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Crunching the numbers
- Last year’s CARES Act relief package created the Paycheck Protection Program, which was meant to provide businesses with loans to offset losses from the pandemic. A Reveal investigation into metro loan data found that businesses in majority-white areas were more likely to receive a loan than those in majority-Black, Latinx or Asian areas.
- Today the city council in Kansas City, Missouri will consider removing jaywalking offenses from local traffic codes that have targeted people of color. According to three years of city data, Black residents received 65% of jaywalking citations despite making up about 30% of the city’s population.
Federal judge rules against CDC eviction ban
- In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a ban on certain evictions that has since been extended three times. Yesterday a federal judge in DC’s district court overturned the ban, ruling that the CDC couldn’t legally issue it.
- The Department of Justice, which represents federal agencies in court, plans to appeal the ruling. After that happens, a judge will likely issue a stay that would stop the ruling from going into effect until the appeal process is complete.
- Federal judges have weighed in on the ban during at least six other lawsuits, the Associated Press reported, with half resulting in rulings in favor of the ban and half against. Each of those orders have been appealed.
- We reported last week that as it is, some landlords are skirting the eviction ban by exploiting loopholes in the moratorium or forcing out renters in other ways, like refusing to make major repairs.
- One more thing: This CNBC report gets into how virtual hearings in eviction cases have prevented some renters from participating in court due to lack of access to technology or the internet.
Filming the police is legal, but it can be dangerous.
Bystander videos of police are protected by the First Amendment and have been vital to holding officers accountable for violence and other misconduct. Yet activists and journalists still risk arrest when filming police.
For MIT Technology Review, Abby Ohlheiser spoke with “cop watchers,” people who document police on the job, about how and why officers try to stop people from filming them. A few things to remember: It’s illegal for an officer to ask you to delete an image, and police typically need a warrant before they can ask to see – or delete – what you’ve recorded.
Recording can escalate situations, so it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and keep in mind that no footage is worth your life. Cop watchers recommend filming from a distance, not interfering with officers and complying with police orders to move.
Thank you for reading Hard Reset. Send me feedback: bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.
– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, BigIfTrue.org