At a virtual launch event, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) officially announced the “Health and Safety Commitments Program,” the public transportation industry’s overarching pledge to passengers that public transit systems are taking all the necessary measures to operate safely as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has triggered an unprecedented chain reaction of border closures around the world. This truly is an extraordinary situation, and many countries have also grappled with lack of information, resources and coordination between relevant agents and authorities. These operational issues have raised questions globally about whether border controls are effective in containing such outbreaks, how prepared border agencies were for the emergency and what this will mean for border management in a post-pandemic world.
Gun-violence research experts at UC Davis Health say that despite a significant drop in firearm injuries in recent years in California, there has been a substantial increase in the state’s overall death rate among those wounded by firearms.
How did we get here? Long, unstable fault lines in the bedrock that undergirds U.S. society have become active, sending seismic waves that have shaken the social contract. Citizens can’t agree on basic facts. People question whether COVID-19 is real amid shifting medical advice and conflicting data on case and death rates. The footing keeps getting less stable. Economic freefall. Surging unemployment. White supremacists, fascists and anarchists boldly emerging from the shadows. Loss of faith in law enforcement by swaths of the populace after black citizens perished in police custody. Rampant misinformation campaigns by anonymous groups and nations. The result is a bitterly split populace that has retreated to their respective echo chambers.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray, and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced “Bridge to School,” a Citywide initiative for the 2020-21 school year focused on the social and emotional well-being of students and adults in order to create a safe, supportive learning environment that confronts the trauma caused by the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, schools will be equipped to integrate trauma-informed practices into school reopening, and build off of last year’s major expansion of mental health supports in schools.
Mission 500 will host a golf tournament this fall. Proceeds raised at the event will benefit the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation Children’s Camp
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has completed installation of new acrylic barriers at security checkpoints throughout Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in the agency’s ongoing efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The use of facial recognition technology by British police force was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal in a case brought by a civil rights campaigner.
Chicago, Ill. Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent David O. Brown announced the expansion of the Neighborhood Policing Initiative to the 9th (Deering), 10th (Ogden) and 11th (Harrison) District. As part of the expanded initiative, each district will rollout new District Coordination Officers (DCOs) this fall, who will work directly with community members to resolve public safety issues through collaboration and remedy neighborhood issues with the help of beat officers, detectives, aldermen, area businesses and sister agencies. To ensure DCOs are fully integrated in the neighborhoods they serve, the Department is also launching a new community-immersion training program, completing one of Mayor Lightfoot’s 90-day reforms announced in early June.
