The U.S. National Science Foundation, in collaboration withEvery Page Foundation(EPF), is excited to announce 22 women science leaders as the 2024 NSF-EPF Ocean Decade Champions.
Each champion is associated with a project funded by the NSF Coastlines and People (NSF CoPe) program and receives a monetary award to support leadership activities, networking opportunities, technical and communications training and cross-disciplinary and intercultural scientific endeavors.
NSF CoPe is endorsed by the United NationsDecade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development,also known as the Ocean Decade, which aims to promote ocean health and ensure any development efforts are sustainable and informed by science. The initiative’s10 Decade Challengesinclude a fair representation of women and other underrepresented groups in ocean science and decision-making.
The champions contribute to CoPe projects focused on coastline and community research that integrates natural and social processes and creates new or adapts existing technologies to bolster coastal resilience. The champions excel in their research and prioritize mentoring others and positively impacting society.
NSF and EPF, along with support fromPanorama Global, contributed over half a million dollars to support the careers of these leading women. Each awardee received support ranging from $20,000 to $50,000.
The 2024 NSF-EPF Ocean Decade Champions
Lynette Adams Black in Marine Science NSF Award Number: 2209284 Lynnette Adams is a director of development leading initiatives that bridge science, community and advocacy while centering joy as a driving force for equity and inclusion in marine biology.
Wai Allen Arizona State University NSF Award Number: 2103843 Wai Allen (Diné/Navajo) is a postdoctoral researcher exploring the interface between systems of Western science and Indigenous knowledge that converge to help Indigenous communities actualize their self-determination through Indigenous data sovereignty and governance in the geosciences.
Sharon Alston Norfolk State University NSF Award Number: 2209139 Sharon Alston is an associate professor of social work, researching risk and resilience among youth in public housing and exploring the career aspirations of African American youth.
Rebecca Asch East Carolina University NSF Award Number: 2052889 Rebecca Asch is a fisheries oceanographer researching interactions between fish reproduction, fish early life history, plankton ecology, climate change and climate variability.
Natasha Batista Stanford University NSF Award Number: 2209284 Natasha Batista is a marine spatial analyst and researcher investigating blue carbon modeling, ecosystem service valuations, community-based management and co-developed nature-based solutions.
Mona Behl University of Georgia NSF Award Number: 1940082 Mona Behl is an associate director of Georgia Sea Grant, and her research focuses on building climate adaptation and broadening participation in geosciences and workforce readiness.
Marilyn Brandt University of the Virgin Islands NSF Award Number: 2209284 Marilyn Brandt is a research associate professor studying the characteristics and impacts of coral reef diseases and using insights from her work to create effective strategies for coral conservation and restoration.
Lisa Carne Fragments of Hope NSF Award Number: 2209284 Lisa Carne founded Fragments of Hope, a community-based organization restoring coral reef habitats in 2013 after conducting coral reef research in Belize and witnessing the area’s vulnerability to hurricanes and rising sea temperatures.
Jade Delevaux Seascape Solutions NSF Award Number: 2209284 Jade Maeva Delevaux is a natural resource management specialist who works with decision-makers, local communities and nongovernmental organizations across the Pacific and the Caribbean to co-develop place-based solutions.
Allie Durdall University of the Virgin Islands NSF Award Number: 2209284 Allie Durdall is a marine and environmental scientist dedicated to coastal systems — mangroves, seagrass beds and salt ponds — who prioritizes fostering camaraderie among women and minorities in science.
Anne Guerry Stanford University NSF Award Number: 2209284 Anne Guerry is a scientist who studies the relationship between people and nature. She works on coastal resilience, marine planning, natural capital assessments and ecosystem services.
Sucharita Gopal Boston University NSF Award Number: 2209284 Sucharita Gopal is a multidisciplinary researcher who uses spatial analysis and modeling, GIS, data mining, information visualization and artificial neural networks to address various problems in biology, environmental science, public health and business.
Cindy Grace-McCaskey East Carolina University NSF Award Number: 2209284 Cindy Grace-McCaskey is an applied environmental anthropologist who uses qualitative, quantitative and participatory methods to examine the multiple ways social and natural systems interact with and influence one another and what that means for equitable resource management, adaptation and governance.
Kristin Grimes University of the Virgin Islands NSF Award Number: 2209284 Kristin Grimes is a research assistant professor who studies human impacts on nearshore environments. She focuses on mangrove ecosystems and is interested in how community-driven science approaches can improve restoration, education and stewardship outcomes.
Jamie Melvin Elizabeth River Project NSF Award Number: 2209139 Jamie Melvin is an engagement coordinator who develops and implements thoughtful and equitable programming at the Elizabeth River Project’s new Ryan Resilience Lab to engage with Norfolk’s diverse communities and coordinate the Knitting Mill Creek EcoDistrict.
Laura Moore University of North Carolina NSF Award Number: 1939447 Laura Moore is a professor researching how low-lying coastlines respond to climate change, emphasizing understanding the interactions between human activities and natural processes.
Tiara Moore Black in Marine Science NSF Award Number: 2209284 Tiara Moore is a CEO dedicated to promoting diversity and involvement in science through her research on biodiversity and efforts to increase participation in science through innovative methods such as environmental DNA and community engagement.
Shouraseni Sen Roy University of Miami NSF Award Number: 2209284 Shouraseni Sen Roy is a geographer working on the long-term spatial-temporal patterns of climate processes, trends and impacts in the “global south,” incorporating geospatial analysis techniques.
Diamond Tachera Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences,NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research NSF Award Number: 2103843 Diamond Tachera is a kanaka ‘ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) and co-director whose research is driven by the Indigenous knowledge of her kūpuna (ancestors); she uses modern hydrogeochemical techniques to investigate the relationships between ʻāina (land), wai (water) and kānaka (people).
Nikki Taylor-Knowles University of Miami NSF Award Number: 2209284 Nikki Traylor-Knowles is a cell biologist whose research is dedicated to unraveling the evolution of immunity, wound healing and regeneration. She seeks to apply her research to conservation efforts.
Maya Trotz University of South Florida NSF Award Number: 2209284 Maya Trotz is a professor whose research covers water quality, water source protection and water provision for sustainable communities. She works with partners in the United States and the Caribbean on ridge-to-reef nature-based solutions.
Jingya Wang University of Delaware NSF Award Number: 2209190 Jingya Wang is a postdoctoral researcher focused on studying decision-making under deep uncertainties and strategies for adapting to climate change. She specializes in making risk-informed decisions to adapt systems to evolving conditions.
Rebecca Zarger University of South Florida NSF Award Number: 2209284 Rebecca Zarger is an environmental anthropologist working at the intersection of environmental knowledge and social justice to address coastal futures, climate change and youth informal science education.
The Tibetan Plateau’s glaciers are among the world’s most remote and untouched places. Researchers say these ice fields provide water for millions of people and play a vital environmental role.
Now, geoscientists funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation have tracked pollution in the form of lead in the glaciers. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
The Tibetan Plateau is often called the “Roof of the World.” It’s the highest and largest plateau on Earth. In a study of the Guliya Ice Cap there, Franco Marcantonio of Texas A&M University and his colleagues discovered that significant lead pollution of the ice cap began in 1974, with the highest levels between 2000 and 2007.
The team measured lead isotopes in samples dating to 36,000 years ago. The ice serves as a historical record, giving scientists a way of comparing levels of modern lead contamination to those of pre-industrial times.
“Even though Pb [lead] has been used by ancient civilizations for millennia, it was not until the Industrial Revolution and later, when leaded gasoline was introduced … in the 1920s, that the emission of Pb from human activities skyrocketed,” state the scientists in their paper. “By the 1980s, emissions surpassed their natural and pre-industrial contribution by about two orders of magnitude.”
The Tibetan Plateau “is considered to be a pristine place due to the very low industrial activity in the region,” write the researchers. Nonetheless, lead found its way there, and its history of human use was captured in the Guliya Ice Cap.
“This study advances our understanding of the breadth and timing of environmental impacts from human activities,” says Margaret Fraiser, a program director in the NSF Division of Earth Sciences.
Good morning, and thank you for the warm welcome. A special thank you to Nodal for inviting me to join your annual Trader Conference again this year. It is truly an honor to address all of you this morning. I am more than two years into my role as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and I still feel humbled by the opportunity to stand on a stage with a microphone to address accomplished professionals like all of you. My children, on the other hand, are surprised that anyone would want to hear me talk about anything, and they are even more shocked that I would need a microphone to be heard as they are convinced that the only volume I ever use when speaking is shouting.
The topic for my speech on today’s agenda is: New Perspectives on Energy Trading and Power Markets, and I plan to focus on the road ahead for these markets. But before discussing the road ahead, I will start with a story from my childhood about when I learned to drive. I say this is a story from my childhood because in South Dakota, children as young as fourteen years old are allowed to obtain a driver’s license. As much as I miss my home state, when I look at my fourteen-year-old son and think about him driving, I see the wisdom in Virginia’s approach.
At the ripe old age of twelve, my dad decided it was time for me to learn how to drive. As a tall child, I could reach the gas and brake pedals, which was apparently the minimum criteria for beginning driving lessons on the farm. To be honest, I was scared to death of driving. But my parents said I should learn because if there was ever an emergency, and I was the only one home, I may need to drive for help. That logic just made me scared of driving and being left alone on the farm.
My experience as a parent teaching two teenagers to drive involved multiple practice sessions in empty parking lots before slowly graduating to quiet side roads before paying another adult to do the really scary stuff, such as driving on highways and making left turns across oncoming traffic. I suspect that sounds familiar to many in this room as well.
But that suburban approach is not how I learned to drive. My lesson – notice I said lesson, not lessons—was a little more hands-off. On the day I learned to drive, my dad had me jump in the passenger seat of his 1977 blue Chevy pick-up truck to take a ride with him. Oddly, my older brother jumped in another farm truck and followed close behind.
After driving a few miles away from our house, my dad drove the truck into the middle of a freshly plowed field. Dad threw the truck into park, jumped out, and told me to slide over to the driver’s seat. He then shut the door, leaned into the window, and told me to drive around the field until I was comfortable enough to drive myself home. At that point, I realized why my brother had followed us in another vehicle—it was my dad’s getaway car.
Honestly, I panicked. I screamed, pleaded, and begged. But my dad was confident in his approach. And he left me with this advice: always keep your eyes on the road. But don’t just look at the road immediately in front of the vehicle; be sure to watch the road ahead so you know where you are going—and so that you do not smash into a deer.
I’m sharing this story with you today for two reasons. First, to offer some entertainment.
Second, I found the advice my dad gave me that day relevant to the topic for my speech today. Specifically, I want to share with you some thoughts and observations on energy markets, the road ahead for these markets, and potential down-the-road effects on the derivatives markets that are regulated by the CFTC.
Being a derivatives regulator can feel a little like being that driver who is looking down the road to see what is ahead. Our markets are forward looking, offering a view into points off in the distance so drivers are prepared for the path ahead. But, just like a careful driver needs to see what is right in front of the vehicle as much as what is on the road ahead, careful regulation requires us to also keep our eyes on current market conditions, in addition to ensuring the reliability and safety of the futures markets, which reflect the road ahead. The CFTC is always surveilling markets, spotting trends, and monitoring for risk that could impact the futures markets.
Now, here is where this speech will diverge from my story of learning to drive. While I was left to teach myself how to drive and had no one willing to share their expertise with me, our work at the CFTC in following markets occurs with the benefit of a variety of internal resources (such as the Market Intelligence Branch of the Division of Market Oversight and the Office of the Chief Economist) as well as external resources (such as our advisory committees).
At the CFTC, we have five advisory committees, each of which is sponsored by a commissioner. These committees are comprised of subject matter experts representing a variety of viewpoints, such as private sector stakeholders, non-profit groups, academia, and other governmental entities. As many of you know, especially those who are members, I sponsor the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee.
Growing up on a farm in South Dakota, I always understood that the price of energy had a major impact on whether it was a good year or a bad year for the farm. Even at a young age, I could tell you the exact cost-per-gallon of diesel because either my dad was grumbling about it as he left for the field, or it was the topic of discussion at the local café in town where the older farmers convened for their morning coffee.
The price of diesel determined the cost of running planters, tractors, combines, and trucks. The cost of fertilizers and pesticides are also directly linked to fossil fuel input prices, and spreading those fertilizers and pesticides required hiring a spray pilot whose services were priced based on the cost of the aviation fuel.
Even after our crops were harvested, energy costs were critical. Energy prices influenced the cost of storage at the grain elevators and transportation; barges and ships run on bunker fuel and trains need diesel. Everything in the farm economy depends on the price of energy. You might have perfect temperatures, exactly the right amount of rain at exactly the right time, and high yields but still see your net profit shrink due to high energy prices.
As the only Commissioner with a background in production agriculture, sponsoring the Commission’s Agriculture Advisory Committee may have seemed like the obvious choice. But I saw the EEMAC as an opportunity to focus on sectors critical to the agricultural economy and to study those energy markets to understand their impact on the markets we regulate. The goal is for the energy futures complex to serve end-users who need to hedge those costs and to mitigate the frequent price volatility experienced by the underlying cash markets.
As the EEMAC has held meetings and participated in discussions around energy markets, we have heard over and over that the United States has critical gaps in its energy and power infrastructure. As those gaps widen, so do risks to the stability of these markets that become more sensitive and less resilient to forces beyond US control. Instability and volatility in spot energy markets and prices have a direct impact on the derivative products we regulate.
Energy infrastructure’s impact on energy prices is something that cannot be ignored, and this reality has become even more apparent in the last decade. Of course, it makes sense that energy transmission and delivery directly impact the cost to the end consumer. However, truly understanding how energy infrastructure market fundamentals influence energy spot and derivatives prices requires hearing directly from hardworking domestic energy producers and seeing the infrastructure up close.
With that in mind, the EEMAC has held a series of meetings on the road, and members of the advisory committee have joined me in getting outside of Washington to see our energy production and infrastructure and to talk directly with the experts who manage these facilities.
In our first meeting, we visited Oklahoma and focused on more traditional energy markets such as crude oil and natural gas.[1] We visited Cushing, Oklahoma, where the WTI Crude Oil contract settles to see the pipelines and storage facilities as well as to talk with those in charge of storing, blending, and moving the oil to locations throughout the US. During the EEMAC meeting, a witness from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission described an anomaly in the price of natural gas in New England.[2] Despite having one of the largest concentrations of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale just over two hundred miles away, a lack of pipeline capacity makes it impossible to fully supply New England with gas from the Marcellus Shale.[3] This situation means that New England relies on liquified natural gas (“LNG”) supplies from tanker ships. As a result, the price New England end users pay is based on the Henry Hub price for exported LNG, rather than the domestic production price. This circumstance creates an unusual situation where the spot price that a natural gas-fired power plant in Massachusetts pays for its fuel is more dependent on Europe’s desire for natural gas and a global market thousands of miles away than on the price and availability of natural gas produced two states away in Pennsylvania.
To examine power markets and electrification, we held meetings in Roy, Utah; Nashville, Tennessee; and Golden, Colorado.[4] In the course of those meetings, we had the opportunity to tour a large Ford EV production facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine in Utah, and a startup company looking to reuse mine tailings to produce critical metals and minerals in Golden, Colorado.
Here in the United States, we have some of the largest deposits of the metals necessary for power generation, transmission, and use, but large gaps in our infrastructure and policies render these advantages almost meaningless. In Golden, Colorado, we learned that despite a startup company’s cutting-edge technology that can turn mine waste into critical metals and minerals, China’s dominance in rare earth markets means that they can manipulate prices at will and squeeze out competition and force any US production into bankruptcy.
Southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, we toured the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. The Bingham County Mine is the largest man-made excavation in the world.[5] It’s also the world’s deepest open pit mine, and it has produced more copper than any other mine in the world.[6] As you can probably guess, the US has abundant supplies of copper; however, because of a lack of domestic smelting capacity, much of the copper mined in the US must be shipped overseas, often to China, to be processed and refined. In fact, since 2000, China has been responsible for 75% of the global smelter capacity growth.[7]
Finally, in Spring Hill, Tennessee, we learned that car companies are increasingly concerned about logistical challenges reducing their ability to provide cost-competitive electric vehicles. This is not an idle concern. Just four weeks ago, Rivian disclosed that it will be forced to reduce production and decrease its sales target in 2024 by almost 20% because of difficulties sourcing a component used in its electric motor.[8] And last week, to secure a steady supply of lithium, GM announced an almost $1 billion investment in the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada.[9]
For years, the problem for domestic energy policy was how to mine, drill, and import enough raw materials to satisfy America’s growing energy demand.[10] Even after the oil glut of the 1980s and lower energy prices, we were still concerned with our reliance on foreign energy.[11] The continuous mantra of Presidents starting with Richard Nixon was the concept of “Energy Independence” as a policy goal.[12] Now, not because of government mandates, plans, or policies, but thanks to technological innovation, hard work, and the deployment of private capital, that goal has largely been achieved. We have the raw materials in the ground that we need to power American energy independence; however, we need our infrastructure to catch-up with our domestic supply.
Returning to my driving lesson, when I look at the road ahead, I see the United States coming to a crossroads. One road leads to more resilient infrastructure, lower prices, and energy abundance. The other road leads to energy scarcity, higher prices, and a loss of energy independence. The direction we take as a country will have a major impact on the energy markets and the futures markets we regulate at the CFTC. Unfortunately, gaps in energy infrastructure lead to instability and volatility in energy markets, which have a direct impact on the derivatives markets. If derivatives markets fail to offer adequate price discovery and risk mitigation, they will no longer serve producers and end users as appropriate tools to hedge their exposure. That is a road we cannot afford to go down.
As a regulator, the CFTC is not the driver of this car, but we definitely have an interest in taking the road that leads to liquid, stable, and vibrant derivatives markets that serve as a tool for hedging against risk. We can do that by ensuring that new derivative products come to market efficiently without the fear of litigation or unreasonable staff positions, and by cultivating new market structures that minimize conflicts and instill market confidence. Our enforcement efforts should be focused on ‘bad actors’ and not on trying to shortcut deliberative policymaking. The CFTC should prefer “responsible regulation” over “regulation by enforcement.” To arrive at our desired destination, we all need to keep our eyes on the road, to see what is right in front of us while simultaneously paying attention to the road ahead.
Thank you for taking this road trip with me today. I look forward to answering your questions.
[1] CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee meeting in Stillwater, Oklahoma, September 20, 2022.
[4] CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, February 28, 2023. CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee meeting in Roy, Utah, June 27, 2023. CFTC Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee meeting in Golden, Colorado, February 13, 2024.
[5] Kristine L. Pankow, Jeffrey R. Moore, J. Mark Hale, Keith D. Koper, Tex Kubacki, Katherine M. Whidden, and Michael K. McCarter. “Massive landslide at Utah copper mine generates wealth of geophysical data.” Geological Society of America, vol. 24, no. 1, January 2014.
[7] Securing Copper Supply: No China, No Energy Transition, WoodsMcKenzie, August 2024, Nick Pickens, Robin Griffin, Eleni Joanides, and Zhifei Liu.
[8] Ed Ludlow and Kiel Porter. “Rivian Misstep Triggered Parts Shortage Hobbling Its EV Output.” Bloomberg, October 7, 2024.
[9] Camilla Hodgson. “General Motors increases investment in lithium mine to nearly $1bn.” Financial Times, October 6, 2024.
[10] US Energy Information Administration, “U.S. energy facts explained, Imports & Exports.” Last updated July 15, 2024, with data from the Monthly Energy Review.
[12] Charles Homans, “Energy Independence: A Short History.” Foreign Policy, January 3, 2012.
In fiscal year 2023, NASA investments supported 66,208 jobs in the state of California, generated $18.5 billion in economic output and $1 billion in tax revenue to the state’s economy. Overall, NASA generated an estimated $9.5 billion in federal, state, and local taxes throughout the United States. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California is one of three NASA centers in the state that contributes to this economic achievement. The center supports critical research in sustainable flight, air mobility, and airborne science, reinforcing the region as a hub of aerospace innovation. Most notably, NASA Armstrong plays a unique role in the Quesst mission and X-59 project, aimed at reducing the sonic booms into quieter “sonic thumps,” to change regulations impeding supersonic flight over land. Additionally, maturing key airframe technologies with the X-66 aircraft in the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project which may influence the next generation single-aisle seat class airliner. The Center also supports the research of electric air taxis and drones to operate safely in the national airspace as well as supporting science aircraft for NASA’s Earth Science Mission. NASA’s Moon to Mars campaign generated 16,129 jobs and $4.7 billion in economic output in California. Collaborations with contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin further extended these benefits by creating thousands of high-skilled jobs in the Antelope Valley and across the state. NASA also fosters partnerships with educational institutions across the state, investing $39.5 million in universities to cultivate the next generation of aerospace innovators. These investments bring STEM opportunities to local communities and prepare students for careers in cutting-edge industries – adding to the agency’s most valuable asset, its workforce. NASA embraces the challenges of exploring the unknown and making the impossible possible as we continue our global leadership in science, human spaceflight, aerospace innovation, and technology development, and support the U.S. economy and benefit all. Read the full Economic Impact Report for Fiscal Year 2023. -end- Nicolas Cholula / Sarah MannNASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center661-714-3853 / 661-233-2758nicolas.h.cholula@nasa.gov /sarah.mann@nasa.gov
NASA has awarded $15.6 million in grant funding to 15 projects supporting the maintenance of open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries used by the NASA science community, for the benefit of all. The agency’s Open-Source Tools, Frameworks, and Libraries awards provide support for the sustainable development of tools freely available to everyone and critical for the goals of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. “We received almost twice the number of proposals this year than we had in the previous call,” said Steve Crawford, program executive, Open Science implementation, Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The NASA science community’s excitement for this program demonstrates the need for sustained support and maintenance of open-source software. These projects are integral to our missions, critical to our data infrastructure, underpin machine learning and data science tools, and are used by our researchers, every day, to advance science that protects our planet and broadens our understanding of the universe.” This award program is one of several cross-divisional opportunities at NASA focused on advancing open science practices. The grants are funded by NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer through the agency’s Research Opportunities for Space and Earth Science. The solicitation sought proposals through two types of awards:
Foundational awards: cooperative agreements for up to five years for open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries that have a significant impact on two or more divisions of the Science Mission Directorate. Sustainment awards: grants or cooperative agreements of up to three years for open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries that have significant impact in one or more divisions of the Science Mission Directorate.
2024 awardees are: Foundation awards:
NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California
Principal investigator: Ross Beyer
“Expanding and Maintaining the Ames Stereo Pipeline”
Caltech, Pasadena, California
Principal investigator: Brigitta Sipocz
“Enhancement of Infrastructure and Sustained Maintenance of Astroquery”
Cornell University, Scarsdale, New York
Principal investigator: Ramin Zabih
“Modernize and Expand arXiv’s Essential Infrastructure”
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Principal investigator: D. Cooley
“Enabling SMD Science Using the General Mission Analysis Tool”
NumFOCUS, Austin, Texas
Principal investigator: Thomas Caswell
“Sustainment of Matplotlib and Cartopy”
NumFOCUS
Principal investigator: Erik Tollerud
“Investing in the Astropy Project to Enable Research and Education in Astronomy”
Sustainment awards:
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California
Principal investigator: Cedric David
“Sustain NASA’s River Software for the Satellite Data Deluge,” three-year award
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Principal investigator: David Radice
“AthenaK: A Performance Portable Simulation Infrastructure for Computational Astrophysics,” three-year award
United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
Principal investigator: Trent Hare
“Planetary Updates for QGIS,” one-year award
NASA JPL
Principal investigator: Michael Starch
“How To F Prime: Empowering Science Missions Through Documentation and Examples,” three-year award
NASA Goddard
Principal investigator: Albert Shih
“Enhancing Consistency and Discoverability Across the SunPy Ecosystem,” three-year award
Triad National Security, LLC, Los Alamos, New Mexico
Principal investigator: Julia Kelliher
“Enhancing Analysis Capabilities of Biological Data With the NASA EDGE Bioinformatics Platform,” four-year award
iSciences LLC, Burlington, Vermont
Principal investigator: Daniel Baston
“Sustaining the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library,” three-year award
University of Maryland, College Park,
Principal investigator: C Max Stevens
“Sustaining the Community Firn Model,” three-year award
Quansight, LLC, Austin, Texas
Principal investigator: Dharhas Pothina
“Ensuring a Fast and Secure Core for Scientific Python – Security, Accessibility and Performance of NumPy, SciPy and scikit-learn; Going Beyond NumPy With Accelerator Support,” three-year award
For information about open science at NASA, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/open-science -end- Alise FisherHeadquarters, Washington202-617-4977alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
During the fall 2024 semester, two final year Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) students in the School of Nursing received funds from the CVS Health Caring Hearts Student Scholarship Program to help further their education thanks to Dr. Annette Jakubišin Konicki. At $10,000 each, this scholarship was awarded to Melody Len LoPreiato ’25 (NUR) and John Sklepinski ’25 (NUR), who are both pursuing an MS in Nursing with a concentration in family practice.
Today’s family nurse practitioners (FNPs) provide comprehensive patient-focused primary and acute care to individuals across the lifespan — from infants to the elderly. Their focus includes delivering preventive health care services for both acute and chronic conditions, requiring them to diagnose and treat illnesses, perform routine checkups, oversee health-risk assessments, and offer counseling services.
FNPs generally work in practices that focus on women’s health, family practice, pediatrics, and internal medicine. Often FNPs are found in outpatient settings like independent practice clinics, women’s health centers, and community health clinics.
The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) online Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at UConn prepares advanced practice nurses to assess, diagnose, monitor, treat, and coordinate the care of individuals across the lifespan and across primary and acute illnesses.
The program is designed for licensed registered nurses who currently hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing and aspire to become advanced practice nurses.
“I am grateful and deeply honored to be a recipient of the CVS Caring Heart Scholarship,” says Len LoPreiato. “This generous support is making a significant impact on my studies, especially as I navigate through some personal and family challenges. The funds will be used to help cover my NP educational costs. Since enrolling in the program, I have significantly reduced my normal working hours and covering my educational expenses has been challenging to say the least. Your commitment to supporting students like me inspires hope and motivates me to continue striving for excellence in my education and future career. Thank you for making a difference in my life!”
Sklepinski says, “Receiving this scholarship will have a transformative impact on my journey to becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner. As a student at the University of Connecticut, this opportunity allows me to fully commit to my studies without the heavy burden of financial stress.” He goes onto say, “It grants me the chance to focus entirely on expanding my knowledge, clinical skills, and immersing myself in the advanced training necessary for this role. The support helps me stay on track toward achieving my goal of becoming a well-respected and contributing member in the medical community. I am deeply grateful for this scholarship I’m ready to make a meaningful impact in the lives of my future patients.”
Met Police and modern slavery charitywork to protect victims of exploitation
The Metropolitan Police and Justice & Care have jointly worked to pursue the conviction of prolific sex trafficker Roland Cankaj to protect multiple victims of exploitation.
Roland Cankaj, 43 (19.03.1981) of Western Gateway, Tower Hamlets, E16 appeared at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday, 23 October where he was found guilty of multiple exploitation offences following a six day trial.
The Met’s modern slavery team launched an investigation into an organised crime network named the ‘Cankaj Brotherhood’ in 2022 with intelligence leading to a group trafficking Brazilian women into the UK to be sexually exploited.
The detailed investigation showed Cankaj renting an apartment in Tower Hamlets under a false passport. Officers begun to observe Cankaj’s movements and saw him drive young women to addresses and waiting outside in the car while the women went inside. He was also seen to be in the company of young women, taking provocative pictures of them outside London landmarks which were used to advertise sexual services. A brothel in Tower Hamlets, run by Cankaj, was uncovered – the rooms were sparsely furnished and contained items associated with sex work.
As a result of the officer’s work, a total of six victims were identified and the Met worked closely with Justice & Care, the modern slavery charity, to support them.
During an interview, one victim explained how she had worked as a beautician in Brazil and got into conversation with Cankaj about money. He arranged for her to come to the UK and moved her between various addresses to have sex with men she didn’t know before taking half the money – sometimes 10 to 15 men a day.
As part of A New Met for London, the Met is doing more to support communities and people who’ve had their trust damaged. Officers are working to protect women and children from violence and exploitation and pursuing the predatory men who commit those crimes. Through targeted operations and partnerships with community organisations, the Met is working to create safer environments for women and girls across London.
Detective Sergeant Andy Owen, who led the investigation, said:
“Cankaj tricked these women into a false sense of security, making them believe that this exploitation was a way of them gaining financial freedom. In fact, he was the one financially benefitting, making a career out of orchestrating prostitution with vulnerable victims.
“This was a complex investigation led by the Met and I am pleased our work has led to justice for these women. The key to our success was building the victim’s trust in the police -Justice & Care were integral in achieving this, providing support to these women who had spent years being exploited and ensuring they felt safe and supported to share their stories.
“The Met are dedicated to protecting vulnerable people – we rely on information from our communities to continue tackling exploitation and modern slavery in London. If you’re suspicious about possible exploitation in your area, or you’re concerned about someone who may be a victim, please contact us.”
Julie Currie, Victim Navigator Programme Coordinator at Justice& Care, who supported one of the victims said:
”We are proud to support the survivor to bring her trafficker to justice, and commend her bravery in supporting this case.
“As this case shows, modern slavery is brutal and it is everywhere – with an estimated 122,000 victims currently trapped in exploitation in the UK.
“Our Navigators are deployed into the heart of the Metropolitan Police, and many other police forces across the UK, and are often there from the moment a potential victim is identified to help them feel safe.
“They work helping survivors to start to rebuild their lives and support them to engage with the criminal justice process.
“This case is just one example of the incredible partnership between Justice and Care and the Metropolitan Police.
”Every member of the public can help us stop this crime by learning the signs of modern slavery and reporting concerns to police.”
Cankaj was arrested on 20 April 2024 at London Stansted Airport and was subsequently charged with:
Two counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation
Fraud by false representation
Possession of a controlled article for use in fraud
He pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and keeping a brothel for use in prostitution.
He was found guilty on Wednesday, 23 October at Croydon Crown Court of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (“FHLBNY”) today released its unaudited financial highlights for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
“Throughout the first nine months of 2024, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York has continued to successfully execute on our mission, meeting the needs of our members and working together to the benefit of the communities we all serve,” said José R. González, president and CEO of the FHLBNY.
Highlights from the third quarter of 2024 include:
Net income for the quarter was $183.4 million, an increase of $1.5 million, or 0.8%, from net income of $181.9 million for the third quarter of 2023. Net interest income for the quarter was $237.2 million, a decrease of $5.3 million, or 2.2%, from $242.4 million in the third quarter last year. Non-interest income increased by $23.3 million in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the prior year’s quarter, mainly due to an increase in unrealized fair value gains on derivatives, hedged items and trading securities. Non-interest expense increased by $16.2 million to $68.4 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily due to larger voluntary contributions for housing and community development initiatives and increases in headcount.
Return on average equity (“ROE”) for the quarter was 8.29% (annualized), compared to ROE of 9.13% for the third quarter of 2023.
As of September 30, 2024, total assets were $155.5 billion, a decrease of $2.8 billion, or 1.8%, from total assets of $158.3 billion at December 31, 2023. As of September 30, 2024, advances were $106.4 billion, a decrease of $2.5 billion, or 2.3%, from $108.9 billion at December 31, 2023.
As of September 30, 2024, total capital was $8.4 billion, an increase of $0.2 billion from total capital of $8.2 billion at December 31, 2023. The FHLBNY’s retained earnings increased by $0.2 billion to $2.5 billion as of September 30, 2024, of which $1.3 billion was unrestricted retained earnings and $1.2 billion was restricted retained earnings. At September 30, 2024, the FHLBNY met its regulatory capital ratios and liquidity requirements.
The FHLBNY allocated $20.4 million from its third quarter 2024 earnings for its Affordable Housing Program.
The FHLBNY expects to file its Form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2024 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on or before November 7, 2024.
Selected Balance Sheet Items (dollars in millions)
September 30,
December 31,
2024
2023
Change
Advances
$
106,435
$
108,890
$
(2,455
)
Mortgage loans held for portfolio
2,308
2,180
128
Mortgage-backed securities
19,736
19,582
154
Liquidity assets
24,581
25,340
(759
)
Total assets
$
155,454
$
158,333
$
(2,879
)
Consolidated obligations
$
143,809
$
145,476
$
(1,667
)
Capital stock
6,014
6,050
(36
)
Unrestricted retained earnings
1,309
1,277
32
Restricted retained earnings
1,178
1,061
117
Accumulated other comprehensive income
(85
)
(143
)
58
Total capital
$
8,416
$
8,245
$
171
Capital-to-assets ratio (GAAP)
5.41
%
5.21
%
Capital-to-assets ratio (Regulatory)
5.47
%
5.30
%
Operating Results (dollars in millions)
Three Months Ended September 30,
Nine Months Ended September 30,
2024
2023
Change
2024
2023
Change
Total interest income
$
2,316.6
$
2,030.7
$
285.9
$
6,916.0
$
6,264.1
$
651.9
Total interest expense
2,079.4
1,788.3
291.1
6,166.1
5,517.2
648.9
Net interest income
237.2
242.4
(5.2
)
749.9
746.9
3.0
Provision (Reversal) for credit losses
0.1
(0.1
)
0.2
(0.7
)
1.8
(2.5
)
Net interest income after provision for credit losses
237.1
242.5
(5.4
)
750.6
745.1
5.5
Non-interest income (loss)
35.1
11.8
23.3
88.2
70.7
17.5
Non-interest expense
68.4
52.2
16.2
188.5
153.3
35.2
Affordable Housing Program assessments
20.4
20.2
0.2
65.1
66.3
(1.2
)
Net income
$
183.4
$
181.9
$
1.5
$
585.2
$
596.2
$
(11.0
)
Return on average equity
8.29
%
9.13
%
9.09
%
9.54
%
Return on average assets
0.43
%
0.48
%
0.46
%
0.48
%
Net interest margin
0.56
%
0.64
%
0.59
%
0.60
%
Federal Home Loan Bank of New York The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York is a Congressionally chartered, wholesale Bank. It is part of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, a national wholesale banking network of 11 regional, stockholder-owned banks. As of September 30, 2024, the FHLBNY serves 338 financial institutions and housing associates in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mission of the FHLBNY is to provide members with reliable liquidity in support of housing and local community development.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 This report may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. These statements may use forward-looking terms, such as “projected,” “expects,” “may,” or their negatives or other variations on these terms. The Bank cautions that, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk or uncertainty and that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements or could affect the extent to which a particular objective, projection, estimate, or prediction is realized. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the Risk Factors set forth in our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, as well as regulatory and accounting rule adjustments or requirements, changes in interest rates, changes in projected business volumes, changes in prepayment speeds on mortgage assets, the cost of our funding, changes in our membership profile, the withdrawal of one or more large members, competitive pressures, shifts in demand for our products, and general economic conditions. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.
KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — WOOFi, the omnichain decentralized exchange platform, has launched its Synthetic proactive market maker (sPMM) on the Solana network, supporting SOL and USDC trading pairs. This will strengthen Solana’s institutional-grade liquidity offerings, utilizing centralized market-making strategies while preserving the self-custody benefits of decentralized finance.
“Solana is the largest hub of onchain users having surpassed Ethereum in volumes in 2024, and we can’t overstate how excited we are to be finally deploying there. Once we are confident with the initial liquidity provision strategies, WOOFi will scale to support more Solana-native assets, including staking derivatives like staked SOL (S-SOL) and other major tokens, as well as WOOFi Pro, the decentralized perp dex. This gradual rollout is strategic for ensuring a stable and impactful long-term presence for WOOFi on the Solana network,” said Ben Yorke, VP of Ecosystem.
WOOFi’s long-term vision is to become a DeFi hub, offering services like spot trading, futures, and staking through a self-custody platform that mirrors the functionality of centralized exchanges. Already live across 11 EVM networks, WOOFi is building an omnichain platform where users can access trading and earning tools from their favorite chain, simplifying the process while ensuring network reliability.
This deployment marks the start of WOOFi’s strategy to introduce institutional liquidity and advanced DeFi tools to Solana, optimizing performance and enhancing the overall user experience by leveraging Solana’s Rust-based infrastructure. As a high-performance, low-cost blockchain, Solana elevates WOOFi’s potential for growth. Solana aims to match the speed of traditional financial systems like NASDAQ, ensuring that critical market data reaches all users simultaneously without delay. The platform achieves this through the Nakamoto coefficient, which assesses the level of decentralization in a blockchain network.
To learn more about WOOFi, download our app or visit WOOFi
Contact us: media@woo.network
About WOOFi WOOFi is a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) with over $42B in cumulative trading volume and more than 250k monthly active users. It supports 11 blockchains and offers a diverse range of products, including earn vaults, simple swaps, cross-chain swaps, and perpetual futures. The native token of WOOFi, WOO, can be staked to share 80% of all protocol fees.
Disclaimer The content above is neither a recommendation for investment and trading strategies nor does it constitute an investment offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any product or service. The content is for informational sharing purposes only. Anyone who makes or changes the investment decision based on the content shall undertake the result or loss by himself/herself.
WOOFi does NOT endorse, guarantee, or provide advice for any products or services of its business partners. This cooperation shall in no event be interpreted as an assurance or guarantee for the airdrop of any tokens, whether presently existing or to be generated in the future, on WOOFi or any associated platforms, nor does it imply any commitment from WOOFi to airdrop any tokens on its platforms or others.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christopher Hill, Associate Professor (Research and Development), Faculty of Business and Creative Industries, University of South Wales
Nuclear detonations were the backdrop to Teeua and Teraabo’s childhood. By the time the sisters were eight and four, the Pacific island on which they grew up, Kiritimati, had hosted 30 atomic and thermonuclear explosions – six during Operation Grapple, a British series between 1957 and 1958, and 24 during Operation Dominic, led by the US in 1962.
The UK’s secretary of state for the colonies, Alan Lennox-Boyd, had claimed the Grapple series would put Britain “far ahead of the Americans, and probably the Russians too, in super-bomb development”. Grapple, the country’s largest tri-service operation since D-Day, also involved troops from Fiji and New Zealand. It sought to secure the awesome power of the hydrogen bomb: a thermonuclear device far more destructive than the atomic bomb.
Britain’s seat at the top table of “super-bomb development” was emphatically announced in April 1958 with Grapple Y: an “H-bomb” 200 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. This remains Britain’s largest nuclear detonation – one of more than 100 conducted by the UK, US and Soviet Union in 1958 alone.
More than six decades later, the health effects on former servicemen based on Kiritimati, as well as at test locations in South and Western Australia, remain unresolved. Greater Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham, has called the treatment of UK nuclear test veterans “the longest-standing and, arguably, the worst” of all the British public scandals in recent history.
Over the past year, the life stories of British nuclear test veterans have been collected by researchers, including myself, for an oral history project in partnership with the British Library. Whether from a vantage point of air, land or sea, the veterans all recall witnessing nuclear explosions with startling clarity, as if the moment was seared on to their memories. According to Doug Herne, a ship’s cook with the Royal Navy:
When the flash hit you, you could see the X-rays of your hands through your closed eyes. Then the heat hit you, and it was as if someone my size had caught fire and walked through me. To say it was frightening is an understatement. I think it shocked us into silence.
British servicemen describe their nuclear test experiences. Video: Wester van Gaal/Motherboard.
But what of the experiences of local people on Kiritimati? I have recently interviewed two sisters who are among the few surviving islanders who witnessed the nuclear tests. This is their story.
‘A mushroom cloud igniting the sky’
At the start of Operation Grapple in May 1957, around 250 islanders lived on Kiritimati – the world’s largest coral reef atoll, slap bang in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, around 1,250 miles (2,000km) due south of Hawaii. The island’s name is derived from the English word “Christmas”, the atoll having been “discovered” by the British explorer James Cook on Christmas Eve 1777.
In May 2023, I visited Kiritimati for a research project on “British nuclear imperialism”, which investigated how post-war Britain used its dwindling imperial assets and resources as a springboard for nuclear development. I sought to interview islanders who had remained on the atoll since the tests, including Teeua Tekonau, then aged 68. In 2024, I visited her younger sister, Teraabo Pollard, who lives more than 8,000 miles away in the contrasting surroundings of Burnley, north-west England.
Far from descriptions of fear and terror, both Teeua and Teraabo looked back on the tests with striking enthusiasm. Teraabo recalled witnessing them from the local maneaba (open-air meeting place) or tennis court as a “pleasurable” experience full of “excitement”.
She described having her ears plugged with cotton wool before being covered with a blanket. As if by magic, the blanket was then lifted to reveal a mushroom cloud igniting the night sky – a sight accompanied by sweetened bread handed out by American soldiers. So vivid was the light that Teraabo, then aged four, described “being excited about it being daytime again”.
An Operation Grapple thermonuclear test near Kiritimati, 1957-58. Video: Imperial War Museums.
In view of the violence of the tests, I was struck that Teeua and Teraabo volunteered these positive memories. Their enthusiasm seemed in marked contrast to growing concerns about the radioactive fallout – including those voiced by surviving test veterans and their descendants. As children, the tests seem to have offered the sisters a spectacle of fantasy and escapism – glazed with the saccharine of American treats and Disney films on British evacuation ships.
Yet they have also lived through the premature deaths of family members and, in Teraabo’s case, a malignant tumour dating from the time of the tests. And there have been similar stories from other families who lived in the shadow of these very risky, loosely controlled experiments. Teraabo told me about a friend who had peeked out from her blanket as a young girl – and who suffered from eye and health problems ever since.
‘Only a very slight health hazard’
Kiritimati forms part of the impossibly large Republic of Kiribati – a nation of 33 islands spread over 3.5 million square kilometres; the only one to have territory in all four hemispheres and, until 1995, on either side of the international date line. Before independence from Britain in 1979, Kiribati belonged to the Gilbert and Ellice Island Colony, which in effect made Kiritimati a “nuclear colony” for the purpose of British and American testing.
In 1955, Teeua and Teraabo’s parents, Taraem and Tekonau Tetoa, left their home island of Tabiteuea, a small atoll belonging to the Gilbert group of islands in the western Pacific. They boarded a British merchant vessel bound for Christmas Island nearly 2,000 miles away. Setting sail with new-born Teeua in their arms, the family looked forward to a future cutting copra on Kiritimati’s British coconut plantation.
The scale of this journey, with four young children, was immense. Just how the hundred or so Gilbertese passengers “managed to live [during the voyage] was better not asked”, according to one royal engineer who described a similar voyage a few years later. “There were piles of coconuts everywhere – perhaps they were for both food and drink.”
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Within two years of their arrival, the family faced more upheaval as mother Taraem and her children were packed aboard another ship ahead of the first three sets of British nuclear tests in the Pacific. Known as Grapple 1, 2 and 3, they were to be detonated over Malden Island, an atoll some 240 miles to the south of Kiritimati – but still too close for the comfort of local residents.
According to Teeua, the evacuation was prompted by disillusioned labourers brought to Kiritimati without their families, who went on strike after learning how much the British troops were being paid. But the islanders’ perspectives do not feature much in the colonial records, which give precedence to British disputes about logistical costs and safety calculations.
The Grapple task force resolved that the safe limit set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection should be reduced, to limit the cost of evacuations. A meeting in November 1956 noted that “only a very slight health hazard to people would arise from this reduction – and that only to primitive peoples”.
Shocking as this remark sounds, it is typical of the disregard that nuclear planners appear to have had, both for Indigenous communities and the mostly working-class soldiers. These lives did not seem to matter much in the context of Britain’s quest for nuclear supremacy. William Penney, Britain’s chief nuclear scientist, had bemoaned how critics during tests in Australia were “intent on thwarting the whole future of the British Empire for the sake of a few Aboriginals”.
Tekonau, Teeua’s father, was one of the 30 or so I-Kiribati people to stay behind on Kiritimati during the Malden tests in May and June 1957. As one of the only labourers to speak English, he had gained the trust of the district commissioner, Percy Roberts, who invited Tekonau to accompany him during inspections of villagers’ houses in Port London, then the island’s only village. On one occasion, Teeua said, the islanders did not recognise her father as he had been given a “flat top” haircut like the Fijian soldiers. “This means he had a nice relationship with the soldiers,” she told me. “Thank God for giving me such a good and clever dad.”
Since the initial tests did not produce a thermonuclear explosion, the task force embarked on further trials between November 1957 and September 1958, known as Grapple X, Y and Z. In view of expense and time, these were conducted on Kiritimati rather than Malden Island – and this time, the residents were not evacuated to other islands. Rather, families were brought aboard ships in the island’s harbour and shown films below deck.
After these tests, the islanders returned to find the large X and Y detonations had cracked the walls of their homes and smashed their doors and furniture. One islander found their pet frigate bird, like so many of the wild birds on Kiritimati, had been blinded by the flash of Grapple Y. No compensation was ever paid to the islanders, although the Ministry of Supply did reimburse the colony for deterioration of “plantation assets”, including £4 for every damaged coconut tree (equivalent to £120 today).
A month before Grapple Y, Teraabo was born. Her earliest and most vivid childhood memories are of the US-led Operation Dominic four years later, by which time evacuation procedures had been abandoned altogether.
This series of tests was sanctioned by Britain in exchange for a nuclear-powered submarine and access to the Nevada Proving Grounds in the US – regarded as pivotal to the future of British weapons technology ahead of the signing of the Test Ban Treaty in October 1963, which would prohibit atmospheric testing.
Dominic’s 24 detonations on Kiritimati – which usually took place after sunset around 6pm, between April and November 1962 – were “awesome”, according to Teraabo. Recalling the suspense as the “tannoy announced the countdown”, she described “coming out of cover [and] witnessing the bomb [as] an amazing experience … When the bomb set off, the brilliance of the light was tremendous.”
Each explosion’s slow expiration would re-illuminate the Pacific sky. One, Starfish Prime, became known as a “rainbow bomb” because of the multi-coloured aurora it produced over the Pacific, having been launched into space where it exploded.
So spectacular were these descriptions that I almost felt I had to suspend disbelief as I listened. At one point in my interview with Teraabo, she leaned in to reassure me that she had no interest in exaggerating these events: “I’m a very proud person,” she whispered, “I would never lie.”
‘In our blood’
More than six decades on from the Grapple tests, I was sitting in Teeua’s kitchen in the village of Tabwakea (meaning “turtle”), near the northern tip of Kiritimati. I had driven here in a Subaru Forester, clapped-out from the many potholes on the island’s main road, itself built by royal engineers over 60 years ago.
Teeua Tekonau in her kitchen during the author’s visit to Kiritimati in 2023. Christopher R. Hill., CC BY
Teeua’s home, nestled down a sand track, had a wooden veranda at the front where she would teach children to read and write under shelter from the hot equatorial sun. Handcrafted mats lined the sand and coral floor, fanning out from the veranda to the kitchen at the back.
The house felt full of the sounds of the local community, from the chatter of neighbours to the laughter of children outdoors. No one could feel lonely here, despite the vastness of the ocean that surrounds Kiritimati.
As Teeua cooked rice and prepared coffee, we discussed the main reason for my visit: to understand the impacts of the nuclear tests on the islanders, their descendents, and the sensitive ecosystem in which they live. Teeua is chair of Kiritimati’s Association of Atomic Cancer Patients, and one of only three survivors of the tests still living on Kiritimati. She pulled up a seat and looked at me:
Many, many died of cancer … And many women had babies that died within three months … I remember the coconut trees … when you drank [from the coconuts], you [were] poisoned.
Both Teeua’s parents and four of her eight siblings had died of cancer or unexplained conditions, she said. Her younger brother, Takieta, died of leukaemia at the age of two in November 1963 – less than a year after Operation Dominic ended. Her sister Teraabo, who discovered a tumour in her stomach shortly after the trials, was only able to have her stomach treated once she moved to the UK in 1981, by which time the tumour had turned malignant.
Teeua’s testimony pointed to the gendered impacts of the nuclear tests. She referred to the prevalence of menstrual problems and stillbirths, evidence of which can be inferred from the testimony of another nuclear survivor, Sui Kiritome, a fellow I-Kiribati who had arrived on Kiritimati in 1957 with her teacher husband. Sui has described how their second child, Rakieti, had “blood coming out of all the cavities of her body” at birth.
A rare military hospital record from 1958 – stored in the UK’s National Archives at Kew in London – also refers to the treatment of a civilian woman for ante-partum haemorrhage and stillbirth, though it is unclear whether this was a local woman or one of the soldier’s wives on the passenger ship HMT Dunera, which visited briefly to “boost morale” after Grapple X.
Members of the Kiritimati Association of Atomic Cancer Patients. Courtesy: Teeua Taukaro., CC BY-ND
Having re-established the Association of Atomic Cancer Patients in 2009, Teeua has continued much of the work that Ken McGinley, first chair of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association, did after its establishment in 1983. She has documented the names of all I-Kiribati people present during the tests, along with their spouses, children and other relatives. And she has listed the cancers and illnesses from which they have suffered.
In the absence of medical records at the island hospital, these handwritten notes are the closest thing on the atoll to epidemiological data about the tests. But according to Teeua, concerns about the health effects of the tests date back much longer, to 1965 when a labourer named Bwebwe spoke out about poisonous clouds. “Everyone thought he was crazy,” Teeua recalled.
But Bwebwe’s speculations were lent credibility by Sui Kiritome’s testimony, and by the facial scars she bore that were visible for all to see. In an interview with her daughter, Sui explained how she was only 24 when she started to lose her hair, and “burns developed on my face, scalp and parts of my shoulder”.
In a similar manner to claims made by British nuclear test veterans, Sui attributed her health problems to being rained on during Grapple Y – which may have been detonated closer to the atoll’s surface than the task force was prepared to admit.
When I asked Teeua why her campaigning association was only reformed in 2009, she explained it had been prompted by a visit from British nuclear test veterans who “told us that everyone [involved in the tests] has cancer – blood cancer”. They had been told this in the past but, she said, “we did not believe it. But after years … after our children [also] died of cancer, then we remembered what they told us.”
After some visiting researchers explained to Teeua and the community that the effects of the tests were “not good”, she concluded that “our kids died of cancer because of the tests … That’s why we start to combine together … the nuclear survivors, to talk about what they did to our kids”.
I found Teeua’s testimony deeply troubling: not only because of the suffering she and other families have been through, but in the way that veterans had returned to Kiritimati as civilians, raising concerns among locals that may have lain dormant or been forgotten. The suggestion that radiation was “in her blood” must have been deeply disturbing for Teeua and her community.
But I reminded myself that the veterans who came looking for answers in 2009 were also victims. They made the long journey seeking clues about their health problems, or a silver bullet to prove their government’s deception over the nuclear fallout.
As young men, they were unwittingly burdened with a lifetime of uncertainty – compounded by endless legal disputes with the Ministry of Defence or inconclusive health studies that jarred with their personal medical histories. And, like the islanders, some of these servicemen died young after experiencing agonising illnesses.
The scramble for the Pacific
My research on British nuclear imperialism also sheds light on how imperial and settler colonial perceptions of “nature” shaped how these nuclear tests were planned and operationalised.
British sites were selected on the basis of in-depth environmental research. When searching the site for Britain’s first atomic bomb (the Montebello Islands off the west coast of Australia), surveyors discovered 20 new species of insect, six new plants, and a species of legless lizard.
Monitoring of radioactive fallout from nuclear tests fed into the rise of ecosystem ecologies as an academic discipline. In the words of one environmental specialist on the US tests, it seemed that “destruction was the enabling condition for understanding life as interconnected”.
Since H-bombs would exceed the explosive yield deemed acceptable by Australia, Winston Churchill’s government in the mid-1950s had been forced to look for a new test site beyond Western and South Australia. British planners drew on a wealth of imperial knowledge and networks – but their proposal to use the Kermadec Islands, an archipelago 600 miles north-east of Auckland, was rejected by New Zealand on environmental grounds.
So, when Teeua and her family landed on Kiritimati in 1955, their journey was part of “the scramble for the Pacific”: a race between Britain and the US to lay claim to the sovereignty of Pacific atolls in light of their strategic significance for air and naval power.
The British government archives include some notable environmental “what ifs?” Had the US refused the UK’s selection of Kiritimati because of its own sovereignty claim, then it would have been probable, as Lennox-Boyd, Britain’s colonial secretary, admitted, that “the Antarctic region south of Australia might have to be used” for its rapidly expanding nuclear programme.
Instead, this extraordinary period in global history recently took me to a Victorian mansion in the Lancashire town of Burnley, where I interviewed Teeua’s younger sister, Teraabo, about her memories of the Kiritimati tests.
‘No longer angry’
Teraabo’s home felt like the antithesis of Teeua’s island abode 8,300 miles away: ordered instead of haphazard, private instead of communal, spacious instead of crowded. And our interview had a more detached, philosophical tone.
Teraabo Pollard with her father’s nuclear test veteran medal. Christopher R. Hill., CC BY-ND
Like her sister, Teraabo has worked to raise awareness about the legacy of the nuclear tests, including with the Christmas Island Appeal, an offshoot of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association that sought to publicise the extent of the waste left on Kiritimati from the nuclear test period.
The appeal succeeded in persuading Tony Blair’s UK government to tackle the remaining waste in Kiritimati – most of which was non-radiological, according to a 1998 environmental assessment. The island was “cleaned up” and remediated between 2004 and 2008, at a cost of around £5 million to the Ministry of Defence. Much of the waste was flown or shipped back to the UK, where 388 tonnes of low-grade radioactive material were deposited in a former salt mine at Port Clarence, near Middlesbrough.
Yet Teraabo’s views have evolved. She told me she is “no longer angry” about the tests, a stark contrast to her position 20 years ago, when she told British journalist Alan Rimmer how islanders had “led a simple life with disease virtually unknown. But after the tests, everything changed. I now realise the whole island was poisoned.”
Whereas the Teraabo of 2003 blamed “the British government for all this misery”, she has since become more reflective. In the context of the cold war and the nuclear arms race, she even told me she could understand the British rationale for selecting Kiritimati as a test site. This seemed a remarkable statement from a survivor who had lost so much.
Over the course of the interview, it became clear Teraabo had grown tired of being angry – and that she had felt “trapped” by the tragic figure she was meant to represent in the campaigns of veterans and disarmers. Each time Teraabo rehearsed the doom-laden script of radiation exposure, she admitted she was also suppressing the joy of her childhood memories.
A turning point for Teraabo seems to have come in 2007, when she last visited Kiritimati and met her sister Teeua. By this time, the atoll’s population was 4,000 – quite a leap from the 300 residents she grew up with. “It is no longer the island I remember,” she said.
The Kiritimati of Teraabo’s memory was neat and well-structured. The one she described encountering in 2007 was chaotic and unkempt. She had come to the realisation that the Kiritimati she had been campaigning for – the pristine, untouched atoll of her parents – had long since moved on, so she should move on with it. The sorrow caused by the test operations would not define her.
Radioactive colonialism
Not long after I left Kiritimati in June 2023, the global nuclear disarmament organisation Ican began researching the atoll ahead of a major global summit to discuss the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Descendants of Kiritimati’s nuclear test survivors were asked a series of questions, with those who provided the “right” answers being selected for a sponsored trip to UN headquarters in New York.
The chosen representatives included Teeua’s daughter, Taraem. I wondered if the survivors of Kiritimati are doomed to forever rehearse the stories of their nuclear past – a burden that Teeua and Teraabo have had to carry ever since they stood in awe of atomic and thermonuclear detonations more than 60 years ago.
They have had to deal with “radioactive colonialism” all their adult lives – the outside world demanding to see the imprint of radioactivity on their health and memories. But the sisters’ fondness for British order, despite all they have been through, prevails.
Their positive memories of Britain may in part reflect the elevated role of their father, Tekonau Tetoa – a posthumous recipient of the test veteran medal – within the British colonial system. During my visit, I happened upon an old photo of Tekonau, looking immaculate as he hangs off the side of a plantation truck in a crisp white shirt. Knowing Teeua did not possess a photo of her parents, I took a scan and raced to her house down the road.
“Do you recognise this man?” I asked, holding up my phone.
She flickered with recognition. “Is that my father?”
I nodded, and she shed a tear of joy.
Tekonau Tetoa, father of Teeua and Teraabo, hangs off the door of a coconut plantation truck in Kiritimati. Courtesy: John Bryden., CC BY-ND
Memories of Teeua and Teraabo’s father are preserved in the island landscape of their youth: pristine, regimented by the ostensible tidiness of colonial and military order.
But such order masked contamination: an unknown quantity that would only become evident years later in ill-health and environmental damage. It was not only the nuclear tests: from 1957 to 1964, the atoll was sprayed four times a week with DDT, a carcinogenic insecticide, as part of attempts to reduce insect-borne disease. In the words of one of the pilots: “I had many a wave from the rather fat Gilbo ladies sitting on their loos as I passed overhead, and gave them some spray for good measure!” British tidiness concealed a special brand of poison.
Today, the prospect of a meaningful response from the UK to the concerns raised by the islanders and servicemen alike seems slim. In October 2023, the UK and France followed North Korea and Russia in vetoing a Kiribati and Kazakhstan-proposed UN resolution on victim assistance and environmental remediation for people and places harmed by nuclear weapons use and testing.
Over in Kiritimati, meanwhile, Teeua still tends to a small plot where Prince Philip planted a commemorative tree in April 1959, shortly after the British-led nuclear tests had ended. It is rumoured he did not drink from the atoll’s water while he was there.
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Christopher Hill receives funding from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, UK Cabinet Office. The research for this article was also supported by funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UKRI. The author wishes to thank the following for their support with this article: Fiona Bowler, Ian Brailsford, Joshua Bushen, John Bryden, Jon Hogg, Brian Jones, Rens van Munster, Wesley Perriman, Maere Tekanene, Michael Walsh, Rotee Walsh and Derek Woolf. Sincere thanks to Teeua Tekonau and Teraabo Pollard for sharing their family stories.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Philip Murphy, Director of History & Policy at the Institute of Historical Research and Professor of British and Commonwealth History, School of Advanced Study, University of London
That the recent visit of King Charles to Australia – his first as the country’s sovereign – attracted protests will have come as a surprise to very few people.
But the message from the most prominent protester was, perhaps, less expected. At the end of a speech by the king at Parliament House in Canberra on October 21, he was heckled by Lidia Thorpe, an independent senator of Aboriginal (Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara) origin.
She told him: “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.”
Earlier in the day, Thorpe had issued a statement outlining her position. In it, she claimed:
As First Peoples, we never ceded our Sovereignty over this land. The crown invaded this country, has not sought treaty with First Peoples, and committed a genocide of our people. King Charles is not the legitimate sovereign of these lands. Any move towards a republic must not continue this injustice. Treaty must play a central role in establishing an independent nation. A republic without a treaty must not happen.
Historic treaties
The recognition of the rights of Aboriginal peoples through a formal treaty has been a demand of Australian indigenous rights campaigners for decades. Indeed, Australia is unusual among British settler colonies in the failure of the crown to forge treaties with Indigenous peoples in the process of imperial occupation. In New Zealand and Canada these treaties continue to be invoked as an historical underpinning of indigenous rights.
The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between Māori leaders and the crown as well as the rights and principles that followed from it are certainly politically contentious in New Zealand. Yet the Treaty is still widely regarded as the country’s founding document and a key symbolic basis for inclusion and reconciliation.
In Canada, the treaties signed by the crown with First Nations peoples are explicitly referenced in the country’s 1982 constitution and are cited by the Canadian government as “a framework for living together and sharing the land Indigenous peoples traditionally occupied.”
It should not come as much of a surprise that the issue of the the absence of similar treaties in Australia has been raised during the king’s visit. The rather dull itineraries of royal visits provide activists with a perfect opportunity to have their voices heard by journalists desperate for something interesting to write about. There is a history of Aboriginal protesters using them in this way.
In 1972, the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of the Darwin region in the Northern Territory, used a visit by Princess Margaret to draw attention to a petition asking Queen Elizabeth II to assist them in their demand for land rights and political representation.
The palace and the governments of the Realms are keenly aware of these sensitivities and plan royal tours accordingly. During his visit to Canada in 2022, for example, while he was still Prince of Wales, Charles made a point of meeting the survivors of the country’s notorious residential schools where thousands of indigenous children suffered abuse.
Ironically, indigenous treaties with the crown have complicated the republican issue, forcing campaigners for a republic in both New Zealand and Canada to offer assurances that the rights and obligations in those treaties would not be lost if the monarchy was to be abolished.
The question of reparations
Charles has followed his Australia visit by flying to Samoa for the summit of the Commonwealth Heads of Government. Again, the UK press sensed trouble ahead, predicting that as head of the Commonwealth Charles might be caught up in a row between the British government and Caribbean nations over the call for reparations for slavery.
The UK is not the only government in the Commonwealth having to wrestle with colonial legacy issues. But there is no avoiding them.
Britain has a monarchy steeped in imperial history, with a king who is quite separately sovereign of 14 other realms. Its government continues to profess a belief in the value of the Commonwealth, when its members have little else in common except that most of them were colonised by Britain.
A recent report by the UK thinktank Policy Exchange, which imagined the Commonwealth playing a greater role in British diplomatic, defence and trade policy, seemed blithely unaware of the tensions within the organisation and the barriers to collective action.
In a similar vein, UK prime minister Keir Starmer has claimed that he wants to “look forward” and focus on issues such as climate change and boosting prosperity rather than reparations.
But the Commonwealth is simply not a logical framework for the discussion of these matters. On the other hand, it is uniquely qualified to debate the impact of colonialism and the question of reparatory justice. And even if Britain doesn’t want to have that conversation, other Commonwealth countries certainly do.
Philip Murphy has received funding from the AHRC. He belongs to the European Movement UK.
Source: United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) are requesting information on the availability of birth control options to ensure Iowa families, especially in rural areas, have access to safe and effective contraception.
After data from 2017 revealed just 24 percent of all Community Health Centers (CHCs) in the country provide a comprehensive list of contraception options for patients to review on-site, the lawmakers specifically inquired about options available through Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which serve rural areas.
“Families deserve access to safe and effective birth control when they visit their health care provider, regardless of where they live. To ensure rural areas are not overlooked, I’m working to identify the barriers that leave communities with fewer contraception options. We can build upon this fact-finding mission to address the real gaps in services that Iowa families are facing,”said Senator Joni Ernst.
“Ensuring women, regardless of zip code, have access to safe birth control options is vital for women’s health and family planning. Unfortunately, women in rural and underserved areas often have fewer contraception options. I’m working with Senator Ernst to expand access to safe birth control options for adult women who rely on Community Health Centers for care,”said Congresswoman Ashley Hinson.
“Increased access to family planning services has proven to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and reduce rates of infertility and maternal mortality. The limited information that is available also indicates that women in rural communities are facing a significant lack of access. With millions of women in the United States living in areas with limited contraceptive access, it’s imperative we understand the deficiencies and why they exist,” the lawmakers wrote.
In the letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers requested:
An itemized inventory of available contraception,
Annual family planning counseling appointment requests and rates of return,
Expenditures of federal funds to reimburse facilities for contraception methods,
Financial resources and contraceptive options offered, and
Any additional barriers, including geographic, to those who wish to provide a wider range of contraceptive methods to patients.
Background:
Since 2017, Ernst has been working to provide access to safe and effective over-the-counter birth control. This year, her Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act has gained support.
The Canadian Coast Guard works closely with partners every day to protect mariners, safeguard the environment, and keep waterways open.
October 24, 2024
Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Coast Guard works closely with partners every day to protect mariners, safeguard the environment, and keep waterways open. These partnerships at the community, provincial, territorial, national, and international levels are key to providing service to Canadians. The Canadian Coast Guard is always looking to strengthen those partnerships and, as such, has recently signed two new agreements with international partners.
On October 18, 2024, the Canadian Coast Guard signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. It aims to strengthen collaboration in maritime and oceans education, training, and research. The five-year agreement will pave the way for innovative joint initiatives in maritime studies. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to sustainability, and fostering innovative solutions for the global maritime industry.
The Canadian Coast Guard College and World Maritime University share close ties, as two world-leading maritime education facilities. They work together through exchange programs, information sharing, and joint testing projects, including the testing of alternative, bio-friendly types of fuel for future vessels for both Canada and Sweden.
On October 24, 2024, the Canadian Coast Guard signed a second Memorandum of Understanding with the International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs in Ottawa, Ontario. The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs is responsible for insuring over 90% of global cargo at sea. The agreement will lead to more timely engagement with shipowner representatives during incidents, and as a result will ensure more effective and efficient response to future marine pollution incidents.
This includes containment and clean-up of oil discharges and hazardous substances in Canadian waters. The Canadian Coast Guard’s Compliance and Enforcement Program notifies vessel owners of any pollution threats or hazards, and ensures they take responsibility. Where necessary, the Canadian Coast Guard steps in to manage the situation, using a wide range of tools and equipment to mitigate the hazard, clean up the spill, and mitigate any potential environmental impacts.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Lloyd Smucker (PA-16)
Fawn Grove, PA– Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) has been named a recipient of the Friend of the Farm Bureau Award for the 118th Congress, given to Members of Congress who support legislation benefiting agriculture, farmers, and producers.
Rep. Smucker received the award during a visit to Maple Heights Farm in Fawn Grove, a third-generation grain farm operated by Julie Schrum, a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) Board of Directors.
“The men and women of Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District, home to the Garden Spot of America and one of the largest agricultural districts in our Commonwealth, can count on me to advocate for policies in Congress that support farmers and producers. Our agricultural heritage is at the heart of our community. I will continue to fight for a Farm Bill that supports our community and farmers across the nation, as well as a pro-growth tax agenda that helps family-owned farms compete and be passed down from generation to generation,” said Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11).
“On behalf of Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the state’s largest general farm organization, we would like to thank these members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation for supporting legislation that benefits agriculture,” said PFB President Chris Hoffman.
“The support from our Friend of Farm Bureau recipients helps preserve the future of family farms in Pennsylvania, maintain our ability to produce safe and affordable food for consumers, and provide resources to assist farmers in implementing conservation practices on the farm. With record-high input costs and an increase in red tape, farm families have been greatly challenged in recent years. Continued support by lawmakers to implement sound agricultural policy is vital to ensure food and national security.”
Rep. Smucker is one of only seven of Pennsylvania’s elected officials who were selected to receive the award for the 118th Congress. Smucker has been named a recipient of the Friend of the Farm Bureau during each term of his congressional service.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA)
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) announced a new $40 million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Airport Terminals Program (ATP) to aid in the construction of Washington Dulles International Airport’s new 14-gate regional and commuter terminal. This is the fourth consecutive fiscal year that the new terminal project has received funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, after receiving $49.6 million in 2022, $20 million in 2023, and $35 million in 2024.
“I’m proud that our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is once again delivering critical funding that will help grow and enhance travel and economic activity here in Virginia’s 10th District at Dulles Airport,” said Congresswoman Wexton. “Today’s announcement brings the total to more than $144 million in federal funds to make this new terminal project a reality. A top priority for the airport, it will save passengers’ time, reduce crowding, and make the passenger experience smoother and more convenient. The investments we’ve made through this historic infrastructure law continue to have an impact in our community and local economy that will have benefits for generations to come.”
The new terminal will be conveniently located atop the underground Concourse C/D Aerotrain station, providing quick and easy access to passengers and reducing transit times for passengers with connections at Dulles who must currently use shuttle buses or long walkways. The new terminal will allow for jet bridge boarding that reduces boarding times and is more accessible for passengers with disabilities, rather than forcing passengers to board using outdoor covered walkways and aircraft stairs. It will be nearly four times larger than the current facility, which will reduce crowding, allow for expanded concessions and passenger amenities, and create additional space for operational areas, offices, aircraft servicing, and baggage handling.
The new regional and commuter terminal project will also improve Dulles’s environmental footprint, as the proposed new facility will be built to LEED Silver Certifiable standards. Environmental improvements include support for electric aircraft servicing vehicles and the use of modern energy efficient construction methods and materials.
The Airport Terminals Program, established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which Wexton voted to pass in 2021, provides $1 billion in grants annually for five years to address aging infrastructure at our nation’s airports.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Birmingham, AL – Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investing $3.6 billion in new funding under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to upgrade our nation’s water infrastructure, including $43.7 million for the State of Alabama. This funding will help communities across Alabama upgrade water infrastructure that is essential to safely managing wastewater and drinking water in our homes, schools, and businesses.
“I voted for the Biden-Harris Infrastructure Law because it promised to make the largest investment in wastewater and drinking water infrastructure in our nation’s history,” said Rep. Sewell. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we are delivering on that promise. I am thrilled to announce that Alabama will receive over $43.7 million to help communities upgrade wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. Access to clean water is a basic human right, and this investment represents critical progress in our continued fight for equitable and safe wastewater systems. I thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for this historic investment, and I look forward to working with the State of Alabama to ensure these new resources reach the communities that need them most.”
“Water keeps us healthy, sustains vibrant communities and dynamic ecosystems, and supports economic opportunity. When our water infrastructure fails, it threatens people’s health, peace of mind, and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s historic investment in water, EPA is working with states and local partners to upgrade infrastructure and address local challenges—from lead in drinking water, to PFAS, to water main breaks, to sewer overflows and climate resilience. Together, we are creating good-paying jobs while ensuring that all people can rely on clean and safe water.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds will flow through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF and DWSRF), a long-standing federal-state water investment partnership. This multibillion-dollar investment will fund state-run, low-interest loan programs that address key challenges in financing water infrastructure. Today’s announcement includes allotments for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Clean Water General Supplemental funds for Alabama ($27,824,000), Emerging Contaminant funds ($2,402,000), and ($13,490,000) under the Drinking Water Emerging Contaminant Fund.
This funding is part of a five-year, $50 billion investment in water infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – the largest investment in water infrastructure in American history. To ensure investments reach communities that need them the most, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law mandates that most of the funding announced today must be provided to disadvantaged communities in the form of grants or loans that do not have to be repaid.
To read stories about how unprecedented investments in water from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are transforming communities across the country, visit EPA’s Investing in America’s Water Infrastructure Storymap. To read more about additional projects, see EPA’s recently released Quarterly Report on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funded Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF projects.
For more information, including the state-by-state allocation of 2025 funding and a breakdown of EPA SRF funding available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, please visit the Clean Water State Revolving Fund website and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund website. Additionally, the SRF Public Portal allows users to access data from both the Drinking Water and Clean Water SRF programs through interactive reports, dashboards, and maps.
The State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs have been the foundation of water infrastructure investments for more than 30 years, providing low-cost financing for local projects across America. SRF programs are critically important programs for investing in the nation’s water infrastructure. They are designed to generate significant and sustainable water quality and public health benefits across the country. Their impact is amplified by the growth inherent in a revolving loan structure, in which payments of principal and interest on loans become available to address future needs.
SBM Offshore announces it has completed the divestment of a 13.5% ownership interest in the special purpose companies related to the lease and operation of the FPSO Sepetiba to China Merchants Financial Leasing (Hong Kong) Holding Co., Limited (CMFL). This follows the announcement on February 10, 2022, of an agreement whereby CMFL would acquire its ownership interest after the FPSO Sepetiba had commenced operations. SBM Offshore is operator of the FPSO and will remain the majority shareholder with 51% ownership interest.
FPSO Sepetiba is installed at the Mero unitized field located in the Santos Basin, approximately 180 kilometers offshore Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The Mero unitized field is operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) (3.5%), representing the government in the non-contracted area.
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SBM Offshore designs, builds, installs and operates offshore floating facilities for the offshore energy industry. As a leading technology provider, we put our marine expertise at the service of a responsible energy transition by reducing emissions from fossil fuel production, while developing cleaner solutions for alternative energy sources.
More than 7,400 SBMers worldwide are committed to sharing their experience to deliver safe, sustainable and affordable energy from the oceans for generations to come.
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Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Today, we’re announcing an additional $135 million dollars in humanitarian assistance — water, sanitation, maternal health — for Palestinians in Gaza as well as in the region. – Secretary Blinken from Doha, Qatar on October 24, 2024.
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Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) issued this statement after the Greenville Area School Board unanimously voted down changes to Title IX, which would have expanded “the prohibition of discrimination to criteria to include pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity,” according to The (Greenville) Record-Argus.
“Well done parents and fellow citizens of Greenville Area School District. The federal Department of Education has no right dictating to parents what is best for their kids. They certainly should not be engaging in culture wars in our schools,” Rep. Kelly said.
Parents and community members raised concerns that changes to the district’s Title IX policy would risk student safety, particularly for female students; and, “they also worry it opens the door for biologically male students to compete in girls’ sports,” according to the Record-Argus.
The Sharon Herald reports Greenville Area School Board President Rick Rossi said, “I have been in education for more than 50 years and I have never seen a policy come out of the government as bad as this.”
In April 2024, a mandate issued by Biden Administration expanded Title IX’s term “sex discrimination” to recognize sexual orientation and gender identity.
Title IX, passed in 1972, is a federal law that protects the rights of women and girls to educational equality.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11)
(STATEN ISLAND, NY) – Today, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis was joined by a bipartisan group of local elected officials to call on the U.S. Department of Education to hold New York City accountable for violating federal law by failing to provide non-public school students with developmental disabilities the Individualized Education Services Program (IESP) accommodations they are entitled to under the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
One of the most prominent cases involves a deaf fifth grade student whose listening device, which she had used all summer and which the city had already paid for, was taken away. Her mother, Marisa Jones, has been advocating for the city to immediately reinstate her daughter’s accommodation, as without this device she struggles to hear and cannot participate fully in her education.
“It not only unconscionable that students across our city are being denied the accommodations they are legally entitled to, but it’s plain cruel to take away an already paid for listening device from a deaf 5th grade student. If another kid in the classroom were to walk up to her and snatch her device, you’d call it bullying, and that’s exactly what the City of New York, our own government, is doing,” said Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis. “The city needs to stop playing games with children’s education and immediately reinstate these essential accommodations that they are legally required to provide under both state and federal laws immediately to prevent further learning loss by disabled students.”
“Without this [hearing device] my daughter can’t hear the teacher in the classroom she is effectively denied her right to an education.” said Marisa Jones, parent of a deaf student at St. Joseph Hill Academy. “It’s been two months since she hasn’t had these services, how do you make up for the regression? How do you make up for the lost time?”
“This year’s implementation of the IESP law is having an unjust impact on students with disabilities. The requirement to submit a written request by June 1st has caught many families off guard, as they were not properly informed. As a parent and a member of the Disabilities Committee, my priority is ensuring that these students have their necessary services reinstated. The financial burden on families to cover these essential services out of pocket is overwhelming, and we must ensure that every student receives the support they are entitled to.” said New York State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton.
“We continue to receive numerous calls from private school parents regarding the DOE’s lack of concern or action taken regarding their children’s IEP’s (Individualized Educational Plans) and the services that are not being provided. This is unacceptable. These are mandated services that private school children, like public school children, are entitled to from the DOE. These children have been without their required services for almost two months. DOE needs to find the solution and provide the services needed to these children immediately. We support any and all efforts to get these students the services they need, and we thank Congresswoman Malliotakis for doing what she can to get it done.” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella.
“As we have been saying from the beginning of this entirely preventable situation, NYC Public Schools knows our students need and are entitled to these critical services, yet the City recklessly deprives them of these services. Now, they must reap what they have sown. I applaud Congresswoman Malliotakis’ leadership and join her and my colleagues in calling on the U.S. Department of Education to hold New York City accountable for failing to provide our students with their legally prescribed IESP accommodations. They must be restored immediately.” said Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo.
“We once again demand that the City take action immediately to rectify this disastrous situation. The City has been in violation of federal law since the beginning of the school year, and they have not been held accountable for their actions. We are calling on the federal government to step in and ensure accountability for our students and families,” said Assemblyman Mike Tannousis.
“I cannot believe that we are almost two months into the school year and some of our most vulnerable students are still being denied mandated services by the City of New York despite our ongoing efforts to rectify this at a local level,” said Assemblyman Michael Reilly. “This is embarrassing for our city and today we are joining with Congresswoman Malliotakis to make sure that the bureaucrats responsible for this are held accountable.”
“As we approach the third month of school and end of first marking period, children in need of valuable services are being denied because of an arbitrary date that has never been enforced before. I am once again calling on the DOE to rectify this situation immediately, so these students do not fall further behind in their development,” said Councilmember Joe Borelli.
“The decision by our local government to deliberately refuse to notify parents of the necessary paperwork for their IESP children is abhorrent. Students with special needs are refused access to services which are essential for their education simply because they are enrolled in private schools. This kind of decision making only reinforces the feelings of many parents who have already disengaged from our public school model due to previous breaches of trust. I expected better from the DOE, and I hope they will correct course and come into compliance with federal law.” said Councilmember David Carr.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis and Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) wrote to the U.S Department of Education requesting that it hold the city accountable for violating federal law by withholding Individualized Education Services Program (IESP) accommodations that children with disabilities are entitled to under the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). You can view the letter HERE.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Monica De La Cruz (TX-15)
Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz introduced the Lance Corporal Dustin Sekula Congressional Gold Medal Act on Friday (October 18th). The bill would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Edinburg, Texas, native Lance Corporal Dustin Sekula. The legislation seeks to honor Sekula’s courageous service and ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Lance Corporal Sekula was the first Edinburg native to be killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was just 18 years old when he died on April 1, 2004, after sustaining injuries from enemy fire in Iraq. A proud Marine, Sekula had turned down an agriculture college scholarship to join the military at the age of 17, driven by a desire to serve and protect the United States.
The medal would be presented to Sekula’s family in recognition of his heroic life and the lasting impact he has had on his community and his country. His legacy continues in Edinburg, where the Dustin Sekula Memorial Library stands as a tribute to his memory.
“Lance Corporal Dustin Sekula made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, and this bill ensures that his bravery and service are honored at the highest level,” said Congresswoman De La Cruz. “His story is one of unwavering dedication to his family, his community, and his country. We must never forget his courage and sacrifice.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05)
Citing severe damages to Central and Eastern Oregon, lawmakers’ letter asks President Biden “to swiftly provide the federal resources for our communities to recover and rebuild.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s entire congressional delegation, including Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Cliff Bentz, Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle, Andrea Salinas, and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, are urging President Biden to grant the governor’s request for Oregon to receive a major disaster declaration in response to record-setting wildfires that burned about three times the average acreage this year.
“The 2024 wildfire season has been one of the most devastating and costly fire seasons on record,”the lawmakers wrote.“Central and Eastern Oregon experienced intense heat waves this summer, which dried out vegetation and created extreme fire risk on the landscape. Severe lightning storms ignited a large number of fires, and windy conditions allowed many of these fires to spread rapidly.”
“Over 1.9 million acres burned, making it the largest wildfire season by acreage in Oregon’s history. For context, the state’s 10-year average acres burned is 640,000 acres,”they continued.“The estimated damages and cost to public infrastructure exceeds $650 million, and this figure does not account for the long-term loss in revenue local businesses will experience as a result of these fires.“
The delegation wrote that this year’s extreme infernos and severe storms hit Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Umatilla, Wasco, and Wheeler counties hardest.
“The fires destroyed 42 homes and 132 additional buildings and structures, damaged critical infrastructure and the natural environment, interrupted schools, care facilities, and social services, injured 26 civilians and fire responders, and led to the death of an air tanker pilot,”the lawmakers wrote.“These fires have also created profound hardship for our ranchers, as they destroyed private and public grazing lands and cut off access to essential resources for livestock.”
In their letter supporting the governor’s request for federal disaster assistance, the Oregon lawmakers asked the Biden-Harris administration to ensure state, local, and tribal governments have access to all available resources through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and that the state’s cost-share be waived due to a lack of available state funding.
“Oregonians now require federal support and assistance to navigate the aftermath of this unprecedented fire season. The back-to-back incidents and lack of basic services had a devastating effect on the safety and stamina of our fire crews,”the delegation wrote.“We urge you and your administration to swiftly provide the federal resources for our communities to recover and rebuild.”
Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin
October 23, 2024
Parkersburg, WV – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) toured River Town Aviation and Aircraft’s newly-renovated hangar at the Mid-Ohio Valley Airport as well as three projects funded by the American Rescue Plan in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
“West Virginia has accomplished so much for the advancement of aviation, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about our future,” Senator Manchin said. “I am always so proud to see our West Virginia airports and flight programs, like River Town Aviation and Aircraft, expand and prosper.
“I’m pleased to see the incredible improvements that have been made to the Southwood Pool, the City Park Baseball Field, and the Fort Boreman Water & Sewer Site,” Senator Manchin continued. “The investments made by the American Rescue Plan are reinvigorating the city of Parkersburg and making this town a better place for all who live and visit here. I remain dedicated to fighting for West Virginia’s priorities and will do everything in my power to ensure we receive the resources we need to continue strengthening the Mountain State’s communities.”
Photos from the event are available here.
Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin
October 24, 2024
H-2B visas help employers fill temporary, seasonal positions
Charleston, WV – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) led a bipartisan group of colleagues in urging the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the maximum allowable number of additional H-2B visas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
H-2B visas allow small businesses across the country, including in West Virginia, to fill vital staffing needs when there are not enough able and willing workers to fill these temporary, seasonal positions. As required by law, employers must first make a concerted effort to hire American workers to fill open positions; when the local workforce is insufficient, H-2Bs can be used as a necessary tool to support local economies. The H-2B visa program allows West Virginia businesses to grow and thrive.
“Many employers turn to the H-2B program to meet their workforce needs to not only sustain their businesses, but also support their American workers. The H-2B program places requirements on employers to recruit U.S. workers, who are intentionally prioritized by the program and also receive demonstrated, positive impacts from their seasonal colleagues,” the Senators wrote in part. “The most current employment data illustrates the workforce struggles of seasonal businesses nationwide. The Department of Labor’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Surveys (JOLTS) show the rate of job openings have increased year over year for the industries that represent the top five H-2B occupations.”
The letter was also signed by Senators Angus King (I-ME), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Fetterman (D-PA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), George Helmy (D-NJ), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Tim Scott (R-SC).
The full text of the letter is available below andhere.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
October 03, 2024
Two prominent Democratic senators are criticizing United States Steel Corp. Chief Executive Officer David Burritt over his potential $72 million “golden parachute” if the sale to a Japanese company goes through – while President Joe Biden’s decision on the takeover hangs in the air.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, whose race for reelection is one of the closest in the chamber this year, wrote to Burritt Wednesday regarding financial incentives offered to him and other US Steel executives if Nippon Steel Corp. acquires the company in a $14.1 billion deal.
The executives would be eligible for the incentives if they’re terminated following a takeover, according to a March filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
First, let me begin by wishing everyone a happy UN Day.
Every year, in this Chamber, the global community reaffirms its commitment to ensuring women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in conflict prevention, resolution, and recovery, and to upholding their rights during times of war.
Yet, progress remains dishearteningly slow.
Peace and security decision-making is overwhelmingly dominated by men.
And ending impunity for atrocities against women and girls is still but a distant goal.
And the past year has been especially difficult.
In Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinian women and girls have been killed and injured amidst continued war and a terrible humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the plight of Israeli women still held hostage demands urgent action to ensure their safety and immediate release.
In Lebanon, an escalation of destruction and displacement threatens women and girls’ safety and livelihood.
In Sudan, women are enduring extreme suffering, facing not only the loss of loved ones but also the dire lack of access to essential services and medical care.
I reiterate the Secretary-General’s calls:
Civilians must be protected, civilian infrastructure must not be targeted, and international law must be upheld.
The United Nations remains steadfast.
We will not look away or lose hope.
The women, peace and security agenda will always guide our work and show a path forward.
Despite attacks on our offices, and the detention and killings of our staff in unprecedented numbers, allow me to honor the work of my colleagues and share examples of what they do.
In peacekeeping missions, the women, peace and security agenda is a key political and strategic imperative.
Our teams work tirelessly to help protect and assist women – from relocating human rights defenders to aiding women after their release from abduction by armed groups, from ensuring women’s representation in local dialogues to helping bring justice to women in places where sexual violence has long been met with impunity.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, 57 percent of cases supported by the mission’s Prosecution Support Cells in 2023 involved conflict-related sexual violence, contributing to the conviction of dozens of members of armed groups and state security forces.
In Abyei, earlier this year, one-third of participants in a post-migration conference were women – this was a first.
In the Central African Republic, the mission is helping mobilize women for local elections that have not been held in 38 years.
Deploying more diverse teams to peacekeeping operations has helped us deliver better on our mandates.
The representation of women in most categories of uniformed personnel has doubled in the last five years, and initiatives have been put in place to foster gender-responsive work environments for all peacekeepers.
Yet, much more remains to be done to improve the gender balance of our deployments and reap the benefits of inclusion and diversity.
Success in peacekeeping hinges on the political support from Member States, especially those with the great honor of sitting in this Chamber to protect international peace and security.
I commend the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to empower Women in Peace and Security. This initiative has provided training and capacity building opportunities for over 600 women from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in military and peacekeeping. The UN is a proud partner in these efforts that advance the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Throughout the world, the UN reaches millions of displaced women and girls and survivors of violence with food, medical support, legal aid, shelter, access to safe spaces, psychosocial support, education, and jobs and livelihood opportunities.
Yesterday, survivors of conflict-related sexual violence from many war-torn corners of the globe gathered for a Survivor’s Hearing to mark the 15th anniversary of resolution 1888.
Effective protection from sexual violence is fundamental to women’s effective participation in peacebuilding, conflict recovery, and sustainable development that leaves no one behind.
None of this would happen without women’s organizations in the frontlines of crises, and we are trying to find ways of channeling more resources to them.
The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund has supported over 1,300 local women’s civil society organizations since 2016, nearly half of them accessing UN funds for the first time, and 582 women human rights defenders and their families.
Last year, the Secretary-General invited all partners to contribute to the goal of raising 300 million dollars for women’s organizations in conflict-affected countries.
We still have a long way to go to get there.
40 percent of all funding of the 25-million-dollar GBV-focused grant by the Central Emergency Response Fund to UN Women and UNFPA was sub-granted to local women’s organizations and delivered remarkable results, a powerful demonstration that localization is both feasible and effective.
The Peacebuilding Fund has now exceeded its internal target allocation of 30 percent to gender equality for seven years in a row.
We know that the inclusion of women and gender-related provisions in peace processes not only advances gender equality, but also results in more durable peace agreements. From Guatemala to Northern Ireland, from Colombia to Liberia, research has shown how women in formal processes worked with diverse women’s groups to not only reach an agreement but also to strengthen the substance of peace agreements and opportunities for implementation.
Yet, women remain starkly under-represented from peace negotiations and conflict resolution efforts – including in some of the most intractable conflicts over the last year.
Historical data underscores this challenge: between 1992 and 2019, women constituted only 13 per cent of negotiators and six per cent of mediators in major peace processes.
More recent data from UN Women for 2023 shows that women on average made up less than ten per cent of peace negotiators and 13.5 per cent of mediators.
The processes in Libya and Yemen, where conflict parties have not included women, highlight a continued resistance to progress.
In Afghanistan, the regression of women’s rights highlights the severe impact of excluding women from governance – and society altogether.
It is imperative that we reinforce our resolve to support women in Afghanistan and elsewhere, advocating for their rights, agency and inclusion at every opportunity.
Collective action and solidarity are crucial.
In today’s broader global mediation landscape, the United Nations is not always present.
In fact, a diverse set of regional, state and other mediation actors initiates and leads mediation processes.
Many contexts feature joint or overlapping peace initiatives.
This means that no single mediator can affect global and meaningful change on women’s participation.
It is why, today, on behalf of the Secretary-General, I am pleased to launch the “Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes”, an initiative that brings together a broad array of mediation actors.
By endorsing this Common Pledge, Member States, regional organizations and other mediation actors commit to join the United Nations in taking concrete steps on women’s participation in all peace processes they are involved in.
These commitments include:
Appointing women as lead mediators and ensuring women are an integral part of mediation teams;
Ensuring mediators advocate with conflict parties for concrete targets and measures that promote women’s direct and meaningful participation in peace processes, including as members of their delegations;
Consulting with a broad range of women leaders and women-led civil society organizations in all stages of peace processes; and
Embedding gender expertise in their mediation teams to foster gender-responsive peace processes and agreements.
This Pledge targets mediating entities and is intended as an operational initiative, and not another general statement of principle.
It focuses on measures and decisions that are under the control of mediators and their organizations.
The Secretary-General invites Member States, regional organizations and other actors who are actively engaged in mediation to join this initiative and report on their progress at next year’s 25th Anniversary Security Council Open Debate on women, peace and security.
Madam President,
We have no illusions about the challenges posed by today’s geopolitical landscape and the complexity of achieving diplomatic outcomes.
As long as gendered power inequalities, patriarchal social structures, systematic biases, violence and discrimination continues to hold back half our societies, peace will remain elusive.
Yet, our collective experience has shown that progress is possible.
Together, we can have an impact that is greater than the sum of our individual efforts.
By leveraging our respective political capital and roles, let us dismantle the patriarchal power structures and advance gender equality, ensuring women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in political and public life.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Representing the 11th District of California
Walnut Creek, C.A.– Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10) announced he will present funding he secured to Seneca Family of Agencies to help local law enforcement, the probation system, behavioral health partners, and child welfare organizations to identify and respond to commercial and sexual exploitation of children in Contra Costa County on Wednesday, October 30th. This funding was part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R. 4366), which included a total of $15.2 million in federal funding Congressman DeSaulnier secured for 15 projects across Contra Costa County and Alameda County.
This event is open to press and photographers. Media interested in attending the event should RSVP to Mairead Glowacki at (202) 760-1365 or mairead.glowacki@mail.house.gov.
TIME: Wednesday, October 30th from 12:15 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. PT
WHERE: 50 Douglas Drive, Martinez, CA 94553
WHAT: Congressman DeSaulnier will present funding he secured for Seneca Family of Agencies to coordinate between law enforcement and community partners to better protect children in Contra Costa County from commercial and sexual exploitation.
WHO: U.S. Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Chief Program Officer of Northern California Programs, Seneca Family of Agencies, Lauren Crutsinger Chief Probation Officer, Contra Costa County, Esa Ehmen-Krause Chief of Police, San Ramon Police Department, Denton Carlson
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)
I am disappointed that Boeing Machinists and the company could not come to an agreement after yesterday’s vote on the latest contract offer. Union members deserve fair wages, safe working conditions, and a voice within their company. I hope both parties return to the table promptly, especially after yesterday’s report of a $6 billion loss in the fiscal third quarter. This failure has a profound effect on our nation’s aerospace industry, and until negotiations can be successful, there will continue to be serious economic repercussions. Boeing’s success depends on its dedicated workforce, many of whom have been loyal to the company for decades. A resolution to the Machinists’ strike will restore a critical sector of our district’s livelihood, and I hope they can work together to reach an agreement.
TORONTO, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. today announced the final October 2024 cash distributions for certain Vanguard ETFs, listed below, that trade on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Unitholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive cash distributions payable on November 07, 2024. Details of the “per unit” distribution amounts are as follows:
Vanguard ETF®
TSX Ticker Symbol
Distribution per Unit ($)
CUSIP
ISIN
Payment Frequency
Vanguard Retirement Income ETF Portfolio
VRIF
0.081577
92211X109
CA92211X1096
Monthly
Vanguard FTSE Canadian Capped REIT Index ETF
VRE
0.078389
92203B107
CA92203B1076
Monthly
Vanguard FTSE Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF
VDY
0.157956
92203Q104
CA92203Q1046
Monthly
To learn more about the TSX-listed Vanguard ETFs, please visit www.vanguard.ca
About Vanguard
Canadians own CAD $103 billion in Vanguard assets, including Canadian and U.S.-domiciled ETFs and Canadian mutual funds. Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. manages CAD $70 billion in assets (as of April 30, 2024) with 37 Canadian ETFs and six mutual funds currently available. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is one of the world’s largest investment management companies and a leading provider of company-sponsored retirement plan services. Vanguard manages USD $9.3 trillion (CAD $12.8 trillion) in global assets, including over USD $2.7 trillion (CAD $3.7 trillion) in global ETF assets (as of March 30, 2024). Vanguard has offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. The firm offers 423 funds, including ETFs, to its more than 50 million investors worldwide.
Vanguard operates under a unique operating structure. Unlike firms that are publicly held or owned by a small group of individuals, The Vanguard Group, Inc. is owned by Vanguard’s U.S.-domiciled funds and ETFs. Those funds, in turn, are owned by Vanguard clients. This unique mutual structure aligns Vanguard interests with those of its investors and drives the culture, philosophy, and policies throughout the Vanguard organization worldwide. As a result, Canadian investors benefit from Vanguard’s stability and experience, low-cost investing, and client focus. For more information, please visit vanguard.ca.
For more information, please contact: Matt Gierasimczuk Vanguard Canada Public Relations Phone: 416-263-7087 matthew_gierasimczuk@vanguard.com
Important information
Commissions, management fees, and expenses all may be associated with investment funds. Investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; please read it before investing. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated. Vanguard funds are managed by Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. and are available across Canada through registered dealers.
London Stock Exchange Group companies include FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), MTS Next Limited (“MTS”), and FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. (“FTSE TMX”). All rights reserved. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “MTS®”, “FTSE TMX®” and “FTSE Russell” and other service marks and trademarks related to the FTSE or Russell indexes are trademarks of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and are used by FTSE, MTS, FTSE TMX and Russell under licence. All information is provided for information purposes only. No responsibility or liability can be accepted by the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor its licensors for any errors or for any loss from use of this publication. Neither the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor any of its licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the results to be obtained from the use of the FTSE Indexes or the fitness or suitability of the Indexes for any particular purpose to which they might be put.
The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (“SPDJI”), and has been licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard). Standard & Poor’s®, S&P® and S&P 500® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”); and these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by Vanguard. Vanguard ETFs are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P, their respective affiliates, and none of such parties make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s) nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the S&P 500 Index.
Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today wrote to American domain registrars NameCheap, GoDaddy, Cloudflare, NewFold Digital, NameSilo, and Versign – which were identified in a Department of Justice affidavit as providing domain services to the “Doppelganger” Russian covert influence network – pressing them to take immediate steps to address the continued abuse of their services for foreign covert influence, particularly in the period preceding and following Election Day.
Through the maintenance of both inauthentic social media accounts and websites, the hallmark of the Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns known as “Doppelganger” has been the impersonation of Western media institutions online, including outlets like the Washington Post, Fox News, and Forward. Russian influence operatives have been attributed impersonating dozens of legitimate organizations online as early as September 2022, when researchers at the nonprofit EU Disinfo Lab first identified the network’s campaigns, using misleading domains (such as www.washingtonpost.pm, www.washingtonpost.ltd, www.fox-news.in, www.fox-news.top and www.forward.pw) to covertly spread Russian government propaganda with the aim of reducing international support for Ukraine, bolstering pro-Russian policies and interests, and influencing voters in U.S. and foreign elections, including the 2024 presidential election.
Citing research conducted by Meta in 2023, Warner noted several ways in which the global domain name industry has enabled Russian malign influence activity, including withholding vital domain name registration information from good-faith researchers and digital forensic investigators, ignoring inaccurate registration information submitted by registrants, and failing to identify repeated instances of intentional and malicious domain name squatting used to impersonate legitimate organizations.
Wrote Warner today,“Information included in the affidavit supporting recent seizure of a number of these domains provides further indication of your industry’s apparent inattention to abuses by foreign actors engaged in covert influence. Specifically, Russian influence actors utilized a number of tactics, techniques, and procedures that – against the backdrop of extensive open source literature on Doppelganger’s practices – should have alerted your company to abuse of its services, including the use of cryptocurrency to purchase domains, heavy reliance on anonymizing infrastructure to access your registration services (including the use of IPs widely associated with cybercriminal obfuscation network activity), the use of credit cards issued to a U.S. company “that has significant ties to, and employees based in, Russia,” use of fictitious and poorly-backstopped identities for registrants, and in at least one instance the use of a Russian address.”
Noted Warner,“While foreign covert influence represents one of the most egregious abuses of the domain name system, the industry’s inattention to abuse has been well-documented for years, enabling malicious activity such as phishing campaigns, drive-by malware, and online scams – all possible because of malicious actors using your services… Given the continued lapses of your industry to address these abuses, I believe Congress may need to evaluate legislative remedies that promote greater diligence across the global domain name ecosystem.”
“In the interim, your company must take immediate steps to address the continued abuse of your services for foreign covert influence – particularly in the days preceding, and weeks immediately following, Election Day. With the prospect of a close election – and declassified intelligence demonstrating the past practice of foreign adversaries in spreading narratives that undermine confidence in election processes– Americans will be particularly reliant on media organizations and state and local government websites to provide authoritative and accurate election information. It is imperative that your company work to diminish the risk that foreign adversaries use impersonated domains to promote false narratives in this context,” Warner concluded.
As Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Warner has been consistently warning about the threat posed by foreign covert influence networks ahead of the 2024 elections. Last month, he convened a public hearing with representatives from Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft examining the roles and responsibilities of U.S. platforms to prevent the spread of foreign propaganda and misinformation on their networks.
