ProfNet Expert Alerts for March 18, 2020

NEW YORK, March 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.  

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network – it's easy and free. Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform 

EXPERT ALERTS 

• Geopolitical Consequences of Oil Price Slump
• Government Responses to Coronavirus
• Preventing Cyberattacks During Coronavirus
• 7 Guidelines for Parents Who Are Divorced/Separated and Sharing Custody During the COVID-19 Pandemic

MEDIA JOBS

• Coordinating Producer – Wall Street Journal (NY)
• Senior Writer – The TRUST (NY)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES 

• AP Style: COVID-19, Election Terminology, & More Rule Reminders
• Blog Profiles: Career Women Blogs

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EXPERT ALERTS: 

Geopolitical Consequences of Oil Price Slump
Karr Ingham
EVP & Petroleum Economist
Texas Alliance of Energy Producers
"Following a year of lackluster oil pricing and general decline in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) activity in Texas in 2019, oil markets are now reeling from the fallout of the coronavirus and its impact on energy demand growth in the U.S. and globally."
Karr Ingham can discuss the current slump in oil prices and the geopolitical consequences. He can provide expertise into how the coronavirus and the Saudi-Russia dispute may impact the Texas, U.S. and global economies. He can also share insights and statistics from his monthly Texas Petro Index, which measures growth rates and business cycles in the Texas upstream (exploration and production) oil and gas economy.
Website: https://www.texasalliance.org/ 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karr-ingham-9b62333a/ 
Contact: Chandra Hosak, [email protected]

Government Responses to Coronavirus
Brock Long
Former FEMA Administrator
Hagerty Consulting
"In my time at the Alabama and Federal Emergency Management Agencies, I saw firsthand the tireless efforts of the men and women at Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in a situation like this. However, emerging infectious diseases, like COVID-19, have the potential to fully overwhelm local, state, federal, and international capacities to respond. For this reason, governments at all levels must do a better job of engaging with the private sector to ensure emergency responders, doctors, patients, and everyone working to minimize the damage caused by these diseases have the resources they need when they need them."
Brock Long is the former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Confirmed in June 2017 by the US Senate with strong bipartisan support (95-4), Brock served as the Nation's principal advisor to the President responsible for coordinating the entire array of federal government resources down through 50 states, 573 tribal governments, and 16 island territories to assist them with executing disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. Brock is the 10th Administrator and the youngest to hold the office. While serving as Administrator, Brock coordinated the federal government's response to over 144 Presidentially declared disasters and 112 wildfires, including three of the Nation's most devastating hurricanes and five of the worst wildfires ever experienced. During this time, nearly $44 billion of disaster activity occurred under the various federal recovery programs.
Website: https://hagertyconsulting.com 
Contact: Tara Lynn Smith, [email protected]

Preventing Cyberattacks During Coronavirus
Anthony Mongeluzo
CEO
PCS
"If you know and apply the IT security rules that we offer, you can prevent any illegal or malicious intrusions into your computer system, while working at home."
We are telling our PCS clients to work from home and connect to the corporate network. However, if they are using a company-provided device, it should be secure. There won't be enough of them and people will turn to using personal devices to get into the network. This is a problem, waiting to explode. Why? The backdoor and side door approach. Hackers targeted Target (forgive the intentional pun), and they got into the network via a vendor, their HVAC contractor. Today's reality: You suddenly have millions of people working from home for the first time and the hackers know it. They will use phishing scams related to the coronavirus to take advantage, set up links to buy cleaning products and masks, which will infect your computer. Sure, if it's an illegal purchase on a credit card, the consumer will get their bank to erase the debt. But what if the scam lands a ransomware virus into your network? Now you have a gruesome problem.
Mongeluzo is an on-Air IT expert for 10 years on Fox TV, Philadelphia.
Website: www.helpmepcs.com 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonymongeluzo/ 
Contact: Tom Peric, [email protected]

7 Guidelines for Parents Who Are Divorced/Separated and Sharing Custody During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Sr. Partner
Myres & Associates
"Adversity can become an opportunity for parents to come together and focus on what is best for the child. For many children, the strange days of the pandemic will leave vivid memories. It's important for every child to know and remember that both parents did everything they could to explain what was happening and to keep their child safe."
1) BE HEALTHY - Comply with all CDC and local and state guidelines and model good behavior for your children with intensive hand washing, wiping down surfaces and other objects that are frequently touched, and maintaining social distancing.  This also means BE INFORMED.  Stay in touch with the most reliable media sources and avoid the rumor mill on social media. 2) BE MINDFUL - Be honest about the seriousness of the pandemic but maintain a calm attitude and convey to your children your belief that everything will return to normal in time.  Avoid making careless comments in front of the children and exposing them to endless media coverage intended for adults.  Don't leave the news on 24/7, for instance.  But, at the same time, encourage your children to ask questions and express their concerns and answer them truthfully at a level that is age-appropriate. 3)  BE COMPLIANT with court orders and custody agreements. As much as possible, try to avoid reinventing the wheel despite the unusual circumstances.  The custody agreement or court order exists to prevent endless haggling over the details of timesharing.  In some jurisdictions there are even standing orders mandating that, if schools are closed, custody agreements should remain in force as though school were still in session. 4) BE CREATIVE - At the same time, it would be foolish to expect that nothing will change when people are being advised not to fly and vacation attractions such as amusement parks, museums and entertainment venues are closing all over the US and the world.  In addition, some parents will have to work extra hours to help deal with the crisis and other parents may be out of work or working reduced hours for a time.  Plans will inevitably have to change.  Encourage closeness with the parent who is not going to see the child through shared books, movies, games and FaceTime or Skype. 5) BE TRANSPARENT - Provide honest information to your co-parent about any suspected or confirmed exposure to the virus, and try to agree on what steps each of you will take to protect the child from exposure.  Certainly both parents should be informed at once if the child is exhibiting any possible symptoms of the virus. 6) BE GENEROUS -  Try to provide makeup time to the parent who missed out, if at all possible.  Family law judges expect reasonable accommodations when they can be made and will take seriously concerns raised in later filings about parents who are inflexible in highly unusual circumstances. 7) BE UNDERSTANDING - There is no doubt that the pandemic will pose an economic hardship and lead to lost earnings for many, many parents, both those who are paying child support and those who are receiving child support.  The parent who is paying should try to provide something, even if it can't be the full amount.  The parent who is receiving payments should try to be accommodating under these challenging and temporary circumstances. Adversity can become an opportunity for parents to come together and focus on what is best for the child.  For many children, the strange days of the pandemic will leave vivid memories.  It's important for every child to know and remember that both parents did everything they could to explain what was happening and to keep their child safe.
Includes creative methods to be compliant with custody issues while keeping child healthy and safe.

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MEDIA JOBS: 

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://www.cisionjobs.com/jobs/united-states/   

• Coordinating Producer – Wall Street Journal (NY)
• Senior Writer – The TRUST (NY)

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OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: 

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected] 

• AP Style: COVID-19, Election Terminology, & More Rule Reminders. It's time for our next quarterly AP Style roundup. With COVID-19 absolutely dominating the news cycle and probably factoring into your writing in one way or another, it's important to know the style guide rules around it. We also have reminders on 2020 election terminology, health and fitness, and the #MeToo movement: https://prn.to/2Wl3y4O.
• BLOG PROFILES: career women BLOGS. Each week, we feature blogs we love to follow. This week is all about career women: https://prn.to/33goWcH.

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