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Remote Learning Progress Report: Technology another barrier for English-language learners

Kelly Burch

August 13, 2020 |

Concord Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Concord, New Hampshire

School districts across New Hampshire had to find new ways of teaching English as a Second Language students during the pandemic when classes switched to virtual learning. Some districts used volunteers and community liaisons to relay information, while others established informal monitoring programs to keep track of ESL students. Teachers used technology like Google translate and WhatsApp to help them translate. Throughout the state teachers shared resources with each other.

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19 Volunteers Sharing an iPhone Are Trying to Support Incarcerated People Through COVID-19

Celeste Hamilton Dennis

August 13, 2020 |

TalkPoverty.org |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Beyond These Walls launched a crisis phone line to provide emotional support for LGBTQ+ people who are incarcerated and to hold prisons and jails accountable for their virus-containment practices. Trained volunteers have fielded 369 calls so far, more than a quarter of which concern fears that reporting virus symptoms could land people in solitary confinement. Beyond These Walls and its coalition partners can provide safety by letting jailers know their practices are being monitored.

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Just What the Doctor Ordered: Produce Prescriptions are More Important—and Popular—Than Ever.

Andy Hirschfeld

August 13, 2020 |

Civil Eats |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Produce prescription programs across the United States are seeing a resurgence in activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs provide healthy foods at a subsidized price to patients with chronic health issues. For example, the VeggieRx program in Chicago used to give out up to 70 boxes of fruits and veggies a week, but now they’re up to 160 boxes a week. While studies have shown that these programs can have a positive impact on patients' health, insurance companies usually only pay for patients to participate in them for a short period of time, so the health benefits might be limited.

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As Malheur County struggles with pandemic, other rural counties provide clues to control

Pat Caldwell

August 13, 2020 |

Malheur Enterprise |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wheeler County, Oregon

Several rural counties in Oregon and Idaho have managed to slow the spread of the coronavirus through early intervention strategies and community compliance. Although the low population and rural nature of the regions also played a role in the success of the counties, the areas still adopted tactics such as mask-wearing and social media campaigns and implemented collaborative efforts between elected and emergency officials. Because of these efforts, several of the counties have been removed from Covid-19 watch lists.

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Here's a look at the security precautions in Colorado's mail-in ballot system

Rachel Lorenz

August 13, 2020 |

Colorado Politics |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado has fine-tuned an effective mail-in ballot protocol for statewide elections and has one of the highest voter turnouts. Ballots are stored in tamperproof locked rooms that are continuously monitored and voters’ signatures are compared by bipartisan election judges to signatures in a state database. An audit of election results is also conducted to ensure the accuracy of the results. Officials in other states are reaching out to learn more about Colorado’s system, which is well-suited to keeping voters safe during a pandemic, but a lot goes into the system’s success and it takes time to implement.

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Vote-By-Mail Helped Perk Up Hawaii Turnout But So Did Some Competitive Races

Blaze Lovell

August 13, 2020 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

The August 2020 primary election in Hawaii was the first run entirely with voting by mail and the result was increased voter turnout in all of the state’s voting districts. In fact, the 47.8% voter turnout was the best the state has had in 20 years. The turnout increased by an average of 15% over the 2016 primary election. Some districts that historically have low voter turnout saw smaller gains and still had turnout that lagged far behind other districts.

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A taste of honey: how bees mend fences between farmers and elephants

Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

August 12, 2020 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka

As the habitats of wild elephants shrink, conservationists in India are developing safer ways to reduce the number of conflicts between humans and the animal. The Wildlife Research and Conservation Society uses chili smoke and beehive fences as natural ways to divert elephants away from farmers’ crops. Since they started, there have been no casualties related to human-elephant conflict. The nonprofit Wildlife SOS uses radio collars to track the herd’s movement and alerts local villagers via WhatsApp of any potential conflicts. However, the success of some methods vary depending on the time of year.

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City grant programs help Mission businesses hold on

Annika Hom

August 12, 2020 |

Mission Local |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

San Francisco entrepreneurs are benefiting from several emergency city relief programs which have proven vital to small businesses. The city is funding both The Resiliency Fund and Neighborhood Mini Grants. The former is for businesses across the city with 5 or fewer employees, while the latter is specifically for businesses within seven underserved neighborhoods in the Mission District. To date, both funds have provided over $3 million for store owners who are struggling to pay rent while dealing with plummeting revenues.

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Childcare centers see low COVID-19 transmission

Shaun Griswold

August 12, 2020 |

New Mexico In Depth |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Mexico

Although the pandemic has brought on its own unique challenges, childcare centers in New Mexico have developed safe and effective techniques to keep children and workers safe. At the UNM Children's campus, children are limited to small groups, which reduces the risk of transmission if anyone tests positive. Other centers have implemented multiple screening levels during a child's arrival, before joining their groups. “Masks are not a political issue for 3 and 4-year-olds. Nor are they a threat to their freedom or anything else," said Kathrine Freeman, director of Santa Fe’s United Way Early Learning Center.

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The Junk Science Cops Use to Decide You're Lying

Jordan Smith

August 12, 2020 |

The Intercept |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

When "junk science" forms the basis of the training curricula used by for-profit companies in the business of teaching police interrogation techniques, it can produce mistakes leading to false confessions and wrongful convictions. A number of vendors rely on practices long proven ineffective and debunked as myths, such as relying on interpretations of body language, eye movement, tone of voice, and other physical cues to claim evidence of deception. Genuine evidence-based interview techniques exist that should be used in making police training more professional.

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