| Trump news: President accuses Obama and Biden of spying as his coronavirus response comes under fire in Fox News interview Posted: 19 Jul 2020 12:33 PM PDT  Donald Trump has again accused former President Barack Obama and Joe Biden of spying on his administration, which has never been proven. The president claimed if he were to pull a similar stunt then he would face "50 years for treason".This comes as Mr Trump's interview with Fox News Sunday is set to air. Host Chris Wallace challenged the president on his coronavirus response by playing clips of him saying the virus would soon disappear. To defend himself, Mr Trump said he would "be right eventually" about the virus going away. The US reached 140,000 Covid-19 deaths this weekend.
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| Trump’s health officials are trying to speed up testing. Here’s why their plan won’t work. Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:30 AM PDT  The approach, called pooled testing, combines samples from multiple people and then screens the individual samples only if the batch comes back positive.
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| What we know about the manhunt for killers of three Florida friends on fishing trip Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Florida police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects who killed three friends on a fishing trip in Florida.
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| Ky. couple on house arrest after wife tests positive for coronavirus but refuses to sign quarantine order Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:45 PM PDT  The ankle monitors the couple was ordered to wear will alert law enforcement if they travel more than 200 feet from their house.
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| New York restaurant owner burns table where Epstein and Weinstein used to sit Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:12 AM PDT  A restaurant owner in New York burnt a table that Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein used to dine at.Zach Erdem, who owns 75 Main in Southampton, New York, said Table 1 – which both men had dined at – provided only "bad energy".
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| Illinois House speaker drawn closer to federal corruption probe, but many Democrats take wait-and-see approach Posted: 19 Jul 2020 06:19 PM PDT |
| Missouri's GOP governor says kids who go back to school will get COVID-19 but they'll 'get over it' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:34 AM PDT  "These kids have got to get back to school," Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said. "They're at the lowest risk possible."
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| Florida must delay reopening of public schools, lawsuit says Posted: 19 Jul 2020 08:18 PM PDT |
| U.S. Senate confirms Trump nominee who defied subpoena to lead budget office Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:37 PM PDT  The U.S. Senate voted along party lines on Monday to confirm Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, eight months after Vought defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify in President Donald Trump's impeachment. The vote was 51-45 to confirm Vought, as all of Trump's fellow Republicans backed the nomination and every Democrat voted no. Vought, 44, has held the post of OMB director on an acting basis since January 2019, when his predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, became acting White House chief of staff.
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| Hogan Gidley dismisses 'fake' polls that show Trump trailing Biden, says Biden wants to cut police funding Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:46 PM PDT  Your jobs, family and American way of life are not safe with Joe Biden, says Trump 2020 national press secretary Hogan Gidley.
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| Congresswoman Maxine Waters jumps out of her car to intervene as black man stopped by police Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:32 AM PDT  California congresswoman Maxine Waters went to assist a black man who was pulled over by police in Los Angeles this weekend.In a video shared online, Ms Waters parked her SUV and said she intervened to see what Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were doing when they pulled a black man over.
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| CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur dead at 26 after moped accident Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:47 AM PDT  Fellow journalists expressed their grief following the young and promising reporter's death.
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| Replace the Alexander Hamilton Stephens Statue With One of John Lewis Posted: 19 Jul 2020 03:06 AM PDT  It's time for Americans to make a choice about who should be honored in the Capitol.
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| Missing Kansas dog makes 50-mile trip to old home in Missouri Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Cleo, a four-year-old labrador, walks from Kansas to Missouri, leaving her owner "speechless".
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| 'Wall of moms' at Portland protest formed to protect demonstrators Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:17 PM PDT  A group of women formed a sort of human shield dubbed the "wall of moms" at a protest outside a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday.
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| Pence Tells Governors Masks Are Helping Turn the Tide on Coronavirus in Arizona Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:49 PM PDT  During a meeting with governors on Monday, the White House Coronavirus Task Force trotted out decreased COVID-19 case counts in Arizona as proof that masks and social distancing work, encouraging other states to impose similar measures as a way to contain and prevent surges."Masks, closing indoor bars, decreasing indoor dining capacity to 25 percent, continued social distancing and personal hygiene messaging, according to the model, dramatically decrease the rate of community spread," Vice President Mike Pence, chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said in the meeting, according to a recording obtained by The Daily Beast. Pence said that evidence of the effectiveness of widespread mask use in particular was visible "today" in Arizona. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center on Monday put the state—which recently had one of the worst case trends on the planet and saw a testing "shitshow"—with the steepest current decline in the nation."The modeling suggested to us that Phoenix was supposed to be at more than 5,000 cases daily and rising, and instead I was informed by our health experts this morning that they are [at] less than 2,300 cases," Pence said on Monday. "Again, we believe that the three actions I just described that are being implemented by Gov. [Doug] Ducey are having a dramatic impact on community spread, and it's a clear example of transmitting science into action and proving this works."Trump's Surgeon General Literally Begs Fox News Viewers to Wear MasksThe call put a stark positive spin on a situation that was, as recently as a few days ago, being panned by local doctors on the front lines who told The Daily Beast they felt abandoned by state leaders. Ducey was one of the first governors to lift lockdown restrictions after a nationwide response to the pandemic caused unprecedented closures and shelter-in-place orders.And though Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force's response coordinator, thanked Ducey and others for their "leadership," the governor has come under harsh criticism for refusing to issue a mask mandate or reinstitute a lockdown order. Ducey did eventually allow cities to pass their own mask ordinances, and as The Daily Beast reported last week, nearly 90 percent of the state is under some kind of local mask mandate.Birx emphasized that models showed those measures, including 100 percent mask use, "came very close to the impact of sheltering-in-place, and it was theoretic, but it was implemented in Phoenix and in the Tucson area, and we can see now the impact."As of Monday, Arizona had hit 143,624 cumulative coronavirus cases, and 2,761 had died, according to Johns Hopkins data."I think this is a very exciting moment for all of us to really see that translation of a model into recommendations that were then executed on the ground and are now having a positive impact," said Birx. "Hospitalizations and mortality are lagging indicators, but we are seeing a decline in test positivity and new cases." Meanwhile, despite his opposition to a national mask mandate, President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted a photo of himself with a face mask, calling it "patriotic" to wear one. Despite widespread science on the effectiveness of masks, Trump had refused to publicly wear one for the first nearly six months of the pandemic's presence in the U.S.On the call, when he reported from the ground, Ducey profusely thanked Pence and Birx for visiting his state, reinforcing that state leaders "continue to encourage and support and advocate and resource for masks," as well as closures and capacity reductions at establishments."We're instructing people they're safer at home," said Ducey, adding, "There's really no victory lap at all. We're going to stay the course."Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, emphasized that these "fundamentals" have the power to turn around surges, as Arizona's turnaround has proved. "This is something everyone should be seriously considering," said Fauci. "If we all do that, not only will we contain the surges, but we will prevent surges."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| A California city removed its Black Lives Matter mural in the middle of the night after a Trump supporter asked to paint 'MAGA 2020' on the same street Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Officials scrubbed the mural late on Thursday after a local lawyer asked whether she could paint "MAGA 2020" on the street, CBS San Francisco said.
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| Caught flouting curfew in bar, Kenyan official quits COVID committee Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:36 AM PDT  The chairman of Kenya's senate committee overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus crisis has quit the post after police said he flouted an overnight curfew to enjoy drinks with others in a Nairobi bar. "I will bear responsibility ... I apologise to Kenyans and I will face the full consequences of the law," Johnson Sakaja, who represents Nairobi county and is a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters on Monday. Kenya began easing its lockdown earlier this month, but kept the curfew in place as well as a prohibition on bars.
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| NYPD scraps traffic and homeless units and reassigns officers to fight rising gun crime Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:06 PM PDT  The NYPD has cut traffic and homeless units to focus on rising gun violence following mayor Bill DeBlasio's move to defund police, according to reports.Senior police leadership transferred 114 members of the traffic congestion mitigation and 85 members of the homeless outreach units, according to official documents seen by The New York Post.
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| US governor calls for plasma donors as virus rages Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:46 PM PDT  Florida's governor Ron DeSantis pleaded Monday for COVID-19 survivors to donate blood plasma to help save lives, as hospitals rapidly fill up and supplies of antiviral drugs run short. The situation in the Sunshine State is dire, with more than 9,500 coronavirus patients hospitalized and just 18 percent of intensive care beds available. Raising his voice over activists banging at the door, DeSantis called on Floridians to take tests for antibodies and to donate plasma if they test positive.
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| McFarland on possible indictments in Durham probe Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT  K.T. McFarland, former Trump administration deputy national security adviser, weighs in on 'America's Newsroom.'
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| Iran has executed an alleged CIA and Mossad agent who it says helped spy on Qassem Soleimani before his assassination Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:27 AM PDT  Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was killed by a US drone strike in January. His death almost brought the US and Iran to war.
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| It’s official: US Air Force to buy Turkish F-35s Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:27 PM PDT  A $862 million contract modification gives another 14 F-35As to the U.S. Air Force...including some Turkish jets.
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| Trump pushes back on difficulty of cognitive test he bragged about acing Posted: 19 Jul 2020 10:24 AM PDT  The cognitive test President Donald Trump claims to have "aced" included such dicey questions as identifying an elephant and counting down from 100 by seven, he said Sunday. Trump sparred with Chris Wallace about the test, which the Fox News host said was "not the hardest." "They have a picture and it says, 'What's that?'" Wallace said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's an elephant." "No no no," ...
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| Brazil Bolsonaro's low approval rating improves despite rising COVID-19 cases Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:43 PM PDT  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's low approval ratings rose for a third consecutive month, a poll showed on Monday, as the perception of his handling of the coronavirus crisis and the economy's direction continued to improve gradually. The latest monthly XP/Ipespe poll findings come as the coronavirus-related deaths and cases also continue rising, cementing Brazil's place as the world's second-biggest hotspot for the pandemic after the United States. Bolsonaro's overall approval rating rose two percentage points to 30% this month, the highest since April, while the share of those who think he is doing a bad or terrible job fell three percentage points to 45%, the lowest since April.
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| Coronavirus: 13-year-old dies while self-isolating with Covid symptoms after virus test came back negative, family says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:44 AM PDT  A 13-year-old boy in California has died while self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms after a test for the disease came back negative, his family has said.Maxx Cheng of Claremont fell ill on the Fourth of July and died on Thursday after suffering symptoms of the coronavirus, KCBS-TV reported.
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| Vanessa Guillén's grandmother travels from Mexico to Houston to say goodbye to the soldier Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:08 AM PDT  "Let justice be done," asked the grandmother, who traveled from Zacatecas, Mexico.
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| Kuwait's ruler, 91, undergoes a 'successful' surgery Posted: 19 Jul 2020 01:22 AM PDT  Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler underwent a "successful" surgery Sunday that required the oil-rich nation's crown prince to be temporarily empowered to serve in his place, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday. The state-run KUNA news agency had described Sheikh Sabah's hospitalization Saturday as "medical checks," citing a statement from the country's royal court.
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| Black Lives Matter skirts North Africa despite everyday racism Posted: 19 Jul 2020 07:11 PM PDT  The global wave of anti-racism protests sparked by the US police killing of George Floyd has barely touched North Africa, despite everyday discrimination in a region with a long slave-trading history. Black citizens in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who come to work, study or try to reach Europe, say they suffer endemic day-to-day racism. "Floyd's death awakened the anger and rage dormant within us," said Fabrice, an undocumented Cameroonian in his 40s who lives in Algiers, adding that it twisted "the knife in the wound".
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| The UK has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong 'indefinitely' in a new clash with China Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:43 AM PDT  Relations between China and the UK are deteriorating rapidly.
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| Indonesia says it wants to buy Austria’s entire Typhoon fighter fleet Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:05 AM PDT |
| Portland protests: All you need to know about Trump's crackdown Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:51 PM PDT  The US city has turned into a battleground, as federal agents clash with protesters.
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| Paraguay violence flares as smugglers battle coronavirus border closure Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  * Marine killed in shootout with suspected smugglers * Military allegedly responds by torturing 35 civiliansViolence has escalated along the triple border between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, as smugglers attempt to get round strict frontier controls imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.One marine was killed in a fierce shootout between smugglers and the Paraguayan military last week, in an episode which then allegedly led to the detention and torture of 35 civilians.While Brazil and Argentina are struggling with surging coronavirus caseloads, Paraguay boasts some of the lowest rates of Covid-19 infection in Latin America – thanks in part to the fact that its borders have been closed since 24 March.But the lockdown has hit businesses in the country's second city, Ciudad del Este – both legitimate and otherwise – which rely on Brazil for 90% of their sales.Smuggler groups – who move billions of dollars in drugs, cigarettes and electronic goods across the tri-border from Paraguay each year – have adapted to continue their trade despite pandemic restrictions.In addition to the more than 250 clandestine smuggling ports on the Paraná river, smugglers are reportedly using remote control speedboats and drones to take high-value goods over the river.Such tactics appear to be working. According to Brazilian police, drug confiscations in the border state of Paraná – almost all smuggled in from Paraguay – were up 500% in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.The naval commander of Ciudad del Este said that Paraguayan border forces – as well as those of Brazil and Argentina – were seeing escalating violence and a strong presence of notorious Brazilian gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in the region."The situation here has been getting more and more dangerous", he told local press. "Every night in multiple locations … we are being fired at". However, Paraguay's anti-contraband minister, Emilio Fúster, told local press that large-scale smuggling was largely enabled by official corruption."There are agents who have become corrupted through the illegal trafficking of all types of different products," he said.On 16 July, tensions came to a head when a patrol boat from the Paraguayan navy was fired upon by suspected smugglers in what military sources have described as an ambush. One marine, was shot and later died.Following the gun battle, military personnel arrested 35 people, including several adolescents, from the poor riverside neighbourhood of San Miguel in Ciudad del Este, claiming that they had aided the smugglers.Witnesses said that arrests were made at gunpoint and that officials had entered homes without permits. CCTV video was circulated of men being beaten while they were forced into the back of a 4x4 vehicle.Photos and videos were subsequently circulated of deep wounds on many of the men's bodies. One man said that he had been tortured."We all have marks from violence and torture," he said. "They poured hot water and alcohol on my head. A vein exploded inside."José Galeano of the Paraguayan National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture said the marines had clearly committed human rights violations."They may have been affected by the loss of their colleague, but under absolutely no circumstances should this have happened," he said. "These men were flung about like bits of meat."Adm Carlos Velázquez, head of the Paraguayan navy, has called for an official investigation and suspended the local naval commander.
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| Saudi King Salman, 84, admitted to hospital Posted: 19 Jul 2020 06:50 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world's largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, is undergoing medical checks, the agency added, without giving details. After the news, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a visit scheduled to Saudi Arabia, said Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
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| Teddy Roosevelt's 'racist' and 'progressive' legacy, historian says, is part of monument debate Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:35 PM PDT  Racist attitudes toward Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos during the Spanish-American War, for example, were part of the racist attitudes of the time, which Roosevelt espoused.
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| 'This could happen in your city': Portland mayor issues stark warning over Trump admin's use of federal troops to quell protests Posted: 19 Jul 2020 06:02 AM PDT  Portland's mayor has called the Trump administration's use of federal agents to quell protests there "a direct threat to democracy" which could be replicated in other cities across the country.Local lawmakers and national Democratic leaders have called for the removal of the masked, militarised federal agents from the city, following their deployment ostensibly to protect federal buildings.
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| Putin attends keel-laying of new warships in annexed Crimea Posted: 20 Jul 2020 10:03 AM PDT  Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine. Speaking during the keel-laying of two landing vessels at a shipyard in Kerch, Putin said that Russia needs a strong navy to defend its interests and "help maintain a strategic balance and global stability." The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
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| ACT exams were canceled with little warning this weekend, and some teens say they weren't notified until they arrived at testing sites Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  The ACT canceled exams at 21 testing sites on Saturday, and around 1,400 students were unable to take the exam.
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| Why Indian American spelling bee success is more than just an endearing story Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Over the past 20 years, Indian Americans have come to dominate the Scripps National Spelling Bee even though they comprise only about 1% of the U.S. population.The bee was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But there were eight co-champions in 2019, seven of whom were Indian American – bringing the total number of Indian American champions since 1999 to 26. There's even a documentary on this this endearing story, "Spelling the Dream." But I contend that their commitment to these competitions stems partly from perceived hurdles they face in higher education. And I believe that their achievements inadvertently further educational inequalities. The academic trackI spent years with Indian American, white and other families engaged in spelling bees, math competitions and other after-school academics while doing research for my book, "Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough."In one chapter, I explained why Indian Americans have come to dominate bees. I believe that their success has to do with a firm commitment by families to spend the time and money necessary to help their kids fully prepare. These children excel not just in spelling bees but also in geography, math and other academic competitions.Most of my book addresses a more revealing question: why families care about such competitions and advanced academics in the first place and the implications around that.Most U.S. kids participate in activities outside school, usually involving sports, the arts, religious or civic activities. Indian immigrant children do these things too, but many of their parents also make them at least try extracurricular academic activities, especially competitive ones.The more than 100 Indian American parents I interviewed between 2011 and 2018 believed that for their children to have a good shot at getting into a prominent university their children would need an undeniably strong academic record to compensate for what they saw as weak networks and a lack of college legacy status.Parents also worried that college admission officers might hold their children, as Asian Americans, to a higher standard in expected test scores. "We have to have 130 points above other groups," one father of a spelling contestant said about the SAT college entrance exam. He assured me that tutoring centers and spelling bees would help his daughter get a higher score, an attitude echoed by other parents and children alike. [Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get expert takes on today's news, every day.]Pursuing after-school education to help their children eventually become more competitive college applicants makes sense to these immigrant parents given their own upbringing with similar tutoring. I think it's only natural for parents to promote what they are most familiar with, and many of these parents have advanced degrees and grew up with intense academic expectations. A cost of achievementAs Indian American children boost their test scores and other academics through studying words, mastering quadratic equations and other intellectual endeavors, they inadvertently contribute to what I see as a troubling trend: the widening educational gaps between higher-income and lower-income families.Achieving in these competitions often requires spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Hexco, a publisher specializing in contest preparation, sells word guides and packages of eight coaching sessions that cost US$1,725. According to its website, 94% of spellers who "advanced to the Scripps finals on ESPN were Hexco customers" in 2019. Indian Americans have an average household income of $100,000, well above the national average of $53,600. Many use this economic edge to advance their children's grades and scores.So, while Indian Americans gravitate toward academic competitions because they worry about otherwise their children will lack equal opportunities, they reinforce educational inequality in the process.This is related to the growing trend of supplemental education by higher-income families generally, which I also studied. The expansion of after-school learning for children who are not struggling at school seems bound to continue as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps going. A fear for parentsMany parents are worried that their children aren't going to learn much while school buildings are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many tutoring companies are advertising their services to families who can afford them as a way to stop the academic backtracking known as the the "COVID slide."The pursuit of after-school education, whether through competitions or tutoring centers, is increasingly common for middle class families. I'm certain that it's prone to grow even more. Why parents pay for and encourage it can have something to do with their ethnic backgrounds, but one outcome is the same: growing educational inequality.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * The Scripps spelling bee is off this year, but the controversy over including foreign words is still on * What does the spelling success of Indian American kids tell us?Pawan Dhingra volunteered as a spelling bee pronouncer at a North South Foundation regional spelling bee in 2016.
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| Commentary: COVID-19 leaving most private schools in financial despair Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:31 AM PDT  Across the country, private schools are in existential trouble thanks to COVID-19. Long financially struggling as they have had to compete against free public schools, several have already permanently closed, including two in Baltimore and five across Maryland. We are in danger of losing something precious: the only institutions able to provide something markedly different from ...
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| Republican governors have been holding secret conference calls to complain about Trump's chaotic coronavirus response, report says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Several Republican governors and lawmakers have in recent weeks broken with Trump to support increased coronavirus restrictions in their states.
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| NYPD officer speaks out after being brutally beaten during violent protest on Brooklyn Bridge Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:32 AM PDT  Lt. Richard Mack joins 'Fox & Friends' after being released from the hospital.
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| Poland to propose limits on foreign media soon, Kaczynski says Posted: 19 Jul 2020 10:50 AM PDT  Poland will seek to craft rules limiting the concentration of foreign-owned media outlets well before the ruling nationalists finish their term in power, Poland's de facto leader said on Sunday, with parliamentary elections expected in 2023. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has long said foreign-owned media outlets have meddled in Poland's affairs and that Polish-owned media should have a stronger place.
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| Phoenix police release bodycam footage in fatal shooting of Jay Garcia Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:41 PM PDT  Phoenix police released body camera video Monday in the fatal shooting of Garcia after public demands for transparency from the department.
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