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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cramer, Markey Introduce Legislation to Support Students Walking or Biking to School

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, established nearly two decades ago, was created to make it safer and easier for students who walk or bike to school. In addition to providing safety education to children and caregivers, it also funds infrastructure improvements including sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes. All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have SRTS programs which serve millions of students across the nation.
    U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Safe Routes Improvement Act to enhance program accessibility for communities in North Dakota and nationwide. Specifically, the bill requires state departments of transportation (DOT) to designate an SRTS program coordinator, which will serve as a point of contact for local governments, school districts, and others looking to navigate the SRTS Program and receive funds for projects in their communities.
    This builds on Cramer’s bipartisan efforts to expand program eligibility from elementary and middle school students to also include high school students, a policy change he secured in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Under the BIL, a dozen projects across North Dakota received over $3 million in SRTS funding. Communities including Minot, Bismarck, Horace, Milnor, Linton, Carson, Fargo, Bowman, and Belfield have used these funds for various pedestrian improvements such as installing speed limit signs, constructing sidewalks and shared use paths, and building ADA-compliant ramps.
    “As someone who walks to work every morning when I’m in Washington, I know how essential safe routes are for the kids who walk or bike to school,” said Cramer. “Over the last 20 years, the Safe Routes to School program has been instrumental in helping support infrastructure improvements to keep our kids safe. This legislation is a smart solution to make it easier for school districts and rural communities to access Safe Routes funding.”
    “Every child deserves a safe journey to and from school, whether they’re walking, biking, or riding the bus,” said Markey. “By ensuring every state has a Safe Routes to School coordinator, we’re helping communities design safer streets and healthier futures. I’m proud to partner with Senator Cramer to introduce this legislation and put children’s safety first.”
    “Senator Cramer’s leadership on this legislation shows he’s really looking out for North Dakota—and for communities across the country. Requiring every state to have a Safe Routes to School Coordinator isn’t just helpful, it’s essential,” said Blue Weber, Community Outreach Liaison at Bolton & Menk, and former CEO of the Downtown Development Association in Grand Forks. “These coordinators are key to making sure the projects we work on actually reflect what communities need and have the support to move forward. At Bolton & Menk, we believe great design starts with listening and this bill will support community voices to be heard.”
    “Every child should be able to bike, walk, or roll to school safely,” said Bill Nesper, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists. “We applaud this legislation from Senators Cramer and Markey which would direct state departments of transportation to designate a Safe Routes to School Coordinator. By helping school districts and local governments navigate the grants process, share best practices, and track successes, Safe Routes to School Coordinators are a crucial resource in our shared goal to improve traffic safety for kids.”
    “As the national leader of the Safe Routes to School movement, Safe Routes Partnership applauds Senator Cramer for his continued leadership in strengthening a program that helps students get to and from school safely and reliably,” said Marisa Jones, Managing Director of the Safe Routes Partnership. “Safe Routes to School is an evidence-based, cost-effective, bipartisan initiative that supports rural, suburban, and urban communities in meeting the daily transportation needs of families. By ensuring every state has a dedicated Safe Routes to School coordinator, this legislation will expand the program’s reach and ensure more communities can benefit from safer, more connected school travel options.”  
    “Safe Kids Grand Forks has done a considerable amount of pedestrian and bike safety work with the Safe Routes to School Program,” said Carma Hanson, Coordinator of Safe Kids Grand Forks at Altru Health System. “We have done this in an effort to assure that all kids get to and from school safely. Our work in both North Dakota and Minnesota demonstrates the importance of partnerships that are led by a collaborative and engaging entity, assuring cost effective and credible programming and interventions. We are thrilled that Senator Cramer is helping lead the charge on the national level for this type of collaboration and partnership as we strive to assure students get to and from school safely.”
    Click here for bill text.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Libby Richards, Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

    Older adults will continue to receive yearly COVID-19 shots, but lower-risk groups will not, says the FDA. dusanpetkovic via iStock / Getty Images Plus

    On May 20, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration announced a new stance on who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

    The agency said it would approve new versions of the vaccine only for adults 65 years of age and older as well as for people with one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. These risk factors include medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes.

    However, healthy younger adults and children who fall outside of these groups may not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 shot this fall. Vaccine manufacturers will have to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that the vaccine benefits low-risk groups.

    FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and the agency’s head of vaccines, Vinay Prasad, described the new framework in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine and in a public webcast.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Libby Richards, a nursing professor involved in public health promotion, to explain why the changes were made and what they mean for the general public.

    Why did the FDA diverge from past practice?

    Until the May 20 announcement, getting a yearly COVID-19 vaccine was recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older, regardless of their health risk.

    According to Makary and Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration is moving away from these universal recommendations and instead taking a risk-based approach based on its interpretation of public health trends – specifically, the declining COVID-19 booster uptake, a lack of strong evidence that repeated boosters improve health outcomes for healthy people and the fact that natural immunity from past COVID-19 infections is widespread.

    The FDA states it wants to ensure the vaccine is backed by solid clinical trial data, especially for low-risk groups.

    Was this a controversial decision or a clear consensus?

    The FDA’s decision to adopt a risk-based framework for the COVID-19 vaccine aligns with the expected recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an advisory group of vaccine experts offering expert guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, which is scheduled to meet in June 2025. But while this advisory committee was also expected to recommend allowing low-risk people to get annual COVID-19 vaccines if they want to, the FDA’s policy will likely make that difficult.

    Although the FDA states that its new policy aims to promote greater transparency and evidenced-based decision-making, the change is controversial – in part because it circumvents the usual process for evaluating vaccine recommendations. The FDA is enacting this policy change by limiting its approval of the vaccine to high-risk groups, and it is doing so without any new data supporting its decision. Usually, however, the FDA broadly approves a vaccine based on whether it is safe and effective, and decisions on who should be eligible to receive it are left to the CDC, which receives research-based guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

    Change is coming to COVID-19 vaccine policy.
    Rock Obst, CC BY-SA

    Additionally, FDA officials point to Canada, Australia and some European countries that limit vaccine recommendations to older adults and other high-risk people as a model for its revised framework. But vaccine strategies vary widely, and this more conservative approach has not necessarily proven superior. Also, those countries have universal health care systems and have a track record of more equitable access to COVID-19 care and better COVID-19 outcomes.

    Another question is how health officials’ positions on COVID-19 vaccines affect public perception. Makary and Prasad noted that COVID-19 vaccination campaigns may have actually eroded public trust in vaccination. But some vaccine experts have expressed concerns that limiting COVID-19 vaccine access might further fuel vaccine hesitancy because any barrier to vaccine access can reduce uptake and hinder efforts to achieve widespread immunity.

    What conditions count as risk factors?

    The New England Journal of Medicine article includes a lengthy list of conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 and notes that about 100 million to 200 million people will fall into this category and will thus be eligible to get the vaccine.

    Pregnancy is included. Some items on the list, however, are unclear. For example, the list includes asthma, but the data that asthma is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 is scant.

    Also on the list is physical inactivity, which likely applies to a vast swath of Americans and is difficult to define. Studies have found links between regular physical activity and reduced risk of severe COVID-19 infection, but it’s unclear how health care providers will define and measure physical inactivity when assessing a patient’s eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines.

    Most importantly, the list leaves out an important group – caregivers and household members of people at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection. This omission leaves high-risk people more vulnerable to exposure to COVID-19 from healthy people they regularly interact with. Multiple countries the new framework refers to do include this group.

    Why is the FDA requiring new clinical trials?

    According to the FDA, the benefits of multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines for healthy adults are currently unproven. It’s true that studies beyond the fourth vaccine dose are scarce. However, multiple studies have demonstrated that the vaccine is effective at preventing the risk of severe COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death in low-risk adults and children. Receiving multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines has also been shown to reduce the risk of long COVID.

    The FDA is moving to risk-based access for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA is requiring vaccine manufactures to conduct additional large randomized clinical trials to further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 boosters for healthy adults and children. These trials will primarily test whether the vaccines prevent symptomatic infections, and secondarily whether they prevent hospitalization and death. Such trials are more complex, costly and time-consuming than the more common approach of testing for immunological response.

    This requirement will likely delay both the timeliness and the availability of COVID-19 vaccine boosters and slow public health decision-making.

    Will low-risk people be able to get a COVID-19 shot?

    Not automatically. Under the new FDA framework, healthy adults who wish to receive the fall COVID-19 vaccine will face obstacles. Health care providers can administer vaccines “off-label”, but insurance coverage is widely based on FDA recommendations. The new, narrower FDA approval will likely reduce both access to COVID-19 vaccines for the general public and insurance coverage for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA’s focus on individual risks and benefits may overlook broader public health benefits. Communities with higher vaccination rates have fewer opportunities to spread the virus.

    What about vaccines for children?

    High-risk children age 6 months and older who have conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 are still eligible for the vaccine under the new framework. As of now, healthy children age 6 months and older without underlying medical conditions will not have routine access to COVID-19 vaccines until further clinical trial data is available.

    Existing vaccines already on the market will remain available, but it is unclear how long they will stay authorized and how the change will affect childhood vaccination overall.

    Libby Richards has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Nurses Foundation, and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute

    – ref. FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules – https://theconversation.com/fda-limits-access-to-covid-19-vaccine-to-older-adults-and-other-high-risk-groups-a-public-health-expert-explains-the-new-rules-257226

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch and Britt’s Bill to Boost Flood Resiliency and Hydrology Research Advances Bill would make permanent the hydrology research center at UVM  

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) today celebrated the advancement of the bipartisan Water Research Optimization Act of 2025, legislation to streamline hydrological forecast modeling within the National Weather Service. The Senators’ legislation advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation this morning.
    “Investing in hydrology modeling and prediction is crucial to boosting flood resilience across the country, from Vermont to Alabama. That includes supporting important hydrology research and programs at the University of Vermont that improve hydrologic forecasting, such as the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology,” said Senator Welch. “Our bipartisan bill will strengthen and align current hydrology research at the National Weather Service with vital research at UVM to foster flood resilience and help communities rebuild better after natural disasters. I am thankful for the support of the Commerce Committee and urge my colleagues to support the bill as it comes to the Senate floor.”  
    “I continue to be grateful to Commerce Committee Chair Cruz for his work to advance critical legislation out of committee. I’m also thankful for Senator Welch’s partnership on this important bipartisan bill. The National Water Center has been instrumental to NOAA’s efforts to strengthen America’s water forecasting capabilities, improve weather-preparedness, and modernize water research technologies. The Center’s world-class capabilities truly benefit communities across our entire nation. I’m proud to champion this effort to further enhance this renowned research and applied science, and I’m committed to getting this signed into law,” said Senator Britt. 
    CIROH has evolved into a revolutionary, collaborative hub between the public and private sector for research and development. The Water Research Optimization Act of 2025 would make CIROH’s research center at the University of Vermont (UVM) permanent and align UVM’s hydrology work with the National Weather Service to boost flood resiliency research. 
    “We are grateful to Senators Welch and Britt for their leadership in introducing pivotal legislation to support CIROH. Funding for these efforts allows the University of Vermont to continue vital research on water that impacts the quality of life of Vermonters and communities across the country. We are proud to be able to contribute to this work,” said Kirk Dombrowski, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, University of Vermont. 
    CIROH’s national coalition of academic, industry, and non-profit partners includes the University of Vermont, which functions closely alongside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Water Center to support stakeholders with hydrological data and important weather-related forecasts and warnings. This legislation would place CIROH Centers under the supervision and oversight of the National Weather Service’s Office of Water Protection and codify the National Water Center’s authority to lead the transition of water resources research.  
    Read and download the full text of the bill. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Kaine & Cassidy Introduce Legislation to Help Workers Better Prepare for Retirement

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), the HELP Committee Chair, introduced the Auto Reenroll Act, legislation to help American workers take advantage of their available employer-sponsored retirement plans and full employer match offers by permitting more frequent opportunities for employees to opt in.
    “For many Americans, employer-sponsored retirement plans become a crucial part of their long-term financial security,” said Kaine. “That’s why it’s important that we make it easier for more workers to take full advantage of these opportunities. I’m glad to team up with Senator Cassidy to introduce our bipartisan bill to help make that happen so more Americans can get enrolled and improve their financial footing.”
    “Americans should have every opportunity to invest for a secure retirement,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Auto-reenrollment enables workers to be in better control of their finances so they can be ready for retirement.”
    Currently, one in four American workers are not enrolled in their employer-sponsored retirement plans, and one-third are not taking advantage of their full employer matching contribution. Proactively encouraging these workers to enroll is critical because many choose not to participate in these programs when they are first hired or making entry level wages, but then may never be promoted to reconsider that decision or increase their contribution as their income increases. That can lead to significant confusion—59 percent of workers who are not participating in their workplace plans thought they were participating when surveyed.
    Specifically, the Auto Reenroll Act would address this issue by amending safe harbors in the Employee Retirement Income Security (ERISA) and Internal Revenue Code to permit plan sponsors to reenroll non-participants at least once every three years, unless the individual affirmatively opts out again.
    The legislation is endorsed by AARP, the American Benefits Council, American Retirement Association, BPC Action, Edward Jones, Empower, LPL Financial, Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Transamerica, and TIAA.
    Full text of the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Johnson Joins Sen. Scott, Colleagues in Introducing Resolution Celebrating National Charter Schools Week

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) joined U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and 20 of their colleagues in introducing a resolution to celebrate National Charter Schools Week and recognize charter schools’ success in the academic landscape. Charter schools continue to expand across the nation. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, approximately 250,000 teachers educate more than 3.7 million students at over 8,000 charter schools nationwide. 
    “National Charter Schools Week is a time to celebrate the benefit that families have in the ability to choose the best type of education for their children. The increase in demand nationwide for charter schools demonstrates how important choice in education is for families. I will continue to advocate and fight for school choice in Wisconsin and across the nation,” said Sen. Johnson.
    Sens. Johnson and Scott were joined by U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Jon Husted (R-Ohio).
    Full text of the resolution can be found here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Introduces Tuskegee President to Senate HELP Committee, Discusses Cost versus Benefits of Higher Education

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke with Dr. Andrew Gillen, Dr. Michael Lindsay, Dr. Mark Brown, Mr. Mike Pierce, and Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the state of higher education. During the hearing, Sen. Tuberville discussed the reasons for the skyrocket of prices in higher education institutions during recent years. 
    Sen. Tuberville also introduced Dr. Mark Brown, President of Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, to the Committee.
    Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble. 
    Sen. Tuberville’s introduction of Dr. Brown can be found below or on YouTube or Rumble.

    INTRODUCTION OF DR. MARK BROWN:
    TUBERVILLE: “It’s my pleasure to introduce our second witness, Dr. Mark A. Brown. As a matter of fact, he’s about 20 miles from where I live, as we speak, in Auburn, Alabama. Dr. Brown is the president of Tuskegee University, home of the Tuskegee Airmen, who we’re very proud of. It’s a Historically Black College in Alabama. He is the first alumnus in Tuskegee’s 143-year-history to lead the university. A retired Air Force Major General, Dr. Brown brings unmatched experience in education leadership, federal student aid policy, and HBCU advancement. We are thankful to have you here today to hear your perspective, Dr. Brown. “
    ON THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
    TUBERVILLE: “Gentlemen, thanks for being here. I’m passionate about this. I spent [40] years in education—more than anybody in this room probably, maybe other than Dr. Graham, although you spent a little time in the military. I’ve been in high schools all across this country, almost in all 50 states. We’ve gone backwards. [We’re here] today to talk about higher education. I spent 30 years in that and have done a lot of great things for a lot of kids, men and women, rich and poor. It’s got to be merit based, folks. If we don’t merit base this thing, we will not survive as an educational system. This country gives you an opportunity.
    I was in a situation where athletics was merit-based. I didn’t care who you were. I had to win games. I recruited kids that had good grades, would go to class, and could play football. And if they couldn’t do those three things and work at it, I didn’t recruit them. It’s got to be the same thing in college in terms of getting a good education. I know of a school that has a happiness degree. That [isn’t] gonna get it. I’m for paying everybody’s way through college, but not for a degree where when they get out, they can’t get a job at Walmart. We need degrees that kids can prosper [with], raise a family, and have a great life in this country. So, I’d like to ask each one of you just one question, starting over with Dr. Gillen.
    Dr. Gillen, what factors do you see that have caused massive skyrocketing costs at our universities across the country?”
    GILLEN: “So, I would argue that the main driver of higher college cost is what’s called the Bowen Revenue Theory of Cost. When you look at higher education, […] the idea here is not that, you know, higher faculty salaries or increases in institutional aid are driving higher spending. It’s that when more revenue is available, colleges will spend as much as they can. And it makes sense, these are all mission driven institutions, right? If you give each of these schools a million more dollars, they’ll find a good way to spend it. The problem is if you keep doing that, eventually those good ways to spend it aren’t so convincing anymore. But when we have these mission driven institutions, the more money they have, the more money they’re going to spend.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Dr. Lindsay?”
    LINDSAY: “I think the opportunity that is before is, as you say, to bring accountability and outcomes. And I think we have to be very intentional about the kind of formation that’s occurring on our campuses. I’m really proud of the fact that we have something called the Good Work Initiative, which is basically trying to transform on campus employment opportunities where students are paid a little bit more than minimum wage to give them a little bit more spending money, but we also pair it with professional development and vocational discernment exercises to help them. So, that when they graduate, they actually have that kind of professional experience. It’s a pilot [program]. We’ve had good success with it. We’re allowing the opportunity for more students to take on more leadership roles, giving them good things for their resumes, but also buttressing their opportunities when they graduate.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Dr. Brown?”
    BROWN: “Senator, I’ll use a real example. I went to my Board of Trustees for this upcoming year and said that I would like to freeze tuition for two years at our school. They approved the freezing of the tuition, but when I looked at the cost of insurance—which is a subcomponent of that tuition—we had to go up. So, the real cost to the customer—the family—was more.
    The same is true of the cost of dining, the cost of food that goes into a dining hall contract, and the cost of the utilities it takes to run the campus. My campus is much like any other business. Those costs, we would not be able to absorb, and so our cost went up because costs in the economy went up. It was not that we would spend more because we had more. Those costs were real, and we had to realize those as a school [that] operates just like a business in that sense.”
    LOWERY-HART: “Thank you for the question. I would say in the community college sector, there hasn’t been a massive skyrocket rising in prices. At Austin Community College, we haven’t raised tuition in 12 years. I think we’ve raised it once in 15 [years]. We’re the sector of higher education that lives within our means, because our students are so price-sensitive. And I think there could be a lot to learn from how community colleges effectively manage their budgets.”
    TUBERVILLE: “I agree with you on that. I’ve been in a lot of community colleges. You do a good job, by the way. And I think more kids need to go to community colleges.
    Mr. Pierce?”
    PIERCE: “I think it’s my turn to talk about for-profit colleges, which seems to be missing from my colleague’s responses to your question. We have watched the proprietary sector raise costs far in excess of other sectors of the higher education system. And we’ve also watched some of the largest participants in the for-profit college market turn into private non-profit colleges or enter into deals with public colleges. I think we’re not at a place where we were a decade ago talking about the proprietary sector. We should be looking at the backroom deals that some of the largest colleges in the country are cutting with these private companies and how these deals are driving the increase in costs that are being pushed on our most vulnerable students.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Good. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Construction begins on student housing at SFU, more child care on the way

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Students, staff and the surrounding community are one step closer to more on-campus supports at Simon Fraser University (SFU) – Burnaby as construction starts on a new student residence and will begin later this year on a new child care facility.  

    “A safe and secure place to live and conveniently located child care can be transformative for students and parents working or studying on campus,” said Bowinn Ma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These new facilities will provide shorter commute times, allow students to focus on their studies and help ease pressure on the local rental market.  Projects like this are one way we are investing in infrastructure that supports people in B.C.”

    The new eight-storey residence will provide an additional 445 beds for students at the Burnaby campus. It will include a mix of studio and four-bedroom apartments, as well as two- and four-bedroom townhouses. Construction is expected to start in fall 2025 on a stand-alone child care centre, which will add 160 new child care spaces to more than 410 existing spaces in the Burnaby campus and at SFU’s Sapperton location. With these new spaces, more than 570 child care spaces will provide support to the SFU community.

    Once complete, the residence will bring the total number of student beds on the SFU Burnaby campus to more than 3,000.  

    “I have met with many students at post-secondary campuses in B.C., and access to housing and child care are big factors when deciding if they can afford to build a better life for themselves,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. “Since 2018, our government has made historic investments in student housing, making it easier for thousands of students across the province to gain the skills they need to fill the in-demand jobs our economy needs.”

    Construction is expected to be completed on the student-housing residence and child care facility in fall 2027. The total capital cost of the project is $196.6 million, shared between the Province and SFU.

    This project is Phase 3 of SFU’s ongoing student-housing expansion. Phases 1 and 2 added a combined 856 new beds for students, with funding for Phase 2 provided by the Province.

    “Watching the Phase 3 site come to life has reinforced how vital new student housing is for our community,” said Ali Asgar Abdul Udaipurwala, a fourth-year undergraduate student at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, who lives in residence at the Burnaby campus. “As a community adviser and area co-ordinator, I have loved planning late-night events, movie nights and study breaks in our halls. I am excited for Phase 3 to become our next home away from home.”

    Since 2018, the government has committed $2 billion to expand on-campus student housing at public post-secondary institutions throughout B.C. To date, 6,100 beds for students are open, with another 4,600 underway.

    Since 2018, ChildCareBC’s space-creation programs have helped fund the creation of more than 40,900 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 24,900 of those operational. This child care project received $16 million through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding provided under the 2021-22 to 2025-26 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. British Columbia and the federal government signed an extension to the agreement for 2026-27 to 2030-31.

    Quotes:

    Joy Johnson, president, Simon Fraser University –

    “We are grateful for the Province’s continued investment in student housing and child care across the province. I look forward to continued growth of SFU’s resident student community on Burnaby Mountain and to continued partnership with the provincial government as we move forward. The post-secondary sector is united in our efforts to support British Columbians in tackling shared challenges, from housing to health care and beyond, as we make a difference for students and for communities across B.C.”

    Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care, and MLA for Burnaby East –

    “Creating 160 new child care spaces on SFU campus, where hard-working students, families and single parents can easily access the care they need, is one of the ways we are helping Burnaby get ahead. By ensuring parents, especially mothers, can access high-quality child care in Burnaby while attending higher education or working, we are setting both this generation and the next up for success.”

    Learn More:

    For more information about Simon Fraser University, visit: https://www.sfu.ca/

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Clyde Leads Letter Requesting Risk Assessment of Chatuge Dam & Economic Impact Analysis for Spillway Safety Modifications

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA)

    GAINESVILLE, GA — Today, Reps. Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and Chuck Edwards (NC-11) sent a letter to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) President and CEO Don Moul advocating for a sensible approach to address Chatuge Dam spillway safety concerns. Additionally, the lawmakers requested critical information central to the modifications, including the TVA’s completed risk assessment and a comprehensive economic impact analysis of each proposal. 

    Reps. Clyde and Edwards highlight the potential economic impacts that TVA’s current proposals would have on their communities:

    “We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the proposed Chatuge Dam Spillway Safety Modifications at Lake Chatuge, which is located in both of our districts. While we recognize the critical importance of ensuring the safe operation of Chatuge Dam – and safeguarding the many residents living in the valleys below – we urge you to carefully consider the potential economic impacts that any lake drawdowns would have on the residents and small business owners of the mountain communities of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina. These towns and surrounding mountain communities rely heavily on Lake Chatuge’s recreational tourism during the summer months to sustain their rural economies.”

    The lawmakers detail how devastating a potential lake drawdown would be for North Georgia and Western North Carolina:

    “…the proposals outlined by the TVA for potential repairs include lake drawdowns to an elevation as low as 1,908 feet – 10 feet below the normal winter pool – for the entire duration of the construction project, with some proposals expected to last as long as eight years. Such drawdowns would devastate the rural, mountain economies of surrounding towns, including Hiawassee, Georgia and Hayesville, North Carolina – leading to the shuttering of small businesses, the displacement of rural workers, and the upending of these communities for decades to come. For example, a 2021 assessment by the University of Georgia found that Towns County’s tourism-related output was $117.4 million, supporting 1,362 jobs or approximately 24% of county employment, and generated $30.8 million in wages.”

    Additionally, the lawmakers share their constituents’ serious concerns about the TVA’s proposals: 

    “Residents across Towns County, Georgia and Clay County, North Carolina have contacted our offices to express serious concerns about the potential economic impacts of the TVA’s proposed lake drawdowns on their small businesses and financial futures.

    “One constituent shared how the proposed drawdown would diminish the time they cherish with friends and family on the lake. A local business owner, whose livelihood depends on Lake Chatuge’s seasonal tourism, wrote about the devastating economic consequences an eight-year drawdown would have for Towns County: ‘Implementing a drawdown of this magnitude and duration threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs… bankrupt numerous businesses… [and] erode the tax base.’”

    In closing, Reps. Clyde and Edwards request critical information central to the TVA’s spillway modification proposals:

    “Specifically, we request that the Tennessee Valley Authority:

    • Publish the TVA’s completed risk assessment of the Chatuge Dam;
    •  Commission a comprehensive economic impact analysis for each proposal outlined in the April 2025 Notice of Intent (NOI);
    •   Explore mitigation measures that would minimize economic harm, such as restricting drawdowns to recreation off-seasons.


    “We further ask that the TVA maintain full transparency in its communications with our offices and with the residents of surrounding communities throughout the Lake Chatuge dam modification process. We look forward to working with local officials, stakeholders, and TVA to reach the best solution that effectively balances the safety of spillway operations and the continued economic prosperity of our mountain communities.”

    Read the full letter HERE.

    Background

    A recent TVA study identified a key vulnerability in the spillway of Chatuge Dam. While the conditions of the current spillway are not an emergency, the TVA is aiming to improve the safety of the spillway to reduce the risk of the dam’s long-term operations. The TVA study has judged the spillway at Chatuge Dam exhibits some of the vulnerabilities that led to the damage and failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in California. To address the issue, the agency announced four potential alternatives for a long-term solution.

    Last month, Rep. Clyde visited the Chatuge Dam with Towns County Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw, Towns County EMA Director Marty Roberts, and members of Rep. Chuck Edwards’ staff to meet with Tennessee Valley Authority officials and discuss the TVA’s proposed plans to address spillway safety concerns.

    Additional information on the Tennessee Valley Authority receiving public input on Chatuge Dam safety modifications can be found HERE.

    Details on the TVA’s notice of intent, including proposed plans, is available in the Federal Register HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Clyde Leads Letter Requesting Risk Assessment of Chatuge Dam & Economic Impact Analysis for Spillway Safety Modifications

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA)

    GAINESVILLE, GA — Today, Reps. Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and Chuck Edwards (NC-11) sent a letter to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) President and CEO Don Moul advocating for a sensible approach to address Chatuge Dam spillway safety concerns. Additionally, the lawmakers requested critical information central to the modifications, including the TVA’s completed risk assessment and a comprehensive economic impact analysis of each proposal. 

    Reps. Clyde and Edwards highlight the potential economic impacts that TVA’s current proposals would have on their communities:

    “We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the proposed Chatuge Dam Spillway Safety Modifications at Lake Chatuge, which is located in both of our districts. While we recognize the critical importance of ensuring the safe operation of Chatuge Dam – and safeguarding the many residents living in the valleys below – we urge you to carefully consider the potential economic impacts that any lake drawdowns would have on the residents and small business owners of the mountain communities of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina. These towns and surrounding mountain communities rely heavily on Lake Chatuge’s recreational tourism during the summer months to sustain their rural economies.”

    The lawmakers detail how devastating a potential lake drawdown would be for North Georgia and Western North Carolina:

    “…the proposals outlined by the TVA for potential repairs include lake drawdowns to an elevation as low as 1,908 feet – 10 feet below the normal winter pool – for the entire duration of the construction project, with some proposals expected to last as long as eight years. Such drawdowns would devastate the rural, mountain economies of surrounding towns, including Hiawassee, Georgia and Hayesville, North Carolina – leading to the shuttering of small businesses, the displacement of rural workers, and the upending of these communities for decades to come. For example, a 2021 assessment by the University of Georgia found that Towns County’s tourism-related output was $117.4 million, supporting 1,362 jobs or approximately 24% of county employment, and generated $30.8 million in wages.”

    Additionally, the lawmakers share their constituents’ serious concerns about the TVA’s proposals: 

    “Residents across Towns County, Georgia and Clay County, North Carolina have contacted our offices to express serious concerns about the potential economic impacts of the TVA’s proposed lake drawdowns on their small businesses and financial futures.

    “One constituent shared how the proposed drawdown would diminish the time they cherish with friends and family on the lake. A local business owner, whose livelihood depends on Lake Chatuge’s seasonal tourism, wrote about the devastating economic consequences an eight-year drawdown would have for Towns County: ‘Implementing a drawdown of this magnitude and duration threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs… bankrupt numerous businesses… [and] erode the tax base.’”

    In closing, Reps. Clyde and Edwards request critical information central to the TVA’s spillway modification proposals:

    “Specifically, we request that the Tennessee Valley Authority:

    • Publish the TVA’s completed risk assessment of the Chatuge Dam;
    •  Commission a comprehensive economic impact analysis for each proposal outlined in the April 2025 Notice of Intent (NOI);
    •   Explore mitigation measures that would minimize economic harm, such as restricting drawdowns to recreation off-seasons.


    “We further ask that the TVA maintain full transparency in its communications with our offices and with the residents of surrounding communities throughout the Lake Chatuge dam modification process. We look forward to working with local officials, stakeholders, and TVA to reach the best solution that effectively balances the safety of spillway operations and the continued economic prosperity of our mountain communities.”

    Read the full letter HERE.

    Background

    A recent TVA study identified a key vulnerability in the spillway of Chatuge Dam. While the conditions of the current spillway are not an emergency, the TVA is aiming to improve the safety of the spillway to reduce the risk of the dam’s long-term operations. The TVA study has judged the spillway at Chatuge Dam exhibits some of the vulnerabilities that led to the damage and failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in California. To address the issue, the agency announced four potential alternatives for a long-term solution.

    Last month, Rep. Clyde visited the Chatuge Dam with Towns County Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw, Towns County EMA Director Marty Roberts, and members of Rep. Chuck Edwards’ staff to meet with Tennessee Valley Authority officials and discuss the TVA’s proposed plans to address spillway safety concerns.

    Additional information on the Tennessee Valley Authority receiving public input on Chatuge Dam safety modifications can be found HERE.

    Details on the TVA’s notice of intent, including proposed plans, is available in the Federal Register HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: At a seminar on Eurasian relations, Chinese and German experts called for cooperation

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) — Experts from China and Germany called for cooperation to overcome global challenges in an unstable world at a seminar on China-Russia-Europe relations held in Beijing on Tuesday.

    The current seminar, organized by the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IRESCA AASS), took place in the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union.

    In his opening remarks, Sun Zhuangzhi, Director of the IRECA AONK, noted that in the context of profound global changes unseen for a century, humanity once again found itself at a historical crossroads. Against this background, he stressed, academic discussions on relations between China, Russia and Europe have important practical significance.

    Noting that China and Europe have many common interests, Sun said it is crucial to find the “biggest common denominator” for cooperation between the two sides, which is of particular significance both for maintaining security and stability on the Eurasian continent and for promoting prosperity and development worldwide.

    Nadine Godehardt, Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Department of the Brussels branch of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, noted that the world is experiencing new profound changes, and the geopolitical landscape in the Eurasian region is becoming increasingly complex.

    As a result, N. Godehard continued, the European Union and the European integration process are creating a new momentum for reform, initiating a whole series of policy adjustments. She added that discussions between Chinese and European think tanks on the relations between China, Russia and Europe and on the situation in the Eurasian region are timely and important.

    The seminar participants agreed that in the context of an unstable international situation, countries of the world should adhere to the principles of mutual success and common progress, work together to solve key global and regional problems, and jointly write a new chapter in international governance and multilateral cooperation.

    The seminar was attended by experts and scholars from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Ruhr University Bochum, the AONK and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla, Schiff Condemn Trump Administration’s Student Visa Revocations

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) blasted the Trump Administration’s recent harmful revocations of international student visas, including on ideological grounds, underscoring the lack of due process regarding these revocations and the chilling effect of these actions in suppressing freedom of thought and expression. In their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, the Senators condemn the revocation of hundreds of California student visas and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) termination of several hundred California students’ Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records.
    The Senators called on the State Department to immediately stop their “Catch and Revoke” AI-powered initiative, an effort to monitor millions of social media accounts of student visa holders and green card holders to gather evidence of alleged terrorist sympathies. The technology is reportedly being used to monitor international students’ speech through SEVIS and other publicly available resources, leading to the revocation of student visas or green cards for students exercising peaceful expression, without due process. This step to surveil international students’ activity is an unprecedented leap toward stifling students’ First Amendment rights and their freedom of speech. The Senators pushed for restoring revoked visas and full transparency.
    While the Department of Justice has reversed the termination of students’ SEVIS records, the student visa revocations under Catch and Revoke remain ongoing and are instilling fear and uncertainty among international students at colleges and universities in California and across the country.
    “These visa revocations and record terminations constitute unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks on freedom of thought and expression that impact international and U.S. citizen students alike at our nation’s colleges and universities,” wrote the Senators. “While we welcome the news that the Administration has taken steps to rectify the SEVIS record terminations, these actions taken all together still call into question our nation’s bedrock commitment to freedom of expression. We urge the State Department and DHS to suspend the ‘Catch and Revoke’ initiative, which continues to cause uncertainty, erode due process, and chill free speech and expression among students.”
    “The actions taken as part of the ‘Catch and Revoke’ initiative suggest a troubling pattern of misusing immigration enforcement to suppress dissent, intimidate politically active students, and chill Constitutionally protected expression,” continued the Senators. “Without transparency or independent oversight, the risk of abuse continues to grow. In fact, USCIS is now openly targeting speech by noncitizens with other immigration statuses, not just students.”
    The Senators detailed a series of other alarming incidents targeting international students, as ICE has detained students on university campuses, at ports of entry, and in their own homes, often without notice or time to contact an attorney. Many of these cruel arrests were based on limited information within these students’ visa applications and violate the right to due process.
    “Reports indicate that ICE has arrested students based on vague or previously disclosed information in their visa applications — such as social media posts, protest participation, or lawful political associations — as justification for their detention,” added the Senators. “If true, these practices represent not just an overreach of immigration authority but a violation of students’ First Amendment rights. These processes do not appear to be conducted with consideration for students’ due process and require immediate remediation.”
    Padilla and Schiff highlighted the immense contributions international students make to colleges and universities in California and nationwide. California’s more than 140,000 international students contribute roughly $6.4 billion to the U.S. economy and support about 55,114 jobs. These students also strengthen and help the United States secure its global leadership in science, technology, and research; protect U.S. national security interests; and promote innovation.
    The Senators emphasized the critical role California’s higher education system plays in powering the U.S. economy and warned that the attacks on the state’s international students jeopardize the country’s economic future.
    “California’s higher education system is the largest in the nation and considered one of the best in the world, driving global economic mobility—and fueling California’s growth into the fourth largest economy in the world,” wrote the Senators. “These institutions serve as beacons of opportunity and economic potential that transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of students in providing a better life for themselves, their families, and future generations. However, this Administration’s attacks on institutions of higher education and international students, who add immense value to our universities, puts our nation’s economic future at risk.”
    Last month, Senators Padilla and Schiff joined 34 Democrats in pressing the Trump Administration to reconsider recent decisions to revoke student visas. In 2021, Padilla led a group of 23 Senators in calling on the State Department to address the backlog of visas for international students. Padilla also chaired a hearing entitled “Strengthening our Workforce and Economy through Higher Education and Immigration” in 2022, highlighting the challenges undocumented students and international students face in seeking higher education and obtaining jobs in the United States.
    Full text of the letter is available here and below:
    Dear Secretary Rubio and Secretary Noem:
    We write to express our increasing concern about actions targeting international students by the State Department and by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Starting earlier this year, the State Department began revoking hundreds of student visas including on apparent ideological grounds, revoking roughly a hundred visas in California alone. These revocations have been conducted by the State Department through its AI-enabled “Catch and Revoke” initiative, instructing affected students to leave the country voluntarily or risk facing deportation proceedings. At the same time, ICE began terminating Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records for thousands of students—leaving them uncertain about their ability to continue their studies. This includes at least two hundred students in California.
    These visa revocations and record terminations constitute unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks on freedom of thought and expression that impact international and U.S. citizen students alike at our nation’s colleges and universities. While we welcome the news that the Administration has taken steps to rectify the SEVIS record terminations, these actions taken all together still call into question our nation’s bedrock commitment to freedom of expression. We urge the State Department and DHS to suspend the “Catch and Revoke” initiative, which continues to cause uncertainty, erode due process, and chill free speech and expression among students.
    Colleges and universities across the U.S. have long benefitted from the enrollment and participation of international students, who contribute immensely to academic, scientific, and cultural life at schools all around the country. This should not be a partisan issue—there are over 1.1 million international students all over the country, across many states, and the District of Columbia. California enrolls more than 140,850 international students who contribute approximately $6.4 billion to our economy, supporting around 55,114 jobs. Nationally, over 1.12 million international students contribute roughly $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy and support over 370,000 jobs. They also strengthen our national security by fostering global partnerships, cross-cultural understanding, and long-term diplomatic ties with future world leaders educated in the U.S. By attracting top talent from around the globe, we bolster our workforce, drive innovation, and better position ourselves to maintain our competitive edge in science, technology, and research.
    In addition to the State Department visa revocations, multiple alarming incidents have surfaced in recent months involving international students detained by immigration enforcement at university campuses, ports of entry, and even in their homes. In a significant departure from normal practice, these students were, in many cases, not provided prior notice and given no time to contact an attorney, leaving many with few options to defend their nonimmigrant status and their ability to continue studying in the United States. Reports indicate that ICE has arrested students based on vague or previously disclosed information in their visa applications—such as social media posts, protest participation, or lawful political associations—as justification for their detention. If true, these practices represent not just an overreach of immigration authority but a violation of students’ First Amendment rights. These processes do not appear to be conducted with consideration for students’ due process and require immediate remediation.
    The actions taken as part of the “Catch and Revoke” initiative suggest a troubling pattern of misusing immigration enforcement to suppress dissent, intimidate politically active students, and chill Constitutionally protected expression. Without transparency or independent oversight, the risk of abuse continues to grow. In fact, USCIS is now openly targeting speech by noncitizens with other immigration statuses, not just students.
    California’s higher education system is the largest in the nation and considered one of the best in the world, driving global economic mobility—and fueling California’s growth into the fourth largest economy in the world. These institutions serve as beacons of opportunity and economic potential that transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of students in providing a better life for themselves, their families, and future generations. However, this Administration’s attacks on institutions of higher education and international students, who add immense value to our universities, puts our nation’s economic future at risk.
    We urge your agencies to take immediate corrective action by suspending the Catch and Revoke initiative, restoring revoked visas, and providing full transparency to ensure that our immigration system is not misused to police speech at our colleges and universities and maintain beneficial international exchange at universities. We look forward to your prompt response.
    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Drivers of SUVs and pick-ups should pay more to be on our roads. Here’s how to make the system fairer

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne

    In the year 2000, almost 70% of all new cars sold in Australia were small passenger vehicles – mainly sedans and hatchbacks. But over 25 years, their share has dropped dramatically to just 17%, as a car “size race” took hold.

    Now, SUVs and light commercial vehicles comprise almost 80% of the market. Four in five new vehicles sold in Australia today are an SUV, ute, van or light truck.

    As larger vehicles become the new norm, they bring more road wear, urban congestion and demands on infrastructure such as parking.

    It’s time to ask: should drivers of larger vehicles pay for the damage and disruption they cause, through higher registration charges? Generally, yes. Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else. It’s only fair those costs are reflected in how we price their use of public roads.

    Reasons for going big

    There are several reasons for the shift to larger passenger vehicles in Australia. They include perceptions that bigger cars are safer and more prestigious, as well as lifestyle preferences.

    A loophole in the luxury car tax also encourages car buyers to go big. The tax was introduced on imports in 2000 and this financial year applies to vehicles worth more than A$80,576.

    Many utes and SUVs are exempt because they’re classified as light commercial vehicles. The exemption applies regardless of whether the car is used privately or for business.

    Counting the costs on our roads

    Larger vehicles – no matter how they are powered – generally impose bigger costs on society than smaller cars.

    Large SUVs and utes (if powered by fossil fuels) have a far greater climate impact. On average, a small car emits 2,040 kilograms less carbon dioxide (CO₂) a year than a pickup truck.

    But even big electric vehicles can cause climate harm. The substantial resources required to manufacture a large EV creates emissions, which may undermine the climate benefits electrification promises.

    Large passenger vehicles also create health system costs. In road crashes, for example, they may better protect their occupants, but pose greater risks to others – especially pedestrians and those in smaller vehicles.

    Research suggests for each fatal crash that occupants of large vehicles avoid, at least 4.3 fatal crashes involving others occur.

    Bigger vehicles also need more space. Standards Australia has proposed making car-parking spaces larger to accommodate the trend to larger cars. Cities such as Paris have introduced higher parking fees for SUVs on these grounds.

    Larger vehicles also slow overall traffic flow. For example, they have longer braking distances and other motorists tend to drive further behind them than smaller cars.

    And at signalised intersections, a large SUV’s impact on traffic flows is equal to 1.41 passenger cars.

    In real-world terms, these differences add up. In the United States in 2011, the annual cost of light-duty trucks on congestion and lost productivity was estimated at more than US$2 billion.

    Then there’s the cost of road wear. You might think heavier vehicles just wear roads a bit faster than smaller ones. But in reality, the relationship is far more dramatic.

    Let’s compare a vehicle with an axle weight of 500 kg and a vehicle with an axle weight of 1,000 kg. The second vehicle doesn’t produce double the road damage – it produces 16 times the damage. This phenomenon is known as the “fourth power rule”.

    It means heavier vehicles cost far more in road maintenance. Curious to test it? The Road Damage Calculator lets you compare the relative impact of vehicles of different weights.

    What does car rego pay for?

    Vehicle registration offers a way to recoup the societal costs caused by large vehicles.

    Part of car registration fees go toward administration, but they also help governments pay for the broader cost of vehicles on public infrastructure and shared spaces.

    In Australia, car registration systems vary widely between states. Not all reflect the impact of the vehicles on the road.

    In Victoria, fees are based mostly on location – whether the car is registered in a metropolitan, outer-metro or rural area. In the Australian Capital Territory, fees are calculated on a vehicle’s emissions.

    Queensland and Tasmania use the number of engine cylinders to set fees – a rough proxy for vehicle size, but not a precise one.

    In New South Wales and Western Australia, heavier vehicles pay more.

    South Australia and the Northern Territory apply different models again, using a combination of settings not directly based on weight.

    A fairer system

    Larger vehicles take up more road space, contribute more to congestion, and cause exponentially more damage to road surfaces. These are exactly the kinds of impacts a vehicle registration system should help account for.

    So, what would a truly equitable registration fee model look like? Based on the evidence, it would not only account for vehicle size and weight, but also how often the vehicle is driven. After all, a heavy car parked in a garage all year causes less impact than one on the road every day.

    Several countries, including New Zealand, have adopted distance-based or road-use charging schemes for certain types of vehicles, which uses a combination of vehicle weight and distance travelled.

    As our vehicle fleet continues to evolve, Australia should follow suit, with a smarter and more equitable registration fee system.

    Milad Haghani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Drivers of SUVs and pick-ups should pay more to be on our roads. Here’s how to make the system fairer – https://theconversation.com/drivers-of-suvs-and-pick-ups-should-pay-more-to-be-on-our-roads-heres-how-to-make-the-system-fairer-252381

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: E-bikes for everyone: 3 NZ trials show people will make the switch – with the right support

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caroline Shaw, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Otago

    Getty Images

    Anyone who uses city roads will know e-bikes have become increasingly popular in Aotearoa New Zealand. But we also know rising e-bike sales have been predominantly driven by financially well-off households.

    The question now is, can e-biking be accepted and embraced by people and communities where it is currently not happening? Three pilot programmes from around the country have now given us cause for optimism.

    Understanding more about the barriers to e-bike access – especially in communities with low cycling levels or where income levels mean bikes are prohibitively expensive – has been one of the main gaps in our knowledge.

    But over the past few years, we have been involved in projects designed to examine how e-bikes might work in such places. The three pilots were based in Mangere (South Auckland), Wainuiomata (Lower Hutt) and Sydenham (Christchurch).

    These are all areas or communities with lower relative incomes and lower levels of cycling. The majority of individuals involved did not routinely cycle, and some hadn’t been on a bike for decades.

    In all three pilots, the results were positive. In some cases, participants reported long-term, life-changing benefits.

    What the pilot schemes showed

    Each pilot was different. The Mangere programme loaned e-bikes to people for two to three months between 2022 and 2023 through a community bikehub. The Wainuiomata programme involved a longer loan period of one year over 2023, and was run through a health provider at a local marae.

    The Christchurch programme, which ran between 2021 and 2024, was a free e-bike share scheme for tenants in a specific social housing complex, organised through a partnership with a shared e-bike provider.

    Where needed, participants in all pilots were supported as they gained riding confidence and knowledge of safe cycling routes.

    Participants in all the pilot programmes found e-biking acceptable, and they used and enjoyed the bikes. While these pilots were not set up to measure distance travelled, we know from other research that participants in e-bike access schemes ride on average 5km per day, half of which replaces car trips.

    Individuals reported practical benefits such as being able to travel to their jobs, mental and physical health improvements, and not having to pay for petrol each week.

    In the Wainuiomata pilot there were wider ripple effects, with participants reporting whānau members also started cycling as a result of the loan scheme. In one case, ten members of the wider whānau got involved.

    Good cycling infrastructure will encourage e-bike uptake.
    Getty Images

    3 policy actions needed now

    These results mirror what we know already about how e-bikes can improve physical and mental health, reduce transport greenhouse gas emissions, and make cities nicer places by reducing car use.

    Compared to conventional bikes, e-bikes also allow people to bike further and in hillier places. They are also great for groups with traditionally lower levels of cycling, such as people with health conditions, disabilities, older people and women.

    It also seems concerns about increased rates of injury may be less significant than initially thought. Overall, the broad benefits of e-bikes have seen hundreds of access schemes developed globally, including many in New Zealand.

    Combining international evidence and experience with the information from the three local pilot programmes, we see three main policy areas that will increase e-bike uptake and use in New Zealand.

    1. Physical infrastructure: this is needed to support cycling in all our cities and larger towns, and would involve a combination of cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods, alongside expanded bike parking and storage.

    The Climate Change Commission has recommended these networks be constructed, and experience from Wellington shows rapid construction is possible.

    2. Targeted access schemes: these help people who can’t afford e-bikes. Without targeting, such schemes tend to be mainly used by the well-off. It’s likely we will need a range of options, such as short-term and long-term low-cost (or free) loans, rent-to-buy schemes or subsidies.

    People should be able to access these schemes through a variety of organisations so as to target different motivations: saving money, improving health, commuting for work, ferrying children, environmental concern.

    3. Local organisation networks: these support individuals and communities to access bikes, maintain them, provide rider training, run bike libraries, route finding and community events to support and encourage people to ride.

    This wider support was a key factor to the success of the all pilots. Local organisations, champions and leaders are essential to help overcome some of the practical and cultural barriers that exist because we have such low levels of cycling.

    Change is achievable

    What we have outlined constitutes a different way of doing business for the transport sector. But there are already organisations doing a lot of this work, including bike hubs and cycling community organisations.

    Others have infrastructure in place that could expand to encompass e-bike programmes, such as marae and community health centres. What is needed is a commitment to support these activities as part of core transport business policy.

    We don’t need to wait for more research. The three things required – building infrastructure, increasing access and providing support programmes – are all understood and achievable.

    E-bikes can and should play an important role in expanding New Zealand’s transport options and improving the wellbeing of its people.

    Caroline Shaw receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, University of Otago and Waka Kotahi/New Zealand Transport Agency.

    Karen Witten receives funding from the Health Research Council of NZ, Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment,
    Waka Kotahi/NZTA and Auckland Council.

    Simon Kingham receives funding from Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment.

    – ref. E-bikes for everyone: 3 NZ trials show people will make the switch – with the right support – https://theconversation.com/e-bikes-for-everyone-3-nz-trials-show-people-will-make-the-switch-with-the-right-support-255956

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Please don’t tape your mouth at night, whatever TikTok says. A new study shows why this viral trend can be risky

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Moira Junge, Adjunct Clincal Associate Professor (Psychologist), Monash University

    K.IvanS/Shutterstock

    You might have heard of people using tape to literally keep their mouths shut while they sleep. Mouth taping has become a popular trend on social media, with many fans claiming it helps improve sleep and overall health.

    The purported benefits of mouth taping during sleep are largely anecdotal, and include claims of better airflow, less snoring, improved asthma symptoms, less of a dry mouth, being less likely to have bad breath, and better sleep quality.

    As the trend has gained momentum in recent years the claims have also come to include improved skin, mood and digestion – and even a sharper jawline.

    The rationale for mouth taping during sleep is to encourage breathing through the nose rather than through the mouth. When a person’s nasal passages are blocked, breathing switches from the nose to the mouth. Mouth breathing has been linked to conditions such as obstructive sleep apnoea.

    But is mouth taping an effective way to address these issues, and is it safe? A new review suggests taping your mouth shut while you sleep offers limited benefits – and could pose risks.

    What did the review find?

    In a new paper, Canadian researchers reviewed the scientific literature on mouth taping, searching for studies that mentioned terms such as “mouth breathing”, “mouth taping” and “sleep”.

    They searched specifically for studies looking at people with known mouth breathing and breathing-related sleeping problems such as obstructive sleep apnoea to understand the potential benefits and harms of mouth taping for this group.

    Obstructive sleep apnoea is a condition where your airway is partly or completely blocked at times while you’re asleep. This can cause you to stop breathing for short periods, called “apnoeas”. Apnoeas can happen many times a night, resulting in lowered oxygen levels in the blood as well as sleep disruption.

    The researchers found ten eligible studies published between 1999 and 2024, with a total of 213 participants. Eight studies looked at mouth taping, and two studies involved using a chin strap to keep the mouth shut.

    Only two studies identified any benefits of mouth taping for mild obstructive sleep apnoea. The observed improvements – to measures such as oxygen levels in the blood and number of apnoeas per hour – were modest.

    And although they were statistically significant, they were probably not clinically significant. This means these changes likely wouldn’t make much difference to symptoms or treatment decisions.

    The remainder of studies found no evidence mouth taping helps to treat mouth breathing or related conditions.

    Mouth taping has become a popular social media trend.
    K.IvanS/Shutterstock

    What’s more, four studies warned about potential serious harms. In particular, covering the mouth could pose a risk of asphyxiation (lack of oxygen that can lead to unconsciousness or death) for people whose mouth breathing is caused by significant blockage of the nasal airways. This kind of nasal obstruction could be a result of conditions such as hay fever, deviated septum, or enlarged tonsils.

    In other words, mouth taping is definitely not a good idea if you have a blocked nose, as it’s unsafe to have both the nose and the mouth obstructed at the same time during sleep.

    What’s the take-home message?

    The authors concluded there are very few benefits and some potential serious risks associated with mouth taping in people who are mouth breathers or have obstructive sleep apnoea.

    They did however note we need further high-quality evidence to better understand if mouth taping is safe and works.

    This review didn’t focus on any research relating to mouth taping for proposed improvements to mood, skin, digestion, sharper jaw lines and other things, so the researchers could not draw conclusions about the efficacy and safety of mouth taping for those purposes.

    Snoring is one of the problems mouth taping has been suggested to help with.
    Kleber Cordeiro/Shutterstock

    Internationally, qualified sleep health professionals do not recommend mouth taping.

    If you have concerns about your sleep, the best thing to do is to consult trusted scientific sources or a health-care professional who will be able to guide you to address the underlying causes of your sleep challenges.

    Trying social media trends such as mouth taping before you seek expert advice could lead to delays in diagnosing serious conditions for which there are evidence-based treatments available.

    Mouth taping should definitely not be attempted in children.

    It’s possible that in some healthy adults, without respiratory conditions, without significant sleep disorders, and who don’t have tape allergies, that mouth taping could pose little harm and produce some modest benefits. But we don’t have enough evidence yet to know one way or the other.

    Moira Junge is CEO of The Sleep Health Foundation. She is also affiliated with the Healthylife Health Advisory Board and is a psychologist and clinic director at Yarraville Health Group.

    – ref. Please don’t tape your mouth at night, whatever TikTok says. A new study shows why this viral trend can be risky – https://theconversation.com/please-dont-tape-your-mouth-at-night-whatever-tiktok-says-a-new-study-shows-why-this-viral-trend-can-be-risky-256901

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor now has the political clout to reset Australia’s refugee policy. Here’s where to start

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University

    Australia’s policy towards refugees and asylum seekers stands at a critical juncture.

    Global displacement is at record highs and many countries are retreating from their responsibilities. At this moment, Australia can lead by example.

    As Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on election night:

    We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not need to seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values – and in our people.

    Those values should guide a principled and evidence-based response to the global refugee crisis. This response should be grounded in fairness, humanity and respect for Australia’s international human rights obligations.

    A principled reset

    Australia is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines a refugee as a person who has a well-founded fear of persecution based on:

    • race
    • religion
    • nationality
    • membership of a particular social group
    • political opinion.

    However, aspects of Australia’s current approach to refugees have drawn criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

    The new Labor government could use its strength in parliament to initiate a principled and evidence-based reset. This could include:

    • creating a new emergency visa for humanitarian crises to assist people fleeing conflict

    • improving the efficiency and fairness of the asylum seeker process

    • ending offshore processing of refugees

    • streamlining the family reunification process

    • making immigration detention an option that could be used at the discretion of the Department of Home Affairs, instead of being mandatory

    • giving people access to independent review of their detention

    • improving systems for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers (many of whom face heightened risks, are not always believed about their sexuality, and lack culturally sensitive support).

    There are four key areas in particular need of reform.

    1. Ending the legal limbo

    A crucial priority is resolving the status of some 7,000 people who are part of what’s known as the “legacy caseload”.

    These people were refused refugee status under a problematic and now-defunct process known as the “fast track assessment”. They are now on bridging visas and in legal limbo.

    A solution is also needed for the roughly 1,000 people who were detained in offshore processing centres in Manus Island and Nauru but are now living in Australia. They are also on bridging visas, also in a state of legal uncertainty.

    People in both these groups have endured 13 years in legal and policy limbo. Reform is long overdue.

    One option is to allow people in both groups who were previously refused protection to apply for a permanent visa without requiring yet another drawn-out assessment of their protection claims.

    Community organisations, legal experts and mental health professionals could help the government develop clear, trauma-informed and evidence-based processes for reviewing their cases.

    2. Expanding the numbers

    Australia’s main way of accepting refugees is via what’s known as the humanitarian program. But the number of refugees accepted under this program doesn’t currently reflect the scale of global displacement.

    Labor has proposed expanding the number of refugees Australia takes.

    It has suggested Australia take 27,000 through the core Refugee and Humanitarian Program and an additional 10,000 through two pathways:

    At the UN’s 2023 Global Refugee Forum, the Australian government committed to gradually implementing this increase, beginning in 2023–24.

    A dedicated advisory and coordination body could help with planning and implementation.

    It’s also worth noting current policy prohibits asylum seekers registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia after June 2014 from being resettled to Australia.

    The new government could also consider lifting this arbitrary restriction to give these vulnerable refugees access to durable solutions.

    3. Strengthening the rights of children and young people

    Immigration systems are largely designed around adults. Children and young people are too often overlooked.

    As a result, children have been:

    Children (including those born in Australia) can’t sponsor their parents via family sponsorship processes. They’re denied a say in decisions that deeply affect their lives.

    The Migration Act should be amended to require that all decisions affecting children give primary consideration to the best interests and views of the child. This would be in line with Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    Similar principles are already embedded in Australian family law and child protection policy, providing a clear model for reform.

    4. Reviewing Australia’s boat turnback policy

    Since 2013, Australia has intercepted boats under Operation Sovereign Borders, using turnbacks and takebacks with little independent oversight.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has raised concerns about this policy.

    Sometimes during these interactions Australian officials detain and interview people on boats about their reason for trying to enter Australia, but details about what happens during such encounters are kept largely secret. Most of these encounters end with the boat and people on it being returned to the country from which they came.

    A recent document published by the Commonwealth Ombudsman reported on conditions aboard vessels used for maritime detention.

    It found serious problems, including no private spaces for sensitive interviews and no interpreters on board.

    The Department of Home Affairs responded by saying formal interviews use accredited interpreters. However, the report highlights many crucial interactions do not.

    There is also no time limit on detention at sea, and no independent monitoring of how protection claims are assessed.

    A more comprehensive review is urgently needed.

    Mary Anne Kenny is a member of the Migration Institute of Australia and the Law Council of Australia and an affiliate of the UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. She was on the Ministerial Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention (an independent advisory body) between 2012 and 2018.

    – ref. Labor now has the political clout to reset Australia’s refugee policy. Here’s where to start – https://theconversation.com/labor-now-has-the-political-clout-to-reset-australias-refugee-policy-heres-where-to-start-255971

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Playing the crime card: do law and order campaigns win votes in Australia?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chloe Keel, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University

    Crime and public safety are usually the domain of state politics. But the Coalition tried to elevate them as key issues for voters in the recent federal election.

    Claiming crime had been “allowed to fester” under Labor, the opposition promised a A$750 million Operation Safer Communities plan, which included police strike teams targeting drugs, a national child sex offender register, and more money for Neighbourhood Watch.

    A Coalition government would also have given grants to community groups to install public lighting, bollards and CCTV cameras.

    But in the end, crime did not appear to be a deciding factor in the election, which was easily won by Labor.

    What does that tell us about leveraging public fear – either existing crime fears and general anxieties, or latent concerns that can be triggered – for political gain in Australia? Can it be a successful strategy?

    Stoking anxiety

    In culturally diverse countries, such as Australia and the United States, law and order rhetoric sometimes calls for supporting aggressive crime policies at the expense of racial and ethnic minorities, many of whom are immigrants.

    These policies can be effective in stoking public fear to win votes. US President Donald Trump’s exhortations on immigration and crime were a significant part of his election campaigns in 2016 and 2024.

    However, what experts call “protective factors”, such as strong communities and social cohesion, are important. They can reduce the influence of political narratives that try to define crime in narrowly punitive or racialised terms.

    Australia is not America

    Our peer-reviewed research, which will be published in the Journal of Criminology, investigated how public concerns about crime and safety in Australia and the US were associated with demographic factors that evolved over time. The study drew on data from the World Values Survey and indicated key differences in what makes Australians and Americans feel unsafe.

    We have found that in Australia in 2018, supporters of left-leaning parties (Labor/Green) reported feeling significantly safer than other voters. However, this gap disappeared when researchers took into account attitudes that blame crime problems on immigrants. This suggests immigrant-blaming in Australia can drive feelings of community fear and insecurity.

    The World Values Survey uncovered a different pattern in the US.

    Between 2011 and 2017, Republican voters reported feeling safer than other Americans – the opposite of Australia’s trend. The political divide in the US couldn’t be explained by immigrant-blaming attitudes. Rather, it was attributed to the “self-isolation” of American conservatives in more culturally homogeneous communities.

    Our study indicated that while immigration continued to influence safety perceptions in the US, it appeared to operate through different mechanisms than in Australia. Racial and ethnic minorities reported greater fear as the 2010s unfolded.

    Social connectedness also plays differently in each country. In Australia, trust in others and confidence in public institutions consistently influences safety perceptions. In the US, these factors have little impact.

    Social scientists have observed that in modern societies, responsibility for personal safety has increasingly shifted from the government to individuals. This trend is strong in the US, where market-focused, neoliberal economic and social policies dominate policies.

    By contrast, European research suggests stronger social welfare systems can reduce safety concerns by addressing underlying economic anxieties. Australia’s more robust social support appears to foster greater feelings of safety.

    Our research indicates social cohesion further helps reduce fear.

    Crime fears are not a vote winner

    Electoral strategies that seek to leverage public insecurities need to be understood in the context of these fear-mitigating factors. Media diversity can also counter fear-based messaging.

    In the 2018 Victorian election, crime became a prominent political issue through racialised commentary targeting “African gangs”. However, it failed to gain decisive political traction.

    Research found fear of crime was relatively rare in Victoria. Media reports of crime and comments by political leaders were distant from their own experiences

    With more diverse news sources and online platforms, political actors can no longer promote narratives unopposed. Fear-based messaging can backfire, especially when it overreaches.

    Outdated strategy

    Perceptions of crime are often shaped by a combination of actual crime rates and broader anxieties about social change, cultural difference, and uncertainty. This is frequently expressed as unease about the increasing presence of culturally diverse groups.

    While the coalition’s pivot to law-and-order rhetoric represented a familiar strategy, Labor positioned itself as the party of unity. This was underscored by Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s declaration after Labor won the election, in which she acknowledged

    […] the power in our 26 million people from more than 300 ancestries […] from the oldest continuing civilisation on the planet and I acknowledge the traditional owners. Friends, we love this country.

    Foreign Minister Penny Wong on election night.

    While harnessing fears of crime and cultural diversity was not effective in this election cycle, this is not the end of law and order politics. But the unique characteristics of this election appear to have rendered the formula less potent.

    Trump’s threat to democracy and the constitutional rule of law in the US may have fostered a sense of solidarity and social cohesion among Australian voters. Our research suggests this helped to mitigate fears about crime.

    The temptation to capitalise on law and order may continue to appeal to politicians. But in Australia, at least, there is no guarantee it will work.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Playing the crime card: do law and order campaigns win votes in Australia? – https://theconversation.com/playing-the-crime-card-do-law-and-order-campaigns-win-votes-in-australia-256780

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra Peter, Director of Sydney Executive Plus, University of Sydney

    Studiostoks / Shutterstock

    What if we could design a machine that could read your emotions and intentions, write thoughtful, empathetic, perfectly timed responses — and seemingly know exactly what you need to hear? A machine so seductive, you wouldn’t even realise it’s artificial. What if we already have?

    In a comprehensive meta-analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we show that the latest generation of large language model-powered chatbots match and exceed most humans in their ability to communicate. A growing body of research shows these systems now reliably pass the Turing test, fooling humans into thinking they are interacting with another human.

    None of us was expecting the arrival of super communicators. Science fiction taught us that artificial intelligence (AI) would be highly rational and all-knowing, but lack humanity.

    Yet here we are. Recent experiments have shown that models such as GPT-4 outperform humans in writing persuasively and also empathetically. Another study found that large language models (LLMs) excel at assessing nuanced sentiment in human-written messages.

    LLMs are also masters at roleplay, assuming a wide range of personas and mimicking nuanced linguistic character styles. This is amplified by their ability to infer human beliefs and intentions from text. Of course, LLMs do not possess true empathy or social understanding – but they are highly effective mimicking machines.

    We call these systems “anthropomorphic agents”. Traditionally, anthropomorphism refers to ascribing human traits to non-human entities. However, LLMs genuinely display highly human-like qualities, so calls to avoid anthropomorphising LLMs will fall flat.

    This is a landmark moment: when you cannot tell the difference between talking to a human or an AI chatbot online.

    On the internet, nobody knows you’re an AI

    What does this mean? On the one hand, LLMs promise to make complex information more widely accessible via chat interfaces, tailoring messages to individual comprehension levels. This has applications across many domains, such as legal services or public health. In education, the roleplay abilities can be used to create Socratic tutors that ask personalised questions and help students learn.

    At the same time, these systems are seductive. Millions of users already interact with AI companion apps daily. Much has been said about the negative effects of companion apps, but anthropomorphic seduction comes with far wider implications.

    Users are ready to trust AI chatbots so much that they disclose highly personal information. Pair this with the bots’ highly persuasive qualities, and genuine concerns emerge.

    Recent research by AI company Anthropic further shows that its Claude 3 chatbot was at its most persuasive when allowed to fabricate information and engage in deception. Given AI chatbots have no moral inhibitions, they are poised to be much better at deception than humans.

    This opens the door to manipulation at scale, to spread disinformation, or create highly effective sales tactics. What could be more effective than a trusted companion casually recommending a product in conversation? ChatGPT has already begun to provide product recommendations in response to user questions. It’s only a short step to subtly weaving product recommendations into conversations – without you ever asking.

    What can be done?

    It is easy to call for regulation, but harder to work out the details.

    The first step is to raise awareness of these abilities. Regulation should prescribe disclosure – users need to always know that they interact with an AI, like the EU AI Act mandates. But this will not be enough, given the AI systems’ seductive qualities.

    The second step must be to better understand anthropomorphic qualities. So far, LLM tests measure “intelligence” and knowledge recall, but none so far measures the degree of “human likeness”. With a test like this, AI companies could be required to disclose anthropomorphic abilities with a rating system, and legislators could determine acceptable risk levels for certain contexts and age groups.

    The cautionary tale of social media, which was largely unregulated until much harm had been done, suggests there is some urgency. If governments take a hands-off approach, AI is likely to amplify existing problems with spreading of mis- and disinformation, or the loneliness epidemic. In fact, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has already signalled that he would like to fill the void of real human contact with “AI friends”.

    Relying on AI companies to refrain from further humanising their systems seems ill-advised. All developments point in the opposite direction. OpenAI is working on making their systems more engaging and personable, with the ability to give your version of ChatGPT a specific “personality”. ChatGPT has generally become more chatty, often asking followup questions to keep the conversation going, and its voice mode adds even more seductive appeal.

    Much good can be done with anthropomorphic agents. Their persuasive abilities can be used for ill causes and for good ones, from fighting conspiracy theories to enticing users into donating and other prosocial behaviours.

    Yet we need a comprehensive agenda across the spectrum of design and development, deployment and use, and policy and regulation of conversational agents. When AI can inherently push our buttons, we shouldn’t let it change our systems.

    Jevin West receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and others. The full list of funders and affiliated organizations can be found here: https://jevinwest.org/cv.html

    Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem? – https://theconversation.com/evidence-shows-ai-systems-are-already-too-much-like-humans-will-that-be-a-problem-256980

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI: F&M Bank Promotes Eric D. Faust to Executive Vice President

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ARCHBOLD, Ohio, May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — F&M Bank (“F&M”), an Archbold, Ohio-based bank owned by Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: FMAO), is proud to announce the promotion of Eric D. Faust to Executive Vice President. Faust has served as the bank’s Chief Risk Officer since 2022, where he has led significant advancements in enterprise risk and regulatory compliance.

    In his role, Mr. Faust has successfully built F&M’s comprehensive risk and compliance team, integrated regulatory compliance more deeply into strategic decision-making, and enhanced the bank’s oversight structures. His efforts have helped ensure F&M continues to meet evolving regulatory expectations while maintaining a strong foundation for safe and sound growth.

    Prior to joining F&M, Mr. Faust served as First Vice President and Director of Risk Management at Northstar Financial Group in Wyoming, Michigan. He also held the position of Examination Manager for the State of Michigan’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services. He holds an MBA from Davenport University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University.

    “Eric’s promotion to Executive Vice President is a testament to his leadership and deep understanding of risk and compliance in today’s banking environment,” said Lars Eller, President and CEO of F&M. “He has played a vital role in strengthening our risk culture and ensuring we remain responsive and resilient in a highly regulated landscape.”

    Mr. Faust resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and will continue to lead F&M’s risk and compliance efforts in his expanded role.

    About F&M Bank:
    F&M Bank is a local independent community bank that has been serving its communities since 1897. F&M Bank provides commercial banking, retail banking and other financial services. Our locations are in Butler, Champaign, Fulton, Defiance, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Shelby, Williams, and Wood counties in Ohio. In Northeast Indiana, we have offices located in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Jay, Steuben and Wells counties. The Michigan footprint includes Oakland County, and we have Loan Production Offices in Troy, Michigan; Muncie, Indiana; and Perrysburg and Bryan, Ohio.

    Safe harbor statement
    Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements by F&M, including management’s expectations and comments, may not be based on historical facts and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21B of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks and uncertainties inherent in general and local banking conditions, competitive factors specific to markets in which F&M and its subsidiaries operate, future interest rate levels, legislative and regulatory decisions, capital market conditions, or the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on our credit quality and business operations, as well as its impact on general economic and financial market conditions. F&M assumes no responsibility to update this information. For more details, please refer to F&M’s SEC filing, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Such filings can be viewed at the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov or through F&M’s website www.fm.bank.

    Company Contact: Investor and Media Contact:
    Lars B. Eller
    President and Chief Executive Officer
    Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc.
    (419) 446-2501
    leller@fm.bank    		 Andrew M. Berger
    Managing Director
    SM Berger & Company, Inc.
    (216) 464-6400
    andrew@smberger.com
       

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/492467f9-4e52-45e6-a6fc-3278cf80cea0

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cotton Introduces Bill to Make Food Inspection Safe and More Efficient

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
    May 21, 2025

    Cotton Introduces Bill to Make Food Inspection Safe and More Efficient

    Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Study And Framework for Efficiency in Food Oversight and Organizational Design (SAFE FOOD) Act, legislation that would direct the Department of Agriculture to conduct a study on the consolidation of federal agencies that have a primary role in ensuring food safety into a single agency.

    “Current food safety oversight is spread across multiple federal, state, and local agencies which decreases efficacy, creates gaps, and slows response times to potential public health risks. My bill is a commonsense step to expanding government efficiency and enhancing public health protection by unifying our food safety agencies,” said Senator Cotton.

     Full text of the bill may be found here.

    The SAFE FOOD Act would:

    • Direct the USDA to conduct a study on the consolidation of federal food safety agencies into a single agency.
    • Restructure the federal food safety system to enhance public health protections through a more unified and efficient system.
    • Provide Congress necessary recommendations to improve American food safety.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Huffman, Raskin Statement on Republicans’ Push to Divert Billions in Federal Funding to Private, Religious Schools

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California

    May 21, 2025

    Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressional Freethought Caucus Co-Chairs Jared Huffman (CA-02) and Jamie Raskin (MD-08) released the following statement regarding House Republicans’ plan to divert billions of dollars in public funds to private, religious schools through a voucher tax giveaway in the new reconciliation package:

    “Republicans once again are showing the American people where their priorities lie: with the wealthy and well-connected, rather than with working families —especially rural families. Buried in their reconciliation package is a deeply harmful proposal— the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA)—which would create a completely new dollar-for-dollar tax credit and corporate stock windfall scheme—for individuals and corporations that funnel money to organizations providing scholarships or vouchers for private or religious K-12 schools.

    “Pulled directly from the Project 2025 playbook, this policy move is a billion-dollar backdoor scheme to drain public resources from neighborhood schools to fund private institutions that aren’t required to provide a free and appropriate public education to all students. This bill would send federal funds to private and parochial institutions that are not required to follow basic standards of accountability, transparency, and nondiscrimination. These institutions can—and often do—exclude students, families, and staff based on religion, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Using public dollars to support such discriminatory practices and sectarian instruction is a clear violation of the separation of church and state. It’s a gift-wrapped tax break for the wealthy masqueraded as education policy.

    “When given the opportunity to vote on these schemes, voters from Colorado and Kentucky to ruby-red Nebraska rejected voucher programs. Voucher programs do not improve students’ academic achievement, and they don’t offer real options for low-income or rural families who lack access to private schools. Taxpayer funds should serve the public good—not subsidize private institutions that serve only a select few.”

    ###

    Previous Article

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Convicted Felon Sentenced To Prison For Carjacking On College Campus Using A “Ghost Gun”

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A man who used a privately made and unregistered firearm, commonly known as a “ghost gun,” to carjack a vehicle on a college campus was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison for a firearms offense, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Mark Jordan Williams, 37, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term.

    Alicia Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making today’s announcement.

    According to court documents and court proceedings, on March 23, 2023, an individual identified as L.C. was sitting in a Jeep Wrangler, parked on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Court records show that Williams approached the vehicle, pointed a handgun at L.C. and ordered L.C. out of the car. Williams then took L.C.’s phone, got into the Jeep, and drove away. Williams was located and arrested later that evening while inside the Jeep. When Williams was arrested, a .40 caliber Polymer 80 handgun was recovered from inside the vehicle as well. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that Williams has multiple prior criminal convictions and he prohibited from possessing a firearm.

    On January 9, 2025, Williams pleaded guilty to possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. 

    The ATF investigated the case and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte handled the prosecution.

     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Knows: What is Lunar Regolith? (Grades 5-8)

    Source: NASA

    This article is for students grades 5-8.
    The surface of the Moon is covered in a thick layer of boulders, rocks, and dust. This dusty, rocky layer is called lunar regolith.  It was created a long time ago when meteorites crashed into the Moon and broke up the ground. NASA scientists study the regolith to learn more about the Moon’s history. But the smallest parts of the regolith make exploring the Moon very hard! That is why scientists are working to understand it better and to keep astronauts safe during future lunar missions.

    Lunar regolith is full of tiny, sharp pieces that can act like little bits of broken glass. Unlike the dust and soil on Earth, the smallest pieces of regolith have not been worn down by wind or rain. These bits are rough, jagged, and cling to everything they touch – boots, gloves, tools, and even spacecraft!  In pictures it might look like soft, harmless gray powder, but it is actually scratchy and can damage lunar landers, spacesuits, and robots. This makes working on the Moon a lot harder than it looks!

    The small parts of lunar regolith get stuck on spacesuits and can be brought inside the spacecraft. Once it is inside, it can cause some serious problems. The tiny, sharp pieces can make astronauts’ skin itchy, irritate their eyes, and even make them cough. If it gets into their lungs, it can make them sick. Scientists worry the damage from breathing in lunar regolith could keep bothering astronauts for a long time, even after they are back on Earth. That is why NASA scientists and technologists are working hard to find smart ways to deal with regolith and protect astronauts!

    Regolith doesn’t just cause trouble for astronauts. It can also damage important machines! It can scratch tools and cover up solar panels, causing them to stop working. It can also clog radiators, which are used to keep machines cool. The small bits of regolith can make surfaces slippery and hard to walk on. It can even make it tough for robots to move around. Unlike Earth’s soil, the Moon’s regolith isn’t packed down. Any time we move things around on the Moon’s surface, we spread the rough, dusty particles around. Can you imagine what a mess launching and landing a spacecraft would make?
    All of this can make exploring the Moon much more difficult and even dangerous!

    NASA is building many cool technologies to help deal with the harm regolith can cause. One of the tools technologists have already developed is call an Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS). It uses electricity to create a kind of force field that pushes the small particles away from tools on the Moon!
    There are many ways NASA is working to understand lunar regolith. One interesting way is by using special cameras and lasers on landers to watch how the regolith moves when a spacecraft lands. This system is called SCALPPS, which stands for Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies. SCALPSS helps scientists see how the lunar regolith gets blown around during landings. It helps scientists to measure the size of the regolith pieces and the amount that flies up into the air during landing.
    The more NASA knows about how regolith behaves, the better they can plan for safe missions!

    Many types of scientists and engineers work together to understand lunar regolith. If you want to study space, here are some cool jobs you could have!
    Planetary Geologist: These scientists are like detectives. They study how the things in space were formed, how they have changed, and what they can tell us about the rest of the solar system. Their work helps us understand what is in space.
    Chemist: Chemists look at space rocks and space dust. They want to know what these materials are made of and how they were created.
    Astrobiologist: Astrobiologists are studying to find clues of life beyond Earth. They study space to find out if life ever existed – or could exist – somewhere else in the universe.
    Planetary Scientist: These scientists use pictures, data from spacecraft, and even samples from rocks and dust to learn about other worlds. They explore space without ever leaving Earth!
    Remote Sensing Scientist: These scientists use satellites, drones, and special cameras to study planets from far away. It is like being a space spy who looks for clues from above.
    Engineers: Engineers solve problems! Civil engineers, materials engineers, and geotechnical engineers work together to understand how regolith can best be used for building materials and get useful resources on the Moon.

    Making Regolith Activity
    Watch: Mitigating Lunar Dust
    Watch: NASA SCALPSS
    Watch: Surprisingly STEM: Exploration Geologist Surprisingly STEM: Moon Rock Processors

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Discovery Alert: A Possible Perpendicular Planet

    Source: NASA

    A newly discovered planetary system, informally known as 2M1510, is among the strangest ever found. An apparent planet traces out an orbit that carries it far over the poles of two brown dwarfs. This pair of mysterious objects – too massive to be planets, not massive enough to be stars – also orbit each other. Yet a third brown dwarf orbits the other two at an extreme distance.

    In a typical arrangement, as in our solar system, families of planets orbit their parent stars in more-or-less a flat plane – the orbital plane – that matches the star’s equator. The rotation of the star, too, aligns with this plane. Everyone is “coplanar:” flat, placid, stately.
    Not so for possible planet 2M1510 b (considered a “candidate planet” pending further measurements). If confirmed, the planet would be in a “polar orbit” around the two central brown dwarfs – in other words, its orbital plane would be perpendicular to the plane in which the two brown dwarfs orbit each other. Take two flat disks, merge them together at an angle in the shape of an X, and you have the essence of this orbital configuration.
    “Circumbinary” planets, those orbiting two stars at once, are rare enough. A circumbinary orbiting at a 90-degree tilt was, until now, unheard of. But new measurements of this system, using the ESO (European Southern Observatory) Very Large Telescope in Chile, appear to reveal what scientists previously only imagined. 

    The method by which the study’s science team teased out the planet’s vertiginous existence is itself a bit of a wild ride. The candidate planet cannot be detected the way most exoplanets – planets around other stars – are found today: the “transit” method, a kind of mini-eclipse, a tiny dip in starlight when the planet crosses the face of its star.
    Instead they used the next most prolific method, “radial velocity” measurements. Orbiting planets cause their stars to rock back and forth ever so slightly, as the planets’ gravity pulls the stars one way and another; that pull causes subtle, but measurable, shifts in the star’s light spectrum. Add one more twist to the detection in this case: the push-me-pull-you effect of the planet on the two brown dwarfs’ orbit around each other. The path of the brown dwarf pair’s 21-day mutual orbit is being subtly altered in a way that can only be explained, the study’s authors conclude, by a polar-orbiting planet.

    Only 16 circumbinary planets – out of more than 5,800 confirmed exoplanets – have been found by scientists so far, most by the transit method. Twelve of those were found using NASA’s now-retired Kepler Space Telescope, the mission that takes the prize for the most transit detections (nearly 2,800). Scientists have observed a small number of debris disks and “protoplanetary” disks in polar orbits, and suspected that polar-orbiting planets might be out there as well. They seem at last to have turned one up.

    An international science team led by Thomas A. Baycroft, a Ph.D. student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Birmingham, U.K., published a paper describing their discovery in the journal “Science Advances” in April 2025. The planet was entered into NASA’s Exoplanet Archive on May 1, 2025. The system’s full name is 2MASS J15104786-281874 (2M1510 for short).

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lt. Gov. Luke – VNR – Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    Lt. Gov. Luke – VNR – Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Posted on May 20, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI
    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

     

    SYLVIA LUKE
    LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
    KE KEʻENA O KA HOPE KIAʻĀINA

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    May 20, 2025

    Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Connect Kākou’s Digital Detectives Initiative included 6,000 participants statewide

    Lt. Gov. Luke with Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School (left) and Kona Pacific Charter School (right).

     

    (Videos/Photos Courtesy: Connect Kākou)

    HONOLULU – Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke announced today that more than 6,000 Hawaiʻi residents, many of them students, participated in the Digital Detectives campaign to map internet speeds across the state. Part of the Connect Kākou initiative, Digital Detectives aimed to close the digital divide by identifying areas in need of urgent broadband infrastructure improvements.

    By taking a simple 30-second internet speed test last October, residents provided valuable data to help ensure federal funding is directed where it is most needed. Classes from Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School and Kona Pacific Charter School received the top Digital Detectives Super Sleuth Awards for student participation and classroom reporting. The classes received a visit from Lieutenant Governor Luke and a gift card for classroom supplies.

    “Thanks to the thousands of students and their teachers who participated in Digital Detectives, we now have a clearer picture of Hawaiʻi’s internet speeds and where improvements are most needed,” said Lieutenant Governor Luke. “Reliable internet is crucial for education, future careers, and so much more. We were thrilled to see so many students taking part in shaping a more connected future for our state.

    “Digital Detectives encouraged our students to become active participants in expanding internet access for their communities,” said Ken Hiraki, executive director of the Public Schools Foundation. “By turning a simple classroom activity into meaningful data for our state, students had a front row seat to civic engagement and real-world impact.”

    Results from the internet speed tests have been aggregated to provide a more comprehensive view of connectivity across the state. Construction of fiber-optic internet lines in underserved areas is expected to begin as early as this year.

    Connect Kākou is a State of Hawai‘i initiative led by Lieutenant Governor Luke, in collaboration with the Hawai‘i Broadband and Digital Equity Office (HBDEO), the University of Hawai‘i, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), and multiple state and county agencies. Connect Kākou is working to ensure people from all walks of life have reliable access to high-speed internet and the tools and knowledge to safely and confidently use the internet. Visit www.connectkakou.org to learn more.

    # # #

    Media Contact:

    Shari Nishijima

    Communications Director

    Office of the Lieutenant Governor

    Cell: (808) 978-0867

    Jordan Ozaki

    iQ 360 Inc.

    Cell: (808) 294-7712

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DBEDT NEWS RELEASE: HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    DBEDT NEWS RELEASE: HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT

    Posted on May 20, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

     

     

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI

    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

    JOSH GREEN, M.D.
    GOVERNOR

    KE KIAʻĀINA

    DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

    KA ʻOIHANA HOʻOMOHALA PĀʻOIHANA, ʻIMI WAIWAI A HOʻOMĀKAʻIKAʻI

     

    RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS DIVISION

     

    JAMES KUNANE TOKIOKA

    DIRECTOR

    KA LUNA HOʻOKELE

     

    1. EUGENE TIAN

    CHIEF STATE ECONOMIST

    HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT 

    Jobs Increased by 17,000 Year-Over-Year

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    May 20, 2025

    HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 2.9 percent, the same as in March. In April, 668,650 persons were employed and 19,650 were unemployed, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 688,300 statewide. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in April, the same as in March.

    The unemployment rate figures for the state of Hawai‘i and the U.S. in this release are seasonally adjusted in accordance with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) methodology. The not-seasonally adjusted rate for the state was 2.5 percent in April, compared to 2.4 percent in March.

    Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey)

    In a separate measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs increased by 1,500 month-over-month, from March 2025 to April 2025. Job gains were experienced in Leisure & Hospitality (+1,900); Private Education & Health Services (+1,100); Trade, Transportation & Utilities (+500); Professional & Business Services (+400); Construction (+300); and Information (+100). Within Leisure & Hospitality, the rise in employment primarily occurred in Food Services & Drinking Places. Within Private Education & Health Services, the bulk of job gains were spread out over the subsectors of Health Care & Social Assistance. Employment in Manufacturing remained unchanged. Job losses occurred in Financial Activities (-200); and Other Services (-200). Government employment went down by 2,400 jobs, primarily due to below average over-the-month change in staffing at both the Department of Education and the University of Hawai‘i system. Year-over-year, nonfarm jobs have gone up by 17,000, or 2.7 percent.

     

    Technical Notes:

    Labor Force Components

    The concepts and definitions used by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program are the same as those used in the Current Population Survey for the national labor force data:

    • Civilian labor force. Included are all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older classified as either employed or unemployed. (See the definitions below.)
    • Employed persons. These are all persons who, during the reference week (the week including the twelfth day of the month), (a) did any work as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, or (b) were not working but who had jobs from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job.
    • Unemployed persons. Included are all persons who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the four-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
    • Unemployment rate. The unemployed percent of the civilian labor force [i.e., 100 times (unemployed/civilian labor force)].

    Seasonal Adjustment

    The seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed persons reflect hiring and layoff patterns that accompany regular events such as the winter holiday season and the summer vacation season. These variations make it difficult to tell whether month-to-month changes in employment and unemployment are due to normal seasonal patterns or to changing economic conditions. Therefore, the BLS uses a statistical technique called seasonal adjustment to address these issues. This technique uses the history of the labor force data and the job count data to identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements. A seasonal adjustment factor is then developed and applied to the estimates to eliminate the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data. Seasonally adjusted statistical series enable more meaningful data comparisons between months or with an annual average.

    Current Population (Household) Survey (CPS)

    A survey conducted for employment status in the week that includes the twelfth day of each month generates the unemployment rate statistics, which is a separate survey from the Establishment Survey that yields the industry job counts. The CPS survey contacts approximately 1,000 households in Hawai‘i to determine an individual’s current employment status. Employed persons consist of 1) all persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week, 2) all persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family owned enterprise operated by someone in their household and 3) all persons who were temporarily absent from their regular jobs, whether they were paid or not. Persons considered unemployed are those that do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks and are available for work. Temporarily laid-off workers are counted as unemployed, whether or not they have engaged in a specific job-seeking activity. Persons not in the labor force are those who are not classified as employed or unemployed during the survey reference week.

    Benchmark Changes to Local Area Unemployment Statistics Data

    Statewide and sub-state data for 2019 to 2024 have revised inputs and data for 1990 to 2024 have been re-estimated to reflect revised population controls and model re-estimation.

    Change to Monthly Employment Estimates

    This release incorporates revised job count figures for the seasonally adjusted series. The revised data reflects historical corrections applied to unadjusted super sector or sector-level series dating back from 2018 through 2024. For years, analysts with the state of Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Research and Statistics Office have developed monthly employment estimates for Hawai‘i and its metropolitan areas. These estimates were based on a monthly survey of Hawai‘i businesses and analysts’ knowledge about our local economies. Beginning with the production of preliminary estimates for March 2011, responsibility for the production of state and metropolitan area (MSA) estimates were transitioned from individual state agencies to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

    For Hawai‘i, this means the transition of statewide, Honolulu and Kahului-Wailuku MSA estimates for both the seasonally adjusted and not-seasonally adjusted areas are produced by BLS. State agencies will continue to provide the BLS with information on local events that may affect the estimates, such as strikes or large layoffs/hiring at businesses not covered by the survey and to disseminate and analyze the Current Employment Statistics (CES) estimates for local data users. BLS feels this change is designed to improve the cost efficiency of the CES program and to reduce the potential bias in state and area estimates. A portion of the cost savings generated by this change is slated to be directed toward raising survey response rates in future years, which will decrease the level of statistical error in the CES estimates. Until then, state analysts feel this change could result in increased month-to-month variability for the industry employment numbers, particularly for Hawai‘i’s counties and islands. BLS can be reached at 202-691-6555 for any questions about these estimates.

    The not-seasonally adjusted job estimates for Hawai‘i County, Kaua‘i County, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i are produced by the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

    Labor Force Estimates for Small Areas

    Labor Force estimates for the islands within Maui County (Maui, Moloka‘i and Lānai) are produced by the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

    Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force and Unemployment Estimates for Honolulu and Maui County

    BLS publishes smoothed seasonally adjusted civilian labor force and unemployment estimates for all metropolitan areas, which includes the City and County of Honolulu and Maui County.

    BLS releases this data each month in the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment news release. The schedule is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm.

    Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization

     

    Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, Second Quarter of 2024 through First Quarter of 2025 Averages  
    Area Measure  
    U-1 U-2 U-3 U-4 U-5 U-6
                 
    United States 1.5 2.0 4.1 4.3 5.0 7.7
                 
    Hawai‘i 0.7 1.2 3.0 3.1 3.9 6.2

     

    The six alternative labor underutilization state measures based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) and compiled on a four-quarter moving-average basis defined as:

    U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

    U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

    U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the official unemployment rate);

    U-4, total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers;

    U-5, total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers*, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers; and

    U-6, total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.

    *Individuals who want and are available for work, and who have looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they had one within the past 12 months) but were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey, for such reasons as childcare or transportation problems, for example. Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached.

    Please note that the state unemployment rates (U-3) that are shown are derived directly from the CPS. As a result, these U-3 measures may differ from the official state unemployment rates for the latest four-quarter period. The latter are estimates developed from statistical models that incorporate CPS estimates, as well as input data from other sources, such as state unemployment claims data.

    # # #

    Media contacts:

     

    Dr. Eugene Tian

    Chief State Economist

    Research and Economic Analysis Division

    Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai‘i

    Phone: 808-586-2470

    Email: [email protected]

    Laci Goshi

    Communications Officer

    Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai‘i

    Cell: 808-518-5480

    Email: [email protected]

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: ICE Lodges Detainer for 24-year-old Illegal Alien Posing as Teenager in Ohio

    Source: US Department of Homeland Security

    WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security today announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer for a 24-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who posed as a teenager to attend an Ohio high school. 

    On May 19, the Perrysburg Ohio Police Department arrested and charged Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra with forgery. On May 20, ICE issued a detainer. 

    Mug shot from Wood County Jail.

    “Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra is a 24-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who has been posing as teenager and attending Perrysburg High School in Ohio,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Labrador was arrested and charged with forgery by the Perrysburg Ohio Police Department on May 19 for using fake documents to become enrolled in the high school. ICE lodged a detainer to ensure that this criminal illegal alien is removed from this community and no longer able to prey on the students of Perrysburg High School. It is disturbing that a grown man would impersonate a teenager and infiltrate the lives of underage girls and boys to fool them into doing God knows what.”

    Labrador has illegally been in the U.S. since March 24, 2020. 

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – The wreck of the ‘Sea Diamond’ on the seabed of Santorini for 18 years as toxic waste – E-001879/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001879/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Maria Zacharia (NI)

    The recent seismic sequence in Santorini coincides with the sad 18-year anniversary of inactivity on the wreck of the ‘Sea Diamond’, which is hanging on a steep slope of the seabed at a depth of 120 metres and at risk of sliding and reaching a depth of 280 metres, with dramatic consequences for the island’s exceptionally beautiful natural environment.

    The Commission has been aware of the situation since 2007(!) with colleagues’ oral and written questions nos E-2185/07,[1] E-2274/07,[2] H-0509/07,[3] E-5789/07,[4] E-1944/08,[5] H-0748/08,[6] E-5439/08,[7] E-6685/08,[8] E-4818/09,[9] H-0037/10,[10] E-002071/2011,[11] E-005420/2011,[12] E-003198/2012[13] and E-003650/2012.[14] It is also aware of the case law of the Court of Justice, according to which fuel on board a tanker becomes waste from the moment it leaks into the sea and, therefore, there is a breach of Directive 2006/12/EC on waste and in particular of Article 4 of the Directive, according to which Member States must take the necessary measures to prohibit the abandonment, dumping and uncontrolled disposal of waste.

    The Commission, however, disputes the spillage of oil or other toxic waste into the sea, ignoring a study by the Department of Environmental Engineering of the Technical University of Crete from 2011, which has been communicated to it, as have the judicial expert opinions from 2019 and 2020.

    Could the Commission justify its services’ decision not to take current scientific data into account?

    Submitted: 12.5.2025

    • [1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-2185_EN.html
    • [2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-2274_EN.html
    • [3] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-6-2007-0509_EN.html
    • [4] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-5789_EN.html
    • [5] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-1944_EN.html
    • [6] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-6-2008-0748_EN.html
    • [7] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-5439_EN.html
    • [8] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-6685_EN.html
    • [9] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2009-4818_EN.html
    • [10] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-7-2010-0037_EN.html
    • [11] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2011-002071_EN.html
    • [12] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2011-005420_EN.html
    • [13] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2012-003198_EN.html
    • [14] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2012-003650_EN.html

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Experts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Commend Romania on Deinstitutionalisation Process, Raise Questions on Corporal Punishment and Segregation in Education

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its review of the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Romania, with Committee Experts commending the State on the deinstitutionalisation process of alternative care centres, while raising questions on the prevalence of corporal punishment and measures taken to combat segregation in education. 

    A Committee Expert said she was happy to hear about the programme for the deinstitutionalisation of alternative care centres; this was something Romania should be proud of, as well as all the foster arrangements being made, especially for children with disabilities. 

    Juliana Scerri Ferrante, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Member, said there seemed to be a lack of parental education programmes around corporal punishment. How could the views of the child be respected if violence was accepted as a disciplinary measure?  Could the Romanian Government take clear steps to train staff and promote child education?  Philip Jaffe, Committee Vice-Chair and Country Taskforce Member, also noted that corporal punishment appeared to remain quite widespread despite being banned in 2004.  What efforts were being made to lower the prevalence and change attitudes among parents and adults? 

    Mr. Jaffe asked what was being done to combat school segregation based on disability, special education needs, and family economic status?  What improvements were being made to increase the improvement of vocational training for older children who may be leaving the school system?  Were there any programmes which specifically targeted economically disadvantaged children?

    The delegation said Romanian legislation completely prohibited violence against children, regardless of the environment.  However, despite the legislation, which was fully aligned with United Nations Conventions, the State needed to fight against mentalities and traditions and to practically change the minds of parents and caregivers, who believed corporal punishment would discipline children better.  Awareness-raising campaigns were being conducted for parents, and mechanisms including hotlines had been developed to support children, including the helpline 119.  Authorities were obligated to launch investigations immediately concerning any allegations of violence against children. 

    The delegation said the Ministry of Education had taken steps to assist children with special educational needs, with the creation of frameworks offering them different kinds of support, based on the type of disability.  Adaptive measures had been taken for Roma children, including stimulating their participation in early education and in summer kindergartens, supporting education in their current language, and translating schoolbooks in their mother tongue, among others.  An increasing number of contracts between schools and the business sector had been recorded, including around 6,000 contracts in the school year 2023/2024. 

    Introducing the report, Helena Omna-Raicu, President of the National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption of Romania and head of the delegation, said Romania’s path in recent years had been shaped by profound changes and emerging pressures, including the war in Ukraine and the arrival of thousands of children and families fleeing conflict.  As a neighbouring country, Romania had mobilised rapidly to provide emergency care, protection, psychosocial support, and schooling to children regardless of their nationality. 

    Ms. Omna-Raicu said Romania had made significant progress in certain areas, including in the deinstitutionalisation process.  Of the 167 residential placement centres operating in 2017, 149 had already been closed by the end of March 2025 and over 6,000 children were now benefiting from family-type alternative care.  The remaining 18 placement centres would be closed soon. 

    In closing remarks, Rinchen Chophel, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Coordinator, reiterated the Committee’s appreciation for the Government of Romania’s support to Ukrainian refugees, particularly children.  Significant progress had been made from the last reporting period to the current one, with many looking forward beyond the dialogue. 

    In her closing remarks, Ms. Omna-Raicu, expressed deep gratitude for the dialogue.  The Committee’s concerns regarding urban disparities were noted.  Romania would treat the Committee’s recommendations as an opportunity for deeper transformation. 

     

    The delegation of Romania was comprised of representatives from the National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption; the Ministry of Education and Research; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Security; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police; the General Inspectorate for Immigration; the National Administration of Penitentiaries; the Prosecutor’s Office; the National Health Insurance Authority; and the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations Office at Geneva. 

    Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee’s ninety-ninth session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

    The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 21 May to begin its consideration of the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Qatar (CRC/C/QAT/5-6).

    Report

    The Committee has before it the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Romania (CRC/C/ROU/6-7).

    Presentation of Report

    HELENA OMNA-RAICU, President of the National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption of Romania and head of the delegation, said Romania’s path in recent years had been shaped by profound changes and emerging pressures, including the war in Ukraine and the arrival of thousands of children and families fleeing conflict.  As a neighbouring country, Romania had mobilised rapidly to provide emergency care, protection, psychosocial support, and schooling to children regardless of their nationality.  The State was proud to have established the first Blue Dot in the region at the border crossing with Ukraine and launched the use of the Child Protection Information Management System Primero in only a couple of months after the onset of the refugee crisis, ensuring registration and case management for almost 40,000 refugee children.

    Several new national strategies had been developed for 2021-2027 which aimed to address child poverty and wellbeing, including the national strategy for the protection and promotion of children’s rights “protected children, safe Romania” 2023-2027, and the national strategy on social inclusion and poverty reduction 2022-2027, among others.   Romania had also adopted and begun the implementation of the child guarantee national action plan 2023-2030, which aimed to reduce the number of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 500,000 by 2030. Romania had seen a measurable decline in the proportion of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion from 41.5 per cent in 2022 to 33.8 per cent in 2024. 

    In April 2024, law 100/2024 was approved which included specific amendments to several laws relevant for social assistance.  The new emergency ordinance no. 96/2024, approved in June 2024 regarding the provision of humanitarian support and assistance by the Romanian State to foreign citizens or stateless persons in special situations coming from the area of the armed conflict in Ukraine, established the legal framework providing refugees with access to a wide range of key national statutory services. Another significant legislative change was enacted by amending law 272/2004 in December 2024, which now mandated the participation of children in public decision-making processes. 

    There had also been several significant programmes launched, including modernising the unique national number 119 for reporting cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation and any other form of violence against children; the development of community services for children and families to prevent separation and support the family reintegration of children from the special protection system; and the development of 200 integrated community centres and 150 daycare centres for children, among others.  Despite these advances, challenges remained, including disparities between rural and urban areas. 

    However, Romania had made significant progress in certain areas, including in the deinstitutionalisation process.  Of the 167 residential placement centres operating in 2017, 149 had already been closed by the end of March 2025 and over 6,000 children were now benefiting from family-type alternative care.  The remaining 18 placement centres would be closed soon.  The use of European Union structural funds had also supported the training of over 11,000 foster carers.  A new programme had also been introduced, aimed to scale-up integrated community-services in 2,000 marginalised rural communities, combining social assistance, health, education, and other types of social support.  Over 800 million euros of European Social Funds were planned for enhancing access to social services for the most vulnerable, including children and their families.

    The State had also expanded support for children at risk of early school leaving by using the early warning mechanism in education, of which around 50,000 participants from 6,950 institutions had completed the training programme.  Targeted policies had been developed that supported the reintegration of children who dropped out during the pandemic, and more resources were reaching schools in deprived communities.  In health, the role of community nurses and Roma health mediators had grown, and work continued to improve access to services for vulnerable groups. 

    Pilot projects on mental health for children had laid the groundwork for more systemic change, with mental health services for children and adolescents being expanded. However, challenges remained in ensuring equitable access to quality services in rural and marginalised areas, addressing shortages of specialised personnel, and improving early identification and intervention for children with developmental delays or disabilities.

    Romania was committed to reducing the number of children affected by poverty and social exclusion by at least 500,000.  The State would also pursue the complete closure of old-type residential centres, with every child in alternative care placed in family-based or community settings. Romania was committed to translating the pledges made during the first-ever global ministerial conference on ending violence against children held at the end of 2024 in Bogota, Columbia, into realities for children. 

    In education, the State aimed to increase the early childhood education enrolment rate by at least 22 per cent for children aged zero to three and at least 95 per cent for children aged four to six.  There would be a focus on improving mental health services for children and linking schools, families, and health providers more effectively, aiming to reduce preventable mortality by 20 per cent compared to 2021 levels for children of all ages.   Finally, Romania would ensure that children had a role in shaping systems through participatory budgeting, monitoring, and children and youth-led policy platforms. Romania remained committed to fully implementing the Convention and to contributing to the global effort to advance child rights everywhere.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Coordinator, said Romania had achieved a lot since the last report, which the Committee was happy about. Romania’s assistance to the Ukrainian refugees and children should be noted.  There had been significant legislative achievements, particularly the amendments to law 272.  What measures were in place to ensure effective implementation of the law?  The national strategy on social inclusion and poverty reduction 2022-2027, and the child guarantee national action plan 2023-2030 were very welcome developments.  How had these impacted on measures to promote and protect children? Had an assessment been undertaken to evaluate the impact of the national strategy. 

    While welcoming increased allocations to certain sectors, the Coordinator asked what measures were in place to develop a child-friendly budgeting process?  What was the current status of the complaints mechanism in the country for reporting all forms of abuse and violence for children? What had been done to inform children of their right to file a complaint?  Had professionals working with children been trained on receiving complaints concerning children and the Convention? 

    The establishment of the child Ombudsman in 2018 was a crucial step in the right direction, and the Government should be congratulated for that.  What was the current status of the institution?  How did it connect with children?  The Committee noted the State party’s awareness raising activities on the Convention with appreciation, including the translation of the Committee’s general comments into Romanian.  How did these efforts extend to rural children? 

    JULIANA SCERRI FERRANTE, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Member, asked if the national strategy for school de-segregation been adopted?  If not, then when would this occur?  What measures had been taken to address hate speech? Did the permanent committee set up in every education unit offer a complaints mechanism to children?  If not, how could children complain in schools? 

    What had been done to decrease discrimination against the Roma population?  What efforts had been made to promote the inclusion of Roma in mainstream schooling?  How was discrimination against children with disabilities tackled in education?  There was concern that Romanian law did not define valid reasons on which minor marriages could be authorised and this was left to the discretion of the authorities.  What training was provided to apply the best interests of the child? What approaches had been taken to reduce the preventable mortality of children under five years old?  What was the position of the Romanian Government on the proposed amendment to law 272 regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children?

    There seemed to be a lack of parental education programmes around corporal punishment. How could the views of the child be respected if violence was accepted as a disciplinary measure?  Could the Romanian Government take clear steps to train staff and promote child education?  How were child labour laws enforced?  How would the Romanian Government establish a child participation mechanism?  Were refugee and asylum-seeking children involved in decisions which affected them? Were children provided information on their rights? 

    What measures were being taken to strengthen the capacity of the social welfare services? How were children with disabilities prioritised in reform measures?  What was being done to combat the illicit transfer of children abroad?  Had bilateral agreements been conducted in this regard?  Was the Romanian Government carrying out measures to understand the impact of prison on children?  How were they supported when their parents were incarcerated?  What support was available for young people leaving institutional care? 

    SOPHIE KILADZE, Committee Chair and Country Taskforce Member, said the adoption of law 105/22 providing for automatic birth registration should be considered as positive.  Could more information be provided about how the law worked in practice?  Were there any plans to introduce a statelessness determination procedure?  Was data on statelessness which concerned children disaggregated?  What measures were in place to protect children from excessive screen use?  How did Romania deal with artificial intelligence as a European Union member? Romania had one of the lowest levels of digital skills in the European Union; what measures were being undertaken to promote digital literacy among children, as well as parents? 

    PHILIP JAFFE, Committee Vice-Chair and Country Taskforce Member, said it was wonderful that strong pledges had been made at the global ministerial conference on ending violence against children in Bogota.  How was Romania implementing its mission as a pathfinding global alliance country?  It seemed Romanian children were in need of protection against high levels of physical and sexual violence.  One of the pledges made in Bogota was to conduct a prevalence study on sexual abuse; had the State moved forward with this study?  Were there dedicated teams drawing up the comprehensive framework and strategy which had been promised?  One pledge had been to enhance children’s participation regarding issues of violence.  What efforts had the Government made to ensure that there was a clear public understanding that all forms of violence against children needed to be reported? 

    Corporal punishment appeared to remain quite widespread despite being banned in 2004. What efforts were made to lower the prevalence and change attitudes among parents and adults?  It was encouraging that Romania had been one of 40 countries to recently join a statement of the Human Rights Council, expressing children’s right to protection from corporal punishment.  How was bullying and cyber bullying being addressed at all levels of legislative policy?  Could more information about the child helplines be provided? 

    Was it true that around seven to eight per cent of girls in Romania were married before the age of 18, with that percentage rising to around 20 per cent in the Roma community? What was being done in response to this? Was it true that charges had been dropped against a 17-year-old boy who entered into a non-formal marriage with an 11-year-old girl?  What policy was in practice in the health sector regarding surgical interventions and intersex children?  What were the guidelines to protect their bodily integrity until these children were capable of providing consent? 

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said the law on child protection now included clear provisions which made it compulsory for public administrative bodies to involve children in consultations regarding issues which concerned them.  The national strategy on children’s rights was recently adopted and another national action plan was elaborated; these plans were complimentary. This was a comprehensive package which would help the Government to better implement all necessary measures. An assessment of the national strategy had been undertaken.  The State was now piloting a system which would indicate how to establish a model of financing where children would be considered as a different group that would benefit from a different budget. 

    The national programme for schooling in Romania ensured children received food support at schools to increase the enrolment rate and participation.  School supplies were also provided for all school grades. Two hundred euros were provided for the purchase of technology, and remedial lessons were provided to students coming from disadvantaged communities.  Recently, the scholarship system had been extended to encompass more disadvantaged groups. 

    Funds allocated to primary medical care had registered a continuous annual increase.  Just last year, the fund allocated to primary care increased by 24 per cent.  The national observatory was a big achievement for Romania and aimed to identify the children most at risk of being separated from their families, based on indicators.  Training was being conducted on the use of the observatory to ensure the data provided was reliable.   

    The hearing of minors in justice proceedings took place in special rooms, and a psychologist was always required to be present.  The new national strategy for the development of the judicial system provided for another 10 hearing rooms across the country.  There were specially designated prosecutors to handle cases involving minors.  The child Ombudsman was fully operational and cooperated with all institutions.  It had a functioning complaints mechanism.  If an incident was notified to the Ombudsman, an investigation started, which concluded with a set of recommendations sent to the institution responsible to correct the situation.  

    Civil society representatives were part of the consultative groups established at the national level.  A methodology had been issued and piloted regarding identifying and banning segregation within the educational sector.  The measures focused on ensuring an inclusive education.  Any kind of discrimination on criteria such as ethnicity, religion or sex was completely forbidden within the educational system.  Specific places in high schools were allocated for Roma students and students with disabilities.  To ensure access to high quality education, educational services had been developed starting from early education to prevent early dropout and absenteeism.     

    A set of programmes had been introduced, including a monthly allowance for children up to the age of 18, as well as parental leave.  There was also a minimum income support which supported families with children. Emergency ordinance no.96 was developed specifically for children from Ukraine and their families. 

    There was a dedicated intergovernmental group which addressed the subject of forced marriage, with the aim of drafting legislative projects in this regard.  Concerning infant mortality and the number of deaths under one year of age, a regionalised system of care had been introduced to ensure each neonate was born in a medical unit which could provide the services necessary for their care, thereby reducing infant mortality.  An important national programme was in place which contained around 15 interventions, established in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund.  Another programme provided 900 neonatal incubators around the country. 

    A significant number of services had been established to help families in vulnerable situations. A special programme was launched last year on the minimum inclusion income, which focused on how to assist parents within the labour market.  The State was aware of a lack of social assistance in rural areas, which was where the most vulnerable communities lived.  Interventions were directed, including food packages, and local administrative capacities would be developed. 

    A programme had been developed which aimed to establish hearing rooms for children in courts, and 29 hearing rooms were completed in April 2024.  The rooms were used by the Prosecutors and police officers when they had victims who were minors.  The rooms were child-friendly and specially designed with toys.  The child did not see the other people participating in the hearing.  A new strategy adopted in 2025 provided for the need for an additional 10 hearing rooms in the near future. 

    All social services were functioning based on a set of minimum quality standards, which were verified by the national agency for social inspection.   With the United Nations Children’s Fund, Romania was piloting a project which would identify and train foster families to care specifically for children with disabilities.  A child entering the special protection system was prioritised to be reintegrated in a family environment.  Adoption was considered the best solution in this regard, and this could only be decided by a court.  Priority was offered to domestic adoption, but international adoption could be considered after one year. 

    Amendments had been made to allow special spaces for visits in prison with children.  Such spaces were now available in all prison facilities within the Romanian penitentiary system.  There were cooperation protocols in place with the United Nations Children’s Fund and Save the Children which supported parents to develop their parental skills and improve their relationship with their children. The State was aware of the need to develop programmes which addressed the needs of children and adults and improved the relationship within the family.

    The Ministry of Education aimed to develop digital competencies among students and parents. During the pandemic, all students were provided with laptops and digital devices to keep up with the educational process.  In a new initiative launched in partnership with Microsoft, the Ministry of Education had announced the development of a project concerning artificial intelligence for increasing the school performance of students.  A project was also being implemented aimed at improving the digital skills of civil servants. 

    Romania had a dedicated national child help line.  It was toll-free and operational 24/7.  Those operating the calls were specialised counsellors who could refer the cases to the relevant authorities.  Another helpline just referred cases to social services.  The 119 helpline was a recent development, operational from any place in Romania and accessible to children and adults.  After the first year, it had been well received and was being regularly used to inform on any situation concerning a child. 

    Rape of a minor and sexual assault against a minor had been introduced as acts within the Criminal Code.  Rape committed by an adult against a minor under the age of 18 was punished by a prison sentence of between seven to 12 years.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    PHILIP JAFFE, Committee Vice-Chair and Country Taskforce Member, said one in 20 people in Romania held a disability certificate, with around 80,000 being children. What were the difficulties faced by certain groups of children to receive this certificate, including rural children?  Were there any awareness-raising campaigns for rural minorities and poor families regarding their entitlement to services?  Could more information be provided about Romania’s strategy for persons with disabilities?  How were the number and expertise of professionals being scaled up?  To what degree had the State embraced a human-rights approach to disability, as opposed to a medical model of disability?  How many children were still left in institutions? When would such institutions all be closed? 

    There were two recent laws on pre-university education and higher education; could more information be provided about the implementation of these laws?  What was the level of gross domestic product dedicated to education in Romania?  Was there a direct pipeline to hear about the concerns of children within the education system and were these concerns taken seriously?  What was being done to combat school segregation based on disability, special education needs, and family economic status?  Figures suggested that 40 per cent of children with disabilities had limited access to education.  What steps were being made to improve education for children under the age of three? What improvements were being made to increase the improvement of vocational training for older children who may be leaving the school system?  Were there any programmes which specifically targeted economically disadvantaged children?  What was the mission of the Ministry of Youth? 

    SOPHIE KILADZE, Committee Chair and Country Taskforce Member, asked if sufficient resources were dedicated to the capacity building of medical personnel? Did all children have access to health care, including health insurance?  How were vaccinations promoted in the country?  How was breast feeding promoted?  Child obesity was an issue of concern; how was this combatted? Was there a hot meals programme? 

    Mental health was a very important issue.  Was data on mental health being disaggregated, including on suicide?  Was there a comprehensive strategy and action plan regarding the issue of mental health?  Were quality mental health services available in rural and remote areas? According to alarming information, the country had the highest number of adolescent mothers across the European Union. What steps would the State undertake to prevent adolescent pregnancies and subsequent abortions?  Would Romania make reproductive education part of the curriculum? 

    What measures were in place to address drugs or substance abuse?  Were there treatments available for children?  Romania had made substantial efforts for Ukrainian children and other groups of refugees.  How would the State integrate these children long-term?  Were there delays in the enrolment of refugee children and their families into the social services system?  Would amendments be considered in the asylum law to end the detention of families at the legislative level?  Did unaccompanied migrant children have access to services, including psychosocial support and disability services?  Were there any barriers which could hinder access to education? 

    What measures were being undertaken to end child labour, including begging?  What was being done to assist children in street situations?  How were perpetrators investigated and brought to justice?  Were there quality services for child victims of trafficking in place? Was the system of child justice established across the country?  Were adequate financial resources allocated to it?  Was free legal aid available to children in conflict with the law?  Was the detention of children used only as a last resort?  If yes, did it comply with international standards? 

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Coordinator, said one in five children were affected by severe material and social deprivation, which was concerning.  What was the reality on the ground?  The minimum social assistance package had been introduced; could more information be provided on it?  Romania was increasingly vulnerable to droughts, heatwaves, floods and landslides, and it was also grappling with water pollution.  How had the national strategies pertaining to climate change helped to address the challenges of the environment and climate change in the country? What measures were being adopted to take into account children’s needs and views in the development of specific policies, including disaster-preparedness plans?  Were child rights impact assessments carried out when dealing with the business sector? 

    A Committee Expert asked what the national coverage of vaccinations was in the country?  Romania had an epidemic of measles; how did the population react to vaccinations?  How was confidence being built in vaccines?  Were people familiar with the law on rape?  What happened once the 30-day limit for registering births had elapsed? 

    Responses by the Delegation

    Romanian legislation completely prohibited violence against children, regardless of the environment.  However, despite the legislation, which was fully aligned with United Nations Conventions, the State needed to fight against mentalities and traditions and to practically change the minds of parents and caregivers, who believed corporal punishment would discipline children better.  Awareness-raising campaigns were being conducted for parents, and mechanisms including hotlines had been developed to support children, including the helpline 119. 

    Authorities were obligated to launch investigations immediately concerning any allegations of violence against children.  Romania was committed to continuing these efforts and to changing social norms and mentalities.  The numbers of cases of violence against children was increasing, which meant people were becoming more aware of the issue and reporting it. 

    Since 2016, the methodology applied in Romania clearly distinguished between the concept of disability and special education needs.  In Romania, the deinstitutionalisation process was one of the most important commitments of the Government, and the process was now concluding. Currently, out of the 167 residential centres operating in 2017, 149 had already been closed, and more than 6,000 children were benefiting from alternative care.  The legal framework stated that no placement centre could operate without the approved closure plan.  The deinstitutionalisation process also involved finding better alternative and family-based care for children.   Only 18 placement centres remained in the process of being closed, and by 2026 no such centre would be operating in Romania.  The State was still aiming to find family-style solutions for children with disabilities, and a project was being developed with the United Nations Children’s Fund to this end.

    If a birth was declared after the 30-day deadline but less than one year after the birth, the birth certificate could be issued based on approval from the mayor.  If the birth declaration was made more than one year after the birth, the certificate needed to be approved by the mayor and other administrative bodies. 

    More than 2.8 million students were enrolled in the 2023/2024 school year in Romania.  For high school, there had been a significant decrease in dropouts from 2.5 per cent in 2017 to 0.8 per cent in 2024. Around 4.5 per cent of the budget was allocated to education.  The Ministry of Education had taken steps to assist children with special educational needs, with the creation of frameworks offering them different kinds of support, based on the type of disability.  For students with temporary special needs, the law of education presented special measures, including the implementation of schooling hospitals, or schooling at home for those who were required to be in hospital or at home for medical reasons. 

    Adaptive measures had been taken for Roma children, including stimulating their participation in early education and in summer kindergartens, supporting education in their current language, and translating schoolbooks in their mother tongue, among others.  More than 66,000 teachers had been trained in digital and multimedia use.  An increasing number of contracts between schools and the business sector had been recorded, around 6,000 contracts in the school year 2023/2024.  Most teachers had been trained to create open educational resources.  Significant funds had been allocated to modernising rest room facilities in schools. 

    Any student could submit complaints of discrimination via an established framework.  Students benefitted from representation in the school system through several platforms.  The national strategy for sustainable development issued the methodology of the “green week programme”, which contributed to preschoolers and students’ competence in understanding basic concepts of climate change, to initiate individual and protective action to protect the environment.  Teachers were obliged to obtain 90 transferrable professional credits every five years, through attending courses offered by Romanian training houses.

    In recent years, infant mortality had remained relatively stable in Romania.  From 2023 to 2024, the number of doctors treating children increased by five per cent.  Regarding children’s access to medical services, all children were insured in Romania and benefitted from basic medical services across all sectors of health care.  The national health insurance fund also reimbursed certain services.  The Ministry of Health had launched a vaccination campaign in partnership with the Red Cross, to raise awareness of parents; this had been accompanied by a “catch-up” vaccination schedule, resulting in 1,500 children being vaccinated.  A protocol had been signed with the Orthodox Church to establish an active partnership to create a framework for anyone facing a possible cancer diagnosis, offering support.   

    World Breastfeeding Week was celebrated in August each year, as breastfeeding remained one of the most effective ways to provide children with the best start in life. Breast feeding recommendations had been developed with partners, including the World Health Organization, and were relayed to medical practitioners at the local level.  Around 200 integrated community centres would be restructured, elevated and equipped.  A television broadcast had been created to promote the importance of breastfeeding in the first six months of a child’s life.   

    Information and education campaigns had been carried out for children, parents and teachers about the benefits of a healthy diet and the consequences of unhealthy eating. Around 1,000 people had benefited from the campaign.  Substance abuse could be detected by family doctors and psychological services could be recommended.  The national health insurance house implemented the national mental health programme, providing treatment for persons with substance abuses, and ensuring specific treatment for patients with depressive disorders. 

    Questions by Committee Experts 

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Coordinator, said the Government had approved a social assistance programme in 2011 which targeted all communes, but was underfinanced; could more information be provided?  The Environment Week presented was an excellent initiative; how was it being utilised? 

    JULIANA SCERRI FERRANTE, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Member, asked if there were any supervision orders, where children remained with their family but were supervised?  Were there age assessment procedures during the asylum procedure?  What rights did children applying for asylum have?  Could they appeal any decisions? 

    PHILIP JAFFE, Committee Vice-Chair and Country Taskforce Member, said according to research by the United Nations Children’s Fund, Romanian girls felt much lonelier than Romanian boys.  Was there a reason for this gap? 

    SOPHIE KILADZE, Committee Chair and Country Taskforce Member, asked for clarification on case management coordination? 

    A Committee Expert noted the prevalence of women among the large delegation and asked if women generally had an important and high-profile position in Romania, or if this only occurred when discussing children?  Had there been any programmes to prevent violence?  Had the concept of gender been fully institutionalised? Were teachers trained in detecting signs of violence?  What was the prevalence of child marriage in the country?  What about figures for marriages which were not officially recorded? Had there been any programmes to prevent the phenomenon or sanctions? 

    Was there any mapping of the at-risk populations in the country of female genital mutilation? Was female genital mutilation prohibited in law?  What was the most updated action on sexual exploitation?  Was there any cross-border cooperation between Romania and neighbouring countries?  Did Ukrainian children born in Romania have access to Romanian citizenship?  Did rape victims have access to emergency contraception?

    Another Expert asked about vaccinations from children aged zero to 12; was there distrust in the population when it came to vaccines?  It seemed that tuberculosis was a public health issue.  What was being done in the field of treatment? Were there children whose births had not been declared, particularly among refugees, Roma and migrants?

    A Committee Expert asked about the new concept introduced by the Parliament on parental alienation.  How had this concept been consulted on, particularly with children?  How would the best interests of the child be ensured? What specific measures were being taken to reduce school dropout and improve access to quality education for Roma children?  What mechanisms were in place to monitor and support Roma children who were at risk of dropping out? 

    Another Committee Expert said she was happy to hear about the programme for the deinstitutionalisation of alternative care centres; this was something Romania should be proud of, as well as all the foster arrangements being made, especially for children with disabilities.  What was the State doing to support the families of children with disabilities, particularly those with severe disabilities? 

    Responses by the Delegation 

    The delegation said emergency contraception was available to those who had experienced sexual assault and could be obtained without a prescription.  Adolescent pregnancies were a major concern for the Romanian public health system.  Contraceptives and medical devices were provided free of charge through family centres and through gynaecological departments, where abortions were performed upon request.  Romania was one of the first European countries to offer non-discriminatory HIV/AIDS treatment. 

    Refugees were granted a monthly allowance, one-month’s accommodation, and access to education for minors.  Legislation in the field of asylum provided for beneficiaries to apply for family reunification when family members were not in Romania.  Identity documents needed to be provided to prove family links. Family reunification of unaccompanied minors was carried out with the best interest of the child in mind. Minors from immigrant backgrounds benefitted from the same rights as minors who were Romanian citizens. Romanian language courses provided teaching support, textbooks and workbooks developed on linguistic levels according to the European Union framework.  Priority for asylum applications was given to unaccompanied minors. 

    Medical forensic expertise was used when an asylum applicant could not prove their age and there were serious doubts about their ethnicity.  The declared age of the asylum applicant was accepted if their refusal to undergo the medical expertise was based on compelling reasons.  The assessment was performed with full respect for the minor’s dignity and in as least invasive way as possible. 

    Investigations in child and human trafficking were undertaken by specialists with supervision from specialised prosecutors.  Through law 229/2024, the Romanian Parliament aimed to discourage sex tourism and the pimping of minors.  More than 1,200 criminal cases had been identified regarding child trafficking. The General Inspectorate of Romanian Police organised regular sessions for border police and 

    non-governmental organizations, with the purpose of identifying victims.  More than 125 trainings had been carried out to over 4,000 workers who may encounter trafficking victims through their work. The National Agency against Trafficking in Persons and the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime had implemented a national action plan in the fight against human trafficking to improve the awareness of at-risk groups. 

    In 2024, prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime took part in 35 seminars regarding identifying child victims, compensation for victims, international cooperation, and online sexual exploitation of children, among other topics.  A public awareness campaign had been launched relating to sexual acts between adults and minors.  The message stated that a sexual act committed against a minor of 16 years or under constituted rape, if the age gap was more than five years, and punishments applied. 

    According to Romanian legislation, minors benefited from free legal aid, whether they committed a crime, or if they were victims of a crime.  The Romanian penal system limited sanctions in regard to minors, and measures for deprivation of liberty were only given as a last resort and could only be ordered by a court. 

    The integrated social services project aimed to develop the academic knowledge of professionals working in the social assistance field, and to develop concrete measures for vulnerable groups of people. 

    During “green week”, schools organised activities around several topics relating to the environment.  These were uploaded on a specialised platform dedicated to education on climate change and varied from one educational cycle to another.  The Ministry of Education had developed a programme, the mechanism of early-living alert, which focused on early education for Roma children. 

    In Romania, social services were obligated to identify children in a risk situation.  Children could remain within families and be monitored by social services until the risks were removed.  The parental alienation provision was introduced in all cases relating to violence and neglect.  It was recommended that this provision be removed, as these measures should only be applied by the courts.  There were many trainings offered to judges on methods relating to children’s rights.  Social workers were also trained to provide necessary assistance to visiting parents. Social services could only assist; they could not intervene and solve disputes between parents. 

    Closing Remarks

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Country Taskforce Coordinator, reiterated the Committee’s appreciation for the Government of Romania’s support to Ukrainian refugees, particularly children.  The State was encouraged to continue to undertake these activities which were important for solidarity for children.  Significant progress had been made from the last reporting period to the current one, with many looking forward beyond the dialogue.  This was an indication of the Government’s commitment towards children.  As the country moved forward, it was important to put emphasis on implementation and ensure vulnerable children did not miss out. 

    HELENA OMNA-RAICU, President of the National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption of Romania and head of the delegation, expressed deep gratitude for the dialogue.  The delegation welcomed the Committee’s emphasis on equality, accountability and sustainability, and would underpin the next stage of the State’s deinstitutionalisation journey.  The Committee’s concerns regarding urban disparities were noted.  It was recognised that rights delayed were rights denied, and the State was committed to accelerating affirmative action. Romania would treat the Committee’s recommendations as an opportunity for deeper transformation. 

    SOPHIE KILADZE, Committee Chair, thanked the delegation for the fruitful dialogue and commended its members for their clear and comprehensive answers.  Ms. Kiladze extended her best regards to the children of Romania. 

    ___________

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  • MIL-OSI United Nations: European Journal of Education (Wiley)

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    Mission

    European Journal of Education aspires to make an impact within and beyond academia, and covers all areas of educational research from global contributors.

    Its scope is broad, international and multidisciplinary, spanning from early years education to adult and continuing education. The journal covers education in all subject areas, as well as papers on topics such as educational psychology, policy, sociology, the curriculum, and learning environments and disabilities. 

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  • MIL-OSI: Paperclip Adds Renowned CISO and Cybersecurity Expert to Advisory Committee for SAFE® Encryption Technology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HACKENSACK, N.J., May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Heather Lowrie, a highly-experienced CISO, keynote speaker, and cybersecurity advocate, joins Paperclip as an advisor for its SAFE encryption solution. Lowrie will help guide Paperclip SAFE into the international cybersecurity market and bring data-centric security and encryption to the forefront of enterprise security.

    With more than 25 years’ experience across cybersecurity, technology, risk, and resilience, Lowrie has led major digital and security transformations for high-impact public and private sector organizations. She is known for delivering business-aligned security that drives growth, builds trust, and creates societal value—underpinned by deep, hands-on experience in managing major cyber incidents.

    “We’re thrilled to have Heather join us in an advisory capacity and to benefit from her deep expertise as we continue to advance Paperclip SAFE®,” said Chad Walter, CRO at Paperclip. “We’re excited to collaborate on cybersecurity thought leadership, participate in key industry events, and refine our go-to-market strategy to elevate encryption-in-use and the SAFE technology across the data security landscape.”

    Lowrie was recognized by her peers as CISO of the Year at the 2024 SC Awards Europe and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security. She is an accomplished strategist with extensive experience leading through crises—including major cyber incidents—and driving strategic change across digital transformation, data and AI, cybersecurity, and organizational culture initiatives. 

    Lowrie is also the Co-Founder of Resilionix, a deep-tech startup dedicated to helping organizations build resilience in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

    “I’m delighted to join Paperclip in an advisory capacity and help bring data-centric security and encryption to the forefront of enterprise security,” Lowrie said. “I look forward to working with the excellent team at Paperclip to advance the adoption of encryption-in-use and to support organizations in building resilience”.

    Lowrie is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, where she earned a Master of Science by Research in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies with distinction. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Information Technology, awarded with distinction, from the University of the West of Scotland, alongside other academic qualifications. Lowrie holds numerous cybersecurity certifications from both U.S. and European organizations, including CISSP, CCSP, CISM, CDPSE, CIPP/E, and more. 

    About Paperclip, Inc.

    Paperclip is a proven technology partner that continues to revolutionize data security, content and document management for Fortune 1,000 companies worldwide. Every second of every day, our innovative solutions are securely processing, transcribing, storing, and communicating highly sensitive content across the internet. Maximizing efficiency to save millions annually, while maintaining absolute security and compliance. For more information, visit paperclip.com.

    About SAFE

    Paperclip SAFE builds on the foundation of trust and collaboration that Paperclip has established with its security and content management solutions over three decades. Paperclip SAFE utilizes in-depth knowledge of the database and data pipeline to secure all points within the data lifecycle. Nine of the 10 top life insurance carriers in the U.S. are currently protected by Paperclip SAFE. With Paperclip SAFE, outpace threats with data that is always encrypted and always ahead of evolving risk. For more information, visit paperclip.com/safe.

    MEDIA CONTACT:
    Megan Brandow
    Paperclip, Inc.
    MBrandow@paperclip.com
    585.727.0983

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