Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • How Libraries Stretch Their Capabilities to Serve Kids During a Pandemic

    Summer, which is usually the busiest season for libraries around the United States, brought with it challenges due to the pandemic, but resourceful librarians innovated ways to connect with their most valuable patrons. In Chattanooga, Tennessee librarians recorded what would have been an in-person craft lesson and posted it on their YouTube channel. In St. Louis, Missouri, the public library loaned out Chromebooks and hot spots to families to increase accessibility to virtual programming. While the pandemic poses limitations, librarians are seizing the opportunity to try new things and keep students engaged.

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  • Bringing light to the news, for those who can't hear it

    The Daily Moth is a daily online news channel devoted to the news accessible to the deaf community. Recently, the channel's focus is on stories about Covid-19 and the fight for racial justice. The programming elevates the perspective of deaf individuals, from deaf first responders to deaf victims of police violence. The channel provides American Sign Language interpretation of news stories, accurate captions, and uses colors and backdrops that make it fully accessible. Securing funding has been a struggle for the channel, but it continues to deliver potentially lifesaving news to the deaf community.

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  • Black voter mobilization efforts begin to bear fruit

    HeadCount, a voter mobilization group, held registration drives at concerts and other events and collaborated with celebrities, music industry leaders, and athletes to form March on Ballot Boxes (M.O.B.B.), an informal coalition harnessing the activism of the Black Lives Matters movement. They provided voter registration tools such as text messaging and QR codes, which protesters could print and display on their signs. They also partnered with Atlantic Records to launch ATL Votes, a digital registration campaign aimed at young voters. They registered over ten times as many new voters in 2020 than in 2016.

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  • India's tribal farmers tap solar irrigation to cut migration

    New solar-powered irrigation systems in the Chotanagpur Plateau region in India are giving farmers more dependable water and allowing them to diversify their crops, allowing them to also grow their income. Many farmers from a local village used to migrate to other places to search for work, but a new irrigation system has allowed them to grow cauliflower for a competitive price. While the cost of buying and installing a solar-powered irrigation system can be high, this form of irrigation could be more climate-friendly and help stabilize crop production.

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  • Technology Works Behind the Scenes to Keep US Mail-in Voting Secure

    With many more people are voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election, technology is helping to make sure ballots are counted and that voters are informed. Although the system is not perfect, it does allow for voters to follow the progress of their ballot to see if there may have been a problem at some point during the process.

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  • As Prisons Cancel Visitation, The Phone Line Becomes A Life Line

    To alleviate the isolating effects of COVID-19 restrictions in prisons barring outside visitors, some prisons have encouraged phone and video contact with family by waiving the fees normally charged for such services. In Utah, the first 10 calls per week are free. Federal prisons have waived the charges entirely. Maintaining healthy family relationships has been shown to relieve prisoners' loneliness and anxiety, which equates to better behavior. And it reduces future lawbreaking by strengthening bonds that help in finding housing and jobs once the prisoners are released.

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  • Could carbon-removal tech make travel more sustainable?

    Climeworks, a Swiss start-up, is using technology to suck carbon out of the air and turning it into stone, essentially cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere permanently. Their plant in Iceland is able to turn 50 tonnes of carbon to stone per year. While that amount of carbon won’t solve the climate crisis, they are expanding their work to other countries and are launching a personal carbon removal subscription service as a way for the travel industry to help offset the carbon that they emit each year.

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  • Giving Police Departments Money to Buy Body Cameras Will Never End Brutality

    Body-worn cameras gained popularity as a potential check on police brutality, but for them to fulfill that purpose, numerous changes in typical public policies are needed, starting with public access to videos and independent oversight of camera policies. Research is inconclusive about whether cameras have changed police conduct, but they have discouraged citizen complaints about police. Other changes that could improve the use of cameras as a police-reform tool include constraining officers' discretion to record and better automated review of reams of stored data.

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  • ‘Drive-in' Mass in parking lot feeds faith, fellowship, despite sudden storm

    Parishioners are reunited for worship again in one Chicago church's parking lot with a "drive-in Mass." The Catholic congregation tuned into a radio station to hear the priest from their cars while lined up in rows to receive communion. Members of the church have been able to join in for online services since the health crisis began, but they missed the physical ritual of Communion.

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  • These Elite Contact Tracers Show the World How to Beat Covid-19

    After a coronavirus flareup that killed nearly 300, South Korean public health authorities used rigorous contact tracing investigations to prevent a second wave of illnesses. As of July 2020, the country’s new cases had plateaued for two months at less than 10% of their February levels, and only 8% of new cases came from unknown origins, a much lower rate than most other countries. The country’s Immediate Response Team’s work has allowed the nation to avoid disruptive shutdowns by aggressively targeting dangerous hot spots before they spread.

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