished. On the contrary, Rajkummar later told her that he had seen her in a commercial and decided to marry her. Shesaid that when they started working together it was then she realised that he was an extremely passionate person. She added that being together is what matters and they don't know what the future holds for them. They were seen together in the 2014 drama film Citylights. The movie was directed byHansal Mehta.Rajkummar is currently is shooting for his next film Badhai Do which also stars Bhumi Pednekar. The film is the second part of the 2018 drama-comedy film Badhai Ho. It is directed byHarshavardhan Kulkarni.

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Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.

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Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha try cute one-liners on each other ahead of Valentines Day - Republic TV

Police 'overwhelmed' by tide of online child abuse

Law enforcement agencies are being overwhelmed by the number of cases of online child sexual abuse they are having to deal with, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for child protection has said.

Feb 8, 2021

By Website Editor

Norfolk Chief Constable Simon Bailey said big tech firms such as Facebook need to accept greater responsibility and do more to prevent the uploading, sharing and viewing of child abuse images as too many parents still have a laissez-faire attitude to what their children do in their bedrooms.

I dont think their role in all this has been truly appreciated because without them the abuse wouldnt be able to take place in so many cases, he said.

Its the big market leaders that actually bear responsibility for making sure the internet is a safe place for our children and for our grandchildren to go. And ultimately at this moment in time its not safe.

He was speaking before the broadcast of the three-part documentary Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles, which follows covert police units using undercover officers. The first episode follows 47-year-old Simon, an undercover officer posing as a paedophile who enjoys abusing his ten-year-old daughter and is looking for other men to join him.

He is bombarded with messages after creating a profile on an open chatroom for children, while an online child sex offender is caught after writing a message offering pictures of a four-year-old girl in a public toilet.

Mr Bailey blamed the staggering increase from 7,000 indecent images of children in 1990 to 17 million on the child abuse image database now on the development of the internet and the ability of anyone to take and share pictures from smartphones.

He said online grooming has gone up during Covid-19 lockdowns with youngsters spending more time on their computers and paedophiles discussing in chatrooms greater opportunities to carry out abuse.

And he described as frightening figures showing that 44 per cent of new indecent images found online are taken by children themselves with 11 to 13-year-old girls most likely to upload and share pictures and videos.

I could describe to you some of the most horrific videos where you can see a child thats been groomed, abusing themselves within their own bedroom and you can hear their mother calling up and recorded on the video, darling, dinners nearly ready, said Mr Bailey.

Now that is pretty horrific, I think, in anybodys estimation.

But Mr Bailey admitted the work was the tip of the iceberg, with the 850 offenders arrested per quarter and the safeguarding of more than 1,000 children a month having little effect, if anything.

Last year the National Crime Agency warned there are at least 300,000 people in the UK posing a sexual threat to children, while the coronavirus pandemic is thought to have made the problem even worse.

It is undoubtedly, in my mind, one of the greatest, if not the greatest societal threats that we are having to now deal with as a police service, said Mr Bailey.

At the moment, law enforcement agencies across the country are becoming overwhelmed with the sheer volume of cases that we are having to deal with, which is absolutely impacting on our ability to deal with the more sophisticated, the more tech-savvy and potentially the more dangerous offenders, and we are having to deal with an awful lot of lower risk offenders.

Mr Bailey said police cant arrest our way out of the problem and said he hopes the Governments Online Harms legislation will hold technology firm bosses to account.

Ultimately, until such time as the companies that facilitate the uploading, the sharing, the viewing of images, the ability to go online and groom a child, until such time as they put in place the right safeguards, despite our very best efforts and the very best efforts of the undercover community, we are never, ever going to be able to deal with the threat in the way we would wish to, he said.

The technology is there to prevent the uploading, the sharing, the viewing of images, I think the technology is there to monitor what is taking place within chatrooms, where grooming is taking place.

Ultimately, the companies absolutely must bear the responsibility for allowing so much of this abuse to take place and I hold them responsible.

A Facebook company spokesperson said: Child exploitation and grooming have no place on our platforms. Using industry-leading technology, over 99 per cent of child exploitation content we remove from Facebook and Instagram is found and taken down before its reported to us.

We also use a combination of technology and behavioural signals to detect and prevent grooming, or potentially inappropriate interactions between a minor and an adult. We have 35,000 people working in our safety and security team to keep our platforms safe.

Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles airs on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday, February 8.

Excerpt from:

Police 'overwhelmed' by tide of online child abuse - Police Professional

What started as a fun, creative outlet for one Grand Valley State University alumna has turned into a business opportunity thanks to COVID-19.

Holly Cieslinski graduated from GVSU in 2018 with a degree in Occupational Science and Therapy. In 2019, she was gifted a Cricut cutting machine for Christmas and thought it would be fun to use it to make earrings.

What she didnt know at the time was just how many people would want to wear her creations.

I never intended on selling my earrings but ended up getting a lot of interest from friends and family, said Cieslinski.

Cieslinski started making more and more earrings when her place of employment closed down due to COVID-19. She makes a variety of earrings, specializing in faux leather and resin designs.

If I am making faux leather earrings, I start by finding a pattern or style I like and uploading it to a program called Design Space which is used to work with Cricut cutting machines, Cieslinski said. If I am making resin earrings, I typically find a color pattern I am inspired by.

Eventually, she had made so many pairs of earrings that she ended up having too many on hand. So, she decided to try and sell them at the Fulton Street Farmers Market in Grand Rapids.

The response was great and it became a weekly occurrence for me to sell there, said Cieslinski.

Cieslinskis earrings were such a success that they are now also sold online and at Proper Apparel Boutique located in the Upper Peninsula.

Cieslinski said that her favorite part of the jewelry-making experience has been seeing people wear her creations, and having repeat customers.

I remember I saw someone wearing my earrings at Trader Joes and it was such a humbling and exciting experience, Cieslinski said. Ive also really enjoyed the relationships created with customers and other vendors at the market.

Cieslinski explained that while shes always loved to be creative, its easy to get stuck in ruts sometimes, and this newfound earring business has kept her inspired and creating. She also credits her customers for keeping her creativity going.

Oftentimes customers will ask if I can make something they have in mind and its a style or design I hadnt even considered trying to create, Cieslinski said. They often inspire me. Its really just been nice to have a creative outlet that others can enjoy.

Although she has seen much success, Cieslinski said that she said she actually prefers not to plan too far ahead when it comes to her earrings.

I havent really set any expectations for my business and I somewhat prefer it that way. I never intended to sell but the response to my earrings led me that way, Cieslinski said. I am most excited about the opportunities ahead. Again, I have no expectations so whatever happens, is exciting and fulfilling. I am excited to see where else my creations take me.

She said although many have asked, she does not have her own Etsy shop for her earrings. Those interested in her designs can find them through her Instagram @studsndangles.

Read more:

GV alumna finds success with unexpected earring business - Grand Valley Lanthorn

Vlogger couple Harikrishnan J and Lakshmi Krishna from Thrissur, Kerala, are riding high on a cross-country odyssey, living out of their car. The avid travellers are on a mission to cover 13 States in their minimally refurbished compact SUV, all the while narrating the tales of their trip through their YouTube channel TinPin Stories.

When MetroPlus catches up with the couple, Harikrishnan (31) and Lakshmi (24) have made a pit-stop in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, before gearing up to enter Punjab. We call it a freewheeling car life wherein we essentially travel, cook and sleep in our four-wheeler, says Lakshmi, a graphic designer. It has been our mobile home for months now, chimes in Harikrishnan.

The duo, who tied the knot in 2019, first launched TinPin Stories to document its honeymoon travels in Thailand. They later quit their corporate jobs in Bengaluru to become full-time vloggers.

The couple set out on their white Hyundai Creta (automatic/petrol) from their hometown in Thrissur on October 28 last year after Covid-19 lockdown relaxations. We had already been to places such as Himachal Pradesh and Hampi and dreamt of going on a much longer trip. Then the lockdown derailed our travel plans. A key reason we decided to travel in our own car was not to rely on public transport, keeping the pandemic in mind. Also, we felt this would help cut cost if we cooked and slept in it, says Lakshmi.

Their original plan was to travel 12 States and come full circle in about two months, but they soon realised there was a lot to explore, relish and learn at each milestone. Starting from Kerala, their route threads Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu before making their way back to their hometown in Thrissur.

The two effected minimal modifications to their SUV to suit the purpose, chiefly fashioning two makeshift beds out of the back seat with some smart ergonomics. The back seat was folded and the headrest removed where we fixed two six-feet long plywood planks that serve as beds with 2-inch foam mattress firmly attached to it. We carry a small gas cylinder, a stove and basic cooking utensils that include a pressure cooker. A car inverter solves our power problems. In fact, we spent not more than 4,000 on all these for the trip, says Harikrishnan, adding that they use a laptop, iPhone and a GoPro for vlogging.

They love to whip up dishes that are quick to make. We prepare rice, curry, egg and poha, which we both enjoy. At other times, we resort to instant noodles to save time. Veggies and cereals are usually bought fresh on the road, he says. Also in the boot are three 10-litre water cans, one meant for washing. Water refills are done from fuel stations.

Google map serves as their primary guide. We both take turns to drive and navigate both highways and byways. We just go with the flow and mingle with people from different communities and do not try to stick to any particular schedule. We both can manage communicating in Hindi. However, we call it a day by 7 pm to zoom in on a convenient spot to park our car and settle for the night, says Harikrishnan. While sleeping, a mountable power bank-charged mini-fan comes in handy while a portion of the windows is kept open.

Nevertheless, there were occasions when they had to check into hotels briefly. So far, only a few times. Thats also when we get to do most of the laundry, says Harikrishnan with a laugh. The couple says the only challenging part of their odyssey has been finding sufficient time for vlogging. We keep shooting videos and clicking pictures as much as we can but editing them well for TinPin Stories and uploading the clips are time-consuming, he points out.

So what has their car life across the country taught them? Be nice to people and they will be nice to you, say Harikrishnan and Lakshmi in one voice.

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Meet the Kerala vlogger couple leading a car life across the country - The Hindu

Essential Duties and Responsibilities- Responsible for oversight of product lifecycle for E-commerce businesses, which includes: managing and maintaining site catalogs and uploading end-to-end product details across sites in Salesforce Commerce Cloud (formerly Demandware)- Ability to find insights on the customer journey and create compelling, trend-driven and brand appropriate product categories based on product attribution, search metrics, merchandising feedback, current trends and analysis of product and category metrics- Review quality assurance for desktop & mobile sites daily, while identifying and resolving any issues or areas of opportunity- Collaborate with E-commerce buyersto fully understand product assortment, launches, merchandising strategy and product requirements- Creation of cross-functional briefs to request & develop editorial site content- Responsible for project management and execution of all site content briefs for timely & functional deliverables- Analyze and develop reporting to deliver to leadership with action items, inclusive of site KPIs, cross-team efforts & vendor relations- Based on competitive findings, recommend changes, updates and improvements to support the company's objectives- Partner and own relationships with external vendors- Assist management & team members with ad-hoc reporting, testing initiatives and special projects- Execute and deliver internal & cross functional reporting across departments- Responsible for ongoing projects & enhancements in partnership with Tapestry digital teamsQualifications- Bachelor's Degree- 2-4 years of related E-commerce experience- Preferred experience in in Demandware Business Manager- Proficient in Google Analytics- Exceptional attention to detail and highly organized within a fast paced, dynamic environment- Strong capacity for multi-tasking, working independently and time management- Must be highly collaborative- Must have strong communication skills

Our Competencies for All Employees- Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.- Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.- Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.- Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.- Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.- Perseverance: Pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom gives up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks.- Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Our Competencies for All People Managers- Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.- Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong moraleand spirit in theirteam; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.- Managerial Courage: Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. Visit Kate Spade at #LI-MS1 http://www.katespade.com .

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Associate, eCommerce job with Kate Spade New York | 155911 - The Business of Fashion

Dr Doyle is an expert in athlete branding.

Professional athletes flocked to TikTok during COVID-19 lockdowns last year, but a Griffith University athlete branding expert warns the short-form video app is a double-edged sword.

Dr Jason Doyle from the Griffith Business School contributed to an international study analysing how 10 professional athletes, five in the US and five in China, used TikTok during lockdowns from March to May 2020 in the US and January to May 2020 in China.

Researchers found many US-based athletes started using or became newly active during lockdown and those in the study all recorded videos in collaboration with family members.

Dr Doyle said TikTok was popular with fans because it feels more behind the scenes, with relatable and genuine self-deprecating humour in videos.

It provides a different window into their personal and family life, like LeBron James posting fun videos with his family. It gave an unpolished look into who he is as a person and not just who he is as arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.

Dr Doyle said US athletes also posted performance-related videos offering a glimpse into their at-home training routines, resonating with the challenge function of TikTok.

Athletic challenges are popular because they showcase an athletes abilities like gymnast Laurie Hernandez doing the clock challenge, where an athlete does a handstand and moves their legs in a wide circle to the beat of Kanye Wests song Stronger.

Many of the athletes we looked at were downloading TikTok to get involved in these types of challenge without their career aspirations in mind. But athletes need to be aware that everything they do contributes to their brand.

He said for Australians, the most prominent example was Penrith Panthers player Nathan Cleary uploading a dance challenge video to TikTok which ignored social distancing restrictions.

Its a classic example of not thinking about the broader implications of what youre posting, athletes really need to be aware of what their uploading right down to their song choice.

In comparison, China-based athletes displayed a more sophisticated use of TikTok, known as Douyin in China, with frequent postings, visual effects and the promotion of their own commercialised workout programs and sponsored products.

Dr Doyle said many athletes arent giving much thought to the strategy behind their marketable lifestyle off the field.

Athletes are influencers and they need to get involved with causes and charities which align with their brand. Naomi Osaka uses her platform to support Black Lives Matters activism.

When athletes give back in an authentic way, they also build their brands in the process.

Fan engagement in 15 Seconds: Athletes Relationship Marketing During a Pandemic via TikTok is published in International Journal of Sport Communication.

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TikTok a lockdown hit with athletes and fans - Griffith News

Denise Jensen teaches New Mexico History and Navajo Culture at Navajo Preparatory School, in the northwest corner of New Mexico. The private, International Baccalaureate college-prep school established for Native American students serves about 265 teenagers from the Navajo Nation and other tribal nations. Most live at the school when its in session. But when Navajo Prep went all-remote last March, Jensen saw with painful clarity the struggles her students face daily to do their schoolwork from home. Jensen told her story to Catherine Gewertz, senior contributing writer. Their interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

I had a student who was a senior last year. When it got to a point where I was not receiving work from [him], I began to reach out to him. I was first trying to reach out to him through emails, and he seemed to be able to get the emails OK. But he then said its better if we can try to communicate through phone, I have a better phone signal than I do internet signal. He was having just such a hard timenot even just accessing his work through email but also just getting onto his Wi-Fi at home. There are like 10 family members who live in the household. And imagine the school-aged children and the adults in that family who are having to use the Wi-Fi for their own purposes. He explained to me that because he was home, a lot of the responsibility fell onto him to feed the cattle, the horses, to take care of them.

So a lot of times, because he was having to fight over the use of the Wi-Fi with everyone else in the household, it just was easier for him to go and do his ranch chores, and to take care of the animals during the day while the others use the Wi-Fi. Then he would come back in in the evening and try to use the Wi-Fi in hopes that he would have stronger signals. He really struggled with uploading assignments and emailing them to me. So when we talked on the phone, he really surprised me the first time. He said, can I call you back? I need to get to a place where I have a stronger signal. He called me. And then I, you know, immediately I could hear that wind, it was kind of breezy, and you could hear the wind blowing. And I said, are you outside? He goes, yeah, I had to crawl to the top of my roof, because this is where I can get a better phone signal.

He was frustrated. Hes a good student. Hes used to performing above expectations. And with these challenges that he had, it was frustrating, because it was limiting him. He was trying, and he was doing everything he could, to get things submitted, to show us as his teachers that he wasnt just using excuses, that he was going above and beyond to do his part to make sure he was getting things turned in.

[I had another student who] was a junior. She lived smack dab in the middle of the reservation along Lukachukai mountain. And her family, they still live in a traditional hogan [Navajo one-room home]. They dont have electricity. There was an assignment that was due on a Monday and it required her to do some writing over the weekend. She got an email through to me, I believe it was that Monday, and explained her situation. She worked on it for as long as she could. By that time, Navajo Nation issued stay-at-home orders and they had weekend lockdowns. They also instituted a $1,000 fine for anyone who was out when they werent supposed to be out. So you could get ticketed for driving somewhere. In this particular situation, this young lady, whose family home relies on a generator, they ran out of gas. Her laptop died and she couldnt do any more work. Whatever they had left in their generator had to sustain their household until they could get gas again.

This has really humbled me in a lot of ways as a teacher, because more than ever, the home and the reality of the situations that our students are in right now are just requiring that. The compassion, being understanding and just being willing toits been difficult.

Ive always had high expectations of my students. But Ive had to take that step back and Ive had to look at each individual situation for what it was and acknowledge that that student is in a situation where, number one, its not in their control. Number two, theyre doing their best, and theyre just reacting to whats happening around them.

Students are also dealing with a lot more family challenges, like living in a single-parent household where they have to take on more responsibility caring for others. It makes it more challenging for them to stay focused on their schoolwork. And there are domestic-violence situations.

Its frustrating, and its heartbreaking, because I cant help them fix what is really the challenge for them, and what is really affecting them, I cant fix that. So I keep that [in] the back of my mind, when Im designing my lessons. Even now, I really try to stay in communication with them. And I encourage them to stay in communication with me and let me know if somethings happening. I record my class sessions so at any time, should a student have to miss [class] for whatever reason, they always have access to those class recordings. They can always go back and watch. And Ill communicate with them and say, do you have any questions? What do you need help with? And then try to take them from there and keep moving them forward.

As we start spring semester, I find that I have higher attendance rate than I did in the fall. I attribute that to the work of our IT department. They have gone above and beyond. Starting the year, every student got a new Macbook Air and a hotspot. Our school took the time to find out what service worked best in their home area and tried to match the hotspot with that. There were still challenges, because we have some students who live in areas that had absolutely no signal at all, no connection at all. In some of those instances, our IT team went out and actually installed routers. They installed antennas on top of their roofs.

I meet [students] through Zoom. We are limited though, on the amount of time that we can be in Zoom. The first two weeks of this fall semester, we went on, we were excited, were gonna see our kids through Zoom. By the end of the second week, we saw students dropping out. Students werent showing up. And what happened to them? Well, [we] found that their data plan was running out. We had to scale back on our live Zoom sessions. We were limited to 30 minutes [a class] for the first half of the fall semester. By the end of the semester, we increased it to 45 minutes. [The IT team was] able to increase some of the data on the hotspots. So that helped a lot.

In November, my son, my only child, who goes to Fort Lewis College, tested positive. He has an apartment on campus, about an hours drive away. He stayed put. We drove up there, left things outside his door. We couldnt have contact with him. It was so hard. My son was battling COVID and I couldnt do anything to help him. Fortunately he had mild symptoms.

My husband works for Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprises, and hasnt been to work since last March because they shut down all the casinos. They had enough to pay the workers [for a while]. But he got laid off the beginning of January and is now on unemployment. The gaming executives say that if the casinos cant open by March, they might have to shut them down permanently. We dont know what the outcome will be.

My grandfather died recently. We just found out my mom is sick with COVID. So the reality of [my students] situations living on the reservation, now Im experiencing it personally with my mom and my family. My grandfathers services are tomorrow, and we cant even all be there. Thats the reality of what a lot of our kids are going through. Even teachers. Weve had several staff members who have lost family members.

My mom is 65. She lives in a trailer on the north rim of Canyon de Chelly. She got electricity a year and a half ago, but she still doesnt have running water. So were going to take our RV to her, so at least she can take a hot shower, [to] give her some comfort, and hopefully shell be able to fight this. You know, her walking out to the outhouse in the cold and having to deal with a wood burning stove, its just not good for her right now.

We talk about the cluster outbreaks [here] and how dangerous those are, because we do have so many family members living not just within one home, but in close proximity to one another, that its hard to maintain that distance, without thinking about it being a reality, or it being something that can actually happen to you. Until it does.

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Sitting on the Roof at Night for Internet: Pandemic Learning in the Navajo Nation - Education Week

Like a bad penny, legislation to hide public notices from the public is back in N.C. General Assembly.

House members have filed separate bills that would allow 14 counties in the Piedmont and mountains and 12 counties in Eastern North Carolina to run public notices on their websites instead of in newspapers. This has been a bad idea over the past 10 years and it is arguably a worse idea today when a public health crisis calls for greater transparency, not less.

Why are public notices important?

Public notices catalog government actions in cases of competitive bidding, rezonings, budget hearings, auctions, property transfers, delinquent tax notices, street name changes and more. They alert the public to disruptive land-use changes for things like sewer plants, asphalt plants and garbage incinerators. They tell the public in advance about proposals for traffic-clogging high-density developments and plans for wider roads or new roads. Although they cost local government a small amount of money, public notices generate revenue by compelling the collection of past-due taxes. Indeed, the threat of having their names published in the local newspaper (and on its website) for nonpayment incentivizes the timely payment of property taxes by an incalculable amount. Instead of eroding the publics right to know, county commissioners and city council members should be providing as much information as possible to all their constituents, including the many who have no internet access or poor service.

What role do newspapers play?

Newspapers are a community forum. That role does not change with the manner in which you receive local news important to you.

Newspapers have proved to be a lifeline of community news vital to the public during the pandemic; instead of killing the messengers, counties and cities should continue running legal notices in newspapers and help maintain this vital line of communication to the local community.

Current law ensures that public notices reach the largest possible cross-section of the community. The death of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated since the invention of the telegraph machine, radio and television. While the internet has reduced dissemination of news via a printed product, newspapers almost universally have added 24-7 web-based products that in many cases reach a larger audience than those news companies did before websites proliferated. Traffic on county websites is infinitesimally small compared to newspaper websites and print circulation. A recent study done by the North Carolina Press Association showed newspaper websites drew 4-5 times as much traffic as county websites. Keep in mind, too, that at no extra cost and without being forced to by law newspapers are already posting public notices on line and uploading them to a central statewide website http://www.ncnotices.com where the public can read notices from around the state for free.

The survey the NCPA commissioned in December 2020 found that:

The survey broadly undergirds what most people would regard as intuitive fact: The public relies on newspapers more often than any other source of information and its not even close.

What about access to these notices?

According to many studies, fully 30% of North Carolinians either live where there is no internet service, they cant afford it, or wont read online even if available (most seniors).

Rep Warren thinks that everyone has a cell phone with capability to reach county websites, a position that is simply not supportable (there is a comparable group of seniors or those who cant afford wireless or find themselves out of service range).

Readers and viewers still look to newspapers to get community news that no other organization provides. So its a false echo for Rep Warren and others to argue that its time now (when it wasnt time 10 years ago when he voted against earlier legislation to kill public notice) to allow counties to pull notices because newspapers may publish less frequently today.

Would this save money for our counties?

The fact is legal notice advertising is a tiny fraction of the budget in every county.

It is an important check and balance service that newspapers have provided to local governments for decades, and yes they are paid for it. These notices do not subsidize the operation of small town newspapers. They keep the public informed. Removing the newspaper publication cost would scarcely be noticed on local government budget ledgers except to the extent it may reduce their leverage to collect unpaid taxes, making the repeal of the public notices pound foolish.

If our papers didnt play this role, many vulnerable taxpayers would be left in the dark about meetings of local governments that their tax dollars pay for, as well as the decisions and taxes to which those meetings might lead. Finally, legal ads sometimes more than pay for themselves, either by heading off a costly governmental controversy by drawing public attention early or bringing in cash. For instance, Moore County paid its local paper, The Pilot, $8,000 to meet a legal requirement to publish the names of delinquent taxpayers who collectively owed $1.37 million. After the ad, Moore County collected $821,000 of the outstanding debt.

This is not about cost savings for the counties. This is about hiding the business of the people and an attempt to strike back at newspapers for doing their job. We are the public watchdogs and occasionally we report on news that is not favorable to elected officials. That role will never change. This is about accountability and transparency.

As described by former Republican lawyer- House member Bonner Stiller, giving local governments the choice to suspend notice publication to the public in newspapers would create havoc for free press rights every time a newspaper criticized the government.

Limiting public notice to government websites is a Bad Idea.

Because as many as one-third of North Carolinians do not have internet access, cant afford it, and would not visit government operated websites even if they had internet access. This bill would bury public notices on a website that few if any citizens visit and effectively would kill the publics right to know.

These measures put local governments into private business, expanding government reach. Posting of public notices to government sites is not a healthy option for democracy. Newspapers are an independent third party responsible for printing and archiving a permanent record of these public notices who would be held accountable if these notices were only required to post on a government run website?

The attempts at retribution against local newspapers are a Bad Idea. Contact your local legislator and county commissioners and tell them to keep the fox out of the henhouse. Tell them to keep public notices in newspapers so that the public can see them.

Philip M. Lucey

Executive Director

North Carolina Press Association

Supporting the publics right to know since 1873

Experts in hyperlocal advertising and marketing

North Carolina Press Association

Since 1843 NCPA has supported North Carolina newspapers, readership and advertising. We work to protect the publics right to know through the defense of open government and First Amendment freedoms, and we help maintain the publics access to local, state and federal governments.

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Counties once again looking to operate in the dark Mecklenburg Times: News for Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties - The Mecklenburg Times

Sharing a picture of your COVID-19 vaccine card on social media is the new popular thing to do. It shows everyone that youve had at least one dose of the vaccine.

But you may want to think twice before uploading, and sharing, your proof.

The Better Business Bureau warned against the idea last week. It says that there is self-identifying information on the card. If you arent careful, it could make it easier for people to steal your identity, or help scammers create fake versions of the vaccine card.

Keep in mind that your vaccination card includes personal information such as your full name, birthday and the location where you received your vaccine. Thats a lot of the info needed to open fraudulent account somewhere.

The Better Business Bureau also reports that scammers in Great Britain have been caught selling fake vaccination cards on eBay and TikTok. The BBB says its only a matter of time before scammers try to start cashing in here in the U.S.

The BBB offers several ideas to safely show others that youve had a vaccine.

More:

Resist the urge to share a picture of your vaccine card - fox4kc.com