9-6: the "college town" covid hot spot phenom. Cohen spills many a bean on Trump. And it's damned hot!

✅In new book, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen describes alleged episodes of racism and says president likes how Putin runs Russia -- President Trump’s longtime lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, alleges in a new book that Trump made “overt and covert attempts to get Russia to interfere in the 2016 election” and that the future commander in chief was also well aware of Cohen’s hush-money payoff to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during that campaign. Ashley Parker and Rosalind S. Helderman in the Washington Post$ -- 9/6/20

✅COVID-19 deaths reach 6,000 in L.A. County -- The coronavirus crisis has now caused 6,000 deaths in Los Angeles County, a new milestone as public health officials reiterated warnings Saturday to prevent a “great risk of community spread of COVID-19" by avoiding crowds and celebrating Labor Day weekend with members of one’s own household. Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/6/20

 

✅San Diego State confines students to dorms as COVID-19 cases jump -- San Diego State University announced that starting Saturday night it is ordering students who live on campus to stay in their dorms for the rest of the Labor Day weekend in response to the continuing rise in COVID-19 cases. Gary Warth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/6/20

✅How California’s most pressing problems fell victim to Legislature’s infighting -- When the state Senate leader’s priority housing bill died as the clock struck midnight on the Legislature’s annual session, it shone a spotlight on infighting that contributed to the stunning collapse this year of an agenda to tackle California’s most pressing problems. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/6/20

 

✅#ScholarStrike to Begin Tuesday

     The Scholar Strike and teach-in for racial justice, organized by Anthea Butler and Kevin Gannon, will start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and continue through Wednesday. Some 5,000 scholars have signed up, saying that they plan to strike, participate in the teach-in or both. Content will appear on Facebook at this link and on Twitter @ScholarStrike, starting Tuesday morning. A Canadian Scholar Strike is in the works now, as well.

—Inside Higher Ed

✅A New Front in America’s Pandemic: College Towns

The coronavirus is spiking around campuses from Texas to Iowa to North Carolina as students return.

—NYT

     IOWA CITY, Iowa —…Within days, students were complaining that they couldn’t get coronavirus tests or were bumping into people who were supposed to be in isolation. Undergraduates were jamming sidewalks and downtown bars, masks hanging below their chins, never mind the city’s mask mandate.

     Now, Iowa City is a full-blown pandemic hot spot — one of about 100 college communities around the country where infections have spiked in recent weeks as students have returned for the fall semester. Though the rate of infection has bent downward in the Northeast, where the virus first peaked in the U.S., it continues to remain high across many states in the Midwest and South — and evidence suggests that students returning to big campuses are a major factor.

✅At Least 4 Boats Sink During ‘Trump Boat Parade’ in Texas

—NYT

 

✅Northeastern dismisses 11 students who gathered in hotel room

     The dismissal underscores the extreme steps universities nationwide are taking to deter behavior that could accelerate the spread of the virus on campus.

—WashPo

 

✅Fox News colleagues defend reporter after Trump Twitter attack over confirmation of Atlantic reporting

     National security reporter Jennifer Griffin found sources to validate key aspects of the story about the president's alleged disparagement of fallen U.S. troops.

—WashPo

✅Today's OC Covid numbers: 223 new cases; 2 new deaths.

9-5: Covid deaths more than doubling by year's end? Twindemic disaster afoot? The heat!

✅President’s alleged ‘losers’ description of slain service members leaves military leaders off balance
—WashPo
     Senior and former military leaders appeared to struggle with how to respond to a report that President Trump disparaged U.S. service members killed in combat.

 

✅A bad flu season colliding with pandemic could be overwhelming

—WashPo

 

✅FBI pondered whether Trump was ‘a Manchurian candidate elected,’ former agent alleges in new book

     Peter Strzok’s book, “Compromised,” describes the FBI’s investigation into Trump and his ties with Russia.

—WashPo

 

✅Professor’s death after collapsing in virtual class is a ‘sad reminder that the virus is real,’ friend says

—WashPo

 

✅Experts warn U.S. covid-19 deaths could more than double by year’s end

     The new projection reinforces warnings that cooler, less humid weather and people’s failure to practice social distancing indoors could lead to a surge in viral transmission this fall and winter.

—WashPo

 

✅GWU plans to replace Jessica Krug, the professor who admitted to falsely claiming Black identity

The school wants to continue Krug’s classes on African and Latin American history without her.

—WashPo

     “There is no ignorance, no innocence, nothing to claim, nothing to defend,” Krug wrote in the blog post. “I have moved wrong in every way for years.”

 

✅Trump contradicts health officials, says 'probably' a Covid-19 vaccine in October

—Politico

     The president's remarks came a day after the head of the government's vaccine accelerator, Moncef Slaoui, said that the government was "very unlikely" to greenlight a vaccine by early November, because data from late-stage clinical trials of leading vaccine candidates would not be ready by then.

 

✅Sanders: America must be prepared for when Trump refuses to leave office

—Politico

     ....“[A]t a time when some states like Pennsylvania are finding that they don’t have the resources right now to count votes, their mail-in ballots, in a rapid way, that it is possible that in some states Trump will be winning on election night, and yet when all of the votes are counted, he will be behind. He will lose,” Sanders said of Trump. “But that during that interval, he will create chaos and confusion by claiming that there is massive fraud within the mail-in ballot process.”....

From Rough&Tumble:

✅Coronavirus updates: 19% of Californians know someone who died of COVID-19, poll says -- But according to a recent poll released by the California Health Care Foundation and survey firm Ipsis, 19% of Californians — nearly one-in-five — personally knew someone who died of COVID-19. For Black and Latino populations, who have died at disproportionate rates from the respiratory disease, those figures jump to 28% and 29%, respectively. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/5/20

✅White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls ‘un-American propaganda’ -- Vought says OMB will instruct federal agencies to come up with a list of all contracts related to training sessions involving “white privilege” or “critical race theory,” and do everything possible within the law to cancel those contracts, the memo states. Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein in the Washington Post$ -- 9/5/20

✅Trump Faces Uproar Over Reported Remarks Disparaging Fallen Soldiers -- A report in The Atlantic said the president called troops killed in combat “losers” and “suckers.” He strenuously denied it, but some close to him said it was in keeping with other private comments he has made disparaging soldiers. Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 9/5/20

✅State of emergency declared as California faces historic heat, possible power outages -- With scorching temperatures set to sear California through Labor Day weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation aimed at shoring up the state’s energy capacity.... Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/20

 

✅Labor Day weekend sparks fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in California -- The next big test of whether Californians can slow the spread of the coronavirus will come this holiday weekend, with officials hoping the public will refrain from the large gatherings and risky behavior that contributed to a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths after a disastrous Memorial Day weekend. Colleen Shalby in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/20

✅UC Davis distributes free school pride face masks to students and staff -- UC Davis will distribute thousands of branded face coverings this fall as part of an effort to boost compliance with public health guidelines. Although Davis will be emptier than usual this year given that most activities have shifted online, students and employees who are on campus will be asked to follow pandemic rules — and encouraged to do so while showing school spirit. Jasmine Kerber in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/4/20

✅Today's OC Covid count: 251 new cases; 9 new deaths.

Saddleback College's GAUCHO still causes OUCHO followed by GROUCHO

I have been informed that Saddleback College is inviting community members to attend an online discussion of the college’s mascot, the Gaucho, September 22, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.—a Tuesday, I think. (Click HERE if you wish to attend.)

The person who contacted me—a venerated faculty member at Saddleback—also explained that

     This is one of four discussions the college is hosting to determine if the mascot should be discontinued and replaced with another mascot.  In addition to giving our community a forum to share their thoughts, we will also be hosting discussions for employees and students.  

     The discussion will be moderated so that guests will be given an allotted amount of time to speak.  Whether this is a topic you’ve been following closely or are just learning about, we encourage you to attend!  Our goal is to have a respectful discussion where diverse views can be expressed and heard. 

I do believe that the mascot was originally chosen by the first district board of trustees. As I explained previously,

   According to the district website, “Saddleback College was officially named by action of the board on February 26, 1968. In June of that year, the board approved the Gaucho as mascot and school colors as cardinal and gold.”
     But since (according to the website) the first students didn’t arrive until September, it follows (more or less) that students didn’t choose the “Gaucho.” (The Protean Name)

TWO ISSUES

 

Perhaps this is already clear, but I should mention that there are really two issues here. First, should the gaucho—that iconic cowboy of the South American pampas (in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, I’m told)—be the college mascot? Second, should the college continue to use images of the “gaucho” that portray him in ways reminiscent of iconic (and unfortunate) representations of Mexican bandits (who, naturally, are not called “gauchos”; neither are Mexican cowboys, who are called “vaqueros”).

The latter question raises issues of prejudicial misrepresentation of groups and racism. The former does not, or not obviously so. Given the images that have been used (from the beginning? certainly for a long time) to represent the “Gaucho” at Saddleback College, many Saddlebackians seem to think that a gaucho is a Mexican cowboy or bandit. That’s just clueless.

 

My guess is that Saddleback’s using the gaucho as its mascot inspires well-informed outsiders to think: “what on Earth do these distant South American cowboys have to do with Southern California? Maybe Saddleback folks are thinking of Mexican cowboys, but those guys aren’t gauchos, they’re vaqueros!”

 

So my vote would definitely be against continuing with the gaucho mascot. But I'm not a Saddlebackian.

 

The second issue is more important, but it's simpler. Wanna be racist? No? OK, don't appeal to ugly racist stereotypes. According to recent reports, this last issue has already been addressed, to some extent:

Saddleback removes racist mascot images around campus

Lariat

12/08/2019

     “We will continue to remove and/or paint over historical depictions that dishonor the Gaucho until the last one is gone,” says Jennie McCue director of marketing and communications at Saddleback, in a written statement to the Lariat. “The college’s gaucho mascot workgroup is currently overseeing a college-wide process to establish a new visual interpretation of the mascot that honors it and the culture from which it comes.”

. . .

     Bravo, who informed the President, is a part of the IDSC, is working on a resolution to stop usage of the image and to implement another standing on the term Gaucho. Efforts of Saddleback removing the images started two years ago, for the gym, Student Services Center, and other campus locations had the depictions removed. “We will continue to remove and/or paint over historical depictions that dishonor the Gaucho until the last one is gone,” says McCue.

     As for the Saddleback students voted on Jan. 25, as the new President of Saddleback College, Stern sent an email releasing the results of the student and faculty poll concerning the redesign of Saddleback’s mascot, the Gaucho.

     The results out of 6,693 faculty, staff, students, and alumni, a relatively high response rate for a school poll. 66.5 percent of students and alumni voted to keep the Gaucho, and 64.4 percent of faculty and staff voted to do the same. And it was Carmenmara Hernandez Bravo back in 2014, who was head of the foreign language department, and the Equity and Diversity Committee at Saddleback College raised concerns over the decision to keep the name....

 

Here’s some of our coverage of this issue, going back to at least early 2006:

 

Gauchos confront the "Gaucho" issue and come up with shite

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Finally, Council voted unanimously to recommend immediate formation of a working group representing stakeholders across campus, including students, to plan and oversee development of a new symbolic logo for the Gaucho (one that honors the Gaucho and the culture from which it comes) and the re-design of our “G.”  [From an early 2019 letter to the SC community from Saddleback College President Elliot Stern]

Gauchos? Vaqueros?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

     It seems likely that it was the district’s original board of trustees who were responsible for (as I argue) mistakenly embracing the “Gaucho”—imagined as a Mexican bandito/cowboy, not a South American cowboy—as the college mascot. As we’ve reported previously, that original crew was, well, seriously conservative. (Ahem.) One easily imagines that these antediluvian Orange Countians chose the “Gaucho,” thinking that the term named Mexican cowboys or something.
     Nope, nope, nope.

Saddleback College Gauchos moving to South America?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

…[S]omething good is being attempted by students by Saddleback College's Diversity Student Council (DSC). They are trying to have the school modify its Gauchos mascot, which currently looks more like a Mexican greaser than a cowboy of the pampas. [Quote of Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly; Arellano noted that DtB had raised this issue years earlier.]

Gustavo Arellano v. Saddleback's "Gaucho"

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

…Look, Saddleback: if you're going to use Latino stereotypes, at least use the right ones. Compare your gaucho to the one below used by the University of California, Santa Barbara. Notice the flat hat, the eye mask to add a bit of Zorro flair even though the Gay Blade wasn't Argie. Admit that whoever illustrated your "gaucho" instead relied on the Mexican bandito archetype because it's easier to remember than trying to explain the differences among Latin American rancheros. I'd tell ustedes to change it, but isn't it telling that only in Orange County do people not care when a college makes an ethnic mistake as laughable as Saddleback's?.... [--Arellano]

Gaucho & Laser ridiculosity

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Recently, a student friend of mine encountered a Latino instructor who expressed annoyance that the Lariat has evidently decided to use an angry Mexican bandit to represent the "Gaucho," Saddleback College's mascot.

The problem: Gauchos are not angry bandits, they are dignified cowboys. Further, Gauchos are not known for wearing Mexican sombreros (not that there's anything wrong with Mexican sombreros!). Gauchos are Argentinian cowboys that have an identity--and a hat--all their own. 

Plus there's a good reason that Frito Lay abandoned its "Frito Bandito" character--a character so like the angry Sombrero-wearing bandit. It's an offensive stereotype....

The Lariat "gaucho"

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

About a week ago, Rebel Girl seemed particularly peevish, and so I asked her what was up, and she showed me the Sports page of the latest Lariat...  

According to Rebel Girl, the Lariat's "Gaucho" bears an unfortunately close resemblance to the "Frito Bandito," a character used to sell Fritos corn chips in the 60s--until Frito Lay was pressured to drop the bandit, owing to complaints that he presented a negative stereotype (the sneaky thief).

Oddly, Rebel Girl remembered the Frito Bandito song, which she proceeded to sing….

 

The Frito Bandito was sly and sneaky, but the Lariat's Gaucho appears to be more angry and cross-eyed. Still, the two characters are cousins.

Like the Frito Bandito, the Lariat's "Gaucho" appears to be Mexican, for he is wearing a sombrero. Mexican cowboys ("vaqueros") wear sombreros, I guess. But the Gaucho is not Mexican, but Argentinean, and he doesn't wear no stinkin' sombrero. (Students, Argentina is on a different continent, the one to the south.)

. . .

I showed the Lariat Gaucho to knowledgeable Latino colleagues, who assured me that that "Gaucho" causes OUCHO followed by GROUCHO.

The angry bandito of the Sierra Madre

9-4: So Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’? 24 new Covid deaths in OC

✅Orange County Democratic Party Vice Chair Resigns Amid Uproar Over Ho Chi Minh Post
—Voice of OC
     A top official with Orange County’s Democratic Party resigned Wednesday in the face of uproar among local politicians and community members in Little Saigon over a Facebook post he shared three days ago praising Vietnamese Communist figure Ho Chi Minh.
. . .
     His resignation came three days after he shared a Facebook post praising the late Communist leader as someone who “liberated an entire poor, colonized nation from 2 of the most powerful military forces in the world” — which he deleted 90 minutes later….

✅OC Reopening Plans Lack Engagement of Regional Worker Groups or Enforcement of School Reopening Rules

—Voice of OC

     County of Orange officials on Thursday noted they haven’t discussed reopening plans with the region’s labor groups on the eve of more business reopenings, and are largely distancing themselves from enforcement responsibilities when it comes to schools’ compliance with state reopening guidelines.

     Gloria Alvarado, executive director of the OC Labor Federation, said she and other labor representatives have not been speaking with any county officials about reopening plans.

“Is there a plan and if so, where is it? And is it being communicated to the community so the community is following it? Those are questions to remain before we reopen,” Alvarado said in a Thursday phone interview. 

“What are we doing to put together a committee on reopening? Why are we not at the table? We in labor say, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” she said….

✅Orange County school districts will have local power to manage any COVID-19 outbreaks
—OC Reg
County CEO Kim said school districts will be able to decide if they need to close due to a COVID-19 outbreak on their campuses. They will also be the ones deciding when to start in-person instruction.

✅PolitiFact California: Despite Trump’s Suggestion, Voting Twice In An Election Is Illegal Under California And Federal Law -- President Donald Trump during a campaign stop in North Carolina on Wednesday encouraged people to vote both by mail and in person this fall, before walking back some of his comments a day later. Voting twice in the same election is illegal under California and federal law. Chris Nichols Capital Public Radio -- 9/3/20

✅Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ -- When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true. Jeffrey Goldberg The Atlantic -- 9/4/20

 

✅Trump furiously denies report he disparaged military service, insulted dead and disabled troops -- President Donald Trump on Thursday vehemently disputed a report that alleged he criticized U.S. service members on multiple occasions, including asking that disabled veterans be excluded from military parades and referring to American war dead as “losers.” Evan Semones Politico -- 9/4/20

 

✅Veterans scorn Trump following bombshell report that president and aides have denied

—WashPo

 

✅Next up: Californians brace for the ‘twindemic’ -- For months, health experts have warned about a possible spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations for the fall and winter months, when colder weather will drive people indoors and holidays will likely bring friends and extended families together. That, on top of the impending flu season, could create what Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have referred to as a “twindemic.” Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters -- 9/3/20

 

✅White Lies
Prominent scholar outs herself as white just as she faced exposure for presenting herself as Black.
—Insider Higher Ed
     Following a marathon of deceit, Jessica Krug, associate professor of history at George Washington University, admitted Thursday that she is white and not Black, as she had long claimed.
     In an essay on Medium called “The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies,” Krug said that to “an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then U.S. rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness.”
. . .
     Scholars and acquaintances of Krug’s said on social media that she was about to be outed and guessed that the truth would never have come out otherwise….

 

✅COVID-19 Roundup: More Cases and Controversy

     More colleges and universities report hundreds of positive cases; report about myocarditis in college athletes as some big-time football programs withhold COVID-19 numbers.

—Inside Higher Ed

 

✅Fauci Urges Colleges Not to Send Students Home

—Inside Higher Ed

     …"It's the worst thing you could do," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday on NBC's Today show. "When you send them home, particularly when you're dealing with a university where people come from multiple different locations, you could be seeding the different places with infection."….

 

✅Experts warn U.S. covid-19 deaths could more than double by year’s end

     This new estimate reinforces warnings by many experts that cooler, less humid weather and increased time spent indoors, could lead to a surge in viral transmission this fall and winter.

—WashPo

 

✅The QAnon problem facing local journalism this election season

     As supporters of the bogus conspiracy theory run for office, reporters grapple with how to cover them.

—WashPo

✅Today's County Covid numbers: 313 new cases; 24 new deaths.

9-3: Vote early and vote often! PLUS OC Supes suck

✅Santana: Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 1,000 as OC Supervisors Keep Politicizing Public Health
—Voice of OC

By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.

     More than 1,000 Orange County residents are now dead from the Coronavirus.

     Yet County of Orange officials continue to double down on politicizing the public health department.

     After fumbling the public messaging for the Memorial Day reopening along with lax restaurant enforcement since June, the County of Orange this past month quietly lowered medical standards to install a new County Health Officer [Dr. Clayton Chau] and also tasked him with running the county’s billion dollar Health Care Agency.

     Those are two pretty big jobs to combine.

     Not to mention that leaves Orange County with the least qualified medical doctor protecting residents in any of our neighboring Southern California counties.

     Instead, OC’s new county health officer is celebrated for his ability to deal with regulators, politicians and business interests.

. . .

     County officials never publicly released any information about the other candidates for the position nor about Chau’s compensation or contracts for both jobs.

     When I attempted to ask questions about Chau’s appointment at last week’s press conference, I was cut off by the County’s Public Information Officer.

     Note that for a county of three million people, county supervisors only allow about 20 minutes of questions to officials each week. That’s after reporters are forced to sit through Chairwoman [Michelle] Steel’s latest 15-minute campaign speech for Congress.

     There’s still lots of confusion about how the virus numbers are being reported and a new state tiering system that indicates Orange County is moving to reopen large gatherings – like schools – again.

     Out in front is Chau – echoing supervisors’ sentiments – seemingly moving in an aggressive manner to reopen venues, even having to walk aback a tweet this past weekend about reopening schools as early as Sept. 8.

     Note that public health isn’t the only accountability mechanism county supervisors have short circuited in recent years.

     Years back, supervisors created an innovate position called the performance audit division, which went out and conducted management audits throughout the county. After the office showed multiple instances of fraud, waste and abuse throughout the government, county supervisors forced out the chief auditor and then kept the position vacant for years.

     Similarly, they created the Office of Independent Review after the 2006 jail beating death of John Derek Chamberlain and again after years of dysfunction left it vacant until recently filling the position.

     Former Auditor Controller Eric Woolery fought supervisors on numerous fronts – including their questionable use of official county mail for campaigning, pension benefits and spending. Supervisors eventually took out most of his staff, leaving him with no ability to check them.

     Woolery felt the pressure. He died last August, reportedly of heart issues.

     Orange County supervisors don’t like to be told no.

     Yet that’s a dangerous way to run public health.

 

✅In Scathing Report, OC Grand Jury Describes Shackles During Birthing, Care Delays in Custody

—Voice of OC

     The Orange County Grand Jury is raising alarms about deaths of unborn children to pregnant inmates in county jail, including medical records allegedly showing a cooperative prisoner was improperly shackled while giving birth to a stillborn baby in a hospital.

     In another case, the grand jury described an inmate giving birth to a dead baby on the way to the hospital after her mother pleaded, with no success, for two weeks for urgent medical attention and then faced over an hour and a half delay in being taken to the hospital by ambulance.

     Grand jurors investigated ten of the infant deaths at OC Women’s Central Jail, including subpoenaing medical records and interviewing officials and inmates, before issuing a scathing report in late June.

     When the document came to the Orange County Board of Supervisors for a response last week, the supervisors said nothing about it, while Sheriff Don Barnes described the report as riddled with errors.

     “Care ranged from adequate prenatal care to handcuffing of an inmate during labor and delivery, to ignoring urgent requests for medical care. The grand jury also learned that some of these pregnancies ended in the death of the fetus,” grand jurors wrote in their report. An inmate giving birth was kept shackled by a sheriff’s deputy at a hospital despite doctors asking that they be removed because she was cooperative and immobilized by an epidural, grand jurors found. State law bans shackles during labor unless necessary for safety, and says the restraints must be removed if doctors determine that’s medically necessary, grand jurors wrote.

. . .

     County supervisors said nothing when the report came to them last week for a response. After hearing from public commenters critical of how pregnant inmates were allegedly treated, the supervisors voted unanimously without discussion to approve their written response disputing many of the grand jury’s findings….

 

✅Stall tactics. Distractions. Lobbying. How police reform was derailed in California -- By the time the sun set at the Capitol on Monday evening, hours from a legal deadline to pass bills for the year, state Sen. Steven Bradford knew his proposal to strip badges from troubled officers was in trouble. Anita Chabria in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/2/20

 

✅California’s coronavirus stimulus was a bust…what now? -- So much for California saving itself from the economic wreckage of the coronavirus. As state lawmakers ended the year with a profanity-laced, partially remote late-night voting session this week, several pillars of a sweeping $100 billion economic stimulus proposal became political casualties of a chaotic summer at the Capitol. Lauren Hepler CalMatters -- 9/2/20

 

✅California Poised to Increase Oversight of Former For-Profits

—Inside Higher Ed

     A bill aiming to prevent for-profit colleges from evading oversight by posing as nonprofit colleges was passed by the California State Assembly this week. If approved by Governor Gavin Newsom by Sept. 30, the changes will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2022….

 

✅ Trump tries to clarify comment that voters cast ballots twice

—WashPo

     The president encouraged people to vote twice — once by mail and once in person — to test the protections intended to guard against double voting. Intentionally voting twice is illegal, and in many states, including North Carolina, it is a felony.

 

✅She was the aggressor’: Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell

—Politico

     A former student at the evangelical university opens up about a 2008 incident with the wife of the school’s president.