It’s local elections year which means Aucklanders will get to choose the mayor, ward councillors and local board members, who help shape the future of Auckland.
And did you know some voters could be eligible for more than one vote?
Auckland Council’s independent electoral officer, Dale Ofsoske from Independent Election Services, explains how this is possible.
“Some might ask how this is legal, but it certainly is: wherever you pay rates you can vote.
“If you live in one local board area and pay rates on a property in another, you may be able to vote for local board members in both – to be eligible for that additional vote, you just need to add your name to the ratepayer electoral role,” says Mr Ofsoske.
Ratepayers are eligible to enrol on the ratepayer electoral roll and vote in the Tāmaki Makaurau local elections if they pay rates:
on an Auckland property, but live elsewhere
on two or more properties in different areas of Auckland.
You can check online if you’re on the ratepayer electoral roll. It’s important to note ratepayers don’t get on the roll automatically – you must apply to be on the roll.
Also, if there are multiple property owners, only one owner can vote with that property’s address.
For example, Jo and Sam own an apartment in Mt Roskill and a home where they live in Glenfield. If they are enrolled on the electoral roll, they can each vote for the mayor, North Shore Ward councillors and Kaipātiki Local Board members. One of them can also enrol on the non-resident ratepayer roll to make an additional vote for members of the Puketāpapa Local Board.
A company or society that pays property rates can also qualify as a ratepayer elector.
Check out the ward and local board finder to look up your ward and local board area.
While candidates can’t officially submit their nominations until Friday 4 July – with nominations closing at midday on Friday 1 August – anticipation will start to build as voters receive the Electoral Commission’s enrolment confirmation packs in the mail in April.
So, it’s a good time to ensure that your voting packs get sent to the right place. Check your enrolment details and enrol or update any address details by Friday 1 August at vote.nz/enrolling.
For everything there is to know about Auckland’s elections, go to voteauckland.co.nz.
Minor law change needed to take pressure off GPs and return people to work faster
Physiotherapy patients are waiting too long to be allowed to return to work, likely costing ACC millions of dollars in compensation payments it should not be paying because of delays in getting GPs to sign return to work certificates.
Physiotherapy New Zealand (PNZ) is calling on the Government to amend the law to allow physiotherapists the same power as GPs to certify that a patient who is under ACC care is ready to return to work.
“New Zealand physiotherapists have the skills and experience to ensure people can return to work safely and with GPs under more pressure than ever, now is the time to remove the bottleneck,” said PNZ President Kirsten Davie.
“Physiotherapists write the return to work plans now for their patients which GPs sign off on so it’s just common sense to give physiotherapists the same authority. They already do this for employers who need a return-to-work certificate for workers who are not on ACC compensation to ensure they are meeting health and safety requirements.
“These days getting a timely appointment with a GP is harder than ever, especially in remote parts of New Zealand. We have heard of cases where people without a GP have been forced to wait hours in A&E to get a return-to-work certificate.
“And even if a patient can get to a GP, they may be charged for the visit.
“None of this makes sense when a simple amendment to the Accident Compensation Corporation Act giving physiotherapists the power to sign return to work certificates would get people back to work quickly and safely.
Business supports change
“Businesses agree with us – they want their staff back to work as soon as possible, as long as they are fit and healthy, and likewise patients who are fit again, want their lives to return to normal as well.”
The construction industry is keen to see physiotherapists given the authority to return workers to building sites.
“It just makes good sense,” said Chris Alderson, chief executive of Construction Health and Safety New Zealand which works to raise the standard of health, safety and wellbeing in construction.
“Many of the injuries construction workers suffer are musculoskeletal related, which physios are well placed to remedy. GPs often refer a worker to a physio who understands the treatment a worker needs and exercises that will help get them back to work fit and well.
“We know many construction workers don’t have easy access to a GP, so may end up just not getting the treatment they need until the pain is too bad or end up at emergency departments for conditions that should have been dealt with earlier. Giving physios the ability to sign off the return to work will take pressure off primary health care and get workers back to sites far more quickly. It’s just not good for anyone’s mental health and well-being to sit at home when they are ready to go back to work.”
Cost of compensation
The cost of compensation that should not be paid out by ACC when people are ready to return to work runs to millions of dollars every year. A Physiotherapy New Zealand survey of members in August 2024 showed how big the problem is. 454 members identified at least 4,400 days of delay for their patients getting a return-to-work certificate in one month alone (equivalent to 628 weeks).
ACC stipulates the minimum rate of weekly compensation payable is $740.80, based on a 40-hour week (ACC weekly compensation information here). That amounts to $4,656,457, just under half a million in weekly compensation from our member survey in one month alone.
“Cost savings for ACC in returning people to work as soon as possible are likely to be significant. Right now, ACC is under pressure to reduce costs and be sustainable, so this change makes good financial sense too. ACC weekly compensation claim payments have risen 70% within the last five years, and are projected to rise further.
“We want to take pressure off GPs and continue working together with them to get Kiwis back to work safely and well.
“This is a no-brainer – good for people’s health, good for economic growth, good for government finances.”
Patient example – Robyn, nurse
Robyn (not her real name) is a nurse in Gisborne (not her real name). She fractured her foot slipping on stairs, which prevented her from returning to work at the local hospital. She rested and after six weeks the fracture clinic discharged her and referred her to physiotherapy for a supported return to work. Robyn was able to do some temporary office work at this time.
Her physiotherapist assessed her and developed a return to work plan. In order to begin this planned return to work, Robyn needed a signed certificate from a GP. Robyn couldn’t get to see her GP for three weeks as the clinic was only taking emergency cases given how busy it is.
Without the certificate Robyn was unable to begin the return to her usual clinical duties or continue with the office work. She needed to be either given full clearance for her usual work or be certified partially fit to return to office work and begin the plan with her physiotherapist.
Since Robyn’s current certificate had expired, ACC compensation stopped.
Robyn worried she would not have any income for these three weeks, being neither on ACC compensation nor back at work. This left her in limbo until her physiotherapist intervened, called the GP clinic, explained the urgent need, and the GP clinic issued the certificate including the plan the physiotherapist had provided.
“This was really frustrating – I was facing weeks without income sitting around at home because I couldn’t get to see a GP. It shouldn’t take a call from my physio to make this happen. And we have a real shortage of nurses here so having a nurse out of action for longer than necessary just puts more pressure on the hospital when it doesn’t need to be that way. Physios should be able to do the paperwork to get people back to work as soon as they are fit and well.”
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, holds talks with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, at the CPV Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
HANOI, April 14 — Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, on Monday called for deepening the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future.
Xi made the remarks when meeting with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam during his state visit to Vietnam.
Xi pointed out that he was very pleased to pay a state visit to Vietnam and realize the first round of mutual visits with General Secretary To Lam.
This year marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPV, the 80th anniversary of the founding of Vietnam and the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South, he said, extending warm congratulations to Vietnam on behalf of the CPC and the Chinese government.
China will, as always, support Vietnam in taking a socialist path that suits its national conditions, successfully holding the 14th National Congress of the CPV in 2026, and its steadfast pursuit of realizing the two goals set for the centenary of the party and the country.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Vietnam, as well as the China-Vietnam Year of People-to-People Exchanges, said Xi, stressing that over the past 75 years, regardless of changes in the international landscape, China and Vietnam have supported each other in the struggle for national independence and liberation, advanced side by side in the cause of socialist development, and forged ahead in their respective modernization endeavors, setting an example of solidarity and cooperation between socialist countries.
Facing the changing and turbulent world, China and Vietnam have stayed committed to peaceful development and deepened their friendly cooperation, bringing much-needed stability and certainty to the world, Xi said.
Standing at a new historical starting point, the two sides should build on past achievements, forge ahead together and carry forward the profound traditional friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood,” said Xi.
Guided by the overall goals of achieving higher political mutual trust, more solid security cooperation, deeper practical cooperation, stronger public support, closer multilateral coordination and better management and resolution of differences, the two countries should work to advance their comprehensive strategic cooperation with high quality, ensure steady and sustained progress in building a China-Vietnam community with a shared future, and contribute even more to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.
Building the China-Vietnam community with a shared future carries great global significance, Xi said, noting that as the two countries jointly pursue peaceful development, their combined population of over 1.5 billion is jointly advancing toward modernization, which will contribute to regional and global peace and stability while promoting common development.
Both countries are committed to opening up and have played a constructive role in maintaining the stability and smooth operation of regional industrial and supply chains, as well as contributing to the advancement of economic globalization, Xi said.
A small boat with a lone sail cannot withstand rough seas, Xi said, noting that only by working together in the same boat can they ensure stability and long-term progress.
He noted that both China and Vietnam are beneficiaries of economic globalization, and the two sides should strengthen strategic resolve, jointly oppose unilateralism and bullying practices, and work together to uphold the global free trade system and maintain the stability of industrial and supply chains.
Xi proposed six measures to deepen the building of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future.
First, enhance strategic mutual trust at a higher level.
Leaders of the two parties and countries should communicate with each other as relatives, Xi said, noting the two sides should give full play to the role of channels including inter-party, legislative bodies and political consultative organizations, deepen the exchange of experience in governance, and improve the leadership of the two parties in promoting national modernization.
Second, build a stronger security barrier.
The two sides should set the “3+3” strategic dialogue on diplomacy, defense and public security between the two countries at the ministerial level to enhance strategic coordination.
It is necessary to give full play to the role of defense and law enforcement security cooperation mechanisms, resolutely tackle online gambling, telecom fraud and other cross-border crimes, strengthen bilateral and multilateral law enforcement and judicial cooperation, especially within the framework of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, so as to safeguard people’s lives and property and uphold regional peace and stability.
Seize the major opportunities of China’s new quality productive forces and Vietnam’s new productive forces to accelerate the formation of practical cooperation between the two countries. Realize the comprehensive connection of standard-gauge railways, highways, and smart ports at an early date. Promote high-tech cooperation such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. China’s mega market is always open to Vietnam, and the country welcomes more high-quality Vietnamese products. China encourages its companies to invest in Vietnam and hopes that Vietnam will create a more fair and friendly business environment.
Fourth, tighten the bonds of people-to-people ties.
China and Vietnam should take the China-Vietnam Year of People-to-People Exchanges as an opportunity and organize more people-oriented exchange activities, and enhance cooperation in tourism, culture, media, public health and other fields.
The two sides should continue to explore resources of revolutionary heritage and promote stories of friendship. In the next three years, China will invite Vietnamese youth to China for “Red Study Tours,” which will help the younger generation of both countries better understand the hard-won nature of the socialist countries and the great value of China-Vietnam good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, and will cultivate greater vitality for the development of bilateral relations and the respective national development endeavors.
Fifth, conduct closer multilateral coordination.
China and Vietnam should jointly uphold the outcomes of World War II, firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, promote a more equal and orderly multi-polar world and an economic globalization that is more inclusive and beneficial for all, and enhance cooperation under the frameworks of the three major global initiatives.
China will stay committed to the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and to the policy of pursuing friendship and partnership with its neighbors. It will deepen friendly cooperation with neighboring countries so that the fruits of Chinese modernization can better benefit the region.
Sixth, achieve more positive maritime interaction.
The two countries should earnestly implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, properly manage maritime issues, expand maritime cooperation, demonstrate resolve in launching joint development, and work toward the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
For his part, To Lam extended a warm welcome to Xi on his state visit to Vietnam, which took place on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He said that Xi is not only an outstanding leader of the Chinese people but also a great friend of the Vietnamese people.
Xi’s choice to make Vietnam his first overseas destination this year fully reflects the importance he attaches to China-Vietnam relations and his support for Vietnam, the Vietnamese leader said. This visit will mark a new milestone in the history of friendly exchanges between the two parties and countries, further advancing the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, he added.
Under Xi’s strong leadership, To Lam noted, China has achieved historic accomplishments in advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics, made comprehensive progress in its path to modernization, and witnessed rapid development of new quality productive forces. With China’s international stature on the rise, Vietnam extends its congratulations and expresses gratitude for China’s long-standing support and assistance, he said.
Emphasizing that both Vietnam and China are socialist countries under the leadership of a communist party, To Lam said that developing relations with China is an objective requirement, a strategic choice, and a top priority for Vietnam. Vietnam firmly adheres to the one-China policy, supports China’s efforts toward national reunification, and resolutely opposes any separatist actions aimed at “Taiwan independence,” he said.
Advancing Vietnam-China relations, To Lam noted, is in the fundamental interest of both peoples and conforms with the trend of the times. Vietnam looks forward to strengthening high-level exchanges between the two parties and countries, enhancing exchanges on governance experience, deepening strategic security cooperation, and continually consolidating political mutual trust; further elevating bilateral cooperation by creating new highlights in areas such as trade, science and technology, infrastructure and environmental protection; and promoting people-to-people exchanges, encouraging local and youth interactions, and enhancing tourism cooperation to nurture closer bonds between the peoples, he said.
Vietnam supports the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and the three major global initiatives proposed by Xi, To Lam said. Vietnam lauds the vision set forth during the CPC’s central conference on work related to neighboring countries, which envisions building a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home with neighboring countries and insists on fostering friendly, mutually beneficial and prosperous relationships, he said.
Vietnam is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China, uphold multilateralism and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, safeguard international trade rules, abide by the agreements signed by both sides, and jointly make greater contributions to world peace and human progress, To Lam said, adding that Vietnam is also willing to properly address maritime differences with China to ensure maritime stability.
Before the talks, To Lam invited Xi to a small-group chat over tea. The two general secretaries exchanged views on party building and national governance. Xi stressed that party building is crucial to the destiny of the party and the country, and that the party’s work style bears on whether it can win public support. The CPC Central Committee has decided to carry out an in-depth campaign throughout the party this year to learn and implement the spirit of the eight-point decision on improving work conduct. This is intended to secure new achievements in work style transformation to further support comprehensive reform and advance modernization. Both general secretaries agreed to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and pursue progress in socialist development.
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the display of 45 bilateral cooperation documents signed by China and Vietnam. These documents cover areas including connectivity, artificial intelligence, customs inspection and quarantine, agricultural trade, culture and sports, public welfare, human resource development, media, and more.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, holds talks with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, at the CPV Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, holds talks with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, at the CPV Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, invites Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, to a small chat over tea before their talks at the CPV Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, and To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, witness the display of 45 bilateral cooperation documents signed by the two sides after their talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. Xi held talks with To Lam at the CPV Central Committee headquarters on Monday. [Photo/Xinhua]
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brenton Griffin, Casual Lecturer and Tutor in History, Indigenous Studies, and Politics, Flinders University
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced it will build 15 new temples in countries across the world, including one in Liverpool, New South Wales.
This follows a similar announcement last year of plans to build a second temple for Queensland, in South Brisbane.
The two new structures – together with existing temples in Sydney (1984), Adelaide (2000), Melbourne (2000), Perth (2001) and Brisbane (2003) – will bring the total number of Australian temples to seven.
In a nation with fewer than 160,000 practising Mormons, these new buildings seek to increase the legitimacy and visibility of the church.
The Melbourne temple was erected in 2000, as was the temple in Adelaide. Wikimedia
The significance of temples
There are currently at least 200 completed Mormon temples around the globe, with an additional 182 under construction or announced.
Temples have a different purpose and scope to Mormon chapels, which are far more common: Australia has about 190 Mormon chapels.
Chapels are used for weekly sacrament (or communion) and weekly sermons. They are open to visitors, and often hold cultural events, extra church activities and family history centres.
Temples, on the other hand, represent the blending of the divine and temporal. According to the Mormon worldview and doctrines, they are the world’s most sacred structures.
Each temple is emblazoned with the phrase “The House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord”. This isn’t just symbolic. Mormons believe each temple is literally the house of God, in which his presence may be felt.
Given the gravity of this belief, these spaces are reserved for those who have been deemed worthy to enter by Mormon leaders.
Inside the House of the Lord
The church itself maintains that temples are “sacred, not secret”. It has long worked to dispel speculation over what happens within temple bounds.
One way it does this is through “open houses”, in which a newly-built temple may be toured by anyone for a brief period. Once the open house has ended and the temple has been “dedicated” by a church leader – a process that includes blessing the building and those who will use it – it becomes entirely closed to the public.
Within the temples, the most sacred rituals and knowledge of “the gospel” are imparted upon faithful members. Rituals can be performed for both living people and deceased ancestors. They must never be conducted – or even discussed – outside the sacred temple space.
One of these rituals is baptism and confirmation for the dead by proxy (baptisms for the living are conducted in chapels or other spaces). This provides the deceased individuals “ordinances” that are necessary for salvation, which they did not receive during life.
These baptisms have been controversial at times, with ordinances performed on individuals who were not direct ancestors of Latter-day Saints, including Holocaust victims and historical figures such as Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Even prominent Australians such as Ned Kelly, Malcolm Fraser, Neville Bonner and Truganini have allegedly appeared as “baptised” in Mormon records.
The rituals are accompanied by various stages of knowledge progression for attendees. As with the rituals, temple knowledge is not to be discussed outside.
Local opposition
The air of secrecy and exclusivity surrounding Mormon temples has resulted in a flood of negative attention from Australian media, other religious institutions and society at large. News reports from as far back as the early 20th century sought to expose “Mormon temple secrets”.
The first temple, built in Sydney in 1984, was widely protested by community groups and organisations. The building had to be modified by the church before it was eventually approved. A similar situation transpired in Brisbane in the early 2000s.
In other cities, such as Adelaide and Melbourne, temples were not directly protested, but were still critiqued for their lavishness, with the average Australian temple costing around A$8 million in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Given the cost of living crisis, and contention over the place of religion in contemporary Australia, the two proposed temples will likely also face criticism.
Reputational management
The church’s reputation in Australia has become ever more complicated over the past 20 years, not least due to several controversies.
In 2022 and 2023, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported the church was allegedly abusing tax laws, to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. This was addressed, but not confirmed or denied, in the November 2022 Senate Estimates by Australian Tax Office Assistant Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn, after questioning by Greens Senator David Shoebridge. Accusations of tax evasion have also been made in New Zealand and the United States.
The new Australian temples will be completed under a pall of critiques and accusations around church finances and other controversies. And while they might be briefly open to the public, their doors will just as quickly shut – adding more fuel to the speculation.
Brenton Griffin was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but is no longer a practising member of the church. His current research is focused on the religion’s place in Australian and New Zealand popular culture, politics, and society from the nineteenth century to present.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
Massachusetts has received more than 181,000 requests for heating assistance so far this fiscal year.
Critically, Massachusetts is still waiting on HHS to release the remaining estimated 10 percent of FY2025 LIHEAP funds.
Text of Letter (PDF)
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joins Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and the entire Massachusetts Congressional delegation – Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representatives Richard Neal (MA-01), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Lori Trahan (MA-03), Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Katherine Clark (MA-05), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), and Bill Keating (MA-09)—in writing to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the sudden termination of the federal staff responsible for administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and the impacts to Massachusetts families who depend on the program to stay safe, healthy, and housed.
Massachusetts has received more than 181,000 requests for heating assistance so far this fiscal year, with more than 110,000 households already served through March 31. First-time applicants have also surged: more than 27,000 Massachusetts households applied for LIHEAP for the first time this fiscal year, 8 percent more than last year at this point. More than 58 percent of households served so far include at least one elderly member, more than 33 percent include individuals with disabilities, more than 6,500 include a veteran or active-duty military member, and more than 11,500 include young children under age five. Critically, Massachusetts is still waiting on HHS to release the remaining estimated 10 percent of FY2025 LIHEAP funds.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “Over the past decade, Massachusetts energy prices have risen two to three times more than the national average. This winter alone, rate increases in Massachusetts hit families hard, with some energy bills doubling over the heating season. In Boston, residents face some of the highest heating costs among cities nationwide. This means that many Massachusetts families are struggling to pay their utility bills.”
The lawmakers continue, “Although LIHEAP is structured as a block grant administered primarily by states, federal staff provide essential technical assistance—from calculating the complicated allocation formula and distributing block grant funds, to guiding new state LIHEAP directors, reviewing and approving state plans, and monitoring state program implementation. This is not red tape, it is essential governance. Despite serving more than 5 million households nationwide, the entire federal LIHEAP team consisted of only 25 staff—an example of efficient, high-impact federal support.”
The lawmakers request answers by May 1, 2025, to questions that include:
How does HHS plan to preserve the continuity of LIHEAP operations nationwide?
How does HHS plan to ensure that states such as Massachusetts can timely access the remaining FY2025 LIHEAP funds appropriated by Congress?
With the termination of the LIHEAP staff, who within HHS is now responsible for the program’s operation?
Does HHS intend to restore the terminated positions or provide an equivalent staffing structure before the 2025–2026 heating season begins?
What measures will HHS implement to ensure communications with state program administrators on vendor enrollment, rule changes, and reporting compliance?
Has HHS consulted — formally or informally — with state LIHEAP administrators or community action agencies about these staff terminations, either before or after they occurred?
A copy of the letter is available here.
Congresswoman Pressley has been a leading voice in Congress speaking out against Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s unprecedented assault on our democracy and federal agencies, and she has been a steadfast advocate for protecting the essential services that federal workers and agencies provide.
On April 9, 2025, Rep. Pressley joined the Massachusetts delegation in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding answers after the abrupt shuttering of the entire HHS Regional Office in Boston.
On April 9, 2025, Rep. Pressley led lawmakers in sending a letter to Trump’s trade official demanding he resign from holding multiple positions with clear conflicts of interest that would further harm federal workers.
On March 28, 2025, Rep. Pressley issued a statement slamming Trump’s executive order to end collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
On March 21, 2025, Rep. Pressley led Massachusetts lawmakers in a letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sharply criticizing and demanding answers about the impact of the Musk-Trump Administration’s mass firings of federal workers in Massachusetts.
On March 11, 2025, Rep. Pressley spoke out against the U.S. Department of Education’s mass layoffs of over 1,300 workers, which effectively guts the agency.
On March 11, 2025, Rep. Pressley voted against Republicans’ shameful government budget bill, which would harm vulnerable families and provide a blank check for Elon Musk and Donald Trump to continue their unprecedented assault on our democracy. She later issued a statement condemning its final passage in the Senate.
On March 11, 2025, Rep. Pressley joined 13 of her colleagues on a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding answers and the immediate release of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, whose illegal abduction is an attack on his constitutional right to free speech and due process.
On March 4, 2025, Rep. Pressley walked out of the House chamber in protest during Donald Trump’s presidential joint address to Congress.
On March 4, 2025, Rep. Pressley welcomed Claire Bergstresser, an Everett constituent, dedicated public servant, AFGE union member, and former HUD worker who was unjustly terminated as part of Musk and Trump’s assault on federal agencies as her guest to the presidential joint address to Congress.
On February 28, 2025, Rep. Pressley led 85 lawmakers in a letter urging the Office of Special Counsel to immediate reinstate and expand protections for all unfairly fired federal workers.
On February 28, 2025, Rep. Pressley joined over 200 Democrats in filing an amicus brief defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before a U.S. District Court.
On February 26, 2025, in a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley discussed what true government efficiency looks like and denounced Elon Musk and Donald Trump for utilizing DOGE to gut the essential services that keep people safe, fed, and housed.
On February 25, 2025, in a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley condemned Elon Musk’s abuse of government efficiency through the fraudulent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On February 25, 2025, Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she railed against Republicans’ cruel budget resolution that would slash Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion.
On February 20, 2025, Rep. Pressley and her Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs issued a statement condemning the Trump Administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.
On February 13, 2025, in a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley emphasized the critical role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in safeguarding consumers and sharply criticized Donald Trump and Elon Musk for halting the critical work of the agency.
On February 10, 2025, Rep. Pressley rallied with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member Maxine Waters, and advocates to protest Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s unlawful takeover of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
On February 11, 2025, in a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley criticized the Trump-Musk administration for halting the critical work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with crypto scams on the rise.
On February 10, 2025, Rep. Pressley issued a statement slamming the Trump Administration’s harmful cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to support hospitals, universities, and research institutions conducting lifesaving research.
On February 10, 2025, as Trump and Musk threaten to dismantle the essential work of the U.S. Department of Education, Rep. Pressley delivered a powerful floor speech to affirm the role of public education in American democracy.
On February 6, 2025, in a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley delivered a powerful rebuke of Republicans’ efforts to gut diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and eliminate essential services for vulnerable communities.
On February 5, 2025, Rep. Pressley rallied outside the U.S. Department of Treasury to protest Elon Musk’s unlawful assault on federal agencies and our democracy.
On January 30, 2025, Rep. Pressley slammed Donald Trump for blaming the tragic plane crash at Reagan National Airport, which killed over 60 people, including some families from Massachusetts, on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In January 2025, Rep. Pressley issued a statement slamming Trump’s illegal freeze on federal grants and loans and its harmful impact on vulnerable communities.
On January 23, 2025, Rep. Pressley delivered an impassioned floor speech condemning Republicans’ cruel anti-abortion bill that criminalizes providers and denies families care.
On January 23, 2025, Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues to reintroduce the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, a bill to repeal an outdated law that has been used to target innocent immigrants without due process rights.
On January 22, 2025, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Trump Administration’s harmful executive actions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Greg Steube (FL-17)
April 14, 2025 | Press ReleasesVENICE — U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) today joined a U.S. Chamber Roundtable in North Venice, Florida, to discuss the importance of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.
Hosted at the Ajax Paving Industry complex in North Venice, the U.S. Chamber Roundtable focused on the benefits of the TCJA and the risks posed to small businesses and local industries in the Suncoast if Congress fails to renew the law.“There is a reason small business owners and entrepreneurs look to Southwest Florida to pursue the American dream. No community better represents and embraces the values of free enterprise than the Suncoast,” said Rep. Steube. “Since its passage in 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has delivered unprecedented prosperity for employers and employees alike. From streamlining corporate taxation to providing a critical tax deduction for small business development, the TCJA has delivered on its promise. Failing to renew the law would be catastrophic for not only Southwest Florida but the entire nation. Extending the TCJA will ensure our businesses and local industries prosper and remain competitive in the global economy for years to come.”From the 20% deduction for qualified business income to the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, the TCJA delivered a major boost to both employers and employees alike. In the first two years following the passage of the TCJA, median household income rose by nearly $7,000, the largest increase in income for working families since the late 1990s. Americans earning an adjusted gross income of $15,000 to $50,000 per year received tax relief of as much as 26% of their annual income. A recent study by the National Federation of Independent Business also estimated the TCJA’s 20% deduction for qualified business income will free up an additional $75 billion for small businesses and create one million new jobs per year over the next decade.After his remarks, Representative Steube was recognized by the National Asphalt and Paving Association. He concluded his visit with a tour of the Ajax Paving Industries’ facility followed by a meet-and-greet with employees.
The number of marine mammal species in New Zealand classified as Threatened or At Risk has increased from 10 in 2019 to 14 today, with the sperm whale, pygmy blue whale, southern right whale dolphin, goose-beaked whale, and pygmy sperm whale added to the list. Leopard seals were moved from at-risk to migrant.
A ‘Threatened’ species status is given to animals in serious trouble. New Zealand has the highest proportion of threatened indigenous species in the world – more than 4000 native species are currently threatened or at risk of extinction.
Panel lead and DOC Senior Science Advisor, Dr Dave Lundquist, says several species have been shifted to a more threatened conservation status. This includes sperm whales, which were moved from Data Deficient to At Risk – Declining.
“Research published by the University of Otago in 2022 shows a long-term decline in the number of sperm whales seen off Kaikōura during summer,” says Dave Lundquist.
“We don’t yet know if this reflects a broader drop in sperm whale numbers across New Zealand, but the panel has taken a precautionary approach and assumed it could be.”
Thanks to improved population data, eight other marine mammal species previously considered Data Deficient now have updated conservation statuses. This includes pygmy blue whales, now listed as Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable.
The New Zealand sea lion has also been moved to a higher risk category – from Nationally Vulnerable to Threatened – Nationally Endangered. This is due to a smaller estimated number of breeding adults and a faster rate of population decline than previously thought.
“Estimates suggest sea lion numbers could decline by 30–70% over the next 30 years, which is about three generations. Multiple human-caused threats are likely to be contributing to this decline,” says Dave Lundquist.
Bottlenose dolphins are the only species whose status has improved – from Threatened – Nationally Endangered to Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable. However, Dave Lundquist says this change is due to better information, not an actual increase in numbers.
“We previously estimated fewer than 1000 coastal bottlenose dolphins in New Zealand, plus an unknown number of oceanic ones. We now know there are over 1000 oceanic dolphins, which improved the overall status. But coastal populations are still at risk and depend on local conservation efforts to survive.”
Dave Lundquist says the positive takeaway is that when people act to reduce threats and protect nature, it makes a real difference.
“This information is valuable for everyone involved in marine mammal conservation – including iwi, community groups, businesses, fishers, councils and government.
“When we understand the conservation status of marine mammals, we’re all better equipped to make informed decisions to help protect them and their habitats.”
The conservation status of 57 marine mammal types found in New Zealand waters was reviewed by an independent panel of national and international experts. They used the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – a tool that assesses the extinction risk of native species.
NZTCS assessments are reviewed roughly every five years and are based on factors such as population size, trends, and distribution. DOC uses these results to prioritise conservation work, guide resource allocation, and shape policy decisions. The assessments also support collaboration with iwi, researchers, community groups, and others working to protect native species.
The NZTCS is a rule-based system for experts to assess the risk of extinction faced by organisms in Aotearoa New Zealand. The NZTCS is administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and complements the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Independent panels of experts assess groups of taxa (for examples, birds, reptiles or marine mammals. Species, subspecies, varieties and forms are collectively known as taxa, singular = taxon), approximately every five years, using criteria of population state, size and trend.
Knowing a species’ risk of extinction provides a basis for setting priorities and making decisions, planning recovery programmes and research, monitoring the effectiveness of management and gaining support for habitat protection. Taxa assessed as ‘Threatened’ face greater risk of extinction because they have small population with greatest rate of decline. Taxa assessed as ‘At Risk’ are not considered Threatened, but they could quickly become so if conservation management reduces, if a new threat arises, or if the declines continue.
The expert panel assessed the conservation status of 57 taxa of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, fur seals and sea lions.
Thirteen species have changed status since last assessed in 2019. One has a more threatened status, one has a less threatened status, and the remainder are neutral status changes (into and out of the category Data Deficient).
Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), joined by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) and Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04), wrote to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem urging the Department to reverse its decision canceling the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) program, which included funding for two major projects in Richmond and Portsmouth, as well as tens of millions in funding for other communities across the Commonwealth.
BRIC was established by Congress through the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to support state and local governments in reducing risks posed by natural hazards and future disasters. The bipartisan infrastructure law, which Sens. Warner and Kaine supported and saw through final passage, included $1 billion in funding for BRIC projects over five years, including $133 million that has already been provided to applicants.
Through the BRIC program, Virginia had been set to receive tens of millions in funding for critical projects, including $12 million to make improvements to the Richmond Water Treatment Facility and $24 million to enhance the Lake Meade Dam in Portsmouth. However, DHS recently notified applicants that it was terminating the BRIC program and canceling all applications for funding through the BRIC program – including projects that had already been awarded funding.
“We strongly urge you to reverse this decision that will impact vulnerable residents, businesses, and critical infrastructure in Virginia,” the lawmakers wrote to Sec. Noem.
They continued, “BRIC projects support Virginia localities as they work to reduce immediate hazard risks that threaten community safety. For example, the city of Richmond was awarded $11.99 million in FY2022 to address design flaws and degradation at the Richmond Water Treatment Facility. This facility serves 4,721 businesses, 360 public properties, and 780 essential community facilities. The project is intended to protect water treatment and distribution services for those within the facility’s service area, making the plant more resilient to 100-year flood events. Unfortunately, the necessity of this award was made clear earlier this year when the facility experienced a power failure that resulted in loss of water service for residents across the region. If this award is revoked, the region will be more susceptible to future water contaminations and disruptions in water delivery.
The lawmakers highlighted how the cancelation of this funding will impact vulnerable residents, businesses, and critical infrastructure in Virginia, specifically underscoring that these projects are already underway.
Added the members, “The potential revocation of existing BRIC awards is an unanticipated shock to Virginia localities that have budgeted, planned, and in some cases begun work on these crucial projects. The city of Portsmouth received a $24.21 million BRIC award in FY2022 to protect the community’s drinking water supply by enhancing the Lake Meade Dam. The dam, which serves as a critical reservoir for drinking water and supplies residential, commercial, and industrial users in the Hampton Roads area, is at risk of instability and potential overtopping during heavy precipitation events. The project involves strengthening the dam, upgrading spillways, and improving flood protection, all of which serves to protect the more than 80 occupied residential properties and almost 30 businesses within the dam break inundation zone.”
“The mission of the BRIC program is to build more resilient communities to prevent the need for reactive and more costly disaster spending. Terminating this program – and many of the awards made in recent years – will make communities in Virginia less resilient and more vulnerable to disaster events. We urge you to maintain this critical funding for localities in Virginia,” they concluded.
A copy of letter is available here and text is below.
Dear Secretary Noem:
We write regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent decision to end the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and cancel BRIC applications from Fiscal Years (FY) 2020 – 2023. We strongly urge you to reverse this decision that will impact vulnerable residents, businesses, and critical infrastructure in Virginia.
BRIC projects support Virginia localities as they work to reduce immediate hazard risks that threaten community safety. For example, the city of Richmond was awarded $11.99 million in FY2022 to address design flaws and degradation at the Richmond Water Treatment Facility. This facility serves 4,721 businesses, 360 public properties, and 780 essential community facilities. The project is intended to protect water treatment and distribution services for those within the facility’s service area, making the plant more resilient to 100-year flood events. Unfortunately, the necessity of this award was made clear earlier this year when the facility experienced a power failure that resulted in loss of water service for residents across the region. If this award is revoked, the region will be more susceptible to future water contaminations and disruptions in water delivery.
The potential revocation of existing BRIC awards is an unanticipated shock to Virginia localities that have budgeted, planned, and in some cases begun work on these crucial projects. The city of Portsmouth received a $24.21 million BRIC award in FY2022 to protect the community’s drinking water supply by enhancing the Lake Meade Dam. The dam, which serves as a critical reservoir for drinking water and supplies residential, commercial, and industrial users in the Hampton Roads area, is at risk of instability and potential overtopping during heavy precipitation events. The project involves strengthening the dam, upgrading spillways, and improving flood protection, all of which serves to protect the more than 80 occupied residential properties and almost 30 businesses within the dam break inundation zone.
The mission of the BRIC program is to build more resilient communities to prevent the need for reactive and more costly disaster spending. Terminating this program – and many of the awards made in recent years – will make communities in Virginia less resilient and more vulnerable to disaster events. We urge you to maintain this critical funding for localities in Virginia.
Thank you for your attention to this letter. We look forward to your response.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Ivan Mauricio Hernandez-Mosqueda, 32, a Mexican national from Penjamo, Guanajuato, Mexico, illegally present in the United States, was sentenced on April 2, 2025, by United States District Judge Krissa M. Lanham to 46 months in prison for Conspiracy to Encourage and Induce an Alien to Unlawfully Enter the United States.
Court documents show that federal agents identified well over 100 individuals who used Hernandez-Mosqueda’s organization to be smuggled illegally into the United States through Arizona.
Beginning in early 2023, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered many Mexican nationals who entered the United States illegally and were claiming asylum. A number of the encounters involved family units who stated that Hernandez-Mosqueda was known in their hometown of Penjamo as someone who would guide individuals from Penjamo to Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico. From Sonoyta, the illegal aliens were smuggled into the United States by associates of Hernandez-Mosqueda. These aliens were referred to Hernandez-Mosqueda via Facebook and WhatsApp by individuals who had already been successfully smuggled illegally into the United States through his organization.
In addition to coordinating their illegal entry into the United States, Hernandez-Mosqueda coached the illegal aliens on how to claim asylum under false pretenses to gain legal status in the United States.
Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol Sector Intelligence Unit conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Stuart Zander and Matthew Doyle, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: CR-24-00820-PHX-KML RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-056_Hernandez-Mosqueda
Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
April 14, 2025
HARTFORD—U.S. SenatorsChris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney (D-Conn.-02) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.-03), sent a letter to the CEO of DSM-Firmenich, parent company of i-Health, following reports of unsafe working conditions and retaliation against workers at the i-Health warehouse in Enfield, Connecticut. In March 2024, employees at the Enfield warehouse exercised their legally protected right to organize and voted to form a union with Teamsters Local 671.
“Instead of upholding the rights of these employees and honoring your public commitments to their wellbeing, workers allege that DSM-Firmenich has responded with actions that are retaliatory and coercive in nature,” the members wrote.
Following the unionization of the warehouse workers, workers allege the company engaged in retaliatory and coercive activity like enforcing twelve-hour workdays and six-day workweeks, forced holiday shifts, pressure tactics, refusal to hire adequate workers, and disregard for safety concerns and injury reports. This led to at least one worker experiencing a serious shoulder injury due to mandatory overtime. The company also fired eleven full-time and one temporary employee via text message.
“To be clear – firing or otherwise retaliating against workers engaging in lawful, protected strike activity is not just unethical but is also a potential violation of U.S. labor law. American workers have long had fundamental labor rights guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act in order to protect them from unjust situations as this one,” the members continued. “Denying your workers a voice, subjecting them to exhausting and unreasonable schedules, and attempting to counteract their unionization efforts through coercion and retaliation is a gross violation of these rights.”
The members demanded that DSM-Firmenich and i-Health begin immediate corrective actions by reinstating all employees who were wrongfully terminated, ending all coercive and retaliatory practices targeting union members, bargaining in good faith with Teamsters Local 671 on a fair contract, and ensuring full compliance with U.S. labor laws and the company’s own Code of Business Ethics to ensure a safe, secure, and fair workplace environment.
“The workers in Enfield process and distribute DSM-Firmenich products to some of the largest retailers in the country. They are invaluable contributors to your global operations and supply chain and deserve to be treated as such – not as expendable labor subject to the whims of your company. We ask that you show leadership and accountability by addressing this situation expediently and with the best interests of your employees in mind,” the members concluded.
Full text of the letter is available below.
Dear Mr. de Vreeze,
We write to express our deep concern with DSM-Firmenich’s treatment of workers at its i-Health warehouse in Enfield, Connecticut. The actions taken by your management team in response to lawful union activity may be both illegal under U.S. labor law and contradictory to the core principles laid out in DSM-Firmenich’s Code of Business Ethics.
In March 2024, employees at the Enfield warehouse exercised their legally protected right to organize and voted for form a union with Teamsters Local 671 – a vote that was certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Instead of upholding the rights of these employees and honoring your public commitments to their wellbeing, workers allege that DSM-Firmenich has responded with actions that are retaliatory and coercive in nature. Reports from both workers and their union representatives detail the following:
Unilateral imposition of twelve-hour workdays and mandatory six-day workweeks;
Elimination of scheduling flexibility and forced holiday shifts;
Surveillance of workers and other pressure tactics designed to discourage union activity;
Refusal to hire adequate temporary workers, leaving a skeleton crew to handle warehouse operations at an extreme pace and volume;
Unlawful retaliation against striking workers by firing eleven full-time and one temporary employee via text message;
Blatant disregard for safety concerns and injury reports, leading to at least one worker experiencing a serious shoulder injury due to excessive mandatory overtime; and
Attempts to discredit and intimidate striking workers by labeling their peaceful picketing as “illegal and dangerous,” despite no evidence of wrongdoing.
If true, these practices reflect an unacceptable abuse of employer power. They run counter to the principles that DSM-Firmenich claims to stand for – indeed, your Code of Business Ethics pledges to protect human rights and promote decent work in your global supply chains, ensure the safety, health, and security of your employees, and respect fundamental labor rights including the freedom to organize and collectively bargain. And yet in Connecticut, the aforementioned patterns of behavior represent an unambiguous failure to honor these commitments.
To be clear – firing or otherwise retaliating against workers engaging in lawful, protected strike activity is not just unethical but is also a potential violation of U.S. labor law. American workers have long had fundamental labor rights guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act in order to protect them from unjust situations as this one. Denying your workers a voice, subjecting them to exhausting and unreasonable schedules, and attempting to counteract their unionization efforts through coercion and retaliation is a gross violation of these rights.
Teamsters Local 671 has already filed a complaint with the NLRB pursuant to the protections afforded to them by law. We hope that DSM-Firmenich and i-Health can rectify the above grievances and return to bargaining in good faith with your employees before appropriate legal action is needed. That is why we strongly urge you to review the actions your company has taken against the Connecticut workers at i-Health and begin immediate corrective action in the following areas:
Reinstate all employees who were wrongfully terminated;
End all coercive and retaliatory practices targeting union members;
Bargain in good faith with Teamsters Local 671 on a fair contract; and
Ensure full compliance with U.S. labor laws and your own Code of Business Ethics to ensure a safe, secure, and fair workplace environment.
The workers in Enfield process and distribute DSM-Firmenich products to some of the largest retailers in the country. They are invaluable contributors to your global operations and supply chain and deserve to be treated as such – not as expendable labor subject to the whims of your company. We ask that you show leadership and accountability by addressing this situation expediently and with the best interests of your employees in mind.
Headline: What North Carolinians Are Hearing: Governor Stein Hits the Ground Running in First 100 Days in Office, Works Toward Bipartisan Goals
What North Carolinians Are Hearing: Governor Stein Hits the Ground Running in First 100 Days in Office, Works Toward Bipartisan Goals lsaito
Raleigh, NC
Last week, Governor Josh Stein marked his 100th full day in office. In the lead-up to his 100th day, Governor Stein spoke to the press about his continued commitment to rebuilding western North Carolina. He also highlighted his ongoing efforts to work across the aisle on the issues that unify North Carolinians: safe communities, strong schools, and meaningful job opportunities for every person.
Read more about Governor Stein’s first 100 days below.
WRAL:‘Extending an olive branch’: Stein, GOP work together toward bipartisan goals
An early sign of Stein’s willingness to work together came as his State of the State speech approached in March…
“It’s going to be a long recovery with incredible devastation in Western North Carolina,” [Speaker Destin] Hall said. “But the folks from that part of the world, where I’m from, need to know that this body — and I believe this governor’s office also — is committed to doing everything we can to get those folks back in their home.”
Asheville Citizen Times:NC governor visits WNC, calls on state, federal governments to do more for Helene recovery
“Look, the people of Western North Carolina are there for each other. They’ve been there for each other from the very beginning. It’s time for their governments to do the same thing.”
Blue Ridge Public Radio:100 days in, Stein talks WNC recovery, wildfires and what’s next
“The number one priority has been trying to help Western North Carolina recover from the lingering and devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. The scale, the magnitude — I don’t have to convince your listeners because they all lived it — but for folks across the state, it’s hard for people to appreciate just how broad the swath of damage was.”
WNCN:Governor Josh Stein talks priorities, first few months in office
He says he’s hit the ground running…working on paying public school teachers more money, raising wages for law enforcement, and adding apprenticeships to the state. “Until we start making all of that progress, I’m never going to be satisfied, my team is never going to be satisfied, we are going to remain laser-focused,” the Governor said.
Carolina Public Press:Stein marks first 100 days with wins — so far. Tough tests are coming.
A point of pride for North Carolina in recent years has been its strong economy and business-friendly environment. Since taking office, Stein has announced the addition of more than 1,600 jobs — primarily in manufacturing — totaling more than $690 million invested into the state by private companies. He wants to continue that trend through a set of initiatives aimed at strengthening North Carolina’s workforce.
WWAY:Gov. Josh Stein reflects on his first 100 days in office
“Our starting teachers are the second lowest-paid in the southeast, that’s an embarrassment and unacceptable. North Carolina should have the highest starting teacher pay in the southeast.”
WCTI:Governor Stein pushes for funding new unit to tackle backlog in sexual assault cold cases
As he marks his 100th day in office on Friday, Stein is advocating for the establishment of a specialized cold case unit within the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to assist local law enforcement in identifying and apprehending sexual offenders…. “These were cold cases that are now very warm,” Stein said. “Many times we actually have an identified suspect. I want as many dangerous people off the streets so they cannot hurt anyone else.”
The News & Observer:NC Republicans welcome Gov. Josh Stein’s approach so far, but his first test is coming soon
[Stein] said he wants to work together on economic development, education and housing, where he wants to increase the supply of homes.
A federal jury convicted a Nevada man today for participating in a three-year conspiracy to fix the wages for home healthcare nurses in Las Vegas and for fraudulently failing to disclose the criminal antitrust investigation during the sale of his home healthcare staffing company.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez of Las Vegas, Nevada conspired to artificially cap the wages of home healthcare nurses in the Las Vegas area between March 2016 and May 2019. The three-year conspiracy affected the wages of hundreds of Las Vegas registered nurses and licensed practical nurses who provide care to patients in their homes. During the pendency of the government’s investigation, Lopez then sold his home healthcare staffing company for over $10 million while fraudulently concealing the government’s criminal investigation from the buyer.
“Wage-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigal A. Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s verdict highlights what should be a clear message with antitrust crimes: the agreement is the crime. The Antitrust Division will zealously prosecute those who seek to unjustly profit off their employees. The nurses here deserved better and, under President Trump’s leadership, they will be protected.”
Lopez was convicted of one count of participating in a wage-fixing conspiracy and five counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14. A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. A violation of the wire fraud statute carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s International Corruption Unit investigated the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. Senior Litigation Counsel Jeffrey Cramer and Mikal Condon, Assistant Chief Andrew Mast, and Trial Attorneys Paradi Javandel and Conor Bradley, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Anthony Lopez are prosecuting the case.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
A federal jury convicted a Nevada man today for participating in a three-year conspiracy to fix the wages for home healthcare nurses in Las Vegas and for fraudulently failing to disclose the criminal antitrust investigation during the sale of his home healthcare staffing company.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez of Las Vegas, Nevada conspired to artificially cap the wages of home healthcare nurses in the Las Vegas area between March 2016 and May 2019. The three-year conspiracy affected the wages of hundreds of Las Vegas registered nurses and licensed practical nurses who provide care to patients in their homes. During the pendency of the government’s investigation, Lopez then sold his home healthcare staffing company for over $10 million while fraudulently concealing the government’s criminal investigation from the buyer.
“Wage-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigal A. Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s verdict highlights what should be a clear message with antitrust crimes: the agreement is the crime. The Antitrust Division will zealously prosecute those who seek to unjustly profit off their employees. The nurses here deserved better and, under President Trump’s leadership, they will be protected.”
Lopez was convicted of one count of participating in a wage-fixing conspiracy and five counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14. A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. A violation of the wire fraud statute carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s International Corruption Unit investigated the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. Senior Litigation Counsel Jeffrey Cramer and Mikal Condon, Assistant Chief Andrew Mast, and Trial Attorneys Paradi Javandel and Conor Bradley, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Anthony Lopez are prosecuting the case.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Meade, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith University, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University
Winter is coming to New Zealand and Australia, and with it come those inevitably higher power bills from heating our homes.
But even without that seasonal spike, household power bills were already set to rise by NZ$10 to $25 a month in New Zealand and up to A$9 a month in parts of Australia.
This is not, as some might assume, because electricity suppliers are acting uncompetitively. It’s because regulators are increasing charges for long-distance electricity transmission (pylons and substations) and short-distance distribution (poles and wires).
Those charges together make up around 40% of power bills on average, so the price increases matter. In New Zealand, an average 15% of household budgets is spent on electricity. The proportion going towards those infrastructure costs is higher for low-income, regional and rural households.
To put this another way, these fixed parts of our power bills can equal what a typical household spends on mobile phones, public transport or water services.
Transmission and distribution services are regulated because they are provided by monopolies. Regulators such as the Commerce Commission in New Zealand and the Australian Energy Regulator in eastern Australia try to set reasonable prices while still allowing those firms enough money to provide reliable services.
However, this old regulatory model is being challenged by changing consumer behaviour. Households are increasingly electrifying, switching to heat pumps for space and water heating, and electric vehicles (EVs) for personal transport.
Regulators want to ensure the reliability of electricity supply doesn’t significantly decline. But households that rely on electricity want greater reliability – especially with growing demand for “smart” appliances that can be damaged by outages.
Quality versus quantity
Unfortunately, history is a poor guide to how regulation should ensure these future reliability needs are met. Furthermore, electricity is an unusual “product” – the quantity we consume is often an afterthought, while the affordability and quality of supply are more top of mind.
Importantly, quality means much more to consumers than just reliability. It includes how well outages are planned and communicated, how easy it is to get help and updates when things go wrong, new connection times, and the voltage stability modern appliances require.
What constitutes good service might also include customer charters or other guarantees of minimum acceptable expectations, as well as compensation schemes.
Beyond these options, however, the very basis for regulation is being upturned as households invest in rooftop solar panels, home batteries and electric vehicles (EVs). The competition offered by these new technologies means distribution companies are no longer monopoly providers because households can get electricity in new ways.
This also means households expect new services from those providers – such as being able to sell electricity to others (including to distribution companies themselves to help them maintain reliable supply).
Smart appliances, solar power and EVs are all changing consumer expectations of the electricity market. Shutterstock
What customers really want
Historically, electricity regulation has responded to emerging challenges like these with “bolt-on” solutions. Each one tries to address a specific issue individually, but not in a coherent and joined-up way.
Overall, how and why we regulate electricity transmission and distribution need rethinking from the ground up, not more rounds of regulatory whack-a-mole. Consumer preferences need to be more than a vague overriding objective. They need to be at the heart of regulation.
New Zealand’s Commerce Commission already exempts many distribution firms from much regulation because they are owned and governed by customers. And regulators in other English-speaking countries, including Australia, increasingly rely on consumer forums and other channels to indirectly and only partially identify consumer preferences.
But neither model obtains directly usable information about what consumers want – from those consumers themselves. Unsurprisingly, customer preferences are not widely or systematically reflected in regulation.
Besides, asking customers about quality and reliability of service assumes they can clearly articulate what they care about and what value they attach to them in ways regulators can use.
Value for money
One solution is to use a direct measure of consumer satisfaction. We developed and applied a version of this in recent research involving a survey of Swedish electricity customers.
We measured satisfaction by asking consumers to rate the “value for money” they perceived from their distribution firm, ranging from zero (lowest) to five (highest).
Perceptions of quality can vary and are inherently subjective. But value for money can be interpreted as a ratio of quality to price: higher quality means higher value for money, higher price means lower value for money. From this, we obtained an objective measure of overall customer satisfaction levels.
As might be expected, we found value for money tended to be higher for customers of distribution firms owned and controlled by those customers. But directly measuring customer satisfaction in this way could be a good basis for regulation reform in general.
We still need to better understand how customer satisfaction is affected by regulatory decisions. This has always been the case, but it is especially true now that fundamental changes are happening in the sector.
Electricity customers heading into winter might be happier with rising transmission and distribution prices if they were confident regulation genuinely improved their overall value for money.
Business as usual, on the other hand, may offer them only cold comfort.
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.
Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) today joined lawyers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Subcommittee on the Constitution Ranking Member Peter Welch (D-Vt.), in sending a letter to the American Bar Association (ABA) commending lawyers and law firms that are resisting President Trump’s unconstitutional attacks on the legal profession.
“As fellow members of the legal community, we applaud lawyers who are resisting President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional attacks on the legal profession,” the senators wrote. “These orders are unlawful—a tool of intimidation, and a weaponization of the federal government. The president’s actions existentially threaten essential rights guaranteed by our Constitution.”
“The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is undermined when a president signals that choosing to represent his political opponents carries the risk of retribution,” the senators added. “The First Amendment protection against viewpoint discrimination is imperiled when a president seeks to punish lawyers who advocate against his policies. By levying punishments outside the ordinary legal process, these orders violate constitutional due process.”
The senators concluded, “The American Bar Association has stalwartly supported lawyers that have resisted President Trump’s bullying. We join the ABA in commending these lawyers, who have taken financial and professional risks to fight for the rule of law and our constitutional rights. We urge others to join you.”
Between March 6th and March 27th, President Trump issued executive orders targeting four law firms against which he has personal grievances, such as representing his political opponents and associating with lawyers who have been critical of the president. The executive orders limit the targeted law firms’ access to federal buildings, suspend security clearances, and prevent federal agencies from engaging with firm lawyers.
Three law firms—Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Perkins Coie—have rightfully challenged the president’s executive orders in court, asserting that the orders are in violation of the Constitution and the principles that underlie it. In each of these cases, judges appointed by presidents from both political parties have properly issued temporary restraining orders against President Trump.
In addition to Senators Coons and Welch, the letter was signed by the following lawyers on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Senator Coons is a graduate of Yale Law School.
Two years into a devastating war, Sudan remains in a crisis of staggering proportions, with civilians paying the highest price.
Indiscriminate shelling and air strikes continue to kill and maim. Markets, hospitals, schools, places of worship and displacement sites are being attacked. Sexual violence is rampant, with women and girls subjected to horrific acts. Civilians suffer from gross violations and abuses from all warring parties.
Almost 12 million people have fled their homes, in what has become the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 3.8 million of these have crossed into neighbouring countries.
More than 30 million people require humanitarian support. Half of the population – some 25 million people – are acutely hungry. As the lean season looms, famine has been identified in at least five locations and is projected to spread further.
Aid workers have been targeted: at least 90 have lost their lives since the fighting began.
Basic services have been decimated, with millions of children deprived of education, and less than one-quarter of health facilities are functional in the hardest hit areas. Attacks on infrastructure have left people without electricity and access to safe water.
Last year, the United Nations and its partners reached more than 15.6 million people with at least one form of assistance. But the needs remain overwhelming. Conflict and insecurity, coupled with bureaucratic impediments and drastic funding cuts, have kept humanitarians from increasing their presence in many areas where assistance is needed most.
Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the parties’ disregard for human life. In addition to their obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law, the warring parties have made commitments to protect civilians, including in the Jeddah Declaration of May 2023. Such commitments must be translated into concrete action. Independent, impartial and transparent investigations into all reports of violations and abuses are also crucial.
The only way to ensure the protection of civilians is to end this senseless conflict.
I am deeply concerned that weapons and fighters continue to flow into Sudan, allowing the conflict to persist and spread across the country. The external support and flow of weapons must end. Those with greatest influence on the parties must use it to better the lives of people in Sudan – not to perpetuate this disaster.
Comprehensive, revitalised and well-coordinated political efforts are urgently needed to prevent Sudan’s further fragmentation. As an international community, we must find ways to help the Sudanese people bring this unspeakable catastrophe to an end and establish acceptable transitional arrangements.
Sudan remains a highest priority for the United Nations. I will continue to engage with regional leaders on means to enhance our collective efforts for peace.
This will complement the ongoing work of my Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, who will seek to ensure international mediation efforts are mutually reinforcing.
He will also continue to explore with the parties ways to bring them closer to a peaceful solution and support and empower civilians as they work towards a common vision for Sudan’s future.
We must renew our focus on finding an end to this brutal war. The world must not forget the people of Sudan.
Josie Osborne, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, have issued the following statements marking the ninth anniversary of the toxic-drug crisis being declared a public health emergency:
Josie Osborne, Minister of Health, said:
“Today marks nine years since B.C. declared the toxic-drug crisis a public health emergency. Since that time, we have lost thousands of people to poisoned drugs, each one a valued member of their community. Each and every loss leaves lasting grief for the people who knew and loved them.
“This crisis continues to have a devastating impact throughout our province, from families and communities to the front-line workers who provide care, support and compassion in the face of unimaginable loss.
“Substance use is shaped by many complex factors, including trauma, mental- and physical-health challenges, poverty, stigma and barriers to stable housing and support. Ending this crisis requires an equally complex and compassionate response, one that prioritizes care over judgment.
“We know there is still so much more to do. On this solemn anniversary, we renew our commitment to saving lives, supporting healing and working together to turn the tide on this crisis. By reducing stigma, improving access to care and meeting people where they’re at, we can help more people find their path to recovery and build a future filled with hope.”
Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said:
“This sombre anniversary reminds us of the ongoing tragic impact of the toxic-drug crisis that is being felt by families and communities across B.C. While we have seen some glimmers of hope in this past year with a decline in deaths, there remains much to do to ensure there are supports when needed at every point in a person’s journey.
“Whether it is being able to have a conversation with a trusted loved one, peer or medical worker, access to life-saving naloxone, or a safe place to have drugs tested, we have seen how these harm-reduction measures make a difference and save lives.
“But the increasing toxicity and unpredictability of the drugs on the street also remind us that we must continue to have the courage to be innovative and unwavering in our approach to this public health crisis. The very lives of our brothers, sisters, friends, neighbours and colleagues depend on it.”
The Province is updating the BC Provincial Nominee Program to do what it can to best meet its workforce priorities, and provide as much fairness and clarity as possible, following the federal government’s decision to reduce the nomination allocation spots.
B.C. had fully met its allocation for 2024 to nominate 8,000 workers and entrepreneurs who support provincial priorities, and the Province has requested an allocation of 11,000 for 2025. In January 2025, B.C.’s 2025 allocation was cut to 4,000 by the federal government, significantly affecting the Province’s ability to meet its workforce needs.
As part of the updated approach, the Province will process the majority of its application inventory and accept approximately 1,100 new applications this year, mainly for positions that contribute directly to the delivery of health-care services, such as doctors, nurses and allied-health professionals.
The nominee program is the only tool that allows B.C. to nominate new immigrants in high-demand jobs to stay in the province. The vast majority of applicants already live and work in B.C. It is intended to help address labour demands in priority sectors, such as health care, child care, construction and housing. The Province will continue to advocate for the federal government to restore the BC Provincial Nominee Program allocation to previous levels, to support B.C.’s efforts to attract and retain in demand professionals.
Learn More:
For the latest BC Provincial Nominee Program guide, visit: https://www.welcomebc.ca/immigrate-to-b-c/guides-forms-reports-documents
For more information about the program, visit: https://www.welcomebc.ca/immigrate-to-b-c/about-the-bc-provincial-nominee-program
For Canada’s 2025-2027 immigration levels plan, visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/10/20252027-immigration-levels-plan.html
The Province is making changes to the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) in 2025 to process existing applications and accept new applications in the highest-priority jobs, making the best use of the reduced allocation.
Management of existing applications
The program will process all applications received in 2024 for streams that require a job offer, so people who are working in B.C. and have submitted a nominee program application with the support of their employer can get a decision in 2025.
All international post-graduate (IPG) applications received before Sept. 1, 2024, will be processed in 2025.
IPG applications received between Sept. 1, 2024, and Jan. 7, 2025, when the stream closed, will be waitlisted and processed only when more nominee program nominations become available by the federal government.
In March 2024, the BC PNP announced that the IPG stream would close at the end of 2024.
By the time the IPG stream was closed, the BC PNP had received more than double the IPG applications than it did in 2023.
Most IPG applicants qualify for a three-year post-graduate work permit, which allows them to remain in Canada for an extended period following the completion of their studies.
The ministry is seeking support from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to extend the work permits of the individuals whose immigration status will expire soon.
New applications
While the health-authority stream continues to accept new applications, it is now restricted to a limited number of health-care positions. The BC PNP program guide provides a detailed description of which health occupations are now eligible under the health-authority stream.
Due to the limited nomination space, no general or priority-occupation invitations to apply (ITA) are planned in 2025. ITAs will be issued to approximately 100 candidates with the highest economic-impact potential.
Other program updates
The launch of previously announced student streams will remain on hold for the time being.
Going forward, the BC PNP will distinguish between early childhood educator and early childhood educator assistant.
Enhanced guidelines will be developed for social and community service workers, with greater emphasis on the qualifications for this role.
Existing applicants and individuals interested in the program are encouraged to refer to the latest BC PNP program guide for eligibility requirements: https://www.welcomebc.ca/immigrate-to-b-c/guides-forms-reports-documents
Government introduced the attorney general statutes amendment act, 2025, to the legislative assembly on Monday, April 14, 2025.
If passed by the legislature, the amendments will affect the following provincial statutes:
Judicial Compensation Act:
Amendments to the Judicial Compensation Act will statutorily implement the 2022 Judicial Compensation Commission’s recommendation with respect to non-judicial pensionable-service provisions in the Judicial Compensation Act. This will ensure Provincial Court judges, who were public servants before being appointed to the bench, receive the same benefits for their non-judicial service as other Public Service Pension Plan members.
Land Title Act:
Amendments to the Land Title Act will clarify the Land Title Office’s ability to transfer a deceased person’s land to a special administrator appointed by the court. Appointing administrators is a standard procedure that allows administrators to temporarily manage an estate, while there are ongoing legal proceedings about a will or other special circumstances. The amendment specifically addresses the transfer or sale of land, which may be desirable to preserve the value of an estate.
Libel and Slander Act:
Amendments to the Libel and Slander Act will update the description of the court document used to initiate a legal action for libel.
Members Remuneration and Pensions Act:
Amendments to the Members Remuneration and Pensions Act will implement the March 2025 decision of the legislative assembly management committee to forgo the statutorily authorized increase to members of the legislative assembly’s remuneration for 2025.
Police Act:
Amendments to the Police Act will allow the appointment of an acting chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office in the event that the director is unable to fulfil their role. Amendments will also authorize the appointment of a deputy chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office, to whom the chief civilian director could delegate their powers and duties. These amendments will allow the Independent Investigations Office to reduce operational risks and help ensure investigations into incidents involving police officers are conducted proficiently, without unnecessary delays and with the ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.
Small Claims Act:
Housekeeping amendments to the Small Claims Act will remove an outdated reference to a provision that was repealed in the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act. The provision concerned a previous process where a Civil Resolution Tribunal decision could be made void, and the claim could be disputed in the Provincial Court. Regular housekeeping amendments, such as this, provide clarity and make legislation easier to understand.
Wills, Estates and Succession Act:
Amendments to the Wills, Estates and Succession Act will add First Home Savings Accounts to the definition of a benefit plan. This will allow people to name beneficiaries for these accounts, helping in their life planning by ensuring surviving beneficiaries can access First Home Savings Accounts efficiently, in the same way they can access other registered savings plans, such as Tax Free Savings Accounts.
The amendments will allow the government to quickly add new plans without needing to amend the legislation.
Learn More:
For more information about B.C. legislation, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/Legislation
To increase wildfire prevention and help keep people safe, the Province has taken action over the past six years to strengthen provincial and community capacity for wildfire mitigation and preparedness.
In recent years, the BC Wildfire Service’s (BCWS) wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts have expanded rapidly, supported by the BCWS growing into a year-round organization focused on proactively reducing wildfire risks as well as responding to fires. Prevention efforts have included hundreds of wildfire risk-reduction and fuel-management projects with partner agencies, with 88 cultural and prescribed fire projects planned for 2025, of which eight have already been implemented this spring.
Since 2018, the Province, through BCWS, has invested approximately $466 million in wildfire resiliency and risk-reduction projects. The Province’s approach to wildfire risk reduction is through strategic partnerships with communities, First Nations, and external partners, in addition to the BCWS’ direct wildfire mitigation. In advance of this year’s wildfire season, the Province continues to work on fuel mitigation and community preparedness activities to reduce the threat of wildfire, in partnership with local governments and First Nations, and the following organizations:
FireSmart BC FireSmart actions are tested and proven, and they increase your home’s chance of survival in the event of a wildfire. FireSmart is the Canadian standard recognized by all provinces and territories based on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. This year, there are 250 FireSmart recognized neighbourhoods throughout B.C., and approximately 140 FireSmart co-ordinators within local governments and First Nations. More than 113 local governments and First Nations participate in the Wildfire Mitigation Program, formerly the Home Partners Program, including 20 of the 28 regional districts
As a leader in wildfire mitigation and preparedness, work by FireSmart BC includes:
funding 309 local governments and First Nations to undertake FireSmart activities;
231 FireSmart positions proposed for funding or partially subsidized in communities across the province; and
57 garden centre locations across B.C. now participate in the FireSmart Plant Program.
Union of BC Municipalities and First Nations’ Emergency Services Society Since 2019, the Province has taken action in partnership with the Union of BC Municipalities and First Nations’ Emergency Services Society to reduce wildfire risk through FireSmart grants and supports, with $185 million committed to date. The Union of BC Municipalities, in partnership with First Nations Emergency Services Society (FNESS), administers the FireSmart Community Funding and Supports (FCFS) program to communities on behalf of the Province. More than 936 applications have been received since 2019, leading to more than $126 million in approved completed projects.
Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) The Province partners with FESBC to reduce wildfire risks, enhance wildlife habitats, improve damaged or low-value forests, and manage greenhouse gases. Since 2016, $79.6 million has been invested in 201 community wildfire risk-reduction projects through FESBC. As part of Budget 2024, an additional $60 million was announced for FESBC, with $20 million to be allocated each year for the next three years. This funding supports wildfire risk reduction and/or enhanced wood fibre utilization.
Fire Chiefs Association of British Columbia The Fire Chiefs’ Association of British Columbia is a non-profit organization that serves as an essential source of information, education, and community for its members. It proactively engages with the government and standards organizations on issues relating to fire services, resulting in effective and supported fire departments across the province. Through an agreement with the Fire Chiefs Association of BC (FCABC), BC Wildfire Service has worked closely with local fire departments to co-ordinate equipment and personnel, with more than 100 fire departments that have pre-registered their personal and equipment for provincial deployments this season.
Farmland Advantage Farmland Advantage helps farmers identify and enhance the natural values on a farm that can be protected, restored, and enhanced and develops recommendations and plans to preserve them. Since 2021, the BCWS has worked with Farmland Advantage on $1.4 million in wildfire risk-reduction and community resiliency projects, focusing on strategic areas in the wildland-urban interface.
Fraser Basin Council After the 2023 fire season, the Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies recommended defining clear pathways for organized and trained local people to play a role in wildfire preparedness and response, based on consistent safety, pre-season training and readiness standards and plans, and integration into the BCWS or local emergency management structure with appropriate co-ordination, accountability and oversight. The BCWS partnered with the Fraser Basin Council in fall 2023 to engage rural communities as part of the Wildfire Roundtables they facilitate.
Through this engagement, the Fraser Basin Council received responses from 37 out of 89 electoral area directors. Of the 37 responses, 35 identified existing groups that were outside of structural protection areas. Twenty-four of these groups were organized, and 11 were not organized at the time.
The feedback received was instrumental in guiding the steps BCWS took leading into the 2024 fire season to invest in the preparedness for these groups by training more than 430 community members across 21 groups and engaging them in co-operative response efforts in the 2024 fire season. The groups that were hired in the 2024 fire season were engaged in low-complexity tasks aligned with their basic training such as mopping up, cooling ash pits and patrolling areas to prevent potential flare-ups.
In recognition of the need to grow this program beyond the initial training intake in 2023, the Regional District Cooperative Community Wildfire Response Organizations program was established to assist in funding training and equipment purchasing of rural response groups.
Columbia Basin Trust Initially launched as part of the BC Economic Recovery Plan in 2021 to support wildfire risk-reduction projects in the Columbia Basin, this program became the Columbia Basin Wildfire Resiliency Initiative in 2022-23. With an ongoing investment of $4 million to support expanded wildfire risk reduction in the Columbia Basin, the program is supported by the BCWS, the Ministry of Forests Regional Operations, and the Columbia Basin Trust.
To date, there have been 20 projects supported in 18 communities.
Cattlemen’s Association The Province partners with the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association to support beef cattle producers in B.C. Since 2021, $300,000 has been provided in grant funding to build and expand on an existing initiative that develops, pilots and tests new models of targeted livestock grazing as a supplemental tool for managing fine fuels in B.C.’s forested rangelands.
B.C. Community Forest Association BCWS works alongside the B.C. Community Forest Association (BCCFA) to reduce wildfire risk in community forests. BCCFA is a non-profit society serving as the voice and advocate of community forests in BC. Currently BCCFA represents more than 100 rural and Indigenous communities across the province. Under the BC Economic Recovery Plan, $5 million was allocated to the BCCFA to reduce wildfire risk and stimulate employment opportunities in 15 community forest tenure areas located around rural communities between 2020 and 2023.
Additionally, community forests have invested $8 million of their own funds and managed more than $17 million in grants from outside sources such as FESBC to build wildfire resiliency and reduce risk through mechanical treatments and use of prescribed fire.
Premier David Eby has issued the following statement celebrating Vaisakhi:
“Today, Sikhs in B.C. join those around the world in celebrating Vaisakhi.
“One of the holiest days of the Sikh calendar, Vaisakhi commemorates the creation of the Khalsa and celebrates the spring harvest. People mark the occasion by gathering at gurdwaras, reading from the sacred scripture and enjoying community fairs and parades.
“B.C. is home to one of the largest Sikh communities and some of the largest Vaisakhi events outside of India, such as this past weekend’s parade in Vancouver and the upcoming parade in Surrey this coming Saturday. These rich cultural celebrations are open to people of all faiths and backgrounds, and are known for their welcoming atmosphere and delicious food.
“The mission of the Khalsa is to work toward degh tegh fateh – or food, freedom and victory – for everyone, regardless of faith or background. B.C.’s Sikh community exemplifies this spirit of service during Vaisakhi and every day through acts of seva, or selfless service to others.
“April is also Sikh Heritage Month, making this the perfect opportunity to learn more about the Sikh faith and reflect on the many contributions the Sikh community makes to our province.
“I wish a happy Vaisakhi to all who are celebrating.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Mike Ezell (Mississippi 4th District)
Representatives Mike Ezell (MS-04), Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02), Julia Letlow (LA-05), and Cleo Fields (LA-06) have introduced the bipartisan National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Authorization Extension Act which will extend the federal authorization for the NFIP. The bill would extend the program through December 31, 2026, significantly longer than the typical short-term extensions passed by Congress.
“For far too long, families, businesses, and entire communities along our coast have lived with the uncertainty caused by short-term extensions of the National Flood Insurance Program,” Ezell said. The NFIP Authorization Extension Act delivers the stability South Mississippians need as they continue to face the devastating effects of flooding and natural disasters. By extending the program through the end of 2026, we’re sending a clear message: we are committed to protecting our coastal communities, giving them the tools to recover and rebuild, and working in a bipartisan way to strengthen and modernize the program for the future.”
“I am proud to introduce this bill to provide the long-overdue stability our communities deserve,” Carter said. “For too long, homeowners, small businesses, and local economies have lived under the cloud of short-term NFIP extensions, often attached to contentious government funding bills. This clean, multi-year reauthorization brings much-needed certainty to policyholders and ensures uninterrupted access to flood insurance across the country. As flooding becomes more frequent and severe, we must protect families and businesses by keeping this program operating while we work to deliver lasting, comprehensive reforms to strengthen and modernize the program.”
“Given the frequent storms and flooding our state endures, I’m a strong advocate for renewing the National Flood Insurance Program and making sure it serves those who depend on it. For many Louisianans, flood insurance is not just a policy—it’s a lifeline. I’m committed to working with my colleagues to strengthen this vital program and ensure our communities get the support they need when disaster strikes,” Letlow said.
“Passing the NFIP Authorization Extension Act is essential to protecting hardworking people across Louisiana,” Fields said. Given our state’s history with extreme weather events, we must ensure that flood insurance remains accessible to all. My colleagues in both the House and Senate will continue to fight for those most affected by flooding throughout the state and across the country.”
The Senate companion NFIP Authorization Extension Act was introduced by Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) in March 2025. Congressmembers Marc Veasey (D-TX), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), and LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) are original cosponsors of the House legislation.
“Rather than experiencing a 33rd short-term extension, NFIP policyholders deserve certainty, and NFIP as a program requires stability. A two-year reauthorization will provide a runway for Congress and stakeholders to hold conversations and hearings around catastrophic insurance and towards highly-demanded comprehensive NFIP reform, like a means-tested benefit for affordability, a third-party review of the Risk Rating 2.0 methodology, and proper incentivization of flood risk mitigation,” GNO, Inc. President Michael Hecht said.
“Extending the National Flood Insurance Program would ensure continuous operations and greater stability for policyholders until a long-term reauthorization is enacted into law – a valuable source of certainty for counties and our residents,” National Association of Counties Executive Director Matthew Chase said. “Counties thank Representatives Carter, Fields, Letlow, and Ezell for their leadership, and we look forward to working with our bipartisan congressional partners to secure passage of this legislation.”
Background:
The NFIP is a federal program managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that provides flood insurance to homeowners and businesses, aiming to reduce the financial impact of flooding. The program is vital for coastal communities with extensive low-lying areas and frequent exposure to hurricanes and heavy rainfall. The NFIP helps protect residents from devastating financial losses due to flood damage, encourages responsible development in flood-prone areas, and supports rebuilding efforts after disasters—making it a critical safety net for Mississippi communities.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
April 11, 2025
In a letter to the HHS Secretary, the lawmakers pushed back against the destruction of HHS and its impact on the state
[SPRINGFIELD, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today led the Illinois Democratic Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing frustration and concern that HHS has slashed critical federal funding for the state’s public health programs and infrastructure.
“We write to express our real concern about the Department and Health and Human Services’ (HHS) actions to terminate federal funds for state and local health departments, fire critical public health staff, dismantle health agencies, and close regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago, Illinois. Your decision puts the health and well-being of our people at risk, and will do nothing to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” the lawmakers wrote.
Last month, it was reported that HHS would terminate $11.4 billion in federal funding for state and local health departments, including more than $125 million in funding for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Lawmakers were also told that Illinois would lose access to an additional $324 million in anticipated federal funding that was already allocated to protect Illinois residents from infectious diseases. Further, Illinois could lose up to $28 million in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants for mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
In an effort to combat the Trump Administration’s destructive funding rescissions, a 24-state coalition, which included Illinois, filed a lawsuit against HHS for the rollback of public health funding. Earlier this month, a federal court barred HHS from terminating these funds for a 14-day period.
“The state’s [Illinois’] efforts to prepare for future public health emergencies—which could include the worsening avian flu situation, measles outbreaks, and other respiratory illness challenges—will be severely hampered if HHS rescinds this essential federal funding. Now that a federal court has blocked HHS from terminating these funds, we urge you to abandon these ill-conceived and dangerous plans,” the lawmakers continued their letter.
In addition to ripping away billions in promised federal funding, Secretary Kennedy has overseen the destruction of HHS’ workforce and infrastructure, putting thousands of dedicated career civil servants out of a job while gutting critical federal agencies. Since President Trump’s inauguration, 10,000 HHS employees have left the agency or been fired. A couple weeks ago, HHS announced that an additional 10,000 public health workers will be fired, including 3,500 from the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 workers from the National Institutes of Health and 300 workers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“A reduction in force of this magnitude threatens the ability of HHS to ensure the safety of our nation’s foods, drugs, and medical devices; to inspect and regulate nursing homes; to develop breakthrough cures and treatments for patients with cancer, ALS, and heart disease; and to respond quickly when a public health crisis emerges,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers continued their letter, emphasizing that closing regional health offices and shutting out states from federal resources does nothing to support the health and safety of Americans.
“Finally, it was reported that HHS would dismantle and consolidate several health agencies under an ‘Administration for a Healthier America,’ and close several regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago. HHS Region 5 has been an essential partner in implementing and coordinating federal resources and initiatives. It has worked with state, local, and tribal governments in Illinois to address a range of public health concerns, including infectious disease outbreaks, mental and behavioral health needs, food recalls, and more,” the lawmakers wrote. “Eliminating this office or consolidating it into another regional office risks reducing access to agency personnel and HHS resources for Illinois.”
The lawmakers concluded their letter by reminding Secretary Kennedy of his responsibility to improve public health, not destruct the institution that ensures Americans have the resources to stay healthy.
“It is one thing to undertake efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse in government. It is quite another to cite these reasonable goals as an excuse to instead decimate our nation’s public health infrastructure. HHS has provided no details on its plans or any explanation of how these steps will improve HHS’ ability to carry out its mission to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans. The complete lack of transparency on these critical decisions supports the logical conclusion that these decisions were made for political purposes without considering their real-world impact,” the lawmakers wrote.
“As HHS Secretary, you are tasked with the serious responsibility of protecting our nation’s health and you have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans. Do not neglect this responsibility, and do not waste this opportunity,” the lawmaker concluded their letter.
A copy of the letter is available here and below:
April 11, 2025
Dear Secretary Kennedy,
We write to express our real concern about the Department and Health and Human Services’ (HHS) actions to terminate federal funds for state and local health departments, fire critical public health staff, dismantle health agencies, and close regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago, Illinois. Your decision puts the health and well-being of people at risk, and will do nothing to “Make America Healthy Again.”
In March, it was reported that HHS would be terminating $11.4 billion in federal funding for state and local health departments, including more than $125 million for Illinois. We also have been informed that Illinois will not be able to access an additional $324 million in anticipated federal funding for future work to prevent and address infectious disease. The Illinois Department of Public Health has leveraged these federal funds to improve its technologies and laboratories, support the public health workforce, and strengthen local health departments. However, the state’s efforts to prepare for future public health emergencies—which could include the worsening avian flu situation, measles outbreaks, and other respiratory illness challenges—will be severely hampered if HHS rescinds this essential federal funding. Now that a federal court has blocked HHS from terminating these funds, we urge you to abandon these ill-conceived and dangerous plans.
It also was announced that an additional 10,000 public health workers will be fired from HHS, including 3,500 from the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 workers from the National Institutes of Health, and 300 workers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This is on top of the reported 10,000 HHS employees who have already left the agency since January 20, including probationary employees who were fired earlier this year, many of whom were not rehired, despite two court rulings ordering their reinstatement. A reduction in force of this magnitude threatens the ability of HHS to ensure the safety of our nation’s foods, drugs, and medical devices; to inspect and regulate nursing homes; to develop breakthrough cures and treatments for patients with cancer, ALS, and heart disease; and to respond quickly when a public health crisis emerges.
Finally, it was reported that HHS would dismantle and consolidate several health agencies under an “Administration for a Healthier America,” and close several regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago. HHS Region 5 has been an essential partner in implementing and coordinating federal resources and initiatives. It has worked with state, local, and tribal governments in Illinois to address a range of public health concerns, including infectious disease outbreaks, mental and behavioral health needs, food recalls, and more. Eliminating this office or consolidating it into another regional office risks reducing access to agency personnel and HHS resources for Illinois.
It is one thing to undertake efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse in government. It is quite another to cite these reasonable goals as an excuse to instead decimate our nation’s public health infrastructure. HHS has provided no details on its plans or any explanation of how these steps will improve HHS’ ability to carry out its mission to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans. The complete lack of transparency on these critical decisions supports the logical conclusion that these decisions were made for political purposes without considering their real-world impact.
As HHS Secretary, you are tasked with the serious responsibility of protecting our nation’s health and you have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans. Do not neglect this responsibility, and do not waste this opportunity.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your timely response.
Sincerely,
-30-
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andrew Maxwell, Bergeron Chair in Technology Entrepreneurship, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Canada
As Canadians prepare to vote in another federal election, the country’s economy faces a sobering reality. As the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) notes, productivity is stagnating, our innovation performance lags global peers and high-potential startups often fail to scale.
Despite these warning signs, innovation policy remains largely absent from political discourse. Canadians hear a great deal about how political parties are going to spend money, but little about where the money is going to come from.
If Canadians want to maintain their standard of living, Canada must close that gap through a more deliberate, strategic approach to innovation.
Innovation is economic strategy
In today’s knowledge-based economy, as business executive and innovatorJim Balsillie observes, power flows to countries that own digital data and their “value-added applications” (like apps or platforms) and intellectual property.
Countries like the United States, China and South Korea have embedded innovation into national strategy, investing in sectors like artificial intelligence (AI), clean technology and biotech to drive growth and resilience. Canada, by contrast, has taken a fragmented, reactive approach.
Canada also often conflates research with innovation. While both are vital, innovation is about turning knowledge into use through deployment, adoption, commercialization and scaling. Much of today’s transformative innovation, particularly in AI and software, depends on the transfer of tacit knowledge (related to things like user insights, execution experience and expertise in a particular domain) not just codified knowledge (for example, patents, technical drawings and licenses).
Why innovation policy fails
Governments struggle with innovation because it defies conventional policymaking:
It requires failure tolerance. Innovation is iterative. But political systems fear failure.
It demands long-term vision. Results may take years, beyond typical electoral cycles.
It’s technically complex. Few policymakers have deep expertise in emerging technologies or understand the research and development process.
It’s often misunderstood. Funding research is not the same as building innovation capacity or developing innovation processes.
It’s hard to quantify. Quantifying innovation outcomes is complex and challenging to measure, making it also difficult to measure return.
To break this cycle, Canada needs a non-partisan national innovation institution — an agency empowered to advise on strategy, evaluate outcomes and embed technical expertise into policy at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.
Models like DARPA from the U.S., Vinnova from Sweden and the Israel Innovation Authority show how long-term, high-impact innovation can be achieved with the right institutional scaffolding and appropriate knowledge.
Video about Vinnova, Sweden’s national innovation agency.
Yet none have been national organizations that addressed the broad proposed mandate to explicitly advise governments on technology and policy strategy, evaluate innovation outcomes and embed technical expertise into recommendations.
A non-partisan national innovation institution must:
Track outcomes more than inputs. Innovation success can be measured by a number of project- or industry-specific outcomes, such as productivity, firm growth and export revenue. The ICP proposed measuring the “prosperity gap,” comparing innovation performance to peer jurisdictions.
Support long-term strategic objectives, focusing on Canada’s strengths in critical areas like AI, clean technology, energy health-care technology, and leveraging expertise and experience in these and other areas.
Embed technology experts alongside health-care and education experts in the decision-making process. Recruit scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to anticipate technology and market trends, guiding both implementation and policy development.
Differentiate innovation from research. Support both, but recognize the differences and explicitly link innovation to adoption and new use cases.
Promote value capture. Ensure Canadian firms and the country benefit from and retain control of key technologies that enable them to scale domestically.
Recognize the inherent risks in innovation and the potential for failure. Evaluate and build on impact and learn from failure to enhance innovation processes and improve future outcomes.
Align our educational institutions with innovation goals revising programs, creating more flexible learning options and enhancing entrepreneurship so that more research outcomes are commercialized.
Canada’s economy is heavily dependent on resource exports and vulnerable to technological disruption. Meanwhile, the global AI and clean tech races are accelerating. Canada is at risk of falling further behind — not just economically, but geopolitically.
But Canada also has strengths: world-class researchers, diverse entrepreneurial talent and global partnerships. What’s missing is a cohesive national strategy to harness this potential. Creating a non-partisan innovation institution would be a powerful first step.
If Canadians want to provide revenue for governments decide how to fund education, health care and climate adaptation, they must grow their economy. And to do that, Canada needs smarter innovation policy.
It’s time to stop celebrating activity and start rewarding outcomes. Let’s build the structures that allow Canadian ingenuity to thrive — not in theory, but in practice.
Andrew Maxwell works for York University, but received no direct benefit from comments in this article. He receives funding from various research agencies for his work in the area, but none of which creates the potential for conflict. He is a member of the Academy of Management, the International Society for Professional Innovation Management and Professional Engineers Ontario..
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke (9th District of New York)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 14, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT:
e: jessica.myers@mail.house.gov
c: 202.913.0126
NEW YORK, NY – Last week, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Co-Chair of the Smart Cities Caucus, toured the Cornell Tech Campus at Cornell University. Rep. Clarke met with faculty leaders, including Dean and Vice Provost Greg Morrisett and Founding Director of the Urban Tech Hub Michael Samuelian, who debriefed her on their latest advancements in smart city technologies, provided insight into their revolutionary Urban Tech program, and highlighted the direct impacts their program has had on New York City. Since its founding in 2012, Cornell Tech has stood as a leading institution in the smart cities space. In the 118th Congress, Rep. Clarke introduced the Smart Cities and Communities Act to expand smart city technologies and improve governmental coordination of these programs.
“Every American should have the right to call a clean, safe, and climate-resilient community their home, and it’s overwhelmingly clear smart city technologies represent the best, most practical path to making that aspiration a reality. As a leader in Congress’ efforts to shepherd the widespread adoption of smart cities, it was a privilege to tour Cornell Tech and learn from its many experts on the revolutionary research and work they are doing to make our cities run smoother,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “These visionaries are truly paving the way forward in smart city technology, which I am confident will benefit communities in New York and other cities across the nation. We know overcoming the climate crisis will demand bold, creative solutions to the myriad of challenges that lie ahead, and that is why I find great comfort in knowing Cornell Tech is a leader in this existential fight. I am honored to have had the opportunity to learn about their work firsthand, and I look forward to witnessing what they can achieve in the years ahead.”
“We were honored to welcome Congresswoman Yvette Clarke to the Cornell Tech campus to discuss how our campus, faculty, students, and staff are creating and fostering technological solutions and advancements that enhance daily life for New Yorkers and beyond. Congresswoman Clarke’s leadership in advancing smart cities, digital equity, and innovation aligns closely with our mission to build a more inclusive, robust, and sustainable tech ecosystem,” said Greg Morrisett, Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech. “Shaping a future that supports all members of society and drives economic growth requires that policymakers, academia, and the tech and business communities work together. As co-chair of the Smart Cities Caucus, the Congresswoman shares our optimism for the catalyzing and positive role technology will continue to have in the world and we want to be a partner and resource in endeavors to improve communities through innovation and power New York forward.”
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brenton Griffin, Casual Lecturer and Tutor in History, Indigenous Studies, and Politics, Flinders University
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced it will build 15 new temples in countries across the world, including one in Liverpool, New South Wales.
This follows a similar announcement last year of plans to build a second temple for Queensland, in South Brisbane.
The two new structures – together with existing temples in Sydney (1984), Adelaide (2000), Melbourne (2000), Perth (2001) and Brisbane (2003) – will bring the total number of Australian temples to seven.
In a nation with fewer than 160,000 practising Mormons, these new buildings seek to increase the legitimacy and visibility of the church.
The Melbourne temple was erected in 2000, as was the temple in Adelaide. Wikimedia
The significance of temples
There are currently at least 200 completed Mormon temples around the globe, with an additional 182 under construction or announced.
Temples have a different purpose and scope to Mormon chapels, which are far more common: Australia has about 190 Mormon chapels.
Chapels are used for weekly sacrament (or communion) and weekly sermons. They are open to visitors, and often hold cultural events, extra church activities and family history centres.
Temples, on the other hand, represent the blending of the divine and temporal. According to the Mormon worldview and doctrines, they are the world’s most sacred structures.
Each temple is emblazoned with the phrase “The House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord”. This isn’t just symbolic. Mormons believe each temple is literally the house of God, in which his presence may be felt.
Given the gravity of this belief, these spaces are reserved for those who have been deemed worthy to enter by Mormon leaders.
Inside the House of the Lord
The church itself maintains that temples are “sacred, not secret”. It has long worked to dispel speculation over what happens within temple bounds.
One way it does this is through “open houses”, in which a newly-built temple may be toured by anyone for a brief period. Once the open house has ended and the temple has been “dedicated” by a church leader – a process that includes blessing the building and those who will use it – it becomes entirely closed to the public.
Within the temples, the most sacred rituals and knowledge of “the gospel” are imparted upon faithful members. Rituals can be performed for both living people and deceased ancestors. They must never be conducted – or even discussed – outside the sacred temple space.
One of these rituals is baptism and confirmation for the dead by proxy (baptisms for the living are conducted in chapels or other spaces). This provides the deceased individuals “ordinances” that are necessary for salvation, which they did not receive during life.
These baptisms have been controversial at times, with ordinances performed on individuals who were not direct ancestors of Latter-day Saints, including Holocaust victims and historical figures such as Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Even prominent Australians such as Ned Kelly, Malcolm Fraser, Neville Bonner and Truganini have allegedly appeared as “baptised” in Mormon records.
The rituals are accompanied by various stages of knowledge progression for attendees. As with the rituals, temple knowledge is not to be discussed outside.
Local opposition
The air of secrecy and exclusivity surrounding Mormon temples has resulted in a flood of negative attention from Australian media, other religious institutions and society at large. News reports from as far back as the early 20th century sought to expose “Mormon temple secrets”.
The first temple, built in Sydney in 1984, was widely protested by community groups and organisations. The building had to be modified by the church before it was eventually approved. A similar situation transpired in Brisbane in the early 2000s.
In other cities, such as Adelaide and Melbourne, temples were not directly protested, but were still critiqued for their lavishness, with the average Australian temple costing around A$8 million in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Given the cost of living crisis, and contention over the place of religion in contemporary Australia, the two proposed temples will likely also face criticism.
Reputational management
The church’s reputation in Australia has become ever more complicated over the past 20 years, not least due to several controversies.
In 2022 and 2023, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported the church was allegedly abusing tax laws, to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. This was addressed, but not confirmed or denied, in the November 2022 Senate Estimates by Australian Tax Office Assistant Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn, after questioning by Greens Senator David Shoebridge. Accusations of tax evasion have also been made in New Zealand and the United States.
The new Australian temples will be completed under a pall of critiques and accusations around church finances and other controversies. And while they might be briefly open to the public, their doors will just as quickly shut – adding more fuel to the speculation.
Brenton Griffin was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but is no longer a practising member of the church. His current research is focused on the religion’s place in Australian and New Zealand popular culture, politics, and society from the nineteenth century to present.
Home ownership in Australia was once regarded as proof of success in life. However, it remains elusive for many people today.
Prices have soared beyond wage growth, rents keep rising, and even some well-intentioned government initiatives, including those announced by Labor and the Coalition at their election campaign launches on the weekend, risk driving up demand.
What’s gone wrong?
The Grattan Institute says increasing housing supply is essential to maintain price stability over time, but notes we are not making enough progress.
Australia will miss its goal to build 1.2 million new homes within five years if we stick to the current housing policies and construction practices.
Why it’s not working
There is a wide range of reasons why Australia is failing to provide enough housing:
Fragmented policy approach: A national approach involving all levels of government aligning their policies, rules and regulations is needed.
Planning bottlenecks: Some projects face years of delay due to local council regulations and zoning requirements. The Productivity Commission has reported Australia’s planning system has excessive barriers to new projects, including medium-density developments.
Land release delays: State governments are slow to release new land for housing. This is often because of community opposition, political considerations and market dynamics. This results in limited availability, which leads to higher costs for land that can be developed.
Skills shortages: Recent immigration restrictions have worsened the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the residential construction sector.
Demand-side subsidies: Government programs, such as first home buyer grants, help some people buy homes. However, they also make housing less affordable because they can result in increased prices.
What could work without raising prices
There are various changes that could be made without necessarily raising prices.
Duplication and logjams could be removed if a national housing strategy was introduced. This should integrate policies and regulations across federal, state and local jurisdictions.
Federal grants and incentives should be tied to states meeting targets for land release, re-zoning permits and streamlined approvals.
Using innovative construction technologies can cut construction time by as much as 50%. These include prefabricated and modular building parts, which are made in factories and later assembled at the construction site.
A government update of land use and zoning permits would make it easier and faster to build medium-density housing near transport and job hubs. This is a quick way to add dwellings without sprawl.
Governments could also offer tax or planning concessions for developments that lock in affordable rents. This would help create stable, long-term rental options.
Learning from other countries
Australia can get ideas for increasing housing supply without raising prices from the experience of other countries.
Through substantial investments in social housing, Finland has significantly reduced homelessness and created stable housing options for families with limited income.
Large-scale prefab public housing originated in Singapore decades ago as a method to accelerate construction timelines and reduce expenses. Prefabrication is only used in 8% of projects in Australia at the moment.
Prefabrication is widely used in building sectors in other countries as a cheaper and faster way of responding to housing shortages. brizmaker/Shutterstock
Sweden has adopted advanced modular construction techniques, which result in 80% of homes being built off-site.
Germany employs municipal-led housing associations along with rent controls to maintain price stability and tenant protection.
And in the UK, inclusionary zoning regulations mandate that new developments either contain affordable housing units or contribute to a fund that supports affordable housing in different locations. This helps create diverse housing options in most neighborhoods.
Election promises versus real change
Significant reforms are needed – not election sweeteners. To make genuine progress, we need to invest heavily in modern construction techniques, transform housing approval processes and ensure states promptly release essential land.
The solution requires a coordinated response from federal, state and local governments. This would enable more Australians to obtain homeownership and secure rental options.
Our politicians must avoid short-term promises during elections because these threaten to return us to the destructive pattern of escalating prices and dissatisfied homebuyers. Long-term policy reform is what we need.
Dr. Ehsan Noroozinejad has received funding from both national and international organisations to support research addressing housing and climate crises. His most recent funding on integrated housing and climate policy comes from the James Martin Institute for Public Policy (soon to be the Australian Public Policy Institute).
Big promises on housing were at the centre of both major parties’ announcements at the official federal election campaign launches on the weekend.
Among the highlights, Labor pledged to build 100,000 new homes and extend a government-guaranteed 5% deposit scheme to all first home buyers. The Coalition promised to make interest payments on the first A$650,000 of a mortgage tax-deductible for up to five years, for eligible first home buyers purchasing new builds.
Promising to help would-be homebuyers without access to the “bank of mum and dad”, the policy aims to make loans easier to get amid high interest rates and house prices. But it has also reignited debate over lending regulation.
What exactly does this buffer do, and what might we lose by lowering it?
Protecting banks and borrowers
Mortgage buffers are a risk management tool, regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
When banks assess a home loan, they don’t just check if you can repay it at today’s rate. They test whether you could still afford it if interest rates were higher.
Suppose a borrower in Sydney takes out a mortgage of $780,000 (around the average loan size). At a 6% interest rate, the monthly repayments over 30 years would be about $4,672.
Under the current serviceability buffer – three percentage points – banks assess whether this prospective borrower could still afford repayments if interest rates rose to 9%, which would increase their monthly repayments to around $6,270.
This buffer doesn’t increase the price the borrower actually pays. It simply ensures they have the capacity to service higher repayments if conditions worsen.
The last time mortgage rates were above 9% for an extended period (1996), Peter Dutton was in the Queensland Police Service, the Swans had lost the AFL Grand Final, and Oasis were about to cancel their Australian tour. Could history repeat itself?
APRA increased the serviceability buffer from 2.5% to 3% in late 2021. But at the time, Australia’s cash rate was very low, at just 0.1%. It’s now 4.1%.
Critics argue the buffer has become too restrictive now that rates are higher, locking out first home buyers and those without parental financial help.
The buffer can also act as a barrier to refinancing. Those who qualified for a loan when interest rates were low may no longer meet serviceability requirements under higher rates. Research suggests that removing refinancing barriers can reduce loan defaults and support household spending.
The risks
There are good reasons for the measures we have to protect borrowers from future shocks.
Reducing the buffer allows more borrowers to qualify for the same loan. But it also means there’s less built-in protection against future rate rises.
Research shows the risk of a borrower defaulting on their mortgage increases sharply when their loan-to-value ratio – the amount borrowed divided by the property’s purchase price – is above 75%, or where a borrower is spending two-thirds of their income on the mortgage.
But buffers also need to be set carefully, ensuring they don’t unnecessarily lock out creditworthy borrowers.
The mortgage serviceability buffer is designed to protect borrowers from sudden financial shocks. doublelee/Shutterstock
Help for first home buyers?
When considered together with the Coalition’s additional policies – to allow first home buyers to withdraw up to $50,000 from their superannuation for a home deposit and deduct mortgage payments from their taxable income – the implications become clearer.
Economic theory suggests that combined, such measures would move more borrowers closer to the margin of affordability.
Many would likely take on the maximum debt they could qualify for, leaving them highly exposed if economic or interest rate conditions deteriorate.
And the very borrowers likely to rely on superannuation withdrawals to fund their deposits are also those with limited savings and potentially high loan-to-value ratios. The borrowers most affected by the barrier are therefore among the most vulnerable to repayment stress.
What about house prices?
There’s the obvious question of what reducing the barriers to borrowing would do to house prices, without a corresponding increase in supply.
Research has shown stricter borrower-level constraints are effective in slowing house price growth, especially during periods of rapid credit expansion.
These policies are most effective when targeted toward high-risk borrower groups such as first home buyers or those with high loan-to-valuation ratios.
Some economists argue buffers need not be static. Instead, they could be tightened during booms to prevent the housing market overheating, and eased during tougher times to avoid cutting off credit unnecessarily.
So, should we lower the buffer?
Serviceability buffers aren’t just bureaucratic hurdles. They are an unseen brake on unsustainable borrowing and a cushion against future shocks.
Borrower constraints don’t only reduce default risk – research shows they also redistribute credit more efficiently, shifting it away from overheated urban markets and toward lower-risk borrowers.
The first cut to the cash rate in nearly five years has eased Australian mortgage stress risk in the short term. With renewed borrowing appetite, the role of buffers becomes even more critical.
Removing them may help more people into homes in the short run, but it comes at the risk of greater pain later.
Andrew Grant has previously received funding from the Australian Institute of Credit Management and illion (Experian).
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney
When parents are concerned about their child’s development, they often seek an assessment to address concerns and identify any conditions, such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or learning disorders.
Common worries include difficulties making friends, focusing on tasks, or meeting educational goals.
It might seem counter-intuitive but assessments are starting to focus on a child’s strengths during this process. This can create powerful opportunities to improve child and family outcomes, particularly when too much of the focus is on challenges in the family home, school and play settings.
There is, however, a lack of evidence about how to do such assessments and how certain strengths can be used in assessment.
In a new research paper, we have developed a strengths checklist for parents, carers and clinicians to more easily identify children’s skills, talents and positive qualities – and understand the type of support they need at home, school or socially.
The aim was to provide an easy way for parents and clinicians to identify strengths in children, and to provide a method for studying the role of strengths in development. This assessment can be used alongside more established assessments of challenges.
Why highlight a child’s strengths?
Focusing on a child’s strengths can have a powerful impact on children and parents. It can boost a child’s motivation, self-esteem, cognitive skills, language development, problem-solving abilities and build stronger relationships.
For parents and caregivers, it can increase their own feelings of self-worth and improve the quality of their relationship with their own children.
When parents and caregivers believe in their child’s abilities and encourage their strengths, children and families thrive.
However, there are many gaps in research about how to apply a strengths-based approach in the context of a neurodevelopmental assessment.
Currently, while the basic principle of incorporating strengths is clear, clinicians need to rely on intuition and creativity to guide their practices.
We have long needed better evidence-based methods to guide this.
This is where our research comes in
Our new study used the Sydney Child Neurodevelopment Research Registry, which aims to improve the neurodevelopmental assessment processes and the evidence for what works for families and clinicians. We asked caregivers to identify their child’s strengths on their first assessment visit.
Nearly 700 caregivers reported an average of 2.8 strengths about their children. Using these themes, we developed a child strengths checklist to use for clinical assessments.
We showed caregivers identified six categories of child strengths: cognitive and intellectual, social and interpersonal, hobbies and passions, character and personality, physical, and resilient behaviours.
Some caregivers might report that while their child had difficulty with peer interactions, they were also kind, affectionate, honest and caring.
Other caregivers described concerns about cognitive delays, but they also described how children persevered and persisted with tasks.
We asked parents and caregivers about their child’s strengths and found they fell into six categories. HopeNFPhotography/Shutterstock
Analysing the data qualitatively – where we read caregiver transcripts and extracted themes – we captured the richness and detail of unique strengths. In total, we identified 61 unique strengths.
With community representatives and clinicians, we used this to develop a strengths-based checklist we’re calling the Child Autism and Neurodevelopment Strengths Checklist, or the CANS checklist.
This type of research will provide the evidence needed to be able to implement national guidelines and to develop better evidence about how strengths can be used to improve outcomes. We want to develop best practices for combining concerns and strengths into feedback, support plans and intervention strategies.
What can caregivers and clinicians do now?
Support schemes including the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) often require families to highlight what children can’t do. Still, there are some practical ways caregivers and clinicians can ensure a child’s strengths are kept front and centre.
For caregivers, along with discussing concerns, reflect on and talk with your clinicians about your child’s strengths. Make sure clinicians keep these in mind when devising supports.
For both caregivers and clinicians, it can be helpful to think about characteristics often seen as challenges – such as a strong need for routine – as also potential strengths. It may lead to new ways of supporting children. With the right environment and support, these traits can be valuable assets in a child’s development.
For clinicians, consider how a child’s strengths can inform your assessment and intervention strategies. Make sure you don’t only focus on what children can’t do or need support with.
Communicate clearly about the child’s strengths and consider how these strengths can:
support the child’s long-term development and goals. If the child thrives on routine and pays close attention to details, showing them how to embrace these strengths can teach them how to use them to reach their own goals and to be more independent
be the target of an intervention. Everyone needs to experience success. Designing activities around strengths can make intervention more enjoyable and engaging, and the effects are more likely to be long-lasting
be used to support the wellbeing of families. Helping families focus on each other’s strengths and improve the way family members talk about and support one another creates a positive environment where they can all feel valued, respected and cared for.
By focusing on strengths, we want to create more effective and personalised support for children with neurodevelopmental conditions to reach their full potential.
Building a strong, evidence-based approach will help ensure children’s strengths are consistently considered in assessments and intervention planning.
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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McDonald, Honorary Professor of Demography, Centre for Health Policy, The University of Melbourne
Immigration is shaping as one of the most potent policy issues of the election campaign.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has announced a Coalition government would cut the two major migration programs – permanent and net overseas. He has directly linked the number of people coming into the country to high house prices, which feeds into the election’s hot button issue of cost of living:
the first and foremost interest in mind is to get young Australians into housing.
But will cutting immigration help fix the housing crisis? Or is this a smokescreen for other problems with the migration system that are not being addressed by the major parties?
Fewer permanent migrants
The Coalition is campaigning on its plans to reduce the Permanent Migration Program, from 185,000 a year to 140,000.
This is the wrong time to make such a large cut. Permanent migration, more than temporary, is critical for Australia’s economic growth. It also helps offset the ageing of the population.
For its part, Labor failed to include the permanent migration number in last month’s budget, so we have no idea about its plans if it is re-elected.
It is best for our economy when the annual migration intake is between 160,000 and 220,000. From the Gillard government until today, the Permanent Migration Program has been set by governments of both shades within that range.
Th Coalition’s proposed cut is problematic because extreme pressure is building in two visa categories that have close to 100% grant rates: Partners and Children in the Family stream and Employer Sponsored workers in the Skill stream.
If recent experience is anything to go by, the number of applications lodged by family members of Australian citizens or permanent residents will skyrocket to 110,000 by June 30. It is important to note this category is largely demand-driven. These family members have a right to permanent residence under Section 87 of The Migration Act.
Demand is also exploding in the visa category that allows employers to address labour shortages, which has a grant rate of over 98%. Almost 100,000 applications are expected in 2024–25. However, only 44,000 places have been allocated. Employers are going to be very unhappy whichever side is elected.
Given the pent-up demand, the Coalition is avoiding the tricky questions about which parts of the Permanent Program it would cut and by how much. Labor is shirking the issue altogether by not providing any target.
Dutton’s planned reduction to permanent migration numbers would have only a small impact on housing. In a normal year, 60% of grantees are already living in Australia. They won’t be adding to housing demand, because they are already here.
The numbers don’t add up
The other major category, Net Overseas Migration, includes temporary arrivals – mainly skilled workers, working holiday makers and international students. Treasury estimates 260,000 migrants in this category in 2025–26
Dutton says the Coalition would cut this number by 100,000 people and would do it “straight away, once we get into government”.
But this number is not achievable, at least not “straight away”. Arrivals can be lowered. But the number of departures will be way too low to reach the target.
The category has already fallen by 100,000 in each of the past two years. It will continue to decline gradually over the next couple of years, but not nearly as fast as the Coalition target requires.
The number of departures has been low due to the surge in temporary migrants that followed the COVID border closures. The majority of these people have valid visas until at least 2027–28. Only then, is there likely to be a flow of migrants leaving Australia.
Dutton should have said a Coalition government would reach this target in its third year, not its first. But this would not have suited the false argument that net overseas migration has a big impact on housing affordability. It’s spurious because net overseas migration largely consists of temporary residents who rarely buy houses. And both major parties have policies banning temporary residents from purchasing established properties.
New temporary migrants do have an impact on rental demand, but it’s highly localised near universities and along public transport routes. Even this demand is somewhat muted. According to 2021 Census data, a large minority (30–40%) of students and working holiday makers live in specialist accommodation or in very large households.
Problems beyond the election
Australia is facing an estimated shortfall of 130,000 housing construction workers. Both sides of politics are taking worthwhile steps to expand the number of apprentices. But the apprenticeship route is slow and likely to fall short of requirements.
We need more skilled tradies from overseas, but it’s not happening due to obstacles in the migration system. Neither side of politics seems to be looking for creative solutions. Certainly, cutting the Permanent Program is not the answer.
Another major issue is the difficulty successive governments have had in getting people to leave Australia once all their options to remain have been exhausted.
As of January 2025, there were 92,000 individuals who had been refused a final Protection Visa, but had not yet departed. This number accumulated under the previous Morrison government and has continued to expand under Labor.
Policy not politics
Undue panic over the level of net overseas migration in an election context has made a mess of Australian migration policy.
This is evidenced by the policy shambles over international education. The major parties both have plans to limit the number of foreign students, but the cap in both cases is not much below pre-COVID enrolments.
On a more positive note, both sides of politics should be commended for not allowing racism and the “otherness” of migrants to enter the debate.
But it’s time to drop the fantasy that cutting migration will help young Australians enter the housing market. This a blatant distraction from the real and tangible problems with the migration system that must be dealt with by whoever wins on May 3.
This is the seventh article in our special series, Australia’s Policy Challenges. You can read the other articles here
Peter McDonald has received funding from the Australian Research Council and from the Department of Home Affairs (including its predecessors) for studies of migration issues, but not in the past decade.
