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Morrisey Moves Forward With School Vaccine Exemptions in West Virginia
Gov. Patrick Morrisey is pushing ahead with his desire to grant religious exemptions to the state’s current vaccine mandates, even though legislation codifying the policy failed to pass the West Virginia Legislature earlier this year.
Morrisey signed an executive order mandating the creation of a vaccine exemption program on his second day in office, and recently issued a statement saying the order “remains in place and it will not be rescinded.” The governor’s statement reinforcing the executive order followed a memo that was issued — and then rescinded — by West Virginia’s superintendent of schools.
In the memo, sent to county superintendents, state Superintendent of Schools Michelle Blatt said “there is no religious exemption provided for in West Virginia law” for the current school vaccine mandate. Blatt later rescinded the memo, saying she had done so at Morrisey’s request.
Infinity Rehab Will Pay to Resolve Covid Vaccine Mandate-Related EEOC Religious Discrimination Charge
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported:
Premiere Rehab (doing business as Infinity Rehab), a rehabilitation and therapy service provider with locations in 18 states, including Minnesota, has agreed to resolve a discrimination charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today. As a result of successful conciliation efforts between the parties, Infinity Rehab has agreed to provide monetary relief to the affected employee and to provide training for all employees and managers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, an employee who worked as an occupational therapy assistant for Infinity Rehab was placed into a third-party long-term care facility. The facility’s policies required all contracted staff working within the facility to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Pursuant to her religious beliefs, the employee requested an accommodation so she would not have to get the vaccine.
While Infinity Rehab initially asserted it intended to accommodate the employee’s request, the third-party facility’s policies ultimately precluded them from providing the employee with an accommodation and she was terminated as a result.
The EEOC’s investigation found that probable cause existed to believe Infinity Rehab, the staffing agency responsible for placing the employee in the third-party facility, engaged in an unfair discriminatory practice, and ultimately terminated the therapy assistant’s employment.
Discrimination Lawsuit Against NC Symphony Dismissed
The Carolina Journal reported:
Three former employees have dropped their lawsuit against the North Carolina Symphony (NCS). They had accused the Symphony of firing them in 2022 because of their refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. “The lawsuit we filed against The North Carolina Symphony Society, Inc. and its President and CEO has been settled, resolved, and concluded,” according to a statement lawyer James Lawrence emailed to Carolina Journal Monday on behalf of his three clients.
“We valued our time as musicians with the North Carolina Symphony and wish it continued success going forward.” The statement followed a stipulation of dismissal filed Monday in U.S. District Court. It indicated “all claims asserted by Plaintiffs in this action against the NCS Defendants are dismissed with prejudice.” The words “with prejudice” mean that the suit cannot be refiled at a later date.
U.S. District Judge James Dever issued a ruling in September 2024 allowing the plaintiffs to proceed with their lawsuit against the Symphony and the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Instagram Teen Accounts Still Exposed to Sexual Content, Investigation Finds
Following years of criticism for its handling of the youth mental health crisis, Instagram has invested heavily in beefing up its teen safety features, including an entirely new way for underage users to post, communicate, and scroll on the app. But recent tests of these new safety features suggest it may still not be enough.
According to an investigation conducted by the youth-led nonprofit Design It For Us and watchdog Accountable Tech — later corroborated by Washington Post columnist Geoffrey Fowler — the platform continues to surface age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, and generally harmful content despite content control safeguards.
In the study, “Gen-Z aged” representatives from Design It For Us tested five fake teen accounts on the app’s default Teen Account settings over a two-week period. In all of the cases, the youth accounts were recommended sensitive and sexual content. Four out of five accounts were recommended content related to poor body image and eating disorders, and only one account’s algorithm surfaced what the nonprofit deemed “educational” content.
Police Use of Facial Recognition Continues to Raise Public Concerns
Should police use facial recognition technology? Two-thirds of Milwaukee’s Common Council says no. An article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says 11 of 15 alderpersons signed a letter opposing use of the facial recognition technology by the Milwaukee Police Department, citing concerns about bias and potential overreach.
Milwaukee police currently don’t have a facial recognition system – but they want one, and have tested the technology. They say it makes solving crimes faster, and “can be done with the appropriate parameters in place to ensure that the use will not violate individual civil rights.” They say it would not be, and had never been, used as exclusively as probable cause to arrest someone. They have pledged to engage in public consultation as part of any formal acquisition process.
Nonetheless, the Common Council’s letter, written “in strong opposition to the deployment of facial recognition technology by the Milwaukee Police Department,” says that “while we understand the desire to enhance public safety and the promises people have made for this emerging technology, we believe these benefits are significantly outweighed by the risks.”