. Jim Pillen Comments on Good News from Forecasting Board
LINCOLN, NE – The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board (NEFAB) voted today to add $100 million to current fiscal year revenue projections for General Fund receipts.
Additionally, the Forecasting Board increased projected revenue receipts by $5 million for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025-2026, and by $60 million for the following Fiscal Year 2026-2027. Together, these increases account for an additional $165 million that can be leveraged, along with necessary spending decreases, to support a balanced state budget that delivers critical investments in education and property tax relief.
“The Forecasting Board delivered good news today,” said Governor Jim Pillen. “This is a sign of Nebraska’s strong and resilient economy. There is still work to be done to ensure we are delivering the fiscally conservative budget that Nebraskans expect and deserve.”
ADVISORY – BERKS COUNTY – Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to Highlight 2025-26 Proposed Budget Investments in Safer Communities
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis will discuss the Shapiro-Davis Administration’s proposed 2025-26 budget and its investments to make Pennsylvania communities safer on Monday, March 3, at 1 p.m. at Reading Hospital, 420 S. Fifth Ave., West Reading.
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which Davis leads, recently approved $45 million in Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) grants. This program supports a wide range of models focused on reducing community violence and relies on community groups that are most in tune with specific local needs. Reading Hospital is receiving more than $600,000 to expand and enhance its Violence Recovery Program.
The proposed 2025-26 budget includes a $10 million increase for the VIP program, as well as $10 million more for the Building Opportunity through Out-of-School Time program, which provides funding for afterschool programs that help keep kids safe and give them enrichment opportunities.
WHO: Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, state Sen. Judy Schwank, state Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams, representatives from Reading Hospital and Safe Berks
WHAT: Roundtable conversation about gun violence prevention and the Shapiro-Davis Administration’s proposed state budget
WHEN: Monday, March 3, at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Reading Hospital, 420 S. Fifth Ave., West Reading
RSVP: Members of the news media who are interested in attending must RSVP to Kirstin Alvanitakis at kirstinalv@pa.gov.
The visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House has not gone to plan – at least not to his plan. There were extraordinary scenes as a press conference between Zelensky and Trump descended into acrimony, with the US president loudly berating his opposite number, who he accused of “gambling with world war three”.
“You either make a deal or we’re out,” Trump told Zelensky. His vice-president, J.D. Vance, also got in on the act, accusing the Ukrainian president of “litigating in front of the American media”, and saying his approach was “disrespectful”. At one point he asked Zelensky: “Have you said thank you even once?”
Reporters present described the atmosphere as heated with voices raised by both Trump and Vance. The New York Times said the scene was “one of the most dramatic moments ever to play out in public in the Oval Office and underscored the radical break between the United States and Ukraine since Mr Trump took office”.
Underlying the angry exchanges were differences between the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government over the so-called “minerals deal” that Zelensky was scheduled to sign. But any lack of Ukrainian enthusiasm for the deal is understandable.
In its present form, it looks more like a memorandum of understanding that leaves several vital issues to be resolved later. The deal on offer is the creation of what will be called a “reconstruction investment fund”, to be jointly owned and managed by the US and Ukraine.
Into the proposed fund will go 50% of the revenue from the exploitation of “all relevant Ukrainian government-owned natural resource assets (whether owned directly or indirectly by the Ukrainian government)” and “other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure)”.
This means that private infrastructure – much of it owned by Ukraine’s wealthy oligarchs – is likely to become part of the deal. This has the potential of further increasing friction between Zelensky and some very powerful Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, US contributions are less clearly defined. The preamble to the agreement makes it clear that Ukraine already owes the US. The very first paragraph notes that “the United States of America has provided significant financial and material support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022”.
Western and Ukrainian analysts have also pointed out that there may be fewer and less accessible mineral and rare earth deposits in Ukraine than are currently assumed. The working estimates have been based mostly on Soviet-era data.
Since the current draft leaves details on ownership, governance and operations to be determined in a future fund agreement, Trump’s very big deal is at best the first step. Future rounds of negotiations are to be expected.
Statement of intent
From a Ukrainian perspective, this is more of a strength than a weakness. It leaves Kyiv with an opportunity to achieve more satisfactory terms in future rounds of negotiation. Even if any improvements will only be marginal, it keeps the US locked into a process that is, overall, beneficial for Ukraine.
Take the example of security guarantees. The draft agreement offers Ukraine nothing anywhere near Nato membership. But it notes that the US “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace”, adding that: “Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments.”
The significance of this should not be overstated. At its bare minimum, it is an expression of intent by the US that falls short of security guarantees but still gives the US a stake in the survival of Ukraine as an independent state.
But it is an important signal both in terms of what it does and does not do – a signal to Russia, Europe and Ukraine.
Trump does not envisage that the US will give Ukraine security guarantees “beyond very much”. He seems to think that these guarantees can be provided by European troops (the Kremlin has already cast doubts on this idea).
But this does not mean the idea is completely off the table. On the contrary, because the US commitment is so vague, it gives Trump leverage in every direction.
He can use it as a carrot and a stick against Ukraine to get more favourable terms for US returns from the reconstruction investment fund. He can use it to push Europe towards more decisive action to ramp up defence spending by making any US protection for European peacekeepers contingent on more equitable burden-sharing in Nato.
And he can signal to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that the US is serious about making a deal stick – and that higher American economic stakes in Ukraine and corporate presence on the ground would mean US-backed consequences if the Kremlin reneges on a future peace agreement and restarts hostilities.
That these calculations will ultimately lead to the “free, sovereign and secure Ukraine” that the agreement envisages is not a given.
For now, however, despite all the shortcomings and vagueness of the deal on key issues –– and the very public argument between the parties – it still looks like it serves all sides’ interests in moving forward in this direction.
This article has been updated with details of the meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Tetyana Malyarenko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Conservatives now claim we are in the middle of a “movement” of workers away from the New Democratic Party, which has historically been seen as the party of labour, toward both federal and provincial conservative parties.
Former Conservative Party of Canada leader Erin O’Toole reached out to workers in the last federal election and current Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, continues to do so.
However, the actual extent of union support for Ford must be put into context. There is no evidence to suggest a major political re-alignment of unions with conservative parties. At the same time, the ability of Ford’s brand of populism to engage with a strategic transactionalism in some unions is a serious challenge to labour movement solidarity.
Local autonomy is part of a democratic labour movement, and many of the endorsements for Ford came from union locals, not the entirety of a union’s membership.
Some unions have policies of not endorsing any party, while others allow endorsements by union locals of individual candidates. More importantly, even if unions decide to endorse a candidate or party, individual members vote for whoever they want. Union members continue to vote in complex and contradictory ways, and they can be swayed by populist politicians as much as any other voter.
Right-wing populism presents a challenge to unions whose members are not isolated from populist politics. Ford’s brand of populism has proven effective in attracting and dividing organized labour, especially public versus private sector union members. He uses populist rhetoric to challenge public sector unions while making more moderate overatures to non-union and private sector workers.
This pivoting populism has proven effective. Promises of a “buck-a-beer” and allowing liquor into corner stores appeals to workers while potentially reducing unionized jobs at LCBO outlets and government revenue for health care and education.
Ford has also demonstrated the ability to shift his populist message when needed. He quickly positioned himself as a leading voice against tariffs proposed by United States President Donald Trump. He successfully engaged a nationalist economic populism defending workers, specifically in Ontario’s manufacturing sector.
Despite being caught saying he was “100 per cent” happy with Trump’s victory, he pivoted to a message that muzzled, at least temporarily, the racist, anti-immigrant, anti-transgender and anti-climate change sentiments of Trumpian populism.
Ford’s folksy rhetoric was flexible enough to maintain his appeal. Union leaders representing workers supportive of Ford, especially in the private sector, either felt pressure to reflect their members politics or were supportive themselves. As a result, some unions were more open to being transactional with the Ontario PCs than in the past.
Transactional approach to politics
In their recent book Shifting Gears, labour experts Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage document Unifor’s shift toward a more transactional approach when dealing with political parties. They argue the union abandoned its traditional party-union alliance with the NDP for more pragmatic relationships with those in power.
Transactional politics are increasingly practised by many unions, and Ford has used it to his advantage. Private sector unions in the building trades and hospitality industries that endorsed Ford have secured millions in training funds from the government.
Ford’s transactional relationships with unions are not without growing pains. Several unions that supported the Ontario PCs in the 2022 election condemned Bill 28, which would have removed the right to strike for 55,000 educational workers. After thousands walked off the job in response, the government withdrew the bill.
Here, we see a broader form of transactional politics in play. If Ford wanted to maintain even minimal union support, he had to recognize basic rights for unionized workers.
The current levels of union support for the Ontario PCs may have an exaggerated significance. After all, the Conservatives only slightly increased their popular vote and lost three seats, dropping to 80 from 83. Similarly, the NDP remains the official opposition, but had their seat count and popular vote diminished, while the Liberals increased both.
The future of labour
Shifting union support for political parties can have an impact, as unions have people and resources that can be allocated to campaigns. But there are limits to the union support conservative parties can build.
First, much of this support is driven by right-wing populism, which can fade over time. The traditional conservative business community can reinstate neoliberal policies that restricts unions and their power.
Second, transactional politics that use taxpayer money are expensive for governments. After all, not every union can be awarded a new training centre.
Perhaps the most significant implications are for the future of the labour movement itself. The politics between unions that collaborate with right-wing populists and those who are attacked by them remain divisive as labour leaders have publicly debated the issue. At what point will the fissures erupt and threaten overall solidarity?
It may be time for the labour movement to go on the offensive against support for right-wing populists among their own memberships — the unions giving endorsements in exchange for resources and the bare minimum, in terms of union recognition.
At this juncture, this will be a struggle. Union political education has always been a challenge, and it’s more difficult in the era of right-wing legacy and social media. Any attempt by central labour bodies, such as the Ontario Federation of Labour, to sanction or expel affiliates who support right-wing parties would have high political costs.
But accommodating, rather than confronting, right-wing populist sentiments among workers and maintaining inter-union solidarity may eventually lead to the movement and political realignment conservatives are hoping for.
Steven Tufts receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He also sits on the board of an organisation that has recevied past funding from the Ontario Skills Development Fund mentioned in the article.
Source: The White House
Today, President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance made clear to the world that the United States will not be taken advantage of — a sentiment echoed by the cabinet and members of Congress from across the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!”
Sen. Lindsey Graham: “I’ve never been more proud of President Trump for showing the American people — and the world — you don’t trifle with this man … He wanted to get a ceasefire. He wants to end the war and Zelenskyy felt like he needed to bait Trump in the Oval Office.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem: “I am so proud of our Commander-in-Chief. Thank you President @RealDonaldTrump and @VP for standing up for America. We will not tolerate the political games and disrespect of America. America is back.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: “Amen, Mr. President.”
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent: “Thank you, President Trump, for standing up for the American people and our nation on the global stage.”
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum: “Thank you @POTUS for standing strong for America while working to end the killing abroad.”
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins: “American leadership is back — in the Oval Office — and on the world stage. FEARLESS. BOLD. RELENTLESS. We will save America.”
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for the United States. The American people will not stand for disrespect of our President, Oval Office, or our generous taxpayers. Peace is only accomplished through strength and our allies need to understand that.”
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner: “President Trump is standing up for forgotten Americans, not endless foreign wars. Biden’s legacy — increased homelessness, record high interest rates, all-time highs to buy a house, and Americans footing the bill. That ended January 20th. The American people are behind @POTUS.”
Sen. Jim Banks: “Thank you President Trump for standing up for America!”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn: “Thank you President Trump and VP Vance or standing up for America.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty: “The United States of America will no longer be taken for granted. The contrast between the last four years and now could not be more clear. Thank you, Mr. President.”
Sen. Josh Hawley: “Remember: the U.S. Senate has repeatedly and for years voted BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine with no strings attached and with no true oversight. It’s time for some ACCOUNTABILITY.”
Sen. Jim Justice: “Glad to have a @POTUS and @VP in charge that absolutely put America FIRST.”
Sen. Mike Lee: “Thank you for standing up for OUR COUNTRY and putting America first, President Trump and Vice President Vance!”
Sen. Bernie Moreno: “Finally we have a President who will speak the TRUTH and stand up against Washington’s endless wars. American taxpayers have been funding this war, it’s time to stop the killing and stop risking World War 3!”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin: “Under this President— the greatest, freest, and most generous nation on Earth is putting America First. I’d encourage anyone who has a problem with that to reevaluate their priorities.”
Sen. Rick Scott: “Thank you President Trump for standing up for America.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt: “It’s about time we have leaders who say what the American people are really thinking and prioritize the core national interests of America. The American taxpayer is tapped out, and President Trump and VP Vance are spot on.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville: “Thank you Mr. President and Vice President Vance for putting America first”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise: “President Trump is fighting for PEACE around the world and is putting America First as our best negotiator—he’s the only one to get Russia to the table to consider a serious and lasting peace agreement with Ukraine.”
Chairwoman Lisa McClain: “President Trump inherited this war. He has said from the beginning he wants to bring peace. @POTUS is a strong leader, and I know his negotiations will bring a deal together.”
Rep. Andy Biggs: “Gone are the days of foreign leaders walking all over us and snubbing their noses at America’s generosity. There’s a new President and Vice President in town. World leaders would be wise to humble themselves.”
Rep. Tim Burchett: “Job well done by @realDonaldTrump and our VP @JDVance. Give respect to get respect.”
Rep. Mike Collins: “Thank God we finally have a @POTUS who is willing to put America FIRST. Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Rep. Eli Crane: “America First. Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw: “If you are the leader of a country in a dire situation with no path to peace without American support, do not come into the Oval Office and argue with the President of the United States in public. Just a word of advice.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde: “President Trump and Vice President Vance are standing up for the AMERICAN PEOPLE. Our great country will NOT be taken advantage of or disrespected.”
Rep. Byron Donalds: “This is what putting the AMERICAN PEOPLE FIRST looks like. Thank you @realdonaldtrump and @JDVance for standing up for our nation.”
Rep. Brandon Gill: “America First in action. Thank you, @realdonaldtrump and @JDVance, for prioritizing our people and for promoting peace!”
Rep. Lance Gooden: “President @realdonaldtrump and Vice President @JDVance will never allow the United States to be disrespected or taken advantage of. America First, always!”
Rep. Paul Gosar: “Thank you, Mr. President and Vice President. The days of the USA getting pushed around are clearly over.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: “President Trump and Vice President Vance will put America First every single time. Putting Zelensky in his place while he disrespects the U.S. in the Oval Office is exactly what American leadership should look like. This is what We The People want to see!”
Rep. Pat Harrigan: “America’s priorities come first. @POTUS and @VP made it clear—Ukraine’s interests are not America’s interests. We’ve spent hundreds of billions with no accountability, no clear objectives, and no plan for peace. It’s time to put America first and end this war.”
Rep. Mark Harris: “Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance, for boldly defending America’s interests. This is PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH”
Rep. Diana Harshbarger: “The act displayed by Zelenskyy in the Oval Office was nothing short of a massive show of disrespect for the Trump Administration and the American people. Despite this, President Trump and Vice President Vance are holding the line and trying to end this conflict peacefully. God bless them both.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt: “You do NOT blame the people fighting to save your country! America leads—no more excuses!”
Rep. Nancy Mace: “Peace through strength live from the Oval”
Rep. Thomas Massie: “Is this the end of Zelensky’s presidency? He hitched his wagon to Biden and the deep state. They lost and now he doesn’t seem to be playing his cards well.”
Rep. Brian Mast: “American won’t be taken advantage of and America won’t be taken for granted. Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance for standing up for America.”
Rep. Addison McDowell: “AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER ALWAYS COME FIRST”
Rep. Mary Miller: “What has happened in Ukraine is a travesty. Joe Biden threw “gas on the fire.” Ukraine lost an entire generation, and Americans hundreds of billions in tax dollars. We thank God for giving us strong leadership. Thank you @POTUS and @VP for putting America’s interests first, and working to end this terrible war.”
Rep. Riley Moore: “It is amazing to have a President and VP who put America First! Thank you President Trump and VP Vance for fighting for our country and our people!”
Rep. Troy Nehls: “President Trump and Vice President Vance are standing up for the American people. This is America First leadership on display. Thank you POTUS and VP!”
Rep. Ralph Norman: “THIS is strong leadership that is ensuring we put the American people FIRST. Thank you @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance for standing up for our nation.”
Rep. Andy Ogles: “This is what it looks like to stand up for America.”
Rep. Mike Rulli: “You don’t have the cards!”
Rep. Keith Self: “TOUGH and FAIR. The world is witnessing American leadership back in the White House. Thank you President Trump and Vice President Vance.”
Rep. Victoria Spartz: “Zelensky is doing a serious disservice to the Ukrainian people insulting the American President and the American people – just to appease Europeans and increase his low polling in Ukraine after he failed miserably to defend his country. This is not a theater act but a real war!”
Rep. Greg Steube: “Ridiculous grandstanding by Zelensky in the Oval Office. The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Ukraine. And this is the thanks the American people get? It’s time to end this war.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman: “TRUMP IS THE GREATEST NEGOTIATOR AMERICA HAS EVER HAD! AMERICA IS BEING MADE GREAT BEFORE OUR VERY EYES!”
Rep. Andy Weber: “America FIRST. Strong, unapologetic leadership on the world stage is BACK!”
Rep. Joe Wilson: “I agree with President Trump that Ukrainian soldiers have been unbelievably brave! Critical Minerals Deal a major step forward toward ending the war responsibly. More sanctions on Russia & arms for Ukraine create maximum leverage for FULL land swap Art of the Deal!”
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
February 28, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ)—founding co-chairs of the Senate’s first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus—along with U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester urged EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to reopen the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR), which Duckworth and Booker led the charge to create, so the office can continue helping our most disadvantaged communities in rural, urban and tribal areas by improving access to clean drinking water, addressing legacy pollution that has led to higher cancer, asthma and death rates and more. Additionally, the Senators are demanding a more detailed explanation behind why the Trump Administration decided to abolish such a critical office and how the Administration is planning to ensure victims of environmental harm receive the attention, resources and protections they deserve.
“The closure of this office which assisted underserved communities across the country leaves us seriously questioning your commitment to adhere to the Congressional appropriations process of the agency and address the impacts of pollution on communities in urban, suburban, and rural America,” wrote the lawmakers. “The 168 EPA staff placed on administrative leave were dedicated, trusted in their community, and worked to help Americans overcome the public health and economic effects of pollution. We strongly urge you to reinstate this workforce and to provide Congress and the American people a reasonable strategy to make their communities healthier and cleaner.”
In addition to Duckworth, Booker and Blunt Rochester, the letter is co-signed by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website and below:
Dear Administrator Zeldin,
We write to you today to express our deep concern regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent decision to shut down the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR). In the United States, communities across the country lack access to safe and reliable drinking water and sewer systems, and remain exposed to pollution that causes cancer and respiratory illnesses. These issues impact every state and community type from cities to rural and farming communities, to tribal lands. Many of these areas were deliberately targeted due to their demographics for the siting of polluting activities.
The closure of this office which assisted underserved communities across the country leaves us seriously questioning your commitment to adhere to the Congressional appropriations process of the agency and address the impacts of pollution on communities in urban, suburban, and rural America. The 168 EPA staff placed on administrative leave were dedicated, trusted in their community, and worked to help Americans overcome the public health and economic effects of pollution. We strongly urge you to reinstate this workforce and to provide Congress and the American people a reasonable strategy to make their communities healthier and cleaner. Established in 1992 under a different name by President George H.W. Bush, OEJECR has played a pivotal role in ensuring that these communities, often marginalized and ignored, receive the attention, resources, and protections they deserve.
This office and its staff ensure the EPA prioritizes its work to lend a hand for these communities in their fight to reduce environmental disparities and promote health outcomes. This office ensured the EPA centered its work on the experiences and concerns of Americans. Its closure, especially without an adequate replacement, suggests that EPA’s posture will be one that ignores the concerns of families experiencing the health and economic effects of a polluted environment.
We are seriously concerned that the closure of this successful office comes with no alternative vision or strategy to help Americans overcome the public health issues pollution poses to their communities. For example, in February 2023, the EPA worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to file a suit against Denka Performance Elastomer for emitting cancerous air pollutants 14 times the recommended level 450 feet from a majority Black elementary school. Also, in June of 2023, a settlement agreement with the City of Houston was announced because of illegal dumping taking place in a majority Black and Latino neighborhood. Lastly, in July 2024, the EPA announced a settlement agreement with Marathon Oil arising out of the company’s violation of air emission regulations and permit laws at nearly 90 oil and natural gas production facilities on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. These are only a few legal actions initiated by the EPA that displays the need of a dedicated office tasked with engaging and providing resources to communities who are the victims of environmental harm.
Without the specialized expertise of this office and its 168 employees, the EPA will be ill equipped to achieve your stated outcome that “every American should have access to clean air, land, and water.” Instead, what we fear is an EPA that is devoid of the strategies necessary to confront the challenges faced by environmental justice communities disproportionately affected by the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change. Further, OEJECR managed the environmental justice mapping tool, EJScreen, which you have scrubbed from your website. EJScreen is a valuable tool, not only for EPA to ensure fully informed permitting, enforcement, outreach, and compliance decisions, but also for other federal agencies, state and local partners, industry, and communities across the country.
Absent strong leadership by the EPA and the resources to address these concerns, a dangerous precedent will be set, signaling that the federal government will no longer be a resource to all Americans, especially those in areas overburdened by pollution and the accompanying health burden. Congress has been clear that the EPA must prioritize combating pollution in marginalized communities around the country. It has directed appropriations toward offices like the OEJECR and programs that address environmental justice. For many years, the EPA has had an environmental justice line item under the agency’s enforcement unit. Congress explicitly directed the EPA to work on environmental justice in the explanatory statement to Public Law 117-103, going so far as to direct the EPA to provide to Congress a “comprehensive briefing” on how environmental justice work will be executed by the Agency and to create a proposal of a “national program office” centered on the work.
We strongly urge you to reinstate the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and its workforce. Further, to better help us understand how and why you reached this decision and your strategies to combat these real public health concerns, please provide responses to the following requests for information by no later than March 17, 2025:
Please explain in detail the process by which this decision was made and how it was communicated to staff.
Please explain thoroughly how you will continue to execute programs such as the Environmental Justice Community Change Grants Program, Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, the Environmental Justice Small Collaborative Problem Solving Grants Program, the Environmental Justice Government to Government Grants Program, and the Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program initiatives that help communities access grants to address water contamination, air pollution, and lead reduction. a. Will you continue to provide technical assistance so the most impacted communities can have a chance to compete for EPA’s national federal funding programs?
Please explain in detail how the agency will ensure fair access to grant programs and support economically and socially disadvantaged communities – including communities of color, rural and farm communities, and Tribal communities – in competing for funding and addressing critical issues in their community.
What is your strategy to combat pollution in marginalized communities across the country?
What plans do you have for continuing to engage with community organizations and local governments on environmental justice issues in the absence of the office?
How do you intend to work with local governments to expand access to clean water and improve air quality?
How will the agency assist local governments in developing and enforcing pollution reduction regulations?
Explain how you intend to support local leaders and officials in building capacity and expertise in environmental justice work at the community level?
How will EPA identify areas that may have higher environmental burdens without access to EJScreen, what agency personnel will be tasked with maintaining that information, and how will EPA proactive share that information with the public?
How will you ensure transparency and accountability in the agency’s environmental justice work after the closure of the office?
How will you rebuild trust with community-based organizations after the closure of this office and work to ensure they have the necessary resources to combat pollution?
How will you rebuild trust with local government, communities, Tribes and stakeholders who are now concerned about the lack of budget assurance for millions of dollars in projects funded through with Congressional allocated Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act resources?
You stated to the Environment and Public Works Committee that you believe “every American deserves access to clean air and water” and that you would “commit to working hard to meet the needs of all communities.” We trust that you will stand by your commitment to communities across the nation who rely on the EPA’s commitment to environmental justice and work to ensure that the agency continues to serve all Americans fairly and effectively.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
February 28, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee—joined her fellow SFRC Democratic colleagues Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in issuing the following statement on the Trump Administration’s reckless termination of nearly all U.S. foreign assistance programs:
“It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of U.S. investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous. There is no indication Secretary Rubio conducted a program-by-program review of the more than 9,000 awards or considered the dire national security implications of these rash actions. Ending programs first and asking questions later only jeopardizes millions of lives and creates a power vacuum for our adversaries like China and Russia to fill.
“While it’s easy to assume that these cuts will only affect people thousands of miles away, the fact is, the impact will be felt by American farmers who will no longer get top dollar for their crops to feed the hungry, churches who will no longer have the support of the U.S. government in their missions, American families who fall sick when diseases like Zika, Ebola and Malaria once again reach our shores and U.S. biotech companies who will no longer sell their drugs to treat the vulnerable overseas. Secretary Rubio should immediately come before our Committee. We expect him to not only consult with Congress but follow the law,” said the Senators in their statement.
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that his office’s Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud unit (VAMPF) has arrested Caitlyn Danielle Morgan, 32 years old, of Greer, S.C., and Debra Jones Howard, 69 years old, of Greer, S.C. Morgan was charged with one count of Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult {43-35-0085 (D)}, one count of Forgery, value $10,000 or more {16-13-0010(A)}, one count of Criminal Conspiracy {16-17-0410}, and two counts of Medical Assistance Provider Fraud {43-07-0060}. Howard was charged with one count of Forgery, value less than $10,000 {16-13-0010(A)}, one count of Criminal Conspiracy {16-17-0410}, and one count of Medical Assistance Provider Fraud {43-07-0060}.
An investigation by VAMPF alleges that, between January 27, 2021 and December 19, 2024, Morgan and Howard conspired together to make or cause to be made false claims for payment to South Carolina’s Medicaid program. Specifically, it is alleged that Morgan, as a personal care attendant employed at various times by Care Givers on Demand and the Charles Lea Center, signed and submitted false time sheets indicating that she had rendered care to a Medicaid beneficiary when she had not. It is further alleged that Morgan caused or required a vulnerable adult to engage in activity or labor which is improper, unlawful, or against the reasonable and rational wishes of a vulnerable adult by submitting the false timesheets with the victim’s knowledge for services never rendered.
Howard is alleged to have conspired with Morgan by signing off on Morgan’s false timesheets indicating that she had witnessed Morgan rendering care.
This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult is a felony and, upon conviction, has a penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both. Conspiracy is a felony and, upon conviction, has a penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000. Forgery, value $10,000 or more, is a felony and, upon conviction, has a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a fine at the discretion of the court, or both. Forgery, value $10,000 or less, is a felony and, upon conviction, has a penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine at the discretion of the court, or both. Medical Assistance Provider Fraud is a class A misdemeanor and, upon conviction, has a penalty of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.
Pursuant to federal regulations, VAMPF has authority over Medicaid provider fraud; abuse and neglect of Medicaid beneficiaries in any setting; and the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of individuals residing in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.
Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
The South Carolina Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, dba VAMPF, receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $2,889,252 for federal fiscal year 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $963,084 for FFY 2025, is funded by South Carolina.
A Colorado dentist pleaded guilty today to six counts of tax evasion related to his use of an illegal tax shelter.
According to court documents and statements made in court, since 2014, Ryan Ulibarri owned and operated Ulibarri Family Dentistry in Fort Collins, Colorado. In 2016, Ulibarri purchased an abusive-trust tax shelter for $50,000. The tax shelter involved concealing income and creating false tax deductions through the use of a so-called business trust, family trust, charitable trust and a private family foundation, all of which Ulibarri created and controlled. From 2017 through 2022, Ulibarri used this tax shelter to conceal from the IRS over $3.5 million in income he earned from his dental practice.
To set up the tax shelter, Ulibarri, as the purported trustee, signed trust instruments purporting to create the three trusts and foundation, and he opened bank accounts in the name of each. He further recruited friends to falsely sign his trust instruments as the purported creators of the trusts. Ulibarri then transferred majority ownership of his dental practice to the business trust. Ulibarri did this despite having been warned by attorneys and CPAs that, in Colorado, a trust could not own a dental practice.
He then transferred over $3 million he earned from his dental practice into the bank accounts of the various trusts and foundation to create the illusion that the funds belonged to those entities. In reality, Ulibarri retained complete control over the funds and used the funds to pay for personal expenses including his home mortgage, credit card bills, boats and professional baseball season tickets. Finally, he filed false tax returns for himself, his dental practice, the trusts and foundation that falsely reported the income he earned from his dental practice as income of the trusts. On those tax returns Ulibarri also claimed fraudulent deductions for his personal living expenses which he disguised as trust expenses and charitable donations.
In total, Ulibarri is alleged to have caused a tax loss to the IRS of over $1 million.
Ulibarri is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of tax evasion as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Special Agent in Charge Amanda Prestegard of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Denver Field Office made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Amanda R. Scott and Lauren K. Pope and Assistant Chief Andrew J. Kameros of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
Español Grapefruit juice and grapefruit can be part of a healthy diet. Grapefruit has vitamin C and potassium, nutrients your body needs to work properly. Grapefruit juice and grapefruit can affect the way your medicines work, and that food and drug interaction can be a concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has required that some prescription and over-the-counter drugs generally taken by mouth include warnings against drinking grapefruit juice or eating grapefruit while taking the drug. Here are examples of some types of drugs that grapefruit juice can cause problems (interact) with:
Some statin drugs to lower cholesterol, such as Zocor (simvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin). Some drugs that treat high blood pressure, such as Procardia and Adalat CC (both nifedipine). Some organ-transplant rejection drugs, such as Neoral and Sandimmune capsule or oral solution (both cyclosporine). Some anti-anxiety drugs, such as BuSpar (buspirone). Some corticosteroids that treat Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, such as Entocort EC and Uceris tablet (both budesonide). Some drugs that treat abnormal heart rhythms, such as Pacerone and Cordarone tablet (both amiodarone). Some antihistamines, such as Allegra (fexofenadine).
Grapefruit juice does not affect all the drugs in the categories above. The severity of the interaction can be different depending on the person, the drug, and the amount of grapefruit juice you drink. Talk to your health care provider or pharmacist, and read any information provided with your prescription or non-prescription drug to find out:
If your specific drug may be affected. How much, if any, grapefruit juice you can have. What other fruits or juices may also affect your drug in a similar way to grapefruit juice.
How Grapefruit Juice Can Interfere With Medications With most drugs that are affected by grapefruit juice, “the juice lets more of the drug enter the blood,” says Shiew Mei Huang, Ph.D., of the FDA. “When there is too much drug in the blood, you may have more side effects.” For example, if you drink a lot of grapefruit juice while taking certain statin drugs to lower cholesterol, too much of the drug may stay in your body, increasing your risk for liver and muscle damage that can lead to kidney failure. Many drugs are broken down (metabolized) with the help of a vital enzyme called CYP3A4 in the small intestine. Grapefruit juice can block the action of intestinal CYP3A4, so instead of being metabolized, more of the drug enters the blood and stays in the body longer. The result: too much drug in your body. The amount of the CYP3A4 enzyme in the intestine varies from person to person. Some people have a lot of this enzyme and others just a little. So grapefruit juice may affect people differently even when they take the same drug. Although scientists have known for several decades that grapefruit juice can cause too much of certain drugs in the body, more recent studies have found that the juice has the opposite effect on a few other drugs. “Grapefruit juice can cause less fexofenadine to enter the blood,” decreasing how well the drug works, Huang says. Fexofenadine (brand name Allegra) is available as both prescription and OTC to relieve symptoms of seasonal allergies. Fexofenadine may also not work as well if taken with orange or apple juice, so the drug label says, “Do not take with fruit juices.” Why this opposite effect? Instead of changing metabolism, grapefruit juice can affect proteins in the body known as drug transporters, some of which help move a drug into our cells for absorption. As a result, less of the drug enters the blood and the drug may not work as well, Huang says. How Grapefruit Juice Affects Some Drugs When drugs are swallowed, they may be broken down (metabolized) by enzymes and/or absorbed using transporters in cells found in the small intestine. Grapefruit juice can cause problems with these enzymes and transporters, causing too much or too little drug in the body.
Some drugs, like certain statins used to lower cholesterol, are broken down by enzymes. As shown above, grapefruit juice can block the action of these enzymes, increasing the amount of drug in the body and may cause more side effects.
Other drugs, like fexofenadine, are moved by transporters into the body’s cells. As shown above, grapefruit juice can block the action of transporters, decreasing the amount of drug in the body and may cause the drug to not work as well.
Find Out if You Should Avoid Grapefruit or Other Juices
Ask your doctor or pharmacist if grapefruit juice interacts with your medication. Read the medication guide or patient information sheet that comes with your prescription drug to find out if grapefruit juice affects your drug. Read the Drug Facts label on your OTC drug, which will say whether you shouldn’t have grapefruit or other fruit juices with it. If you must avoid grapefruit juice with your medicine, check the labels of fruit juices or drinks flavored with fruit juice to see whether they are made with grapefruit juice. Seville oranges (often used to make orange marmalade), pomelos, and tangelos (a cross between tangerines and grapefruit) might have the same effect as grapefruit juice. Do not eat those fruits if your medicine interacts with grapefruit juice.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced today new immigration charges in four cases in the District.
Task force agents arrested Alberto Caiceros-Cruz, 40, after observing him leave his residence in Columbus and drive a vehicle with no registration displayed. Caiceros-Cruz is a Mexican national and was most recently removed from the United States in 2022.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Columbus indicted an El Salvadoran national with illegally reentering the United States after being convicted of sex offenses and a Honduran national with illegally possessing firearms.
Carlos Gonzales-Hernandez, 55, was detained in January 2025 following a traffic stop in Madison County. He was then transferred into ICE custody. The defendant had been removed from the United States following a local prison sentence for sex offenses. Gonzales-Hernandez was previously convicted in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas of three counts of gross sexual imposition and received a prison sentence of six years.
Elmer Edison Rodriguez-Guzman, 46, was in a vehicle that was stopped in Cambridge, Ohio, in July 2024 due to no taillights. Law enforcement officials discovered items including a handgun, a double-barrel shotgun and ammunition. Rodriguez-Guzman was arrested in Guernsey County and then transferred into federal custody.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury in Columbus indicted Pedro Marquez, 34, who is also known as Peter Marquez, Pedro Ravas Rivas, Alex Rivas Vasquez and Alex Vasquez Rivas. In 2011, Marquez was convicted of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy and illegally reentering the United States and was sentenced to federal prison. Marquez had conspired with others in the Eastern District of Oklahoma to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Marquez transported, delivered and distributed the drugs on behalf of the conspiracy. He was removed from the United States again in 2016 following his term of imprisonment. Law enforcement found and arrested Marquez in Bloomingburg, Ohio, on Feb. 13.
Illegally reentering the United States is a federal crime punishable by up to two years in prison. If the offender has a prior felony conviction (or multiple prior misdemeanor convictions of certain types), the penalty is increased to 10 years in prison, and if the offender has been previously convicted of an aggravated felony, the defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jared Murphey, acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Detroit; and Robert Lynch, Field Office Director, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit Field Office; announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Tyler J. Aagard, Sheila G. Lafferty and David J. Twombly are representing the United States in these cases.
Indictments and criminal complaints merely contain allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
These cases are being prosecuted as part of the Southern District of Ohio Immigration Enforcement Task Force, which dedicates agents, attorneys and other staff to investigating and prosecuting immigration violations.
Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ahead of World Teen Mental Wellness Day, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), along with Representatives August Pfluger (R-Texas-11), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.-8), John Joyce (R-Pa.-13), and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.-14), introduced bipartisan legislation to combat the growing youth mental health crisis in America. The Early Action and Responsiveness Lifts Youth (EARLY) Minds Act would provide early intervention and prevention services to children struggling with mental health challenges.
The data is clear: more work needs to be done to protect children’s mental health. Over the past few decades, mental health disorders have steadily risen among children and adolescents, with nearly half of adolescents in the United States facing a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. Nearly 20 percent of children ages 3-17 in the United States have a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. More than 40 percent of teens — including 57 percent of teenage girls — reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Research shows that intervening early with people who are experiencing mental health challenges can help prevent those challenges from turning more serious and becoming more costly to treat, while leading to improvements in symptoms, relationships, quality of life, and engagement with schoolwork.
The EARLY Minds Act seeks to empower states by allowing them to allocate up to five percent of their Mental Health Block Grant funding for prevention and early intervention activities. This strategic allocation of resources is critical to identify and support Americans before their mental health challenges escalate. The Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is currently limited to funding services for those with severe, diagnosed mental illnesses. With this adjustment, states will have the opportunity to take full advantage of Mental Health Block Grants to intervene early and save lives.
“Young people deserve access to mental health services as soon as they need them. But our children are often forced to wait years for an official diagnosis, leaving them without vital mental health support,” said Senator Padilla. “Our bipartisan legislation would address the growing youth mental health crisis by equipping states to provide young people preventative treatment and early intervention services — because no child should have to suffer in silence.”
“Prevention and early intervention are key to addressing the mental health crisis,” said Senator Tillis. “The bipartisan EARLY Minds Act gives states the flexibility to invest in these critically-important services to ensure children and families get the support they need when it matters most – not years too late.”
“In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in depression, anxiety, and other behavioral health conditions among young people, and we need to do more to support them,” said Senator Kaine. “That’s why I’m joining my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation that will help states expand prevention and early intervention mental health resources for young people.”
“As reports of severe mental health issues continue to rise across the country, it is imperative that we address this issue and help people in crisis receive the treatment they need,” said Representative Pfluger. “Research has consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of early intervention in mitigating the severity of mental health challenges among children and adults. By allowing states the flexibility to utilize MHBG funds for prevention and early intervention, the EARLY Minds Act presents a commonsense solution to address the worsening youth mental health crisis.”
“As a pediatrician, I understand the value of preventative care, including for mental health,” said Representative Schrier. “That is why Mental Health Block Grants should fund prevention and early intervention services. At a time when behavioral health challenges are on the rise, it is important to build support systems, resiliency, and coping mechanisms early. This bill will complement existing federal programs like Medicaid and CHIP, that provide critical behavioral health care to children and families across the country.”
“Prevention and early intervention are vital for reducing the severity of mental health challenges, particularly in children,” said Representative Castor. “As Co-Chair of the Children’s Health Care Caucus, I am committed to ensuring families have the support they need to keep their kids healthy at a time with so much uncertainty. Allowing Mental Health Block Grants to fund prevention and early intervention services is a sensible, bipartisan solution to an urgent need. This bill will connect more children with proven, effective care before their health escalates into crisis level. This bill will work best in tandem with strong, robust Medicaid and CHIP programs that provide lifesaving mental health services to children and their families. I look forward to working with Representatives Pfluger, Schrier, and Joyce to advance this critical legislation and protect health coverage for our nation’s kids.”
“Assisting children in crisis so that they can receive the care and support that they need is vital to fixing the youth mental health epidemic in our country,” said Representative Joyce. “As a physician, I know the importance of prevention and early intervention, and I’m proud to cosponsor this legislation to ensure SAMHSA’s Community Mental Health Services Block Grant can be used to effectively reach and assist our nation’s youth in need.”
“Proactive early intervention and prevention can dramatically change the trajectory of a child’s life by addressing mental health issues before they escalate,” said Matthew Cook, President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA). “The EARLY Minds Act gives states greater flexibility to make resources available for early detection and prevention services like mental health screenings, educational support for parents, and evidence-based interventions for children facing behavioral health challenges. CHA applauds this bipartisan legislation that will help combat the escalating youth mental health crisis.”
On average, there is an 11-year delay between when someone starts experiencing a mental health condition and when they receive treatment. For a young person, that means suffering without help throughout the majority of their childhood before receiving treatment.
The EARLY Minds Act also requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide reports to Congress detailing states’ efforts to promote early intervention. HHS would report to Congress every two years regarding states’ efforts to promote early intervention, including comprehensive information on their activities and outcomes.
The EARLY Minds Act has garnered widespread support from leading mental health advocacy organizations, including American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Mental Health Counselors Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Association of Children’s Residential & Community Services (ACRC), Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Children’s Hospital Association, Committee for Children, Crisis Text Line, Family Voices, First Focus Campaign for Children, Global Alliance for Behavioral Health & Social Justice, International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses (ISPN), Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Mental Health America, Mental Health Counselors Association, MomsRising, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, National Association of School Psychologists, National Board for Certified Counselors, National Children’s Alliance, National Federation of Families, National League for Nursing, Nemours Children’s Health, Sandy Hook Promise, School Social Work Association of America, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, The Jed Foundation, The National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, Trust for America’s Health, Western Youth Services, and Youth Villages.
“Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-19. Preventing youth suicide begins with early intervention,” said Laurel Stine, J.D., M.A., Executive Vice President and Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “By allowing states to use a portion of their Mental Health Block Grant funding to identify and treat behavioral health conditions among children and youth, the EARLY Minds Act takes an upstream approach to mental health that will help support youth at risk for suicide. We commend Representative Pfluger, Representative Schrier, Representative Joyce, Representative Castor, Senator Padilla, Senator Murkowski, Senator Tillis, Senator Kaine, and Senator Murkowski for their leadership on this important issue.”
“Pediatricians know prevention and early intervention is critical to keeping our patients healthy – including their mental health. The EARLY Minds Act would provide states with more options for funding key services that help young people get the care they need before a mental health condition is diagnosed or gets worse. The American Academy of Pediatrics applauds the EARLY Minds Act sponsors for their leadership on this bipartisan bill and calls on lawmakers to swiftly advance it,” said Susan Kressly, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“The American Psychological Association applauds Senators Padilla, Tillis, Murkowski, and Kaine for introducing the bipartisan EARLY Minds Act, which will help expand quality, evidence-based mental health prevention and early intervention services to all communities,” said APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD. “Intervening before the onset of mental illness is a cornerstone of a population health approach to treatment. Allowing the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant to be used for prevention and early intervention is critical for ensuring that more people, including the very youngest, do not develop mental health conditions and can lead healthy, productive and fulfilled lives.”
“The Early Minds Act adds critical intervention and preventive programs for children and can greatly benefit families in the under-resourced communicates served by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,” said Paul Viviano, President and Chief Executive Officer of CHLA. “Allowing states the flexibility of supporting these services can help identify troubled children in the early stages of a mental health crisis before conditions worsen, creating hope and building healthier futures for children.”
“Federal data shows us that our nation’s youth are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis that demands immediate action from us all. As many as 4 out of 10 high school students experience persistent feelings of hopelessness, and 1 in 5 have seriously considered suicide. The sooner we, as Trusted Adults, can intervene and connect young people with help, the more opportunities we have to avert tragedies, self-harm, or suicide. This legislation provides a pathway to act sooner, and lives will not only be saved but will also be transformed, as a result,” said Mark Barden, co-founder and co-CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund and father of Daniel, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.
“There’s no question that youth are struggling right now. At Crisis Text Line, young people reaching out for help have told us that they need more in-person programs to support their mental health. That is why we are thrilled to support the EARLY Minds Act, which would allow states the flexibility to invest in critical prevention and early intervention programming,” said Courtney Gallo Hunter, VP, Public Policy, Crisis Text Line.
Senator Padilla is a leading advocate for expanding mental health care access, especially for underserved communities. In 2023, Padilla, Tillis, and Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) launched the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus to serve as a forum for Senators to collaborate on and promote bipartisan legislation and solutions, hold events to raise awareness of critical mental health issues, and destigmatize mental health. Last year, Padilla and Tillis passed a Senate resolution to raise the alarm about the mental health care crisis American children face and highlight the urgent need to increase our investment in mental health care for children and adolescents. Padilla and Tillis applauded the Federal Communications Commission for making critical improvements to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to help callers access localized, lifesaving behavioral health resources and mirrored the main provision of the Senators’ Local 9-8-8 Response Act of 2023. Padilla previously introduced a trio of bills to address the unique mental health needs of military children, Latinos, and farm workers.
A one-pager on the bill is available here.
Full text of the bill is available here.
The cost of living crisis, which saw inflation in the US peak at a four-decade high of 9.1% in 2022, played a significant role in determining the outcome of last November’s presidential election.
Exit polls across ten of the key battleground states showed 32% of voters considered the economy to be the most important election issue. Among that group of voters, a staggering 81% voted for Donald Trump.
Trump had spent most of his election campaign saying his administration would tackle high prices – even vowing to bring them down on day one. However, the latest figures suggest inflation in the US has increased since he took office, rising unexpectedly to a six-month high of 3% in January.
This rise is largely because of the economy Trump inherited. But some experts have expressed concerns that his stated economic strategy, including trade tariffs, major tax cuts and lower interest rates, will only add to inflation.
While tax cuts and interest rate changes are familiar policies, the use of tariffs has been less common in recent decades. These are used by governments to balance trade relationships or in retaliation to tariffs imposed by other countries. They generally make foreign imported goods more expensive while also raising tax revenues for governments.
The Trump administration has set tariffs of 25% on all steel and aluminium imports, and imposed 10% trade tariffs on a wide range of consumer imports from China. While proposed tariffs of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada have been temporarily paused, the US has signalled its intention to introduce tariffs on imports from the European Union.
A General Motors car assembly facility in Ontario, Canada, where economists predict the proposed tariffs would have a catastrophic effect. JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock
Will tariffs lead to inflation?
Trump’s aides insist the tariffs won’t have a negative impact on American consumers and businesses. On February 18, Peter Navarro, senior counsel for trade and manufacturing at the White House, told the New York Times: “It’s not going to be painful for America. It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Navarro argues that foreign exporters, concerned about losing market share, will reduce the pre-tariff price they charge US importers.
But economic theory suggests that tariffs generally do lead to higher prices. Peter Lavelle, a trade expert at the UK’s Institute for Fiscal Studies, says that evidence from Trump’s first term – when tariffs were imposed on solar panels, washing machines, steel and aluminium – shows these costs were “almost entirely passed on to domestic consumers”, thus adding to inflation.
A key reason for the tariffs is to make US domestic manufacturing more competitive on the international stage. This could bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. Manufacturing employment declined by 35% in the US from its peak of 19.6 million in 1979 to 12.8 million in 2020.
However, there was no evidence of tariffs bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US during Trump’s first term. In fact, manufacturing employment remained static between 2017 and 2021.
There are fears that tariffs could instead trigger a trade war, where countries retaliate with tariffs of their own. Canadian officials, for instance, have made it clear they will introduce retaliatory tariffs on the US – “selected in order to hit particularly red and purple [Trump-supporting] states”.
Economists analyse such scenarios using game theory. A trade war takes the form of what economics-speak calls a “non-cooperating Nash equilibrium”, where the economic outcome is negative for all countries involved.
Some recent modelling on the impact of Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico supports this view. Tariff retaliation is likely to raise inflation rates even further than otherwise in all three economies.
A trade war could also squeeze profit margins for exporting producers in the US, by making some US-produced goods relatively more expensive. This would show up in lower real income through reduced employment and wages. This outcome, like higher prices, is unlikely to be popular with US voters.
Given the evidence from Trump’s first term, it is difficult to see how tariffs will be anything but inflationary. Trump’s proposed tax cuts valued at US$5-11 trillion would also add to inflationary pressures, as would the lower interest rates he has called for.
Ana Swanson, a trade and international economist at the New York Times, believes the threat of tariffs is being used merely as a negotiating strategy. However, like many other economists, Swanson sees uncertainty as the biggest impact of Trump’s tariff policy.
In a podcast on February 4, she said: “If you, as the business, are watching out for the threat of tariffs, are you going to make an investment in a new factory or hire new workers?” Uncertainty leads to reduced investment and lower growth.
Realistically, Trump was never going to bring down prices for US consumers. To do that would be deflationary, and economists generally fear deflation even more than inflation. Falling prices lead to deferred spending and can be devastating for economic growth.
The best outcome for US consumers is that prices increase at a slower rate, close to the US Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%. However, given the recent uptick in inflation, as well as Trump’s strategy of tariffs, tax cuts and lower interest rates, the direction of travel all points towards higher price rises.
Recent evidence from elections in many advanced economies shows that voters do not like inflation, and will punish administrations who are in power during inflationary periods.
Since inflation peaked in many advanced economies in 2022, more than 70% of incumbent administrations have been voted out of government. Trump should keep this in mind as he embarks on his quest to make America’s economy great again.
Conor O’Kane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Elon Musk is wielding a chainsaw against US government departments, potentially culling tens of thousands of jobs, as part of a huge plan to shrink the government and slash federal spending.
This large-scale purge of public servants, coordinated through Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), may end up creating one of the biggest employment cuts in US history. Tech company IBM laid off 60,000 people in 1993, and about 25,000 workers (some outside the US) lost their jobs when Lehman Brothers bank went bust in 2008, but this swathe of job losses could outstrip them both, with numbers predicted to hit around 300,000.
On Friday February 21, Musk sent a “productivity email” to all federal employees demanding that they summarise the work they’d done in the past week. President Donald Trump hailed Musk’s ultimatum as “ingenious” and echoed that failure to comply would mean that employees would be “semi-fired or fired”.
By the Monday, chaos reigned in Washington. The bedlam left career civil servants unsure of how, or even whether, to reply, marking the latest flashpoint in a tumultuous last month created by Doge and aimed at trimming the federal workforce. Adding insult to injury, Musk later admitted the email was a ruse to test whether federal workers “had a pulse”. A follow-up email is rumoured to be coming this weekend.
On X, Musk doubled down, posting an image of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants looking at a “Got Done Last Week” list that included: “Cried about Trump, Cried about Elon, Cried about Trump and Elon some more.” Days earlier, at the annual gathering of the US right wing, the Conservative Political Action Conference, Musk brandished a chainsaw and screamed “Chainsaw!” to show the uproarious Maga crowd how he intended to eviscerate the federal bureaucracy.
Political payback?
Doge’s proposed job cuts are vast and deep. So far, much of Musk’s ire has been directed at the US Agency for International Development (USAid), where 4,700 employees have already been put on leave – with 1,600 of those positions terminated.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Doge started with this soft target. Although the US spends only about 1% of federal money on development aid, polls consistently show that Americans, especially Republicans, think Washington overspends on foreign assistance.
The cuts also come amid rising speculation that these firings could be part of a political retaliation by the White House. Influential adviser Stephen Miller claimed, without showing evidence, that 98% of workers at USAid “either donated to Kamala Harris or another leftwing candidate”.
The Trump administration has also forced out dozens of officials across the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency charged with investigating attempts at foreign interference in US elections.
Even the Pentagon, traditionally a “third rail” for Republican presidents when it comes to spending reductions, is feeling the squeeze. The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has promised to slash military spending by 8% over the next five years from its US$850 billion (£674 billion) annual budget. While US service members in uniform are currently exempt from job losses, many expect civilian workers, especially those in their probationary period, to be shown the door soon.
There are many thousands of federal jobs across the US.
Washington DC, which voted for former vice-president Harris over Trump by a margin of 92.5% to 6.6%, is home to the largest number of government jobs: about 2.2 million civilians. However, federal workers are spread across the US. That includes red states where Trump won in 2024. For example, there are more than 129,000 federal jobs in Texas, more than 94,000 in Florida, and more than 79,000 in Georgia.
For Trump, this complicates the Doge agenda to make a dent in America’s US$36 trillion (£28.6 trillion) debt through mass job terminations. While many Maga supporters cheered campaign pledges to eliminate government “waste, fraud and abuse”, many now confront the stark reality of job losses in their communities (or even their own jobs).
Trump has promised to get spending by the national government under control, but without addressing reform of essential services – such as Medicare and social security – it’s unclear how he can achieve this goal.
Backlash and legal battles
Public opinion towards Musk breaks sharply along partisan lines. According to recent polling by YouGov, 42% of Americans have a positive view of Musk (52% unfavourable), including 79% of Republicans but just 10% of Democrats. The same percentage, 42%, think favourably of Doge, with similar partisan divides. But the number of Americans who rate Musk positively has been dropping in the past few weeks, although he is seen as increasingly influential.
Contributing to negativity, Musk’s rollout of Doge to oversee cuts to the federal labour force hasn’t come without major flubs. For example, he recently fired (before un-firing) workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, tasked with overseeing the country’s nuclear weapons stockpiles.
Even some Trump loyalists are pushing back. After Musk’s “document work or resign” email was blasted to the FBI, newly minted director Kash Patel sent his own message telling employees not to respond, declaring: “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes.”
On X, Harvard political scientist Maya Sen called the reaction “probably a good development for the rule of law”, adding: “Musk got a head start but separate & distinct interests of new political appointees over their own workforces will clash more and more w/Musk.”
The Trump administration now faces mounting legal challenges to Doge’s agenda. An amended lawsuit filed by a cadre of unions, including the nation’s largest federation of unions, AFL-CIO, alleged that mass firings of probationary workers is illegal, and that only federal agencies have control over human resources decisions.
Beyond legal chokepoints, Musk confronts increasing scepticism – even within Doge itself. On Tuesday February 25, 21 employees from Doge resigned, saying they would not use their professional skills to “dismantle critical public services”.
Even among some Republican lawmakers, there’s worry about the breakneck speed of firings. Republican representative Jeff Van Drew, for example, said that “we have to be really careful that we’re cutting things that don’t hurt everyday people”. Some have criticised Musk’s flippant attitude toward longstanding public servants. Others think Musk is taking a hatchet to a problem that requires a scalpel.
Whether a hatchet, a scalpel or a chainsaw, Musk’s slash-and-burn approach carries risks. By the 2026 midterms (when 35 of the 100 Senate seats will be up for election), the picture of Musk gleefully slicing government jobs could be less a symbol of efficiency, more a symbol of Trump-era hubris.
Thomas Gift does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in Kamloops now have access to 39 new homes with supports through the opening of Katherine’s Place.
“Many young people are facing uncertain times. We want to help with housing options, a main objective in our Belonging in BC plan,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “By connecting young adults with the housing and supports they need, we’re getting them on a path to stability. Through the life-skills training and supports offered at Katherine’s Place, youth will develop a better foundation to live full, healthy lives.”
The Province, through BC Housing, has partnered with A Way Home Kamloops to provide the new homes, located on 560 Tranquille Rd. A Way Home Kamloops will operate the building and provide support services to people between 19 and 27 years through a scaled support model. This model will tailor supports to each person’s needs and goals. The supports will progress to reduce support as needed, with the goal of transitioning to independent living or other housing that meets their needs.
Supports will include daily meals, life-skills training, peer guidance, mental-health resources, and employment and education supports. Three staff members will be on site 24/7 to ensure residents are supported. Security measures include camera monitoring and a controlled single point of entry.
“A Way Home Kamloops is excited to see the vision of their founder Katherine McParland come to life,” said Tangie Genshorek, executive director, A Way Home Kamloops (AWHK). “The project is the product of multiple partnerships and community collaboration. AWHK works to put youth first, to honour their stories, and to meet them where they are, with what they need.”
The building is named after the late Katherine McParland, founder and former executive director of A Way Home Kamloops, a BC Housing board member. This project aims to honour and acknowledge the impact she had on local youth, while continuing her legacy by providing services to young people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
“Katherine was not just an incredible woman, but she made all those around her feel safe and heard. She saw value in every single young person,” said Kira Cheeseborough, youth adviser at A Way Home Kamloops. “Katherine’s Place will continue to create the safety and love we felt. With this space, we take a step toward ensuring no youth is left behind.”
Katherine’s Place includes a combination of 20 regular, five larger, six adaptable and two fully accessible bachelor suites, and six one-bedroom suites.
The project is part of a $19-billion housing investment by government. Since 2017, the Province has nearly 92,000 homes that have been delivered or are underway, including more than 2,100 homes in Kamloops.
Quick Facts:
The Province, through BC Housing, provided approximately $13 million to the project and will provide an annual operating subsidy of approximately $1.6 million through the Building BC: Supportive Housing Fund.
A Way Home Kamloops provided $473,990 in equity toward the project.
Learn More:
To learn more about government’s new Homes for People action plan, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HOUS0019-000436
To read the Belonging in BC plan, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BelongingStrategy.pdf
To learn about the steps the Province is taking to tackle the housing crisis and deliver affordable homes for British Columbians, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/housing/
A map showing the location of all announced provincially funded housing projects in B.C. is available online: https://www.bchousing.org/projects-partners/Building-BC/homes-for-BC
WASHINGTON—On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education launched a new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion portal to chill and stop education and instruction that ensure every child has access to the resources and opportunities needed to learn. This measure to stamp out equity threatens the real programs in the public schools where 90% of all students, and 95% of students with disabilities, learn. This gimmick is the latestattack by the Trump administration on long-standing federal civil rights laws.
The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Becky Pringle:
“As I talk to educators and parents around the country, what I hear from most everyone—regardless of political affiliation or whether they live in rural, urban or suburban America—is that we all want all students to have the opportunities and resources they need to succeed.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs create a sense of belonging where we all feel comfortable sharing our ideas and lived experiences. It gives people who look and sound like me and who come from communities like mine, or who speak a different language, or first-generation college students, a foot in the door and the opportunity to reach their full potential.
“The politicians and their followers attacking these long-standing and successful programs are looking to create a problem where one doesn’t exist. They want to divide us so we’re not paying attention to their real agenda, which is gutting our community public schools to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. More to the point, it’s astonishing that Trump and his loyalists currently in charge of the Department of Education are creating political stunts like this instead of using precious taxpayer dollars to do the very real work of ensuring opportunity and access. The administration shut down more than 10,000 civil rights investigations as one of their first actions, more than half of which were for students with disabilities.
“Let’s not let politicians distract us from the real issues facing public schools. We know what’s at stake. That’s why we are coming together—parents, students, and educators—to make sure every child, regardless of race, ZIP code, or family income, has the opportunities and resources they need to live into their brilliance.”
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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org
Español Whether you’re looking to buy weight loss, male enhancement, or certain other products, these days you’re apt to look for them online, rather than at a physical store. But buyer, beware. When you buy such products, you may actually be getting an illegal product; and that product may contain potentially dangerous ingredients that are not on the label. This is not a new development. Over the past decade, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has frequently warned consumers that certain products sold over-the-counter — including those sold over the “virtual” counter — contain hidden active ingredients that could be harmful. Hidden ingredients are a problem in products promoted for weight loss, body building, pain relief, sleep aids, and sexual enhancement. Often, products containing active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs are falsely represented as dietary supplements. It is clear from the results of our decade of testing that retailers and distributors, including online marketplaces, do not effectively prevent these types of potentially harmful products from being sold to consumers. The FDA has also found products marketed as supplements with claims to treat or prevent serious diseases such as cancer, HIV, and COVID-19. These products are typically unapproved drugs that have not been reviewed by the FDA for safety or effectiveness, and consumers should not buy them. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You Take weight loss and male enhancement products, for example. The FDA recently tested nearly 70 of these products found on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.com, and discovered most of them contained active pharmaceutical ingredients not listed on the label. These hidden ingredients may interact with other drugs you are taking, or they may be associated with serious side effects. All 29 of the products the FDA purchased on Amazon, 80% purchased on eBay, and half of the products purchased on Walmart contained undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients. The FDA’s laboratory testing found the products contained various undeclared active ingredients, including sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, sibutramine, desmethylsibutramine, phenolphthalein and/or fluoxetine. Most of these active ingredients are found in FDA-approved prescription drugs, including Viagra and Cialis; others were removed from the market for serious safety concerns. How Can You Identify Dangerous Products? It is easy for people to sell a potentially dangerous product online. We advise consumers not to purchase weight loss, sexual enhancement, body building, sleep aid, and pain relief products that are listed in the public notifications at the links above. If you are considering buying a product marketed as a dietary supplement, please go to the FDA’s tainted products database, where you will find nearly 1,000 of these potentially dangerous products listed. The agency updates the database as it finds new products that contain undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients; however, new products and new websites pop up all the time, and it is impossible for the database to keep up. Even if a product has a different but similar name or is not in the list, you need to be cautious. Also watch out for products that are sold in one- or two-capsule packages that promise immediate results. The FDA works hard to identify and remove potentially dangerous products from the marketplace, but it’s a constant and ongoing effort. Steps to Take to Stay Safe If you are thinking of using a product in one of these categories, talk to your doctor first. Ask your doctor for help in identifying reliable and credible information about the product. Do not take products that are sold without a prescription and claim to treat, cure or prevent a serious disease such as HIV or cancer. Products approved to treat or prevent serious diseases generally are prescription products, which are restricted to use under the supervision of a licensed health care professional.
Be cautious about trusting consumer reviews that include miraculous disease treatment and prevention claims. Be aware of websites that direct you to online marketplaces to buy products. Claims regarding a product’s ability to prevent or treat a disease made on these websites have not been reviewed by FDA. See BeSafeRx for information about how to safely buy medicine online.
And finally, if you experience an injury from a product, do not just add a product review to the online marketplace; please also report your concerns to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program so the agency can take any appropriate action to protect consumers from any unsafe products. Consumers are also encouraged to report unlawful sales of products sold online.
Español If you’re a smoker, you probably realize the dangers smoking may pose to your health. But have you ever thought about how the habit affects your pet? According to Food and Drug Administration veterinarian Carmela Stamper, D.V. M., the news is not good. “Smoking’s not only harmful to people; it’s harmful to pets, too,” Stamper says. “If 58 million non-smoking adults and children are exposed to tobacco smoke, imagine how many pets are exposed at the same time.” What’s Lingering on Your Rug, Furniture, and Clothes? Both secondhand smoke (which lingers in the air your animal breathes in) and third-hand smoke hurt pets. What’s third-hand smoke? It’s residue (harmful compounds that are left behind, such as nicotine) that can get on skin and clothes, as well as furniture, carpets, and other things where a smoker lives. “Like children, dogs and cats spend a lot of time on or near the floor, where tobacco smoke residue concentrates in house dust, carpets and rugs. Then, it gets on their fur,” Stamper explains. “Dogs, cats and children not only breathe these harmful substances in, but pets can also ingest them by licking their owner’s hair, skin, and clothes.” And of course, if your dog or cat grooms itself or another animal, he’s ingesting the residues as well, Stamper says. Facts That May Surprise You About Pets and Smoking Did you know …
how tobacco smoke affects a dog depends on the length of the dog’s nose? that certain dog breeds are at increased risk of nose or lung cancer? that cats who live with people who smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day have three times the risk of developing lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system? that your smoking can endanger your pet bird, guinea pig, and even your fish?
Learn More Learn more about the dangers smoking can pose to your pet and find some resources to help a smoker you know cut back on or quit smoking in the article “Be Smoke-free and Help Your Pets Live Longer, Healthier Lives,” on the FDA website. back to top
An apprentice at Langley Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia) inspects wind tunnel components in this image from May 15, 1943. During World War II, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA, employed apprentices (which NASA has since transitioned into internships) to support meaningful jobs in data computing, testing, and mechanical work. Make your own mark on NASA history. Apply to the agency’s summer internships by 11:59 p.m. EST Feb. 28. Image credit: NASA
In this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Hubble once again lifts the veil on a famous — and frequently photographed — supernova remnant: the Veil Nebula. The remnant of a star roughly 20 times as massive as the Sun that exploded about 10,000 years ago, the Veil Nebula is situated about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. Hubble images of this photogenic nebula were first taken in 1994 and 1997, and again in 2015. This view combines images taken in three different filters by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, highlighting emission from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms. The image shows just a small fraction of the Veil Nebula; if you could see the entire nebula without the aid of a telescope, it would be as wide as six full Moons placed side-by-side. Although this image captures the Veil Nebula at a single point in time, it helps researchers understand how the supernova remnant evolves over decades. Combining this snapshot with Hubble observations from 1994 will reveal the motion of individual knots and filaments of gas over that span of time, enhancing our understanding of this stunning nebula.
Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
RANKFORT, Ky — A Disaster Recovery Center will open in Perry County today, Feb. 28, in areas affected by the February floods. Disaster Recovery Centers, operated by the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management and FEMA, offer in-person support to survivors in declared counties as the result of severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides from Feb. 14, 2025, and continuing. PERRY COUNTY Hazard Community College, 1 Old Community College Dr, Hazard, Ky 41701 Disaster Recovery Centers operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday and 1 – 7 p.m. on Sundays, unless otherwise noted. FEMA representatives can explain available assistance programs, how to apply to FEMA, and help connect survivors with resources for their recovery needs. The deadline to apply for federal assistance is April 25, 2025. Other centers are open in the following locations: PIKE COUNTY Pike Public Library, 126 Lee Ave, Pikeville, Ky 41501 Belfry Public Library, 24371 US-119 North, Belfry, Ky 41514 Additional Disaster Recovery Centers will open across the Commonwealth disaster area in the coming days. In addition to FEMA personnel, representatives from the Kentucky Office of Unemployment Insurance, the Kentucky Department of Insurance and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be available at the recovery centers to assist survivors. You do not need to visit a center to apply with FEMA. If you are unable to visit the center, there are other ways to apply: you can apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-3362, or by using the FEMA mobile app. If you use a relay service, such as video relay (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA the number for that service. When you apply, you will need to provide:
A current phone number where you can be contacted. Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying. Your Social Security Number. A general list of damage and losses. Banking information if you choose direct deposit. If insured, the policy number or the agent and/or the company name.
For an accessible video on how to apply for FEMA assistance, go to youtube.com/watch?v=WZGpWI2RCNw. For more information about Kentucky flooding recovery, visit www.fema.gov/disaster/4860. Follow the FEMA Region 4 X account at x.com/femaregion4.
A fierce work ethic, great research, and many hours of practice helped the Husky Case Competition Club win the top prize at the 32nd Kogod Case Competition at American University earlier this month.
This is the second consecutive year that the UConn team took home the top prize. A new team competed this year, and all five participants are second-year business students who had never entered a case competition before.
“Our ideas were super niche and I think that took the judges by surprise,’’ said Sophia Viar, a finance major and the president of the club. “They were intrigued by the complexity of what we had done.’’
The team prepared for months, sometimes putting in five hours a day to fine-tune their case and improve their presentation.
“We practiced over and over in the School of Business Board Room,’’ Viar said. “We basically asked each other questions over and over. We drilled. We were ready for every question that the judges threw at us.’’
Other team members included: Maria Cayward (analytics and information management), David Lu (finance), Kabir Ramnani (finance) and Daniel Barberi (finance and economics). None of the team members knew each other well before they started the competition.
The Challenge: Using AI to Help a Fortune 500 Company
The case competition involved integrating artificial intelligence into Xylem Inc., an American water technology provider and Fortune 500 company, that does business in more than 150 countries.
In their final presentation, the Husky team proposed using Novable software, which sources startups that match a company’s needs. They also recommended exploring the offerings of Oxyle, a company with a new filter that can destroy PFAS contaminants.
“One of the judges, who works for Xylem, said, ‘You hit the nail on the head. You guys are amazing!’ ’’ Viar said. The UConn team defeated four teams from American University, as well as teams from the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University. They also took the prize for Best Q&A when the competition concluded on Feb. 15 in Washington, DC.
The victory reflects the enormous effort that the team put into the project.
“We started working on the case in November and there was a lot of back and forth with the team,’’ Viar said. “We had four months to develop our idea, and we changed direction often. It was pretty rocky in the first months until we nailed it down.’’
Ramnani said the team had incredible spirit and dedication, despite some mumbling about having to work over the holiday break.
“All of us had a hunger for it. We wanted to put our best foot forward,’’ Ramnani said. “I think one of the key lessons I learned is how to articulate ideas in a concise way. If you over-speak, you overcompensate. What matters is the quality of what you say. I learned to make my answers concise and deliberate.’’
Competition Will Enhance Careers Down the Road
Viar is planning a career in management consulting and said the competition is well aligned with her career aspirations. She looks forward to discussing her case-competition achievement in job interviews.
Ramnani agreed, saying the competition highlighted the problem-solving skills of every team member.
“I really didn’t know anything about the water industry until I started working on the case competition. I had to learn so much,’’ he said. “I also learned that sometimes you have to cut your losses. If we worked on an idea for a week and it wasn’t working out, I learned not to be emotionally attached to the idea, to move on and try something new.’’
Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan was arrested yesterday and charged by criminal complaint with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
As alleged in the criminal complaint, in December 2024, Hassan attempted to travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join ISIS on two occasions, neither of which were successful. Hassan attempted to disguise the purpose of his travel as visiting family despite having none in Somalia and was traveling with his birth certificate, naturalization certificate, and high school diploma. The FBI’s investigation established that Hassan publicly supported ISIS on social media through multiple posts and communicated with a Facebook account for the Manjaniq Media Center, which encouraged individuals to travel to join ISIS and touts itself as a media organization of the Islamic Caliphate. The investigation further revealed that Hassan praised Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the perpetrator of the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 1. On Feb. 21, Hassan also posted a video of himself driving while holding a small ISIS flag inside the vehicle, as well as another video of himself driving with an open knife on his lap. On Feb. 26, FBI observed Hassan driving while again holding the ISIS flag.
Hassan was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. He made his initial appearance in the District of Minnesota today and was ordered to remain in custody pending a formal detention hearing which will take place at a later date.
The FBI is investigating the case with assistance from the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar for the District of Minnesota and Trial Attorneys Ryan White and Charles Kovats Jr. of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.
A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law
Source: United States Senator for Wyoming Cynthia Lummis
Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis, John Barrasso, and Representative Harriet Hageman (all R-WY) introduced legislation to rename the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper the “Barbara L. Cubin National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.”
“Wyoming, the Equality State, has produced remarkable trailblazers who shaped the path forward for American women, and Barbara Cubin stands firmly among them,” said Lummis.“As a founding member of the Congressional Western Caucus, Barbara was a powerful voice for our western values. Now, as chair of the Senate counterpart, I’m proud to carry on her legacy as a fierce champion for the Wyoming way of life. This legislation not only commemorates Barbara’s extraordinary decades of public service but also acknowledges the indelible mark she has left on our state and nation.”
“As the first woman to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Congress, Barbara Cubin demonstrated incredible leadership and strength. Her dedication to the people of Wyoming will never be forgotten,” said Barrasso. “Our legislation provides a wonderful opportunity to recognize Barbara’s legacy and record of public service.”
“Barbara Cubin set a standard for public service that continues to inspire us all,” said Hageman. “Her work to establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center preserved the rich history of our state and the West. I’m honored to join the Wyoming Delegation in supporting this legislation to recognize her remarkable contributions to Wyoming and our nation.”
In 1998, Rep. Barbara Cubin successfully passed her legislation establishing the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper to tell the stories of westward migration in the U.S. The center is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is run through a public-private partnership with the BLM, the National Historic Trails Center Foundation and the City of Casper.
Rep. Cubin was the first woman to win an election for federal office in the state of Wyoming and served as a founding member of the Congressional Western Caucus. She represented Wyoming in the U.S. House from 1995-2009.
Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia
Continuing Defense of Georgia Consumers, Senator Reverend Warnock Questions Nominee to Lead CFPB
Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Jonathan McKernan, the Trump Administration’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
In partnership with Senator Reverend Warnock, the CFPB addressed 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state
The hearing followed the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of multiple federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
Senator Reverend Warnock is a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which he chaired last Congress, and which oversees the CFPB
Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing: “You’ve [Jonathan McKernan] raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of”
Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Thursday’s hearing HERE
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a member and former chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which oversees the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), questioned Jonathan McKernan and William Pulte, the Trump Administration’s nominees to lead the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, respectively.
Last Congress, Senator Warnock worked extensively with the CFPB to return funds and protect Georgians from future financial hardship, helping to address 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state. Additionally, Senator Warnock spearheaded several efforts to return dollars to hardworking Americans, including: remove medical debt from credit reports, rule ending an overdraft loophole, highlighting harmful practices in the private student lending market, safeguard Americans from ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ debts, and much more.
During Senator Warnock’s line of questioning for Mr. McKernan, he highlighted the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of many federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and if Mr. McKernan shared President Trump’s disturbing view that the agency is “a very important thing to get rid of.”
“President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?” asked Senator Warnock.
“Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that,” said Mr. McKernan.
“You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of,” said Senator Warnock.
The nomination hearing followed a special hearing earlier in the week that was organized by Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and aimed to highlight the repercussions of dismantling the CFPB.
Watch the Senator’s full remarks and line of questioning HERE.
See below transcript of the key exchange between Senator Warnock and CFPB Director nominee Jonathan McKernan:
Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the CFPB – in the wake of the financial crisis, during which Americans saw Wall Street bankers get bailed out, while millions of working folks lost their jobs, their homes, their retirements, their life savings. That’s the situation out of which the CFPB emerged.”
“Mr. McKernan, thank you. I enjoyed our meeting yesterday. Good to meet you. And I want to follow up on our discussion about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB, the agency you’ve been nominated to run. President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?”
Jonathan McKernan (JM): “Senator as I’ve said, the CFPB is a product of statute. That is a question for our elected official. It’s…”
SRW: “Yes or no question, do you agree that it’s a very good thing to get rid of?”
JM: “Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that.”
SRW: “You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of.”
JM: “Well, I will say this. I certainly think that consumer protection is a very good thing, it’s a critical thing. A federal consumer protection role is a very important thing. That’s a lesson I learned from my experience in the 2008 financial crisis. We need to have a regulatory system that works for everyday Americans, and that includes consumer protection.”
SRW: “I’ll take that as you agree with the President, that we don’t necessarily need the CFPB. We need consumer protection, but not the CFPB. Is that your answer?”
JM: “We need, we need to have a strong consumer protection function.”
SRW: “President Trump and Elon Musk have basically gotten rid of the CFPB, which is why the question is so urgent, and the bureau has seen dozens of key employees fired. They’ve been told not to engage in its core supervisory or examination duties required by the law, and has even had its physical headquarters closed and locked.”
“I think that’s a pretty clear message. If someone closes down the office that you’ve been nominated to run.”
“With the CFPB effectively eliminated. How on earth do you plan to lead a shell agency that’s been completely gutted?”
JM: “Senator, I’m not aware of the situation both this the staffing and resources at the CFPB. Well, what I will point to is just what the administration has said in its filings, and some of the litigation ongoing here, and they have said that we are going to have a CFPB that is streamlined and efficient. And quoting, I think, from the brief here, it says, ‘A predicate of that is there will be a CFPB’ again, though this is a question for our elected officials, my job is to follow the law and execute on my mandate.”
SRW: “In the last three months alone, the CFPB has received more than 80,000 complaints from Georgians, with the Bureau currently seeking resolution to more than 40,000 of those complaints with the CFPB shuttered by President Trump and Elon Musk, what’s your plan to ensure that the bureau resolves those 40,000 pending complaints from my constituents in Georgia?”
JM: “Senator like I said, the consumer complaint function is a statutorily required function that’s in 1021c and so my mandate, if I’m confirmed, is to fulfill faithfully, fully that statutory mandate.”
Governments on Friday reached agreement on a strategy to raise an additional $200 billion each year to better protect the world’s flora and fauna by 2030.
Delegates met in Rome this week for the resumption of the UN Biodiversity Conference to hammer out an agreement at COP16.2 after attempts to reach a deal on financing at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, fell short last November.
It is hoped that the hard-won decisions made by parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will shore up biodiversity and fragile ecosystems which are bearing the brunt of increased conflict, deforestation, mining, toxic waste dumping and other environmental impacts worldwide.
“We very much welcome this announcement,” the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday. “We need to mobilise at least $200 billion dollars a year by 2030 to close the global biodiversity finance gap.”
However, discussions on who pays to protect the Earth’s biodiversity have long been a point of contention, while more than a million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction.
“These days of work in Rome have demonstrated the commitment of the parties to advance the implementation of the[Kunming-Montreal] Global Biodiversity Framework,” said COP16 president Susana Muhamad, referring to the landmark 2022 agreement and underscoring “the collective effort to reach consensus of key issues that were left pending in Cali”.
Why is biodiversity important? Read our explainer here.
Delegates worked through Friday morning following days of intense negotiation and reached decisions on outstanding issues including biodiversity finance, planning, monitoring, reporting and review.
Negotiators also agreed on a set of indicators to measure global and national progress towards implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework.
The framework was finalised a little over two years ago – a historic UN-driven agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030, which was hashed out at meetings in Kunming, China, and Montreal, Canada, in 2022.
Keeping promises made in Canada and China
The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, who suffer disproportionately from biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.
The global framework also contains concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including protection measures covering 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
Currently only 17 per cent of land and around eight per cent of marine areas are protected.
“Only by working together can we make peace with nature a reality,” said Ms. Muhamad.
‘Multilateralism works’
Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the positive outcome in Rome shows that “multilateralism works” and is “the vehicle to build the partnerships needed to protect biodiversity and move us towards peace with nature”.
After intense negotiations, parties to the convention agreed on a way forward in terms of resource mobilisation with a view to close the global biodiversity finance gap and achieve the target of at least $200 billion a year by 2030.
This includes working to improve existing financial tools, especially to provide resources for developing countries, under the temporary leadership of UN agencies and partners.
“We now have a clear mandate” for implementation, Ms. Schomaker said. “As we do this and implement the other supporting elements for resource mobilisation, the world will have given itself the means to close the biodiversity finance gap.”
Call for pioneering investors
On the margins of COP16.2, the Cali Fund, which was created in Colombia in late 2024, was officially launched, ushering in a new era for biodiversity financing.
“Today’s launch is the culmination of multilateralism that delivers,” said Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
“The ball is now in the court of businesses around the world. Those who pay into the fund will go down in history as pioneers and will reap the benefits as the public increasingly recognises the importance of giving back to nature.”
Here’s how the Cali Fund will benefit biodiversity:
Companies making commercial use of data from genetic resources in nature in a range of lucrative industries will be expected to contribute a portion of their revenue to the fund
Contributions to the Cali Fund will be used to implement the UN Biodiversity Convention, including by supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
At least 50 per cent of the Cali Fund resources will be allocated to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, recognising their role as custodians of biodiversity
People living in Williams Lake and surrounding communities will have increased access to team-based primary health care at the new Williams Lake Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC).
“Our government is committed to making sure everyone in our province has access to quality health care that’s close to home,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. “This new UPCC means people living in Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, and East and West Cariboo regions will have increased access to same-day primary health care so they can receive the care they need, while also easing pressure on emergency rooms and hospitals.”
The new UPCC opened on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. The 490 square-metre (5,300 square feet) clinic is located at 47 Cameron St. When fully operational, it will provide urgent and episodic primary care, in person and virtually, seven days a week, including statutory holidays, 9:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.
The UPCC will offer same-day care for people who need access to health care within 12 to 24 hours, but do not require an emergency department. The UPCC is available to people who do not have a primary-care provider, as well as those who are unable to schedule an appointment with their primary-care provider within a convenient timeframe.
“This UPCC will make a real difference to the lives of people living in and around Williams Lake by providing timely primary health care,” said Debra Toporowski, parliamentary secretary for rural health. “We know how important it is to have access to health care close to home, especially in rural areas, and we will continue to strengthen our health-care system to accommodate the growing demand.”
As hiring progresses, people will be cared for by more than 18 full-time-equivalent health-care providers, including family doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, Indigenous patient navigators and administrative staff.
“We are excited to welcome patients to the new urgent and primary care centre in Williams Lake,” said Diane Shendruk, vice-president clinical operations, Interior Health. “This UPCC is the first in the Interior to have a dedicated smudging space, which reflects our commitment to reconciliation by bringing Indigenous wellness practices into health care.”
The project will have a total capital cost of more than $4 million, with the ministry funding $2.67 million and the Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Hospital District funding $1.37 million.
This UPCC marks the 41st UPCC open in the province since 2018, which combined have had approximately three million patient visits. Planning for nine more UPCCs is underway, with the goal of establishing 50 UPCCs in communities throughout B.C. This work is part of B.C.’s Primary Care Strategy, which is bringing more team-based primary-care services to people in B.C.
Quotes:
Al Richmond, board chair, Thompson Regional Hospital District –
“This clinic is critical to easing the workload of the emergency room at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital, especially for those without a family doctor. Having separate spaces for emergency care and urgent care will produce the best outcomes for health-care staff and patients accessing these services.”
Chief Willie Sellars, Williams Lake First Nations, and board director, Interior Health –
“The opening of the Williams Lake Urgent and Primary Care Centre is a significant step toward improving health outcomes for Indigenous people and the broader community. Many of our community members are without family doctors and this facility will help fill that void by providing access to timely care. I’m proud to see this commitment to culturally safe health services that will make a real difference in people’s lives.”
Quick Facts:
The Williams Lake UPCC is the 11th UPCC operating in the Interior Health region, including Ashcroft, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Rutland, Vernon and West Kelowna.
The Williams Lake UPCC is planning to facilitate more than 42,000 visits per year.
Interior Health UPCCs have provided care to more than 754,000 visitors since 2018 when the first UPCC opened in the health authority.
Learn More:
To learn more about UPCCs in the Interior Health region, visit: https://www.interiorhealth.ca/information-for/patients-and-visitors/urgent-and-primary-care-centres
To read about B.C.’s primary health strategy, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/bcs-primary-care-system and https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0034-001010
To learn more about the Province’s health human resource strategy, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022HLTH0059-001464
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, pursuant to Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506), today released a report on Victor Marquez’s death from an officer-involved shooting in an unincorporated area of Tulare County, near Exeter, California, on December 17, 2022. The incident involved officers from the Woodlake Police Department (WPD). The report is part of the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ongoing efforts to provide transparency and accountability in law enforcement practices. The report provides a detailed analysis of the incident and outlines DOJ’s findings. After a thorough investigation, DOJ concluded that criminal charges were not appropriate in this case.
“We recognize the considerable challenges and difficulties faced by all those impacted, including Mr. Marquez’s family, the law enforcement agencies involved, and the community as a whole,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The California Department of Justice aims to partner with law enforcement to build a just and equitable legal environment, ensuring that the rule of law is upheld, and justice is accessible to everyone.”
On December 17, 2022, at approximately 10:50 AM, WPD police officers heard over radio dispatch that the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office was trying to locate a domestic violence suspect, later identified as Mr. Marquez, who was armed with a nine-millimeter firearm. At approximately 11:30 AM, a WPD officer located Mr. Marquez’s vehicle, a high-speed pursuit of Mr. Marquez ensued, and other law enforcement officers joined the pursuit. The pursuit ended when Mr. Marquez’s vehicle collided with two other vehicles and came to a stop. Officers approached Mr. Marquez’s vehicle while issuing commands, such as, “Show me your hands,” and “Don’t do this!” The officers would later describe Mr. Marquez as holding what they believed to be a firearm in a small black bag and raising it at officers. At which point two WPD officers discharged their duty weapons and Mr. Marquez was fatally shot. After the shooting, the officers discovered that Mr. Marquez’s right hand, which was hidden inside the small black bag, was not holding a firearm, and that there were no firearms in the vehicle.
Under AB 1506, which requires DOJ to investigate all incidents of officer-involved shootings resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian in the state, DOJ conducted a thorough investigation into this incident and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers did not act in lawful defense of themselves or others. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of the officers. As such, no further action will be taken in this case.
As part of its investigation, DOJ has identified five policy recommendations related to this incident. The first recommendation is that WPD revise its policy on body-worn camera footage, to state that the officer “shall” activate their body worn cameras, rather than state that officers “should” activate them. Currently, WPD policy states that officers “should” activate the camera in specified situations.
The second recommendation is that WPD consider installing digital in-car video systems in its patrol units. In-car video systems work to enhance accountability and transparency to establish a higher level of trust between law enforcement officers and their community. In-car video systems ensure officers are always recording when needed.
The third recommendation is that WPD ensure that its officers are equipped with a variety of less lethal options, in addition to TASERS, such as 40mm launchers and pepper spray. If WPD has already issued these less lethal weapons to its officers, DOJ recommends that WPD amend its policies to require that officers have these less lethal options with them while on patrol.
The fourth recommendation is that WPD amend its vehicle pursuit policy, to simplify the criteria for determining when to engage in and terminate a vehicle pursuit. “If police departments eliminate the factor-based cognitive analysis requiring patrol officers to decide whether to initiate or sustain a pursuit and, instead, implement simple clear-cut rules of engagement for police vehicle pursuits, this may eliminate many dangerous high-speed chases and some high-speed crashes.”
The fifth recommendation is that WPD amend its current policy on de-escalation to make the language clear. Government Code section 7286, subdivision (b)(1), requires that each law enforcement agency maintain a policy that includes a requirement that officers utilize de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention tactics, and other alternatives to force, when feasible. WPD should further review its other processes, procedures, and training related to de-escalation to ensure those too are consistent with existing law.
Question for written answer E-000815/2025 to the Commission Rule 144 Leire Pajín (S&D), Javi López (S&D)
In connection with Directive (EU) 2018/843 on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, it is important to have an up-to-date list of countries based on strict and adjusted criteria. The Commission last updated this list on 12 December 2023 under the power delegated to it. On 23 April 2024, Parliament rejected the Commission’s proposal to add Kenya and Namibia to the list and to remove Barbados, Gibraltar, Panama, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.
Panama is a key partner for the EU and plays a vital role in leadership and stability in the region. On the subject of removing Panama from the list, the Commission stated that the country has no strategic deficiencies in its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and that it does not pose a significant threat to the EU’s financial system.
Therefore, in light of the above:
1.When will the Commission present a new proposal for a delegated act to update the list?
2.Is the Commission considering technical measures to make updating the list more streamlined, such as separating countries into regional areas?
