This report addresses: Contemporary Flat Earth Movement

It comes from a deep introspection into what is important to you, what you want to be remembered for, and what impact you want to leave on your children and community, long after you’ve left Earth.

Register now

Saray Khumalo on conquering Everest and other summits

06 May 2022 - 12:26 By Saray Khumalo

Saray Khumalo was the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest in a feat that took her four attempts.

School threatens to ostracise pupils who don’t take Covid tests or wear masks in class

Children will be banished to the back of the class or miss out on lessons and breaks if they don’t follow the rules

Pupils who do not wear face masks are being told to sit at the back of the class while those who fail to test twice a week will be denied lessons, breaks and lunch time with their peers.

She said that it will also have an impact on the “enrichment opportunities” they are able to take part in, adding: “For example, it would not be possible to go on the overseas trips the school is planning as international travel once again becomes a possibility.”

Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) says that all secondary pupils are encouraged to take a test on site at the start of term followed by two tests each week at home thereafter.

Beginning in the summer of 2021, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office began collaborating with the Public Defender’s Office to review juvenile cases before a decision is made about whether to try the young person in court.

Attorney on his office's progress 'reimagining juvenile justice'

Ramsey County is in the midst of what it's calling “(Re)Imagining Justice for Youth” and it recently released a progress report on the effort.

This report addresses: Contemporary Flat Earth Movement

Title:

Content: ×

We've got news for you.

Register on TimesLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Saray Khumalo on conquering Everest and other summits

06 May 2022 - 12:26 By Saray Khumalo

Saray Khumalo was the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest in a feat that took her four attempts. Many would have called it quits, but for Khumalo it was about more than climbing a mountain. This was her purpose, and she would do whatever it took to see it fulfilled.

This article was originally published in The Penguin Post, a magazine about books for book lovers from Penguin Random House SA.

Once you know your purpose, you’ll do anything to fulfil it. It helps bring clarity to life, and drives you in that direction, no matter what might get in your way.

However, it is not always the most straightforward thing to work out. It comes from a deep introspection into what is important to you, what you want to be remembered for, and what impact you want to leave on your children and community, long after you’ve left Earth.

Answering those questions in earnest makes it easy to know what it is you need to do and, with the fragility of life also comes a sense of urgency to get to it. It suddenly becomes easier to let go of the things that are not important — the things that don’t contribute to us fulfilling our purpose — and start making the decisions that put us and our ambitions first.

It was in 2009 that I was forced to take stock of my own purpose when my older sister Florence died suddenly. It was completely devastating, and it prompted deep reflection in me. I remembered my grandfather’s words: “If you don’t live a life of service, that’s a life wasted.”

I also recalled my mother’s words: “The sky is the limit. Go for what you want. You are everything you need. Nobody should tell you any different.”

And I wondered, had Florence actually lived her purpose? Was I living mine? If I was being honest, the answer was no.

What followed was a reflective journey spent thinking about my youth and about what I’d hoped for and dreamt about. I had wanted to make a big impact, somehow. To make a difference and have a sense of purpose. So that’s what I was going to do.

After many months of pushing for that, my journey led me to the position of Employee Number 2 Discovery Bank. Here I had access to some of the best global behavioural economists and great minds within the group, with a commitment to making SA great. I’d finally found the sense of excitement and purpose I’d been looking for.

I had wanted to make an impact. To make a difference and have a sense of purpose

We were encouraged within our departments to adopt charities, and ours was Kids Haven. We organised fun outings for the kids and, because this cost money, I would go around the office after pay day each month asking my colleagues for donations.

It was during this time a colleague mentioned she was going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with her friend and her sister. I’d had the idea to do it myself, ever since an American guy who’d done it had planted the seed in my mind in 1996. With no serious limitations holding me back, I knew my moment had come.

At the same time, I still had Kids Haven on my mind, and it struck me we could combine the two in a fundraising effort. My Kilimanjaro climb in December 2012 was the early beginnings of Summits with a Purpose, a foundation I started in 2013 using my climbing expeditions to raise funds for literacy and educating young people, while uplifting economically marginalised communities in Africa. I couldn’t have imagined then how the cause would take off, particularly during my expeditions to Mount Everest.

You just have to keep stepping

I had taken on Everest three times before summiting on my fourth attempt in 2019. I felt such a strong sense that we can all go further and higher than we imagine, a feeling I’ve retained and have wanted to impart to younger people — they can go above the clouds; in fact, that’s where they should be.

While I hadn’t thought about what my achievement might have meant to others, when I returned to SA I saw people were listening to what I had to say. I realised I had the power to either build their confidence or break it down. I made it my mission to become the type of person to stretch out a hand to lift others up. To show them they could also do what I did, and more, becoming their own kind of superhero.

Are there going to be bad days? Definitely. But it’s about waking up every day knowing it’s another chance to try again. Even if you take one step, that’s okay. You are working your way up slow and steady, and that’s what matters.

If I could look up at Everest from Camp 4 on my third attempt, with tears in my eyes, thinking, so close, yet so far, and go back a fourth time to make history, then anything is possible. You just have to keep stepping.

'My Journey to the Top of the World' by Saray Khumalo is out now.
Image: Supplied

In putting My Journey to the Top of the World together, I was transported through the wild ride of emotions I felt with every expedition. There was the anger when people questioned what I was doing there as a black woman. The defiance in going back time and time again to show them that I – that we – can do it. The pride, because I did it and I paved the way for another African child who can go through the same life-changing experience, but without the stigma.

I revisited how me not giving up changed people’s perspectives. There was the German climber I met on Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua who, for the rest of his life, will look at my people differently because I summited and he didn’t. And on a more personal level, with my sons. My eldest told me after I summited I’d proved to him that nothing replaces hard work. He has this optimism about what he’s able to do in his own life because I took that extra step in mine.

I had wondered along the way, through all the times I was forced to turn back without summiting, and almost losing my life, whether climbing was really how I was supposed to make a difference to the world. But it was, and I knew it. I’d faced impossible challenges and overcome them. And after those that tripped me, I got right back up and held my mistakes closely to make sure I did better next time.

Through being authentically me, doing what I love and playing to my strengths, I’ve been a part of raising R2m through 12 climbing expeditions for Summits with a Purpose since that first Kilimanjaro climb in December 2012. Small steps may not have meant a lot in the moment, but for me, they were a giant leap in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

Title:

Content: School threatens to ostracise pupils who don’t take Covid tests or wear masks in class

Children will be banished to the back of the class or miss out on lessons and breaks if they don’t follow the rules

Pupils who do not wear face masks are being told to sit at the back of the class while those who fail to test twice a week will be denied lessons, breaks and lunch time with their peers.

Elsewhere, children are being told to wear coats and scarves in lessons if they are cold, as windows will be kept open where possible for ventilation.

Ministers have been urged to launch an “urgent” crackdown on schools which “abuse” official Covid guidance by going further than what is advised.

Parents at Walton High, an academy which operates on two sites in Buckinghamshire, have been told that any pupils who are exempt for wearing face masks “will be seated at the back of classrooms at the furthest point from the teacher”.

Michelle Currie, the school’s executive principal, wrote to parents this week to say that it is their responsibility to ensure their children take lateral flow tests twice each week at home and accurately report the results to both the school and the NHS.

“Students will need to be taking part in the testing programme to attend lessons and have break and lunch at the same time as others,” she said. “Alternative arrangements will be put in place for students who refuse to take part in the testing programme.”

Ms Currie also told parents that if their child has not yet been vaccinated, this may have “consequences”, including that it “may limit their career options later in life”.

She said that it will also have an impact on the “enrichment opportunities” they are able to take part in, adding: “For example, it would not be possible to go on the overseas trips the school is planning as international travel once again becomes a possibility.”

Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) says that all secondary pupils are encouraged to take a test on site at the start of term followed by two tests each week at home thereafter. “Testing remains voluntary but is strongly encouraged,” the guidance says.

Family groups have called on the Government to “urgently crack down” on schools which are going beyond the guidance.

Molly Kingsley, co-founder of parent campaign group UsForThem, said: “Sadly this is not the first time we have seen segregation of face mask exempt pupils. These are never isolated cases.

“If we are going to have rules that are open to abuse or over reach, then at the very least we need the Department for Education to be very clear to come out with an explicit statement that it is voluntary and it is guidance.”

She said that forcing children who are mask-exempt to sit at the back of the class, or asking children who choose not to test to have separate lessons risks “vilifying” pupils whose “parents have a right to say no”.

Pupils at Lychett Minster School in Poole, Dorset have been told that they can wear scarves and coats if they are cold in lessons since windows and doors will be kept open “as much as possible”.

Andrew Mead, the secondary school’s headteacher, said: “Classrooms will be well ventilated with doors and windows kept open as much as possible. In view of this, we are allowing students to wear coats and scarves in lessons.”

Meanwhile children at St Mary’s Wavendon, a Church of England primary school in Milton Keynes, have been asked to take a lateral flow test before the start of term as a “precaution”.

“It is apparent that more cases of Covid have been recorded daily both locally and nationally,” the headteacher told parents.

“Whilst I have been notified of a couple of cases over the break, we are very fortunate that with your help we are keeping our own cases within St Mary’s at a minimum.

“It is requested that all children have a lateral flow test prior to their return to school as this will be another precaution to keep everyone safe. I am sure that you all understand the reasons for this.”

‘Causing more harm than good’

One parent said that asking such young children to test risks “causing more harm than good”, adding: “It sends the wrong message to children - that they could be infectious, that they are a risk to others and that they are dangerous.”

Official guidance from the DfE says that while secondary school pupils should be encouraged to test at the start of term, there is “no need” for primary age pupils to regularly test.

Meanwhile, schools may need to suspend music and religious education classes so teachers can focus on exam years if staff absences soar, the chair of Ofqual has warned.

In a briefing to headteachers, Ian Bauckham said that schools might need to make “exceptional timetable adjustments” this term to cope with high levels of staff sickness.

Title:

Content: Ramsey Co. Attorney on his office's progress 'reimagining juvenile justice'

Ramsey County is in the midst of what it's calling “(Re)Imagining Justice for Youth” and it recently released a progress report on the effort.

Beginning in the summer of 2021, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office began collaborating with the Public Defender’s Office to review juvenile cases before a decision is made about whether to try the young person in court. County Attorney John Choi said, before this, prosecutors rarely got the chance to learn about an offender’s background and consider alternatives before filing charges.

Under this new program, 30 percent of the juvenile cases referred to Choi’s office between July 2021 and July 2022 went through the collaborative review process. Most of them were then resolved through channels outside of the justice system, with caseworkers or through things like job training programs. Serious crimes that involved physical harm or guns were not eligible for the program.

The University of Minnesota report on the data says these cases were resolved more quickly than those that went through the traditional legal process, more successfully engaged parents and family, and saved taxpayers money. The program is too new to assess whether participating youth commit new crimes.

Grow the Future of Public Media

MPR News is Member supported public media. Show your support during the Spring Member Drive, donate, and ensure access to local news and in-depth conversations for everyone.

Choi joined All Things Considered this week to answer questions about the program. Click play on the audio player above to hear it, or read the transcript below. Both have been edited for clarity and length.

Your office is saying there are promising findings with early data. What is it showing you?

One of the promising things that we're seeing is that we're addressing some of the racial disparity head on. During my whole time as county attorney, what really bugged me was that we always had this 25 percent gap in youth who actually would be successful in diversion. And oftentimes it was because they didn't show up.

Diversion is just some way of deflecting a case to some sort of provider that will address some of the issues and administer some sort of accountability, maybe an apology letter to the victim. So something outside of the justice system.

Instead of putting everything into this adversarial thing where I'm trying to prove something and the defense attorney is trying to defend their client, and the judge is trying to figure out what the truth is, we're actually working together.

What's the goal there and how is that different from the goal with a traditional trial and charges?

The prosecutor never ever gets to know about the background or the reasons for justice involvement. We don't get to know the needs of the family. What this does is allows us, before we even make a decision about whether or not it should be petitioned in court, or we should have some sort of community based accountability restorative justice process, we're actually getting all of that information because we're in partnership with the public defender.

And I think we're making better qualitative decisions. And like I talked about on the outcome and the success, we're actually getting these kids and families to engage more than we did in the traditional system.

Can you give us an example of a kind of case where this has worked and had a positive outcome?

A family-related dispute involving maybe an older sibling and a younger sibling, where there might have been some assaultive behavior to that younger sibling and somehow, because of what had happened, the police happened to have been called. What the family wants there in many instances is to resolve this issue. They don't want a conviction outcome for the older sibling.

And so we give resources to the family and to the two that were involved to manage these conflicts so that it might not lead to having a physical altercation that is so bad that it scared somebody to call the police.

Carjackings, for example, done by youth with guns. Is that the kind of case we're talking about being included here?

So we have some pretty strong guardrails about what kind of cases can be collaboratively reviewed. And so in a carjacking situation, that would be some form of aggravated robbery. And so that's not going to make it in.

Now it might be if it's just an auto theft, and there's a person in the backseat who happened to come to our attention. We might collaboratively review that and maybe come to a decision that says, we need to help this young child make better decisions in their life so that they are not hanging out with the wrong people. And how do we make that happen?


This report addresses: Contemporary Flat Earth Movement

It comes from a deep introspection into what is important to you, what you want to be remembered for, and what impact you want to leave on your children and community, long after you’ve left Earth.

Register now

Saray Khumalo on conquering Everest and other summits

06 May 2022 - 12:26 By Saray Khumalo

Saray Khumalo was the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest in a feat that took her four attempts.

School threatens to ostracise pupils who don’t take Covid tests or wear masks in class

Children will be banished to the back of the class or miss out on lessons and breaks if they don’t follow the rules

Pupils who do not wear face masks are being told to sit at the back of the class while those who fail to test twice a week will be denied lessons, breaks and lunch time with their peers.

She said that it will also have an impact on the “enrichment opportunities” they are able to take part in, adding: “For example, it would not be possible to go on the overseas trips the school is planning as international travel once again becomes a possibility.”

Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) says that all secondary pupils are encouraged to take a test on site at the start of term followed by two tests each week at home thereafter.

Beginning in the summer of 2021, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office began collaborating with the Public Defender’s Office to review juvenile cases before a decision is made about whether to try the young person in court.

Attorney on his office's progress 'reimagining juvenile justice'

Ramsey County is in the midst of what it's calling “(Re)Imagining Justice for Youth” and it recently released a progress report on the effort.

This report addresses: Contemporary Flat Earth Movement

Title:

Content: ×

We've got news for you.

Register on TimesLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Saray Khumalo on conquering Everest and other summits

06 May 2022 - 12:26 By Saray Khumalo

Saray Khumalo was the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest in a feat that took her four attempts. Many would have called it quits, but for Khumalo it was about more than climbing a mountain. This was her purpose, and she would do whatever it took to see it fulfilled.

This article was originally published in The Penguin Post, a magazine about books for book lovers from Penguin Random House SA.

Once you know your purpose, you’ll do anything to fulfil it. It helps bring clarity to life, and drives you in that direction, no matter what might get in your way.

However, it is not always the most straightforward thing to work out. It comes from a deep introspection into what is important to you, what you want to be remembered for, and what impact you want to leave on your children and community, long after you’ve left Earth.

Answering those questions in earnest makes it easy to know what it is you need to do and, with the fragility of life also comes a sense of urgency to get to it. It suddenly becomes easier to let go of the things that are not important — the things that don’t contribute to us fulfilling our purpose — and start making the decisions that put us and our ambitions first.

It was in 2009 that I was forced to take stock of my own purpose when my older sister Florence died suddenly. It was completely devastating, and it prompted deep reflection in me. I remembered my grandfather’s words: “If you don’t live a life of service, that’s a life wasted.”

I also recalled my mother’s words: “The sky is the limit. Go for what you want. You are everything you need. Nobody should tell you any different.”

And I wondered, had Florence actually lived her purpose? Was I living mine? If I was being honest, the answer was no.

What followed was a reflective journey spent thinking about my youth and about what I’d hoped for and dreamt about. I had wanted to make a big impact, somehow. To make a difference and have a sense of purpose. So that’s what I was going to do.

After many months of pushing for that, my journey led me to the position of Employee Number 2 Discovery Bank. Here I had access to some of the best global behavioural economists and great minds within the group, with a commitment to making SA great. I’d finally found the sense of excitement and purpose I’d been looking for.

I had wanted to make an impact. To make a difference and have a sense of purpose

We were encouraged within our departments to adopt charities, and ours was Kids Haven. We organised fun outings for the kids and, because this cost money, I would go around the office after pay day each month asking my colleagues for donations.

It was during this time a colleague mentioned she was going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with her friend and her sister. I’d had the idea to do it myself, ever since an American guy who’d done it had planted the seed in my mind in 1996. With no serious limitations holding me back, I knew my moment had come.

At the same time, I still had Kids Haven on my mind, and it struck me we could combine the two in a fundraising effort. My Kilimanjaro climb in December 2012 was the early beginnings of Summits with a Purpose, a foundation I started in 2013 using my climbing expeditions to raise funds for literacy and educating young people, while uplifting economically marginalised communities in Africa. I couldn’t have imagined then how the cause would take off, particularly during my expeditions to Mount Everest.

You just have to keep stepping

I had taken on Everest three times before summiting on my fourth attempt in 2019. I felt such a strong sense that we can all go further and higher than we imagine, a feeling I’ve retained and have wanted to impart to younger people — they can go above the clouds; in fact, that’s where they should be.

While I hadn’t thought about what my achievement might have meant to others, when I returned to SA I saw people were listening to what I had to say. I realised I had the power to either build their confidence or break it down. I made it my mission to become the type of person to stretch out a hand to lift others up. To show them they could also do what I did, and more, becoming their own kind of superhero.

Are there going to be bad days? Definitely. But it’s about waking up every day knowing it’s another chance to try again. Even if you take one step, that’s okay. You are working your way up slow and steady, and that’s what matters.

If I could look up at Everest from Camp 4 on my third attempt, with tears in my eyes, thinking, so close, yet so far, and go back a fourth time to make history, then anything is possible. You just have to keep stepping.

'My Journey to the Top of the World' by Saray Khumalo is out now.
Image: Supplied

In putting My Journey to the Top of the World together, I was transported through the wild ride of emotions I felt with every expedition. There was the anger when people questioned what I was doing there as a black woman. The defiance in going back time and time again to show them that I – that we – can do it. The pride, because I did it and I paved the way for another African child who can go through the same life-changing experience, but without the stigma.

I revisited how me not giving up changed people’s perspectives. There was the German climber I met on Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua who, for the rest of his life, will look at my people differently because I summited and he didn’t. And on a more personal level, with my sons. My eldest told me after I summited I’d proved to him that nothing replaces hard work. He has this optimism about what he’s able to do in his own life because I took that extra step in mine.

I had wondered along the way, through all the times I was forced to turn back without summiting, and almost losing my life, whether climbing was really how I was supposed to make a difference to the world. But it was, and I knew it. I’d faced impossible challenges and overcome them. And after those that tripped me, I got right back up and held my mistakes closely to make sure I did better next time.

Through being authentically me, doing what I love and playing to my strengths, I’ve been a part of raising R2m through 12 climbing expeditions for Summits with a Purpose since that first Kilimanjaro climb in December 2012. Small steps may not have meant a lot in the moment, but for me, they were a giant leap in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

Title:

Content: School threatens to ostracise pupils who don’t take Covid tests or wear masks in class

Children will be banished to the back of the class or miss out on lessons and breaks if they don’t follow the rules

Pupils who do not wear face masks are being told to sit at the back of the class while those who fail to test twice a week will be denied lessons, breaks and lunch time with their peers.

Elsewhere, children are being told to wear coats and scarves in lessons if they are cold, as windows will be kept open where possible for ventilation.

Ministers have been urged to launch an “urgent” crackdown on schools which “abuse” official Covid guidance by going further than what is advised.

Parents at Walton High, an academy which operates on two sites in Buckinghamshire, have been told that any pupils who are exempt for wearing face masks “will be seated at the back of classrooms at the furthest point from the teacher”.

Michelle Currie, the school’s executive principal, wrote to parents this week to say that it is their responsibility to ensure their children take lateral flow tests twice each week at home and accurately report the results to both the school and the NHS.

“Students will need to be taking part in the testing programme to attend lessons and have break and lunch at the same time as others,” she said. “Alternative arrangements will be put in place for students who refuse to take part in the testing programme.”

Ms Currie also told parents that if their child has not yet been vaccinated, this may have “consequences”, including that it “may limit their career options later in life”.

She said that it will also have an impact on the “enrichment opportunities” they are able to take part in, adding: “For example, it would not be possible to go on the overseas trips the school is planning as international travel once again becomes a possibility.”

Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) says that all secondary pupils are encouraged to take a test on site at the start of term followed by two tests each week at home thereafter. “Testing remains voluntary but is strongly encouraged,” the guidance says.

Family groups have called on the Government to “urgently crack down” on schools which are going beyond the guidance.

Molly Kingsley, co-founder of parent campaign group UsForThem, said: “Sadly this is not the first time we have seen segregation of face mask exempt pupils. These are never isolated cases.

“If we are going to have rules that are open to abuse or over reach, then at the very least we need the Department for Education to be very clear to come out with an explicit statement that it is voluntary and it is guidance.”

She said that forcing children who are mask-exempt to sit at the back of the class, or asking children who choose not to test to have separate lessons risks “vilifying” pupils whose “parents have a right to say no”.

Pupils at Lychett Minster School in Poole, Dorset have been told that they can wear scarves and coats if they are cold in lessons since windows and doors will be kept open “as much as possible”.

Andrew Mead, the secondary school’s headteacher, said: “Classrooms will be well ventilated with doors and windows kept open as much as possible. In view of this, we are allowing students to wear coats and scarves in lessons.”

Meanwhile children at St Mary’s Wavendon, a Church of England primary school in Milton Keynes, have been asked to take a lateral flow test before the start of term as a “precaution”.

“It is apparent that more cases of Covid have been recorded daily both locally and nationally,” the headteacher told parents.

“Whilst I have been notified of a couple of cases over the break, we are very fortunate that with your help we are keeping our own cases within St Mary’s at a minimum.

“It is requested that all children have a lateral flow test prior to their return to school as this will be another precaution to keep everyone safe. I am sure that you all understand the reasons for this.”

‘Causing more harm than good’

One parent said that asking such young children to test risks “causing more harm than good”, adding: “It sends the wrong message to children - that they could be infectious, that they are a risk to others and that they are dangerous.”

Official guidance from the DfE says that while secondary school pupils should be encouraged to test at the start of term, there is “no need” for primary age pupils to regularly test.

Meanwhile, schools may need to suspend music and religious education classes so teachers can focus on exam years if staff absences soar, the chair of Ofqual has warned.

In a briefing to headteachers, Ian Bauckham said that schools might need to make “exceptional timetable adjustments” this term to cope with high levels of staff sickness.

Title:

Content: Ramsey Co. Attorney on his office's progress 'reimagining juvenile justice'

Ramsey County is in the midst of what it's calling “(Re)Imagining Justice for Youth” and it recently released a progress report on the effort.

Beginning in the summer of 2021, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office began collaborating with the Public Defender’s Office to review juvenile cases before a decision is made about whether to try the young person in court. County Attorney John Choi said, before this, prosecutors rarely got the chance to learn about an offender’s background and consider alternatives before filing charges.

Under this new program, 30 percent of the juvenile cases referred to Choi’s office between July 2021 and July 2022 went through the collaborative review process. Most of them were then resolved through channels outside of the justice system, with caseworkers or through things like job training programs. Serious crimes that involved physical harm or guns were not eligible for the program.

The University of Minnesota report on the data says these cases were resolved more quickly than those that went through the traditional legal process, more successfully engaged parents and family, and saved taxpayers money. The program is too new to assess whether participating youth commit new crimes.

Grow the Future of Public Media

MPR News is Member supported public media. Show your support during the Spring Member Drive, donate, and ensure access to local news and in-depth conversations for everyone.

Choi joined All Things Considered this week to answer questions about the program. Click play on the audio player above to hear it, or read the transcript below. Both have been edited for clarity and length.

Your office is saying there are promising findings with early data. What is it showing you?

One of the promising things that we're seeing is that we're addressing some of the racial disparity head on. During my whole time as county attorney, what really bugged me was that we always had this 25 percent gap in youth who actually would be successful in diversion. And oftentimes it was because they didn't show up.

Diversion is just some way of deflecting a case to some sort of provider that will address some of the issues and administer some sort of accountability, maybe an apology letter to the victim. So something outside of the justice system.

Instead of putting everything into this adversarial thing where I'm trying to prove something and the defense attorney is trying to defend their client, and the judge is trying to figure out what the truth is, we're actually working together.

What's the goal there and how is that different from the goal with a traditional trial and charges?

The prosecutor never ever gets to know about the background or the reasons for justice involvement. We don't get to know the needs of the family. What this does is allows us, before we even make a decision about whether or not it should be petitioned in court, or we should have some sort of community based accountability restorative justice process, we're actually getting all of that information because we're in partnership with the public defender.

And I think we're making better qualitative decisions. And like I talked about on the outcome and the success, we're actually getting these kids and families to engage more than we did in the traditional system.

Can you give us an example of a kind of case where this has worked and had a positive outcome?

A family-related dispute involving maybe an older sibling and a younger sibling, where there might have been some assaultive behavior to that younger sibling and somehow, because of what had happened, the police happened to have been called. What the family wants there in many instances is to resolve this issue. They don't want a conviction outcome for the older sibling.

And so we give resources to the family and to the two that were involved to manage these conflicts so that it might not lead to having a physical altercation that is so bad that it scared somebody to call the police.

Carjackings, for example, done by youth with guns. Is that the kind of case we're talking about being included here?

So we have some pretty strong guardrails about what kind of cases can be collaboratively reviewed. And so in a carjacking situation, that would be some form of aggravated robbery. And so that's not going to make it in.

Now it might be if it's just an auto theft, and there's a person in the backseat who happened to come to our attention. We might collaboratively review that and maybe come to a decision that says, we need to help this young child make better decisions in their life so that they are not hanging out with the wrong people. And how do we make that happen?


This report addresses: Live Action Disney Remakes

Join us as we find the secret gems as well as well-known favorites that contribute to making Disney+ a must-see for grown-up watchers, whether you’re a die-hard Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars fan or a newbie.

This series doesn’t try to hide how grim and violent it is; it goes deep into the darker parts of vigilantism and looks at trauma, morals, and the mental effects of constant violence.

Movies · Reviews

‘The Marvels’ Succeeds By Adding Fun and Cutting the MCU Bloat

The 33rd movie in the MCU is also the shortest, and that’s progress.

By  · Published on November 11th, 2023

Spend much time around the virtual watercooler these days, and you might be hearing lots of doom and gloom regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator earlier said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the Zaporizhzhia plant came under attack.”

— In a televised address, Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said the Russian attack on the nuclear plant could have caused destruction equal to “six Chernobyls,” per the BBC.

We survived the night that could have stopped the course of history — history of Ukraine, history of Europe,” Zelenskyy said, calling the shelling campaign an act of “terror on an unheard-of level.”

— The White House said Thursday night that President JOE BIDEN had spoken with Zelenskyy and top U.S.

This report addresses: Live Action Disney Remakes

Title:

Content: 13 Of Disney Plus’s Best Shows For Adults

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13 Of Disney Plus’s Best Shows For Adults:

Don’t think Disney+ is only for kids! There are more and more streaming services these days, but Disney+ stands out to be a great place to find material for both kids and adults.

The platform has a lot of different kinds of entertainment, from touching memories and cutting-edge cartoons to gripping plays and exciting sci-fi. Here, we’ll look at the best choices for older people. Explore stories with interesting characters and places that are fun for people of all ages.

Join us as we find the secret gems as well as well-known favorites that contribute to making Disney+ a must-see for grown-up watchers, whether you’re a die-hard Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars fan or a newbie.

Punisher:

“The Punisher,” which was created by Steve Lightfoot, is very different from most superhero stories. Jon Bernthal plays the moody Frank Castle, and the story is about a former Marine who wants to get revenge on the people who killed his family.

This series doesn’t try to hide how grim and violent it is; it goes deep into the darker parts of vigilantism and looks at trauma, morals, and the mental effects of constant violence.

Deborah Ann Woll, Ben Barnes, and the rest of the cast give haunting performances that give this morally complicated world more meaning. The Punisher is a much darker and more thoughtful take on the superhero genre. Its unwavering focus on a tortured antihero and its honest portrayal of violence make it stand out.

Haunted Mansion:

Who knew that the Haunted Mansion would be brought back to life for a new generation of children and adults to enjoy upon the big screen? The 2003 movie, which stars Eddie Murphy, was about a family who gets stuck in a house full of ghosts.

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But in the 2023 version, starring Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, as well as Owen Wilson, a single mother and her son hire “spiritual experts” to help them get rid of the ghosts that are living in their house.

The French Connection:

It is thought to be one of the best movies ever, and the car case in it is the most exciting in Hollywood history. The French Connection was William Friedkin’s most well-known and likely best movie.

The tough movie takes place in New York and follows two NYPD drug agents as they try to catch a dangerous French drug gang.

The movie won five Oscars when it came out in 1971, including the prized Best Picture, Best Director, as well as Best Actor. It was dark, surreal, and very exciting. Someone wrote, “There are only two kinds of cop movies: before and after The French Connection.”

Inside Pixar:

There is a documentary series called “Inside Pixar” that gives you a close look at how the famous cartoon company works. Erica Milsom, the show’s creator, gives it a unique point of view as it shows off the many skills and jobs that make Pixar magic.

People can learn about the creative processes, challenges, as well as amazing teamwork that goes into making Pixar’s famous movies through conversations, personal stories, and an insider’s view.

West Side Story:

Steven Spielberg’s award-winning version of the classic musical romance tells the story of Tony and María, two lovers who are torn between love and duty. The movie is set in 1957 upon Manhattan’s Upper West Side and stars Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, as well as Ariana DeBose. A gang turf war happens at the same time as a whirlwind relationship. An original “West Side Story” star, Rita Moreno, makes an appearance in the movie and sings with the group.

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Romancing The Stone:

Robert Zemeckis, who directed Back to the Future, made this wonderfully strange movie in 1984 about a love adventure writer named Joan Wilder who has to go to Colombia to rescue her sister from people who are holding her captive.

Our main character has to come across a leading man along the way since the movie is a love journey.

Jack Colton, a wealthy private soldier, comes along and helps her upon her way. There is also a performance by Danny DeVito. It’s basically a silly, funny, and odd caper that everyone needs every once in a while.

Wanda Vision:

“WandaVision,” a new Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney Plus, is an adult and creative work of art. The show, which was created through Jac Schaeffer with direction by Matt Shakman, does a great job of exploring loss, trauma, and the complicated nature of the human mind.

It takes place after “Avengers: Endgame” and follows Wanda Maximoff as well as Vision as they live in a nice suburban town where they think something is not quite right.

The show skillfully combines the memories of old sitcoms with an exciting, sweeping plot that reveals Wanda’s inner struggle and her amazing ability to change reality. ‘WandaVision’ breaks superhero stereotypes with its complex characters, plot, and great acting. It’s a smart, mature story that really hits home with adults.

Holes:

“Holes” ranks as one of those movies that you should watch with an adult. A boy who was wrongly accused is sent to a boot camp within the middle of the desert with other kids and has to dig holes all day. This is part of a dramatic coming-of-age story. As they look into the truth behind their cruel jobs, though, something evil is found.

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Enemy Of The State:

No one should be surprised that Will Smith is and always has been a great actor, even in projects that weren’t very good. Don’t let Slapgate get in the way of that.

Smith drove the crazy movie Enemy of the State, which is one of the best. The U.S. government is after him all the time because he played a labor lawyer who accidentally gets caught by the NSA. An exciting story from beginning to end.

The Book Of Boba Fett:

“The Book of Boba Fett,” an exciting new addition to the world of Star Wars, comes out as a Western with a space theme that is only available on Disney+. The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau made this spin-off, which takes place in the same time period after “The Return of the Jedi” and weaves a story that is linked to the main story.

The series follows the mysterious bounty hunter Boba Fett as he takes control of what’s left of Jabba the Hutt’s kingdom. It promises to be an exciting look at power, crime, as well as the never-ending quest for dominance. Since Ming-Na Wen joined the book, The Book of Boba Fett has become a brave and new part of the Star Wars story.

Title:

Content: Movies · Reviews

‘The Marvels’ Succeeds By Adding Fun and Cutting the MCU Bloat

The 33rd movie in the MCU is also the shortest, and that’s progress.
By  · Published on November 11th, 2023

Spend much time around the virtual watercooler these days, and you might be hearing lots of doom and gloom regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some are claiming that the MCU, and superhero films in general, have lost favor with audiences while others predict a Marvel reboot is imminent. The one thing everyone agrees on, though, is that the current run of MCU films is something of a goddamn mess. Blame the pandemic, blame Disney+, blame Kevin Feige for flying too close to the sun, but the MCU has seen far, far better days. What are the odds that the thirty-third feature in the MCU can change that? Slim to none, which is a shame, as The Marvels is a fun time at the movies and ultimately just fine.

Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) is enduring the doldrums of self-reflection from the safety and isolation of space. Truths she discovered in 2019’s Captain Marvel led her to destroying an A.I. called the Supreme Intelligence, and the Kree planet of Hala is suffering in the wake of the ensuing civil war. Consequences come calling in the form of Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), the new Kree leader and a woman with a plan to tear holes in the universe to fix her homeland. Complicating things even further is an anomaly that inextricably ties Captain Marvel to two other power-imbued young women. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Miss Marvel herself, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), swap immediate places with someone else in the trio any time any one of them uses their powers. Chaos ain’t got nothing on these ladies.

The first thing you walk away from The Marvels with is an appreciation of its hour and forty-five minute running time. That’s not a knock, it’s a sincere appreciation for the shortest entry in the entire MCU (and one of only eight to clock in under two hours). The film gets into its story quickly, sets its goals, and gets out before the usual bloat begins to settle on your brain. To be fair, the film has its issues that keep it from approaching the best that the MCU has to offer, but taken on its own merits this is a light, sweet, and entertaining visit to the house that Feige built.

While too many MCU films are overflowing with threads, ideas, and setups for future features, The Marvels keeps most of that to the fringe (or the end credits scene). The script — by director Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik — instead focuses on the situation at hand. It’s a refreshing change, but more than that, it helps keep the film’s energy popping. The highlight on that front is a wildly entertaining and frenetic action set-piece kicked off by the first location swap incident.

The three women begin hopping through space between Kamala’s house in Jersey City, Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) space station, and Captain Marvel’s space adventure, all of it set to a hoppin’ Missy Elliott tune. The jumps coincide with Kree attacks meaning fights are unfolding with characters swapping mid punch, leap, fall, etc, and DaCosta and friends deliver some creative choreography bringing it all to the screen. Later action scenes don’t land with the same level of thrills and fun, but they’re kept lively enough thanks to the personality of those involved — specifically Vellani.

Vellani is a bubbly wonder playing a teen hero who’s just happy to be in the room with Captain Marvel and Monica — another bonus here is that unlike, say, the most recent Ant-Man sequel, these actors feel like they’re actually interacting together in the same place — and that enthusiasm is infectious for viewers. Her excitement becomes ours as the action and banter keep things light between them. They work well together, and that bleeds into their dealings with Dar-Benn as well as they recognize her situation and Captain Marvel’s culpability in it. She’s the kind of movie villain whose cause is wholly understandable meaning you agree with her argument even as you take issue with how she goes about dealing with it.

That does play havoc with the tone of The Marvels, though, as part of Dar-Benn’s plan leads to genocide on at least two planets. The film’s light feel — there are lots of cat shenanigans, and we even get a visit to a planet led by K-drama star Park Seo-joon where people communicate through song (because James Gunn’s “weird” Guardians of the Galaxy influence is strong) — allows a brief cry against one genocidal incident while the other happens with barely an acknowledgement. An entire world wiped out, characters we’ve just met and spent time with now gone, and minutes later our leads have completely moved on. It leaves the more serious elements in the film feeling inconsequential, but while that hurts the weight of it all it allows the fun, feminine camaraderie to shine.

As mentioned above, The Marvels doesn’t spend much time with material that’s here solely to set up a future film, but it does rely heavily on previous events — from Disney+ streaming shows. Both Kamala and Monica are characters whose superhero origins unfolded on the small screen via Miss Marvel and WandaVision, respectively, and a cameo late in the film will only make sense to viewers of a certain other Disney+ show. That last one, by the way, is the rare scene here that feels entirely like a precursor to an upcoming show that will probably be called Young Avengers or Little Avengers or something equally descriptive.

So where does all of this leave The Marvels? Unlike too many of its predecessors, this is a fast-moving and fun entry in the MCU. Yes, homework is required to get the full enjoyment, but even without television knowledge there’s enough moving and shaking here to keep you entertained… for one hour and forty-five minutes.

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.

Title:

Content: POLITICO Playbook: Can a wider war be prevented?

Presented by

DRIVING THE DAY

UKRAINE LATEST, DAY NINE — “Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by a Russian attack and no radiation was released, U.N. and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces seized control of the site and pressed their campaign to cripple the country despite global condemnation,” reports the AP.

“The head of the United Nations’ atomic agency said that a Russian ‘projectile’ hit a training center at the plant. Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator earlier said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the Zaporizhzhia plant came under attack.”

— In a televised address, Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said the Russian attack on the nuclear plant could have caused destruction equal to “six Chernobyls,” per the BBC. “People of Ukraine! We survived the night that could have stopped the course of history — history of Ukraine, history of Europe,” Zelenskyy said, calling the shelling campaign an act of “terror on an unheard-of level.”

— The White House said Thursday night that President JOE BIDEN had spoken with Zelenskyy and top U.S. nuclear security officials about the Russian shelling of the nuclear plant.

— Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s actions “could now directly threaten the safety of all of Europe,” said British PM BORIS JOHNSON, per the BBC. The U.K. announced it would seek an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the matter.

HOW TO PREVENT A WIDER WAR — Biden has been adamant that he will protect every inch of NATO territory and that no American troops will step foot in Ukraine. The discipline to prevent escalation that leads to a NATO-Russian war and to remain firm about his no-boots-on-the-ground pledge is being tested every day. The pressure on Biden to intervene is increasing.

Biden’s first test is the no-fly zone. The unified opposition to an NFZ — “World War III,” Russia hawk Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) recently called it — has started to crack. Illinois Rep. ADAM KINZINGER, every liberal’s favorite Republican, has loudly called for Biden to defend the skies above Ukraine from Russian planes. “I fear if this continues, we will have to intervene in a bigger way,” he said Thursday night after a day of heightened Russian attacks on civilian areas. Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.) is also on board, as are some big-name Democratic policymakers from the Obama years, such as EVELYN FARKAS, the top official for Ukraine in the Obama Pentagon.

Zelenskyy reiterated his call for a no-fly zone on Thursday. “How long do you need? How many arms and legs and heads should be severed so that you understand?” he said at a press conference in Kyiv. “If you don’t have the strength to provide a no-fly zone, then give me planes. Would that not be fair?”

As the refugee crisis worsens and Russian artillery decimates Ukraine’s largest cities, the pro-NFZ voices will get louder.

This week on our Playbook Deep Dive podcast, we talk to two top experts about what escalation would mean.

— From Ukraine, MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN’s man in Kyiv who has filed some of the most memorable reporting since the invasion started, takes us behind the scenes of what happened when he found himself in the middle of a firefight and inside the presidential bunker where he interviewed Zelenskyy.

You’ll be riveted by Chance’s stories about what it’s like on the ground in Kyiv, where one day he stumbles upon a column of burned-out tanks filled with dead soldiers and another he’s caught in a firefight after sticking around too long talking to a Russian soldier he mistook for a Ukrainian.

But we also discussed what it’s like to report on the human suffering of war knowing that a single viral video from him can drastically affect world opinion and the decisions of policymakers inside the Situation Room.

— In Washington, we talk to TOM DONILON, BARACK OBAMA’s national security adviser from 2010-2013, when he was in the Situation Room as world opinion shaped Obama’s decisions on the revolution in Egypt, and the conflicts in Syria and Libya.

Some highlights from the interviews:

— Chance on whether he thinks about how his own reporting can shape policy:

“I do think about it. Yes. But, you know, you’ve got to be careful what you wish for, particularly with Russia. You can stand up there on your high horse all you like and say, ‘We should be putting boots on the ground. We should be imposing a no-fly zone over this country to stop the civilian deaths.’ But that action is going to provoke a reaction from Russia. Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world. I grew up in the Cold War. I remember as a kid crying myself to sleep, thinking that I wasn’t going to make it to adulthood. The ‘mutual assured destruction’ idea that if we get into a confrontation that could escalate was something that is really a deep-seated fear in people of my age.”

“And so I do understand the calls for a no-fly zone here. I do understand the debate about whether there should be boots on the ground and whether NATO countries should join in or whether Ukraine should be quickly embraced into the community of the Western military alliance. I’m not sure that I would advocate for that. In the end, you can’t predict … what Putin might do. There are all sorts of rumors about the Russian military doctrine allowing them to use tactical battlefield nuclear weapons. Again, a week ago, I would have been like, ‘Putin is a rational actor.’ Is that now true? Or are we talking about somebody who’s been isolated for the past two years during this Covid pandemic and has been getting advice from a very limited circle of advisers, with no one really telling him the reality of the situation?”

— Donilon on what worries him the most as the crisis drags on:

“The first concern, obviously, is that Putin, in terms of his decision-making, is a very isolated leader. I even saw in my dealing[s] with him during the Obama administration increasing isolation and an increasing dismissal of his aides. … He had been kind of moving in that direction and towards kind of an isolated czar-like existence. … I think that’s become exacerbated during the course of Covid, where the advisers that he’s talking to are small in number and all come basically the same kind of KGB, FSB kind of background that will reinforce a lot of the grievance and paranoia that he has. I also think you’re in a situation where it doesn’t really — in those circumstances, it doesn’t pay to be the truth teller. I don’t think he really regards any of his advisers as having anywhere near the strategic sense that he has. …You worry [about] someone who is that isolated, operates the way that he operates.” You can listen to both interviews here

Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

BIDEN’S FRIDAY:

— 10 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.

— 12:25 p.m.: Biden will make an announcement billed as “delivering on his Made in America commitments.”

— 2:30 p.m.: Biden will have a bilateral meeting with Finnish President SAULI NIINISTÖ in the Oval Office.

— 5:35 p.m.: Biden will leave the White House for New Castle, Del., arriving at 6:40 p.m.

VP KAMALA HARRIS’ FRIDAY — The VP will have a bilateral meeting with Bahraini Crown Prince/PM SALMAN BIN HAMAD AL KHALIFA at 1:10 p.m.

Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 1:15 p.m.

THE SENATE is in. THE HOUSE is out.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PLAYBOOK READS

ALL POLITICS

SCOTT FIRES BACK AT MCCONNELL — Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) penned a defiant op-ed in the WSJ on Thursday evening defending his move to release a high-profile policy platform against Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL’s wishes — including the proposal to make low-income people pay federal income taxes. “If we have no bigger plan than to be a speed bump on the road to socialism, we don’t deserve to govern,” he wrote.

Speaking of headaches for McConnell …

TRUMP WARMS TO GREITENS — Missouri GOP Senate candidate ERIC GREITENS has been rising in former President DONALD TRUMP’s estimation, and that’s got party leaders worrying, Alex Isenstadt writes.

“Greitens has staunchly aligned himself with the former president, become a favorite of the pro-Trump media universe, and distinguished himself as one of the few Republican Senate candidates willing to speak out against McConnell. Now, Trump, who in the past has privately criticized the former governor over the scandal that led to his downfall, is telling people he’s open to endorsing Greitens — despite fears among other powerful Republicans that the Missouri Republican is the only GOP candidate who could potentially lose the seat in November.”

A DYING BREED — Democrats’ brand has become so toxic in rural America that the thousands of Biden voters in any given Trump county “feel somehow as if they’re under siege,” Chris Cadelago reports in a big POLITICO Magazine feature this morning from DuBois, Pa. The party “can’t afford to disengage,” he writes, even with voters who sometimes refuse to listen. “There’s evidence, though, that Democratic leadership isn’t any better at communicating right now than its traumatized voters, who are more likely to retreat into safe bubbles than evangelize for a president with an approval rating stuck in the low 40-percent range.”

DEMS’ FAVORITE REPUBLICANS — Outside Democratic operatives want to make far-right Reps. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) the faces of the opposition in this year's midterms, NYT’s Jonathan Weisman reports.

THE WHITE HOUSE

PAGING ROSA DELAURO — The White House publicized an online widget to help low-income people collect their child tax credit payments. But now, out of concerns that the wrong people will use it during an overloaded tax filing season at the IRS, the administration is putting the tool on hold until after April 18, Brian Faler reports this morning. Some advocates worry the about-face “will mean some will face long waits for assistance or miss out on the payments altogether.”

JUDICIARY SQUARE

SCOTUS WATCH — WaPo’s Seung Min Kim rounds up the early Republican/conservative arguments emerging against Judge KETANJI BROWN JACKSON’s Supreme Court nomination. The main narratives: (1) calling her a radically liberal pick, (2) warning that her public defender years would make her soft on crime, (3) fingering the “dark money” groups that support her nomination and (4) pressing her on committing not to expand the high court.

WAR IN UKRAINE

LATEST ON THE GROUND …

— Russian forces continued to blast Ukrainian cities Thursday and made particular advances in the south of the country, where they’re seeking to choke Ukraine’s Black Sea coastal access. The port city Mariupol came under siege. Putin gave no indication of backing down, saying Thursday that his war was going according to plan.

— “The Ukrainian Navy purposely sank the flagship of its Black Sea fleet on Thursday to prevent the warship from being seized by the Russian military,” reports the NYT.

— France warned that after his call with Putin, President EMMANUEL MACRON was convinced the Russian leader seeks to take over all of Ukraine, per WaPo.

— But Russian troops appeared to have advanced more slowly in the 40-mile-long convoy headed for Kyiv, amid fierce Ukrainian resistance. NYT map tracking the invasion

— The second round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations yielded no agreement on a cease-fire, but the two sides did agree Thursday on creating “humanitarian corridors” so civilians can evacuate from the hardest-hit areas. More from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

More developments: The last holdouts of an independent press in Russia collapsed Thursday … Zelenskyy has reportedly survived three assassination attempts.

LATEST IN THE WEST …

— Some Democrats see Biden’s handling of this international crisis as a solid political opportunity to demonstrate leadership and highlight threats to democracy. Others are urging him to get more aggressive on drawing a contrast with the GOP, Chris Cadelago and Laura Barrón-López report in a look at the party’s Ukraine messaging. Biden’s been reluctant to hammer Republicans on the crisis, even as they’ve been more than happy to torch him. The White House wants to limit partisanship in foreign policy, and it’s cautious about the highly fluid situation.

Quite the line: “‘We’re Zelenskyy Democrats. And they’re Putin Republicans’ would be my bumper sticker,” DCCC Chair SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-N.Y.) said.

— Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) called for the assassination of Putin on Thursday night: "Is there a BRUTUS in Russia? Is there a more successful COLONEL STAUFFENBERG in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service.”

— The White House doesn’t support the bipartisan congressional effort to ban Russian oil imports. “We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy,” said White House press secretary JEN PSAKI, “and that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people.”

— Even so, the bill is gaining momentum, Josh Siegel reports, and there’s “a potential standoff” looming between Biden and Congress on the issue. Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) called Psaki’s stance “irresponsible.”

Speaking of gas prices: “We are raising our forecast for the yearly national average to $3.99/gal from $3.41/gal, with the average household to spend $2,745 on gasoline, up from $1,977 in 2021,” PATRICK DE HAAN, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, tweeted Thursday.

— DHS gave Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians in the U.S. on Thursday for the next 18 months. That will allow about 75,000 people to stay without fear of deportation while the war back home is ongoing. More from CBS

— Treasury on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Russian oligarchs and nearly a dozen outlets the administration said were spreading FSB-directed disinformation. More from Reuters The announcement

— But some administration officials are worried that the crush of sanctions could backfire, as U.S. intelligence sends worrisome signals about Putin’s mental state and his tendencies to double down and lash out when trapped, NYT’s David Sanger, Eric Schmitt and Julian Barnes report. Still, the administration isn’t planning to dial it back.

— RT America, the Russian state media’s outlet in the U.S., is essentially shutting down, CNN’s Oliver Darcy scooped. The network told its staff Thursday that most of them would be permanently laid off.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

TOP-ED — “When I Confronted Trump About Election Fraud,” by former A.G. BILL BARR in the WSJ, excerpted from his new book.

THE LATEST COMMITTEE TARGET — The House Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE on Thursday after she backed out of a scheduled interview last week and announced she wouldn’t cooperate. More from ProPublica

THE PANDEMIC

THE POLITICS OF COVID — The Senate voted 48-47 on Thursday to end the national public health emergency for the coronavirus. (The resolution isn’t going anywhere: House Dems won’t let it advance, and Biden would veto it anyway.) More from The Hill

TRUMP CARDS

THE INVESTIGATIONS — The Trump family and New York A.G. TISH JAMES’ office have reached an agreement on their depositions in the civil investigation into the Trump Organization, NBC’s Tom Winter reports. The depositions had been scheduled for Thursday at the latest, but the agreement holds off on them until an expedited appeal can be heard in court.

TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Weijia Jiang, Nick Schifrin and Jeff Zeleny.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-anchored by Shannon Bream: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Panel: Katie Pavlich, Jonathan Swan, Catherine Lucey and Mo Elleithee.

Gray TV “Full Court Press”: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) … Nina Khrushcheva.

ABC “This Week”: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Panel: Jonathan Karl, Donna Brazile, Chris Christie and Julie Pace.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova … IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

CNN “Inside Politics”: Panel: Tarini Parti, Kaitlan Collins, Alexander Burns, Greg Ip and Beth Sanner.

NBC “Meet the Press”: Panel: Eddie Glaude Jr., Stephen Hayes, Hallie Jackson and Robin Wright.

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: Jared Kushner and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) having breakfast together Thursday at the Four Seasons at the Surf Club near Miami, dining on the Lido Restaurant terrace.

Jamarcus Purley, a former aide to Dianne Feinstein, talks about the time he took mushrooms and hung out in Feinstein’s personal office smoking a joint and blasting DeBarge’s “I Like It.” He also made a video.

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s then-11-year-old daughter Leila asked Barack Obama to put her mom on the Supreme Court in 2016.

Joe Biden said of Lindsey Graham on Thursday, “Lindsey used to be a really close friend. I’m gonna work on it again.”

Joe Manchin walked across Constitution Avenue against a red light to get away from Arthur Delaney.

ON THE ROAD — The Republican Main Street Partnership is bringing several congressional Republicans to Del Rio, Texas, today for a fact-finding border tour led by Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas). Also on the trip: Reps. Cliff Bentz (Ore.), Ken Calvert (Calif.), John Curtis (Utah), Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.), Carlos Gimenez (Fla.), Bill Huizenga (Mich.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), Young Kim (Calif.), Peter Meijer (Mich.), Carol Miller (W.Va.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), John Rutherford (Fla.) and David Valadao (Calif.).

OUT AND ABOUT — The Meridian International Center hosted a “Welcome to Washington” reception Thursday night for newly arrived foreign ambassadors. SPOTTED: Chief of Protocol Rufus Gifford, Stuart and Gwen Holliday, Ed and Marie Royce, Megan Beyer, Reta Jo Lewis, Jennifer Hall Godfrey, Amanda Mansour, Asel Roberts, Jonathan Spalter, Roxanne Roberts, Maryland Secretary of State John Wobensmith, Steve Clemons, Suzanne Kianpour, Raquel Krähenbühl, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, Kathleen Doherty, Vinai Thummalapally and the ambassadors of Algeria, Armenia, Italy, Liechtenstein and Peru.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Michael Gruber is joining the Household & Commercial Products Association’s executive leadership team as SVP of government relations and public policy. He previously was VP of public policy at the Consumer Brands Association, and is a Hill alum.

MEDIA MOVE — Katty Kay is returning to the BBC as U.S. special correspondent, per Axios’ Sara Fischer. She left for (and then resigned from) Ozy Media last year.

STAFFING UP — The Interior Department announced a slate of new appointees: David Baler as advance representative, Laura Bloomer as adviser in the Office of the Solicitor, Michael Brain as deputy commissioner at the Bureau of Reclamation, Katherine Pustay Currie as deputy infrastructure coordinator, Gary Gold as deputy assistant secretary for water and science, Catherine Ming as scheduler and Joan Mooney as principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget.

TRANSITIONS — Scott Farnin will be legal counsel at Better Markets. He previously was financial services counsel for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). … Sebastian Roa is now comms director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He previously was digital director for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. … Jayce Genco is now comms director for Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.). He most recently was comms director for the Democratic Party of Virginia, and is a Biden campaign alum. …

Shipt is adding Chasseny Lewis as director of federal affairs and Justin Hyer as head of the state and local government affairs for the Western region. Lewis most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). Hyer previously was SVP of government relations for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. … Lot Sixteen has added Geof Koss and Alissa Ohl Koay as VPs, Ayla O’Scannell Solorio as a director, and Maggie Delaney, KateChuirazzi and Olivia Medina as associates.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jeffrey Rapp, senior adviser in the office of financial markets at Treasury and a Biden and Obama White House alum, and Amanda Rapp, legal counsel at Palantir and an Obama alum, welcomed Holland Judith Rapp last Friday. Instapic ... Another pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) … Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) … Doug HoelscherShirley Henry … UNICEF’s Cathy RussellMaria RecioJesse Solis … NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard Emily Bazelon … POLITICO’s Mark McQuillan, Amanda Bertholf and Seth Washington Allison Putala … CNN’s Kate Bennett Stephanie Gidigbi Jenkins Abby Jagoda … Fenton’s Valerie Jean-CharlesSean SimonsJennifer Loraine Larkin Parker of Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-Mich.) office … Scott CunninghamGary WhidbySimone Ward … former Energy Secretary Rick Perry Callista Gingrich

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