MONEY

Working a 65-hour week and struggling to make ends meet: welcome to Phoenix

José Beltrán wakes up at 4.45am, has a cup of coffee and lets his dog out before heading to the hospital for his 6.30am shift. For the next 12 hours, he works as a certified nursing assistant in a Covid unit, helping patients who are on mechanical ventilation. When he gets home, he has a couple of hours before bedtime – time he’ll spend having dinner with his family, then hitting the books as he studies to get into nursing school himself.

It’s a grueling routine: last week alone, he was scheduled to work 57.5 hours at the hospital. The job can be harrowing and requires absolute focus: when there’s a code blue, a patient needs resuscitation and it’s up to Beltrán to help save a life. “It’s the highest thrill in my field,” he says. “It’s a privilege to be able to do that. I couldn’t do it if I didn’t love it.”

But in the past year, things have gotten tougher.

Beltrán lives in Phoenix, Arizona, which in August saw inflation hit 13% over the preceding 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – a record for any US city over the past two decades. Nationally, the figure was 8.3%. Gas prices were up 33.5% in the area versus 26.2% across the US. Economists have pointed to the surging housing costs and rapid post-lockdown job growth as key drivers of inflation in the Phoenix region – among the fastest-growing in the country – where the average household devotes 34% of its budget to housing.

Beltrán and his wife, a full-time accountant, have felt the soaring prices at the gas station and the grocery store. A gallon of milk cost $1.98 in the city in 2018; at Beltran’s local supermarket, it’s now $3.49.

Adding to the hardship is the fact that Beltrán’s hospital work depends on the number of patients who need care – on any given day, he could get a 4.30am text informing him that his shift is canceled. “If I don’t make full-time hours, I might be in a bind by the end of the month,” he says. “Those days of working one job and sustaining a household on one income – those days are long gone.”

As prices have gone up, Beltrán has taken on even more work to make ends meet: on top of his hospital hours, last year he began taking shifts for two other healthcare agencies, sometimes pushing his weekly working hours to 65. And he’s not alone in his field; he says he doesn’t know of a nursing assistant on his floor who doesn’t have to work two jobs.

Beltrán, 34, is a warm, soft-spoken host in his tidy living room, where a test-prep book for nursing school is a constant presence on the table and his dog, Solo, is a constant presence under it. Still in his scrubs after a long day, he describes growing up in San Diego and moving to Phoenix in 2015, when he was “in search of a place or a state where I could afford to live by myself,” he says. “Now in 2022, we’re slowly leveling to that cost of living where I came from.”

Many in the Phoenix area can identify with Beltrán’s plight.

At Matthew’s Crossing, a food pantry in nearby Chandler, adults and their children check in at a window and receive a brightly colored card with a large number, which they display on their cars in the baking Phoenix heat. Inside, cheerful volunteers inspect food donations and assemble packages. Then they emerge to greet the waiting families, with a dolly full of food and other supplies.

More and more people working with full-time jobs are struggling to put food on the table. According to Jan Terhune, the executive director of Matthew’s Crossing, “well over 50%” of the site’s clients worked full-time as of a year and a half ago,” the last time they conducted a review. Now, “I don’t think it would be a stretch to say it’s upwards of 60%,” she says.

Ten per cent of those who visit each month are typically new clients. But these days, it’s more than 20%, Terhune says. “The majority of those new clients will share with you that they never thought they’d ever see themselves having to ask others for help.”

That’s an experience Stephanie Cudjo, 40, hopes her two children will never have as adults.

Seated outside her office on a lunch break this month, Cudjo has a broad smile and an easy composure. But like Beltrán, Cudjo has found that a single, full-time job isn’t enough to support her daughter and son, who are now 16 and 11. After her day job at a law firm, where she often works more than 90 hours in a two-week pay period, she’ll run errands, cook, and help her kids with their homework. In the late evenings, she goes online to her second job, doing clerical work for a multinational company. “My son says, ‘Mom, you come home and you just go back to work again.’ I go, ‘Well, how are we gonna survive?’”

Cudjo, whose mother died when she was 11 and whose father was largely absent, spent her early years moving between caretakers and battling for basic needs. “A lot of [my] childhood was on the streets, homeless, losing apartments, living in hotels, not knowing where we were gonna get food,” she says of herself and her brother.

Cudjo’s young adulthood was marked by a battle with cancer that forced her to move to Phoenix eight years ago. Her illness meant that her children might have been placed in foster care had she not moved closer to family. Arriving with no job, she and her kids bounced from place to place until she found low-income housing and work as a legal support clerk at the firm in downtown Phoenix – a job she loves.

Her housing situation remains uncertain: “My fear is to be homeless again. Jumping here and there, living out of your car – that’s my fear,” she says.

Through it all, Cudjo remains upbeat. “I’ve overcome a lot. I’m learning from the struggles I went through,” she says. “As long as I’m working and I can provide for the children and have a roof over our head, that’s all I want. I don’t try to think bigger, better. I’m trying to live for now.”

Beltrán echoes those sentiments. Having grown up in federally subsidized housing, he now has his own place and a job in healthcare – a goal he’s had since childhood, when he learned to help his grandmother manage her diabetes. He’s worked in the industry for 12 years: “What keeps me here is the fact that you learn something new every day.”

He adores Phoenix: “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t leave,” he says on a trip to the local supermarket. But he has considered moving once again in search of a lower cost of living. Pointing to staples like bread, eggs and cheese, Beltrán reflects on surging prices. “Essentially, we plan to pay double now” for groceries, he says. “You figure out what your needs are rather than what your wants are.”

As we enter another aisle, an older man passes on his way to the checkout area. Perhaps seeing Beltrán’s scrubs, he says out of the blue: “Have a blessed night.” Beltrán has never met him.

“Today was literally a 13-hour day,” Beltrán says afterward. “That kind of comment makes it all worth it.”

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Elton John Performs At The White House

The White House has always had musical guests come and perform, but what is the history and strategy behind these visits?

From Wembley Stadium in London to Madison Square Garden in New York City, Sir Elton John has performed on some of the biggest stages in the world. Friday, he performed for a relatively smaller crowd: an audience of 2,000 people at the White House.

Over the past decade, the White House has hosted a slew of musical guests.

Artists like Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson and Lin Manuel-Miranda have performed at the White House as part of the Obama administration’s celebrations of American music.

Singer Kid Rock attended the Trump administration’s signing ceremony for the Music Modernization Act.

And performers like Olivia Rodrigo and the K-Pop boy band BTS have spoken at the White House to advocate for the COVID-19 vaccine and to address the issue of anti-Asian hate crimes.

David Jackson is a professor of political science at Bowling Green State University.

“The demographics that each of the artists bring with them are demographics that the party is trying to persuade,” said Jackson.

Jackson has been researching the political influence of celebrity endorsements for the past two decades, and he’s noted that since President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, the administration’s choices for musical guests and performances can be seen as “an attempt to bring together generations.”

Some of the performers during the 2020 Democratic National Convention included Gen Z pop star Billie Eilish, folk rock musician Stephen Stills and Broadway singer Billy Porter.

“A celebrity endorsement’s a great thing. It gives energy, enthusiasm, helps raise money, helps persuade people, but it’s a lot more complicated than that,” he said.

He noted that celebrity endorsements are only effective if the celebrities are familiar, likable, and credible in the eyes of fans.

Elton John has long been an advocate for LGBTQ rights and a major activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The British icon’s performance at the White House has been dubbed “a night when hope and history rhyme,” and honorees in attendance include “everyday history-makers” like teachers, health care professionals and LGBTQ advocates.

Source: newsy.com

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Low Water Levels At Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Dam Threaten Power Supply

Water and power supplies for tens of millions of American are being threatened as Lake Powell and Lake Mead water levels continue to drop.

America’s two largest reservoirs are in trouble. The Colorado River feeds Lake Powell and Lake Mead and both are at near-record lows, which is threatening the water and power supply for tens of millions of Americans.

“Between 2 and 4 million acre-feet of additional conservation is needed just to protect critical levels in 2023,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said.

The two-decade-long mega-drought is drying out the west.

“Less of the precipitation that feeds the river actually makes it into the river,” water policy researcher Jeff Lukas said.

You don’t have to tell Robert Gripentog. His family has owned the Las Vegas Boat Harbor since the 1950s.

“It costs us a lot of money because we have to chase the water down,” he said. “We have to move the marina.”

He’s stayed open as the water levels have dropped more than 40 feet in just the last two years and he’s lost about 40% of his business.

“We need to come up considerably from where we’re at right now,” Gripentog continued.

In July, Lake Mead hit its lowest level since it was created — just 1,040 feet.

There was some short-term good news this summer, though. A strong monsoon season in the southwest pushed the depth up four feet. However, that doesn’t come close to solving the problem.

As the water keeps dropping year after year, there’s less drinking and irrigation water for 40 million people across the region. And there’s concerns about the two dams’ production of hydro-electric power.

When the water drops below 950 feet, the massive Hoover Dam can’t generate any more power. But it doesnt’ have to get that low to cause problems. Its power output is already down 36% due to the current water level and there’s a chance it could drop too low to make power in the next three years.

The Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell is facing the same problem. The Bureau of Reclamation expects it to be just 32 feet above the minimum pool power level by January 1. There’s a 10% chance it could drop below the cut-off level by next year and a 30% change by 2024.

The Hoover Dam powers the lives of more than 1.3 million people and more than half the power goes to Southern California.

Jim McCarthy is the president of the Electric Vehicle Association of Southern California.

“We need to realize we’re going to have less hydro power, at least in the near term,” he said.

The state is home to almost half of all electric cars in the country.

The heat wave earlier this month threatened the state’s power grid. Officials asked electric car owners not to recharge their EVs.

If the state loses the Hoover Dam’s hydro power, the drive for consistent clean energy to support clean energy cars becomes less clear.

“If we lose a lot of hydro power, it will be a problem,” McCarthy continued. “We need to upgrade now. But if you drive an EV, at least you can power on your own.”

The group responsible for grid integrity says the western grid is at risk of an energy emergency because of falling hydro-power levels.

Last fall, the drought dried up Lake Orville in Northern California, forcing that hydro plant to shut-down for the first time since the 1960s.

Hydro power is the “black-start” power used to jump-start the country’s power grid after blackouts.

The Department of Energy says hydro is critical to grid reliability because it consistently flows, except when it doesn’t.

Source: newsy.com

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States Begin Receiving Money From $26B Opioid Settlement

Families hope the money can help combat an epidemic some say is just getting worse, as fentanyl claims lives and targets younger generations.

Opioids rocked households and seized people of all walks of life.

Kim Humphrey, a commander with the Phoenix Police Department at the time, thought he had it all.

“A marriage, a home, a wonderful life raising two sons,” he said. “It was really good.”

But a call about his 15-year-old son ignited distress that would span nearly a decade:

“‘My daughter goes to school with your son and she’s very concerned that he’s going to overdose,'” he continued.

A drug test confirmed their fear — it came back positive for opioids. The struggle spiraled and extended its grip to their second son.

“As a parent, we’re looking at this and saying, ‘We must be the worst parents on the planet,'” Humphrey said.

It took Humphrey and his wife years to find a nonprofit support group called Parents of Addicted Loved Ones, also known as PAL, which he now leads.

“That was the first time that we were sitting in a room full of people who understood,” Humphrey continued.

The opioid crisis contributed to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. in two decades. At the epicenter — three major pharmaceutical distributors and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. A yearslong multistate lawsuit led to a historic $26 billion settlement over the next 18 years.

Now, some of that money is starting to come in. This year, by the end of August, 27 of nearly 50 states that filed lawsuits had received a total of $310 million. Of that, Arizona received $16 million of their more than $540 million settlement — money Humphrey hopes will trickle down to PAL, which is in dire need of financial assistance following the pandemic.

“What we do is this peer-to-peer support that has plenty of research behind it that it works. And it did for us,” Humphrey said.

Each state and county has a say in how the money is spent. In Wisconsin, a spending dispute temporarily blocked funds from distribution.

Sara Whaley, a research associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the school put together five planning principles to help guide states on spending.

“This is the opportunity to kind of look at what you’re doing and where you’re investing money, and if there are any gaps,” she said. “One, is to spend the money to save lives. Two, is to use evidence to guide spending. Three, invest in youth prevention. Four, focus on racial equity. And five, create a fair and transparent process.”

She adds that the settlement includes basic payout guidelines.

“They are things like broadening access to naloxone or increasing the use of medications to treat opioid use disorder, enriching prevention strategies, improving treatment in jail,” Whaley said.

It’s treatment desperately needed as fentanyl fuels deaths and overdoses, with a holistic and smart spending approach.

Humphrey hopes families can find the peace his has now reached. Both his sons are now clean.

Source: newsy.com

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Boeing Pays $200 Million To Settle SEC Charges Over 737 Max

By Associated Press
September 23, 2022

Neither Boeing nor former CEO Dennis Muilenburg admitted wrongdoing over two deadly 737 Max crashes, but they offered to settle and pay penalties.

Boeing Co. will pay $200 million to settle charges that the company and its former CEO misled investors about the safety of its 737 Max after two of the airliners crashed, killing 346 people.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it charged the aircraft maker and former CEO Dennis Muilenburg with making significant misleading public statements about the plane and an automated flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Neither Boeing nor Muilenburg admitted wrongdoing, but they offered to settle and pay penalties, including $1 million to be paid by Muilenburg, who was ousted in December 2019, nine months after the second crash.

The SEC said Boeing and Muilenburg knew that the flight system, known as MCAS, posed a safety issue but promised the public that the plane was safe. The SEC said they also falsely claimed that there had been no gaps in the process of certifying the plane in the first place.

“Boeing and Muilenburg put profits over people by misleading investors about the safety of the 737 Max all in an effort to rehabilitate Boeing’s image” after the crashes, said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division.

Boeing said it has made “broad and deep changes across our company in response to those accidents” to improve safety and quality.

“Today’s settlement is part of the company’s broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal matters related to the 737 Max accidents in a manner that serves the best interests of our shareholders, employees and other stakeholders,” said the Arlington, Virginia-based company.

A new Max operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea in October 2018, and another Max flown by Ethiopian Airlines nosedived into the ground near Addis Ababa in March 2019. In each crash, MCAS pushed the nose down after getting faulty readings from a single sensor, and pilots were unable to regain control.

The crashes led regulators around the world to ground the plane for nearly two years until Boeing made fixes to the flight-control system, which was designed to help prevent aerodynamic stalls when the nose points up too sharply. Neither plane that crashed was in danger of stalling.

The SEC accused Boeing of misleading investors in a press release after the Indonesia crash which said the plane was “as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies.” Boeing knew when it made that claim that MCAS would need to be fixed and was already designing changes, the SEC said.

After the crash in Ethiopia, Muilenburg said on a call with investors and Wall Street analysts and during Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting that the company had followed the normal process for getting the plane certified by regulators. But by then Boeing — in response to a subpoena from federal prosecutors — had already found documents indicating that it didn’t disclose key facts about MCAS to the Federal Aviation Administration, the SEC charged.

Boeing reached a separate $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department last year. Most of that money went to airlines whose Max jets were grounded.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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Bespoke Tailor Stitches Together A Legacy

Bespoke suit-making for men is a dying art form — thanks to fast fashion, most men don’t wear such clothes to work anymore.

Leonard Logsdail is a one-of-a-kind craftsman, like the suits he makes.

“When I have the fabric on my board, I can see in my mind’s eye what it’s going to look like on the on the client,” said Logsdail.

A bespoke tailor by trade, Logsdail has spent over 50 years creating custom clothes based on each customer’s unique request and body measurements.

“Bespoke tailoring comes from the word bespoken. Somebody walks in and talks an order. They say, ‘I would like such and such a blue.’ And I go to the fabrics and show them the fabrics. And they talk their way through,” said Logsdail.

It’s an artform considered the highest level of tailoring.

“I make a suit particular for one person and it only fits one person. And I fit it to that body,” he said.

It requires meticulous attention to detail.

“Somebody walks through the door, and I stand up the front here and watch them as they come from the elevator to me. So, I’ve got their body figuration in their stance, because as soon as you get the tape measure out, they remember everything their mother ever told them about standing up straight and holding in their stomach, which is not how you make the suit. You’ve got to be the body that they are,” said Logsdail.

Logsdail’s Manhattan shop in midtown is tucked above the bustling streets on a quiet, but busy floor, with fabrics and finished suits on display. But his career began along Savile Row, the section of London famous for producing the best bespoke tailors.

“So, I come from one of the poorest areas of London where, you know, we were taught to be fodders for industry. It’s the best way to describe it. Trash collectors, road sweepers, work in factories. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew everything I didn’t want to do. I had no idea. So, I went to a tailoring school as a stopgap. And it’s like I was home when I went there,” he said.

But learning the trade didn’t come without hurdles.

“I had about seven or eight suits that were thrown back at me. I’d paid for the cloth, I’d paid for the making, and then I had to give the deposit back and it really hurt. And that’s when I learned it’s not my suit, it’s your suit. I think that was one of the real pivotal moments, because I learned if I needed to earn money and feed myself at the time, that I had to get paid for what I did,” said Logsdail.

Logsdail says that lesson proved invaluable in helping him hone a skill that ultimately caught the attention of Hollywood.

“I was sitting on one of those chairs out the front one day, talking to a friend of mine from San Francisco, the phone rang and when I picked it up there was this lady on the phone, and she said, my name is Michelle and we’re working on this movie called The Good Shepherd. And we wondered if you be interested in making a suit for Robert De Niro,” said Logsdail.

Since that call, Logsdail has gone on to tailor suits for dozens of movies, some of which have led to incredible encounters.

“One of them was “Wall Street 2,” because I really enjoyed working with Michael Douglas. I thought he was a sweetheart and the other one was “Mary Poppins 2,” because I got to make a suit for Dick Van Dike. I mean, I’ve worked with DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, you name them, I’ve worked with them. He’s the only person I was interested in having to photograph,” he said.

But despite how popular Logsdail’s work is with clients in Hollywood, New York and abroad, he says it’s an art form with an uncertain future. It’s a labor of love in desperate need of a new generation of tailors with the patience and fortitude to quite literally stitch on.

“It’s been a challenge to keep business going. And now it’s been difficult to get workers because it’s much easier to go and start earning money sitting at the computer than it is learning how to sew with a needle and thread,” he said.

Joining this fraternity of bespoke tailors would be membership in a very small club

“I believe I’m the only person that does exactly what I do in New York. And I think there’s only four or five in the whole United States now. It’s a dying breed. So, anybody who is looking, needs to start coming round and seeing all these guys because they ain’t going to be around for much longer,” said Logsdail.

Logsdail cites growing competition from companies making “made to measure” suits that cost less, and take far less time to produce.

“For a bespoke suit, pretty much all the fabrics I get out there are $1,800-$1,900 for a two-piece suit. But as I said, I’ve got some other ones [that] will cost you $35-$40,000 for a bespoke suit,” he said.

And his cheaper competitors can deliver their suits quicker.

“When somebody comes in now, I’m telling them to probably three months at least before they’ll see the suit, because, you know, I have one pair of hands… I’m sitting talking with you now, which means I’m not cutting my suits out. And so, the tailors have got one pair of hands. I can only work on one suit at a time. So, you know, it’s finite the amount of clothes we can make on any given week.”

While a bespoke suit is steep in price and time commitment, Logsdail swears it’s an investment customers you can truly wear for decades to come.

“You know, I say this all the time, that fashion goes out of style, but style does not go out of fashion. So, if you have something made here and if you want a fashion forward, yeah, I’ll do it. But when the fashion changes, that suit’s old. But if you have something that’s made with style, you can wear it and it’s relevant from 1993 up to here,” said Logsdail.

Source: newsy.com

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Bank Of England Raises Rates But Avoids Bolder Hike Like Fed

By Associated Press
September 22, 2022

Surging inflation is a worry for central banks because it saps economic growth by eroding people’s purchasing power.

The Bank of England raised its key interest rate Thursday by another half-percentage point to the highest level in 14 years, but despite facing inflation that outpaces other major economies, it avoided more aggressive hikes made by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks.

It is the Bank of England’s seventh straight move to increase borrowing costs as rising food and energy prices fuel a cost-of-living crisis that is considered the worst in a generation. Despite facing a slumping currency, tight labor market and inflation near its highest level in four decades, officials held off on acting more boldly as they predicted a second consecutive drop in economic output this quarter, an informal definition of recession.

The bank matched its half-point increase last month — the biggest in 27 years — to bring its benchmark rate to 2.25%. The decision was delayed for a week as the United Kingdom mourned Queen Elizabeth II and comes after new Prime Minister Liz Truss’ government unveiled a massive relief package aimed at helping consumers and businesses cope with skyrocketing energy bills.

The new measures have eased uncertainty over energy costs and are “likely to limit significantly further increases” in consumer prices, the bank’s policymakers said. They expected inflation — now at 9.9% — to peak at 11% in October, lower than previously forecast.

“Nevertheless, energy bills will still go up and, combined with the indirect effects of higher energy costs, inflation is expected to remain above 10% over the following few months, before starting to fall back,” the monetary policy committee said.

The bank signaled it is prepared to respond more forcefully at its November meeting if needed. Its decision comes during a busy week for central bank action marked by much more aggressive moves to bring down soaring consumer prices.

The U.S. Federal Reserve hiked rates Wednesday by three-quarters of a point for the third consecutive time and forecast that more large increases were ahead. Also Thursday, the Swiss central bank enacted its biggest-ever hike to its key interest rate.

Three of the British bank’s nine committee members wanted a similar three-quarter-point raise but were outvoted by five who preferred a half-point and one who voted for a quarter-point.

The decision “suggests the Bank of England is concerned about the U.K.’s economic deteriorating outlook amid the looming threat of recession,” said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor. “The timid increase will do little to stem the slide in sterling but may avoid inadvertently inducing unnecessary pain for the economy which is already grappling with slowing demand and deteriorating confidence.”

Surging inflation is a worry for central banks because it saps economic growth by eroding people’s purchasing power. Raising interest rates — the traditional tool to combat inflation — reduces demand and therefore prices by making it more expensive to borrow money for big purchases like cars and homes.

Inflation in the United Kingdom hit 9.9% in August, close to its highest level since 1982 and five times higher than the Bank of England’s 2% target. The British pound is at its weakest against the dollar in 37 years, contributing to imported inflation.

To ease the crunch, Truss’ government announced it would cap energy bills for households and businesses that have soared as Russia’s war in Ukraine drives up the price of natural gas needed for heating.

The Treasury is expected to publish a “mini-budget” Friday with more economic stimulus measures, and the bank said it won’t be able to assess how they will affect inflation until its November meeting..

The Bank of England expects gross domestic product to fall by 0.1% in the third quarter, below its August projection of 0.4% growth. That would be a second quarterly decline after official estimates showed output fell by 0.1% in the previous three-month period.

The weakness partly reflects a smaller-than-expected rebound after an extra June holiday to celebrate the queen’s 70 years on the throne and the impact of another public holiday Monday for her funeral, officials said.

The bank avoided pressure to go bigger even as other banks around the world take aggressive action against inflation fueled by the global economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.

This month, Sweden’s central bank raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point, while the European Central Bank delivered its largest-ever rate increase with a three-quarter point hike for the 19 countries that use the euro currency.

But British policymakers signaled they will “respond forcefully, as necessary” if there are signs that inflationary pressure is more persistent than expected, “including from stronger demand.”

The bank said it’s also moving ahead with plans to trim its bond holdings built up under a stimulus program, selling off 80 billion pounds ($90 billion) worth of assets over the next year to bring its portfolio down to 758 billion pounds.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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Alex Jones Set To Testify In Trial Over Sandy Hook Hoax Lies

By Associated Press

and Newsy Staff
September 22, 2022

A jury will decide how much money conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay to the families of victims after he was already found liable for damages.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared in court Thursday in Connecticut as he and his lawyer try to limit damages he must pay for promoting the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.

More than a dozen family members of some of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting also showed up to observe his testimony in Waterbury Superior Court, which is about 20 miles away from Newtown.

Jones was expected to be the first witness called, but there was a delay as the court dealt with Wi-Fi issues in the courthouse.

Jones has been in Connecticut this week in preparation for his appearance. He held a news conference Wednesday outside the courthouse, bashing the proceedings — as he has on his Infowars show — as a “travesty of justice” and calling the judge a “tyrant.” He made similar comments on his way into the courthouse Thursday, indicating he may invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and not answer some questions.

“This is not really a trial,” he said. “This is a show trial, a literal kangaroo court.”

Several victims’ relatives, meanwhile, have given emotional testimony during the trial about being traumatized by people calling the shooting fake, including confrontations at their homes and in public, and messages including death and rape threats. The plaintiffs include an FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight of the victims.

Judge Barbara Bellis last year found Jones liable by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial, as punishment for what she called his repeated failures to turn over documents to their lawyers. The six-member jury only will be deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, should pay the families for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

Bellis began the day going over with Jones the topics he cannot testify about — including free speech rights, the Sandy Hook families $73 million settlement earlier this year with gun maker Remington (the company made the Bushmaster rifle used to kill the victims at Sandy Hook) or the percentage of Jones’ shows that discussed Sandy Hook.

“This is not the appropriate forum for you to offer that testimony,” Bellis said. Jones indicated that he understood.

Bellis said in court on Wednesday that she was prepared to handle any incendiary testimony from Jones, with contempt of court proceedings if necessary.

Jones also was found liable by default in two similar lawsuits over the hoax lies in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where a jury in one of the trials ordered Jones last month to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed. A third trial in Texas is expected to begin near the end of the year.

When Jones faced the Texas jury last month and testified under oath, he toned down his rhetoric. He said he realized the hoax lies were irresponsible and the school shooting was “100% real.”

“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings,” testified Jones, who also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, “and I’m sorry for that.”

Jones had portrayed the Sandy Hook shooting as staged by crisis actors as part of gun control efforts.

Testimony at the current trial also has focused on website analytics data run by Infowars employees showing how its sales of dietary supplements, food, clothing and other items spiked around the time Jones talked about the Sandy Hook shooting.

Evidence, including internal Infowars emails and depositions, also shows dissention within the company about pushing the hoax lies.

Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.

The relatives have testified that they continue to fear for their safety because of what the hoax believers have done and might do.

Jennifer Hensel, whose 6-year-old daughter Avielle Richman was among the slain, testified Wednesday that she still monitors her surroundings, even checking the back seat of her car, for safety reasons. She said she is trying to shield her two children, ages 7 and 5, from the hoax lies. A juror cried during her testimony.

“They’re so young,” she said of her children. “Their innocence is so beautiful right now. And at some point there are a horde of people out there who could hurt them.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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Hospital ERs Struggle To Treat Surge Of Mental Health Patients

A Newsy investigation finds more Americans are going to the ER during a mental health crisis, and why they aren’t getting the help they need.

More Americans going through a mental health crisis are seeking care in hospital emergency rooms not always equipped to give the psychiatric care they need, a Newsy investigation has learned.

Breia Birch, 44, suffers from bipolar, post-traumatic stress and dissociative identity disorders.

She began thinking about suicide after her mother’s death in 2017.

“I remember sitting down at my table and getting my pills out,” Birch said. “I started to separate out the ones that would hurt or hurt me out of the pile of pills. I was trying to kill myself.”

She went to her local emergency room in Manhattan, Kansas, for help.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t many places in Kansas where you can go and get screened. You have to go to the ER,” Birch said.

Across the country, mental health-related ER visits shot up 66 percent from 2013-2018, according to a study published in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine.

“Our rooms are full,” said Robyn Chadwick, president of Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph hospital in Wichita, Kansas.

“Every single day in this facility, we have patients who are suicidal or homicidal,” Chadwick said. “On a good day, there will be 10 behavioral health patients waiting in the emergency room. On a really bad day, there might be 30.”

Nationally, bed capacity for psychiatric patients has plummeted in recent decades.

Care outside the hospital can also be hard to find. An audit from the Government Accountability Office this spring found mental health patients with insurance “experience challenges finding in-network providers.”

Patients also face a shortage of psychiatrists willing to accept Medicaid. Emergency rooms are also coping with a surge in behavioral health visits related to substance abuse.

“Substance abuse and mental health have always gone hand-in-hand,” Chadwick said.

Patients with nowhere else to go are flooding emergency rooms.

“Whatever that mental illness is, if you can’t get help, the situation gets worse, it escalates,” Chadwick said. “The emergency room is the safety net for everything.”

The problem is, hospital emergency rooms are struggling with the influx of patients who, like Birch, are desperate for help.

The ER closest to her in Manhattan, Kansas, was like many nationwide that don’t have a behavioral health unit.

“They couldn’t find me anywhere to go for mental health,” Birch said.

She was so desperate for care, she steered herself in a wheelchair toward traffic outside the ER so she could get into a state hospital.

“I did what I had to do to get help,” Birch said.

A Newsy analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found of all psychiatric patients who go to the ER, about 11 percent leave without a follow-up plan for care.

Eleven percent may not sound like much, but it equals hundreds of thousands of patients in mental distress leaving the ER without a referral for future treatment.

Chadwick says too many hospitals are not able to meet the need.

The hospital she leads in Wichita built a new space to expand behavioral health treatment.

“There are special screws used that cannot be pried out because a screw could then be used to harm yourself,” Chadwick said.

To prevent suicide by hanging, doors have special handles. Televisions mounted to the wall don’t have exposed cords.

The build-out took money: about $60 million. It also took determination.

“It has become very personal,” Chadwick said. “My oldest daughter, who’s now 22, attempted suicide twice as a freshman in high school. And it really hit home. She’s what drives me to make sure that everyone who needs care gets it.”

Outside the hospital, leaders in Sedgwick County surrounding Wichita established a rapid response team to help with mental health related 911 calls when people may not need the ER.

They also set aside $15 million for a new mental health community crisis center.

County Commissioner Lacey Cruse envisions an area between the hospital and jail could be used to help psychiatric patients before they need emergency help.

“What we need really is like sort of a one-stop-shop,” Cruse said. “Let’s make sure they have transportation and get there. And then let’s follow up with them. You can’t teach someone to swim when they’re in the middle of the ocean drowning.”

The county has not settled on when or where to build the new center.

Medication and a caregiver are helping Birch’s mental health, four years after struggling for emergency room care.

“I have to keep reminding myself that I really don’t have too much to complain about right now,” Birch said. “I’m just doing a lot better now and I just hope I stay on this path.”

If you need to talk to someone, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or text “HOME” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Source: newsy.com

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Interest Rates Are Expected To Increase Again

Investors brace for another big interest rate increase this week from the Federal Reserve. The hikes are having an effect on homebuyers.

Another interest rate hike is approaching to temper inflation, but it’s flaring tempers for some who are afraid the dream of a big purchase is getting too expensive.

“I would die to be a homeowner,” said Heather Blanchet, who’s looking for a home.

Another three quarters of a percentage point higher interest means the standard borrowing rate to buy homes, cars and put money on a credit card is climbing.

That’s straining people like Blanchet, who’s staring down increasing monthly payments on her would-be mortgage.

“Getting a loan, I feel like, is increasingly hard, interest rates are crazy,” said Blanchet.

But that’s exactly the point for the Federal Reserve, which is trying to lower white-hot demand not just for homes, but for everything.

“It’s not quite a buyer’s market yet, but it’s balancing out,” said Joy Dysart, a real estate agent.

In the housing market it’s helping to balance the scales. While it could make a mortgage more expensive for now, it’s also leaving sellers with fewer interested buyers and less power in the deal.

“I think we are now entering a market where sellers are working with buyers and that’s great when people are negotiating again,” said Kelly Fogul, a mortgage broker.

Garrett and Marisa Severen know how tough it’s been for buyers. They bought a house earlier this year in cash, something they tried to avoid.

“We probably had four houses that we really fell in love with that we lost because we didn’t do cash offers,” said Garrett Severen.

And the number of homes being bought with cash is still above pre-pandemic levels.

Redfin recently found more than 31% of homes are selling with all-cash offers.

“A lot of the ‘cash buyers’ are people who are high net worth individuals who have leveraged their portfolio of assets, so they’ve taken a line of credit,” said Holly Meyes Lucus, a real estate agent.

Still, the cooling market can be good news for people needing a mortgage, like Alexis Sande and her fiance. They just bought a new home in Florida and had a much easier time of it than they would have just months before.

“This house had been on the market for about five days. With the interest rates going up, we didn’t have to get into a bidding war with anybody or offer more money for the home or anything like that,” said Sande.

Still, plenty will feel the pinch of a higher rate.

And many like Zach Van Emmerick are counting on their lucky stars they bought a home when they did.

“I think if I would have waited another month and that would have been at 6% it probably would have limited my purchasing power and it probably would have pushed me out of where I wanted to live and the city I wanted to live in. I don’t know how much that would have raised my mortgage payment a month, a couple hundred and that hits pretty hard,” said Emmerick.

Source: newsy.com

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