Arts losses, fired watchdogs and ‘Rising Waters’

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Crunching the numbers

The CARES Act relief package devoted $14 billion to higher education. An NBC News analysis found community colleges received 22 percent of those funds, despite serving 32 percent of the country’s students.
President Donald Trump has fired five inspectors general in the last six weeks. Inspectors general serve as watchdogs over federal agencies, which they audit for misspent funds, fraud, misconduct and other issues.

Eye on local news

From The Post and Courier: A months-long series on flooding and rising sea levels in the Charleston, South Carolina region. “Set aside the notion of climate change,” writes Tony Bartelme. “The climate has always changed. The real story is about speed.”
From The Baltimore Sun: So far, cultural organizations across the country have lost $5 billion due to the pandemic. As Maryland’s theater community makes way for financial losses, Baltimore Center Stage’s costume shop is making face masks for health care workers.
From San Diego Magazine: Troy Johnson argues that “restaurants need our support, not our qualitative Yelp analysis.”

New on Big If True

For decades, the number of Americans representing themselves in civil courts has been growing, and with it, the need for resources to help people navigate courtrooms when they can’t afford a lawyer.

This week, we published a two-part series looking at how legal aid and self-help programs are changing because of covid-19. Some highlights:

The need for legal aid, which provides legal help to low-income people, is rising as the pandemic leaves its mark on the economy. At the same time, these programs expect funding losses connected to covid-19.
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services received dozens of calls regarding illegal evictions, despite an eviction moratorium.
In Iowa during the pandemic, at least dozens of people sued for debts have had their bank accounts frozen for weeks or months while waiting for court hearings that normally take a week to schedule.
Legal aid programs that depend on funds attached to a decimated interest rate project they will lose millions of dollars.
Questions remain as to how courts will reopen with social distancing in place, especially in civil cases scheduled through what are known as docket calls. During docket calls, cases are set for a certain time, date and judge, and dozens of people gather in often crowded courtrooms waiting for their names to be called.
Some attorneys and others who work in the court system think the pandemic may create an opening to make civil courts more accessible to the public.

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Send me feedback, questions and tips: bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.

– Mollie Bryant, founder of Big If True