The pandemic has disrupted a wide variety of community functions. Itâs changed everything from grocery shopping and eating at restaurants to how medical facilities and public transportation operate. An element of the community that is more easily overlooked, however, is law enforcement and the justice system. Covid has forced law enforcement agencies â nationally and locally â to change the ways in which they operate.
These changes, driven by the effort to keep officers, staff, and dispatchers safe, have made some parts of the judicial process more complex and frustrating. Heather Frei, Civil Deputy and Dispatch Supervisor for the Teton County Sheriffâs Office, has spent nearly a year now navigating a system that is significantly more cumbersome than the usual way of handling those who violate the law.
Washington unemployment problems persist, with some going unpaid for months
Nine months into the pandemic, the state’s unemployment system is still rife with issues, and thousands are stuck in limbo. By Melissa Santos, Crosscut
Share: Heather Frey outside of her Seattle home on Dec. 15, 2020. Frey has been filing for pandemic unemployment assistance since March and, as of earlier this week, hadn’t received a single payment yet. (Dorothy Edwards/Crosscut)
Heather Frey filed for unemployment in March, when the pandemic disrupted her business selling used books online.
Nine months later, the Seattle resident was still waiting on her first unemployment check and wondering how she was going to pay her bills.