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A28 u.s. news
Diamars 17 augustus 2021

After delays, construction on Obama Center begins in Chicago

the University of Chicago build the Obama Presidential in digital form.
where the former president Center here, just a couple of
once taught law. The Obama miles away from where Pres- During a Chicago appear-
Foundation, which an- ident and Mrs. Obama start- ance in June, Obama said he
nounced preliminary work in ed their journey,” Valerie Jar- hoped the center would help
April, said a formal ground- rett, president of the Obama promote the city’s South
breaking ceremony would Foundation, said in a state- Side and bring Chicagoans
take place in the fall. ment. “We are on the heels of together.
the work of so many whose
Progress on the $500 mil- efforts made the election of “Our goal has been, how do
lion center has been delayed our first Black president pos- we create an institution that
by lawsuits and a federal re- sible. We look forward to de- not only is helping to pro-
view required because of the livering on the commitments mote the sort of civic en-
location of the park, which is we’ve made to our neighbors gagement and progressive
on the National Register of and our fellow Chicagoans as change that I believe happens
Historic Places. Also, con- we continue on our road to when ordinary people just
cerns about displacing Black groundbreaking.” get involved in their com-
(AP) — Five years after residents stretched into a munities,” he said. “But also
Barack Obama chose Chi- Roadway closures were set yearslong battle, resulting in The multi-building com- how can we make this into
cago as the site for his leg- up and a bulldozer pulled neighborhood protections plex will include a museum, something that helps bring
acy project, construction up to start digging up part of —including for affordable public library branch, athletic Chicago together at a time
officially began Monday the 19-acre lakefront site in housing. center, children’s play area when Chicago like much of
on the Obama Presiden- Jackson Park, which is near and a test kitchen. Obama’s the country sometimes feels
tial Center. the Obama family home and “We are incredibly proud to documents will be available divided.”

Misinformation at public forums vexes local boards, big tech

(AP) — There are plenty ing claims about COVID-19 ernment meetings in North After hearing from local of- become national news.
of places to turn for ac- while addressing the Mount Carolina, Missouri, Kan- ficials, YouTube reversed its
curate information about Vernon Community School sas and Washington state. In decision and put the videos Now, thanks to the inter-
COVID-19. Your physi- Corporation in Fortville, Bellingham, Washington, back up. Earlier this month net and social media, the
cian. Local health depart- Indiana, on Aug. 6. In his officials responded by tem- the company, which is owned misleading musings of a lo-
ments. The U.S. Centers 6-minute remarks, Dr. Dan porarily suspending public by Google, announced a cal doctor speaking before
for Disease Control. Stock tells the board that comment sessions. change to its COVID mis- a school board can compete
masks don’t work, vaccines information policy to allow for attention with the recom-
But not, perhaps, your local don’t prevent infection, and The false claims in those vid- exceptions for local govern- mendations of the CDC.
government’s public com- state and federal health offi- eos were made during the ment meetings — though
ment session. cials don’t follow the science. portion of the meeting de- YouTube may still remove It was only a matter of time
voted to public comment. content that uses remarks before misleading comments
During a meeting of the St. The video has amassed tens Local officials have no con- from public forums in an at- at these local public forums
Louis County Council earli- of millions of online views, trol over what is said at these tempt to mislead. went viral, according to Jen-
er this month, opponents of a and prompted the Indiana forums, and say that’s part of nifer Grygiel, a communica-
possible mask mandate made State Department of Health the point. “While we have clear poli- tions professor at Syracuse
so many misleading com- to push back. Stock did not cies to remove harmful CO- University who studies social
ments about masks, vaccines return multiple messages In Kansas, YouTube pulled VID-19 misinformation, we media platforms.
and COVID-19 that You- seeking comment. video of the May school board also recognize the importance
Tube removed the video for meeting in the 27,000-stu- of organizations like school Grygiel suggested a few
violating its policies against “Here comes a doctor in sus- dent Shawnee Mission dis- districts and city councils us- possible ways to minimize
false claims about the virus. penders who goes in front of trict in which parents and a ing YouTube to share record- the impact of misinforma-
the school board and basi- state lawmaker called for the ings of open public forums, tion without muzzling local
“I hope no one is making any cally says what some people district to remove its mask even when comments at governments. Grygiel said
medical decisions based on are thinking: the masks are mandate, citing “medical those forums may violate our clear labels on government
what they hear at our public B.S., vaccines don’t work and misinformation.” policies,” company spokes- broadcasts would help view-
forums,” said County Coun- the CDC is lying — it can woman Elena Hernandez ers understand what they’re
cilwoman Lisa Clancy, who be very compelling to lay- The district, where a mask said. watching. Keeping the video
supports mask wearing and people,” said Dr. Zubin Da- mandate remains in ef- on the government’s website,
said she believes most of her mania, a California physician fect, responded by ending The deluge of false claims instead of making it shareable
constituents do too. The vid- who received so many mes- livestreaming of the public about the virus has chal- on YouTube, could allow lo-
eo was restored, but Clancy’s sages about the Indiana clip comment period. District lenged other platforms too. cal residents to watch with-
worries about the impact of that he created his own video spokesman David Smith ac- Twitter and Facebook each out enabling the spread of
that misinformation remain. debunking Stock’s claims. knowledged that it has been have their own policies on videos more widely.
challenging to balance mak- COVID-19 misinformation,
Videos of local government Damania hosts a popular on- ing the board meetings acces- and say that like YouTube “Anytime there is a public
meetings have emerged as the line medical show under the sible and not spreading falla- they attach labels to mislead- arena – a city council hear-
latest vector of COVID-19 name ZDoggMD. His video cies. ing content and remove the ing, a school board meeting,
misinformation, broadcast- debunking Stock’s com- worst of it. a public park – the public
ing misleading claims about ments has been viewed more “It was hard for me to hear has the opportunity to po-
masks and vaccines to mil- than 400,000 times so far. He things in the board meet- Public comment sessions tentially spread misinforma-
lions and creating new chal- said that while there are legit- ing that weren’t true and to preceding local government tion,” Grygiel said. “What’s
lenges for internet platforms imate questions about the ef- know that those were go- meetings have long been changed is it used to stay lo-
trying to balance the poten- fectiveness of mask require- ing out without contradic- known for sometimes color- cal.”
tial harm against the need for ments for children, Stock’s tion,” Smith said. “I am all ful remarks from local resi-
government openness. broad criticism of masks and about free speech, but when dents. But before the internet,
vaccines went too far. that free speech endangers if someone were to drone on
The latest video to go vi- people’s lives, it is hard to sit about fluoride in the drink-
ral features a local physician YouTube removed several through that.” ing water, for instance, their
who made several mislead- similar videos of local gov- comments weren’t likely to