Okay, we are now live. All right. Welcome everybody. This is Tuesday, May 26th. And we are the House General Housing and Military Affairs Committee. Today's agenda will include further conversations on the housing proposal that was made by the administration and what our response would be or how we would fill that in. But we were also interested in hearing from AHS, DCF, OEO, just basically overall from, we have Sean Daniel with us today, who will take us through, who will take us through, I believe, Ken Schatz's, Commissioner Schatz's memorandum of just sort of lays out the plan. But again, Sean, welcome. We've seen just about everybody else but you. Good morning. In committee since March. And, you know, one of the things that stood out in the governor's proposal was that it at least has it had to do with housing it was talking about homelessness prevention with the rental assistance programs or REARGE programs and and then provision of some funding to try to rehabilitate some apartments that could be used for housing the homeless in the near future. But what was missing was your piece, which was the transition from where we are having housed the upwards of 2000 Vermonters on a temporary basis and what the transition will be. Not only because the weather is turned, but also because of, you know, we're still under a stay at home, real safety oriented circumstance here with COVID-19. And so we just wanted to get an update on what was happening at AHS, what the thoughts were with the plans were funding. Is this still going to be funding that comes from FEMA or ESG or other sources. So just wanted to get an update from you and get an idea of what the state is doing to work on what I would consider the shortest or short term situations which is how to take people from from these motel rooms, which have served their purpose there's no doubt, but we all know is no full time or long term solution to to what we're facing. So with that I will, I will pass the microphone to you welcome. Thank you. Good morning to the committee. Appreciate the opportunity. Commissioner Schatz sends his regrets he's unexpectedly out today. So he won't be able to join in the conversation, but he does send his regrets. We do continue to house a large number of homeless households in motels in response to the pandemic. We're just shy of 1500 households still just over 2000 individuals about 1700 adults and about just over 300 children as well. We are working on a transition plan to move forward and as a recovery plan. We continue to do that work it's complicated by the different revenue streams that might be available and the different limitations that come with those funding streams so that is complicating the work in the conversations we're having on how to move forward. Within the time frames and the funding that we have available we do hope to have a plan available in the coming weeks to share. What we do know is that a large part of that plan will require services from our community partners for navigation and case management. And through the hop program housing opportunity program grants. I'm starting to issue out some supplemental awards to homeless providers across the state over the last couple weeks to start providing additional resources to support the housing work that they're doing right now in the motels but also the work that's going to be needed to transition folks to more permanent housing from motels in the coming months. And you will see us issuing more of those out in the coming weeks as well we want to provide funding to all of our partners that work with us so that we can serve the large number of households that we have in motels right now. Kind of switching from the response phase of the pandemic to the recovery phase as we finalize the details of that longer term plan. You know we are looking at implementing some of the program rules back into place that pre existed the pandemic. As we will continue to house homeless families due to the pandemic but we are going to start easing in some of the program require quite requirements that pre existed as well. That was in those were outlined in the memo that was sent out this morning. Commissioner Schatz is signature. One is you'll see that beginning June 1 we're going to work to increase the you know the resources available to our partners to do this work the navigation the case management we issued some funding out already and we hope to issue more in the coming days. We do require that the household we're serving on cooperate with the quarter coordinated entry in the development of a longer term housing plan. What we do know from looking at the number of households we're serving they're quite different and they have very unique needs. Each plan needs to be individualized. And so that work will need to take into account their unique circumstances and at Ford and how we support that. You know we've been having some challenges in the motels and losing some hotels working with us as due to some of the situations happening in the motels across the state right now and we will be looking to implement a modified period of an eligibility for those who are asked to leave a motel due to their conduct and so we'll be issuing more details on that in the coming days as well. And then also given that the whole system of care shut down when the pandemic started and anyone who's homeless was housed. You know we open the program up pretty significantly. And the things we'll be looking at implementing effective June 15 will be having households once again contribute some of their resources to housing above the if they're above the reach up standard. That's usually a 30% contribution we're housing a large number of folks with some with some ongoing monthly income. And so we want those households to start making contributions and hopefully that'll allow us to move them to more permanent housing situations as we asked them to utilize some of their resources for this work as well. And we'll be providing more information as these details get finalized in the coming days, but we wanted to make sure the committee was aware as we're shifting to the recovery phase one component of that. We want to transition folks and provide those resources to move them and more permanent housing that we are going to start easing in some of the program requirements. That's not to say that we're not going to continue to house families and individuals in response to COVID we have no plans to to change that approach. We have changed how we're granting authorizations we were doing it for 30 day periods of time. We are now doing it for two week periods of time and we will continue to do that for the foreseeable future so we are in the process of reauthorizing everyone's hotel and hotel stays that run out at the end of this week. So they'll be rehoused through the 15th. And then we will then reauthorize for another two week period after that as well as multiple reasons we're doing that one as we're moving to recovery phase. We want to make sure we're staying in touch with our families more often. These reauthorizations do require us to reach out and have contact with whether the households we're serving. And as we're moving forward with wanting them to work on a housing plan that will allow us to stay in touch with them and monitor that progress. Also, some of the hotels we're working with asked that we do these on shorter stays. Some has to do with the way that the billing process works and allows them to bill quicker and get paid quicker than the 30 day authorization. So there's a multitude of reasons, but none of which implicate us winding it down. We saw in preparing for the committee that there was a date of July 15. We're not sure where that came from, but there's been no internal conversation about shutting the program down on July 15. So we can assure the committee that that's not something we're looking to do at this time. I would say the other thing, a piece I would add is that we still are have in place a feeding operation to make sure all of the households in the motels have access to food. And so we're contracting with the food services across the state to make sure that those contracts and work is in place as we continue to use this in response to the pandemic and making sure that people are able to stay safe and have access to nutritious food at the same time. And so we will continue both of those in conjunction as long as needed at this point as we finalize the details and hopefully start moving some of these households to more permanent housing situations as as Vermont starts to reopen. We have access some of those normal resources that are available to do that work. And Sean, do you have several weeks ago we received a list of where folks were the hotels that were participating. Is there an updated list that's available. I can forward that to the committee right after we finish up the testimony. Yeah, that would be great. And so and and we've heard a lot of times and most recently from Sarah Phillips that there's been a real concerted effort to get people into the coordinated entry system. And if you could just give me a couple minutes of just to remind me what that system is how does how does someone get into it and hopefully what the benefits of that are going to be. So coordinated entry is a system of intake where homeless individuals work with the housing partners participating coordinated entry. So everyone coming into the homeless system of Karen Vermont is connected with a coordinated information provider and they do a an assessment of those families circumstances and needs, and then that information is placed into the homeless management information system known as HMIS. And then any homeless provider working with that family. And with the appropriate releases have access to that information so that, as I indicated before, every family has very unique needs and those are kind of detailed in that coordinated entry assessment. And so as housing plans are developed and implemented for that household, you know that information informs that decision making and path forward. But is that. So that would that would kind of take into account what Commissioner Schatz testified to several weeks ago where there's X percentage of people are episodically homeless X percentage of people require the next level up from services and the next level of the next level are perhaps some of the most difficult they have numerous challenges to being finding a place a stable place to live is that that's I mean to me that's the goal of this this entry system is to be aware of what their needs are so that we can funnel them to the right solution is that is that the best case scenario. Yes, that is that is our hope and our goal is that that we would use that information to help find appropriate housing for all the different levels of need that we see of the families and households we're serving. So it's as I indicated each family has very unique needs. And so having the ability to understand the complex needs of some of these families whether they be substance abuse, mental health, maybe on financial managing their finances I mean that across the spectrum of the needs are can be pretty complex and interwoven and so it's important that we understand the needs of those families as we try to develop a plan that that we can support to move them to more permanent housing. Okay, I have several questions here ready to ready to go representative triano then go then once. I could just add on to the to this conversation and response to your question. Given the response and how quickly we moved and opened up the system to make sure all homeless individuals could stay home and stay safe in a motel. And so we've overwhelmed the system in a way and so that some of this work wasn't able to get done on the front end and so that's what we're trying to implement now is to make sure that we're connecting to all of these households and making sure we're working with them and moving them forward. Great thank you representative triano. Thank you for thank you Sean it's good to see you again here and your information is reliable as always so, but I do have a question there's been a fair amount of discussion or at least information around some of the issues and problems that they there have been that have arisen, particularly, I guess at the mountain view or mountainside motel. I guess my question is simple is has the department been able to deal with these issues in a, in a good way and resolve issues that have come up and, and will support services that we anticipate accompanying some of these permanent housing accommodate some of these issues do you think. Yeah, so in the short term we have worked with community providers, particularly in motels that that are housing large number of GA guest that we are able to provide some on site services to help support. We're doing those motels. You know that's also the work that we're doing right now. We've repurposed the holiday and once again, you know, it was initially used as a mode as a hotel, then it went to recovery center and now starting last Friday we started utilizing that but it's a, it's kind of a hybrid model now, where, while it is a hotel we have the Office of Economic Opportunity providing 24 seven staffing on site, some additional security resources as well. And so we're going to that that's a model that we're going to move forward within the holiday and then hopefully by having those resources on site that we can connect with those households quicker, and then hopefully start working on longer term housing plans with them and provide the supports necessary to move those plans forward. Some of the families, you know, it's stressful in itself, you know, adjusting to the pandemic but it's even incredibly stressful when you're homeless and staying in a motel which comes with its own challenges. Thank you. Sean, will those families be again in that list of folks are they identified beyond just households do we know where I guess do we know where the children are. Yes, we on the list that will provide you. It's by district and it will list all the motels that are serving households from that district. And then the number of households and then the number of adults and the number of children at each hotel so you'll be able to see that in the list will provide you. Great. Thank you. Representative Hanco. Thank you. Good morning. I have a very specific question that's coming from some constituents in my area and it's around feeding. It's the EBT cards that are being automatically given to each family with children in schools. And the schools are the ones, the ones in question, are the families at schools where all of the children qualify for reduced and free lunch, because such a majority of the students in that school. Are they qualified and there are a number of families who would not ordinarily qualify, do not want to qualify, but are still receiving these benefits and don't wish to receive them. I reached out through our legislative portal to get an answer from the administration and we were told to tell the constituents just to cut the cards up. The money will go back to the coffers and my concern was that the, the sentence that came with that explaining it is, please tell these families, don't be afraid the money isn't, if they use the cards the money's not being taken from somebody else, the money really is being taken from a greater pool of money that we all could use for further economic relief, and my concern and they're my constituents concerns were that this money is being given to people in the form of cards that they don't want. And some of them may be using them unnecessarily so you know in in in respect to possible waste in that matter I needed to bring this up with you. I certainly understand the question. Yeah, so the those benefits were created by one of the recent federal stimulus acts that in the US Congress. And we are to as the P pandemic EBT benefit. Yep. And so this money does not come directly to Vermont. It is money that comes through the USDA through the food nutrition service. And we are required to provide that benefit to all children who receive free and reduced lunch irregardless if, if they are participating the three squares Vermont program or not. We, Vermont did not have a choice if we chose to issue this benefit out we had to issue it to all families who have children that receive free and reduced lunch. And because of the community provision that you referenced, there are families who didn't apply for free and reduced lunch but whose children receive it as a result of that that community has such a high level of participation that free and reduced that they're able to provide it to all children. And we were required to provide that benefit to those households as well. It is certainly a choice of those households whether to utilize that benefit or not, and ultimately under the EBT hard rules. And if a benefit is not used in a certain amount of time it is taken back by the federal government on those dollars don't flow through the state of Vermont they are provided. We tell the USDA of the households who receive what benefit, and they provide the funds to our EBT card vendor to put those on into the bank they use, and then it would be taken off those cards that way as well. That just to give you background of why those benefits were provided and it is not taking any stimulus money away from the state of Vermont this is money that didn't flow through the state of Vermont or, or its treasurer's office. Thank you very much for clarifying that I truly appreciate that and I will pass it on to people in my community who are talking about this. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for being with us here this morning, Sean. You mentioned earlier about looking at the income and getting them to put some skin in the game actually. And I think that's appropriate but I do wonder what qualifies as income. I'm especially thinking of maybe those episodic homeless folks who lost their jobs, and were homeless as a result, and maybe receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Do those benefits? Are they the kind of income you're talking about? Yeah, it would be management sources of income. It could be VA, ongoing monthly VA benefits, it could be social security benefits, social security disability benefits, unemployment, or earned income, or any ongoing unearned income like from investments or whatnot. It really is across the board and income is a broad term. Well, thank you. That really clarifies it. Thanks a lot. Sean, I received a note from the folks at Pathways who mentioned that in the last several weeks they have housed 40, upwards of 40 households. And again, households is a fairly broad term, right? It could be an individual, it could be a pair of people, it could be a family. But beyond Pathways, there are other agencies that do have an income, for instance. I mean, as you begin to identify people who have an income and you're going to be asking that they put in 30%.  I was wondering if you could repeat it. Sure. Sorry, it looks like my internet connection was unstable. So basically, how are you working with the Pathways, or with people who are doing housing first programs, not only Pathways, but an agency like Washington County Mental Health or other agencies across the state that have a program. And Pathways mentioned that they may have, you know, that they've housed upwards of 40 people so far since March. Yes, and they've actually sent us a proposal to expand their work, which we're reviewing and considering right now. Normally, we would work with providers that apply through request for proposals through the housing opportunity grant program and that will be the mechanism that we will continue to issue out a lot of the funding that we will allocate to the services and in the housing plan as it's rolled out. So we would incur when we do that, we will reach out to organizations that have expressed an interest to submit proposals that haven't or for those that have to work directly with those organizations to understand what populations they could work with and how they would do that. We expect we'll be working with all of our housing partners, you know, regarding making sure we access every available federal housing voucher that is available to Vermont right now and make sure that we have, you know, what's been a roadblock and fully utilizing those in the past or having the services in place and that's why it's incredibly important that we support expanding our navigation and case management services as quickly as possible in the coming month or coming months to make sure that we can support not only, you know, implementing our longer term housing plan but also making sure that we can support drawing down all the federal vouchers that we have available to Vermont as well and make sure that families that are eligible for those can take advantage of those as well because as you know many of those are a longer term support and that will be there for longer than some of the funding that we will have available to support the plan that we're working on right now. I think that's going to be very important to get a list of as well because as we develop a recovery or relief fund through, I mean, we've heard that it might cost, you know, upwards of X million dollars to provide the Vermont state vouchers from the, you know, to be managed through the state housing authority, but certainly more effective would be increased vouchers from the federal government whether they are tag along vouchers or project based. Yeah, and we've been working with our partners who administer those and understanding that they did receive some additional ones through some of the increased federal spending through the stimulus bills and so we're working with them to identify that you know the households that those specialize in and making sure that we can support the services to connect the families that we're serving right now and line them up with what they have available. And that will be a part of our work as well moving forward. And that includes, if I did if I heard you correctly that's kind of include what the ideal is right is the, not only, not only a voucher but also the wraparound services that housing first type model needs in order to, in order to succeed. Exactly. And so we have on. You know, we do have, you know, the coven relief fund available to support some of our work. Unfortunately, those are time limited dollars, and those have to be spent by December 30. And one of our work right now is identifying what resources can be repurposed in use to support this work or dollar or new dollars we've received that might have a longer runway to be spent past December to make sure that, you know, we can support the other work that's going to be necessary to, to connect those families to those vouchers but make sure they're successful in whatever situation and maintain those vouchers. Moving forward as well in addition to the other work that we hope to do in our longer term housing plan that we're finalizing. December 30 thing is a real problem when it comes to the provision of services. In committee I think if you've noticed that Wendy Morgan has joined us and we'll get to her in a little while to talk about the proposal of $42 million of rental assistance, and the rearages and what that means but also, you know that it is money that would be have to be spent at the end of the year. It's a tough balance. And I think you kind of put it into. I appreciate you coming at it from the services perspective, but because we have housing proposals that we have to consider that will only be successful if there are service provisions as well. And whether that's, you know, how do we guarantee that the state will follow through on the, I mean that's been, I mean that's the age old problem is, is making sure that there's enough capacity to provide the services for them for the other for the needs for that we might have or for departments that we may create. We have a question from representative channel. Thank you, I'm just wondering Sean we're seeing, or we hearing about funding for rehabbing for to landlords to for grants or loans to rehab the vacant apartments. They won't accommodate the 2000 homeless or monsters at this time but I'm wondering if there's a consideration in your department as to how that transition might work I mean would the plan be to keep folks in a motel until some of these units are are ready for habitation or is there anything else that we're looking at. Well those are the conversations we're having right now with Josh through a CCD to understand their timeframe and how they're going to administer those funds and, and, and certainly would be our preference to any new community that come online quickly would be hopefully be that we would be able to get in line first for the families that we're serving in motels and move them out as quickly as possible. But those are the conversations are happening right. Great. That would be our preference I think as a committee as well that priorities go to folks that are presently. The proposals will help our work incredibly. The rental assistance you know the, you know, prevention of homelessness is key, make sure we prevent new families and in households from becoming homeless but then also, as you know, you know we have a tight housing market and particularly for affordable units and so that $8 million will go a long ways to bring some new units on that make them affordable, you know, accessible to the families we're serving. Great. Thank you. On, on the rental assistance. There's been a just a certain amount in the hot program. In the hot funding for rental rearages and we heard we've taken testimony from legal aid on on the success of the program at least in Franklin County, in particular in Franklin County. I think $8 or $900,000 in a, in a rental or rearage fund is far different than having $42 million in a, in a rental assistance fund and I know that that would be split up between a rearage is, you know, and potential state based vouchers and I think that that's kind of the work that we have to do is to make some estimates on, on what's the difference between rental or rearage and rental assistance and how it's going to work with the, with the nuttiness of this crisis but if the money were parked, I mean would it be parked in the hop program or would we need to create a new cubicle that would handle, you know, the disbursement and the, and the rulemaking and they, you know, I mean, I'm interested in trying to find a solution that includes as many programs and many as many processes that already exist that may have to be grown but as we've seen with the UI issue. I think and, and the homelessness issue that you described, it can quickly get overwhelmed what we have right now. Yeah, it's certainly complicated for sure. There's no doubt about that. My understanding in in our conversations is that the program that they're setting up will be a distinct program, and that it wouldn't be funneled through the hop program but administered through a CCD and, and their departments there. So, you know, we will continue with our hop funding. But as you indicated, it's it'll be a small fraction of in my senses is that that 42 million and you know I would, I don't have a lot of the details is going to work directly with many of the landlords who have not been paid, you know, and that will be the one of the rules that they'll identify is working directly with landlords and understanding who's who's in arrears and not on their rent because we are seeing some unprecedented economic conditions in the state right now. Right now it's designing the rules will be incredibly important because again it's again that's not for AHS I think that'll be an ACCD, you know, conversation but I think it's really important to get that right because it's you know the contract is between the tenant and the landlord and and how we figure how we figure that out is going to be really important. Yeah, I can tell you that we are in regular contact as they develop their plan to utilize those funds and to implement it and so we're in weekly contact with with their staff and so we're helping inform some of those decisions that are being made to make sure that it will work for some of the folks that we may see the need for but also just so that it complements the work we do as well so that that we're we're a lot just that make sure we're aligned. Right, so, so to go back to the beginning. We've always viewed this situation is having a short and a medium and a long term solution. And I think AHS is on the front lines of the short term solution obviously, getting people into the motels but also now get and getting food to them, taking over programs that have been set up by other organizations and taking on the state taking responsibility for providing in feeding this population. So, but to recap from what I heard is that starting on June 4 you're going to renew whoever has received above a voucher under extremely no barrier circumstances unlike the unlike the way it's been for cold weather. GA assistance. That's going to continue. What I heard you say is that you're going to change the process from 30 day voucher to a 14 day voucher. Yes. Internally that should help pay the motels a little bit faster, allow us to be in touch with our families a little more regularly as well that they have to come to you every two weeks to get to tell you whether they still need the voucher or not. And just to see where they're at with their work it'll be a phone contact it would certainly won't be an in person contact, but that's also our workers transition online or telephone. And are you. I mean, and it sounds like that the program in the motels will go on as long that while there will be some active work on trying to house people in a position out of motels that there's no set deadline to that that the motels have said or the state has said that people have to be out of the motels. Yeah, there's been no deadline set. Our hope is is that as we finalize the details of a longer term housing plan that that will be the roadmap forward and help help kind of map that out. There could be no deadline set where we're saying that this all comes to an end on on X date that that's not a conversation we're having right now. So there could be people in motels there could be people in motels on August 1st. There could be yes, yes. It's really a lot less if we're successful in rolling out our longer term housing plan that's our goal is to transition people out as quickly as possible to more permanent housing solutions. And that will look different for depending on the household how that rolls out. And what I heard from. And what I heard from you on the holiday in in South Burlington was. It's kind of like you were describing almost a harbor place circumstance where that you were embedding a service organization CBO we owe. Into the hotel to provide some of the services and outside or maybe I mean I guess it's closer to what's going on. Perhaps it will, it'll top, but, but isn't isn't that kind of a harbor place. I would say it's like harbor place on steroids harbor place. There are services provided on site. Regularly these will be on site 24 seven at the holiday and on site staffing resources on site 24 hours a day seven days a week at the holiday and which isn't the case. We're still paying that harbor place. Those are all right, but also we're still paying the motel rate, whatever we negotiate for the motel rooms. And we've entered into a master lease with the holiday and so we're getting very favorable rates compared to the market motel rates in Chittenden County at the holiday and right now. Okay, good reasons we've reverted back there is it allowed us to do that. And how long has that been. We started moving households in on Friday we're doing it over a period of four or five days because the service CBO is meeting and doing an intake and assessment with each household as they move in, and they're only able to do so many a day. And so we're we started on Friday and another group will be moving in today a max of like 20 to 30 households a day will be moving into the holiday. And how many rooms is that. It's 170. We're going to stop at around 100 110 to just see how that works with the resources we have on site, and then, and then move forward and filling more of the rooms if it's working. What we have on site for security and services at this point. Great representative Hango. And then by run. And I'm sorry if I repeat myself. Every time we have someone from AHS or DCF in but the program that was outlined for us by Sarah Phillips for OEO. So we're going to be moving forward. We're going to be moving forward. We're going to be moving forward. We're going to be moving. April of 2021. Where. Housing. Funding is going to be. Allocated to regional. OEO offices. And the regional partners will get together to determine who best in their community to give the. Or have you withdrawn that? Or is that part of working with the local coordinated entry partners that you described in that can. Described in his memo. Yeah, I would say we are still interested in various moving forward with that proposal. I would say that the pandemic has certainly. Changed the dynamic around that given we were hoping to move away from motels. As a model and move to other. You know, congregate setting type shelters and other service delivery models. Pandemic has certainly changed. You know, some of the approaches to that, but I think. We're still committed to still moving forward with that proposal. I think that's what some of the conversations happening with our longer term housing plan is what. Is what does the new normal look like. For some of our shelter providers. You know, and how do they move forward as a model. Given this new environment we're working with. And so those are the conversations we're having internally in the conversations we need to have with our partners. We're certainly want to move forward with it, but whether it's in April or. Year from July 1st, we just don't know at this point what that proposal will look like, but we certainly have not taken it off the table and very much want to move forward with it still. Thank you. Representative Byron. Yeah, a quick question circling back to the master lease you signed with the holiday and you said there was a rate differential with that. What is the rate difference for night that we have with the new agreement. Like, like the, some of the motel, one of the motels we've moved some folks out of on Friday has a rate of $129 a night. My memory is this I don't have it up in front of me and I was just looking at it on Friday but I believe for the first hundred rooms at the holiday and it's $65 a night. And then any above that number go to $50 a night. Okay. All right, thank you. All right, Sean. Changing gears a little bit. I appreciate all of the efforts again to that's that we're doing in real time, you know that they were faced with the pandemic state of emergency getting people into the into the motel rooms, dealing with the transition. Do you have anybody who is in a planning mode for the potential of a snapback where we have to re Institute, some of the harsher conditions of of quarantining and isolation that we that we've kind of gone through. We feel like we're growing out of now but this is their planning within the department. So I think the area planning I guess is the best way to put it. Yeah, I would say that those conversations and that work is half is happening, particularly with this with the shelter system of care. I think that, you know, we can't go. We're making decisions that they may not open next winter, some of the low barrier shelters because they would not be able to enforce some of the social distancing that's required if there was another, another way, or somewhere are going to open but with a reduced footprint so that they can implement that social distancing and some of the practices you need if there is a resurgence of the virus. And so those conversations are trying to understand what our capacity is going to be moving forward because some of it. Decisions are already being made and that we would need to be able to respond to that depending on the circumstances. And certainly we've learned some lessons as as we've had to implement this emergency response and certainly trying to learn from those and what what could we do better and what did we do well and how could we replicate that and the future. So that's all the work that's happening behind the scenes right now and understanding some of those questions. Yeah, I just, you know, I'm speaking for myself I'm just so. I mean that's one of the things that keeps me up is what happens when which I think we're, you know, constantly and trying to balance out that all our good work might change again. Representative Hango. I'm local partners in Franklin County very much want to open a new low barrier shelter and they were poised to do so right as the crisis struck. What kind of advice for them. Is this really something that they should be going forward with. It's it's it's worth considering and moving forward if that's if that's what they want to do I think we, you know, we're willing to provide technical expertise on how on how to move that project forward if that's what they want to do and then work on the financial model. We are always interested in expanding community investments and that's what we would refer that to. You know, I'll be the first to tell you that we are straining the motel capacity in many areas of the state and St. Albans is in particular is one of those areas where we are having to move households out into the Chittenden County and even the Addison County area and provide transportation because of capacity issues. And so anytime you can expand the services to serve homeless families or individuals. That's a good thing from our eyes and we certainly would want to work with whatever partners willing to step up and take on that challenge and that work. Thank you. Any further questions for for Sean right now. And Sean you're more than welcome to stick around. I mean there's always. I think in concert with what representative Hango was asking about in terms of what the program as presented this this past winter about changing up the winter GA program and you know we assessing what is how do we recreate things how do we take an opportunity to recreate things and, you know, one hand it feels like you, your division in your agency is constantly, you know, trying to work on what the new normal is. And I think I just want to make sure we appreciate let you know that we appreciate that and, you know, given that it is some of the hardest. It's some of the hardest population to keep safe and some of the hardest funding to find to make sure it's sustainable and, you know, appreciate your efforts and hope that you'll stay you or Ken or Sarah or Jeffrey or whoever you're on your team will keep us informed because the next two weeks I know we are going to be working, you know, on on what a recovery package in the meet in the long short term to medium term to long term situations going to be and we're going to be trying to tease that out but this was important to hear that that that this next level of transition is somewhat focused, I guess is a good way to think about it. And I'm sure we'll let you know, we'll have you back in in a little bit to make sure that that focus stays. I have representative because I was raising your hand question. Thank you so much just wanting to have my refrain that I've been having during this time in terms of asking about translation services and outreach to folks, and so wondering if there's been any any more to report around translation services and thinking of that that you all have been looking at. We have a system in place that predated coven in terms of making sure that folks who who you don't have different ways of communicating have the ability to access our services as as anyone would. And those continue to be available, whether it's language or our cognitive interpreter services we. It's very important that we maintain and make sure everyone's aware of those and has access to those to make sure that everyone has the ability to avail themselves of all of the services that we provide, whether it's reach up. We have high heat fuel systems, GA program and or three squares Vermont those are vitally important services to all of our monitors, and it's important that everyone be able to access them. We have the language that they use and so we continue to make sure that we provide those services to their monitors.


And welcome to the first episode of World of Books, a show that will talk about books. My goal is to maybe help you select your next read or bring some new perspectives to what you've already read, help you enhance your research on certain topics or maybe push you into writing your own book. And today we're going to talk about the book Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. And my guest today is Holly McLeod. She is my good friend and fellow avid reader. And Holly runs a free public library in her neighborhood in Lahaina and also volunteers for Maui Friends of the Library bookstore also in Lahaina. Last but not least, Holly is the owner of a design company called Shark Fit Designs, a company that hand designs logos and stickers and sells them to the interested parties and the profits are donated to local groups. So Holly, thank you for joining me today and for taking the time and for reading the book. You're very welcome.  The author Timothy Snyder is a very well-known historian. He's a professor at Yale University and he speaks five languages and can read 10 languages. He is an absolute expert in Eastern European history and he's published several books. This is just one of them. Bloodlands, which is the history of Europe between Hitler and Stalin was published in 2010. And here we are in 2022 with a war in Ukraine. And I keep thinking about the relevance of this book. I've picked up on a lot of points that are kind of related to what we see on the news. And I wonder how you feel about that, Holly? What did the book tell you and was it relevant in any way to you? Oh, well, I feel like something that's truly historical that's new information, relatively new, it's not something that we learned when we were in school, especially at least not where I went to school. And plus the information wasn't available at the time. So I just feel like knowing what happened and knowing about historical events is always relevant. It's always really important. I feel like we should never not know the truth of what happened in the past, but definitely, especially now with Ukraine and being on the brink of another, possibly huge mass starvation Yeah, we definitely need to take as much as we can and learn from history or just try to see what could possibly be happening now. So you already know, but I am actually from Romania. So regarding your comment about what we might have learned in school, we haven't learned about this much either. And that is because just like the other countries that are the topic of this book that being Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states, we were behind the Iron Curtain. So all the information was controlled and was not really passed on to the West, let's say. So it is after 1991 that a lot of the USSR archives, the former USSR archives were open and Timothy Snyder was able to access them and thus use all this information for his book. And for our viewers, I wanna point out just a few things that were absolutely shocking to me. And that is that between the Nazi and the Soviet regimes, between Hitler and Stalin, in the bloodlines that are described as currently Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, 14 million people were murdered, 14 million. And some of them, I mean, this world's genocide basically started as early as 1932 with a deliberate famine in Ukraine. At that time, Ukraine was under Soviet ruling. Stalin was in power and he decided to go through this process of collectivization, meaning that most farmers had to contribute their land and their crops to the common agricultural entity, if you wanna call it that way. So because most of them did not wanna participate, then they were deliberately famished where all their crops, all their animals were taken away and they were left with not even grains to plant for the next season or today. Famine is a very, very hard topic for me to read or even think about. I feel like something that kind of occurred to me, reading the book is like, you hear about gassing, you hear about shootings, you can wrap your head around those, you can visualize it, it's murder, it's horrible. When you hear that millions of people were starved to death, it's like, you almost have to decide that it's not just something that happened to these people, it was a deliberate way to murder them.  And it happened to millions and millions of people in different time periods throughout these 12 years from like you said, 33 to 45 is when the bloodline, like when the 14 million people were killed. It's just, I think people gassing and shooting and stuff seems cleaner, it seems like something we can accept, we've seen it in movies, we've seen it on the news, but forced starvation, this thing, it's not just something that happens, like it was specific and deliberate and brutal. So once the Soviets went through this process of collectivization, they were started. And now the same territories that have suffered so much through Stalin get to be occupied by the Germans. And now there's different reasons for them to be persecuted, executed and famished again because it's a war and there isn't enough food for everybody. And I've written down like year by year accounts. So the deliberate famine in Ukraine in the early 30s killed three million people. Then Stalin's great terror, which was persecuting people that were opposing his system, 700,000 people were killed. In Poland, between 1939 and 1941, which is after they were occupied by the Germans, 200,000 people were killed. And primarily these were the elite. The Germans wanted to eliminate the thought leaders and the intellectuals. Between 1941 and 1945, during the German occupation that now extended even into Russian territory, four million people were killed and a lot of them through starvation. 5.4 million Jews were gassed in occupied territories. And what this book reveals as a matter of fact that the Germans policy was to primarily persecute and gas and starve in their newly occupied territories rather than in the original German territories. Yeah, that was surprising to me too that German Jews were able to leave for the most part.  Yeah, I think about 90% of the Jews that were killed in these 13, 14 years were actually outside of Germany and outside of Western Europe. They're primarily in Eastern Europe and Poland was sort of the country that had the largest Jewish population. So back to my question, how relevant is this in today's world and what we're going through? And I can't stop relating it to politics and our current US politics and world politics. And in the book, the author Timothy Snyder says that the two systems, Hitler's and Stalin's had a few things in common. One was that they both opposed liberalism and democracy and that's fairly obvious. But what really caught my attention is where he says the word party in both systems seemed to be inverted rather than being defined as a group among others competing for power according to a set or accepted rules. It actually, the party became the group that made the rules. And here we are now in a two-party system in US where we see probably the biggest divide ever between the two. But can you relate this to US politics as well? Or what do you think? Yeah, like you just said, we have these two parties that are kind of making up the rules and changing the way we do things based on what their priorities are or their goals are. And yeah, and then there's still what's going on in Ukraine and like, I feel like Putin and Stalin are starting to look really similar. Yes, yes, exactly. That's how I felt. And as I was reading the book, I could see this and this and that and it's like, oh my God, history repeats itself. And have we not learned from the first time around and how can we let anything like this happen again? We can't let it happen. How they did learn from the first time around and they're taking notes. Right. Yes, yeah, they didn't learn the right things, I guess. So did you, I mean, what were the most shocking parts other than the massive number of people that were killed, executed, damaged and so on? Did anything else get your attention? Any special quote? Anything else really? Well, the part I mentioned about how Hitler was so adamant about purifying and getting rid of the Jewish race altogether, but he had to keep conquering other places to do that, because there weren't enough in Germany that it was such, I think I read like a quarter of 1% were Jewish Germans, so he had to keep moving and taking over other places to find people to kill, which is just crazy. And then for Ukraine and just their fertile land, they just always got the short end of the stick. And I think when Germany occupied Ukraine, eventually it was sad and shocking that the Ukrainian people almost accepted it because they had already been through so much and having the Soviet rule wasn't great for them. So they just kind of, they didn't know yet, I guess, how bad it could be or how bad it was going to be. So they just kind of, they just weren't as afraid or maybe they just thought, well, it can't get worse than what we have now. And that was sad. They're very resilient people, I think. Definitely.  And the author mentions this utopia that both Stalin and Hitler had. Hitler thought that he would conquer the Soviets in 12 weeks, which was unrealistic. And meanwhile, Hitler also thought that he would colonize Eastern Europe in 12 weeks and that didn't happen. And it kind of rang the bell with me. It was Putin also thought that this, you know, invasion of the Ukraine is gonna go really fast and be very effective. But in fact, I think the Ukrainians kind of got a preview of this back in 2014. And this time they said, we're not gonna let you do it. This is not gonna happen again. And I feel like with social media and with media in general and just the widespread information that we have now, they have so much more support. And like you said, all of this stuff, all of this information was behind the iron curtain until the 90s. And that can't happen anymore. There's not gonna be this decades where we don't know what happened. We're finding out what happens minutes later. So it's a little harder to get away with the same types of atrocities, I think, because you can't hide it. Yes, that's right. Back in the day, information was not flowing as easily as it is now. And it was much easier, I mean, it was easier to censor it. Today though, we're dealing with a different kind of challenge and that is the manipulation of the information and new technology where, you know... Yeah. And just because we know about something doesn't mean we can stop it. Right. With the other part that kind of got me thinking is I always try to look at the information I get from books like this and bring it into current events or locally.  You know, it also made me think and here we are in the middle of the Pacific and Ireland with actually limited land that can be used for agriculture. And we're not dealing with famine, obviously, but I think we're dealing with severe challenges when it comes to feeding ourselves from our own land. Yeah, I mean, our shelves are empty right now at the grocery store because we have so many extra people on the island right now. So yeah, I think about it all the time. My daughter did a project at school last year about shortages on islands and we had to go around and take pictures of all the empty shelves. Then it's definitely concerning. We always talk about how we should be farming and gardening and growing our own food. Right, and, you know, it looks like, yeah, there's plenty of places to do it. We do have challenges, you know, topography of the land. We have the challenge of water, not enough water and we're dealing with global warming and that's going to be even less water. So that's, so while I was reading this book which is, I have to let the viewers know it's very well-written. It's very informational. It's hard-touching because it actually turns the numbers into people. There's so many stories of so many people that were affected by these events in the blood lands. I was trying to think of, or some of the stories reminding me of other fiction books because we've been, it seems like it's easier to reach the masses with fiction than with non-fiction. And did this remind you or point you toward the end of the book? Yeah, I think it did. I think it did. I think it did. I think it did. I think it did. Did this remind you or point you towards any fiction books that you think are connected to this topic? There was a story in the book about, I think they were, I don't remember if they were Romanian or Belarusian. I forget. There were sisters that like carved a message for their mom in the side of a church before they were killed. And I thought of them and I thought of just about every other Holocaust book because you can't help but compare the visuals of these girls leaving a message for their mom knowing they're never going to see her again and she'll probably never see this message. And just, I mean, I've read a lot of the same books that you have, probably the Nightingale sisters, Surviving World War II in France. There's the book. Yeah, no. Great one. The Nightingale actually, you know, before reading this book by Timothy Snyder, I think I read it a couple of years ago. Anyhow, one of the images that really stuck with me is when the main character, you know, she's trying to, is craving for a meal with flavor. Obviously they had no food.   I wish I had chocolate. Chocolate. How much I wish I had an onion. And, you know, it always comes to mind to me when we have to prepare for some sort of natural disaster. It's like, probably be good to have an onion in this, you know, even if it's perishable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The, so it seems to me there are more books about the Holocaust than there are about all these stories of famine and starvation. Yeah. And, but I recently read one that I strongly recommend to you and our viewers. I don't know if you read it. It's City of Thieves by David Benioff. And it's basically the story takes place in what was then called Beningrad when the Germans were trying to take over the city. And what it's, I mean, again, it's terrible. There's terrible events, but somehow the author manages to create a wonderful story. And it ends on a, not joyful, but more optimistic note. So if you come across it again, it's called City of Thieves. And it's by David Benioff. And it's, it's a good book to read. But for our viewers, I also want to point out that Timothy Snyder also wrote a book more recently called On Tyranny. So that's probably an interesting one as well. Pretty serious book again. And there's another book that it's recommended that is recommended in the, by Timothy Snyder in his book. Another historian, Hannah Arendt. And the book is Origins of Totalitarianism. So that's something to consider as well. Well, that's, those are the books that I could think of. So before we wrap it up, because we only have a couple of minutes left, do you have any thoughts? Any last thoughts, last ideas? I don't know. I just, I thought it was so fascinating that it wasn't about a regime or a country or a dictator. It was about an area. And I've never read anything like that before that just really like specified or, or, you know, it was about the history of this area in this timeframe. And I thought that was really fascinating. So just for historians out there or for people interested in history, that was a really neat take on it too. Like it was about a place and not, you know, egos or governments or anything, just, just where these people were. That was really neat. And the, I should say that the books, the book has a lot of maps. So it definitely, they help kind of figure out where you're at. Yeah. Thank goodness. Yeah. So absolutely. A good book for people that are interested in the history of the area and anybody that wants to know more about what happened then again, most of the information was not made available. Because, you know, the, all these former communist countries where with the Russian influence, it was just not good PR to say how many people were killed by the Russians. So again, a good book and I, I definitely recommend it as well. Now, for the next show, we're going to stay on theme. And we're going to read a book by a contemporary Russian author. Her name is I might be butchering her name, Yuzel Yakina, and the name of the book is Zuleika and it takes place in the 1930s. And it's the story of a woman from Kazakhstan that ends up in the Gulag in Siberia. I've read the book in Romanian. So it tells you if it got to be translated in Romanian, it's got to be a good one. And, but the book is available in English on Amazon. And it's going to, so viewers get ready, read the book and join us for the next episode of World of Books, where we're going to talk about it. Until then, Ali, thank you very much for joining me. And for taking the time and for reading with me and for our viewers. Read it all. Read as much as you can. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.


So people I am back with another Outriders video and today I'm going to bring you to lower down on how to mod and craft and upgrade gear and basically in all you need to know about this system in Outriders. How's it going guys? My name is DPJ and if you enjoyed the video leave a like, it really helps out and if you like what you see and want to see more Outriders on a daily basis be sure to subscribe. Okay so crafting is a massive part of Outriders, upgrading weapons, upgrading armor, we all love to do it and there's a great system in this game for it.  So once you start the game you'll be at the rift camp, if you play the demo that's basically where you're at, you'll then progress onto the last city, once you get to the last city you're then prompt to rescue this dude.  You can only craft via this dude right here Dr. Sahidi. Now obviously when you progress further on into the game this will be your permanent vendor he will follow and travel with you. So come to this dude and you'll see at the very top of his options you'll see right there I need to upgrade my gear. So once you get into this menu it's pretty straightforward, we have your gear on the left, the item you'll want to craft right here and the crafting options. So we'll start with, let's just start with this epic weapon why not. You can see this epic as you probably know, epics in this game like legendaries have two mods slots, rares have one mod slot, greens have no mod slots, same with armor as well, got no epic armor at the moment, but rares have one, epics have two, legendaries have two. So as we can see here crafting options on the weapons we have improve rarity. Now I will say epic is the highest you can upgrade to, you can't upgrade to a legendary, no matter what it is weapon or armor. Epic is the highest you can upgrade to, yes you can take a green, to a rare, to a epic, you can do that. So let's just quick demonstration. To do this you'll go to improve rarity, you can see this right here it takes 50 of my beauty for titanium's and as you can see adds that one extra mod slot upgrades its firepower and so forth, but we ain't going to do that because I ain't upgrading any rares today. So back to the epic. So here we can also see we can erase its attributes. Here we have quick damage and healing received as you can see right here is two attributes, all weapons have two different ones. Here we can see costs 42 quick damage shards, to see how many shards you have come down to here and you can see I have 269 quick damage shards, healing received shards I have 42 it's red so I can't do it that's because I only have people 41 I have only one more one more. You can also see guys we have six upgrades slot so I can upgrade these six times same with this and same with every other weapon and armor piece you can only upgrade six times yeah some of these may have already been upgraded three times you just could be lucky there. You can also see as well this upgrades it from a 12 to a 13 percent I can't see what this one does but 1 percent I mean it's not too bad I guess it's not too bad I guess yes that's basically raising its attributes it's pretty straightforward. On to then modding gear actually back to raising attributes these shards themselves guys I'm pretty certain you get them via say this weapon here for this mantle audit I'll receive quick damage and healing receive shards I'm pretty certain that's the way it is don't don't quote me on that though it may work slightly differently but I think that just might be the way it works but we'll see as we progress early days guys it's day one it's day one cut me a break cut me a break okay so on to modding gear so like I said epics have two legenders have two and rares have one greens have zero whites have zero so yeah don't worry about them so here we have three tiers tier one tier two and tier three tier three are exclusive um to legendary so if you dismantle a legendary you will unlock is tier three mod tier twos can uh tier twos and tier one so it can be on uh rares and epics as far as I'm aware I've got a tier two right there I don't have it unlocked because I'd have to dismantle this weapon to get it here to get that mod unlocked here which would be what I think it's that one right there it's one of these yes this one right here well so we have two mud slots what you can do here guys is you can apply a mod to either one of those slots or can apply it to well as you can see it says place in slot one or place in slot two now if I place let's go with vampire if I place this in slot two it takes over um what was it what was it was it this one there yeah toxic bullets it takes over toxic bullets now it costs me 65 iron to apply this now if I apply these guys mod one will lock in place I will never be able to change mod one yes I will be able to change mod two but not mod one I'll demonstrate this for you right here guys so we'll go with um you know what you're not really mad because I'm probably never going to use this weapon anyway so I'll apply it there you can see if I apply it but about boom you can see that one there is locked now if I go back to another weapon I can I'm in another mod so I can apply it again to mud slot one and lock oh well lock it in place so that's just a wait wait you have to think carefully about what you're doing if you have a legendary and it's got a great mud on it but you want to switch one up or add another keep in mind the one you don't switch out will lock in place and it's the same for any piece that has two mud slots on it whether that be armor or weapons it is as simple as that not too difficult to understand guys okay guys so we will now move on to swap variant so what this basically does is as you can see here I have a I think it's a burst weapon here I can't remember to be yeah is it's a burst weapon here I can switch it out to a standard it will cost 65 iron and what this will do is it will increase its clip size increase its rate of fire but drop its stability and range as you can imagine as well as damage and crit damage multiplayer again it will cost 65 of my beautiful purchase iron materials sharpshooter I do believe let's have a look at another um assault rifle right here so you're going to play right on to this one I think it makes it like a one shot sort of like a yes it does it makes it like a one shot so it's a lot more powerful as we can see its clip size drops its rate of fire drops but it has increased damage increased crit damage increased range increased accuracy and decreased stability so yes not bad at all it's got back to that and I think it's pretty much the same guys so yeah weapon variant or swap variants basically switching up the weapon and well and how it performs okay guys so on to that leveling of that weapon now as we can see here it costs 16 of my titanium's right here to take my weapon up to a level 16 my current maximum level this weapon can be taken up to is a level 17 now the reason behind this is it's the world tier that I am at plus my level so I'm a level 13 as you can see at the top right there but I'm also a world tier level seven so if we go into this right here we can see that a world tier seven the enemy level is a plus four that means that they don't want my weapon being higher than what the enemy level will be it's just basically where balancing it out as you can see here this will be an enemy level plus five if this was the case on us on world tier 8 I'll be able to take my weapon up to a level 18 so a plus four on top of my level 13 would be an equal a level 17 it's just a way of balancing that out people and that's pretty much it now I ain't going to waste my materials right here because titanium isn't the easiest to combine keep that in mind yes basically how it works guys with this though we do upgrade the fire power and crit damage and healing received it's got question mark you know what for demonstrating purposes for you guys because I love you I'm going to do it oh so there we go there we go it did work it did do I was wondering what was going on then I was wondering what was going on then so yes it was upgrading these I just weren't taking much notice so yes you can see right here that my fire power now has gone up to a 775 15% crit damage and healing received about 8.66% so not too bad at all so yes that's how it works and I hope you enjoyed me wasting my shards there just for you guys I'm pretty sure that deserves a like on the video people but yes that is it in terms of the options for the weapons now in terms of armor it isn't too much different besides there's no swap variant and I can't tell you if this will be in a case uh on epics and legionaries I don't think it will be I don't think this will be an option but yes we can again improve this item improve its rarity it's not letting me do it because I haven't got enough shards I've just wasted them all on that thingy but yes you can take this up to an epic and apply two mods there saying we're there raising attributes guys it's got two right here and we've got six total we can upgrade we've got the shards max south shards and status power shards we can see here how many you have with each if you want to upgrade it will take them away pretty pretty straightforward guys uh mods as well same thing as well guys it's going to apply this to I don't know if I apply this to will it luck in place um armor you can see here also takes the the lever it will not take the iron it's lever only here so you know what you know what we'll put this on we'll put this on why not so for mod this I don't know if it'll look in place but we'll learn now no it don't actually look in place we're going to apply it obviously if I want to so that's pretty cool it only looks a mod in place if you've got two unsaid items so that's good to know that's good to know and leveling up guys exactly the same way level 17 because they're obviously my world tier and my character level and it's just the way it works but yes it's relatively straightforward guys not too much to learn here if I'm honest with you but yes that's basically the low down I'm crafting it in this game and well I hope the video helps shoot out I mean I can't believe I leveled up my shit guys took away my precious um titans but at the end of the day this is just a place holder class anyway I made just to quickly run through it but yes is what it is but guys I hope you enjoyed the video if you have any further question can leave a comment down below um I'm probably guessing I will see a few questions in regards to legendaries in terms of swapping variant I'm not sure that will be the case you will be able to level them up you will be able to apply one mod to them and you will be able to I believe raise attributes but we will see well yes guys I hope this video helps you out if you did leave a like really helps me out if you're new around here want to see more outriders on a daily basis be sure to subscribe and hopefully people I will see you on that next one


Perfect. And just to go a bit to the S&P 500, if that's okay, you know, we're looking at a possibly the cusp of breaking significant technical support levels in that index possibility of running down to 4200 in this couple of days. What is he there? Yeah, so these August 2022 highs, obviously a very big area that, you know, today, as we're talking, they are being breached. Your next big area here is going to be 4180. This is a huge, huge, huge area. So maybe not as surprising to see these areas up here, but we definitely do not want to see this 4180 area to be broken. That would be pretty hard because we had a nice rally above that, lots of demand. And we've also given up, you know, we've still got a rate of trend here, however you want to draw it. So are we looking for, you know, hopefully in the next day or two, we get a bounce and this uptrend can continue. If that's broken, the next area is certainly 4180 or 4200. And then below that, I think really all bets are off. You get back below 4180 and we are definitely going to probably have a rough November and December. Got it. I mean, again, just jumping to the last index of the three, the major ones, the NASDAQ obviously had a really good run with the AI boom. That's, it's starting to reverse. You could see some of the stocks starting to feel it and the NASDAQ certainly as well. Is this a trend that's happening across all three, or do you see a little bit of balance in the NASDAQ over the next few days? The NASDAQ, as you said, definitely has been the strongest. It's been the strongest all year. I mean, really, I can argue it's been the strongest for, you know, six or seven years. On a technical basis, it has held up the best right here. It's the same October 2022 highs that we just talked about on the S&P. Well, we're pretty far away from those on the NASDAQ. We can look at this. Let's call it 12,800. It's the equivalent to that 41800 level. So again, as you can see, we've got quite a, you know, it would take another 6.5% roughly speaking to get back to those highs, these August 2022 highs. I would like to see the NASDAQ hold in here. I think best bet is the NASDAQ holds in here. What gives me a little bit of the... Hibijibi's a little skeptical is Apple. Do not like Apple up here. Really unfortunate that it couldn't hold these all-time highs. And we continue, again, we're not, you know, we use these as broad areas. But Apple breaking back below this 182 again, as we know, it's important. I know you're probably as tired of hearing about it as I am too. But the matter of the facts are, it's an extremely important stock that carries a ton of waiting in what these broad indices do, especially the NASDAQ and we're just really... So here's the August 2022 highs for the Apple. We're, you know, kind of breaking those here today. Yes, we saw that, you know, maybe about 5 weeks ago. But should this stick as a very lethargic bounce attempt, really we just came up here to fill this gap and right back down. And then the second piece to that is equally as concerning is Microsoft, right? So again, just unfortunately does not hold this move higher. And now you are looking at lower lows. We've kind of got this neckline over here. So these are definitely two stocks that need to fix themselves or it's just a big gray cloud on the market at the moment.


Bangladesh has been successful in combating the COVID-19 pandemic with its early vaccination drive and effective diplomacy. This has allowed it to reach over 90% of its population with the vaccine, which has helped to reduce the spread of the virus. Its prior experience and success in similar situations has also contributed to its success. As a result, the country has begun to recover from the pandemic faster than many other countries.


The story you're about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, long cigarettes brings you dragnet.  You're assigned a homicide detail. A socially prominent citizen is plotting to kill his wife. He tells you his plans for the murder. He hires you to do the killing. Your job. Stop him. When you compare Fatima with other long cigarettes, the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima the difference is quality. If you want a long cigarette, smoke the best of all long cigarettes. Smoke extra mild Fatima. Fatima is the quality, king-sized cigarette, because it contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended. And Fatima is extra mild, with a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. Because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast.  You'll find king-sized Fatima different from other long cigarettes. They cost the same, but in Fatima the difference is quality. Smoke Fatima. The quality king-sized cigarette. Best of all, long cigarettes. Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Monday, February 17. It was raining in Los Angeles. We were working a day watch out of homicide detail. My partner is Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives. My name is Friday. It was 4.18 p.m. when we got to Room 26, Chief of Detectives' office. Good morning, men. Have a seat. Would you close the door, Friday? Yeah, sure. Captain Steed, Sergeant Romero, Sergeant Friday. I'd like to have you meet Special Agent Ray Kimball, Public Utilities Commission. Hi, Mr. Kimball. And his friend, Mr. Trudeau. How do you do? Gentlemen, Mr. Kimball and Mr. Trudeau here have some important information to give us. Mr. Trudeau, would you like to repeat for these officers what you told us a few moments ago? Yes, sir. Well, a friend of mine wants me to kill his wife for him. I'm convinced he means to go through with the thing. Naturally, it goes without saying that Kimball here will back up the veracity of the story. Well, Mr. Trudeau, who is your friend? How long have you known him? His name's Charles Stone. I guess maybe you heard of him on the string of warehouses around town. I used to work for him. Oh, yes, yes. Well, the other day he called me and asked me if I was working. I told him no. Then he asked me to meet him in front of the public library. That was last Saturday afternoon. But did you meet him? Yes, I did. And he took me to a bar in the neighborhood. Started telling me all about his troubles at home. He said his wife was stepping out on him, running around with other men. Well, we had quite a few drinks and I guess I thought that's what accounted for it. What's that, Mr. Trudeau? Well, he leaned toward me and he said, here's the dope. The wife and I haven't been getting along well at all for about a year. She's stepping out with some other guy on me and to make a long story short. Well, that's when he told me. I see. He said, I want to lose her. What do you say? Well, I told him I didn't quite get the drift of the thing. And then he said, I want my wife killed. I'll pay you $1,000 for the job. Mr. Trudeau, have you any idea why he contacted you on this thing? Well, I don't know other than the fact that I hadn't been able to work for some time. He knew I needed the money pretty badly. As soon as I was sure he wasn't kidding about the murder, I told Mr. Kimball here, he's an old friend of mine. He said the only thing to do was to take it to the police. Did this Mr. Stone make this proposition to you more than once? Yes, he did. He kept reminding me how much I could use $1,000. Well, all I could say was that I knew his wife too well I couldn't do it. What did Stone say to that, sir? He said I had cold feet. He told me I was just like another man.  He told me if I didn't want the job, he'd get someone else to do it. Do you think he might go for a substitute, Mr. Trudeau, one of our men? I don't know, chief. Only one thing I'm sure of. Yes, sir. He wants his wife dead. 442 p.m., the meeting in the chief of detective's office went on. A man by the name of Charles Stone wanted his wife murdered. He'd offered $1,000 for her death. He'd approached two men to do the job and both had refused. From the information we'd received, we knew he wouldn't stop there. There were a lot of people who'd killed for $1,000. It was only a matter of time till he found one. The plan was formulated and Ben and I were assigned to the case. 5 p.m., together with Captain Steed and Mr. Trudeau, we left Thad Brown's office and went down the hall to homicide. In your last meeting with Stone, Mr. Trudeau, you refused outright to have anything to do with this plan to have his wife murdered. Is that right? That's right. Did you leave any opening at all? Well, just to get away from the guy, I told him if I heard of anybody that he'd do the job, I'd let him know. You think that maybe he'd listen to you if you went back and suggested somebody? I don't know. He'd listen to me, but he's no dummy. You've got to understand that. He's going to be careful. Well, which one of you is going to play the killer? I'd like to try it, Skipper. Who's going to fit the part best? Trudeau here just told you that Charles Stone's no pushover. I don't know, Captain. This officer here... Me? Yeah, no offense, but I'd sure peg you for a cop. You would? Why is that? I don't know. You just look like one, I guess. Well, Joe is a little closer to average height weight. Yeah, that's what I mean, Captain. He doesn't look like a cop. All right. Now, Mr. Trudeau, you're willing to go along with this on this thing? Certainly, Captain. Anything I can do. You just tell me what you want. Well, just as soon as possible, we'd like to have you contact Mr. Stone. You'll know how to approach him, so it's not to make him suspicious. Yes, I think I can do that. Joe, how do you want to go about this? Well, I better use some kind of an alias. Let's see, Mattson, Joe Mattson. How about Kelly? Just playing Kelly. That's fine with me. Good. Now, how about your background? I'd better get that straight with Mr. Trudeau here. Well, I suppose I'd tell him I'm from Phoenix, huh? I know that town pretty well. He might ask me some questions about it. Okay. Now, how'd you happen to know Trudeau, the Army? Did you ever serve in the Army, Mr. Trudeau? Yes, a 42 to 45. CBI did it. All right. We served together in the Army, huh? Let's make it in China. Quartermaster Corps, all right? All right. And now, Mr. Trudeau, this is all you'll have to do. Set up a meeting with Stone as soon as possible. Introduce Friday as the man who's willing to do the job for him, an old Army friend. Then step out of the picture as quickly as you can. All right, Captain. I understand. It goes without saying we certainly appreciate your cooperation. And not at all, sir. Only glad I'm in a position to help out.  I wish I could be sure. Not even mean, Trudeau. The last time I saw Charlie Stone was three days ago. Maybe he's hired somebody else. 5.30 p.m. Captain Steed ordered two teams of men from homicide to watch Charles Stone's wife, Meldred, until further notice. For her own protection, she'd be kept under 24-hour surveillance without her knowledge. We checked the eye bureau to see what we could find on Charles Stone. He owned a gun, a 32 Smith and Wesson revolver. That's all we found. He had no criminal record. We knew of him only as a social figure from a prominent family. Supposedly, he was happily married. He owned and operated a chain of six warehouses throughout Los Angeles. His business reputation was good. Captain Steed ordered that Charles Stone also be placed under 24-hour surveillance immediately. He would be kept under watch without his knowledge. Ben Romero and Gil and Senus were one of the teams assigned to tail him. The next morning, I checked in for work at the usual time. At 10.15 a.m., I left Captain Steed's office and went into the squad room. Homicide Friday. This is Mr. Trudeau, Sergeant. I saw Charlie Stone a few minutes ago. Yes, sir. How'd it go? We talked about 20 minutes. I told him you might be willing to do the job. What'd he say? He wants to meet you. Before he hung up, Trudeau told me that Charles Stone would meet us that night in Section B in the grandstands at the Midget Auto Races out near Santa Monica. I informed Captain Steed of the development and then I left the office, went home, put my gun in all my identification, changed into some old clothes. I boarded a bus and rode back downtown to the Skid Row area where I rentled a single room in a cheap hotel. I signed the register J. Kelly, Phoenix, Arizona. 5.30 p.m., I went to Cokin's Cafe in the corner of South Main and Satella Streets. Captain Steed was waiting for me in one of the rear booths. Hi. Hi.  Well, how was the outfit strike? You okay? Yeah, fine. That old leather jacket's a good touch. Oh, I better let your beard grow a little. All right. I rented a room in one of the hotels down here. I could use a little expense, Mike. Glad you said a little. All right, I'll fix it up for you. Here's the phone number of the hotel in case you want to contact me. Good. One thing that's got me a little worried, Skipper. Yeah? The legal angle. You know, you can get pretty close to entrapment in cases like this. There's nothing to worry about. You just play it straight down the line. The idea for the crime has to originate in the mind of the criminal. It's got to be all his idea. We just go along with him. Okay. Be sure and keep us posted. Yes, I will. Murder of his wife means a lot to Stone. He wouldn't want anybody getting his way. Well, be careful. That night I had dinner with Trudeau at a cafeteria on South Grand. Then we caught a bus and rode out to the stadium where they held a midget auto races. We found the seats where Charles Stone was to meet his numbers four and five, row 27, section B, main grandstand. The auto races started. It was past 8 p.m. Charles Stone arrived. He looked like an average prosperous businessman well-dressed, medium billed, dark hair that showed a few streaks of gray. Trudeau introduced us and then he left. Where are you from, Kelly? Phoenix. You like midget auto races? That's not why I came out here. Trudeau said something about a job. Sure. Guess I told you what it's about. Yeah. You ever handled anything like this before? I'd be a sucker to answer that one, wouldn't I? I just want to know if you can handle it. Trudeau told me about it. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't handle it. It's a delicate job. Gotta be sure it's done right. What are you looking for, references? Gotta be careful, that's all. But what about me? I don't know you from Adam. How do I know it won't be a double cross? Don't worry about a double cross. Let's go with all the grandstand. Get away from this problem. Why with me? You haven't said anything about money yet. Funny times, Doc, money. I'd like to know. How much you want? Trudeau said a thousand. Yeah. When could you get it? When would you want it? Before. I'd be a dope to do the job of that getting paid first.  Say, uh, can I buy you a hot dog, cold drink? Okay. A mask? Yeah. One hot dog, a couple of root beers? One dog, two beers. You like root beer? Sure. How about settling on the dough, huh? You do the job, you'll get paid. You can ask Trudeau if you like. I'll tell you, I'll keep my word. Well, it's got to go fast, that's all. I may have a job lined up with Phoenix. I got to get that dough and some new clothes. Got to put up some kind of a front. That's why I need the dough fast. No waiting. You'll get your money. We can work out something. Hot dog, two root beers, 40. Mustard's on the counter. There you are. Just move over there, out of the way. Okay. Well, you haven't told me yet. What? How do you want it done? All depends. I haven't got my gun. I'm on the lamb. You got one? No, I don't own one. Couldn't use a gun anyway, too much noise. Well, make up your mind. We'll meet tomorrow night. We can talk about it then. Look, Mr. Yee, expect me to sit on this thing for a week. I'm not making a career out of just this one job. What are you worrying about? We'll set everything up tomorrow night. All right, how about 10 bucks on the cuff? I got to live them flat. Hmm. That's five. See if that'll do. Hmm. How about that pay off, the thousand? How do we set that up? We can talk about that later. Why can't we talk now? Look, Stone, I don't think I like your attitude. You haven't told me how you want the job done. You talk cute every time the payoffs mention. Take it easy, Kelly. Take it easy, nothing. I'm taking the chances. How do I know I'm going to get paid? How do I know you'll kill her? Before I left Charles Stone, we set up a meeting for the following night at eight o'clock. I caught a bus and went back to the hotel room. So far, I'd been unable to get any other corroborative evidence on Stone, evidence that could be presented in court. The next morning I called the office and kept them posted on developments. I had my meals at a lunch counter next door to the hotel and I stuck pretty close to my room. At 2.30 that afternoon, Ben called. We tailed Stone to the midget auto races last night. Did you do any good? Well, not bad. It's going a little slow, though. We tailed him after he left you. He drove to a Beverly Hills address. Pardon me, huh? Thought he lived in Glendale. He does. The apartment he went to is registered to Gene Howard. He stayed until four this morning. Check the hard girl out. I could tear it one of Stone's warehouse. Maybe that explains why Stone wants to get rid of his wife, huh? Here's one more thing. We tailed him to a gun shop this morning. Bought a couple of things and after he's gone we checked with the store clerk. Told us Stone bought a box of shells. 32-kilomer. Same kind of gun he had registered in it. 32-SNW. Yeah. That's funny. Stone told me he doesn't own a gun. Doesn't look too good in my book. All right. Now let's don't start worrying, huh? Don't trust him. I'm dying for his joint, so... All right. You want to check with me later on? I've got to keep this line open. All right. See you later. All right. Yeah. This is Stone. Yeah. Jobs all set up, ready to go. When? You are listening to Dragnet, the case history of a police investigation presented in the public interest by Fatima Cigarettes. If you smoke a long cigarette, it will be in your interest to listen to a typical case history of a Fatima smoker. It's the case of New York cover girl Rita Dagle. This is her actual signed statement. I find Fatima different from other long cigarettes. It's the same, but in Fatima the difference is quality. And they're extra mild. You see, Fatima is the quality king size cigarette because it contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended. And Fatima is extra mild, with a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. Because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. So enjoy King Size Fatima yourself. You will find King Size Fatima different from other long cigarettes. They cost the same, but in Fatima the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima the difference is quality. Ask your dealer for Fatima, the quality King Size cigarette. Best of all, long cigarettes. Start enjoying Fatima tomorrow. Wednesday, February 19th, 8.55 p.m. Charles Stone picked me up in his car at the corner of Alameda and Sixth Streets. He turned on the south Broadway and he headed down for the beach. He hunched over the wheel as he drove. I kept wondering how I was going to pin him down. We were less than 24 hours away from the scheduled murder of his wife and I still didn't have a case against him that had stand up in court. If he failed to produce sufficient evidence tonight, Stone had a good chance of going free, whether he succeeded or not. I also had no idea what plans the suspect had made before he hired me to do the killing. There was a definite possibility that he might have arranged for somebody else to commit the actual murder and then set up a double cross with me as the victim. We knew he had a 32 S&W revolver registered in his name, but he denied to me that he even owned a gun. 9.03 p.m. we pulled up in front of Stone's beach house. Most of the other homes around here are vacant summer places. People don't know where they're from. Summer places. People don't start moving into the first of May. But you said you're afraid of the neighbors seeing you here. Some living up the next block. Can't afford not to be careful. This one here. There's a front door key. See if you can work it. I know how it works. You go ahead and open it. All right. The living room, huh? Yeah, bedrooms over here. I threw this door. Uh-huh. All right, what's the story? Where do I start? My wife should be here about six o'clock tomorrow night. I'm coming down alone to get the house ready for weekend party. When do you want me here? About four in the afternoon. Here's a key to the front door. Better pick it up and hand it to me, huh? Okay. First thing you do when you get here is pull out all the drawers in the bedroom, bureau, scatter things around, make it look as much like a burglary as you can. Yeah. Same here in the living room. Best drawer, table, cupboards, turn them inside out, throw things around. I'll leave my fingerprints all over everything. All right, I'll take care of that. Oh, a pair of gloves with mine. You'll find them here in this drawer. Remember that. All right. Let's see now, uh... Oh, yeah, a sash cord. I'm sure this ought to serve the purpose. Shouldn't have any trouble. This rope's pretty new. It's a little slippery. Won't be with the gloves on. She's not very strong. Shouldn't have any trouble. I'll leave the rope here in the closet. You sure she's gonna be alone? Positive. Where am I supposed to hide? Let me show you. Here, right by the front door. This closet. My wife comes in, closes the door, she'll probably go right to the bedroom, take off her coat, follow her and then do it fast while her back's turned. No screams, neighbors might hear. All right. When I clean and quiet, do it as quickly as you can. Now, when you're finished, here's what I want you to do with her. What's that? Take the body and bring it this way. Come here, I want you to see it. That's the living room to these French doors. Open this one. You won't have any trouble. Take the body out here in the porch. Come with me now. I want you to get this clear in your mind. Yeah, I think I got it. Take it down to this end of the porch, regular railing, and leave it here. It's very important.  All the way down to the end of the porch here. I don't get it, but I guess it's all right. All right, let's go back in. Look, Stone, I may forget the layout of this house here. Did you draw a floor plan for me? I don't want to get mixed up here. No, there's paper in the desk there. You can draw it yourself before you leave tonight. What's the matter? Don't you trust me? Can't afford to take any chances. Now, what was it? Yeah, after you finished using the rope of me. Yeah. Put on some rings on my wife's fingers.  The big setting especially. There'll be a bracelet on her left wrist. Take that, too. What'll I do with them? Put them in this white vase in the middle here. The rings and the bracelet. Don't miss any of the rings. They're expensive. How about me bringing them to you? I can pick up my dough at the same time. No, put them in the vase. As soon as that's done, leave here and go back downtown. I'll pick you up where we met tonight. 6 in Alameda, 7.30 sharp. Have the money for you then. I'm going to be at 6 o'clock. I have to cover myself. I'll stay out at the office. Special conference. I don't know. I don't think I like this. What do you mean you don't like it? Suppose something should happen. I got no protection. I'd feel a lot better with a gun. I told you I don't have a gun to give you. Why would you need one anyway? Just feel a lot better, that's all. Buy one if you want. That's your problem. I'm paying you for the job. I haven't seen your money. I told you when the job's done, get your money then. No mistakes here. Don't worry, you get your pay. Ask Trudeau if you like. He'll tell you you can trust me. You can ask anybody. About your wife. Before I left Charleston, I got one more valuable piece of evidence out of him. A special phone number written in his handwriting on the back of one of his business cards. In case anything went wrong, I was to call him at this number. In his own handwriting, I also got a list of times that I was supposed to remember. When to come to the house, when to leave, when to meet him for the payoff. The next afternoon at 3.30, I left the hotel and drove my car out to Venice to Stone's beach house. Captain Steed and another officer from homicide followed me out. We waited in the house together. Shortly before 6 p.m., Mrs. Mildred Stone arrived with Bill, Vanangill and Senus. She refused to believe the story of her husband's plot to have her murdered. Captain Steed laid out the evidence for her. This key, Mr. Stone, you recognize it? Well, yes, it's the one for the front door. It must be Charles. He gave it to this officer, Mr. Stone, Do you have any idea what's in that closet, ma'am, that one over there? There's nothing in there. I cleaned it out the last time we were here. I cleaned out all the closets. I'd like to show it to you, ma'am. A piece of rope? I never saw that there before. Mr. Stone gave it to me. It was supposed to be the murder weapon. Just one more point, ma'am. Over here, please. Do you know what's in this drawer here? It's empty. It has to be. Only when you move down for the summer months. Joe, right. A pair of your husband's old gloves. Is that right, ma'am? Why would they be there? What for? I was supposed to wear them while I was in the house, so I wouldn't leave fingerprints. Do you mind if I sit down? You are. I'm sorry, Mr. Stone. We know it's a terrible shock for you. I think you realize we had to tell you. It's all right. You've been very kind.  It would have been better if he'd succeeded much better. Take it easy, Mrs. Stone. Shame. Terrible, terrible shame. Is there anything I can do for him? He wanted to have you murdered, ma'am. I know that. He wanted me dead. Yes, ma'am. It's only one thing. He's my husband's sergeant. I love him. 6.45 p.m. I telephoned Charles Stone and told him the job was done. His wife was murdered. He said he'd meet me at 6th and Alameda streets I waited. He failed to show up. At 7.30 p.m. Stone was placed under arrest as he parked his car in front of their Venice beach house. A loaded 32-caliber revolver was found in his pocket. He was taken back to the city hall, the chief of detective's office. Ben and I waited outside the open door. We could hear Thad Brown start the interrogation inside. Do you know what we have you down here for, Mr. Stone? No. I haven't the Venice idea. What would you say if I told you your wife had been murdered? I think you're crazy. I think you're accused of her murder. It's silly. It's ridiculous. I've been at work all day. I can prove it. All right, Friday, come in. Have you ever met this man before? I've seen him on Skid Row. I don't know him.  I don't know the man.  I don't understand all this. The name's Kelly, Mr. Stone. He's some fake officer. Skid Row bum. I don't know him. I don't think that's going to make it, Stone. Both you and your wife have been tailed constantly for the last couple of days. Photographs taken. Midget auto races. 6th and Alameda. Beverly Hills apartment. Crazy. You don't know what you're talking about. Mike, would you send the lady in, please? Mildred, you don't believe all these things you're saying about Mildred. Here are the rings, Charles. The bracelet, too. I didn't realize how much you wanted them. Mildred. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I don't know what I was thinking of. Dear Charles, it's all right now. You'll feel better in a few minutes. Yes, ma'am. It's all right. Right. What's it look like, Joe? He's starting to talk. It's got me. He tries to have her murdered. She goes to bat for him. What's it prove? He sure must love him. What do you think? The story you just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On May 2nd, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 89, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California in a moment the results of that trial. And now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you. To the working detective, the difference between guilt and innocence is proof in the form of physical evidence and the form of testimony gathered from reliable witnesses. In determining any suspect's guilt or innocence, the difference is actual proof. Now, when you compare Fatima with other long cigarettes, the difference is quality. And Fatima is extra mild.  You'll find Fatima different from other long cigarettes. They cost the same, but in Fatima, the difference is quality. Start enjoying Fatima tomorrow. Charles Farnsworth Stone was tried and convicted on soliciting the commission of a felony, two counts. He received the sentence as prescribed by law. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department. Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes has brought you Dragnet from Los Angeles. Hi, folks. This is Bob on the Air for Chesterfield. Every Tuesday night, consult your local paper for time and station hope. And, Bing, on the Air for Chesterfield every Wednesday night, Crosby. I've called this little seminar to teach our new boy the ropes. Say, Sag, I think it's only fair to warn you, with me selling Chesterfields this year, you'll have to limp along lively to keep up.  When we're in pitches together, who always gets the girl?  Seriously, friends, skin-flint and I, we do agree 100% on this. Chesterfields are milder. And they leave no unpleasant aftertaste. So always buy our cigarette, Chesterfield. The best cigarette for you to smoke. Hear Hope and Crosby Tuesday. Next, We the People on NBC.