Some educators of color resist push for police-free schools
School districts nationwide are working to remove police officers from campuses, but some Black and Indigenous educational leaders are resisting the push prompted by the national reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality.
Some say the system is hamstrung by a complicated mix of police response policies and a lack of support for alternative programs, which play a role in students of color being disproportionately punished and arrested — the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. Some support individual officers skilled at working with students. Others say they need to learn more as activists urge change.
‘Into the Wild’ bus likely lands a home at Fairbanks museum
An infamous bus appears headed to a new home at a museum in Fairbanks after being removed from Alaska’s backcountry to deter people from making dangerous, sometimes deadly treks to visit the site where a young man documented his demise in 1992.
The state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday, July 30, that it intends to negotiate with the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North to display the bus, which was flown from its location near Denali National Park and Preserve in June.
The bus became a beacon for those wishing to retrace the steps of Christopher McCandless, who hiked to the bus in 1992. The 24-year-old Virginia man died from starvation when he couldn’t hike back out because of the swollen Teklanika River. He kept a journal of his ordeal, which was discovered when his body was found, and his story became famous with author Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book “Into the Wild” and a movie of the same name.
Census head wasn’t told about Trump district drawing order
U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham testified Wednesday, July 29, that he wasn’t informed ahead of time about President Donald Trump’s order seeking to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from the process of redrawing congressional districts.
Dillingham testified during an emergency congressional hearing that he was unaware of anyone from the Census Bureau playing a role in the order that civil rights groups have called unconstitutional. The bureau is collecting the headcount data that will be used to redraw the districts.
Opponents of Trump’s order say it could discourage immigrants and noncitizens from participating in the once-a-decade headcount used for deciding how many congressional seats each states gets. If approved, the order could cost California, Florida and Texas congressional seats.
Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news content
The Australian government said on July 31 it plans to give Google and Facebook three months to negotiate with Australian media businesses fair pay for news content.
In releasing a draft of a mandatory code of conduct, the government aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the global digital giants pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies.
Google said Australia’s draft code was a heavy-handed step that could impede the digital economy. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google and Facebook would be the first digital platforms targeted by the proposed legislation but others could follow.
