as one victim finds some relief

I haven't looked into the details but doing some kind of Covid relief with that surplus they have is a no brainer.

Previous COVID NEWS thread HERE, covers 2/19 thru 2/23

while out on parole-

Report by The Skeptic Research Center and the Worldview Foundations Research Team, Feb. 20, 2021

Research Question: This is the seventh report from the Civil Unrest and Presidential Election Study (CUPES). In this report, we investigate a complex and defining issue of 2020 (and, no doubt, many years ahead): race and policing. Amidst calls to “defund” and reform police agencies, informed understandings of police-citizen interactions are crucial. So, here we ask the question: across the political spectrum, how knowledgeable are people when it comes to the available data on fatal police shootings of Black Americans? [....]

Summary of Findings: 

1. The available data on police shootings of unarmed Black men is incomplete; however, existing data indicate that somewhere between 13-27 unarmed black men were killed by police in 2019. Adjusted for the number of law enforcement agencies that have yet to provide data, this number may be higher, perhaps between 60-100.

• Yet, over half (53.5%) of those reporting “very liberal” political views estimated that 1,000 or more unarmed Black men were killed, a likely error of at least an order of magnitude (see Figure 1).

2. The available data suggest that 24.9% of people killed by police in 2019 were Black. However, across the political spectrum, survey participants overestimated this number.

• Those who reported being “liberal” or “very liberal” were particularly inaccurate, estimating the proportion to be 56% and 60%, respectively (see Figure 2).

Take-home Messages:

1. Our overall findings indicate that people are uninformed regarding the available data on fatal police shootings in the US.

2. Specifically, we found that the more people reported being “liberal” or “very liberal” on social and fiscal matters, the greater the discrepancy between the available data and their estimations.

3. What might explain peoples’ misestimations of these statistics? Is it liberals’ relatively greater concern with racism? Differential media consumption?

Perhaps you have an idea or explanation you’d like to share? Have an interpretation of this you want to share? Email it to [email protected] [....]

Iink is to WSBTV.com article, February 21, 2021 - 10:39 PM, here's an earlier news tweet included in it:

By Lydia DePillis @ ProPublica.org, Feb. 15

A mountainous backlog of paperwork at the IRS continues to wreak havoc on America’s tax collection system — which especially hurts lower-income filers. Caption: In January, Kathy Brenneman got a notice that the IRS could levy her bank account for money she had already paid

[....] Brenneman is among millions of taxpayers whose paperwork has been snarled in the IRS backlog that began with last spring’s stimulus checks. The unprecedented burdens placed on the IRS in the past year, combined with a decade of declining funding and a paralyzing pandemic, have given rise to a cascading set of taxpayer headaches. Tax professionals say that for many functions, the IRS has gotten so sclerotic that all they can do is tell their clients to wait and hope their situations get straightened out eventually.

“If you got a penalty or notice, and you’re trying to resolve the issue, it’s literally mission impossible to do that over the phone, even as a practitioner,” said Mishkin Santa, a principal with the Wolf Group, which often works on U.S. tax issues with foreign nationals. “The processing systems of the IRS are failing our taxpayers.”

The IRS logjam is particularly difficult for low-income people who rely on tax refunds and stimulus checks. As of Jan. 29, the agency still hadn’t processed 6.7 million individual returns for the 2019 tax year. That’s a problem for anyone expecting refunds, which will be delayed. But it also means a long wait for the second stimulus payment of $600, which can’t be sent automatically unless a 2019 tax return has been processed. On Jan. 30, the IRS was still processing 4.6 million cases that involve amended returns and other special requests. Meanwhile, low-income filers have less access to help; as of Feb. 1, 78 out of the IRS’ 358 taxpayer assistance centers were closed [.....]

By Danielle Braff @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 15

It took a pandemic to turn Nicoll Davis’s 112-square-foot abode from a dream home into a jail cell.

Ms. Davis, 28, had been living and traveling full time in her 7-foot-by-16-foot cargo trailer with her husband, Jake, and their three dogs for about a year, enjoying all the luxuries that come along with tiny home life: a house that can travel anywhere and the financial freedom to do whatever she wanted.

And then the coronavirus arrived.

“When the pandemic began, our tiny home started to feel a whole lot smaller,” said Ms. Davis, who has a lead generation business, working with small companies to generate business via her websites and marketing help, and runs a blog with her husband. “You feel trapped.”

Nearly a year of staying within four walls can wreak havoc on anyone’s mental health. But those living in the coveted tiny homes that gained popularity about a decade ago — designed to erase debt, constraints and other limitations — have faced some significant burdens. They are unable to store large amounts of food, toilet paper and other pandemic necessities; they’re trapped in very small spaces; and many who relied on showers at gyms lost access to those facilities because of pandemic lockdowns. Also, as public parks and camping grounds shuttered or limited visitors, many tiny homes lost their domains [....]