CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, September 8, 2020


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Sep 08 2020 11 mins   2
This is Toby Sumpter with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Only 56 days until the pandemic is over. 22 days until the Fight Laugh Feast Conference in Nashville. Today you will hear how Bay Area government gyms have apparently been open for months, Facebook is paying some uses to log off for election season, Unemployment has dropped to 8.4%. in August, and a remembrance on the 25th Anniversary of Cal Ripken’s Iron Man record. By the way we have a new email address for all the daily news brief listeners: news at crosspolitic dot com is a great way to share articles and stores with us that may end up in our daily or weekly shows: news at crosspolitic dot com https://disrn.com/news/san-franciso-gym-owners-angry-after-discovering-government-gyms-have-been-open-for-months When a Bay Area Gym owner reached out to a couple police officers she knows in the neighborhood asking them if they needed a place to work out since their station gym was supposedly closed, the text exchange appeared to show they have access to the SFPD Northern District Police Station on FIllmore Street — and police said Thursday that safety and cleaning protocols, as well as occupancy limits, have been established in department gyms. For months, the city of San Francisco health order has prevented local gyms from opening its doors, but some city-owned gyms have been back open for months and are allowing city employees to use them, crushing private gym owners. “It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” said Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness in the Castro. Gyms for police officers aren’t the only ones open. A sign at the Hall of Justice gym shows rules for use as of July 1 for its patrons, which would include judges, lawyers, bailiffs, and paralegals. NBC Bay Area asked the city for comment Thursday, and were told only that the current health order does not allow indoor fitness gyms to operate, and per Mayor London Breed’s latest reopening announcement, privately owned gyms have to stay closed until at least the end of the month. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/9/3/21421275/facebook-paying-shut-down-accounts-election-instagram-misinformation-interference As part of Facebook’s latest study on how social media impacts democracy, the company appears to be paying users to log off of its products ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, according to new screenshots posted by Washington Post reporter Elizabeth Dwoskin on Thursday. Last week, Facebook announced that it was partnering with outside researchers to study the impact its social media products have on society during the upcoming US presidential election. Facebook expects around 200,000 to 400,000 users will opt in to the project. Once they’ve opted in, the company will be able to see how they interact with its products, including both Facebook and Instagram. “To continue to amplify all that is good for democracy on social media, and mitigate against that which is not, we need more objective, dispassionate, empirically grounded research,” Facebook explained in a blog post. “That’s why today we are announcing a new research partnership to better understand the impact of Facebook and Instagram on key political attitudes and behaviors during the US 2020 elections.” The screenshots posted by The Washington Post Thursday show an Instagram pop-up asking users to select how much money they’d be willing to receive in order to deactivate their Instagram and Facebook accounts ahead of the election. Facebook gives the options of $10, $15, and $20 per week as some users would be asked to deactivate for one week while others could be asked to leave the platform up to six weeks total. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the company would be paying users who complete surveys or deactivate as part of its re [...]