Swing-District Democrats Link with Progressives to Back Paycheck Bill Pelosi Rejected

 Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks to members of the media.

By Ryan Grim

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi excluded a plan to keep unemployment down by subsidizing firms to keep workers on payrolls from her relief package last week, dozens of progressives have banded together with 10 “front-line” Democrats from swing districts to introduce it as a standalone piece of legislation. 

The Paycheck Recovery Act, authored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., aims to make sure that paychecks are flowing from employers to workers during the coronavirus pandemic. A previous version, the Paycheck Guarantee Act, had been a priority of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which Jayapal is a co-chair. The bill subsidizes struggling companies’ payrolls in order to discourage layoffs and keep unemployment down. While Pelosi had said she was open to considering the idea, she ultimately kept it out of the HEROES Act, the coronavirus relief bill passed by the House on Friday, which includes an extension of unemployment subsidies. Jayapal confronted her on a private caucus conference call over the decision, and Pelosi aides later pushed back, criticizing the measure for not having official legislative text or Republican co-sponsors.

Jayapal ultimately voted against the legislation, along with eight other progressives, citing the exclusion of her program. They were joined by five front-liners, some of whom objected to the paycheck measure’s omission, others of whom opposed it from the right, complaining of a lack of bipartisan buy-in.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The Intercept_

Second Lady Karen Pence Visits Clingmans Dome, Encourages Mental Health Awareness

WBIR Channel 10: The wife of Vice President Mike Pence visited the Smokies on Tuesday to reopen Clingman's Dome road and to talk about the importance of getting out in the Great Outdoors to improve your mental health.

AP-NORC Poll: Americans Harbor Strong Fear of New Infections

 
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Source: Associated Press

A Nurse Struggled with COVID-19 Trauma. He Was Found Dead in His Car

Reuters: Becoming a nurse in 2018 was a dream come true for William Coddington. It all started to unravel in March, as fatally ill COVID-19 patients showed up in his intensive care unit.

Click here for the report.

RIP: Frances Goldin, 'Socialist Literary Agent and Brazen Provocateur'

A Giant Has Fallen: Frances Goldin Presente!

By Noelle Hanrahan
 

Frances Goldin was ferocious.  There is a place on this earth for beautiful, fearless and courageous women. She never once turned her back on a fight. When Robert Moses tried to bulldoze her block in the 50’s, the capitalist bully met his match.  Frances dove right in and hung on. It took literally 50 years, but her iridescent anger and trenchant love of her friends and her neighborhood saved the East Village of New York City. 

Frances and Mumia were made for each other.  Brilliant dedicated revolutionary writer on death row meets socialist literary agent and brazen provocateur. What was not to love?  Hear Frances speak about Mumia by clicking here.

The transcendent literary career of Mumia Abu-Jamal was built on Frances’s belief in his writing, starting with Live From Death Row 1994 (Harper Perennial). Mumia got the recognition he deserved, becoming  a best selling author moving beyond pamphlets and protests. With Frances as a lifeline, Mumia garnered an international stage. 

Everything begins with a favor.  (Although, to hear Terry tell it, it might have been a demand.) In the summer of 1994 I asked Terry Bission to help place Live From Death Row, and I asked that he help me find an agent. I knew this book had an audience. It was simply a question of could we reach it.  Terry answered there is one person. And her name is Frances Goldin.

In 1994,  NPR’s All Things Considered  had just hired and fired Mumia. Democracy Now was championing him. Mumia’s right to speak and the critical value of what he had to say were being hotly contested in the national media and on the Senate floor. It was the perfect time for his first book to be born.    

Terry and I traveled to Frances’ East Village office/apartment on 11th St. and made our pitch. She was Frances: bold, brash, and curt. “You do all the prep work and I will write the cover letters and see what happens.” Two weeks later Mumia was under contract, had a 30K advance, and a hardcover edition of Live From Death Row. 

The bond between Mumia and Frances grew. She wrote thousands of letters to him over the last quarter century of her life. Here is just one Frances story: Frances wrote a note on the back of a picture of herself that she sent into the prison. The prison censors went mad. The picture was of Frances, 87, reading a book, nude from the waist up. The picture got Frances banned. Prison Radio launched a campaign on her behalf to reinstate her visiting rights.

It took months of calls and letters, and round after round of with the prison administration, but eventually she was able to visit again. She could now sit side by side with him.  Mumia had just gotten off death row and was able for the first time after over 30 years to have regular visits. Mumia comments on what it meant to have a contact visit. Mumia also just recorded a beautiful memorial for Frances. 

Frances Goldin visiting Mumia in their first contact visit.

I had many visits to Frances' apartment at 305 E. 11th St. I would stop and bring updates on Mumia's case along with Veniero’s cannoli and spumenti. 

Thank you, Frances, for championing courageous and moving authors like Mumia, Adrienne Rich, Barbara Kingsolver, and Dorothy Allison Thank you for bringing their words into the world.

One night I was reading a copy of Frances's own book to my son Miles. He reached over and filled in his name. He knew it was for him as well as for me.

Long Live Frances Goldin’s spirit and those that dare to follow in her footsteps. 

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Turns 80!

UCCA Invites You To Show Your Finest On #VyshyvankaDay 2020

 Click on the flier to increase its size.

UCCA: The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), never wavering in its commitment to represent the interests of the Ukrainian American community and support the independence of Ukraine, will be marking the 80th anniversary of its founding this month.

Although the original plans to celebrate this milestone had to be canceled due to these unprecedented times of Covid-19, UCCA is rising to the challenge, as it has done throughout its decades-long history, and adjusting its strategy to celebrate this historic anniversary virtually.

Therefore, we hope the community will join us on Tuesday, May 26th at 7:30pm (EDT) in commemorating UCCA’s milestone anniversary. To join the celebratory program, please log on to YouTube, UCCA’s Facebook page or website and raise a virtual toast to UCCA’s long history and wish our organized Ukrainian American community many more years!

Is the World Health Organisation on Life Support?

Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen Says No to 'One Country, Two Systems'

China’s National People’s Congress Set to Mull Further Stimulus After COVID-19 Decline

Mexico Eases Restrictions Despite Increase in COVID-19 Deaths

Cyclone Amphan Makes Landfall Near India, Bangladesh After Millions Evacuate

FRANCE 24 English: Cyclone Amphan, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, was packing winds of up to 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour with maximum gusts of 190 kph (118 mph). Authorities warned it could cause extensive damage to flimsy houses and a storm surge could push seawater as far as 25 kilometres inland, flooding cities including Kolkata. FRANCE 24's Sreya Banerjee tells us more.

Burundi: Voters Go to the Polls Despite Coronavirus Pandemic

Concern for Dozens of Detainees in Russia After Authorities Stanch Uprising

Trudeau Announces Rent Relief, Loans to Support Canadian Businesses

Global News: Speaking outside his Ottawa residence, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that businesses facing a rent crunch will need to hold on through the COVID-19 pandemic and help with an eventual economic recovery, instead of closing up and slowing the rebound. 

He said the government "really hopes" commercial landlords will apply for a federal program launching next week that would give companies a break on the rent, warning that they may find themselves out of cash in the future if they evict tenants now.

Click here for additional information. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Holds a Briefing on the Coronavirus Outbreak

Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability on COVID-19

Local Hispanic Churches Facing COVID-19

Connecticut Starts to Reopen Wednesday

Virus Raged at City Jails, Leaving 1,259 Guards Infected and 6 Dead

The New York Times: Correction officers in New York City live in fear of bringing the virus home to families. They say the city has not protected them.

Click here for the report. 

Shad Gaspard, Brooklyn-Born and Former WWE Star, Dies While Swimming at California Beach

 
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Source: The New York Daily News

The Manhattan Borough President's COVID-19 Update

 Gale Brewer

Click here for the report. 

Source: The Office of the Manhattan Borough President

$10 Billion in Unemployment Benefits Paid to Over 2 Million New Yorkers During COVID-19 Pandemic

 

The New York State Department of Labor today announced that the backlog of pending unemployment benefit applications has been reduced to 7,580 — representing major progress since an unprecedented crush of applications related to the COVID-19 pandemic flooded the DOL's systems in March. This universe of unprocessed applications includes those that are missing critical information and cannot be processed, duplicates, and abandoned claims.  Additionally, since the passage of the Federal CARES Act, 562,766 PUA applicants have received unemployment benefits.

 

In total, more than 2 million unemployment benefit applications have been processed, and those New Yorkers have received over $10 billion in benefits.

 

"No one could have predicted the wave of unemployment applications that crashed over the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and every state is struggling — but New York has moved faster than any other state to address our backlog and get money into New Yorkers' hands. To date, we have paid out over $10 billion dollars during this crisis, compared to just $2.1 billion in total last year," NYS Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said. "Those claims that have been outstanding for weeks are ones that we simply cannot process — we have already attempted to contact all of these New Yorkers, and we will continue to try get in touch with everyone who applied so we can connect them with the benefits they are eligible for."

 

The numbers for applications submitted pre-4/22 are as follows:

• 1,194,933: Paid
• 20,801: Not Paid - Need Certification
• 7,580: Not Paid - Partial Claims missing Information Needed to Process

Over the weekend, the Department of Labor analyzed the outcome of applications that were filed on or before April 22nd in an effort to quantify the size of the unemployment benefit backlog. This analysis found that 7,580 applications filed before that date had not been processed. The DOL is unable to process these applications because they either contained incorrect or missing information, are duplicates, or had been abandoned by the claimant. The Department of Labor has attempted to contact all of these New Yorkers and will continue trying to reach them to complete their application or close out their claim.

 

Examples of missing or incorrect information that prevents an application from being processed include a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) and address for an individual's former employer or an applicant's Social Security Number. Last month, the Department of Labor issued a directive reminding New York-based businesses they have a legal obligation to provide unemployed New Yorkers with the information they need to apply for benefits, including the company's FEIN and address.

 

Another 15,831 applications are going through final processing — which includes a check for fraud and identity theft. These claims will either become payable in the coming days or be flagged for additional review by anti-fraud specialists.

 

In addition, applications for 20,801 New Yorkers who applied before April 22nd have been processed but not paid because those individuals have not submitted federally-mandated weekly certifications. By law, these certifications must be submitted before benefits are released. The Department of Labor has proactively emailed hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers reminding them to submit certifications and rolled out a new, secure online system that allows New Yorkers to easily submit prior weeks' certifications that they had missed. Over 330,000 New Yorkers have used this new system to unlock more than $400 million in prior weeks' benefits they had effectively left on the table.

Finally, the Department of Labor has also launched a new system that proactively and directly communicates the status of an individual's unemployment insurance application via text and email. Since this system rolled out, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have received messages letting them know their application has been received, is being processed, and has become a payable claim. 

Source: The New York State Department of Labor

From The G-Man: Happy Birthday, Malcolm X!

From The G-Man and The G-Man Interviews salute the Black icon's birthday by sharing this rare video. Happy Birthday, Brother Minister. May your legacy live on for generations, and may you forever rest in peace.  

CBC: In this clip from 1965, after leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X appears on CBC-TV's 'Front Page Challenge' weeks before his assassination. He proclaims, "I'm against any form of segregation and racism." 

Federal Government Buys Riot Gear, Increases Security Funding, Citing Coronavirus Pandemic

 

By Lee Fang

The federal government has ramped up security and police-related spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including issuing contracts for riot gear, disclosures show.

The purchase orders include requests for disposable cuffs, gas masks, ballistic helmets, and riot gloves, along with law enforcement protective equipment for federal police assigned to protect Veterans Affairs facilities. The orders were expedited under a special authorization “in response to Covid-19 outbreak.”

The Veterans Affairs department, which manages nearly 1,500 health care care facilities around the country, has also extended special contracts for coronavirus-related security services.

Click here for the full report. 

Source: The Intercept_

Senate Republican Leadership News Conference

 
C-SPAN: Senate Republican leaders hold a news conference on the legislative agenda amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Click here for video. 

Senate Democratic Leadership News Conference

 

C-SPAN: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and leadership colleagues speak to reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

Click here for video. 

'Whitening of the Media': As Pandemic Cuts Ravage Newsrooms, Diversity Is 'First Thing That Goes'

Questions Grow After Firing of State Department Watchdog

Trump Pushes for Reopening as Senate Holds Hearing on CARES Act Economic Stimulus Programs

United States Postal Service at Risk

Brazil's Indigenous Tribes Face Multiple Threats

Argentina Sees Surge in Covid-19 Infections in Poor Areas of Buenos Aires

Robot Helps Turkish Sitcom Keep Cameras Rolling in Age of Covid-19

FRANCE 24 English: Thanks to innovative production methods, Turkish sitcom "Tutunamayanlar" continues to delight audiences week on week while complying with strict sanitary guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic. FRANCE 24's Shona Bhattacharyya and Ludovic de Foucaud report.

Burundi to Vote in Tense Poll Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

FRANCE 24 English: President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has been in power since 2005, shocked observers by deciding to step aside, five years after a controversial third-term run plunged his country into political and economic crisis.

Trump Threatens to Permanently Cut Off US Funding to WHO Over Covid-19 Handling

Lebanon Plunges Toward Mass Poverty Amid Virus Crisis

Wild Protests Break Out in Chile Over Covid-19 Lockdown Food Shortages

Brewer Calls for COVID-19 Early Warning System by Testing Sewage

 

NEW YORK – Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer called on Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to employ the testing of sewage at wastewater treatment facilities for the presence and viral load of SARS-CoV-2 to determine the extent of community spread as a non-invasive early warning detection system.

Brewer put forth this recommendation after the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB), which is appointed by the Borough President, analyzed a practice in the Netherlands that tracked novel coronavirus cases in their communities by testing for the presence of the virus in wastewater. SWAB members concluded that conducting similar tests at New York’s wastewater treatment plants can provide an advance signal about which communities are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 infections, enabling local governments to respond quickly to contain the spread of the virus.

“New York needs a non-invasive early warning system to track novel coronavirus, especially as we stay vigilant and on the lookout for that potential 'second wave.' Testing our sewage should be part of the weapons we use to fight this pandemic,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “We are already testing many individuals with swabs, but sewage testing, which is already used to track drug use and other important public health indicators, allows us to potentially track hundreds of thousands of people in one go.”

“We thank the Borough President for recognizing the importance of using this sensitive, immediate method of monitoring the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in populations,”  said Matthew Civello, chair of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB). “Our hope in sharing this information on wastewater testing with the Manhattan Borough President was to give New Yorkers a more immediate indicator of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in their communities so that they may have more confidence in the reopening of our City and State.”

“Wastewater epidemiology can provide a better measure of coronavirus transmission than tracking cases in the health system. Due to delays and complications in testing as well as asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission, the amount of coronavirus RNA found in wastewater can provide real-time, unbiased indication of the current coronavirus transmission dynamics,” said Professor David Larsen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Public Health and an expert in infectious disease epidemiology at Syracuse University. “Scientists from Syracuse University, SUNY ESF, and SUNY Upstate have launched the SARS2 Early Warning Wastewater Surveillance Platform in a number of upstate counties and are ready to scale statewide. This platform provides real-time information on transmission dynamics, instant feedback on social distancing and re-opening society, and over time will be able to forecast hospitalizations with greater accuracy than currently available.”

“Wastewater analysis is a fast, economic and useful tool currently used to estimate drug consumption in a community. Recent data is showing its utility to monitor SARS-CoV-2 spread in populations,” said Professor Marta Concheiro-Guisan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Toxicology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Its use in NYC will clearly improve the efforts to control the current situation. Here in John Jay, we performed a study using wastewater to investigate drug use in different boroughs of the city and we got very interesting results. In my experience, wastewater analysis is an extraordinary tool to objectively and easily assess drug use in a community.”

“Wastewater-based epidemiology has great potential for tracking the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City communities unobtrusively, and in near-real time. This approach has been used worldwide to provide information about community-level drug use, and also to monitor for polio and related -viruses," said Professor Kevin Bisceglia, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry at Hofstra University. "There are still uncertainties that must be worked out before such data can be fully quantitative, but researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to monitor for presence and absence of the virus, and also for qualitative increases and decreases. I urge the mayor and the governor to add this tool to their arsenal in combatting SARS-CoV-2. To do this on the community level in NYC would require some infrastructure. Monitoring at wastewater treatment plants probably won't be fine-grained enough to provide useful data in a city as dense as NYC. You would have to go upstream into the sewers, perhaps to pumping houses, which does make it harder to gather representative samples. As always, the devil is in the details.”

Source: The Office of the Manhattan Borough President

New York State Releases New Details on Unemployment Backlog

 
Click here for the report.

Source: WKBW TV

Empire Report, AARPNY to Host Livestream Discussion on Nursing Home Crisis

 
The Empire Report: Do you have questions about a loved one in a nursing home, adult care facility, or someone who's receiving home care?

Join us for a livestream Q&A in collaboration with AARPNY and experts addressing the crisis in New York's #nursinghomes, other adult long-term care facilities and home care.

Save the date and tune in on May 20th at 2:30 p.m. (EST).

Related Item: Nursing-Home Coronavirus Horrors: Why NY Needs Truly Independent Probe