Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 2-1-19

National
The Government Shutdown Cost The Economy $11 Billion, Including A Permanent $3 Billion Loss
The federal government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, according to a new analysis from the non- partisan Congressional Budget Office, reflecting lost output from federal workers, delayed government spend- ing and reduced demand.
The report, which was re- leased Monday, estimated a hit of $3 billion, or 0.1 per- cent, to economic activity during the fourth quarter of 2018. The impact was pro- jected to be greater during the first quarter of 2019: $8 billion, or 0.2 percent of GDP.
Although most of the damage to the economy will
be reversed as federal work- ers return to their jobs, the CBO estimated $3 billion in economic activity is perma- nently lost after a quarter of the government was closed for nearly 35 days.
"Among those who experi- enced the largest and most direct negative effects are federal workers who faced delayed compensation and private-sector entities that lost business," the report said. "Some of those private- sector entities will never re- coup that lost income."
The analysis does not in- corporate some indirect ef- fects of the shutdown, such as the halt in some federal
permits and reduced access to loans.
However, the report sug- gests that businesses were beginning to postpone in- vestment and hiring deci- sions as a result of the shutdown and warned that the risks were becoming "in- creasingly significant" as the impasse dragged on.
The CBO report was re- quested last week by Demo- cratic Reps. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, chairman of the budget com- mittee, and Tom O'Halleran of Arizona, co- chairman of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition.
"I am hopeful that we
have finally reached a turn- ing point with these mind- less shutdowns, but this CBO estimate serves as a stark warning to President
Trump on the conse- quences of using American workers as a bargaining chip," Yarmuth said in a statement.
Black Teen Wrongfully Accused Of Killing Rabbi Sues Miami-Dade Police Department
A Black teenager who was falsely accused of murder de- spite proof of his innocence is suing the Miami-Dade Police Department and its lead homicide detective, Michael Brajdic, for wrongful arrest.
In 2014, Deandre Charles was accused of murdering Rabbi Joseph Raskin. The evidence used against him was a suspect sketch that looked like the artistic work of a third- grader. The police also claimed his DNA was on the murder weapon as well as the getaway vehicle. It was known, however, that there were multiple suspects.
The probability that the DNA samples found on the
Deandre Charles and the sketch used to falsely identify him.
gun belonged to Charles was found to be "extremely low." Additionally, Miami- Dade police knew the weapon that killed Raskin had been used in a robbery seven miles from the murder scene the day before the killing, but they failed to tell prosecutors such. Neither a witness nor a confidential informant placed Charles at the scene
of the crime.
“During the discovery
process, it became clear that other suspects were involved, and ignored by MDPD and the State Attorney’s Office,” said Adam Goodman, one of Charles’ lawyers. “The lack of evidence against De- andre was alarming, and he spent almost a year of his high school life in jail due to this travesty.”
The case was heavily criti- cized for the abysmal evi- dence provided and was subsequently dropped in 2016. In 2017, the district at- torney dropped the charges. The 18-year-old, however, was the only person ever ar- rested for the murder.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-A