July 8, 2020

Rutgers students protest tuition, fees for fall remote instruction

NEW BRUNSWICK – Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said the university recently froze a proposed 3% tuition hike because of the likelihood the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to another semester of remote instruction, which Holloway announced Monday.

But the tuition freeze isn’t enough for many Rutgers students who are demanding further reductions in costs, including the elimination of campus and other fees.

Rising senior business major Shreya Patel of Old Bridge has launched an online petition, bit.ly/2Z7jUPp, that was signed by more than 10,000 students and their supporters within 24 hours.

“The Rutgers board of governors took the unprecedented step of freezing tuition and fees for the coming year,” university spokeswoman Dory Devlin said. “This action was taken in recognition of the economic stresses that confront every member of our community and despite cost increases in virtually every area of our operation. Tuition and fees are set at the minimum amount required to provide our 70,000 students with a world-class education.

Read more: https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/college/rutgers/2020/07/07/rutgers-students-protest-tuition-fees-fall-remote-instruction/5389639002/

July 8, 2020

South Jersey school board member resigns after posting that one solution to violence is to let Black

South Jersey school board member resigns after posting that one solution to violence is to let Black people 'kill each other'


The vice president of the Monroe Township school board in Gloucester County has resigned after posting a message on Facebook suggesting one way to stop violence is to let Blacks “kill each other.”

“Well, there is one way to stop this [expletive], since they seem to wanna keep it up,” school board Vice President Jeff Simpler wrote in a Facebook post that surfaced last week. “As much as I hate to say this. Stay out of the way, and let them kill each other sooner or later they will run out of other Black people to kill.”

A screenshot captured the post on Simpler’s Facebook page in response to a June 27 news story about a spike in violence in New York City that left 18 people shot in 24 hours. It prompted immediate calls by residents for Simpler to step down.

The Monroe Township board announced Simpler’s resignation Saturday, effective immediately.

Read more: https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/education/south-jersey-school-board-member-resigns-after-posting-that-one-solution-to-violence-is-to/article_b5a74a46-10e4-548b-894f-07176e4b14df.html

July 8, 2020

Jersey Shore MVC locations reopen: large crowds converge, notwithstanding pandemic

Michelle Corey of Middletown got to the motor vehicle offices in Eatontown at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, but even that wasn't early enough.

The parking lot was already full. The line of people hoping to get their licenses renewed and conduct other Motor Vehicle Commission business already was hourslong, wrapping around the agency.

"I had to park across at Home Depot," said Corey, who came to the agency so her son could get his new driver's license. "We got on line at first and then... it took to about 10 o'clock to get to the lady who was handing out the little cards to fill out."

It was a scene — and a sentiment — echoed at newly reopened motor vehicle agencies across the state, as frustrated motorists waited in long lines, with some camping out on beach chairs. Some were turned away by police after the sites reached capacity.

Read more: https://www.app.com/story/news/2020/07/07/jersey-shore-mvc-locations-reopening-create-massive-lines-wrapped-around-buildings-many-turned-away/5390202002/
(Asbury Park Press)

July 8, 2020

Sweden Has Become the World's Cautionary Tale

LONDON — Ever since the coronavirus emerged in Europe, Sweden has captured international attention by conducting an unorthodox, open-air experiment. It has allowed the world to examine what happens in a pandemic when a government allows life to carry on largely unhindered.

This is what has happened: Not only have thousands more people died than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden’s economy has fared little better.

“They literally gained nothing,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “It’s a self-inflicted wound, and they have no economic gains.”

The results of Sweden’s experience are relevant well beyond Scandinavian shores. In the United States, where the virus is spreading with alarming speed, many states have — at President Trump’s urging — avoided lockdowns or lifted them prematurely on the assumption that this would foster economic revival, allowing people to return to workplaces, shops and restaurants.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/business/sweden-economy-coronavirus.html

July 8, 2020

Gay rights: the taboo subject in Singapore's election

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Among a record eleven parties set to contest Singapore’s election on Friday, there has been virtual silence on one of the conservative city-state’s most controversial issues, gay rights.

Advocacy groups have stepped up awareness campaigns with scorecards for politicians and online rallies in recent weeks over what they see as everyday discrimination that stems from a rarely-used, colonial-era law banning sex between men.

But for some gay Singaporeans, casting their vote in the mandatory July 10 ballot will serve as a reminder that they have few political allies on one of the issues that matters most to them.

“It’s a non-topic with the parties, the choices we have,” said Victor Ong, a 44-year-old Singaporean who lives with his British husband Harry, whom he married four years ago in London, and their amber-coloured cat Whisky.

Read more: https://www.metro.us/gay-rights-the-taboo/

July 8, 2020

Queens lawmakers denounce swastika that was carved on a vandalized car

Police are investigating an anti-Semitic incident in Forest Hills, where a vehicle was found vandalized with the carving of a swastika on July 3, according to authorities.

The crime, reported to the police at the 112th Precinct at around 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, is being investigated by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.

According to authorities, a 61-year-old man parked his car in the vicinity of 64th Road and 102th Street. When he returned to his car the following day, he observed that the tires on the passenger side of the vehicle had been punctured with an unknown object, and a swastika was scratched into the hood of the car.

There is no description of a suspect, according to authorities, and a complaint report of Criminal Mischief has been filed in regard.

Read more: https://www.amny.com/queens/queens-lawmakers-denounce-swastika-that-was-carved-on-a-vandalized-car/

July 8, 2020

Board of Health rules that New York City daycares can open starting July 13

New York City’s Board of Health voted on Tuesday to approve the reopening of 3,000 daycare centers beginning next week.

The unanimous vote rescinded an April 3 order shuttering care centers, with exception of home-run daycare centers and emergency daycare centers for essential workers, across the city to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Only about 25 childcare programs have been up and running since April.

During the virtual board meeting, Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Environmental Health Corrine Schiff recommended that the board vote to reopen daycare centers given the virus slowed transmission rate in the city and decline in new infections.

On July 5, 58 people were admitted to a city public hospital with possibly COVID-19 symptoms and 2% of New York City residents tested positive for the virus, according to the mayor’s office.

Read more: https://www.amny.com/education-2/board-of-health-rules-that-new-york-city-daycares-can-open-starting-july-13/

July 8, 2020

All-white Mississippi county board votes unanimously against removing Confederate monument

One century-old Mississippi statue isn’t budging.

A proposal to remove a Confederate monument honoring Lafayette County soldiers who lost their lives during the Civil War was unanimously voted down.

The all-white Lafayette County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Monday in favor of keeping the Oxford statue right where it is, essentially rejecting a proposal to relocate it, reported Jackson, Miss., TV station WLBT.

Several board members elaborated on the decision by asserting that the monument removal wouldn’t ease racial tensions nor instill racial unity within the community.

District 4 Supervisor Chad McLarty claimed that African-American friends had informed him they were not aggrieved by the statue’s presence.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-mississippi-county-board-20200708-u7nvfw32hrgh7mjvun3llakm4a-story.html

July 8, 2020

Tech CEO spews racist bile at Asian family at California restaurant

A diner at a California restaurant hurled a racist diatribe at an Asian family sitting at a nearby table, causing the eatery to kick him out, shocking video shows.

The woman who recorded the jarring footage says she was celebrating her aunt’s birthday at the Lucia restaurant at the Bernardus Lodge & Spa in Carmel Valley when the man began making comments toward them, according to news station KION.

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The clip shows the man telling the family they “need to leave” and at one point says “f--king Asian piece of s--t.”

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Lofthouse was identified as the CEO of a tech company in Silicon Valley called Solid8, according to TMZ.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-video-man-racist-remark-restaurant-20200707-wq3dgyqctjesvnfncktlv26bpm-story.html

https://twitter.com/JohnRizkallah/status/1279919578416439298

July 8, 2020

Delays in COVID test results becoming a 'problem' for NYC, de Blasio aide says

Lab delays in providing coronavirus test results are disrupting the city’s ability to track the outbreak, according to a senior health adviser to Mayor de Blasio.

“Unfortunately, this is becoming a problem. We are seeing longer turnaround times from certain laboratories,” Dr. Jay Varma said at a Tuesday press briefing.

He confirmed some test results are taking a week or longer to reach patients, though he did not go into detail or name the slow labs.

A mix of city-run and private labs runs the tests. Varma noted private labs are processing test results from around the country in the midst of an alarming surge in cases at localities outside New York.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-coronavirus-testing-bill-de-blasio-jay-varma-20200707-hicbbwsofbh5hifjsohwak64dm-story.html