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Jaime Aguilar remembers when he left the office to work at home — March 13 — and can tell you the precise number of days he’s been away. “They gathered us around and told us starting tomorrow, we are going to work from home until we figure out what is going on with this pandemic. They talked about coming back in July. And then July passed. I have been working from home for 186 days now, but who is counting,” he said last week. The transition was “very exciting” at first, said Aguilar, a digital communication specialist at the Community First Foundation in Arvada. But it didn’t take long for problems to emerge and frustrations to mount. Early on, his old computer didn’t prove robust enough to handling video meetings. When Aguilar’s wife, Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres, joined him in the home office, it strained the broadband connection. The pair had to juggle who got the office for Zoom and Microsoft Team meetings, and how to allocate Wi-Fi. Some problems involved … [Read more...] about Mental health challenges rise as remote work arrangements drag on

Biden hasn’t exactly been taking it easy in his first days as president. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images Joe Biden has been president of the United States for 43 days. He inherited power from a predecessor who was trying to overturn the 2020 election results via insurrection just two weeks before Inaugural Day, and whose appointees refused the kind of routine transition cooperation other administrations took for granted. His party has a four-vote margin of control in the House, and only controls the Senate via the vice presidential tie-breaking vote (along with a power-sharing arrangement with Republicans). Democratic control of the Senate was not assured until the wee hours of January 6 when the results of the Georgia runoff were clear. Biden took office in the midst of a COVID-19 winter surge, a national crisis over vaccine distribution, and flagging economic indicators. Biden named all his major appointees well before taking office, and as recommended by … [Read more...] about Give Biden a Break

Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has treated people’s physical health and economic health as separate and distinct. While legislators would never think of cutting off free access to COVID treatment and vaccinations in the midst of this health crisis, they are quite willing to eliminate or underfund the economic supports that are vital to the survival of individuals, families, and communities. The COVID-19 relief bill Congress passed in December is a perfect illustration. Its provisions expire throughout the year like the seasons. Enhanced federal unemployment insurance ends on March 14 . Tax credits to encourage paid family leave expire on March 31 . Expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits run out on June 30 . Remaining CARES Act funds must be spent by December 31 . Every COVID relief bill has been crafted with temporary supports and arbitrary end dates, chasing an unpredictable virus and an unclear … [Read more...] about COVID recovery requires addressing economic inequities

A sweeping elections bill passed by the House on Wednesday night would boost cybersecurity measures and focus on countering foreign interference efforts like the kind that affected the 2016 and 2018 elections. The bill, which the House passed on a mostly party-line vote of 220-210, marks a major effort by Democrats to tackle both voting reforms, such as increasing access to the polls through use of mail-in ballots, and cybersecurity upgrades. Among issues included in H.R. 1 is a requirement that states use voter-verified paper ballots as part of the election process, a move supporters have pointed to as a vital safety net to check votes in the event of election tampering. ADVERTISEMENT It also allocates funding to enable the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to give grants to states to replace outdated and potentially insecure voting machines, along with authorizing funds for states to carry out election audits. Further, states would be required to take … [Read more...] about House-passed election bill takes aim at foreign interference

A parent has described to a major British newspaper the prospect of a “mask apartheid” when schools reopen next week, after some educators have determined that while they cannot legally force children to wear masks, they will be segregated from their peers. The Conservative Party government has recommended that secondary school pupils (aged 11 to 18) wear masks in areas of schools where they are not able to socially distance, such as in classrooms and other confined spaces where children cannot keep two metres (six feet) apart. However, despite face coverings for pupils not being mandatory, parents have told The Telegraph that they have been notified if their children do not wear them, they will be forced to sit at the back of the class and even be segregated from their friends at lunch. One school, The Stonehenge School in Amesbury, Wiltshire, also appeared to emotionally blackmail parents and children by saying that “their peers may not wish to sit with or work with them” … [Read more...] about Children Without Masks Will Be Segregated, Use Separate Entrances: Report