Archives for March 2021

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mark Pavelich, the speedy center from the Iron Range who played on the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team, has died at a treatment center for mental illness. He was 63.

Officials in Anoka County, Minnesota, confirmed Friday that Pavelich died at the Eagle’s Healing Nest in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, on Thursday morning. The cause and manner of death are still pending.

“We are saddened to hear about the passing of 1980 Olympic gold medalist Mark Pavelich,” USA Hockey said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to Mark’s family & friends. (He is) forever a part of hockey history.”

Pavelich was undergoing treatment at the home as part of a civil commitment for assaulting his neighbor in Cook County, Minnesota, in August 2019, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Pavelich thought the man had spiked his beer.

He was charged with felony assault but Judge Michael Cuzzo found he was incompetent to stand trial because he was mentally ill and dangerous. According to the judge’s order from December 2019, a psychologist found Pavelich was suffering from delusions and paranoia. Another psychologist found he suffered from a mild neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury, likely related to repeated head injuries.

Pavelich assisted on Mike Eruzione’s winning goal against the heavily favored Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. He sold his gold medal for more than $250,000 in 2014, two years after wife Kara died in an accidental fall.

Pavelich starred at Eveleth High School and was an All-America selection at the University of Minnesota Duluth before earning a spot on the Olympic team.

The 5-foot-8, 170-pound forward spent five seasons with the New York Rangers and played briefly for the Minnesota North Stars and San Jose Sharks, finishing with 137 goals and 192 assists in 355 NHL regular-season games. He had a five-goal game for the Rangers on Feb. 23, 1983, in an 11-3 victory over Hartford.

“As a kid growing up in Hibbing I used to go to the arena and hang out with gear in hand waiting to see if I could skate with the teams that rented the ice,” former Minnesota and NHL player Pat Micheletti tweeted. “Mark Pavelich always let me join with the Eveleth guys. He taught me so much about the game.”

Pavelich’s sister, Jean Gevik, didn’t immediately respond to a message.

The Rangers said in a statement they were saddened by Pavelich’s death.

“His determination, passion and dazzling playmaking ability earned him the adoration of Rangers fans during his five-year tenure in New York,” the team said.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Friday she will issue an executive order mandating that all K-12 public schools provide universal access to in-person learning by the month’s end for students up to fifth grade and by mid-April for older students.

The state’s coronavirus case numbers have fallen sharply in recent weeks. Oregon put teachers ahead of older residents in the line for the COVID-19 vaccine — a decision that angered many people 65 and up. As teachers get vaccinated, Brown has been under tremendous pressure from parents and local elected officials in many counties to reopen schools.

Many teachers’ unions nationally have balked at a return to in-person learning, putting them at odds with Democratic governors like Brown in some states.

In neighboring Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee has implored educators to return to the classroom, but most students there are in online classes and the Seattle teachers’ union is defying a district plan to return special education students to schools. In Chicago, the teachers’ union agreed last month to return to class with expanded access to vaccinations and metrics that will lead to school closures again if case numbers spike.

Under the Oregon order, students in K-5 must have an in-person learning option by March 29. Students in grades six through 12 must have one by April 19. Students who prefer to remain in online class will also have the option.

State education officials have until March 19 to revise their guidelines for in-person instruction to help districts facilitate the return, she said.

In a letter to the state Health Authority, Brown said the “science was clear” and that she was “relieved” that she could bring children back to class.

“I feel so much hope for Oregon’s kids, their parents and their schools, as we continue to navigate this pandemic,” she said in the letter. ”Our kids are our future and we need to do everything we can to make up for the losses of 2020.”

Many parents reacted with relief and said the past year had been extremely difficult for their children.

“It’s very positive and definitively a step in the right direction — and frankly, it’s about time. Clearly, it’s been hard for districts to figure out what’s going to be best for their students, and it’s taken a long time,” said Katie Chrisman, who has a child each in elementary school, middle school and high school in the Portland suburbs.

Her children “haven’t had a ton of suffering, but they’re definitely not thriving — and for me, that’s been the biggest concern,” she said.

Other parents, as well as some state GOP lawmakers, said more was needed.

Rene Gonzalez, with a parent group called Ed300 that has called for a return to full-time in-person learning five days a week, said teachers’ unions have been inflexible and the state education and health officials had set up “insurmountable barriers” for to a return to classrooms for too long.

“We will not rest until every Oregon child has access to five-days-a-week, full time in-person school; until children’s co-curricular activities and community life fully return; and until libraries across the state (have) reopened,” he said in a videotaped statement.

Data tallied by the state Department of Education show about 20% of Oregon’s public schools are already operating with full-time on-site learning, mostly in rural areas with fewer students in the eastern and central parts of the state. Another 23% are offering hybrid learning and 56% currently have almost all distance learning, with limited in-person instruction for students with extra needs.

Rylee Ahnen, spokesman for the Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest public school employees union, said in a statement that teachers support returning to the classroom if it can be done safely.

The union understands the frustrations of both school districts and parents, he said, as everyone navigates how to return to class. He added that most districts were already planning to some sort of in-person learning in the coming weeks.

“We hear, understand, and share the frustration expressed by many in our communities about the uncertainty this pandemic has caused for our public education system,” he said.

The union represents 44,000 K-12 teachers across Oregon.

Oregon started vaccinating teachers in January ahead of seniors, but the state health department can’t say for sure how many educators have been vaccinated because it does not track the profession of recipients. The union also could not say what percentage of teachers have received the vaccine.

Brown said all but six counties in the state currently meet or exceed the advisory metrics for a return to in-person, hybrid learning for all grade levels. Five of the counties that do not yet meet the guidelines for all grade levels make the cut-off for a return to elementary school.

After those dates, all public schools in Oregon will operate either on a full-day of in-person school or a hybrid model, in which students spend parts of the day or some days each week in a classroom setting and other parts of the day or week online. The approach that districts choose will be dictated by COVID-19 case numbers in their county and local decision-making, officials said.

Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district with 49,000 students in 81 schools, was already planning to bring elementary students back in April. It’s unclear whether Brown’s order will affect that timeline.

The Salem-Keizer School District, the states’s second-largest after Portland, announced Friday that it would welcome middle and high school students back to a hybrid model that combines in-person learning and distance learning starting April 13.

Elementary students in the district have already been back in class on a hybrid model.

Elsewhere, California’s governor on Friday signed a law aiming to return public school students to classrooms. It offers $2 billion to school districts that reopen physical classrooms by the end of March.

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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus

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It was Andrew Cuomo’s Emmy-winning performance: daily televised coronavirus briefings in which the New York governor projected competence and compassion, helping to calm a nervous nation.

Now, the many Americans whose positive impressions of Cuomo were formed during the height of the pandemic are getting a close-up of a very different governor, one accused of underreporting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, sexually harassing female staffers and bullying colleagues.

To New Yorkers who have watched the Democrat for years, however, the allegations are consistent with how Cuomo maintains his tight grip on power. The same forceful, micromanaging, even adversarial style that appeared to serve him well in the pandemic, they say, could lead to his undoing.

“The national audience who looked to him for guidance and comfort in the past year don’t want to see someone they respect fall from grace,” said Fordham University political scientist Christina Greer. “But there are a lot of New Yorkers who have known Cuomo and his behavior who are saying it’s time for his comeuppance.”

The three-term governor, 63, said Wednesday that he would not resign, and urged those demanding his departure to await the results of an independent investigation into the harassment allegations, overseen by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James.

Cuomo apologized for making women uncomfortable but denied touching anyone inappropriately. He said he regularly greets people with a hug and kiss, a habit acquired from his late father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

“I understand sensitivities have changed. Behavior has changed,” Cuomo said. “I get it and I’m going to learn from it.”

Former aide Lindsey Boylan, 36, accused Cuomo of persistent harassment, including kissing her without consent and suggesting a game of strip poker aboard his state-owned jet. Another former aide, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said Cuomo asked if she ever had sex with older men and said he was fine dating “anyone above the age of 22.”

A third woman, not employed by the state, told The New York Times that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a 2019 wedding.

Cuomo’s administration is also under federal investigation after it underreported deaths in nursing homes following his decision to open those facilities to recovering COVID-19 patients.

The state, for months, declined to say how many nursing home patients who had died after being transferred to hospitals, even reportedly editing the number out of a report released in July. State health officials say the statistic was withheld because of questions about its accuracy.

Assembly member Ron Kim, a Democrat who blasted Cuomo over those deaths, said Cuomo called and threatened to “destroy” him if he didn’t retract his criticism.

Cuomo has denied saying those words. He’s also defended the state’s record on nursing home deaths, though he said it should have moved faster to release the data. But the threatening language sounded familiar to Republican Rob Astorino, who challenged Cuomo in 2014.

Cuomo’s campaign obtained, digitally altered and used a family photo of Astorino and his 11-year-old son at a Miami Dolphins football game in an attack ad to question Astorino’s loyalty to New York.

“He has screamed at me, cursed at me, threatened me: It’s a pattern of behavior with him, and it’s the worst-kept secret in New York,” Astorino said. “On a good day, he’s a bully. On a bad day, he’s what we’re seeing now.”

Cuomo refused to even say hello to his 2014 primary opponent, Zephyr Teachout, when she approached him at a parade, later joking he didn’t see her. In 2018, a national organization for dwarfs lodged a complaint after Cuomo’s campaign repeatedly mocked his opponent’s height.

Senior aides have adopted Cuomo’s abrasive approach, berating journalists and lawmakers who question the administration.

In 2019, when three female lawmakers criticized Cuomo for holding a $25,000-a-couple fundraiser amid state budget negotiations, Cuomo’s spokesperson dismissed them as “ idiots,” adding profanity.

“The irony of this whole thing is: If he’s so tough, then why is his skin so thin?” asked one of those lawmakers, Democratic state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. Biaggi is among several lawmakers from both parties calling for Cuomo’s resignation.

Mario Cuomo ‘s legacy hangs heavily over the younger Cuomo’s career. Andrew Cuomo got his start in politics as his father’s aide and campaign manager, before serving as U.S. housing secretary under Bill Clinton and state attorney general. If he wins a fourth term in 2022, he will surpass his father’s tenure.

While he started as a centrist, he’s since moved to the left — though many progressive lawmakers still view Cuomo with distrust. The governor, a fan of muscle cars who talks proudly of being a son of Queens, has insisted his job requires toughness.

And his forceful personality has helped him notch an impressive list of victories on same-sex marriage, minimum wage, tax cuts, gun control and a long list of economic development projects.

Infrastructure — big, concrete and tangible — is a particular interest. Cuomo has overseen overhauls of New York City’s airports and train stations, subway and rail expansions, and a replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge, which was named for his father.

His hands-on approach won him plaudits — and a book deal — in the pandemic’s early days, when his briefings showcased both his practicality and a more human side, as a father and son worried about his family — augmented by viral appearances on his brother’s primetime CNN show as New York bore the deadly brunt of U.S. cases.

“He is a bully, and he’s everything they say he is,” said Barbara Bartoletti, who worked in Albany for four decades as legislative director for the League of Women Voters, a government watchdog often at odds with Cuomo. “But as a New Yorker, I’m glad we did have him during the height of the pandemic.”

With his pugilistic nature, Cuomo was never likely to resign without a fight, Greer said. Pressure could subside, too, as the investigation drags out.

The diverging fates of two fellow Democrats could prove instructive: While Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam survived his 2019 scandal over old blackface photos — even campaigning, a year later, for the same politicians who initially sought his resignation — U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s quick departure in response to his own harassment allegations has since been second-guessed.

“Northam was able to ride it out, while a lot of Democrats think Franken left prematurely,” Greer said. “I don’t think Cuomo goes quietly in the night. I think he just waits, and hopes the storm passes.”

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