Desert Star Weekly May 8, 2020 issue!

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Friday, May 8, 2020 Vol. 24 No. 36

San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra Awarded California Arts Council Arts Exposure Grant

By Desert Star Staff Today the California Arts Council announced a grant award of $19,000 to the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra as part of its Arts Exposure program.

The funding will combine with other grants to cover expenses related to the organization’s annual concerts for the schools in 2021.

“We are thrilled with this opportunity,” said

By Desert Star Staff From devastation in hospitals to fears of infecting family members, health care workers are taking on added stress during the pandemic.

Some Minnesota nurses recently shared how the crisis is affecting their mental well-being. A New York City doctor’s suicide last month brought to light how overwhelmed health workers might feel right now.

While Minnesota might not see the same impact New York City has, registered nurse Sari Sanchez said that doesn’t mean the situation is easy to absorb. Sanchez said she broke down in tears after being informed she

would do some COVID-19 shifts at her hospital in the Twin Cities. She said those tears were prompted by concern for her family.

“I’m not worried about myself,” Sanchez said.

“But I have kids and I don’t want my kids to get sick.”

Sanchez shared her thoughts during a recent forum hosted by the nonprofit group Mental Health Minnesota. She said after the initial wave of emotions, it has become easier to manage the situation. But the panel noted furloughs and layoffs have created even more anxiety among staff members

Symphony executive director Dr. Anne Viricel. “These performances are incredibly important to the cultural vitality of our community and it is only through generous grants like this that we are

able to provide them.”

The San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 1,500 grants awarded

to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state for their work in support of the agency’s mission to strengthen Continues on Page 3

For Nurses, Physical Health Not Only Concern During Crisis

Continues on Page 3

Experts say health care workers are experiencing “first-hand trauma” during the pandemic because they are at risk of becoming infected while seeing their colleagues get sick and, in some cases, die. (Adobe Stock)

Native American Voters Hit with ‘Triple Whammy’ of Barriers

By Desert Star Staff Native Americans are facing a series of barriers to voting in Montana’s upcoming primary election. Due to COVID-19, all Montana counties are providing a vote-by-mail option.

Marci McLean, executive director of Western Native Voice, said this presents the first challenge for Native Americans on reservations the overwhelming majority of whom have their mail delivered to a post office box. Because of the virus, McLean said, there are health risks with giving folks rides to ballot drop-offs or their post office, which can be miles away.

In addition, the new Ballot Interference Protection Act will prevent groups such as Western Native Voice from delivering more than six ballots at a time, curtailing a common practice of ballot collection in Native American communities.

“The Ballot Interference Protection Act and COVID and vote by mail - it’s a triple

whammy on our communities and the right and access to vote,” McLean said.

McLean said her group picked up more than 800 ballots in the 2018 election.

Ballots will be mailed on Friday for the June 2 primary.

The Ballot Interference Protection Act was passed by voters in 2018. Western Native Voice and Montana Native Vote are challenging it in court, arguing the law disenfranchises Native Americans.

Jacqueline De Leon is an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, which is representing the groups along with ACLU of Montana.

She said voter engagement groups on Native American reservations rely heavily on ballot collectors - who go to folks’ homes throughout a community, pick up around 100 ballots and drop them off.

“And that’s because they’re putting on a ton of miles on their car, they’re driving really long distances to get those

Voting by mail is hard for Native Americans who live on reservations because the vast majority use post office boxes. (ray_explores/Flickr) ballots. And that keeps the person who is trying to vote from having to travel those distances themselves because they’re just prohibitively far,” De Leon said.

McLean’s group is waiting to hear if a federal judge will

block the law. In the meantime, she said her organization is implementing a robust digital campaign to get out the vote and is thinking of this primary as a trial run for November.

“We’re all hands on deck for this primary election just

in case it’s the same in the general and we have to learn from this one how to finetune things for the general election,” McLean said.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Conservative Group Urges BLM to Protect Taxpayers on Oil Leases

By Desert Star Staff CHEYENNE, Wyo. -Right-leaning conservation groups are calling on the Trump administration to suspend oil and gas leasing on public lands through the end of 2020.

David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, says with demand for oil, and oil prices, at record lows during the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau of Land Management should stop incentivizing production by making it cheaper through rockbottom leasing prices and suspended royalty payments.

“By doing that, you are

robbing taxpayers,” he states.

“You’re basically saying ‘we’re going to give this oil away for a cheaper price, when the world doesn’t need the oil, and not have it around to sell at a better rate for taxpayers.’”

Jenkins says most lease sales, including those auctioned off in Wyoming last month, are going for either the minimum bid amount, $2 per acre, or the lower, non-competitive rate around a $1.50 an acre.

The Trump administration has long argued that lowering barriers to drilling on public lands is necessary to achieve its policy of energy dominance.

Jenkins contends that

the U.S. already has achieved that dominance, which he notes also has contributed to a flooded global market now struggling to find storage.

Jenkins says the BLM is acting as if extraction is the only valuable use of public lands.

“And the fact is, public

lands have a lot of values: hunting, fishing, other types of recreation, backpacking,” he points out. “And we need those lands available for those other uses as well.”

Jenkins says the BLM is proposing additional lease sales this year for nearly a quarter of a million acres

of public lands in eastern states, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming.

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, oil and gas companies were sitting on nearly 10,000 unused permits to drill at the end of 2019.

With the market flooded with oil and storage running out, critics are protesting the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to lease large tracts of public lands at bargain-basement prices. (John Hill/ Wikimedia Commons)

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Pompeo believes coronavirus was ‘man-made’

By Desert Star Staff In his rush to accuse Beijing of unleashing the scourge of Covid-19 on an unsuspecting world, the US Secretary of State said the coronavirus was man-made, before making a U-turn without even blinking.

“The best experts so far seem to think it was manmade. I don’t have reason to disbelieve them at this point,” Mike Pompeo told ABC’s ‘This Week’ when asked about a statement from the US intelligence community that unequivocally said the opposite.

Host Martha Raddatz twice asked Pompeo to clarify whether his view differed from that of American intelligence,

and he voiced his total support for the spies – though he stopped short of actually saying “I don’t believe the virus was man-made.”

Pompeo used his airtime to once again accuse China of covering up the severity of Covid-19 in the early days of the outbreak. “The Chinese Communist Party had the opportunity to prevent all the calamity that has befallen the world,” he claimed.

“The Australians agree with that, you hear that the Europeans are beginning to say the same thing. I think the whole world is united [in its] understanding that China brought this virus to the world.” evidence” to support the US The US diplomat claimed government’s accusations there was “enormous that the outbreak started

with a leak at a lab in Wuhan, but he said he could not answer the question

of whether it was done accidentally or intentionally.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & MANAGING EDITOR Max Liebermann __________________________ OFFICE MANAGER Mindy Salas ART DIRECTOR Dina Rivera CONTRIBUTORS Beverly Cohn, Janice Gough, Jack Lyons, Kelly G. Richardson, Pamela Price, Pat Krause, Risa D’Angeles, Robert Kinsler, Theda Kleinhans Reichman PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Krause ADVERTISING ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Please Call 760-671-6604

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where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts. arts, culture, and creative “Creativity sits at the expression as the tools to very heart of our identity as cultivate a better California Californians and as a people. for all. The investment of In this unprecedented moment, nearly $30 million marks a the need to understand, more than $5 million increase endure, and transcend our over the previous fiscal year, lived experiences through arts and the largest in California and culture is all the more Arts Council history. relevant for each of us,” said Organizations were Nashormeh Lindo, Chair of awarded grants across 15 the California Arts Council. different program areas “The California Arts Council is addressing access, equity, proud to be able to offer more and inclusion; community support through our grant vibrancy; and arts learning programs than ever before, at and engagement; and a time when our communities’ directly benefiting our state’s need is perhaps greater than communities, with youth, ever before. These grants will veterans, returned citizens, support immediate and lasting and California’s historically community impact by investing marginalized communities in arts businesses and cultural key among them. Successful projects aligned closely with the workers across the state.” agency’s vision of a California

For Nurses, Physical Health Not Only Concern During Crisis Continued from Page 1 working for local providers.

Two of the nurses who participated said their employers have made resources available for staff to help cope with the crisis.

Children’s Minnesota pediatric nurse Alethea Wiberg said connecting with colleagues online has been a big help.

“We have Facebook chat groups between just like my co-workers where we can just kind of all talk about what we’re going through,” Wiberg said.

But another participant, who works in a smaller setting, said she doesn’t have any outlets through her employer, and added the situation wasn’t always taken seriously by her superiors.

On a national level, researchers at Purdue University are trying to

determine the extent of psychological trauma experienced by critical-care

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Did Pointless Travel Give Pandemic a Free Ride?

By Anthony Grant “Air travel,” senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) recently said, “is a major vector for Covid-19.”

In early February, the London Telegraph newspaper reported that “a deadly flu strain that originated in China” was being “fast exported to other countries around the world thanks to aviation. “ Were the legions of “points and miles” travelers somehow give the coronavirus pandemic a lift? It seems that the self-styled social media “influencers” were at the very least complicit. You know who they are: That self-indulgent navel-gazing millennial layabouts. The latter by methods strategic, duplicitous, or often both deemed it their life’s mission to rack up as many frequent flier points/hotel bonus points

as humanly possible to fly in first-class or business class and as often as possible. How relevant is all that now? You’ve doubtless seen the pictures of these celebrity wannabes in a first-class seat zooming over to nowhere in particular while clutching a flute of Champagne at 30,000 feet. I emphasize: flying to nowhere in particular. Some of the most outrageously outlandish firstclass cabins belong to airlines that serve some of the world’s least interesting cities. So before this crisis, the airlines based in such places had to turn to glaring extravagance to woo passengers. Remember when Jennifer Aniston took a shower in one of those Emirates First Class Shower Suites? She took the money and probably ran—to a more credible destination than Dubai (for example) could ever hope to be.

Hamad International or other overgrown foreign airports.

And what did the airlines do in response? They just ate it up because the social media publicity was free. Like MarieAntoinette who got hooked on fancy cakes while the French peasants could barely pin down a crust of bread, the airlines prioritized the outfitting of the very front of the plane— that’s business class and firstclass, in other words—with every conceivable luxurious accoutrement from needlessly over-the-top multicourse meals to first-class lavatory attendants to dispensing Krug like it was tap water.

And doing all that while cramming as many nonpoint chasers into the main But for those narcissistic primates who never knew any economy cabin as possible.

Somehow sanitation was kind of hardship other than prying their fancy AMEX Delta never part of the equation.

Cleanings in between Gold card or Chase Sapphire flights were cursory at best. whatever card from their Sometimes—I can recall wallets, for whom Vietnam is flights on budget airlines like synonymous with street food Ryanair but also on legacy and not war memorials, for carriers like American—planes whom the terrorist attacks of weren’t cleaned at all. Hairs 9/11 are just an inconvenient stuck to dirty seatbacks, filth footnote on Wikipedia, it on lavatory floors, and all all became a silly game of this while airline executives airborne one-upmanship at any price and if the price could pandered to the frequent be paid in points well, so much flier folks who hopped from one silly overcrowded the better—for them. But not airport “lounge” to another, for you, the general public. dumping their points for a The points and miles racket was ludicrous from the start. It free upgrade on one flight only to accrue more for merely encouraged people to travel for the sake of Facebook frivolous flights elsewhere.

Food for thought now as the likes and selfies as opposed world stares down what one to traveling with any kind aviation insider in California purpose. Ozone destruction has called the steepest be damned, it was all about and potentially sustained gobbling up that last drop of decline in air travel history. caviar before descent into

The points poobahs and serial perk-chasers have gone mysteriously silent as the pandemic that their own pointless travel helped propagate continues. You see, some now posting pictures of themselves sitting in an empty plane with a mask on issuing a platitude-laden couple of paragraphs about how they just can’t wait until the day when they can make yet another beach run to say, the Maldives. The points and miles bloggers are sitting this one out because they’ve been forced out by circumstance, but don’t kid yourself—they are just waiting to jump back in.

But “rewards” travel is irresponsible travel. Nobody should reward unnecessary travel with their time, loyalty, or attention. We must all unfollow the practitioners of pointlessness, for it has proved to be positively lethal. There is a universe of difference between chronicling one’s travels and posting pictures of the latest faux leather lie-flat seat in a firstclass airplane cabin. If you want to know what it’s like to wander a foreign land, read The Great Railway Bazaar

by Paul Theroux. Explore a place through literature before whipping off there just because Kim Kardashian did a photoshoot there, or because there’s a new chain resort where you can cash in your bonus points to get the fourth night free. Make an investment in the only thing in travel that was ever actually rewarding: authenticity.

Wounded Warrior Project Brings Dolphins to Veterans

By Desert Star Staff Wounded warrior Tonya Cook spent part of her day training dolphins. The 20-year Navy veteran learned about eating habits, how dolphins play with one another, and how fast they swim. She did so with more than a dozen other veteran families, all without leaving her living room.

“It’s new; I actually like it,” Tonya said. “For me, the dolphin experience was really awesome.”

Tonya loves dolphins, so she jumped at the opportunity to interact virtually with dolphins and trainers from

Dolphin Research Center.

Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) connected these families with this opportunity recently. It is one of the many ways the veteran’s charity has adjusted to social distancing guidelines to keep warriors and families engaged in their homes, but away from isolation.

“I think this has been a wonderful thing they have connected to,” said Joan Mehew, director of Special Needs at Dolphin Research Center. “It was educational, it was fun, but it was also calming, on top of everything

that we are going through.”

“I’ve never swam with the dolphins or had any interaction like that, and it was wonderful,” said Honor Andruzzi, a Navy veteran.

“I got to share it with my daughter, who wants to be a marine biologist.”

Most of the animals at Dolphin Research Center were born at the facility.

Several were rescued and

after their rehabilitation were determined to be unable to live on their own in the wild. Those survival stories provide a unique connection for wounded veterans.

“As a veteran, as a warrior, involved with Wounded Warrior Project and with my fellow warriors,” Honor said, “we are looked at as broken.

With the dolphins we saw today, that they’re doing what

every other dolphin is doing, they just look different.

“To see them swimming and flipping, we can relate to everyday life, because that’s how we live. Don’t count us out; we’re going to kick some butt no matter what.”

“It lifted my spirit,” Honor said. “I know it lifted Tonya’s and other warriors and their families.”

GOT NEWS?

The Desert Star Weekly welcomes news and photos of local interest.

Photos and jpg logos should be a minimum of 4x6” at 300 dpi (1800 x 1200 pixels).

The deadline is each Friday at 5 p.m.

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE TO

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E N T E RTA I N M E N T

BY THEDA KLEINHANS REICHMAN

Korean Film ‘Parasite’ Makes Oscar History

This year the South Korean film “Parasite” made Oscar history by being the first foreign-language film to ever win the best picture Oscar in two categories--foreign and domestic. In doing so, it knocked “Marriage Story,” “JoJo Rabbit,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “The

Irishman,” “Little Women,” “Ford vs. Ferrari,” “1917” and “Joker” out of the running for Oscar gold. That doesn’t seem quite fair to me, but why should the Motion Picture Academy care about my opinion? That being said, it doesn’t mean that “Parasite” isn’t an exciting and disturbing film fiction by

Korean director Bong Joon-ho who won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival as well.

The film “Parasite” is a tale of two families. One is rich, the other poor. As the story begins, we meet the poor family first. They live in a shabby apartment below street level. The daughter Kim

Ki-Jung (Park So-dam) has a job folding pizza boxes, and her older brother Ki-woo (Choi Woo-Sik) is a clever young man who never completed his college education. This day he is visited by an old school chum who asks Ki-woo if he would like to take over his job as a private tutor. Ki-woo accepts, and thanks to his sister, who is a wiz on the computer, a college diploma is printed out.

In no time the entire family lands a job in the wealthy Park Dong-ik household. Kiwoo will tutor the daughter, and his sister will be hired as an art therapist for their young son Da-song. Soon their mother will replace the housekeeper, and their dad will become the family’s driver.

Things go well for Ki-woo’s family--until they don’t.

It turns out that Da-song keeps in touch with the former housekeeper, so she knows what is going on with his parents. One night while they are away, the housekeeper returns, and at that point, all

By Desert Star Staff TROY, Mich., - Even during these unprecedented times, drowning prevention remains a top priority, as more than 70 percent of childhood drowning incidents occur at home. This is why Goldfish Swim School, the leading premier learnto-swim franchise concept, is kicking off National Water Safety Month (May) with the launch of ‘Goldfish At Home’ to provide free, virtual dryland swim lessons to families nationwide, along with a variety of online and interactive water-safety focused initiatives and activities. Goldfish aims to make a splash by virtually uniting communities across the globe while spreading the important message of water safety awareness.

As drowning remains the number one cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4, taking the lives of three children in the United States every day, Goldfish Swim School remains committed to making a positive impact to help lower these staggering statistics. With the support of franchise owners across the system, brand ambassador and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Murphy, and Founder of Water Guardians: Levi’s Legacy - Nicole Hughes, the brand is rolling out a variety of fun and engaging virtual initiatives that bring communities together in the name of

water safety awareness.

Virtual Storytime With Bubbles – On Wednesday, May 13, at 12 p.m. ET, Goldfish Swim School brand mascot Bubbles will be hosting a special storytime reading via Facebook Live, premiering his newly animated book while sharing how he learned to swim.

Waves for Water Safety – On International Water Safety Day, May 15, Goldfish Swim School is challenging its social media followers and beyond to update their Facebook and Instagram profile pictures to reflect Water Safety Waves to bring greater awareness to the importance of water safety and drowning prevention.

Live Water Safety Q&A – Hosted via Goldfish Swim School’s Instagram Live on Wednesday, May 20 at 12 p.m.

ET, Goldfish Swim School CoFounder Jenny McCuiston, and Nicole Hughes, who tragically lost her son Levi to a drowning incident in 2018, will join forces to provide parents and their children water safety education.

Those who tune-in will have the chance to ask real-time questions and hear from two mothers who have dedicated their lives to water safety.

‘Recess with Ryan’ – Every Monday at 3 p.m. ET, three-time Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist Ryan Murphy is hosting an interactive social media series via Facebook Live where kids can participate in a water safety exercise challenge

while Murphy provides inspiration, answers real-time questions, and virtually interacts with families across the nation. Those who participate and complete the exercise challenge are entered to win prizes from Goldfish Swim School, the USA Swimming Foundation and more!

“Even while our schools are closed, we know there is still so much we can do to ensure more children learn the importance of water safety,” said Chris McCuiston, CEO & Co-Founder of Goldfish Swim School. “As stay-at-home orders continue to extend and social distancing becomes the new norm, we have been working to debut creative ways to connect our communities and stay true to our mission of educating children on water safety while teaching

them how to be safer in and around the water. It is our hope all these virtual initiatives help make a true impact.”

To help families adjust to new lifestyles amid the pandemic, Goldfish Swim School has rolled out various at-home activities, like coloring sheets and memory games, for parents to download and enjoy with their kids, along with fun play-time ideas such as practicing swim technique in the bathtub. Additionally, with the majority of school districts having adjusted to virtual platforms, Goldfish Swim School is now offering its free W.A.T.E.R. Safety Presentations virtually.

Traditionally during National Water Safety Month, Goldfish Swim School launches its annual ‘Float It Forward’ campaign that encourages its

hell breaks loose when she confronts Ki-woo’s family.

Up to this point, the film is basically a comedy. However, things turn dark the following day at Da-Song’s birthday party. To say too much more would spoil the film’s surprises.

Years later, when Kiwoo revisits the Park Donik home, now owned by another family, he makes a startling discovery that could easily fuel another film.

If you haven’t seen “Parasite,” check it out on Hulu.

It is rated R for language, some violence, and sexual content.

Other Oscar contenders to rent or buy include “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, “Ford vs. Ferrari,” starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, “Marriage Story,” “1917.” “The Irishman” and “Jo Jo Rabbit.”

For the youngsters, keep them entertained with Disney’s “Frozen II” now available on DVD.

network of 100+ schools to execute fundraising initiatives in their local communities, such as donation-based family swims, raffles, competitions, donation drives and more to aid in its commitment to raise $1 million for the USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash initiative. While community giveback remains a top priority, Goldfish owners and team members have been stepping up to support their communities amid COVID-19 by donating snacks and drinks to local hospitals, sewing facemasks for the community, launching fundraising efforts such as ‘Swimming for Superheroes’ to honor healthcare workers, and more.

For more information on Goldfish Swim School, please visit https://www. goldfishswimschool.com/.

Goldfish Swim School bringing awareness to drowning prevention

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How You Can Help Find a Solution to COVID-19

By Desert Star Staff The human immune system holds important clues about how people naturally detect and defend against disease. For COVID-19, many people have been able to defeat the virus because of their natural defense systems.

Now researchers are working to learn from these survivors’ immune systems to inform the development of new tests.

If you’ve been affected

by COVID-19, you can help. A leader in immunedriven medicine, Adaptive

Biotechnologies – which specializes in developing products based on the body’s immune response to disease – is working with Microsoft on the virtual clinical study ImmuneRACE. As part of the study, they are seeking 1,000 participants between

the ages of 18-89 from major metropolitan cities in the United States who: • Currently have COVID-19 • Have recently recovered from COVID-19 • Were exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19 Understanding testing options. There are currently two types of tests for COVID-19: PCR tests that indicate the presence of live virus from a nose or throat swab and serology tests that indicate exposure to and potential immunity against the virus by measuring antibodies in the blood.

A third type of test could help address current challenges with testing, resulting in these scenarios: • Complementary or alternative testing for individuals who have had known exposures or symptoms • Ability to triage patients and inform treatment strategies based on risk • Confirmation that individuals have recovered

and are no longer infectious Such a test could also contribute key information as part of an immune scan.

How you can get involved. To participate in the study or learn about more ways to join in the fight against COVID-19, visit ImmuneRACE.com. If you decide to participate and qualify for the study, a trained technician will travel to you to collect a de-identified blood sample in the comfort and safety of your home.

The global race for solutions. Because COVID-19 is a disease affecting communities around the world, stopping its spread requires solutions from every angle. It is the belief of Adaptive Biotechnologies and Microsoft that the answers may lie within the immune systems of those who have been impacted by the coronavirus. The de-identified data collected through this study will also be made freely available to the global scientific community to help develop other solutions. Family Features

China of ‘intentionally’ concealing coronavirus danger to hoard medical supplies

By Desert Star Staff The Department of Homeland Security has backed the Trump administration’s criticism of Beijing’s early response to the coronavirus outbreak with a new intelligence report, which has already been leaked to the media.

Back in January, China decreased exports and sharply increased its imports of basic medical supplies like face masks and surgical gowns and gloves, while simultaneously “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data,” the Associated Press reports, citing excerpts from a DHS document marked “for official use only” and dated May 1.

The US intelligence assessment concludes that with a “95% probability” this behavior was “not within normal range,” and that China “intentionally concealed the severity” of the health crisis from the global community.

Beijing knew the coronavirus “was a contagion,” but held off informing the World Health Organization “for much of January,” the agency said, offering no precise timeline.

The new leak further reinforces Washington’s case, which seeks to pin the bulk of the blame for thousands of American deaths and the US economic meltdown on Beijing. It follows another ‘intelligence dossier’ leak (which has also yet to be made public for independent

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scrutiny) just the day before, which analyzed China’s “Covid-19 cover-up.”

Top US officials, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have repeatedly referred to mounting evidence that the pandemic was the result of China’s “mistake,” if not a leak at a lab in Wuhan, but have so far resisted public and media pressure to show the evidence.

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MISSION SPRINGS WATER DISTRICT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE OF FILING OF REPORT OF THE ANNUAL SEWER USER FEES AND REQUEST THAT THE AUDITOR PLACE THE FISCAL YEAR 2020-2021 SEWER USER FEES ON THE REAL PROPERTY TAX ROLLS A report (“Report”) will be filed by the Secretary of the Mission Springs Water District (“District”) with the Board of Directors

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May 8, 2020 PUBLIC NOTICE

of the District describing each residential parcel of real property subject to the sewer user fee (“Sewer User Fee”) and the amount of the Sewer User Fee to be imposed thereon for Fiscal Year 2020-2021.

The District will propose to adopt the Report and collect the Sewer User Fee, any delinquent Sewer User Fees and any penalties, on the real property tax roll of the District, which Sewer User Fees shall

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constitute a lien against the parcel or parcels of land described in the Report in accordance with California Health and Safety Code sections 5470 et seq. This matter will be considered and voted upon at a public hearing scheduled for Monday, May 18, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. at 66575 Second Street, Desert Hot Springs, CA. This Notice is published in compliance with California Health and Safety Code

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section 5473.1 and California Government Code section 6006. Dated: 4/28/2020 /s/ Arden Wallum Secretary, Mission Springs Water District PUB: 5/1/2020 & 5/8/2020 DSW20-5082

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Judge Signals Support for Restoring FL Voting Rights

By Desert Star Staff TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A federal judge has signaled he’ll find part of a Florida law restricting the voting rights of people with felony records unconstitutional.

At the end of the trial Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle made it clear he intends to rule that Florida cannot force a person convicted of a felony to pay outstanding court debts in order to be eligible to vote.

Nancy Abudu, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which challenged the law, says it amounts to an illegal poll tax that the state wasn’t even prepared to enforce.

“This was a disorganized, convoluted, confusing system that the state was ill-equipped to implement or enforce in any effective way,” she states.

The State of Florida identified some 85,000 registered voters who might be ineligible to vote, despite the passage of Amendment Four, which ended the state’s lifetime ban on voting for most people with felony convictions.

The state acknowledged in court that it has yet to determine which voters have outstanding debts that would violate the new law.

Abudu says part of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s claim focused on the intersection of race, class and gender of the estimated 774,000 people who were disenfranchised.

“We presented to the court facts -- such as, you know, people with a criminal conviction have an unemployment rate that’s five times higher than the general population -- that over 40% of black women who have

had a criminal conviction are unemployed,” she states.

Lawyers for the state maintained that voters who approved Amendment Four wanted people with felony convictions to pay their debt to society fully before having

voting rights restored.

Now, hundreds of thousands are awaiting a ruling that could allow them to participate in the upcoming presidential election.

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Supreme Court Decision on DACA May Be Imminent have allowed current DACA recipients to renew their work permits, but new applications ground to a halt.

Leezia Dhalla, press director for the immigration reform group FWD.us, says it would be cruel to start deporting people brought here as children, many of whom have no memory of any other country.

“Immigration officers will now be able to pursue their removal,” she points out. “We will see this population end up in immigration detention.

We will see them being ripped away from their families, in what is another wave of the family separation crisis.”

Matthew Albence, acting According to Governing.com, more than 9,800 DACA recipients live in Indiana. (Juan Monino/iStockdirector of U.S. Immigration and photo) Customs Enforcement (ICE),

By Desert Star Staff as soon as Thursday from lawfully terminated the Deferred says his agency will uphold the rule of law by deporting A decision on the the U.S. Supreme Court.

Action for Childhood Arrivals Dreamers if the Supreme fate of 700,000 so-called The case examines whether program in September 2017.

Court ends the program.

Dreamers could come down the Trump administration Since then, courts

Indianapolis has the 6thlargest concentration of DACA recipients in the country, at 3,800. Elkhart has 1,200. And another 1,000 Dreamers live in the regions surrounding Cincinnati and Louisville.

Dhalla notes that many DACA recipients have been integral to the fight against COVID-19.

“About 200,000 DACA recipients are essential workers,” she points out.

“Tens of thousands of them are in health care.

“They are doctors, nurses, home health care aides, really fighting at the front lines of this pandemic and so, all of their futures are at stake. “ The U.S. House has passed a bill that includes a path to U.S. citizenship for DACA recipients, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring it up for a Senate vote.

Trump Administration Urged to Put People Back to Work on Orphan Wells

By Desert Star Staff As the oil and gas industry braces for more pain because of falling demand and a glutted market, 31 oil and gas producing states, including Nebraska, are asking the Trump administration to put unemployed oil and gas workers back to work cleaning up abandoned well sites.

With Congress also looking for ways to get people back to work, Kate Kelly, public lands director for the Center for American Progress, says an investment in plugging orphan wells will pay off down the road.

“A natural place to start is to create a dedicated fund to clean up orphan wells that will put hundreds and thousands of people back to work, with minimal training and with minimal relocation,” she states.

Wells that are not plugged frequently leak methane, and can contaminate groundwater.

Kelly says orphan wells also create safety hazards. In

Ohio, an elementary school had to be evacuated because of a gas leak traced to an abandoned well under the gym.

Industry groups note that most wells are not abandoned and are plugged by oil and gas companies.

Kelly says major oil players are unlikely to go out of business in the next year or two, and will continue to plug old wells in order to continue doing business. She says medium and smaller producers already in debt don’t have the cash, and there’s little incentive to reclaim well sites.

Kelly says there already are tens of thousands of documented orphan wells across the nation “Including at least 75 in Approximately 57,000 orphan wells are documented on federal, state, tribal and private lands, and Nebraska,” she points out. hundreds of thousands more are undocumented or at risk of being abandoned and not plugged.

“That number is sure to go (Pixabay) up over the coming months as operators go bankrupt and walk away from their $2 billion orphan well fund could There are currently hundreds of thousands more reclamation responsibilities.” support 14,000 to 24,000 jobs some 57,000 documented are undocumented, or at risk Kelly’s group projects that a in energy producing states. orphan wells, and Kelly says of becoming orphaned.

Undocumented Poultry Workers Fear Speaking Out on Unsafe Conditions

By Desert Star Staff A Tyson chicken plant in Goodlettsville is reporting nearly 300 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among employees, and similar scenarios are popping up across the country where COVID-19 has spread rapidly in meat processing and packing facilities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 5,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed among workers nationwide. At least 20 people have died.

Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, policy director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights

8

DesertSTAR

Coalition, says many poultry workers are undocumented and live in fear they will lose their jobs by speaking out.

She says poultry workers often live in high density housing and carpool to their jobs.

“We know that number is much greater because of their families and their communities who have now caught the disease,” she states.

President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order giving Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue greater authority to handle the response to the global pandemic, as meat shortages have prompted

several large grocers, including Costco, to limit the amount of meat customers can purchase.

The CDC has issued guidelines for meatpackers, including six-foot spacing and barriers between workers, but Sherman-Nikolaus points out a

huge part of the problem is lack of accountability in the industry.

“There is really no enforcement mechanism or complaint system at this time, and so it makes it hard for workers to be able to report unsafe working

conditions,” she states.

According to the Tennessee Poultry Association, the state ranks 14th in the nation for chicken production, and workers at five plants process millions of birds each week.

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