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The Valley Reporter – Burns runs as Independent candidate for Washington-2 state rep seat

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The Valley Reporter – Burns runs as Independent candidate for Washington-2 state rep seat


John J. Burns, Moretown, is running as an Independent candidate for the Washingtin-2 legislative district, representing Moretown, Waitsfield, Warren, Fayston and Duxbury in the Vermont Legislature.

 

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VR: Why are you running for office now?

During veto override week I learned that only two candidates were running for the two seats representing this district. I believe we need choices and alternatives to have a healthy political system. Additionally, there is a lot of discontent across the state with our Democratic majority in the Legislature and the two candidates are Democrats. I felt compelled to put my name on the ballot so people have a choice and a bit of hope for this upcoming election in November.

VR: What is your background and experience?

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I was born and raised in Burlington and graduated from UVM in 1992 with a political science degree, and was commissioned as an Army officer. I moved to Moretown in 2007 and retired from the Vermont Army National Guard in 2020 with over 30 years of service. Fifteen years of this was full-time service which included two deployments to Afghanistan and numerous years as a practitioner of ‘non-lethal’ operations. These operations include engagements, negotiations, and cultural awareness factors which enable a military commander to avoid using force. When not serving full-time, I was an entrepreneur, working on and developing my properties and helping others with their property needs. I also taught ROTC college students for five years at Norwich University. I complemented my experience with education by completing business programs at UVM and Champlain College, completing a ‘sustainable building’ program at Yestermorrow Design/Build school, and getting my Master of Public Administration degree at Norwich.


 

VR: What are your priorities if elected, first, second, and third?

My first priority is to do everything I can to help people not be taxed and expensed out of their home The ‘affordability’ issue is damaging the fabric of our state by gutting our communities. This is probably my second and third priority too but for the sake of the question, I’ll say the second priority is addressing climate change here in Vermont, within our geographic border and fiscal capability. My number three priority is to bring a sense of respect and decorum back to the Legislature.

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How can Vermont deal with a changing climate and back-to-back flooding?

Good question because it contains its answer. Vermont can deal with a changing climate by doing some real projects to prevent future flooding. New Orleans has developed solutions to contain flood waters and hold the ocean back, we can probably do some real projects with our rivers by restoring flood plains, or channeling where necessary to protect developed locations. We can also continue to help Vermonters insulate and upgrade their inefficient buildings, and build new energy-efficient housing. That brings up another issue, the housing shortage. Well, there is a synergy there that can be capitalized on once the legislature stops being so polarized. There are real hands-on things we should do in Vermont to address climate change, and our current legislature is fixated on extravagant carbon credit schemes that nobody understands.


 

Why are you running as an independent?

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I began seeing myself as an independent back around the John McCain era. I was from a solid Democratic family, but I grew out of that and I didn’t fit into the Republican party either. I am a fiscal conservative and have a libertarian streak. I believe we are stronger when we strive to maintain what we have built. We know that change and progress are always a factor in life, and I believe this should be planned and managed, not experimented with as our current Legislature is doing. Being Independent allows me to better ascribe to these principles and beliefs.   

Reach out to Burns as follows:

https://independent4vt.onepage.me/

(802) 328-8001 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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Washington Watch: CCAMPIS grant competition announced – Community College Daily

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Washington Watch: CCAMPIS grant competition announced – Community College Daily


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “on behalf of the Department of Education (ED),” on Monday released a Notice Inviting Grant Applications for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program. Applications are due by May 29.

Last November, ED announced that it had entered into an interagency agreement with HHS to administer the CCAMPIS program. This is the first CCAMPIS competition conducted under this arrangement.

Approximately $73.5 million will go to institutions of higher education that awarded at least $250,000 in Pell grants to enrolled students in FY 2025. HHS will award about 148 grants, ranging from $150,000 to $1 million.

The terms of the grant competition are not significantly different than prior competitions. As before, there are two absolute grant priorities that every application must address – leveraging non-federal resources and utilizing a sliding-fee scale for low-income parents.

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This year’s competition includes only one invitational priority that reflects the Trump administration’s general educational policy. The new priority, entitled “Expanding Education Choice in Early Learning Settings,” encourages applications that “expand access to education choice … including by empowering parents in choosing the early learning setting that best meets their family’s needs.” Flexible childcare programs that include drop-in care and care during nontraditional hours are also encouraged.

One other notable difference from prior competitions is an expanded “Terms and Conditions” section that not only requires compliance with applicable civil rights laws, but also refers to Trump administration Executive Orders and guidance on racial discrimination that clarify “the application of federal antidiscrimination laws to programs or initiatives that may involve discriminatory practices, including those labeled as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) programs.” This includes any “discriminatory equity ideology [as defined in Executive Order 14190] in violation of a federal antidiscrimination law.”

The exact scope of these terms is unclear because courts have not found many of the practices described in these Executive Orders and guidance documents to be violations of federal law.



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A look at the roots (and routes) of immigration to Washington

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A look at the roots (and routes) of immigration to Washington


The Newsfeed

This week, the team brings you stories about how communities including Filipino immigrants, Sephardic Jews and Somalis arrived in the Pacific Northwest

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Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.

Group hopes to boost recognition for Seattle’s Filipinotown 



By Venice Buhain

The group Filipinotown Seattle hopes to make sure that the legacy of Filipino Americans in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District isn’t forgotten. 

One of the group’s current projects is pushing for a Filipinotown placemarking sign in the CID. 

“Filipino Americans have had a presence here for over 100 years in Seattle,” said Filipinotown Seattle Executive Director Devin Israel Cabanilla.  

He said that the signage is important to remind people that “the International District is not just Chinatown. Japantown. Filipinotown is here as well.” 

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The group held a poll on what signage might look like and where it might be located. It would be similar to the Chinatown sign on South Jackson Street and Fifth Avenue South, or the Wing Luke Museum  

In the early 20th century, the area now known as the CID was a hub full of businesses, entertainment, social groups and housing that served Seattle’s growing immigrant population from Asia and elsewhere. The communities all intermingled throughout the CID. 

“This area was a central place for Asian Pacific immigrants simply because of segregation,” Cabanilla said. 

Because the Philippines was a U.S. territory from 1898 to 1946, Filipino immigrants were unaffected by laws in the 1920s that restricted immigration from Japan or China. Many Filipinos came to study at the University of Washington or to work in burgeoning industries, like lumber, farming, canneries and factories.  

While the physical Filipino presence in terms of buildings and storefronts in the CID dwindled in the later 20th century with redevelopment, Seattle Filipinos and Filipino Americans continued to make impacts locally, regionally and nationally.  

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“It may not have been in terms of storefronts, but our presence has always existed in terms of politics, culture as well,” Cabanilla said. 

The Seattle Department of Transportation said it is aware that the group is working on its signage request, but the Department of Neighborhoods has not yet received a formal request. They are also working to develop a clearer process for this and other similar neighborhood signage proposals. 

Filipinotown Seattle said it hopes that the sign helps remind Seattle of the CID’s unique designation as a neighborhood shaped by many immigrants and migrants to Seattle. 

“Is it Chinatown? Is it Japantown? Is it Little Saigon? It’s all those things. And I think re cultivating that this is a multicultural district, Filipinotown is helping establish: Yes, it’s more than one thing,” Cabanilla said. 

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Venice Buhain

Venice Buhain is a multimedia journalist at Cascade PBS. She previously was the Cascade PBS’s associate news editor and education reporter. Venice has also worked for KING 5, The Seattle Globalist and TVW News.



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The Church of Jesus Christ has announced its 384th temple

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The Church of Jesus Christ has announced its 384th temple


The state of Washington is getting a seventh temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Marysville Washington Temple was announced Sunday night during a devotional in the Marysville Washington Stake by Elder Hugo E. Martinez, a General Authority Seventy in the church’s United States West Area Presidency.

“We are pleased to announce the construction of a temple in Marysville, Washington,” the First Presidency said in a statement. “The specific location and timing of the construction will be announced later. This is a reason for all of us to rejoice and express gratitude for such a significant blessing — one that will allow more frequent access to the ordinances, covenants and power that can only be found in the house of the Lord.”

The other temples in Washington are the Columbia River, Moses Lake, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and Vancouver temples.

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The church has 214 temples in operation. Plans for another 170 temples have been announced; many of those temples are in various stages of planning and construction.

Sunday’s temple announcement follows the new practice of the church’s First Presidency, which determines where temples will be built — and when and how they will be announced.

The First Presidency directed a General Authority Seventy to announce the first temple in Maine at a fireside there in December.

In January, church President Dallin H. Oaks said the Maine announcement set the pattern for future temple announcements.

“The best place to announce a temple is in that temple district,” he told the Deseret News.

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The First Presidency will continue to decide where future temples will be built. It then will “assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built,” he said.

This pattern came to him as a strong impression after he assumed leadership of the church in October, following the death of his friend, President Russell M. Nelson.

This came as a strong impression to him shortly after he assumed the leadership of the church, President Oaks said.

The church remains in the midst of an aggressive temple-building era. President Nelson announced 200 new temples from 2018 to 2025. All but one were announced at general conference.

Five dozen temples are now under construction.

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President Oaks now has overseen the announcement of two temples, neither at a general conference.

At the October conference he said that “with the large number of temples now in the very earliest phases of planning and construction, it is appropriate that we slow down the announcement of new temples.”

Ten new temples are scheduled to be dedicated in the next six months.

  • May 3: Davao Philippines Temple.
  • May 3: Lindon Utah Temple.
  • May 31: Bacolod Philippines Temple.
  • June 7: Yorba Linda California Temple.
  • June 7: Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.
  • Aug. 16: Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple.
  • Aug. 16: Cleveland Ohio Temple.
  • Aug. 30: Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple.
  • Oct. 11: Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple.
  • Oct. 18: Managua Nicaragua Temple.

Two-thirds of the 170 temples still to be built are outside the United States.

Temples are distinct from the meetinghouses where Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ each Sunday. Temples are closed on Sundays, but they open during the week as sanctuaries where church members go to find peace, make covenants with God and perform proxy ordinances for deceased relatives.



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