News of the day

Two former workers and one current staffer in Mark Zuckerberg’s private family office accused his former personal security chief of racist and sexist conduct, including using the n-word, calling an employee a “ghetto hoodrat,” and calling Black Lives Matter a “terrorist organization.”
The accusations come from previously undisclosed sworn declarations made last year, in which the workers pledged to repeat their claims under oath if necessary.
In 2019, after two other former staffers raised almost identical complaints about Booth and threatened litigation, Zuckerberg hired an outside law firm to investigate the claims.
At the time, Zuckerberg’s spokesperson said the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing and that the charges “could not be substantiated.” Booth voluntarily left his job and the family office said in a statement that it was “grateful for his service.”
Zuckerberg’s spokesperson said that current employee has recanted her sworn declaration and that it contains inaccuracies. The law firm that drew it up responded that “current employees can sometimes be pressured to change their affidavits.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s former head of personal security was accused by colleagues of using the n-word, calling a Black employee a “ghetto hoodrat,” and denigrating the Black Lives Matter movement, according to sworn declarations obtained by Business Insider.

The declarations, signed under penalty of perjury by two former workers in Zuckerberg’s secretive family office and by one still employed there, offer shocking new details of allegations against Zuckerberg’s former security chief Liam Booth and cast doubt on the Chan-Zuckerberg family’s claims that an investigation found no evidence of racism or abuse during his tenure.

Booth was first accused of misconduct by two different former colleagues in 2019, including sexual harassment, racism, and homophobia. At the time, Zuckerberg’s personal spokesperson Ben LaBolt said the family office had investigated the claims and found no wrongdoing by Booth, who departed his job after Business Insider first reported on the accusations.

The new allegations contained in the declarations corroborate some of those earlier claims about Booth’s conduct. All three begin with pledges that “the following facts are within my personal knowledge and if called as a witness, I could and would competently testify thereto, under oath.”

In response to a Business Insider investigation into Zuckerberg’s family office published in February 2020, LaBolt dismissed allegations of sexism, racism, and bullying within the Chan-Zuckerberg household as “a collection of unfounded rumors, exaggerations, and half-truths … advanced by a small group of disgruntled former employees …read more

Source:: Business Insider

Young Electric Sign company workers install the new Deseret News sign Saturday, July 2, 2011, on the Triad Center. | Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

Veteran police reporter Pat Reavy was honored with the Quintus C. Wilson Ethics Award

SALT LAKE CITY — The Deseret News emerged as a big winner in this year’s Utah Society of Professional Journalists Headliners contest, taking home the most first-place and overall number of awards of any organization, including being named the best news-oriented website in the state.

The Deseret News received 75 awards overall, including 19 first place, 20 second place, 19 third place awards and 17 honorable mentions in a wide variety of categories. The next closest competitor in the Division A daily publication category had 15 first-place wins and 43 awards overall. Deseret News staff swept four categories, including videography, general features, military and sports non-deadline reporting.

Pat Reavy, a veteran reporter on the police beat, was among a small group of honorees to receive a special recognition. Reavy was selected for the Quintus C. Wilson Ethics Award for being among the first to identify a rising wave of what police were calling “sextortion,” as explained in his article, “Uncovering secret that led to son’s suicide.”

“He gained the trust of the Tobler family and investigators, skillfully preparing a report that candidly addressed youth suicide and victimization in sexual crimes while maintaining the trust of the family, an ethical challenge that balanced the values in SPJ’s Code of Ethics of seeking and reporting truth while minimizing harm,” contest organizers said in statement. “The article gained international reach and started a necessary conversation among Utah families that law enforcement credits with saving young lives.”

As a staff, the Deseret News received second-place awards for best use of news-oriented social media and best newspaper for design and graphics.

First place awards

Rex Warner, Spenser Heaps, Gillian Friedman and Adrienne St. Clair won first place for their videography feature, “He was sexually abused as a child. Now this Utah Orthodox rabbi tells his story for the first time.”

Friedman won first place in criminal justice reporting for her article, “Fatal court.”

Deseret News reporters swept all the awards in the general feature category, led by Jesse Hyde in first place for his article, “A nun, a shooting and the unlikely legacy that could save the Amazon rainforest.”

Deseret News reporters also …read more

Source:: Deseret News – Utah News

Arizona’s governor was caught socializing at a party without wearing a mask or observing social distancing.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey reportedly attended the party last month before reversing his policy banning local governments from mandating mask-wearing, eventually telling Arizonans to “arm yourself with a mask.”
The Grand Canyon State is nearing 124,000 total COVID-19 cases, weathering over 3,000 new cases per day on a seven-day rolling average after their record was set at 4,797 on June 30.
The governor’s chief of staff described a tweet sharing the photo with an incorrect date as a “smear campaign.”
“I think Doug Ducey is one of the bad actors he warned about that led to the rise in cases we’re seeing right now,” Carter Santini, the 25-year-old who posted the photo, told Insider. “I want Doug Ducey to resign and hand control to someone who cares about us.”

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A surreptitious Snapchat captured Arizona’s governor hanging out at a party without a mask and not observing social distancing last month, despite the governor presiding over one of the nation’s most severe coronavirus outbreaks of late.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey told constituents in mid-June to “arm yourself with a mask,” reversing his stance on face coverings after banning local mask-wearing orders.

At the time of the party on June 6, Ducey was still blocking municipalities from enacting mask orders.

Arizona has seen one of the steepest spikes in COVID-19 nationwide through June and early July, breaking their record for new cases in a single day and suffering at least 2,250 deaths, according to data compiled by The New York Times.

The Grand Canyon State is now sitting at almost 124,000 total cases, weathering over 3,000 new cases per day on a seven-day rolling average after their record was set at 4,797 on June 30.

The Grand Canyon State is now sitting at almost 124,000 total cases, weathering over 3,000 new cases per day on a seven-day rolling average after their record was set at 4,797 on June 30.

In the photo, Ducey was reportedly at a graduation party for seniors of Brophy College Preparatory School in Phoenix, where tuition runs up to $14,650 per year.

He was caught on camera by a party-goer before the image ended up in the hands of Carter Santini, a 23-year-old law school student who graduated from Brophy in 2015.

Santini, who told Insider he is a Phoenix resident, eventually tweeted the photo …read more

Source:: Business Insider

University of Utah Health’s Dakota Silva, left, and Ashley Cameron work together as they test people for COVID-19 during the University of Utah’s Wellness Bus drive-thru testing event at Centennial Park in West Valley City on Monday, July 6, 2020. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Ten more Utahns have died with the novel coronavirus, health officials said Tuesday.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose by 448 — a smaller number than the previous several days — as 6,186 test results were reported, with a 7.2% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health. They bring the state’s total cases to 30,478 of 424,521 tests recorded, for an overall positive rate of about 7.2%.

The previous seven days brought Utah a daily average of more than 600 cases.

Hospitalizations also fell on Tuesday to 176 from 207 on Monday. Intensive care units in Utah are now 64.8% full, and non-intensive care units are 44.9% full.

Six of the deaths added to the state’s total on Tuesday occurred in San Juan County, where three men over age 84 staying in a long-term care facility died. The facility, the Four Corners Regional Care Center, has been experiencing an outbreak, officials have said.

The other three deaths in San Juan County occurred previously but had not yet been determined to be Utah residents — a woman older than 85 who died in May, a man between 65-84 who died in June, and a woman between 65-84 who died in July, according to the San Juan County Health Department.

The delay in reporting them occurred because many of the county’s deaths occur out-of-state, said Kirk Benge, San Juan health director. Local health officials then need to request the patient’s medical records from that state — a process that can take time.

One death each was also reported in the Bear River, Southwest Utah, Utah County and Weber-Morgan health districts. Additional information was not immediately available about those deaths. They bring the state’s toll to 226.

The latest breakdown of Utah cases, hospitalizations and deaths by health district:
Salt Lake County, 15,083; 1,013 hospitalized; 130 deaths.
Utah County, 5,560; 280 hospitalized; 29 deaths.
Southwest Utah, 2,140; 125 hospitalized; 19 deaths.
Davis County, 1,976; 120 hospitalized; 6 deaths.
Bear River (Box Elder, Cache, Rich), 1,806; 70 hospitalized; 4 deaths.
Weber-Morgan, 1,608; 109 hospitalized; 16 deaths.
Summit County, 596; 49 hospitalized; 1 death.
San Juan County, 481; 61 hospitalized; 17 deaths.
Wasatch …read more

Source:: Deseret News – Utah News