The NAACP is a multi-racial civil rights organization founded 112 years ago. Although from a variety of perspectives, the group shares a non-partisan desire to implement solutions to this public health crisis that has devastated the lives of so many families in Lycoming County. Membership includes leaders in the fields of medicine, public health, the faith community, education, business, and public policy. Let’s End COVID! is a group of concerned people in Northcentral Pennsylvania working to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic through education, outreach, and mitigation. Roy Weeden, district pastor, Seventh Day Adventist Church of Williamsport, Milton, and Lock Haven, will provide remarks, followed by a candle-lighting ceremony. Williams, president of Lycoming Tri-County NAACP, and the Rev. Charles Kiessling, Jr., RN, BSN, Lycoming County Coroner Lisa E. The vigil will provide attendees an opportunity for reflection, as well as for appreciation of the healthcare and frontline workers who continue to care for families. Going into the third year of the pandemic, members of the Williamsport community have experienced heartache, loss, and long-term health effects as a result of COVID-19. Mr Yao's arrest was followed by the rounding up of several other independent Hong Kong publishers, raising deep fears over China's trampling of the city's civil liberties that exploded into months of anti-government demonstrations in 2019.To remember those lost to COVID-19, and to honor healthcare and frontline workers in their diligent efforts to battle the virus, Let’s End COVID!, Lycoming College, and the Lycoming Tri-County NAACP are partnering to host a Candlelight Vigil. Mr Yao could not immediately be reached for contact, and his former lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he had had no contact with Yao and his family since his trial. Reports at the time said police and customs agents appeared to have been laying in wait for Mr Yao as he crossed the border into China with several cans of paint for a longtime friend. Mr Yao's publishing of sensitive books was "almost certainly the reason for his imprisonment," Dui Hua said. He was accused of failing to declare the value of the goods at customs, not normally a crime punished with such a harsh sentence. Mr Yao had been sentenced to 10 years and fined for "smuggling common goods" after he brought construction materials into China to help a friend who was refurbishing his apartment, Dui Hua said. He had repeatedly been denied appeals for medical release filed by Dui Hua, but had been moved to the prison's medical facility and was allowed monthly visits from his wife, the group said in a news release. Mr Yao was arrested in October 2013 and served his entire sentence apart from an eight-month term reduction in Dongguan prison near the border with the semi-autonomous Chinese city. The respected San Francisco-based rights monitoring group Dui Hua reported on Thursday that Yao Wentian, 83, was released on February 26 and returned to his family in Hong Kong the next day. ( AP: Yu, file photo)Ī Hong Kong-based publisher who was arrested while preparing to release an unauthorised biography of Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been freed after serving a 10-year sentence in a south China prison. The respected San Francisco-based rights monitoring group Dui Hua reported Yao Wentian, 83, was released on February 26. Publisher behind Xi biography released from Chinese prison The national security law, which punishes acts including subversion and collusion with foreign forces, has been criticised by some Western governments as a tool to crush dissent.Ĭhinese and Hong Kong officials say the law is necessary to restore stability to the city after the city's protracted anti-China protests in 2019. Some key details of the case, including the overseas organisations and individuals alleged to have ties to the Alliance, were kept confidential after the prosecutor applied for "Public Interest Immunity" (PII), arguing these disclosures would harm the public interest. Sentencing is expected on March 11 with a maximum jail term of six months for this particular offence.Ĭhow is already serving two other prison terms for unlawful assembly linked to her involvement in organising Tiananmen commemoration events, and faces a separate, graver charge of subverting state power through the Alliance.
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