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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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Like many Americans old enough to remember the fall of Saigon, the video of people being evacuated from Kabul brings back memories of another time and another war. Those memories – along with some words from the past – remain vivid as the news is filled with reports of refugees struggling to get out of Afghanistan by crossing borders into other countries and controversy over accepting evacuees hoping for resettlement in the United States. Washington state was in the forefront of accepting refugees from Southeast Asia after the fall of Saigon, thanks to then-Gov. Dan Evans directing the state to develop a resettlement program at a time when other states were working to keep refugees out.
Some weeks ago, in my capacity I assisted in setting up military honors for a deceased veteran. In my dealings with the family, I discovered that the veteran had committed suicide. Why is unknown. He was a highly decorated U.S. Army veteran. A well-respected member of his community, a loving father, and a loving son. Then why did he take his own life? The members of his family and community asked what we could have done, and why did he take his own life. What were the daemons that haunted him? He was seeking counseling. Then Why? Had he reached a point where he did not want to go on? What was it that put him over the edge? What kind of pain was he in? We may never know.
A paycheck is not worth a life, period. When people are hurt and killed at work, our staff at the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and I take it incredibly personally. Most workplace hazards and the injuries or illnesses they cause are predictable and preventable. That includes extremely hot weather, which is a significant safety risk for outdoor workers we count on to grow our food, pave our roads, and construct our buildings. Clearly, employers can’t stop the heat, but they should expect it and must protect their workers from it. Washington is one of just three states with rules to protect against excessive heat exposure. But as climate change makes summers in Washington hotter, heat waves with temperatures above 100 degrees are only going to become more common.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed concerns Sunday that the public may increasingly see the court as a partisan institution. Justices must be “hyper vigilant to make sure they’re not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too,” Barrett said at a lecture hosted by the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center. Introduced by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who founded the center and played a key role in pushing through her confirmation in the last days of the Trump administration, Barrett spoke at length about her desire for others to see the Supreme Court as nonpartisan.
In a blitz of TV ads and a last-minute rally, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged voters Sunday to turn back a looming recall vote that could remove him from office, while leading Republican Larry Elder broadly criticized the media for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest.
Firefighters were making progress on a wildfire that jumped across a Southern California freeway and spread across dry hillsides while a new blaze forced residents of a Northern California community to evacuate. A fire broke out Saturday afternoon near Castaic in northern Los Angeles County. Pushed by 10-15 mph winds, the blaze chewed through tinder-dry brush and jumped across the busy freeway, spread across more than a half of a square mile. ... Meanwhile, a fire that erupted Sunday afternoon prompted Mendocino County authorities to evacuate parts of Calpella, a community on the Russian River about 6 miles north of Ukiah. Video footage posted on Twitter shows the fire pushing in the direction of Lake Mendocino. Further north, residents of a mountain town devastated by the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe were allowed back Sunday to inspect the damage. Most of Grizzly Flat’s homes, as well as the school, post office, church and fire station were destroyed in the first days of the month-old fire. Evacuation orders were also lifted for homes along State Route 50 as containment of the 342-square-mile wildfire increased to 65%.
A Democratic senator vital to the fate of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending said Sunday he won’t support even half that amount or the ambitious timetable envisioned for passing it. The stand by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was described as unacceptable by the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is helping craft the measure. But Democrats have no votes to spare if they want to enact Biden’s massive “Build Back Better” agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support.
Kansas City Southern has decided that a $31 billion bid from Canadian Pacific is the best of two offers on the table to buy the railroad. The Kansas City, Missouri, company said in a statement Sunday that it has notified rival bidder Canadian National that it intends to terminate a merger agreement and make a deal with Canadian Pacific. But it’s not final yet. Canadian National still has five business days to negotiate amendments to its offer, and the Kansas City Southern board could determine that a revised CN offer is better.
Pope Francis urged Hungary on Sunday to “extend its arms towards everyone,” in a veiled critique of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-migrant policies, as the pontiff opened a four-day visit to Central Europe in his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. Francis, 84, appeared in good form during his short visit to Budapest, presiding over a lengthy Mass and standing as he waved to crowds from his open-sided popemobile. He used a golf cart to avoid walking long distances indoors and confessed at one point that he had to sit because “I’m not 15 anymore.” But otherwise he kept up the typical grueling pace of a papal trip despite his ongoing recovery.
Cities and urban counties across the U.S. are raising concerns that a recent rule from President Joe Biden’s administration could preclude them from tapping into $350 billion of coronavirus relief aid to expand high-speed internet connections. Biden has set a goal of delivering fast, affordable internet to every American household. The massive American Rescue Plan took a step toward that by including broadband infrastructure among the primary uses for pandemic aid flowing to each city, county and state. But an interim rule published by the U.S. Treasury Department has narrowed the broadband eligibility. It focuses on areas that lack reliable broadband, which connects devices to the internet through a cable or data line, at download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps.
When an enormous statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee was hoisted off its pedestal Wednesday in the former capital of the Confederacy and carted off to storage, many civil rights activists saw it as a step toward a more inclusive Virginia, if only a symbolic one. In interviews, activists across generations celebrated the development but said work remains to both address systemic societal inequities and tell a more complete story of Richmond’s history in its public spaces.
A declassified FBI document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11 attacks details contacts the men had with Saudi associates in the United States but does not provide proof that senior kingdom officials were complicit in the plot. The document released Saturday, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, is the first investigative record to be disclosed since President Joe Biden ordered a declassification review of materials that for years have remained out of public view. The 16-page document is a summary of an FBI interview done in 2015 with a man who had frequent contact with Saudi nationals in the U.S. who supported the first hijackers to arrive in the country before the attacks. Biden ordered the Justice Department and other agencies to conduct a declassification review and release what documents they can over the next six months. He was under pressure from victims’ families, who have long sought the records as they pursue a lawsuit in New York alleging that Saudi government officials supported the hijackers.
On Sept. 10, 2001, I was teaching an introduction to Islam class at the University of Iowa, where I was, at the age of 28, the first full-time professor of Islamic studies in the history of the state. That day, I had about 15 students in my class. Two days later, an additional 272 students showed up.
Officials say they’ve destroyed a second nest of Asian giant hornets found in northwestern Washington state this year and are preparing to take down a third. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said in a Facebook post that a team eradicated the nest Saturday in northern Whatcom County, near the town of Blaine along the Canadian border. It said a third nest this season has been located and that planning is underway to eradicate it.
North Korea says it successfully test fired what it described as newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months, underscoring how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday the cruise missiles, which had been under development for two years, successfully hit targets 932 miles away during flight tests on Saturday and Sunday.
Poland’s top political leaders on Sunday attended the beatification of two revered figures of the Catholic church — a cardinal who led the Polish church’s resistance to communism and a blind nun who devoted her life to helping others who couldn’t see. Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Mother Elzbieta Roza Czacka took a step toward sainthood at a time of declining church attendance and as some Poles have left the church over sex abuse scandals and the church’s coziness with the current right-wing government.
Iran agreed Sunday to allow international inspectors to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there, potentially averting a diplomatic showdown this week. The announcement by Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after a meeting he held with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Tehran still leaves the watchdog in the same position it has faced since February, however. Tehran holds all recordings at its sites as negotiations over the U.S. and Iran returning to the 2015 nuclear deal remain stalled in Vienna. Meanwhile, Iran is now enriching small amounts of uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow.
Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities, including at post-graduate levels, but classrooms will be gender-segregated and Islamic dress is compulsory, the Taliban government’s new higher education minister said Sunday. The announcement came as a Taliban official said Qatar’s foreign minister arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul — the highest level visitor since the Taliban announced their interim Cabinet. There was no immediate confirmation of the visit by Qatari officials.
Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election. The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves. They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right — including another female politician Valerie Pecresse — and among the Greens.
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