Then last week, Wallace’s persistence paid off. A 36th District Court judge dismissed charges against her and seven other protesters for their roles in the summer demonstrations.
“They want, to the best of their ability, to make an example out of Detroit Will Breathe and anybody else involved in the lawsuit,” Wallace tells Metro Times. “That is the price for standing up against the city of Detroit.”
The city of Detroit has waged an unusual and controversial campaign against protesters, filing a counter lawsuit against them in pursuit of damages from predominantly peaceful demonstrations. On Jan. 26, the Detroit City Council voted 5-4 to authorize $200,000 to pursue the counter suit, which critics say amounts to a tax-subsidized assault on free speech.
“We’re being hunted,” Wallace says. “To use tax dollars to come after us is disturbing.”
The cases against the protesters were weak. Police failed to provide basic discovery information, including the identities of arresting officers and body cam footage, that could be used at trial.
“The charges were dismissed because the city hasn’t met their burden of proof,” Wallace says. “They couldn’t produce evidence that people were committing crimes, and the arrests were sloppy.” Source: After protest charges dropped, Detroit Will Breathe co-founder says, ‘We won’t go silently’ | News Hits
In August 2020, 55 COVID-19 cases were identified among 81 attendees of indoor high-intensity classes at a Chicago exercise facility. Twenty-two (40%) persons with COVID-19 attended on or after the day symptoms began. Most attendees (76%) wore masks infrequently, including persons with (84%) and without COVID-19 (60%).


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