Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.

Ex Input:
In July 2020, social media posts and news reports claimed that a Missouri school district asked parents to sign COVID-19 “death” waivers in advance of the academic school year. The waiver went viral after a Twitter user shared it. The focus on the word “death” came from an article published by online tabloid Raw Story that extrapolated language from the waiver meant to release Hazelwood School District (HSD) in Missouri from legal liabilities in the event a child dies “in any way related to COVID-19.” While it is true that HSD issued a waiver related to COVID-19, Anthony Kiekow, HSD director of communication and public relations, told Snopes that parents would only be required to sign if their child planned on participating in summer athletic programs. The waiver asked that a parent confirm their acknowledgment of the public health crisis “related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (‘COVID-19’)” and confirmed that they would not allow a child to participate in programs if they showed any symptoms of COVID-19 or had been exposed to anyone diagnosed with the disease or awaiting test results. It further notes: The undersigned agrees to release, discharge, hold harmless and indemnify the Hazelwood School District, it’s agents, employees, officers, Board of Education members, insurers and others acting on the District’s behalf (the Releasees”), of and from any and all claims, demands, causes of action and/or legal liabilities for injuries to or death of my child occurring during, or resulting from, or participation in the above-mentioned program or activity and related in any way to COVID-19, even if the cause, damages or injuries are alleged to be the fault of or alleged to be caused by the negligence or carelessness of the Releasees. Such verbiage is not uncommon in school athletic waivers and headlines referring to the document as a COVID-19 “death” waiver were “sensationalizing” and largely misleading, added Kiekow. The waiver was created by the Missouri United School Insurance Council (MUSIC), a non-profit program that provides insurance coverage for Missouri public schools and community colleges. Snopes spoke with MUSIC Executive Director Mark Stockwell who said that the organization supplied all member school districts with two waiver templates recommended for summer athletic programs and not necessarily for those that take place during the academic school year. Kiekow confirmed that the waiver was sent in late June 2020 and was intended for parents whose students typically participate in summer athletics. He noted that required athletic waivers and documents from the previous school year were “very different from this waiver,” but that language related to COVID-19 is likely to be the “new norm for sports.” For the 2020-21 school year, the district announced that it would be offering families the option of selecting “100% virtual school” or a blended option that includes both virtual and in-person learning. A statement issued by HSD further reads that: Parents who want their child to participate in athletics are asked to sign a waiver. This year’s waiver includes language about COVID-19 to ensure that parents can make an informed decision… Our district has implemented unprecedented safety precautions in all of our buildings; however, it is important for parents to understand that school districts can only mitigate the risk of COVID-19. No district, organization, or business can offer 100% protection against exposure to a global pandemic. Visit the Centers for Disease Control website for more information about COVID-19. Parents of HSD students who choose to allow their children to attend in-person class would not be required to sign a COVID-19 waiver. When asked why HSD adopted this policy, Keikow replied via text message that “athletics are optional” and that a waiver for in-person instruction is “just not something that we’re requiring.” EdCounsel, a Missouri-based law firm that represents over 200 public school districts, wrote in a blog post that state “law is not clear” on whether school districts can require that families sign a COVID-19 waiver for students attending in-person instruction, but liability waivers for extracurricular activities are largely exempt.

Ex Output:
A Missouri school district asked parents to sign a COVID-19 liability waiver in advance of the 2020-2021 school year. 


Ex Input:
Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work “a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification.”  He defined biofortification as “the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people.”  The honorees’ work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru. “The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.

Ex Output:
Sweet potato experts win World Food Prize.


Ex Input:
With restrictive abortion laws either being proposed or passed in multiple states in May 2019, Snopes.com readers have inquired about years-old reports about U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, an anti-abortion Republican legislator from Tennessee who had testified almost two decades earlier during his divorce proceedings that he encouraged two women to seek abortions. Laws dictating near-total bans on abortion in states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio were widely viewed as potential legal challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and drew nationwide protests. Because DesJarlais touted an anti-abortion agenda in his role as a public official, his story, while not new, was being viewed by critics as an example of political hypocrisy on the issue: Congressman Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) did—three times. https://t.co/yCXHyjzuA3 — Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) May 17, 2019  The story about DesJarlais is a multi-layered one and stems from both an acrimonious divorce finalized in 2001 and a 2010 political election filled with mudslinging. Although DesJarlais, a physician, has won multiple re-election bids since the story surfaced, it resulted in his being reprimanded by the Tennessee medical licensing board over revelations that he slept with two patients, something he admitted to under oath during his divorce hearings. In 2010, DesJarlais unseated Democratic incumbent Lincoln Davis to represent Tennessee Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives — but in the days leading up to the election, Davis’ campaign launched attack ads centered on accusations that had been levied against DesJarlais a decade earlier. In the course of divorcing him, DesJarlais’ now-ex-wife had accused him of “dry-firing” (i.e., pulling the trigger of an unloaded gun) outside her locked bedroom door to intimidate her, holding a gun in his mouth for three hours, as well as engaging in “an incident of physical intimidation at the hospital; and previous threatening behavior … i.e. shoving, tripping, pushing down, etc.” At the time, his campaign called those accusations “baseless”. Those same divorce records were raised again in 2012 when DesJarlais was up for re-election. But unlike in 2010, hundreds of pages of hearings transcripts from 2001 were made public in 2012. (Snopes.com is not linking to the transcript because it contains the names of numerous private citizens.) The transcripts revealed that DesJarlais admitted to the incident with the gun, saying: “It was never a loaded gun. It was never a suicide attempt. It was an attention-seeking act and I’ve testified to that.” He added that he thought his actions were “very shameful.” During those same hearings, DesJarlais testified under oath that his wife at the time had one abortion before the two met. After the two entered into a relationship, he subsequently supported her decisions to undergo two abortions before the couple married in 1995. “The second two [abortions], one she was on [an] experimental drug called Lupron and was not supposed to have gotten pregnant,” DesJarlais testified. “There were potential risks. It was a therapeutic. One was after she had gotten back from Desert Storm and things were not going well between us and it was a mutual decision.” He added, “I don’t think that it was easy for either one of us. I think it was a very difficult and poor choice and I think that there are probably regrets both ways.” DesJarlais also testified that he had a sexual relationship with a then-24-year-old patient, and that the woman had claimed he got her pregnant. According to the transcript, as part of a reconciliation attempt the couple orchestrated a recorded phone call in an effort to find out whether the young woman was telling the truth. In the call, DesJarlais pressured the young woman to seek an abortion and offered to drive her to Atlanta for her to do so — although he stated during his testimony he never believed her to be pregnant in the first place. DesJarlais’ then-wife’s attorney, L. Thomas Austin, asked him if the young woman was one of “the kind of women you prey on, Doctor,” to which DesJarlais responded, “No. Obviously it was a huge mistake.” During the same hearing, DesJarlais admitted to having an affair with a second patient while writing her prescriptions, lavishing her with an $875 watch and buying her a plane ticket to Las Vegas. He also admitted to flings with a representative from a drug firm and with co-workers. Media reports prompted Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government-accountability advocacy organization, to file a complaint about DesJarlais’ conduct with the Tennessee Department of Health, who fined him $500 for unprofessional conduct over his affairs with the two patients. DesJarlais responded to the controversy on a radio show in December 2012, saying that he believed “God gave me a second chance,” adding: “And I think unless some people see some sort of political advantage to grace and redemption … they don’t want to practice it on their own. I don’t know what the reason is behind that, but I know God’s forgiven me. … I simply ask my fellow Christians and constituents to consider doing the same for me.” (Our attempts to reach DesJarlais’ current spokesman, Brendan Thomas, were unsuccessful.) The story has continued to haunt Desjarlais. It came up in 2015 when he voted for a bill that would have banned most abortions after the 20th week, and again in 2017 in stories about Tim Murphy, an anti-abortion Pennsylvania Republican who retired after his mistress revealed he had asked her to get an abortion. Nevertheless, DesJarlais has won every bid for re-election since the story broke.

Ex Output:

Anti-abortion Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais testified that he encouraged some women to have abortions.