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Trump’s pick to lead federal housing agency has opposed efforts to aid the poor
Health department confirms human H5 bird flu case in LA County
By Jesse Coburn and Andy Kroll, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
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s Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner may soon oversee the nation’s efforts to build affordable apartments, protect poor tenants and aid the homeless. As a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, Turner voted against those very initiatives. Turner supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance. He opposed a bill to expand affordable rental housing. He voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against twobills that called merely to study homelessness among young people
and veterans. Behind those votes lay a deep-seated skepticism about the value of government efforts to alleviate poverty, a skepticism that Turner has voiced again and again. He has called welfare “dangerous, harmful” and “one of the most destructive things for the family.” When one interviewer said receiving government assistance was keeping recipients in “bondage” of “a worse form to find oneself in than slavery,” Turner agreed. Such views would seemingly place Turner at odds with the core work of HUD, a sprawling federal agency that serves as a backstop against homelessness for millions of the nation’s poor, elderly and disabled. With an annual discretion-
ary budget of $72 billion, the department provides rental assistance to 2 million families, oversees the country’s 800,000 public housing units, fights housing discrimination and segregation and provides support to the nation’s 650,000 homeless. If Turner’s record indicates how he will direct the agency’s agenda, it is those clinging to the bottom of the housing market who have the most to lose, researchers and advocates said. “It just doesn’t seem to me like this is someone who is at all aligned with what the values of that agency should be,” said Cea Weaver, director of the advocacy group Housing Justice for All. “It’s a deregulatory agenda, and it’s an anti-poor
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people agenda.” Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, said Turner’s views, if translated into policy, could increase homelessness. “If, at a fundamental level, you believe that people getting assistance with their rent when they’re very poor and struggling, if you think that’s actually dependence and a bad thing, you’re going to try to undermine those programs,” he said. One former colleague offered a more optimistic view of Turner’s stewardship of HUD. “My sense of him is he will try to help people,” said Richard Peña Raymond, a Democratic
he Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has confirmed the county’s first human case of H5 bird flu in a worker exposed to livestock infected with the virus, officials said last week. The infected individual is an adult who became infected at a worksite, according to Public Health. The person had mild symptoms, has been treated with antivirals and is recovering at home. The public’s overall risk of H5 bird flu remains low with no evidence of person to person spread of the virus, officials said. The infected person’s close contacts and other workers exposed to H5 at the worksite are being monitored for symptoms and have been offered personal protective equipment, testing and antiviral prophylaxis. County officials along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health were investigating. “People rarely get bird flu, but those who interact with infected livestock or wildlife h ave a greater risk of infection,” LA County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement Dec. 23. “This case reminds us to take basic precautions to prevent being exposed. People should avoid unprotected contact with sick or dead animals including cows, poultry, and wild birds; avoid consuming raw or undercooked animal products, such as raw milk; and protect pets and backyard poultry from exposure to wild animals. It is also important for everyone to get the seasonal flu vaccine, which can help prevent severe seasonal flu
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President Donald J. Trump listens as Scott Turner, executive director of the White House Opportinuity and Revitalization Council, addresses the audience Wednesday, April 17, 2019. | Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead
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illness and lower the risk of getting both seasonal and bird flu infections at the same time if exposed.” Symptoms of an H5 bird flu infection in humans include eye redness or discharge, fever, cough or difficulty breathing, sore throat, muscle or body aches, diarrhea and vomiting, officials said. People who work with infected animals such as cows, poultry or wildlife continue to be at higher risk of exposure, according to the county health department, which has been working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the LA County agricultural community to ensure groups at higher risk receive information and resources to help identify and protect against H5 infection. Farm workers, workers at dairy, egg and meat processing facilities and backyard flock owners have been provided with gloves, face masks and eye protection along with access to testing and flu vaccines. Anyone who was exposed to sick animals and is experiencing symptoms of bird flu should immediately contact a health care provider and local health department, officials said. Public Health suggested these measures to protect against H5 transmission: -- While working with animals, their feces or water sources or raw milk, people should wear personal protective equipment — disposable gloves, an N-95 mask, goggles, coveralls that keep the wearer dry, a head or hair cover, and boot covers or boots. -- Wash hands with soap