Find alternatives to student suspensions
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion The Gazette’s April 27 story regarding the disproportionate number of black students who are suspended from school is quite timely and necessary. The problem has existed for decades, but community and political attitudes towards minority children have impeded reforms. Despite state and federal laws mandating appropriate education for children, zero-tolerance policies have put many children out on the street into the pipeline to prison. As the director of a child-advocacy program in North Carolina before moving to New York, I witnessed the devastating consequences of suspension of mostly minority children, and became aware of research and model programs in some states that show the positive results policies that cut back suspensions.It behooves the school systems to work in conjunction with law enforcement and other community agencies to develop integrated programming to prevent children from being suspended, including in-school suspension, emphasis on meeting the needs of children with behavioral disorders, and quality alternative education programs.Al SingerGlenvilleMore from The Daily Gazette:EDITORIAL: Urgent: Today is the last day to complete the censusEDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationEDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motoristsEDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homesFoss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion Rep. John Faso’s recent campaign mailer, attacking the SNAP program, was both despicable and troubling. The indication is that the GOP’s strategy is to point their finger at the powerless while they continue to pick your pockets. We knew giving more tax cuts to billionaires and large corporations would bring about tighter squeezes on assistance programs, and so here it is.What Faso is ignoring is that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as our nation’s nutrition safety net, also serves the working poor. These are people with low-wage service jobs at Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Amazon, etc., who need the supplement to feed their families. That includes children and seniors. Also, consider those with master’s degrees and high student loan debt resorting to this kind of work and still living with their parents.A Green New Deal and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure would invigorate our economy and create good-paying jobs. Instead, Mr. Faso and his rich handlers want you to blame poor people and accept further cuts to the social safety net, meanwhile cutting taxes for the rich, expanding war and eliminating health care. Faso and his ilk are the problem, not poor people on food stamps. In November, make John Faso get another job.Deborah KrolFultonhamMore from The Daily Gazette:Broadalbin-Perth’s Tomlinson seizing the day by competing in cross country and golf this fallEDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motoristsFoss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationEDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homes
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Apriadi GunawanThe Jakarta Post/Medan, North SumatraHundreds of people staged a peaceful protest in front of the North Sumatra Legislative Council (DPRD) building in Medan on Monday, calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to address the thousands of pig deaths caused by African swine fever (ASF) without culling the remaining, healthy animals. The protestors, who identified themselves as members of the #SaveBabi (#SavePig) movement, said they did not want the pigs to be wiped because of the ASF outbreak, which has killed over 40,000 pigs in the province.North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi said last month that he was considering a cull of all pigs in the province as a last-ditch effort to halt the spread of the virus.Read also: Over 40,000 pigs killed as African swine fever outbreak in N. Sumatra worsensThe movement’s leader, Boasa Simanjuntak, said pigs played an important cultural and economic role for North Sumatra’s Batak people, adding that many politicians had obtained their seats by using funds from the sale of pigs. “Don’t be hypocritical. We all know that many Batak people are successful because of pigs. Many people have become generals, officials and perhaps even DPRD members […] by selling pigs,” Boasa said during the demonstration.He added that Jokowi should immediately take action to tackle the ASF outbreak, which has caused heavy economic losses among livestock farmers in the province.“We demand that the government immediately intervene to overcome the outbreak, which has caused tens of thousands of pigs to die in North Sumatra.”Hasudungan Siahaan, a protestor representing local community group Horas Bangso Batak, added that the movement was an expression of public unrest over the government’s plan to eradicate pigs in North Sumatra and had no political motives.Responding to the rally, Victor Silaen, chairman of the DPRD’s Commission B, assured the protesters that pigs in the province would not be culled as they contribute to the province’s locally generated income (PAD).Viktor said the North Sumatra DPRD had taken a number of steps to address the outbreak, including summoning regents from the 18 regencies affected by the virus, as well as related agency officials.He also assured the public that it was safe to eat pork despite the virus.“Go ahead and eat pork; no one who eats pork will contract the disease,” he said. Separately, North Sumatra Food and Livestock Resilience Agency head Azhar Harahap said the provincial administration did not have sufficient funds to deal with the virus.He explained that no specific funds could be allocated to overcome the outbreak and that his agency had requested funding assistance from the central government.“We have asked the central government for Rp 46 billion [US$3.35 million] to help handle the swine fever outbreak here,” Azhar said during a meeting with the DPRD on Monday.Azhar also asserted that culling all the pigs was not a solution as it would be in conflict with a 2012 government regulation on animal welfare, as well as the principles of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).“The North Sumatra administration will not kill pigs because it will harm the community both economically and culturally,” he said.There is no cure yet for ASF, he added, but the North Sumatra administration had formed a rapid reaction unit to take preventative measures such as spraying disinfectant and cleaning pig pens in order to ensure that healthy pigs do not get infected.Azhar said the administration was also closely monitoring livestock movement between villages, subdistricts, districts, cities and provinces, and had banned the movement of pigs to and from North Sumatra to prevent the spread of the virus, steps that have already borne fruit.“An average of 302 pigs per day have died from the virus in North Sumatra, which is the lowest amount compared to ASF outbreaks in other countries,” Azhar said, adding that the number of dead pigs totaled around 3.6 percent of the total 1.2 million pigs in North SumatraThe Agriculture Ministry confirmed the existence of the ASF virus in 16 regencies in North Sumatra on Dec. 12 last year and reported the case to the OIE on Dec. 17. (syk)Topics :
“Alhamdulillah [thank God] we could secure victory, the third time in a row at the Asian Team Championships,” Ahsan said after the match, as stated in a release from the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI).Fajar said he was nervous about being paired with Ahsan prior to the championship. Normally, Fajar is paired with Muhammad Rian Ardianto, while Ahsan is paired with Hendra Setiawan.“I was nervous and did not know what our pace would like in a match. But he gave me a lot of insight, so I just enjoyed playing together,” Fajar said.Newly formed men’s doubles pair Fajar Alfian (left) and Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia compete against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in the final of the 2020 Asia Team Championships in Manila on Sunday. The pair won the match to seal the title for Indonesia. (PBSI/PBSI) As expected, the final was a hard fought affair.One of the highlights came when Fajar-Ahsan and Ong-Yew were tied at 11-11 in the second game. After raising the heartbeat of the fans in the crowd, the Indonesians emerged victorious. Team manager Susy Susanti praised the team’s achievement, adding that the team had improved since the semifinal.“The coach and players were more confident. They showed amazing fight and performed their best,” said Susy, who is the head of PBSI’s development and achievement department.Susy, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics gold medalist in women’s singles, said the decision to pair Ahsan and Fajar for the championship was made to counter the strengths of the Malaysian squad.At the 2019 Thailand Open, Ahsan was paired with Hendra, with the pair losing 18-21, 21-16, 21-23 to Ong and Teo.Susy added that the team was reconfigured with the goal of improving its strategy, dexterity, anticipation of the opponent’s moves and focus in critical moments during matches.“We reconfigured the doubles pairing because we were confident of our strong defense. However, we still need to improve the performance of our singles players because they lacked consistency,” Susy said. Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, Japan won the title after defeating South Korea 3-0. (mpr) The Indonesian men’s badminton team has won the Asia Team Championships title for the third time in a row after defeating rival Malaysia 3-1 in the final in Manila.Newly formed doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan and Fajar Alfian delivered the victory after beating Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-17 in the fourth round of a best-of-five final on Sunday. The last match was not played.Prior to Ahsan and Fajar’s win, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting outclassed Lee Zii Jia 22-20, 21-16 in singles, while Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon conquered Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 22-20, 21-16 in doubles. However, Jonatan Christie lost his singles match up against Cheam June Wei 16-21, 21-17, 24-22.
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