TJV News
In this fascinating video- recently published on YouTube, an insider who was fully trained to be a contact tracer in California explains how it exactly works and what this controversial method being implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus means to everyone. Questions of privacy heavily weigh in as this new concept becomes more widely implemented.
Edited by TJV News
“Tomorrow is a new day”, Governor Cuomo declared on Twitter last night. before the daily press conference. Phase 1 one NYC re-opening began on Monday.
The governor also took a ride on the NYC subway, which local media found amusing considering Cuomo is notoriously known for not liking subway rides. New York also decided to allow graduation ceremonies with social distancing with attendance capped at 150. Over the weekend, Cuomo announced that religious services can restart with restrictions on capacity
NY government website highlighted exactly what Monday’s fist phase of re-opening
This is the first of a four-step process that will gradually ease restrictions on business activity and people’s ability to move around and socialize in the state of New York. The progress is contingent on infection rates, hospital capacity and the state’s ability to test and trace those who may have contracted the virus. Regardless, each phase will last at least two weeks. Some parts of the state that opened up in mid-May have already entered the second stage, as shown on this monitoring dashboard. New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., is the last region to meet the requirements to start reopening, Bloomberg reported.
This chart fully explains the 4 Phases of re-opening as determined by NY State
From NY State website & Bloomberg News
Must I still keep social distancing and avoid seeing friends?
You can see friends and others — but remain careful. A May 22 executive order from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said groups of up to 10 people can gather for any lawful reason. (It was introduced after a lawsuit challenged a prior order, which eased distancing rules for Memorial Day activities and religious services only.) But health experts still advise New Yorkers to practice social distancing and wear face protections in public.
Are trains, buses and ferries still running, and are they safe?
Unless you’re an essential worker or on an essential trip, you should refrain from riding at all. But if you must, a few ground rules apply: If possible, avoid rush hours and keep your distance. Always wear a face mask. Don’t skimp on the hand sanitizer. And once you reach your destination, wash your hands. If you’re still worried, you can always remind yourself that both vehicles and stations are now being cleaned more frequently than before the virus outbreak.
MTA SUBWAY AND BUSES: Both will be back on their normal day schedules starting Monday, but trains still won’t run between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Tickets can only be bought from kiosks, not from station agents. The agency plans to post staff and volunteers in some stations to give hand sanitizer and face masks to customers who need them.
FERRIES: The Staten Island Ferry will run on a modified schedule — departures in both directions every half hour — during weekday mornings and evenings. At all other times, departures will be hourly. The East River Ferry will continue running at about half capacity, and daily service ends at about 9 p.m.
METRO-NORTH & LONG ISLAND RAILROAD: Both expanded their limited-service schedules last month as areas outside the city began reopening. Metro-North now runs additional city-bound trains in the morning and in the opposite direction in the evening, and LIRR has increased capacity by 15%. Ticket counters remain closed, so passengers must use kiosks or the MTA app. But on the upside, off-peak fares will apply to all rides.
NEW JERSEY TRANSIT: Trains and buses are still operating. The concourse in New York’s Penn Station will be closed for cleaning every night between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., but customers can still enter via the main entrance on 7th Avenue and 32nd Street. Those with paper tickets will be asked to tear those themselves to minimize hand-to-hand contact with staff.
AMTRAK: The train operator has pared back its trips nationwide, but still runs regional trains in the Northeast. It also resumed its popular Acela route between Boston and Washington earlier this month — though on a reduced schedule. Customers can still buy food and drinks onboard, but there’s no seating in the dining cars.
Are stores open again?
A variety of nonessential businesses can now open up again, including retailers that sell clothes, jewelry, sporting goods, books and furniture – but customers still can’t enter. For now, retailers must stick with curbside pickup and delivery. That, combined with damage incurred during the recent protests and worries about profitability, has led some stores to keep their doors closed a bit longer.
Those that do reopen must follow a strict protocol for cleaning and sanitation, ensure proper social distancing and provide employees with face masks. The state also recommends businesses stagger workers’ schedules.
What about parks?
Many parks with green spaces have remained open while playgrounds and basketball courts have been closed. The city hasn’t yet set a date for when the shuttered areas will reopen.
When will I be able to go back to my office?
The short answer: It depends. Most companies are taking a cautious approach and they’ll likely send employees back to offices in waves rather than all at once. Even so, the governor’s plan doesn’t permit offices to reopen until Phase Two, which at the very earliest will be two weeks from now.
What happens if New York sees a surge in cases and no longer meets the state’s reopening requirements? For now, it’s unclear how that will be handled.
The governor delivered his Daily press conference
By JENNIFER PELTZ (AP)
After three bleak months, New York, the corner of the U.S. hit hardest by the coronavirus, gradually began reopening Monday in what was seen as a landmark moment in the crisis and a test of the city’s discipline.
With the virus in check — at least for now — stores previously deemed nonessential were cleared to reopen for delivery and pickup, though customers cannot yet browse inside. Construction, manufacturing and wholesalers also received the go-ahead to resume work.
“This is a triumph for all New Yorkers that we’ve gotten to this point,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
But he warned the city against letting its guard down and risking a resurgence of the virus: “We got this far by doing it the right way, by doing the social distancing, the face coverings. We’ve got to keep doing it at those work sites and everywhere if we expect to keep moving forward.”
New York City became the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, with more than 21,000 people dying citywide of confirmed or probable COVID-19. That is roughly 1 out of 5 of the 110,000 coronavirus deaths across the U.S.
At its peak, the scourge killed more than 500 people a day in New York City in early to mid-April. At the end of last week, the number of deaths per day had dropped into the single digits.
The number of people testing positive for the virus was down to 200 to 300 per day at the start of last week, compared with more than 6,000 a day in early April.
“All eyes will be on New York this next couple of months,” said urban policy expert Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “The city now has to prove that it really knows what it’s doing, that it can still be a dense city like New York and yet figure this out.”
Facing such challenges as how to maintain social distancing on the subway and how to restore public confidence in police in the wake of the unrest set off by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, can New York City regroup?
Edwin Arce thinks so. A chef at a Manhattan restaurant, he was heartened to see more customers than expected when it reopened for takeout and delivery.
“As a city, we are ready to be back, start going out, living life — with the new reality, though,” of masks and 6-foot (2-meter) separation, said Arce, 31.
Sam Solomon wonders how normal that will be.
“I don’t know if it’s ever going to be like it was,” said Solomon, 22, who has a health-related job. After months of relative isolation, “it’s going to be an adjustment being around so many people,” said the native New Yorker, who never thought she would have to get used to crowds.
The city has already reawakened somewhat as warm weather drew people outdoors, more restaurants offered carryout service, and as thousands of people marched in protest over the Floyd case.
Subway ridership is ticking back up after plunging from 5.4 million rides per weekday in February to under 450,000 in April, the city’s transit agency says. Subway schedules are returning to normal, though riders will see signs showing how far apart to stand on platforms, and the 1 a.m.-to-5 a.m. shutdowns that began in May will continue so trains can be cleaned.
But as the city tries to recover economically, will the virus strike back?
“It’s going to be a big test,” said Dr. Bruce Polsky, a city resident who is chairman of medicine at NYU Winthrop Hospital in suburban Mineola.
Months of social distancing, mask-wearing, hand-washing, shock and fear have made New Yorkers better prepared to keep the coronavirus under control, health experts said.
Yet Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist who had COVID-19 himself in March, is concerned the virus might spread at the protests following Floyd’s May 25 death. And the virus’s toll — in lives, despair and exhaustion — weighs on him: “It’s very difficult to see how we recover.”
Last week, demonstrations over Floyd’s death were marked by a few nights of smash-and-grab thefts in the city. But the 8 p.m. curfew was lifted Sunday, a day earlier than planned.
Of course, New York City has had to prove itself before — after its population decline and fiscal crisis in the 1970s, after its 1980s-’90s crime peak, after 9/11.
“You can’t keep us down,” said Carlo Scissura, president of the New York Building Congress, a construction industry group. “We may go down a little bit, but we go right back up.”
A store owner in New York is speaking out following the destructive riots and looting that severely hurt his business on Monday night.
“The quarantine hit me hard. I closed completely for almost two months. We were just getting back up on our feet with online sales,” 25-year-old Oscar Izaguirre, who owns Oscar’s Gold & Diamonds, told the New York Post Saturday
His parents opened the shop in the Bronx after moving from Peru and worked hard to put him and his siblings through college.
When friends called Monday to warn him that rioters were headed his way, Izaguirre said he felt “terrified.”
“There’s millions of dollars of merchandise. Along with 15 or so friends, I moved everything to a safe location,” he recalled, adding that he later watched men with sledgehammers break into the store via a security camera.
Izaguirre continued:
By the time I got there, there were gunshots and fires on the street. Some people had weapons: crowbars, bricks. I was afraid they’d burn up my store, but I stood 20 feet away and said nothing. I was afraid for my life. For several hours, I watched looters go into my store and break the cameras, bash the glass cases, destroy the wiring, even knock out the ceiling tiles. Every store around me got trashed, and I did not hear one rant for justice or for George Floyd. Not in The Bronx, not that night. That night, they targeted minorities. They were opportunists who just wanted to steal.
However, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said Friday that rioters arrested for “low-level” crimes, such as unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct, would not face any charges, according to Breitbart News.
“The announcement means the overwhelming majority of hundreds of rioters in New York City will likely not face any criminal prosecution,” the report noted.
Despite the violent protests and demonstrations that swept across the city recently, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Sunday that officials had committed to moving resources from the New York Police Department (NYPD) to “youth and social services as part of our City’s budget”:
“But I’m a minority, too. My family and I have worked our whole lives for this,” he concluded.
KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ (BREITBART)
A man allegedly stabbed an officer from the New York Police Department (NYPD) and yelled “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked his victim, according to a video released by the NYPD Saturday.
The video showed Dzenan Camovic, 20, turning a corner on Flatbush Ave. and Church Ave. at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday before he struck the blade into the officer’s neck, the New York Daily News reported
n officer quickly rushed to the aid of the wounded cop, Officer Yayonfrant Jean Pierre, and asked if he has been stabbed. Pierre replied, “yeah,” before cops reported the attack.
Responding officers shot Camovic, a Serbian immigrant, eight times. Police said two other cops at the scene were shot as well.
Pierre, a Haitian immigrant, is recovering from his injuries at home, according to relatives.
Camovic, who screamed “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is Great” in Arabic, was charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing the officer. He is recovering in the hospital from his gunshot wounds.
Authorities have so far been unable to link Camovic to an organized terror group, but there are indications that his alleged tactics were similar to anti-police attacks in Paris and around the globe, said John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of counter terrorism.
“All the hallmarks that would be out of the terrorist playbook,” Miller said at a briefing from NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan.
JAred Evan
A group of social justice anti-police activists compromised of allegedly city hall workers appeared on the Instagram social media platform and announced their intentions to rally against the mayor Monday morning.
Identifying themselves as the City Workers for Justice Group, they laid out their demands on Instagram. The activists wrote:
As current & former @nycgov employees, we are outraged by the escalation, violent misconduct & civil rights violations by the NYPD, and the Mayor’s failure to protect our communities.
We demand justice for NYC’s Black and Brown communities.
Police exacerbate systemic failures, they don’t resolve them. Our communities need investment & support, not overpolicing. #DefundNYPD & reallocate funds to housing support, rental relief, food assistance, education & healthcare.
We are outraged by the NYPD’s rampant violence against black & brown communities, protesters, bystanders, essential workers, medics & legal observers. These officers are a danger to the communities they claim to serve. Each of them must go.
For far too long, police have abused our communities and violated the rights of New Yorkers with near-impunity and little public accountability. This changes now. #Repeal50a and release all disciplinary records for public review.
From rank-and-file to leadership, recent events have shown NYPD misconduct is systemic at all levels. We demand answers. An independent commission of civil rights attorneys, journalists & activists must investigate the response to May & June 2020 protests.
The recent curfew gave NYPD free license to indiscriminately attack and arrest New Yorkers exercising their most fundamental rights. This is a dangerous precedent rife for abuse. We demand that any future curfew must be approved by a ⅔ City Council vote.
These are only the first steps. There must be real change to regain the trust of our communities & the legitimacy to serve them. These systemic failures will not be fixed with minor reforms or with new leadership, but with new structures & accountability.
This apparent rebellion occurred on the heels of de Blasio after resisting for a week of calls to slash police funds from City Council members, announcing that he has a plan to reform the NYPD, including diverting funding from the NYPD to social programs.
The far-left activist anti-police agenda has risen to prominent heights after the George Floyd murder and subsequent violent riots and peaceful disobedience. De Blasio is facing opposition from the uber progressive City Council & simultaneously facing heat from supporters of the NYPD and police brass.
Rumors have been flying on NYPD social media accounts and on local podcasts that the NYPD police commissioner is about to resign, and other top-ranking NYPD officials were resigning or being replaced. PIX11 reported: “This is not true,” tweeted Freddi Goldstein, press secretary to Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in response to the rumors
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Richard Esposito, over the phone to PIX11 also said the rumors wasn’t true
By Jared Evan
Once the protests had calmed from a violent first several days to a more peaceful vibe , a major plank of the George Floyd movement in coordination with Black Lives Matter, NAACP and other groups has been heard loud and clear above the chanting and shouting: de-fund the police.
Mayor de Blasio does not want to dissolve the NYPD however he is proposing, redirecting funds.
Some are calling for incremental replacement of the traditional police force and replacing it with community forms of policing, others are calling for some police funding to be redirected to social justice programs as opposed to law enforcement
AP reported: The group MPD150, which says it is “working towards a police-free Minneapolis,” argues that such action would be more about “strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention.”
Essentially the activists are calling for a slow dissolving of the police, and most elected officials are expressing what Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said on CNN, part of the movement is really about how money is spent.
Mayor de Blasio introduced a 4-point plan: shift funding to youth and social services, transparency of police discipline, move vendor enforcement out of NYPD, bringing community voices into senior levels of the NYPD.
“Policing matters for sure, but the investments in our youth are foundational,” the mayor told reporters in a City Hall press briefing. “We will be moving funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has been among the loudest voices for de-funding the police, although details of his plans have not been specific. “We are here to change the framework and he’s setting us up for failure,” Williams said of the mayor, according to PIX11
Initially de Blasio seemed against the cuts to police or the concept of de-funding the police. At a previous press conference the mayor said “I say to people that say ‘defund the police,’ I understand the impulse but that is not the way to move forward and misses the reality we are facing right now.”
De Blasio seems anxious to meet some middle ground of the further left-wing City Council.
Even on Friday after New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer called for $1.1 billion to be cut from the NYPD budget over four years, $265 million annually; de Blasio resisted.
To cut the budget, Stringer advised suspending hiring new police officers, cut overtime by 5%, and trim Other than Personnel Services by 4%, The Blaze reported.
For many in the George Floyd protests shifting of funds is not enough. When Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) appeared to speak to a Black Lives Matter protest, a young activist tempestuously told him to leave the protest after the mayor rejected the idea to completely de-fund the Minneapolis police force. The young liberal mayor had to walk thru the huge anti-police BLM crowd in shame for his refusal to completely capitulate to the far-left demands of the George Floyd movement.
Will de Blasio’s nonspecific gestures be enough for the revolutionary front which is gaining a foothold into policy making? The mayor reassured the average New Yorker that he would not endanger citizens with a radical dissolution of the NYPD.
The NY Post reported: De Blasio insisted that any cuts made by the NYPD would not be at the expense of public safety.
“I want people to understand that we are committed to shifting resources to ensure that the focus is on our young people,” he said.
“And I also will affirm while doing that, we will only do it in a way that we are certain continues to ensure that this city will be safe.”
MIAMI (AP) — The federal government is proposing a $4.6 billion plan to protect the low-lying Miami area from the effects of climate change, including the construction of miles of sea walls.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft plan Friday calling for walls to protect the area from sea level rise that could reach about 13 feet (4 meters) in height.
The Miami Herald reported Saturday that the plan is designed to protect tens of thousands of homes and businesses from flooding.
The plan also calls for movable barriers at the mouths of three waterways, elevating and flood-proofing thousands of buildings throughout the county and restoring mangroves in vulnerable areas.
The plan does not contain previous proposals to buy out hundreds of homes and convert them into parks or open spaces.
The Corps of Engineers plans to hold online public meetings on the proposal on Tuesday and Thursday next week.
(AP) — Senior Chinese officials released a lengthy report Sunday on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, defending their government’s actions and saying that China had provided information in a timely and transparent manner.
China “wasted no time” in sharing information such as the genome sequence for the new virus with the World Health Organization as well as relevant countries and regional organizations, according to the report.
An Associated Press investigation found that government labs sat on releasing the genetic map of the virus for more than a week in January, delaying its identification in a third country and the sharing of information needed to develop tests, drugs and a vaccine.
National Health Commission Chairman Ma Xiaowei did not address the specific findings in the AP report, but said it “seriously goes against the facts.” He added that there were many unknowns in the early stage of the outbreak and that it took time to gather evidence and figure out the characteristics of the new virus.
“The Chinese government did not delay or cover up anything,” he said. “Instead, we have immediately reported virus data and relevant information about the epidemic to the international community and made an important contribution to the prevention and control of the epidemic around the world.”
He ticked off a series of government actions from a detailed timeline in the government report. The timeline says that China began updating the WHO on a regular basis on Jan. 3 and that the head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention briefed the head of the U.S. CDC on Jan. 4.
U.S. officials have been critical of China’s early response, adding to a deterioration of U.S.-China relations over trade and technology and pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Asked how China would repair its relations with the rest of the world, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said that cooperation over the pandemic had improved ties with most other countries.
Without naming the U.S., he said: “Certain countries go against the tide of history. To disguise their inadequate response to COVID-19, they insanely smeared and slandered China … . In response to such scapegoating practice, China will certainly fight back.”
The report, which ran 66 pages in the English version, lauded China’s success in reducing the daily increase in new cases to single digits within about two months and the “decisive victory … in the battle to defend Hubei Province and its capital city of Wuhan” in about three months.
Wuhan, where the first cases of the virus were detected late last year, was the hardest-hit part of China in the outbreak. The city and soon after much of Hubei province were locked down for 2 to 2 1/2 months to stop the spread of the virus to the rest of the country.
The report credited Chinese leader Xi Jinping with making the Jan. 22 decision to cut Wuhan off by cutting transportation links and banning people from leaving or entering the city.
(AP) — New York City is lifting its curfew spurred by protests against police brutality ahead of schedule, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday morning.
The 8 p.m. citywide curfew, New York’s first in decades, had been set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with the city planning to lift it at the same time it enters the first phase of reopening after more than two months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus.
“Yesterday and last night we saw the very best of our city,” de Blasio tweeted in his announcement of the curfew’s end “effective immediately.” “Tomorrow we take the first big step to restart.”
The move followed New York City police pulling back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to the streets and parks to protest police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
More than two hours after the curfew had passed Saturday night, groups of several hundred demonstrators continued to march in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while police monitored them but took a hands-off approach.
Local politicians and civil liberties advocates had called for an end to the 8 p.m. curfew, complaining that it causes needless friction when officers try to enforce it. But de Blasio had initially insisted the curfew would remain in place throughout the weekend.
At protests in Manhattan earlier Saturday, volunteers handed out snacks, first aid kits and plenty of water bottles on a muggy afternoon. One person carried a sign listing nearby open buildings for those seeking to escape the heat — which some soon did when a rain storm arrived.
Thousands of people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into lower Manhattan, where other groups numbering in the hundreds to thousands marched or gathered in places like Foley Square, home to state and federal court buildings, and Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.
Further uptown, police had erected barriers to all but close off Times Square to vehicle and foot traffic.
As the curfew passed, a large group of protesters walked onto the FDR Drive, the main north-south artery along Manhattan’s east side, closely monitored by police, forcing police to temporarily shut down one side of the roadway.
Earlier, Julian Arriola-Hennings said he didn’t expect the movement to slow down anytime soon.
“I’m never surprised by people taking action because inaction, it really hurts the soul,” he said as he told protesters at Washington Square Park that they would soon march from there to City Hall.
People’s feet get tired, their souls get re-energized for the right purpose.”
One of Saturday’s marches was enlivened by a band led by Jon Batiste, bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Images on social media on Friday night about an hour after a Brooklyn protest ended showed officers surrounding a group of protesters and chasing down some with batons. And officers on Manhattan’s East Side also used force to break up remnants of a march that started near the mayor’s official residence.
There were about 40 arrests citywide Friday — far fewer than previous nights — and no obvious signs of the smash-and-grab stealing that marred protests earlier in the week.
On Saturday, Antoinette Henry wasn’t surprised people were still marching after more than a week, even though she said she had seen violence from police earlier in the week.
“Our first couple of protests ended a bit violently but we’re back out here. We’re not going to stop fighting,” Henry said.
She added she thinks protests could continue next week, even as some will go back to work when New York City begins its reopening.
“I think as long as we stay organized, that’s exactly what can and will and should happen,” Henry said.
(AP) Criminals are seizing on a surge in job losses to steal unemployment benefits from Americans nationwide. This complicates an already tough situation for millions of financially strapped Americans and overwhelmed state unemployment offices.
“About 10% of (unemployment insurance) payments are improper under the best of times, and we are in the worst of times,” Scott Dahl, the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department, told the House Subcommittee on Government Operations. Dahl estimated that at least $26 billion in benefits could be wasted, with the bulk of that going to fraudsters.
This forces unemployed workers, already reeling from the loss of a job, to fight for the benefits they need and are entitled to.
“We are deeply concerned about the well-being of these people and when they will get this resolved and get the money they need to live on,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, which has seen a sharp jump in calls for help with unemployment fraud.
Since mid-March, 42.7 million people have applied for unemployment benefits, though some have been rehired as states allow businesses to reopen. On Thursday, the federal government said 21.5 million people are receiving jobless aid. That creates added opportunity for criminals. An extra $600 a week in benefits makes it more lucrative.
Additionally, state unemployment agencies have been overwhelmed by claims and are working to get payments to those in need as fast as possible. In some cases, security experts say the new processes, added workload and outdated systems may have made it easier for criminals to act.
“This is El Dorado for them and it’s pure hell for victims,” said Adam Levin, founder of data security firm CyberScout.
Security experts say the bulk of the fraud appears to be committed by criminals using stolen data to make claims using someone else’s identity. The information has often been gleaned from prior data breaches or direct attacks on state systems.
In many cases, victims don’t know they have been affected until they apply for benefits and find out someone has beat them to the punch. Some even find their benefit payments halted when a criminal usurps their benefits.
Victims should report a suspected fraud to the state, their employer and file a police report. But resolving the issue and getting proper payment means going through the state agency that processes unemployment benefit claims, which is potentially already overwhelmed.
The U.S. Secret Service issued a memo last month that suggested a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring was targeting state unemployment systems, according to the New York Times, which got a copy of the document. But agents were still working to pinpoint who was involved and from where. The memo said that Washington was the hardest-hit state but there was evidence of attacks in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Florida. The California cybersecurity firm Agari estimated last week that at least 11 states have been targeted.
On Thursday, officials in Washington said the state has recovered $333 million out an estimated $550 million to $650 million paid out fraudulently.
Those with jobs are also targets of the fraudsters. Blake Victor Kent said that last week he got a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance informing him that they had commenced payments for his unemployment claim.
“That’s funny, because I am still employed,” he said.
Kent thought his information may have been exposed when he was a victim of a data breach a few years back. But his employer, Massachusetts General Hospital, sent an email a few days later to staff saying they were aware of a number of such cases for employees.
In other cases, criminals are targeting people with false job offers, assistance filing unemployment and to glean personal information. Other people may also be targeted and used as “mules” to move money for the criminals.
Experts warn that if a criminal has enough information to make an unemployment claim, they have enough information to commit other acts of identity theft. So people need to protect themselves from further harm by freezing their credit and monitoring their credit regularly for any irregularities.
People should practice good cyber hygiene as well, suggests John Breyault, who manages the National Consumers League’s Fraud Center. That means changing passwords regularly, using two-factor authentication whenever possible to log into accounts and being wary of offers that seem too good to be true, whether that is by phone, online, mail or in person.
“Until this unemployment problem starts to recede, this is going to be a problem that sticks with us,” Breyault said.
(AP) Protesters are pushing to “defund the police” over the death of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement. Their chant has become rallying cry — and a stick for President Donald Trump to use on Democrats as he portrays them as soft on crime
But what does “defund the police” mean? It’s not necessarily about gutting police department budgets.
WHAT IS THE ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ MOVEMENT?
Supporters say it isn’t about eliminating police departments or stripping agencies of all of their money. They say it is time for the country to address systemic problems in policing in America and spend more on what communities across the U.S. need, like housing and education.
State and local governments spent $115 billion on policing in 2017, according to data compiled by the Urban Institute.
“Why can’t we look at how it is that we reorganize our priorities, so people don’t have to be in the streets during a national pandemic?” Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza asked during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Activists acknowledge this is a gradual process.
The group MPD150, which says it is “working towards a police-free Minneapolis,” argues that such action would be more about “strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention.”
“The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best-equipped to deal with those crises,” the group wrote on its website.
WHAT ARE LAWMAKERS SAYING?
Sen. Cory Booker said he understands the sentiment behind the slogan, but it’s not a slogan he will use.
The New Jersey Democrat told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he shares a feeling with many protesters that Americans are “over-policed” and that “we are investing in police, which is not solving problems, but making them worse when we should be, in a more compassionate country, in a more loving country.”
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said part of the movement is really about how money is spent.
“Now, I don’t believe that you should disband police departments,” she said in an interview with CNN. “But I do think that, in cities, in states, we need to look at how we are spending the resources and invest more in our communities.
“Maybe this is an opportunity to re-envision public safety,” she said.
President Donald Trump and his campaign view the emergence of the “Defund the Police” slogan as a spark of opportunity during what has been a trying political moment. Trump’s response to the protests has sparked widespread condemnation. But now his supporters say the new mantra may make voters, who may be otherwise sympathetic to the protesters, recoil from a “radical” idea.
rump seized on the slogan last week as he spoke at an event in Maine.
“They’re saying defund the police,” he said. “Defund. Think of it. When I saw it, I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘We don’t want to have any police,’ they say. You don’t want police?”
Trump’s 2016 campaign was built on a promise of ensuring law and order — often in contrast to protests against his rhetoric that followed him across the country. As he seeks reelection, Trump is preparing to deploy the same argument again — and seems to believe the “defund the police” call has made the campaign applause line all the more real for his supporters.
IS THERE ANY PUSH TO ACTUALLY DEFUND POLICE DEPARTMENTS?
Yes, or at least to reduce their budgets in some major cities.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that the city would move funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services, while keeping the city safe, but he didn’t give details.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to cut as much as $150 million that was part of a planned increase in the police department’s budget.
A Minneapolis city councilmember said in a tweet on Thursday that the city would “dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.”
rump seized on the slogan last week as he spoke at an event in Maine.
“They’re saying defund the police,” he said. “Defund. Think of it. When I saw it, I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘We don’t want to have any police,’ they say. You don’t want police?”
Trump’s 2016 campaign was built on a promise of ensuring law and order — often in contrast to protests against his rhetoric that followed him across the country. As he seeks reelection, Trump is preparing to deploy the same argument again — and seems to believe the “defund the police” call has made the campaign applause line all the more real for his supporters.
IS THERE ANY PUSH TO ACTUALLY DEFUND POLICE DEPARTMENTS?
Yes, or at least to reduce their budgets in some major cities.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that the city would move funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services, while keeping the city safe, but he didn’t give details.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to cut as much as $150 million that was part of a planned increase in the police department’s budget.
A Minneapolis city councilmember said in a tweet on Thursday that the city would “dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.”
“At this time, with violent crime increasing, a global pandemic and nearly a week’s worth of violence, arson, and looting, ‘defunding’ the LAPD is the most irresponsible thing anyone can propose.”
(AP) As New York City prepared to reopen after a more than two-month coronavirus shutdown, officials on Sunday lifted a curfew that was put in place amid protests of police brutality and racial injustice. But they also urged that demonstrators be tested for COVID-19.
“Get a test. Get a test,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged people who have been participating in rallies and marches in memory of George Floyd.
He said the state planned to open 15 testing sites dedicated to protesters so they can get results quickly.
“I would act as if you were exposed, and I would tell people you are interacting with, assume I am positive for the virus,” Cuomo added.
The call is similar to what officials in Seattle, San Francisco and Atlanta have made following massive demonstrations, with free testing set up for protesters who may have been exposed to the virus.
“There is a pandemic going on out there. People are aware of that. I don’t think any of us have forgotten that’s happening,” Jennifer Cota, who was protesting in a Seattle suburb, told KCPQ-TV. “It’s still a risk a lot of people are willing to take.”
Demonstrations across the country Saturday were perhaps the largest one-day mobilization since Floyd died May 25 at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The turnout continued around the globe Sunday even as U.S. cities lifted curfews imposed amid last week’s spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses. Recent days of U.S. protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.
New York City prepared to enter its first phase of reopening after shutdowns due to the pandemic. Between 200,000 and 400,000 people are expected to head back to the workplace Monday, with many using a subway system that most New Yorkers have avoided since March because of crowded conditions.
On Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the city’s 8 p.m. curfew put in place for the Floyd protests.
“Last night was the best by far,” de Blasio told reporters. “We had the biggest number of protesters, the fewest arrests, the fewest problems and that convinced me it was time for the curfew to go away. I have no intention of bringing it back.”
He maintained, however, that the city was still debating whether to enforce street closures later in the day. He also said he was “frustrated” by the large number of police officers who were not wearing face masks, describing it as painful to people who may perceive law enforcement was “flouting” social distancing rules.
New York City police pulled back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to streets and parks to protest Floyd’s death.
His body arrived in Texas for a final memorial service, said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. A viewing is planned for Monday in Houston, followed by a service and burial Tuesday in suburban Pearland.
Floyd, a 46-year-old out-of-work bouncer, died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped responding. His death has inspired international protests and drawn new attention to the treatment of African Americans by police and the criminal justice system.
Other memorials have taken place in Minneapolis and Raeford, North Carolina, near where Floyd was born.
At the private service in North Carolina’, mourners sang with a choir as a large photo of Floyd and a portrait of him adorned with an angel’s wings and halo were displayed.
“It could have been me. It could have been my brother, my father, any of my friends who are black,” said Erik Carlos of nearby Fayetteville. “It made me feel very vulnerable at first.”
In Washington, D.C., dozens of National Guard troops from South Carolina were seen checking out of their hotel Sunday shortly before President Donald Trump tweeted he was giving the order to withdraw them from the nation’s capital.
The troops, carrying gear and clothing, sipped coffee and smoked cigarettes as they waited for buses to take them to the airport.
Trump ordered guard troops into Washington to “dominate” the streets after some protests of Floyd’s death turned violent. The city’s mayor called on Trump last week to withdraw outside forces amid days of largely peaceful protests.
Outside the United States:
— A crowd estimated at 10,000, many in face masks, filled a square in front of the main courthouse in Brussels, holding white roses and signs decrying racism. “You think you are tired of hearing about racism? We are tired of experiencing it,” read one placard held up by a young black woman.
— In Italy’s financial capital of Milan, a few thousand people rallied against racism outside the central train station, many of them African migrants or the children of migrants who want to see reforms making it easier to receive citizenship. One held a sign saying, “I Fight For My Kids.”
— Protesters massed by the thousands outside the gleaming new U.S. Embassy in London, where student Darcy Bourne said the demonstration was about “more than just George Floyd, more than just America, but racism all around the world.”
— Thousands wearing masks against the virus massed peacefully in Spain’s main cities, including at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to denounce racism and chant: “Police murderers!” and “No justice, no peace!” A protest also was held in a central square in Barcelona. (AP)
By MARTHA MENDOZA (AP)
The FBI and local investigators are trying to determine a possible link between the ambush-style killing of a Northern California sheriff’s deputy Saturday night and that of a federal officer who was fatally shot outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland more than a week ago.
The FBI office in San Francisco confirmed Sunday its investigators were working with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department to determine a possible motive, and links to other crimes committed in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the attack that killed a Federal Protection Service officer and critically wounded another officer on May 29. Both involved shooters in a van.
An active-duty U.S. Air Force sergeant has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, and wounding two other officers Saturday.
Gutzwiller “was a beloved figure here at the sheriff’s office,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said.
“Damon showed up today to do his job, to keep this community safe, and his life was taken needlessly,” a visibly shaken Hart said.
On Saturday, deputies responded to a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. about a suspicious van in Ben Lomond — an unincorporated area near Santa Cruz. The caller said there were guns and bomb-making devices inside, Hart said.
When deputies arrived, the van pulled away and the deputies followed. The van went down a driveway at a home and the deputies were ambushed by gunfire and explosives after getting out of their vehicle.
Gutzwiller was wounded and later died at a hospital. Another deputy was wounded by gunfire or shrapnel and struck by a vehicle as the suspect fled. A third officer from the California Highway Patrol was shot in his hand, Hart said.
The suspect, 32-year-old Steven Carrillo, attempted a carjacking and also was shot during his arrest, Hart said. He was being treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Hart said Carrillo will be charged with first-degree murder.
Carrillo had arrived at Travis Air Force Base, 50 miles (81 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, in June 2018 and was a member of the 60th Security Forces Squadron, a base spokesman said. Carrillo’s wife Monika Leigh Scott Carrillo, who was also in the Air Force, was found dead in an off-base hotel in May 2018 while she was stationed in South Carolina. She was 30. Her death was investigated by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and ruled a suicide, according to the Air Force.
The FBI has been trying to identify a suspect and motive in the drive-by shooting outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building that killed Dave Patrick Underwood, 53, and critically wounded another contracted security officer employed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service. They had been monitoring a nearby protest over the death of George Floyd.
Surveillance cameras captured a white Ford van believed to be driven by the shooter or shooters. The FBI said the vehicle did not appear to have license plates.
Gov. Gavin Newsom extended condolences to Gutzwiller’s family and ordered flags at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of the slain deputy.
“He will be remembered as a hero who devoted his life to protecting the community and as a loving husband and father,” Newsom said in a statement.
The shooting shocked Ben Lomond, a town of about 6,000 people tucked up in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Resident Kathy Crocker brought a bouquet to the sheriff’s office as Hart gave a news conference about the shootings.
“It just breaks my heart that this keeps happening,” she said, as teary-eyed deputies entered the building.
The sheriff’s office will hold a vigil Sunday at 2:26 p.m., the time they received the call Saturday that Gutzwiller had been shot.
Minneapolis protesters told Mayor Jacob Frey (D) he was no longer welcome to demonstrate against the death of George Floyd — an African-American man who died in police custody in the city — after he refused to commit to defunding its police department.
Footage shared to social media shows a masked Frey, who is under fire from both Republicans and Democrats over his response to protests and violent unrest, telling a crowd of protesters that he believes the city’s police department must undergo “structural reforms” and that a “systemic, racist system needs to be revamped.”
Then, one speaker pressed Frey on whether he would defund the police, asking him: “We have a yes or no question for you. Yes or no, will you commit to defunding the Minneapolis Police Department?
The speaker continued before Frey could respond: “We don’t want any more police, is that clear? We don’t want people with guns in our communities, shooting us down. Do you have an answer? It is a yes or a no.”
“If he says ‘no,’ guess what the fuck we are going to do next year,” the protester added, referring to the mayor being up for re-election next year.
Frey responded “I do not support abolishing the Minneapolis Police Department,” prompting the protester who asked him the question to shout “get the f**k outta here” at him.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey showed up today at the protests. He was asked if he would commit to abolishing/defunding the police. Incredible to witness crowd hold him directly accountable. Man did a literal walk of shame. pic.twitter.com/v645mfIZHt
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 6, 2020
Multiple protesters then began to boo Frey loudly and chant “go home Jacob, go home!”
Additional footage shows a downcast Frey then departing the protests amid more booes and chants of “shame!”
Mayor Frey @Jacob_Frey says he doesnt want to defund the police. So the crowd led by @BlackVisionsMN tell him to leave. pic.twitter.com/DaJHJXPwRm
— CTUL (@CTUL_TC) June 6, 2020
On Thursday, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender vowed the council will “dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a transformative new model of public safety.” Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, echoed Bender’s pledge.
“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due,” he tweeted.
The following day, Frey signed off on various changes to the police department after an injunction was filed by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which sought a ban on chokeholds and for officers to report unauthorized use of force.
This week, “Squad” members Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined calls to “defund the police” in the wake of Floyd’s death.
“The Minneapolis Police Department has proven themselves beyond reform,” Omar wrote on social media Friday. “It’s time to disband them and reimagine public safety in Minneapolis.”
Hours later, Ocasio-Cortez said in a congressional primary debate that she is “actively engaged in advocacy” for a “reduction of our NYPD budget and defunding a $6 billion NYPD budget that costs us books in the hands of our children and costs us very badly needed investment in NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority] and public housing.”
Last Thursday, demonstrators set fire to a police precinct building in the Minneapolis neighborhood where Floyd died Monday after he was restrained by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck.
Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill at a grocery store.
The 3rd precinct building had been evacuated by order of Frey, who said he was unwilling to endanger lives to protect the building.
“I understand the importance of a precinct,” he said. “[But] the symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life, of our officers, or the public. We could not risk serious injury to anyone and we will continue to patrol the third precinct entirely.”
By 4:30 a.m. last Friday, protesters and looters were still out on the streets in the neighborhood as several nearby commercial buildings burned unchecked.
As Breitbart News reported: “Minneapolis already suffers from high violent crime rates. In Minneapolis, every 8.15 residents per 1,000 is a violent crime victim. Compare that to the state of Minnesota overall, where only 2.2 residents per 1,000 become a violent crime victim.”
By: Steven Sloan, Justin Pritchard & Tom Foreman, Jr.
Massive protests against police brutality nationwide capped a week that began in chaos but ended with largely peaceful expressions that organizers hope will sustain their movement.
Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday with few reports of problems in scenes that were more often festive than tense.
Wearing masks and urging fundamental change, protesters gathered in dozens of places from coast to coast while mourners in North Carolina waited for hours to glimpse the golden coffin carrying the body of native son George Floyd, the black man whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police has galvanized the expanding movement.
Collectively, it was perhaps the largest one-day mobilization since Floyd died May 25 and came as many cities lifted curfews imposed following initial spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses. Authorities have softened restrictions as the number of arrests plummeted.
Demonstrations also reached four other continents, ending in clashes in London and Marseille, France. In the U.S., Seattle police used flash bang devices and pepper spray to disperse protesters hurling rocks, bottles and what authorities said were “improvised explosives” that had injured officers, just a day after city leaders temporarily banned one kind of tear gas.
The largest U.S. demonstration appeared to be in Washington, where protesters flooded streets closed to traffic. On a hot, humid day, they gathered at the Capitol, on the National Mall and in neighborhoods. Some turned intersections into dance floors. Tents offered snacks and water.
Pamela Reynolds said she came seeking greater police accountability.
“The laws are protecting them,” said the 37-year-old African American teacher. The changes she wants include a federal ban on police chokeholds and a requirement that officers wear body cameras.
At the White House, which was fortified with new fencing and extra security measures, chants and cheers were heard in waves. President Donald Trump, who has urged authorities to crack down on unrest, downplayed the demonstration, tweeting: “Much smaller crowd in D.C. than anticipated.”
Elsewhere, the backdrops included some of the nation’s most famous landmarks. Peaceful marchers filed across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, where officers pulled back on enforcing a curfew that has led to confrontations. They walked the boulevards of Hollywood and a Nashville, Tennessee, street famous for country music-themed bars and restaurants.
Many wore masks — a reminder of the danger that the protests could exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus.
Roderick Sweeney, who is black, said the large turnout of white protesters waving signs that said “Black Lives Matter” in San Francisco sent a powerful message.
“We’ve had discussions in our family and among friends that nothing is going to change until our white brothers and sisters voice their opinion,” said Sweeney, 49.
A large crowd of Seattle medical workers, many in lab coats and scrubs, marched to City Hall, holding signs reading, “Police violence and racism are a public health emergency” and “Nurses kneel with you, not on you” — a reference to how a white officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
Atop a parking garage in downtown Atlanta, a group of black college band alumni serenaded protesters with a tuba-heavy mix of tunes. Standing within earshot, business owner Leah Aforkor Quaye said it was her first time hitting the streets.
“This makes people so uncomfortable, but the only way things are happening is if we make people uncomfortable,” said Quaye, who is black.
In Raeford, North Carolina, a town near Floyd’s birthplace, people lined up outside a Free Will Baptist church, waiting to enter in small groups. At a private memorial service, mourners sang along with a choir. A large photo of Floyd and a portrait of him adorned with an angel’s wings and halo were displayed at the front of the chapel.
“It could have been me. It could have been my brother, my father, any of my friends who are black,” said Erik Carlos of nearby Fayetteville. “It made me feel very vulnerable at first.”
Floyd’s body will go to Houston, where he lived before Minneapolis, for another memorial in the coming days.
Protesters and their supporters in public office say they’re determined to turn the outpouring into change, notably overhauling policing policies. Many marchers urged officials to “defund the police.”
Theresa Bland, 68, a retired teacher and real estate agent protesting at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, envisioned a broader agenda.
“I’m looking at affordable housing, political justice, prison reform,” she said.
Congressional Democrats are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms, which is expected to include changes to immunity provisions and creating a database of use-of-force incidents. Revamped training requirements are planned, too — among them, a ban on chokeholds.
The prospects of reforms clearing a divided Congress are unclear.
Back in North Carolina, the Rev. Christopher Stackhouse recounted the circumstances of Floyd’s death for the congregation.
“It took 8 minutes and 46 seconds for him to die,” Stackhouse said at the memorial service. “But it took 401 years to put the system in place so nothing would happen.” (AP)
