December 5, 2019

Black Mothers Get Less Treatment For Their Postpartum Depression

Portia Smith's most vivid memories of her daughter's first year are of tears. Not the baby's. Her own.

"I would just hold her and cry all day," Smith recalls.

At 18, Smith was caring for two children, 4-year-old Kelaiah and newborn Nelly, with little help from her abusive relationship. The circumstances were difficult, but she knew the tears were more than that.

"I really didn't have a connection for her," says Smith, now a 36-year-old motivational speaker and mother of three living in Philadelphia. "I didn't even want to breastfeed because I didn't want that closeness with her."

The emotions were overwhelming, but Smith couldn't bring herself to ask for help.

Read more: https://www.kut.org/post/black-mothers-get-less-treatment-their-postpartum-depression

December 5, 2019

Hair Dyes And Straighteners Linked To Higher Cancer Risk, Especially For Black Women

New research raises concern about the safety of permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners, especially among African American women. The study was published Wednesday in the International Journal of Cancer.

Previous research in animals has found links between certain chemicals in hair dye and straighteners and cancer. But findings from other human studies on the association between hair dyes and straighteners and cancer have been inconsistent. This large, prospective study provides firmer evidence of a link.

Researchers analyzed data from an ongoing study called the Sister Study, looking at medical records and lifestyle surveys from 46,709 women between the ages of 35 and 74. Women answered questions about their use of hair dyes and straighteners. While earlier studies on hair dye and cancer risk included mostly white women, the new study includes 9% African American women.

Researchers found that women who used permanent hair dye or chemical straighteners were at higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Read more: https://www.kut.org/post/hair-dyes-and-straighteners-linked-higher-cancer-risk-especially-black-women

December 5, 2019

Student protests persist at UT-Austin over handling of sexual misconduct cases

With the end of the fall semester looming, University of Texas at Austin administrators continue to face a burgeoning student protest movement over the return to the classroom of two professors punished for sexual misconduct policy violations.

In the last few months, students have stormed a class, staged sit-ins outside administrators’ offices, circulated a petition and issued a list of demands including public notices naming all professors found to have committed misconduct.

“We don't know who we're in a classroom with,” said one protest organizer, senior Alyssa Ashcraft. “That's the concerning part to students.”

Another sit-in is planned for Friday. Two days ago, UT President Greg Fenves and Executive Vice President and Provost Maurie McInnis agreed to attend a public forum with students next semester, and administrators have met with student organizers several times since the sit-ins began.

Read more: https://www.theeagle.com/news/state-and-regional/student-protests-persist-at-ut-austin-over-handling-of-sexual/article_879bb339-a34c-5bfe-87b0-fc3443273d81.html
(Bryan-College Station Eagle)

December 5, 2019

Port Neches given voluntary evacuation order

A voluntary order to evacuate has been announced for Port Neches by city and county officials.

Elevated levels of 1,3-Butadiene, a chemical produced and stored at the TPC Group plant, has been detected at several monitored location in the city from Saba Lane to Port Neches Avenue.

In a statement, Jefferson County Emergency Spokesperson Allison Getz said there was an expected shift in wind direction and increase in humidity that could increase the impact of the chemicals.

A shelter has been established at Ford Park Arena in Beaumont.

Read more: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Port-Neches-given-voluntary-evacuation-order-14883204.php

December 5, 2019

3 women complained to church about Rev. Bryan Fulwider's 'sexualized behavior' during period police

3 women complained to church about Rev. Bryan Fulwider’s ‘sexualized behavior’ during period police say he was raping girl


During the same period police say Rev. Bryan Fulwider was repeatedly raping a girl he met through his church in Winter Park, three women came forward to report inappropriate “sexualized behavior" by the pastor, show records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

“He used his status as a church pastor to engage in a situation with me that I would not, under normal circumstances, have gone along with," one of the two young women wrote in her complaint, in which she called Fulwider’s behavior "highly inappropriate for a pastor, especially a married pastor over twice my age.”

The women submitted complaints in 2008 to the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ, which investigated the allegations and found that Fulwider had acted in a way “unbefitting a minister." The Conference ordered him to undergo counseling, yet he remained his in post as senior pastor of First Congregational Church of Winter Park until 2012.

According to police, Fulwider in 2005 began using his position to groom a 13-year-old girl whom he went on to sexually abuse, often on church property and during church-related trips, for years. During that time frame, the three women say the married pastor sent them harassing messages and tried to coax them into inappropriate situations.

Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-bryan-fulwider-prior-accusations-inappropriate-conduct-20191204-ebdgrgmsgzfnpjxnuuwwb7l4aq-story.html

December 5, 2019

Head of nonprofit misused hurricane aid intended for people with disabilities

TALLAHASSEE -- As Floridians dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017, relief funds were misused by the director of a nonprofit organization that had a state contract to work with people with disabilities, according to an inspector general report.

An investigation by the state Department of Education’s inspector general’s office found that the former executive director of the Florida Independent Living Council — a nonprofit organization that assists the state agency’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Division of Blind Services — misappropriated the bulk of $35,000 in donations in January 2018.

The probe, which was completed in August 2018 but has not been previously reported, found the council’s former executive director, James Baker, spent $15,710 on “administrative costs” despite telling donors the money would be used to buy and deliver food and supplies to people with disabilities.

Baker also spent $10,000 to underwrite former FILC board member Ernie Martinez’s salary at Push to Open, a separate nonprofit owned by Martinez that helps people with disabilities, according to the report.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article238045739.html

December 5, 2019

Gillum announces 'unprecedented push' in voter outreach and campaign donations

As part of his effort to help down-ballot Democrats grow their numbers in the Capitol, one-time gubernatorial candidate and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has decided on 21 candidates to endorse and support financially in 2020.

Gillum’s Forward Florida political committee expects to spend six figures and more on state legislative races over the course of the campaign.

“These endorsements represent our commitment to building a lasting progressive movement in Florida — and turning that movement into real victories up and down the ballot,” Gillum said in a statement Wednesday. “So much of what affects everyday Floridians’ lives happens at the state level, so it is vital that we are working to flip Florida Blue on every level of the ticket.”

As part of the effort, Forward Florida is donating $150,000 to the House Victory Caucus, an arm of the Florida Democratic Party. In the House, Republicans have a 73-47 advantage. Democrats would have to flip at least 14 seats in 2020 and also keep five “swing seats” that they narrowly won two years ago.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article238044054.html

December 5, 2019

Eric Holder brings Democrats' redistricting fight to Florida

A national organization that helped pave the way for Democrats’ sweeping state legislative victories last month in Virginia is turning its focus to Florida ahead of the 2020 Census and a looming redrawing of state and congressional districts.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, plans to promote and support the Census next year in one of the most important battleground states in the nation, Holder said Wednesday during a round table at the Biscayne Shores headquarters of the liberal grassroots non-profit New Florida Majority.

Holder said his organization — which sued successfully in Virginia to overturn state legislative maps drawn to pack in minority voters and then raised money for Democratic candidates — also plans to pressure Florida lawmakers to create constitutionally sound congressional and legislative maps once the new Census data leads to reapportionment.

“Virginia was a target state for us in 2019 in the way that Florida is a target state for us in 2020,” Holder, who served in former President Barack Obama’s cabinet, told reporters Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article238032544.html

December 5, 2019

Jimmy Kimmel Live: No One Has 'Never Met' More People Than Donald Trump

December 4, 2019

State warns Florida's elections websites could be target for hackers

Florida’s top election official on Tuesday warned that attackers could attempt to disrupt elections without even breaking into the voting systems — by simply changing the results on election websites.

Secretary of State Laurel Lee told the governor’s Cybersecurity Task Force that Florida’s elections tabulation system is secure, but state and county elections websites “are far more vulnerable to being attacked or defaced and pose a very real threat, not of changing election results, but of undermining voter confidence.”

“If our website is defaced such that it reflects that the losing candidate won, and I have to go out the next morning and explain to the press and the public that the actual winner was the other candidate, we’ve lost critical public trust,’’ Lee told the group meeting at Florida International University in Miami.

To address that possibility, Lee said the department is “working very hard to secure those sites and stay on top of evolving threats and tactics to keep them secure.”

Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article238012304.html