Nation

Cuomo accuser says, ‘these are not hugs that he would give his mother or his brother’

Published

4 months ago

August 9, 2021

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in more hot water than he knows what to do with. His former executive assistant Brittany Commisso claims that Cuomo groped her under her shirt. She discussed those allegations against the Cuomo for the first time on “CBS This Morning.” i

She described the painful experience, saying she was scared to come forward sooner.

Commisso had been known in court filings as Executive Assistant #1. She spoke with CBS, saying Cuomo’s behavior with her escalated over time, starting with hugs.

“These are not hugs that he would give his mother or his brother,” she said. “These were hugs with the intention of getting some personal sexual satisfaction out of,” she said. “Then they started to be hugs and kisses on the cheek, and then there was at one point a hug and then when he went to go kiss me on the cheek he’d quickly turned his head and he kissed me on the lips.”

Ten women have come forward alleging he sexually harassed them. Still, Cuomo denies the allegations and is refusing to resign despite calls from his own party to do so.

For more on this story go here.

You can follow Sara A. Carter on Twitter @SaraCarterDC

Nation

Remote Learning Lowered Test Scores in Every State; Minority Students Hit the Worst

Published

13 hours ago

November 26, 2021

Staff Writer

A paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows remote learning has had a negative impact on students’ test scores in every state. Not only were students across the country affected, minority students were impacted the most.

According to the publication, remote learning led to declines in test scores for English and math, when compared to scores of students who went to schools with more in-person learning. “Our research shows that test score losses are significantly larger in districts with less in-person learning,” said Emily Oster, professor of economics at Brown University.

“This suggests, yes, that virtual learning was – and is – less effective than in-person learning, at least as measured by school-based testing” added Oster. “Passing rates in math declined by 14.2 percentage points on average; we estimate this decline was 10.1 percentage points smaller for districts fully in-person,” the study found.

The research combined “district-level schooling mode data from the 2020-21 school year,” “district-level test score data from 2015 to 2021” and “demographic data from the NCES,” according to the study.

Data was collected from students in third to eighth grades in 12 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Score declines showed variations by state, as well. Virginia “which had the most complete virtual learning time, along with Colorado, saw an almost 32% drop on math test scores in the 2020-21 school year when compared to the 2018-19 school year” reports Tampa Free Press.

Wyoming, however, “which had the most in-person learning, along with Florida, saw just a 2.3% drop in English, the study found.”

“Changes in English Language Arts (ELA) were smaller than math scores overall, but drops in scores were greater in districts with larger black and Hispanic populations and students eligible for free and reduced lunch prices” reports Tampa Free Press.

“Districts that have a larger share of black and Hispanic students and less in-person schooling also saw a greater decline in ELA test scores than those with more in-person schooling. “