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Congressional Democrats and Republicans broadly agree chokeholds should be prohibited in most circumstances, but differ over shielding police from lawsuits and the federal governments role overseeing police departments.

At stake in negotiations over legislation are legal changes to address public demands raised during weeks of unrest following the death of George Floyd.

A policing overhaul bill will transform the culture of policing to address systemic racism by holding police accountable and increasing transparency, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement yesterday. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) called on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring the House Democrats bill to the Senate floor.

The House measure, introduced June 8, is going nowhere in the Senate because it is just another attempt to federalize every issue in front of Congress, McConnell told reporters yesterday.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will introduce the Senate GOPs own bill this morning at 9:30 a.m. The measure is expected to address choke-holds, no-knock warrants, and how to prevent officers fired for misconduct from getting rehired by other police forces. The legislation is likely to include some of the priorities President Donald Trump stressed in an executive order signed yesterday.

McConnell left it up to Democrats how to proceed on the Republican bill, which would require at least 60 votes to pass the Senate.

They could either shoot it down as insufficient or be willing to take the risk to go to the bill and see what changes, if any, we can all agree to in order to get to 60, he said. Shaun Courtney has the latest.

Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/CNP/Bloomberg

Scott attends Trumps signing of an executive order on policing at the White House on Tuesday.

Black Soldiers More Likely to Face Discipline: The U.S. military has failed to examine causes that lead Black servicemembers more likely to be investigated or face military justice and disciplinary action than their White counterparts, the governments top watchdog, lawmakers, and representatives of military services said. The Air Force alone has found that Black airmen were likelier than Whites to be subject to courts-martial and nonjudicial punishment from fiscal 2013 through 2017, the Government Accountability Offices Brenda Farrell told the House Armed Services personnel panel. Roxana Tiron has more.

Trillions in Stimulus Go Unchecked: The U.S. has spent more than half of $3 trillion in economic rescue funds passed by Congress with little of the oversight intended to ensure the money goes to the right places.

Three new oversight bodies are barely functional: A special inspector general was only recently sworn in, a congressional panel still lacks a chairman and staff, and President Donald Trump quickly removed the official who was going to lead a separate accountability committee. At the same time, about $2 trillion in stimulus money has already been distributed, according to an estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group focused on fiscal policy.

The sheer size of the pandemic response means theres a wide swath of issues to investigate. But mistrust in Washington is so deep that the oversight groups investigations are already mired in politics. Leaders of both parties have failed to agree on a chairman to lead the congressional oversight panel. And Democrats are already voicing concerns on whether Trumps hand-picked special inspector general for the stimulus can be independent from his former boss. Read more from Laura Davison.

U.S. Plans a Reset of WTO Tariff Commitments: Trumps trade chief, Robert Lighthizer, will tell U.S. lawmakers today the time has come to renegotiate Americas fundamental tariff commitment at the World Trade Organization. Currently, outdated tariff determinations are locked in place that no longer reflect members policy choices and economic conditions, Lighthizer said in prepared remarks for the Senate Finance Committee starting at 3 p.m. Hes scheduled to testify earlier in the day to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Many countries with large and developed economies maintain very high bound tariff rates, far above those levied by the United States, the trade representative said. The United States must ensure that tariffs reflect current economic realities to protect our exporters and workers. Read more from Bryce Baschuk.

Trump Nominee Vows to Back Objective Science in Consumer Job: Trumps nominee to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission promised senators yesterday to champion policies supported by objective and transparent science, but Democrats accused her of doing the opposite in her work as a chemical industry lobbyist and at the EPA. Nancy Beck, a toxicologist and former chemical industry executive and lobbyist, in 2017 was named principal deputy assistant administrator for the EPAs Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which oversees chemical regulations. Beck is currently detailed to the White House, where she reviews EPA chemical regulations. Read more from Adam Allington.

FTC Scrutiny of Google Sought Over Scams: Two Democratic lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission to probe Google over online ads that perpetuate alleged frauds regarding stimulus aid checks of up to $1,200. While advertisers bear the primary legal responsibility for deceptive ads, Google should also face scrutiny over the continued failure to address the known problem of fraudulent actions, wrote Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in a letter to the agency. Read more from Ben Brody and Rebecca Kern.

Targeted Relief Urged for Clean Energy: Renewable energy backers called on Congress to make the fourth time a charm by ensuring that relief to wind, solar, and energy efficiency, which was lacking in the first three coronavirus recovery packages, makes it into the next one. The coronavirus deep impact on the U.S. energy sector, which has lost 1.3 million jobs, was the focus of dueling hearings in the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Energy and Natural Resources committees yesterday. Read more from Dean Scott and Kellie Lunney.

Pompeo Urged to Boost Support for Yemen Peace: A bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to pressure Saudi Arabia and Yemens president to accept a UN envoys push for a broad cease-fire and move toward political negotiations to end the conflict. In a letter to Pompeo yesterday, the nine senators said the U.S. is uniquely positioned to bring together all sides for talks given its influence with Saudi Arabia, where Yemen leader Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is now based. Read more from Nick Wadhams.

Partisan Gap Could Limit U.S. Recovery: Democrats and Republicans hold starkly diverging views of the U.S. economy and the gap is widening as the pandemic persists, casting a shadow over Trumps hopes for a V-shaped recovery powered by pent-up demand as nationwide lockdowns ease.

One closely watched metric, the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, reveals the political divide over the economy. Overall, the index rebounded from 72.3 in March to 78.9 in May on the strength of better-than-expected May jobs numbers. But it only ticked up 0.7 points for Democrats while surging 11 points for Republicans. That gulf could expand as Election Day approaches and political sentiment becomes more entrenched closer to the vote. Read more from Gregory Korte.

Kaplan Says U.S. Recovery Faces Risks: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said its possible the U.S. economy recovers faster than expected, but the performance will depend on public health. Theres downside risk to the recovery and theres upside, Kaplan said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Televisions Kathleen Hays. Which one will prevail is going to have less to do with monetary and fiscal policy and a lot more to do with how effectively we execute the healthcare policies. How well we do that will determine how fast we grow, he said. But theres certainly an upside case. Read more from Catarina Saraiva.

Feds Jobs, Inflation Mandates Blur 70s Law Aimed at Inequality: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is testifying before Congress this week in hearings mandated by a 1978 law that was meant to prevent mass joblessness and dissolve racial inequality. Neither has happened. The Humphrey-Hawkins Act is instead mostly known for giving the U.S. central bank its dual mandate of maintaining full employment and price stability. But the legislation, championed by the late Rep. Augustus Hawkins (D-Calif.), was originally conceived as a great equalizer, one that would carry forward the legacy of the civil rights movement by ensuring that every American who wanted a job would be able to have one.

Four decades of ever-widening inequality later, a pandemic that has induced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is shining a spotlight on problems with how the legislation was implemented and the lack of political will to correct it. Read more from Matthew Boesler.

Study Finds Trump Tax Break Fails to Deliver for Communities: Trump recently highlighted the opportunity zone tax breaks he signed into law in late 2017 as a reason his administration has done more for the Black Community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.

A new analysis by the left-leaning Urban Institute questions if the program is meeting its goal of spurring development and creating jobs in undercapitalized communities, many of which of are majority Black. It was sobering for us in terms of how hard it is to do impact projects under the program, said researcher Brett Theodos, one of the authors of the study. Its not impossible, but its harder than it might seem, and certainly than it should be, for a program purporting to help neighborhoods. Read more from Noah Buhayar.

Oklahoma Says Rally Goers Will Face Risk: People who plan to attend Trumps campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday should get tested for the coronavirus before the event and consider getting tested afterwards, Oklahoma State Health Department Commissioner Lance Frye said in a statement yesterday. Attendees should follow public health guidance including wearing cloth face coverings and those in vulnerable groups and age 65 and older should stay home, Frye said in the statement, Elizabeth Elkin reports.

Trump Campaign Asks Donors to Convention With $1M Package: Trumps presidential campaign is enticing big-spending donors to the Republican Partys convention in August by offering packages that cost almost $1.2 million dollars per couple. Trump Victory, the joint effort of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, sent out invitations Tuesday with details of the perks available at the convention in Jacksonville, Florida, from Aug. 24-27. The invitations, obtained by Bloomberg News, offer various tiers of support, all with different levels of access to Trump as well as RNC and campaign officials. Read more from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.

Biden Ties Climate Change to Racial Equality: Democratic nominee Joe Biden linked climate change and pollution to the struggle against racial inequality, vowing to fight as president for environmental justice. In remarks yesterday webcast by the League of Conservation Voters, Biden said he would defend communities of color where people, in fact, tend to be victims of being put in spots where the water is not clean, the air you cant breath.

Climate change is not just an environmental issue, Biden told the environmental group, which has endorsed him. They now look at it as a health issue and a jobs issue and an equity issue.

Poor people and people of color often face higher exposure to pollutants, according to the American Lung Association. Pollution sources tend to be located near disadvantaged communities, increasing exposure. Read more from Ari Natter.

Facebook Wants to Register 4M Voters: Mark Zuckerberg hopes Facebooks social networks will spur 4 million Americans to sign up as new voters before the 2020 U.S. election, double the number the company claims to have helped register before the 2016 election and 2018 U.S. midterms. Voting is voice. Its the single most powerful expression of democracy, the best way to hold our leaders accountable, and how we address many of the issues our country is grappling with, Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive officer, wrote in an op-ed published yesterday by USA Today. I believe Facebook has a responsibility not just to prevent voter suppression which disproportionately targets people of color but to actively support well-informed voter engagement, registration, and turnout. Read more from Kurt Wagner.

Trump Signs Suicide Bill, VA Spending Bill: Trump yesterday signed into law a pair of measures, according to a statement: S. 2746, which establishes the Law Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program to collect data on the suicides and suicide attempts of federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement, and S. 3414, which authorizes $2.27 billion in medical facility construction projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

U.S. Sues to Block Boltons Tell-All Book: The U.S. government sued to block the publication of a tell-all book by former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who claims Trump was willing to endanger the nation in order to be re-elected. Boltons book The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir is due out on June 23 and has been touted by publisher Simon & Schuster as the book Donald Trump doesnt want you to read. Read more from Erik Larson and David Yaffe-Bellany.

U.S. Backs Trump Aide for Latin America Bank: Trumps administration plans to nominate a U.S. adviser to head the top development bank for Latin America, seeking to break the organizations six-decade tradition of choosing a chief from the region. The Treasury Department says it is backing Mauricio Claver-Carone, senior director of the National Security Council for Western Hemisphere Affairs, to head the Inter-American Development Bank. Ben Bartenstein and Eric Martin have more.

South Korea Warns Kim Jong Un Against Provocations: South Korea warned North Korea against further provocations, after Kim Jong Uns regime pledged to dismantle the last remnants of President Moon Jae-ins legacy of rapprochement and move troops into disarmed border areas. Jihye Lee and Shinhye Kang have more.

To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary Sherwood in Washington at zsherwood@bgov.com; Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com; Loren Duggan at lduggan@bgov.com; Michaela Ross at mross@bgov.com

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What to Know in Washington: Lawmakers at Odds on Policing Revamp - Bloomberg Government

Tim Hortons is making a very big expansion onto SkyTrain with the opening of three new retail locations inside stations this year.

TransLink told Daily Hive Urbanized the fast-food restaurant chains new locations are at Rupert Station, Stadium-Chinatown Station, and Surrey Central Station.

The Rupert Station restaurant is located within a 524-sq-ft space inside the station, but just before the fare gates, outside the fare paid zone. This location opened earlier this month.

A 320-sq-ft location opening at Stadium-Chinatown Station will be situated after the fare gates, inside the fare paid zone just across from the recently opened Boba Boy, which occupies the 450-sq-ft retail formerly used by Waves Coffee.

Tim Hortons being built inside Stadium-Chinatown Station. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Additionally, the location inside Surrey Central Station occupies an 850-sq-ft retail unit within the2019-built, $24 million station expansion project. This Tim Hortons will be accessible from the street, outside of the fare paid zone.

Both of the locations at Stadium-Chinatown Station and Surrey Central Station will open sometime later this summer.

Tim Hortons being built inside Surrey Central Station. (@Channel_Juan_11/ Twitter)

Given the extenuating circumstances with the recent severe drop in ridership, the public transit authority says it has offered rent deferral to tenants of its in-station retail program, depending on their particular financial circumstances. Several businesses closed at the start of the crisis, but they have since reopened and implemented health safety measures.

SkyTrains Expo and Millennium lines typically see 359,000 average daily boardings combined, but at the peak of the crisis in earl April ridership dropped to just 65,000 per weekday.

According to TransLinks statistics for 2018, Rupert Station saw 4,300 average weekday boardings, Stadium-Chinatown Station saw 17,200, and Surrey Central Station saw 13,100.

Layout of the retail units inside Stadium-Chinatown Stations west concourse, with the Tim Hortons unit (left) and Boba Boy unit (right) shown. (Sitings / TransLink)

Retail units that are located not only within high-traffic stations but also before the fare gates outside the fare paid zone with general public access and visibility typically see far greater success and longevity.

The Tim Hortons expansion is the largest single chain addition to SkyTrains retail offerings since 2009, when Jugo Juice opened four locations inside the Canada Lines underground stations in Vancouver. Some of these Jugo Juice locations inside the fare paid zone were short-lived, with the franchise owners pursuing legal action against the Canada Lines private operator, SNC Lavalins ProTrans BC.

And in early 2019, the INS Market convenience store tucked away deep inside the fare paid zone of Yaletown-Round Station was forcibly shuttered, after less than a year of business and just weeks after escalator construction began in front of the stores entrance. Legal letters posted on the window of the closed store stated the franchisees missed two consecutive monthly rent payments.

Artistic rendering of the now-completed Surrey Central Station expansion, showing the location of the new retail unit for Tim Hortons. (Sitings / TransLink)

In recent years, TransLink has opened new retail locations with a two-pronged approach of utilizing existing void spaces within stations and adding purpose-built retail spaces during extensive station renovation projects.

The 2016-completed renovation and expansion of Main Street-Science World included a particularly large retail component of approximately 2,000 sq ft of combined retail space, with Tim Hortons and A&W occupying the west entrance units and Starbucks taking over the east entrance unit.

Prior to the health crisis, with the opening of these Tim Hortons locations, the public transit authority had budgeted $940,000 in revenue from its in-station retail program for 2020 up from $800,000 in 2018, and $500,000 in 2017.

TransLink had also originally budgeted $1 million in annual retail revenue by 2022, when its retail floor area will grow to 17,000 sq ft up from 10,000 sq ft in 2017.

In addition to revenue, the retail units provide TransLink with a manned presence that can help improve passenger safety, based on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Principles.

Commercial real estate listings also show TransLink is actively attempting to lease a 350-sq-ft retail unit at Gilmore Station, and 190-sq-ft and 352-sq-ft retail units at Holdom Station. The retail units inside both of these stations are located in the fare paid zone.

Available retail units inside Holdom Station. (Sitings)

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New Tim Hortons locations opening inside three SkyTrain stations | Dished - Daily Hive

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The King Fahd Causeway Authority (KFCA) has announced the completion of a new development project which will increase the bridges passenger capacity by 45 per cent.

Following the suspension of passenger travel in March, major renovation works have been completed including the introduction of new gates on the Saudi side and dedicated e-Payment lanes to facilitate processing of the bridge toll on both sides.

The project comes as a part of efforts aimed at increasing the capacity of the causeway that connects the two Kingdoms and bears considerable economic importance for both countries, particularly for their tourism sectors. Analysis of tourism data for 2019 shows that Bahrain welcomed 11.1 million visitors last year, of which 9.7 million (88 per cent) arrived via the King Fahd Causeway.

It was recently announced that Bahrain Customs has installed high-tech artificial intelligence scanners at the King Fahd Causeway, automating data collection and allowing shipment inspections to take place before reaching the border. This has greatly increased both the speed and capacity for processing as demonstrated by a 15 per cent growth in trade between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of this year.

King Fahd Causeway was opened in 1986, and today it is one of the busiest land border crossings in the Middle East with an estimated 390 million passengers having used the bridge since its opening. In spite of the global spread of coronavirus, the commercial shipping of necessary goods across King Fahd Causeway has continued.

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King Fahd Causeway capacity increased by 45% ahead of... - Construction Business News

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - US retail sales likely experienced a record rise in May as 2.5 million Americans went back to work, although any rebound will retrace only a fraction of the historic drops in March and April amid the coronavirus lockdowns.

The monthly report, due to be released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday (June 16), is expected to show overall receipts at US retailers jumped 8 per cent last month, according to a Reuters poll of economists. That would exceed the previous record increase of 6.7 per cent in October 2001 as Americans resumed spending following what was then a record pullback in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

While certainly an eye-catching bounce, it would retrace only about a quarter of the sales drop registered in the record back-to-back declines in the two previous months when widespread stay-at-home orders were imposed to stop the spread of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Sales in April fell 16.4 per cent after tumbling 8.3 per cent in March.

The US economy dropped into recession in February as the viral outbreak brought a record-long expansion to an abrupt end.

Employment fell by about 22 million in March and April, but payrolls rose unexpectedly in May by just over 2.5 million, supporting the thesis that consumer spending could be recovering and that the worst of the downturn might have passed.

"Given the bounce in job growth in May and the fact that some state economies started to re-open in the second half of the month, it's reasonable to expect that spending partially rebounded in May," NatWest economists Michelle Girard and Kevin Cummins wrote in a note to clients.

The likely sales rebound was probably led by strong auto sales as the relaxing of lockdowns across the country allowed car dealership showrooms to reopen. May's sales rate climbed above 12 million vehicles per year after dropping below 9 million in April, according to Wards Intelligence.

Gasoline prices also have stabilised, which likely helped support a retail sales recovery last month. Excluding gas and autos, sales had dropped 16.2 per cent in April.

The closely watched "retail control" figure, which further backs out building materials and food services in addition to excluding gas and automotive-related sales and most closely tracks the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, is expected to have risen 4.7 per cent, according to the Reuters poll. That, too, would be the largest increase since the government began tracking it in 1992.

"For what it's worth, chain store reports for May suggested some hints of a turnaround," the NatWest economists said, citing commentary from the weekly Johnson Redbook retail sales report that pointed to a pick-up in seasonal merchandise as more states reopened and the weather warmed.

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US expected to report record rise in monthly retail sales for May - The Straits Times

JSE listed diversified real estate investment trust Redefine Properties (JSE: RDF) along with equity partners Madison International Realty and Griffin Real Estate in European Logistics Investment BV and in joint venture with its strategic development partner Panattoni Europe.

Will commence construction on a 50 000 sqm build-to-suit (BTS) manufacturing and warehouse facility for Weber-Stephen Products in Zabrze within the Upper Silesian metropolitan area in Poland.

Weber is a privately held US manufacturer of charcoal, gas and electric outdoor grills and related accessories.

The building is planned with over 5 000 sqm earmarked for office space. The site is provisioned for an additional 30 000 sqm if Webers growth exceeds expectations.

The project will be Webers first manufacturing facility in Europe and when complete will employ approximately 450 people. The construction will begin in August 2020 and will be ready for occupation during the second half of 2021. The BTS facility will serve as Webers primary distribution operation for Europe, Asia and Africa.

Zabrzes proximity to three international airports (Katowice, Krakow, Ostrava) and easy access to the A1 motorway (Gdask d Czechia Austria), and the intersection of the A1 and A4 (Germany Wrocaw Krakow) serve Webers interests well.

The logistics real estate sector is proving to be more resilient than other real estate classes during Covid-19. According to Savills, the pandemic has had no significant impact on occupier demand in Poland in the first quarter of the year. The leasing volumes during Q1 2020 have been on a par with the same period last year (1.1 million sqm) with a notable increase in demand for temporary space.

Polands total warehouse and the industrial stock reached 19.0 million sqm at the end of March 2020, with the largest markets being Warsaw (4.4 million sqm), Upper Silesia (3.2 million sqm) and Central Poland (3.1 million sqm).

According to Andrew Konig, CEO, Redefine Properties, the coronavirus pandemic is expected to intensify the demand for warehousing as supply chains are restructured and to meet the growth in online spending. The growth in e-commerce is benefitting logistics especially the development of last mile delivery facilities.

Our strategy in Poland is centred around creating a leading logistics platform and Zabrze located in Upper Silesia, one of the most attractive logistics locations in the country was a natural choice for Weber, says Pieter Prinsloo, CEO of Redefine Europe.

The sustained investments in improving road infrastructure has enabled easy access to other parts of the country, as well as to the rest of Europe making Upper Silesia a popular region among international companies looking for high-quality warehouses in good locations. The facility to be developed in Zabrze is our next investment in the region, following the development of the warehouses and logistic parks located in Ruda lska, Sosnowiec and Bielsko-Biaa.

ELIs portfolio includes 16 assets with a total gross lettable area of circa 480 000 sqm and approximately 120 000 sqm under construction. In the next three to four years, ELI plans to expand by about 2 million sqm through development activity.

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Redefine's European logistics platform set to expand its footprint in Poland - eProp.co.za

Published 17 June 2020

Inverness city centre is set to receive an affordable housing boost after plans to redevelop the former Arnotts building in Union Street were given the green light.

The long-empty B-listed store, which was also a House of Fraser, will be turned into a mix of two and three-bed apartments with retail space on the ground floor.

Properties at 33-41 Baron Taylors Street will also be redesigned with shopfronts facing onto the street offering opportunities for new bars, cafs and restaurants.

Edinburgh-based developer Swilken Estates expressed its delight at the approval.

A spokesman said: This is fantastic news for Inverness. The development is due to provide 53 affordable houses and a further six new high street shops.

We also expect to create at least 140 local jobs during construction and support a wider regeneration of Union Street and the surrounding area.

Our priority now is to continue to work with the council to implement the plans we had in place before the onset of COVID-19 as soon as possible and try and make up for the lost time due to the delay to planning consent.

We are delighted to be making this investment in the town centre and to be supporting the creation of affordable housing and good quality commercial space to support the retail sector in Inverness.

Stewart Nicol, chief executive of the Inverness Chamber of Commerce, said the investment would be invaluable.

He added: It is superb news, my understanding is that it is a 15 million investment and that is coming from the private sector that is a massive injection of money into the city centre.

It is coming post-COVID so I am hopeful that having had the project approved the developers and the construction guys would be able to do a lot of the preliminary work so when they are given the green light they are ready to go.

I think the other aspect to that is the house building construction has been particularly badly hit so that is good news all round.

I understand that is mainly affordable housing so it helps get people on the housing ladder and it helps get people in and around the city centre spending their money and leading their lives.

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Housing and retail plan approved for Inverness city centre - Scottish Construction Now

The communitys trees are important, and many that have been taken down due to the Emerald Ash Borer are currently being replaced.

About five more trees (that are not ash) on the north end of Riverview Park will come down that are dead and deceased. The goal is to plant more diversified trees suitable for the park in both the north and south areas of the park.

The efforts over the next three to five years will have a lasting imprint for the next 30 to 50 years.

Year to date, Nearly 200 trees were taken down and removed, City and private, due to the emerald ash borer. The City recently sent out another 50 letters informing citizens of ash trees still existing in their yard. The City would like to thank those property owners for being responsible and taking on the financial burden to have their dead and diseased trees removed. Dead trees can pose serious harm and at the property owners expense should they fall on a pedestrian or vehicle along with falling on power lines and causing power outages.

The Tree Board Commission volunteers Don Cummings, Bill Sieverding, and Warren Crouch continue to work hard and volunteer their time to help identify ash trees and other dead trees in the city limits along with being a valuable resource to homeowners. They have walked and driven the whole town a handful of times to locate and identify all public and private ash trees, making observations from the sidewalk and street.

The Tree Board continues to hear many compliments from arborists and tree nursey owners regarding the City and property owners efforts in being proactive and taking EAB serious. Many towns and property owners are not aware of the issue, have no plan, and have not taken any action to stay ahead of the game.

Under Chapter 6-13-9 of the City Code, the following is stated for Private Tree Maintenance:

The City shall have the right to cause the removal of any dead or diseased tree(s) on private property within the City when such tree(s) constitute a hazard to life and property or harbor insects or disease which constitute a potential threat to other trees or property within the City.

The City shall notify in writing the owners of such trees. Removal shall be done by said owners at their own expense within sixty (60) days after the date of service notice.

In the event of failure of owners to comply with such provisions, the City shall have the authority to remove such tree(s) and receive full reimbursement from the property owner or charge such expense on the owners property tax notice.

Call City Hall at 872-4456 to arrange a meeting with a Tree Board Commissioner. If you have questions about a possible dead or diseased tree, what type of tree to plant, tree care, etc they can help you.

The City also has a new tree guide brochure available for citizens as we are encouraging tree variety. (Part of that brochure, showing the kinds of trees already planted, are pcitured on this page with a number key). This brochure identifies ten different trees along with providing some reminders when planting.

The City has seen an increase in the popular Autumn Blaze Maple tree and hopes the new tree brochure will help show property owners other attractive and appealing tree varieties.

The Bellevue Municipal Utilities also has a tree rebate program for newly planted trees that provide energy efficiently, reimbursement of 50 percent or up to a maximum of $200 per year.

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The Trees of Bellevue | News - bellevueheraldleader.com

MARIANNA, Fla. (WMBB) The Street Philosophy Institute created a petition last week calling for the removal of the Claude Neal tree located in front of the Jackson County Courthouse.

The particular tree being called for removal is the tree where the SPI believes the public lynching of Claude Neal took place back in 1934.

The night before Neal was lynched, he was arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a 19-year-old white woman named Lola Cannady. A group of six men who called themselves the committee of six publicly lynched him and hung him from a tree in front of the Jackson County Courthouse.

Darien Pollock, the founder of the Street Philosophy Institute, originally created the petition to see how many people would sign it. In just two days, the petition received 3,000 signatures according to Pollock. Now, the petition has over 6,000 signatures.

It is not the first time that the trees on the courthouse square have become a topic of discussion, said Wilanne Daniels, Jackson County administrator.

SPI requested their proposal for the removal of the tree be added to next Tuesdays County Commission meeting.

Pollock isnt surprised by the amount of signatures the petition has received because he feels like since the death of George Floyd, the consciousness is prime for the petition because a majority of people have turned their focus toward racial injustices.

The NAACP chapter of Jackson County made their own statement in regards to the petition. The chapter has said they stand with the descendants of Claude Neal and take the position of the Claude Neal tree being preserved and not cut down. The chapter feels the tree can be used as a visual to teach the good and the bad history of Jackson County.

Pollock was disappointed in the chapters response.

So having a lynching tree, is just as much of a symbol of hate, something that we know, we verified that, as a confederate statue, said Pollock. I see no difference.

The proposal for the removal of the Claude Lynch tree is on the meeting agenda for next Tuesdays County Commission meeting. For more information on the next meeting, head to the Jackson County Commissions website.For the full press release from the Jackson County chapter of the NAACP, click the link below.

Link:
Local group starts petition calling for the removal of lynching tree - WMBB - mypanhandle.com

May 16, 1963 - June 13, 2020 Margaret Dana Mayo Houtman, of Lynchburg, Va., died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, June 13, 2020, after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Dana was predeceased in death by her father, John J. Mayo Jr. She is survived by her mother, Dorsey Davidson Mayo; her brother, John J. Mayo III (Rozita); and her sister, Katherine Mayo Earls (Robert). She is also survived by her beloved nieces and nephews, Alison Gail Mayo, Ian Johnson Mayo, Milan Kozar Mayo, Charlie Kozar Mayo, Emily Katherine Earls, and Alex Cole Earls. Dana was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1963 and lived in Peabody and Lynnfield, Massachusetts before moving to Lynchburg in 1971. She graduated from E.C. Glass High School in 1981 and from University of Virginia in 1985 where she received a B.A. in Religious Studies. She also received a B.S. in Accounting from University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies in Falls Church, Va. in 2004. She worked in Northern Virginia for many years in the accounting field. Dana went on a missionary trip to Belgium during the summer of 1984 with an international group of students and she was invaluable to the group since she was fluent in French. Dana was very involved in her local church and in volunteer work with a local monastery in Northern Virginia as a young adult. In 2014, she graduated from Education For Ministry, an educational and theological four-year course sponsored by the Episcopal Church. Dana was a kind and gentle soul and will be dearly missed by her family and friends. There will be a celebration of life service in the fall or in 2021. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. John's Episcopal Church, 200 Boston Ave., Lynchburg, VA 24503, or to Centra Hospice, 2097 Langhorne Road, Lynchburg, VA 24501. The family would like to thank the Centra Hospice team for their invaluable care. Diuguid Funeral Service & Crematory, Wiggington Road Chapel, 385-8900, is serving the family. On-line condolences may be sent to http://www.diuguidfuneralservice.com. Diuguid Funeral Service & Crematory-Wiggington Road Chapel 811 Wiggington Rd. Lynchburg, VA 24502

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newsadvance.com: Obituaries published June 17 | News - Lynchburg News and Advance

A woman is worried about the security in her home.

A woman is worried about the security in her home.

Photo: RapidEye, Getty Images

A woman is worried about the security in her home.

A woman is worried about the security in her home.

Dear Abby: Take over security responsibilities

DEAR ABBY: My husband has a bad habit of forgetting to lock up our house at night when he's the last one to come to bed. On nine occasions I have gone downstairs after he's in bed or awakened in the morning to find our sliding patio door or a garage door unlocked.

I cannot understand why this isn't a priority for him. If I'm the last one to come up for the night, I make sure each door is locked, lights are off, etc. It takes me less than a minute. We live in a suburb, and while our neighborhood is relatively safe and quiet, I'm not naive. I realize anything can happen anywhere.

We have two large dogs, but I have no idea how they'd react to an intruder. Frankly, I don't want to find out the hard way. The most frustrating thing about this is, when I try to talk to him about it the next day, he blows it off and says our dogs would never let anyone get far, or he makes a joke about it. I've tried many different approaches, from being calm and sweet to solutions-focused: "How can I help you remember?"

Recently, likely because I'm 37 weeks pregnant with our second child, I lost it and chewed him out after I waddled out of bed to go downstairs and found our sliding door unlocked. It didn't work very well.

I'm at my wits' end. It was one thing when it was just the two of us, but now we're about to have two kids under 2, and I get furious thinking he could be putting all of us in danger. He has taken no responsibility or steps toward fixing this.

I have now reached the conclusion that when I'm home, I must be the one who assumes the responsibility of ensuring our home is secure before we go to bed. But what if I fall asleep early or if I have to travel for work? Any ideas on how to address this with him?

Losing sleep over this

DEAR LOSING: You have already addressed this with your husband. That he is so careless about the safety of his wife and children is shocking. He appears to be very immature.

Because he seems incapable of assuming any responsibility for locking up, you are going to have to do it. There are high-tech ways to remotely lock doors from afar, and you should explore that option.

Also, for your own peace of mind, have a professional dog trainer or other experienced dog person enter your home through the unlocked door while you and your husband are upstairs because, while the dogs might not attack a stranger, they might alert you to the presence of an intruder. I suggest this because many years ago my very tame German shepherd did exactly that.

DEAR ABBY: Due to the coronavirus epidemic, handshaking is no longer being practiced. I have never been a fan of handshaking anyway. In the future, it may be acceptable to forgo handshaking altogether. What will be the best way to avoid it without seeming unfriendly or germophobic?

Resisting in Minnesota

DEAR RESISTING: Try doing what I do. I place both palms together in front of my chest as though praying, smile and greet the person. No one has been offended by it, and it's a common way people greet each other in India.

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Dear Abby: Take over security responsibilities - The Hour - Thehour.com