The Buzz 03.11.21

FREE SPEECH

It’s a “clear infringement” on freedom of the press. So states an editorial in the Des Moines Register, about the arrest and prosecution of Register journalist Andrea Sahouri. Sahouri was arrested in Des Moines last spring while covering protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On March 8, her case was scheduled to go to court, where Sahouri is being prosecuted for failure to disperse and interference with official acts. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, at least 126 journalists were detained or arrested in 2020, compared to nine such instances in 2019, and most of the 2020 arrests happened while journalists were covering protests and actions centered around Floyd and Black Lives Matter. “Despite scores of illegal arrests and assaults on journalists doing their jobs,” says foundation Executive Director Trevor Timm, “we know of no police officer who has been criminally charged for these shocking violations of Constitutional rights.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I felt like in Monterey, they brought the war to my house.” – Amber D’Antonio, a Navy wife who is suing a military housing contractors over decrepit conditions. (See News story)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

First responders from Monterey Fire Department and Seaside Fire Department are teaming up this week to get the most vulnerable among us innoculated against Covid-19 in the county’s first vaccine clinic for the homeless community in Monterey County. They hope to start with a few dozen doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine, and if supplies allow, will begin visiting encampments to set up vaccine clinics as early as March 16. “It can be difficult to re-access a homeless person, so we want to vaccinate them fully with no need for follow-up,” says Seaside Fire Chief Mary Gutierrez. Eventually, Monterey Fire Chief Gaudenz Panholzer says, they hope to get some 500 doses to the homeless. “They’re a community that always gets left behind in a variety of ways,” he says. “It’s critical we make an extra effort, that we provide care they deserve.”

GREAT:

The promise of normalcy returns this week for those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19. The Centers for Disease Control announced March 8 that people who have been fully vaccinated should feel free to spend time indoors, mask-free and without worrying about social distancing, with small groups of other vaccinated people. Think: inviting your vaccinated neighbors over for dinner. The agency also stated that vaccinated people can visit indoors (again, mask-free) with a household of unvaccinated people, so long as they are at low risk. The CDC used the example of vaccinated grandparents visiting their unvaccinated but young and healthy daughter and grandchildren – this kind of thing is now acceptably safe. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their shot. Everyone, regardless of vaccine status, should still avoid large gatherings and wear a mask in public.