Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Unreasonable suspicion: When residents call police, who pays the price when bias shapes their concerns?

    When the police got called to check on a "suspicious" Black man at the door of a house in a mostly white suburb of Madison, they held him at gun point until he convinced them he was there with the owner's permission. The resulting public outrage has turned into a search for solutions. While the city pays for a study of its policies and questions the adequacy of its implicit-bias training of police officers and 911 operators, neighborhood groups are working to educate residents about alternatives to calling police for all but the most serious threats to safety.

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  • COVID-19 Has Crushed Everybody's Economy—Except for South Korea's

    South Korea's economic growth is one of the few that have not stagnated or declined during the coronavirus pandemic. Although much of this is due to how effectively the country handled containment protocols from the start, the overall fiscal response – which included encouraging residents to reinvest government payouts in local businesses – also played a significant role. In one province, this included using non-cash payments "that could only be spent in shops inside the region, rather than as cash that could be hoarded."

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  • Masks effect hard to isolate, but officials say they're important layer of protection

    Data collected from a handful of states where the idea of mask wearing has spread and been adopted, shows that after three weeks' time, the average daily growth rate of COVID-19 cases decreases. Although experts say that mask-wearing is not a solution on its own, the benefits of government mandates to wear a mask do still make an impact and the effectiveness only increases over time.

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  • As call for police reform grows here, some look to Oregon for possible answers

    Protests over police officers' conduct in the death of Daniel Prude prompted Rochester, N.Y., officials to look to Eugene's CAHOOTS program for an alternative model in responding to mental health crises. But CAHOOTS officials caution that their longstanding practice of dispatching mental health counselors as first responders, in place of police, has resulted in a safer, more caring response only because the agency is part of a broader system of social services. CAHOOTS teams are on call 24/7, replacing police on up to 8% of 911 calls and calling for police backup a fraction of the time.

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  • Latinx 'promotores' lead the way for environmental action

    A leadership program in the Chesapeake Bay region gives members of the Latinx community to become change makers in the environmental movement. Since 2016, Chispa Maryland has produced more than 100 graduates from its “promotores” program, where they learn the basics of climate justice, advocacy, and community organizing. While the work is difficult and the COVID-19 pandemic has affected operations, the promotores have seen some success in organizing community gardens and lobbying the county to purchase electric school buses.

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  • Smartphones saving the rainforest

    Rainforest Connection makes a smartphone app that is part of a system using solar-powered phones in the rainforests of Brazil, Sumatra, Costa Rica, and Peru to stream audio of suspected illegal logging. This system, using recycled phones, enables the capture and shutting down of logging operations. In Brazil, about 100 loggers have been arrested and a large share of the rainforest has been protected, though many loggers there and in other countries still evade detection. This app is one example of innovations in use around the world to extend the lives of smartphones to benefit environmental conservation.

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  • 'It's like family': Swedish housing experiment designed to cure loneliness

    A multigenerational housing program in Sweden aims to combat social isolation of seniors and increase understanding between native Swedes and the young refugee population. About half of the 72 residents are over 70 and the rest are aged 18-25 from culturally diverse backgrounds. To live there, residents must agree to socialize for at least 2 hours a week. The coronavirus revealed a need to ensure all residents take precautions to protect the higher-risk seniors but is also revealed the strength of the relationships formed, where the younger residents helped run errands and care for their senior neighbors.

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  • Drink. Drive. Lose your job with BCSO: Sheriff says it's that simple.

    After two dozen of his deputies were arrested in 2018, many of them for drunken driving, the Bexar County sheriff imposed stricter rules, firing people for DWI offenses and barring them from future employment at the agency. He also began offering alcohol abuse treatment, to address the problem before it turns into an arrest. Since the start of 2020, only one deputy has been arrested on DWI charges.

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  • Will the Special Investigative Unit decrease gun violence in Flint? Audio icon

    In the first full month since it was created to take illegal guns off the street, Flint's Special Investigative Unit seized 64 firearms and made dozens of arrests. The unit's predictive policing approach relies on data that tell the police where gun crimes are concentrated. Critics contend that focusing enforcement on historically high-crime areas creates a feedback loop of racially disparate policing, in that more cops in a neighborhood means more arrests, which in turn invites more enforcement. Targeted gun enforcement has a mixed record of crime reductions and racial inequities.

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  • ‘Tons and tons of fishing equipment': B.C. tour operators clean up ocean debris during coronavirus pandemic

    Expeditions to clean up debris from the coastline are underway along the B.C. coast after an ecotourism company was forced to stop tours during the pandemic. The project is largely funded by the B.C. government’s Clean Coast, Clean Waters Initiative Fund, and involves five different companies. In just one expedition, 61 tonnes of garbage was collected and removed via volunteers, a helicopter, and a barge.

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