When Cathy Fulkerson walked into her bank in Reno, Nevada, she was about to cancel her bank card. Fulkerson carried a letter expressing her concerns and explained to the manager why she desired to cut ties: due to her investments in fossil fuels.

“The manager was very nervous and very confrontational, and I was a customer. I was shocked,” says Fulkerson – although she was also pretty thrilled. “He was obviously very uncomfortable and obviously made a statement.”

Fulkerson is just not a righteous 19-year-old. She's never thrown soup at a painting or gotten stuck to a highway. The 67-year-old, who recently retired from his university profession, is an element of Third Act, a US group that engages older people in climate activism.

Since Greta Thunberg took the stage in 2018, climate protest has been seen as primarily a youth issue. Not only do younger people have the audacity to storm public spaces and tackle police, also they are arguably the cohort most affected by systems that they had no part in creating. By 2050 – the worldwide deadline for net zero and when warming is predicted to succeed in 2°C – many baby boomers might be out of the image. Millennials might be entering their very own golden years, while today's teenagers might be of their prime. You often hear that the subsequent generation will solve problems that today's leaders couldn't or wouldn't solve.

A growing group of climate retirees contradicts this narrative. They play a very important role in protesting fossil fuel expansion, exhorting their contemporaries to vote on climate, and even engaging in essentially the most confrontational types of protest.

“There is no known way to stop old people from voting, and in the end we preserved a lot of the country's resources, [including] the most money,” said Bill McKibben, 63, a longtime environmental activist who founded Third Act and published his first book, “The End of Nature,” in his late 20s. “If you want to put pressure on Washington, Wall Street or your state capital, having a few people with hairline fractures like mine isn’t the worst plan in the world.”

Mark Coleman, a Church of England priest based in northwest England, managed to live to be 60 before his first arrest. The father of two and grandfather of 1 marched against nuclear missiles within the Nineteen Eighties; But it wasn't until 2019, when he joined climate street protests led by Extinction Rebellion, that Coleman ended up in a jail cell. Two years later he was arrested again for collaborating within the “Insulate Britain” protests, where participants blocked traffic to campaign for higher energy efficiency ahead of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

Coleman has found that retirement creates “space for reflection.” [climate change]“, which young families don’t necessarily have. His own family supports his activism, although it has forced him to reconsider some of the commandments he has shared with his children. Among them: Don't break the law.

“The new edition says that sometimes it is OK to break the law when the law is wrong or when the law protects those who do wrong,” he says.

Sue Parfitt, Coleman's fellow clergyman, was also arrested on the Insulate Britain protests. Parfitt was 79 on the time – she brought a camping chair to take a seat on the road – and has since change into one in every of Britain's most distinguished climate protesters. Earlier this yr she broke the glass on the display case containing the Magna Carta on the British Library in London and is charged with criminal damage.

Many modern climate movements have far greater age differences than one might think, says Graeme Hayes, a sociologist at Aston University in Birmingham, U.K., who has co-authored demographic analyzes of British climate activism. “One thing that really stood out to us was the idea of ​​being a parent or grandparent, and that was a really important motivating force in why they took action,” Hayes says.

Arrested protesters speak in court about their responsibility to do something due to their age. “As part of the generation whose complacency led to this emergency, I should prepare for arrest,” a lady born in 1942 said within the study.

Climate activism is evolving as the specter of warming increases, but there may be ample evidence that older people – and particularly older women – are collaborating in other direct protests. In the Nineteen Eighties, women of all ages arrange a camp on Greenham Common in Berkshire to protest against nuclear weapons. In 2014, groups of girls calling themselves “Nanas” led anti-fracking protests in Lancashire. In China last yr, crowds of retirees led protests against cuts to their medical advantages, and within the United States, older people have long participated in protests against cuts to Medicaid and Medicare

The demographic is “hyper-legitimate,” says Hayes. “They are untouchable because how can you turn around and say that the grandmothers have no interest in the future and are somehow troublemakers? It’s an identity that you can organize.”

Third Act deals playfully with the maturity of its members. One kind of protest is the Rocking Chair Rebellion, through which members sit in rocking chairs in front of banks to induce them to exit the oil and gas industry. The group doesn't depend on physical protest – its efforts to dam the expansion of LNG exports from the Gulf of Mexico began with letter-writing – but they’re optimistic about making arrests if essential. (McKibben says he has been arrested a minimum of a dozen times.)

While an arrest could make life and work significantly tougher for young people, Third Act members often discuss how little they must lose in consequence, says Lani Ritter Hall, 78, a retired teacher from Ohio who joined the group in 2022 .

“We're talking about it [how] We have time and we have the finances,” says Ritter Hall. “We have a bit of wisdom within us.”

Insulate Britain, which wanted its members arrested to embarrass the federal government, seemed to be actively promoting an older demographic, Hayes says. The group held recruiting and organizational meetings in church halls. During Extinction Rebellion's peak in 2019, there was an excellent age distribution, but Hayes says older people were disproportionately represented amongst those arrested.

Retirees also object to global warming out of self-interest: they’re particularly vulnerable to its effects. Older persons are at higher risk of suffering dangerous health effects from intense heat, and most deaths from excessive heat occur amongst older people.

This vulnerability was highlighted in April when a bunch of older Swiss women, the so-called Climate Seniors, won a groundbreaking victory on the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled that Switzerland had “failed to fulfill its obligations” on climate change in a case that highlighted women's vulnerability to the harmful effects of warmth. The ruling forced a very important concession: the federal government's failure to pursue an efficient climate policy violated fundamental human rights.

“The more serious and serious the harm, the more compelling it is to a court,” Kelly Matheson, associate director of climate litigation at Our Children’s Trust, said on the time.

On this May afternoon, protesters braved the wet weather in lots of European cities. From Vienna to Stockholm they blew whistles and belted out “Ode to Joy” and “Sing for the Climate,” a Belgian song to the tune of the Italian resistance anthem “Bella Ciao.” Among the fliers was a bookmark with an image of a voting booth and two children outside. The caption reads: “Grandma, would you please think of our grandchildren too?”

The square in front of the European Parliament is closed to demonstrators, said Axel Vande Veegaete, 68, an organizer for grandparents. But the police made an exception and had the group take a photograph.

“You get more respect,” says Vande Veegaete. “And people are open to older people protesting.”

©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at Bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Every major election within the last two years has led to the refrain: “Abortion is on the ballot.” That actually applies to the upcoming presidential election and the voting rounds in November 2024.

There are stark differences between Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump on reproductive rights.

Trump often touts his success in getting the appointment three of the Supreme Court justices who voted for it in June 2022 repeal the constitutional right to abortion.

But because the election approaches, Trump and other members of the Republican Party have downplayed the abortion issue. For example, Trump improbably claimed on September 24 that if elected, women “won't think anymore about abortion,” because the issue now lies with the states.

During the general public speeches, nobody mentioned abortion Republican National Convention in July. Abortion rights and other reproductive health issues were a central theme on the Democratic National Convention in August.

The morning after the top of the Democratic National Convention Trump posted on Truth Social: “My government will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” He has also said that he would advocate in vitro fertilizationor IVF, including requiring the federal government or insurers to pay for it – even when the president doesn’t have the authority to require it.

Presidents have one a point of strength on abortion policy—for instance, they will support or veto bills related to abortion, and so they can issue executive actions to set federal policy priorities.

In short, the president has the facility to make it much easier or harder for somebody to get an abortion — or other types of reproductive health care.

Abortion ban within the Republican Party platform

Until recently, the Republican Party officially promoted anti-abortion policies.

Specifically, every Republican Party platform from 1984 to 2016 called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that might ban abortion. The 2016 Republican platform mentioned abortion 35 just. In 2020, the Republican Party didn’t adopt a brand new program.

Trump's recent statements of support for IVF and his waffling on abortion access contradict his past actions, including his choice of a vice chairman – JD Vance – who has strong anti-abortion views.

These mixed messages can have something to do with the undeniable fact that there are laws banning abortions not popular within the USA about 65% of Americans reject the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling The the appropriate to abortion abolished. Only 34% of Americans said in May 2024 that they supported this decision.

Since 2022, voters have supported abortion rights in various state ballot initiatives which have enshrined the appropriate to abortion of their state constitutions.

The GOP Platform 2024: “Make America Great Again!” adopts a brand new tactic by which abortion is mentioned just once and the difficulty of abortion is left to the states.

The Republican platform Instead, there may be a provision entitled “Republicans will protect and defend the voice of the people within the states on the issue of life.” But that key The opaque commitment states:

“We believe that the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that no person shall be denied life or liberty without due process of law and that states are therefore free to enact laws to protect these rights. We will oppose late-term abortions while supporting mothers and policies that promote prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF (fertility treatments).”

The platform doesn’t explain how a second Trump administration would oppose “late-term abortion,” which shouldn’t be a medical term and will discuss with any point in pregnancy starting within the second trimester. However, through the presidential debate in September, Trump repeated the false claim that Democrats are pushing Abortion “after birth” – which in fact wouldn’t be abortion, but moderately child murder, which is a criminal offense.

Additionally, phrases corresponding to “No one can be denied life…” and “States are…free to enact laws to protect these rights” exhibit Republican support for the Constitution Protecting the rights of fetuses.

Therefore, despite recent public overtures, abortion stays a policy priority for the Republican Party.

Project 2025, for instance, a policy document conceived and written by the Heritage Foundation mostly from former Trump administration officialscalls for the enforcement of the Comstock Law. This 1873 federal law prohibited the mailing of “obscene” materials for illegal purposes.

Today, abortion opponents consider this Enforcement of the Comstock Act could prevent abortion drugs from being shipped to states with abortion bans and restrictions. Project 2025 also calls for revoking the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, certainly one of two drugs utilized in medication abortions. These could be significant restrictions on access to abortion.

The focus of the Democratic Party platform is reproductive rights

The Democratic Party 2024 programwhich was written when President Joe Biden was still the nominee, takes a distinct approach.

The platform criticizes the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision as “an extreme act” with “devastating consequences across the country.” While the 2024 Democratic platform is the primary post-Dobbs, its commitment to reproductive freedom is consistent with previous Democratic policy plans.

The platform's statement on “Reproductive Freedom” details the steps the Biden-Harris administration has taken to try to restore reproductive access, including executive orders corresponding to Protecting the Right to Traveling for an abortion from states with abortion bans. This is because some states with abortion bans are attempting to make it harder for people to get an abortion elsewhere.

It also sets out needed further steps in a brand new term, including passing “national legislation to make roe the law of the land again”, strengthening access to contraceptives and protecting the power to freeze embryos and perform IVF.

Both Biden and Harris have repeatedly promised to defeat Roe v. To “codify” Wade.. As the Democratic presidential candidate, Harris has brought the difficulty of reproductive rights further to the forefront. This follows Harris' work as vice chairman, when she spoke out early and infrequently about Dobbs and the necessity to restore abortion rights.

Harris has it too talked about it reproductive justice, maternal health, and particularly Black women's health. A central a part of Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's “New Way Forward” campaign is to ““Restore and protect reproductive freedom”“as part of safeguarding “our fundamental freedoms”.

State laws versus presidential power

While presidents have some power over abortion policy, they’re limited in several essential ways with regards to changing reproductive rights, particularly on the state level.

Still, presidents can use their power in other ways, corresponding to setting policy priorities for the Justice Department and other federal agencies. If Trump is elected in November, he could, for instance, instruct the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to do that revoke a policy That reminded hospitals to treat medical emergencies, including abortions, when medically needed, even when state law prohibits abortions.

A Harris administration, then again could prioritize hospital needs to treat all medical emergencies, including if abortion is the needed treatment. It could also make sure that private insurers cover the prices of reproductive care, including abortions, in accordance with current laws.

The President's position on reproductive rights will either increase or decrease the legal chaos, confusion, and conflict which have arisen within the wake of Dobbs and that directly impact the practice of medication and the lives of patients.

Of course, the elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate will even influence what the president can achieve and whether party programs have a probability of becoming law. But with Congress deadlocked, these platforms provide crucial insight into the following administration's likely actions.

Even if Trump has stated As for abortion being a “minor issue” within the November elections, polls suggest otherwise. Abortion stays a thing distinguished topic not only within the presidential election, but additionally in ballot initiatives that might protect abortion access in ten states – a record number for the reason that Dobbs decision.

SAN JOSE – Police have issued a search warrant for Councilman Omar Torres in reference to a criminal investigation, in line with multiple sources conversant in the matter.

On Thursday, officers stopped and arrested Torres and served him with an arrest warrant, sources told this news organization. It was not immediately clear what was sought within the warrant.

Details in regards to the nature and scope of the investigation were initially not known on Thursday.

Torres, the City Council's first openly gay Latino member, was elected in 2022 after serving as an advocate for youth and families and infrequently spoke about his difficult upbringing within the Washington district and the way it spurred him to grow to be more energetic in his community .

Before representing District 3, which covers much of downtown San Jose, he served on the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, the San Jose Unified School District, the Santa Maria Urban Ministry and as deputy chief of staff to former City Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, amongst other positions .

Torres also served on the Franklin McKinley School District board and was previously elected as a trustee for the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District. Torres was regional director of the California Democratic Party until last 12 months and recently attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a delegate.

Originally published: October 3, 2024 at 6:33 p.m

Chicago police traffic stops have taken place has greater than doubled within the last nine years in what the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights group, calls “the.”recent stop and frisk.”

“Stop and frisk” is when officers stop and search people if there’s “reasonable suspicion” that they’re involved in criminal activity. The practice was documented disproportionately goal blacks and Latinos – not only in Chicago but additionally in New York And within the United States. In Chicago it’s like that declined sharply since a 2015 reform agreement between the ACLU and the Chicago Police Department.

Meanwhile, the variety of traffic stops in Chicago has risen sharply, from from lower than 200,000 in 2016 to over 570,000 in 2023. And something like that Stop and browseAccordingly, the police in Chicago disproportionately stop black drivers our latest study Investigating racial bias in traffic enforcement.

Drivers, automated checks and police checks

Our study, published in June 2024, used data on the racial composition of drivers on every street in Chicago. We then compared who drives on the road and who gets a ticket City speed cameras and who gets stopped by Chicago police.

Our findings show that the proportion of tickets issued to black and white drivers closely matches their respective proportion of road users when speed cameras issue the tickets. In contrast, under humane enforcement, cops stop black drivers at speeds that far exceed their presence on the road.

For example, on roads where half of the drivers are Black, about 54% of automated camera alerts receive Black drivers. However, they make up around 70% of police stops.

On roads where half the drivers are white, white drivers make up about half of automated citations — and lower than 20% of police stops.

Driving while black

Our research contributes to this other evidence This shows that racial bias is an issue in traffic enforcement – an issue that is usually summarized as follows:Driving while black.”

During the civil rights era of the Sixties, law enforcement incidents targeting black drivers were common. As the scientist and historian Gretchen Sorin explains intimately her 2020 book “Driving While Black“The car simultaneously opened up new opportunities for freedom and new dangers for black people.”

In the Nineteen Nineties, all the world witnessed the punishment that might await those caught driving while black. In 1991, a black man named Rodney King was stopped and beaten by police after a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. The violent encounter, which was captured on videotape and circulated in local media, became national news.

The acquittal of the officers triggered this 1992 Los Angeles riotsby widespread unrest and violence Over 50 people were killed, 1000’s were injured and $1 billion in property damage was caused.

There have been killings of cops lately Daunte Wright, Tire Nichols and other black drivers have shown how traffic stops can quickly escalate and sometimes turn deadly.

In September 2024, Miami Dolphins player Tyreek Hill was stopped by local police on his method to a game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Police officers physically pulled Hill from his vehicle and handcuffed him. The incident raised questions on the officers' aggressive use of force.

Fairer enforcement and safer streets

All people have prejudices. These prejudices can develop into dangerous when these persons are cops – agents of the state armed and empowered to make our cities safer.

And even when there is no such thing as a excessive use of force, enforcement varies undermines trust between communities and police.

In recent years, as national discussions about racial bias in policing have increased, so have many police departments implemented programs equivalent to implicit bias training to make sure fairer enforcement. While these initiatives appear to have an effect on officers' attitudes toward implicit bias, they don’t appear to alter it Breakdown by race of who police have stopped, searched or arrested.

To reduce inequalities in enforcement and improve the handling of traffic violations, more fundamental reforms are likely needed.

What might more ambitious political reforms appear to be?

Several current potential traffic enforcement reforms give attention to decriminalization and de-escalation.

Lawmakers in Illinois recently made a proposal a bill that will ban traffic stops exclusively for non-criminal and minor violations equivalent to improper vehicle registration, seat belt violations, or lane usage errors.

Berkeley, California, is considering using trained civilians for traffic enforcement Reduce the opportunity of escalation. The idea is comparable to parking enforcement in lots of cities, including Chicago, which has unarmed parking units separate from police.

The reason for a lot of police traffic stops is safety should proceed to be a priority. Between 2013 and 2022, there was a median variety of fatalities in accidents in Chicago 44 pedestrians, seven cyclists and 78 vehicle occupants per yr.

In contrast is the Norwegian capital Between 2015 and 2019, there have been 4 traffic deaths a yr in Oslo. If Chicago's streets were as secure as Oslo's, accidents would kill 15 people every year – not 129.

Greater use of automated traffic enforcement could improve road safety and transform policing.

Cameras can detect dangerous traffic violations equivalent to: B. detect serious speeding and running red lights without the necessity for immediate police intervention. Automated enforcement alone won’t guarantee secure streets, however the variety of cameras has declined Accidents with fatal outcomes and serious injuries often occur during operationsincluding in Chicago.

Over half of Chicago's police stops in 2023 were License plate, registration or equipment related. Automating enforcement of such non-moving violations would eliminate a key driver of police-driver interaction and reduce the potential for bias and escalation.

This, in turn, would release police resources to give attention to non-traffic priorities.

And as our data shows, cameras are a level playing field: they haven’t any racial bias and pose no risk of escalation.

Only a number of days later President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign in July, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Annual Meeting in Indianapoliswhere she emphasized the importance of each religious faith and political freedom.

Harris contrasted Her stance on abortion rights echoed that of former President Donald Trump, saying: “Across our country, we are witnessing a full-scale attack on hard-won and hard-fought freedoms and rights,” Harris said. “And in the face of these attacks, we must continue to stand together and defend freedom.”

By making “freedom” the theme of her campaign, Harris appealed to a key element of black identity and spirituality that’s rooted within the historic liberation struggle of former slaves. This legacy partly drives a divide between the attitudes of black and white Christians, particularly on issues reminiscent of abortion and support for Trump.

As political scientists and spiritual scholars, we view Harris's remarks as a subtle reminder to voters that black religious life within the United States has long appealed to people of all faiths. to make use of their beliefs to advance social justice.

Her message stands in sharp contrast to Trump's conservative allies who support restricting personal freedoms regarding abortion.

Racial segregation

To higher understand the connection between race, religion, and support for Trump, we conducted a nationwide online survey in June 2024, supported by the Public Religious Research Institutea non-profit organization that conducts opinion polls on various topics.

To compare the views of white and black Christians, our sample of nearly 1,500 adults included over 700 participants from each ethnic group. We asked half of the sample to point their level of agreement with five statements commonly used to measure Christian nationalist beliefs.

These points include support for religiously based laws and the idea that the United States was designed to be a Christian nation.

We then categorized participants in accordance with whether or not they agreed with most statements (“supporters” and “sympathizers”) or disagreed (“skeptics” and “decliners”). Over a 3rd of each black and white Christians agreed with most Christian nationalist ideas.

However, we found that black Christian nationalists are far less prone to support Trump than their white counterparts. In addition, they don’t support far-right policies reminiscent of those in Project 2025the Heritage Foundation's plan to implement a conservative agenda throughout the federal government.

The two groups also differ considerably of their assessment of Trump. Only 17 percent of black Christian nationalists expressed a positive opinion of the previous president, in comparison with 49 percent of white Christian nationalists.

The chosen one?

These racial differences are much more pronounced after we examine the attitudes of charismatics – a bunch of believing Christians who within the late twentieth century began to emphasise Pentecostal practices reminiscent of divine healing And speak in tonguesa language of incomprehensible sounds that was believed to be a direct communication with God.

All of our survey respondents—760 white Americans and 734 black Americans—were asked whether or not they had personally experienced or witnessed practices of charismatic Christianity, including receiving what they believed to be a direct revelation from God.

While only 23 percent of white Americans were classified as charismatic within the study, this number doubled to 51 percent amongst black Americans.

Although outstanding white Christian nationalists often describe Trump as “the chosen one“ we found that only 15% of black charismatics expressed a positive opinion of him, in comparison with 52% of white charismatics.

The ongoing struggle for freedom

The Black radical traditionhelps explain why black charismatics have a lot in common with their white counterparts—even an endorsement of Christian nationalism—but differ on the difficulty of Trump and abortion.

In its current form, the tradition of black radicalism is an ideological framework that calls on its adherents to actively fight against policies that threaten racial equality and bodily autonomy. Abortion rights fit squarely into this political tradition.

According to a 2014 study Study of the religious landscape A study by the Pew Research Center found that the vast majority of black Christians say that abortion must be legalThese Christians include denominations reminiscent of Baptists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals who usually are not members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Over the years, this majority support for abortion has remained stable amongst black Christians and reflects similar support amongst black voters overall. 2024 Pew Research Center In one poll, for instance, 73% of black voters said abortion must be legal.

During her speech to members of Zeta Phi Beta fraternity, Harris said she understood how difficult it was to reconcile one's faith with political opposition. But as she explained:

We imagine in reproductive freedom and can fight for ladies's right to decide on, since you don't have to present up your faith or your deeply held beliefs to agree that the federal government shouldn't inform you what to do.

After Harris accepted Biden's endorsement, her longtime pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, prayed that Harris would lead her campaign “in the spirit of our ancestors.”

This ancestral spirit includes the tradition of radical black political resistance – and the continuing struggle for freedom.

At the primary public meeting since high lead levels were discovered at 22 Oakland Unified State College schools, district officials condemned the shortage of communication, pointed the finger at those responsible and asked for extra funding and resources.

“The delayed communication of lead test results was completely unacceptable. I sincerely apologize for the stress and anxiety this has caused to our schools, our students and their families,” said district schools Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “We take full responsibility, including a full personnel investigation, for the deficiencies and are committed to ensuring such failures do not occur in the future.”

The district made headlines last week when it announced that prime levels of lead had been present in nearly 200 faucets and fountains within the district's public schools.

Faucets in nearly two dozen schools contained lead levels above the state and federal limit of 15 parts per billion, the district said. And while the district said a lot of the 1,083 faucets tested met Oakland Unified's stricter limit — 5 parts per billion — 70 water coolers and taps also were above the state and federal limit.

A faucet within the cafeteria at Cleveland Elementary School had a lead level of 480 parts per billion, while a kitchen sink at Edna Brewer Middle School had a lead level of 540 parts per billion.

The district's results sparked outrage amongst community members, who expressed concern about how long it took officials to notify families and staff of the test results.

District leaders said at Wednesday's meeting that a median of 62 days passed between receiving water samples and notifying sites. They described the delay in communication as a confidential personnel matter that’s currently under investigation.

The meeting on Wednesday evening, attended by greater than 100 parents, students and staff, featured over an hour of vitriolic comments from the general public and at times downright chaos.

Board members struggled to manage the group, which shouted back during officials' statements and exceeded the one-minute limit per speaker – at the same time as district leaders moved to chop off their microphones.

Community members criticized the district for failing to deal with the “historic” problem of lead in schools' drinking water and for putting the blame on “lower-level personnel.” Yet that very same evening, the district was scheduled to renew the superintendent's nearly $400,000 contract.

“The most heartbreaking thing I had to tell my kids was that the water is not safe to drink,” said Chris Jackson, a special education teacher at Fremont High School. “The fact is, we don't just need good, clear communication. We need good, clear water.”

Board Vice President Mike Hutchinson said the elevated lead levels are attributable to the district's “aging infrastructure” and college facilities, which he said are on average 50 years old.

Hutchinson also called on the town and county to help the district in repairing and improving facilities.

“We need help from the state and federal government to improve our infrastructure,” Hutchinson said. “Our local infrastructure bonds can't get us out of this… We need everyone on board. We don't have the money… to fix this right away.”

If you travel often by plane, delays are inevitable. However, how airlines handle delays can vary depending on the circumstances of the delay, including the rationale, town, and even the passenger's frequent flyer status.

In Europe, the difficulty of passenger compensation for delays and cancellations is evident: within the European Union, there are consumer protection laws that require airlines to compensate passengers in money for delays over which they’ve control.

Unlike within the European Union, the United States has no standards for what airlines must provide passengers within the event of a delay or cancellation. In the United States, each airline decides for itself the right way to accommodate passengers affected by what airlines call “irregular operations,” and the Department of Transportation (DOT) oversees their efforts.

This almost never includes financial compensation, although some airlines, equivalent to Alaska, will issue travel credits for delays of greater than three hours when the circumstances are inside their control. The U.S. Department of Transportation has stated that airlines should cover passengers' costs for longer delays which might be inside their control, but each airline has its own criteria for processing such requests.

Types of delays

The first consideration airlines should have in mind when deciding whether to issue a meal or hotel voucher is the explanation for the delay. Most airlines is not going to issue vouchers or reimbursement for delays they consider to be beyond their control, equivalent to those brought on by weather, air traffic control measures, or disasters equivalent to earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Another uncontrollable explanation for delay is so-called acts of God, equivalent to a general strike, riot, or coup that will jeopardize the protected operation of the flight.

In the past, airlines have argued in vain that some situations are force majeure, equivalent to the recent IT outages that affected many U.S. airlines. But regulators largely disagreed, viewing these delays as controllable, including reasons equivalent to crew scheduling, aircraft availability, unplanned maintenance and other things inside the airline's control.

Some airlines will provide the rationale for a delay of their app or website, while others will make announcements. It is value noting that not all airlines disclose the explanations for delays. American Airlines, for instance, doesn’t provide reasons for delays in its app or website, while United often explains them on its flight status page.

When you must ask for a voucher

The circumstances under which U.S. airlines issue vouchers for meals or overnight stays vary. In the case of delays, you must first check the airline's customer support statement, which is normally posted on its website. This document typically lists the circumstances under which an airline will issue vouchers.

Generally, a delay should be significant — several hours or more — and controllable for an airline to issue a voucher. Some, like United, routinely send passengers vouchers via text message or their mobile app if their reservation features a legitimate flight delay. In other cases, passengers may have to inquire if a voucher applies to their situation — American's customer support commitment states that these reliefs can be found “upon request.”

If a staff member is unable to issue a voucher, it’s perfectly advantageous to ask why. Staff members should offer to clarify the content of the shopper service obligation when asked. It can also be sensible to ask again if a delay is prolonged, as sometimes a delay that was initially uncontrollable (e.g. weather) can produce other reasons (e.g. crew accommodation).

Many airlines will even reimburse “reasonable” costs if they can’t issue vouchers or issuing a voucher can be difficult (for instance, if the road to see a representative is so long that half of an available hotel night is lost). This generally means meals for meal times in the course of the delay and, if the delay is overnight, a close-by hotel and transportation between the airport and hotel. Airlines often allow passengers to submit receipts for reimbursement after travel.

Terminology is vital

Using the proper words can save time and hassle when talking to airline staff, whether on the airport or in post-trip correspondence. Many travelers are inclined to use the terms “refund” and “reimbursement” interchangeably, but within the context of air travel, they mean various things.

A refund implies that you will likely be given back the cash you paid for the airline ticket. Airlines will often only refund a non-refundable ticket if the flight is delayed or cancelled and so they are ultimately unable to get passengers to the destination stated on their ticket. Refunding an airline ticket is rare since the service paid for by the passenger was provided, albeit delayed.

A refund means getting back the cash you paid for costs associated along with your delay, other than your original flight ticket. Suppose you incur costs for food, transport and accommodation during a controllable delay and the airline was unable to issue a voucher (but didn’t refuse to achieve this). In this case, you might be asking for a refund, not a reimbursement.

Originally published: August 8, 2024 at 1:48 pm

Bob Moseswho helped register black residents to vote through the civil rights movement in Mississippi, believed that civil rights extend beyond the ballot box. For Moses, who was each a teacher and an activist, mathematical education is a civil right: a prerequisite for earning a living wage in modern society. In 1982, he founded the Algebra Project to be certain that “students at the lower end of the scale acquire the mathematical knowledge they need.”

As a researcher who studies Opportunities to enhance mathematics experiences I consider a brand new approach that expands access to algebra can assist more students learn the maths skills that Moses, who died in 2021, considered so vital. It's a goal that districts have long struggled to realize.

Efforts, improve students’ performance in algebra have been going down for many years. Unfortunately, the mathematics pipeline within the United States is filled with stubborn Opportunity gaps. According to the Testimony of the Nation – a project commissioned by Congress and administered by the Department of Education – only 29% of fourth-graders and 20% of eighth-graders within the United States were proficient in math in 2022. Low-income students, students of color, and multilingual learners, who are inclined to lower scores Students who rating lower than average, e.g. in mathematics exams, often wouldn’t have the identical access to qualified teachers, high-quality curriculum and well-equipped classrooms as others.

A brand new approach

The Dallas Independent School District – or Dallas ISD – wins national attention for improving learning opportunities by raising expectations for all students. Following within the footsteps of greater than 60 districts in Washington Statein 2019 Dallas ISD implemented an progressive approach by which students in middle school are routinely enrolled within the advanced mathematics subject as a substitute of getting to decide on it.

Under an opt-in policy, students need a advice from their parents or teachers to take math in middle school and Algebra 1 in eighth grade. This policy resulted in each low enrollment numbers and little or no diversity within the advanced math course. Some parentsparticularly blacks and Latinos, didn’t know find out how to enroll their students in advanced courses attributable to an absence of communication in lots of districts.

Additionally, implicit biaspresent in all demographic groups can influence teachers’ perceptions of scholars’ behavior and academic potential and thus their following recommendations. Teachers at public schools within the USA are far less racially and ethnically diverse than the scholars they supervise.

The Dallas ISD policy revision aimed to Promote inclusivity and to bridge educational gaps between students. Under this initiative, every middle school student, no matter background, was enrolled within the advanced math course resulting in Algebra 1 in eighth grade, unless they opted out.

The shift from opt-in to opt-out led to a dramatic increase within the variety of black and Latino learners who the vast majority of students in DallasAnd the district’s overall math scores remained stable. 60% of Dallas ISD eighth graders are currently taking Algebra 1thrice the previous level. In addition greater than 90% take the state examination.

Efforts are expanding

Other cities are paying attention to the impact of Dallas ISD's changing policy. The San Francisco Unified School District, for instance, announced plans in February 2024 to introduce Algebra 1 in eighth grade in all schools by the 2026/27 school yr.

In fall 2024, the district will offer three pilot programs Algebra 1 in eighth grade. Pilot projects range from an opt-out program for all eighth-graders – with additional support for college students who aren't doing as well – to a program that routinely enrolls proficient students in Algebra 1, offered as additional math instruction through the school day. Students who aren't doing as well can opt out of taking it.

However, districts nationwide that enroll all students in Algebra 1 and permit them to opt out are still within the minorityAnd some have stopped offering Algebra 1 in eighth grade altogether, leaving students with only pre-algebra courses. Cambridge, Massachusetts – the town where Bob Moses founded the Algebra Project – is amongst them.

Concerns about equity capital remain

Between 2017 and 2019, district managers in Public Schools in Cambridge has eliminated the practice of placing middle school students in “accelerated” or “grade-appropriate” math classes. Only just a few middle schools within the district now offer Algebra 1 in eighth grade.

The policy shift, designed to enhance overall educational outcomes, was driven by concerns about significant racial disparities in enrollment in advanced highschool mathematics. Completion of Algebra 1 in eighth grade allows students to climb the maths ladder and take harder subjects, similar to calculus, in highschool. At Cambridge, students who took Algebra 1 in eighth grade were mainly whites and Asians; Black and Latino students mostly took mathematics classes at their respective grade level.

Some families and educators claim the district's decision has made it difficult to access advanced math courses. much more unfairToday, advanced math instruction in highschool tends to be limited to students whose parents can afford to assist them prepare through private tutoring, after-school programs or private lessons, they said.

While the district has tried to enhance access to advanced math in highschool by offering a free online summer program for incoming ninth-graders, Performance differences remain large.

Perhaps a balance of top-down policy and bottom-up support will help schools across the United States realize the vision Moses dreamed of in 1982 when he founded the Algebra Project: “That in the 21st century every child has a civil right to mathematical education – the ability to read, write, and reason with the symbol systems of mathematics.”

As the United States continues to grapple with the realities and legacy of slavery, Americans proceed to challenge myths in regards to the country's history. One persistent myth is that slavery was a primarily male affair—that the buying, selling, trading, and taking advantage of slavery was largely done exclusively by white men.

While white women actually interacted with enslaved people in housekeeping and on a regular basis tasks, historians once argued that they weren’t lively owners and had very limited involvement in transactions. This was once widely seen as one reason why white women within the South supported the institution—they were believed to be blind to its dark side.

As an authority on the economic history of slaveryI do know the story is way more complex. In fact, slavery was unique by way of women's economic empowerment. Essentially, it was an early feminist institution – but exclusively for white women.

A long-lasting myth

The myth that ladies didn’t profit from slavery has continued for several reasons. First, married women generally owned nothing of their very own before the American Civil War. The legal institution of Coverage made the property a lady brought into her marriage the property of her husband. This also meant that if a person was in debt, a creditor could demand the lady's property for payment.

Furthermore, there are only a few surviving records showing that white women within the South discussed the slave trade. Finally, in cases where women owned slaves – similar to through the death of their husbands – they often hired agents or male relatives to administer their affairs. In sum, there could be very little to suggest that white women were deeply involved within the slave trade.

Researchers have begun to challenge this view by transcend traditional archival sourcesThe revolutionary historian Stephanie Jones-Rogers has documented how incessantly white women were seen in all points of American slavery. Their most compelling evidence comes from interviews with the previous slaves themselves, who identified who they belonged to and explained how belonging to the “Frauleins” affected every aspect of their lives.

The “white feminism” of American slavery

Historians have also grappled with how American slavery was uniquely gendered—a minimum of for white women. While women within the North were trapped in marriage, within the South it was circumvented to provide married women the fitting to own slaves.

The first law of this type within the United States was the Mississippi Married Women's Property Act of 1839This law explicitly granted married white women ownership of enslaved individuals. Slavery was the driving force behind this modification: 4 of the five sections of the law refer only to ownership of enslaved individuals.

Other southern states passed similar laws within the pre-war period to free married women from responsibility for his or her husbands' debts and in addition to enable women to build up wealth independently during marriage.

Of course, the laws don’t necessarily reflect people’s actual behavior. latest research shows that white women were very heavily involved within the slave trade. In states where slaves were property – like a house or a automobile today – sales were recorded with the names of the buyers, sellers, and the enslaved individuals within the transaction. White women in states where their ownership rights to enslaved property were protected by law were way more more likely to be lively available in the market.

A more in-depth evaluation of those records shows that white women were involved in almost a 3rd of all transactions, with buying and selling occurring equally. White women were particularly more likely to buy and sell female slaves, making up almost 40% of buyers and sellers.

Female slaves were particularly worthwhile economically because whoever owned a female slave mechanically became the owner of all her children. For slave owners, owning a female slave meant creating wealth that may span generations.

A historical irony

We must face a profound irony of American history. Slavery gave white women within the South significantly more economic independence than those within the North, they usually used this freedom with remarkable regularity. Women in slave states had legal rights to property, which half of the wealth within the South of the USA. Women within the North could only dream of such economic independence.

While historians once claimed that white women supported the Confederacy because they were blind to the fact of slavery, researchers now know that they could have been motivated by the identical economic impulses as their husbands. Slavery was actually a more gender-equitable institution than other types of property or wealth creation, so it's not surprising that white women had a vested interest in it.

Slavery was a matter for white men and ladies.