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THURSDAY, AUGUST 19 - AUGUST 25, 2021
VOL. 79,
NO. 32
Census Bureau releases 2020 data on nation's population shifts Terry MILLER
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tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
A mother of a PUSD student explains the importance of her child wearing a mask at a recent press conference regarding the mandates. I Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
| Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Quarrels over mask mandates, vaccination requirements turn volatile and violent School boards across the U.S. are facing angry parents, politicians on both sides of the debate Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
M
ask mandates are, once again, becoming more commonplace throughout the country, and some Americans continue to counterattack against the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control for stimying the spread of the novel coronavirus. This past week alone has displayed some unparalleled behavior and flare-ups of violence over the use of masks and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. A viral video of a public meeting in Tennesse could have easily been mistaken for the chaos and bedlam of the January 6 riots in Washington D.C. Parents polarized, entrenched on opposing sides of the aisle of mask mandates and vaccine requirements. But the hostility would not be
confined to the meeting itself, it would spill over. Outside, a mob of unmasked men approached cars and threatened people who were mask advocates as they attempted to leave the parking lot. According to one local doctor who attended that meeting with his wife, a crowd chanted obscenities when they stepped outside. Someone approached Dr. Maxwell, “put their hand in my face and called me a traitor,” according to a CNN report. “I don’t see how anyone can say that when I’ve been on the front lines of this pandemic since the beginning, treating patients in rooms, unvaccinated for the vast majority of it, hoping I wouldn’t take it home to my family. And for someone to say that, it’s mind-blowing,” he told CNN. This meeting, however,
was not some regional outlier unique to a state now infamous for its bucking of COVID-19 precautions. The Southland, too, shared that same vitriol. This past weekend, in Los Angeles, a demonstration turned ugly when one individual was stabbed and two journalists were assaulted. “Something happened to me today that’s never happened in 30-yrs of reporting. In LA.,” KPCC's Frank Stoltze wrote on Twitter. “I was shoved, kicked and my eyeglasses were ripped off of my face by a group of guys at a protest - outside City Hall during an anti-vax Recall Rally pro Trump rally,” Stoltze wrote. Video footage uploaded to Twitter identifies some of the participants as members of the far-right Proud Boys. In the video, punches are
thrown between protesters and counter-protesters, and one man is bloodied in the melee, according to a report by KTLA. Last Wednesday, another incident turned violent when a disgruntled parent verbally attacked an elementary school principal before physically attacking a teacher just 45 miles east of Sacramento. The argument was over the parent's child wearing a mask on the first day back to school. The Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Torie Gibson confirmed on August 11 that a parent verbally assaulted the principal of the Sutter Creek Elementary School over their mask policy. A sixth-grade teacher was stitched up at the hospital for cuts and lacerations to his face. A woman allegedly hit
a gate agent in a Phoenix airport terminal Wednesday after American Airlines staff barred her from her flight connection for her refusal to cover her face on the first leg of her journey per airline policy, the Arizona Republic reported As debates over masks in US schools have reemerged as the academic year begins, the Board of Education in Williamson County, just south of Nashville, approved the mask requirement for elementary school students, staff and visitors inside all buildings and on buses beginning American Academy of Pediatrics states that masks should be mandatory for anyone over the age of 2. Parents and school officials in Texas also have been torn over how to keep See Vaccination requirements page 2
he Census Bureau has released new data on the everchanging makeup of the American populace. The U.S. grew by 7.4% over the last decade to more than 331 million people. The number of non-Hispanic Whites is shrinking while Hispanic, Black, and Asian American communities are growing. Following the decennial census count, cities and states examine the information collected to see where people reside within existing City Council district boundaries to account for changes in population. Even before it began, the event faced unprecedented challenges from the seat of the Executive Branch. The Trump Administration tried, and failed, to include a citizenship question on the form. The Supreme Court cut down the proposal in a 5-4 ruling. Critics feared the question’s inclusion would strip the process of immigrant participation. States have eagerly awaited the census figures, which are sure to set off an intense partisan battle over representation and voting rights. The numbers could help determine control of the U.S. House See Population shifts page 2