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Two weeks after Gov.Steve Sisolakannounced a strike forceto help resolve a backlog of unemployment claims, the head of the effort former Nevada Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley says several key initiatives are getting off the ground this week.

Buckley said shes prioritizing the claims of those who havent received payment at all above other issues such as catching current beneficiaries up on individual missed payments. It was the desperation of some of those unpaid Nevadans, many of whom called her in her current role as head of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, that prompted her to accept Sisolaks invitation to lead the strike force.

My assistant will come in and say, so the guy on the phone, hes been waiting for eight weeks and he needs his insulin and he has no other payment source. What can I tell him? Buckley said in an interview on Monday withThe Nevada Independent. I have been so concerned about the growing backlog, and about individuals who are frantic to be paid, and I had been obsessing over it.

She said the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) is piloting a proposed solution this week that could speed up the process of verifying claimants identities. Tens of thousands of claims are held up over questions about authenticity and possible stolen identities.

Fraud has been a major concern, and Buckley experienced it firsthand someone recently filed a fraudulent unemployment claim in her name. She estimates that there are upwards of 200,000 phony claims in the system, but as with many statistics including the precise size of the backlog Buckley said its difficult to determine exact numbers right now. Her plan to create an online dashboard to show the agencys progress in processing the applications is still in the works.

To combat the fraud, the state also brought on a new chief of the fraud unit this week. And to ramp up staffing, DETR is enlisting and working to train some 300 welfare eligibility workers this week to assist colleagues in the unemployment division.

The strike force also includes experts from the private sector. The goal is to offer a fresh pair of eyes on a mammoth task that state workers have been trying to tackle for months.

I told some of the Employment Security people, Look, youve been inside the house fighting the fire for five months, youre exhausted. Reinforcements are here, Buckley said. So maybe we can just bring a different way of viewing it, and a private sector way of doing something.

Below are highlights from the interview, which have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: Do you feel like you found any silver bullet to the big holdup?

A: I dont think theres a silver bullet. I think theres a series of things that we need to do to try to reduce the backlog.

We had a very low unemployment rate. I think I heard there were like 10 people working in the Southern Nevada unemployment claims office. And based on the number of new filings it got, it probably needed 500. The depths of it cant be [overestimated]. And the number of people filing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

What were trying to do is just bring in a fresh look. What can we do right now? What solutions can we find right now?

Were looking at a couple areas. The first is [whether] there are folks in a similar situation where we can come up with a solution to move on with their cases. Im going for bang for the buck. If there are 30,000 people stuck with this issue, can we come up with a solution and then move out those 30,000?

One area is trying to identify the true filers, Nevadans in need who do qualify, and to separate them from the fraud. Because there are hundreds of thousands of fraudulent applications clogging up the system. But we want to focus first on whos really eligible and how do we connect them with benefits.

So we have a couple IT solutions that were piloting this week. Im really fortunate to have one of the volunteers join me on the rapid response team. His whole background is IT. Hes the head of an IT company. He was the former head of it for the U.S. division of Siemens. And so were looking at data matching and how can we separate out the folks who are in need.

So thats one area were working at, right off the bat. The other is a private sector IT company that verifies identity. So I think were going to launch a pilot with that this week to see if that works. And then the other big area is staffing. How can we get innovative about getting more qualified staff on board?

So weve developed a staffing plan already. The first part is retired Employment Security [Division] workers, already trained and ready to go. You can plug them in tomorrow. So weve identified some of those workers to come back.

The second is one of the members of the strike force Steve Fisher. Hes the division chief of the welfare division of HHS. So his division is stable. Hes overworked but stable. So he volunteered to join this committee.

He did a poll of welfare eligibility workers who have similar training, to see if any of them would be willing to work overtime. Their response was overwhelming. Hes identified 300 people who are able to work on these cases right now.

So today and tomorrow, hes developing a training program for them, looking at what we already have, in terms of training materials, recording it, and then tasking them on certain types of cases so they can quickly move out a couple thousand cases a day or every other day.

Im sure DETR had its own process for verifying ID before this, but did the strike force find anything that wasnt being done or a tool the agency didnt have?

In the pre-COVID world, we didnt have the amount of applications and we didnt have the amount of fraudulent applications My theory is that it is a result of one of those big data breach cases where identities across the nation were stolen.

The team never had this level both of applications and fraud. And so these two new things that were piloting, were just hoping can separate it out.

And what I keep harping on is anyone who appears eligible, were moving forward with them. We dont want to resolve all of them ASAP. We want to resolve those who are eligible ASAP. So were trying to keep that priority in mind.

DETR had previously tried to ramp up staffing with former employees. Did you find that there were a good number who still hadnt been invited back or still werent being used?

I think what happened because of the press conference and everybody learning about it, we received more offers. And it wasnt that there hadnt been offers before. But I think that the notoriety of it we received more offers within 48 hours; I got offers from cabinet members, Hey, can I loan some of my IT staff? I got volunteers. Im a secretary out at UNLV, can I help?

We received offers from just tons of different people whose hearts go out to all the people who are waiting. So I think it just helped the effort, just kind of led to a slew more calls and awareness. And of course, then they knew who to call.

Weve heard that it does take a lot of time to get staff up to speed. Does it speed up the process to have welfare division workers, for example, because theyre already state employees?

Theyre already trained on similar work. And they already know the state systems; they already know how to log in remotely to the states VPN. So theres certain things we wont have to teach them.

The other thing that were talking about is putting them on strike teams. So for example, if we have a group that is stuck because the employer said they were fired and the employee said they were laid off. OK, this is how we do it: We call the employee; we ask for X, Y, and Z; and then we call the employer and ask for X, Y and Z; and then we reconcile it and just make a decision because everybody has the right to appeal and have a third party, independent person and look at it.

The worst thing is just to be hanging on. Make a decision one way or the other. So were looking at whether there are certain people with certain categories where we can train people to be really good at that issue.

I keep preaching: speed, speed, speed. Again, we dont want to give tens of millions of dollars to fraudsters. But these Nevadans have been waiting too long. Weve got to get a system in place to move cases along.

Have you gotten a handle on the fraud numbers? Thats a source of skepticism because people dont know if fraud is being used as an excuse or if it legitimately is half of the claims. When are you going to know?

So far, it appears that the amount of fraudulent claims is very high. But were going to quantify it. And then well be releasing the solid numbers to the public so everybody can see what they are.

Were already meeting weekly with law enforcement to make sure that theyre getting the data they need. We have a new chief for fraud starting today. He was the chief of the fraud unit for [the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services]. So he came back from retirement to help stand it up.

Its not so much an individual cheating issue as much as organized fraud, meaning someone who has filed a bunch of claims using the identities of someone else. And its not like a one-off, run-of-the-mill street criminal. Its somebody with a lot of it expertise as part of a data stealing ring. Its fairly substantial.

But the bottom line is, it cant be an excuse. Weve got to solve the problem regardless of that.

At this point, do you guys have a number of fraudulent claims or are you still working on determining what it is?

Conservatively, Ive been told its 200,000. It could be higher.

Aside from ID verification, are there other things CARES Act money might go toward?

Were also going to proceed with hiring permanent workers for the Employment Security Division. This crisis isnt going to stop. And we dont want to clean up the backlog and have it come again. So we need to make sure that we have adequate staff, permanent staff, ready to continue handling cases of people who are going on and off unemployment probably over at least the next year.

Whats your sense of how we got here? Is anyone to blame, such as the Legislature failing to maintain the system over time?

Im not looking in the rearview mirror. I was asked to look forward and fix the backlog. And to figure out what mistakes were made and who made them, youd have to interview both sides. Ask, Well, why didnt you do this? Well, why did you do that? Oh, well, we didnt have more staff because we had low unemployment. And we wanted to give the money to education. There might be lots of different reasons. I dont have time to dig into those.

Sometimes I feel like Im getting pulled into other areas, and Im saying, OK, how is what Im doing right this minute helping someone get paid? The single dad, who called this morning to say, I dont know if I can hang on one more day, how is this helping him get paid? So Im trying to resist any calls to do anything else but that.

The rental assistance program is pretty much exhausted in Clark County, and then the eviction moratorium is being lifted, and unemployment payment amounts have gone down. How are you directing people? What they can do now?

Were facing a catastrophic situation. We have hundreds of thousands of people at risk of eviction. We need more rental assistance funding from Congress. We need to turn back on the $600 a month, or whatever they compromise is, if its $500 a month.

But we cant usea new FEMA systemthat might be paid, and it might be legal under an executive order, it might not be. We need some certainty. And we need it today. And the clock is ticking.

So I am nervous. I am worried. I am upset about whats coming down the pike. And all I can do is raise my voice to say what I think would help the problem.

Where is Nevada on President Trumps plan to use FEMA money to increase unemployment payments by $400? Last we heard, DETR was analyzing the cost. Has the state rejected the idea at this point?

(Editors note: DETR said on Tuesday that it is still analyzing the cost and we will make announcement and inform claimants once more information becomes available.)

Thats a question for the governor. I think theyre looking into it and figuring out how much it would cost. But again, the complexity of it all leads to uncertainty getting FEMA involved, and then theres another agency, and then you have to figure out what their rules are. Why does this have to be so complex?

We were at least able to give most people stimulus checks. Maybe we should just give monthly stimulus checks. The first step shouldnt be to create another bureaucracy and another program. Lets get the money on the street.

The Legislature passed SB3, including a provision to backdate so that folks that maybe lost out on a payment would get that money. How far are we into getting those folks the money that theyre entitled to?

Right now were on the backlog. So the additional provisions, including encouraging the part-time folks to go back to work and have them not lose out on funding I think those two programs will be in the next phase. First, we need to get the money out on the streets to those who are legitimately waiting.

You are really focused on just those who have gotten nothing at this point?

Yes. That is what I say at the beginning of every conversation. Theres a team working on cases that need to kind of true up the right amount of benefits. Theres 25 people working on those. I said Those people at least are getting weekly checks. Maybe the true up work needs to be done, but could it be done last.

And sometimes youre choosing between bad decisions and worse decisions. But to me, the person who hasnt received a dime needs to be prioritized first.

Theres a lot of people who have applied who arent eligible. They kind of think everybodys getting money, right? They have no UI wages. Theyve never received a W-2. They havent worked in a year and a half. And some of those people are not a gig worker, either. So they just think, Because Im not working, can I get on unemployment? But there wasnt a COVID reason for their 1099 loss of work. Some of the requirements that the federal government puts on these programs I feel bad for them, too, because now for five months, theyve been thinking theyre getting money and they were never entitled to it in the first place.

So even then, they should get a timely decision so they can move on and figure out, Should I be applying for welfare? Or Im just not going to apply for anything. And I move in and double up with somebody or figure out what their next steps are.

The Alorica call center has been criticized on several fronts. Even the court-appointed special master had recommended getting rid of them if we hadnt been bound by a contract. Are you working on trying to improve the Alorica services?

Im not. [DETR Administrator] Elisa Cafferata and DETR will be making decisions about Alorica. Im just focusing on the processes what processes work? What dont work? And how can we get people paid quicker?

Certainly in my mind having two separate systems for UI and PUA I dont think works very well. And thats because its one person, but they may be in two systems. In our new economy, someone can bartend two days a week and drive for Lyft. Well, if they have enough wages for UI, they can only get UI and they cant get PUA another federal government rule.

But what if in one quarter, they dont have enough for UI but they qualified for PUA? We dont want to bounce people around. We want one person, well-trained, to give them a decision and to let them know what it is. So no matter what, I think we need a team of folks who know both systems, are state employees, are able to timely give good answers to people and get them the benefits they need. No matter what, that has to be an outcome of this.

When you guys expect to be releasing a dashboard?

Wed like it to be soon. But then then we run into things like, In the backlog, we dont count claimants, we count issues. Well, thats not really helpful. They dont want to know if one person has four issues.

Then were kind of pushing back: Well, can we count them? We have that data. Why cant we say it? What were focusing on right now is just drafting what we really want to see. And then well send it back to the IT folks.

How much of a backlog is there in PUA of legitimate but unpaid claims?

For me, its really a rough guesstimate. But the bottom line is, we shouldnt be guessing. We should be finding out whos eligible and then issuing them their favorable determinations. If theyre not deemed eligible, get that determination out so that if the system is wrong and human errors occur, get them the ability to appeal.

Is this different than you expected when you were on the outside looking in?

One thing I underestimated every potential system needs improvement. The computer system, the UI computer system, the PUA computer system, not having enough staff. Its not just one issue that the staff is dealing with. So thats one thing.

The other thing that has struck me as it did in all my times as a speaker [of the Assembly], is how hard the line staff are working. Some of these people have been working overtime for five months now. They bring the cases home with them; theyre worried about the clients, our state. We have some of the best state employees, you know, ever. And theyve really been shouldering a lot. And you know, when they get beat up in the press, they take it personally when it has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the system thats not working.

Any message to the claimants who are continually calling and saying its week 21 without pay?

Every time I hear one of them, it just encourages me to urge the team to hurry. People have waited long enough.The Nevada Independent is a 501(c)3 nonprofit news organization. We are committed to transparency and disclose all our donors. The following people or entities mentioned in this article are financial supporters of our work:Barbara Buckley$1,260.00Elisa Cafferata$765.00Steve Sisolak$3,200.00

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Q-and-A: Barbara Buckley on progress of Nevada 'strike force' tackling backlogged jobless claims - Northern Nevada Business Weekly

Two weeks after Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a strike force to help resolve a backlog of unemployment claims, the head of the effort former Nevada Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley says several key initiatives are getting off the ground this week.

Buckley said shes prioritizing the claims of those who havent received payment at all above other issues such as catching current beneficiaries up on individual missed payments. It was the desperation of some of those unpaid Nevadans, many of whom called her in her current role as head of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, that prompted her to accept Sisolaks invitation to lead the strike force.

My assistant will come in and say, so the guy on the phone, he's been waiting for eight weeks and he needs his insulin and he has no other payment source. What can I tell him? Buckley said in an interview on Monday with The Nevada Independent. I have been so concerned about the growing backlog, and about individuals who are frantic to be paid, and I had been obsessing over it.

She said the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) is piloting a proposed solution this week that could speed up the process of verifying claimants identities. Tens of thousands of claims are held up over questions about authenticity and possible stolen identities.

Fraud has been a major concern, and Buckley experienced it firsthand someone recently filed a fraudulent unemployment claim in her name. She estimates that there are upwards of 200,000 phony claims in the system, but as with many statistics including the precise size of the backlog Buckley said its difficult to determine exact numbers right now. Her plan to create an online dashboard to show the agencys progress in processing the applications is still in the works.

To combat the fraud, the state also brought on a new chief of the fraud unit this week. And to ramp up staffing, DETR is enlisting and working to train some 300 welfare eligibility workers this week to assist colleagues in the unemployment division.

The strike force also includes experts from the private sector. The goal is to offer a fresh pair of eyes on a mammoth task that state workers have been trying to tackle for months.

I told some of the Employment Security people, Look, you've been inside the house fighting the fire for five months, you're exhausted. Reinforcements are here, Buckley said. So maybe we can just bring a different way of viewing it, and a private sector way of doing something.

Below are highlights from the interview, which have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: Do you feel like you found any silver bullet to the big holdup?

A: I don't think there's a silver bullet. I think there's a series of things that we need to do to try to reduce the backlog.

We had a very low unemployment rate. I think I heard there were like 10 people working in the Southern Nevada unemployment claims office. And based on the number of new filings it got, it probably needed 500. The depths of it can't be [overestimated]. And the number of people filing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

What we're trying to do is just bring in a fresh look. What can we do right now? What solutions can we find right now?

We're looking at a couple areas. The first is [whether] there are folks in a similar situation where we can come up with a solution to move on with their cases. I'm going for bang for the buck. If there are 30,000 people stuck with this issue, can we come up with a solution and then move out those 30,000?

One area is trying to identify the true filers, Nevadans in need who do qualify, and to separate them from the fraud. Because there are hundreds of thousands of fraudulent applications clogging up the system. But we want to focus first on who's really eligible and how do we connect them with benefits.

So we have a couple IT solutions that we're piloting this week. I'm really fortunate to have one of the volunteers join me on the rapid response team. His whole background is IT. He's the head of an IT company. He was the former head of it for the U.S. division of Siemens. And so we're looking at data matching and how can we separate out the folks who are in need.

So that's one area we're working at, right off the bat. The other is a private sector IT company that verifies identity. So I think we're going to launch a pilot with that this week to see if that works. And then the other big area is staffing. How can we get innovative about getting more qualified staff on board?

So we've developed a staffing plan already. The first part is retired Employment Security [Division] workers, already trained and ready to go. You can plug them in tomorrow. So we've identified some of those workers to come back.

The second is one of the members of the strike force Steve Fisher. He's the division chief of the welfare division of HHS. So his division is stable. He's overworked but stable. So he volunteered to join this committee.

He did a poll of welfare eligibility workers who have similar training, to see if any of them would be willing to work overtime. Their response was overwhelming. He's identified 300 people who are able to work on these cases right now.

So today and tomorrow, he's developing a training program for them, looking at what we already have, in terms of training materials, recording it, and then tasking them on certain types of cases so they can quickly move out a couple thousand cases a day or every other day.

Im sure DETR had its own process for verifying ID before this, but did the strike force find anything that wasnt being done or a tool the agency didnt have?

In the pre-COVID world, we didn't have the amount of applications and we didn't have the amount of fraudulent applications ... My theory is that it is a result of one of those big data breach cases where identities across the nation were stolen.

The team never had this level both of applications and fraud. And so these two new things that we're piloting, we're just hoping can separate it out.

And what I keep harping on is anyone who appears eligible, we're moving forward with them. We don't want to resolve all of them ASAP. We want to resolve those who are eligible ASAP. So we're trying to keep that priority in mind.

DETR had previously tried to ramp up staffing with former employees. Did you find that there were a good number who still hadn't been invited back or still weren't being used?

I think what happened because of the press conference and everybody learning about it, we received more offers. And it wasn't that there hadn't been offers before. But I think that the notoriety of it we received more offers within 48 hours; I got offers from cabinet members, Hey, can I loan some of my IT staff? I got volunteers. I'm a secretary out at UNLV, can I help?

We received offers from just tons of different people whose hearts go out to all the people who are waiting. So I think it just helped the effort, just kind of led to a slew more calls and awareness. And of course, then they knew who to call.

We've heard that it does take a lot of time to get staff up to speed. Does it speed up the process to have welfare division workers, for example, because they're already state employees?

They're already trained on similar work. And they already know the state systems; they already know how to log in remotely to the state's VPN. So theres certain things we won't have to teach them.

The other thing that we're talking about is putting them on strike teams. So for example, if we have a group that is stuck because the employer said they were fired and the employee said they were laid off. OK, this is how we do it: We call the employee; we ask for X, Y, and Z; and then we call the employer and ask for X, Y and Z; and then we reconcile it and just make a decision because everybody has the right to appeal and have a third party, independent person and look at it.

The worst thing is just to be hanging on. Make a decision one way or the other. So we're looking at whether there are certain people with certain categories where we can train people to be really good at that issue.

I keep preaching: speed, speed, speed. Again, we don't want to give tens of millions of dollars to fraudsters. But these Nevadans have been waiting too long. We've got to get a system in place to move cases along.

Have you gotten a handle on the fraud numbers? Thats a source of skepticism because people don't know if fraud is being used as an excuse or if it legitimately is half of the claims. When are you going to know?

So far, it appears that the amount of fraudulent claims is very high. But we're going to quantify it. And then we'll be releasing the solid numbers to the public so everybody can see what they are.

We're already meeting weekly with law enforcement to make sure that they're getting the data they need. We have a new chief for fraud starting today. He was the chief of the fraud unit for [the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services]. So he came back from retirement to help stand it up.

It's not so much an individual cheating issue as much as organized fraud, meaning someone who has filed a bunch of claims using the identities of someone else. And it's not like a one-off, run-of-the-mill street criminal. It's somebody with a lot of it expertise as part of a data stealing ring. It's fairly substantial.

But the bottom line is, it can't be an excuse. Weve got to solve the problem regardless of that.

At this point, do you guys have a number of fraudulent claims or are you still working on determining what it is?

Conservatively, I've been told it's 200,000. It could be higher.

Aside from ID verification, are there other things CARES Act money might go toward?

We're also going to proceed with hiring permanent workers for the Employment Security Division. This crisis isn't going to stop. And we don't want to clean up the backlog and have it come again. So we need to make sure that we have adequate staff, permanent staff, ready to continue handling cases of people who are going on and off unemployment probably over at least the next year.

What's your sense of how we got here? Is anyone to blame, such as the Legislature failing to maintain the system over time?

Im not looking in the rearview mirror. I was asked to look forward and fix the backlog. And to figure out what mistakes were made and who made them, you'd have to interview both sides. Ask, Well, why didn't you do this? Well, why did you do that? Oh, well, we didn't have more staff because we had low unemployment. And we wanted to give the money to education. There might be lots of different reasons. I don't have time to dig into those.

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting pulled into other areas, and I'm saying, OK, how is what I'm doing right this minute helping someone get paid? The single dad, who called this morning to say, I don't know if I can hang on one more day, how is this helping him get paid? So I'm trying to resist any calls to do anything else but that.

The rental assistance program is pretty much exhausted in Clark County, and then the eviction moratorium is being lifted, and unemployment payment amounts have gone down. How are you directing people? What they can do now?

We're facing a catastrophic situation. We have hundreds of thousands of people at risk of eviction. We need more rental assistance funding from Congress. We need to turn back on the $600 a month, or whatever they compromise is, if it's $500 a month.

But we can't use a new FEMA system that might be paid, and it might be legal under an executive order, it might not be. We need some certainty. And we need it today. And the clock is ticking.

So I am nervous. I am worried. I am upset about what's coming down the pike. And all I can do is raise my voice to say what I think would help the problem.

Where is Nevada on President Trumps plan to use FEMA money to increase unemployment payments by $400? Last we heard, DETR was analyzing the cost. Has the state rejected the idea at this point?

(Editors note: DETR said on Tuesday that it is still analyzing the cost and we will make announcement and inform claimants once more information becomes available.)

That's a question for the governor. I think they're looking into it and figuring out how much it would cost. But again, the complexity of it all leads to uncertainty getting FEMA involved, and then there's another agency, and then you have to figure out what their rules are. Why does this have to be so complex?

We were at least able to give most people stimulus checks. Maybe we should just give monthly stimulus checks. The first step shouldnt be to create another bureaucracy and another program. Let's get the money on the street.

The Legislature passed SB3, including a provision to backdate so that folks that maybe lost out on a payment would get that money. How far are we into getting those folks the money that they're entitled to?

Right now we're on the backlog. So the additional provisions, including encouraging the part-time folks to go back to work and have them not lose out on funding I think those two programs will be in the next phase. First, we need to get the money out on the streets to those who are legitimately waiting.

You are really focused on just those who have gotten nothing at this point?

Yes. That is what I say at the beginning of every conversation. There's a team working on cases that need to kind of true up the right amount of benefits. There's 25 people working on those. I said Those people at least are getting weekly checks. Maybe the true up work needs to be done, but could it be done last.

And sometimes you're choosing between bad decisions and worse decisions. But to me, the person who hasn't received a dime needs to be prioritized first.

There's a lot of people who have applied who aren't eligible. They kind of think everybody's getting money, right? They have no UI wages. They've never received a W-2. They haven't worked in a year and a half. And some of those people are not a gig worker, either. So they just think, Because I'm not working, can I get on unemployment? But there wasn't a COVID reason for their 1099 loss of work. Some of the requirements that the federal government puts on these programs I feel bad for them, too, because now for five months, they've been thinking they're getting money and they were never entitled to it in the first place.

So even then, they should get a timely decision so they can move on and figure out, Should I be applying for welfare? Or I'm just not going to apply for anything. And I move in and double up with somebody or figure out what their next steps are.

The Alorica call center has been criticized on several fronts. Even the court-appointed special master had recommended getting rid of them if we hadn't been bound by a contract. Are you working on trying to improve the Alorica services?

I'm not. [DETR Administrator] Elisa Cafferata and DETR will be making decisions about Alorica. I'm just focusing on the processes what processes work? What don't work? And how can we get people paid quicker?

Certainly in my mind having two separate systems for UI and PUA I don't think works very well. And that's because it's one person, but they may be in two systems. In our new economy, someone can bartend two days a week and drive for Lyft. Well, if they have enough wages for UI, they can only get UI and they can't get PUA another federal government rule.

But what if in one quarter, they don't have enough for UI but they qualified for PUA? We don't want to bounce people around. We want one person, well-trained, to give them a decision and to let them know what it is. So no matter what, I think we need a team of folks who know both systems, are state employees, are able to timely give good answers to people and get them the benefits they need. No matter what, that has to be an outcome of this.

When you guys expect to be releasing a dashboard?

We'd like it to be soon. But then then we run into things like, In the backlog, we don't count claimants, we count issues. Well, that's not really helpful. They don't want to know if one person has four issues.

Then we're kind of pushing back: Well, can we count them? We have that data. Why can't we say it? What we're focusing on right now is just drafting what we really want to see. And then we'll send it back to the IT folks.

How much of a backlog is there in PUA of legitimate but unpaid claims?

For me, it's really a rough guesstimate. But the bottom line is, we shouldn't be guessing. We should be finding out who's eligible and then issuing them their favorable determinations. If they're not deemed eligible, get that determination out so that if the system is wrong and human errors occur, get them the ability to appeal.

Is this different than you expected when you were on the outside looking in?

One thing I underestimated every potential system needs improvement. The computer system, the UI computer system, the PUA computer system, not having enough staff. It's not just one issue that the staff is dealing with. So that's one thing.

The other thing that has struck me as it did in all my times as a speaker [of the Assembly], is how hard the line staff are working. Some of these people have been working overtime for five months now. They bring the cases home with them; theyre worried about the clients, our state. We have some of the best state employees, you know, ever. And they've really been shouldering a lot. And you know, when they get beat up in the press, they take it personally when it has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the system that's not working.

Any message to the claimants who are continually calling and saying it's week 21 without pay?

Every time I hear one of them, it just encourages me to urge the team to hurry. People have waited long enough.

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Indy Q&A: Barbara Buckley on progress of new 'strike force' trying to tackle backlogged unemployment claims - The Nevada Independent

Here's the latest for Wednesday August 19th: Democratic Party formally nominates Joe Biden; Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Colin Powell hammer President Trump; Australia to produce possible coronavirus vaccine; Wildfires in California. AP Domestic

WASHINGTON Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president during the second night of a virtual convention Tuesday that started with scathing criticism of President Donald Trumps administration and ended with personal reflections on the former vice presidents decades of service.

More than three decades after he first ran for president, Biden clinched the nomination following a virtual roll call featuring party luminaries from all 50 states and lesser-known Democrats who described Biden as ready to lead the nation through the twin crises of a pandemic and economic uncertainty.

We have shown that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage, said Dr. Jill Biden, who delivered the evenings marquee address. We just need leadership worthy of our nation worthy of you.

The second night of the convention began with several high-profile Democrats slamming President Donald Trump. Former President Bill Clinton recited statistics about the number of infections and deaths from the pandemic, which he and others asserted could have been lowered if the Trump administration had acted differently or more quickly

Its was a preview of a tough message Biden and other Democrats are certain to reprise between now and the Nov. 3 election.

Did it have to be this way? No, Clinton argued.

America, Donald Trump has quit on you, claimed Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

We deserve a person with integrity and judgement, former President Jimmy Carter said in a video.

Despite the heavy line of attacks, the final minutes of the second night became far lighter as the party conveyed Biden as a man who had endured tremendous hardship in his own life and brokered friendships with those like the late Sen. John McCain on the other side of the aisle.

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Minutes after he clinched the nomination, Biden appeared briefly in a video with his grandchildren and family, promising to say more later. The former vice president reappeared to embrace his wife after her remarks, which became personal and emotional as she recalled how Biden handled the death of their son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015.

I wondered if I would ever smile or feel joy again, Jill Biden said.

But, she said, four days after Beaus funeral, she watched her husband put on a suit, take a deep breath and walk out into a world empty of our son.

He went back to work. Thats just who he is, she said. He and Kamala (Harris) will work as hard as you do every day to make this nation better.

Biden is set to formally accept the nomination Thursday.

John Fritze

Jill Biden spoke as a teacher, a mother and a wife when she addressed the Democratic National Convention on the night her husband was formally nominated to challenge President Donald Trump.

The former Second Lady described her husband as a man who has gone through the unimaginable while still managing to keep putting one front in front of the other.

He does it for you, she said of Joe Biden. His faith is in you, in us.

And she shared her own pain from the 2015 death of Beau Biden, the familys oldest child, drawing larger lessons to be applied to a broken nation.

How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole, she said. With love and understanding and with small acts of kindness. With bravery. With unwavering faith.

Biden spoke from Room 232 of the high school in Wilmington, Delaware, where she taught English when her husband served in the Senate.

A sign on the bulletin board read: Welcome back Dr. Jill Biden.

While she didn't mention Trump in her 10-minute speech,Biden used the backdrop of the school to address the pandemic, saying shes heartbroken by the magnitude of the nations loss of life and the failure to protect our communities. She said she feels the frustration of parents juggling work while supporting their childrens learning or fearful theyll get sick at school.

"Like so many of you," she said, "Im left asking: how do I keep my family safe?"

As shes done at past conventions, Biden on Tuesday told the story of Joe Biden losing his first wife and baby daughter in a 1972 car crash. His two sons, Beau and Hunter, were badly injured.

Dr. Jill Biden delivers a speech from a school in Wilmington, Delaware about COVID and closed schools for the Democratic National Convention. USA TODAY

I feel in love with a man and two littleboys standing in the wreckage of unthinkable loss, Biden said. We found that love holds a family together.

After Jill and Joe married in 1977, they had a daughter, Ashley.

Beau Biden, who introduced his father at the 2008 and 2012 conventions, died of brain cancer in 2015 at 46.

I wondered if I would ever smile or feel joy again, Jill Biden said Tuesday.

But, four days after Beaus funeral, she watched her husband put on a suit, take a deep breath and walk out into a world empty of our son.

He went back to work. Thats just who he is, she said. I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours: bring us together and make us whole."

Maureen Groppe

Former GOP Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke in support of Joe Biden, saying he would bring the country together and not coddle dictators.

Today, we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way, Powell said without mentioning Trump by name. What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul.

Powells decision to address the virtual convention on behalf of Biden makes him one of the most prominent Republicans to play a part in the process of nominating the former vice president.

Powell, who served in President George W. Bushs cabinet, said in 2016 he would vote for Hillary Clinton, partly because of Trumps leading role in the birther movement questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obamas citizenship.

Then in June, Powell, the first African-American secretary of state, said he planned to vote for Biden while chiding Trump for his behavior, notably the decision a few days before to clear Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. of mostly peaceful protestors so he could stage a photo op in front of St. Johns Episcopal Church with a bible.

On Tuesday, Powell said Biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute.

With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversariesnever the other way around, he said. He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flattery of dictators and despots. He will make it his job to know when anyone dares to threaten us. He will stand up to our adversaries with strength and experience. They will know he means business.

Ledyard King

After video segments highlighting Bidens health care plan, progressive activist Ady Barkan delivered a speech on the importance of access to health care for all Americans, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. Barkan was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease ALS in 2016 shortly after the birth of his son and has become a prominent voice for single-payer health care.

Biden has said he wants a Medicare-like option and to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

We live in the richest country in history and yet we do not guarantee this most basic human right. Everyone living in America should get the health care they need regardless of their employment status or ability to pay, Barkan said.

Barkan made headlines in 2017 when he was filmed confronting former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake over a tax bill. Barkan initially supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president and then backed Sen. Bernie Sanders. Barkan and Biden disagree on Medicare for All, but Barkan has urged progressives not to sit out of the November election.

In July, Barkan announced his endorsement of Biden. The two discussed their differences in a video interview, and Barkan said he would take Biden up on an offer to help figure out whats enough on health care should Biden be elected.

Although he & I have different perspectives on the world, winning this election is essential, Barkan said at the time.

Barkan said Tuesday that with Biden as president, progressives can continue advocating for further action on health care.

We must elect Joe Biden. Each of us must be a hero for our communities, for our country, and then, with a compassionate and intelligent president, we must act together and put on his desk a bill that guarantees us all the health care we deserve, Barkan said.

Jeanine Santucci

Ady Barkan, who confronted Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake on the Trump tax cuts effect on health care, spoke at the Democratic National Convention. USA TODAY

John Kerry, the former secretary of state and 2004 Democratic nominee for president, slammed President Donald Trump for failing to confront Russia over interfering with the 2016 election or over bounties allegedly put on U.S. troops.

When this president goes overseas, it isnt a goodwill mission, its a blooper reel, Kerry said. Our troops cant get out of harms way by hiding in the White House bunker.

Republicans blasted Kerry for negotiating a deal aimed at hindering Irans nuclear program during the Obama administration and Trump withdrew from the deal. Trump has focused his foreign policy on securing the borders and renegotiating trade deals with Canada and Mexico, and with China.

Kerry served in the Senate from Massachusetts with the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Trump, Joe Biden of Delaware. Kerry said Biden, a former chairman of the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, for having the steely grit to deal with international crises such as genocide in the Balkans or apartheid in South Africa. Kerry also promoted the Obama administrations support of the Paris climate change agreement with 195 nations and stopped ebola before it became a pandemic.

Joes moral compass has always pointed in the right direction, Kerry said. Joe understands that none of the issues of this world not nuclear weapons, not the challenge of building back better after COVID, not terrorism and certainly not the climate crisis none can be resolved without bringing nations together.

Bart Jansen

Former Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, John Kerry addresses the Democratic National Convention. USA TODAY

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally secured enough Democratic delegates to become the party's nominee to challenge President Donald Trump, winning one of the highest prizes in U.S. politics more than three decades after he first campaigned for it.

Though presidential nominating conventions havent been contested for decades and Biden demonstrated he had enough support for the nomination months ago, the formal roll call is nevertheless a symbolic milestone and an expression of the partys support for their candidate.

During the state primaries and caucuses, Biden collected 2,687 delegates -- more than twice the 1,073 earned by his closest rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Biden will formally accept the nomination Thursday.

The nomination completes the chief and least suspenseful - objective of the convention: Choosing the candidate that will be on the November presidential ballot. But its also done with fanfare and celebration, a moment where party rivals who vied for the nomination united behind the nominee.

Few moments have underscored the unusual nature of the Democrats' virtual convention as the roll call Tuesday that is expected to lead to Joe Biden's nomination.

All 57 states and territories are participating in the Roll Call Across America, which included video montages from each area when their turn came to announce their delegate allocations. The various party activists announcing those delegate pledges weren't just governors, senators and congressmen but also parents, teachers, and small business owners.

That meant local delegates could make their announcements with symbols of the states beauty or important landmarks, such as a fire station in Connecticut, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama or the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Marisol Garcia, a high school parent and a union organizer for the National Education Association, announced Arizonas votes with cacti in the background.

Arizona casts 29 votes for Bernie Sanders and 51 for our next president Joe Biden, she said with cacti in the background.

The display marked a major departure from past years and underscored the challenges convention planners have endured because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In normal election years, delegates gather on the floor of the hall and formally announce -- state by state -- how their delegation will vote. Though the results are almost always preordained, the roll call gives a member of a state's party a chance to offer a short speech espousing the soon-to-be-nominee and promote their areas while building a sense of drama until the candidate formally crosses the threshold of delegates needed to seize the nomination.

John Fritze and Ledyard King

National conventions usually feature politicians and party stars but not always.

I could tell he really saw me, Jacquelyn Brittany, a security guard at the New York Times who operated the elevator during a Biden visit there last year, said during the convention.

Nominating someone like that to be in the White House is a good place to start, she said.

Jacquelyn has declined to publicize her last name. Brittanyis her middle name, according to the Washington Post.

Brittany was one of several people who seconded Bidens nomination before the formal roll call of delegates.

John Fritze

The primaries are here! How does one get elected in the first place and what is in store for the Democratic National Convention in 2020? We explain. USA TODAY

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most outspoken progressives in Congress, delivered a nomination speech for Sen. Bernie Sanders ahead of the official roll call that will nominate Joe Biden as the partys candidate.

Sanders, Bidens last standing opponent in the primary race, suspended his run for the Democratic nomination in April and has supported Biden. Ocasio-Cortezs roughly 90-second speech didnt mention Biden but established the ideals of the progressive wing of the party.

The progressive movement is striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia, Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that it realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long term stability for the many.

When the length of her speech was first reported atone minute, some viewed it as a snub to progressives, noting that some Republicans were given more time to speak. Others saw her inclusion as a sign Democrats are hoping to unify progressives and centrists against Trump.

Ocasio-Cortez was a prominent backer and surrogate for Sanders campaign and has since said she will vote for Biden but hopes to influence his platform to the left.She co-chaired the climate task force to advise Biden on policy.

Sanders, who spoke on the first night of the Democratic Convention, has asked his supporters to back Biden despite their differences in ideology. He said during his speech Monday that the country cannot withstand another Trump term.

The future of our democracy is at stake, Sanders said. The price of failure is just too great to imagine.

Bob King, former president of the United Auto Workers, also delivered a symbolic nominating speech for Sanders on Tuesday.

-Jeanine Santucci

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized progressive causes as she seconded the presidential nomination of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night. The party formally nominated Joe Biden. (Aug. 19) AP Domestic

The buck never stops. Clinton hits Trump on COVID-19

Former President Bill Clinton sought to recapture some of his explainer in chief mojo during remarks Tuesday that were highly critical of President Donald Trumps response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Did it have to be this way? No, Clinton said of coronavirus infection rates and deaths, after relating several of those statistics. COVID hit us much harder than it had to.

Clinton blamed Trump for ignoring the advice of scientists and spending too much time on social media blaming others for the crisis: The buck never stops there, he said.

The 42nd president has ridden peaks of popularity between troughs of disfavor since leaving the White House in 2001. His 48-minute speech at the 2012 convention was viewed by some Democrats as a more cogent argument for President Barack Obamas second term than anything Obama had offered himself at that point in the campaign, and it earned Clinton the nickname explainer in chief.

But while Clinton has remained popular among the Democratic establishment, the controversies of his presidency and allegations of sexual assault and harassment have come into harsher light during a MeToo movement that has exposed similar, systemic problems in the workplace.

And so while Clinton played an extensive role on stage at the 2016 convention when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the nominee, his speaking time was limited to just a few minutes Tuesday and his slot fell in the 9 p.m. hour before major networks began carrying the convention in its entirety.

Clinton has addressed every Democratic convention since 1980.

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Joe Biden secures Democratic presidential nomination during night of attacks on Trump and messages of unity - USA TODAY

Cr Moore said the end-of-year celebrations would not be held if NSW Health and the police "cant be certain" that the event can be held safely.

"It would be incredibly sad if Sydney New Years Eve cannot go ahead, but that is a real possibility were facing," she said. "The communitys health and safety is paramount and it may not be responsible to encourage large crowds to our foreshore."

An estimated 1 million people flocked to Sydney Harbour last New Years Eve to watch the fireworks display, despite calls for the $6.5 million festivities to be cancelled because of the bushfire crisis.

NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said last week Sydneys New Years Eve celebrations should go ahead after such a putrid 2020.

Perhaps they dont do two sets of fireworks at nine and at midnight, they maybe even do a scaled-down version of the fireworks, he told 2GB radio.

A spokesman for the Department of Premier and Cabinet said event organisers were required to follow any public health orders and health advice current at the time of the event. New Years Eve fireworks and events are a matter for individual councils, he said.

North Sydney Council does not hold events on New Years Eve, but manages crowds that gather on the Sydney Harbour foreshore for the fireworks on Sydney Harbour.

Cr Gibson said she understood the reluctance to cancel the fireworks given it was months away.

We are obviously concerned about how we would deliver the event without becoming the next cluster, she said. If we are to attempt it, we need a decision now.

Bayside Council mayor Joe Awada said last week there would be no New Year's Eve celebrations at Brighton Le Sands.

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"How can you possibly comply with health orders and restrictions with 1.5 metres with 70,000 people? It would be impossible to control," he said.

Marylouise McLaws, professor of epidemiology at the University of NSW, also told 9News the end-of-year celebrations should not go ahead.

Cr Moore said the council was working with the state government to assess the impact of COVID-19 on major events, including Christmas, Sydney New Years Eve and the Sydney Lunar Festival.

These events are subject to the NSW Governments public health orders, which are continuously amended to address the local impact of the pandemic, she said. Ultimately, if NSW Health and police cant be certain that the event can be held safely, it wont go ahead.

Cr Gibson said the fireworks could be staged in a secret location so there are no crowds and we can all stay home to celebrate.

Alternatively, the City could get out all that old footage and give us the best fireworks from the last 20 years, she said.

Andrew Taylor is a Senior Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Clover Moore says it 'may not be responsible' to hold New Year's Eve fireworks - Sydney Morning Herald

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) releases this months edition of the Bank Treasury Newsletter, the Bank Treasury Newsletter Chart Deck, and Bank Talk: The After-Show.

This months newsletter, Bank Treasurers in Need of a Free Upgrade, highlights the widening gap between loans and deposits in the banking system, with $5 trillion of excess deposits as of mid-August, compared to $3.6 trillion in March 2020 and $1.1 trillion back in August 2010. The deluge of deposit inflows since the onset of the pandemic has slowed in the last month, which may help relieve the dilutive pressures on bank net interest margin (NIM) and profitability. With expectations these pressures will continue, bank managers are redoubling efforts to wring costs out of their operations and hope to leverage the growing acceptance of virtual meetings to save on travel and entertainment expenses in the coming year, and perhaps more permanently.

With the LIBOR transition continuing to progress, the financial industry in the U.S. is preparing for a big bang in mid-October, when the industry switches from the LIBOR-OIS rate to SOFR when discounting collateralized derivative positions. The relationship between LIBOR-OIS and SOFR has flipped over recent months, coinciding with changes in the level of bank excess reserves. The newsletter also reports on the implementation of a new stress capital buffer (SCB), which the Fed will require institutions with $100 billion or more in assets to use in place of the Basel 3 capital conservation buffer, to reflect the new tailored approach to bank capital requirements.

The Bank Treasury Newsletter Chart Deck looks at how the financial industry has tightened credit underwriting standards in residential mortgages but still managed to generate near-record volumes, with higher-quality borrowers in the months since the onset of the pandemic. On the other hand, credit card volumes are falling as the public reduces debt in contrast to its behavior after the global financial crisis, when it drew down on available lines. With ample liquidity in the system, later slides in the chart deck look at the shrinking balance of the Feds central bank liquidity swaps, while the PPP lenders still make limited use of the Feds liquidity facility.

Finally, this months edition of Bank Talk: The After-Show discusses the industrys struggle to leverage efficiency gains with profitability under pressure. While the industry cut noninterest expense by 121 bps of average assets, net revenues has fallen 250 bps, leaving its efficiency ratio stuck above 60%.

Click below to view the reports:

About KBRA and KBRA Europe

KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider and is a certified Credit Rating Agency (CRA) with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered with ESMA as a CRA. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is located at 6-8 College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.

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KBRA Releases the Bank Treasury Newsletter, the Bank Treasury Chart Deck, and Bank Talk: The After-Show - Business Wire

Despite the crowds jubilation in Bamako, the arrest of President Ibrahim B. Keita, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, the minister of finance, the president of the National Assembly,and other government officials seems unlikely to result in fundamental change. An estimated half of Mali's population lives in severe poverty, ethnic divisions are chronically unaddressed, and Islamist jihadisroam much of the northern half of the country. Those realities are unlikely to change as a result of a coup. Subsequent to their success, the coup makers are justifying themselves by citing the corruption, nepotism, and all-around bad governance of the Keita regime.

Initial media accounts tied the coup to popular discontent spearheaded by civil society and a charismatic imam and linked it to fall-out from corrupt elections earlier in the year. But, rather than a popular revolution, this coup appears to have been carried out by five colonels, calling themselves the National Commission for the Peoples Salvation. This entity is led by Gen. Cheick Fanta Mady Dembele, whom some local commentators see as the real leader of the coup, though he remains in the background. The coup makers likely have the support of the broad political class, based in Bamako, dissatisfied by the Keita government's response to popular unrest. The military and the political class, based on past performance, is uninterested in the fundamental social and political change that would be necessary to address the country's dysfunction.

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Mali

Elections and Voting

State and Local Governments

Political Transitions

Sub-Saharan Africa

Once falsely viewed by Western commentators and policy makers as the poster child of African democracy and good governance, Mali's current descent into unending crisis is usually dated from the 2012 military unrest and Tuareg efforts to establish a separate stateAzawad. (Tuareg separatism reflects unresolved ethnic differences dating from French colonial times.) Then, radical jihadiscaptured the Tuareg separatist movement and were soon seen as threatening the destruction of the Bamako government. French intervention forestalled that outcome. Since then, the Malian and French militaries, African regional forces, and a UN military presence has failed to defeat the Islamists, and security has continued to deteriorate. (The United States has provided significant financial support to the anti-jihadieffort and provides logistical and other support to French forces.) Insofar as this latest coup highlights the dysfunction of the Malian state, it will likely benefit the jihadisthat have been expanding their area of operation in the wider region.

Thus far, international reaction to this latest coup has been hand-wringing.The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has denounced it and called for sanctions. The French and American governments have issued statements condemning the coup. The UN Security Council is expected to discuss it and will likely denounce it.

France has the largest modern military force in West Africa, with some 5,000 personnel. Successive Paris governments have viewed the Sahel as the "near abroad" and of vital national interest. But, French military intervention in the past has been denounced as "neo-colonial;" some local commentators are suggesting that Gen. Dembele is staying in the background because of fear of the perception that he is backed by France. The Macron government is saying that France will remain engaged in Mali, but for how long and under what circumstances remains to be seen. The French public appears increasingly fatigued by the seemingly never-ending fighting in the Sahel, "our Afghanistan." It is also unclear what the restoration of the Keita regime or new and likely flawed elections could accomplish. Nevertheless, a possible, perhaps likely, outcome will be a dealamong the military and the political class that leads to new elections and another "rearrangement of the deck chairs on theTitanic."The coup makers have already announced that they will establish a "civilian" government to carry out new elections.

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Mali

Elections and Voting

State and Local Governments

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Sub-Saharan Africa

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Mali Coup: "Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic" - Council on Foreign Relations

Magic: The Gathering has plenty of well-established decks and strategies, but there's fun to be had in creating something completely unexpected.

At any given time, Magic: The Gathering has a set of popular deck archetypes, metas and staples that show up game after game. On some level, they're comforting; you can never go wrong with Modern Burn, and your Commander deck will always have a slot for a Sol Ring. Seeing the same archetypes over and over can get a little old, though, and following trends is rarely a path to innovation. What brings so manyback toMagicagain and again is the vast, ever-growing number of possibilitiesfor any given format, so that even when the meta seems rigid, some clever upstart can always crack it open again.

One doesn't need to change the world when building aweirddeck, however, and what makes a deck weirdcan vary. Does the deck showcasean unlikely synergy? Does it use an old mechanic in a new way? Does it include obscure or underused cards? A weird deck isn't constrained by concepts of"good" or "optimal." It just needs to do something interesting. And if that interesting thing wins you a game or two, the victories will be all the sweeter for it. Like with any creative project, challenging yourself with unorthodox methods means you're bound to learn something new and improve your skills along the way.

Related: Magic: The Gathering - Double Masters' Artifact Cards Are Powerful in Any Deck

The first step to building a weirddeck is always research and exploration. Be curious about eachMagicset. Older sets can reveal cards that were ignored or overlooked at their release but may become relevant in the future.By the same logic,keeping up with the latest sets can reveal new possibilities in relation to your knowledge of Magic's "backlog." With all this information rattling around by taking careto notice which cards and mechanics pique your interest the most,it's only a matter of time before something clicks.

For example, the mechanic "Morph" wasn't well supported in Commander until the release of Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer. Previously unsupported tribes like Unicorns, Bears, Satyrs and Devils have all gottentheir own tribal Legendaries over the last year,and Morophon the Boundless can make just about any creature type a tribe. Zirda, the Dawnwaker has some infinite mana combos, but it also makes cards with otherwise far too costly activated abilities cross the threshold of viable into great value.

Related: Magic: The Gathering - Double Masters' Multicolored Cards Boost Various Archetypes

This all depends, of course, on your favored formats. Magic's "backlog" won't really apply to Standard, for instance. But for Commander and Modern, knowing some of the older, weirder cards is productive. Commander in particular has a great starting place for finding inspiration in the form of EDHRec, a database with statistics for every Commander released so far. Finding a Commander that's particularly strange is just a matter of browsing through each color combination and scrolling down to the lesser-used ones.Many arejust plain bad (like a five-cost 3/3 with no abilities), but others do something unique, and the cards often used in conjunction with unusualCommanders are often unusual in turn.

Above all, keep an eye on the spaces others ignore, and question the status quo. Reject the prevailing metas, and believe in whatever "brain bugs" you catch during your research. Be preparedfor your trails to go cold and to find yourself rushing back asa newreleaselights the way.If you do this, you may just happen upon something no one else has ever thought of.

KEEP READING:Magic: The Gathering - How to Build Your First Modern Jund Deck

Animal Farm: What to Expect From the Next Game From the Makers of Reigns

Daniel Lindsley is a writer, a Seattleite, and a UC: Santa Cruz graduate with a Bachelor's in Literature and Creative Writing. His degree taught him how to tell a story, and it turns out games have a lot of that sort of thing. Conveniently, so does news writing. The overlap makes for a guy who knows his way around TTRPG systems, keeps up with the latest, and can write about both. He spends his spare time working on personal projects, playing games, and drinking frozen-banana-and-chocolate-ice-cream protein shakes.

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Magic: The Gathering - How to Build the WEIRDEST Decks (And Why You Should) - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Feral chickens strut their stuff in front of the Tervis Store on Front Street in Key West. The chickens have become the citys unofficial mascots. COURTESY PHOTO

FOR ALMOST 200 YEARS, WANNABE comedians have been asking why the chicken crossed the road.

But in Key West, chickens dont just cross roads. They congregate on one-way streets in groups, mamas stopping traffic for their fuzzy little chicklets. They roost in the trees and perch on bike handles. They casually wander into bars and restaurants. And they crow at all hours of the day, no matter the suns position.

If youve been to Key West before or have only strolled around the island for a day, youve undoubtedly noticed our unofficial mascot. To some, Key Wests gypsy chickens are a novelty, another fixture that gives the island a funky and unique vibe. To others, theyre worse than a nuisance, unsanitary, loud and obnoxious. But opinions aside, Key Wests colorful roosters and hens are as iconic as Sloppy Joes and theyve been around a lot longer than Hemingways favorite bar has.

Key Wests first wave of chickens arrived in the 1800s, when Cuban and Caribbean settlers brought the large and aggressive Cubalaya breed to the island as both a food source and a sporting accessory. Hens provided eggs and their male counterparts provided endless hours of back alley cockfighting entertainment. A second wave flooded the island in the 1950s, when revolution in Cuba displaced both humans and their fowl.

Key West Wildlife Center rescues, heals and places feral chickens in safe places. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY KEY WEST WILDLIFE CENTER

Key West banned cockfighting in the 1970s, which sent many roosters to the streets. In addition, Key Wests evolution away from agrarian traditions resulted in fewer backyard chicken coops and more grocery meat counters.

Protected by local wildlife regulations and without homes or distractions (or a significant source of avian population control, however barbaric), the chicken population proliferated exponentially so much so that in 2003, Key West city officials declared war on the crowing creatures, rounding up roosters and installing holding pens where hens and chicks could be held while awaiting relocation.

In 2004, the city hired Armando Parra, a local barber and self-trained bird catcher, to serve as the official city chicken catcher. The intention was to move the birds to free-range facilities in Miami-Dade County, but when officials suspected the birds were secretly being killed, local chicken advocates were furious. The chicken controversy commotion resulted in ChickenFest, a one-time, four-day festival dreamed up by local chicken-loving event coordinators in 2005.

Fowl enthusiasts flocked to the festivities, dressing in feathered headdresses and chicken suits and donning plush chicken caps and rooster beaks to compete in the Fowl Follies talent and costume competition. There was a Fowl Ball, a rooster crowing challenge, a Funky Chicken dance contest and a Foghorn Leghorn lookalike contest. The event culminated in a Poultry in Motion parade that featured dancing chickens, a Colonel Sanders lookalike and Chicken Caesar, a 12-foot-tall, toga-wearing rooster. And even Mr. Parra, whose chicken catching antics were the impetus for the festival, got in on the action, selling T-shirts and judging the chicken beauty contest.

And so, despite city officials best efforts and assisted by the urging of zealous poultry lovers, the gypsy chickens remain. And when Key Wests winged residents get birdie boo-boos, the Key West Wildlife Center makes sure the injured, sick and orphaned chickens are well cared for.

The Wildlife Centers stated mission is to ensure the future of our diverse native wildlife by providing timely rescues and quality rehabilitation with the hope of release back to the wild. The Wildlife Center acts as a field hospital and trauma center for native wild birds and holds both state and federal rehabilitation permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Key West Wildlife Center sits on seven acres of land inside the Indigenous Park at 1801 White St. and is open to the public every day but Wednesday. The nature trail inside the facility includes a freshwater pond and two aviaries and is a great place from which to observe migratory birds during the fall and spring migrations. The Wildlife Center also operates an onsite clinic, which enables the staff to provide treatment to injured and sick wildlife 24/7, amounting to over 1,400 native wild birds annually, including hawks, pelicans, osprey, egrets and herons.

In 2009, the Wildlife Center entered into a concession agreement with the city of Key West to provide rescue, medical care and adoption services for the islands feral chickens. The Wildlife Centers other rescue and rehabilitation services are funded solely through donations, but the chicken services are funded through the concession agreement with the city of Key West. The center emphasizes cleanliness and nutrition and provides a high protein chicken feed enhanced with fresh produce donated by St. Marys Star of the Sea Food Pantry.

According to Tom Sweets, director of the Key West Wildlife Center, the center currently has about 30 local hens, roosters and younger chickens residing in its aviary. The chickens suffer from a variety of ailments, from avian pox and botulism to cock-fighting injuries and broken wings. We get a high number of rescue calls each year regarding Key West chickens struck by vehicles, abandoned by owners, fallen or trapped in storm drains, shot by darts and pellet guns, and many other sick, injured and orphaned birds, Mr. Sweets said. We have had interesting survival stories of roosters. One was shot through by a bow and arrow, and we treated several birds that survived dart gun attacks after being shot. We were able to successfully remove the various projectiles and the birds did survive.

A Key West chicken makes a new friend at Peat Marsh Ranch outside Lake Okeechobee. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY KEY WEST WILDLIFE CENTER

Though the Wildlife Center is happy to provide a temporary loving home to birds in need, it does not actively seek out the birds themselves. Residents can borrow a trap from the Wildlife Center for a refundable deposit, then bring the captured birds in for rehabilitation. We act as a rescue for sick and injured birds we do not trap birds ourselves, Mr. Sweets said. We will accept birds that are brought to our center from local Key West residents and businesses. We do not remove feral chickens from residential or business situations. There are private companies in Key West that provide removal services for those that want it.

Although the general goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to provide professional care to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife so that they can ultimately be returned to their natural habitat, the chickens rehabilitated at the Key West Wildlife Center typically do not get turned back out onto the streets. We provide rescue services, care and treatment with an emphasis on cleanliness and a quality diet, Mr. Sweets said. We then find the chickens great free-range adoptive homes in mainland Florida that adhere to strict criteria.

Since June 2011, the Key West Wildlife Center has worked to partner with a number of mainland properties who can provide care and good homes for the rehabilitated Key West chickens. The Wildlife Center moves more than 1,000 birds a year to participating properties. Peat Marsh Ranch, located just north of Lake Okeechobee, is a 1,200-acre facility where the birds can live free range. The Wildlife Center also partners with an eight-acre property outside of Fort Myers, where many chickens have found a loving home.

At organic farms on the mainland, Key Wests chickens provide natural pest control. To prevent hungry birds from eating the crops, the chickens are released into large net tubes that stretch between the crops. In the tubes, the chickens can eat invasive insects and naturally fertilize the soil.

Even though birds are exported by the thousands, it often seems like there are more chickens in Key West than people. But Mr. Sweets cant say for certain whether the birds are more populous lately than usual. Without doing a survey count, it would be impossible to say what the current trends are in the feral population numbers, he said. The feral chickens move around and exploit different areas for food and then move on, so it would be hard to say about overall numbers without a survey or count.

However, there is one chicken-related trend that Mr. Sweets finds disturbing.

There is a trend of more people feeding them, which will bring chickens into an area or neighborhood to stay, he said. Feeding these birds is never good it leads to disease being quickly spread through a population and usually leads to more birds being struck by vehicles when they are fed in streets or parking lots. Put simply, these feral birds do not need to be fed by humans it causes all types of problems for them.

In the KNOW

Key West Wildlife Center

Sonny McCoy Indigenous Park 1801 White St. Open daily, except Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 305-292-1008 http://www.keywestwildlifecenter.org

KEY WEST WILDLIFE CENTER CHICKEN TIPS:

NEVER feed them! If you do, they will stay in your area. Help educate neighbors around you not to feed them as well. If they are not fed, they usually will keep moving.

Dont interfere with Mother Nature. If a hawk attempts to catch a chicken, let it. This is difficult to watch, but the hawk needs to eat, too. This is natures way of naturally reducing the chicken population. Never take a bird away from a hawk. The prey often is so injured it will die anyway. The result will be the hawk losing its meal and the prey losing its life.

Secure the perimeter of your house, blocking areas that chickens can get under to lay eggs. If you do find eggs, they can be discarded. Chickens lay eggs over a period of a couple weeks before they start to incubate them, so it is unlikely that there are baby chicks inside the eggs. Eggs also can be brought to the Wildlife Center for disposal.

If all else fails and you are finding chickens to be a nuisance in your area, the Wildlife Center rents traps for a $100 refundable deposit.

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It's all hens on deck as nonprofit group tends to Key West fowl in need - Florida Weekly

Setting up elaborate dinner table decorations, organizing beachside picnics, and deflating inflatable slides are all in a day's work for a yachtie, a term used to refer to a crew member working on a yacht. On Bravo's Below Deck series, though, they often up the ante.

There's a swarm of mosquitos hovering around the food as the crew struggles to serve in 90 degree temperatures, for instance. Or there's an intoxicated guest that invites even more drunk guests on board and requests a 7-course tasting menu for the table, minutes before dinner is meant to be served. Each crew member is abnormally good-looking and single, meaning they fight with one another, make up, sleep, rinse, and repeat, and all in the same day.

Since 2013, the Below Deck franchise has become a reality television phenomenon in its own right, replacing the aging Real Housewife franchise as the relevant mainstay on Bravo. (Its ratings now surpass a majority of the Housewife city franchises.) It's spawned two spinoffs (Med and Sailing Yacht) and turned some of its crew members into bonafide reality stars. (See: Captain Lee, the soon to be longest-running cast member on the series who now has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram.)

But the series isn't without its controversial faults. Things came to a head during its seventh season, when crew member Ashton Pienaar punched a window after being rebuffed for attempting to kiss his fellow crew mate, Kate Chastain, without her consent. On social media, Pienaar and the rest of the male deckhands were called misogynists. Each of the guys apologized after the episodes aired, but viewers complained it wasn't enough.

Lauren Cohen, who appeared on the second season of Below Deck: Med, dealt with sexism first-hand, both on the show and off. She says it's common in the yachting world for roles to be split along gender-lines, as is the case with the show. Most deckhands (who work on the exterior of the boat) and captains are male and most stews (who work on the interior) are female.

And sexism is rampant in yachting because of these roles, says Cohen. "There's no HR," she says. "I've been told I need to be a certain size to even get an interview for certain boats or asked to dye my hair a certain color because the captain didn't like brunettes." Things are maybe worse because of cameras. Unlike the real world of yachting, producers cast the series and have done little to change those notions of gender roles on the show. (Across the series, there have been just eight female deckhands and one male stew.)

Cohen, 30, says her experience during the second season of Below Deck: Med was tense, largely because of her working relationship with another male crew member. She recalls one confrontation with him that led her to stop actively participating with producers. "Halfway through production, I'm talking to the camera guy, saying 'this guy's really about to punch me in the face. Are you going to stop this?'"

The scene, she says, never made it to air. "I completely shut down to the point where I didn't want to get involved in anything to do with the show." Cohen says she brought the issue up to leadership on the yacht, but was told to "suck it up," in more or less words.

Rhylee Gerber, 34, appeared in two of the series' most highly contentious seasons. In season six, she resisted against her leaders in a spectacularly splashy fashion. The show portrayed her as mostly outspoken, eager to put up a fight at a moment's notice. She says it wasn't entirely inaccurate, but editing painted both her and her then leader, Ross Inia, in specific roles. "He also instigated a lot with me," she says, "and maybe not in a purposeful way, but [for the show], it was best to keep showing my reaction and his calmness. After the show, Ross was literally arrested for threatening a police officer, but everybody wanted to call me aggressive."

Gerber joined midway through the polarizing seventh season of the show, after another female deckhand quit. She says she joined for a little bit of redemption after her portrayal from the previous season. Things didn't fare much better, as the season was marked mostly by a vocal division between the men and women on board. After the window incident involving Pienaar, Gerber was glad the scene played out for viewers to see. "It was his true personality."

BravoGetty Images

Now in its eighth year, there are signs the franchise's popularity might soon wane. In the last year, both Below Deck and Below Deck: Med have lost their resident chief stews, Chastain and Hannah Ferrier, both of whom in the past have claimed issues of sexism while working with male crew members on the show. (Its second spinoff, Sailing Yacht, was polarizing and may have also tipped the scales as to how and if the show will continue to expand.)

And so, likely bowing to the pressures of staying both popular and progressive, the show has apparently tried to make up for its rocky past. The latest season of Below Deck: Med features the first female bosun in the series' history, Malia White, who appeared in the show's second season. Unlike Below Deck, Med also has a female captain, Sandy Yawn. Still, the series can't seem to get a handle on its gender problem.

In July, crew member Peter Hunziker (who was fired from the show in July for posting an image of a Black woman in chains on his personal Facebook) was reprimanded for sexualizing conversations with another crew member, Bugsy Drake. Drake brought the issue to Yawn, who later reprimanded Hunziker. "It's not okay in the world, much less on a boat," she told him.

"He saw women as an object and he treated them like that," says Gerber of the new season. "If he called me 'sweetie,' I probably would've taken his sunglasses and shoved them up his ass."

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Sexism on Bravo's Below Deck: Rhylee Gerber and Lauren Cohen Tell All - Men's Health

We've got another four-game slate of playoff games tipping off Thursday night! Can the Lakers and Bucks bounce back from their opening game defeats? Meanwhile, the Pacers and Thunder look to level their first round series'. We've got you covered with a look ahead at what's at stake in each matchup.

It's been an exciting start to the 2020 postseason, with no shortage of surprise results.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers' opening game defeats marked the first time since 2003 that both no.1 seeds have lost their opening first-round games.

Day 4 features another four-game slate, with the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat both looking to go up 2-0 in their respective series'. We've got you covered with a rundown of the day's games and what's at stake in each matchup:

All win probabilities are per FiveThirtyEight's NBA Predictions model. All times in IST.

Win probability: Heat 59%

Despite their Game 1 loss, the Pacers will take plenty of confidence into Game 2. Already without All-Star Domantas Sabonis and after Victor Oladipo exited the game in the first quarter with an eye injury, they were still in the game late in the fourth quarter.

Oladipo was officially listed as questionable for Game 2 on the injury report, with the Pacers optimistic he will make it back to help them try and level the series.

The Heat will need another big game from Jimmy Butler, who took over down the stretch in Game 1, scoring 10 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Win probability: Rockets 68%

Expect another big performance from James Harden as the Rockets will be without Russell Westbrook again for Game 2 (right quad strain).

OKC will be looking for their three-guard lineup to come out aggressively in Game 2 after they struggled to get going in their opening defeat. The trio of Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander combined for just 35 points in Game 1, 20 of which came from Paul.

The Rockets outscored the Thunder 44-38 in the paint, doing their best to keep big man Steven Adams out of the paint on both ends, but will they be able to neutralise the Thunder's size advantage two games in a row?

Win probability: Bucks 79%

The Bucks suffered an upset loss in Game 1, thanks to a well-oiled defensive effort from the Magic. Orlando limited Milwaukee's transition buckets (10 points) and punished their turnovers, creating 25 points.

Will they be able to bring that same defensive intensity in Game 2?

The Bucks will be looking for Khris Middleton to create more scoring after the All-Star managed just 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-6 from three. As a team, the Bucks converted 14 of their 42 attempts from beyond the arc.

Aaron Gordon, who missed Game 1 (strained left hamstring) has been listed as questionable for Game 2, while Michael Carter-Williams (strained tendon, left foot) remains doubtful.

Win probability: Lakers 74%

Can the Blazers go up 2-0 on the no.1 seed Lakers?

They will take plenty of confidence from Game 1 after they held the Lakers to just 93 points, and all eyes will be on Damian Lillard, who continued his scorching form in the bubble with 34 points.

The Blazers will be without Zach Collins for Game 2, with the big man set to be re-evaluated in a week. Collins underwent a follow-up MRI and was diagnosed with a stress reaction injury in his left ankle.

Meanwhile, the Lakers find themselves in unexpected territory, down 1-0 against the Blazers and will look to bounce back after a rough shooting night. They hit just 5-of-32 from the 3-point line in Game 1.

Anthony Davis struggled from the field, shooting 8-of-24 on in the loss and Lakers will need him at his best against the Blazers' big frontline in Game 2.

Rajon Rondo was upgraded to 'questionable' for Game 2, per ESPN after missing five-and-a-half weeks with a fractured thumb in his right hand.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs.

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NBA Playoffs 2020: Previewing the four-game slate on deck for Day 4 of the postseason - NBA IN