Transcript

7.22.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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July twenty second, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio
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I is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. Your reader for today is Cindy Fraser.
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Today's front page headlines from The Washington Post are Hamas
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sees its revenue dry up, group unable to pay its fighters,
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replace tunnels and command centers. Next, Harvard argues for free speech,
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pivotal hearing over funding cuts. University says moved by administration
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is illegal. Our next headline grocery stores bare shelves, show
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limits of city led model. Next, Trump's Commander's threat just noise.
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DC leaders say the next headline behind Gaza aid provider
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are for profit US interests. And the final headline from
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today front page. Websites aim to thwart ice, but some
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see risks to agents. So let's turn to our first item,
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entitled Hamas sees its revenue dry up, group unable to
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pay its fighters, replace tunnels and command centers. By Shi
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Rubin and Hazembalusha from Tel Aviv. Hamas is facing its
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worst financial and administrative crisis in its four decade history,
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Facing stiff challenges in mustering the resources it would need
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to continue to fight Israel and rule Gaza. With its
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coffers depleted, Hamas's military wing can no longer adequately pay
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the salaries of its fighters, though it is still able
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to recruit teenage boys from missions like keeping lookout or
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placing explosives among Israeli military route. According to a dead Alam,
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who is a former high level Israeli intelligence officer and
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current israel Defense Forces officers, the group has also been
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unable to replace the well equipped tunnels and underground command
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centers that Israeli forces have destroyed in their bid to
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uproof Hamas. Before he was killed in an airstrike two
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months ago, Hama's military commander, Mohammed Sinwar, had taken refuge
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in a one room hideout thirty feet below a hospital
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in southern Gaza. The spartan bunker was a far cry
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from the vast underground complex that the Israeli military said
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it found earlier in the war farther north, which included spacious,
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white tiled rooms, a blastproof door, mechanical ventilation, and ample
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space to accommodate weapons. Stockpiles. Hamas was not rebuilding their tunnels,
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They're not paying their highly trained fighters. They're only surviving
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Bylam said, Nor can the Hamas administration meet the payroll
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of police and ministry employees in Gaza, where the group
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has been the governing authority since two thousand and seven,
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or continue to pay death benefits to the families of
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fighters killed, according to ailm a local Palestinian policeman and
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two other cousins, Ibrahim Madhun, a Gazen analyst close to Hamas,
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said that the group had not prepared for more than
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a year of war and has been forced to adopt
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austerity measures such as cutting administrative costs and salaries, while
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trying to maintain some basic services, for instance by setting
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up emergency committees that provide basic local services such as
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garbage collection and management of generator fuel, and thus some
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semblance of governing authority to pick up some of the slack,
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Madhun said, Hamas also relies on efforts of the local
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community and the strong social network that helps absorb the shocks.
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Hamas officials did not respond to requests for comment about
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the group's financial health. Hamas and Israel are currently negotiating
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over a possible sixty day seasepire, with Israel seeking to
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ensure that it can maintain pressure on Hamas and the
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militant group looking for a lifeline. All sides say the
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talks are making progress, but an agreement remains elusive. Earlier
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in the war, Hamas relied on taxes imposed on commercial
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shipments and the seizure of humanitarian goods, according to gosams
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and current in former Israeli and foreign officials. According to
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a gosam who has worked at the border playing clothes,
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Hamas personnel routinely took inventory of goods as a Rafa
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crossing until it closed last year, and at the Kirim
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Shalom crossing, though it was under IDEF control. They also
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surveyed warehouses and markets. Most of the Palestinians interviewed for
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this story spoke either on the condition of anonymity or
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that only their first name be used for fear of
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reprisal by Hamas. The United Nations, the European Commission, and
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major international aid organizations have said they have no evidence
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that Hamas has system radically stolen their aid, and the
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Israeli government has not provided proof Hamas profited especially off
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the aid that had cost them nothing, but whose prices
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they hike up, said a Gazam contractor was worked at
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Gaza's border crossings during the war over nearly two years.
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He said he saw Hamas routinely collect twenty thousand shekels
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about six thousand dollars from local merchants, threatening to confiscate
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their trucks if they did not pay. He recalled that
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civil servants for the Hamas led government said several times
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that they would kill him or call him a collaborator
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with Israel if he did not cooperate with their demands
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to divert aid. He said he refused, but he added
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that he knew at least two AID truck drivers who
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he said were killed by Hamas for refusing to pay.
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When Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in March, shortly
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before breaking a two months ceasefire with Hamas, most of
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those shipments came to a Hamas officials did not respond
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to requests for comment about accounts that it has taxed
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or impounded commercial shipments, stolen humanitarian aid, or extorted local businessmen.
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Hamas under pressure. Hamas triggered the devastating war in Gaza
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by attacking Israel on October seventh, twenty twenty three, killing
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some one thousand, two hundred people and taking about two
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hundred and fifty others back into Gaza as hostages. Since then,
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the Israeli military campaign has killed more than fifty eight
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thousand people, mostly women and children, Gazen health authorities say.
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An Israeli military official said Hamas has lost ninety percent
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of its leadership and ninety percent of its weapon stockpiles
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over the course of the conflict. The official spoke on
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the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
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talk to the news media. In the early phase of
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the war, Hamas had rushed to scout cash, cash and
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supplies underground, but those have run short. In March twenty
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twenty four, the Israeli army said that it confiscated more
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than three million dollars from the tunnels beneath Alshifa Hospital
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in northern Gaza, according to a statement in the IDF's
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WhatsApp group, but Hamas has profited off commercial trade and
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humanitarian aid, netting hundreds of millions of dollars. According to
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two Israeli military officials and an Israeli intelligence official, who
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all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive findings.
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For instance, the official said Ramas seized at least fifteen
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percent of some goods like flower and aid vouchers that
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international agencies had intended to provide to hungry gosms. These
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officials said some of that was given to Hamas personnel
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and supporters, while the rest was sold to make money.
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Rahmed Foa Akhatib, a Palestinian American who leads the apathy
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group Realign for Palestine, said that Hamas repeatedly modified its
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strategy of profiting off aid and commerce while counting on
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the humanitarian crisis to bring the war to an end.
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Hamas's strategy relied on the suffering of Gozen, said al Khadid,
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but when this strategy failed, it foolishly doubled down on
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this approach, in large part because it had nothing else
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in its toolbox to deal with these reels ferocious reaction
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to October seventh and the world's inability to stop it.
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Hamas sees aid as its most important currency. Set a
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man from Die Albaras in central Gaza who helped manage
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the distribution of aid, he said that while most of
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the population had to scrape for water and food. People
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affiliated with Hamas had been gifted boxes of aid meant
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for wider distribution. The Idea, citing intelligence, says the aid
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organizations targeted by Hamas have included UN agencies and NGAs.
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The Israeli government has used allegations of widespread Hamas theft
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to justify draconian restrictions on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza and
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to justify bombing A depots. Some far right members of
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the Israeli government have said these restrictions are useful in
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pressuring Hamas into making negotiating concessions and in turning Gaza's
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population against Hamas. Israel has not provided public proof that
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Hamas has systematically stolen ad brought into Gaza under the
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UN system, and despite requests from the Washington Posts to
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officials in the IDEA, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and the
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Prime Minister's office, no evidence has been provided to substantiate
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reports of widespread diversion of UN food A, nor has
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Israel privately presented proof to humanitarian organizations or Western government officials,
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even when they have pressed for evidence. According to interviews
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with more than a dozen eight officials and several current
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and former Western officials. Karlskau, Deputy Executive director for the
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UN's World Food Program, one of the main providers of
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flower in Gaza throughout the war, said in an interview
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that systematic aid diversion by Hamas has not been an
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issue for US so far in the conflict. W f
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P previously reported three instances of looting of its supplies
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during twenty one months of war. We have mitigating measures
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that we have drawn lessons from over the past forty
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years operating in these kinds of complex environments with armed groups,
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he said. We are putting all those mitigating measures in place.
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Officials from several major international aid organizations have also said
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that there has been no systematic diversion of their aid
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by Hamas and that they have robust procedures for tracking
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aid as it enters Gaza and is distributed. An Egyptian
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official briefed on intelligence, however, said that Ramas had indeed
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stolen some of this food. Ache Hamas is trying to
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use the aid to survive. It's happening, said the official,
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who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was
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not authorized to talk to the news media. Pushing for
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the old system. Among the group's demands in negotiations with
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Israel over a new cease fire deal is the reopening
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of Gaza's borders and the surging of humanitarian aid, partly
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to alleviate the severe shortage of food that has turned
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public opinion against Hamas, but also to revive its cash flow,
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said an official familiar with the talks, who spoke on
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the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. One of
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the reasons that Hamas is pushing for a return to
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the old system is that they have guise in all
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of the warehouses, said a Western official, who spoke on
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the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
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talk to the news media. The presence of employees of
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the Gaza government allows Hamas to regular and monitor market activities,
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as well as tax or sees some of the supplies
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at times, said a high level is rarely official. Until
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commercial shipments into Gaza were suspended in October, Hamas taxed
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these imports at the border, and if traders refused, commandeered
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a portion of their trucks and sold their contents to
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Gazen merchants. According to a Gazan economic reporter, he said
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that before the war, fuel and cigarettes were the highest
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taxed and most profitable items for the Hamas government in Gaza,
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adding that revenue data has been difficult to access. A
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Gossen businessman said Hamas had imposed a tax of at
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least twenty percent on many goods, but the group also
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would take control of trucks carrying high demand goods like
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flour which could sell for up to thirty dollars for
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a kilogram, and steel fuel meant for aid groups. Fuel
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supplies had produced high revenue for Hamas during the war,
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with the group both taxing and seizing fuel stored at
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gas stations for sale, set an Israeli military official who
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spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with military protocol.
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In addition to taxing goods, Hamas also made money by
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allowing associated merchants to sell imported staples like sugar and
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flour at inflated prices without fear of being punished for
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price gouget. According to the Idea, which cited an internal
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Hamas document obtained by the military, the Gaza economic reporter,
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who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear
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of retaliation, confirmed that these merchants are allowed to sell
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goods at inflated prices. He said Hamas would at times
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constrain supply on the market by ordering others to withhold
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distribution for several days, thus forcing up prices. When Israel
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resumed the war in March, Haramas sought its revenue tumble
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as imports and aid shipments in the Gaza largely were
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reduced to a trickle. The establishment in May of the
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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a food assistance program backed by the
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US and Israel, whose operations have been overshadowed by the
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repeated fatal shooting of Palestinians seeking aid at its centers,
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has deprived Hamas of earlier revenue. The Israeli military officials
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said mounting repression. As Hamas has come under growing military
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and financial pressures, it has become increasingly repressive in a
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bid to show it is still in control. Gassen's interviewed
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for this story, spoke of growing fear of retribution. In
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videos posted Census Springing on social media by a Hamas
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linked unit formed to Dolau punishments, mass gunmen are shown
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beating up and shooting the legs of men accused of
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stealing aid. Gazen said Hamas is also seeking to intimidate
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those critical of the group. Ess month, for instance, Moa Fekador,
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thirty one, was robbed and brutally beaten by dozens of
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armed Hahmas men after he spoke out publicly against Hamas.
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His brother Mahmud said over WhatsApp. As Hamas adopts harsher policies,
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the group's popularity is falling, said Rami, a forty year
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old employee of the Hamas run government who spoke on
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the condition that only his first name be used out
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of concern for his safety. He said the anger on
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Gaza streets is markedly different from the optimism earlier in
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the conflict, when we believe we are on the brink
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of liberating Palestine or achieving a major victory in the war,
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especially with Hamas and his allies holding about two hundred
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fifty people hostage. Israel's actions are undeniably criminal, but Hamas's
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poor judgment and failure to account for the war's aftermath
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have also contributed significantly to this disaster, Rami said. Belusia
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reported from Hamilton, Ontario, Miriam Berger and Leor Soroca in
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Tel Aviv contributed to this report. Our next item from
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to Day's from page is entitled Harvard argues for free speech.
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Pivotal hearing over funding cuts. University says move by administration
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is legal. By Susan fer Luga, Joanne Slater, and Terrell
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Wright from Boston, attorneys for the nation's oldest university, said
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Monday that the Trump administration's reasons for worthholding billions and
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federal funding were cooked up and unconstitutional. Sparring with a
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government during a key hearing and a legal battle that
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could determine whether the president's a tax on higher education
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will stand. A federal judge heard arguments from a team
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of attorneys for Harvard University and its chapter of the
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American Association of University Professors, and from a lawyer for
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the federal government, peppering them with questions. As Harvard cast
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his arguments as a First Amendment case and the government
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sought to frame it as simply a dispute over money
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and contracts, the hearing marked a pivotal moment in the
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fight between Harvard and the Trump administration. In an unprecedented
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case that is being watched by all of higher education.
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Harvard has challenged the administration's move to slash billions of
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dollars in federal funding, with critical scientific research and the
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autonomy of the nearly four hundred year old university on
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the line. The administration's lawyer said the government froze the
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funding because the school had not done enough to combat
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anti semitism. Both sides had asked the judge to issue
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a ruling in the case without a trial, but U
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S District Judge Alison Burroughs ended the hearing without rendering
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a decision. Burrows acknowledged that both sides won a rapid resolution. Harvard,
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in particular, has pleaded urgency in hopes that the funding
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termination will not become final. Stephen Pilahotski, who argued for Harvard,
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called the government's actions a blatant, unrepentant violation of the
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First Amendment, touching a constitutional third rail that threatened the
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academic freedom of private universities. The loan attorney for the
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government cast the case as a fight over billions of dollars.
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Harvard is here because it wants the money, said Michael Belchek,
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a Justice Department lawyer, But the government can choke the
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flow of taxpayer dollars to institutions that show a deliberate
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indifference to antisemitism, he said. President Donald Trump reacted to
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the hearing Monday afternoon with a post on social media
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about the judge. She is a total disaster, which I
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say even before hearing her ruling. He called Harvard anti Semitic,
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anti Christian, and anti America. How did this Trump heading
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judge get these cases? When she rules against us, we
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will immediately and when also, the government will stop the
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practice of giving many billions of dollars to Harvard, he said.
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Spokespeople for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request
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for comment Monday about the President's remarks. Peed MacDonough, Vice
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President and General Council of American Counselor on Education, said
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all of higher education could be impacted by the case,
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and I don't think it's too dramatic to say that
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Americans and the constitutional protections that they value are in court.
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He said. Freedom of speech is on trial, due process
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is on trial, he said, with the executive branch of
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the government essentially charged with having violated those rights. The
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administration has engaged in intense efforts to force changes in
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higher education, which it has said has been captured by
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leftist ideology and has not an enough to combat anti semitism.
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In the wake of protests at some colleges over the
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Israel CAUs of war, the big as target has been Harvard.
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The administration announced earlier this year that it would review
20:06
nearly nine billion dollars in federal funding to the school
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and its affiliates, including local hospitals whose physicians teach at
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Harvard Medical School. In April, a letter from a federal
20:17
anti semitism task force, alluding to civil rights law, demanded
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that the university upend its governance, hiring, student discipline, and admissions,
20:28
and submit to years long federal oversight over multiple aspects
20:33
of its operations. Harvard refused to comply. Hours later, the
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administration announced it would freeze more than two billion dollars
20:42
in federal research grants to Harvard. It has also launched
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multiple investigations into the Ivy League institution's operations, threatened to
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revoke the school's tax exempt status, and moved to block
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its ability to enroll international students. Harvard filed a lawsuit
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challenging the funding cuts, and later filed another to counter
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the administration's effort to block international students and scholars from Harvard.
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In the latter case, Burroughs twice ruled swiftly in Harvard's favor,
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allowing the university to continue welcoming non US students while
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the case proceeds. On Monday, Harvard's lawyers argued that the
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government violated the school's First Amendment rights and ignored the
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requirements of federal civil rights law, and that his actions
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were unlawfully, arbitrary and capricious. Any claim that Harvard is
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simply interested in getting money back, it's just false, Lahotsky said.
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We're here for our constitutional rights. He called the government's
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actions and and run around Title six of the Civil
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Rights Act, and compared it to the scene in Alice
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in Wonderland, in which the queen orders that the sentence
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comes first and then the verdict afterward, with the funding
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freeze preceding the investigation required statute. The government now says
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the Title six is totally irrelevant, he said, arguing it
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had cooked up a post hawk rationale. Harvard had asked
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the judge to grant a summary judgment, set aside the
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funding freezes and terminations, and block any similar actions as
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soon as possible before September three, after which the university
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believes the government will take the position that restoration of
22:25
the funds is not possible. Felchik, the Justice Department attorney
22:30
himself a Harvard alumnus, defended the government's decisions to slash
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the university's funding in response to what he said was
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its failure to tackle anti Semitism. Harvard does not have
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a monopoly on the truth, he said. Those same funds
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would be better spend going to HBCUs or community colleges.
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The government canceled the grants under an obscure regulation that
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allows it to terminate funding when they no longer align
22:57
with agency priorities. Have read the fine print, Valchik said.
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Although Burroughs pushed both sides to justify their arguments, she
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appeared skeptical of the administration's rationale for the cuts. She
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repeatedly pressed the government on what process it had followed
23:15
in deciding to terminate a major portion of Harvard's federal funding.
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This is a big stumbling blot for me, she said,
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even as she acknowledged the government had argued some of
23:25
its points. Well, a Harvard education is paying off for you,
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she told Valchik. Burroughs noted that the government had apparently
23:34
slashed Harvard's funding without following any established procedure or even
23:39
examining the steps Harvard itself had taken into combat anti semitism.
23:45
If the administration can base its decision on reasons connected
23:48
to protected speech, Burroughs said, the consequences for constitutional law
23:53
are staggering. At one point, Falchek appeared to grow emotional.
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He spoke of out wanting to go to Harvard since
24:01
he was a child, then seeing the campus besieged by protesters,
24:06
and hearing about Jewish students wearing baseball caps to hide
24:09
their caport, a visible sign of their identity. It's sick
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federal taxpayer should not support this, he said. Burroughs also
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spoke about the case in unusually personal terms. I am
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both Jewish and American, she said. Harvard itself has acknowledged
24:26
anti semitism as an issue, she said, But what is
24:30
the connection to cutting off funding to Alzheimer's or cancer research?
24:34
She asked, One could argue it hurts Americans and Jews.
24:39
A complaint by Harvard's chapter of the American Association of
24:42
University Professors against the administration, filed before the university took action,
24:48
is being heard concurrently with Harvard's case. In its court filings,
24:53
the Justice Department urged Burroughs to reject Harvard's requests for
24:57
summary judgment. Summary judgment is a motion in which a
25:01
party in a civil suit asks a judge to decide
25:04
a case before it goes to trial. To win a
25:07
summary judgment, the party filing the motion must show there
25:11
is no genuine dispute over the central facts of the
25:14
case and that it would prevail on the legal merits
25:17
if the case were to go to trial. Harvard supporters
25:21
with Crimson colored shirts, signs, and hats, along with American
25:25
flag pins, crowded around the main entrance of the John
25:28
Joseph Molkley Federal Courthouse Monday afternoon. About one hundred alumni, faculty, staff,
25:35
and students rallied in a joint protests with a Crimson
25:38
Courage alumni group and supporters of the American Association of
25:42
the University Professors Union. What the federal administration is doing
25:47
is basically co opting American values for their own political ends,
25:52
and we are determined to say this is not what
25:55
America is about, said Evelyn J. Kim, a co chair
25:59
of the Crimson Courage communications team, and a nineteen ninety
26:03
five Harvard Graduate America is about the values that allow
26:07
for Harvard to exist. Walter Willet, eighty, a professor of
26:12
epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard's th H. Chan School of
26:16
Public Health, bike to the rally to deliver a speech
26:19
to the group. In May, three point six million dollars
26:23
of National Institutes of Health grant money that fudded will
26:27
It's research on breast cancer and women's and men's health
26:31
was cut. He said, it is critical to push back
26:35
against the administration. Will It said, in this case, our
26:39
basic freedom that we're fighting for is also at stake.
26:44
The stakes are high, and not just for Harvard. More
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than a dozen amicus briefs filed in support of Harvard
26:53
argue that the administration is imperiling academic freedom, the autonomy
26:57
of institutions of higher education, and the decades long research
27:01
partnership between universities and the federal government. Eighteen former officials
27:07
who served in past Democratic and Republican administrations noted in
27:12
a brief that they were aware of no instances in
27:16
more than forty years where federal funds had been terminated
27:20
under Title six. The provision of civil rights law that
27:23
Trump officials have in some cases cited in slashing Harvard's grants.
27:29
The administration received outside support and a brief file by
27:32
the Attorney's General of sixteen states led by Iowa. There
27:37
are apparently three constant truths in American life, death taxes,
27:42
and Harvard University's discrimination against Jews, is said, citing Harvard's
27:46
own internal report on anti Semitism on campus. Harvard has
27:51
taken numerous steps to address antisemitism after protests over the
27:55
israel Gaza of war in the twenty twenty three twenty
27:58
twenty four academic years sparked concerns from some Jewish and
28:03
Israeli students, but the administration has repeatedly said the problem
28:07
persists and must be acted upon forcefully. James McAffrey, twenty two,
28:14
a senior and first generation college student from Oklahoma, co
28:18
chairs of Harvard Students for Freedom, a student group that
28:22
joined the rally Monday to support the school. He said,
28:25
the administration's actions pose a threat to the nation's well being,
28:30
and I think the reality is it's time for us
28:33
to root out the evils of anti Americanism in the
28:36
Trump administration, he said. Justin Juvenal contributed to this report.
28:43
The next item from to Day's front page is entitled
28:46
Grocery stores bare shelves show limits of city led model
28:51
by Annie Gowen from Kansas City, Missouri. It was a
28:55
lone tomato in the produce bin that nearly made Marquita
28:58
Taylor weep she stopped in her neighborhood grocery store, the
29:02
place that was caused for celebration when it opened seven
29:05
years ago. Area residence had long lived without a decent
29:10
supermarket on Kansas City's east side, and Casey Sunfresh was
29:14
a city's attempt to alleviate a lack of access to
29:17
healthy food in its urban center. But the store and
29:21
the city owned strip mall is on the verge of closure.
29:25
Customers say they are increasingly afraid to shop there, even
29:29
with visible police patrols, because of drug dealing, theft, and
29:33
vagrancy both inside and outside the store and the public
29:37
library across the street. Casey Sunfresh lost eight hundred eighty
29:42
five thousand dollars last year and now has only about
29:45
four thousand shoppers a week joppers a week. That's down
29:50
from fourteen thousand a few years ago. According to Emma
29:53
Pearson Junior, who leads Community Builders of Kansas City, the
29:57
nonprofit that leases a site from the city. Despite a
30:01
recent seven hundred fifty thousand dollars cash in fusion from
30:04
the city, the shelves are almost bare. We're in a
30:08
dire situation, Pearson said, as grocery prices continue to climb
30:14
and seven million Americans face losing federal food assistants. More
30:18
cities and states across the country in Illinois, Georgia, and
30:22
Wisconsin or experimenting with a concept of publicly supported grocery
30:27
stores as a way to help provide for low income neighborhoods.
30:31
So On Mundane, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New
30:34
York City, has attracted attention for his campaign pledge to
30:38
combat out of control prices by establishing five city owned
30:42
supermarkets that he says will pass savings on to customers
30:46
by operating without a profit motive. Yet, these experiments, like
30:51
the one in Kansas City, often don't account for a
30:54
social issues that can make success even more challenging. Critics
30:58
say the efforts are unrealistic regardless because grocery stores have
31:03
such slim profit margins and struggle to compete with the
31:06
prices offered by a big box change like wal Mart.
31:10
High profile projects have failed in recent months in Florida
31:13
and Massachusetts. Running a grocery store is a difficult business,
31:18
said Doug Roush, a former Trader Joe's president who founded
31:21
a chain of low cost stores in the Boston area
31:24
that shuttered in May. You can have religion about the mission,
31:28
but if you don't have vast experience and knowledge about
31:31
how to run these operations, you're really going to be
31:34
in trouble. Taylor, sixty eight, has supported the Casey Sunfresh
31:39
since it opened just blocks from her home, but that
31:43
solitary tomato was almost too much to bear. This is pathetic,
31:48
she said, shaking her head as she pushed her cart
31:50
down an aisle. Every neighborhood deserves a good grocery store.
31:55
This is the nearest store for six neighborhoods, and this
31:58
is what we've got. Nearly a decade ago, Kansas City
32:02
spent seventeen million dollars to buy and fix up the
32:05
Morbun Lindwood shopping Center on Busy Prospect Avenue. Casey Sunfresh
32:10
opened in twenty eighteen with a salad bar, fresh shrimp
32:14
on ice, and flower bouquets. We were thrilled, Taylor recalled.
32:19
The store was first run by a private grocer. Pearson's
32:23
nonprofit took over in twenty twenty two. Sales were okay
32:27
at first, but after the pandemic, crime rose and sales
32:31
began to plummet. Police data show assaults, robberies, and shoplifting
32:36
in the immediate vicinity had been on an upward trend
32:39
since twenty twenty. Shoplifting cases have nearly tripled. At a
32:45
community meeting last year, Pearson played videos of security incidents
32:49
so graphic he gave a warning in advance. A naked
32:53
woman parading through the store throwing bags of chips to
32:56
the ground, another person urinating in the vestibule, and a
33:00
couple fornicating on the lawn of the library in broad daylight.
33:04
Advocates like Taylor have accused the city of neglecting their property.
33:08
Discussions about fixing a fence behind the store dragged on
33:12
for months until it was repaired in early July, and
33:16
the city just remedied the sewer stench that Taylor and
33:19
others say has pervaded the store for weeks. Obviously, they
33:24
don't feel this is their responsibility or they don't care,
33:27
she said. In May, after the city was slow to
33:31
turn over the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
33:34
promised assistance to the store, residents from the racially mixed
33:38
neighborhood stormed a council meeting, waving signs that read, I
33:42
need access to fresh food and cut the check. Gwendolen Grant,
33:47
president and chief executive of the Urban League of Greater
33:50
Kansas City, called on Mayor Quentin and Lucas to stop
33:53
lying and get the job done. Lucas, a Democrat in
33:58
his second term, set in interview that despite Casey Sunfresh's
34:02
financial issues, I still have confidence in the long term
34:06
future of a grocery facility in that area. He sees
34:10
two challenges. The first will be saving the current store.
34:14
Changing consumer behavior will be another. He said. The issues
34:19
defy quick solutions. The Police Department's East Side Patrol Division
34:24
is just four blocks away, though Police Major Chris Young
34:27
said that even an overwhelming presence of officers in recent
34:31
months didn't significantly decrease incidents. Young, the patrol Division's commander,
34:37
links the rise in crime to fallout from the pandemic,
34:40
rising inflation and a shortage of police officers following racial
34:44
injustice protests in twenty twenty. Part of the problem is
34:48
the city's lack of a jail. Young said. The left
34:52
leaning council clothes the previous facility in two thousand and
34:55
nine as a cost saving measure, a move the Kansas
34:58
City Star has called a two hundred fifty million dollar mistake,
35:02
and so people arrested for minor crimes are quickly released
35:06
instead of being held in rural counties miles away. That
35:10
allows them to hop on the local bus system free
35:13
since the pandemic and head back to the same location.
35:17
Young said, we typically have the same group of offenders
35:20
every week that are recognizable by faith and by name,
35:24
just loitering and hanging out. He said, a small percentage
35:28
of people are ruining it for the rest of the
35:30
community that deserves to go to their grocery store and
35:33
their library. The city is making plans for a new jail,
35:37
though construction could take years. A number of cities and
35:42
states have tried to address food inequity over the years.
35:46
Since twenty nineteen, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative as the U.
35:50
S Department of Agriculture, has spent twenty five million dollars
35:53
to fund one hundred sixty two food retail and food
35:56
retail supply chain projects around the country, with mixed results.
36:01
Ale say the agency did not provide data on which
36:05
projects have worked and which haven't. Illinois has given out
36:09
sixteen point five million dollars for new grocery stores since
36:12
twenty twenty three. Chicago officials had a plan for a
36:16
city owned grocery store, but dropped it despite his study
36:20
concluding the idea was both feasible and necessary in favor
36:24
of a plan for a public market with food stalls.
36:28
In Boston, Rousch founded a chain of five low cost
36:31
grocery stores called Daily Table, which sold only healthy food
36:36
and avoided sugary snacks. The stores made about seventy five
36:40
percent of their budget from sales and covered the rest
36:43
with private and public grants. After a dozen years, they
36:47
were anticipating a banner twenty twenty five, Rausch recounted, then
36:52
the Trump administration slashed federal programs that aided nutrition assistance.
36:57
Both the stores and their philanthropic part were hit hard.
37:02
We ran out of money. He said. The current freezing
37:05
of funds at the USDA had a very chilling effect
37:10
exploring public options for groceries remains a popular idea because
37:14
of high prices and fears of more dramatic cuts and
37:18
food assistants, said Margaret Mullins, director of Public Options and
37:22
Governance at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, which recently released a
37:26
guide to public grocery stores. Making sure people have access
37:31
to fresh food is really, really important, Mullan said, So,
37:35
even though it's tough, people keep turning to this public
37:39
support idea because what else can they do. Patrick toihe
37:43
co founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project,
37:47
has been critical of the Sunfresh project. He says the
37:50
store looks great on paper, but does not have demand
37:54
to support it. Plus you noted the neighborhood has other
37:57
options because of a nearby all these store and the
38:00
independent Happy Food Center. Data bears out both points. A
38:06
USDA analysis showed the area around the store is low
38:09
income but not low access, and a Washington Post analysis
38:13
of the adjacent zip codes showed the area has steadily
38:17
lost population since twenty twenty. The council member who represents
38:21
the area, Melissa Patterson Halsley, estimates there more than two
38:26
hundred vacant lots in her district. When residents and advocates
38:30
gathered for an update. During a breakfast meeting in late June,
38:34
a minister spoke of fractured streets and urged everyone to
38:38
mobilize and reclaim the neighborhood. Pearson had bad news, however.
38:44
He told the group that Casey Sunfresh was again in
38:47
the red after he used a seven hundred fifty thousand
38:51
dollars in city aid to pay off outstanding invoices and
38:54
restock the shells. So far, according to Patterson Hasley, the
38:59
city's final directors, said it has spent about twenty nine
39:03
million dollars on the shopping center project. Everyone says, why
39:07
aren't we doing X, Y and Z at the store,
39:10
said Pearson, who with spearheaded other urban revival projects, including
39:14
another grocery store and a pickleball complex. Well, we covered
39:18
the expenses and went negative thirty nine thousand dollars and
39:22
were back in the same situation. And there was more,
39:26
Pearson continued. The store's insurance company had dropped it and
39:30
their premiums with a new insurer were forty five percent higher.
39:34
The audience gasped. Later that morning, customers trickled into the
39:39
store passed two armed security guards just inside the entrance.
39:44
Even as two police officers monitored the scene outside, small
39:48
groups of people hanging out across the street seemed unbothered
39:51
by the uniforms or the heat. Taylor, who had come
39:55
in for tomatoes, left the lonely one in the bin
39:58
for someone else and moved dawn to ingredients for Nacho's,
40:01
a Friday night treat for her and her husband. The
40:05
chipaw was bare, shelf after shelf empty, she finally found
40:09
a few bags of tortilla chips near by. Taylor grew
40:13
up in the area, and she and her husband raised
40:16
their two daughters here. The non profit consultant remembers a
40:20
long stretch of time when the strip mall's first grocery
40:22
store was vacant and she had to travel several miles
40:26
to go shopping. After the city bought the property and
40:29
Casey Sunfresh opened, she tried to do everything she could
40:33
to promote the store, she said. The local neighborhood association,
40:37
which she leaves, launched a campaign called Save our Store
40:41
and asked people to sign pledges to shop there monthly.
40:45
She said. It also handed out ten dollar gift cards. Now,
40:48
she explained I can't even convince my neighbors to come
40:52
and shop here any more. They all say, well, there's
40:55
nothing there, hardly any fruit, hardly any chips, no bread
41:00
other than Hamburger buns. It's just such a struggle. We
41:04
need our grocery store. John D. Harden contributed to this report.
41:10
Our next item is entitled Trump's Commander's threat just noise,
41:14
DC leaders say, by Megan Flynn, Jenny Gathright, and Denna Heggspeth.
41:21
For years, DC Mayor Muriel E. Bauser has sought to
41:24
return the Washington Commanders to the district. The Democrat worked
41:29
with the Kentucky Republican to get control of the RFK
41:32
Stadium land through Congress. With a surprise unanimous vote in
41:35
the Senate. In the eleventh hour, she broke heered a
41:38
three point seven billion dollar deal with Commander's owner Josh Harris,
41:43
representing the largest private investment in a single project in
41:47
city history. But with final passage of the deal by
41:51
the DC Council potentially only weeks away, the mayor now
41:55
faces the kind of wrench that's become all too familiar
41:58
this year, and Donald Trump injecting himself into a local
42:02
DC matter. Where he has no formal role. Trump, in
42:07
a social media post over the weekend, called on the
42:10
commanders to quote immediately change the team name back to
42:14
the Redskins, a dictionary defined racial slur against Native Americans
42:19
that the team dropped in twenty twenty, and said he
42:22
quote may put a restriction on the stadium deal if
42:26
ownership does not comply. Bowser brushed aside the threat, saying
42:31
she wanted to stay focused on the DC government's role
42:34
in the deal. I have worked for the better part
42:37
of ten years to get our part completed, including getting
42:41
control of the land, coming to an agreement with the team,
42:44
and advancing a fantastic agreement to the council, Bowser said
42:48
at a news conference Monday, Let's focus on doing our part.
42:53
Asked whether a return to the old name would change
42:55
her stance on the stadium deal, Bowser, who has in
42:59
the past express personal distaste for the name, said it wouldn't,
43:03
then decline to answer follow up questions. The conversation about
43:07
the name change and Trump's intervention remained hypothetical. Basser said,
43:12
to her knowledge, Trump has not taken action outside of
43:15
social media posts to block the deal to bring a
43:17
Commander's Stadium to the RFK site. A Commander's spokesperson declined
43:22
to comment on the president's post social media declarations. Aside,
43:27
Trump could not unilaterally derail the Washington Commander's Stadium deal.
43:32
A federal law passed by Congress in December expressly gives
43:36
d C control of the land and allows the city
43:39
to develop a stadium there, and any prohibition on the
43:42
stadium development would require another act of Congress. But Trump's
43:48
mercurial nature and tendency to insert his will into unlikely places,
43:53
Coca Cola's recipe, the resignation of the University of Virginia's
43:56
president have made his presidency an infl unpredictable. While d
44:02
C has administrative control of the land, the federal government
44:06
still has some involvement in the planning process, including through
44:10
the Department of the Interior, with which the city has
44:13
to strike an agreement on whose responsibility it will be
44:17
to mitigate environmental hazards on the land, and through the
44:20
National Capital Planning Commission, which would review the design of
44:24
the development. Trump appointed half its twelve members. The federal
44:29
government could not cancel dea Cy's control of the land
44:32
unless the district violates the law or any of the
44:35
land restriction, though even then d C would have ninety
44:39
days to correct any issue. People are making a big
44:43
deal about something that should not be such a big
44:45
deal because the reality is that d C, by law
44:49
has rights to the r f K site, said enkir Jane,
44:52
a shadow senator for d C. Council member Wendell Felder
44:58
Democrat Ward seven, who represents the neighborhood surrounding RFK Stadium,
45:03
said he was definitely concerned by Trump's interjection at this point,
45:07
but added he was still confident that the Council would
45:10
approve the deal without a problem. I think what the
45:14
Council should focus on at this stage is controlling the
45:17
things we can control, which is getting the deal done.
45:20
He said. That way, we're not leaving ourselves open to
45:24
external parties to intervene. It's unclear how far Trump would
45:29
go to pressure the team to change its name, considering
45:33
that he has been largely supportive of the stadium deal.
45:36
When Bowser Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell unveiled the
45:41
three point seven billion dollar deal in April, Trump said
45:44
he was thrilled to announce the return of the Commanders
45:47
to the nation's capital and called it a huge win
45:51
for d C that would boost economic development. In early May,
45:55
he appeared with Bowser, Harris, and Goodall at a news
45:59
conference at the White House to announce that the NFL
46:01
Draft would be coming to d C in twenty twenty seven,
46:05
sharing in the excitement, and this month, Trump called Harris
46:09
a very good man and said he had seen the
46:12
plans for the proposed new stadium at RFK. It'll be
46:15
a great place for the NFL to be there, I
46:17
can tell you that, he said. Bowser's quest to secure
46:21
local control of the RFK site and anchor a multi
46:25
use development there with an NFL stadium predates the Commander's name,
46:30
but Bowser previously said the team's original name presented a
46:34
political obstacle to getting local and federal approval for the
46:37
stadium development. The mayor said in a twenty twenty interview
46:42
that it was past time for the team to deal
46:44
with what offends so many people. At the same time,
46:48
then team owner Daniel Snyder faced intensifying pressure to move
46:53
on from the name. For years, Snyder had defended it
46:57
at one point, saying he would never change it, but
47:01
in twenty twenty, amid a nationwide racial reckoning sparked by
47:05
the murder of George Floyd, Sponsors, including FedEx, the naming
47:09
rights holder for the team's current stadium in Maryland, threatened
47:13
to break with the team unless it changed the name.
47:16
Snyder folded, and the team announced in July twenty twenty
47:20
that it would retire the name, as well as the
47:23
logo a Native American man's head. Some council members reached
47:27
Monday were not too worried about Trump's online musings. Council
47:32
Member Charles Allen, Democrat Ward six, a stadium deal skeptic,
47:37
said he did not take Trump's social media posts seriously.
47:41
I think it's incredibly important when we're dealing with really
47:44
high stakes, really important deals and negotiations, is to remember
47:48
how to tune out the noise. This is just noise,
47:51
he said. Similarly, Council member Christina Henderson, Independent at Large,
47:58
called Trump's comments a distraction. She said the terms of
48:02
the stadium deal were in the hands of the d
48:04
C Council as its negotiations continued with the team, and
48:09
while the final version of the deal would still have
48:12
to pass thirty day congressional review the President can't unilaterally
48:16
say I don't want that bill to pass. Besides, the
48:21
bill transferring control of the land to d C, championed
48:24
by Representative James Comer, Republican from Kentucky, who also recently
48:29
called on the d C Council to get the stadium
48:31
deal passed as soon as possible, achieved broad bipartisan support.
48:37
Henderson said she would have an issue if the Commanders
48:40
actually reverted to their old name. It would be the
48:43
question of who is in control of the Commander's organization,
48:47
she said, but she did not expect that to become
48:50
a problem, having heard no indication from anyone in the
48:54
organization that the team name is on their mind. Virtually
48:58
no one except for a handful of people, was still
49:01
talking about the old name, she said. We have a
49:04
new name. We all have turned the page and are
49:08
moving forward and are looking to the next chapter, she said.
49:12
Sunday was not the first time Trump expressed support for
49:15
the Commander's former moniker during his first term. In twenty twenty,
49:20
Trump derided the Washington football team and Cleveland's baseball team,
49:24
then known as the Indians, for being politically correct and
49:28
moving toward changing the names. A conservative radio show host
49:32
appeared to be the first to publicly suggest to Trump
49:36
that he should somehow condition the RFK stadium deal on
49:39
changing the name back. In a gaggle in April, are
49:43
you going to be involved in that negotiation? And would
49:46
one of the stipulations be they changed their name back
49:49
to the Redskins, asked the radio show host, John Frederick's,
49:53
former chairman of Trump's presidential campaign in Virginia. Oh. I see, well,
49:59
that's a little bit Nobody's asked me that one. Trump responded, laughing.
50:04
He said he saw no problem with team names that
50:06
invoked American Indians. The Washington Redskins. Perhaps that's a little
50:10
bit different. But I can tell you that I spoke
50:13
to people of Indian heritage that love that name, and
50:15
they love that team, and I think it's a superior
50:18
name to what they have right now. The National Congress
50:21
of American Indians on Monday issued a statement opposing any
50:25
effort to revive racist mascots the demean Indigenous communities and
50:31
Native American activist Suzanne shown hardro, an Oklahoma born DC
50:36
resident from the Cheyenne and the Skogie Nations, said she
50:40
was disheartened to hear of Trump wanting to change the
50:43
team's name. She spent decades as a lead plaintiff in
50:47
suing the team to change its name. He's trying to
50:51
throw the red meat of mascot racism at his base
50:54
to deter them away from the Epstein scandal, Harjo said
50:58
in an interview Monday, referring to the growing public attention
51:01
to Trump's association with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The Redskins
51:08
name is ash inclaimed privilege to call us hateful names,
51:12
mock our cultures, and rewrite history. Reverting to the name,
51:16
she said would be going backwards. Native American leaders and
51:21
historians also said the issue of mascots for Indigenous people
51:25
is nuanced and complicated, in large part because there are
51:29
more than five hundred federally recognized tribes in the United States,
51:34
each with its own ideas, customs, and practices. Even within
51:40
the Native American family that has ties to the design
51:43
of the former logo, family members have spoken about seeing
51:47
the issue differently. The team name changed to the Commanders
51:51
has taken some getting used to among fans who initially
51:54
largely opposed it. In May, a Washington Post poll found
51:59
that among people in the region, fifty percent liked or
52:02
loved the commander's name, a figure that went up to
52:05
sixty two percent among commanders fans. Trump, asked this month
52:10
by a Fox News reporter whether the commander should return
52:14
to the original name, said he would not have changed
52:17
the name to begin with. It doesn't have the same
52:19
ring to me, he said. But you know, winning can
52:23
make everything sound good. Nikki Chabvala, Adam Kilgore, and Mark
52:28
Mask contributed to this report. Next from today's front page
52:33
is an article entitled behind Gaza Aid Provider are for
52:37
profit US Interests by Karen De Young and Kate Brown.
52:42
Inside the four hastily constructed warehouses in southern Gaza where
52:46
food is handed out to desperate and starving Palestinians, it
52:51
is relatively calm. Ration boxes stamped with the name and
52:55
logo of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation are distributed by local
52:59
volunteers and red vests under the watchful gaze of beefy
53:03
armed American security contractors. It is just outside the warehouses
53:08
where most of the trouble happens. Outside is where hundreds
53:12
of civilians desperately crowding towards the distribution sites have been
53:17
shot and killed, many of them allegedly by Israeli soldiers
53:21
position nearby, and where at least twenty Palestinians died Wednesday
53:26
in a stampede that the GHF says was initiated by
53:30
gun toting Hamas militants. Humanitarian aid has been one of
53:34
the most controversial aspects of the war between Israel and Hamas,
53:39
which is now approaching its second anniversary. In recent weeks,
53:44
it has emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations
53:47
over a ceasefire, placing the Israeli and US backed KHF
53:52
squarely in the crosshairs of the latest talks. Hamas is
53:57
demanding a return to the un coordinated system of bay
54:00
delivery that operated in Gaza for decades. Israel charges that
54:05
Hamas has corrupted that system. It wants to maintain straight
54:09
controls on assistance to gossons, using the newly created GHF
54:14
as a primary mechanism for food distribution. Critics, including the
54:19
United Nations and most of the international humanitarian aid community,
54:23
say that GHF is designed to further Israeli war aims
54:27
by selectively and inadequately providing assistance and by forcing gossens
54:33
to put their lives in danger for a box of provisions.
54:36
In a statement released Monday twenty one, European countries and others,
54:40
including Canada and Australia, issued a joint statement saying that
54:45
the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths
54:49
and condemning the drip feeding of aid and the inhuman
54:53
killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most
54:58
basic needs of water and fe food. The Israeli government's
55:02
aid delivery model, it said, is dangerous, fuels instability and
55:07
deprives gossoms of human dignity, Like much of what happens
55:12
inside Gaza, where Israel has banned international reporters except on
55:16
brief tours led by the Israel Defense Forces, the origins
55:21
and operations of the JHF remain obscure. Even more opaque
55:26
is its funding. The foundation says it received about one
55:30
hundred million dollars in startup money from a government it
55:33
has declined to identify. In late June, the Trump administration
55:38
said it would supply thirty million dollars to GHF operations,
55:43
a major donation initially expected from the United Arab Emirates.
55:47
According to internal planning documents seen by The Washington Post
55:51
has not materialized. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
55:55
net Yahoo, which has been deeply involved in the aid program,
55:59
has publicly denied paying for it. But behind the foundation,
56:03
which is a registered nonprofit, is a web of interconnected
56:07
US and Israeli individuals and private US companies, including some
56:12
that hope to eventually make money on the relief effort.
56:15
According to public and private documents reviewed by the Post
56:19
and interviews with more than a dozen U s and
56:22
Israeli government officials, business representatives, and others involved who spoke
56:27
on the condition of ananimity about the controversial initiative. Among
56:32
those positions to profit from jj flinked contracts are Chicago
56:36
based private equity firm McNally Capital, whose subsidiary, Orbis Operations
56:42
helped set up the foundation, and Safe Reach Solutions, the
56:46
primary contractor overseeing JJF operations inside Gaza, which was created
56:51
late last year for that purpose. SRS is owned by
56:55
a Wyoming based trust whose beneficiary is McNally Capital. Boston
57:00
Consulting Group was also engaged in the effort to stand
57:04
up the GHF on what it has said was a
57:07
pro bono basis. In March, it signed a two month
57:10
contract for more than one million dollars with McNally to
57:13
continue assisting as arrest with later extensions. In May, an
57:18
arrangement first reported by The Financial Times. BCG later withdrew
57:23
from the project amid controversy, and a b CG spokeswoman
57:27
Nitty Sinna said no payment was accepted. The GHF has
57:32
continued to deliver food to hungry gossens since late May.
57:36
According to the foundation's count, more than eighty million meals
57:39
and boxes that are calibrated to feed five point five
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people for three point five days, but DWhen and the
57:47
resources have limited the number of trucks available to bring
57:50
food into the enclay to about seventy to eighty per day,
57:54
compared with early plans for more than three hundred. According
57:57
to people familiar with GHF operation, Construction of additional distribution
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sites has also been indefinitely put off because of a
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lack of financing, ongoing Israeli military operations, and the need
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to remove unexploded ordinance throughout Gaza. Due to time constraints,
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we will need to end this item at this time.
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This concludes the reading of the Washington Post for Today, Tuesday,
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July twenty second, twenty twenty five. Your reader for today
58:27
has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
58:30
or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
58:34
us at A five nine four two two six thirty
58:37
nine zero. Thank you for listening.