Channel 13: Belvidere Police guilty of excessive force?

BELVIDERE (WREX) — Some officers sworn to protect and serve the people of Belvidere are accused of abusing their badge.

Over the last 7 months, nearly half-a-dozen people came forward to 13 Investigates with allegations of excessive force and police misconduct.
Throughout our investigation, we uncovered even more allegations, along with multiple lawsuits and settlements involving Belvidere Police that amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.

The Belvidere Police Department would not go on camera to address our investigation, but the city's attorney did send a written response about the allegations.
We'll have that response as well as an in-depth look into the accusations against certain police Wednesday on 13 News at 10.

Kristin Crowley

Evening News Anchor
Kristin Crowley anchors the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news. She is also a reporter for 13 Investigates. She brings more than a decade of experience to the newsroom. Her work at WREX has earned her multiple awards including a regional Edward R. Murrow for Investigative Journalism and three regional Emmys.tion

Above is from:  https://wrex.com/2020/02/18/preview-13-investigates-looks-into-allegations-of-excessive-force-by-belvidere-police/

----------------------HERE IS A MORE COMPLETE Printed  REPORT-------------------------------------

13 Investigates: Belvidere Police accused of systemic abuse of power, excessive force

February 19, 202011:29 pmKristin Crowley13 INVESTIGATES,NEWS,TOP STORIES

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BELVIDERE (WREX) — Over the course of 7 months, 13 Investigates has pored over thousands pages of documents, interviewed dozens of people, and investigated their claims of excessive force by the Belvidere Police Department.

What we found in our search through public records and interviews is the police department has been named in at least 12 lawsuits for police misconduct, it has paid tens of thousands of dollars to settle many of those claims, and two officers, who combined were named in half of those lawsuits, are still on the force today.

In one alleged incident, a driver was pulled over for a burnt out license plate light. He ended up charged with a felony because one of the officers involved in his arrest, was injured during the arrest.

Court records show the felony charge was dropped and the driver ended up with a $10,000 settlement from Belvidere Police.

This wasn't the first time Belvidere Police were accused of using excessive force and misconduct. And it wouldn't be the last.

Taylor Anguiano

Taylor Anguiano is behind bars at the Stateville Correctional Center, convicted of aggravated battery to a senior citizen and a peace officer. Those are crimes he says he didn't commit. Instead, he says he's the victim of excessive force by Belvidere Police.

"He grabbed his pepper spray and he put his knee right here on my face onto the grass and held my mouth open and sprayed the pepper spray down my throat," Anguiano told 13 Investigates when we went to visit him in prison.

He says the officer repeatedly punched him, however, the Boone County State's Attorney's Office says he was the aggressor, macing two officers and punching one in the face.

"They also said you punched an officer, too. Did you do that?" 13 Investigates asked.

Taylor told us no.

"I was already handcuffed. I was pretty helpless," he said.

There is video of the night of Anguiano's arrest. You can see Anguiano gasping for air and begging for help for at least 10 minutes. That's when the video ends. Five hours later, Anguiano ended up not in a jail cell, but in a hospital bed.

"I woke up a couple days later. I remember the nurse told me that I had 12 lumps on my head. I had two black eyes, I had scratches, hematoma contusions. I had fractured ribs," Anguiano said.

The City of Belvidere gave 13 Investigates dash cam video from the squad cars on scene that day, but none of them captured what happened during the arrest.

But Anguiano is not alone in his claims of excessive force at the hands of Belvidere Police.

"I put my hands behind my back and he was still hitting me," Kyler Cisneros told 13 Investigates.

Tammy Alm said, pointing to her chin "I had a bruise here from him throwing me." Amber Simpson was there the night of this alleged incident and says she doesn't understand how both women were arrested and charged with resisting.
"I think it was just to add another charge because he could," Simpson said.

Zak Kasprzycki also spoke to 13 Investigates about his accusations.
"One of them had my arm this way, one of them had my arm this way, and they're still moving them around yelling 'Stop resisting,'" Kasprzycki said.

These four people are all talking about separate incidents. None of them filed formal complaints, but they tell 13 Investigates their arrests by Belvidere Police left them with cracked ribs, bruised faces, black eyes and charges they didn't deserve.

It's not just accusations of excessive force they have in common.

Pictured are Officer Ryan Davenport, left, and Officer Brandon Parker, right.

They say the ones who used that force were either Officer Ryan Davenport or Officer Brandon Parker.
13 Investigates took a closer look at these officers, starting with their arrest history over the past 2 years. Out of 30 patrol officers on the force, Davenport and Parker made fewer arrests than half of them, but they still lead their department with resisting arrest charges. Combined, the two officers make up more than 23 percent of all resisting charges for the entire department.
We reached out to Parker and Davenport for comment as well as Chief of Police Shane Woody and Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain. The city attorney denied our request, saying the police department treats all complaints and allegations seriously and that the Belvidere Police Department has "a very strong culture of positive service to the community." The statement went on to say appropriate discipline of officers is given when warranted.
But as 13 Investigates found out, rarely are officers with Belvidere Police ever disciplined after a complaint is made.
Belvidere Police say they received seven complaints from 2014 to 2018. That's as far back in the records it would give us. Three of the complaints involve Parker or Davenport.
One woman says Parker threatened to kill her son, report her to immigration, and shouted a racist expletive.
A man says Davenport maced him while he was on the ground after he was a victim of an assault.
At least three other officers were accused of beating people's heads in to the floor, unjustly macing people, and injuring them to the point of hospitalization.
The person who investigates these claims is the Belvidere Chief of Police.
Since becoming chief in 2018, Woody has cleared every officer of wrongdoing in complaints filed against them. In fact, there is no record of any officer being punished following any of these formal complaints except for one.
"Tom" asked us to hide his identity for his safety. He says an officer started yelling at him after taking a picture of Belvidere squad cars parked outside a local Starbucks. That's when Tom grabbed his phone, and started recording. That officer was Ryan Davenport.
"He was telling me that if I put the pictures or anything that I took on Facebook he was coming after me," Tom said.
In the video, you can hear Officer Davenport say, "If I find out that ends up on Facebook, I'm coming after you."
Tom says Davenport back-handed him during the incident, hitting his hand, camera and his face.
Tom filed a complaint with then-Chief Jan Noble, and Officer Davenport was suspended without pay for 24 hours for "conduct unbecoming," saying police members should "control their temper." Officer Davenport was also ordered to undergo "social conflict control" training.
Tom says after he filed that report, Chief Woody, who at the time was deputy chief of the department, called him down to the station.
"He put a paper in front of me, and it was a paper for me to sign that stated that I was agreeing not to press charges against the officer," Tom said. "And I felt at the time that if I didn't do that, it wasn't going to be investigated right and nothing was going to come from it."
Tom says he signed the waiver of criminal prosecution form and left the department with a target on his back, alleging law enforcement in Belvidere and Boone County started harassing his family and following them.
"And enough was enough. And we picked up and left. I mean literally picked up and left and moved out of state because of not wanting to deal with the harassment anymore," he said.
Civil rights attorney Louis Meyer says he's more than familiar with police in Belvidere, saying his office is looking into repeat offenders.
"Unfortunately we've received numerous calls for police misconduct cases involving the Belvidere Police Department," Meyer told 13 Investigates.
He says his firm has handled at least seven cases out of Belvidere in the past 3 years — all for police misconduct.
"For a department that size, that's a lot," Meyer said.

13 Investigates found records of more than a dozen lawsuits from 2001 to 2019. Davenport is named in at least one; Parker in at least five.

City records show a total of $73,000 has been paid out to people in settlements involving Belvidere Police. The settlements Parker's been named in total nearly $60,000. Some of the people paid, signed agreements not to publicly talk about the incident or the officers.

"It protects the officers because it's not in the public so people don't raise uproar about it," Meyer said.

That's why Meyer can't publicly tell 13 Investigates which officers his clients have accused of misconduct.

The people we did interview say they're done staying silent, and they want Belvidere Police to hold officers accountable.

"Somebody needs to take a stand and it needs to stop now," Tammy Alm said.

When we asked Taylor Anguiano, who has a handful of criminal convictions in his past, why we should believe him, he said this: "Because it's the truth."

Congressman Kinzinger is now wed to Trump Administration

PHOTO: Congressman Adam Kinzinger gets married over Valentine's Day weekend

2:25 pm

Contributed

Caption

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, wed Sofia Boza-Holman, a press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Saturday in Guatemala, according to social media posts. Kinzinger announced his engagement to Boza-Holman over the summer.

Above is from:  https://www.mywebtimes.com/2020/02/17/photo-congressman-adam-kinzinger-gets-married-over-valentines-day-weekend/a8ztxlb/

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In June 2019, Kinzinger became engaged to Sofia Boza-Holman, a former aide to John Boehner and aide to Vice President Mike Pence

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Sofia M. Boza-Holman

White House Office

Regional Communications Director | $62,000

Above is from:  https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/sofia-m-boza-holman

?????????Mike Bloomberg??????????

Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils

by Ryan Cooper

,

The Week

•February 18, 2020//

977 Comments

Like the vast majority of Americans, I have been effectively disenfranchised in the last few presidential elections. In 2011, I moved to Washington, D.C., which is so heavily Democratic that any vote for president is totally meaningless — in 2016, Hillary Clinton won with 93 percent of the vote. But last year, I moved to famously swingy Pennsylvania, and suddenly I'm a full citizen again. (I'm already lording it over my friends from California and New York.)

As I have written on many occasions, I think Bernie Sanders is the best candidate. But given the abominable Trump presidency, I have also said that I'll vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination.

However, that was before Mike Bloomberg became a serious presidential contender (currently in third place in national polls and rising fast). I have given it very serious thought, and while I would happily vote for Elizabeth Warren, grudgingly vote for Joe Biden or Amy Klobuchar, or secure an entire bottle of Southern Comfort to get sufficiently hammered to vote for Pete Buttigieg, I will not vote for Mike Bloomberg in November if he is nominated.

To start with, it is not at all obvious that Bloomberg would even be a better president than Trump. As Alex Pareene writes at The New Republic, he is a right-wing authoritarian with nakedly racist views who constantly violated civil rights laws during his time as mayor of New York City. He locked up thousands of protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention (where he gave a speech warmly endorsing George W. Bush, and thanked him for starting the war in Iraq), and a judge held the city in contempt for violating due process law. He created what amounted to a police state for New York Muslims, subjecting the entire community to dragnet surveillance and harassment, and filling mosques with spies and agent provocateurs. The city had to pay millions in settlements for violating Muslims' civil rights. (All this did precisely nothing to prevent terrorism, by the way.)

As Nathan Robinson writes at Current Affairs, he drastically escalated the infamous "stop-and-frisk" program in New York, in which innocent black and brown youths were jacked up by cops literally millions of times. Typically 85-90 percent of the stops found nothing, and many police used it as a handy pretext to vent their racist prejudice. At its peak in 2011, there were more stops of young black men than there were young black men in the entire city. And because it was mainly young men being targeted, some were stopped dozens of times. Innocent people were routinely beaten senseless.

Bloomberg justified the policy with straightforwardly racist collective guilt. In a 2015 speech, he said "it's controversial, but first thing is, all of your — 95 percent of your murders, murderers and murder victims, fit one M.O. ... They are male minorities, 15 to 25."

These statistics are hideously inaccurate. In reality, the relatively few whites stopped under stop-and-frisk were more likely to be carrying weapons, and as The Atlantic's Adam Serwer points out, after the program was halted, crime continued to fall unabated. The whole thing was completely useless — unless the point was to constantly remind black and brown New Yorkers that they were second-class citizens. Bloomberg also espouses the racist theory that the financial crisis was caused by government efforts to reduce prejudice in home lending — thus scapegoating minorities to deflect blame from the real culprit, Wall Street oligarchs like himself.

Bloomberg's newfound commitment to progressive policies is so transparently fraudulent that his campaign apparently plagiarized huge chunks of his campaign platform. He is just trying to trick the Democratic electorate with a tidal wave of cash (with evident success).

Now, Bloomberg does have a legitimate history of supporting gun control and climate policy. But it is exceedingly unlikely that he will be able to get past a Senate filibuster on gun control, especially given his sneering know-it-all approach. And given his politics and personal wealth, his climate policy would probably look a great deal like Emmanuel Macron's diesel tax in France — a carbon tax whose revenues would go towards cutting taxes on the rich. Macron's move sparked violent protests and was quickly abandoned.

Does this sound like a guy who would do anything substantial to reverse Trump's worst policies? If we're lucky, he might reverse the Muslim ban and let a few people out of the CBP camps. If we're not, he'll implement a much quieter and more effective version of the same policies, and partisan Democrats will reverse-engineer justifications for these being somehow necessary (or just ignore them, as they did during the Obama years). Recall that Bloomberg once argued that every Social Security card should have fingerprints so unauthorized immigrants would be unable to get jobs.

On the other hand, in some areas Bloomberg would likely be worse than Trump. As Mehdi Hasan writes at The Intercept, Bloomberg is a committed and pitiless warmonger — he supported the war in Iraq and repeated the Bush administration's lie that Saddam Hussein had plotted 9/11. (In January he said he had no regrets about doing so.) He opposed President Obama's Iran deal, and had few complaints about Trump's assassination of Iran's Qassem Soleimani. While Trump has escalated conflicts across the globe, he appears to have at least a mild hesitation about starting new full-scale wars of aggression. The chances of a shooting war with Iran probably increase if Bloomberg wins in 2020.

Given his wretched politics, even Bloomberg's superior competence is a mark against him. Right now one tiny silver lining of the Trump administration is that the people trying to commit atrocities through the federal bureaucracy are so inept they keep fumbling the legal procedures and getting stopped in the courts. Bloomberg is sure to appoint competent authoritarian maniacs.

And for all the people who complain that Bernie Sanders is not a real Democrat, Bloomberg was literally a Republican up until 2007, and worked to elect Republicans until very recently. In 2014, he or his political action committee donated to the senate campaigns of Susan Collins in Maine and Bob Dold in Illinois. In 2016, he donated $11.7 million to Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania — making it the most expensive Senate race in history up to that point, and likely securing victory for Toomey, who won by less than two points. Though he has also donated a lot to Democrats, Bloomberg is a guy who did more than almost anyone to help protect Mitch McConnell's Republican majority in the Senate, and hence to put two more conservatives on the Supreme Court.

At bottom, Bloomberg is basically just like George W. Bush, with a dollop of maddening nanny-state condescension. Without question he would be one of the top five worst major-party presidential nominees in the last century of American history.

This stance will no doubt infuriate the "vote blue no matter who" crowd who view Donald Trump as some kind of Lovecraftian nightmare. But even aside from how horrible a president Bloomberg would be, perhaps the most compelling reason not to vote for him is what his nomination would reveal about American democracy. It would mean that the oligarch class has so thoroughly corrupted the system that the voice of the people is drowned. His entire candidacy is a cartoonishly blatant instance of how money can corrupt democracy. Right now he is scooping up thousands of campaign operatives and field organizers by offering them as much as $6,000 a month — creating a desperate shortage for other campaigns. He's racking up endorsement after endorsement — of representatives, mayors, and one governor, so far — who have cashed checks from his vast empire of bribery. His nomination would mean the Democratic Party can be "bought over the counter like so many pounds of cheese."

Partisan Democrats insist that everyone has an obligation to vote tactically — that is, to always pick the lesser of two evils in the voting booth. But as Daniel Davies argues, given that one's individual vote has virtually no chance of actually deciding the outcome, the truly tactical choice is to not bother to vote at all. The only compelling reason to vote is about civic duty and one's patriotic conscience. And as Davies writes, "it seems pretty clear that there is some point at which it becomes obvious that a morally and politically valid response is simply to declare that the fundamental basis of the implied contract has broken down, and that it's a reasonable choice to simply refuse to participate further." If the choice is Cthulhu versus Nyarlathotep, I for one see little point in voting for the candidate that might have one fewer grasping eldritch tentacle.

Among Bernie Sanders supporters, I am far from the most die-hard. If I simply cannot countenance putting my name down for Bloomberg in November, there are millions more who would do the same — plus no small number of supporters of the other candidates, in all likelihood. Then there is the general fact that Bloomberg's extreme wealth and extensive record of racism and sexual harassment would negate most of the strongest attacks against Trump. Bloomberg would be highly likely to bleed enough support to third parties (or no one) to lose to Trump, just as Hillary Clinton did.

Luckily, it will be easy to avoid this dreadful possibility. Simply vote against Michael Bloomberg in the Democratic primary.

Editor's note: This article originally wrongly described the number of black men arrested under stop-and-frisk, and the percentage of stops that found nothing. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.

Above is from:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/mike-bloomberg-not-lesser-two-104502751.html

Pardon vs. Commutation: What’s the Difference?

President Trump commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, but what does that mean?

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker isn’t impressed with President Donald Trump’s decision to commute former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence.

After years of saying he was considering the move, President Donald Trump officially commuted the sentence of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday.

The decision means that the former governor can be released from federal prison. Blagojevich had originally been sentenced to 14 years in prison, and wasn’t set to be released until 2024. The president’s commutation of his sentence eliminates the remainder of the penalty.

Trump also had the option to pardon Blagojevich, but opted to simply commute his sentence instead.

Local

What is the Difference Between Commutation and a Pardon?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a commutation reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, but does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence or remove civil disabilities, such as the right to vote or to hold public office.

In 2017, Rod Blagojevich broke his silence for the first time since entering prison in an exclusive interview with NBC 5’s Phil Rogers.

A commutation can also eliminate financial penalties associated with a federal conviction, but that forgiveness is offered at the discretion of the president.

A pardon is “an expression of the President’s forgiveness,” according to the DOJ. Pardons are typically granted to recognize that the person has accepted responsibility and established good conduct for a significant period of time.

A pardon does not signify innocence, but removes civil disabilities associated with convictions, including giving the recipient of the pardon back their right to vote and to serve on juries, among other freedoms and privileges

Above is from:  https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/pardon-vs-commutation-whats-the-difference/2221443/

Boy Scouts are bankrupt?

U.S. NEWS

Boy Scouts of America, hobbled by multiple sex-abuse lawsuits, files for bankruptcy protection

The venerable nonprofit is following the lead of the scandal-wracked Roman Catholic Church.

Boy Scouts file for bankruptcy protection from sex-abuse lawsuits

FEB. 18, 202002:29

Feb. 17, 2020, 11:45 PM CST / Updated Feb. 18, 2020, 12:04 AM CST

By Corky Siemaszko

The Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Facing mounting legal costs from defending itself against lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of boys, the venerable nonprofit sought Chapter 11 protection in a court filing early Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement that the filing had "two key objectives: equitably compensate victims who were harmed during their time in Scouting and continue carrying out its mission for years to come. The BSA intends to use the Chapter 11 process to create a Victims Compensation Trust that would provide equitable compensation to victims."

The Boy Scouts said that only the national organization had filed for Chapter 11 and that local councils that provide programming and other services are financially independent.

"The BSA cares deeply about all victims of abuse and sincerely apologizes to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to harm innocent children," Roger Mosby, BSA's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement Tuesday.

"While we know nothing can undo the tragic abuse that victims suffered, we believe the Chapter 11 process — with the proposed Trust structure — will provide equitable compensation to all victims while maintaining the BSA's important mission," he said.

Michael Pfau, whose Seattle-based law firm, Pfau, Cochran, Veretis and Amala, represents close to 300 people who say they were abused as Scouts in 30-plus states, called the filing historic.

"It will be far larger in terms of the numbers of victims and far more complicated than any of the bankruptcies we've seen so far involving the Catholic Church," Pfau said.

Those bankruptcies involved individual dioceses or archdioceses, Pfau said, while "this involves victims from all 50 states and several U.S. territories."

"You're looking at thousands of abuse survivors making claims," he said. "This is much bigger than the bankruptcy filings involving the Catholic Church."

In December 2018, the BSA telegraphed that it might seek this remedy when it hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP and announced that it was "working with experts to explore all options available to ensure that the local and national programming of the Boy Scouts of America continues uninterrupted."

Now that the Texas-based organization has filed for bankruptcy protection, the U.S. Trustees Office will pick a creditors committee that will include a number of abuse victims, Pfau said. The committee, in turn, will hire a bankruptcy law firm that will represent the interests of creditors in negotiations with the BSA.

The various abuse cases against the BSA that have been filed in state courts will be halted and transferred to federal bankruptcy court for adjudication, Pfau said.

For the abuse victims, the BSA's bankruptcy filing has pros and cons, Pfau said.

"The pro is that is a far shorter process than going through a trial and the appeals process in state court," he said. "The bankruptcy procedure will probably take anywhere from 18 months to two years from start to finish.

"But the cons are significant," Pfau added. "Each individual loses his opportunity for a jury trial in state court, which is really the most powerful weapon an abuse victim has. One of the primary reasons the BSA filed for bankruptcy is to avoid jury trials."

Why?

"Juries don't like fact patterns where children are abused by trusted leaders," Pfau said. "An entity like the Boy Scouts has to consider their exposure."

Like the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts "have a horrible, sordid history of child abuse in the ranks," Pfau said. "They fought very, very aggressively to keep the extent of the abuse from the public. Now they're facing a wave of legislative reform that is sweeping across the country, with states revising their statutes of limitations to allow victims to sue."

So for the BSA, seeking bankruptcy protection is really the only option if it hopes to survive.

"It's a real day of reckoning for the Boy Scouts," Pfau said.

The organization said Tuesday that Scouting is safer than it's ever been, saying "approximately 90% of pending and asserted abuse claims against the BSA relate to abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago."

Founded in 1910 and long considered a bastion of traditional values, the BSA reported in 2016 that it has more than 1.26 million Cub Scouts, nearly 830,000 Boy Scouts and about 960,000 adult volunteers.

Corky Siemaszko

Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.

Above is from:  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-scouts-america-hobbled-multiple-sex-abuse-lawsuits-declares-bankruptcy-n1125026

Will local Dean’s operation be part of a coop?

Dairy Farmers of America agreed to buy a “substantial” part of Dean Foods, the largest U.S. milk producer, for $425 million, the company said Monday.

As part of the deal, Dairy Farmers of America, an agricultural cooperative that represents roughly 14,000 dairy producers, would acquire 44 of Dean’s plants. DFA also agreed to assume some of Dean's liabilities.

The move comes after Dallas-based Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy protection in November. Dean sells dairy products under labels including TruMoo, Pet, Friendly's, Tuscan and Land O'Lakes.

“We have had a relationship with DFA over the past 20 years, and we are confident in their ability to succeed in the current market and serve our customers with the same commitment to quality and service they have come to expect,” Eric Beringause, president and chief executive officer at Dean Foods, said in a statement.

Dean Foods, which supplies supermarkets and schools, has struggled in recent years as the U.S. dairy industry grapples with declining milk consumption. The company's efforts to close plants and cut costs haven’t offset declining sales as more consumers turn to plant-based milk alternatives like soy. Dean is not alone in seeking court protection to survive. Borden Dairy Co., among the largest and oldest dairy producers in the U.S., in January, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after more than 160 years in business.

Dean has faced declines in sales of fluid milk, a key business for the company. About 3.7 billion pounds of packaged fluid milk products were shipped by milk handlers in November, a 9.4% drop from a year earlier, according to the USDA.

The deal requires the approval of the bankruptcy court and the U.S. Department of Justice.

“As Dean is the largest dairy processor in the country and a significant customer of DFA, it is important to ensure continued secure markets for our members’ milk and minimal disruption to the U.S. dairy industry,” Rick Smith, president and chief executive officer at DFA, said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dean Foods bankruptcy: DFA to buy 'substantial' assets for $425M

Above is from:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dairy-farmers-america-agrees-buy-213123516.html

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Bankrupt Dean Foods deals assets to dairy-farming cooperative

Published: Feb 17, 2020 3:10 p.m. ET

Executives say the sale will preserve jobs and markets for farmers’ milk

Getty Images

Dean Foods trucks outside a company facility in suburban Chicago.

By

JACOBBUNGE

The biggest U.S. dairy farming cooperative struck a $425 million deal to buy dozens of plants from bankrupt milk processor Dean Foods Co., in a deal executives said would preserve jobs and markets for farmers’ milk.

The deal, which was proposed by Dairy Farmers of America, requires approval of the bankruptcy court and the U.S. Department of Justice.

If consummated, it would see the Kansas City, Kan., agricultural cooperative take over the bulk of Dean’s plants, following the top U.S. milk company’s bankruptcy filing in November.

Dean’s DFODQ, +2.29% bankruptcy followed a yearslong decline in sales of fluid milk, the Dallas company’s main business. Bottled water, fruit juices and plant-based milk alternatives have crowded out milk cartons in grocery store beverage cases, pressuring the milk business. Dean also struggled as grocery sellers like Walmart Inc. WMT, +0.38% and Kroger Co. KR, -1.40% opened their own milk-bottling plants, expanding sales of store-brand milk that is often priced far below branded milk from processors like Dean.

Pressures are mounting on the U.S. milk sector beyond Dean. Borden Dairy Co., another Texas dairy company, filed for bankruptcy in January, also blaming falling milk consumption and retailers’ investment in bargain-priced milk. Battling low prices, thousands of dairy farmers have closed their milking parlors in recent years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Above is from:  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bankrupt-dean-foods-deals-assets-to-dairy-farming-cooperative-2020-02-17

Amazon Axes Delivery Partners in U.S.; Hundreds of Jobs Cut

Spencer Soper and Matt Day

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Bloomberg•February 14, 2020

Amazon Axes Delivery Partners in U.S.; Hundreds of Jobs Cut

More

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is severing ties with small delivery firms around the country -- putting at least 1,300 drivers out of work -- in an effort to eliminate partners that aren’t meeting its standards.

Bear Down Logistics, an Illinois company that rapidly expanded over the past two years, is shuttering operations in five states and letting go of about 400 drivers. Delivery Force, an Amazon delivery partner in Washington state, is cutting 272 drivers in Seattle and other cities. Kansas-based RCX Logistics, an Amazon delivery partner with operations in Texas, Alabama and Florida, will eliminate the jobs of more than 600 employees after losing its Amazon contract. Around the country, logistics firms are notifying state officials about facility closures and job cuts, signs that Amazon is culling the herd.

The action underscores the challenges of outsourcing deliveries to new, untested companies instead of traditional partners such as United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. It also serves as a warning to Amazon delivery partners that the company is an exacting client willing to cut them off.

Bear Down Logistics notified Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota and Illinois that it would close facilities in those states in April, resulting in the loss of almost 280 jobs. Another Bear Down facility near Grand Rapids, Michigan, will also close in April, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. About 120 drivers work at the Michigan facility, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity due to company policies about speaking with the media. The company also has Amazon delivery operations in Wisconsin, the status of which was not immediately clear.

“We have a responsibility to our customers and the communities where we operate to ensure these partners meet our high standards for things like safety and working conditions,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “Occasionally we need to end a relationship with a partner and when this happens we are committed to helping the impacted employees find opportunities with other delivery service partners or to learn more about the thousands of available roles at Amazon delivery stations and fulfillment centers.”

Bear Down Logistics, Delivery Force and RCX Logistics didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Amazon in 2018 launched a program encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to lease vans, hire drivers and build their own businesses delivering packages to its customers. More than 800 such businesses have sprouted around the country with 75,000 drivers, helping Amazon increase delivery capacity. Amazon also has greater negotiating leverage over each small operator than it does with larger delivery partners like UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.

Drivers working for Amazon delivery partners typically earn less than their counterparts working at larger delivery companies like UPS, which helps Amazon lower costs. One driver working for Bear Down Logistics in Michigan said he earned about $15 an hour delivering Amazon packages, while UPS paid seasonal drivers doing the same work in that area about $20 an hour.

A big challenge for Amazon is balancing safety with its efforts to deliver things quickly at the lowest possible cost. ProPublica in December revealed internal Amazon documents showing it prioritized speed over safety in its delivery network, which followed other investigations exposing the injuries and deaths that accompanied Amazon’s quick expansion of its delivery program.

The Bear Down experience also shows how hard it is to make a go of such businesses. When Amazon courted entrepreneurs, it touted the prospects of earning $300,000 a year with as little as $10,000 in up front costs, significantly less than most franchise businesses that can cost more than $100,000 to launch.

(Updated with job cuts in Florida, Texas and Alabama in the second paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net;Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack