[Daniel Alarcón, host]: Welcome to Radio Ambulante, from NPR. I'm Daniel Alarcón.
[Journalist]: In Ohio, ICE agents arrested 114 employees of a landscaping company in two locations.
[Journalist]: It was a meat packing plant in Morristown and at least 100 people were detained.
[Journalist]: ICE reported 98 7-11 stores throughout the country seeking out undocumented employees.
[Journalist]: ICE agents arrested more than 100 undocumented workers.
[Journalist]: They arrested 32 immigrants during a raid at a concrete plant in Iowa.
[Daniel]: Maybe you've heard stories like these. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement —or ICE as it's generally known— raiding factories or businesses where undocumented immigrants work. With the goal of detaining and deporting them.
Between October 2017 and July 2018, more than a thousand people have been arrested in operations like these —nearly fives times as many as the previous year. This is a direct result of Donald Trump's anti-immigration policy.
But raids like these weren't invented by the current administration. Not by a long shot. They have been a tool authorities have used for years.
And, generally, we hear these kinds of stories, stories about arrests, but we hear relatively little about what happens next, about the consequences, about how a community changes after a mass detention. How relationships between residents are transformed, how it affects its economy, its culture. The mark an event like that leaves behind.
And that's exactly what today's episode is about. What happened in Postville, Iowa, 10 years ago.
[Daniel]: In May of 2008, nearly 400 undocumented immigrants were detained, at a factory called Agriprocessors. The plant processed kosher meat, meaning that it was done in accordance with Jewish law. Of the workers who were detained that day, some 300 were deported, mostly to Guatemala.
And Postville was never the same again. It was a town of two thousand residents that was suddenly transformed.
[Andrea Patiño]: A lot of businesses closed, a lot of houses were just abandoned.
[Almudena Toral]: People moved away. A lot of jobs disappeared.
[Andrea]: A lot of the teachers had to work on a volunteer basis to keep the school open. They didn't collect a salary.
[Almudena]: There were a lot of families that were separated and each family took a different path. Some families broke apart.
[Andrea]: My name is Andrea Patiño.
[Almudena]: My name is Almudena Toral.
[Daniel]: They work on the Univisión Noticias Digital video team.
They visited Postville together in February of this year, 2018, to see how this place has changed 10 years after one of the largest raids in the history of the US.
Lisette Arévalo tells the story.
[Lisette Arévalo, producer]: To understand what happened in this operation, we need to explain the political context of the United States. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the George W. Bush administration enacted several policies to combat terrorism and increase security in the United States. As part of this, they launched a plan called "Endgame". Its objective was to deport all the undocumented people in the country in ten years.
[Andrea]: And the Postville raid was a part of this operation. It was supposed to be like a pilot. A pilot raid that would be replicated throughout the country.
[Lisette]: We're talking about an operation involving helicopters, hundreds of federal agents and buses to transport the immigrants. It's calculated that the US government spent nearly 5 million dollars on the raid itself, not counting the additional costs that came later. And at the time it was the raid in which the largest number of people had ever been detained at their place of employment.
[Andrea]: I think that in order to understand the impact of the raid, you need to imagine this super small town. It has two or three main streets with small stores.
[Almudena]: It has very small houses, mostly with one or two stories at most.
[Andrea]: Everyone is related. The person who works at a restaurant is the mom of the journalist who works at the local paper.
[Almudena]: It has two main roads and two restaurants: one of which is a very typical American diner and the other is a Mexican restaurant. That's it, there are no other places to eat.
[Andrea]: In other words, it's a very small community.
[Lisette]: But, why did ICE focus its attention on a kosher meat plant in a town as small as Postville, and not, for example, a city on the border, or a metropolitan area with a large number of immigrants?
[Andrea]: A lot of people told us it was because it was such a small area. It's like a more controlled environment.
[Lisette]: In other words, because of its size and because it was such an isolated town, it was easier for ICE to control the operation than it would be in a city like New York, for example, or Los Angeles.
[Andrea]: Sholom Rubashkin, who was the person in charge, the company's CEO at the time, was also violating a number of financial laws. Which the government was apparently aware of.
[Almudena]: And from there, as they started investigating financial abuses, other kinds of reports of abuse also surfaced, reports about with hiring and the abuse of undocumented immigrants. So they started investigating and, well, they were finding more and more.
[Lisette]: There were very clear violations of immigration laws: workers with falsified documents or social security numbers belonging to dead people. In many cases, it was the company itself that helped them falsify these documents.
But this is something you have to understand. According to everything we know about life inside the Agriprocessors plant, it was a terrible place to work. Beyond violating immigration laws, we're talking about a place where the owners took advantage of the immigrants' vulnerability.
They didn't pay them very much for the hard labor of processing beef and chicken. They constantly threatened to report the workers to ICE if they didn't work at the pace they wanted. They hit them. They didn't let them use the restroom. They shouted at them. They made them work up to 17 hours straight. There were reports that there were minors without papers working there, being exposed to dangerous chemicals and handling large knives and saws to cut meat. All on top of the reports of sexual abuse.
After an eight-month investigation, ICE had obtained around 700 arrest warrants for the undocumented workers at Agriprocessors. And then came the day of the raid.
[Almudena]: May 12th, 2008 Jorge and Maribel, a Guatemalan couple, were in their home in Postville, Iowa.
[Jorge Castillo]: That day I didn't want to go to work, honestly. I didn't feel like going at all.
[Maribel Castillo]: I told Jorge that morning, "I have a funny feeling." I told him: "Don't go to work," I said.
[Jorge]: "Ah, don't go?," I said. "Who's going to support us if I don't work," I said.
[Almudena]: And they said goodbye like any other day, obviously not imagining that that day would change their lives forever.
[Lisette]: Jorge Castillo had arrived in Postville 6 years earlier. Other than working in an Evangelical church, his only job had been as a meat processor at Agriprocessors.
When he started at the plant, he worked in the area where they processed the pieces of meat after the animal is killed. They separated the clean meat, the bones and the fat. And he did this work for six to ten hours a day, every day, making minimum wage, a little more than $7 an hour. He had a short break for lunch and his supervisors didn't even let him or his co-workers use the restroom.
After almost 2 years he moved to the chicken area, where the work was the same but with a kind of meat that was easier to handle.
[Jorge]: He was more than willing to hit you if you couldn't handle it. Because they had worked out the time, how much time it took to do the work for that number of cows.
[Lisette]: Despite the poor treatment and the hard work, Jorge kept working there because it was good income for his family. His two daughters were going to school, they lived in a comfortable house and he had his own car. They had stability.
So, the day of the raid, Jorge said goodbye to Maribel, his daughters and his six-month old baby. He got in his car and went to work in the plant. Jorge was on the morning shift.
[Jorge]: I got to the company, that's where the parking lot is, and everything was, well, ordinary, normal, there was nothing strange. Nothing.
[Lisette]: Like every other day, he went into the plant, put on his white coat, and went to his work station.
[Maribel]: I heard a plane overhead, the helicopter. When I heard it, my neighbor came and said: "Maribel, go outside". "What happened?" "Come on," she said. "Look at that helicopter flying", she said. "That's immigration", she said.
[Jorge]: My brother-in-law came in shouting: "Hide! Immigration is coming." Immigration and, like always, it was always a joke, that people were always making, since they knew there were a lot of illegals, to scare them, it was joke.
People were already really upset, they were already running from one side to another.
[Almudena]: They hid where they could. In the freezers, at super, super cold temperatures, in water containers, in every kind of hiding place you could imagine in a meat plant.
[Jorge]: They treated a lot of the people who hid like dogs. They beat them. Women were crying and a lot of men too. Then the officer arrived. He said anyone who moved would be shot. He said not to move. Soon everyone was surrounded by immigration.
[Almudena]: Belonging to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they took them to a city called Waterloo, which is about an hour and a half from Postville.
[Lisette]: They had arrested 389 people but not all of them were on the buses. About 25 were let go because they were minors and a little more than 50 women were let go —right there in Postville— because they admitted they were alone and no one would be able to take care of their children. But they left with an ankle bracelet that ICE could use to monitor them and they were prohibited from working indefinitely.
[Lisette]: They had taken him to Waterloo, the city near Postville, where ICE had rented a big stadium that's normally used for rodeos and cattle shows. That's where they left Jorge and the other detainees to wait to be processed by immigration agents. It was like a cattle corral where they set up a gigantic impromptu barracks.
[Jorge]: There were a few mats, like emergency mats, when there's an accident on a mountain, the beds they gave us for that night were almost like that, for each of us to sleep on, and a really thin blanket. They took our shoes. If we went to the bathroom they shackled our feet and hands.
[Lisette]: Nearby there was a large wood-floored room —like a dance floor from the 50s— that had been adapted to look like a federal court. It was full of desks, chairs, computers, printers, and in the middle of the platform, there was the shield of the Department of Justice. The plan was to process those 306 detained persons in less than 72 hours. It was a huge show of power and authority by the Bush administration.
[Lisette]: While Jorge and the others waited to be processed. The residents of Postville were in a tremendous state of uncertainty. News of the raid spread through the city in a matter of minutes.
[Andrea]: It was an incredibly chaotic and painful day for everyone. You know, they didn't know what to do.
[Andrea]: A lot of teachers told us how they were trying to distract their students, continuing classes somewhat, trying to keep them calm.
[Lisette]: They separated the Latin students from the rest and took them to the school auditorium.
[Andrea]: And children were there, eh, in a group while they were trying to figure out who could pick them up. If they had a mother or father that wasn't working at the plant that day or just didn't work there at all. Or a cousin, an older sibling. There were people who had to be responsible for children who weren't theirs.
[Lisette]: No one knew if the raid would carry over into the rest of the town. People who were at home started to flee.
[Gyora Bass]: When they heard about everything that was happening at the plant with immigration, they grabbed their kids and got in the car and left, leaving everything behind.
[Lisette]: Gyora Bass is a Jewish man who still lives in Postville now. He had a taxi service for employees at the plant and this is what he remembers from the day of the raid.
[Gyora]: Then, I open the door to the house and see how people had disappeared. The truth is I thought Jews felt the same when they were in Germany —in Nazi Germany— that the world was ending for them, that they had nowhere to go.
[Lisette]: All of the undocumented immigrants —whether they worked at the plant or not— abandoned their houses. But not all of them fled. Those who were separated from their families because of the raid opted to take refuge in the town's church. Like Maribel, who left her house with her seven-month-old baby and picked her two daughters up from school.
[Maribel]: They took care of us at the church. There were Mexicans, Guatemalans, people from various countries, they gave us supplies and they gave us jackets, like to sleep, and… The food we needed every day.
[Maribel]: They were crying, bitterly crying because immigration —after six in the afternoon— surrounded the church to get everyone, another raid. But there they told us that they couldn't take us from the church because it was a greater crime, that migration was going to come in the church. So they told us that we had to be there.
[Lisette]: There is a law called the Sensitive Locations Law, for the US Department of Homeland Security, and it says that there are specific locations and circumstances where they cannot conduct raids, detain immigrants or question them, unless a supervisor authorizes it in circumstances that require immediate action.
There are several locations that are considered sensitive, such as schools and hospitals, as well as religious locations —like churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. Which meant that Maribel and the others were safe there at St. Bridget Church.
[Maribel]: We were all tossed in there. There was sympathy and there was sadness, the day it happened, because we were quiet like brothers and sisters, we were brought together, tossed like that, sleeping on the floor.
[Daniel]: Meanwhile the 306 immigrants in Waterloo were being interrogated, waiting to be processed, without even knowing if they were going to go to prison or be deported, or what was happening to their families in Postville.
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[Promo Believed]: More than 20 years —That's how long olympics gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar abused the girls and women who came to see him for treatment. "Believed", a new podcast from Michigan Radio and NPR digs into how he got away with it for so long.
[Promo Code Switch]: This week on Code Switch —"La Bamba". Why a Spanish language song with afro mexican roots is an all American anthem?
[Daniel]: We're back with Radio Ambulante. I'm Daniel Alarcón. Before the break, Maribel was in the church with her three young daughters, not knowing what was going with her husband, Jorge. And he was awaiting his sentence at the facility ICE had set up in Waterloo.
Lisette Arévalo continues the story.
[Lisette]: When a person violates immigration law in the US —because they don't have documents, or their visa is expired, for example— the deportation process can take place in a number of ways: They can be deported immediately, they can leave voluntarily, or their case can be reviewed by an immigration court.
In the case of the Postville raid, what should have happened with the immigrants is that ICE should have brought them before an immigration court. There, the judge would have evaluated their cases and, if they found an infraction, they would authorize their deportation. Under immigration law in the United States, this is a civil offense. But the day of the raid, Jorge and the other detainees were processed as criminal offenders. And it all happened there, at the Waterloo stadium.
[Almudena]: They had brought interpreters and lawyers. They had brought judges, and all of this was in an undercover operation. No one knew what they were there for. They knew it was a federal job and that it was secret.
[Andrea]: It was something they had never seen before. People had never been processed en masse like they were there.
[Almudena]: There was one lawyer for every 20 immigrants. And in many cases they were lawyers who had no experience with immigration law. They were criminal defense lawyers.
[Jorge]: It was shameful how they took the guys in chains. And every time they took you to court, they treated you worse than a dog> chained at your feet, at your waist, with a metal plate here so you couldn't move.
[Andrea]: Didn't understand the judicial process very well. They didn't understand what was happening or what they were signing.
[Jorge]: With the lawyer, they took us to the judge and we already knew to say, when judge asked us if we were guilty of the crime we had committed at the factory, of working illegally, we knew to say "yes". So when he said to us> "You're guilty." It was like: "Yes, sir, I'm guilty. Yes, sir. Yes, sir." Until he said you're sentenced to six months in prison and you can't come back to the United States for ten years.
[Lisette]: In 72 hours, nearly 300 immigrants were accused of the crime of aggravated identity fraud and were processed criminally, which had never happened before.
[Andrea]: And after that Jorge went to prison, first a prison in Chicago and then one in Louisiana.
[Lisette]: Meanwhile, the news that Jorge and the others were in prison made it to Postville. Jorge's nephew was one of them. Maribel was still at the church waiting to get news of her husband.
[Maribel]: But my fear was that they had gotten him and taken him away. He never spoke to me.
[Lisette]: And even though she was getting help from the people at the church and different organizations, Maribel felt desperate, anxious, not knowing what to do.
[Maribel]: We were there for three months and they took care of us there. And… But we did have that fear —all of us who were there— of going out during the day. We didn't leave at all. We were… well, we were imprisoned more than anything.
[Almudena]: They found out that all of the immigrants were in prison and that the plan was for them to be there for quite some time. They didn't know what was going to happen but they were probably going to deport them.
[Maribel]: Yes, I felt very hopeless. I felt like, uh, I was going crazy. I didn't know anything about what was happening with him.
[Almudena]: "Look if you're desperate to go back to Guatemala, we can pay for the plane tickets and you can go back." And Maribel thought about it and said: "What am I going to do by myself, unable to work with three small girls, one of which is a baby?" She felt totally powerless and she decided to accept the offer.
[Lisette]: She had to make the decision on her own. Jorge hadn't responded to the letters she sent to the prison. So, with her three children, Maribel went to her apartment in Postville and packed only her daughter's clothes. The rest of her belongings —like her own clothes and Jorge's, the electronic appliances, the furniture— was all left there. She couldn't bring everything. Knowing nothing about her husband's situation, she got a plane and left. She said that when she arrived she felt happy to be back.
[Maribel]: But after I was back in Guatemala for two months, I felt sad. I felt very sad and I would say: "Why did I come here? I don't have any money." And Jorge is in jail. He hadn't gotten out. I don't have money. How am I going to support myself?
[Andrea]: But in those six months Jorge also didn't… didn't have a clear idea of where they were. They weren't able to contact one another. He didn't know that Maribel had decided to go to Guatemala.
[Lisette]: And by the time he finished his sentence —six months later— Jorge was one of the nearly 300 people who were deported to their country of origin.
[Jorge]: Most came with just the rubber sandals they were given in prison. Some were barefoot. They gave us the same clothes that we had been taken in, while we were working, the clothes we came here in. When we crossed the border, we were coming as free people. But the whole way from prison to the border, we were in chains.
[Lisette]: Maribel had been in Guatemala for nearly two months when they told her that Jorge was being deported. Jorge's sister found out that her son and Jorge were going to arrive in a few days. So they went together to pick them up at the airport.
[Andrea]: And in fact, both of them say, Jorge in particular says, that when he arrived and he saw Maribel with their daughters, he was a little upset.
[Jorge]: It was such a surprise when I get off the plane and left the airport and saw my family there. Seeing my daughters, well… I was even a little upset, to be honest.
[Jorge]: Because being there, they would have been studying if she hadn't come, do you understand? They would already be very far along in their studies.
[Maribel]: I told him the reason we came was that all of the money was gone, and it wasn't just coming here. I wasn't thinking about the girl's future. Because he had brought them to give them a better future and today there's nothing I can do. Because now I'm here in Guatemala.
[Lisette]: Before they whole Castillo family went to Postville, Jorge had been there alone for three years and he sent Maribel the money they used to build the house they live in now.
[Andrea]: It's a small three room building. So, they're on the same side and it opens up to the little patio. It's very small and that's where they have their horse and they have little ducks. It has a very nice yard and… well, they still haven't been able to build a bathroom so they have a designated place in the yard where they go to the bathroom.
[Almudena]: And that's where they live today. Where at least they have a small house to live modestly in.
[Lisette]: There, Jorge and Maribel work in the field, gathering fruit and vegetables that they sell in a market once or twice a week. They make about 1,200 quetzals from these sales, which is about 160 dollars. Besides that, Jorge works with his cousin as a tour guide on the Volcán de Acatenango, where they make 40 dollars every time they go up the volcano. But these jobs aren't steady and they don't make up a fixed monthly income.
[Almudena]: The family knows that she's not going to be able to continue going much longer because even though it doesn't cost a lot of money, the uniforms and notebooks and all that are expenses they can't afford.
[Lisette]: Meanwhile, their third daughter, Jeidy —who was born in the United States and moved to Guatemala when she was barely 10 months old— went back to Postville in 2010, when she was 7, with a friend of the family.
[Almudena]: This woman had lived through the raid as well, but she had been one of the women who was allowed to leave with an electronic ankle bracelet and she had managed to formalize her situation. Then, one day she took a trip to Guatemala to visit —for vacation— and she offered to Jeidy's parents to take her so she could be in the US and keep her own daughter company and also continue her studies.
[Lisette]: It's been 4 years and they haven't seen her since.
[Maribel]: It makes me very sad, because I would love to be a dove and fly to see her but I can't.
[Lisette]: A lot of families were separated after the raid and couldn't be reunited for years. Others were never reunited and after so much time being separated, they stopped being families.
[Almudena]: Anecdotally, in this town there are a lot of stories about how the younger generation suffered the psychological consequences of the raid as well as how they suffered from being physically separated.
[Lisette]: Like Tommy Chávez. He was 12 years old when the raid took place and his parents were working at the plant. Both were detained by ICE but they let his mom go with an ankle bracelet. His dad was deported.
[Tommy Chávez]: In the days after the raid, the town was very sad because you didn't see people anymore. Now, where there had been a happy town, it wasn't the same anymore. People lived in fear here in town. People stopped leaving their houses.
[Lisette]: A constant fear that they could be found at any moment. That in an instant, their lives in the United States could be over. And Tommy, his brother and his mom felt that way too. They boys stopped going to school and their mom barely left the house. But a few months after the raid, the three of them left Postville to live in Minnesota.
[Tommy]: We wanted to try to find a better future for ourselves. A place where we weren't going to be reminded of the tragedies that happened this town.
[Lisette]: Starting with the raid.
[Tommy]: I used to see the United States as a place where people could come to seek a better future without any problems. After that day, that was when I felt like my eyes were opened. That day I felt that the United States was unfair to immigrants.
[Lisette]: But the raid didn't just affect young people like Tommy and the other families that were separated. It affected the town, too.
[Almudena]: The immigrants weren't the only ones who suffered economically but the members of all of the communities did too. And the residents of Postville and all of Iowa suffered an economic impact.
[Andrea]: There were several businesses that closed as a result of the raid. If you lose half of the population over the course of a few days, there aren't going to be customers for the few local restaurants there were or the local laundromat.
[Almudena]: There was also a large impact demographically at the population level. The population was reduced drastically. People moved away and a lot of jobs disappeared.
[Andrea]: A lot of houses were just abandoned.
[Lisette]: By October of that year, almost 60% of the property in Postville was seized by banks.
[Andrea]: That's a very high number. And that was a direct result of the raid.
[Almudena]: He was sentenced to 27 years in prison for financial crimes, but not for the charges related to hiring undocumented immigrants or abuse of immigrants.
[Lisette]: The federal judge decided to withdraw the 72 immigration charges against him. She was taking into account the fact that Rubashkin had already received a longer sentence for the 86 financial crimes and that lifting the immigration charges would spare them a trail that would be both costly and inconvenient to the witnesses.
But the immigration charges —that is, hiring people without papers— had been the main motivation for the raid.
[Lisette]: The plant stayed open but the Americans who lived in Postville didn't want to work there: the pay was bad and the work was very hard. There were bad smells and they had to cut meat and handle animal parts.
[Andrea]: After the raid it was very hard to find employees.
So the owners tried to fill those jobs any way they could.
[Andrea]: They brought in ex-convicts from all over the country, people from shelters, mental institutions in Texas, North Dakota, and the south side of Chicago. They brought people from the island nation of Palau.
[Lisette]: In other words, people who were very different from the Central American and Mexican families that worked in the factory before the raid.
[Andrea]: People came that had never lived there alone, you know, with… without families. So that produced, well, certain problems.
[Lisette]: You can replace a worker, but what you can't replace so easily is the family and the culture around them. What was lost was the community that had grown around the factory.
And these new workers didn't perform as well as the ones before.
[Andrea]: And well, after those waves of workers that didn't work out, the plant eventually… went bankrupt.
[Gyora]: I lost my job immediately, because my job was… They called me and they would say: "You need to bring this guy. You need to pick him up." All that. And if no one's working at the Fridge… If the Fridge isn't going, I don't have a job.
[Lisette]: Unlike many Jewish families, Gyora stayed in Postville.
[Gyora]: I think that I still haven't recovered from that.
[Lisette]: A little more than a year after the raid, a Canadian multi-millionaire, Hershey Freidman, bought the plant that had been Agriprocessors and named it Agri Star. At that time Somalis started arriving with refugee status.
[Andrea]: The jobs were never put back in the hands of Americans because the conditions continue to be very difficult and the salaries continue to be very low for someone from here. And effectively, it was one immigrant community that replaced another.
[Almudena]: When you take stock of what happened, you see that it was all losses. There were emotional losses because of families being separated. There were economic losses that the town and the whole state suffered.
[Lisette]: Remember that the raid in Postville was an experiment, a pilot project for a program that supposedly was going to deport every undocumented person in the country in just ten years.
But it didn't work out that way.
In the following years, little by little, several Central American families that had left after the raid starting coming back. And other Latin American immigrants started to arrive. And if you really look at the impact of the 2008 raid, today, you'll find that the population of Postville is more diverse than ever, and the Latino population percentage is nearly double what it was ten years ago. Almost 40 per cent.
[Daniel]: In December 2017, President Trump reduced Sholom Rubashkin's sentence. Instead of 27 years, he only served 8. Now he lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.
Andrea Patiño and Almudena Toral are journalist with Univisión and they work on the video feature team. We'd like to thank them and Univisión for letting us use audio they recorded for their documentary "America First, el legado de una redada migratoria." You can find a link to their documentary on our web page.
Lisette Arévalo is an editorial intern with Radio Ambulante. She lives in Quito, Ecuador.
This story was edited by Silvia Viñas, Camila Segura and me. Music and sound design are by Andrés Azpiri and Rémy Lozano. Our intern Andrea López Cruzado did the fact checking.
The rest of the Radio Ambulante team includes Jorge Caraballo, Patrick Moseley, Ana Prieto, Laura Rojas Aponte, Barbara Sawhill, David Trujillo, Elsa Liliana Ulloa and Luis Fernando Vargas. Victoria Estrada is our editorial intern. Carolina Guerrero is our CEO.
Every Friday we send out an email in which our team recommends movies, music, series, books and podcasts that inspire us. It has great links for you to enjoy all weekend. You can subscribe on our website at radioambulante.org/correo. I'll repeat: radioambulante.org/correo. If you use Gmail, check your spam folder and put our email in your primary inbox so you don't miss it.


Do You Know These Famous People from Nevada?
Nevada is well known for the fact that the city of Las Vegas, famous for its casinos, gambling, night life and partying, is located in this state. Nevada state is also the birthplace of many talented personalities and professionals of the United States, some of which are discussed below.
Nevada is located in the western region of the United States. Carson City is the capital of Nevada, and Las Vegas, its largest city. It's also called the 'Silver State' due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered. It is a hometown to many famous personalities of the United States.
Andre Agassi was born in the city of Las Vegas. He started his professional tennis career at just 16 years of age. This former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Nevada, has won a record-winning eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. Andre Agassi achieved the 'World No. 1' ranking in April 1995. He is also the only male tennis player to have won a career Grand Slam. He has also been acknowledged as being the 'best service returner' and 'best ball striker' by many professional tennis personalities. He is the founder of 'Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation' for the children in Southern Nevada and 'Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy' in Las Vegas.
Pat Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States of America. She was the First Lady from 1969 to 1974. She was born in Nevada, but later shifted to Los Angeles and then California, where she completed her graduation. She married Richard Nixon on 21st June, 1940, and assisted him in his presidential election campaigns. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 1990s, and died aged 81, in 1993.
Jim Gibbons is the 28th Governor of Nevada state. He was born on 16th December, 1944 in Sparks, Nevada. He's also the former member of the 'United States House of Representatives' from 1997 to 2006. He served the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, from 1967-1971. He completed graduation from the US Air Force Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College. In 1975, he joined the Nevada Air National Guard and worked as a Vice-Commander from 1990 to 1996, and later during the first Gulf War. During his military career, he received nineteen service medals.
Edna Purviance was an American actress who was born in Paradise Valley, Nevada, on 21st October, 1895. She is well-known as Charlie Chaplin's girl who worked as a leading lady, in more than 30 of his films, over a span of eight years. She was romantically involved in a relationship with Charlie Chaplin, but eventually married John Squire, an airline pilot. On 13th January, 1958, she died of cancer.
Jack Kramer is a champion US tennis player of the 1940s, who was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on 1st August, 1921. He held the 'World No. 1' title for a number of years. He is also considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He was the first executive director of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which was founded in 1972. He attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and participated in its tennis sessions in the 1941-1942 seasons. In 1968, he was admitted as a member in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.
Kurt Busch was born on 4th August, 1978, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a professional race car driver. He drives a Miller Lite Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is the elder brother of Kyle Busch who is also a professional race car driver. He entered racing world at the age of 22. He married Eva Bryan in Virginia, and both are currently living in North Carolina.
If renowned personalities from Nevada are to be thought of, how can we miss Wayne Newton? Born on 3rd April 1942, he is a popular singer and actor. He is also referred to as The Midnight Idol, Mr. Entertainment, and Mr. Las Vegas; owing to the fact that he has done thousands of shows in Las Vegas alone. Wayne Newton took up playing the piano and guitar at a very young age. Due to his contribution to the entertainment industry, he has even received many 'Entertainer of the Year' awards. Other recognitions include 'Native American Entertainer of the Year' and 'Lifetime Achievement Award' awards.
James E. Casey: He was a famous businessman who is believed to be the founder of United Parcel Service (UPS) company. Born in Pick Handle Gulch, Nevada, he got into the business industry at 19 years of age. In 1907, he started his first business concern and named it American Messenger Company. In just about six years, his company collaborated with Evert McCabe's Motorcycle Messengers to carry out the delivery business which was eventually named United Parcel Service. He passed away in 1983, before which he also established the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs.
Below is a list of some other known personalities in the state of Nevada.
Ben Alexander: An actor from Goldfield.
Hobart Cavanaugh: An actor from Virginia City.
David Derek Stacton: A historian and author from Minden.
Paul Dominique Laxalt: A politician from Reno.
Leah Dizon: A singer and model from Las Vegas.
Jennifer Diane Lewis: A singer from Las Vegas.
Lute Pease: A cartoonist and journalist from Winnemucca.
Curtis Lee Hanson: A film director and producer from Reno.
James Hubert Bilbray: A politician and lawyer from Las Vegas.
Gregory James LeMond: A professional road bicycle racer from Reno.
These is just a small list of famous people born in Nevada, there are many more Nevadans who have also contributed to the economy, entertainment industry, and sports in the United States of America. Though the above-mentioned people were born in Nevada, their work extends widely to other states.


I was in town on the weekend and had a look through John Boughton's recently published book Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing. I don't know John personally, but I know his blog, also called Municipal Dreams, and have referenced his excellent coverage of the Five Estates regeneration in Peckham, and praised his blog as a source of information for campaigners mapping London's estate regeneration programme. Unfortunately, however, he hasn't returned the favour. The final chapter of John's book is titled 'People Need Homes: These Homes Need People', which is a slight misquote of the banners hung by the Focus E15 Mothers during their occupation of the Carpenters Estate, and covers some of the recent history of council housing in which ASH has had some involvement. Indeed, of the six estates John mentions in this chapter – Central Hill, West Kensington and Gibbs Green, Northwold, Cressingham Gardens and West Hendon – ASH has worked closely with the residents of the first five of them and produced design alternatives to demolition for the first four. He even mentions that residents and activists have come up with 'People's Plans' for the Central Hill and West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates, repeating our figures on the increase in housing capacity the ASH design proposals for the latter can achieve.
However, just as academic Anna Minton did last year in her book Big Capital, there is no reference to Architects for Social Housing in John Boughton's book, either in the body of the text or in the footnotes. I'll pass over the fact that, like Anna, he doesn't mention us in his discussion of both the IPPR report City Villages and the Savills report Completing London's Streets, which ASH did quite a lot to bring to the attention of the housing movement through both our blog articles, The London Clearances (October 2015) and Mapping London's Housing Crisis (March 2016), and our demonstrations at the launch of the London Housing Commission's final report in March 2016 and at the headquarters of Savills in April 2016. But if John hasn't read or viewed these, he certainly knows about the design alternatives to the demolition of these four estates, which means he also knows about the work of ASH, the URL of our blog and our name. Indeed, John has been following the ASH blog since January 2016, and is presumably one of the 14,722 people who have visited these articles on our site. So why, like Anna Minton and Loretta Lees, has he deliberately written us out of this history?
Well, part of the reason is that West Kensington and Gibbs Green Community Homes has removed the ASH logo and name from our own designs and the 3-D model we made of them on the website where they display them under the title of 'The People's Plan'. The omission of our name from John's reference to these plans in his book, therefore, has the same origin and precedence as its omission from Labour MP Andy Slaughter's reference to ASHs proposals in his House of Commons speech recommending them to his fellow MPs.
The second reason is because John is a Labourite, perhaps even a Corbynite. I know this because one of the things he says in this chapter is that if we were to take one estate demolition scheme as representative of the situation in housing in the UK, West Hendon is as good as any. Now, West Hendon is in Barnet, which is a Conservative-run borough, and as such unrepresentative of estate demolition schemes, which are disproportionately concentrated in London, where they are overwhelmingly implemented by Labour councils, which are responsible for 195 of the 237 schemes ASH has mapped. This makes me think that ASH's outspokenness about this fact on our blog and our criticisms of Labour's complicity in this programme is something John is actively trying to suppress by neither mentioning us by name when referring to our architectural designs nor footnoting our blog in his book. In case his bias is in doubt, the title of an interview with John in the Local Government Chronicle will be familiar to anyone with experience of Labour's double standards on housing: 'It's the Tories who have really been playing party politics with council housing'.
The third reason is the same reason why Anna Minton and her fellow academic, Loretta Lees, have written books and published articles that draw heavily on our blog, and in the case of the latter have lifted from it verbatim, without referencing it; and that is because anyone directed to the ASH blog will find – to different extents, certainly – much of the source of their research, which is not in the periodicals and books of academics but in the blog of an architectural practice whose work is attacked and denounced by Labour activists and councillors alike.
Now, this might seem churlish to some of you, or a private grudge in the bigger issue of council housing. When we raised her failure to reference our blog with Anna last year she accused us of wanting to 'own' the territory, which is the opposite of what we're trying to do. The point of ASH's design and written work is to disseminate the knowledge it produces, and the more people that use it the more influence it has. But ASH is an unfunded organisation that receives very little in either personal donations, professional fees or public grants. Our ability to exist relies partly on proving that our work has had demonstrable impact on housing debates, partly in winning public grants and partly in finding paid design work with council estates, housing associations, tenant management organisations, housing co-operatives and community land trusts. The same goes for whether we are invited to speak at academic conferences, council scrutiny meetings and other organisations influencing housing policy. Every time we're written out of that debate by published authors and academics like Minton, Lees and Boughton we lose another chance both to make our work better known and to build the financial capability to continue doing it. As I've said before and no doubt will again, in our view this is crap behaviour, professionally dishonest and lacking in generosity; but it is also motivated by the political manipulation of the truth that defines the way the Labour Party and its supporters go about their business.
Finally, having mentioned all these estates and the campaigns to save them from demolition, John concludes that 'there are no obvious villains in this story'. This is the fence-sitting excuse of journalists who think not interrogating the lies of politicians, councillors and developers, and giving them equal weight to the verifiable facts produced by those resisting them, equates to a balanced view. It doesn't. It means you're too politically compromised by the truth to admit it, or too lazy to find it out, or too timid to say it, or too crap a writer to express it. This makes it all the more regrettable that John's book doesn't direct its readers to the ASH blog, whose more than 150 articles identify exactly who the villains are in this story. I was going to buy Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing – partly to support its author, partly because of what I might learn from reading it. As his blog shows, John has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of council housing, and I imagine his book contains more of it; but an account of council housing that, after 300 pages, refuses to identify who is responsible for its destruction, how this is being implemented and why, isn't one I want to buy. There's already enough disinformation out there published by the institutions and companies actively instigating its 'fall'.


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Sheriff's Office says Portland man found dead after riding bike east of Bend
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on June 16th, 2020 at 1:12 pm
(Photo: Deschutes County Sheriff's Office)
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office says a Portland man was found dead Saturday on a dirt trail north of Highway 20 about 28 miles east of Bend. According to their statement, 36-year-old John Eric Sims was believed to have been riding a mountain bike prior to his death.
Here's more from DCSO:
"On 6/14/20 at 12:32 p.m., deputies from the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a deceased male, who had been located by ATV riders. This location was approximately one mile north of Hwy 20 near milepost 28. Deputies arrived on scene and began conducting a death investigation. Detectives and a Deputy Medical Examiner from the Deschutes County Medical Examiner's Office arrived on scene to assist in the investigation. The male was later identified as John Eric Sims, age 36, of Portland, Oregon.
Front Page | 53 Comments
Bend launches 'Stay Healthy Streets' program in response to Covid-19
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on April 21st, 2020 at 3:26 pm
Bend's "Stay Healthy Streets" network.
Legislator's ODOT donation bill shows how desperate people are for safer roads
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on March 30th, 2017 at 3:17 pm
In 11 days last December, 10 people died while driving on highways in central Oregon.
How desperate are Oregonians for safer roads?
People in the central Oregon district of State Senator Tim Knopp were so distraught by a spate of fatal and serious injury collisions late last year, they worked with him to introduce a bill that would create a State Transportation Donation Fund. Senate Bill 798 had its first hearing on March 20th and it passed through the Senate Committee On Business and Transportation.
Senator Knopp, whose district includes the cities of Bend, Sunriver and Redmond, testified in favor of the bill at that hearing. "During an 11-day period last December we had 10 fatalities," he shared. "It was unbelievable. There was a father and a son, a pregnant woman, two Portland physics professors… It seemed quite hopeless, almost daily… You're kind of wondering, 'What is going on? What can we do? Is there a solution to this?'"
Cross Crusade heads to Bend for big Halloween weekend
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on October 27th, 2016 at 9:42 am
Come for the bike race, stay for the costumes (and the party, and the fun people, and the beer…).
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
The most anticipated weekend of cyclocross in Oregon is just two days away.
With half of the eight race Cross Crusade series in the books, organizers have a special event in store this year with a few new surprises and an entirely new course. Thousands of competitors and fans from throughout the state are expected to make the pilgrimmage to Bend for the traditional Halloween weekend. As usual, the festivities will be based on and around Deschutes Brewery in Bend's Old Mill District.
As you get your cowbells, bikes, bodies and costumes ready, here are few things to keep in mind…
There's an entirely new course this year. It's got a bit of everything: straight pavement sections, tight trails, and is likely to have some unexpected surprises. Organizers say race sponsor Red Bull is "bringing something very cool," to the course. We'll also get to pedal closer to the Deschutes River than ever before as the course winds its way behind the Les Schwab Ampitheater. Oh, and there's a massive stair run-up that already has people buzzing. Our friends from Deschutes Brewery shared this preview video of it on Instagram on Monday…
A video posted by Deschutes Brewery (@deschutesbeer) on Oct 24, 2016 at 1:46pm PDT
2005 ~ 2020 / BikePortland has supported this community for 15 years. Please support us in return.
As is tradition, there's a huge blowout party on Saturday night. This year it's called "Altercross" and it's a benefit for Oregon Adaptive Sports. The name is a reference to what organizers describe as, "An immersive alternative reality experience." "The theme dictates anything can happen," they continue, "from light, airy, whimsical & fun to dark, scary, creepy & odd… and everything in between!" These parties are known for excellent on-stage entertainment and this year is no different with over a half-dozen acts already lined up.
The headline band is Deltron 3030 an "alt-rap" trio from Oakland, California whose 2000 album, "warped space, bent time, transcended genre and blew minds, creating an album that still stands today as one of the most important records in the annals of underground hiphop."
In years past this 21-and-over party has had to turn people away, but it's in a new, larger space this year. Advance tickets are already sold out but plenty will be available at the door for $25. Check out the official event page on the Deschutes website or the Facebook event page for the latest updates.
If you want to experience true Oregon cyclocross — and arguably one of the best-run 'cross events in America — you won't want to miss this weekend. The team vibe is always strong at this event and this year will be no different. You have the best racers in the state, one of the largest race series in the world (in terms of participation) and the silliness and fun of Halloween costumes all over the place (the official costume day is Sunday). And did we mention it all happens on the grounds of one of the 8th largest craft brewer in the U.S.?!
There will also be a cross-country running race thrown into the mix on Saturday afternoon.
If you go the event, look for me and say hi. I'll be there all weekend to race and soak up the atmosphere and I'll be spending some time in the Giant Bicycles booth showing off my new bike!
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.
Cyclocross, Front Page, Racing | 1 Comment
The best of Bend's crazy, costumed 'cross racing
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on October 31st, 2011 at 2:21 pm
What a weekend!
(Photos © J. Maus)
Front Page, Racing | 15 Comments
'Cross, culture, and more: Bend's big bike weekend starts today!
In case you haven't heard, the central Oregon town of Bend has become a premiere bike town. As they proclaim on VisitBend.com, "No other town in America can boast 8 USA Cycling National Championships in 4 years!"
This weekend will only further Bend's reputation as they host the Day of the Dead Cyclocross Festival — three days of 'cross madness that will attract visitors from across the Pacific Northwest.
Front Page, Racing, Rides/Events | 1 Comment
Landis, ABC will bring national attention to Cascade Classic in Bend
by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on July 20th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Floyd Landis at today's opening stage.
(Photo: Pat Malach/Oregon Cycling Action)
CyclingNews reports today that embattled professional bike racer Floyd Landis will start the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend this week. In addition, CyclingNews reports that ABC's Nightline television show will be following him for an upcoming episode. The presence of Landis and ABC news cameras means the 31st edition of the race — and its host city of Bend — will attract national attention.
Landis had his 2006 Tour de France title stripped away after he failed an anti-doping test. Earlier this month, Landis spilled his guts to The Wall Street Journal about what he alleges is a culture systemic doping in the sport of cycling. Most notably, Landis accused global icon Lance Armstrong and several other teammates of knowingly using illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong has denied the allegations and a federal grand jury has begun an investigation.[Read more…]
Front Page, News, Racing | 35 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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'Laughing Waters' art exhibition opens at Minnesota Marine Art Museum next week
The artist, Karen Savage-Blue, will lead two gallery tours on Sept. 17, one day after the exhibition opens in Winona.
"Noticeably Still," a painting by Karen Savage-Blue. An exhibition of Savage-Blue's work opens at Winona's Minnesota Marine Art Museum on Sept. 16, 2022.
Contributed / Minnesota Marine Art Museum
WINONA — A new exhibition featuring an Indigenous artist's work will open at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona on Friday, Sept. 16.
Laughing Waters is a collection of paintings by Karen Savage-Blue, who is an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe. She is an artist and educator whose work appears in the permanent collections of the Tweed Museum of Art, the Minnesota Historical Society and the Fond du Lac Reservation.
The museum describes Savage-Blue's work as "dreamlike and surreal" and often depicting nature "in its raw form, creating a platform where thoughts and emotions overcome the tendency to decipher meaning."
Visitors can attend an opening reception for the artist on Sept. 16, 2022, from 5-7 p.m. At-the-door tickets are $10, but students and MMAM members can enter for free.
Savage-Blue will also lead two gallery Walk & Talk events on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, where she will lead a tour of her exhibition and talk about her work. The events, which start at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. are free with paid admission, but attendees must register in advance by calling MMAM at 507-474-6626.
Related Topics: WINONA AREAARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The former employee alleges that the department engaged in several tactics to force him to resign.
By Mark Wasson
Indiana man sentenced to 3 years for 2021 Rochester domestic assault
When a woman rebuked his advances, he punched her, held a firearm to her stomach and head and told her that if they did not get back together, he was going to kill her and then himself.
Hanh Tran shares her 'labor of love' with Rochester in her sushi cooking classes
Learning to make sushi can be a challenge, but Hanh Tran provides a fun, sociable course on how to make sushi with great instruction with her Sushi Ninja cooking course.
By Theodore Tollefson
Rochester Police Department daily incident reports: January 29-February 4, 2023
Wondering what the commotion was in your neighborhood? Here's a collection of daily incident reports from the week.
Manager Rocco Baldelli expects Twins to be a playoff contender in 2023


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A year into the pandemic, Florida is booming and Republican Gov. DeSantis is taking credit
"Everyone told me I was wrong," DeSantis, a Republican, said in an appeal to raise funds on Tuesday, drawing attention to his pandemic challenge. "I faced continued pressure from radical Democrats and the liberal media, but I refused to back down. It's clear: Florida got it right."
As many parts of the country embark on an awkward march toward normalcy, Florida has not only returned to work, but has been for most of the past year. DeSantis 'commitment to taking a laissez faire approach seems to be bearing fruit, at least politically, at least for now, as other governors capturing attention in the early stages of the pandemic now face stronger challenges.
Despite far fewer rules and restrictions, Florida lands in the middle of almost every state with a wide variety of coronavirus metrics. The state has had about 3% more cases per capita of Covid-19 than the United States as a whole, but 8% fewer deaths per capita. More than 32,000 Floridians have died from Covid-19, and the state's per capita mortality rate ranks 24th in the country.
"These closures have not worked. They have done great damage to our country," DeSantis said Tuesday at a news conference in Tallahassee. "We can never let something like this happen again. Florida took a different path. As a result, we've been more successful."
DeSantis, who is 42 years old and is the youngest governor in the nation, stands out among his peers and seizes what he and his supporters believe is a vindication of his policies.
School closures and openings are suddenly a new measure for voters to hold governors and other elected officials accountable, a sign that pandemic policy could open an uncertain chapter for many in public office. He will be among the governors who will test his record when he stands for re-election next year.
"We still have millions of children across this country who are denied access to face-to-face education," DeSantis told a news conference. "We still have companies closed in many parts of this country. We have millions and millions of lives destroyed."
"It wouldn't be booming if it closed"
With spring on the horizon, DeSantis suddenly seems to be in a position of strength compared to some of his fellow government officials, including many who took much more restrictive approaches to fighting the coronavirus that caused an effect of dripping into the economy.
He does not face a possible retreat as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, investigated as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, or who had guessed he had lifted a state mask mandate as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott .
DeSantis refused to apply a mask warrant in the first place, making it an atypical value a year ago. At the time, he was closely following President Donald Trump's playbook, which he then argued was good for business.
The unemployment rate in Florida is 4.8%, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to 6.8% in Texas, 8.8% in New York and 9% in California.
"If you look at what's happening in South Florida right now, I mean this place is booming. It wouldn't be booming if it closed," DeSantis said last month when a lot of tourists were starting to arrive. "Los Angeles is not booming. New York City is not booming. Here it is booming because you can live like a human being."
Florida has recorded about 9,204 cases per 100,000 people and about 150 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. Across the country, there have been about 8,969 cases per 100,000 people and 163 deaths per 100,000 people.
Despite much stricter restrictions, California only ranks better than Florida in both measures. Its mortality rate is about 5% lower than in Florida, meaning that about 1,500 lives could have been saved in Florida if the state's mortality rate matched that of California.
Still, comparing one state to another is complicated and often counterproductive, said Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida College of Public Health who maintains its own Covid dashboard. For example, he said, Florida's humidity and New York City's density offer completely different scenarios for fighting the coronavirus.
"What I'd like to ask about Florida is that if we had done things differently in Florida, how would it have been?" Salemi told CNN. "If you use these metrics in which Florida is relative to many other states, we're looking for half the group. So no, it hasn't been a disaster that we lead per capita mortality in per capita cases."
He added: "It's not always about doing it right in relation to your peers. It's how we can prevent so much morbidity and mortality from the virus, while keeping an eye on what's going on with our economy."
He said Florida has also benefited from local ordinances that require masks and restrict the size of meetings. DeSantis has banned cities and counties from fining people for refusing to wear masks and is provoking outrage among local officials by pushing to strip their authority to set such rules.
Throughout the pandemic, it is that challenging and often combative DeSantis that has become increasingly the love of Republicans. He rejects most interview requests, including those from CNN, although he frequently appears on Fox News and other propaganda platforms. It has been locked in one fight after another with the state media for transparency in Covid statistics and other issues.
Still, his policies have increased his position within his party, but they have certainly closed the door to any Republican challenge. Potential Democratic candidates are already spinning.
Representative Charlie Crist, who served as Republican governor of the state from 2007 to 2011 and changed parties in 2012, is among Democrats considering challenging DeSantis for re-election next year. He said he intended to decide before the summer.
Asked how he thought Florida had withstood the pandemic, Christ said, "It's a mixed bag, to be honest."
"We have a light at the end of the tunnel feeling and that's really a gift from God," Christ told CNN in an interview in his office here. "On the other hand, there are about 33,000 colleagues in Florida who have died now. And that's incredibly sad, tragic and more than unfortunate. How are we doing it? Well, we're going through it like the rest of the country and just doing the best you can ". v
Christ and other Florida Democrats call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into whether DeSantis gave preference to donors later vaccine clinics by invitation only they were established in at least two exclusive communities. Covid-19's exclusive clinics allowed some 6,000 people to jump ahead of tens of thousands of seniors on waiting lists in Manatee and Charlotte counties, where the records took place.
"Was preference given to some rich, Caucasian Republican communities?" Said Christ. "Because it certainly looks like it."
A spokeswoman for the governor has dismissed the accusation and said, "The insinuation that the policy has for the distribution of vaccines in Florida is unfounded and ridiculous."
"I think he made a bet and it worked"
Here in Florida, where beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico pile up this week in ways not seen for more than a year, the full story of the pandemic has yet to be told. he has written as President Joe Biden inherits the challenge and has accelerated vaccines here and across the country. However, health experts and local officials are concerned that a spring break holiday parade could contribute to an increase in Covid-19 cases.
Tom Golden, owner of a restaurant and bar along the busy stretch of Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg, said he didn't have much of an opinion on DeSantis a year ago. But with his business not only surviving, but prospering, he offers an amount of credit to the governor.
"When he took office, he wasn't sure what to expect," Golden said in an interview just before lunch on a sunny morning this week. "But he didn't do anything to hurt me as a businessman or as a Floridian. Very well with me."
After allowing the companies to open after being closed for several weeks late last spring, Golden said he remembers having mixed feelings about the balance of keeping the economy alive and protecting the health of the public.
"Well, of course, as a business owner, I supported it, but as a human being, I still thought it was a horrible position," Golden said. "It's hard to measure. I think he made a good decision."
Conversations with more than a dozen Floridians offered a broad assessment of views on DeSantis 'treatment of the coronavirus crisis. Several people suggested that they did not initially support him, but in retrospect they found themselves approving of his decision to reopen the economy and schools.
A woman walking down the St. Petersburg pier talked about her grandchildren in California, who have attended virtually every school year. He said he believed Florida's approach was better, given the temperate climate and the ability to be outside. He refused to be identified by his name, but praised DeSantis' decisions that have allowed the orchestra to resume its performance here and prosper the economy.
Molly Minton, who works as a lab supervisor, said she remembers being discouraged when she left home from work and saw crowded bars and restaurants. Looking back, she said, she's glad many small businesses could stay open and believes Florida was very lucky in many ways.
"I think he took a bet and it worked," Minton said of the governor.
In an expansive state of more than 21 million people, where some estimates say about 1,000 new residents arrive every day, many people said they had no opinion about DeSantis and didn't know much about it.
He was born in Jacksonville and grew up on the Gulf Coast, just north of here in Dunedin, and had a love of baseball that sent his team to the Little League World Series. He later played off the field while studying at Yale. He graduated from Harvard Law School and worked as a naval prosecutor, including a stay in Iraq as a JAG Navy lawyer advising a SEAL team.
In 2012, he won a seat in Congress and was elected governor in 2018 two months after turning 40. He was largely unknown during the primary campaign until he got the endorsement of Trump, who became aware of him through frequent appearances on Fox News.
Now, DeSantis is seen by many grassroots conservatives as a potential candidate for the 2024 presidency. That path depends on his government re-election next year.
Its long-term future, of course, also depends on the outcome of the rest of the pandemic. Still, he clearly hopes to make his new business card, which he telegraphed in a fundraising appeal for Republican governors he sent to supporters on Tuesday.
"Right now," DeSantis wrote, "my state of Florida is one of the only states that said no to oppressive closures and that it has become an oasis of freedom for Americans."
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Democrats are waiting for the decision on whether immigration can be in Build Back Better
Idaho GOP governor signs 'heartbeat' abortion ban into law
Biden announces the third list of judicial candidates
Blinken meets with WHO director to reaffirm US support for second investigation into Covid outbreak
Senators trust $ 1 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal to be unveiled on Sunday


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Rémi Quirion,  (born January 9, 1955) is a Canadian scientist. He is the first Chief Scientist of Quebec.

Born in Lac-Drolet, Quebec, Quirion received a Ph.D. from Université de Sherbrooke in 1980. He was a Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University and Scientific Director of the Douglas Hospital Research Centre.

Honours
In 1993, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. In 2004, he was awarded the Government of Quebec's Prix Wilder-Penfield. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 1997, he was awarded the Léo-Pariseau Prize and the Prix Michel-Sarrazin in 2007.

References

External links
 Le scientifique en chef

1955 births
Living people
Knights of the National Order of Quebec
Academic staff of McGill University
Officers of the Order of Canada
People from Estrie
Université de Sherbrooke alumni

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Bill Mandell Revisits the Need for Clarity under Massachusetts Law for Permitted Health Provider Disclosure to Protect Public Safety
by Bill Mandell
In the wake of yet another senseless mass killing tragedy I am posting an article I wrote in 2013 for the Boston Bar Association Health Law Reporter on the need for a new law in Massachusetts allowing health care providers to report dangerous persons or situations. Click here to read the article.
Pierce & Mandell Sponsor St. Camillus Health Center Golf Tournament
Pierce & Mandell was a proud sponsor of the third annual St. Camillus Health Center golf tournament held at Blissful Meadows Country Club in Uxbridge on May 24. The tournament raised thousands of dollars for St. Camillus, a non-profit facility located in Whitinsville that provides rehabilitation, skilled nursing and short and long term care to the poor, sick and elderly. Pierce & Mandell lawyers Robert Kirby, Bill Mandell, Michael Fee and Scott Zanolli braved challenging weather conditions in support of this very worthy charitable endeavor.
Bill Mandell will be Boston Bar Association Featured Panelist
Health Law Practice leader, Bill Mandell, will be a featured panelist on April 28, 2016 at the Boston Bar Association's seminar entitled: "New DOI Guidance on Direct Primary Care Practices in Massachusetts."
Pierce & Mandell Participated in Yankee Dental Congress 2016
For the seventh consecutive year, Pierce & Mandell, P.C. was proud to be part of the Yankee Dental Congress, held January 28th through January 30th at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.
Yankee Dental Congress is a trade show and convention that draws thousands of dental professionals each year. Pierce & Mandell attorneys William M. Mandell, Michael C. Fee, Hannah Schindler Spinelli and Karen Rabinovici met with dental professionals who were interested in legal advice on all dental law and ethics, including dental practice transitions and sales, associate buy-ins, leases, employment and service agreements, and staff employment issues.
Click here for more information on Yankee Dental Congress. For more information on Dental Law contact Pierce & Mandell, P.C.
Bill Mandell Will be a Featured Panelist at the Boston Bar Association Seminar
Health Law Practice leader, Bill Mandell, will be a featured panelist on Thursday, January 7, 2016 at the Boston Bar Association's seminar entitled "Accountable Care Organizations: How They Work, Do They Work?"
More Substance Abuse Treatment Beds Needed to Take on Opioid Crisis - Boston, MA
By Thomas Kenney and Brandon Saunders
If the image of the crumbling state hospital in the Leonardo DiCaprio film Shutter Island seems eerily familiar, it may be because the building used in the film was the former Medfield State Hospital, itself shuttered along with most state hospitals as the Commonwealth moved away from institutional care in favor of a community-based treatment model several decades ago.
While that image might spark a debate about the wisdom of deinstitutionalization, it also may provoke dialogue about how these facilities could be restored to productive use as addiction treatment centers to grapple with a rising opioid crisis that will likely get worse before it gets better.
Much of the current debate over a comprehensive legislative proposal by Governor Charlie Baker focuses on limiting prescriptions physicians may write for these highly addictive drugs, and a measure that emergency room medical staff be permitted (or even required) to place a 72-hour hold on an addict who appears in the ER if the treating physician judges that person to be a danger to him or herself or others.
What hasn't received as much attention is what occurs after that patient is released – whether it is the same day they appeared in the ER or 72 hours later. What happens next?
There is much that should be done on the front end of the addiction crisis, but little will change unless we also expand treatment beds in a system that is already beyond capacity.
What is also undermining the effort to get addicts into treatment, according to Health Policy Briefs, is a pattern of insurer denials of mental health and substance abuse treatment claims as compared to other medical claims, despite efforts by Congress to close that inequity.
The drug addiction crisis in Massachusetts goes beyond the 1,200 accidental opioid deaths reported in 2014. The state's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) reports that 107,358 people in Massachusetts were admitted into an alcohol or drug substance abuse program in fiscal year 2014.
Under existing Massachusetts law, those suffering from severe drug or alcohol addiction can be involuntarily committed to a treatment program for up to 90 days by a district court judge when all other efforts have failed. The state's highest court has recently ruled that hearings on these so-called "Section 35" commitments require a lower burden of proof, with hearsay evidence allowed, and a "clear and convincing" standard applied, as opposed to the stricter "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard utilized in criminal proceedings.
As attorneys who obtain and enforce involuntary commitments of those with alcohol and drug addictions, we see the impact of an acute shortage of treatment beds. We have successfully petitioned the courts for the involuntary commitment of those so afflicted with a drug or alcohol addiction that they are in danger of significant harm to themselves or others, only to see them leave the treatment facility within a few weeks and then reappear at hospital emergency rooms. Local emergency medical leaders are rightfully concerned that short stays in ERs after commitments may do more harm than good to access to care in many instances.
The state's two facilities for treating addicts are chronically overcrowded and underfunded and can barely cope with alcohol addiction, never mind a rising narcotic and opioid addiction crisis. Those in treatment under an involuntary commitment are typically discharged after as little as 20 days in what amounts to a "spin dry" detox that has little chance of curing the addiction.
In our opinion, the Commonwealth's plan to open new secure treatment facilities at Taunton State Hospital and Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in early 2016 will not be nearly enough to handle the overwhelming increase in the demand for substance abuse treatment beds.
One promising approach, developed by Beth Israel Deaconess in Plymouth and other key local stakeholders, is broader in scope. BID Plymouth CEO Peter Holden recently argued that this pandemic needs to be addressed with a community-based approach that includes local hospitals, police and the courts, in a coordinated approach and doesn't just rely on hospitals treating the opioid crisis simply as a medical issue.
There is no panacea, and none of these well-meaning measures alone will change the arc of this crisis unless they are pursued together with longer-term substance treatment resources - inpatient beds, residential programs and specialty treatment centers to treat addicted patients and keep them long enough to provide meaningful treatment and a reasonable chance for recovery.
Thomas Kenney and Brandon Saunders are attorneys at Pierce & Mandell, P.C., Boston, who specialize in involuntary commitment proceedings.
Bill Mandell was Quoted in ED Legal Letter – Boston, MA
Bill Mandell was quoted in the attached article Are ED Policies Inflexible? featured in the publication ED Legal Letter (November 2015), discussing the importance of having good EMTALA policies for hospitals and their medical staffs. To see the article click here.
Quality Metrics and Physician Guidelines in Malpractice – Boston, MA
Bill Mandell, Head of Pierce & Mandell's Health Law Practice, was recently quoted in an article appearing in the publication, ED Legal Letter, on the use of quality metrics and physician guidelines in malpractice suits. To see the article click here.
Direct Primary Care: A New Form of Primary Care Delivery for Massachusetts and the US?
One of the great pleasures we have as health lawyers is the opportunity to work with caring and innovative professionals who are constantly striving to re-engineer and improve our system of health care delivery for their patients.
One such new innovation taking root here in Massachusetts, and growing around the country, is direct primary care (DPC), a new model of primary care that offers affordable access to primary physicians.
DPC is rendered by primary care physicians who have opted to withdraw from all government programs and health insurance plans and alternatively charge a set amount for a defined scope of services, including both standard preventive and diagnostic services generally covered by health insurance, as well as additional personalized features associated with concierge type practices. Unlike concierge medicine, however, part of the established fee covers medically necessary services.
Patients who sign up with a DPC primary care physician will pay out of pocket, but it may well become a bargain if they are enrolled in an increasingly prevalent high-deductible health insurance plan.
A Boston public radio station, WBUR, just did a story focused on DPC in Massachusetts and interviewed our client, Jeff Gold, M.D. Dr. Gold shared his experiences so far as one of the first DPC practices operating in Massachusetts. The story can be found at http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2015/05/direct-primary-care-doctor-availability.
As Dr. Gold states in the story, Massachusetts should permit DPC practices to render services for a fixed fee without requiring regulation as a form of insurance. DPC is recognized under the federal Affordable Care Act as one of many options that should be available to consumers looking to secure more affordable access to health care. If DPC encourages medical students to choose internal and family medicine as their specialties and encourages 50 and 60 something primary care physicians to remain in active practice longer, it could actually help solve - and not exacerbate -- the current national primary care physician shortage.
Dr. Gold is a pioneer in a rapidly changing health care market, but he will hardly be the last physician who looked at the current system and decided he could do better for his patients while realizing his own aspirations of spending more time with patients and less time on insurance claims, pre-approvals and other paperwork.
William M. Mandell is the leader of Pierce & Mandell's health law practice and can be reached at 617-720-2444 or bill@piercemandell.com.
Addiction Treatment Centers in Massachusetts Being Overrun By Epidemic
By Brandon Saunders
Governor Charlie Baker's recent description of drug addiction in Massachusetts as a "public health emergency" is a welcome acknowledgement of a crisis that is swamping treatment centers, hospitals and the criminal justice system. The Governor is asking a task force he assembled to come back with strategies for dealing with addiction, treatment and recovery. Those recommendations are expected soon.
Governor Baker's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders, describes the problem in stark terms: "The costs associated with treating opioid addiction are great, however inaction or not labeling it for what it is - which is an epidemic - is actually much greater," Secretary Sudders said, as the Baker task force held public meetings to better understand the threat. "I recognize that there are no quick fixes and that we have lots to do."
The scale of this crisis is unprecedented. In 2014, there were more than 1,000 accidental opiod-based drug overdoses in Massachusetts, and 868 confirmed opiod overdoses the year before that. The state Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) reports that 107,358 people in Massachusetts were admitted into a substance abuse program in fiscal year 2014, 44 percent of whom reported prior mental health treatment, and nearly 60 percent self-reported heroin use. Those numbers reflect only those who were admitted to rehabilitation centers. A large number of addicts refuse treatment.
These individuals repeatedly present themselves to the emergency department of acute care hospitals, putting an even greater strain on an already overrun system. Once their acute conditions are treated, physicians at the facilities prescribe substance-abuse treatment, but often to no avail. In my representation of a large, Boston-based acute care hospital, I have dealt with individuals who had presented themselves to the ER more than a hundred times in one year for substance-abuse related conditions.
Under existing Massachusetts law, those suffering from severe drug or alcohol addiction can be involuntarily committed to a treatment program for up to 90 days. The law that enables interested parties to commit someone to a treatment center (Chapter 123, Section 35) establishes a process by which family members, a physician, or legal guardian can petition a district court judge to order that commitment when all other efforts have failed.
The reality, however, is that Section 35 cannot cope with the rising tide of addiction, particularly for the uninsured or MassHealth recipients who are invariably sent to the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC) at the Bridgewater State Hospital for men, and MCI Framingham for women under an involuntary commitment. Both of those facilities are chronically overcrowded and underfunded, resulting in a "spin dry" detox that often sends them out on the streets after just 10 days without a real opportunity for a meaningful change or lasting sobriety that the 90-day commitment might have afforded. And then the cycle repeats itself.
Acute care hospitals are not the only system choking under the pressure of untreated addiction. The systemic failure to successfully treat addiction is also swamping our criminal justice system. Those who continue down the path of addiction are often arrested and prosecuted for drug- or alcohol-related offenses, contributing to overcrowded conditions in state and county correction facilities when they might have been more successfully, and more appropriately, treated in a substance abuse or mental health facility.
Governor Baker is to be commended for taking this issue on, but it will take the leaders of our healthcare and legal systems, together with our elected officials, to get ahead of what is still a rising tide of needless deaths and hopeless addiction. We need to solve the ineffective and often wasteful ways we handle substance abuse and addictions in the Commonwealth and hopefully these most recent initiatives will move us in the right direction.
Brandon Saunders is an associate attorney at Pierce & Mandell LLC in Boston and specializes in guardianships, incapacitated adults and civil commitments