Indy Digest: Dec. 14, 2023
Public records.
It would be hard to find two other words that, at first glance, are as boring. Yet the topic of public records—and specifically the fact that officials are not releasing public records like they should—is one of the most worrisome issues regarding our government today.
The vast majority of documents and communications produced by government officials are public records—in other words, by law, they are owned by and should be accessible to the public. The problem: There are a lot of records that people in power don’t want the public to see, and since there’s nobody forcing those people in power to hand over those records … you see the problem.
Our sister newspaper has found what may be either incompetence, wrongdoing or both at a public institution, and that institution has rejected all of our records requests. Our only recourse is to sue—but, alas, Coachella Valley Independent LLC doesn’t have the resources to hire a lawyer at hundreds of dollars per hour. Thankfully, there are organizations out there to help small publications in cases like this—but the fact we’re going to have to file a lawsuit to get records that, by statute, should be available, is galling.
The good folks at ProPublica just published a fantastic story headlined “How Police Have Undermined the Promise of Body Cameras.” An excerpt:
When body-worn cameras were introduced a decade ago, they seemed to hold the promise of a revolution. Once police officers knew they were being filmed, surely they would think twice about engaging in misconduct. And if they crossed the line, they would be held accountable: The public, no longer having to rely on official accounts, would know about wrongdoing. Police and civilian oversight agencies would be able to use footage to punish officers and improve training. In an outlay that would ultimately cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the technology represented the largest new investment in policing in a generation.
Yet without deeper changes, it was a fix bound to fall far short of those hopes. In every city, the police ostensibly report to mayors and other elected officials. But in practice, they have been given wide latitude to run their departments as they wish and to police—and protect—themselves. And so as policymakers rushed to equip the police with cameras, they often failed to grapple with a fundamental question: Who would control the footage? Instead, they defaulted to leaving police departments, including New York’s, with the power to decide what is recorded, who can see it and when. In turn, departments across the country have routinely delayed releasing footage, released only partial or redacted video or refused to release it at all. They have frequently failed to discipline or fire officers when body cameras document abuse and have kept footage from the agencies charged with investigating police misconduct.
Even when departments have stated policies of transparency, they don’t always follow them. Three years ago, after George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers and amid a wave of protests against police violence, the New York Police Department said it would publish footage of so-called critical incidents “within 30 days.” There have been 380 such incidents since then. The department has released footage within a month just twice.
Public records laws need to have more teeth. It is inevitable that some government employees are going to make mistakes, act incompetently or commit crimes—and far too often, those same government employees, or their protectors, are determining whether the records that show that malfeasance see the figurative light of day..
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Cult Docs for Christmas: Skip the Hallmark Holiday Romcoms and Cozy Up With Some Religious Zealotry
By Bill Frost
December 13th, 2023
Christmastime and cults go together like milk and phenobarbital-laced cookies: They both have hypnotic sparkly lights, feigned goodwill, nonstop ad indoctrination, savior confusion, etc.
Community Voices: The LGBTQ+ Case for Supporting Ken Calvert
By Jake Stelmach
December 14th, 2023
Coachella Valley resident Jake Stelmach believes the area already has an effective representative in Congress.
The Weekly Independent Comics Page for Dec. 14, 2023!
By Staff
December 14th, 2023
Topics tackled this week include MacArthur genius grants, posing for selfies, Charles Koch, the border—and more!
Best of Coachella Valley Winners’ Advertising Spotlight!
More News
• Virtually every Tesla is being recalled. NBC News reports: “Tesla is recalling more than 2 million of its vehicles, nearly all its cars on the road in the U.S., after an investigation found its autopilot safety system was ‘not sufficient to prevent driver misuse.’ The recall includes the 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3 and 2020-2023 Model Y equipped with Autosteer, a feature Tesla describes as ‘traffic-aware cruise control.’ … The recall was issued following a probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is under the Transportation Department. The NHTSA first investigated 11 incidents involving Tesla’s Autosteer in August 2021. In total, the agency reviewed nearly 1,000 crashes where autopilot was initially alleged to have been used, and focused on 322 autopilot-involved crashes ‘including frontal impacts and impacts from potential inadvertent disengagement of the system.’ Tesla cooperated and had several meetings with the agency over the next two years.”
• Reporters and photographers with the Southern California News Group (the parent company of the Orange County Register, The Press-Enterprise and other SoCal newspapers) today took part in a one-day walkout, Spectrum News reports: “Denver-based MediaNews Group owns the SCNG company; MediaNews Group’s parent company is Alden Global Capital. Alden Global, which owns more than 200 local newspapers nationwide, including the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Herald and the Orlando Sentinel, is well known as a hedge fund that buys newspapers and quickly guts its staff. A SCNG spokesperson did not return a Spectrum News message for comment. (LA Daily News reporter and union leader Josh) Cain said the union had been bargaining with SCNG for nearly two years. He said several long-time journalists had not received a pay raise in 10 to 15 years. Many employees earn just above the state’s minimum wage of $15.50. Most, he said, are getting by with $19 to $20 an hour, or about $40,000 a year salary. Some have to take on a second job to make a living.” One reporter I follow, Bill Plunkett, the Orange County Register’s longtime Dodgers beat writer, said on Twitter he hasn’t received a raise since January 2007. Wow.
• California gas-tax collections are likely to go down in the coming years … way down. Our partners at CalMatters explain the repercussions: “California’s funding from gas taxes will drop by nearly $6 billion in the next decade due to the state’s electric car rules and other climate programs, ‘likely resulting in a decline in highway conditions for drivers,’ according to a new state analysis. … As California phases in major policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions—such as the mandates for zero-emission cars and trucks—consumers buy less gasoline and diesel, and consequently pay less taxes. Those declines in tax dollars will be partially offset by the state’s road improvement fee, which drivers pay when they register their electric cars. But the Legislative Analyst’s Office stressed that overall, the state will still see a $4.4 billion drop in funding, a 31% decline, over a decade, so the Legislature and governor must come up with substantial new funding sources. Unless the drop is accounted for with new fees or other funding, there would be substantially less money for highway programs as well as local road maintenance, the analysts wrote. Work supporting buses, trains and other public transit options across the state also would face drops in funding.”
• Have you heard of morel mushrooms? Yeah? Me, too. Well, did you know that apparently they can sometimes be toxic, even when prepared properly? No? I didn’t either! CBS News says: “A food poisoning outbreak that killed two people and sickened 51, stemming from a Montana restaurant, has highlighted just how little is known about morel mushrooms and the risks in preparing the popular and expensive delicacy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted an investigation into morel mushrooms after the severe illness outbreak linked to Dave’s Sushi in Bozeman in late March and April. The investigation found that undercooked or raw morels were the likely culprit, and it led the agency to issue its first guidelines on preparing morels. ‘The toxins in morel mushrooms that may cause illness are not fully understood; however, using proper preparation procedures, such as cooking, can help to reduce toxin levels,’ according to the FDA guidance. Even then, a risk remains, according to the FDA: ‘Properly preparing and cooking morel mushrooms can reduce risk of illness, however there is no guarantee of safety even if cooking steps are taken prior to consumption.'” Again … wow.
• Politico just published a compelling feature on someone you’ve likely never heard of, even though he’s going to play a huge role in policy regarding water in the Western U.S.—and as you may know, water is kind of important to us humans. The lede: “When the highest stakes water negotiations in a century opened this fall, the largest, most powerful state—California—was represented by the youngest person at the table, a 27-year-old named John Brooks Hamby, who graduated from college barely four years ago. In the short time since then, Hamby—who goes by J.B.—has risen from recent Stanford grad to candidate for his hometown irrigation district to chair of the Colorado River Board of California, a position that makes him the state’s lead negotiator for its rights to the West’s most important river. With climate change dramatically shrinking the waterway’s flows, the seven states that share the river must now decide how to allocate deep, painful cuts in water use that will determine the future of communities across a huge swath of the country. … To the waterway’s power players and intelligentsia, whose annual meeting (convened) Wednesday in Las Vegas, Hamby has come to represent the hope for a new way to resolve the generations-deep conflicts over the Colorado River.”
• Time magazine reports that conversion therapy—aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity—is offered by nearly 1,300 practitioners, with many of them in the 22 states where it’s illegal. Some details, via a report by the Trevor Project: “The practice has been condemned by numerous organizations specializing in psychiatry, health, and human rights, since it has been shown to be both ineffective and dangerous. People who go through conversion therapy are at increased risk of mental-health issues including depression, low self-esteem, substance misuse, and suicidal behavior, research shows. ‘There is no evidence-based reason to engage in conversion therapy,’ Dr. Amir Ahuja, president of the American Psychiatric Association’s LGBTQ+ Caucus, wrote in a statement to TIME. ‘Engaging in conversion therapy goes against the ethics and oath of medical practitioners.’ Almost half of U.S. states forbid licensed mental-health providers, such as therapists and psychiatrists, from offering conversion therapy to minors. (The Supreme Court recently rejected a challenge to Washington State’s ban.) Nonetheless, one recent study concluded that more than 10% of people in the U.S. who identify as a sexual or gender minority have been through conversion therapy, and previous Trevor Project research suggests about 17% of LGBTQ youth have either experienced or been threatened with it.”
• And finally … if you’re on a weight-loss drug, please make sure you don’t accidentally overdose … as that seems to be happening a LOT lately. CNN has the details: “Poison control centers across the U.S. say they are seeing a steep increase in calls related to semaglutide, an injected medication used for diabetes and weight loss, with some people reporting symptoms related to accidental overdoses. Some have even needed to be hospitalized for severe nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, but their cases seem to have resolved after they were given intravenous fluids and medications to control nausea. From January through November, the America’s Poison Centers reports nearly 3,000 calls involving semaglutide, an increase of more than 15-fold since 2019. In 94% of calls, this medication was the only substance reported. In most of the calls, people reported dosing errors, said Dr. Kait Brown, clinical managing director of the association. ‘Oftentimes, it’s a person who maybe accidentally took a double dose or took the wrong dose,’ Brown said.” (Brand names for semaglutude include Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.)
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