Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 28 december 2019

Newseum hailed free press, but got beaten by free museums

By ASHRAF KHALIL The D.C. resident recalls
WASHINGTON (AP) — In coming to the Newseum in
2008, the Newseum — a high school in a senior-year
private museum dedicated class trip. She only returned
to exploring modern history in late December for a final
as told through the eyes of visit because she heard it
journalists — opened on was closing at the end of
prime Washington real es- the year.
tate. "I do think part of the rea-
Sitting almost equidistant son was because it's a paid
between the White House museum," she said. "Why
and the Capitol on Penn- go out of my way to do this
sylvania Avenue, the glass- when I could just go to any
walled building became other free museum?"
instantly recognizable for its The $25 price tag, Myers
multi-story exterior rendition said, creates a pressure to
of the First Amendment. set aside the whole day
Eleven years later that ex- and take in every exhibit,
periment is coming to an whereas at one of the free
end. After years of financial Smithsonian museums, she
difficulties, the Newseum knows she can come back
will close its doors Tuesday. another time to catch
"We're proud of how we did In this Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, photo, people visit the Pulitzer Prize Photography exhibition at the whatever she missed. But
our storytelling," said Sonya Newseum, in Washington. Myers said she was deeply
Gavankar, the outgoing Associated Press impressed by the exhibits,
director of public relations. particularly the Newseum's
"We changed the model tors" but one of them was city full of free museums. A ers said, is that the News- signature gallery of Pulitzer
of how museums did their certainly unfortunate tim- Newseum ticket costs $25 eum struggled to attract Prize-winning photographs.
work." ing. The opening coincided for adults, and the build- local residents, instead de- "I do wish it wasn't going
The building was sold for with the 2008 economic re- ing is right across the street pending on a steady diet away," she said.
$372.5 million to Johns cession, which hit newspa- from the National Gallery of tourists and local school The museum's focus
Hopkins University, which pers particularly hard and of Art and within blocks of groups. Actual Washing- evolved over the years,
intends to consolidate its caused mass layoffs and multiple Smithsonian muse- ton-area residents, who showcasing not just journal-
scattered Washington- closures across the industry. ums. do frequent the Smithson- ism and historic events, but
based graduate studies She also acknowledged "Competing with free insti- ian and elsewhere, mostly all manner of free speech
programs under one roof. that the Newseum's status tutions in Washington was came on school trips and and civil rights issues and
Gavankar attributed the as a for-pay private institu- difficult," Gavankar said. rarely returned as adults. some whimsical quirks
failure to a "mosaic of fac- tion was a harder sell in a Another problem, organiz- Claire Myers fits that profile. along the edges.q

Judge orders government to make changes to terror watchlist

By MATTHEW BARAKAT and providing a meaning- will be focused on main- people coming into the The lawsuit argues that the
Associated Press ful opportunity for those taining its illegal program." country at border cross- watchlist does little to noth-
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — wrongly included to clear Still, he said, Trenga's rul- ings, and aviation officials ing to actually prevent ter-
A federal judge is ordering their names. ing holds some bright use the database to help rorism, all while imposing a
the government to make Instead, Trenga simply told spots. Trenga indicated form the no-fly list, which burden and suspicion on
changes to its watchlist of the government to craft its he will review the govern- is a much smaller subset of Muslims wrongly included
more than 1 million peo- own remedies to bring the ment's proposals to gauge the broader watchlist. on the list.
ple whose inclusion marks list into compliance and to whether they fix the spe- As of June 2017, approxi- The suit was filed in 2016
them as known or suspect- submit those proposals to cific due process prob- mately 1.16 million peo- and has exposed previ-
ed terrorists, but for now him for review. lems he outlined earlier in ple were included on the ously unknown details
he's giving the government Trenga ordered the gov- the year: that the govern- watchlist, according to about the list and how it is
latitude to propose the ernment to provide him ment refuses to confirm government documents disseminated. In particular,
changes as it sees fit. a status report on its pro- whether individuals are on filed in the lawsuit. In 2013, government lawyers ac-
The order issued last week posed revisions by early the watchlist, that those on the number was only knowledged after years of
by U.S. District Judge An- February. the list lack an opportunity 680,000. The vast majority denials that more than 500
thony Trenga in Alexandria Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer to rebut the negative in- are foreigners, but accord- private entities are given
falls short of what a Mus- for the Council on Ameri- formation that led to their ing to the government, access to the list. Govern-
lim civil rights group had can-Islamic Relations, said inclusion, and that if they there are roughly 4,600 ment lawyers describe
hoped for when it won he has little hope that the request a review of their U.S. citizens and lawful per- those private agencies as
a ruling earlier this year government will on its own status they are unable to manent residents on the "law enforcement adja-
that the secret list violates propose any meaningful learn its outcome or make watchlist as of 2017. cent" and include univer-
the constitutional rights of changes. any meaningful appeal. CAIR filed the lawsuit on sity police forces, and se-
those placed on it. "I don't think there's any The watchlist, also known behalf of more than 20 curity forces and hospitals,
The Council on Ameri- doubt the government is as the Terrorist Screening Muslim plaintiffs who said railroads and even animal-
can-Islamic Relations had going to take a cynical Database, is maintained they were wrongly placed welfare organizations.
asked Trenga to order spe- approach to any type of by the FBI and shared with on the list and called the The Justice Department
cific, sweeping changes to watchlist revision," he said a variety of federal agen- government's process for and the FBI each declined
the way the government in a phone interview. "We cies. Customs officers have adding names overbroad comment Friday on Tren-
places names on the list expect the government access to the list to check and riddled with errors. ga's ruling.q