Archives for April 2021

After hack, officials draw attention to supply chain threats

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is working to draw attention to supply chain vulnerabilities, an issue that received particular attention late last year after suspected Russian hackers gained access to federal agencies and private corporations by sneaking malicious code into widely used software.

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center warned Thursday that foreign hackers are increasingly targeting vendors and suppliers that work with the government to compromise their products in an effort to steal intellectual property and carry out espionage. The NCSC said it is working with other agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to raise awareness of the supply chain issue.

April marks what the government is describing as the fourth annual National Supply Chain Integrity Month. This year’s event comes as federal officials deal with the aftermath of the SolarWinds intrusion, in which hackers compromised the software supply chain through malware. At least nine federal agencies were hacked, along with dozens of private-sector companies.

The NCSC said it plans to issue guidance throughout the month about how specific sectors, like health care and energy, can protect themselves.

“If the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting product shortages were not a sufficient wake-up call, the recent software supply chain attacks on U.S. industry and government should serve as a resounding call to action,” NCSC acting director Michael Orlando said in a statement. “We must enhance the resilience, diversity, and security of our supply chains. The vitality of our nation depends on it.”

Orlando and officials from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are participating next week in a Harvard University discussion about protecting the international supply chain.

The sheer number of steps in a product’s supply chain process give a hacker looking to infiltrate businesses, agencies and infrastructure numerous points of entry and can mean no company or executive bears sole responsibility for protecting an entire industry supply chain.

Perhaps the best-known supply chain intrusion before SolarWinds is the NotPetya attack, in which malicious code found to have been planted by Russian military hackers was unleashed through an automatic update of Ukrainian tax preparation software, called MeDoc.

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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.

Anticipation is building for a boom in US hiring this year

WASHINGTON (AP) — With hopes rising for a powerful rebound in hiring this year, Friday’s jobs report for March will provide crucial insight into whether those rosy expectations may prove true.

The most optimistic economists are predicting that the government will report that as many as 1 million jobs were added in March — a blistering gain that would help recover a decent chunk of the 9.5 million jobs that remain lost to the pandemic. Still, the increase might not be quite that large: Overall, economists surveyed by data provider FactSet have forecast an increase of 615,000.

After a year of epic job losses, waves of coronavirus infections, and small business closures, numerous trends are brightening the outlook. Consumer confidence in March reached its highest level since the pandemic intensified. Americans have increased their spending as the latest stimulus checks have been distributed. More states and cities are easing restrictions on restaurants, bars and indoor gatherings. Vaccinations are being increasingly administered, although new confirmed infections have risen from lower levels in recent weeks.

The $1,400 checks in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief plan have sharply increased consumer spending, according to Bank of America’s tracking of its debit and credit cards. Spending jumped 23% in the third week of March compared with pre-pandemic levels, the bank said.

“We’re seeing a powerful response to stimulus payments from the consumer,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America. “It’s hard to keep up with the economic strength.”

Lower-income Americans responded with particular vigor, with spending among cardholders earning under $50,000 soaring 69% compared with pre-pandemic levels. More than 127 million of the stimulus payments, worth $325 billion, have been distributed.

Spending had begun to rise in March even before the stimulus checks arrived as viral case counts have tumbled from their heights in January. Americans are increasingly willing to venture out from home to travel and eat out, though not yet at their pre-pandemic pace. Roughly 1.5 million people traveled through airports on March 28, according to the Transportation Services Administration. That was roughly eight times the figure of a year ago, although it was still down sharply from 2.5 million on the same day in 2019.

The transportation analytics firm Inrix has calculated that daily car trips returned to pre-pandemic levels late last month. Many of those trips have likely been to restaurants, where the volume of seated diners was just 25% below pre-pandemic levels, on average, in the last week of March, according to OpenTable, a restaurant software provider. That’s up from 50% below pre-pandemic traffic just six weeks earlier.

The burgeoning economic activity is showing signs of translating into more jobs.

Karen Fichuk, CEO of Randstad North America, a recruiting firm, said the company is seeking to fill 38% more permanent jobs than it was at the end of last year. Demand for workers is particularly strong in manufacturing, information technology, logistics, and health care.

“We are definitely starting to see the economic recovery reach a turning point, including in the hardest hit industries, such as hospitality,” Fichuk said. “We can hardly keep up.”

Job listings on the website Indeed.com jumped in the last week of March, with available jobs now 13.5% above pre-pandemic levels. Jed Kolko, Indeed’s chief economist, said that job postings in higher-paid sectors, such as financial services and technology, have accelerated in the past couple of months.

That increase is “a sign of longer-term economic confidence,” Kolko said, because employers typically don’t advertise such positions until they’re confident that the prospects for growth are sustainable.

Robust job growth in March, however, will raise an important question: Can it continue at the same pace?

Besides the 9.5 million fewer jobs that now exist in the U.S. economy than just before the virus struck, an additional 2 million or so jobs would have been added in the past year under normal circumstances. That means the U.S. economy still needs roughly 11.5 million more jobs to regain something close to full health.

Louise Sheiner, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and formerly an economist at the Federal Reserve, estimates that hiring could average between 700,000 and 1 million a month for the rest of the year, if the economy expands at the 6.5% pace that the Fed and many economists expect. That would leave total job growth for 2021 at somewhere between 7 million and 10 million.

In part, her forecast is based on the fact that the pandemic recession has deeply hurt labor-intensive parts of the economy, from hotels and restaurants to health care and the entertainment industry. A recovery in those sectors, even a partial one, would require significantly more hiring. In addition, Sheiner said, higher consumer spending, fueled by stimulus checks and pent-up savings, should drive job growth in other industries.

For now, some recent economic figures have been disappointing, because of unseasonably cold weather and damaging storms in Texas and some other Southern states during February. Sales at retail stores, home construction and demand for large factory goods all slipped in that month.

Yet the bounce-back from the severe weather may add to hiring gains in March, economists say. Construction companies could be one example. Collectively, they cut 61,000 jobs in February. But demand for new homes remains high, and most analysts say they think construction jobs snapped back in March.

Suspect in attack on Asian American woman in NYC is arrested

NEW YORK (AP) — A parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago was arrested on assault and hate crime charges in an attack on an Asian American woman in New York City, police said Wednesday.

Police said Brandon Elliot, 38, is the man seen on surveillance video kicking and stomping the woman near Times Square on Monday. The woman was attacked in front of an apartment building.

Two lobby workers witnessed the violence but no one intervened or called 911, police said. Their union said Wednesday they told a union representative that they waited until the attacker left because he had a knife and then flagged down a police car.

Elliot, who is Black, faces charges of assault and attempted assault as hate crimes. He made an appearance in court via video Wednesday night, and was remanded into custody, with the next court date scheduled for Monday.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said Elliot faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

The Legal Aid Society, which is representing him, said in a statement, “We strongly urge the public to reserve judgment until all the facts are presented in court.”

Elliot lived at a hotel that serves as a homeless shelter a few blocks from the attack scene, police said. He was taken into custody at the hotel around midnight. Tips from the public led to his apprehension, police said.

Elliot was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx in 2002, when he was 19. He was released from prison in 2019 and is on lifetime parole. The parole board had previously twice denied his release. His record also included an arrest for robbery in 2000.

“For the life of me, I don’t understand why we are releasing or pushing people out of prison — not to give them second chances, but to put them into homeless facilities or shelters, or in this case a hotel — and expect good outcomes,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference Wednesday. “We need real opportunities. We need real safety nets.”

A law enforcement official identified the victim as 65-year-old Vilma Kari. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. Kari’s daughter told The New York Times that she emigrated from the Philippines several decades ago.

Kari, who was repeatedly kicked and stomped, suffered serious injuries including a fractured pelvis, the law enforcement official said. She was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson said. Kari has been speaking to police, Shea said.

Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez said the victim is Filipina American.

The country’s foreign secretary, Teodoro Locsin Jr., condemned the attack, writing on Twitter: “This is gravely noted and will influence Philippine foreign policy.” He didn’t elaborate how.

The Philippines and United States are longtime treaty allies, but Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte is a vocal critic of U.S. security policies who has moved to terminate a key agreement that allows largescale military exercises with U.S. forces in the Philippines.

“I might as well say it, so no one on the other side can say, ‘We didn’t know you took racial brutality against Filipinos at all seriously.’ We do,” Locsin said.

Kari was walking to church when police say Elliot kicked her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, stomped on her face, shouted a curse and anti-Asian slurs and told her, “You don’t belong here” before casually walking away as onlookers watched. Shea called it a “completely unprovoked violent attack on an innocent, defenseless woman.”

Monday’s attack, among the latest in a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, drew widespread condemnation and concerns about the failure of bystanders to intervene. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack “absolutely disgusting and outrageous” and said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that witnesses didn’t help the woman.

The attack happened just weeks after a mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, and just a few days after a 65-year-old Asian American woman in the same midtown Manhattan neighborhood was threatened and heckled with anti-Asian slurs.

The surge in violence has been linked in part to misplaced blame for the coronavirus pandemic and former President Donald Trump’s use of terms like “Chinese virus.”

“This brave woman belongs here,” Vance said. “Asian American New Yorkers belong here. Everyone belongs here.”

The late morning attack happened in front of a luxury apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen, west of Times Square. Two lobby workers, described by their union as doormen, were seen on video witnessing the attack but failing to help Kari. One of them was seen closing the building’s door as she was on the ground.

The building’s management company said the workers were suspended pending an investigation. The workers’ union, SEIU 32BJ, initially said that they immediately called for help. A spokesperson clarified Wednesday that the workers waited until the assailant walked away to check on Kari and flag down a nearby patrol car.

Residents of the building also defended the workers, saying in a letter Wednesday that a widely seen video clip focusing on the assault cut off before they could be seen giving the victim aid and alerting medics.

Detective Michael Rodriguez said Wednesday that patrol officers driving by came upon the victim after she was assaulted.

The Associated Press has requested the full video from the building’s management company. The company has not responded.

This year in New York City, there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim as of Sunday, police said. There were 11 such attacks by the same time last year. The NYPD last week said it was increasing patrols in Asian neighborhoods, including using undercover officers to prevent and disrupt attacks.

Joo Han, the deputy director of the Asian American Federation, called the plainclothes patrols a “knee-jerk response” that ignored misgivings she said many people in Asian communities have about law enforcement.

“That wasn’t something that was done in conversation with community leaders,” Han said. “That’s not something that we would have recommended. That’s not safe for a lot of folks who may not have status, who don’t have comfortable interactions with NYPD.”

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Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this report.

Bored games: Teams find fun ways to fill gaps at tourneys

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Wiffle ball games and ping-pong tournaments. Boat rides, TikTok videos and Uno. Lots and lots of Uno, in fast-paced games in which the cards fly in a frenzy.

The men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments in Indianapolis and San Antonio aren’t all COVID-19 tests, basketball and contact tracing. But being in quasi-isolation with any movement inside and outside hotels restricted, teams had to get creative during the days and weeks between games and nasal swabs to find ways to stay entertained.

The North Carolina State women staged Wiffle ball games in their team hotel and set up a basketball hoop arcade game for shooting contests with coach Wes Moore.

“Coach Moore was knocked out multiple times, back-to-back-to-back …. And there’s been lots and lots of Uno,” forward Elisa Cunane said before the Wolfpack were eliminated in the Sweet 16.

The Stanford women had no trouble filling the gaps. They’re seasoned pros after being forced to spend nearly 10 weeks away from home during the regular season because local government restrictions in Santa Clara County, California, prevented them from practicing or playing at home.

While Stanford won four games to advance to the Final Four, they were also staging sweat-inducing ping-pong tournaments. And true to form for the NCAA postseason, a few on the overall top seed in the women’s tournament complained about their draw in the field.

“I got a bad draw in the ping-pong tournament,” said Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer, who wasn’t quick enough with her backhand and got knocked out pretty quick. “But I’ve learned once the bracket’s set, you’re in the bracket.”

Stanford’s Hannah Jump apparently is a whiz on the small court when she’s not dropping 3-pointers.

“Her hands, she has really big hands,” Cardinal guard Anna Wilson said. “I think the way she handles the paddles is the reason why she’s so good. She has a great backhand and forehand.”

The women’s tournament also had a digital portal where athletes could sign up for yoga or meditation sessions or just pose questions about life inside the tournament.

Cards also were big with Baylor men with serious games in the Bears hotel in Indianapolis, guard Adam Flagler said as the the No. 1 seed Bears advanced to the Final Four.

“We had a Uno tournament. We had a Connect Four tournament,” Flagler said, although he didn’t know who won, just that it wasn’t him.

“When I lose, I can’t even focus any more,” “Flagler said.

The Houston Cougars have found solace in what coach Kelvin Sampson called the team’s “RV campground.””

Sampson said the Cougars have been away from home since going to their conference tournament on March 11, flying straight from Fort Worth, Texas, to Indianapolis to receive their first round of coronavirus testing.

“You know everybody comes out of their rooms at feeding time,” said Sampson, who has guided the Cougars men to the Final Foul for the first time since 1984. “We all congregate by the elevators, or the microwave, or refrigerator for late night snacks. Guys are popping popcorn, ordering a pizza. Guys walk out with their little sleeping beanies on.

“It’s like, you know, everybody’s standard weekend over at uncle Joe’s house. But that’s brought us closer together. That’s sort of you know, the bubbles.”

In San Antonio, where the weather has been mostly sunny with temperatures in the low 70s, teams seemed to have a little more freedom to move by the time the field had shrunk from 64 teams to 16.

Of the 64-team field, 27 took boat tours along the city’s famed River Walk, and six took private tours of the iconic Alamo, which is nestled in the heart of downtown. And starting Wednesday, the last four women’s teams were allowed a private visit at the San Antonio zoo, where they could feed the giraffes.

But those outings still kept the teams isolated from others because any venture out of the hotel is bound to carry some risk, even if minimal.

Texas is a wide-open state after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott lifted the state’s mask requirements on March 10. Businesses are allowed to operate at 100% capacity, although many still require patrons to wear masks.

Although Texas has had more than 47,000 reported COVID-19 deaths and nearly 2.4 million confirmed infections, the state this week has reported a six-month low in hospitalizations.

The women’s tournament allowed only a limited number of fans connected to players and staff to watch the first two rounds. But by the Sweet 16, the NCAA was allowing up to 17% capacity at the Alamodome, which meant sizeable crowds to watch Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas, as well as to see Stanford’s Kiana Williams, who is from San Antonio.

A crowd of several thousand on hand for No. 6 Texas’ upset of No. 2 Maryland in the Hemisfair Region celebrated with chants of “Texas Fight!” after the game. Texas played much of the season in front of an empty arena in Austin because of fan restrictions.

“It’s awesome to have fans in the stands. The atmosphere just makes it that much better,” Texas guard Celeste Taylor.

The players say they’ve made the best of the restrictions. Still, some frustration has bubbled up.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma missed the top-seeded Huskies’ first two games because he was in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 and questioned some of the protocols once he arrived in San Antonio.

He was notably mystified by rules limiting four members of a team in an elevator at a time, that he said caused long delays.

“It’s four of the same team that just spent the last 45 minutes upstairs together. It’s kind of bizarre, right?” he said.

Auriemma’s team is still in San Antonio after advancing to its 13th consecutive Final Four. The Huskies have been playing a tournament of Texas-themed games, including trivia and relays, set up by associate head coach Chris Dailey to break the monotony. Though that pesky elevator wait still exists.

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AP sports writers Anne Peterson, Aaron Beard, Steve Megargee, and Kristie Rieken contributed.

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More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

New York is latest state to legalize recreational marijuana

New York adults over the age of 21 can now possess and use marijuana — even in public — under a legalization bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, though legal sales of recreational-use cannabis won’t start for an estimated 18 months until regulations are set.

Passed after several years of stalled efforts, the measure makes New York the 16th state to legalize adult use of the drug, though South Dakota’s measure is in legal limbo.

New York becomes the second-most populous state, after California, to legalize recreational marijuana. Legalization backers hope the Empire State will add momentum and set an example with its efforts to redress the inequities of a system that has locked up people of color for marijuana offenses at disproportionate rates.

“By placing community reinvestment, social equity, and justice front and center, this law is the new gold standard for reform efforts nationwide,” said Melissa Moore, New York state director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

The legislation provides protections for cannabis users in the workplace, housing, family court, schools, colleges and universities, and sets a target of providing half of marijuana licenses to individuals from underrepresented communities. And police could no longer use the odor of cannabis as a reason for searching someone’s car for contraband.

New York will start automatically expunging some past marijuana-related convictions, and people won’t be arrested or prosecuted for possession of pot up to 3 ounces. A 2019 law already expunged many past convictions and reduced the penalty for possessing small amounts.

In a unique provision, New Yorkers 21 and over can now smoke cannabis in public, including on sidewalks. No other state allows that, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of pro-legalization group NORML.

Still, New Yorkers can’t smoke or vape marijuana in locations where smoking is prohibited by state law, including workplaces, indoor bars and restaurants and within 100 feet of a school. And stricter local smoking rules apply: New York City bans smoking in parks and on beaches, for instance.

Local governments can pass stricter rules on marijuana use, prohibit retail dispensaries or cannabis lounges, and impose small civil penalties — as long as they don’t “completely or essentially prohibit a person” from lawful marijuana use.

Mackenzie Stevenson, a portrait photographer and dental assistant in central New York, was thrilled at the news. She has a relative with epilepsy who’s been greatly helped by medical marijuana.

“I’ve seen the benefits it’s had for her, so I’m excited for more people to be able to benefit from it,” the 20-year-old said.

“Once I’m 21, I’m going to be very excited to go out and be able to use it myself,” added Stevenson, who said she has tried it occasionally.

Law enforcement organizations, parents’ groups and many Republican lawmakers opposed the new law.

They suggested legalization will encourage kids to use marijuana and will increase impaired-driving crashes, among other concerns.

“For 27 years in the military, I fought drugs, every single year… What will we do to our children here?” Republican state Rep. John Lemondes Jr., a retired Army colonel, asked as lawmakers debated Tuesday night.

Legalization supporters say that it’s already easy for young adults to get pot and that there’s no clear link between marijuana legalization and traffic accidents. Officials plan to study the driving issue, and the law also lets state police get money to train more officers as “drug recognition experts,” though University at Buffalo professor R. Lorraine Collins said there’s no evidence those experts can tell whether someone’s high.

The trade publication Marijuana Business Daily estimates New York could become the East Coast’s largest recreational marijuana market — generating a potential $2.3 billion in annual sales by its fourth year.

Cuomo, a Democrat, said annual tax revenues could eventually total $300 million, though Republicans are skeptical. California was forced to cut $223 million from state budget projections in 2019 due to slower-than-expected pot sales.

After covering the state’s costs of regulation and enforcement, tax revenues would go to schools, drug treatment and prevention programs and a fund for investing in job skills, adult education, mental health and other services in communities that bore the brunt of the national and state drug war.

The taxes are considerable: a 9% statewide sales tax, an additional 4% county and local tax and another tax based on the level of THC, marijuana’s active ingredient.

Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat and the legislation’s senate sponsor, estimates the total tax rate will come out to about 20%.

The state will provide loans, grants and incubator programs to encourage cannabis entrepreneurs from minority communities, as well as small farmers, women and disabled veterans. Krueger said the state can’t mandate giving 50% of licenses to such applicants because it could be unconstitutional.

Instead, the law sets 50% as “a goal.”

“Fifty percent is a very high bar to try to reach, but if it happens, it would be amazing,” said Hillary Peckham, chief operator of Etain Health, a women-owned New York medical cannabis company that is considering applying for a recreational marijuana license.

“The next step is to see how the regulations and the program are stood up to actually provide those opportunities,” added Peckham, whose company has four dispensaries around the state.

Social equity emerged as a key theme in marijuana legalization in recent years, with newly legal states trying to build it in and others seeking to make up for a lack of diversity in the businesses they approved earlier. But plans haven’t always played out as intended.

Illinois, for instance, was touted for the equity provisions in its 2019 law. But that has drawn criticism and legal action from some Black-owned businesses that were passed over. Illinois has since revised its process to try to address those issues.

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Associated Press reporters Jennifer Peltz and Karen Matthews contributed reporting from New York.

Archives for April 2021

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