Force and Race, Taxes, Gerrymandering – Monday’s Roundup

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Force and Race
The data team at NJ.com has another story from their use-of-force database, this one focused on racial disparities, which found that, statewide, based on population, “a black person is 229 percent more likely to have any type of force used on them compared to someone who is white.”

The numbers vary a lot from town to town. For example, in Atlantic City, based on population, a black person was 35% less likely to have force used on him than a white person (based on 2,854 force reports across 5 years). In Millville, a black person was 581% more likely to have force used, by population. But the police chief there said, reportedly, “It doesn’t concern me ’cause there’s no concern about it.”

Taxes
The state senate is expected to approve today a law that would allow small businesses to avoid a tax increase from the Trump Administration’s tax bill last winter. Wait, I thought that Trump thing was a tax cut? Maybe it was a tax cut for small-business owners who also own private helicopters.

Gerrymandering
A vote on the “controversial” (i.e. patently terrible) gerrymandering plan the Democrats proposed to give themselves an electoral advantage in state races has been pulled, amid opposition from just about everyone but the guys who proposed it. What if this was a sign people cared about issues? Dare to dream…

For more feats of journalism…

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