Congress Finally Sends $19B Disaster Aid Bill To Trump

Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., a freshman from Cookeville, Tenn., speaks to reporters at the Capitol after he blocked a unanimous consent vote during a scheduled pro forma session of the House on a long-awaited $19 billion disaster aid bill in the chamber, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and freshman Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have both blocked passage of the measure in the past week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

BY ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — A long-delayed $19.1 billion disaster aid bill sailed through the House on Monday and headed to President Donald Trump for his expected signature, overcoming months of infighting, misjudgment and a feud between Trump and congressional Democrats.

Lawmakers gave the measure final congressional approval by 354-58 in the House’s first significant action after returning from a 10-day recess. It was backed by all 222 voting Democrats and 132 Republicans, including the GOP’s top leaders and many of its legislators from areas hit by hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and fires. Fifty-eight Republicans voted “no,” including many of the party’s most conservative members.

Trump hailed passage of the bill, tweeting, “Farmers, Puerto Rico and all will be very happy.” The president also suggested, incorrectly, that the bill would now see action in the Senate. That chamber had already passed the bill by a sweeping 85-8 vote on its way out of Washington May 23, a margin that reflected a consensus that the bill is long overdue.

But conservative Republicans in the House held up the bill last week, objecting on three occasions to efforts by Democratic leaders to pass the bill by a voice vote requiring unanimity. They said the legislation — which reflects an increasingly permissive attitude in Washington on spending to address disasters that sooner or later hit every region of the country — shouldn’t be rushed through without a recorded vote.

Along the way, House and Senate old-timers seemed to outmaneuver the White House, though Trump personally prevailed upon Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., to drop a bid to free up billions of dollars for dredging and other harbor projects.

The measure was initially held up over a fight between Trump and Democrats over aid to Puerto Rico that seems long settled.

“Some in our government refused to assist our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico who are still recovering from a 2017 hurricane. I’m pleased we’ve moved past that,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. “Because when disaster strikes, we shouldn’t let a ZIP code dictate our response.”

The measure also faced delays amid failed talks on Trump’s $4 billion-plus request to care for thousands of mostly Central American migrants being held at the southern border. The sides narrowed their differences but couldn’t reach agreement in the rush to go on recess, but everyone agrees that another bill will be needed almost immediately to refill nearly empty agency accounts to care for migrants.

“We must work together quickly to pass a bill that addresses the surge of unaccompanied children crossing the border and provides law enforcement agencies with the funding they need,” said top Appropriations Committee Republican Kay Granger of Texas. “The stakes are high. There are serious — life or death — repercussions if the Congress does not act.”

The measure is largely the same as a version that passed the House last month. Republicans opposed it for leaving out the border funding.

Among the reasons was a demand by House liberals to block the Homeland Security Department from getting information from federal social welfare authorities to help track immigrants residing in the U.S. illegally who take migrant refugee children into their homes.

As the measure languished, disasters kept coming — with failed levees in Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri and tornadoes across Ohio just the most recent examples. The measure is supported by the bipartisan party leadership in both House and Senate.

The legislation is also being driven by Florida and Georgia lawmakers steaming with frustration over delays in delivering help to farmers, towns and military bases slammed by hurricanes last fall. Flooding in Iowa and Nebraska this spring added to the coalition behind the measure, which delivers much of its help to regions where Trump supporters dominate.

The bill started out as a modest $7.8 billion measure passed in the last days of House GOP control. A $14 billion version advanced in the Democrat-led chamber in January and ballooned to $19.1 billion by the time it emerged from the floor last month, fed by new funding for community rehabilitation projects, Army Corps of Engineers water and flood protection projects, and rebuilding funds for several military bases, including Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

Many Republicans opposed funding to mitigate future disasters as part of rebuilding projects when Superstorm Sandy funding passed in 2013, only to embrace it now that areas such as suburban Houston need it. Democrats, for their part, held firm for what ended up as roughly $1.4 billion for Puerto Rico, letting Trump feud with the U.S. territory’s Democratic officials for weeks and deflecting political blame for stalling the bill.

This story corrects that more than 130 Republicans voted for bill, rather than “more than 50.”

Long List Of Troubled Nursing Homes Revealed By Senators

In this Oct. 2, 2018, file photo, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., speaks during a television news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years the federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found to have serious health, safety or sanitary problems. Lawmakers say the silence calls into question the government’s commitment to families going through the difficult process of finding a nursing home for a loved one. The secrecy began to crack June 3, 2019, when two U.S. senators from Pennsylvania released the government’s list.. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)

BY RICARDO ALONZO ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found by inspectors to have serious ongoing health, safety or sanitary problems.

Nearly 400 facilities nationwide had a “persistent record of poor care” as of April, but they were not included along with a shorter list of homes that get increased federal scrutiny and do have warning labels, according to a Senate report released Monday.

Budget cuts appear to be contributing to the problem by reducing money available for the focused inspections that are required for nursing homes on the shorter list, according to documents and interviews.

The secrecy undermines the federal commitment to ensure transparency for families struggling to find nursing homes for loved ones and raises questions about why the names of some homes are not disclosed while others are publicly identified, according to two senators who released the report on Monday.

“We’ve got to make sure any family member or any potential resident of a nursing home can get this information, not only ahead of time but on an ongoing basis,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who along with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., issued the report .

“When a family makes the hard decision to seek nursing home services for a loved one, they deserve to know if a facility under consideration suffers from systemic shortcomings,” said Toomey.

The senators released a list provided them by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, of nursing homes with documented problems whose names were not publicly disclosed by the government.

About 1.3 million Americans are nursing home residents, cared for in more than 15,700 facilities. The senators’ report noted that problem nursing homes on both lists account for about 3 percent.

CMS does publicly disclose names of a smaller group of about 80 nursing homes that are getting special scrutiny to help them resolve documented quality problems. They’re in what’s called the Special Focus Facility program. Nursing homes that don’t improve can be cut off by Medicare and Medicaid.

Consumers can identify special focus facilities on the government’s Nursing Home Compare website by looking for an icon shaped like a small yellow triangle that resembles a traffic “caution” sign. The website does not display starred quality ratings for the special focus facilities. Usually, nursing homes receive from a low of one star to the highest quality score of five stars.

The nearly 400 facilities that are candidates for the shorter list “qualify for the program because they are identified as having a ‘persistent record of poor care’ but are not selected for participation as a result of limited resources at (CMS),” said the report from Casey and Toomey.

“Despite being indistinguishable from (special focus nursing homes) in terms of their qualifications, candidates are not publicly disclosed,” the report added.

In a letter last month to Casey, CMS Administrator Seema Verma singled out federal budget problems as a factor.

“The total number of (special focus) slots and total number of (special focus) candidates nationally are based on the availability of federal resources,” Verma wrote. She added that as recently as 2010, there was room for 167 nursing homes in the special focus program and 835 candidates. That’s now down to as many as 88 special focus slots and up to 440 candidates.

She said federal budget cuts in 2014 reduced the number of available slots.

Verma said her agency is evaluating whether it can publicly release the list of “candidate” nursing homes. The Trump administration has asked Congress for more money for health care inspections, but the final amount and how it will distributed remain unclear.

In a statement, CMS said its starred ratings on the Nursing Home Compare website are already the best yardstick “for consumers to understand and use.” About 2,900 nursing homes have the lowest one-star overall rating.

But consumer groups say such ratings are not enough, and greater disclosure is overdue.

“It might help (consumers) avoid facilities that the government is acknowledging are very, very troubled,” said Toby Edelman, a senior policy lawyer with the nonprofit Center for Medicare Advocacy.

A nursing home industry group says it generally supports transparency and takes no position on release of the list. David Gifford, vice president for quality with the American Health Care Association, said the inspection reports on which the CMS lists are based are only one measure, and people should also consider other factors such as staffing levels and clinical outcomes.

Monday’s report from Sens. Casey and Toomey identified several nursing homes from the list of special focus candidates. Among the details:

— In Quitman, Texas, the Heritage Healthcare Residence did not prevent the septic system from backing up, causing a foul-smelling black substance to come through the drains and seep into the kitchen floor near food-preparation areas. In an interview, officials of the company that currently owns the nursing home said they had corrected all the problems after purchasing the facility in February. Suzanne Koenig, president of the company that now runs the nursing home, renamed the Heritage House Healthcare Centre, said she’d be concerned about releasing the list since “it doesn’t really focus on what is going on in the facility.”

— In Ormond Beach, Florida, inspectors found that staff at Avante at Ormond Beach, were not cleaning and disinfecting blood sugar measuring devices between tests of different patients, putting the residents at risk of infection. The same inspection report noted the nursing home quickly started to address the issue. John Hornack, a vice president of the nursing home’s management company, said in an interview the old devices were replaced with new ones and the staff was retrained. Hornack said the problem has now been completely resolved.

DMGS Old Boys Plan Projects, Commit To Higher Standards In Alma Mater

DMGS Alumni via Daily Sun

ONITSHA (SUN NEWS ONLINE) -- In a bid to support efforts at providing conducive learning environment and facilities at its alma mater, the Lagos branch of the Old Boys Association of Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Onitsha, is planning to execute more projects in the school. They want to support the school management in improving standards at the institution.

The efforts of the association, which refers itself as Dennis Old Boys Association (DOBA) Lagos branch, are also geared towards recognising the sacrifice of Archdeacon T.J. Dennis, the man who translated the Bible from English to Igbo language and whom the school was named after.

Speaking during a re-dedication and Thanksgiving service held on Sunday at Our Saviour’s Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, Barr Nelson Ako Okoli, President of the Lagos branch of the association, said that the old boys association worldwide had done projects worth over N1billion.

“We are hoping to do more and expect the new DMGS to be greater than the old one in terms of learning facilities. The library is well equipped now; new classrooms and hostels are coming and the school is going to be the Number 1 as it used to be,” Okoli said.

He further noted that the continued support to the alma mater was intended to provide learning facilities, help in maintaining the high standards, which the school is known for, and to motivate both the teachers and students to go for excellence in their work and academic pursuit.

In his sermon at the service, Reverend Cannon Dr. Kin Egwuchim, a guest preacher and also an old boy of the school, disclosed that the school, which opened its doors to students on January 25, 1925, as the first and best available school in the Eastern Nigeria then, has today produced prominent scholars, professionals and eminent Nigerians who have impacted the society positively.

He, therefore, called on members of the Lagos branch of the association to see the rededication service as opportunity to consolidate on the strong foundation the school laid on the gospel that liberated the Igbo land and high quality education that enlightened and empowered the people.

After the rededication service graced by members of the association, their families and friends, the celebration continued at the Police Officers’ Mess, Onikan, Lagos, where guests were treated to exciting food, wine and music offerings.

Speaking on the import of the event, Barr Sylvester Okonkwo, a politician, chairman of the occasion and an old boy, said the re-dedication and Thanksgiving was an annual event, which had now become a culture of the association.

For him, “it is very wonderful been an old boy of DMGS, as everywhere you go, you see your people, and have the inspiration to do right and show the light and it is rewarding.”

In the same vein, Ifeanyi Atuenyi, a pharmacist, a member of the class of 58 and a past president of DOBA, Lagos, said it had been a wonderful association with DMGS as the ex-students would keep appreciating what the school did in their lives, especially the strong foundation to excel in life. “There is no student that will not give a good report of DMGS because it was founded on the fear of God and training of students to be very good citizens. We are trying to be close to the school so that the young generation will not depart from the foundations we have laid,” he noted.

Going down the history lane, Dr. Chike Mogilim, a member of the class of 86, disclosed that the school has a very long and rich history, especially in the south eastern part of Nigeria. “It is one of the oldest grammar schools in Nigeria, and grammar schools were the best available schools then in the country.”

For him, going to DMGS was a thing of pride, even being admitted, because it has a rich history of good tutors, good students, good results, and excellence in sports.

Unveiling other plans for the school, Enwezor Victor, Secretary of Lagos branch and a member of the class of 92, disclosed that talks were ongoing between the school management and the association for the provision of power supply, new hostels, classrooms and other learning facilities.

On the poor standard of education across the country, Mogilim said there were efforts at keeping the standards at DMGS as high as it has always been. He said the old boys had invested a lot in building infrastructure, helping to pay teachers among others.

“The decay in Nigeria is very big, but even in the decay you will still find an oasis of sanity. DMGS is what it should be,” he said.

SOURCE: DAILY SUN

Olympians Efe Ajagba And Ali Eren Demirezen Meet July 20 On FOX

Heavy sensation Efe Ajagba. Image: Premier Boxing Champions

LAS VEGAS (PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS) — Rising unbeaten heavyweight sensation and 2016 Nigerian Olympian Efe Ajagba will square off against undefeated 2016 Turkish Olympian Ali Eren Demirezen in FOX PBC Fight Night action and on FOX Deportes Saturday, July 20 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The 10-round heavyweight attraction will feature two 2016 Olympians putting their unbeaten records on the line as they look to make a statement in the red-hot division. FOX PBC Fight Night begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and is headlined by undefeated IBF Super Middleweight World Champion Caleb "Sweethands" Plant making the first defense of his title against unbeaten contender Mike Lee.

FOX PBC Fight Night will precede the FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View event beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT that also takes place at MGM Grand featuring eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao facing WBA Welterweight World Champion Keith Thurman in the main event.

Tickets for the event, which is presented by TGB Promotions and Sweethands Promotions, are on sale now and can be purchased online through AXS.com, charge by phone at 866-740-7711 or in person at any MGM Resorts International box office. The Ajagba vs. Demirezen match is being promoted in association with Ringstar Sports.

"Saturday, July 20th is the biggest night of boxing I can remember," said Richard Schaefer, Chairman and CEO of Ringstar Sports. "The entire card top to bottom is toe-to-toe action with evenly matched fights featuring the most entertaining fighters in the world displaying their talent. I am sure several of the fights that night will be immediate Fight of the Year candidates. It is only fitting that the most talked about young heavyweight, Efe Ajagba, will be part of this Boxing-Extravaganza. Efe is simply put the definition of must-see TV. His opponent, Ali Demirezen, is undefeated in 11 fights with 10 of them by knockout. It will be two undefeated big punchers putting it all on the line, that is PBC boxing at its best!"

Ughelli, Nigeria's Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) gained notoriety last August 24 when his opponent, Curtis Harper, walked out of the ring after touching gloves to start the first round. The 24-year-old won the fight without throwing a punch as Harper was disqualified live on FS1. Ajagba, who lives in Stafford, Texas and trains with Ronnie Shields, has steadily increased his competition in his two fights this year, stopping Amir Mansour on FOX in March in two rounds, before disposing of Michael Wallisch in April in two rounds as well.

"My goal is clear: I want to be heavyweight champion of the world," said Ajagba. "To get there I must continue to take on anyone and for the third time in my career it is another undefeated heavyweight. As they say 'somebody's o must go,' and it won't be mine. There's no better platform for this performance than on the biggest boxing night of the year. The stage is set...don't blink!"

Unbeaten since turning pro after the 2016 Olympics, Demirezen (11-0, 10 KOs) has fought out of Hamburg, Germany in the professional ranks and will make his U.S. debut on July 20. The 29-year-old most recently defended his European heavyweight title against Adnan Redzovic in April, winning by disqualification and matching Ajagba with a perfect knockout rate minus one DQ.

"I'm very happy to make my U.S. debut versus a really good fighter like Efe Ajagba,'' said Demirezen. "I'm very focused on that fight and being in the best shape ever to make a statement. I plan to have a great performance in Las Vegas because I know the U.S. boxing fans like real fighters. I'm sure they will love me after the fight.''

For a complete look at Ajagba vs Demirezen, check out our Fight Night page.

Chasing Demons: 75 Years On, D-Day Haunts, Drives Its Vets

White roses and US flags are places in the sand in front of the sea at Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, Monday, June 3, 2019. France is preparing to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion which took place on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)

BY JOHN LEICESTER, RAF CASERT

OMAHA BEACH, FRANCE (AP) — They are back, some for the first time since war stole their innocence 75 years ago on Normandy’s D-Day beaches.

They are back on battlefields where the World War II veterans saw friends killed, took lives themselves, were scarred physically and mentally and helped change the course of history.

Given the painful memories, given their unfamiliarity with the country they liberated, given the difficulty of traveling abroad, why are Americans and veterans from other Allied nations in their 90s coming back for this week’s anniversary of the June 6, 1944, invasion of Normandy?

For many, returning is a duty, a way to honor fallen comrades and fulfill promises they made as young men never to forget each other. Some buried their memories for decades but feel a compulsion to face their demons before going to their graves. Many fear the world is forgetting and want young people to hear their stories one last time.

The inevitability of all veterans of the 1939-1945 war being gone soon is acting as a clarion call. From across the globe, people are converging on Normandy to follow in the footsteps of, perhaps even rub shoulders with, the remaining men and women who made a military success of D-Day.

Here, in their own words, veterans explain why they’re back for this week’s anniversary:

___

Jerry Deitch thinks he’ll be able to keep his nerves in check but isn’t sure. The survivor of Utah Beach, one of the five D-Day beaches, had always refused to go back to Normandy.

“I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think I can handle it. I’ll get too emotional,’” he says.

Now 93 years old, Deitch decided he must see where good friends died and revisit the spot by a seawall where he was hit by a piece of shrapnel that left a fist-sized dent in his helmet.

Deitch, who is from Nevada, was 18 years old when he landed and says “after the first day I felt like I was 30. I went in a little boy and came out a man. You grow up fast.”

Serving in a U.S. combat demolition unit, his job was to clear obstacles and blow up strong points that could slow the Allied advance inland. The shrapnel that dented Deitch’s helmet gave him a concussion; he was evacuated back to England.

“I know exactly where I was when I was hit. Exactly the spot. I see it in my mind all the time,” he said.

Long unable to speak to his family about his experiences, he recently started writing down his recollections so they’ll know, when he’s gone, what he went through. “I did a few chapters just before I came here,” Deitch says.

“It changed my life, yeah,” he said of D-Day. “It taught me to be very tolerant. God gives us free will; you’ve got to use it.”

Having long kept his war to himself, Deitch thanks people for listening to his recollections now.

“I feel better when I speak about it,” he said. “If you have demons, face them.”

His wife, Selma, felt the trip would be too arduous and stayed home. They’ve been married 71 years.

___

Russell Pickett, 94, has made several return visits to Normandy. He says coming back helps him cope with the horrors he’s lived with since he was a 19-year-old in the first wave of American troops aiming for Omaha Beach, the bloodiest of the D-Day landing zones.

The former private in the 29th Infantry Division was immediately injured and he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“For a long time, I really didn’t want to come back, and I kind of dreaded it,” he said. “I can’t say that I really enjoy the whole thing, you know? When I head back on the beach and all that kind of stuff, sometimes it does things to you. But like this, you can see kind of what we was fighting for and, you know, that makes a little difference.”

With a flamethrower strapped to his back, Pickett was wounded when an explosion tore at the landing craft transporting him onto a beach which was sprayed by German machine-gun and artillery fire.

He blacked out and woke up on the water’s edge, next to a dead body and unable to move his legs. Plucked out of the water by another landing craft, he was hospitalized in England and then returned to Normandy, where he fought in the dense hedgerows that slowed the Allied advance and was injured again.

Pickett says he long tried to deal alone with his trauma before finally seeking medical help.

“I’ve got it now where I can handle it pretty well, because you live the war almost every night, you see? And you don’t get rid of it, no matter what you do,” he says. “I would love to forget it, totally forget it, but no way, especially when you go through a battle like D-Day.”

___

The last time Leila Morrison saw Omaha Beach was when she landed on it in 1944, three months after D-Day, when she came to nurse soldiers injured in combat.

“I felt as though when I stepped on that sand I was stepping on sacred grounds because so many people had given their all for it. It was just plain sand,” she recalls.

At the end of the war, she nursed survivors of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

“I want to tell the French and the whole world how great it is that we do have our freedom, and we have so many privileges in America that other places don’t have,” Morrison says.

“Every day is a memorial day for me. I see those young fellas that didn’t make it. So many of them, and I am thankful over and over again.”

Helen Patton, a granddaughter of famed American tank commander Gen. George S. Patton Jr., is back in Normandy for the 75th anniversary with a message that younger generations should enjoy the liberties so many soldiers fought and died for.

Presiding Monday at a game of American football played close to the landing beaches, she quoted from a poem written by her grandfather during World War I to convey the idea that part of honoring those sacrifices is relishing life:

“When I sit in my tank and wait for the hour for the great barrage to come down, I wish to god there was one more day for raising hell in town.”

Leicester reported from Blay, France.

This story has been corrected to show surname of veteran in second section is Deitch, not Dietch.

Follow all the AP’s coverage of D-Day at https://apnews.com/WorldWarII

Apple Previews New Software As It Diversifies Beyond iPhones

A crowd waits in line before an announcement at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN JOSE, CALIF. (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off a keynote Monday that previewed upcoming changes to the company’s phone and computer software, some intended to help it diversify to offset eroding sales of its bedrock product, the iPhone.

Many of the software updates are expected to be tailored for digital services such as video streaming that Apple is rolling out to lessen its iPhone dependence.

Cook began his keynote by recapping services Apple announced earlier this spring, including a news reading service and an arcade service for mobile games. He also previewed one of the original shows Apple is producing for its new video-streaming service, “For All Mankind,” set in an alternate history where the Soviets were first to land a man on the moon.

The software showcase is an annual rite. This year, however, Apple is grappling with its biggest challenge since its visionary co-founder, Steve Jobs, died nearly eight years ago.

Although still popular, the iPhone is no longer reliably driving Apple’s profits the way it has for the past decade. Sales have fallen sharply for the past two quarters, and could suffer another blow if China’s government targets the iPhone in retaliation for the trade war being waged by President Donald Trump.

Apple emphasized its privacy protections during the keynote — following along with Facebook, Google and other major tech companies’ scripts this year.

In its new operating system iOS13, the company is introducing “Sign in with Apple” to let users sign into apps without using similar sign-in services from Facebook and Google. The sign in will let you hide your actual email address if you choose. It is also making it easier to only show your location to apps once and not continually.

Another potential problem looms for Apple. Regulatory complaints and a consumer lawsuit both question whether Apple has been abusing the power of its iPhone app store to thwart competition and gouge smaller technology companies that rely on it to attract users and sell their services.

Apple is trying to adapt by squeezing money from digital services tailored for the more than 900 million iPhones currently in use.

Of course, the company hasn’t totally abandoned the iPhone. The newest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system, iOS 13, will feature a dark mode and faster tools, including a facial unlock that Apple says will open your phone 30 percent faster.

The biggest remake of a single app is a makeover of Apple Maps, which will debut this fall. It includes more granular street and place data that Apple says it collected with street and aerial footage — tactics its largest mobile app rival Google has been using for years.

Apple also unveiled several new apps for its smart watch, including independent apps that don’t rely on the iPhone. The App Store will be available on the watch, making it possible for people to find and download apps right on their watch — expanding the availability of purchases that generate commissions for Apple.

The event is expected to usher out the iTunes software that Apple rolled out 16 years ago to sell and manage digital music for the iPod, which paved the way for the iPhone.

Apple has already phased out the iTunes from the iPhone and iPad, but now it’s expected to do the same on the Mac and other personal computers. Instead of iTunes, separate apps for music, video and podcasts are expected to be offered for computers, mirroring how Apple already handles those services on mobile devices.

The Latest: Apple's Sign-In Alternative To Facebook, Google

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SAN JOSE, CALIF. (AP) — The Latest on Apple’s developers conference (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

Apple is offering iPhone users a way to bypass Facebook’s and Google’s sign-in services when using new apps.

It’s for those worried about letting Facebook and Google build bigger profiles on them by tying all their activities under their Facebook and Google accounts. Instead, Apple is introducing a competing sign-in service — and promises to be more respectful of privacy. Among other things, Apple will mask your real e-mail address when you sign in and give apps a random string instead.

Apple has been trying to differentiate itself by emphasizing privacy as other tech companies like Facebook and Google have faced breaches and other data privacy issues.

Apple is also offering users the ability to share location with apps just once, and not continually. And it will block apps from using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to infer your location.

These privacy-focused features are part of the iOS 13 software update announced Monday and expected this fall.

___

10:25 a.m.

Apple is opening its annual developers conference with another sneak peek at its upcoming Apple TV Plus video subscription.

CEO Tim Cook showed a snippet from a new show from Ron Moore, the executive producer of “Battlestar Galactica.” The show, “For All Mankind,” appears to be an alternative take on the U.S.-Russia space race in which a Soviet Cosmonaut is the first person to set foot on the moon.

Apple TV Plus was announced in March and is due out the fall. Pricing details haven’t been released. Oprah, Jason Momoa, Big Bird, Steven Spielberg and a host of other stars have also lent themselves to original Apple shows.

Apple also announced Monday that its Apple TV streaming device will soon offer support multiple users, so that individual members in a household can have their custom list of shows and how far they have watched. In the past, all the preferences have been tied to whoever set the device up.

Apple is also announcing updates for its iPhone, Mac and other software at its event in San Jose, California.

___

6:40 a.m.

Apple will preview upcoming changes to its phone and computer software Monday as it undergoes a major transition intended to offset eroding sales of its bedrock iPhone.

The company’s software showcase is an annual rite. But Apple is currently grappling with its biggest challenge since its visionary co-founder, Steve Jobs, died nearly eight years ago.

Many of the software updates are expected to be tailored for the digital services that Apple is rolling out to lessen its iPhone dependence.

Although still popular, the iPhone is no longer reliably driving Apple’s profits higher. Sales have Sales have fallen sharply for the past two quarters and there’s little reason to expect a quick turnaround.

Meet Your Merchant: Textile Designs Of Nevada City Woman Honors Ancient Global Traditions

Eno Jonah. Image: Elias Funez/The Union

BY CORY FISHER

NEVADA CITY (THE UNION) -- Eno Jonah was born in 1969 in Nigeria, just when the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War was drawing to a close. Her rural hometown of Ikot Ekpene had seen some of the war’s worst destruction.

A cherished childhood photo shows a beaming 3-year-old Eno standing next to her birthday cake with a single large candle, otherwise used to light the house.

But post-war, Ikot Ekpene, “The Raffia City,” was also known for its resilience and craftsmanship. Artisans throughout the region had a centuries-long history of making cloth from raffia fiber, which was often sold in a central craft market, along with other handmade treasures. The work of the artisan captivated Eno’s imagination as a young girl.

“The things they made were unique, sustainable and beautiful,” she said. “And you always knew the person who made them. I was fascinated by handmade products.”

In a town devastated by war, there were no stores to buy everyday clothing, so Eno’s mother would take her to a seamstress to get clothes made. She discovered that while she had little interest in learning to sew, she became passionate about textile design. The feel of the fabric, the muted colors of the earth and the traditional themes drew her in. She dreamed of someday owning a small textile design business featuring fabric handcrafted by master weavers who used home looms and other traditional methods.

In her 20s, Eno met and married an American biologist, Cliff Gold, and together they moved to Uganda with her son, where Cliff had a job with an international agricultural research institute. By then Eno, a natural entrepreneur, had already started and sold a company that produced T-shirts for golf companies and corporate sponsors. When she landed in Uganda, she saw there was a market for affordable, higher end, gently-used American clothing.

“I would buy clothes in bulk from the U.S. and sell them wholesale to retail stores in Uganda,” said Eno.

But the political instability of the region eventually came knocking at Eno’s door. The bank where she kept her savings abruptly closed and her money was gone. Concurrently, the market for higher-end clothing was waning, and Eno eventually sold off her entire inventory and closed the business.

But her entrepreneurial ventures had not ended in vain. Eno had learned valuable lessons when it came to running a business and was adept at establishing a meaningful rapport with people at all different levels. Her integrity, down-to-earth nature, warmth, and the smile that was so evident in her childhood birthday photo, easily won people over.

In 2010, Eno and Cliff moved to the United States, and by that time the couple had traveled extensively throughout West Africa, Asia and South America. The exploration of the rich cultures they encountered had reignited Eno’s long-held passion for textile design.

“I’d gone to textile workshops and visited artisans and textile producers in their small homes around the world,” she said. “At that point I began to identify who I would be going back to once I started my business. I wanted to have a direct, personal connection with my projects — to hear the stories and learn about the skills artists learned from their mothers.”

In 2012, Eno and Cliff decided to leave the congestion of the San Francisco Bay Area and bought a large, craftsman-style home outside Nevada City. While the aspen, maple and manzanita outside their windows are a far cry from the humid plains of southern Nigeria, to go inside is to experience African craftsmanship at its finest, including the furniture, sculptures and textiles in many forms.

In 2013, after earning a degree in cultural and development, Eno launched her own company, Nzuri Textiles. The word “nzuri” meaning “beautiful” in Swahili.

“My vision was to create lines of hand-painted textiles for the home, including upholstery, pillows, draperies, curtains, blinds and table cloths,” said Eno. “But now I’m also selling items made from Mongolian cashmere — some of the finest in the world — such as scarves, blankets and throws. It’s very fulfilling to travel to these far off places and create personal relationships.”

The quality of Eno’s design, in concert with pieces handmade by the likes Guatemalan weavers, basket makers in Thailand, and hand-painted indigo textiles of her homeland are a reflection of the rich relationships that Eno has cultivated.

“My objective is to introduce African and other concepts of beauty into contemporary home décor,” said Eno. “We blend traditional and modern designs for life style products designed to enhance your home. Some have taken more than a year to develop. A lot of thought goes into every piece of work.”

No one was more surprised than Eno when, after a slow launch, Nzuri Textiles began to catch the eye of high-end designers. Today, two years later, her products can be found in museums and showrooms in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, South Carolina and Brisbane, Australia. Despite being thrown in with well-known designer brands, the young, small-run boutique products produced by Nzuri Textiles are clearly attracting attention. Today they can be shipped anywhere in the world.

No one is happier with Eno’s success than her husband, Cliff, who says that — after many years of her supporting his international work — it’s Eno’s chance to shine. Retired, he now works as her assistant.

“It was challenging for Eno at first — I was the only person she knew in the U.S.,” he said. “She is someone who appreciates artistic quality and the cultural aspect of how textiles integrate into an entire culture.”

“When I first learned that these high end showrooms were interested in my textiles, I screamed,” said Eno, with a laugh. “How is that a Nigerian comes to the U.S.A., starts a small business and is now attracting this kind of attention? Having people at these showrooms look at my creations and say, ‘I want that’ is amazing. How is that possible?”

To contact Staff Writer Cory Fisher, email her at cfisher@theunion.com.

Pope Apologises To Roma For Catholic Church's 'Discrimination'

Pope Francis--Image: Reuters

ROMA, ROMANIA (AFP) -- Pope Francis apologised to the Roma people on Sunday for the Roman Catholic Church's "discrimination" against them as he wrapped up a visit to Romania.Making up around 10 percent of Romania's 20 million people, many Roma are marginalised and live in poverty and have suffered centuries of discrimination and insults.

"I ask forgiveness – in the name of the Church and of the Lord – and I ask forgiveness of you. For all those times in history when we have discriminated, mistreated or looked askance at you," the pope said in a speech to the Roma community in the central town of Blaj.

"My heart, however, is heavy. It is weighed down by the many experiences of discrimination, segregation and mistreatment experienced by your communities. History tells us that Christians too, including Catholics, are not strangers to such evil," he said.

"Indifference breeds prejudices and fosters anger and resentment. How many times do we judge rashly, with words that sting, with attitudes that sow hatred and division!"

Earlier, the pontiff beatified seven Greco-Catholic bishops jailed and tortured during the Communist era.

"The new blessed ones suffered and sacrificed their lives, opposing a system of totalitarian and coercive ideology," he told some 60,000 worshippers attending mass on a "Field of Liberty" in Blaj.

"These shepherds, martyrs of faith, garnered for and left the Romanian people a precious heritage which we can sum up in two words: freedom and mercy," added Francis, while praising the "diversity of religious expression" in mainly Orthodox Romania.

Regime officials detained the beatified bishops overnight on October 28, 1948, accusing them of "high treason" after they refused to convert to Orthodoxy.

The Greek-Catholic Church was outlawed under 1948-89 Communist rule.
- Buried in secret -

The bishops died of maltreatment, some still in jail, others in confinement in an Orthodox monastery. They were then buried in secret -- to this day the whereabouts of four of their graves is unknown.

The bars of the cells where they were held were symbolically incorporated into the throne built specially for the papal visit.

The bishops followed the Eastern Rite Catholic Church which emerged from an Orthodox schism at the end of the 17th century when the central region of Transylvania was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

While retaining Orthodox practices they recognised Roman Catholic papal authority -- unacceptable for the Communist regime which took power following World War II. Under a 1948 decree formally abolishing the Eastern Catholic churches, Greco-Catholics were forcibly obliged to return to the Orthodox fold.

Under such stark political repression, most Romanian Catholics -- who numbered more than 1.5 million in 1948, abandoned their faith and their community has shrunk to around 200,000 today in a country of 20 million, almost nine in 10 of whom profess Orthodoxy.

The politics which has seeped through Romania's modern religious history has poisoned inter-faith relations -- even if the papal visit has softened feelings to a degree.

"No matter where we go, to the town hall, to the police or to school, doors get closed," a 72-year-old Roma, who gave his name as Ion, told AFP.

Roma, originating from northern India, suffered around five centuries of slavery before the practice was formally abolished in 1856.

But they remain a mainly poor and marginalised community -- even if recent years have seen roads paved and homes getting running water and electricity.
- Seeking inclusiveness -

Francis's arrival in Blaj to wind up his visit was part of his attempt at inclusiveness on his three-day visit to one of what remains Europe's poorest states.

Although Romania has developed apace since obtaining EU membership in 2007 there remain some "urban or rural ghettos where nothing has changed," according to sociologist Gelu Duminica, who heads the anti-discrimination Impreuna (Together) association.

Duminica and others in Blaj saw it as no coincidence that Francis, often seen as a defender of the rights of the most marginalised, chose the Barbu Lautaru district of Blaj, whose inhabitants are mainly Roma, to launch his appeal for tolerance and social inclusion.

"The pope's visit is a message for those who are marginalised, disregarded or not accepted by others," said Mihai Gherghel, an eastern Catholic priest, who supervised the construction of the Blaj church where Francis celebrated Sunday mass.

I Was An Expert Witness Against A Teacher Who Taught Students To Question The Holocaust

A picture taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January 1945 shows a group of children wearing concentration camp uniforms behind barbed wire fencing in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi concentration camp. AP
BY JENNIFER RICH

When I first set out to research how the Holocaust was being depicted in textbooks in New Jersey’s public schools, my hope was to see what students were being taught about the systematic state-sponsored killing of 6 million Jewish men, women and and children.

I never imagined that my work would lead me to serve as a witness against a history teacher who encouraged his students to question whether the Holocaust had ever taken place at all.

The case – known as Jason Mostafa Ali v. Woodbridge Township School District – represents a rare look inside the mind of what I see as a modern day Holocaust denier. In some ways, the case is reminiscent of Irving v. Penguin and Lipstadt – a Holocaust denial case famously portrayed in the 2016 movie “Denial” and written about in a book of the same name.

In that case, Emory University history professor Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel in a London court by author David Irving, a well-known writer about WWII. Irving filed the libel suit after Lipstadt wrote a book called “Denying the Holocaust,” in which she called Irving “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial.” A British court ultimately tossed out Irving’s suit, finding that he had “persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence” in order to portray Hitler in “unwarrantedly favourable light.”

Now here I was some two decades later, being called upon to serve as a witness against a schoolteacher trying to get his job back after being fired for doing essentially the same thing.

My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I have also spent the past four years interviewing children and other grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. My work shows how deeply members of the second and third generations feel the impact of the Holocaust in their lives. Many often feel like they carry the trauma that parents and grandparents experienced. I had to work to keep my emotions in check and focus on the business at hand.
Denial makes news

My involvement in the case against Mr. Ali began in November 2017 when I got a phone call from a lawyer who was representing the Woodbridge Township School District. I had sent an email earlier in the year to the district about my study of how textbooks portray the Holocaust and officials there remembered my note.

Woodbridge officials had fired Mr. Ali, who was teaching students to question the Holocaust and who was also pushing 9/11 conspiracy theories. Mr. Ali was now suing the district for illegally firing him over his race and religion.

Mr. Ali had first made headlines in September 2016 after a news station discovered several 9/11 conspiracy links on his school webpage.

After speaking with the Woodbridge district lawyer, I was sent several hundred pages of depositions, student work and lesson plans to review. I was also asked if I would serve as an expert witness in the case.

One particularly memorable student paper in the documents was called “A Gas Chamber Full of Lies.”

“We have all been taught that the Holocaust was a time of hate, and that Hitler used the gifts he possessed for absolute evil, but is that really the case? … Is the death of the Jews completely justified? No, because nobody deserves to die, regardless what they’ve done. But are their deaths really completely unjustified either?” read an excerpt.

Another student stated that the Jews imprisoned in concentration camps “had a much easier and more enjoyable life in the camps” and that “even though they were not at home, they felt like they were.”

Mr. Ali’s pedagogical folly was not limited to the Holocaust. He also shared links to stories that asserted that 9/11 was a conspiracy between the CIA and Mossad. The stories had headlines like “The Jews are like a cancer, woe to the world if they become strong.”

Confronted with this evidence, I decided to serve as an expert witness in the case.
Taking on a ‘content specialist’

In a report to the court, I pointed out how – during a deposition – Mr. Ali made numerous factual errors and had a lack of knowledge about the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Mr. Ali did not know basic facts, such as the name of General Erwin Rommel, one of the most prominent German generals of the war. He also was ignorant of Elie Wiesel or Wiesel’s classic book “Night,” perhaps the best-known account of the Holocaust by an Auschwitz survivor.

These giant gaps in basic factual knowledge, I told the court, came along with what I described as a “worrisome awareness of arcane, conspiracy-related details, a classic case of losing the forest for the trees in historical terms.”

“By allowing his students to investigate assertions, myths, and logical fallacies as if they are real, Mr. Ali created the space for denial to grow,” I wrote in my report. “This allows the idea of ‘maybe there is more to this than I was told’ to bloom.”
Where free speech stops

In Mr. Ali’s case, he alleged – among other things – that he had a First Amendment right to share materials that he saw fit.

When he was asked whether he taught his students to “question the facts as to whether Hitler chose to brutally abuse, take advantage, starve and murder Jews for absolutely no reason at all,” Mr. Ali responded that he taught his students to “question everything.” And when he was asked if he encouraged his students to “come to different views than the traditional understanding of what World War II and the Holocaust and Hitler were about,” he stated: “Yeah, it’s called debate.”

But United States District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo disagreed. She ruled that the school district, not the classroom teacher, “has the ultimate right to decide what will be taught in the classroom.” Except for a procedural matter unrelated to his teaching, she tossed out the various claims in Mr. Ali’s lawsuit, saying that he failed to show he was fired for anything other than the reasons given by the school district – not his race or his religion like he claimed.

Mr. Ali is not done with this fight. Even though a judge tossed out his lawsuit, on May 28 he filed an appeal, court records show.

The Conversation reached out to Mr. Ali and his attorney, Nicholas Pompelio, but did not get a response.

I don’t doubt that Mr. Ali has a story to tell. I can’t speak to his claims that he was subjected to an “anti-Muslim attitude” at work, or that the school district didn’t seem to have a problem with his 9/11 conspiracy theory lessons until a TV station started reporting about it.

All I know is that when it comes to what Mr. Ali either let or encouraged his students to believe when it comes to Hitler and the Holocaust, his lessons weren’t just wrong, they were dangerous.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

Journalist Killings, Arrests And Assaults Climb Worldwide As Authoritarianism Spreads

Reuters reporters Wa Lone, left, and Kyaw Soe Oo after being freed from prison, in Yangon, Myanmar, May 7, 2019. Ann Wang/Pool Photo via Associated Press

BY PROFESSOR RANDY COVINGTON

Myanmar, nudged by the conscience of the world, recently released two Reuters journalists imprisoned for more than 500 days – good news in what otherwise has been a dismal period for media freedom.

The 2019 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders shows how hatred of journalists has degenerated into violence and created “an intense climate of fear” worldwide.

According to the Paris-based nonprofit, 12 reporters have been killed so far this year and 172 are in jail. In the last decade, according to the group, 702 journalists have been killed, including 63 last year.

“The number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media,” the report states.

Myanmar ranks 138th of 180 countries evaluated on media independence, laws, abuses and other factors. Norway, Finland and Sweden are seen as the most free. The U.S. is 48th, dropping three spots since 2018. Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan are at the bottom of the list.
Reporting under authoritarian rule

Many countries in the lower third of the Press Freedom Index are authoritarian regimes in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

In these places, which have few protections for free speech, media organizations are weak and often depend on the government for advertising. Journalists typically are poorly paid and have little training.

Press Freedom Worldwide

Journalism is under siege internationally, according to the latest report from Reporters without Borders. Only a handful of countries, primarily in northern Europe, have full press freedom. The U.S. ranks 48th of 180 countries ranked, down three spots since 2018. Myanmar, which recently released two journalists jailed for reporting on deaths among the country's Rohingya Muslim minority, ranks 138th of 180.

Image: Press Frredom Index via The Conversation

In this environment, reporters who upset the government are at risk.

As head of the University of South Carolina’s Newsplex initiative, I have trained journalists all over the world, many from countries with restrictions on free speech.

I always have been struck by the similarities among journalists, regardless of country. They are curious, they like to help people, and they want their work to have impact.

What is different, though, is the environment in which those journalists work.

In strong democracies like those of Europe, the United States and parts of Latin America, journalists aspire to uncover the facts and to hold the powerful accountable. They are shielded by centuries-old traditions and laws that protect freedom of speech.

In young or weak democracies, there are few if any protections. Journalists are seen by the government and to some extent by society as partners in the country’s development. As in authoritarian countries like China or much of the Middle East, stories that question or embarrass the government are often suppressed.
Journalism under siege in Myanmar

Myanmar is a case study of the tensions between authoritarian regimes and truth-seeking journalists.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was a military dictatorship from 1962 to 2011. While it has begun to move toward democracy, the military retains significant control over this Southeast Asian nation of 53 million.

Myanmar is largely Buddhist and the government has little tolerance for the country’s Muslim minority, called the Rohingya. Since late 2016, the Rohingya have been victims of what the United Nations describes as “ethnic cleansing” by the government.

A 2017 report from Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization, said it is likely that the Myanmar military has killed more than 10,000 Rohingya.

The Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested for investigating the deaths of 10 Rohingya men and boys. Their conviction for violating the Official Secrets Act– a British colonial-era law in Myanmar that treats virtually all government information as confidential – shows how the country attempts to silence criticism.

In 2013 I was at the World Newspaper Congress in Bangkok, where I heard Burmese journalists talk about their hopes and concerns.

The installation of a civilian government in 2011 was a positive sign, and the Myanmar government had recently allowed privately-owned newspapers to operate for the first time in 50 years. Change was coming, and I sensed a spirit of optimism in the air, though it was still not clear who really held power in the country.

The journalists wondered if the limited press freedom they had experienced would continue, and they worried over how to find and train journalists in a country without a history of independent media.

Perhaps most importantly, they asked, how could they convince those in power that society is best served by a free press?

In 2015, hopes for democracy soared with the election of Aung San Suu Kyi – a Nobel Prize-winning democracy activist who spent 15 years under house arrest for opposing the military dictatorship.

Instead, an estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladeshsince she took office in 2016, and at least 43 journalists have been arrested, according to Human Rights Watch.
Myanmar’s limited democracy

The travails of being a publisher or journalist in a developing country can be seen through the experiences of Dr. Than Htut Aung, and his Eleven Media Group, one of Myanmar’s leading publishers.

At that 2013 World Newspaper Congress, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers honored Dr. Aung for his fight against government censorship.

Since then, things haven’t gotten any easier for him or his company. Reporters and senior editors have been charged by the government with defamation, contempt of court and publishing incorrect information, generally for exposing or alleging government corruption and public malfeasance.

In 2016, the government even sued Dr. Aung for a column in which he questioned how a government official got an expensive watch and whether he had ties to shady business figures.

Myanmar’s press crackdown has attracted global attention.

“Rather than punishing investigative reporting that is designed to safeguard the public interest, officials in Myanmar should acknowledge the role of independent media as a necessary support to democratic institutions,” wrote the World Association of Newspapers.

Journalists in countries like Myanmar have little hope if they are working in isolation.

In May, editors from Myanmar and other countries in the region gathered in Singapore to form an Asian chapter of the World Editors Forum, which defends press freedom and promotes editorial excellence. Led by Warren Fernandez, the editor of Singapore’s The Straits Times, the collaboration could lead to training, more professionalism and more legal protections for journalists in Myanmar and neighboring countries.

Beyond the region, worldwide pressure led to the release of Lone and Oo, who were awarded a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, a significant honor for two journalists doing their jobs under very difficult circumstances.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION