A broad coalition of civil liberties and activist organizations is calling on lawmakers across the U.S. to oppose bans on wearing masks in public before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. Dozens of mask bans, which are typically presented as “anti-crime” bills, have been proposed at the local, state and federal level s in what critics say is a direct response to protests against the mass killing and displacement of Palestinians by Israel. Police in some states are reviving once-defunct mask bans dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, when masked members of the Ku Klux Klan violently terrorized Black people and immigrants. During the height of the COVID pandemic, politicians put out statements to ensure the public that archaic anti-mask laws still on the books in 16 states would not be enforced. Now, members of both parties are reversing course after months of mass protests in solidarity with Palestine that pro-Israel pundits conflate with violence and mischaracterize as antisemitism, despite the fact that pro-peace Jewish groups are integral to the movement. For example, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently expressed support for proposals to criminalize mask-wearing in public for reasons besides health protection. Similar proposals to restrict or ban masks have received bipartisan support in North Carolina , Los Angeles , St. Louis , Louisville , and beyond. “It’s no surprise that fascists and science-deniers want to ban masks from protests. But it’s alarming that supposedly progressive lawmakers are helping them do it,” said Evan Greer, director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, in a statement . Greer said bans on masking in public have massive implications for social movements and personal autonomy. Masking is now the norm at many political protests — as well as at abortion and reproductive health clinics — to protect against both COVID and doxxing by far right extremists who seek to attack the privacy of people they disagree with and harass them online. “There are many reasons to cover your face at a protest or in public, from defending yourself from harassment and doxxing to protecting your community from COVID during an ongoing public health crisis,” Greer said. For people living with disabilities or compromised immune systems, masking to prevent illness is necessary for participating in public forums in the first place. Face masks also defend against rapidly advancing digital surveillance and facial recognition technology, which is providing both law enforcement and internet trolls with new tools to target individuals as Trump pledges to take “retribution” against Democrats and leftists. While new and proposed masking laws typically contain exceptions for masks worn for religious or health reasons, it’s virtually impossible for police to tell the difference at a large event without confronting people directly. Everyone has a health reason to mask in public with COVID still floating around, and that ambiguity creates space for “discretionary and selective enforcement,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union. A newly instated mask ban on Long Island, New York, has already been weaponized against a peaceful demonstrator wearing a keffiyeh, the iconic scarf symbolizing solidarity with Palestine. A video shows activist Xavier Roa being handcuffed with a keffiyeh around his neck during a protest in September outside a synagogue that was reportedly promoting the sale of stolen Palestinian land to buyers in the United States. Roa faced up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine under a law approved by Nassau County Republicans one month earlier in response to anti-genocide protests. The law has exceptions for masking in public for health or religious purposes, but police said Roa was concealing his identity and claimed to be wearing the keffiyeh in solidarity with Palestine, so they arrested him. Mayor Adams has pushed for a similar ban in New York City. In an early test of their ability to enforce anti-mask laws against protesters, prosecutors dropped the charges against Roa on November 22 after determining that they did not have enough evidence to convince a jury. The Nassau County mask ban also faces lawsuits filed by disabled residents who wear masks for health protection. However, even if violations of anti-mask laws may be difficult to prove in court, civil rights groups argue the laws provide police with enormous power to harass and arrest protesters as well as people who are disabled, immunocompromised, or suffering from Long COVID. “Like other anti-protest laws, these draconian measures will be selectively enforced, and used as an excuse by law enforcement to crack down on marginalized communities and protesters who they don’t like,” Greer said. In an open letter to policymakers, more than 40 organizations fighting for COVID justice, reproductive rights, organized labor and civil liberties, argues that criminalizing masking is a “serious threat” to public health, privacy and free speech, making “everyone less safe” while putting marginalized and disabled people already targeted by police at further risk. “As we continue to see sustained death and disablement due to COVID and Long COVID, the public health and disability justice implications of criminalizing mask-wearing are disastrous alone,” the letter states. “But to make matters worse, these bans violate our most fundamental civil liberties.” The letter points to North Carolina, where people who wear masks for health reasons reported an escalation in harassment as Republicans overrode the Democratic governor’s veto and put a harsh mask ban into effect . In June, a woman being treated for cancer was accosted and coughed on for wearing a mask. The North Carolina law allows police and property or business owners to demand that people unmask to be identified, which the groups argue could expose people not just to insults but also facial recognition software and “bad actors and their cameras.” Due to right-wing attacks on abortion rights and gender-affirming care, people may also choose to wear masks to avoid harassment and doxing when accessing reproductive health care, according to Jenna Sherman, a campaign director at the gender justice group UltraViolet. “Particularly in an era of increased surveillance and facial recognition, people are living in fear of being targeted for what should be routine, protected parts of our lives, like accessing reproductive healthcare,” Sherman recently wrote. “Everyone must have the right to choose to wear a mask regardless of whether it’s to protect their health or safeguard their privacy.” Sean O’Brien, founder of the Yale Privacy Lab, said masks provide people with “vital protection” not only from harassment but the “pervasive and growing tendrils of surveillance in our society.” “Mask bans create a chilling effect on speech and allow for biased and predictive policing, making it possible for facial recognition technology to follow individuals from protests and rallies all the way to their homes,” O’Brien wrote in a statement.
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Supreme Court seems likely to uphold Tennessee's ban on treatments for transgender minorsPHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs has been provided a list of five nominees who could be appointed as the newest member on the Arizona Supreme Court. The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments announced on Tuesday which applicants the commission was recommending to Hobbs to fill a seat vacated by former Justice Robert Brutinel earlier this year. Brutinel's retirement allows Hobbs to make her first justice appointment to the state's highest court. The six current members of the court were appointed by either former governors Doug Ducey or Jan Brewer. The commission's list includes the following applicants: Maria Elena Cruz Democrat Long-time resident of Yuma County Law degree from the University of Arizona Served on the Arizona Court of Appeals since 2017 A judge on the Yuma County Superior Court from 2009-2017 Nicole C. Davis No political party affiliation Long-time resident of Maricopa County Law degree from the University of Arizona Currently serves as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security Deputy general counsel for former Gov. Janet Napolitano Andrew M. Jacobs Democrat Resident of Maricopa County since 2016 Law degree from Harvard Law School Served on the Arizona Court of Appeals since 2023 A partner of Snell & Wilmer from 2016-2023 Regina L. Nassen No political party affiliation since 2014 Long-time resident of Pima County Law degree from the University of Arizona Assistant city attorney in Tucson since 2021 Worked at the Pima County Attorney's Office from 2003-2021 Alexander W. Samuels Democrat Long-time resident of Maricopa County Law degree from Harvard Law School Deputy solicitor general for the Arizona Attorney General's Office since 2023 Assistant U.S. attorney in Phoenix from 2014-2023
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NoneA handful of Fresno Unified paraprofessional employees who work with autistic children at Ericson Elementary School returned Wednesday evening to tell the School Board that recent job reassignments are making their classrooms less safe and cutting into education time. It was their second trip this month to address the board at the Nutrition Center on Brawley Avenue, where trustees are meeting while their downtown headquarters is being renovated. And the paraprofessionals say they plan to keep coming until someone does something. Until this month, four Ericson staffers were teaming up with a teacher in a classroom where children from preschool through kindergarten age with moderate to severe autism get lessons on socialization and learning their ABCs. The sooner in life that children with autism can get the kind of intensive support that the Ericson team has been providing, the likelier that someday they will have the skills to be able to join general education classes and interact — and learn from — other youngsters as they progress through school. When they arrive at Ericson, many of the youngsters are still in diapers and require physical care as well as close supervision to keep them from physical altercations with other students or from hurting teachers and paraprofessionals. Unlike teachers, paraprofessionals do not have a teaching credential and are classified, not certificated, employees. But they participate in educational activities, augmenting the work of the classroom teachers. District Seeks ‘Baseline’ Staffing Levels But starting on Nov. 7, the dynamics of their Ericson class changed when two staffers were transferred to Mayfair Elementary School, at the same time that two new students were added to the class. It’s part of the district’s move toward “baseline” numbers of staffers across the district, district human resources officials told GV Wire. The district worked with the CSEA union this summer to conduct hiring fairs to fill 1,000 paraprofessional vacancies, some of whom were hired to work with special education students, and were able to fill about 85% of them, said Annarita Howell, assistant superintendent of labor relations. Once the school year began, the district began to examine assignments and staffing levels, including after classes were “leveled” and new rooms were opened, she said. When programs are moved, staff are moved with them, Howell said. The district has already moved about 20 to 25 staffers and may move more after the winter holiday break, she said. After the end of the COVID pandemic the district took a hard look at staffing and realized that some schools had more staffers than others, leading to the reassignments this year, Howell said. But Fresno Unified is not blind to the fact that some students need additional support, and HR officials are meeting with district staff to match enrollment needs to staffing assignments, she said. Student Needs, Not Staff Levels However, baseline staffing does not take into account the needs of students, say the paraprofessionals. The Ericson class added two students while losing one of the two staffers who went to Mayfair. “All they’re doing is looking at numbers. They’re just looking at how many staff we had compared to how many students we had,” said paraprofessional Janetta Routson. “They’re not coming into classrooms and looking at things and figuring out why we have so much staff.” The remaining staff is strapped and unable to do little more than provide daycare, said Brooke Acosta, one of the two staffers who was transferred to Mayfair. “It’s sad and disappointing that our room and other classrooms throughout the district are having to be run more like a daycare and not a school because we cannot run academics and keep the kids safe at the same time,” she said at Wednesday’s board meeting. After Wednesday’s board meeting, several staffers rolled up their sleeves to show bite marks and pinch marks that their young charges have given them. Parent Worried About Son Mai Xiong, an Ericson parent, said she’s concerned about the safety of her son, a transitional kindergartner now in his second year at Ericson. “Taking my son to school every day is like me putting my trust on the staff there and for them not going to have enough staff, it’s kind of, you know, it’s the unknown. You worry every day for the sake of their child,” she told the board. Staff is stretched so thin at Ericson that they no longer have the time to work with parents such as Xiong on how they can continue lessons from the classroom when they’re home with their kids. Doing so can help accelerate learning opportunities for children with autism, Routson said. “It helped parents to come in and see what we are doing with students and then they can take some of what we do home and use it at home as well, which I’ve seen Miss Mai do, and it’s amazing,” she said. “But now we can’t invite parents into the classroom because we don’t have the staff to hold events like that. So it’s really taking away from them as well.”
Luigi Mangione has been arrested in an investigation into UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killing. Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, left an online trail before his arrest at McDonald's. He founded an app, talked about Artificial Intelligence on X, and read The Unabomber Manifesto. Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, left a vast online trail before police in Pennsylvania picked him Monday as a "person of interest" in the Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . He was arrested on local gun charges, but New York Police Department officials say he's expected to be extradited to New York, where he'll face additional charges. Here's what to know about Mangione: Mangione attended elite schools Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. He achieved a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He also received a Master of Science in Engineering the same year with a major in computer and information science, a university spokesperson told Business Insider. Before that, he attended Gilman School, an elite all-boys preparatory school based in Baltimore. His yearbook entry, obtained by BI, says he was involved in robotics and Model UN. He wrote on his LinkedIn account that he was the valedictorian of his high school class. A spokeswoman for Gilman didn't immediately return a voicemail from BI. He favorably reviewed The Unabomber Manifesto On Goodreads, Mangione reviewed Ted Kaczynski's "Industrial Society and Its Future" book, also known as The Unabomber Manifesto, in early 2024. He gave it four out of five stars. "He was a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people," Mangione wrote. "While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary." Mangione's review of the manifesto also quoted another online comment about the book, which appears to have originated on Reddit, praising the use of violence "when all other forms of communication fail." "'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators,'" Mangione quoted. Online breadcrumbs suggest he dealt with back pain At the top of Mangione's profile on X — formerly Twitter — was a triptych of three images: a photo of himself, smiling, shirtless on a mountain ridge; a Pokemon; and an x-ray with four pins or screws visible in the lower back. Related stories Some of the books reviewed on Mangione's Goodreads account related to health and healing back pain, including "Back Mechanic: The Secrets to a Healthy Spine Your Doctor Isn't Telling You" and "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery." The Pokemon featured in his X cover image, next to an apparent spinal X-ray, is Breloom. In the Pokemon games, it has special healing abilities. He founded an app and worked in tech While still in high school, in 2015, Mangione founded a company called AppRoar Studios. AppRoar released an iPhone game called Pivot Plane that is no longer available, but a reviewer in 2015 called it "a fun little arcade game brought to you by 3 high school juniors." He lived in a coliving space in Hawaii as recently as 2023. He posed for photos indicating he participated in Greek life at the University of Pennsylvania. The fraternity chapter represented in his photos couldn't be reached for comment. He cofounded a video game design club at the University of Pennsylvania, according to a blog post on the University of Pennsylvania's website that was removed Monday. Stephen Lane, a professor of video game design at the Ivy League university, who did not advise the club, told BI that "the fact he took the initiative and started something from nothing, that means at least in the context of Penn, that's a pretty good thing." However, the shooting of Thompson, Lane added, was "obviously not a good thing." According to his LinkedIn page, Mangione worked as a data engineer at the vehicle shopping company TrueCar starting in 2020. A TrueCar spokesperson told BI that Mangione has not worked for the company since 2023. He was previously cited for trespassing Mangione had at least one encounter with the legal system before his Monday arrest. Hawaiian court records indicate that he was cited in 2023 for entering a forbidden area of a state park. Mangione appears to have paid a $100 fine to resolve the matter. Mangione was interested in AI On his X account, Mangione posted and amplified posts about technological advances like artificial intelligence. He also posted about fitness and healthy living. He frequently reposted posts by the writer Tim Urban and commentator Jonathan Haidt about the promise and perils of technology. He also appeared to be a fan of Michael Pollan, known for his writing about food and ethics, and lab-grown meat. On Goodreads, he praised Urban's book "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies," describing it as "one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century." Urban posted to X on Monday: "Very much not the point of the book."Ryan Day admits mistakes in Ohio State’s loss to Michigan and looks to playoffs to redeem himself
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