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US Prisoners Suing to Watch Total Eclipse after Lockdown Order Prisoners in the U.S. state of New York have taken legal action against the state corrections department. They started the measure over the state’s decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The case was filed last week in a federal court in upstate New York. It argues that the April 8 lockdown violate prisoners’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in an important religious event.
Six prisoners with different religious backgrounds brought forward the case at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne, New York. They include two Christians, two followers of a Cuban-born religious tradition called Santeria, a Muslim as well as an atheist, someone who does not believe in the existence of God.
Their legal document, or complaint, says, “A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many.” It says the Bible describes an eclipse-like phenomenon when Jesus Christ was on the cross. Additionally, Islamic works report a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.
The complaint says that one of the prisoners involved with the case, the atheist, received special permission last month to view the eclipse using state-provided glasses. But that was before the system-wide lockdown was issued.
Four of the other prisoners involved with the case then sought permission but were denied by officials. The officials ruled the solar eclipse is not listed as a holy day for their religions, the complaint says. The sixth prisoner said he never received an answer.
Thomas Mailey is a corrections department spokesperson. He said the agency does not comment on current court cases. But he said it takes all requests for religious accommodations under consideration. He said those related to viewing the eclipse are currently under review.
Daniel Martuscello III overseas the department. He issued a message on March 11 saying that all state prisons will operate on a holiday daily plan next Monday.
That means prisoners will remain in their housing areas except for emergency situations in the afternoon, between 18:00 and 21:00 UTC. Those are generally the normal hours for outdoor activities in prisons, the court case says.
There will also be no visitation at more than 20 prisons in the path where the solar eclipse will be strongest, called the path of totality, next Monday. Visitation at other prisons will end at 18:00 UTC.
Martuscello said the department will give out solar eclipse safety glasses for prisoner employees and prisoners at prisons in the path of totality. They are doing this so they can see the eclipse from their work or housing areas.
Communities in western and northern areas of the state are expected to have the best viewing of the total eclipse. Those areas include Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Lake Placid, and Plattsburgh.
The total eclipse is expected to be seen in those parts of New York around 19:15 UTC. And it will only last for a few minutes as the moon passes between Earth and the sun. It will temporarily block the sun and turn day into night.
A total solar eclipse was last seen in the U.S. in 2017 and will not occur in the country again until 2044.
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Is It Real or Bogus? And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
You can trust that we are actually Voice of America Learning English. We are the real deal. We are authentic.
In other words, we are not bogus.
Bogus is an adjective that means fake or phony. Something bogus is not genuine. It is a fraud. It’s fraudulent.
For example, the man’s huge diamond ring was bogus. He told everyone it was a real diamond. But actually, it was just a piece of glass.
Bogus can describe something that is a lie.
If something like an explanation or reason is bogus, it’s not true. For example, an employee might call her employer to say she needs a sick day off from work. But during the call, her boss hears loud, live music in the background. The employee was clearly at a music show. Her reason for not being at work was bogus.
We could also say the employee’s excuse did not hold water. Her excuse for missing work sounded bogus. It was not believable. It didn’t hold water.
Experts at the online dictionary Merriam-Webster explain that bogus began as a noun. In the early 19th century in the U.S., a bogus was a machine that made counterfeit, or fake, money.
Here’s a fun fact: You can call bogus, counterfeit money funny money.
Here is another word related to bogus – sham. Sham, a noun, describes a fake, made-up situation. We use shams to cover up the truth.
Let’s hear some of these terms used in a short story.
Two roommates work together at a bank. One day, they decide to steal all the gold and jewelry held in the bank’s safe. So, they plot. They plan it out. First, they need an alibi. Where can they be while the robbery is actually happening? They create a bogus alibi. They tell police that at the time of the robbery, they were together at a volunteer event, cleaning up a local park by the town’s river.
But after checking out their alibi, police brought the two in for questioning. Then detectives searched their shared apartment and found all the gold and jewels from the bank robbery.
What made the police suspect them? Can you guess what detectives found at the river park that proved their alibi was a sham? A dirty park and river! They both had a huge amount of trash! Clearly, no clean-up event had ever taken place.
And that’s all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time … I’m Anna Matteo.View -
Taiwan Is Prepared to Deal with Earthquakes On April 3, Taiwan was hit by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years.
The earthquake killed at least 12 people and injured more than 1,000. The earthquake damaged buildings and roadways and workers at quarries had no way home.
Taiwan sees powerful earthquakes from time to time. Experts say the damage to the East Asian island and its 23 million people has been contained thanks to its earthquake preparedness.
Here are details of Taiwan’s history of earthquakes:
Why so many earthquakes?
Taiwan lies along what is known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire.” It is the line of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes happen.
The Earth’s outer covering is divided into large pieces on which the oceans and landmasses sit. These pieces are called tectonic plates, and where they meet is called a fault line.
Earthquakes are common in the area near Taiwan because pressure builds up where the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate meet. The built-up pressure releases suddenly in the form of earthquakes.
The area’s mountains can increase ground movement, leading to landslides. Several landslides happened on Taiwan’s eastern coast near the center of the recent quake near eastern Hualien County. Falling rock hit roadways, crushed vehicles and caused several deaths.
Is Taiwan able to deal with earthquakes?
Taiwan’s earthquake agency measured the recent earthquake at 7.2 magnitude. The U.S. Geological Survey (or USGS) estimated it at 7.4.
The quake damaged several buildings in Hualien but caused minor losses in the capital, Taipei, although it was strongly felt there.
The earthquake hit in the morning when people were on their way to work. But, just minutes later, parents were again walking their children to school and workers were driving to offices.
Stephen Gao is an earthquake expert and professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He said, “Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness is among the most advanced in the world.” He said the country has strong building laws, a good earthquake network, and widespread public education campaigns and earthquake safety.
The government regularly increases the level of quake resistance required of new and existing buildings. This increases the costs of a building. But the government offers financial support to people willing to have their buildings examined for quake resistance.
There has also been punishment for failing to meet requirements. Following a 2016 quake in the southwestern city of Tainan, five people were found guilty of negligence and given prison sentences. The people were involved in building a tall apartment building. But it was the only major structure to collapse in that quake.
Taiwan also is pushing quake exercises at schools and workplaces. Media regularly carry warnings about earthquakes and safety that go out to cellphones.
Gao said those measures have helped Taiwan deal with earthquakes and prevent loss of life and damage.
The 1999 quake served as a warning
Taiwan and its surrounding waters have registered about 2,000 earthquakes that measured 4.0 or greater since 1980. And it measured more than 100 earthquakes above 5.5, the USGS found.
The island’s most serious quake in recent memory hit on September 21, 1999. The 7.7 magnitude quake caused 2,400 deaths, injured 100,000 and destroyed thousands of buildings.
Daniel Aldrich teaches political science and public policy at Northeastern University. He said it was a major wake-up call that led to important government changes to improve emergency services and disaster reduction.
As a result, the government passed the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act. Taiwan set up two national centers to deal with earthquakes.
Aldrich said, “I think we’re seeing the results in this most recent shock.”
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Study: Free School Meals Linked to Reduction in Childhood Obesity Research published in March found that a free meal program in schools was connected with a reduction in childhood obesity in the United States.
Anna Localio and Jessica Jones-Smith from the University of Washington are two of the researchers who studied the health effects of nutrition-related policies. Their study was published last month in the medical publication Pediatrics.
The two wrote in The Conversation about their research on a federal program called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). That program, started in 2014, permits schools in high-poverty areas to provide free meals in the morning and noon to all their students.
History of free school meals
In 1946, the U.S. created the National School Lunch Program aiming to protect the health and well-being of American children. Participating schools were required to provide free or reduced-price meals at noon, called lunches, to children from eligible families. Eligibility is determined by income based on federal poverty levels.
The School Breakfast Program came in 1966. It provides free, reduced-price, and full-price breakfasts, or meals in the morning, to students.
The Community Eligibility Provision permits all students in a school to receive free breakfast and lunch, instead of determining eligibility by individual families. Entire schools or school systems are eligible for free lunches if at least 40 percent of their students are directly eligible to receive free meals.
Localio and Jones-Smith say the CEP increases school meal participation by “reducing the stigma” linked to receiving free meals.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government expanded the program to more school systems across the country. By the 2022-23 school year, over 40,000 schools were participating, an increase of more than 20 percent over the prior year.
Research on the effects of free meals
The researchers examined whether providing free meals at school through CEP was connected with lower childhood obesity before the pandemic.
To do this, they measured changes in obesity from 2013 to 2019 among 3,531 California schools in poorer communities. The researchers used over 3.5 million body mass index (BMI) measurements of students in fifth, seventh and ninth grade that were taken yearly and combined at the school level. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
The researchers looked at differences between schools that participated in the program and eligible schools that did not. They followed the same schools over time, comparing obesity among students before and after the policy change.
The researchers found that schools participating in the CEP program had a 2.4 percent reduction in levels of obesity in students compared with eligible schools that did not participate in the program.
Localio and Jones-Smith wrote that “even small improvements in obesity levels are notable because effective strategies to reduce obesity at a population level remain elusive.”
They added that because obesity affects poor and minority children more than others, this policy could help to reduce health inequalities.
The CEP likely reduces the amount of obesity by substituting up to half of a child’s weekly diet with healthier food, the research found.
Research has shown that school meals can be healthier than meals from other sources, including meals at home. One study found that school meals provide the best diet quality of any major U.S. food source.
At the same time, the free meals save about $4.70 a day per child or $850 per year. For low and middle-income families, this could result in savings that can be used for other healthy goods or services.
Expanding access to school meals
Childhood obesity has been increasing over the past several decades. Obesity often continues into adulthood and is linked to many health conditions and early death.
Growing research shows the benefits of universal free school meals for the health and well-being of children. Along with the study of California schools, other researchers have found an association between universal free school meals and reduced obesity in Chile, South Korea and Britain.
Studies have also linked the CEP program to improvements in school performance and reductions in suspensions.
Universal free meals policies may slow the rise in childhood obesity rates, "but they alone will not be enough to reverse these trends,” Localio and Jones-Smith say. Alongside free meals, identifying other strategies to reduce obesity among children is necessary to address this public health issue, they say.
I’m Dan Friedell.
And I'm Anna Mateo.View -
How Well Does Your Dog Understand You? Dog owners know that their dogs understand and answer commands such as “sit” and “stay.” Many believe that dogs also understand words connected to their favorite objects. “Bring me your ball” will often result in exactly that.
But science has had trouble determining whether dogs and other animals truly create a mental image in their minds when they hear the name of an object. Such an action would suggest a deeper understanding of language, like the kind that humans have.
A new study in Hungary has found that beyond being able to answer commands like “roll over,” dogs can learn to link words with exact objects. This is a relationship with language called referential understanding that has been unproven in dogs.
“When we are talking about objects, objects are external to the dogs, and dogs have to learn that words refer, they stand for something that is external to them,” said Marianna Boros. She is a co-lead writer of the study.
The study, which has been peer-reviewed, appeared recently in the science publication called Current Biology. It involved 18 dogs and a non-invasive EEG procedure using electrodes attached to dogs’ heads to measure brain activity and record brain waves.
Dog owners participating in the study would play an audio clip in which they said the name of their dog’s toy — like “ball” or “frisbee” — and then they would show the dog an object. The researchers measured the dogs’ brain activity when the object in the recording matched the object that was displayed and also when it differed.
“We expected that if a dog really understands the meaning of the object’s word, it will expect to see that object. And if the owner shows a different one, there will be a so-called surprise reaction in the brain,” Boros said.
She added, “and this is exactly what we found.”
The study found a different brain pattern when the dogs were shown an object that matched the word compared to when it did not. The finding suggests the animals created a mental image of an object based on hearing the word for it.
Lilla Magyari, also a co-lead writer of the study, said that while other animals have been shown to have some degree of referential understanding of language, those animals have usually been highly trained to do so.
In dogs, she said, the findings show that such abilities appear to be inborn and require no special training or talent.
The study supports ideas about “language evolution which actually say that referential understanding is not necessarily unique to humans,” added Magyari.
While the study has received praise, some experts have expressed doubt about its findings.
Clive Wynne of Arizona State University said in a post on Facebook that he believes that all the study shows is that dogs respond to stimuli. Wynne does not believe the dogs understand the meaning of exact words.
Scientists believe the first dogs began to be kept by humans up to 30,000 years ago. The animals have lived closely alongside us ever since. But whether dogs gain the ability to understand referential language during that evolution remains unclear.
I’m John Russell.View