Every 107 seconds: Why Every Rape Kit Should Be Tested

Photo by Pat Sullivan, AP



Every 107 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. In July, USA Today estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits sat untested in police and crime storage facilities across the U.S.

Each untested kit represents an opportunity lost: to confirm a known suspect; to connect the suspect to other crimes; to identify an unknown assailant; to exonerate the wrongly convicted or accused. Yesterday's newly announced $41 million in federal funds to 20 jurisdictions, combined with the New York County District Attorney’s Office's own grant program of $38 million--hopes to to eliminate the backlog in 43 jurisdictions in 27 states across the country.

There are those who say that government has no role in solving our problems, that journalism is a watchdog that has lost its teeth. But in New York City, when officials began testing every rape kit, the arrest rate for rape jumped from 40% to 70%. In Cleveland, Rachel Dissell's six years of rape kit reporting has helped to convict 100 rapists. Twenty-seven states is a good start. If this proves to work, how about fifty?

Beth Macy's Factory Man

Today is the publishing date for Beth Macy's first book, Factory Man (Little, Brown and Company, 464 pp) about John D. Bassett III, who got run off from Bassett Furniture in a family feud and instead of leaving the industry,started the smaller Vaughan-Bassett in nearby Galax, Virginia where he now employs 700.

 Beth Macy told Dave Davies on Fresh Air on 7/14 (transcript, podcast) that Bassett:

 ...has promised the town that they're going to be hiring more people. Just last year - maybe it was in '12 - they reopened a vacant plant next door and christened it Vaughan-Bassett II. And they're trying to get ready. The housing market still hasn't come back up from the recession. I mean, it's kind of been the last thing to come back. And, you know, he was telling me this week that he had just read something - that wasn't really going to come fully black till 2017.

Last year, he broke even. This year, I think he's a little bit behind, but as he points out, we have a ...[balance] sheet at the rock of Gibraltar. You know, he's been very frugal. He's - he calls it Bassett 101 - you know, the techniques he learned from his father and his grandfather, in terms of, you know, having a lot of money in the bank and being very careful with his investments. And he's just determined he's going to keep that factory going because when the economy does come back and housing starts to improve, he's going to be poised to be what he calls the last girl standing on the desert island. You know, he's going to out-wait everybody. He's going to be the last guy. And he's going to get the business because no matter how good-looking you are, it doesn't matter. If you're the last one standing, you are going to get the business.

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Factory Man started out in 2011 as  "Picking Up the Pieces,"  a  series on the effects of globalization on the towns of that once hosted the textile and furniture industries in Virginia, which Beth  wrote while she was a reporter for the Roanoke Times. As she writes for Nieman Storyboard:

For the next three years, I spent most of my waking moments turning that three-part series into a 120,000-word book, Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — and Helped Save an American Town....

 Among the reporting challenges I faced were American CEOs who avoided the press, Chinese businessmen who claimed that speaking candidly to me could jeopardize their profits, and a painful early chapter on race that kept me awake at night struggling with The Big Questions: Does it matter? Is it fair? A decades-long family feud gave the story an undercurrent and a universal element, but it was also the single topic my brash main character didn’t want to discuss (in fact, he grew agitated every time I brought it up).

My goal had been to write a business book that did not read like a business book — something that my octogenarian mom could read in order to finally understand why so many of the once-thriving factory towns she grew up in, and near, now look like ghost towns, with soaring rates of disability, food insecurity and underemployment My goal had been to write a business book that did not read like a business book — something that my octogenarian mom could read in order to finally understand why so many of the once-thriving factory towns she grew up in, and near, now look like ghost towns, with soaring rates of disability, food insecurity and underemployment.

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 Macy left the paper in May, in order to devote her time to writing books.  Her next one is scheduled to come out in 2016.  Her last piece  for the Roanoke Times, "After the shouting: Macy shares a final chapter" came out June 8, updating a 1993 piece "Pregnant and Proud." (interview with Beverly Amsler, WVTF.)

 In October 2013, Chris Roush published "Turning a business feature into a book" on his blog Talking Biz News. In December 2013, the Ochberg Society printed an interview on how how the book developed including how she dealt with reluctant sources: "‘People get that you’re in it for the long haul’: Beth Macy and Factory Man."  Madelyn Rosenberg has an interview here.

You can check out Beth's blog, Intrepid Paper Girl for links to Factory Man reviews. and events.  For videos on the book, check out the video channel of her husband Tom Landon of Lucky Dog Productions LLC.

And don't forget the IPA/Macy tie-in from Parkway Brewing Company.

Update on Greenwald and Omidyar Joint Venture

Photo of Pierre Omidyar in May of this year presenting an award to  "Global Integrity, for the leading role they've played in catalyzing and convening the government transparency and accountability community." I originally published this post on October 16, 2013 at 2:30 PM writing about my reaction after reading  Rosen and Beaujon.  I updated it at 6:10 PM to add this photo and the section marked update which reflects on past articles by Beaujon and John Letman. H/T to   Buzzfeed's Rosie Gray  and Samir Mezrahi for including Letman's interview in their Omidyar story posted last night at  7:19pm "This Billionaire Really Likes Glenn Greenwald."   BTW, apparently the post was already in the works before Reuter's Mark Hosenball reported the Omidyar connection at 7:06 PM, because they link to him as a confirmation in a 7:29 PM update. I updated it again at 7:41 PM to add my rundown of the coverage via Memeorandum and mediagazer.

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Last night, I speculated about the joint venture last night with Glenn Greenwald , but had no access to Omidyar.  Today he's released a statement, but his only interview was and will be with Jay Rosen, according to Andrew Beaujon, news editor at Poynter Institute.

So, what can Rosen tell us after his interview with Omidyar?  According to his blog post at 11:48 AM, updated at 1:00 PM, it turns out that  Omidyar was a contender for the purchase of the Washington Post. I was right that Omidyar's experience with Honolulu Civil Beat, according to Rosen

stoked his appetite to do something larger in news.

After his experience with The Washington Post,

Omidyar started thinking seriously about investing in a news property. He began to ask himself what could be done with the same investment if you decided to build something from the ground up.

I had thought that Omidyar's emphasis on philanthropy was significant and that this project, like those detailed in yesterday's post would be a project of the Omidyar Network. If he makes this a successful business venture, I hope it will have some applicability for legacy media.

I DID noticed that Omidyar posts often as staff at Civil Beat.  If I had known about the Washington Post  connection or dug deeper into Civil Beat, I might have speculated otherwise.In checking Civil Beat's FAQs, it's a for-profit run by Peer News LLC  and charges $239.99 a year for an online subscription. Peer News is registered in California as a foreign corporation (which can just mean out-of-state.)  There's a summary by Mark Coddington updated on October 2 at Nieman's encyclopedia of news sources. 

Omidyar's new project with Greenwald, whose name has not been released, but Rosen refers to as "NewCo, will be   

 a company not a charity. It is not a project of Omidyar Network. It is separate from his philanthropy, he said. He said he will be putting a good deal of his time, as well as his capital, into it. I asked how large a commitment he was prepared to make in dollars. For starters: the $250 million it would have taken to buy the Washington Post.

Rosen had access because 

As Omidyar was making the rounds to talk to people about his plans I was one of those he consulted with. That happened in September. So he knew I was familiar with his thinking and that’s probably why he chose to talk to me. That’s my initial report. I may have more to say as I sift through my notes and think about what he told me. 

I WAS  right, though, about Omidyar's underlying motivations, if not his ambition to come up with a commercial model:

“I have always been of the opinion that the right kind of journalism is a critical part of our democracy.” He said he had watched closely over the last 15 years as the business model in journalism collapsed but had not “found a way to engage directly.” But then when the idea of buying the Washington Post came up he started to think about it more seriously. “It brings together some of my interests in civic engagement and building conversations and of course technology, but in a very creative way.”

A final factor. His “rising concern about press freedoms in the United States and around the world.” The U.S. has the First Amendment. When the freedom to practice hard-hitting investigative journalism comes under threat here, he said, that’s not only a problem for our democracy but for the chances that democracy can work anywhere. NewCo will designed to withstand that threat.

This is borne out  by Beaujon.  Since he  had no direct access to Omidyar, he decided to add value to the story by interviewing John Temple, former editor of Civil Beat (who edited the Rocky Mountain News,was a managing editor at The Washington Post after he left Civil Beat and now teaches at Stanford).  Temple told Beaujon about his experience with Civil Beat.  Omidyar was

in the newsroom almost every day...[and was] very involved with writing the code for the site... [He has] got a journalist’s sensibility...He enjoyed the hunt for a story, and he’s very open to experimenting with how to tell the story and using contemporary approaches...[Omidyar] gives you the space to do your job....it is much more in his character to build and innovate than it is to transform...He could have bought the paper in Honolulu, for example.

 It also turns out, according to Rosen, that

Greenwald, his collaborator Laura Poitras, and The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill had been planning to form their own journalism venture. Their ideas and Omidyar’s ideas tracked so well with each other that on October 5 they decided to “join forces” (his term.) 

UPDATE:

Omidyar's mention of Poitras, Scahill and Greenwald and their plans to form their own venture  sheds light on AP ReporterBeaujon's September 28 scoop that Jeremy Scahill comments to the audience members at the Rio debut of Dirty Wars.  He announced that he and Greenwald were

working on a project right now that has at its center how the National Security Agency plays a significant, central role in the U.S. assassination program...There are so many stories that are yet to be published that we hope will produce "actionable intelligence," or information that ordinary citizens across the world can use to try to fight for change, to try to confront those in power.

 Also interesting is this nugget from Civil Beat interview with Omidyar on the occasion of  the launch of the joint venture with HuffPo.  John Letman wrote on September 17

I didn’t want to talk about twerking teens or top ten lists of weird fruit. I was interested in what...HuffPost Hawaii might do to shine a light on Hawaii’s often overlooked but massive role as a surveillance and intelligence outpost and headquarters for the U.S. Pacific Command...

Letman links to Nick Grube's "Bow Ties, Spies and Money: A Look Inside Hawaii's Intel Community" from July and writes in details about Omidyar's views on what the media needs to do:

It’s been a little disconcerting— whenever the drum beats of war are beating, it seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It creates a sort of war frenzy...I think it’s a biological thing ... something about the Third Metric can help us balance that a little bit. The male drive is once the drums start beating ‘we want to get out there, we want to be violent’. As a society, of course that's really dangerous. I think the media — parts of the media — beat the drums and accentuate that....Is...[military action] really the only the answer and why is that the first thing we think of when the think of bad people in the world doing bad things?” He said it shouldn't be the “only tool in the toolbox.“I would add that the crux of the debate that needs to be had is how we balance our need for security with the importance of our liberty and civil liberties...

The distractions unfortunately, sort of official government propaganda, really is about distracting from that core issue because people in power with the best of intentions accumulate as much power as they can in order to keep us safe. They give their lives for that and they truly have the best intentions, I really believe, but they lose perspective on not what makes us safe, but what makes us human...

The government assault on whistleblowers in general, I think really impacts the intent on the First Amendment. Without whistleblowers speaking to the press — or any citizen — you don't have to be a journalist, the First Amendment is there to protect any citizen, but without people on the inside able to speak their conscience and then have others amplify that voice, there’s no way for us to check the power of these secret programs. So I think whistleblower protection needs to be expanded, personally.

I also believe that the communication between journalists and their sources also needs to be privileged in some sense and should not be forcibly disclosable and so I think shield laws are also very important.

Letman also included Omydar's observations on suveillance:

Can we be truly free if we are surveilled all the time, if we have no privacy? I think that’s a really important debate to have.

 Letman also observed that 

Omidyar, who in recent months has gone from being an [occasional tweeter](https://twitter.com/pierre to an almost daily Twitter critic of the NSA and other government surveillance. 

Interestingly, Memorandum "leads" with Omidyar's post (but only as one of "more items" below, of course the shutdown media carnival, but also something on drunken college women.)  For the discussion, it links to Rosen  and to Beaujon, but also Hosenball's scoop for Reuters, Andrew's piece at Buzzfeed and Farhi's piece at the Washington Post (which I wrote about yesterday and all of which predated Omidyar).  Other links include   The Huffington Post, NPR, Guardian, Poynter, Scripting News, Mashable, Politico, and Business Insider. As usual for additional coverage, it sends you to  mediagazer.

 Mediagazer, on the other hand lists Jay Rosen's interview as primary with the discussion including Omidyar's post, plus The Huffington Post, Forbes, Guardian, Poynter, CNET, GlobalPost, Subtraction.com, @emtitus, @allanbrauer, @johngapper, @mlcalderone, @jason_pontin, @ariannahuff, @erikwemple, @biellacoleman, @nickkristof, @thestalwart, Poynter, @poynter, @carlzimmer, @jayrosen_nyu, @mleewelch, @jayrosen_nyu, @howardweaver, @clarajeffery, @barryeisler, @jcstearns, @timoreilly, @rafat, @jgreendc, @omidyarnetwork, @michaelroston, @pierre, FishbowlNY, The Drum, Business Insider, Gawker, Pressing Issues, Committee to Protect …, Hit & Run, BBC, The Wrap, WebProNews, The Verge, The Raw Story, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, Online NewsHour, Talking New Media, Erik Wemple, @hunterw, Hillicon Valley, Mediaite and Politico. 

It lists again the Huffington Post story in its own section as related, although there's not much original there, other than connecting some dots to other pieces.  The Beaujon's Pointer piece, which DOES have original content, is only listed as related to the HuffPo piece, along with Mashable, @tcarmody, Gawker, The Switch, Press Gazette, Big News Network.com, Talking Points Memo, Slate, The Atlantic Wire, CNET, Boing Boing, @raniakhalek, Business Insider, The New York Observer and Daily Dot.

Also, as only a related story is Reuter's Mark Hosenball scoop, with the discussion including a second HuffPo piece and  The Wrap, Washington Post, New York Times, Gannett Blog, Glenn Greenwald (when that link is to his announcement?!) Mashable, Erik Wemple, PE Hub Blog, The Verge, FishbowlNY, @qhardy, New York Magazine, Softpedia News, Business Insider, Mediaite, VentureBeat, and GigaOM. Which goes to show that algorithms rate popularity, not quality, I guess. I'm glad that Omidyar is interested in both: Again from Rosen:

Omidyar believes that if independent, ferocious, investigative journalism isn’t brought to the attention of general audiences it can never have the effect that actually creates a check on power. Therefore the new entity...will have to serve the interest of all kinds of news consumers. It cannot be a niche product. It will have to cover sports, business, entertainment, technology: everything that users demand.

Glenn Greenwald Departs Guardian for new Omidyar Venture

Photo of Pierre Omidyar from his staff profile at Honolulu Civil Beat,  where his slogan is "Be you. Be cool. Be civil."  The project emphasizes "investigative and watchdog journalism, in-depth enterprise reporting, analysis and commentary that gives readers a broad view on issues of importance to the community."

This post was first published on 10/15/13 11:50 PM.  I'll be updating, as I get further information. 

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So, Warren Buffet buys the Roanoke Times and Jeff Bezos buys the Washington Post.  And now enter another billionaire E-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar's new as yet unnamed venture, for which Glenn Greenwald will head up political reporting.

The Washington Post's Paul Farhi (twitter)--who reported on the Bezos sale October 1--writes that   a "person familiar with the venture" says it has also sought to hire Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill.  (Neither could be reached for comment as of the updated version of the story at 10:21 PM.

Unlike Bezos and Buffet--who seem to me to be angel investors with an emphasis on investment-- Omidyar's history is more philanthropic regarding journalism, especially with  initiatives that foster government transparency.

People look to government institutions to work on their behalf and provide oversight on matters that significantly impact their quality of life. Government fulfills this role most effectively when its activities are open and transparent to citizens. With visibility into government actions and spending, people are more likely to participate in the political process and hold government officials accountable for their actions. When citizens engage in the issues that affect them, they can help to ensure that power and public funds are used wisely and are representative of their interests...

We believe greater transparency will also result in more effective investigative journalism, which holds political leaders and systems to a higher standard. More accountability will ensure appropriate influence and integrity in the political process, and bolster the effectiveness of representative government as a force for improving people’s lives.

Omidyar's  portfolio includes Global Integrity, Global Voices, Project on Government Oversite (POGO) and the Sunlight Foundation.   (Omidyar also funded Newstrust in 2010, back when I worked there. Founder Fabrice Florin left the online social news network in January 2012 for the Wikimedia foundation and announced in June of that year that he had turned the effort  over to Poynter.)

 I had thought that Omidyar's emphasis on philanthropy was significant.  Even foundations that expect impact find "impact investing" problematic. Take for instance, Kevin Starr, who directs the Mulago Foundation and the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program. In Stanford Social Innovation Review, he writes that 95% of the foundation's porfolio is philanthropy because "few solutions that meet the fundamental needs of the poor will get you your money back... and "overcoming market failure requires subsidy."

A businessman in Africa told me that Coca-Cola lost money there for 12 years. In other words, it required over a decade for one of the most competent companies on Earth to break even on the sale of a mildly addictive sugary drink that is absurdly cheap to make. Imagine what it takes when you’re focused on impact. Microcredit, the iconic impact investment of the last decade, required more than $100 million in subsidies before it became a profitable business—and the impact has been disappointing at best.

It would seem that the same might be true of journalism projects in the public interest. Maybe it's unrealistic to believe that traditional journalism can yield great returns on investment when the ever-increasing competition comes from those who have no concern for quality or informing the public.  Even those sites which fund journalism rely more and more on getting free content. Florin-- who had worked at Apple--may have grown frustrated that Newstrust (unlike Craigslist, twitter, facebook, Wikipedia, et al.) was no killer app.  Newstrust was an aggregator that attempted to promote quality, not just popularity.  It did no costly investigative reporting.

After Greenwald issued a statement by himself and the Guardian's Jennifer Lindauerat,  Ben Smith at Buzzfeed reported at 4:15 PM that George Soros, through his spokesman, had denied being Greenwald's deep pockets.  The Buzzfeed story made second place on Memeorandum, right behind the shutdown coverage.  The story was number one on the related size mediagazer.  The discussion included Greenwald, VentureBeat, Slate, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic Wire, The Wrap, Boing Boing, USA Today, Erik Wemple, @ggreenwald, CNET, Politico, @blam, @dylanbyers, @niemanlab, The Verge, @rosental, @fishbowlny, @erikwemple, Business Insider, @megan, @hamishmckenzie, @hunterw, @jackofkent, @brianstelter, The New York Observer, @rafat, @arusbridger, Gawker, FishbowlNY, Mediaite, @davewiner, @fishbowlla, @raniakhalek, @michaelroston, New York Times, @pkafka, @jeffjarvis, GigaOM, Hit & Run, BBC, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Guardian, @stefanjbecket, Hillicon Valley, The Raw Story, Daily Dot, mUmBRELLA, Online NewsHour, WebProNews and Talking New Media.

Reuter's Mark Hosenball may have been the first one to report the Omidyar connection at 7:06 PM.  Listed as a related story by mediagazer, the discussion included Farhi's story, as well as Mediaite, GigaOM and @qhardy.

While Soros has also launched transparency intiatives, I see him as more involved in activism and Omidyar as more involved in journalism.  In any case, I look forward to Omidyar's latest project.

Firsthand Accounts: Parts of WV, Ohio "Apocalypse" due to the Derecho

I first posted this on 7/2/12 at 11:05 a.m. This photo is used by permission from Tina Thomas (@Grannytt). This is preliminary blog post to get the word out. Check back often as it's being updated. The most recent update was on July 8 at 9:41 a.m.

Please help us spread the word of the storm's effects. If you're on twitter, here's a tweet:

Please RT, spread word 1st hand reports #WV #OH #Derecho #Appalachia Apocalyptic bit.ly/N4ceBa

Here's a public version of photo and link to this post which is up behind the "facebook garden" gate, which you can share:

http://on.fb.me/NXZd9R

Please share via all your social networks and news aggregators, such as Stumbled Upon. Remember that Aaron Bady got all those hits on the post about Maria because someone shared it to Redditt. So many,even locally,have no communication on conditions other than through social media.

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Unexpected wind gusting above 80 miles per hours through parts of Appalachia affected us here in Blacksburg and the Roanoke Valley of Virginia, but things were inconvenient, rather than dire (excluding the fatalities.)Our electric coverage was a patchwork, which meant you could drive further down the road and find gasoline, restrooms, water. Such was not the case in most of West Virginia and Eastern Ohio.

Tina Thomas lives on the Kanawha River in Arbuckle, WV

She has open skies all around her. She told me via twitter that she took the above picture in Leon, WV looking west towards Ripley Friday evening as the storm was moving in. I have another one she took looking east towards Point Pleasant. She's a priority electricity customer, because she shares the grid with Urgent Care of Leon County in Buffalo, a small facility for rural folks in WV. She explains,

Without this some out on the back roads would have to drive one hour or more for help.

She and the urgent care and "only" went without power for 26 hours...

Believe it or not, that is what it looked like to the West.

Bob Kincaid lives in Fayette County, WV

Kincaid, has been Board president of Coal River Mountain Watch. He runs the internet radio network, H.O.R.N. On July 1 at 1:18 p.m., he wrote me

Here's what I know at this point:

This is my third trip to Summersville since the storm hit. I'm trying furiously to get my generator going to afford us a little relief.

Gasoline is available at the Sheetz and a few other places in Summersville.

Ice is a distant memory. Haven't seen a single place where it's available. This is where the Nat'l Guard should be providing relief: ice, water and MREs.

WalMart is sold out of camp stoves, propane, lantern fuel, ice chests and gas cans and batteries. So is every other store.

Sheetz is to be commended. I've seen a tanker truck there every time I've been here. They seem to be treating the situation with the gravity it deserves.

I have not seen a single Nat'l Guard vehicle in the times I've been out. No state troopers, either.

And yes: I reiterate: Earl Ray Tomblin's [campaign] website entry page is some silly stuff about writing a letter to the EPA over the so-called "War on Coal." Nothing about the emergency, nothing about safety, nothing about relief efforts. He should be roundly excoriated for his inaction.

At 2:30 p.m., he added,

I saw my first Nat'l Guard Vehicle today: a Hummer pulling into the Taco Bell in Summersville.

Lorelei Scarbro lives in Raleigh County, WV

Scarbro, the widow of a coal miner volunteers full-time at the Boone-Raleigh Community Center, which she helped found and of which she is the Board Chairwoman. She emailed me on July 3, 2012 at 7:26 p.m.

I was in Whitesville this morning. No power and I did see the national guard unloading a truck of water at the fire station. That water was going to clear fork because they have no power or water. I saw only one truck and one Hummer..no food just water. No tornado the streets were clean axnd empty.

We need so much more. I stopped and asked the fire chief what I could do. He asked if the community center was open. I said no because we have no power. If we had power we could be cooking for people.  I am looking forward to the day when we can fill the roof with solar panels.  Me and mine are ok.

I first became aware of how bad things were elsewhere when I received an email

Documentary filmmaker Mari-lynn Evans lives in Akon, Ohio, but has family in Braxton, WV. She sent word through via a friend at 11:45 p.m. on June 30, calling the situation "Apocalyptic."

Things haven't improved much.  As another friend pointed out, we don't have the military and National Guard defending us from the police. No one is trying to shoot us. Almost all the houses are still standing. There are no people being left behind, forgotten about in hospital and jails.But here, folks are still in a bad situation and the government response appears lacking.  And we're dealing with high temperatures and lack of water.  As Mari-Lyn explained,

Driving in the darkness with nothing open for hours felt so eerie.

Another passenger in the car said

it was like being in a Steven King novel. It is a horrible situation for so many living in this state of disaster.

As if it weren't enough that folks weren't already dealing with poisoned water from chemical and coal industries. I wondered when the national media would start covering events. Marilyn posited:

I think no one knows this is happening because so few of us are able to get this info out due to no phones or computers.

How would folks in the national media find out what was happening?

I would have not known how bad things were, if  I not received had first-hand accounts.  Mari-Lyn was emailing and posting to her facebook page.The email lists we are on are closed to most media so that folks can talk freely. The facebook page requires that you be her "friend."  The accounts in the paper and the releases from the governor's office were so bland and minimized the damage.  The tweets from WV media weren't using the hashtags #WV #Derecho.

Here are some samples of what I was learning

Below, you'll find emai posts from Mari-Lyn and from Elisa Young, a paralegal in Ohio, used by permission.

In an update, I'll be posting from others as I receive permission. But before I update, I want to report, in a separate post, on FEMA in Fayette County, one of the areas hardest hit and complaints that feeding decisions are being skewed by the PGA tournament at the Greenbrier.  Then I'll be back to add more accounts.

Mari-Lyn Evans, Saturday, June 30, 2012,  11:45 p.m.

I'm In WV. It's desperate. No food water gas. Post email help!!!!!! If near WV bring food and water. Oxygen patients flooding hospitals. Many people with no phone service or gas to get help, water or supplies.

Post this to our Facebook. If you can come into wv with food water and check on people. I have not seen 1 emergency vehicle. People in hollers with no way to get help or leave. No one going house to house to check. 79 50 all clear no traffic. Come with aid

Where...is the national guard.  Cars and people are stranded at closed gas stations. No gas or lights from Parkersburg to Clarksburg. Then none in Braxton Upshur or Lewis Co.  Apocalyptic.

At the time, the Corps of engineers was not letting people use the facilities at Huntington and Burnsvillle.  By 7:02 p.m. the Corps of Engineers had unlocked the gates at Burnsville Lake, but the situation was still dire.  Her family in Buckhannon had reported lights have just come on there, but St Joes Hospital was not taking patients.  By this morning, things were still dire.

Mari-Lyn Evans,  Monday, July 2, 9:47 a.m.

Just off with Joe Manchin. They are calling Tomblin re Guard and State Police checking on people and setting up communication and help.

Now?

They did not know where any Guard was in WV. That is Tomblin's to do apparently.

I told them how desperate the situation was on the ground, that no one can get out word to get help.

I organized 4 trucks of food and water to go into Braxton County this morning. But, I have no idea how to help other than to help in the small area where I have family.

Mari-Lyn Evans, Monday, July 2, 9:47 1:22 p.m.

No one is in their offices. No one.
We are the few who are able to get calls out.
Posting everything I get to FB.

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 12:01 a.m.

We are facing the same thing in Ohio, at least SE - Kasich is sending help to Cincinnati and central Ohio,has said the urban areas are the priority, but has said only when they are done there are they sending any help here.

I got stuck in Vinton County last night . It was like a typhoon. Just from the people there at the camp who were calling home, the electricity ...was completely out from Lancaster to Jackson, Marietta, and Meigs. At least a quarter of the state. I was low on gas, and when I got back to Nelsonville in the morning, the line for the only gas station open was farther than I could see the end of. I waited for two hours and then the police said another station had opened in Nelsonville and flagged us away. Waited another hour and a half at the next gas station and two people tried to fight me for the gas I'd paid for, but got enough to get home, where there was no water or electricity.

The electricity is on now, The [City of ] Athens County was made a priority, but they said it will be sporadic and they expect it to go out again. Still no water. More storms are coming through Monday and Tuesday.

It's been like a scene from a Steven King novel. The emergency help may be tied up somewhere, but it's not in this quarter of Ohio.

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 8:18 a.m.

Aside from re-posting to friends, local lists and facebook. If we can't get down there, is there someone we can be calling to put pressure on for help?

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1,  9:25 a.m.

Are toll roads open or does anyone know who to check with on that - state highway patrol?

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 12:17 p.m.

Our electric is back on now, but neighbors keep knocking on the door. We have five families on the same well, happens to be in our house, and the water is still out....Landlord not responding.

A friend from Meigs just called me - I left her a message early Saturday to see how she was. She had been standing in line at the gas station that's open to charge her cell phone so she could have communication. Everything still out there.

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 12:38 p.m.

...Mobile homes and 100 degree weather aren't a good mix with senior citizens without a hospital or ER in the county and gas supplies no guarantee if you can get there.

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 12:44p.m.

[My friend in Miegs] has no cell coverage from her home - land line requires electricity to work with the type of phone she has. Had to drive to the gas station that was open to charge her phone and get cell coverage.

The county is sparsely populated - no cities, no hospital, university, or population density to make the county a priority.

I remember we always got the bulk of the pollution, dead last, bottom of the barrel service. I remember AEP telling me the reason they would not go to the expense of insulating the high tension power lines that ran across the community (they have the technology to reduce electromagnetic radiation), was that there weren't enough people to justify the expense.

Same old same old.

Elisa Young, Sunday, July 1, 12:48

I've been asking people here about injection well issues on the wells that require pressurization, when the power went out, and where they were actively injecting. MariLynn raised a good point about the impoundments. Would be a good idea for people to check on those near them - have never known industry to go out of it's way to report problems.

Elisa Young, Monday, July 2, 4:04 p.m.

On the way down to Meigs last night to check on some people and take food, I saw at least 30 repair trucks high-tailing it through Athens County headed toward Columbus. I was assuming to re-restore electricity.

It was strange going up to Columbus this morning for the press conference on the frack waste testing results. When I got to Columbus, it was business as usual.

The people I met there from Cleveland had no clue what was happening to the South.

NPR news also said that 20,000 additional people in SE Ohio were left without electricity after last nights' storm, bringing the total in the bottom two-thirds of SE Ohio to 243,000 homes without electricity.

They said power in Meigs/Gallia Counties won't be restored until Thursday at the soonest (7 days from when it went out) - we were dead last on the priority list and they listed Wellston specifically in their own category within the county list. Wellson is in Meigs County, where homes were blown off their foundations into the road by the winds - they are predicting electricity will be restored in Wellston, Meigs County, by next Tuesday. (12 days)

NPR also announced that the National Guard had been dispatched to central Ohio due to the power outages

Scott Walker Ahead in the Polls: Where's the DNC?

Cartoon, "Scott Walker Recall"  by Joe Heller (gallery, email, bio) for the 1/20/2012 Green Bay Press-Gazette, where he has been the editorial cartoonist since 1985.  Copyrighted and used by permission.

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, infamous for his embrace of the Koch brother's agenda, faces a  recall election, to take place June 5.  Despite the huge number of recall signatures, he's ahead in the polls , as reported by Politico and CNN, among others. One reason,  posits Alex Altman, TIME's Washington correspondent,  is lack of enthusisam for the Democratic party's candidate as being too much like Walker:

Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee mayor who will square off against Walker on June 5, was defeated by the governor in 2010 and advocated for some of the same changes to union benefits (including increasing the amount most public employees contribute to their pension and health care costs) as the governor.

Altman, who  graduated from  Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, also notes Barrett's vague platform.  I was reading his piece with admiration until I got to this example of opinion masquerading as journalism,

Barrett’s record of tangling with unions led labor to SQUANDER [emphasis added] several million dollars on Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, a liberal primary challenger whom Barrett clobbered by nearly 20 points.

Most of  Altman's  column-inches are spent on describing colorful, but ineffectual citizens. My question, unanswered, is why did the experienced (and paid)  organizers behind labor's campaign for Falk fail to  succeed in mobilizing engaged citizens for its candidate.Was there a better candidate? Or was it just that United Wisconsin--which spearheaded the recall--didn’t endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary, due its non-partisan status?

Is United Wisconsin's really only interested in "citizen engagement rather than electoral results?"   I'm not so sure about Altman's analysis since the website for United Wisconsin has a statement for its Political Action Committeethat its state purpose is to oust Walker and his Lt. Governor.

Altman describes labor as "tepid" and "depleted" and  Democrats as "fractured," "Balkanized" and "careening,"

unable to drive a consistent message, careening from collective bargaining to Walker’s purported dishonesty, the “war on women” and jobs and education.

Meanwhile, he fails to react to the largest newspaper in the state endorsement Walker, claiming that

a disagreement over a single policy is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor

Either it's a single issue or not.  The paper has disregarded United Wisconsin's statement by its Executive Director,  Director Lynn Freeman that 

Our supporters have identified issues critical to Wisconsin’s future, including family-sustaining job creation, quality education, access to affordable healthcare, and the effect of big money in Wisconsin politics. United Wisconsin will focus on these issues.

 If Walker should win, won't that just embolden him and his supporters--many out of state? And is everything over after the election, as Altman would have us believe?

After nearly 15 months, the daily solidarity gathering in the shadow of the capitol will stop meeting the week of June 5.

Altman has disregarded United Wisconsin's statement that it  will continue its fight:

[T]he people of Wisconsin have shown that democracy is not a spectator sport, and the days of passive participation in Wisconsin politics are over....[We are] committed to being a vehicle for citizens to shape Wisconsin’s future...

Also of concern is Altman's report of

DNC’s tentativeness about plunging into the contest, which Republicans attribute to fears that a loss would tarnish President Obama’s chances...

Did Altman check with the DNC or at least the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

And if the DNC can't take down Scott Walker, what good is it?  I'm wondering:  is it too late to win the recall or will the many folks who signed petitions manage to rally enough fellow voters to "throw the bums out of office."

UPDATE:At 5:21, the AP's Scott Bauer, who filed at 5:21 p.m. according to newsvine, answered some of the questions I raised. Bauer quotes Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate as saying,

We are, internally, seeing things start to move in our direction in a very substantial way...Democrats have prepared a 'huge, well-funded' turnout operation that will deliver more votes to Barrett than he received in the 2010 governor's race...

Bauer also reports that

The Democratic National Committee said Monday it has sent $1.4 million to Wisconsin in the 2012 election cycle and is tapping its organization to turn out votes for Barrett.


DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz plans to host a fundraiser for Barrett on May 30. Another Democratic heavy hitter, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, whose spokesman said has already raised $50,000 for the campaign and worked to get Democrats to vote early, is also hosting a Barrett fundraiser that day.

See my comment at the version the WaPo ran, for some reason w.o. Bauer's byline.  I also raised my questions at TIME.

ITT's Mike Elk Covering Labor Notes Conference Thanks to Crowdsource Funding

Picture of Mike Elk is adapted from a screen shot of his video at YouTube. 

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For anyone who wants yet another example of the skewed economics of journalism, take a look at this video by Mike Elk, labor journalist for In These Times Magazine. He wanted $500 to fly from DC to cover the Labor Notes Conference (program) near Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois, where rank and file members, local union leaders and labor activists connect to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.

Often in covering labor struggles, I find that union members often find themselves as equally frustrated with the bureaucracies of their unions as with the corporations they are fighting. Rarely though are the voices of these worker struggling to change their unions heard. Next weekend May 4 -6, Labor Notes is holding its bi-annual conference in Chicago. Over 2,000 activists and union members from dozens of different unions have already purchased registration to attend this meeting where they will discuss their struggles and the direction of the labor movement. However, I lack the funds to attend this important event and need your help to raise them. 

When it comes to labor writers, Mike is one of my favorite labor reporters.  Today, he filed a story,  "A Tale of Two Rules: Washington Bureaucracy and the Politics of Workplace Safety."  I DO wish he would write about how the UMWA leadership sells out mountains by supporting Big Coal.   They wouldn't even march to save Blair Mountain (ITT acknowledged this, but it was freelancer Melinda Tuhus.  Of course, UMWA Communications Department: Phil Smith Department Director, as is his wont, weighed in in the comment section, telling us all about how the union supports all its members and has nothing to do with making the laws or regulations  that allow one mining practice or another. We just mine the coal."

Yada, yada, yada.  Yeah sure.  And labor unions have nothing to do with making laws and regulations?  For instance, as I pointed out yesterday, the UMWA sided with Big Coal and the Chamber of Commerce et. al.  and against public health when it came to the EPA regulating coal ash.

Here's the rest of the Mike's approximate transcript from WePay.com. But listen to the video: his narrative has a lot more information about the state of labor and the disparity between the bosses and the rank and file.  Especially alarming are AFME's cutbacks in Wisconsin organizer positions in the light of governor Walker's attack on organized labor (and women's rights, as pointed out by John Nichols.)  Not good, especially with the recall coming up. 

 If you're not attending attending Labor Notes, you can follow Mike's live tweeting.  And I plan to post here some of his content, which he is sharing with other non-profit media.

PBS: Can you say "unlevel playing field?"

Photo of a mountaintop removal site by Daniel Shea of Chicago, who is now working on a series of photographs of coal plants, entitled Plume. (I'll be writing about his print sale to fund that project in my next post.)


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In reading Alessandra Stanley's July 12 column, "Mr. Secretary, This Is Your Life (in Plenty of Detail) I thought of the PBS handling of the film Coal Country v.s. that of the tribute to George Schultz. At the time that PBS pulled the plug on airing Coal Country, citing its Sierra Club funding, I wondered whether Board member Sharon Rockefeller (wife of the big coal lovin' WV Senator) had played any role.

I had seen the film at its West Virginia premiere and found it to be pretty even-handed, using a much more sympathetic representative of the coal industry than, say, Black Diamonds. This is not to criticize Catherine Pancake or her film. I am just saying that Coal Country, by Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller, looked to me to be ready for prime-time PBS, more akin to Ken Burns, than say its more controversial programming, such as POV.

Funding for the George Shultz tribute

Now, according to Stanley, PBS is airing a three-hour George Shultz tribute, whose sponsors include

Mr. Shultz’s Nixon-era colleague, Peter G. Peterson, who is married to Joan Ganz Cooney, the founder of Children’s Television Workshop. The Stephen Bechtel Fund gave money, so did Charles Schwab, founder of the Charles Schwab Corporation, where Mr. Shultz also served as a board member. So did many prominent foundations and individuals, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California.

But John Wilson, the chief programming executive told Stanley that money had nothing to do with airing the program.

We evaluate programs on their merits ...PBS has a vivid track record of covering this administration’s key players. It goes without saying this is not our first look at the Reagan White House and not the last.

I guess just not so vivid a track record of covering mountaintop removal.

The directors of Coal Country react

The filmmakers of Coal Country have said,

It is important for us to state that THE APPALACHIANS airing on PBS (and one of their largest pledge films) was also funded in part by the Sierra Club. Now we learn that PBS has accepted a 3 hour film on George Shultz, funded in its entirety by his supporters.

PBS's decision regarding these two films surely appears to be a conflict of interest In looking at the site for Free to Choose Media, founded by Bob Chitester and producer of the Schultz film, it hardly seems to be involved in non-partisan projects.

Free to Choose Media: can anyone say "climate change denial?

Take a look, for instance, at what's next up for the company, What a Wonderful World. The site says it features

Johan Norberg, a noted Swedish Author and Scholar, will attack the pervasive and negative myths about Capitalism, Free Trade and Globalization with an insightful, engaging and often times humorous look at the world around us as it really is.

Then there's a finished project, Unstoppable Solar Cycles: The Real Story of Greenland, which

sets aside doomsday alarmism and political axe-grinding to look at the science behind the history of climate change on earth.

Supposedly, this is authoritative since

Dr. Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Dr. David Legates of the University of Delaware provide an easy-to-follow review of current climate science, which suggests that the sun's irregular patterns and other natural forces are the major sources of climate change.

Of course, climate skeptic Soon was Scientific Advisor to Greening Earth Society between Dec 1998 and September 2001 and had ties to the American Petroleum Institute, according to Sourcewatch. Legates, according to the same source is a frequent

contributor to publications released by the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think-tank that strongly opposes climate change regulation.

PBS may have used Chitester before for a skewed series on economics

In 1980, at least according to his website, Chitester produced a series with Milton Friedman. (I can't find it on the PBS site, nor does IMDB list who aired it.)

Take a look at the PBS standards

Here are the network's standards on editorial integrity

PBS's reputation for quality reflects the public's trust in the editorial integrity of PBS content and the process by which it is produced and distributed. To maintain that trust, PBS and its member stations are responsible for shielding the creative and editorial processes from political pressure or improper influence from funders or other sources. PBS also must make every effort to ensure that the content it distributes satisfies those editorial standards designed to assure integrity.

Other journalists are weighing in--will PBS answer?

Greg Mitchell (email), formerly of Editor and Publisher, wrote this for his blog The Nation. But despite an action alert by Peter Hart at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler (email, phone: 703- 739-5290) has yet to respond on his blog--the last entry was July 9. I hope that he'll write about PBS's decision-making regarding these two films, given his role in upholding the station's integrity.

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UPDATE (not part of my drafted op-ed):

In getting ready to write PBS, I also located some articles for further reading:

• Joe Strupp (email) weighs in at Media Matters

On July 14, I emailed Getler, copying the No New Coal Plants, Friends of Mountains, Appalachian Studies, Concerned Citizens of Giles County, Surry Justice and Mountain Justice Organizers lists, as well as the three writers above and Mari-lynn Evans:

Jul 14, 2010, 1:13 PM

Mr. Getler,

Consider the case of Coal Country v.s. the recent George Shultz tribute.

http://bethwellington.blogspot.com/2010/07/pbs-can-you-say-unequal-playing-field.html

I hope your station will revisit the original decision to not show Coal Country. By copy of this, I'm letting friends on several email lists know about this, thinking that they may find the topic of interest and want to contact you.

BTW, as you might know, Greg Mitchell also has a post w. more info on this:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/37323/pbs-offering-three-hour-valentine-george-shultz-rightwing-backing

As does Joe Strupp at Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201007120040

And Peter Hart at FAIR

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4114

On July 16, I copied just the three writers and Mari-Lyn, plus I wrote the NYT's author at the contact form at the paper.

Jul 16, 2010, 10:29 AM

BTW, I notice that you have a blog and the last entry was July 9. I hope that you'll write about your decision-making regarding these two films, given your role in upholding the station's integrity, especially in light of the standards on editorial integrity:

PBS's reputation for quality reflects the public's trust in the editorial integrity of PBS content and the process by which it is produced and distributed. To maintain that trust, PBS and its member stations are responsible for shielding the creative and editorial processes from political pressure or improper influence from funders or other sources. PBS also must make every effort to ensure that the content it distributes satisfies those editorial standards designed to assure integrity.

These standards are especially interesting, given that you gave the filmmaker an extra hour, according to the New York Times.

Also, you might be interested to know that this is a quite a topic of interest. My blog post has had more hits than anything in a long while.

Open Letter to Dylan Lovan about Ashley Judd

Dylan Lovan is an AP journalist who uses the above stock illustration from jupiter images on twitter. He recently got lots of coverage for reporting on the strip miner's revenge on Ashley Judd for speaking out about mountaintop removal, reporting which has, in turn, been getting criticism on various list serves (and I'm sure support on others.)

Dear Mr. Lovan,

I'm glad that the later version of your story included quotes from Ms. Judd.

What disappoints me is that you went to press before getting her side of this--could you not wait for her reply? And if not, could you have at least interviewed others who oppose mountaintop removal and written a better lede?

The original story read,

Appalachian anger at Ashley Judd's outspoken criticism of mountaintop removal coal mining has led to a backlash using a topless photo of the actress.

This was not "Appalachian anger," although the story circulated by the likes of HollywoodNews.com, repeated a narrative of the do-gooder-outsider Judd versus "the locals."

Many whose roots in our region go back generations adamantly oppose mountaintop removal. And Judd was more than just KY-raised "outsider:" I've read that her mom was a KY native who returned home after a divorce from Ashley's dad. If the adage about outsiders, "if a cat had kittens in the woodbox, it wouldn't make them logs" is true, how about the converse?

Nor was Judd's appearance at the National Press Club the first time she's spoken out about mtr. Besides, as others have pointed out, the sexist sign is a sensational non-sequitur. Judd's top is hers to remove and she can put it back on. The mountains (and those who love them in their pre-mtr shape) don't have that option: those who engage in mountaintop removal are poisoning water and laying waste to our landscape and our communities.

I'd urge you to use your journalistic skills to research who funded the sign, so that s/he can not gloat anonymously.

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BTW, Lovan has been with the wire service since 2000 and his bio says that he's

[r]esponsible for day and evening supervisory shifts, broadcast desk and general assignments

The Kentucky AP publishes Mr. Lovan's email address and I tried to write him via twitter, facebook and email before posting my take on his coverage, so as to get his response. Unfortunately, the server returned an error message:

550 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected dlovan@ap.org

I wrote an AP colleague of his to found out about the bounce, who can't explain it.

Since I haven't heard back and the library is closing and tomorrow I'll be in Beckley, I'm posting this without his response. Which is ironic, given the content, but I don't have anywhere near the AP's circulation, so if I do hear back, the correction will be included before many read this.

Virginia General Assembly's Gift to Stealth Development

Illustration from application for rezoning submitted in a sucessful request for passage of Blacksburg's Ordinance 1412.

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Barely a year has past since Virginia Supreme Court ruled on February 27, 2010 in Hale v. Board of Zoning Appeals in favor of the Town of Blacksburg and Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth (BURG) and against Fairmount Properties. Critics of Fairmount said it had used a bait and switch to secure rezoning of a rugby field next to the elementary school. The promise: upscale mixed use development including apartments. The plan submitted following rezoning: a shopping center "anchored" by a big-box Wal-Mart.

Richmond attorney Philip Strother (email), whose firm represented BURG in the case summed up the switch in the article he wrote for the University of Richmond Law Review. Peter Vieth also wrote about the decision March 16, 2009 for Virginia Lawyers Weekly.


Today, the Virginia State Senate with a Dem majority (of 22 - 18) unanimously passed the Republican-held House of Delegates' gift to developers, HB 1250, which lowers the threshold for vested rights to include cases in which

the zoning administrator or other administrative officer has issued a written order, requirement, decision or determination regarding the permissibility of a specific use or density of the landowner's property that is no longer subject to appeal and no longer subject to change, modification or reversal under subsection C of § 15.2-2311.

Writing about HB 1250 in "A letter isn't enough Lawmakers would make it easier for developers to sneak projects past public scrutiny," the Roanoke Times contended today that

It is the sort of rule only developers could love -- developers who prefer to sneak projects past elected officials without genuine public oversight.

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The Roanoke Times also opined that

if this law had been in place a couple of years ago, Blacksburg almost certainly would have never been able to block a big-box store in town.

I'm not sure. After all, the Blacksburg case involved the failure of the developer to adequately specify use. Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. ruled,

There is simply no language in the proffers and nothing in the attendant materials that were submitted with the rezoning application that would ‘specify use’ so that it could be found the developers clearly intended to reserve … a vested right for an unrestricted retail sales use of the property.

I checked w. Daniel Breslau of BURG and asked what exactly HB 1250 gives the developers and whether the provision would have applied to Fairmount. Daniel replied,

It's not clear if it would have changed the outcome in our case. But it could have. There were a series of letters between the developers and the Blacksburg zoning administrator in early 2007. The letters did not exactly give an order that a big box was permissible. But there was a big box in the plans and the zoning administrator did not list the big box among the things that were not OK in the plans. They tried to claim this was vesting under the existing law, but the courts did not buy it (although the BZA [Board of Zoning Appeals], which accepted every one of the developers' arguments and even invented some of their own, did). The issue is not as clear cut with the change. If the new bill becomes law, zoning administrators in Virginia will have to include a disclaimer in all of their correspondence with developers, saying that their letters are a courtesy and do not represent an "order, requirement, decision or determination," etc., unless their intention is to confer vested rights.

He added,

In some ways the law may backfire on developers. The more they try to ease the conditions for getting vested rights, the less any jurisdiction will want to approve a project without a very detailed and binding plan.

I agree.

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But, here's what I really don't get about the paper editorial--its warning that

Virginians who care about their communities should take notice before it is too late.

WTF? Why wait to warn us when it is within hours of being "too late." Where was a heads up when the measure was submitted by recently elected Virginia Beach hog farmer Barry Night on January 18 or when it passed the House on February 12? Daniel and otherswrote their Senators today and for what? We all would have appreciated at least the appearance of the ability to affect public policy if indeed the measure only benefits developers.

Oh, and by the way, the bill patron's website says he had a "strong dedication" "protecting citizens' rights." Here's my question for the good delegate:

Since when are developers, whom you count among your financial backers, the only citizens with rights, Mr. Night?

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Update: former Goochland Andrew McRoberts , who served as Goochland's County Attorney through May 19, 2009, and now is part of the County and is now part of the Local Government practice at the law firm of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, P.C. in Richmond (email, bio) posted on HB 1250 on March 2 at his informative blog, Virginia Local Government Law (and linked to me. Thanks!) His post looks at vested rights and the ramifications of the new bill and concludes:

whether HB 1250 benefits many or just a few, this step is a big change by its very nature. It is a step toward government in the dark to the detriment of the public will as expressed by its elected officials. A major shift, indeed.