Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Bishop Bruce Lewandowski has seen 36 members of his Baltimore congregation die and countless others become infected.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Patricks weve been hit hard with the COVID, he said.

Lewandowski is the pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic parish in Southeast Baltimores 21224 zip code one of the hardest hit areas in the city.

Baltimore City accounts for about 12% of the states confirmed COVID-19 cases. The 21224 zip code, which has a high concentration of Latino and Hispanic residents, makes up about 13% of the citys total case count.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus has had on-site COVID-19 testing through Johns Hopkins for a little over four months now, sometimes twice or three times a week, depending on the need, Lewandowski said in an interview Sunday.

After securing testing, he began to see a need for other services, springing the congregation into action.

The church assembled a crew of 20 drivers who deliver food and pass along information about masking and tests to 500 church members every week. But even that paired with news spread through Spanish-speaking media outlets like Somos Baltimore Latinoand Ke Pachanga Radiowerent cutting it, Lewandowski said.

People are still not getting the information weve got to do more, he explained. And so this is just one more way to get that information out to people.

Lewandowski was talking about a week-long campaign launched by the Maryland Department of Healths COVID-19 Hispanic Community Support Task Force targeting Baltimores Latino residents with public service announcements to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.

A sound truck, which the Department of Health calls the mobile public health education unit, is set to drive through several neighborhoods in and around the 21224 zip code over the course of this week, urging residents in English and Spanish to get tested, wear masks and seek medical help when theyre symptomatic.

Receiving treatment or testing for COVID will not put your immigration status at risk, the truck speakers blasted outside of Patterson Park early Sunday afternoon. Get tested.

[See a video of the sound truck here]

Additionally, volunteers will hand out masks and pamphlets along the trucks route through the Eastern Avenue business district, Bayview, Canton, Highlandtown, Dundalk, Patterson Park and Joseph Lee Park.

The pandemic has presented particularly challenging circumstances for members of our Hispanic communities. These Marylanders are struggling not only with access to testing and health care, but also with the loss of wages, locating safe housing for isolating and food security issues, said Maryland Department of Health Secretary Robert R. Neall in a statement. The Hispanic Community Support Task Force is working to make resources available, while eliminating the language barrier and other complications that stand in the way of people getting the help they need.

In addition to the mobile public health unit, the COVID-19 Hispanic Community Support Task Force established a hotline through Catholic Charities Esperanza Center for symptomatic members of the Latino community to be connected to services.

Folks who are trying to self isolate, who are positive and are in need of assistance, they should call that hotline because it will connect them to the multitude of services of which theyre going to need, Dr. Mark Martin, deputy director of the Maryland Department of Healths Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities,told Maryland Matters before the truck left Baltimores Patterson Park Sunday afternoon.

Residents can reach Spanish-speaking operators to connect to testing, medical care, eviction prevention and cash assistance services by calling 667-600-2314.

You have a family

Lewandowski said Sunday that health disparities in his community run deep.

We have people whove never been to the doctor since they arrived here 15, 20, 25 years [ago], he explained. Weve had men, especially, from our community pass away because they had no regular routine health care practices, they never got regular checkups or physicals and then it turned out that they actually had underlying symptoms that if they had known, they would know that they would be more vulnerable to COVID, and maybe would have isolated and stayed home.

The concept of mistrust of governmental and medical agencies among communities of color isnt new.

The Rev. Kobi Little, president of the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, said his organization began to step in when they noticed at the pandemics start that information coming from news outlets and Trump administration officials was not penetrating communities of color.

Theres a lot of misconceptions about the virus, theres a lot of misunderstanding about who can contract the virus and who couldnt, said Little. And so we knew that we needed to go to the streets, take it to the streets, and as a trusted voice in our community, tell people how serious this virus was and what they could do to protect themselves from it.

The NAACP launched its own mobile public health education unitduring the early days of COVID-19, which it relaunched with new messaging in partnership with Strong City Baltimore last week.

With COVID-19, every neighborhood and individual in our city is at risk. Were fighting an enemy we cannot see, Reginald Davis, interim CEO of Strong City, said at a news conference announcing the trucks relaunch last week. However, all of us can fight back like our lives depend on it. Because they do!

Little said the state took note of the work the NAACP had done with its sound truck, and asked if theyd be willing to work together along with CASA and other organizations to spread these messages across other underserved communities in the city.

Jose Melo, a volunteer driver and congregant at Sacred Heart of Jesus, told Maryland Matters that hes been trying to mobilize his community since the pandemic began by knocking on doors and inviting people to come down to the church to get tested.

Were like a family, and so if youre orphaned, youre widowed, you dont have to worry you have a family, Lewandowski translated. And were trying to do whats within our reach to do with our ability to do because thats what God wants of us.

Asked how witnessing illness and suffering first-hand has affected Melo, Lewandowski translated that it takes a psychological, emotional and physical toll on him, but that the heaviness he feels only makes him want to do more.

This isnt going to end anytime soon, so we just have to keep up our strength and our energy and keep going because theres no end in sight, at this point, Melo said.

[emailprotected]

Get more data on our COVID-19 in Maryland page.

Updated daily with cases, hospitalizations and deaths by county, age and race.

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Taking the Gospel of COVID-19 Safety to the Streets of Baltimore - Josh Kurtz

From the farm fields of south Miami-Dade County to the corner stores in Liberty City, researchers are pursuing novel approaches to halt new infections of HIV in different at-risk communities.

When approved in 2012, a pill that prevents infection from the AIDs virus was considered a game changer, one that finally could help halt the pandemic that, to date, has killed nearly 33 million people worldwide. Yet, eight years later, many people at high risk of acquiring HIV have never heard of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication, much less are taking it.

Rosina Cianelli, an associate professor in the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, is determined to change that reality among heterosexual Hispanic womenparticularly those who face the cultural barrier of machismo when it comes to protecting themselves from HIV. Recognizing that Latina women cant always convince partners who embody the macho standard of sexual dominance and promiscuity to use condoms, Cianelli and her co-investigators plan to augment a proven HIV prevention strategy to increase PrEP use among an overlooked population of at-risk heterosexual Hispanic women, Latina farmworkers in rural south Miami-Dade County.

Women account for about 19 percent of new HIV diagnoses, yet only about 7 to 10 percent of PrEP users are women, and only about 11 percent of Hispanic women are familiar with PrEP, Cianelli said. Given that the rate of Hispanic women living with HIV is 2.5 times higher than for non-Hispanic white women, they need to be more aware of PrEP. That is the reality we are confronting.

Cianellis PrEP initiative is the newest of four University of Miami proposals funded by the National Institutes of Health to advance the federal governments Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) plan. Unveiled by President Donald Trump last year, EHE aims to reduce the roughly 40,000 new HIV cases still diagnosed annually in the United States by at least 90 percent by 2030. And it aims to do so by supporting community-based initiatives that the NIHs Centers for AIDs Research (CFARs) and the National Institute of Mental Healths AIDS Research Centers (ARCs) are pursuing with existing and highly effective tools for diagnosing, preventing, and treating HIV.

The University is home to both a CFAR, the13-year-old Miami Center for AIDS Research, and a new ARC, the Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health (CHARM) and for a good reason. As CHARM director Steven Safren said, With its large diverse and, in many ways, marginalized populations, Greater Miami remains one of the nations most challenging epicenters, if not the most challenging epicenter, for new HIV cases and optimal HIV treatment. Each of the projects that the University is pursuing with EHEfundingtargetsa population here in Miami that can truly benefit.

Administered by the Miami CFAR, Cianellis proposal is one of only seven the NIH selected across the nation to help reduce barriers to PrEP use among heterosexual women. It builds on a culturally tailored, behavioral-change strategy pioneered two decades ago by Nilda Peragallo Montano, the former dean of the nursing school. Known as SEPAfor Salud, Educacin, Prevencin, y Autocuidad (Health, Education, Prevention and Self-Care)the intervention has successfully employed group discussions and role playing to empower low-income heterosexual Hispanic women how to negotiate condom use and better communicate with male sexual partners.

For their EHE initiative, Cianelli and her co-investigatorsassociate professor Joseph De Santis and assistant professor Giovanna De Oliveira, both also from the nursing school, and professor Jose Castro, of the Miller School of Medicineare working with three community organizations in Homestead to enlist 60 women who will help develop a strategy for incorporating PrEP into SEPA for women who cannot count on condoms for protection.

SEPA works very well when women can negotiate the use of condoms with their partners, but for Hispanic women whose partners refuse to use condoms, or who use drugs, or who have multiple partners, it doesnt work, Cianelli said. So, adding this biomedical component to SEPA will give at-risk Hispanic women another possibility to prevent HIV.

Through its second round of EHE grants, the NIH also green-lighted three pilot projects University researchers launched with first-round funding last year. The recipient of another grant administered by the Miami CFAR, the Miller Schools Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, an associate professor of clinical medicine, is also focused on increasing PrEP access. She plans to use near real-time epidemiological analysis and a mobile clinic to deliver the medication that, when taken daily, reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 percent.

With the expansion grant,the UM PrEP Mobile Clinic is now operating in Liberty City, in addition to four other sites across Miami-Dade. At these locations, Doblecki-Lewis and her team provide PrEP testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and STI treatment at no cost to clients, regardless of their insurance or immigration status.

Administered by CHARM, the other two pilot projects are focused on two different groups that are critical to ending HIV infections in MiamiLatino men who have sex with men (LMSM), and Black individuals, who comprise the racial group most disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic across the U.S. In Miami-Dade alone, 1 in 31 Black adults are living with HIV compared to 1 in 127 Hispanics and 1 in 103 white adults.

To curtail the epidemic among LMSM, Mariano Kanamori, an assistant professor in the Division of Prevention Scienceand Community Health, and his collaborators are exploring how to promote awareness and utilization of HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention services based on how LMSM identify themselvesas gay, bisexual, or straight.

Our research has shown that bisexual Latinos are the bridge between Latino men who have sex with men and with Latinas, Kanamori said. They have sex with gay guys, but they dont view themselves as gay, so they are exposing women to HIV. Thats why we need to customize strategies to target both groups, not just those who are gay.

To curtail the epidemics impact in Black communities, Sannisha Dale, assistant professor of psychology and the director of CHARMs mental health disparities core and her community partnersRoxana Bolden, George Gibson, Gena Grant, Kalenthia Nunnally, and Alecia Tramelare engaging residents at five neighborhood places they frequent in high-risk ZIP Codes. Teaming up with the owners of corner stores, car-repair garages, barbershops, beauty salons, and laundromats, theyll chat with customers about HIV prevention and give those who complete a survey and take a rapid HIV test vouchers to spend at the business.

Will this by itself end the HIV epidemic? No, Dale said of the Five Point Initiative she hatched while waiting for her own car repair. But ending the HIV epidemic requires multiple approaches aimed at the same end goal. And by engaging people where they naturally frequent, we remove the barriers that stop them from coming to medical centers to be tested, to learn about PrEP, to engage about their sexual health. So, it has the potential to make an impact.

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Researchers aim to end Miami's HIV epidemic - University of Miami

For more than 28 years, the Family Van has been a familiar sight in some of Bostons most under-resourcedneighborhoods. The Harvard Medical School-affiliated mobile community health program works to reduce health disparities in Boston by bringing medical services directly to neighborhoods with the largest prevalence of preventable disease.

Four days a week, the mobile health clinic visits neighborhoods in Roxbury, Dorchester and East Boston. Van workers screen clients for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, glaucoma and depression, also offering family planning services, pregnancy testing and HIV counseling.

One-on-one counseling is provided to help clients make healthier choices for better health outcomes. Clients may also ask for help understanding a diagnosis or treatment plan. Referrals are provided for health insurance, housing, employment and other needs.

The services are furnished in clients preferred languages and with an understanding of their cultural backgrounds.

The Family Van is the knowledgeable neighbor, said Rainelle Walker-White, the Family Vans assistant director.

In her 26 years working with the Family Van, Walker-White has become close with many clients, some of whom call her Aunty Rai.

We are there each and every day, she said, meeting the needs of each and every person, touching the lives of people that other people would look over.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit and public health guidelines encouraged physical distancing to slow the spread of the virus, Family Van workers and volunteers had to rethink a service model that relied on face-to-face interactions.

Pre-Covid people would get on board [the mobile clinic], said Walker-White. We would give hugs. We would give touches. Its a part of healing and people had an opportunity to just speak what they needed to speak, feel what they needed to feel and say what they needed to say, and be heard.

During the pandemic, we had to really think creatively, she added.

The Family Van began began calling their clients at home to check in.

A lot of them were isolated, said Walker-White. A lot of them did not have family members that could look after them. They loved that somebody called them each and every day just to say how are you. They loved us for just reaching out and touching them via phone call.

New clients can call the Family Van seven days a week and be connected with volunteers who can answer their questions about COVID-19 and provide counseling and health care referrals.

The Family Van has also gone into communities to distribute COVID-19 information in multiple languages, along with face masks, diapers, baby formula and grocery store gift cards with funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund.

Much of the creativity and flexibility to respond to the coronavirus came from volunteers, according to the Family Vans volunteer program manager, Beatrice Antoine.

Our volunteerseven at a time that is so difficult to graspthey still want to help and encourage our clients as much as they can and empower them in any way they can, said Antoine.

Masks were needed at the time and a lot of the Family Vans clients did not have them, Antoine said. So, one volunteer, a local college student who had returned home after her Boston-area campus shut down, organized a mask-making drive at her university.

All of a sudden I would open the door and see all of these boxes of masks arrive at my door, Antoine said. I could have 500 masks delivered. This was all organized by one person. This was an effort to show that anything counts. Anything you can do to help is something worth acknowledging.

Joanne Suarez joined the Family Van almost a year ago as a community health assistant. Living in East Boston she had seen the Family Van in her neighborhood and heard from neighbors about the work the program did.

I said, I have to be a part of that, said Suarez. When I came on board, I just felt alive. I still feel alive today.

Suarez completed a masters degree in in bioethics at Harvard Medical School this spring. She values the work she does with the Family Van and the way it allows her to support her community.

Every daywhether Im on my computer coordinating services or Im out in the communityI know that Im doing what I need to do to take care of my community.

While the impact of the coronavirus is unprecedented in recent memory, in many ways the extraordinary circumstances brought about by the pandemic have laid bare the circumstances that necessitated the Family Van program in the first place.

This pandemic has really highlighted some of the issues that we already know are existing in our communities, said Suarez. It has widened the chasm of how health disparities are impacting Black and brown communities.

Justice is a long haul, and Im very fortunate to be a part of the Van, that were doing this work, Suarez said.

Nancy Oriol, the Family Vans leadership council president and faculty associate dean for community engagement in medical education at HMS, co-founded the Family Van in 1992. At the time she was the director of the Division of Obstetric Anesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. One of her patients had been hospitalized after having a seizure, she said. The patient had been experiencing headaches for weeks but hadnt wanted to "bother her doctor," Oriol said.

The experience made clear for Oriol the importance of meeting patients where they are and of treating all patients with respect and care.

Our students learn firsthand that trust, cultural humility and respect are essential components of health care, said Oriol of the medical students who have volunteered with the Family Van.

Looking back over the service the Family Van has provided for almost 30 years, Oriol is awed to see how the program has grown.

Working with the Family Van team has been amazing, Oriol said. Seeing how a simple idea has had ripples that went across the cityin fact, across the countryand into generations of medical students. Its justits awesome, thats all I can say.

Reflecting on her own tenure with the Family Van, Walker-White echoed Oriols gratitude.

It has humbled me, Walker-White said. If we look at people with eyes of love then were going to be able to prepare them, and were going to be able to take care of them the best way that we can.

Read this article:
Taking It to the Streets - Harvard Medical School

The experience of activists in Santa Ana who pushed to change funding priorities for police shows the fragile nature of such movements.

A Defund the Police Story

Years ago, the jail in Santa Ana became a rallying cry for a political reform movement that eventually led the City Council to phase out immigrant detention at the facility, improve police accountability and spend more money on badly needed community services. In many ways, the effort foreshadowed what is happening in Los Angeles and other cities around the U.S. today as protesters call for an end to police brutality and sweeping social reforms.

But Santa Ana offers a cautionary tale for the defund the police movement.

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Among the police ranks, resentment grew. Santa Ana officers installed a new union president who accused the council of ignoring the citys silent majority. In the November 2016 election, the unions political action committee spent more than $400,000, public filings show. At the same time, the city was experiencing a surge in shootings; it saw 23 homicides that year, nearly double the previous year. Voters elected two new council members supported by the union.

After another election cycle in 2018, the new City Council granted officers a generous package of raises and the police department, after years of reductions, went on a hiring spree, adding 50 officers.

Vaccine Scenarios

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said a COVID-19 vaccine could become available earlier than expected if at least one of the three trials underway in the U.S. returns an overwhelming signal that it is safe and effective.

The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board would make that call, as it does in all clinical trials. But critics say that stopping trials early could eliminate the chance to detect dangerous side effects, recruit more Black and Latino volunteers and understand the full results. Some public health experts are concerned President Trump will push for the trials to end before election day. But Fauci said he trusts the independent monitoring board, composed of nongovernment scientists, to be transparent with its recommendations. Trial results may be available as soon as mid-October.

Is the U.S. ready for a vaccine? An early rollout may make life more difficult for the state and local agencies that will be tasked with getting a vaccine out to their communities. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told them to be ready to go by Nov. 1, the earliest possible release of one. But decades of funding shortfalls have left them struggling.

More Top Coronavirus Headlines

The Trump administration is canceling some of its remaining orders for ventilators after having rushed to sign nearly $3 billion in emergency contracts in the spring. The Department of Health and Human Services says the national stockpile has now reached its maximum capacity.

Schools in L.A. County can reopen small classes beginning Sept. 14 for students with disabilities and English-language learners.

L.A. County officials are keeping shopping malls shuttered while allowing barbershops and hair salons to operate indoors again under certain restrictions.

For more, sign up for Coronavirus Today, a special edition of The Times Health and Science newsletter.

Stuck Behind the Fire Lines

Scores of residents throughout the California towns of Boulder Creek and Bonny Doon defied evacuation orders as the CZU Lightning Complex fire moved through the Santa Cruz Mountains during the last two weeks of August. But now theyve found themselves stuck in the mountains, reluctant to leave, fearing that public safety officers wont let them return home if they travel out to secure food, water and other necessities.

Under normal circumstances, evacuated residents would be allowed back in a few days. In the CZU fire, the flames are so spread out and in such rugged territory, the process is different. Evacuation orders are slowly being lifted for some areas, but authorities have suggested that the hardest hit parts of the fire zone could be shut down for weeks as power lines and roads are repaired.

A Long Sanctuary Stay

Shortly after President Trump took office and lowered the bar for who would be targeted for deportation from the U.S., about 45 people across the country sought refuge in churches. Most of those remain there to this day.

Rosa Sabido is one of them. She took sanctuary on June 2, 2017, inside the Mancos United Methodist Church in a deeply conservative corner of Colorado. In the more than three years Sabido has spent in the church, her mother has died, along with five elderly dogs she left with a stepfather. Two food trucks she once operated sit idle behind her empty mobile home in a nearby town.

I think we are all surprised that shes been here over three years, said the church pastor. Hopefully, it wont all be for naught.

In 1984 and 1985, Richard Ramirez, who would come to be known as the Night Stalker serial killer, evaded police as he committed murders, sexual assaults and burglaries across the Los Angeles area. But on Aug. 31, 1985, an East Los Angeles neighborhood worked together to stop a car theft, successfully capturing Ramirez in the process.

He attempted to steal a womans car on Hubbard Street and several neighbors came to her aid. One told The Times he yanked Ramirez from the car. Another beat him with a steel rod. They held him until police arrived and only later discovered the man had been the Night Stalker suspect. Ramirez was ultimately convicted of 13 murders, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries in 1989. He died in 2013.

Police cordon off the area on Hubbard Street in East L.A. where Richard Ramirez was captured after trying to steal a car on Aug. 31, 1985. Ramirez pulled a woman out of the car at left, but the womans husband came out of the house with a pipe and started to beat him. Ramirez ran and was tackled by a 21-year-old neighbor.

(Los Angeles Times)

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Prosecutors have begun dismissing felony cases that relied on the work of Los Angeles police officers charged this summer with falsifying records and obstructing justice by claiming without evidence that people they stopped were gang members.

The L.A. City Council voted to seek furloughs for more than 15,000 city workers, despite warnings that the move would harm critical city services and push police officers out of patrol cars and into desk duties.

A year after a fire aboard the Conception dive boat killed 34 people off Santa Cruz Island, the victims families are mourning and looking for answers.

For the first time in its 50-year history, Christopher Street West, the nonprofit organization that produces LA Pride, has named a Black transgender woman as president of its board.

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After Trumps visit Tuesday to Kenosha, Wis., Joe Biden said he would visit the city in his first campaign stop in the state since securing the Democratic presidential nomination.

The former vice president raised $364 million for his election effort in August, a record-shattering sum that will give Biden ample resources to compete in the final two months of the campaign.

Mississippi voters will decide whether to accept a new state flag with a magnolia to replace an old one legislators retired under pressure because it included the Confederate battle emblem.

Migrants are increasingly crossing a treacherous part of the Atlantic Ocean to reach the Canary Islands. Its a newer route to European territory that has become one of the most dangerous.

Netflix and ... Sussex? Prince Harry and Meghan have signed a deal with the streaming service to produce movies and series, including documentaries, features and childrens programming.

Running a dance studio in L.A. was notoriously challenging. Months into the pandemic, GoFundMes and goodbye announcements paint a picture of a dance landscape in crisis.

Hollywood has a new mogul in town: Steven A. Cohen, a Wall Street titan whose former hedge fund pleaded guilty to criminal insider trading.

Californias AB 5 was supposed to help gig workers but wound up hurting artists. Lawmakers have embraced a new plan that would loosen the rules for musicians and magicians.

Facebook says it is taking more steps to encourage voting and minimize misinformation, including restrictions on new political ads in the week before the election.

Its not clear what two pilots saw when they recently reported a man with a jetpack above Los Angeles International Airport. But what is clear is that jetpacks are real technology.

Teslas first true competitor is here: The Polestar 2. The Times Russ Mitchell says theres a lot to like about the electric car.

Tom Seaver, the Hall of Fame pitcher who helped transform the expansion New York Mets from lovable losers to World Series champions in 1969, has died from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19, the Hall of Fame announced. He was 75.

Online workouts, virtual training sessions, new platforms for recruiting: Sports social media was changed by the pandemic and the new norms are here to stay.

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Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at latimes.com/games.

Schools in California are off to a better start than they had when they first switched to distance learning. But problems persist.

Legal affairs columnist Harry Litman calls Trump our first pro-vigilante president. Now stop and think about what that means.

Trump encouraged North Carolina residents to attempt to vote both via the mail and in person, seemingly urging them to commit voter fraud as a test of mail-in voting systems. (Politico)

How can concerts safely restart? A 1,500-person study in Germany, complete with soft rock, aims to find out. (The Hollywood Reporter)

It was the blowout that turned into a blowout. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to a San Francisco salon to get her hair done on Monday, and by the next day, Fox News was showing security camera footage of her inside the salon, passing by with wet hair and a mask wrapped around her neck while being trailed by a hairstylist who was wearing a mask. On Wednesday, Pelosi said she was set up by the salon owner, who in turn denied that allegation. But hours later, the stylist who blew out Pelosis hair released a statement through an attorney contradicting the owner and supporting Pelosis side of the story.

Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.

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Today's Headlines: A 'defund the police' story - Los Angeles Times

"I am extremely overwhelmed with gratitude for the support of Perdue Farms in response to the tornado that severely impacted our county," said Ron Wesson, chairman of the Bertie County Board of Commissioners. "The joint support of Perdue and the Albemarle Area United Way for our neighbors who have lost so much is a wonderful example of how committed partners can truly make a difference."

"We sincerely appreciate Perdue Farms' rapid response and support for the Food Bank and our partner agencies in Bertie County," said Liz Reasoner, executive director of Food Bank of the Albemarle. "Perdue's donation of 45,000 pounds of protein will provide meals to those in need today, and in the weeks and months to come."

The Franklin P. and Arthur W Perdue Foundation, the company's charitable giving arm, donated $10,000 to the Albemarle Area United Way in support of the relief efforts.

"On behalf of a grateful community, we can't thank Perdue enough for responding in a significant way to the devastation we experienced as a result of tornadoes spun out of Tropical Storm Isaias," said Bill Blake, executive director of the Albemarle United Way. "We're inspired by Perdue's charitable philosophy and hope this generous gift motivates others to join the cause."

On Tuesday, August 4, the twister ripped through a mobile home community near Windsor, N.C., killing two, injuring dozens and leaving many families homeless in Bertie County, home to Perdue Farms' operations that employee more than 3,700 associates.

"The losses endured by so many, including some of our associates and their families, are heartbreaking," said Frank Koekoek, director of Perdue operations in Lewiston. "Our thoughts remain with all those affected by the storm. We hope our company's support will bring some level of relief and comfort to our neighbors."

About the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue FoundationThe Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, was established in 1957 by company founder Arthur W. Perdue and is funded through the estates of Arthur W. Perdue and Frank Perdue. As part of our belief in supporting the communities where and with whom we do business, the Foundation provides grants on behalf of Perdue Farms in communities where large numbers of our associates live and work. At Perdue Farms, we believe in responsible food and agriculture.

About Perdue FarmsWe're a fourth-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers and farmers through trusted choices in products and services.

The PERDUE brand is the number-one brand of fresh chicken in the U.S., and the company is the leader in organic chicken in the U.S., and Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company. Now in our centennial year, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork, and in USDA-certified organic chicken. Learn more at corporate.perduefarms.com.

SOURCE Perdue Farms

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Perdue Farms Delivers $10,000 and 45,000 Pounds Of Protein To Support Bertie County, NC Tornado Relief Efforts - PRNewswire

Keene State College plans to cut 15 faculty positions over the next year, while adding seven new ones, President Melinda Treadwell announced Friday.

The moves are part of the college's multi-year effort to balance its budget and adjust to a smaller student body as enrollment has declined.

The ConVal Regional High School Class of 2020 had a graduation ceremony Saturday evening, which was live-streamed online for those who could not make it.

The graduates spoke bluntly about the challenges the world presents them, and their duty to work toward solving problems like human rights abuses and climate change.

Most students in the Monadnock Region will return to classrooms in the fall, at least for a few days a week.

When they are in school, students and staff will be required to wear masks in almost all situations.

Keene State's commencement will be held virtually after all, though the college had planned to have an in-person ceremony this fall.

The Class of 2020 will be honored during an online graduation Oct. 3.

The largest number of COVID-19 infections in the state has been among 20-somethings.

"This is certainly not just a New Hampshire thing. It's happening here in Tennessee and all over the country," said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University.

Members of the Tanglewood Estates mobile home community in Keene will pay an additional $15 in monthly rental fees to the resident-owned cooperative association that manages the park, starting in November.

The increase, which a quorum of the co-op's members approved Saturday, will finance an overhaul of the park's sewer system.

Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities in Keene announced Tuesday that a staff member has tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee, who has not been at the Maple Avenue facility since Aug. 2, had not been feeling well and was tested for the viral disease this past weekend, according to spokeswoman Patty Farmer.

Gov. Chris Sununu announced Tuesday that he has instituted a mask mandate for "scheduled gatherings" of 100 or more people.

The new requirement, which went into effect immediately via emergency order, is geared toward large, public events, such as the upcoming Laconia Bike Week, and an upcoming religious gathering in New Ipswich.

Hannah Grimes Marketplace in Keene is temporarily closed for in-store shopping while one of its employees is tested for COVID-19, the Main Street boutique announced Tuesday on its Facebook page.

The store will continue to sell its artisanal items, which include locally produced home decor, food and jewelry, through socially distanced means.

Keene officials have concerns about the future of the city's commercial tax base and what it might mean for residential taxpayers.

During a teleconference Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., leaders from several Granite State municipalities addressed some of the issues their communities are facing in the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The town of Swanzey is continuing to look at alternative polling places after concerns were raised about the current voting location.

The selectboard on Wednesday instructed Town Moderator Bruce Tatro, along with other town officials, to visit potential alternative voting sites to determine whether they could accommodate Swanzey's Election Day needs.

Due to the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Valley Regional Healthcare will not reopen its Charlestown clinic.

Valley Regional opened the Main Street clinic after Labor Day last year.

Gov. Chris Sununu laid out the process by which communities will be notified if a COVID-19 case is discovered in a school and how districts should proceed.

The governor said Thursday that students or faculty members who test positive for COVID-19 will be required to stay home and isolate until at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms and until after they've been feeling better for at least 24 hours.

Keene Housing received nearly $200,000 in federal funding this week that the organization plans to channel into efforts to protect the health and welfare of its residents and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money comes from a $1.25 billion program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that was created as part of the CARES Act.

With less than an hour of debate, fall sports and other extracurricular activities got the green light from the Monadnock Regional School Board Thursday night.

Monadnock administrators will be determining a feasible preseason start date.

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Last week in The Sentinel | Local News | sentinelsource.com - The Keene Sentinel

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is by Seth Effron, opinion editor for Capitol Broadcasting Company. Dennis Rogers, a columnist for the News & Observer of Raleigh more more than 30 years, died Saturday. He was 77 years old.

I knew Dennis Rogers before Dennis Rogers was a clich. He spent better than 30 years at Raleighs News & Observer writing columns that documented the life and times of people and places mostly in eastern North Carolina.

But his first full-time reporting job was in Fayetteville. Dennis was among the original staffers that launched The Fayetteville Times 47 years ago this July (In 1990 The Times was merged with its sister newspaper The Fayetteville Observer). I joined The Times right out of school, 11 months later.

Dennis was fresh out of college though he had life experience that far exceeded most of the reporting staff. Hed spent eight years in the Army including service in Vietnam after which he got a journalism degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

The new paper had a small and mostly young staff. There was a lot of undeveloped talent and Dennis was the writer much of the staff looked to. It wasnt just how he wrote but it was his approach to reporting that influenced those around him. His approach to news to tell stories, describe events, profile people was aimed at connecting with readers. Dennis didnt write as if his words were being handed down from on high. He wasnt looking to impress community leaders or big-shot office holders.

Dennis wanted EVERY person who picked up The Fayetteville Times and read his reporting, to feel as if he were talking directly to them, in ways that connected with their lives and experiences.

Among his beats, was covering the military service most specifically Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base. They were, and remain, the towns biggest business. Particularly in the years during the Vietnam War, the military installations and the people who were stationed on them influenced nearly every aspect of life.

The afternoon newspaper, the long-established Fayetteville Observer, covered Fort Bragg and the soldiers, as a corporate entity. What was the latest official pronouncement, what was being pushed by the public information operation that was the news on the military that dominated in the Observer.

In a hotly competitive news environment, Dennis had a different approach and it influenced the way other Fayetteville Times reporters covered other beats.

Dennis, correctly, saw Fort Bragg as a community, not a business. It wasnt just the generals and colonels that mattered.

It was the enlisted soldiers and lower-ranking officers and their families. What was going on in their lives? How did military service and life in the Fayetteville area affect them and their children? What ways beyond the GIs cruising the bars and clubs on Hay Street; the used-car and mobile home lots along Bragg Boulevard; the court docket did these people contribute to the community and what impact did Fayetteville have on their lives.

Dennis had that touch from the beginning. His influence spread to others and became a hallmark of the distinct way The Fayetteville Times covered the news from the city hall and the courthouse to the schools and business community.

So, before Dennis Rogers, became the Dennis Rogers who earned such strong affection from readers of The News & Observer, he was a colleague who helped an entire newspaper frame the way it covered and talked about its community.

It is a legacy for those fortunate enough to have worked with him in the early days of a career that lives on in our work each day.

Capitol Broadcasting Company's Opinion Section seeks a broad range of comments and letters to the editor. Our Comments beside each opinion column offer the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about this article.

In addition, we invite you to write a letter to the editor about this or any other opinion articles. Here are some tips on submissions >> SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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SETH EFFRON: From the start Dennis Rogers connected news, communities and people - WRAL.com

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio -- With so many artists working from home and putting their creative energies to good use, upcoming art exhibitions and audiences are bound to be enlivened with fresh perspectives and a greater emphasis on the shared pathos of living through a pandemic.

On the cusp of its 50th anniversary, Valley Art Center (VAC) is preparing for its 49th annual juried art exhibition, opening Nov. 6 and showcasing the art and artists of the region. The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 16 in the Margaret Bowen Gallery at 155 Bell St.

Artists living in a 250-mile radius of VAC are invited to submit up to three pieces for consideration. A panel of three independent jurors will select works to display from those submitted.

The jurors for this years show include artist and art educator David King, artist and owner of Deep Dive Art Projects & Editions Bellamy Printz; and Michael Weil, photographer and owner of Foothill Galleries.

Categories include textiles, glass and enamel, photography and prints, wood, metal and sculpture, jewelry, painting and drawings, ceramics, and mixed media and other modalities.

Cash prizes totaling $1,000 will be awarded for first, second and third place and best of show. Several community-sponsored awards will be presented, including the Hardy Watercolor Award and the Phyllis Lloyd Memorial Award.

Jurors typically choose about 75 pieces for the exhibit from about 300 to 400 pieces submitted. The venerable exhibit attracts a broad spectrum of artists and styles and is considered to be one of the regions oldest and most prestigious juried shows.

The cost to enter is $15 per piece, and artists may submit up to three pieces. All entries must be for sale. Work shown previously at VAC is not eligible.

From now until Oct. 19, artists may apply digitally using a link on the valleyartcenter.org website and following the instructions there. At least one digital image of each piece is required. Additional images of sculpture and three-dimensional work is advised.

View art now: The Fairmount Center for the Arts invites you to view its 44th annual visual arts exposition through Aug. 27 at the centers facility, located at 8700 Fairmount Blvd. in Russell Township. Or you can see it virtually. Contact fairmountcenter.org.

Safe travels this season: Russell Township police join other area departments in a national campaign to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Aug. 21 through Sept. 7.

Partnering with the Geauga County Sheriffs Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Russell police will step up efforts to get drunk and impaired drivers off the road, as well as educate the public about the dangers of impaired driving.

Watch for increased patrols and roadblock safety checks in some communities. If you imbibe too much, you can use an app to catch a ride home through NHTDAs SaferRide mobile app, available on Google Play and Apples iTunes, according to a press release issued by Russell police.

The app allows you to call a taxi or a predetermined friend to pick you up. If you see a suspected drunk driver on the road, call 911. If you have a drunken friend about to drive, take the keys away and make arrangements to drive that friend home, advises Sgt. Randy Bialosky.

Contact trafficsafetymarketing.gov.

Alzheimers caregiver programs: The Cleveland chapter of the Alzheimers Association is offering several one-hour free education programs online to help caregivers and family members with patients who have the fatal brain disease.

Effective communication strategies will be discussed from 11 a.m. to noon Thursday (Aug. 20). Participants can learn 10 warning signs of Alzheimers disease from 11 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Aug. 25. Understanding and responding to dementia-related behaviors is the topic from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27.

These programs are available by telephone or video conference. Pre-registration is required. Register by calling 800-272-3900. The Cleveland chapter provides support to 50,000 people with the disease regionally in five counties.

To post your news and events contact Rusek at jcooperrusek@gmail.com.

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What does art created in a pandemic look like: Valley Views - cleveland.com

I am an owner of mobile home parks, including the one shown in the photo accompanying your article on new legislation regulating such properties. The recent laws passed by the Colorado Legislature targeting mobile home parks seem based on the assumption that owners of mobile home parks are generally bad-acting, irrational persons, who often harass good tenants.Common sense should tell anyone that is not the case.Landlords tend to be rational actors who seek to avoid unnecessary problems with their customers.

The legislation creates more obstacles for landlords, in dealing with bad-acting tenants, who make life difficult for the other residents. Landlordsenforce rules as a way of maintaining nice, safe communities for all the residents, not for any nefarious reason.I dont know of any business, in which there is any long-term benefit in treating good customers unfairly, and this includes mobile home parks. It is no fun dealing with bad-acting tenants, and the process to evict them has always been an expensive, lengthy and burdensome undertaking. There is no public benefit in laws which make it more difficultfor landlords to properly operate properties by enforcing rules.

Other provisions of the law involve improper government interference in the ability of private citizens to buy and sell property; it is wrong for the government to interject itself in transactions involving private-property owners.

The ultimate results of legislation such as this will be to increase housing costs, while driving investors out of the business of providing this type of housing and to make existing properties less safe and appealing for the residents.

The free market, left alone, provides landlords plenty of incentive to properly manage propertiesfor the benefit of all interested parties.

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Now more than ever, your financial support is critical to help us keep our communities informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having on our residents and businesses. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.

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Letter to the editor: New mobile home laws will only increase the cost of housing - Summit Daily News

RANDOLPH, NJ- Table of Hope and Morris Habitat for Humanity will host a free mobile food distribution at the Morris Habitat Restore on Wednesday, July 8 to assist families in need during this time of crisis. All residents are welcome and there are no eligibility requirements.

The contactless, drive-through food pick up will take place at the Morris Habitat ReStore parking lot located at 274 South Salem Street in Randolph from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. The food distribution consists of a variety of free groceries, including fresh produce, dairy and canned goods. Face masks are required for everyone attending the event.

People who have never needed help before are finding themselves in a different position during this pandemic, said Blair Schleicher Wilson, CEO of Morris Habitat for Humanity. Many need a helping hand, and were mobilizing our volunteers and local officials to help Table of Hope further its goal of feeding those in need.

Our newsletter delivers the local news that you can trust.

Table of Hope was founded by Rev. Dr. Sidney Williams, pastor of Bethel Church in Morristown and Board member of Morris Habitat. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Dr. Williams converted a bus used to pick up food into a mobile food pantry to deliver groceries directly to local neighborhoods. Since that time, Table of Hope has served more than 9,000 families and delivered more than 220 tons of food. Table of Hope receives food from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, local farms and food service companies.

For more information, visit:https://springstreetcdc.org/table-of-hope/

ABOUT MORRIS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Morris Habitat for Humanity is part of a global, nonprofit housing organization committed to building homes, communities and hope. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Morris Habitat builds new homes and provides home repair services to income eligible families. Morris Habitat collaborates with other Habitat affiliates and related housing organizations to improve the affordable housing stock in the region, and over the last four years has more than doubled the number of homes built. Morris Habitat welcomes volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds and serves people in need of decent housing regardless of race or religion. Since 1985, Morris Habitat has served more than 400 households through home ownership opportunities, home preservation, and international home building programs. Proceeds from the ReStore, opened in 2007, have helped to fund construction while diverting almost 5,800 tons of useable material from local landfills. The ReStore store is located at 274 South Salem Street, Randolph. For more information, visit http://www.morrishabitat.org or call 973-891-1934.

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Table of Hope and Morris Habitat for Humanity to Host Free Mobile Food Distribution on July 8 - TAPinto.net