What A Day - Week Two of Teachers Striking In Minneapolis

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

Teachers in the Minneapolis Public School district are in the second week of their strike, led by The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59. Tequila Laramee, an associate educator who has been with Minneapolis Public Schools for ten years, joins us to discuss what she and the union are advocating for.At least 130 survivors have been rescued from the theater in Mariupol that had been serving as a shelter for up to 1,300 people when it was bombed by Russian air forces. A Russian court has extended the detention of WNBA player Brittney Griner until May 19, and state department officials say that have had no access to her so far.And in headlines: Washington state’s governor signed a measure into law that prohibits legal action against anyone seeking an abortion, President Biden announced a new White House COVID-19 response coordinator, and Selena’s family plans to release a posthumous Selena album.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

it's friday march 18th i'm gideon resnick and i'm trevelle anderson and this is what a day where we're not taking a position on the debate over daylight savings to avoid offending either the moon or the sun yes we love these celestial bodies equally honestly i wish they were both up at all times listen don't make us choose, please and thank you. On today's show, the ongoing teacher strike in Minneapolis, plus President Biden announced a new White House COVID-19 response coordinator. But first, a quick update on the Russia-Ukraine war. This is as of our recording last night at 9.30 p.m. Eastern.

Spoiler alert, Russia is still Russia-ing as their invasion of Ukraine continues for a third week. We briefly mentioned on yesterday's show the drama theater of Mariupol that was bombed by Russian air forces. That theater had been serving as a shelter for up to 1,300 people when it was bombed, according to one member of Ukraine's parliament, Serhii Taruta. We still don't know the extent of casualties, but there was a makeshift bomb shelter in the theater that seemed to hold. At least 130 survivors were rescued from the rubble yesterday, but the recovery process has been slow as shelling continues.

Taruta told a Ukrainian TV station, quote, People are clearing away the rubble themselves. There is no rescue operation because all the services that are supposed to rescue people, to treat them, to bury them, these services no longer exist. Wow. Russia, of course, is denying that it carried out any attack in Mariupol. A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry said yesterday, quote, our armed forces don't bomb cities.

Everyone is well aware of this. Yes, and neither of us host a morning news podcast either. And it's interesting that she would say that because according to a statement by the Mariupol government themselves, between 50 and 100 Russian missiles and artillery shells have been hitting the city every single day, and at least 80% of the city's residential buildings

have been destroyed. That said, there are some reports out there that Russia's advance into the country is slowing, but the violence is still continuing. Yeah, to that point, Russian troops reportedly shelled the city of Chernihiv on Thursday, killing a number of people, including a U.S. citizen. And then separate strikes reportedly killed at least 23 people in Kharkiv. The U.N. said that over 700 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, but that the actual number was likely higher. So on Wednesday, as we talked about on

yesterday's show, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress via video. Travelle, are there any updates on the U.S.'s response? Yeah, so on Thursday, the House voted 424 to 8 to strip Russia of its preferential trade status with the United States. The bill, if passed by the Senate, would allow the United States to impose higher tariffs on Russian goods. Trade experts, however, have said that the move carries mainly symbolic weight and would have a limited economic effect compared to other sanctions that have already been imposed. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday he was concerned that China may be considering directly assisting Russia. President Biden is expected to speak to their president today. Blinken also warned that

Moscow might be preparing to use chemical weapons as they grow, in his words, more desperate. Now, ironically or not, Russia called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting for today to discuss its allegations that the U.S. is helping Ukraine develop biological weapons. Now, the U.N. has said it has no evidence of that, and both countries have denied the claims, but we know Russia loves a disinformation, misinformation campaign. Yeah, yikes. And then still mixed up in this ever-evolving story is the fate of the WNBA player Brittany Griner,

who has been detained in Russia. Do we have any updates on that? Yeah, so as a reminder, she's being held on drug charges for allegedly having vape cartridges with hashish oil in them, and that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. She's been detained since February 17th, so that's over a month now. And on Thursday, a Russian court extended her detention to May 19th. State Department officials confirmed yesterday that they have had no access to Griner despite consistently requesting it. But we have little details other than that

as relevant government officials cite privacy concerns, limiting what they can say. Yeah, that's a scary situation as well. Meanwhile, in an ongoing story in the US, teachers in the Minneapolis Public School District were on strike for their 10th day yesterday. And the last time educators in the city went on strike was over 50 years ago. And according to NPR, with an M, that strike was extremely effective. It led to the passage of the Public Employment Labor Relations Act, which legalized the collective bargaining for public

workers in the state. Now, more than 4,000 educators are on strike, including teachers and educational support professionals, closing classrooms more than 4,000 educators are on strike, including teachers and educational support professionals, closing classrooms for over 30,000 students. That's a lot. So how did we get here? How did they get here? And what are they looking for? Yeah, so the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 is leading this effort. And the strike really started last week following failed negotiations between the district and the union. The union has said that they want caps on class sizes, they want better wages, more mental health resources for students, among some other things. And on the issue of wages specifically, again, this is from NPR, Minneapolis teachers make an average of $14,000 a year less

than teachers in neighboring St. Paul, and they want education support professionals to make $35,000 a year starting salary instead of $24,000. Earlier this month, in fact, St. Paul educators averted a strike after reaching a deal that included some of the same asks that Minneapolis teachers have. Now, the superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools has said that he agrees staff should be paid more, but that the money just isn't there, citing falling enrollment numbers exacerbated in part by the pandemic. On Wednesday, I spoke with Tequila Laramie. She is an associate educator considered a support professional who has been with Minneapolis Public Schools for 10 years. She grew up in North Minneapolis and was named Minnesota's ESP of the Year just a few months ago.

Here's what she had to say when I asked about what she and the union are looking for. We've been looking for safe and stable schools. And to me, what that means is, one, a livable wage, not only just our educational support professionals, but also the licensed staff as well, the retention of educators of color. I grew up in Minneapolis Public Schools District, and I don't remember seeing any educators that look like me. And being an educator in an urban community right now,

I see the importance of it, like the connections that I make with our students and the connections they make back to me and being able to understand the community they grew up in. It's very important for them to see educators of color within their school. Mental health support. I teach and grew up also in an urban community where it's not the best neighborhoods. Murders happen and a lot of violence is happening daily, which is in our students back in front yard. You know what I mean?

Like little kids getting shot by straight bullets. This is their family. This is in their front yards and their backyards. Then they have to come to school. It's not okay that they can't get the help that they need, that they deserve at school or at home. Yeah. She went on to say this about the work that she was personally juggling. I want a livable wage. Definitely. I work my Minneapolis job and I also work another job and I have like two jobs within our union. So that's like four jobs, right? Do I attend every single job every single day? Absolutely not. But between

each day I'm working at least two of those jobs. Like I want to come home or, you know, get off work and know that I'm not going to another job. I have like so many meetings and like, I have like not like a nervous breakdown, but like when I don't have a meeting one day or have to go into another job like my mind is frantic because I'm like am I missing work right now am I missing another job right now like I don't know what to do with myself when I get to get off work and just have the whole day you know have the rest of the day and when I say get off work I'm working until like five o'clock because I work after school also I want a livable wage where I can work one job and not have like a mental breakdown because I'm constantly checking my calendar thinking I'm missing work or another job. Wow. So how has the community been reacting to all of this?

Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of support. For one thing, the union representing food service workers for the district filed an intent to strike of their own, saying that they would stop working in 10 days if they could not reach an agreement. Laramie said that a lot of restaurants are bringing coffee and food to people on the picket line, and that support overall has been strong. But she says she is really missing being in the classroom. I miss my students. Like, we don't want to be on strike. You know what I mean? We want to be in the classroom with our students. So I brought the idea, like, let's make a video and send it to the families whose number that we personally have on our phone. So we made a video that it was snowing like two

days ago. So we made the video in the snow, telling our students that we miss you guys so much. Like we're out here fighting for you guys. And we're going to be out here holding the line until the end. We will keep following this and the negotiations as they develop. We also have our eyes on a developing strike planned among faculty members at Howard University who also say they are under-resourced and under-compensated. More on all of this very soon, but that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines.

More states are making it clear that they do not want to sit at the same table as Texas when it comes to reproductive rights. Yesterday, Washington State's Governor Jay Inslee signed a measure into law that prohibits legal action against anyone seeking an abortion and anyone who aids them. This action was taken just days after lawmakers in the neighboring state of Idaho passed a law that bans abortions after six weeks and allows family members to sue anyone connected to an abortion. While Inslee was signing the bill into law, he said this. This is a perilous time for the ability of people to have the freedom of choice. The new protective law goes into effect starting in June. This is a major win for pro-choice advocates and, more generally, people who respect the separation between state and human body.

Abortion rights groups say this will protect people and medical providers from any prosecution for simply seeking medical treatment. Washington's legislature also said that people seeking abortions who are in Idaho and any other states where it is barred will be welcome to travel to Washington to have the procedures done. President Biden announced yesterday that White House COVID response coordinator Jeffrey Zients will be leaving his post in April after serving in the role for over a year. His replacement will be the current dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, who has graciously come on our show a few times, which by proxy makes us preeminent public health experts. Dr. Jha made it clear that he plans to keep up the pressure against COVID in his new role, tweeting, quote, We are not done. We are very likely to see more surges of infections.

We may see more variants. Not a fan of any of that. Meanwhile, across the pond, a more contagious Omicron subvariant is ripping through Western Europe in wake of many countries easing their COVID restrictions. Over the past two weeks, for example, cases have gone up by about 25% across the EU. And some countries like Germany austria are reaching record levels of caseloads while this isn't a cause for panic yet here in the u.s it is a cause to heed dr shaw's warnings springtime may be in the air and the covid cases are lower for now but it is entirely possible that we could soon face a second omicron wave of our own ah boy this is why i still wearing my mask honey okay y'all not gonna catch me slipping. Grammy Award winning singer Selena is coming out with new music 27 years after her tragic death.

The Tejano Music Stars family announced yesterday that they plan to release a posthumous Selena album with Warner Music Group. In an interview, Selena's father said that the album will include 13 songs. Three of them will be new versions of songs Selena has previously released, and at least one will feature an altered version of the late singer's voice. If you're wondering how the family was able to pull that off, Selena's brother took her vocals from when she was 13 years old and digitally altered them to sound the way she did in her 20s something that's apparently really easy to do according to musicologists i'm guessing it's like the reverse of the technology that gave us alvin and the chipmunks you know now selena's father said of the altered voice quote if you listen to it she sounds on this recording like she did right before she passed away while

there's no official release date for the album it's expected to be out sometime next month and will feature artwork and new musical arrangements by her siblings listen if i had siblings i wonder if there's anything i said or did that could be digitally altered and preserved in this way because in a way it is a compliment but it's. I mean, you've got a whole podcast. We can do something with your voice, you know? Exactly. Do the reverse and make me sound 13, please. That would be fun.

Following the temporary closure of nearly 850 McDonald's locations across Russia, a Russian burger chain named Uncle Vanya's has filed a suspicious trademark application for a new logo. We use the word new loosely here. Maybe a better word is thrifted.

The design is literally the signature yellow McDonald's arches turned 90 degrees with a line added to resemble the Cyrillic letter B all against a red background. Now, as to why they would be clearly ripping off the most famous hamburger purveyor in the entire world, McDonald's temporarily closed its restaurants in Russia last week in protest of the invasion of Ukraine, with reports of people waiting hours in line before the closures, as well as McDonald's items being resold online for exorbitant prices. That Big Mac is not going to stay fresh for too long. And all signs point to Russia being completely okay with the IP theft. The trademark application appeared shortly after Russian officials indicated

that they would not move to protect the patents of companies linked to countries that are deemed hostile to Russia, while a top government official indicated to the Russian parliament last week that Uncle Vanya's should take control of the abandoned McDonald's. While taking control of an abandoned McDonald's is what every person dreams of since birth, ideally one with a ball pit, we do not condone it in this specific case. We don't, but I need to know, Gideon, how much would you pay for some resold nuggets? What's, how long am I waiting?

Like, what, there needs to be other parameters for when were they made, when were they ordered. Are we talking yesterday's nuggets? The answer then is not a lot. What about you i don't want no kind of mcdonald's nothing honey okay okay all right that's fair enough that's probably the right answer uh those are the headlines we'll be back after some ads it's friday wide squad and today we are doing a segment called no context bad vibes called No Context, Bad Vibes. No Context, Bad Vibes. Yes. Take a listen to today's clip. But in sorrow and fear, that's when saints can appear to drive out those old snakes once again.

And they struggle for us to be free from the psycho in this human family, Ireland's sorrow and pain is now the Ukraine, and St. Patrick's name is now Zelensky. Okay, they sound confused, and they're being charitable. I'm confused too, honey. I don't get it. They went from the really terrible fork-clicking noise to just general confusion very quickly. They're like, do we clap? Do we laugh? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure either. That was, of course, Nancy Pelosi at the White House's annual Friends of Ireland luncheon yesterday reading a part of an original poem that was emailed to her by who else but U2 frontman and self-styled humanitarian Bono. What are poems, after all, if not U2 songs without guitars? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has reportedly attended almost every U2 concert in the D.C. area since at least 2006, chose to read Bono's poem while introducing the main act of the luncheon, the Irish dancing group Riverdance, all but overwhelming the early afternoon crowd with artistic expression, as we heard. So, Travelle, what are your thoughts on this clip?

Is this America's Got Talent, Gideon? We've got poetry. We've got Riverdance. I don't know. It feels like a variety show. It is. It clearly is. And we are the winners.

None of the contestants are winners. It's we, the audience, that are winners. I'm wondering how often this particular exchange has happened. Like Bono being like, I'm writing a poem and it's time to email it to my friend who is Nancy Pelosi. I just want to know why she thought it was a good idea. Did she tell him, hey, I have this speech that I'm doing in front of our friends of Ireland. Girl, I need something to spice it up. Help me out.

Right. And he was like, no problem. Bet. I can do that. Or was this a private correspondence that she was trying to flaunt a little bit and be like, look, I'm reading this from my friend. She was trying to name drop is what you're saying. Yeah. And in that case, maybe that's a little rude to Bono.

I don't know. I mean, he deserves whatever because he put that album on all of our phones. I don't know if you remember. Of course I remember. And I'm still trying to get it off. Like, come on now. Of course I remember. And this will soon be uploaded there as well.

That would be great. That was No Context, Bad Vibes. No Context, Bad Vibes. No Context, Bad Vibes. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, have some chicken Bic nuggets, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the Bono poems that don't make it to Nancy Pelosi's inbox like me,

What Today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Travelle Anderson. that don't make it to Nancy Pelosi's inbox like me, Woodaday is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Travelle Anderson. I'm Gideon Resnick. And justice for Riverdance. Yes. That's all we got.

They were in person. They showed up. You know, maybe prioritize them a little bit. That's all I'm saying. I mean, sure. We don't know whether to be positive or negative or neutral. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance, Jazzy Marine, and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Leo Duran and me, Gideon Reznik. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.