DECEMBER 30, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


MOST OF THE ARTICLES I SAW THE LAST FEW DAYS WERE ABOUT MIGRANT CHILDREN, WHICH IS AS SAD TO ME AS THE YEAR BY YEAR DEGRADATION OF OUR HUMAN AND ANIMAL HABITAT ON EARTH. THERE IS SOMETHING EVIL ABOUT MISTREATMENT OF CHILDREN, THOUGH, SO I AM HAPPY TO SEE THE STRONG FOCUS ON THIS IN THE NEWS.

MOST AMERICANS ARE SO THRILLED WITH MACHINES AND GADGETS THAT THEY DON’T WORRY AS MUCH ABOUT THE NEGATIVE INFLUENCES ON THE BASIC ENJOYMENT OF LIFE THAT WE HAVE COME TO TAKE FOR GRANTED. OF COURSE, TO MANY, MONEY IS THEIR PREOCCUPATION AND THEIR JOY.

I JUST HAD A FLASHBACK OF A CARTOON SCENE FROM MY CHILDHOOD OF SCROOGE MCDUCK WALLOWING HAPPILY IN A SMALL MOUNTAIN OF GOLDEN COINS. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR SAYING “MONEY QUACKS.”

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/30/us/arizona-migrant-child-abuse-allegations/index.html
Videos showing shelter staffers pushing, shoving migrant children under review for possible criminal charges
By Dakin Andone, Devon M. Sayers and Marlena Baldacci, CNN
Updated 7:02 PM ET, Sun December 30, 2018

(CNN)A case regarding the alleged abuse of migrant children in a Southwest Key shelter will be referred to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review and to determine whether criminal charges will be filed, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

The news comes after the Arizona Republic obtained surveillance videos through an open records request that show staffers pushing and dragging migrant children in a shelter operated by Southwest Key, the nation's largest provider of migrant children shelters.

New York Times reports Southwest Key subject of probe, but shelter provider says no contact with feds

According to the newspaper, the incidents took place at the Hacienda Del Sol shelter in Youngtown, Arizona, in mid-September and involved three children and numerous staffers.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office initially told CNN it investigated the allegations but determined the actions did not rise to the level of criminal charges.

But the office changed its mind and said in an updated statement released Sunday: "Based upon the evidence gathered during this thorough investigation, MCSO executive command has made the decision to submit the case to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for its review and determination of criminal charges."

The case will be submitted on Monday, the sheriff's office said.

Videos show staff members shoving, dragging children

Southwest Key closed the Hacienda Del Sol facility in late October after negotiations with state health authorities who were considering revoking the licenses of 13 Southwest Key shelters in Arizona, according to the Arizona Republic.

CNN previously reported the Arizona Department of Health Services considered the move because Southwest Key had failed to provide the department with proof it conducts background checks on employees.

The videos were blurred and edited by the state's Department of Health Services, which licenses the migrant shelters.

Play Video -- Who's caring for kids separated from parents at border? 02:06

One clip published by the Arizona Republic shows a male staffer dragging a young child into the room and pushing him against the wall. There appears to be a confrontation between the two before the male staffer leaves the room.

Another video shows a female staff member pulling a child through the room and attempting to enter another room.

The child lies on the ground and the female staffer drags the child through the doorway as another staff member pulls a different child into the conference room and drags that child into the next room.

CNN has filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the videos.

Two staffers fired, source says

Southwest Key declined to comment on the case now being referred to the Maricopa County Attorney, but referred CNN to a statement the company issued at the time of the incident.

"We wholeheartedly welcomed the Office of Refugee Resettlement's decision to suspend operations at Hacienda Del Sol and are working to thoroughly retrain our staff," Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller told the Arizona Republic in a statement on October 5.

"We are simultaneously engaging the Child Welfare Consulting Partnership* to do an independent, top to bottom review of our processes, procedures, hiring and training in our Arizona shelters."

After children die in US custody, authorities turn to nation's pediatricians for guidance

According to a source with direct knowledge of how the incidents in the videos were handled, Southwest Key self-reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement and local police at the time the events occurred.

After an internal investigation, two staff members were fired and additional disciplinary measures were taken against other staffers, the source said.

The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed in a statement to the Arizona Republic that it did receive a report about the incident in mid-September and that it prompted an investigation and an on-site inspection.

CNN has reached out to both the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.

CNN's Chris Boyette and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.


VIDEO

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2018/12/28/migrant-kids-dragged-shoved-video-footage-arizona-shelter/2436296002/
Videos: Migrant children dragged, pushed at Southwest Key shelter
Mary Jo Pitzl, Arizona Republic Published 7:21 p.m. MT Dec. 28, 2018 | Updated 10:43 p.m. MT Dec. 28, 2018

Videos from a Southwest Key shelter for migrant children show staffers dragging and pushing children, incidents that occurred shortly before the federal government suspended the shelter's operations early this fall.

The Arizona Republic obtained the videos from the Arizona Department of Health Services under state public-records law.

Southwest Key had reported the mid-September incidents, which involved three children and numerous staffers at the Youngtown shelter, to state authorities, as well as local law-enforcement and federal officials, but declined to publicly provide details at the time.

Southwest Key ultimately closed the shelter, called Hacienda Del Sol, in late October. That came in the wake of negotiations with state health authorities over potential revocation of all 13 licenses that Southwest Key holds in Arizona, because of the company's lapses in background checks for staff.

MORE: Southwest Key to close 2 Phoenix-area migrant-child shelters, pay fine to state

Protesters voice concerns about Southwest Key
Fullscreen
Kids dragged, slapped

One surveillance video shows a male staffer dragging and pulling a boy into a room, then slapping him and pushing him against a wall. The staffer then recoils when it appears the child strikes him. The staffer then leaves the room, and the boy is seen retreating to a corner, then pounding on the window in a door to an adjacent room.

A second video shows a female staffer hustling a child through a conference room, then dragging the child into an adjoining room because the child had lain down and tried to block the doorway with their legs. It is unclear from the edited video if the child is a boy or girl.

As that is happening, another staffer pulls a child with extended arms into the same room. All the while, workers doing other tasks in the conference room go about their business, with one seen adjusting her ponytail.

A third video shows a disrupted classroom setting, but the exact actions are unclear from the blurry image.

The state agency blurred the videos to protect the privacy of the children depicted.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva says “I’m assuming I’m seeing the best of” Tucson immigration facility and that the delay “lowers the believability factor.” Kaila White, The Republic | azcentral.com

It's unclear if the incidents directly prompted the federal intervention. The videos were from Sept. 14, 17 and 21, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the incidents. The federal government, which contracts with Southwest Key to house migrant children, suspended operations at the facility in early October.

Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller declined to elaborate on the incidents Friday. Instead, he reiterated what the shelter operator said in October: welcoming the move by federal authorities to suspend the facility's operations and pledging to retrain all staff.

The Arizona Republic in October submitted a records request to the Sheriff's Office for details on the incidents that prompted the suspension. The agency has yet to provide records, but late Friday, a spokesman said after reviewing the specific surveillance videos, as well as hours of other videos to ensure no harm to children, it found no grounds for criminal charges.

"(T)he investigation determined that while physical force and restraint techniques were used against these minor children, these actions did not rise to the level of criminal charges," Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez said in a statement.

State law permits the kinds of restraint techniques shown in the videos, he said.

State health officials declined to comment on the videos.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva tours Southwest Key Programs shelter in Tucson

Background checks missing

As [sic] the same time the incidents captured on video were happening, Southwest Key was under pressure from state regulators over failing to ensure that all of its employees were properly backgrounded. The health department threatened to revoke the licenses of all 13 Southwest Key shelters.

But settlement talks resulted in Southwest Key agreeing to close two shelters in exchange for the state dropping its revocation threat. One of them was the Youngtown facility.

The shelter had previously been dogged by allegations of sexual assault involving children. Those earlier investigations ended with a plea deal for one boy who was accused by his roommate of placing his penis inside the roommate's mouth. Two other cases of alleged inappropriate actions with children were unsubstantiated.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, after a tour of a shelter for migrant kids on July 6, 2018, says the children are being cared for but ultimately it left him sad. Kaila White, The Republic | azcentral.com

Those allegations predated the surge of unaccompanied minors sent to Arizona shelters when the Trump administration last summer ordered migrant children to be separated from their parents at the border.

At the same time Southwest Key announced it was closing Hacienda Del Sol in Youngtown, it also shuttered its Casa Phoenix shelter just south of downtown. Neither Southwest Key nor the state health department would comment on why that shelter, which housed as many as 400 children, was shut down.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.

READ MORE:

Arizona Southwest Key shelter was closed because staff abused kids, feds say
Feds close migrant children shelter after incident
State moves to pull Southwest Key's licenses
Southwest Key employee accused of sexually abusing 14-year-old migrant girl
Southwest Key worker convicted of molesting minors at Mesa migrant shelter
State: Migrant shelters didn't background check employees
Southwest Key facility in Tucson


"Child Welfare Consulting Partnership*" --

THIS SEVERAL PAGE-LONG PDF CONTAINS ALL YOU’LL EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT CHILD WELFARE CONSULTING PARTNERSHIP AND ITS’ EFFORTS TO CORRECT AND SUPPORT SWK.ORG. YOU CAN READ IT AT THIS WEBSITE:
https://www.swkey.org/UnidosLetter102418-FINAL.pdf


THIS STORY IS AS MUCH A LIST OF CAUTIONS FOR DEMOCRATS IN THE HOUSE AS A PROUD WELCOMING, THOUGH SCHOEN’S BACKGROUND HAS LARGELY BEEN WITH DEMOCRATS. HE IS ALSO A CONSULTANT WITH FOX NEWS. DRAT! HE IS IMPLYING THAT THE NON-CLINTONIAN DEMOCRATS WILL BE UNWISE AND OBSTRUCTIVE, BUT I HAVE SEEN NO SIGNS OF THAT, AT LEAST NOT JUST ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES, AS WITH THE TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS. DISRUPTIVE OR OBSTRUCTIONIST BEHAVIOR IN POLITICS IS MORE LIKELY A PLOY THAN A PERMANENT STANCE.

WHEN A PARTY IS IN THE MAJORITY, THEY DON’T NEED TO BE STUBBORN LIKE THEIR MASCOT, THE DONKEY. I WOULD NOT WANT THEM TO JUST TODDLE RIGHT ALONG WHERE THE TRUMP FORCES WANT TO LEAD THEM AS SEVERAL ARTICLES HAVE SAID THIS LAST WEEK, EITHER, THOUGH. TRUMP IS JUST PLAYING ONE OF HIS HEAD GAMES AND TRYING TO MILK THE GOVERNMENT DRY ON HIS, TO MANY PEOPLE, FOOLISH BORDER WALL. HE HAS SAID NOT ONE WORD THAT I SAW ABOUT THE DEATHS OF YOUNG CHILDREN IN THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS. WE MUST GET THAT SITUATION CHANGED IN OUR BORDER PATROL ACTIONS.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/423216-resolving-the-shutdown-gives-democrats-great-opportunity
Resolving the shutdown gives Democrats great opportunity
BY DOUGLAS SCHOEN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 12/30/18 10:00 AM EST
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

By the end of last week, it was apparent no progress had been made on reopening the government. President Trump and top lawmakers were not even talking. Republicans leaders also reportedly are admitting in private what already appears to be quite clear, which is that they will not get a new deal before the new Congress begins its session this coming week.

Indeed, I have argued that the decision President Trump made to enter this shutdown was foolish and only set our country back, especially as trade tensions with China have increased, administration overturn worsened with the departures of Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in the hot seat over simply following the clear course of action to raise interest rates the central bank had signaled for months.

Adding to this, the recent deaths of two children who were coming with their families to immigrate to the United States while in custody of Customs and Border Patrol has continued to shine a negative light on the administration. Despite these complicated factors, which only harm our position economically and globally, I would instead like to shift focus to the tremendous position the new House majority Democrats find themselves in and how to take full advantage of this great opportunity.

While most Democrats who won election to the House focused primarily on protecting and assisting undocumented immigrants, and not the essential border security component of immigration reform, I would like to again emphasize the importance of border security to these Democrats as a bargaining chip that can allow them to accomplish two critical tasks.

The first and obvious task is reforming our broken immigration system. President Trump has made his position clear that the government will remain in a shutdown until our border is secured. Rather than cause more gridlock over this facet of the issue, the Democrats would be wise to forge a compromise with him on protecting law abiding undocumented immigrants who are here in our country proudly seeking the American dream in exchange for more physical and technological border security.

Nancy Pelosi, the presumptive Speaker of the House, called out President Trump for fear mongering with immigration. She said he “talked about terrorists coming in over that particular border, which was not so. He talked about people bringing in diseases and all the rest of that, which was not so.” While she is correct in her assertions of people trying to enter the country, she fails to recognize the importance of border security.

A report published earlier this year by the Bipartisan Policy Center stated that most Americans “do not feel that anyone is controlling the process or supervising who enters the country legally, and they think that insecure borders make it easier for people to come to the United States illegally.” This alone will be an important task for the Democrats to overcome.

While it is true that this deal will involve building fences and walls, it will also allow our border security agents, as well as our Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, to have better access to technologies and tools that will make their jobs, as well as the experiences of migrants, significantly safer and allow the system to run much more effectively.

The second task, which is arguably of greatest importance to the new House majority Democrats to achieve, is to prove to Americans that they can in fact get things done in Washington and deliver the reforms they promised on the campaign trail. The Democrats have a great opportunity to take charge on a terribly wrong sighted shutdown that President Trump repeatedly called for and reinforce the fact to the public that they can effectively enact reforms, even after the Republicans repeatedly failed to do so while controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress.

I fully understand the barriers to such a compromise. I am concerned that the drastic ideological shift the Democrats have taken over the past two years will prevent them from coming together on this key issue to deliver critical reforms. The stakes, however, could not be higher for the future of the party. Resistance toward President Trump and the Republicans across the aisle is simply not what voters want or need from the new Congress.

This approach will prevent progress on getting anything done and will hinder the ability of the Democrats to show they are the party with a proactive governing agenda that offers an effective set of alternative policies, rather than the party that simply boasts the loudest voices.

In no uncertain terms, the next two years in Congress will be essential for framing the 2020 election. The Democrats, particularly those in the House majority, must focus on strong governance focused on solutions. The excitement from the 2018 election has already worn thin. Starting this week, the Democrats must demonstrate how to lead, employ checks and balances with great prudence, and should not merely resist and obstruct.

Douglas E. Schoen* (@DouglasESchoen) served as a pollster for President Clinton. A longtime political consultant, he is also a Fox News contributor and the author of 11 books, including “Putin’s Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence.”


ZOO WORK IS DANGEROUS, AND HERE SOMEONE MUST HAVE LEFT THE CAGE OPEN. THIS WOMAN WAS JUST OUT OF COLLEGE. HER PHOTOGRAPH LOOKS YOUNG AND SWEET, YET SHE HAD TO DIE TODAY. I’M VERY SORRY TO SEE THESE THINGS WHEN THEY HAPPEN. ANIMAL WORK LIKE THIS IS USUALLY A LABOR OF LOVE RATHER THAN JUST A JOB, AND THEY ALL KNOW IT COULD END LIKE THIS. CONGRATULATIONS TO HER FOR HAVING THE BELIEF IN HERSELF TO GO OUTSIDE THE CLASSIC SAFE, BORING “WOMAN’S WORK.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/escaped-lion-kills-worker-north-carolina-zoo-n953121
Escaped lion kills 22-year-old intern at North Carolina zoo
"The Conservators Center is devastated by the loss of a human life today," the zoo said in a statement.
Dec. 30, 2018 / 3:53 PM EST
By Janelle Griffith

VIDEO – LION KILLS INTERN AT NORTH CAROLINA ZOO DURATION 00:57
DECEMBER 30, 2018

A 22-year-old intern at a North Carolina zoo was killed Sunday after a lion escaped a locked space.

The Conservators Center in Burlington — between Greensboro and Durham — announced that the intern was killed during a routine cleaning of an animal enclosure at about 11:30 a.m. ET.

The victim was identified by the Caswell County Sheriff's Office as Alexandra Black, 22, a native of New Palestine, Indiana, and a recent graduate of Indiana State University.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Alexandra Black, 22, who was killed Sunday by an escaped lion at a North Carolina zoo.

"While a husbandry team led by a professionally trained animal keeper was carrying out a routine enclosure cleaning, one of the lions somehow left a locked space and entered the space the humans were in and quickly killed one person," the zoo said in a statement. "The Conservators Center is devastated by the loss of a human life today."

The lion was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies. The center said it is investigating how the lion escaped its enclosure and that the zoo will be closed until further notice.

Lion kills intern at North Carolina Zoo

Black had been employed at the Conservators Center for approximately two weeks, authorities said.

The Conservators Center houses more than 80 animals from 20 species, including about 20 big cats, such as lions, leopards and tigers.

In 2004, the zoo assisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture by accepting 14 lions and tigers that were part of a larger confiscation of animals living in unacceptable conditions, the center's website states. It has more than 16,000 visitors each year.

Janelle Griffith
Janelle Griffith is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.



THIS ARTICLE DOESN’T SAY THAT THE UTILITY IS CERTAINLY THE CAUSE, BUT THEY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THEY COULD BE. THAT’S GOOD. HONESTY TAKES COURAGE, AND I DOUBT THAT THEY ACTED MALICIOUSLY, THOUGH THEY VERY LIKELY MAY HAVE BEEN NEGLIGENT. THERE’S A LOT OF NEGLIGENCE IN AMERICA IN MY VIEW, AND LESS SOCIETAL PRESSURE AGAINST IT THAN WHEN I WAS YOUNG. WE AREN’T EXACTLY IDEALISTIC ANYMORE.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-utility-pg-e-could-face-murder-charges-if-found-n953141
California utility, PG&E, could face murder charges if found liable in deadly wildfire
The utility acknowledged in a document obtained by CNBC last month that its equipment may have sparked the deadly Camp Fire, which killed at least 88 people.
Dec. 30, 2018 / 4:54 PM EST
By Tim Stelloh

Image: CalFire firefighter Scott Wit surveys burnt out vehicles near a fallen power line on the side of the road after the Camp fire tore through the area in Paradise, California on Nov. 10, 2018.Josh Edelson / AFP - Getty Images

California’s giant utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, could face charges up to murder if it is found criminally liable in any of the state's recent deadly wildfires, the state’s attorney general said in a court filing.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office said PG&E could face the most serious in a range of criminal charges if it is found to have caused any of the recent deadly fires — and acted with malice in the operation and maintenance of its equipment, according to a brief filed Friday in Northern California’s federal district court.

The court filing came after U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the utility — the state’s largest — to determine if it played any role in the Camp Fire, which in November killed at least 88 people, destroyed nearly 14,000 homes and laid waste to most of the city of Paradise in Northern California.

Alsup is overseeing a sentence against PG&E in a separate case, a 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion south of San Francisco that killed eight people and injured dozens more.

PG&E acknowledged in a document obtained by CNBC last month that its equipment may have sparked the Camp Fire, the state's deadliest wildfire ever, which ignited on the morning of Nov. 8 and tore across 240 square miles in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The utility did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said an investigation would need to probe PG&E’s operations, maintenance and safety practices to see if it committed a crime “with the requisite mental intent.”

The company could face a series of lesser charges, including involuntary manslaughter, if it didn’t properly clear vegetation around its power lines and poles, the brief said.

PG&E could be charged with other felony crimes if it is found to have acted recklessly, prosecutors said.

Tim Stelloh
Tim Stelloh is a reporter for NBC News, based in California.



THE LA TIMES IS A WELL-KNOWN LIBERAL NEWSPAPER, FRIENDLY TO BERNIE SANDERS AND SOCIAL CAUSES. I DO HOPE THIS COMPUTER VIRUS WASN’T DIRECTED SPECIFICALLY AT THEM, AND BY A POLITICALLY INFLUENCED GROUP, TRUMP, INC, MAYBE. I KNOW. PARANOIA. IT’S THE TIMES WE LIVE IN. STILL, LOOK ALSO AT THIS ARTICLE BELOW: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/computer-virus-hits-southern-california-newspapers-n953001?icid=recommended
Computer virus hits newspapers coast-to-coast
"It’s likely that the issues will affect the process of printing and delivering the Sunday newspapers as well," the Los Angeles Times said in a statement.
Dec. 29, 2018 / 5:55 PM EST / Updated Dec. 29, 2018 / 9:27 PM EST
By Dennis Romero

PHOTOGRAPH -- A cyclist rides on the sidewalk past the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles in 2016.Damian Dovarganes / AP

Even old-school printed newspapers aren't immune from the pitfalls of technology.

Tribune Publishing said Saturday night that malware affected its ability to print newspapers across its chain of outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, the Baltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel.

Many subscribers to the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune, which were previously owned by Tribune Publishing and still share some production technology with the company, stepped into a chilly sunny morning Saturday only to find empty doorsteps.

The computer malware was detected Friday and "impacted some back-office systems which are primarily used to publish and produce newspapers across our properties," said Marisa Kollias, Tribune communications vice president, in a statement.

"There is no evidence that customer credit card information or personally identifiable information has been compromised," she said. "The personal data of our subscribers, online users, and advertising clients has not been compromised."

The Los Angeles Times, citing an anonymous source, described the malware as part of a cyberattack with foreign origins. The Times and the Union-Tribune were sold by Tribune Publishing to Los Angeles biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in June.

Kollias said Tribune Publishing was putting a "workaround" in place.

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"We have been actively working with all of the relevant vendors to resolve the systems issues and restore timely service to our customers," the Times said in its own statement. "However, it’s likely that the issues will affect the process of printing and delivering the Sunday newspapers as well."

Regional editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which are printed at the Los Angeles Times' Olympic printing plant downtown, also were impacted, the L.A. company said.

The Ventura County Star newspaper in Southern California also was affected, the paper said in a note to readers.

In the meantime, readers of the Los Angeles and San Diego newspapers were invited to view print-like digital editions online.

Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero writes for NBC News and is based in Los Angeles.


“.... THE SOURCE WOULD NOT DETAIL WHAT EVIDENCE LED THE COMPANY TO BELIEVE THE BREACH CAME FROM OVERSEAS.”

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html
Malware attack disrupts delivery of L.A. Times and Tribune papers across the U.S.
By TONY BARBOZA, MEG JAMES and EMILY ALPERT REYES
DEC 29, 2018 | 8:10 PM

The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers were hit by a malware attack. (Los Angeles Times)

What first arose as a server outage was identified Saturday as a malware attack, which appears to have originated from outside the United States and hobbled computer systems and delayed weekend deliveries of the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers across the country.

Technology teams worked feverishly to quarantine the computer virus, but it spread through Tribune Publishing’s network and reinfected systems crucial to the news production and printing process. Multiple newspapers around the country were affected because they share a production platform.

The attack delayed distribution of Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union Tribune. It also stymied distribution of the West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which are printed at the Los Angeles Times’ Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles.

By Saturday afternoon, the company suspected the cyberattack originated from outside the United States, but officials said it was too soon to say whether it was carried out by a foreign state or some other entity, said a source with knowledge of the situation.

“We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The source would not detail what evidence led the company to believe the breach came from overseas.

Foreign cyberattack hits newspapers: Here is what we know »

Tribune Publishing said in a statement Saturday that “the personal data of our subscribers, online users, and advertising clients has not been compromised. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank our readers and advertising partners for their patience as we investigate the situation.”

“Every market across the company was impacted,” said Marisa Kollias, spokeswoman for Tribune Publishing. She declined to provide specifics on the disruptions, but the company’s properties include the Chicago Tribune; Baltimore Sun; Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md.; Hartford Courant; New York Daily News; South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel.

No other details about the origin of the attack were immediately available and the motive remained unclear.

Tribune Publishing sold The Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune to Los Angeles biotech entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong in June, but the two companies continue to share various systems, including software.

It’s unclear how many Times subscribers were impacted by late deliveries and the paper could not provide firm numbers, but a source said that a majority received their papers Saturday morning, albeit several hours late. The Times said that print subscribers who did not get their papers Saturday would receive them with their regularly scheduled delivery of the Sunday edition.

“We apologize to our customers for this inconvenience,” The Times said in a statement. “Thank you for your patience and support as we respond to this ongoing matter.”

The Times and the San Diego paper became aware of the problem near midnight on Thursday. Programmers worked to isolate the bug, which Tribune Publishing identified as a malware attack, but at every turn the programmers ran into additional issues trying to access a myriad of files, including advertisements that needed to be added to the pages or paid obituaries.

After identifying the server outage as a virus, technology teams made progress Friday quarantining it and bringing back servers, but some of their security patches didn’t hold and the virus began to reinfect the network, impacting a series of servers used for news production and manufacturing processes.

By late Friday, the attack was hindering the transmission of pages from offices across Southern California to printing presses as publication deadlines approached.

At one point, Times staffers were making contingency plans to hand-deliver pages from the editorial offices in El Segundo to its Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles. Working through the problems created a logjam at the plant, and the resulting cascade of delays pushed back printing and delivery.

San Diego was particularly hard hit by the problem, in large part because of the paper’s position in the press run. Between 85% and 90% of the Saturday edition of the Union-Tribune did not reach subscribers on Saturday morning, said Jeff Light, publisher and editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“Papers that should have arrived in San Diego around 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. instead arrived at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.” Light said. Because the newspaper relies on independent contractors to deliver the paper to neighborhoods, many of those people were not available later in the day to do the deliveries.

The first signs of trouble at the Union-Tribune came late Thursday night when sports editors tried to send information, via digital files, to the plate-making facility. But those digital files which contain information that ultimately becomes the pages of the newspaper would not transmit to the plate-making process. Editors seemed to be locked out of the system, having to perform work-arounds.

The transmission of community editions, including the Glendale News Press and Burbank Leader, also appeared in doubt Friday night. Ultimately, a page designer in Orange County figured out he could send all the community papers’ news pages from his unaffected computer, said John Canalis, executive editor of Times Community News.

The problem caused widespread issues in South Florida, one of Tribune Publishing’s major markets. The South Florida Sun Sentinel told readers that it had been “crippled this weekend by a computer virus that shut down production and hampered phone lines,” according to a story on its website.

Malware attacks are extremely common, affecting millions of computers in homes, offices and other organizations every day, said Salim Neino, chief executive of the company Kryptos Logic.

In some cases, dubbed “ransomware,” the attackers disable the system and demand money, said Neino, whose company tackled a major ransomware attack called WannaCry last year.

In other instances, the goal is simply to disrupt or “break stuff” by wiping systems, Neino said. Malware has also been used to quietly infect computers and then sell access to other cybercriminals, who can steal banking credentials or exploit other valuable information, Neino said.

Several individuals with knowledge of the Tribune situation said the attack appeared to be in the form of “Ryuk” ransomware. One company insider, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said the corrupted Tribune Publishing computer files contained the extension “.ryk.”

“Ryuk” attacks are “highly targeted, well-resourced and planned,” according to an August advisory by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ cybersecurity program. Victims are deliberately targeted and “only crucial assets and resources are infected in each targeted network.”

It was unclear whether company officials have been in contact with law enforcement regarding the suspected attack. But Katie Waldman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said “we are aware of reports of a potential cyber incident effecting several news outlets, and are working with our government and industry partners to better understand the situation.”

Tribune declined to comment on the specifics of the malware attack.

Neino also said that tracking the identity of attackers can be difficult since malware code is often freely distributed online.

For instance, even if an attack appears to be Russian because of the “malware family traits,” Neino said, “code still could have been sourced, weaponized and deployed by an actor who downloaded it from an underground forum anywhere in the world.”

Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit public interest research group, said that “usually when someone tries to disrupt a significant digital resource like a newspaper, you're looking at an experienced and sophisticated hacker.”

Dixon added that the holidays are "a well-known time for mischief" by digital troublemakers, because organizations are more thinly staffed.

"It's an optimal time to attack a major target," she said.

The highest-profile cyberattack of a media company was in late 2014 at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City. Hackers, which the FBI later determined were affiliated with the North Korean government, broke into Sony Pictures’ computer system and copied huge chunks of data, which they later posted online for the world to see.

Emily Alpert Reyes

Emily Alpert Reyes covers City Hall for the Los Angeles Times. She previously reported on the census and demographics, tracking how our lives are changing in Los Angeles, California and the country. Before joining The Times, she worked for the pioneering nonprofit news website voiceofsandiego.org, winning national awards for her reporting on education. She has also traveled to Bolivia as a fellow with the International Reporting Project and survived the University of Chicago.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Ja1ChQTPk
Paul McCartney still listens to the radio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTu9kgsZoV0
"60 Minutes" Presents: 21st Century Cons