MONDAY, AUGUST 19 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
NEW YORKMan accused of setting
fake bomb in stationBail was set at $200,
Sunday for a homeless man from
West Virginia who was charged
with placing two devices that
looked like pressure cookers in a
New York City subway station.
Larry Kenton Griffin II of
Bruno, W.Va., appeared in
Manhattan Criminal Court before
Judge Keisha Espinal, who set the
bail and ordered Griffin to return
to court Friday.
A message seeking comment
was left with Michael Croce,
Griffin’s attorney.
The court appearance came a
day after Griffin’s arrest and two
days after Friday morning’s
commute was disrupted by a
police investigation that began
after two large cooking pots were
spotted at Manhattan’s Fulton
subway station.
The incident inconvenienced
thousands of commuters who use
the subway lines that converge at
the busy station next to the World
Trade Center site, where a heavy
police presence exists during
every busy morning or evening
commute since the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001.
Griffin, 26, was charged with
two counts of placing a false
bomb. He was arrested Saturday
in the Bronx after photographs
were distributed widely by law
enforcement authorities.
A criminal complaint said
Griffin knew the pots “would
appear to be a bomb, destructive
device, explosive and hazardous
substance under circumstances
in which it was likely to cause
public alarm and inconvenience.”
— Associated PressGuilty pleas in Mississippi
bribery scheme: Four Louisiana
men say they’ll plead guilty to
charges that they tried to bribe a
Mississippi sheriff with $2,000 in
casino chips, seeking lucrative jail
contracts. Michael LeBlanc Sr. of
Baton Rouge, Michael LeBlanc Jr.
of Prairieville, Tawasky Ventroy of
Opelousas and Jacque Jones of
LaPlace have filed notices saying
they will change their pleas. Allare accused of scheming to win
contracts to sell inmates phone
service and commissary goods at
a jail in Mississippi’s Kemper
County. The indictment also says
the men paid former Mississippi
Corrections Commissioner
Christopher Epps $2,000 for help
in getting contracts. Epps was
convicted of taking more than
$1.4 million in bribes and is
serving a nearly 20-year prison
sentence. U.S. District Judge
Henry T. Wingate has set a plea
hearing for Oct. 2 in Jackson. All
four remain free on bail.N.Y. police rescue woman from
river: Two New York police
officers rescued a 33-year-old
woman who appeared to land in
the Hudson River after a dispute
with a boyfriend. Police said the
rescue occurred near West 23rd
Street about 8 a.m. Sunday after
the woman tumbled into the
water and appeared to be
struggling. The Daily News and
the New York Post quoted officers
as saying the woman went into
the water after her boyfriend
rejected her. Officer Christopher
Collins told the New York Post
that the woman had drifted about
20 feet from a pier when he
dropped his gun belt, bulletproof
vest and shirt and jumped in.
Collins then swam about 100 feet
to grab the woman and pull her
back to shore. Police said the
woman was taken to Bellevue
Hospital for treatment.Shopping trip with handguns
causes scare at Mo. Walmart:
Two men with handguns in their
waistbands alarmed shoppers
when they entered a Walmart
near Kansas City, Mo., but police
said they were just buying
ammunition for target practice.
Police Sgt. Jake Becchina said the
men were cooperative Sunday
and were released because they
hadn’t violated Missouri law.
Shopper Clennon Jones said that
officers sped into the parking lot
and that one jumped out with
shotgun in hand. The Walmart
store the men entered does not
prohibit guns. Earlier this month,
22 people were killed in a
shooting at a Walmart in El Paso.
— From news servicesDIGESTPolitics & the Nation
BY EMILY DAVIES
AND HAILEY FUCHSaustin — Dana Fattouh, 18, likes
almost everything about the Dem-
ocratic Party.
She likes that the presidential
hopefuls talk about making col-
lege more affordable, because she’s
working two jobs to put herself
through school. She appreciates
how forcefully the candidates have
come out against racism and xeno-
phobia, because she’s been teased
about wearing a hijab for most of
her life.
But Fattouh refuses to call her-
self a Democrat. And though most
of her policy preferences align
with the party’s liberal wing, she
won’t commit to vote blue in 2020.
Rather, she says she’ll research her
options and decide who best aligns
with her values.
“I think political parties are stu-
pid,” she said.
Her friend Hana Thai, 18,
echoed that skepticism. “I’m not
going to shut down the idea of
voting for a Republican if they can
back up what they’re saying and it
kind of makes sense,” Thai said.
“We have to break from the mob
mentality.”
Democrats are counting on vot-
ers like Fattouh and Thai to help
them win big in 2020. People be-
tween 18 and 29 overwhelmingly
support the party but haven’t al-
ways shown up at the polls. They
vote at a lower rate than any other
age group — making up just
13 percent of the electorate in the
2016 presidential race, a lackluster
turnout that many analysts be-
lieve contributed to Donald
Trump’s victory.
There are signs that’s changing.
In 2018, 36 percent of voters ages
18 to 29 reported voting, up from
20 percent the previous midterm
election in 2014. Experts predict
an even greater turnout spike in
2020.
But interviews with nearly 50
left-leaning young people in four
battleground states — Texas, Penn-
sylvania, Nevada and Michigan —
reveal a deep skepticism toward
partisan politics, and the Demo-
cratic Party. Young voters say Dem-
ocrats haven’t proved they can ad-
dress the challenges faced by mil-
lennials and Gen Z. They want
candidates who take them serious-
ly — and who can offer the detailed
policy plans to prove it.
In conversation, these voters
say they’re attracted to the ambi-
tious policies of Sens. Bernie Sand-
ers (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.), though many are unde-
cided.
Tessa Schutt, a 20-year-old in
Grand Rapids, Mich., is frustrated
that Democrats have not been able
to effect real change in Washing-
ton, particularly on health care.
She leans left, but like a third of
voters ages 18 to 24, she identifies
as an independent. “I don’t believe
that a bipartisan system is suffi-
cient. I can’t see myself identifying
with establishment candidates,”
she said. “It’s a lot of platitudes,
less concrete action.”
Brian Will, 22, a recent college
graduate from Traverse City,
Mich., embraces liberal ideas like
the Green New Deal and student
debt forgiveness. He’s glad to hear
presidential candidates talk about
these issues on the trail.
But too often, he says, Demo-
crats fall far short of pursuing am-
bitious change, favoring pragmat-
ic solutions and incremental steps
instead.
“Democrats are usually on the
right side of things, [but they]
don’t go far enough on some is-
sues,” he said.
Will isn’t excited about his
choices in the primary. He like
Sanders but says many of the can-
didates seem as though they have
been “focus-grouped to death.”
Even so, he, like others inter-
viewed, said he’ll vote in Novem-
ber 2020 to unseat Trump.
Sebastian Solove, a 28-year-old
doctor in Philadelphia, has similar
critiques. He is sick of Democratic
leaders such as House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) forcing
younger, more liberal members of
Congress to slow down on their
calls for impeachment and action
on climate change. He wants to see
the party fully embrace the “moral
high ground” on issues such as
universal health care.
That’s why he’s supporting
Sanders in the primary. “I like the
‘no middle ground,’ ” he said.
“Whether it’s climate change or
corporate welfare, we’re all sick of
it. This economy is not working for
normal people.”
In interviews, young voters said
they are looking for candidates
who understand the immense fi-
nancial and social pressures they
face. They are grappling with
thousands of dollars in student
loans, the high costs of health care
and an uncertain future contend-
ing with the worsening effects of
climate change.
For Madeline Amaro, a 20-year-
old business student at Western
Michigan University, that means
finding a candidate who takes the
issue of college affordability seri-
ously. By the time she finishes law
school, which she plans to attend
post-college, Amaro will have
racked up hundreds of thousands
of dollars in debt.
“I don’t think bettering my life
should cost me hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars at all,” she said. For
that reason, Amaro is leaning
toward Sanders. His plan for free
college tuition is the biggest draw,
she added.
Catherine Wicker, 22, would
like to move into an apartment
with her boyfriend in Austin, butshe is struggling to find one that
they can afford while they finish
up their studies. She is weighed
down by student debt. A chronic
health condition, similar to
Crohn’s disease, promises a life-
long battle with insurance bills.
“The policies the candidates
make will affect young people ev-
ery single day,” she said.
Wicker, the president of Texas
College Democrats, resists the no-
tion that her generation is chock
full of idealists and radicals. In-
stead, she said, it’s the promise of
tangible improvements that ex-
cites her and others.
“Everyone says we are the fu-
ture of the party, but we’re not the
future,” Wicker said. “We’re the
now.”
That sentiment is driving her
toward Warren.
Many of those interviewed —
even voters who supported Sand-
ers in 2016 — say they’re impressed
by Warren’s detailed proposals.
Hadlee Robinson, 20, the vice
president of the Western Michigan
University College Democrats,
walked door-to-door with her fa-
ther for Sanders in 2016, before
she could even vote. She was
drawn to him, she said, because he
brought new ideas to the table at a
time when change was necessary.
She persuaded her parents, former
Clinton supporters, to cast their
primary ballots for the senator
from Vermont.
But now, Robinson favors War-
ren.
“She has big ideas. She also has a
plan,” Robinson said, comparing
Warren to Sanders. “He hasn’t giv-
en us the ‘how’ like she has.”
In interviews, many young vot-
ers said they were looking for can-
didates to be honest about their
pasts and address their own mis-
takes. For example, some held
grudges against Sen. Kamala D.
Harris (D-Calif.) for incarcerating
people of color while working as a
prosecutor and urged her to speak
openly about how she has evolved.
“If you had a different opinion,
like, 20 years ago and now you’re
changing, that’s not flip-flopping.
That’s growth,” said Malvika Sak-
lani, 22, from Red Rock, Tex. “But
the biggest thing I would want —
I know this is such a cliche — but isfor them to be more transparent.”
In Austin, which has seen a
spike in young professionals over
the past few years, Wicker and her
boyfriend, Brendan James, 26,
spent their Fourth of July register-
ing voters at a music festival. With
only the occasional break to cool
down in the shade, they took turns
maneuvering from picnic to pic-
nic, handing out voter registration
cards under the blazing sun. They
offer up just one piece of advice for
the candidates: Don’t take young
people for granted.
“Everyone says to us, ‘You’re the
future of the party,’ ‘We need your
help volunteering and blockwalk-
ing,’ ‘We will offer you unpaid in-
ternships,’ ” Wicker said.
“But if you’re a 2020 candidate
and you want to know about us,
ask us,” James added. “We’d love to
sit down and chat with them about
what it’s like to be a 18- to 35-year-
old, and I imagine there are a lot of
people in that age range who
would do the same.”
[email protected]
[email protected]For 2020, young voters aren’t sold on Democrats
SEAN PROCTOR FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
A young couple attend a Bernie Sanders rally in Warren, Mich. Young left-leaning residents in several
battleground states are skeptical of the Democrats hoping to defeat President Trump in 2020.MedStar Washington Hospital Center
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