| As fires ravage California, Trump gives his climate-change solution: 'It'll start getting cooler' Posted: 14 Sep 2020 01:31 PM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom unsuccessfully pressed President Trump on Monday to acknowledge that climate change is making wildfires worse across much of the West Coast.
|
| Humpback whales enter crocodile river 'in Australian first' Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:59 PM PDT  At least one humpback whale remains in the Northern Territory river after getting lost, experts say.
|
| A top disease expert is warning of 'another 12 to 14 months of a really hard road ahead of us' and says the US has no national plan to stop it Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Osterholm doubled down on Dr. Anthony Fauci's warning that Americans should expect to "hunker down" this fall and winter.
|
| Theme park worker falls to death from world's tallest swing ride Posted: 15 Sep 2020 02:19 AM PDT  Incident took place at ICON Park, on Orlando's International Drive, amid routine checks
|
| Air Force Unveils New 'E-Series' Designation for Advanced Aircraft and Weapons Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:08 AM PDT  The Air Force said that only while a platform is in design and development will the e-prefix be used.
|
| U.S. News rankings: UF inches closer to top five public schools. UM makes top 50 nationally Posted: 14 Sep 2020 07:18 AM PDT  For the first time in two years, the University of Florida is no longer the only Florida school among the top 50 in the annual U.S. News and World Report's national ranking of public and private colleges, released Monday.
|
| US Space Force confirms Space Based Infrared System detected missile attack in January Posted: 15 Sep 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Chief of Space Operations Gen. John "Jay" Raymond has confirmed suspicions that the Space Based Infrared System was used to detect more than a dozen missiles launched at U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq back in January.
|
| Trump threatens to retaliate with '1,000 times greater' force against any Iran attack Posted: 15 Sep 2020 06:58 AM PDT  * US intelligence said to fear attack on US envoy to South Africa * Trump claims he had discussed plan to assassinate Syria's AssadDonald Trump has warned that the US will retaliate with "1,000 times greater" force against any Iranian attack on its interests.Posting on Twitter late on Monday, Trump referred to media reports that Iran was planning retaliation for the assassination by US drone in January of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. At the time, analysts predicted Iran would seek to retaliate in the long term.On Tuesday morning, the president also told Fox & Friends he had wanted to assassinate the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, but had been stopped by James Mattis, the retired marine general who was then secretary of defense.A Politico story citing unnamed intelligence officials said Iran was plotting to kill the US ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, a handbag designer and longtime Trump friend. She is under extra security protection."According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani," Trump tweeted on Monday night."Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"Suleimani was killed in a drone strike on 3 January, after Trump was impeached but before his Senate trial. Critics said the strike was meant as a distraction. Suspicions about Trump's motives were fueled by the White House's changing account of the underlying intelligence.The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, at first said the assassination was "in response to imminent threats to American lives", but in the following weeks Trump officials walked back the assertion they were acting on a specific threat.On Tuesday, Trump repeated his threat to Iran in an interview with Fox & Friends, saying: "We're all set and if they do anything to anybody they'll be hit 1,000 times harder than they hit us."He also discussed the plan to assassinate Assad."I had a shot to take him out if I wanted and Mattis was against it," Trump said. "Mattis was against most of that stuff … he didn't know how to win."Mattis features heavily in Rage, the new book by the Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. The veteran of Watergate details Mattis's attempts to contain Trump, his growing disillusionment – including offering prayers for the country at the national cathedral in Washington – and his ultimate resignation.Told by Fox & Friends that the decorated general was "a great American" who "gave a lot to the country", Trump said: "I don't say he's a good American or bad American. I just say he didn't do a good job. I let him go."Rage also sheds new light on Trump's decision to assassinate Suleimani. In Woodward's telling, Trump worked through the decision over a round of golf with the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican foreign policy hawk."I'm thinking of hitting Suleimani," Trump is quoted by Woodward as saying."Oh, boy, that's a giant step!" Graham is quoted as replying. In Woodward's account, Trump said: "We have all these intercepts showing that Suleimani is planning attacks.""Yeah, he's always been doing that," Graham reportedly replied.The then White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is depicted as "almost begging" Graham to find a way to stop Trump carrying out his plan, which Graham reportedly told Trump was "over the top". On Monday, Mulvaney told Fox Business he had "absolutely no regrets about how the president handled that situation".Trump's public explanations for the Suleimani assassination at the time were much more dramatic than what he is quoted as telling Graham."We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy," Trump said at a 9 January news conference.But the same day Pompeo contradicted him, saying, "There were a series of imminent attacks that were being plotted by Qassem Suleimani. We don't know precisely when and we don't know precisely where."The next day Trump said, "I think it would have been four embassies. Could have been military bases, could have been a lot of other things too."But it was imminent."
|
| Jane Sanders says relationship between Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders is built on 'work' not friendship Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:39 PM PDT  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has gone on the record calling former Vice President Joe Biden — the man he is trying to help get elected to the White House after he was defeated by him in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee earlier this year — a "good friend," but his wife, Jane Sanders doesn't love the characterization, which she describes as a false one, BuzzFeed News reports.As Jane Sanders sees it, she and her husband "don't go out" or "get dinner" with Biden and his wife, Jill Biden. But, ultimately, it might just boil down to semantics. Jane Sanders told BuzzFeed the relationship she and her husband have with the Bidens is "built on work," and even if she has a more specific definition of friendship than the senator, she seems to view that work relationship positively. "There's a mutual respect," she said. "There's a trust and a collegiality."Whatever the best way to describe the Sanders' connection with the Bidens is, it sounds stronger than the one they had with the Hillary and Bill Clinton in 2016, when the former beat Bernie Sanders out for the Democratic nomination. Jane Sanders did not explicitly criticize the Clintons, but she told BuzzFeed that she feels "better about this election than I do about 2016," and even though "it's not personal," she doesn't want to "revisit" four years ago. Read more at BuzzFeed News.More stories from theweek.com Cousins of man killed in accident involving South Dakota's AG share concerns over investigation The climate refugees are here. They're Americans. Trump says he'll be on Fox & Friends every week — but host Steve Doocy doesn't agree to have him
|
| Oregon Man Arrested Twice in 12 Hours for Starting Fires Near Portland Freeway Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:48 AM PDT  An Oregon man was arrested early Monday morning for the second time in 12 hours after he set "multiple" fires along a Portland freeway.Shortly after 4p.m. on Sunday, Portland Police were called to assist firefighters in extinguishing a small brush fire along Interstate 205, which caused no injuries or structural damages.A witness flagged down police officers about an hour later and pointed out the suspect, who was in a tent nearby."Officers arrested the suspect, who confirmed he lit the fire with the device," the Portland Police Bureau said.Domingo Lopez Jr., 45, was arrested for using a Molotov Cocktail to start the brush fire and booked in the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of reckless burning and second degree disorderly conduct.Lopez was later released and went on to start six more small fires in the early hours of Monday morning.Portland police responded shortly after 3:30a.m. to reports of multiple fires burning along the west side of the same freeway."Portland Fire and Rescue extinguished three of them while passing community members put out the other three," police said. "All were caught early."Officers found Lopez walking along the shoulder and arrested him again. He was taken to a hospital on a Police Officer Hold for a mental health evaluation. Police confiscated a plastic bottle with a wick and a lighter as evidence.Lopez now faces seven counts of reckless burning and one count of second-degree disorderly conduct.Police said arson investigators were following up to see if any other charges are warranted.Lopez is the fifth individual to be arrested on suspicion of arson as fires burn through West Coast states. Two men in Washington state, a man in Oregon and a woman in California have also been arrested.At least 35 people have died as of Monday from fires in California, Oregon, and Washington. In Oregon, a million acres have burned, and more than 40,000 people have fled their homes.
|
| U.S. lawmakers committed to stay until they reach a coronavirus relief deal, Pelosi says Posted: 15 Sep 2020 07:44 AM PDT  U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that lawmakers are committed to reaching a deal on sending economic aid to those hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, despite the failure of Republicans and Democrats to find a compromise for many weeks.
|
| Former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum comes out as bisexual in first interview since Miami hotel incident Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:53 AM PDT  Former Florida Democratic candidate for governor urges people not to automatically associate bisexuality with marital infidelity
|
| Daimler AG to pay $1.5B to settle emissions cheating probes Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:04 AM PDT  Automaker Daimler AG and subsidiary Mercedes-Benz USA have agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the U.S. government and California state regulators to resolve emissions cheating allegations, officials said Monday. The U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and the California attorney general's office say Daimler violated environmental laws by using so-called "defeat device software" to circumvent emissions testing and sold about 250,000 cars and vans in the U.S. with diesel engines that didn't comply with state and federal laws.
|
| Anti-inflammatory drug might shorten coronavirus recovery time Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:52 AM PDT  A drug company says that adding an anti-inflammatory medicine to a drug already widely used for hospitalized COVID-19 patients shortens their time to recovery by an additional day.
|
| The Right Wing’s New Election Boogeyman Posted: 15 Sep 2020 01:33 AM PDT  For the Democrats dead-set on defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins this November, a recent poll of the Maine U.S. Senate race brought seemingly distressing news: Democratic candidate Sara Gideon was leading Collins by a single point, per the survey, but a Green Party-aligned independent candidate was polling at a surprisingly high 6 percent. Given that Green candidates usually pull votes from the left, Collins' legions of detractors on Resistance Twitter cried spoiler—fearing that in a tight, hotly contested race, the Green Party's Lisa Savage would all but secure Collins another six years in the Senate.There is only one state, however, where that straightforward reading of the poll would be backwards—a bad sign for Collins, not a good one—and it happens to be the state she calls home. This fall, Maine is set to be the only state in the country to choose its president and members of Congress using a process called ranked choice voting. Under that system, voters are instructed to list their candidate preferences in order, effectively offering up a first choice, a second choice, and so on. Those backup picks only come into play if no candidate cracks a majority of votes on the first ballot: that sparks what is essentially an instant runoff election, in which the lowest-performing candidates drop and their supporters' second choices receive their votes.Maine Republicans loathe this system and have fought it tooth-and-nail since voters in the state approved its use for federal elections in 2016. But an ongoing legal effort to overturn the system is losing steam, and time, with the November election fast approaching. As Maine emerges as a pivotal battleground for control of the U.S. Senate—and even for the White House—a powerful ally of President Donald Trump has weighed in, joining local Republicans in laying the groundwork for a broader assault on Maine's wonky voting system.Earlier this month, Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson devoted an entire segment to the evils of ranked choice voting, declaring that Maine Democrats were "trying to rig the outcome" of the 2020 election through the system. His guest was Dale Crafts, GOP nominee for U.S. House in Maine's 2nd District. That particular seat, which swung hard to Trump in 2016, is the source of many Republicans' ranked-choice grief. In 2018, former GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin had a 2,000-vote lead over Democrat Jared Golden but failed to get a majority on the initial ballot. Under the rules of ranked choice voting, the third-party candidates dropped and Golden cleaned up as the second choice among their supporters, ultimately giving him a majority. Poliquin went to court to contend that he was the rightful winner, but Golden's victory was upheld. Crafts, who is now running against Golden, told Carlson that Poliquin's loss revealed the true purpose of ranked choice voting. "It's just another sham by the Democrats to try to steal races," warned Crafts. Ironically, ranked choice will play no part in the election of Carlson's guest—Crafts and Golden are the only candidates on the House ballot in Maine's 2nd this year—but the system figures to be a huge influence on Collins' race. It could be that the biggest complicating factor for the longtime senator's re-election bid is not her relationship to President Donald Trump, or her famous stand for Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, but the way her state has decided to elect its leaders.Joining Collins and Gideon on the U.S. Senate ballot in Maine are Savage and Max Linn, a longshot conservative independent candidate who, during the first candidate debate last week, went viral as he plowed past moderator questions and declared "I have to be out of the box tonight." If no candidate clears 50 percent and Savage, who is running as a "Senator for People, Planet, and Peace," is dropped in the third round, her supporters could easily put Gideon over the top. Savage's campaign has openly encouraged its supporters to rank Gideon second—they tout a "VoteBlueNumberTwo" social media slogan—and Savage herself says she plans to do the same. Susan Collins Cast the Crucial Vote for Brett Kavanaugh. His Biggest Backers Returned the Favor.There are many ways to game out the ranked choice system, and Maine political observers caution that in this independent-minded state, elections don't always shake out intuitively. "Both major party campaigns are thinking about this," says Mark Brewer, a professor of politics at the University of Maine in Orono. "My guess, and it's only a guess, is that Savage will have more support than Max Linn."Some in Maine GOP circles believe in Collins' ability to pull out the victory, but they also don't have a hard time seeing how the environment around the ranked choice system could throw yet another headwind her way."It could be a real problem for Collins," says Eric Lusk, a longtime Republican activist who formerly served as GOP chair for Maine's largest county. He said there's a risk that Linn's supporters might just rank him first and leave it at that. "He'd siphon 2-3 points, people get confused on ranked choice, they don't put Collins second, Linn gets knocked out, but the voter didn't put in choices two, three, four… It could happen."The way that Mainers adapt to ranked choice voting—only in its second cycle of use for federal elections here—could have impacts that reverberate far beyond the state. The Maine race is one of three or four toss-up races nationally that could tip control of the Senate to Democrats, or keep it in GOP hands. But it's not just Collins who could suffer as a result of the way the system plays out this year; Trump could, too. Maine, as Carlson noted in his Fox segment, is one of two states that awards its electoral votes by congressional district. In a tight Electoral College race, even the swingy 2nd District's lone electoral vote could make a big difference for Trump, or for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, both of whom are targeting the district. All recent public polls of the 2nd show Trump and Biden neck-and-neck with neither clearing 50 percent; multiple third-party candidates are on the ballot with them, including Green and Libertarian nominees.Ranked choice voting, say the system's backers, doesn't inherently advantage a Democratic or Republican candidate, since it depends on who's in the race and how it's run. They argue the system puts an end to the idea of spoiler candidates and forces candidates to campaign to win real majorities, not narrow pluralities. It has been used for state and local elections nationwide, including in Maine, for a decade or longer, and Maine voters have upheld its usage in two different ballot referendums. But Maine Republicans see things differently—"horseshit" was Lusk's preferred adjective for the ranked choice system—and they've been fighting to repeal it since it was instituted for federal elections in 2016. Before 2020, conservatives elsewhere have dismissed ranked choice voting as a bad idea that's inconsistent with the "one person, one vote" principle. Currently, a Republican-led legal effort is underway to block it from being used in Maine's presidential election, but the effort hit a snag last week; with absentee ballots set to be mailed out to voters within weeks, time is running out to change the procedures.Proponents of ranked choice voting have argued that GOP opposition to the system stems from sour grapes over the Poliquin race and perhaps a tacit acknowledgement of their limitations in securing majorities in Maine, which leans Democratic overall. Rob Richie, president and CEO of the nonprofit group FairVote, which advocates for ranked choice voting, told The Daily Beast it's ridiculous to equate "asking a person to win a majority" with "trying to steal an election." Compared to some Maine Republicans, Collins herself has been circumspect on the ranked choice issue. In 2018, she said the system can produce an "odd outcome" if a candidate with the most votes after one round does not win. But the GOP's official opposition to ranked choice may present a challenge: their voters have grown to hate the system, but their candidates‚ from Trump and Collins on down, need to leverage it to win."It definitely adds another layer of complexity, because the Democrat Party has focused on educating people how to manage the controls, where on the Republican side, the effort has been more on getting rid of the change in the voting system," said Lusk. "So the Democrats embrace it, and they educate people on how it functions. Do that over four, five, six years, and you're going to be in a position to have a few thousand more people understand it on your side, and a few thousand fewer on the other side."That difference, said Lusk, could be Gideon's margin of victory. A longtime Maine political operative, speaking anonymously to describe the race candidly, said that Collins' team consists of seasoned strategists who understand clearly the challenges posed."Considering that what a campaign has to do is not turn off the supporters of the 'fringe' candidates, my guess is they understand that as well as anybody," said the operative. "If I were running either the Gideon or Collins campaigns, I would make an effort to do some subtle outreach to supporters of the other two candidates."In response to questions from The Daily Beast, the Collins and Gideon campaigns did not directly say whether or not they were reaching out to other candidates' supporters to urge them to rank their candidates second. "We believe when voters look at who is running in this race, there is one clear choice," said Annie Clark, a spokesperson for Collins' campaign. "Our goal is to ensure that Senator Collins is the winner, which is why we're encouraging voters to choose her as their first choice.""Our campaign is focused on making sure that Maine people know Sara Gideon is the best candidate to replace Susan Collins in the Senate," said a spokesperson for Gideon, who added GOP attacks on ranked choice voting are a "transparent political maneuver" and that Mainers have supported the system. Savage, meanwhile, told The Daily Beast by email that ranked-choice has been "core" to her campaign's messaging. "We don't even really say, 'vote for Lisa,'" said Savage. "We say 'Rank Lisa first.'""We have spent a great deal of time and effort educating voters about how RCV changes political races—we refer to it as a 'new politics,'" Savage said. "There is still a lot of education to be done, as many voters still don't understand exactly how it works, and will talk about 'spoilers' and 'splitting the vote' as reasons they don't want to support me. That's a huge opportunity for us, as learning about how RCV actually works makes them think about the race anew."To third-party candidates like Savage, ranked choice presents a totally fresh way to campaign. For others, the broader upside of ranked choice voting has been limited.For all the controversy, cable news vitriol and months of legal deadlock that Maine's ranked choice system has sparked, the system has failed to live up to supporters' arguments that it would fundamentally reshape campaigns in a more positive way, argued the veteran Maine operative. But, they said, that doesn't mean Republican hatred of the system is justified. "I don't understand why Republicans have such vitriol toward it, other than the fact that they think it was a Democratic idea," said the operative. "And I don't know why Democrats are so enthusiastic about it, because it really hasn't brought to fruition the things they sold us about it… I guess each party has dug in because they want to oppose what the other guys are doing."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Letters to the Editor: Surprise, surprise. The L.A. Times endorsed Joe Biden Posted: 15 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Was this an endorsement for Joe Biden, or his handlers?
|
| Puppy pulled from rubble following California wildfire Posted: 14 Sep 2020 05:28 PM PDT  Rescuers gave the little survivor a fitting name: Trooper.
|
| After decades of climate change, 42 square miles of ice broke away from the largest remaining Arctic shelf and shattered Posted: 14 Sep 2020 04:50 AM PDT  The Spalte Glacier in northeast Greenland has split off the Arctic's largest ice shelf and is adrift at sea, after record temperature rises.
|
| Potential sign of alien life detected on inhospitable Venus Posted: 14 Sep 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Scientists said on Monday they have detected in the harshly acidic clouds of Venus a gas called phosphine that indicates microbes may inhabit Earth's inhospitable neighbor, a tantalizing sign of potential life beyond Earth. The researchers did not discover actual life forms, but noted that on Earth phosphine is produced by bacteria thriving in oxygen-starved environments. The international scientific team first spotted the phosphine using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii and confirmed it using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope in Chile.
|
| The Latest: Alabama gov urges people to flee low-lying areas Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:46 PM PDT  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is urging residents near Mobile Bay and low-lying areas near rivers to evacuate if conditions still permit a safe escape from Hurricane Sally. The National Hurricane Center has predicted storm surge along Alabama's coast, including Mobile Bay, could reach 7 feet (2.1 meters) above ground. Forecasters have said Sally should reach land near the Alabama-Mississippi state line by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
|
| South Dakota attorney general involved in fatal car crash Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:56 PM PDT  During a brief press conference on Sunday evening, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) announced that state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) was involved in a fatal car accident on Saturday night.The crash took place west of Highmore, in central South Dakota, and Noem said law enforcement is "working on identifying the deceased and notifying the family." The accident occurred as Ravnsborg was driving home from a dinner hosted by the state GOP.Following Noem's press conference, Ravnsborg's office released a statement saying he is "shocked and filled with sorrow following the events of last night. As Gov. Noem stated, I am fully cooperating with the investigation and I fully intend to continue to do so moving forward. At this time I offer my deepest sympathy and condolences to the family."Tim Bormann, Ravnsborg's spokesman, told the Rapid City Journal that Ravnsborg was not injured in the crash. He also said Ravnsborg "drinks lightly," and doesn't think he was drinking at the dinner. A spokesperson for the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said details about the car accident, like whether alcohol was a factor and if any charges are pending, are expected to be shared on Monday.More stories from theweek.com Cousins of man killed in accident involving South Dakota's AG share concerns over investigation Court-tapped judge-advocate tears into Barr's 'corrupt and politically motivated' move to drop Flynn case Biden campaign unveils high-powered legal war room
|
| Who’s really 'in the room' of Afghan peace talks Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:31 AM PDT |
| Trump claims he won non-existent ‘Bay of Pigs’ award - and says Biden won Nobel Peace Prize Posted: 14 Sep 2020 04:19 AM PDT  President brags of Nobel Peace Prize nominations and 'award' from Bay of Pigs museum in Miami while campaigning
|
| NC driver charged after video shows SUV run over BLM protester in Tennessee crosswalk Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:48 PM PDT  A 37-year-old man from Bakersville, North Carolina, turned himself in Monday, police said.
|
| Hundreds of people turned out for an anti-mask protest in Utah. It's being mocked as 'a straight parody' on social media. Posted: 14 Sep 2020 06:49 PM PDT  The demonstration gained national attention after a news report from Salt Lake City TV station KTVX-TV was shared on Twitter and TikTok this week.
|
| A 26-year-old American woman ignored quarantine instructions to go on a bar crawl in Germany, and caused a COVID-19 outbreak at the hotel she works in, officials say Posted: 15 Sep 2020 05:06 AM PDT  German media says the woman, who works in a Bavaria town, ignored instructions to quarantine until her COVID-19 test results were ready last week.
|
| Mozambique condemns 'horrifying' shooting of naked woman at hands of fighters Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:01 PM PDT |
| The US Air Force has built and flown a mysterious full-scale prototype of its future fighter jet Posted: 15 Sep 2020 08:39 AM PDT  Does this give the Next Generation Air Dominance program more momentum, or does it open it up to more scrutiny?
|
| DeVos vows to require standardized tests again: 4 questions answered Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:49 AM PDT  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Sept. 3 that the government intended to enforce federal rules that require all states to administer standardized tests at K-12 public schools during the 2020-2021 school year. Nicholas Tampio, a Fordham University political scientist who researches education policy, puts this declaration into context. 1\. What did DeVos say?Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, U.S. public school students have had to take federally mandated standardized tests every year. Students got a break in the spring of 2020 when DeVos announced that states could apply for waivers due to the pandemic. "Neither students nor teachers," she explained, "need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time."In September, DeVos reaffirmed her commitment to federally mandated testing. "It is now our expectation," DeVos wrote in a letter to chief state school officers, "that states will, in the interest of students," administer standardized tests at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. 2\. How is testing data used?As a political scientist who researches education policy, I know that money is the main lever for the federal government to influence states and local school districts. For example, the federal government sets conditions that states must accept to secure Title I funding, which supports schools where many children are being raised in poverty. Only about 8% of the roughly US$720 billion that all levels of government spend on public schools comes from federal sources. Yet federal education money is vital because it helps state and local governments boost their budgets for the education of some of the most vulnerable students, including those with special needs.In the spring of 2019, the DeVos team threatened to withhold $340 million in federal education funds from Arizona. Why? Because the state had not complied with the testing requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind in 2015. In short, states may face a financial hit if they do not heed DeVos' warning about testing. And if states lose federal funding, they may, in turn, cut their funding for local school districts.In her letter, DeVos called federally mandated tests "among the most reliable tools available to help us understand how children are performing in school." This data provides information to teachers, parents, policymakers and the public about how schools compare to one another. Without this data, in DeVos' view, the American people will not have transparency and accountability in public education. 3\. What challenges might schools and students face?But getting good data during a pandemic may prove challenging. The recent precedent for large numbers of students taking standardized tests online, rather than at school or another appropriate public place, isn't promising.After the College Board administered Advanced Placement tests online in the spring of 2020, students and their families complained when they were not able to upload their exams. What's more, research shows that physical conditions where the testing happens matters. If administrators cannot adjust the thermostat in a public school building, for example, it can skew test outcomes. As a result, I'm concerned that unequal conditions at students' homes could make students who face economic hardship or have other challenges where they live score lower than they should – making their scores a less meaningful way to measure their academic strengths and achievements.In response to questions about whether testing will be feasible during the 2020-2021 school year, DeVos has asked chief state school officers to get more creative. "I am reminded of the old saying: Necessity is the mother of invention," she stated. DeVos also told chief state school officers to follow "the guidance of local health officials." And yet, her letter lacks any specific guidance on how states could administer tests in case students cannot safely take the tests in public school buildings due to COVID-19 surges. 4\. Could a Biden administration waive testing?Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's official position on education, as spelled out on his campaign's website, doesn't mention high-stakes testing. Nor does his campaign say anything about revising the Every Student Succeeds Act, which Congress must revisit and possibly change through an upcoming reauthorization process after the 2020-21 school year.In her letter to the chief state school officers, DeVos observed that "statewide assessments are at the very core of the bipartisan agreement that forged ESSA." DeVos noted that a bipartisan coalition supports administering tests this year. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]One of Biden's senior education policy advisers is Carmel Martin. A former Obama Education Department staffer, Martin until recently worked for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with strong ties to the Democratic Party that DeVos cited in her decision to proceed with federally mandated testing. If Biden becomes president, therefore, I think it's reasonable for schools to assume that his education team will only grant waivers, like the one DeVos issued in March 2020, in "extraordinary circumstances."This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Few US students ever repeat a grade but that could change due to COVID-19 * Reopening elementary schools carries less COVID-19 risk than high schools – but that doesn't guarantee safetyNicholas Tampio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
|
| As death toll mounts, volunteers brave Oregon wildfires to rescue stranded livestock Posted: 14 Sep 2020 05:48 PM PDT  Volunteers with horse trailers drive into Oregon wildfires, rounding up horses, cows, sheep, alpaca and other animals left behind by owners who had to evacuate.
|
| U.S. Afghanistan Commander Says Intel Has Not Confirmed Russian Bounties on American Troops Posted: 14 Sep 2020 12:26 PM PDT  The U.S. commander of troops in Afghanistan said that American intelligence officials have not been able to confirm the existence of a Russian bounty program offering Taliban militants rewards for targeting U.S. troops in Afghanistan."It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me," General Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told NBC News."We continue to look for that evidence. I just haven't seen it yet," the general said, adding, "it's not a closed issue."Reports broke in June that U.S. intelligence found that at least one American soldier, as well as a number of Afghan civilians, died as a result of the secret bounty payments.Some bounties as high as $100,000 were reportedly paid for each U.S. or allied troop killed, and several American service-members were reported to have died as a result of monetary rewards that a Russian military intelligence unit offered to terrorist militants to target U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. But McKenzie doesn't believe the intelligence is conclusive."I found what they presented to me very concerning, very worrisome. I just couldn't see the final connection, so I sent my guys back and said, look, keep digging. So we have continued to dig and look because this involves potential threats to U.S. forces, it's open," McKenzie said of reviewing the intelligence on the issue. "I just haven't seen anything that closes that gap yet.""People that are involved in it get very emotional about it," he added. "I can't afford to be emotional about it. I've got to step back and look at the totality of the picture."Intelligence about the alleged bounty offerings by Russia was reportedly included in the president's daily written intelligence briefing in February, but the White House claims Trump was not verbally briefed on the matter until media reports on the claim.In July, President Trump said he has never discussed the intelligence with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite several phone calls between the two heads of state since the intelligence was made known. Trump has argued that reports of Russian bounties, which were disputed by the National Security Agency, were inconclusive and thus "didn't rise to the level" at which he would be verbally briefed.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly warned Russia's foreign minister against placing bounties on the heads of American soldiers during a July 13 phone call.McKenzie said that if Russia is targeting American troops in Afghanistan he "won't hesitate to take action if that's the case. I just haven't seen it.""There's a lot of conflicting information out there, but nothing was out there that I could grasp that connect together in a pattern that I would consider actionable," McKenzie said.In response to the media reports of bounties, the House Armed Services Committee voted to add an amendment to the latest defense bill that makes any further withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan contingent on whether any country has paid the Taliban or any other groups to attack American troops.
|
| Trump randomly agrees to an extra debate with Biden if Joe Rogan is the moderator Posted: 14 Sep 2020 07:03 AM PDT  The Commission on Presidential Debates has already chosen its moderators, but President Donald Trump tweeted support for one hosted by Rogan anyway.
|
| Gang-rape case prompts Pakistan PM Khan to call for chemical castration Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said Monday that the worst sex crimes should be punishable by chemical castration, following an arrest in a gang-rape case that has prompted nationwide protests.
|
| Five Connecticut residents infected with flesh-eating bacteria in Long Island Sound Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:31 AM PDT  Vibrio vulnificus can cause serious illness and patients may need intensive care or limb amputation.
|
| Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs to be deposed in suit over Fox's coverage of murdered DNC staffer: report Posted: 15 Sep 2020 06:33 AM PDT  Fox News is seeking to block Laura Ingraham from being deposed in the suit surrounding debunked conspiracy theories
|
| Malaysian man 'finds' monkey selfies on lost phone Posted: 15 Sep 2020 03:20 AM PDT  Zackrydz Rodzi says he stunned to find photos after tracing lost phone to nearby jungle.
|
| Michael Anton on whether Joe Biden would accept defeat in the presidential election result Posted: 13 Sep 2020 05:53 PM PDT  Michael Anton, former Trump administration national security official and author of 'The Stakes,' joins Mark Levin with insight on 'Life, Liberty & Levin.'
|
| It’s peak hurricane season and we’re about to run out of names. What happens then? Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:44 AM PDT  About 96% of major hurricanes occur from mid-August to late October. But as of Monday, there's only one name left on the list for the 2020 hurricane season.
|
| Biden campaign unveils high-powered legal war room Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:54 AM PDT  Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign has created what it calls the largest election protection program in U.S. presidential history, assembling a team of hundreds of lawyers to fend of expected legal challenges and work to ensure a fair election. The new legal operation will be headed by Dana Remus, the Biden campaign's general counsel, and former White House counsel Bob Bauer. Its "special litigation" unit includes two former U.S. solicitors general, Donald Verrilli Jr. and Walter Dellinger, and former Attorney General Eric Holder has signed on to act as liaison to allied independent voting rights organizations.The legal war room is girding itself for potentially decisive legal battles after the election, but it is also combating voter suppression efforts, teaching voters how to cast their ballots, guarding against foreign interference, and protecting access to mail-in voting in the face of issues at the U.S. Postal Service and voter fraud conspiracies touted by President Trump. With the COVID-19 pandemic still active, "some unique challenges this year," Bauer said."We can and will be able to hold a free and fair election this November," Remus said, "and we're putting in place an unprecedented voter protection effort with thousands of lawyers and volunteers around the country to ensure that voting goes smoothly."More stories from theweek.com Cousins of man killed in accident involving South Dakota's AG share concerns over investigation The climate refugees are here. They're Americans. Trump says he'll be on Fox & Friends every week — but host Steve Doocy doesn't agree to have him
|
| 35 dead as wildfires rage across the West Coast Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:22 AM PDT  Portland, Seattle and San Francisco are now among the top five cities with the worst air quality in the world.
|
| Police misconduct, such as falsifying evidence, is a leading cause of wrongful convictions, study finds Posted: 15 Sep 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Police misconduct, including witness tampering and falsifying evidence, lead to the majority of wrongful convictions, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment