Latest news with #Beeman
Boston Globe
10-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Pope Leo XIV's Creole roots tell a story of New Orleans
That simple switch, from 'B' to 'W,' suggests a complex, and very American, story. Advertisement For much of the 19th century, New Orleans operated under a racial system that distinguished among white people, Black people and mixed-race Creole people such as the Martinezes. But by the early 20th century, Jim Crow was the order of the day, and it tended to deal in black and white, with myriad restrictions imposed upon any person of color. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The selection of Robert Francis Prevost as the first pope from the United States and the subsequent revelation of his Creole roots have brought those historical realities to the fore -- and an interview with the pope's brother John Prevost, 71, connected them to the present day. Late Thursday, Prevost, who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, told The New York Times that his brothers always considered themselves to be white. As for his mother, he said, 'I really couldn't tell you for sure -- she might have just said Spanish.' Advertisement And so, a story of American racial rigidity also suggests a certain fluidity, constrained by the often harsh racist past that is an inescapable part of the country's story. New Orleans is not unique in its exposure to such stories. But it knows them well. Jari Honora, a local genealogist and historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, discovered the new pope's New Orleans roots on Thursday. Since then, he and others, including in the Dominican Republic, have been pushing to find out as much as they can about Leo's family history. In addition to the census records, much of the information recovered so far has come by way of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which maintains thousands of records dating back to 1720. Katie Beeman, director of the archdiocese's archives, has found marriage records from 1887 for the pope's maternal grandparents, and from 1864 for his great-grandparents. Beeman was especially excited when she uncovered the record that Eugenie Grambois, the pope's great-grandmother, had been baptized in 1840 at St. Louis Cathedral, the spired basilica in the heart of the French Quarter that is among the city's most recognizable landmarks. Beeman called her mother to share the news. At a special Mass at the cathedral Friday, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans brought attention to the discovery. The pope's ancestor had received her first sacrament in the same font that is still in the back of the church. 'There are many connections we have with him,' the archbishop said in his homily. Advertisement Similar sentiments were expressed across New Orleans, especially among those who share Leo's Creole heritage and now feel a special connection to the new pontiff. 'This is like a reward from God given to us for everything we've struggled through,' said Denease Sorapuru, who identifies as Creole and descended from an ancestral mix of Irish, Italian, Basque and Native American heritage. On Friday, Beeman and other researchers and genealogists continued digging, hoping to identify even more of the pope's family tree in Louisiana and beyond. 'It seems like it just keeps going,' she said. A major question that historians hope to resolve is the birthplace of the pope's grandfather. Although he married into an old New Orleans family, records indicate that Joseph Martinez might have been relatively new to the city. His marriage certificate matches the 1900 census record showing that he was born in Haiti. But other documents list the Dominican Republic or Louisiana as his birthplace. Nailing that down has become a goal for historians in the Caribbean, said Edwin Espinal Hernández, a genealogist and the director of the law school at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, a Roman Catholic university in the Dominican Republic. Experts have yet to find Martinez's birth certificate, but they have found other indications that he was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Espinal Hernández said. Whatever the answer, many in New Orleans knew enough about the family's roots by Friday to feel a greater kinship with the pope. Michael White, 70, a jazz clarinetist, bandleader and retired music educator who grew up Catholic in New Orleans, said Leo's selection had left him 'shocked and surprised and happy.' Advertisement 'I think he will get a lot of support from people down here,' White said. 'I think there will be an outpouring of not only pride, but you know, a desire to, to help him and hope that things can become better for the Catholic Church, but also for people here.' Sorapuru had a humble request. She remembers the thrill of Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans in 1987. Leo needs to come, too, she said, and preside over Mass at St. Louis Cathedral. As far as she's concerned, his roots are enough to make him a product of New Orleans. And she wants to welcome him home. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hampton Roads priest reacts to first American pope
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — It's an historic first for the Catholic Church and for the United States, as Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago has been elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming the first American to hold the role. Prevost, 69, will go by the name Pope Leo XIV. His election came after just over 24 hours of deliberation by the College of Cardinals following the death of Pope Francis last month. In Newport News, local Catholics gathered inside Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church to watch history unfold. 'This is a really exciting time for Catholics — but also for the world,' said Father Daniel Beeman, pastor of the parish. 'Very few people realize that, by the work of the Holy Spirit, the pope carries responsibility not just for Catholics, but for every human soul in the world.' Pope Leo's background bridges continents. He served for decades as a missionary in Peru and is fluent in Spanish. Under Pope Francis, he led the Vatican's Dicastery for Bishops, a powerful office responsible for appointing bishops globally. 'That was not on my bingo card,' Beeman said. 'It was quite a surprise to see an American, to be named and also not a well-known American cardinal, not one of the ones that we see often doing media in the United States. And so it was a it was kind of a shock.' Local faith leaders say Leo XIV's close working relationship with Pope Francis is a strong signal of continuity, especially when it comes to compassion, social justice and outreach to the poor and marginalized. 'Pope Francis and many of his predecessors had an incredible love for the poor,' Beeman said. 'We'll continue to see that … reaching beyond those already inside the Church, to bring the Gospel to everyone.' 'Pope Francis, along with many of his predecessors, have an incredible love for the poor,' Beeman said. 'And so, we'll continue to see that outreach beyond just those who are already Catholic, but to try to bring the gospel to every person.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yomiuri Shimbun
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Beeman: Japan should Address Tariff Issues with China in Mind
The Yomiuri Shimbun Michael Beeman speaks during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in Washington on May 2. WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Assistant Trade Representative Michael Beeman said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun that Japan should keep in mind when negotiating tariff policy with the United States that the U.S. side is seeking cooperation to prevent China from evading tariffs by sending exports to the United States through a third country. The following excerpts from the interview have been edited for flow and clarity. The Yomiuri Shimbun: What is the objective of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in pushing ahead with tariff hikes? Michael Beeman: The president's been very clear that he does not like trade deficits, including with individual countries. He's been very clear about his objective of trying to force a reshoring of manufacturing back in the United States. He also has talked about tariff revenue as a replacement for income tax revenue, so it is a mix of objectives, but all to justify a new resetting of terms of trade with the world. So, I don't see tariffs today going back to where they were at the end of last year. I think some will moderate, but some will not go away. Yomiuri: What are the key points in the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiation, from your perspective? Beeman: I think the U.S., obviously, will be seeking from Japan a number of steps that will make a fundamental change in the trade deficit numbers. So, this means issues like tariffs in Japan. It means issues like nontariff barriers in Japan. It could mean issues like currency as well. It also means, I think, an expectation that Japan will find other ways to lower its trade surplus with the United States. For Japan, I think the goal is to try and go back to the situation late last year, basically to be exempted from all of these tariffs based on some kind of negotiated outcome. And I think that is a huge obstacle for them to succeed, because I think there is a major gap in view on each side of what they hope to achieve. Yomiuri: It has been reported the United States was quite negative about reviewing tariffs. How should Japan respond? Beeman: I think [there is] deep disagreement over whether tariffs would be completely removed on Japan, or if they would just be moderated and decreased but not removed. I think the reality is that the automobile and auto parts trade is a major driver of the trade deficit with Japan, so I think that sector is going to remain a real challenge in these negotiations. Yomiuri: Regarding currency, the president has indicated that he wants to call in the high dollar. How do you think discussions on the exchange rate will progress in Japan-U.S. negotiations? Beeman: Japan is always very eager to have any discussion on currency as a separate discussion. I think in the president's mind, these are all very much linked, and they're linked in terms of the impact on the trade deficit and the undervalued yen. I do think currency will be a topic for discussion in any U.S. and Japan package outcome. It could take on the form of some kind of agreement not to change the rate exactly, but, maybe instead on transparency measures by the central banks on how they and how the government reports about the interventions and in currency markets and the rest. There's one model for that, and that model is in the agreement of the renegotiated NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) agreement. So, the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) has a currency chapter, and that focuses on transparency, primarily, and some penalties if parties are not transparent about what's happening. So, I think something like that could come out of this negotiation to add pressure on the Japanese government to stop talking about the yen. Yomiuri: Trump has imposed extremely high additional tariffs on China. What is his intention? Beeman: I always predicted that China would get more than everybody else, because I think the administration, and this was true in the first Trump administration, really does see China as a huge part of the problem, and so I think there is a goal to essentially decouple the U.S. from dependence on imports from China for many key products. I think tariffs will continue to be higher on China, but probably not that high, but in key sectors, I'm talking about steel, autos, machinery, those sectors, I think they will continue to be even higher. And I've emphasized this quite a bit for a while, [a] priority that both the Trump and then the Biden administration, and now the Trump administration, again, has is, with tariffs so high on China, Chinese companies are looking for ways to get their product into the United States through a third country. They put a new label on it, made in Cambodia, whatever, and then ship it to the U.S. as a made in Cambodia product to avoid the tariff. That's one way. The other way is Chinese companies investing in other countries, making things there and then exporting them to avoid the higher tariff on China. With that as background, I think that there is a role for Japan to play to help make sure that the door is shut to those kinds of exports through Japan, basically. And I think the administration is looking for that kind of cooperation from Japan and from many other countries as well. So that's one example of how Japan can be proactive to address that concern. Yomiuri: Obviously, the United States has broken some trade or tariffs agreements. How can Japan receive assurances that new trade agreements will be kept intact? Beeman: I get this question all the time, and there's no really good answer, I think. Honestly, what the Trump administration wants is not just an agreement on terms, it wants an agreement on results and outcomes. So that's a very different kind of exercise than agreement on principles and rules and conditions and obligations, to balance those. So, what may seem to be in balance in a traditional trade agreement may be out of balance when it comes to actual trade. We've seen this. So, so long as the administration continues to focus on results of trade, I think they're going to have this continuing feeling of wanting to be able to adjust things later, if the tariffs aren't working as anticipated, for example. Will they get any deals if they continue to have that mindset? I don't know. It may be very difficult to negotiate that kind of outcome without clear assurances that this is it, right? This is the deal. You're not going to come back for more later, but that's really in the eye of the president, and, you know, he's prone to changing his mind and seeing things differently. So, that's a real challenge for all countries, including Japan. Yomiuri: Do you have a sense of what is achievable through these negotiations? Beeman: What I've been saying for many months [is] that the president is looking for what used to be called a protective tariff 100 years ago, and so that means he's going to raise tariffs and going to lock that in, and then he's going to negotiate other stuff up and down depending on that. Return to zero tariffs, for now, I just don't see that as happening. Over time, if public reaction becomes so bad to the tariffs, and it's already quickly worsening day by day, the support for these tariffs is quickly declining among Americans. So, if you get that over time, you get Congress having a midterm election and people thrown out because they supported the tariffs. So, you can see how this could change over time. But for now, I think what they intend to do is to lock in the 10% and then have other stuff above that. — This interview was conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers Hiroyuki Tanaka and William Corcoran. Michael Beeman Beeman earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Oxford in 1998. After working at the U.S. Department of Commerce until 2004, he served as assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, South Korea and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation from 2017 to 2023.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Red-hot Rainbow Wahine hoping for big crowd Saturday night
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The University of Hawaii women's basketball team is the hottest show in town, returning to the Simplifi arena at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night riding a 13-game winning streak when they host UC San Diego to continue Big West Conference play.'I think we're representing the university and the state very, very well. There is no quit to this team as a lot of people have seen. We go in halftime down, and we make some good adjustments, and then the girls come out just raring to go. So super excited, super proud.' said head coach Laura Beeman. Hawaii has built a 2 1/2 game lead on second-place UC Irvine after defeating the Anteaters 49-44 in California. 'I think it would be amazing for people to come out and support not only the local kids but every player on this team for what they're doing. I just think we're playing good basketball.' Beeman said. UH great Kolten Wong bats lead-off for Home Plate Heroes program The backcourt is loaded with veteran star players like senior guards Lily Wahinekapu, Kelsie Imai, Hallie Birdsong, MeiLani McBee, and Mia Uhila. Fellow veteran standouts Imani Perez and Brooklyn Rewers in the front court are bolstered with outstanding 6'5″ true freshman Ritorya Tamilo from New Zealand. Tamilo is second on the team in scoring with 8 points per game and leads all players in rebounds with 5.3 per game. 'I think she's just a high-level post player for us,' Beeman said. 'Our goal and our job is to help that child, I say that lovingly, become successful. You know, put her in a position where we can play her, development her, in a way that brings her onto the perimeter. She will represent her country of New Zealand on one of these days. No doubt about it. She has such a huge ceiling. And what makes her even more special is her coachability. That kid is just a sponge, and she is just an amazing teammate.' Tipoff Saturday night is set for 7 p.m. in Manoa. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Tickets can be purchased here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Spokane County facing unfair labor practice complaints following decision to expand agreement with company providing care to detainees
Feb. 11—Spokane County has been accused of unfair labor practices after renewing and expanding a medical services contract with a private company to treat county jail inmates. In late January, the Spokane County Commissioners voted 3-2 to award a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract to Everhealth, a subsidiary of NaphCare, which has provided medical, dental and pharmaceutical care in the Spokane County Jail since 2017. The vote split along party lines, with Commissioners Chris Jordan and Amber Waldref, both Democrats, voting against awarding the contract to NaphCare. "I'm very concerned, because we've been told by our budget office here at the county that we're expecting budget deficits in the next several years, multimillion-dollar deficits that we're going to have to manage to provide the services that everyone in the county is looking for us to provide," Waldref said. "This contract is costly; I'm not sure how we're going to pay for it." The new contract expands NaphCare's responsibilities to include behavioral health services, which county employees provided in the past. Greg Beeman, a representative of the largest union for county employees, said that addition has left 10 employees out of a job. The county's mental health team will be disbanded on April 30 to make room for NaphCare's behavioral health specialists starting April 1. Beeman said the union has filed two unfair labor practice complaints with the state, as well as two grievances with the county, all related to the county's failure to negotiate with the union prior to awarding the medical services contract. "They first started having conversations about this way back in March of last year," Beeman said. "So we're almost a year down the road, and they really only started talking to us beginning in early November. I think they were seriously behind the times on all this." The county failed to do its due diligence in working with the union prior to the contract being awarded, as well as in negotiating measures to mitigate the impacts on those being let go, Beeman said. Last March, with NaphCare's prior contract set to expire soon, Spokane County issued a request for proposals for medical, dental and pharmaceutical services. Not a single provider responded, Spokane County CEO Scott Simmons said. Everhealth and parent company NaphCare declined to make anyone available for an interview, instead providing a written statement. Company officials declined to say whether they planned to interview any of the outgoing behavioral health team members for jobs. Simmons said that after the first request for bids drew no interest, the county consulted with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. The nonprofit organization advised that the best practices would include all services integrated under one operator. "You have to have really, really tight handoffs on patient care and what the inmates are experiencing, and being able to have integrated solutions so that you don't have any misses in information handoffs between shifts, between personnel," Simmons said. "The flow of data, similar systems, are all beneficial to have under an umbrella approach." The county reissued its request, this time with behavioral health included. NaphCare was the only company to respond out of 19 providers that showed some interest, according to county records. On Jan. 21, Mike Sparber, senior director of law and justice for Spokane County, came to the county commissioners with a choice: In a week's time, they could award the contract to NaphCare or revert services back in-house, as they were prior to the initial agreement with NaphCare in 2017. Sparber told the board the latter was a verbal proposal from the union. Simmons added in an interview that the county offered the union the opportunity to respond to the request for proposals and that the response was "very limited." Beeman contends that the proposal to revert to the pre-2016 model was only a "suggestion" of the options available to the commissioners. Union members have not provided medical services for roughly eight years, and have no control over the work conducted in the Spokane County Jail and Geiger Correctional Facility. "This is kind of a strawman argument that they've created: 'Well, this is the union's solution or how the union is going to get it done,' " Beeman said. "That was merely us saying you do have a different option." NaphCare will be paid $15.9 million for the first year, $16.8 million for the second and $17.3 million for the third. That agreed-upon rate is in addition to a $700,000 contract extension to cover January while a larger contract was fleshed out, as well as $250,000 for an upgraded health records system. The county will pay the company an additional $850,000 over the next three years for the implementation of an agreement between the state and the federal government to offer Medicaid coverage to youth and adult detainees up to 90 days before they are released. The rate for the first year of services, with the January extension, transition costs and off-site medical claims included, is a nearly 62% increase from what the county paid last year for its in-house behavioral team and NaphCare's medical services combined. Part of that rise in costs may be attributed to the current legal landscape for providers who serve incarcerated populations. Like many companies that provide medical services to prisons and jails, NaphCare has faced dozens of lawsuits over the years. In 2022, a federal jury awarded $27 million in damages to the family of a woman who died in the Spokane County Jail. Simmons said the county contacted similar municipalities to compare rates, and that the county's increase is less than that of others in the state. "I can't say for certain that our contract increase as a result of a past settlement, but from any common sense and logical way to look at this thing, when businesses are faced with challenging litigation environments, and they do have unfavorable claims against them, it goes back into the cost of delivering services," Simmons said. Simmons said the rise is also due in part to the addition of more staff and services. Waldref and Jordan voiced concerns about the large cost increase, and how the county will manage it amid financial challenges facing the county. "I also share the concern about any potential impact for county employees in our jail's mental health services department going forward," Jordan said. "As the board knows, we have a really exceptional, dedicated, talented team of staff in that unit, and they've built relationships and partnerships throughout the criminal justice system over the years, including in juvenile detention, therapeutic courts and many other places." If the county commissioners had decided to bring services back in-house, it would have its own associated costs, Simmons said. It would cost $9.4 million per year to staff to the levels prior to the new contract, according to county calculations. Also included in the county's cost analysis is an estimated $500,000 to $750,000 in additional liability coverage, which would need an extra allocation of $10 million to create a liability fund. That's on top of an estimated $350,000 to $500,000 for additional policy coverage, and upward of $1.2 million for IT costs. Concerns about being able to fill all 52 positions, or 60 under the new contract, were also part of the equation for the commissioners, just as it was when NaphCare first arrived in Spokane. The jail couldn't find enough nurses in 2016, so the county signed a six-month, $2.6 million contract with NaphCare. The county's existing nurses initially worked alongside NaphCare staff. That didn't last long. Nearly all of the original nurses left within months, citing concerns about the level of care and cost-cutting measures NaphCare had taken. The company eventually hired a few of those nurses. Simmons said it would take a multiyear effort to get services to the level provided by NaphCare. "Then you have to measure the successes, going back to retention, recruitment and doing things outside of our core competency," Simmons said. "And we're competing for the same group of people that those in the profession, that really focus on health care, do on a daily basis." Beeman said the union's focus is on the mental health team, which is why they suggested keeping those individuals on by bringing all services in house. NaphCare is a for-profit company, so he understands their desire to expand services, and how the county was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Spokane County's difficult situation does not preclude it from taking the legally required steps of negotiating with the union about the request for proposals, and then the impacts for the union members on the behavioral health team. "NaphCare is playing hardball with them, no question, but there may be other solutions for this," Beeman said. "At the very least, we wish that they had started talking to us early on about this, so that for one thing, we might have been able to do more to cushion the blow for the affected employees, and figure out some things in a more timely manner." The county is working through the grievance process and impact negotiations with the union, which may go to arbitration in the coming weeks, Beeman said. The state's Public Employment Relations Committee will run down the unfair labor practice complaints, and could have the power to send the county back to square one in securing a contractor, he added. Simmons said there is not much he can disclose as the process is ongoing, but that the county is committed to seeing it through. "At the end of the day, we care about our employees, and we want to make sure their well-being and impacts are at the forefront," Simmons said.
