2020
WINNER OF FIVE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS
12 DAYS Maryland Police Reform Page 13 Vol. 56, No. 1 • October 22 - 28, 2020
Unanimous D.C. Council Vote Extends Unemployment Compensation
Women Rally Across the Nation
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins
5 The Women’s March held a “Count on Us” rally on October 17, to protest President Trump’s nomination and a confirmation vote of Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Justice. Protesters marched with signs while chanting and listened to speeches at Freedom Plaza and the Supreme Court. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
Barrett’s Inevitable Confirmation and the Potential Death of Obamacare By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia With the inevitable confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, many people believe her appointment almost certainly signals the Affordable Care Act’s end. Barrett is already on record saying that an earlier vote to uphold the law “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.”
UNEMPLOYMENT Page 5
election coverage 2020
Voter Suppression includes Long Lines Faced by Minority Communities
And while President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have pushed for nearly four years to strike down the law known as Obamacare, they still have not presented an alternative. More than 22 million Americans will lose coverage if the court strikes down the law. That figure doesn’t include potentially millions more who have already lost their employer-provided health coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.
HEALTH CAREPage 8
With Unemployment Insurance [UI] benefits, and a similar form of economic relief for freelance workers, scheduled to expire within a matter of days for some District residents, and within the next few weeks for several more, the D.C. Council has coalesced around legislation extending the benefits period beyond the upcoming elections in November. The D.C. Council unanimously approved the legislation on Oct. 20, just days before the October 23 deadline the Council’s Committee on Labor
and Workforce Development gave the D.C. Department of Employment Services [DOES] to answer questions regarding the automatic extension of UI benefits, resolution of back pay, and a more efficient redetermination process for workers receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance [PUA]. Though the bill, titled the Unemployment Benefits Extension Emergency Act, passed unanimously on the Council, D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At large) acknowledged hurdles in aligning aspects of the legislation with federal law and determining whether DOES would absorb
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia As poll after poll – even those from sources like GOP-friendly Fox News – show Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s lead increasing over President Donald Trump, Americans remain skeptical about whether to trust the numbers. ( Center for American Progress)
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