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Category: AM-NC

  • MIL-OSI USA: Dr. Paul & Senator Lee Introduce Bill to Cut Drug Prices and Red Tape

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Rand Paul

     

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

    June 6, 2025

    Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

    Washington, D.C.—This week, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the bipartisan Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act to cut drug prices for consumers and increase competition in the pharmaceutical market by categorizing generic-brand “biosimilar” drugs as interchangeable with their name-brand counterparts. 

     “I’m proud to support Senator Lee’s Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act. Americans pay too much for prescription treatments because of outdated FDA requirements. This bill would give pharmacists more options, subject to state law, to substitute unaffordable therapeutics with lower-cost alternatives. I offered similar reforms in the past because health care reform starts with giving patients more affordable choices. It’s time we stop letting red tape stand between patients and lower prices.” said Dr. Rand Paul

     “Americans are missing out on lower drug prices thanks to bureaucratic red tape that protects big pharma monopolies,” said Senator Mike Lee. “Many consumers would choose a cheaper generic-brand version of their medications, but technicalities from Congress have kept these out of reach. Our legislation will cut the red tape to bring drug prices down, break up the big pharma monopolies, and let Americans make their own medication choices.”

    “Too many Americans face sky-high prescription drug costs. This bipartisan legislation will cut unnecessary red tape and help biosimilar drugs get to the market faster, creating more competition in the market, and cutting costs for consumers,” said Senator Hassan. “I will continue to work to lower prescription drug and health care costs for Granite Staters and all Americans.”

    “Limited competition drives up drug prices, making it harder for people to afford the medications they need to survive. Expanding access to biosimilar drugs can improve patients’ lives and reduce costs. But too often, access can be limited due to regulatory red tape that scientists agree is not necessary,” said Senator Luján. “This bipartisan bill will help simplify that process while maintaining rigorous safety and effectiveness standards. By increasing competition, this legislation will allow more patients and families to access the treatments they need.”

     “As the FDA has made clear, there is no clinically meaningful difference between biosimilars and interchangeable biosimilars,” said John Murphy, President and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines. “The Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act will expand competition and generate savings for patients and taxpayers, while preserving FDA’s ability to ensure the safety and efficacy of medicines for America’s patients. The Biosimilars Council and AAM thank Senators Lee and Luján for their work on behalf of American patients and we look forward to working with Congress to eliminate this outdated and unnecessary barrier to lower-priced biosimilar medicines.”

    Background:

    “Biosimilars” – generic alternatives to name-brand medications – have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of biologic drugs through increased competition. Choosing biosimilars over their name-brand counterparts could save consumers an estimated $42.9 billion by 2027. Americans deserve to hold this decision-making power, but red tape around biosimilars keeps them from being widely used. The FDA’s complex approval system has confused physicians, patients, and states about biosimilars’ safety and efficacy.

    Biosimilars must undergo extensive testing to prove they provide no meaningful difference from their name-brand version. Bringing a new biosimilar to market costs as much as $300 million and can take as long as 9 years. Even after this approval, patients may not be able to access biosimilars because Congress created a separate designation: interchangeability. To be classified as truly “interchangeable” with the name-brand version, a biosimilar must undergo further testing called “switching studies.” This type of research has proven unnecessary for biosimilars, as it repeatedly shows no meaningful difference or relevant new data.

    The Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act would remove these extra steps so that a biosimilar will immediately be classified as interchangeable upon its initial approval by the FDA. Foregoing unnecessary switching studies would no longer disqualify biosimilars as alternatives to their name-brand counterparts. 

    This legislation will streamline the regulatory pathway for biosimilar approval by aligning the law with the current scientific reality, giving Americans the option to save billions and increasing competition in the pharmaceutical market.

    The Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act would:

    • Amend the federal code to state that all biosimilars, upon approval, shall be deemed interchangeable. The bill still uses the term “interchangeable” because states have crafted their own laws around interchangeability. Retaining that word would provide for minimal disruption to current biosimilar distribution.
    • Strike the current requirement in code that has been used to justify switching studies.
    • Create a cooldown period for certain biologics that were already granted exclusive interchangeable status.
    • Instruct HHS and FDA to issue or retract relevant guidance.

     You can read it HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Heinrich, Luján Slam Trump’s Plan to Illegally Rescind Funding for New Mexico’s Local Public Radio & TV Stations

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)

    Losing this funding would force many public stations to reduce much of their programming or, in some cases, close their doors to the rural communities they serve

    WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media,joined 29 Senate Democrats to slam Trump and Republicans’ attempt to illegally rescind $1 billion in funding appropriated by Congress and signed into law to fund local public broadcasting stations in New Mexico and nationwide — particularly in rural communities. This move follows President Trump’s executive order directing cuts to federal funding for PBS and NPR. 

    The Corporation for Public Broadcasting supports over 1,500 local public television and radio stations nationwide that provide free, high-quality programming to American households, including in New Mexico. Local public television and radio stations provides young children who don’t get the chance to attend preschool with educational content that helps them learn to read; airs highly trusted nightly news programming; and shares critical public safety information during emergencies. Local public television stations also provide extensive coverage of local government and elections and host candidate debates, helping Americans stay connected with their elected leaders. 

    Because local public television and radio relies heavily on federal funding to operate, losing this funding would force many of these stations to reduce much of their programming or, in some cases, close their doors to the communities they serve.

    “Following the White House’s request to rescind $1.07 billion in federal funding for CPB, we write to express our strong opposition to any rescission of funding for public broadcasting and prohibitions of direct and indirect funding to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio,” the senators wrote to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “This funding is essential to the functioning of the public media system and the communities they serve, and any cuts in funding would have detrimental effects on local stations, which rely on this funding to provide critical services to millions of Americans across the country. Public broadcasting is an essential service that should be protected, not decimated. For this reason, we request that you prioritize maintaining and continuing funding for CPB.” 

    As Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, Senator Luján has long supported strengthening and protecting public media. In February, Senator Luján wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington condemning actions taken by the FCC under the Trump administration demonstrating that the FCC is weaponizing its authority over broadcasters and public media for political purposes. In March, Senator Luján introduced the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act, legislation that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking broadcast licenses or taking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast.

    The letter is led by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Alongside Heinrich and Luján, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

    The full text of the letter is available here or below:  

    Dear Majority Leader Thune,

    Federal investment in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) supports over 1,500 local and regional public television and radio stations that provide free, high-quality programming to millions of households across the country. Following the White House’s request to rescind $1.07 billion in federal funding for CPB, we write to express our strong opposition to any rescission of funding for public broadcasting and prohibitions of direct and indirect funding to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, as outlined in the Executive Order titled, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” released on May 1, 2025. This funding is essential to the functioning of the public media system and the communities they serve, and any cuts in funding would have detrimental effects on local stations, which rely on this funding to provide critical services to millions of Americans across the country.

    Our public broadcasting system is a unique American institution that is deeply embedded in our communities and a critical source of lifesaving public safety services, accurate information, and educational programming. The vast majority of the federal funding CPB receives is allocated to local radio and television stations across the country. These cuts will have an immediate and significant impact for stations in rural communities that heavily rely on CPB funding to provide critical services and could likely result in the elimination of programming or outright closure of stations in areas already faced with limited connectivity.

    According to Northwestern University, 55 million people in the United States have no or only one source of local news, and rural counties are far more likely to lose their local news outlets. This number could increase if the two-year advance appropriation for public media is not upheld, resulting in the drastic reduction or complete elimination of free, high-quality local programming. This is especially concerning given the importance of public broadcasting during public emergencies, such as natural disasters, transportation accidents, national security threats, or public safety matters. CPB funds are essential to ensuring that the broadcast infrastructure remains robust and operational in disaster situations, especially scenarios in which local public broadcasters serve as the only source of information for those who need a lifeline. Any cuts in funding will have drastic consequences for communities in need.

    And there is much more to their public safety services in addition to the critical local information they broadcast. Public television’s interconnection technology, which connects local public television stations to PBS, is also one of the backbone pathways for the delivery of our nation’s Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) services – enabling cell phone subscribers to receive geotargeted emergency text alerts no matter where they are in the country. A cut to public broadcasting funding would put this lifesaving service and its nationwide footprint at risk.

    Public television has also pioneered cutting edge technology that helps first responders communicate with each other over the broadcast spectrum without the need for mobile service or broadband. This datacasting technology and public television’s public safety partnerships is already helping with early earthquake warning and has been proven effective in a wide range of scenarios where broadband or cellular service are limited, including rural search and rescue, overwater communications, large event crowd control and more. But this is only possible if stations serving rural and remote areas with limited broadband are healthy and continue operating as they are today.

    On the education front, public television’s early childhood education services ensure that every family has access to high-quality, non-commercial educational content regardless of their ability to pay for such services. This is essential for over 50 percent of three and four-year old children who do not attend formal preschool.

    If funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is eliminated or rescinded, the impact would be devastating. Millions of people across the country whose stations rely on CPB funding for a significant percentage of their budget would be at risk of losing access to public television’s services. These are services that nobody else in the media world is providing, but it’s exactly the work for which public broadcasting was created, and they are delivering to our communities every day. 

    Public broadcasting is an essential service that should be protected, not decimated. For this reason, we request that you prioritize maintaining and continuing funding for CPB.

    We appreciate your consideration of this request and thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Heinrich, Luján Fight Trump Administration’s Cuts to the Job Corps Program

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
    Washington, D.C. – After the Trump administration attempted to shutter the nation’s largest jobs training program for low-income and at-risk young people, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and 37 Senate colleagues in a letter to Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer urging her to reverse the illegal and unconstitutional cuts to the Job Corps program that are harming students and communities in every state in the country.
    “The Administration’s decision to illegally and abruptly terminate Job Corps center operations has left 25,000 students and thousands of staff across 99 Job Corps centers in the lurch,” wrote the senators. “The sudden ‘pause’ of operations at Job Corps centers puts young people’s lives at risk, especially a significant number of students who were experiencing homelessness before arriving to the program. Local communities will pay a steep price, especially the thousands of individuals who work at the centers and will lose their livelihoods.”
    For more than 60 years, Job Corps has helped millions of young people in rural communities and cities alike to finish high school, learn technical skills and get good-paying jobs while providing stable housing, medical and mental health care, and other supportive services. Through Job Corps programs, young people receive the training they need to start in good-paying jobs that support their communities after graduation – including as wildland firefighters, nurses, electricians, machinists, pipefitters, and welders. Last month, however, the Trump administration indefinitely ‘paused’ operations at Job Corps sites across the country.
    “We urge you to immediately reverse this decision to prevent a lapse in education and services for Job Corps students. We further urge that the Department restart enrollments, expeditiously restart background checks, and make any contract extensions or modifications necessary to ensure no interruptions or delays for students or program operations,”concluded the senators. 
    Joining Heinrich, Luján, and Sanders on the letter are U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
    The text of the letter can be found HERE and below:
    Dear Secretary Chavez-DeRemer:
    We write to express our grave concern with the “pause” of operations that began at Job Corps centers on May 29, 2025, which will harm students and local economies in every state across the country. The Administration’s decision to illegally and abruptly terminate Job Corps center operations has left 25,000 students and thousands of staff across 99 Job Corps centers in the lurch. The sudden “pause” of operations at Job Corps centers puts young people’s lives at risk, especially a significant number of students who were experiencing homelessness before arriving to the program. Local communities will pay a steep price, especially the thousands of individuals who work at the centers and will lose their livelihoods. While a recent court order instituted a temporary restraining order on the “pause” at Job Corps, the damage of attempting to displace thousands of students has already been felt across the country.
    We urge you to immediately reverse this decision to prevent a lapse in education and services for Job Corps students. We further urge that the Department restart enrollments, expeditiously restart background checks, and make any contract extensions or modifications necessary to ensure no interruptions or delays for students or program operations. Congress passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, which includes $1,760,155,000 for Job Corps and ensures that Job Corps Centers are funded for the new program year that begins on July 1, 2025. We write to remind you of your obligation to faithfully implement the law.
    Since 1964, Job Corps has helped millions of low-income or at-risk young people develop the skills and resilience needed to succeed in work and life. As the largest free residential education and job training program for young adults ages 16-24, Job Corps programs help students complete their high school education, learn high-value technical skills, and connect to employment through intensive education, training, and support services in a residential setting while providing stable housing, medical and mental health care, and other supportive services to ensure their success. At a time when more than 72 percent of jobs will require training beyond a high school diploma, Job Corps provides students with the opportunity to become wildland firefighters to keep our communities safe, nurses to help care for our families, electricians needed to build and maintain clean energy systems, and machinists, pipefitters, and welders to manufacture the next generation of submarines.
    Job Corps centers operate in rural and metropolitan regions nationwide and contribute to their local communities and economies.  Many centers have partnered with employers, local workforce development boards, government agencies, and community-based organizations to develop the future workforce and meet the needs of local employers. 
    Abruptly canceling contracts for the nation’s Job Corps centers will leave students and communities in the lurch and undermine opportunities for young people to get education and training to succeed in valuable trades. Rather than gutting this valuable program, we urge you to work with Congress to strengthen accountability and program quality for the betterment of young workers, employers needing skilled labor, and communities nationwide, such as reforms included in the bipartisan, bicameral Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization bill from last Congress.
    We request that you provide written answers to the following questions as soon as possible, but not later than June 20, 2025.
    Please provide a list of onboard strength (enrollment) at each center before January 20, 2025 and before the operations pause on May 28, 2025. 
    With Job Corps operations on “pause”, how does the department plan to fulfill its obligations to implement the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which includes $1,760,155,000 for Job Corps serving students?
    Please provide information on the number of students experiencing homelessness prior to enrollment at a Job Corps center based on enrollment at each center on May 28, 2025. 
    Please provide a list of every contract that has been terminated or modified since January 20, 2025, including the total amount of funds to each operator, the amount of funds that each operator has spent up to the date of the contract’s termination or modification, and the amount of remaining unspent funds for each contract. 
    What authority is the Department using to “pause” operations? Please provide a citation in law or regulation.
    The concept of a “pause” does not exist in Job Corps authorizing statute and appears to be an attempt to illegally shut down Job Corps operations without following requirements in law. Section 159 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) includes clear requirements and processes for the closure of Job Corps Centers that were not followed in this “pause”. How does the Department define a “pause” and how is it different than a “termination”? 
    On April 25, 2025, the Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released the first-ever Job Corps Transparency Report, which is used throughout the DOL press release to pause operations at centers.
    Centers have returned funding to DOL when enrollments were lower than expected (but that’s not reflected in this report.) Please provide an updated cost per enrollee that accounts for money returned to DOL.
    The report also provides cost per enrollee based on enrollment from program year 2023. DOL has much more up-to-date enrollment numbers. Please provide an updated cost per enrollee with the enrollments on campuses as of May 28, 2025, incorporating onboard strength at each campus.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: NDB signs 1.2 bln yuan loan agreement to finance environmental projects in China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    SHANGHAI, June 6 (Xinhua) — The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) on Friday announced the signing of a 1.2 billion yuan (about 167 million U.S. dollars) syndicated loan agreement to support environmental projects in China.

    As noted by the NBR, the agreement, concluded jointly with the Bank of China and the Chinese company Haitong Unitrust International Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., is aimed at financing green leasing sub-projects focused on environmental goals and climate commitments of the PRC.

    Under the agreement, the NDB will provide more than 713.32 million yuan, while the Bank of China will provide an additional 500 million yuan. Haitong Unitrust, in turn, will use the funds to purchase and lease equipment for projects in areas such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management and power generation from iron and steel exhaust gases.

    To promote balanced regional development, eligible sub-projects will be implemented outside China’s first-tier cities, bringing investment to less developed areas of the country.

    “This initiative meets the needs for climate resilience and environmental protection, and also helps increase investment in less developed regions of China,” said Vladimir Kazbekov, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the NDB.

    The NDB was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is a multilateral development bank that aims to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS region and other emerging market and developing economies. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: China’s maritime arbitration continues to expand internationally: CCPIT chairman

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) — China’s international influence in maritime arbitration continues to grow steadily, with a marked increase in the number of cases involving other countries and regions and a growing degree of internationalization, said Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).

    Ren Hongbin, also head of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC), made the remarks during a high-level dialogue on maritime and commercial arbitration held in Beijing on Friday.

    In 2024, CMAC ranked among the world’s leading maritime arbitration institutions in terms of caseload. According to Ren Hongbin, the number of disputes it handled involving other countries and regions increased by 55 percent compared with 2023, accounting for 39 percent of its total cases, with disputes covering 40 countries and regions.

    There are currently 284 arbitration institutions in China, which have handled more than 5 million cases with a total value of over 9 trillion yuan (about 1.25 trillion US dollars) involving parties from more than 100 countries and regions.

    Looking to the future, Ren Hongbin called for the development of arbitration services based on innovation and urged arbitration institutions to actively explore the application of scientific and technological methods such as digital technology and artificial intelligence.

    According to him, the use of information technology will reduce costs and increase efficiency and transparency, which will contribute to the continuous increase in the authority and competitiveness of arbitration services in the global arena. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: International Journal of Scientific Research and Technology

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    Mission

    The International Journal of Scientific Research and Technology (IJSRT) is a publication that encompasses a broad spectrum of content, including reviews, research articles, and short communications. Its primary objective is to disseminate manuscripts on diverse topics within the realms of science and technology, including but not limited to Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Environmental Science, Data Science, DRug Research, Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Humanities, and more

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Romania to Host 2027 Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction for Europe and Central Asia

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    Geneva, 6 June 2025 – The Government of Romania and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) are pleased to announce that Romania will host the next Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction for Europe and Central Asia (RP2027). The announcement was made during the ministerial session on Safe Schools at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025) in Geneva.

    “We look forward to welcoming you to Romania in 2027 for the Regional Platform – a space for collaboration, regional leadership, and shared resilience” said Daniel Gheorghita, Head of Analysis and Strategic Development Office for Civil Protection, Romania.

    Romania brings strong national leadership to the role, having adopted a comprehensive National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (2024-2035) and prioritized child safety through education and infrastructure. In 2024 alone, more than 1.7 million students and preschoolers participated in preparedness drills. Moreover, hundreds of schools are being modernized under Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and a new seismic design code is under development to further strengthen risk-informed infrastructure.

    Building on the outcomes of the 2023 Action-Oriented Dialogue on School Safety, RP2027 will offer a key moment for governments, civil society, and stakeholders across Europe and Central Asia to accelerate their disaster risk reduction efforts as the 2030 deadline approaches.

    “Romania has demonstrated real leadership in integrating disaster risk reduction into its national planning, especially through its work with children, on school safety and public awareness” said Natalia Alonso Cano, Chief of UNDRR’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. “We are looking forward to working together on the platform and accelerating the implementation of the Sendai Framework.”

    Further details, including dates and venue, will be announced in due time.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Alberta is ready for its close-up! | L’Alberta est prête pour son gros plan!

    Now in its 46th year, Alberta’s government is solidifying its ongoing support for the Banff World Media Festival as a key platform to showcase Alberta’s state-of-the-art studios, competitive production incentives, beautiful landscapes and skilled talent to the world.

    Alberta’s government is proud to invest in the future of the provincial film industry with more than $1 million, over three years, in sponsorship support for the Banff World Media Festival. The funding is part of the government’s continued commitment to creating jobs, attracting investment and growing cultural industries across Alberta, including film, television and music.

    “Our film and television industry is a creative force and a major contributor to Alberta’s economy. By continuing to invest in the Banff World Media Festival, we bring global industry leaders right to Alberta’s doorstep, giving the world a front-row seat to everything that makes our province a top-tier destination for film and television production.”

    Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women

    The Banff World Media Festival welcomes to Alberta almost 1,600 key industry representatives from over 50 countries, all set against the breathtaking backdrop of Banff National Park.

    It opens doors for Alberta creators to connect with global partners and investors. Building on last year’s success, the Alberta “Fill Yer Boots” Music Showcase returns to shine a spotlight on Alberta’s talented homegrown musicians and highlight more opportunities to feature local music in film and television productions.

    “We are incredibly grateful for the Government of Alberta’s continued investment in the Banff World Media Festival. This support strengthens our ability to convene global industry leaders in Alberta, foster creative and economic partnerships, and spotlight the province’s world-class talent, locations and production capabilities on an international stage.”

    Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director, Banff World Media Festival

    “This funding is a meaningful commitment to the future of Canada’s and Alberta’s screen industries. The Banff World Media Festival is a vital platform where global deal making, talent discovery and innovation thrive. Alberta’s support ensures the festival continues to deliver economic and creative impact across the province and around the world.”

    Sean Cohan, chair of the board, Banff Television Festival

    Previous investment in the film and television industry has already put Alberta centre stage, capturing global attention with several high-profile productions. With over sixty per cent of all Alberta-made projects filmed or planning to film in small cities, towns and rural locations across the province, investment in this growing industry is boosting the economy in every corner of Alberta.

    “Alberta has a growing film and television industry that is putting our talent and landscapes on the big screen for the world to see. Our government continues to prioritize increased jobs, investment and economic diversification, which we are achieving in part through film and television. To all those attending this year’s Banff World Media Festival, thank you for helping put Alberta on the map.”

    Joseph Schow, Minister for Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration

    Quick facts

    • The Banff World Media Festival runs from June 8 to 11, 2025.
    • The Government of Alberta has been a primary sponsor of the Banff World Media Festival since its inception in 1979.
    • Thanks to incentives like the Alberta Media Fund and the Film and Television Tax Credit, Alberta has been home to 337 film and television productions since 2020.
    • Every dollar of government support towards film and television production generates four dollars of investment back into the province.
    • To date, almost one-third of all productions participating in the Film and Television Tax Credit program did their filming in rural Alberta.

    Related information

    • Alberta Film Commission

    Related news

    • Lights, camera, Alberta! Boosting cultural industries | Lumières, caméra, Alberta! Stimuler les industries culturelles (April 16, 2025)
    • Movie star treatment for Alberta screen producers | Traitement de vedette pour les producteurs de l’Alberta (Sept. 18, 2024)
    • Lights, camera, action for film and television (June 7, 2024)
    • Investing in more chapters of Alberta’s stories | Investir dans d’autres chapitres des histoires albertaines (April 23, 2024)

    Le gouvernement de l’Alberta contribue à réunir des chefs de file du cinéma et de la télévision, des créateurs et des investisseurs du monde entier au Festival mondial des médias de Banff.

    Le gouvernement de l’Alberta renforce son soutien continu au Festival mondial des médias de Banff, qui en est à sa 46e année d’existence. Le Festival constitue une plateforme essentielle pour présenter au monde entier les studios ultramodernes, les incitatifs à la production concurrentiels, les paysages magnifiques et la richesse des talents de la province.

    Le gouvernement de l’Alberta est fier d’investir dans l’avenir de l’industrie cinématographique provinciale en affectant plus d’un million de dollars, sur trois ans, au parrainage du Festival mondial des médias de Banff. Ce financement s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’engagement continu du gouvernement à créer des emplois, à attirer des investissements et à développer les industries culturelles de l’Alberta, notamment le cinéma, la télévision et la musique.

    « Notre industrie cinématographique et télévisuelle est une force créatrice et une contributrice majeure à l’économie de l’Alberta. En continuant d’investir dans le Festival mondial des médias de Banff, nous invitons les chefs de file de l’industrie à découvrir l’Alberta et offrons ainsi au monde entier une place de choix pour se familiariser avec tout ce qui fait de notre province une destination de premier plan pour la production cinématographique et télévisuelle. »

    Tanya Fir, ministre des Arts, de la Culture et de la Condition féminine

    Le Festival mondial des médias de Banff accueille en Alberta près de 1 600 représentants clés de l’industrie venus de plus de 50 pays, dans le cadre époustouflant du parc national Banff.

    Il permet aux créateurs albertains d’entrer en contact avec des partenaires et des investisseurs du monde entier. Forte du succès de l’année dernière, la vitrine musicale albertaine « Fill Yer Boots » est de retour pour attirer l’attention des participants sur les talentueux musiciens albertains et multiplier les occasions de mettre en valeur la musique locale dans les productions cinématographiques et télévisuelles.

    « Nous sommes extrêmement reconnaissants au gouvernement de l’Alberta pour son investissement continu dans le Festival mondial des médias de Banff. Ce soutien renforce notre capacité à réunir les chefs de file de l’industrie mondiale en Alberta, à favoriser les partenariats créatifs et économiques et à mettre en avant les talents, les sites et les capacités de production de calibre mondiale de la province sur la scène internationale. »

    Jenn Kuzmyk, directrice générale, Festival mondial des médias de Banff

    « Ce financement constitue un engagement important envers l’avenir des industries cinématographiques du Canada et de l’Alberta. Le Festival mondial des médias de Banff est une plateforme essentielle qui permet de conclure des accords à l’échelle mondiale, de découvrir des talents et d’innover. Le soutien de l’Alberta permet au festival de continuer à avoir des retombées économiques et créatives dans la province et dans le monde entier. »

    Sean Cohan, président du conseil d’administration du Festival de télévision de Banff

    Les investissements antérieurs dans l’industrie du cinéma et de la télévision ont déjà permis à l’Alberta d’occuper le devant de la scène et d’attirer l’attention du monde entier grâce à plusieurs productions de premier plan. Plus de 60 % de tous les projets réalisés en Alberta ont été tournés ou prévoient de l’être dans des petites villes, des villages et des zones rurales de la province; l’investissement dans cette industrie en plein essor stimule ainsi l’économie dans tous les coins de la province.

    « L’Alberta possède une industrie cinématographique et télévisuelle en plein essor qui met nos talents et nos paysages sur le grand écran pour que le monde entier puisse les voir. Notre gouvernement continue d’accorder la priorité à la création d’emplois, à l’investissement et à la diversification économique, ce que nous réalisons en partie grâce au cinéma et à la télévision. Je remercie tous les participantes et participants au Festival mondial des médias de Banff de contribuer à faire connaître l’Alberta. »

    Joseph Schow, ministre de l’Emploi, de l’Économie, du Commerce et de l’Immigration

    En bref

    • Le Festival mondial des médias de Banff se déroule du 8 au 11 juin 2025.
    • Le gouvernement de l’Alberta est l’un des principaux commanditaires du Festival mondial des médias de Banff depuis sa création en 1979.
    • Grâce à des mesures incitatives telles que le Fonds des médias de l’Alberta (Alberta Media Fund) et le crédit d’impôt pour le cinéma et la télévision, l’Alberta a accueilli 337 productions cinématographiques et télévisuelles depuis 2020.
    • Chaque dollar d’aide gouvernementale à la production cinématographique et télévisuelle génère quatre dollars d’investissement dans la province.
    • À ce jour, près d’un tiers de toutes les productions participant au programme de crédit d’impôt pour le cinéma et la télévision ont été tournées dans les régions rurales de l’Alberta.

    Renseignements connexes (en anglais seulement)

    • Alberta Film Commission

    Nouvelles connexes

    • Lumières, caméra, Alberta! Stimuler les industries culturelles | Lights, camera, Alberta! Boosting cultural industries (16 avril 2025)
    • Traitement de vedette pour les producteurs de l’Alberta | Movie star treatment for Alberta screen producers (18 septembre 2024)
    • Lights, camera, action for film and television (Lumière, caméra, action pour le cinéma et la télévision) (7 juin 2024; en anglais seulement)
    • Investir dans d’autres chapitres des histoires albertaines | Investing in more chapters of Alberta’s stories (23 avril 2024)

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Samuel De Champlain Bridge: Special Illumination for National Day Against Gun Violence

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Montreal, Quebec, June 6, 2025 — Tonight, the Samuel De Champlain Bridge will be lit up in white from sunset to 10 p.m. to mark National Day Against Gun Violence.

    Note: After 10 p.m., the architectural lighting will return to the blue-green illumination that reduces the risk of disorientating birds during their migratory period, which runs until June 15.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Dingell Recognizes HS Awareness Week

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (12th District of Michigan)

    Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) introduced a resolution recognizing the first week of June as Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) Awareness Week.

    “Hidradenitis Suppurativa affects millions of Americans, causing physical pain and emotional distress,” Dingell said. “We recognize this week as HS Awareness Week to bring renewed attention to the importance of federal research into new treatments and advanced understanding of the disease to improve patient outcomes.”

    View the text of the resolution below and here.

    RESOLUTION

    Expressing support for the recognition of “Hidradenitis Suppurativa Awareness Week”.

    Whereas Hidradenitis Suppurativa (in this resolution referred to as “HS”) is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease that affects approximately 3,300,000 people in the United States;

    Whereas HS causes painful, boil-like nodules and abscesses anywhere on the body, and can progress to form tunnels under the skin and cause extensive scarring;

    Whereas individuals with HS frequently suffer from 5 primary domains of physical and emotional suffering, pain, drainage, odor, itching, and profound psychological distress;

    Whereas HS is associated with one of the highest completed suicide rates among dermatological diseases, second only to melanoma;

    Whereas 75 percent of individuals with HS are misdiagnosed or not diagnosed until after age 25, missing critical windows for early intervention and care;

    Whereas delayed diagnosis contributes to worsening disease progression, higher healthcare costs, avoidable emergency room visits, and unnecessary procedures;

    Whereas individuals are often diagnosed with HS in the prime of their lives, affecting their ability to work, maintain relationships, and participate fully in society;

    Whereas, as of June 1, 2025, there are only 3 biologic therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of HS;

    Whereas additional research is urgently needed to develop new treatments, understand the pathogenesis of the disease, identify biomarkers of HS, and improve outcomes for HS patients;

    Whereas Federal policy can play a critical role in improving access to biologic therapies, wound care, and comprehensive care for HS patients; and

    Whereas designating the first week of June as “Hidradenitis Suppurativa Awareness Week” would increase public awareness, foster understanding, and catalyze progress in diagnosing, treating, and ultimately curing HS:

    Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

    (1) supports the recognition of “Hidradenitis Suppurativa Awareness Week”; and

    (2) recognizes the importance of—

    (A) increasing awareness and education about HS among the public and health professionals;

    (B) promoting timely and accurate diagnosis of HS through improved screening and culturally competent care;

    (C) supporting biomedical research to better understand HS pathogenesis, treatment efficacy, and long-term outcomes;

    (D) accelerating the development of effective treatments and expanding access to existing therapies for HS; and

    (E) advancing policies that address disparities in access to care for patients with HS and improve the quality of life for individuals living with HS and the caregivers of such individuals.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Secretary Chavez-DeRemer statement on May jobs report

    Source: US Department of Labor

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer issued the following statement regarding the May 2025 Employment Situation Report:

    “Today’s jobs report demonstrates yet again that we are making a remarkable economic comeback. With 139,000 jobs created in May, President Trump continues to deliver on his promise to put American workers and businesses first – beating expectations for three months in a row. 

    “For too long, burdensome regulations and failed policies sold out blue-collar workers and shipped mortgage-paying jobs overseas. Now, thanks to President Trump’s bold America First agenda, 508,000 jobs have been created since he took office. Notably, native-born workers have accounted for all job gains. 

    “I remain committed to working with President Trump to build a strong workforce and renew the American Dream. To achieve these goals and ignite even more economic opportunity for our workers, we need the One Big Beautiful Bill, which will eliminate taxes on tips and deliver the largest tax cut for working-class Americans in history.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: WTO members focus on TFA implementation, transit issues and capacity-building

    Source: WTO

    Headline: WTO members focus on TFA implementation, transit issues and capacity-building

    The TFA — which contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit — is the first WTO agreement in which developing and LDC members can determine their own implementation schedules, in accordance with their national priorities and capacities, and seek to acquire implementation capacity through the provision of related assistance and support.
    The WTO Secretariat reported that 80 per cent of implementation commitments by developing and LDC members have been reached, with 65 members committed to implementing Category C measures requiring technical assistance and capacity-building over the next two years. Developed members were required to implement all provisions of the TFA from its entry into force. More information is available in the TFA database.
    Developing greater transparency on TFA implementation
    The WTO Secretariat reported on member notifications related to TFA implementation efforts and requests for extensions of implementation schedules. While member notifications on donor arrangements and their progress currently contain limited information and may not reflect the present situation, the TFA Facility (TFAF) is collecting survey data on capacity-building partners and assistance gaps at the member level. Members also supported several tools the WTO Secretariat has deployed through the TFA Database to enable them to track deadlines and to request extensions for implementation dates, where needed.
    The Committee also took note of the WTO Secretariat report “Notification Status of Regular/Period and One-Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995-2024)” (G/C/W/859 ). The document found that while the overall membership had a submission rate of TFA transparency notifications of over 80 per cent, this figure was less than 60 per cent for LDCs. The Chair signalled his availability for consultations on this matter.
    Improving transit corridors and technical assistance coordination
    The Committee held a dedicated session on transit, with the WTO Secretariat presenting preliminary findings from a study on transit corridors serving landlocked developing countries (LLDCs). Coordinated by Botswana as the LLDC coordinator, the study examines how corridors efficiently implement TFA measures to lower trade costs in landlocked countries which face trade costs 1.4 times higher than coastal economies.
    The study covers 19 corridors across Africa, Asia, Eurasia and South America, showing transit time reductions of 20-40 per cent through digital tools and coordination mechanisms. As an example, the Northern Corridor connecting Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan through Mombasa reduced transit times from 11 to 5 days. The updated report will be circulated before the October Committee meeting, with the WTO Secretariat organizing a side event at the UN LLDC-3 Conference in Turkmenistan (5-8 August 2025).
    The African Group also issued a call for strengthened coordination mechanisms to address technical assistance and capacity-building challenges in implementing Category C measures (measures for which members have identified the need for assistance and capacity building), particularly amidst reduced development aid budgets. The Chair signalled a willingness to hold consultations ahead of the October 2025 dedicated session on technical assistance and capacity building to prepare for comprehensive discussions on strengthening coordination mechanisms.
    Experience sharing showcases digital innovations
    Members conducted productive experience-sharing sessions covering digitalization and Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs). China shared a presentation on “Cross-Border E-Commerce,” while the European Union highlighted the importance of digital trust-building through customs “single windows” and electronic identification systems. The United States and the OECD made a presentation on “The digitalization of trade documents and processes: going paperless today, going paperless tomorrow”.
    Japan, Moldova, Mongolia and Paraguay shared national and regional AEO experiences, and Bangladesh shared a presentation on Time Release Study effectiveness, while the United Kingdom and UNCTAD discussed forthcoming publications on National Trade Facilitation Committees (NTFCs).
    During the dedicated transit session, Mozambique shared its experience on transit issues while the European Union explained how corridor and transit issues are integrated into a strategy to support developing and least developed members strengthen connectivity and trade facilitation.
    All presentations are available here.
    Other Committee work
    The Committee continued its exchanges on customs procedures, with several members maintaining engagement with Indonesia on two measures regarding customs procedures for intangible products. The United States also raised a new specific trade concern regarding Indonesia’s customs penalty regime.
    Capacity building and learning sessions
    Several learning sessions also took place alongside the Committee meeting. The World Bank and the World Customs Organization, in collaboration with TFAF, organized a Time Release Study methodology session on 4 June, covering measurement techniques and resource requirements.
    The TFAF and certain Annex D+ organisations (consisting of ITC, OECD, UNCTAD, the World Bank, and the WCO) held an in-person training session on 2-3 June on mobilizing technical assistance and capacity building for TFA implementation. The training activity brought together 15 capital-based delegates from LDC and developing members to discuss how to better coordinate resource mobilization and to be more effective when engaging with development partners. Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF)/German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and TradeMark Africa also participated in the training session on 3 June.
    If you would like to receive news on trade facilitation, subscribe to the TFA Newsbytes here.

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    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Verizon declares quarterly dividend on June 6

    Source: Verizon

    Headline: Verizon declares quarterly dividend on June 6

    NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Board of Directors at Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today declared a quarterly dividend of 67.75 cents per outstanding share, unchanged from the previous quarter. The quarterly dividend is payable on August 1, 2025 to Verizon shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10, 2025.

    Verizon continues to take a strategic and disciplined approach to achieving its financial goals by focusing on targeted customer segments and integrating its services to deliver greater personalization. Building on its financial strength, Verizon continues to invest in its business and drive innovation to better serve its customers.

    “As the nation’s leader in mobility and broadband for consumers and businesses, we create great experiences for a broad and high-quality base of customers,” said Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “This allows us to continue paying our dividend even in uncertain economic environments, while investing in our business to extend our network leadership, enhance America’s communications infrastructure and meet the present and future needs of all our customers.”

    Verizon has approximately 4.2 billion shares of common stock outstanding. The company made more than $11.2 billion in cash dividend payments in 2024.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: WTO Fish Fund launches Call for Proposals for implementing Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies

    Source: WTO

    Headline: WTO Fish Fund launches Call for Proposals for implementing Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies

    Developing and LDC members that have ratified the Agreement are eligible to submit proposals for technical assistance and capacity-building activities to support their implementation of the Agreement. These fall into two categories: project preparation grants of up to USD 50,000 for activities such as studies and needs assessments to prepare for implementation of the Agreement, and project grants of up to USD 300,000 for specific projects to implement the Agreement.
    WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: “A vital feature of this historic Agreement is that it provides funding for developing and least-developed country members  to receive technical assistance and capacity building support to implement the new disciplines and improve fisheries management. Delivering this support is essential to realizing the Agreement’s benefits for people, oceans, and the planet. This Call for Proposals represents a first but significant step towards turning the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies into lasting, transformative change for livelihoods and marine fisheries. I am deeply grateful to our current and future donors to the Fish Fund!”
    WTO members can access the application portal here. Proposals must be submitted by 9 September. However, if the Agreement enters into force before this date, the deadline will be extended by one month. The Steering Committee of the Fish Fund will review and evaluate all submissions.
    So far, 101 WTO members have formally accepted the Agreement. Funds may be disbursed once the WTO receives the 111 instruments of acceptance needed for the Agreement to enter into force.
    The contributions and pledges received by the Fund thus far amount to approximately CHF 14.5 million (just over USD 17.5 million), with commitments made by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
    The Fish Fund was established under Article 7 of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which ministers adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference in 2022. Housed at the WTO, the Fund operates in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank.
    For more information, please visit the WTO Fish Fund website here and download the fact sheet titled “How to Access Funding — Opening the Call for Proposals” available here.
    The list of all WTO members that have submitted their instrument of acceptance is available here.
    More information on the WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism is available here.

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    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murkowski, King Reintroduce Legislation to Help Coastal Workforce, Fisheries, and Infrastructure

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski

    06.06.25

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME), reintroduced the Working Waterfronts Act, legislation which includes more than a dozen provisions aimed at boosting the workforce, energy and shoreside infrastructure, food security, and economies of coastal communities in Alaska and across the country. The bill will also support efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change on coastal communities and strengthen federal conservation research projects.

    In October 2022, Senator Murkowski began soliciting feedback from Alaskans to help draft the Working Waterfronts legislation. After a two-year period of close collaboration with stakeholders and colleagues in the Senate, she introduced the legislation for the first time in February of 2024.

    “One of my priorities this Congress was reintroducing the Working Waterfronts Act, a comprehensive and collective effort to harness the potential of the blue economy for Alaska’s coastal communities,” said Senator Murkowski. “With 66,000 miles of coastline, it is vital Alaska strengthens our shoreside infrastructure and supports workforce development to ensure the sustainability and growth of our fisheries, tourism, and mariculture sectors. This legislation will provide essential resources for alternative energy initiatives, improve community processing facilities, and promote safety and wellness in the maritime workforce. Together, we can build a resilient future for our coastal communities while addressing climate change and preserving our precious marine ecosystems.”

    “Maine’s coastal communities are changing. From a warming climate to an evolving economy, the Gulf of Maine faces both historic opportunities and challenges that will define our state’s success for generations,” said Senator King. “The Working Waterfronts Act would provide Maine’s working waterfronts up and down the coast with the necessary financial, energy and infrastructure resources to adapt to the rapidly shifting dynamics of natural disasters affecting economic and tourism operations. It would also help support the necessary workforce to sustain our coastal businesses. Thanks to my colleagues for working with me to ensure our waterfronts have the necessary tools and resources to thrive for years to come.”

    “The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) thanks Senator Murkowski for her continued efforts to support Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, which provides tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic impact across the state. The Working Waterfronts Act would make impactful changes that are needed now, such as expanding access for fishermen and processors to USDA loans, grants for improving waterfront infrastructure that benefit commercial fishermen, and creating a new program to improve maritime workforce development. These changes, along with many others in the Act, provide needed help the Alaska seafood industry, a critical pillar of Alaska’s economy,” said Greg Smith, Communications Director at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI).

    “Senator Murkowski’s Working Waterfronts Act highlights the key priorities vital to the future of Alaska’s seafood industry. From modernizing infrastructure to building a resilient workforce and supporting innovation, this bill addresses the real challenges facing our coastal communities. We’re proud to support this effort and stand with Senator Murkowski in securing a strong future for Alaska’s working waterfronts,” said Kristy Clement, CEO of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.

    “Senator Murkowski’s Working Waterfronts Act is a comprehensive bill that invests in the modernization of our vital working waterfronts and the resiliency and success of our fishing and seafood industries,” said Robert Vandermark, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network. “This bill champions crucial improvements to shoreside facilities and infrastructure that support thriving coastal economies and promotes the development of a stronger future workforce to ensure American fishing traditions can continue for generations. This legislation also supports research and stewardship of economically important ocean ecosystems and fisheries to help them endure in a changing climate. The Network supports the Working Waterfronts Act and thanks Senator Murkowski for listening to the needs of our fishing communities and providing a foresighted path to support their businesses and ways of life.”

    “The seafood industry has always been a critical part of the Blue Economy, even before the phrase was coined.  Alaska’s seafood industry produces an economic impact of $15 billion in the U.S. annually.  Senator Murkowski’s wholistic approach to a thriving waterfront is visionary.  The Working Waterfront Act supports and expands access to critical infrastructure and resources upon which the seafood industry relies.  Specific to seafood harvesting and processing, the Working Waterfront Act incentives co-investment by providing access to USDA loan programs which will help American fishermen and processors compete with other countries – an excellent example of good domestic economic policy,” Julie Decker, President, Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

    Bill Highlights:

    Investing in Energy and Shoreside Infrastructure

    • Tax Credits for Marine Energy Projects supports projects that produce electricity from waves, tides, and ocean currents.
    • Fishing Vessel Alternative Fuels Pilot Program provides resources to help transition fishing vessels from diesel to alternative fuel sources such as electric or hybrid, and funds research and development of alternative fuel technologies for fishing vessels.
    • Rural Coastal Community Processing and Cold Storage Grant increases support for community infrastructure such as cold storage, cooperative processing facilities, and mariculture/seaweed processing facilities by establishing a competitive grant program through the Department of Commerce for rural and small-scale projects.
    • Working Waterfronts Development Act establishes a grant program for infrastructure improvements for facilities benefitting commercial and recreational fishermen, mariculturists, and the boatbuilding industry.

    Boosting Maritime Workforce Development and Blue Economy

    • Maritime Workforce Grant Program establishes a Maritime Workforce Grant Program, directing the Maritime Administrator to award competitive grants supporting entities engaged in recruiting, educating, or training the maritime workforce.
    • Fishing Industry Safety, Health, and Wellness Improvement (FISH Wellness) Act expands the Coast Guard and CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fishing Safety Research and Training (FRST) Grant Program to include projects supporting behavioral health in addition to the projects currently supported dedicated to occupational safety research and training.
    • Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act establishes at least one ocean innovation cluster in each of the five domestic NOAA Fisheries regions, as well as the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico regions. The ocean cluster model fosters collaboration between different sectors – including public, private, and academic – within a geographic region to promote economic growth and sustainability in the Blue Economy.

    Supporting Sustainable and Resilient Ecosystems

    • Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act enhances collaboration on ocean acidification research and monitoring through ongoing mechanisms for stakeholder engagement on necessary research and monitoring. This provision would also establish two Advisory Board seats for representatives from Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, Tribal organizations, and Tribal consortia affected by ocean acidification and coastal acidification.
    • Vegetated Coastal Ecosystem Inventory establishes an interagency working group for the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive national map and inventory detailing vegetated coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems. This inventory encompasses habitat types, species, ecosystem conditions, ownership, protected status, size, salinity and tidal boundaries, carbon sequestration potential, and impacts of climate change.
    • Marine Invasive Species Research and Monitoring provides resources and tools to mitigate the impact of invasive species and help limit their spread by authorizing research and monitoring grants for local, Tribal, and regional marine invasive prevention work. This includes training, outreach, and equipment for early detection and response to invasions.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Discusses Importance of Protecting Women’s Sports, Boosting School Choice

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke with several of President Trump’s nominees, including Penny Schwinn, nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Education at the Department of Education, Kimberly Richey, nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, and Daniel Aronowitz, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the Department of Labor. They discussed the importance of protecting Title IX and promoting school choice.

    Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.

    ON PROMOTING SCHOOL CHOICE:

    TUBERVILLE: “Thanks for all of you [being] willing to serve. It’s a privilege to have you all here. Doctor Schwinn, I wonder if people can give the definition of ‘national emergency.’ That’s what we have in our education system. It’s pitiful. I’ve been in it 35 years and it’s getting worse. The last four years, we just brushed over the problems, didn’t try to correct any. I would hope that you would be really involved in this. Our kids can’t read and write, [the] majority of them. It’s a disaster. It’s a shame. It’s criminal, to be honest with you.

    [Holds up cellphone] would you please get that out of the classroom? Because kids can’t learn when they’re looking at a text. I’m sick of hearing about ‘we need those in the classroom.’ Let’s take our schools back. We’ve given it over to the people who actually don’t want to educate our kids.

    So, thanks for your background in educational agencies. If confirmed, I hope you would assist Secretary McMahon in executing at the more local level. Can you address that?”

    SCHWINN: “Absolutely, and thank you for that. I couldn’t agree more as the parent of a thirteen-year-old. So, absolutely, one of the things that we did in Tennessee that I think was the secret sauce and has been over a long period of time is that locals know what’s best for their communities and their students. Memphis, Tennessee and Lake County, Tennessee are three to four hours apart and could not be more different. My home state of California and my adopted home state of Tennessee could not be more different. We need to make sure that locals are empowered to make the best decisions for their students. And when the money is closest to the child, when the decisions are closest to the child, we can best serve the child. And I am completely aligned with Secretary McMahon to ensure that we can help our states and our local communities to make the best decisions for their students in their communities.”

    TUBERVILLE: “School choice should be an option. I’ve been in many inner-city schools. For some reason, a lot of my colleagues do not want to educate kids in inner cities. School choice should be mandatory in a lot of our inner cities because they can’t read and write. If you can’t read and write, you can’t take advantage of the greatest country ever.”

    ON PROTECTING TITLE IX:

    TUBERVILLE: “Ms. Richey, Title IX, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, is what I’ve been trying to get passed for years. It makes no sense to me what’s going on. I mean, we’ve got a huge problem. We can’t define the difference of men playing in women’s sports. It’s dangerous. We all know that. I mean, it’s something that we’d better get straight because little girls aren’t going to get into sports and we’re not going to have women’s sports 10, 15years from now. We’ve got entire high school teams that are made now of transgender boys that can’t figure out that they’re not supposed to be in that—that it’s for women. But what are your thoughts on that?”

    RICHEY: “Yes, sir. Thank you, Senator, for the question. I grew up playing basketball, and played into college. I could not have competed against biological men. It just was not something that I would have been able to do. One of the things I’m really proud of under the first term is that [the] OCR investigated and took to enforcement one of the very first cases initiated by the federal government, which actually determined that policies that allow students to participate based on sexual orientation or gender identity actually violated Title IX because they deprive women and girls of the opportunity to participate in athletics. I’m very proud of that. I’m very proud of the way that the Secretary and the President have prioritized this issue, and I’m certainly committed to vigorously enforcing it and continuing to pursue these cases.”

    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. We’ve got the Olympics here in a couple of years—[in] a few years in LA. We’re going be a joke if we allow that to happen on the world stage. So, hopefully we come to our senses by that time and show little girls that, ‘yes, you do have an opportunity.’”

    ON THE FINANCIAL FREEDOM ACT:

    TUBERVILLE: “[The] Financial Freedom Act. I think you, Mr. Aronowitz, are familiar with that. The Biden administration pretty much prohibited being able to put your finances where you wanted to, at the end of the day. I’ve been trying to get that passed. Would you commit to supporting legislation that would provide Americans the freedom to invest their own money how they see fit?”

    ARONOWITZ: “Absolutely, Senator. I believe that fiduciaries should decide what’s in retirement plans, not government bureaucrats, not plaintiff lawyers, no one else. Fiduciaries know what’s best, and I am committed to that.”

    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. Mr. Chairman.”

    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Speaks About Importance of Protecting Alabama’s Family Farms

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
    WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke about the importance of protecting Alabama’s family farms during a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing. During the hearing, Sen. Tuberville spoke with Zippy Duvall, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Jim Alderman, Owner of Alderman Farms, and Aaron Locker, Managing Director of Kincannon & Reed.
    Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on Youtube or Rumble.
    ON HIGH COSTS IMPACTING AMERICAN FARMERS: 
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having and holding this hearing. In addition to being on the Aging Committee, gentlemen, I’m also on the Ag Committee. Let me tell you, the state of our agriculture economy, it’s in dire straits. We’re in trouble. We’ve lost 150,000 farms, [and] 25,000 farmers just in the last five years. Producers have lost over $40 billion dollars in net farm income since 2022 and the current agriculture trade deficit has grown to $49 billion dollars. Despite [this], in my state of Alabama, the producers [are] making bumper crops, they can’t even break even, much less make a profit due to the low commodity prices, high input costs, interest rates and inflation. We can’t keep this up. We can’t do it. The only way we’re going to help our farmers survive is to extend President Trump’s tax cuts, increase references prices, and hammer the heck out of foreign countries on tariffs. It is way out of control, way out of balance. We cannot continue this direction.”
    ON FARM LABOR:
    TUBERVILLE: “It’s concerning that one-third of our farmers are over the age of 65. And this creates a significant workforce problem for our ag industry as young people are not entering farming. Mr. Duvall and Mr. Alderman, this labor problem increases the need for reforms in H-2A programs. Can you two speak of the struggles of keeping up with H-2A’s Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) that is over $16 dollars an hour in my state of Alabama—that is double the minimum wage. Can y’all address that, please?”
    ALDERMAN: “Yes, sir. I can.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
    ALDERMAN: “It costs me between $22 to $24 dollars an hour from my H-2A labor. Okay? Minimum wage in Florida, I think, is $12.50. I’m from Florida. And with the rates going up higher—next year they’re going up and they’re talking about going up another dollar—we still have to pay for their housing. We’d like some relief at least we could get the housing back from the people, the H-2A workers who we are bringing in. We spend, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars every year just for housing for the labor. Plus, we have to bring them in here, pay for their visas, pay for their ride here, their ride back. They’re great labor. They’re good. Without them, we couldn’t harvest our crops. But we can’t compete with the cheap prices of tomatoes coming from Mexico against us. They undercut the price—it’s so cheap. […] The tariffs that we’re talking about is not enough to make any difference. 20%, 17%, that’s not enough to help it. They need a floor of at least what our minimum growing cost is and then put a tariff above that. But try to protect the Florida farmers, the few that are left, not only just in Florida, because at first, it was just Mexico was coming after Florida tomato farmers right after NAFTA. Well, 20 years later, they’re growing pepper and squash and corn and beans and every vegetable we grow all the way up the East Coast, all the way to Jersey and past. They’re going to be competing with all of them, Mexico with all those products. And their labor is, I don’t know, what are they paying $10 dollars a day and we’re paying $25 dollars an hour? There’s got to be some help with the balance of trade. We don’t want the government to give us anything, but get us on a level playing field with Mexico and Canada.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. Mr. Duvall, you want to add to that?”
    DUVALL: “Yes, sir. First thing we need to do is for Congress to freeze the AEWR wage rate so that farmers don’t have to take another increase and give us time to work on this H-2A program so that we can make it a workable program for our employees and for the farmer there. If the way we’re going now with the wage rate going up, we’re gonna price ourselves out of farming. We’re not gonna be able to pay the wage rate and stay in the farming and provide those jobs. And it’s gotta be done, it’s gotta be done quickly. And then we gotta work on creating an H-2A program or a program that speaks to all of agriculture. All of agriculture is suffering for the lack of labor, and we need to have year-round workers that’s not capped. We need to be able to control it, but we need to be able to fill those jobs, whether a small, medium, or large-sized farm, and we need to have those year-round workers in those areas like dairy and other places where the work never stops. And then, of course, the regulations that go along with those programs are just so burdensome. You heard him talk about the requirement of having housing—the liabilities that come along with that and the difficulty it is for our farmers to continue to abide by all these regulations because every regulation costs a lot of money to a farmer. And if we’re gonna continue to be able to compete with the world, we gotta be able to make sure that we have a workable program, bring reliable labor here so that we can get the job done. […] How can a young farmer come back to the farm and bring his expertise that he learned in college [and] expand that farm without having the labor force to do it with? That’s one of the biggest limiting factors we have. And that AEWR rate is set by a survey done by USDA that was created over 60 years ago to count employees, not to set a wage rate. The formula is totally […] unworkable, and we need to redo that formula and set a fair wage rate that encourages farmers to hire people and be able to still stay in business and to treat their employees right.”
    ON IMPORTANCE OF REPEALING THE DEATH TAX:
    TUBERVILLE: “I got one question, Mr. Locker, we’ll start with you. All of you can answer if you want—your thoughts on this. As long as I’ve been up here, I’ve been advocating to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, which is often called the ‘death tax.’ I know it means a lot to farmers. So, Mr. Locker, we’ll start with you—your thoughts?”
    LOCKER: “Well, Senator, I think, obviously, you look at modern agriculture today, I mean, it is a massive investment. Even small farms, I mean, if you add up all the assets. And, so, anytime that you want to pass that along to the next generation, it comes at a significant cost and in many cases is cost prohibitive. And so, yeah, doing away with the death tax. And I think we get, you know, bottled in with, you know, other businesses and it couldn’t be farther from the truth in terms of comparable that, you know, when you’re passing along a farm business, it comes with, like I said, a lot of costs, a lot of assets, it takes a lot to run a farm today. And so doing away with the estate, the death tax is the right thing to do. To be able to continue to pass it down to the next generation—otherwise it becomes cost prohibitive.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Duvall, you got it.”
    DUVALL: “It’s absolutely one of the necessary things that we need to do. [A farmer] works all his life. I’ve spent my whole life buying back my farm—my daddy had to sell part of it off—my whole life. And if we don’t fix that problem, if we don’t get rid of the inheritance tax, other generations will have to sell a farm and that farm will go out of production, and we will not enjoy the production from those farms. And it has to be done. You know, it’s just like people say, ‘Well, you got a lot of land, you got a lot of wealth.’ You have to have land to farm. It’s just like having a tractor. It’s just like having a car to go to work in every day, even if you’re not farming. It’s something you have to have to do that job. But, show me a farmer that has a retirement plan. It’s tied up in his land. It’s tied up in his land. And when he retires, he’s either got to sell his land or sell it to his children. And then if you pile inheritance tax on top of that, they have to sell part of the farm to be able to continue it. And it is one of the biggest devastating things that can happen to a family farm when you have a death and have to go through that difficult time.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Alderman?”
    ALDERMAN: “I agree with you wholeheartedly. It’s double taxation. It shouldn’t be there. You’ve already paid the taxes once. Why are you going to just put somebody out of business or make them sell their business or the farm? It shouldn’t be there. I agree with you.” […]
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Dene and Métis people of Tulita District the focus of a new $16.5M Office and Cultural Centre for Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve 

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    June 6, 2025                                Tulita, NT                                     Parks Canada

    The Government of Canada is committed to creating economic opportunities and benefits for Indigenous communities and protecting naturally and culturally treasured places in Canada, including through the advancement of infrastructure projects and impact and benefit plans.

    Today, the Honourable Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, on behalf of the Minister responsible for Parks Canada, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, announced a $16.5 million investment under Parks Canada’s National Park Establishment program to advance construction of a new office and cultural centre for the Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve in Northwest Territories. Construction of this landmark building fulfills a commitment in the Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve Impact and Benefit Plan, will include a cultural centre exhibition, and will serve as Parks Canada’s primary operations base for the park reserve. 

    The ground-breaking event coincided with Tulita community’s annual “Fire Day,” which commemorates the devastating 1995 wildfire, also celebrated community collaboration, cultural leadership, and shared stewardship. Indigenous and community members from Tulita and Norman Wells gathered to speak of the cultural and regional significance of this long-anticipated milestone.  The office and cultural centre will be a place for connection and cultural discovery, provide a space for community members to gather, facilitate meaningful visitor experiences, welcome Mackenzie River paddlers, and to share the rich history of the Sahtu Dene and Métis. The building will also house Parks Canada’s operational facility, where local staff will work to protect, present and celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve.

    Investments in infrastructure, like the Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve office and culture centre project, benefit the community of Tulita by growing local economic development, boosting the tourism sector, and driving job creation. Infrastructure improvements in the Nááts’įhch’oh National Park Reserve will deliver high-quality and meaningful experiences are for visitors and community members alike to connect with and discover the natural and cultural heritage of the Sahtu region and underscores the federal government’s commitment to northern communities and Indigenous partners.

                                                                                                      -30-

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Applications open for Education Maintenance Allowance 2025/26

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    All eligible young people are being encouraged to apply for a weekly, term time allowance of £30 per week from August 2025.

    The Highland Council administers Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) in respect of eligible young people from across its 29 secondary schools.  Colleges administer this scheme for their students.

    During the last academic year, over 400 young people across Highland secondary schools benefited from approximately £350,000 from this Allowance. The Allowance provides an incentive for young people aged 16-19 from lower income families to continue with their post-16 education, either in school or college.

    Eligibility for the scheme is based upon the total taxable household income for 2024/25:

    • up to £24,421 taxable income for households with 1 dependant child
    • up to £26,884 taxable income for households with 2 or more dependant children.

    This weekly term time allowance is paid directly into the young person’s bank account and does not affect the child benefit or other benefits being paid to their parents or carers.

    Further information about Education Maintenance Allowance, including full eligibility criteria, is available on the Highland Council’s website at www.highland.gov.uk/ema.

    The Council’s Welfare Support Team can complete the online application form with the young person and in the wider context, can support all eligible households to apply for benefits and other entitlements.

    The Welfare Support Team can be contacted by telephoning 0800 090 1004 or emailing welfare.support@highland.gov.uk.

    6 Jun 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Canada extends support to Ukraine by waiving tariffs on goods

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    June 6, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance Canada

    Last month in Banff, Alberta, G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors unanimously reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine.

    Building upon this consensus, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, today announced that Canada will extend the Ukraine Goods Remission Order until June 9, 2026.

    Canada is continuing to support Ukraine’s economy with a one-year extension on tariff-free importation of Ukrainian goods into Canada.

    Canada remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine as it fights to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democracy. The conflict initiated by Russia, with support from Belarus, continues to severely impact Ukraine’s economy, including its ability to export goods globally.

    Since the Ukraine Goods Remission Order was issued on June 9, 2022, Canada has imported over $35 million in goods from Ukraine with $8.5 million in customs duties remitted. The extension is expected to generate approximately $1.2 million in duties remitted from June 10, 2025 to June 9, 2026.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Sixty temporary homes opening in Kelowna

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    People at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Kelowna will soon have access to 60 new temporary homes with the opening of Balsam Place.

    “We’re making meaningful progress addressing homelessness in Kelowna and throughout B.C.,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “Everyone deserves a safe, inclusive place to live and a chance to build a secure future. These 60 new homes are another step toward bringing people in, off the streets, and keeping our communities strong.”

    Balsam Place at 3199 Appaloosa Rd. is the third development in Kelowna created through an agreement between the Province and the City of Kelowna on homeless and encampment response and temporary housing solutions.

    Each temporary home includes a private entrance, bed, desk, mini fridge, heating and air conditioning, and storage space. The site also provides shared areas for dining, lounging and laundry, as well as access to overdose-prevention services, care professionals, and support and safety services, such as life-skills programming, support-group referrals, security lighting and cameras. In addition, the site includes multiple safety features to maintain resident safety including, security cameras and controlled access gates.

    “Through our first two HEARTH sites, we have already helped more than 60 people transition into housing,” said Tom Dyas, mayor of Kelowna. “With Balsam Place, we are helping even more individuals take the next step on their path out of homelessness, while also working to create a safer, healthier community for everyone.”

    Connective, an experienced non-profit housing operator, was selected to manage day-to-day operations at Balsam Place. Tenants are expected to move in gradually from July 2025.

    “For decades, Connective has delivered housing and a range of supportive programs in communities across B.C.,” said Mark Miller, CEO of Connective. “We are proud to draw on our experience and person-centred approach to meet the unique needs of people in Kelowna. We look forward to working with neighbours to build relationships and foster long-term community well-being.”

    This work is part of the Province’s homeless and encampment response temporary housing solutions program, under the Belonging in BC plan, to prevent homelessness and bring more people indoors quickly.

    In communities throughout B.C., almost 1,200 homeless and encampment response and temporary housing solutions spaces have been delivered or underway, including 179 in Kelowna. Since 2017, the Province has nearly 92,000 homes that have been delivered or are underway, including more than 2,000 homes in Kelowna.

    Quick Facts:

    • The Province, through BC Housing, is providing a Homeless Encampment Action Response Team (HEART) grant of approximately $6.7 million for the homes.
    • BC Housing will also provide approximately $2.6 million in annual operating funding.
    • The City of Kelowna is contributing the land, which it has leased to the Province for a nominal fee.
    • Kelowna’s first two homeless and encampment response and temporary housing solutions sites, STEP Place and Trailside Housing, are providing a total of 119 units and have been operational since early 2024.
    • All three locations are temporary housing solutions and will be in place for at least three years. 

    Learn More:

    To learn more about government’s new Homes for People action plan, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HOUS0019-000436

    To learn about the steps the Province is taking to tackle the housing crisis and deliver affordable homes for people in British Columbia, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/housing/

    A map showing the location of all announced provincially funded housing projects in B.C. is available here:  https://www.bchousing.org/projects-partners/Building-BC/homes-for-BC

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Pingree, Turner lead 120+ Reps. in Bipartisan Push to Restore NEA Grants

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (1st District of Maine)

    Today, Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Congressman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) led more than 120 of their colleagues in urging President Trump to restore National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant funding approved by Congress. The bipartisan push comes after the Trump Administration canceled NEA grants to hundreds of community organizations, many of which had already begun the projects for which they had been awarded. 

    “Many grantees are anchors in their communities, whether as employers and educators, prominent Main Street destinations, and tourist attractions,” the lawmakers wrote. “Lost grants will hurt budgets, contract programming, and may lead to layoffs – right as the crucial summer season kicks off for many organizations and small businesses.”

    They further explained that the NEA underpins a $1.2 trillion cultural sector, representing 5.4 million jobs and a $36.8 billion trade surplus. “In short, the bang for our buck delivered by the NEA is too significant to ignore,” Pingree, Turner, and their colleagues said. 

    The full text of the letter is copied below and available here. 

    In addition to cancelling NEA funds already appropriated by Congress, the President has proposed eliminating the agency entirely in his budget.

    Pingree recently penned an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald condemning President Trump’s attacks on arts and culture and warning that his actions mirror the authoritarian playbooks of regimes in Turkey and Hungary.

    Pingree is Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which oversees the NEA, and is an ex-officio member of the National Council on the Arts.

    +++

    Dear President Trump,

    We write to express our deep concern about recent grant cancellations at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). These cancellations will have a resounding impact on communities in every part of the country, costing jobs and harming local economies. We urge you to direct their immediate reversal and restore full funding of the NEA as authorized by statute and approved by Congress.

    The NEA is a small but efficient agency, using its modest resources to ensure that the benefit of federal funds reaches every Congressional district. The cancellation of hundreds of grants threatens a wide range of initiatives, from apprenticeship programs to youth engagement to economic development planning. Many grantees are anchors in their communities, whether as employers and educators, prominent Main Street destinations, and tourist attractions. Lost grants will hurt budgets, contract programming, and may lead to layoffs – right as the crucial summer season kicks off for many organizations and small businesses.

    Our relatively minimal federal investment reaches Americans who would not otherwise benefit from the arts. In 678 counties across the country – primarily in rural areas – the Endowment does more to fund the arts than the top 1,000 foundations. And the benefit is not just local. It underpins the $1.2 trillion economic powerhouse that is the cultural sector, representing 5.4 million jobs and a $36.8 billion trade surplus. In short, the bang for our buck delivered by the NEA is too significant to ignore.

    The NEA fulfills an essential role in our nation’s economic and cultural life, particularly as we look toward America250 celebrations next year. The Endowment’s support for local arts organizations remains a cornerstone of its statutory purpose and of its value to local communities across the country. We urge you to restore the full potential of that value by reversing grant cancellations to local arts organizations.

    Sincerely,

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Mike Levin Delivers House Floor Speech Calling on Senate to Preserve Clean Energy Tax Credits that Lower Costs & Create Jobs

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Levin (CA-49)

    June 04, 2025

    Rep. Levin speaks about how eliminating clean energy tax cuts will raise energy costs

    Washington, D.C.- Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) delivered a speech on the House Floor urging the Senate to block the passage of the House Republicans’ “Big Ugly Bill,” highlighting how the bill’s elimination of clean energy tax cuts would raise energy costs for American households.

    Watch the full speech here. Full remarks below. 

    “Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak out against the “Big Ugly Bill,” which even Elon Musk has called, and I quote, ‘a disgusting abomination.’

    “The Big Ugly Bill undermines the programs millions of Americans rely on to survive, like health care and food assistance. But perhaps less discussed is that it will INCREASE your energy bills.

    “Right now, 80 million Americans are struggling to pay their electricity bills, and according to a recent report in the New York Times, this bill will make it worse. The Big Ugly Bill ends tax credits to promote clean energy and will increase household energy costs by up to $415 dollars a year.

    “On top of that, ending the tax credits will lead to thousands of job losses nationwide—red states blue states. This comes as demand for electricity is surging, driving up costs even more.

    “Everyone in this body talks a good game about lowering costs, but when the time came to actually do something about costs, my House colleagues voted to put Big Oil CEOs over the American people.

    “I urge my friends in the Senate to fix this mess and actually lower energy prices for the American people.

    “Thank you, and I yield back.”

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Los Angeles County Wildfire Recovery Continues with Over $3 Billion in Federal Support

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: Los Angeles County Wildfire Recovery Continues with Over $3 Billion in Federal Support

    Los Angeles County Wildfire Recovery Continues with Over $3 Billion in Federal Support

    LOS ANGELES – As of June 6, just under five months since the Los Angeles County wildfires were declared, FEMA, along with our federal partners, have made over $3 billion available for eligible homeowners, renters, and businesses who have been impacted by the disaster

    This total includes:Individual Assistance To date, FEMA has approved over $136 million to help 57,813 survivors recover through the Individual Assistance program, including more than $42 million for Housing Assistance and more than $93 million for Other Needs Assistance paid directly to survivors

     FEMA’s Rental Assistance FEMA’s Rental Assistance Program provides money directly to eligible survivors to find their own temporary housing

     749 owners and 2,677 renters are utilizing the rental assistance program

     More than $18 million has been approved for rental assistance from FEMA

    Small Business AdministrationThe U

    S

    Small Business Administration has approved more than $2

    9 billion in federal disaster loans for businesses, nonprofits and residents impacted by the Los Angeles County wildfires

    That includes more than $456 million for businesses and more than $2

    4 billion to homeowners and renters to help them rebuild and recover from the disaster

    joy

    li
    Fri, 06/06/2025 – 18:08

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Webb Sees Sombrero Galaxy in Near-Infrared

    Source: NASA

    After capturing an image of the iconic Sombrero galaxy at mid-infrared wavelengths in late 2024, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now followed up with an observation in the near-infrared. In the newest image, released on June 3, 2025, the Sombrero galaxy’s tightly packed group of stars at the galaxy’s center is illuminated while the dust in the outer edges of the disk blocks some stellar light. Studying galaxies like the Sombrero at different wavelengths, including the near-infrared and mid-infrared with Webb, as well as the visible with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, helps astronomers understand how this complex system of stars, dust, and gas formed and evolved, along with the interplay of that material.
    Learn more about the Sombrero galaxy and what this new view can tell us.
    Image credit:  NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops

    Source: NASA

    The 2001 Odyssey spacecraft captured a first-of-its-kind look at Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth’s tallest volcanoes.
    A new panorama from NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows one of the Red Planet’s biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, poking through a canopy of clouds just before dawn. Arsia Mons and two other volcanoes form what is known as the Tharsis Montes, or Tharsis Mountains, which are often surrounded by water ice clouds (as opposed to Mars’ equally common carbon dioxide clouds), especially in the early morning. This panorama marks the first time one of the volcanoes has been imaged on the planet’s horizon, offering the same perspective of Mars that astronauts have of the Earth when they peer down from the International Space Station.
    Launched in 2001, Odyssey is the longest-running mission orbiting another planet, and this new panorama represents the kind of science the orbiter began pursuing in 2023, when it captured the first of its now four high-altitude images of the Martian horizon. To get them, the spacecraft rotates 90 degrees while in orbit so that its camera, built to study the Martian surface, can snap the image.

    The angle allows scientists to see dust and water ice cloud layers, while the series of images enables them to observe changes over the course of seasons.
    “We’re seeing some really significant seasonal differences in these horizon images,” said planetary scientist Michael D. Smith of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s giving us new clues to how Mars’ atmosphere evolves over time.”
    Understanding Mars’ clouds is particularly important for understanding the planet’s weather and how phenomena like dust storms occur. That information, in turn, can benefit future missions, including entry, descent and landing operations.
    Volcanic Giants
    While these images focus on the upper atmosphere, the Odyssey team has tried to include interesting surface features in them, as well. In Odyssey’s latest horizon image, captured on May 2, Arsia Mons stands 12 miles (20 kilometers) high, roughly twice as tall as Earth’s largest volcano, Mauna Loa, which rises 6 miles (9 kilometers) above the seafloor.
    The southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes, Arsia Mons is the cloudiest of the three. The clouds form when air expands as it blows up the sides of the mountain and then rapidly cools. They are especially thick when Mars is farthest from the Sun, a period called aphelion. The band of clouds that forms across the planet’s equator at this time of year is called the aphelion cloud belt, and it’s on proud display in Odyssey’s new panorama.
    “We picked Arsia Mons hoping we would see the summit poke above the early morning clouds. And it didn’t disappoint,” said Jonathon Hill of Arizona State University in Tempe, operations lead for Odyssey’s camera, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS.
    The THEMIS camera can view Mars in both visible and infrared light. The latter allows scientists to identify areas of the subsurface that contain water ice, which could be used by the first astronauts to land on Mars. The camera can also image Mars’ tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, allowing scientists to analyze their surface composition.
    More About Odyssey
    NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Odyssey Project for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and collaborates with JPL on mission operations. THEMIS was built and is operated by Arizona State University in Tempe.
    For more about Odyssey:

    Mars Odyssey

    News Media Contacts
    Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
    Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
    2025-077

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA’s Ready-to-Use Dataset Details Land Motion Across North America

    Source: NASA

    An online tool maps measurements and enables non-experts to understand earthquakes, subsidence, landslides, and other types of land motion.
    NASA is collaborating with the Alaska Satellite Facility in Fairbanks to create a powerful web-based tool that will show the movement of land across North America down to less than an inch. The online portal and its underlying dataset unlock a trove of satellite radar measurements that can help anyone identify where and by how much the land beneath their feet may be moving — whether from earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, or the extraction of underground natural resources such as groundwater.
    Spearheaded by NASA’s Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the effort equips users with information that would otherwise take years of training to produce. The project builds on measurements from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars, or SARs, to generate high-resolution data on how Earth’s surface is moving.

    Formally called the North America Surface Displacement Product Suite, the new dataset comes ready to use with measurements dating to 2016, and the portal allows users to view those measurements at a local, state, and regional scales in a few seconds. For someone not using the dataset or website, it could take days or longer to do a similar analysis.
    “You can zoom in to your country, your state, your city block, and look at how the land there is moving over time,” said David Bekaert, the OPERA project manager and a JPL radar scientist. “You can see that by a simple mouse click.”
    The portal currently includes measurements for millions of pixels across the U.S. Southwest, northern Mexico, and the New York metropolitan region, each representing a 200-foot-by-200-foot (60-meter-by-60-meter) area on the ground. By the end of 2025, OPERA will add data to cover the rest of the United States, Central America, and Canada within 120 miles (200 kilometers) of the U.S. border. When a user clicks on a pixel, the system pulls measurements from hundreds of files to create a graph visualizing the land surface’s cumulative movement over time.

    “The OPERA project automated the end-to-end SAR data processing system such that users and decision-makers can focus on discovering where the land surface may be moving in their areas of interest,” said Gerald Bawden, program scientist responsible for OPERA at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This will provide a significant advancement in identifying and understanding potential threats to the end users, while providing cost and time savings for agencies.” 
    For example, water-management bureaus and state geological surveys will be able to directly use the OPERA products without needing to make big investments in data storage, software engineering expertise, and computing muscle.
    How It Works
    To create the displacement product, the OPERA team continuously draws data from the ESA (European Space Agency) Sentinel-1 radar satellites, the first of which launched in 2014. Data from NISAR, the NASA-ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, will be added to the mix after that spacecraft launches later this year.

    Satellite-borne radars work by emitting microwave pulses at Earth’s surface. The signals scatter when they hit land and water surfaces, buildings, and other objects. Raw data consists of the strength and time delay of the signals that echo back to the sensor. 
    To understand how land in a given area is moving, OPERA algorithms automate steps in an otherwise painstaking process. Without OPERA, a researcher would first download hundreds or thousands of data files, each representing a pass of the radar over the point of interest, then make sure the data aligned geographically over time and had precise coordinates.
    Then they would use a computationally intensive technique called radar interferometry to gauge how much the land moved, if at all, and in which direction — towards the satellite, which would indicate the land rose, or away from the satellite, which would mean it sank.
    “The OPERA project has helped bring that capability to the masses, making it more accessible to state and federal agencies, and also users wondering, ‘What’s going on around my house?’” said Franz Meyer, chief scientist of the Alaska Satellite Facility, a part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.
    Monitoring Groundwater
    Sinking land is a top priority to the Arizona Department of Water Resources. From the 1950s through the 1980s, it was the main form of ground movement officials saw, as groundwater pumping increased alongside growth in the state’s population and agricultural industry. In 1980, the state enacted the Groundwater Management Act, which reduced its reliance on groundwater in highly populated areas and included requirements to monitor its use.
    The department began to measure this sinking, called subsidence, with radar data from various satellites in the early 2000s, using a combination of SAR, GPS-based monitoring, and traditional surveying to inform groundwater-management decisions.
    Now, the OPERA dataset and portal will help the agency share subsidence information with officials and community members, said Brian Conway, the department’s principal hydrogeologist and supervisor of its geophysics unit. They won’t replace the SAR analysis he performs, but they will offer points of comparison for his calculations. Because the dataset and portal will cover the entire state, they also could identify areas not yet known to be subsiding.
    “It’s a great tool to say, ‘Let’s look at those areas more intensely with our own SAR processing,’” Conway said.
    The displacement product is part of a series of data products OPERA has released since 2023. The project began in 2020 with a multidisciplinary team of scientists at JPL working to address satellite data needs across different federal agencies. Through the Satellite Needs Working Group, those agencies submitted their requests, and the OPERA team worked to improve access to information to aid a range of efforts such as disaster response, deforestation tracking, and wildfire monitoring.

    News Media Contacts
    Andrew Wang / Jane J. LeeJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
    2025-076

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  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Provides Hardware for Space Station DNA Repair Experiment 

    Source: NASA

    When it comes to helping NASA scientists better understand the effects of space travel on the human body, fruit flies are the heavyweights of experiments in weightlessness. Because humans and fruit flies share a lot of similar genetic code, they squeeze a lot of scientific value into a conveniently small, light package. 
    Through a new Space Act Agreement between NASA and Axiom Space, the Vented Fly Box will enable fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These tiny crew members will join the Axiom Mission 4 crew for scientific investigations on the International Space Station. The goal is to advance research into how spaceflight impacts DNA repair, a key factor in astronaut health on long-term space missions. 
    For decades, NASA has iterated and improved these specialized habitats to safely house generations of fruit flies for their trips to and from space. As the go-to organism for many of its studies, NASA gained unique knowledge and carefully finessed the steps astronauts take to perform the most efficient and rewarding life science experiments in space.
    The study is supported by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and Axiom Space.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ARMD Research Solicitations (Updated June 6)

    Source: NASA

    THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON JUNE 6, 2025(Updated Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.)
    This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems.
    Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, better known as NSPIRES. You are encouraged to visit the NSPIRES web site, create an account, and sign up for automated email announcements.
    Other types of collaborative opportunities, such as those involving Requests for Information or academic research contests, also are included on this page.
    This page has four major sections:

    Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship OpportunitiesProposals are due by June 11, 2025. (NOTE important update below.)
    University Leadership InitiativeStep-A proposals due by June 26, 2025.
    University Student Research ChallengeProposals for Cycle 3 are due by June 26, 2025.

    ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 – OPEN
    Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities
    (View the full ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 text here.)
    This announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. These opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
    Research proposals are sought to address the key challenges summarized in the Elements section at the end of the Amendment 1 document, and which reference NASA’s Hypersonic Technology project.
    UPDATE for June 6: Reflecting the Fiscal Year 2026 budget changes, the Transformational Tools & Technologies project opportunities originally described in this announcement were cancelled. Proposals citing this project will not be evaluated.
    Notices of Intent are not required.
    A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Two pre-proposal teleconferences for potential proposers will be held and meeting links will be posted on NSPIRES.
    Proposals are due by 5 p.m. EDT on June 11, 2025.

    ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 – OPEN
    University Leadership Initiative
    (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 text here.)
    NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact.
    Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4.
    Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations
    Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft
    Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports
    Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles
    Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance
    Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation
    This NASA Research Announcement will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal, which is due June 26, 2025. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Thursday April 30, 2025; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop9) (Page will be live closer to the event.)
    An interested partners list for this ULI is at https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/partners. To be listed as an interested lead or partner, please send an email to hq-univpartnerships@mail.nasa.gov with “ULI Partnerships” in the subject line and include the information required for the table on that web page.

    ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 – OPEN
    University Student Research Challenge
    (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 text here)
    NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics.  The challenge will provide students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities with grants for their projects, as well as the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator — requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public.
    The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies.
    Notices of Intent are not required for this solicitation.
    Proposals for Cycle 3 are due June 26, 2025.
    Proposals can also be submitted later and evaluated in the second and third cycles.
    The USRC Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on the days/times below. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,317928116#.

    USRC Cycle
    Information Session/Q&A Date
    Proposal Due Date

    Cycle 1
    Sept. 20, 2024 at 2 pm ET
    Nov. 7, 2024

    Cycle 2
    Jan. 27, 2025 at 2 pm ET
    March 13, 2025

    Cycle 3
    May 12, 2025 at 2 pm ET
    June 26, 2025

    Aeronautics Innovation Challenges – OPEN
    NASA’s nationwide team of aeronautical innovators are committed to giving students of all ages opportunities to solve some of the biggest technical challenges facing the aviation community today. Through NASA-sponsored challenges and competitions, students representing multiple disciplines will put their skills to work by designing and building solutions to real-world problems.

    Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations RFI – CLOSED
    View the full ACERO RFI announcement here.
    NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project used this request for information to identify technologies that addressed current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA was seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This would support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations.
    Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023. Submissions were accepted only from U.S. companies.

    Advanced Air Mobility Mission RFI – CLOSED
    View the full AAM RFI announcement here.
    This request for information is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development.
    This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM. 
    The respond by date for this RFI closed on Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST.

    ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 – CLOSED
    (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 text here.)
    The announcement solicited proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity was designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. Advanced Air Vehicle Program fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
    Research proposals were sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8.
    A budget breakdown for each proposal was required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document could adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution.
    Proposals were due by April 30, 2024, at 5 PM ET.

    ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 – CLOSED
    (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 text here)
    NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project sought proposals for a fuel injector design concept and fabrication for testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
    The proposal for the fuel injector design aimed to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe.
    Proposals were due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT.

    Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry.
    The current open solicitations for ARMD Research Opportunities are ROA-2024 and ROA-2025.
    Here is some general information to know about the NRA process.

    NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES).
    All NRA technical work is defined and managed by project teams within these four programs: Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Integrated Aviation Systems Program, and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program.
    NRA awards originate from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ames Research Center in California, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.
    Competition for NRA awards is full and open.
    Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits.
    Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below.
    ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hubble Captures Starry Spectacle

    Source: NASA

    A galaxy ablaze with young stars is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Named NGC 685, this galaxy is situated about 64 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (the River). NGC 685 is a barred spiral because its feathery spiral arms sprout from the ends of a bar of stars at the galaxy’s center. The Milky Way is also a barred spiral, but our galaxy is a little less than twice the size of NGC 685.
    Astronomers used Hubble to study NGC 685 for two observing programs, both focused on star formation. It’s no surprise that NGC 685 was part of these programs: numerous patches of young, blue stars highlight the galaxy’s spiral arms. Also visible are pink gas clouds, called H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) regions, that glow for a short time when particularly hot and massive stars are born. An especially eye-catching H II region peeks out at the bottom edge of the image. Despite the dozens of star-forming regions evident in this image, NGC 685 converts an amount of gas equivalent to less than half the mass of the Sun into stars each year.
    The Hubble data collected for the two observing programs will allow astronomers to catalogue 50,000 H II regions and 100,000 star clusters in nearby galaxies. By combining Hubble’s sensitive visible and ultraviolet observations with infrared data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, researchers can peer into the depths of dusty stellar nurseries and illuminate the stars forming there.
    Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

    Media Contact:
    Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

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