2021
September
03
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

September 03, 2021
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Peter Grier
Washington editor

Why did the chicken cross the road? To make sure parents drove safely at preschool drop-off.

That’s a true story, not just a bad twist on an ancient joke. A rescue chicken named Henry wears a fluorescent vest and struts around the parking lot at a preschool in Newstead, New Zealand. Her (yes, she’s a hen) job is to ensure drivers use caution when dropping their children for the start of the school day.

She uses squawks and stern looks to help control traffic, principal Tracy Trigg told a young reporter from Kea Kids News. If you ignore her, legend has it she’ll leave an unpleasant deposit on your car.

She gets paid in cheese, her favorite food.

“The staff have identified Henry’s skills and have encouraged her to live her best life,” school parent Erin McIlmurray told The Washington Post. “I think it’s fantastic.”

Henry appeared one day at the house of a friend of Ms. Trigg. The house couldn’t contain her big personality, so Ms. Trigg took the chicken to her farm, which adjoins the school. 

Henry jumped the fence and began bossing around the car park. The kids loved it. Ms. Trigg saw educational opportunity, not avian annoyance.

The high-visibility vest made it official. She’s a traffic warden who lays eggs off-duty.

Now Henry’s fame has spread around the globe. She’s not a water-skiing budgie, but with all the tough news today a vest-wearing chicken is a refreshing story.

“We can’t let all the stardom go to her head,” Ms. Trigg told the Post. “Or she might start wanting the overpriced tasty cheese instead of the good old economic Colby.”


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Erin Scott/The White House/AP
President Joe Biden speaks with his national security team during a briefing on the situation in Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021, in the White House Situation Room in Washington.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan has fueled U.S. allies’ doubts about America, but for how long? Is there a path to restore American moral authority and trustworthiness in a more skeptical world?

Damian Dovarganes/AP
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, shown from behind, greets resident Israel Ortiz after visiting a mobile vaccination site at Ramona Gardens Recreation Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 21, 2021. With the Sept. 14 recall fast approaching, Latino advocates say engaging their communities could be key to his survival.

Hispanics have suffered disproportionately high death rates and job losses from the pandemic. If they take their frustrations out on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, it could presage further erosion in this voting bloc’s support for the Democratic Party.

The Explainer

In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, several jihadist militant groups are competing for influence. Who are they and what will this mean for the security of Afghanistan and its neighbors?

Difference-maker

Courtesy of Surfrider Foundation
Volunteers pick up trash at San Clemente State Beach in San Clemente, California.

For decades, surfer Glenn Hening has pioneered volunteer organizations that capture the spirit of the sport, channeling it into a holistic vision for the health of the ocean and the people who surf it.


The Monitor's View

Reuters
FIFA's logo is seen in front of its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Six years ago, the world’s most popular game, soccer, saw its governing body, known as FIFA, suffer the biggest scandal the sport had ever seen. Dozens of FIFA officials as well as marketing executives were charged by the United States with various forms of corruption, from bribery to kickbacks, in relation to deals involving the World Cup and other competitions. Two people were convicted, most defendants pleaded guilty, and at least $200 million in ill-gotten gains was confiscated. U.S. prosecutors are still at work.

Now FIFA, which has since tried hard to clean up its worldwide operations, could become known as a leader in a global trend – helping victims of corruption feel whole again through remediation.

This month, FIFA will start working with the U.S. Justice Department to distribute some of that stolen money through a new charity arm and in other ways. The money will support such projects as developing girls’ soccer, or building up clubs in what is called “community restitution.”

The aim is to restore FIFA’s relationship with the billions of fans who enjoy “the beautiful game” and were harmed by the scandal in either direct or indirect ways. “I am delighted to see that money which was illegally siphoned out of football is now coming back to be used for its proper purposes, as it should have been in the first place,” said Gianni Infantino, an Italian chosen in 2016 to overhaul FIFA and make it transparent and accountable.

This type of justice for victims is still rare after successful prosecutions for graft. Typically, governments pocket money clawed back from the criminally corrupt. It is difficult to calculate all the damage inflicted on society from corruption or to pinpoint all its victims.

Since 1999, as more countries have prosecuted foreign bribery, an estimated $15 billion has been collected in confiscated proceeds, mainly by the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Now the U.S. decision to work with FIFA on remediation “can help us push for the introduction of victims’ compensation as standard practice in foreign bribery and money laundering cases,” according to corruption watchdog Transparency International.

One of history’s biggest sports scandal has created a strong precedent for restorative justice in the global fight against corruption.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

​​We can count on God to lift fear that would hinder us from caring for loved ones the best we can, as a new mom experienced firsthand one night.


A message of love

Jae C. Hong/AP
A Hotshot crew from Tahoe Hotshots hikes along a trail in Meyers, California, on Sept. 3, 2021. Fire crews took advantage of decreasing winds to battle a California wildfire near popular Lake Tahoe and were even able to allow some people to return to their homes, although the battle is far from over.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

As Labor Day focuses attention on the halting post-pandemic economic recovery, watch for an email setting up our summer podcast, “Stronger,” about six women who came through work setbacks in ways that underscored their personal resilience.

And come back Tuesday, when we’ll have a deeply reported special issue on 9/11 – how it affected us, what it means for our values, and its long-term repercussions for the world.

More issues

2021
September
03
Friday
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