OK, KY Teachers Walk Out In Protest
OK, KY teachers to walk out, plan huge rallies. CNN: "Oklahoma and Kentucky teachers are walking off the job Monday and holding rallies in their state capitols to pressure lawmakers. Inspired by the West Virginia strike in which teachers demanded and got a pay raise from state leaders, a wave of other states, including Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona, are taking similar action. Educators are organizing and publicly pressuring state lawmakers over issues such as education funding, teacher salaries and pension reform. Teachers in Oklahoma are rallying for more education funding and salaries, and those in Kentucky will be marching over a controversial pension bill and the state budget."
Sheriff Hit-And-Run At Sacramento Protest Of Police Killing
Police vehicle strikes protester at Stephon Clark vigil in apparent hit-and-run. ThinkProgress: "A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD) vehicle struck a protester Saturday night and sped away from the scene at a vigil for Stephon Clark, who was killed by officers from the Sacramento Police Department (SPD) two weeks earlier. Video shot by a legal observer shows marchers filtering past and between a pair of SCSD vehicles as one of the drivers tells them to back away from his car via loudspeaker. The first vehicle pulls out of the crowd cleanly, but the second driver accelerates toward a pair of marchers who were crossing between the cars and moving out of the second driver’s way. He accelerates swiftly and strikes a woman, knocking her to the ground. The woman, Wanda Cleveland, was taken to a nearby hospital by city firefighters later. She was treated for bruises on her head and arm and released later that night. 'He never even stopped. It was a hit and run,' Cleveland reportedly said. 'If I did that I’d be charged.' The video, which is jarring to watch, conjures memories of the fatal ramming of protesters by a white supremacist driver in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August, among other incidents. Blocking cars is a common protester tactic because it is effective at getting a community’s attention. Conservative politicians in a number of jurisdictions have responded, bizarrely, by proposing laws that would give drivers the right to hit pedestrians with their cars in such situations. A sheriff’s deputy knocking a civilian to the ground with his car and driving away into the night, however, would presumably shame even those most ardent critics of the tactic."
Sinclair Broadcasting Forces Local Anchors To Recite Script
Sinclair Broadcasting under fire for fake news script. Salon: "A viral clip highlighting a mandatory promo released by the right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting company, which owns more than 200 local news stations across the country, has drawn widespread concern. A video compilation of dozens of local news anchors repeating the same script was released by Deadspin over the weekend, and now the nation's largest owner of local television stations is facing backlash for its pro-Trump propaganda. Deadspin's story followed a report from CNN last month that said the right-leaning Sinclair is mandating its local affiliates read aloud a promotional campaign that condemns other news outlets for pushing “fake stories.” Echoing President Donald Trump’s derision of the mainstream media, the anchors warn millions of unsuspecting viewers that '[T]his is extremely dangerous to our democracy.'"
ICE Sweeps CA's Central Valley
ICE arrests farmworkers, sparking fears in the Central Valley. LA Times: "Jesus Aceves was driving three of his fellow farmworkers to the tomato fields in the early-morning darkness when he saw lights flash behind him. ICE agents pulled him over and asked for his license, registration and insurance and, most forebodingly, whether the men were in the United States legally. Aceves and his passengers were taken to an immigrant detention facility. But none of them had been the target of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Three of the men had no criminal records. The most serious blots on the 44-year-old Aceves’ record were several convictions — the most recent in 2012 — for driving without a license. That morning, an ICE spokesman said, agents went to a Kern County residence where they thought an immigration target lived. One of the men who got into Aceves’ car matched that person’s description, he said. The ICE agents followed. The arrests were part of a larger sweep in California’s agricultural heartland that has sent fear through the Central Valley, where for generations, immigrants here — both legally and illegally — have picked crops. In some fields, almost all of the foreign workers are in the country without legal status. While many immigrants have been on edge since President Trump vowed a crackdown on illegal immigration, the recent sweeps have been particularly concerning because they included the arrests of people not specifically targeted by ICE."
Trump Ends Status For Liberians
Trump ends temporary immigration status for thousands of Liberians. NYT:"The president said in a memo to the secretary of state that he was formally ending a program that has allowed Liberian immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally since 1999, when President Bill Clinton established it in response to conditions in the country after a civil war. More than 800,000 Liberians were displaced by the war and fled the country. Some sought refuge in the United States. The program, known as Deferred Enforced Departure, has been renewed for Liberians since, giving the immigrants the ability to remain in the United States without fear of deportation. But in the memo, Mr. Trump cited the improved conditions in Liberia as evidence that the program was no longer needed."
