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  • Georgia bill aimed at requiring law enforcement to heed immigration requests heads to governor
    on March 29, 2024 at 6:18 am

    ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would require local jailers to check the immigration status of inmates and work with federal immigration officials instead of sheltering people who are in the country illegally. The House voted 99-75 to accept changes to House Bill 1105, which was backed by Republicans and now goes to the governor for his signature. It previously passed the state Senate. Under the measure, local law enforcement agencies would risk losing state funding for failing to work with immigration officials. Local officials could also face misdemeanor charges. The measure gained traction after police accused a Venezuelan man of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus. Jose Ibarra was arrested last month on murder and assault charges in the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley. Immigration authorities say Ibarra, 26, unlawfully crossed into the United States in 2022. It is unclear whether he has applied for asylum. Democrats raised concerns it would turn local law enforcement into immigration police, making communities less willing to report crime and work with them. They have also pointed to studies showing immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. House Republican Jesse Petrea said on the floor Thursday that the bill was asking law enforcement only to work with immigration officials when someone has committed a crime and is in the country illegally. “I don’t believe anyone in law enforcement believes that’s too much to ask,” he said. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

  • What to know about Day of Visibility, designed to show the world ‘trans joy’
    on March 29, 2024 at 6:18 am

    Sunday is International Transgender Day of Visibility, observed around the world to bring attention to a population that’s often ignored, disparaged or victimized. Here are things to know about the day. The “day” is Sunday, but celebrations and educational events designed to bring attention to transgender people are occurring for several days around March 31. Events were scheduled around the world and include panels and speakers in Cincinnati and Atlanta, marches in Melbourne, Florida and Philadelphia, and an inclusive roller derby league’s game on New York’s Long Island. A picnic is planned in the English town of Hitchin. Perhaps the highest profile U.S. event is a rally scheduled for Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Major buildings and landmarks across the U.S. will be lit up in pink, white and light blue to mark the day. Last year, those lit included New York’s One World Trade Center and Niagara Falls. Rachel Crandall-Crocker, the executive director and co-founder of Transgender Michigan, organized the first day in 2009. “I think that once a person understands us, it’s hard to discriminate against us,” she said in an interview. “I created it because I wanted a time that we don’t have to be so lonely. I wanted a day that we’re all together all over the world as one community. And that’s exactly what we are.” It was designed as a contrast to Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is held annually on Nov. 20 to honor the memory of of transgender people who were killed in anti-transgender violence. Crandall-Crocker selected the day at the end of March to give it space from the day of remembrance and Pride Month in June, which celebrates all types of LGBTQ+ people. She plans to take part in a rally in Lansing, Michigan. Transgender people have become more visible in public life in the U.S. and elsewhere. There also has been a backlash from conservatives officials. At least 11 states have adopted policies barring people from using the bathrooms aligning with their gender in schools or other public buildings, 25 have bans on transgender women and/or girls competing in sports for women or girls and more than 20 have adopted bans on gender-affirming health care for minors. Some of the policies have been put on hold by courts. Nico Lang, author of “American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era,” which is scheduled to be published later this year, said it’s important to find happiness even amid the political tumult. “I feel like we as people — all of us queer people, trans people — are trying to assert our humanity right now,” said Lang, who uses they/them pronouns. They said the day of visibility is powerful because it’s not just on social media but also in real life with rallies and potluck meals. “It’s just us living our lives,” they said. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

  • Georgia joins states seeking parental permission before children join social media
    on March 29, 2024 at 6:18 am

    ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could join other states in requiring children younger than 16 to have their parents’ explicit permission to create social media accounts. Lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to Senate Bill 351, which also would ban social media use on school devices and internet services, require porn sites to verify users are 18 or over and mandate additional education by schools on social media and internet use. The House passed the measure 120-45 and the Senate approved it 48-7. The bill, which Republican Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas called “transformative,” now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto. A number of other states including Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Utah passed laws last year requiring parental consent for children to use social media. In Arkansas, a federal judge in August blocked enforcement of a law requiring parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts. Some in Congress also are proposing parental consent for minors. State Rep. Scott Hilton, a Peachtree Corners Republican, argued the state should do more to limit social media use by children, saying it’s causing harm. “Every rose has a thorn, and that’s social media in this generation,” Hilton said. “It’s great for connectivity and activism, but it has reared its ugly head on mental health.” But opponents warned the bill would cause problems. For example, Rep. David Wilkerson, a Powder Springs Democrat, said that the ban on use of social media in schools could ban teachers from showing educationally valuable YouTube videos. “If we do pass this, we’ll be back fixing this next year, because there are too many issues with this bill,” Wilkerson said. The bill says social media services would have to use “commercially reasonable efforts” to verify someone’s age by July 1, 2025. Services would have to treat anyone who can’t be verified as a minor. Parents of children younger than 16 would have to consent to their children joining a service. Social medial companies would be limited in how they could customize ads for children younger than 16 and how much information they could collect on those children. To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up to their platforms, but children have been shown to easily evade the bans. Up to 95% of teens aged 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use them “almost constantly,” the Pew Research Center found. The Georgia bill also aims to shut down porn sites by requiring submission of a digitized identification card or some other government-issued identification. Companies could be held liable if minors were found to access the sites, and could face fines of up to $10,000. “It will protect our children,” said Rep. Rick Jasperse, a Jasper Republican who argues age verification will lead porn sites to cut off access to Georgians. In March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas law, leading Pornhub to cut off access to Texans. The Free Speech Coalition, which represents adult film makers, says the bill would be ineffective because users could mask their location and because people would be forced to transmit sensitive information. They also argue it’s unconstitutional because there are less restrictive ways to keep children out and discriminate against certain types of speech. The coalition has sued multiple states over the laws. The ban on school social media excludes email, news, gaming, online shopping, photograph editing and academic sites. The measure also requires a model program on the effects of social media and for students in grades 6-12, and requires existing anti-bullying programs to be updated. The move comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in May that social media hasn’t been proven to be safe for young people. Murthy called on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now” and asked tech companies to share data and increase transparency and for policymakers to regulate social media for safety the way they do car seats and baby formula. Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instragram, announced in 2022 it was taking steps to verify ages. Meta says it provides “age-appropriate experiences” for teens 13-17 on Instagram, including preventing unwanted contact from unknown adults. Dozens of U.S. states, including California and New York, also are suing Meta Platforms Inc., claiming the company harms young people and contributes to a youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. Florida recently passed a law banning social media accounts for children under 14 regardless of parental consent and require parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

  • A growing number of Americans end up in Russian jails. The prospects for their release are unclear
    on March 29, 2024 at 5:18 am

    TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A journalist on a reporting trip in a Ural Mountains city. A corporate security executive traveling to Moscow for a wedding. A dual national returning to her hometown in Tatarstan to visit her family. All of them are U.S. citizens, and all are behind bars in Russia on charges of varying severity. Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all broke the law. Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear. “It seems that since Moscow itself has cut off most of the communication channels and does not know how to restore them properly without losing face, they are trying to use the hostages. … At least that’s what it looks like,” said Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who quit after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. Friday marks a year since the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old reporter for The Wall Street Journal who is awaiting trial in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison on espionage charges. Gershkovich was detained while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying for the U.S. Russian authorities haven’t revealed any details of the accusations or evidence to back up the charges, which he, his employer and the U.S. government all deny. Another American accused of espionage is Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. He was arrested in 2018 in Russia and sentenced to 16 years in prison two years later. Whelan, who said he traveled to Moscow to attend a friend’s wedding, has maintained his innocence and said the charges against him were fabricated. The U.S. government has declared both Gershkovich and Whelan to be wrongfully detained and has been advocating for their release. Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana. Kurmasheva, a Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, was arrested October 2023 in her hometown of Kazan, where she traveled to see her ailing elderly mother. She has faced multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a “foreign agent” and spreading false information about the army. Khavana, of Los Angeles, returned to Russia to visit family and was arrested on treason charges. According to Pervy Otdel, a rights group that specializes in treason cases, the charges against her stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine. The precise number of Americans jailed in Russia is unclear, but the cases of Gershkovich and Whelan have received the most attention. Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department less than two weeks after his arrest, unusually fast action by the U.S government. The designation is applied to only a small subsection of Americans jailed by foreign countries. Prisoners who get that classification have their cases assigned to a special State Department envoy for hostage affairs, who tries to negotiate their releases, and must meet certain criteria — including a determination that the arrest was done solely because the person is a U.S. national or as part of an effort to influence U.S. policy or extract concessions from the government. The U.S. has had some success in recent years negotiating high-profile prisoner swaps with Russia, striking deals in 2022 that resulted in the releases of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Both Griner and Reed were designated as wrongfully detained. In the exchanges for them, Moscow got arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S., and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, given a 20-year prison term in the U.S. for cocaine trafficking. It’s unclear whether there are any negotiations in the works on swapping other Americans held in Russia, such as Leake, Fogel, Kurmasheva or Khavana. Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, told The Associated Press shortly after her arrest that he hoped the U.S. government would use “every avenue and every means available to it” to win her release, including designating her as a wrongfully detained person. In December, the State Department said it had made a significant offer to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan, which it said Russia had rejected. Officials did not describe the offer, although Russia has been said to be seeking the release of Vadim Krasikov, who was given a life sentence in Germany in 2021 for the killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany. President Vladimir Putin, asked this year about releasing Gershkovich, appeared to refer to Krasikov by pointing to a man imprisoned by a U.S. ally for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya. Beyond that hint, Russian officials have kept mum about the talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeatedly said that while “certain contacts” on swaps continue, “they must be carried out in absolute silence.” Whether there are any other Russians held in the West that Moscow might be interested in is unclear. When Russia agreed to release Griner but not Whelan, a senior Biden administration official lamented to reporters that Russia had “rejected each and every one of our proposals for his release.” Those scenarios — in which one detainee is released but not another — weigh heavily on officials in the U.S. government, said Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, speaking in a January interview with AP. “Unless someone’s coming off a plane, onto a tarmac, in the United States of America and into the arms of their loved ones, we’re not getting a win,” Carstens said. Historically, “when the relationships (between countries) are better, the exchanges seem to be smoother,” said Nina Khrushcheva, a Moscow-born professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. She pointed to prisoner swaps between the Soviet Union and Chile during the detente period of the 1970s, as well as those with the U.S. and Germany shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev took office in the 1980s. Prominent Soviet dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky and Natan Sharansky were released in these exchanges. Ultimately, however, the fate of those imprisoned in Russia “is only in Putin’s hands,” Khrushcheva said. Carstens echoed her sentiment. “These are tough cases. The fact is that Russia holds the key to the jail cell,” he told AP this week. “The United States continues to have conversations with allies and partners about what we can do to secure Evan and Paul’s freedom. These efforts are sensitive and it doesn’t help Evan and Paul to have negotiations in public. The United States will continue our efforts until we can bring Evan and Paul home.” ___ Tucker reported from Washington. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

  • Former US Sen. Joe Lieberman and VP candidate to be remembered at hometown funeral service
    on March 29, 2024 at 5:18 am

    STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Political dignitaries, family and friends are gathering Friday to honor the late Joe Lieberman at a funeral service in Stamford, Connecticut, the hometown of the four-term U.S. senator who grew up as the son of a liquor store owner and came within hundreds of votes of becoming the first Jewish vice president in 2000. Lieberman died Wednesday in New York City from complications from a fall, according to his family. He was 82. Services will be held at Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford. For Lieberman, a self-described “observant jew” who followed the rules of the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the congregation played a key role early on in his life. He once recalled how the congregation’s former synagogue building was “a place that gave me the first sense of religion; a very special uplift,” according to a posting on the congregation’s website. “I feel very lucky — my adherence to the Jewish tradition is really an asset,” he said. “Religious Catholics and Protestants find a bond of common value with my beliefs and stand. It is this that makes me so proud of being an American.” Top Connecticut Democrats, including former Sen. Chris Dodd, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Gov. Ned Lamont, Lieberman’s one-time rival for the Senate seat, are expected to attend the services Friday morning. A second public memorial is expected to be held at a future date. Lieberman, a former state Senate leader and attorney general, was known for his pragmatic, independent streak. A moderate Democrat who ended up running as an independent to win a fourth term in the Senate, Lieberman came close to becoming Republican John McCain’s running mate in 2008. However, conservatives balked at the idea of tapping Lieberman, who was known for supporting gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes while taking a hawkish stand on military and national security matters. President Joe Biden on Thursday called Lieberman a friend, someone who was “principled, steadfast and unafraid to stand up for what he thought was right.” “Joe believed in a shared purpose of serving something bigger than ourselves,” Biden, who served 20 years in the Senate with Lieberman, said in his statement. “He lived the values of his faith as he worked to repair the wounds of the world.” Lieberman came tantalizingly close to winning the vice presidency in the contentious 2000 presidential contest that was decided by a 537-vote margin victory for George W. Bush in Florida after a drawn-out recount, legal challenges and a Supreme Court decision. He was the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket. Over the last decade, Lieberman helped lead No Labels, a centrist third-party movement that has said it will offer as-yet-unnamed candidates for president and vice president this year. Some groups aligned with Democrats oppose the effort, fearing it will help presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump win the White House. Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, have four children. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com