The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has again called for greater protection of civilians in war-torn Sudan following deadly army airstrikes in North Darfur earlier this week.
Volker Türk issued a statement on Wednesday saying he was deeply shocked by reports that hundreds of civilians were killed, and scores injured, in the 24 March strikes on a busy market in Tora Village.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a rival military known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war for nearly two years.
On Wednesday, international media reported that the army had recaptured the capital, Khartoum, which had mostly been under RSF control since fighting erupted in April 2023.
The army recaptured the presidential palace last Friday and is now reportedly in control of all the bridges across the River Nile which connect the different areas of the capital area.
Indiscriminate killings continue
The UN rights chief said his Office, OHCHR, learned that 13 of those killed in Monday’s airstrikes belonged to a single family, and that some of the injured are also reportedly dying due to the extremely limited access to healthcare.
OHCHR have also received reports that in the aftermath of the attack, members of the RSF arbitrarily arrested and detained civilians in Tora.
Both the RSF and Government forces have been accused of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas during the brutal conflict.
“Despite my repeated warnings and appeals to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to protect civilians in line with international humanitarian law, civilians continue to be killed indiscriminately, maimed and mistreated on a near daily basis, while civilian objects remain an all-too-frequent target,” said Mr. Türk.
He once again urged both parties to take all measures to avoid harming civilians and attacking civilian objects.
The High Commissioner warned that Indiscriminate attacks and attacks against civilians, and civilian objects, are unacceptable and may constitute war crimes.
“There must be full accountability for violations committed in this latest attack, and the many other attacks against civilians that have preceded it. Such conduct must never become normalized,” he said.
Indigenous women with complex mental-health and substance-use challenges in and around Surrey will soon have access to safe, culturally supportive housing and wraparound services to help them with their recovery.
“Combining culturally appropriate and trauma-informed care with safe, secure housing is essential in helping Indigenous women heal and rebuild their lives,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. “These new complex-care housing units offer the supports needed to help people stabilize and improve their well-being, all under one roof and for as long as they need.”
Starting in April 2025, complex-care housing services will be available for 10 Indigenous women living in Surrey with mental-health, substance-use and other concurrent health challenges. People living in this home will receive comprehensive, person-centred care that meets their specific needs, such as access to primary care, mental-health and substance-use services, counselling, cultural supports and daily living resources.
“Complex-care housing has helped me tremendously,” said Kaitlynn, who has lived experience. “Not only was I able to get the right care to fit my needs, but it also allowed me and my daughter to be healthy, housed and together on my pathway to healing.”
In partnership with the Province, this new initiative is led by the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA) and the Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association (FRAFCA). AHMA and FRAFCA will support the women accessing these specialized housing services to maintain a connection or reconnect to their culture.
“There’s a critical need to provide more supportive housing and complex care for people experiencing homelessness in Surrey,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “We are working with Indigenous organizations and health-care partners to ensure that culturally safe, wraparound care is available for Indigenous women so they can live full, healthy lives.”
As of March 1, 2025, the Province has expanded complex-care housing services to more than 500 people through 27 complex-care housing projects throughout B.C. Budget 2022 and Budget 2023 invested a total of $430 million to create and expand the complex-care housing program.
Complex-care housing is a key action in Belonging in BC, the Province’s homelessness action plan. It is also a part of the Province’s Safer Communities Action Plan, which is taking action to address the biggest challenges to keep people safe and communities strong. Since 2017, the Province has nearly 92,000 homes that have been delivered or are underway, including approximately 2,050 homes in Surrey.
Quotes:
Amna Shah, parliamentary secretary for mental health and addictions—
“Indigenous women in our community face unique challenges and these new housing units will provide the safe, supportive environment they need to thrive. By offering culturally appropriate care, we’re helping to create a foundation for healing and long-term well-being.”
Margaret Pfoh, chief executive officer, Aboriginal Housing Management Association —
“Complex-care housing is a direct response to the long-standing call for adequate, integrated health services in housing for Indigenous Peoples. Our approach is trauma-informed, culturally safe and proven to change lives. We know that it is crucial to respect people’s agency, dignity and choice when it comes to housing and services. People are living in encampments across B.C. for many reasons, and often it’s because of systemic racism and inter-generational poverty and trauma.”
Kyla Painter, executive director, Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association (FRAFCA) —
“Safe, stable housing that is rooted in culture and community is the foundation for healing. At FRAFCA, we see first-hand the barriers Indigenous women face in accessing the care and housing they need to rebuild their lives. This new complex-care housing project is a significant step forward in providing a supportive, culturally safe space where women can heal and thrive. We are proud to partner with AHMA and the Province to bring this critical service to Surrey.”
Quick Facts:
In B.C., First Nations people are almost six times more likely to die from toxic-drug poisonings.
In 2023, 1,060 people experienced homelessness in Surrey, an increase of 65% from 2020.
In Metro Vancouver, approximately 33% of people experiencing homelessness identified as Indigenous.
A 2020 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count found Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in Surrey were more likely to be living with addiction, acquired brain injury, have a learning disability or cognitive impairment than non-Indigenous people experiencing homelessness.
Launched in 2022, complex-care housing is designed for those whose mental-health or substance-use challenges overlap with other serious health conditions, such as brain injuries or mobility impairments.
Learn More:
Learn about mental health and substance use supports in B.C.: https://helpstartshere.gov.bc.ca/
To learn more about complex-care housing, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/managing-your-health/mental-health-substance-use/complex-care-housing
To learn more about the Safer Communities Action Plan, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/safer-communities/
To learn more about Homes for People plan, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HOUS0019-000436
“When you ride Tesla, you ride with Hitler” according to a reworked second world war propaganda poster that was discovered in Oakland, California last month.
When did an electric car brand supposedly become associated with the far right? Perhaps when its CEO, Elon Musk, embraced Donald Trump and the Maga movement that propelled him to a second term as US president. Tesla dealerships have been targets for protests and vandalism, while the company’s sales and stock price have fallen recently.
“But those same political controversies may ironically help broaden the mass market appeal of electric vehicles,” says Hannah Budnitz, a research associate at the Transport Studies Unit of Oxford University.
“This is an industry that needs to go beyond the early adopter tech bros – and now might be the moment.”
Around a fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions heating Earth can be traced to a vehicle exhaust pipe. The more combustion engines that can be replaced with electric batteries, the less getting from A to B will exacerbate climate change.
“Huge amounts of land which could otherwise be used to house people or be dedicated to nature are still reserved for roads and car parks,” says Vera O’Riordan, an energy policy researcher at University College Cork.
And while driving an EV doesn’t emit CO₂, it does emit stuff you wouldn’t want to breathe in. Electric cars, which contain heavy batteries, wear down their tyres faster than conventional cars and generate more microplastic particles in the process, according to Henry Obanya, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Portsmouth.
Obanya estimates that as much as a quarter of all microplastics in the environment could have come from car tyres.
So, the strategy of putting an EV in every garage has its limits (not least the fact that not everyone has a garage, or the space to charge an electric car).
A more efficient way to decarbonise the second-largest emission source by sector (power generation is first) would be to follow the advice of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC, which is made up of scientists and other experts convened by the UN, recommends that countries plan their transport systems according to the maxim “avoid, shift, improve”.
This involves, O’Riordan explains, avoiding unnecessary journeys by designing towns and cities with amenities in walking distance, shifting passengers onto higher-occupancy vehicles like buses by expanding public transport and improving all travel options by switching from fossil fuels to electric propulsion.
Let’s assume that decades of car-first urban planning have boxed us in and we don’t have time to undo it before the climate is cooked. How can more motorists be persuaded to turn in their gas-guzzler for a battery-powered model?
It’s the price, stupid
Back to Budnitz – and the waning influence of the EV industry’s tech-bro boosters.
“In 2010, when Tesla became the first American carmaker to go public since Ford in 1956, fully electric cars were still a niche technology,” she says.
Back then, Tesla adverts targeted the customers it thought would be early adopters: overwhelmingly, wealthy men like Musk. It worked. Survey after survey in North America and Europe showed that EV ownership in the early 2010s was skewed towards men and those on higher incomes.
This is in stark contrast to electric car marketing at the dawn of motoring. In 1900, petroleum-powered cars were in the minority (22% of all cars) and were widely considered temperamental “adventure machines” that were prone to breaking down. Electric cars were pitched as a safer, cleaner alternative that was perfect for city travel.
Perfect, in fact, for wealthy women. During the 1910s, when Victorian attitudes towards gender roles reigned and women were presumed to have limited mobility needs (no need to worry about your battery running flat if you’re not going far), 77% of EVs directly appealed to female consumers.
“In the short term, this was a successful strategy: car manufacturers that advertised to female consumers survived much longer,” says economic historian Josef Taalbi (Lund University). The only major electric car producer in the US to survive into the 1920s advertised to women, he adds.
In 2013, there were still less than 60,000 EVs on the road globally. A decade later, almost the same number are sold every day.
“The transition to electric personal mobility is well underway around the world,” says Budnitz. “Tesla’s troubles won’t stop this – but they can give the car industry an opportunity to make the messaging around electric vehicles more diverse, equitable and inclusive for the mass market.”
EV manufacturers can make their case to all drivers because they now offer a mass-market product, Budnitz argues. Nowhere is this more true than in Norway, which may become the first country to sell only zero-emission vehicles this year (88.9% of all vehicles sold in Norway in 2024 were fully-electric).
What’s Norway’s secret?
“Generous, comprehensive subsidies”, say Agnieszka Stefaniec and Keyvan Hosseini, transport researchers at the University of Southampton.
“Our recent research shows that affordability is a tool to get everyone on board. When lower-income households face affordability barriers, it’s not just their problem – it’s the missing link to achieving 100%. Smaller, more affordable electric cars could be the game changer needed to bridge this gap.”
Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Lee (R-UT), John Barrasso (R-WY), and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Guarding American Technology from Exploitation (GATE) Act, legislation that would ban foreign scientists from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba from visiting or working in Department of Energy National Laboratories without a waiver granted by the Department of Energy and the intelligence community.
“Sensitive research conducted at Department of Energy National Laboratories is vital to America’s national security and economic development. Allowing foreign scientists from adversarial nations access to this information poses a serious risk of espionage, sabotage, or theft – actions they may be pressured to undertake by the governments of their home nations,” said Senator Collins. “This legislation is a necessary step to prevent our adversaries from gaining unchecked access to critical taxpayer-funded research.”
In Fiscal Year 2023, 40,000 foreign scientists visited our national labs and approximately 8,000 of those were Chinese or Russian, meaning 1 out of every 5 scientists visiting our national labs were from our most dangerous foreign adversaries. Last Congress, this legislation passed out of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence by a vote of 17-0, but it was not included in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin
WAHINSGTON, D.C. – As the Trump Administration seeks to dismantle the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is demanding that they immediately release their report outlining the proposed cuts and its potential impact on small business owners across America. Senator Baldwin and her Republican colleagues helped make the MBDA permanent and she helped bring home Wisconsin’s first Business Center in 2023, ensuring entrepreneurs and business owners did not need to travel or use Chicago or Detroit’s Business Center. Local Business Centers provide small business owners technical assistance, assisting with access to capital and contracts, and supporting job creation and retention. In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, the MBDA helped the country’s more than 12 million minority businesses access over $1.5 billion in capital and create or retain approximately 23,000 jobs.
“I fought hard to bring this support to Wisconsin, helping our entrepreneurs and small business owners access capital, contracts, and markets – creating jobs and growing our economy,” said Senator Baldwin. “Right now, behind closed doors, the Trump Administration is weighing what resources they can rip away from our local businesses, workers, and economies – and I’m not going to stand idly by. This is wrong and at the very least, they need to be transparent and let the people of our state see the impacts of these proposed cuts.”
Senator Baldwin worked to include the bipartisan Minority Business Development Act of 2021 as an amendment to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making the MBDA permanent and increasing its funding and reach. President Trump’s Executive Order seeks to eliminate MBDA’s “non-statutory components and functions…to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The Executive Order required a report from MBDA to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget explaining which of its components or functions are statutorily required and to what extent, to determine what can be restructured or cut. As Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce subcommittee charged with oversight of MBDA, Baldwin is requesting a copy of that report by April 2nd, 2025.
Senator Baldwin’s full letter can be found here and below:
Dear Deputy Under Secretary Latif:
I write regarding the Executive Order issued on March 14, 2025, which seeks to dismantle the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). This action by the Trump Administration undermines the work of the only federal agency exclusively dedicated to supporting the development and expansion of minority-owned businesses, which contribute trillions to the U.S. economy, employ millions of workers, and support local economies.
Congress affirmed its bipartisan support for MBDA by expanding its reach and making it permanent in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Our bipartisan amendment made the MBDA more effective by putting into statute the mission and goals of the agency and giving it the proper tools to carry them out successfully. It also created a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development to lead the agency. This allowed MBDA to increase their programs and outreach to minority-owned businesses and allowed for the expansion of MBDA business centers into additional states—including Wisconsin.
The Executive Order ignores Congress’s bipartisan commitment to MBDA’s reliability and geographic reach and would instead eliminate MBDA’s “non-statutory components and functions…to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” Any plans by this Administration to restructure MBDA should include input from Members of Congress who are familiar with its impact. The Executive Order required a report from MBDA to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget explaining which of its components or functions are statutorily required and to what extent. It is critical to include the Senators who represent states with MBDA Business Centers in this evaluation process, and the first step is providing me with a copy of the report to my Senate office to evaluate the scope of these proposed cuts. As Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce subcommittee charged with oversight of MBDA, I am requesting a copy of that report, which you would have already submitted to OMB, by April 2, 2025.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, is cheaper to produce and easier to smuggle across borders, fueling the illicit opioid epidemic in the United States with devastating consequences. In 2023 alone, illicit opioids, primarily fentanyl, cost Americans an estimated $2.7 trillion (in December 2024 dollars), equivalent to 9.7 percent of GDP. Of this total cost, 41 percent ($1.1 trillion) is attributed to deaths, 49 percent ($1.34 trillion) to lost quality of life, and 10 percent ($277 billion) to other costs such as healthcare, reduced labor productivity, and crime-related expenses. Alarmingly, 93 percent of opioid deaths are caused by powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which typically originate in China and are trafficked through Mexico.
This number dwarfs even pessimistic estimates of the effects of tariffs, like that of Goldman Sachs, who estimated losses of 0.4 percent of GDP.
The CEA previously studied this issue and came up with a smaller number. The primary reasons are because it did not include the cost of reduced quality of life and because the number of deaths in 2015 was 33,000.
Details
Our cost estimates are based on a 2017 CDC study which we have updated to account for inflation and the sharp rise in opioid deaths and opioid use disorder (OUD) since then. According to the DEA, an estimated 74,702 Americans died in 2023, a staggering 1.6 times more than in 2017. Additionally, the number of Americans living with OUD increased by 2.7 times to 5.7 million during the same period. We have adjusted the calculations to reflect current prices as well as the alarming rise in opioid addiction and deaths. We scale up the loss of life estimates based on the increase in fatalities, while we scale up the other estimates to reflect the increase in the prevalence of those living with OUD. The breakdown of the cost estimates, all expressed in December 2024 dollars, is as follows:
Loss of life: $1.11 trillion. This estimate is calculated by multiplying the number of lives lost (74,702) by the value of statistical life in the United States and then adding productivity and healthcare costs that arise due to opioid fatalities. We inflation adjusted the $10.1 million value of a statistical life number provided by NIH (2017) to 2025 dollars ($13.0 million per life). The value of a loss of life is based on market and survey based evidence on what amount of money people are willing to forgo to change the probability of death. For example, many estimates rely on the value of life implied by the increase in wages required for people to take jobs with higher mortality risk.
Loss of quality of life: $1.34 trillion. This estimate is the product of three factors. First is a survey-based measure for the loss in quality of life for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) compared to those in full health. The measure shows that life with OUD has about 60 percent (0.626) of the quality of life of those in full health. Second is a measure of how much Americans value a year of life in full health. Adjusted for inflation, this value is estimated at $624,410 per person per year. Together these values imply that the lost quality of life costs $234,478 per year for each person living with OUD. We then multiply this value by the prevalence of OUD, estimated to be 5.7 million in 2023.
Healthcare system: $107 billion. This estimate represents the additional annual costs incurred by the healthcare system for treating individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) relative to the average annual costs of treating those without OUD. This amounts to $19,000 additional dollars per year per person with OUD. These costs were primarily borne by private insurers, Medicaid, and hospitals providing uncompensated care. Ultimately, these costs are passed on to all Americans through higher insurance premiums, taxes, and healthcare expenses.
Loss of labor force productivity: $107 billion. This estimate is calculated by multiplying the number of productive work hours lost due to opioid-related deaths, OUD, and incarceration by the average hourly total compensation (wages and benefits) for American workers.
Crime-related: $63 billion. This figure represents the sum of costs incurred for additional police protection, judicial activities, correctional facilities, and property loss resulting from opioid-related crime.
Conclusion
The enormous economic cost of the illicit opioid epidemic to Americans, estimated at $2.7 trillion in 2023 alone, underscores the urgent need to control the flow of lethal drugs pouring in from foreign countries. The human suffering and financial burden inflicted by this epidemic are unsustainable.
AUSTIN, Texas, March 26, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoScheduler.AI, an innovative Warehouse Orchestration Platform and WMS accelerator, announces being recognized as a winner of the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards in the Automated Planning and Scheduling category from the Business Intelligence Group. This prestigious recognition highlights the company’s commitment to innovation and its contributions to advancing artificial intelligence.
AutoScheduler.AI ushers in a new era as the brains of a warehousing operation and is the only solution on the market designed to optimize operational activity to decrease touches and increase capacity per headcount. AutoScheduler.AI helps businesses manage what they need today to succeed while predicting what they need in the future to meet the increased demand in labor, space, and time.
“We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition from the Business Intelligence Group,” says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI. “This award is a testament to the dedication of our team and our mission to push the boundaries of AI to create meaningful solutions that improve lives and industries.”
“The AI industry is evolving rapidly, and it is through the efforts of companies like AutoScheduler.AI that we see real-world applications driving change,” said Russ Fordyce, CEO of the Business Intelligence Group. “Their work exemplifies the kind of innovation and leadership that is shaping the future of artificial intelligence.”
This year’s honorees represent the pinnacle of AI advancement, excelling in predictive analytics, generative AI, explainable AI, and beyond. Selected by a panel of industry experts, these winners exemplify the transformative power of artificial intelligence across diverse industries, from finance and healthcare to cybersecurity and autonomous systems.
The Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards celebrate those at the forefront of AI’s evolution. From startups pioneering new applications to established enterprises leveraging AI to drive efficiency and innovation, these winners and finalists are setting new standards for the industry.
For more details on the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards and a complete list of winners and finalists, visit https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/artificial-intelligence-excellence-awards.
About AutoScheduler.AI
AutoScheduler.AI empowers you to take full control of your warehouse with a cloud-based solution that seamlessly integrates with your existing WMS/LMS/YMS or any other solution. We automate critical tasks like labor scheduling, dock management, and task sequencing, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. You’ve already invested in the software to run your warehouse—what we do is provide the orchestration layer that ties it all together to make real-time data driven decisions. With AutoScheduler.AI, you get smart orchestration for a smarter, more agile warehouse. For more information, visit: http://www.autoscheduler.ai.
About Business Intelligence Group www.bintelligence.com
The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs, these programs are judged by business executives having experience and knowledge. The organization’s proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that New York State is requesting a United States Department of Agriculture Secretarial Disaster Designation for Oneida County and the contiguous counties of Lewis, Herkimer, Oswego and Madison. Many farms in these counties sustained loss of livestock and structural barn and equipment damage when extreme winter weather impacted the area in January and February 2025. A Disaster Designation would allow for affected farms to apply for United States Department of Agriculture low-interest emergency loans.
“Severe weather earlier this year wreaked nearly unprecedented damage on farms across Northern and Central New York, and I’m requesting a USDA disaster declaration to help bring relief to our agricultural communities,” Governor Hochul said. “This damage has upended the futures of farms as they face tens of millions of dollars in economic impact. I urge the USDA to take swift action to declare these counties a disaster area and help our farmers get the assistance they need to move forward.”
According to the National Weather Service, from January 6 to February 25, 2025, northern and central New York State experienced extreme winter weather events that brought heavy winds, ice and more than 180 inches of snow to both regions. In addition, temperatures remained below freezing and there was no thaw to reduce snow accumulation, resulting in sustained heavy snow and ice loads on agricultural buildings. These heavy loads caused structural damage and collapse, loss of livestock, damage to feedstocks and equipment and the destruction of agricultural equipment storage facilities. Based on consultation with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Oneida County’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Cornell Cooperative Extension offices, more than 60 agricultural locations sustained an estimated $15 to $20 million in damage.
New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “Shortly after the last round of heavy snow and ice, I was able to visit a number of farms in Oneida County and see firsthand the damage that these farms sustained. Typically, we are concerned about crop loss when we face severe weather, but this winter storm impacted infrastructure and livestock that will make it extremely difficult to look toward this year’s planting season. I am thankful to the Governor for this request and appreciate the USDA’s consideration to move ahead with a disaster declaration to provide some financial relief to area farmers.”
Commissioner Ball visited several farms impacted by the extreme weather in Oneida County on March 7. Many diverse agricultural operations were impacted by these extreme weather events, including dairy farms, beef farms, hay operations, nursery and greenhouse businesses and crop farms. These events and the resulting damage have had a significant impact on the local farm economy.
A disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous eligible to be considered for emergency loans from the FSA, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the disaster declaration to apply for relief programs.
In addition, the Governor is requesting any disaster assistance appropriated by Congress be made available to assist the impacted farmers and encourages USDA to highlight additional assistance programs that these farmers may opt to use.
overnor Kathy Hochul today highlighted New York State’s ongoing efforts to enhance safety on New York State’s highways and her proposal to further protect the workers who build and maintain roads and bridges. Included in her FY 2026 Budget, the Governor’s plan would make the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement pilot program permanent, expand it to include MTA Bridges and Tunnels and NYS Bridge Authority properties, and enhance penalties for assaults against transportation workers. A group of construction industry officials, labor leaders and safety advocates came together today to advocate for these safety enhancements on the one-year anniversary of the expansion of New York’s “Move Over Law” — a lifesaving piece of legislation requiring all drivers to move over when hazard vehicles, highway worker vehicles and tow trucks are stopped on the roadway.
“The men and women in labor who have dedicated themselves to improving our roads and bridges risk their lives every day to ensure the safety of all drivers,” Governor Hochul said. “By permanently driving down speeds in work zones and enhancing penalties for assaults against them, I am working to strengthen our laws to ensure these dedicated workers can make it home safe themselves.”
The Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement (AWZSE) program is the result of legislation signed into law by Governor Hochul in September 2021. The legislation authorized a 5-year pilot program run as a joint effort by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) to enhance the State’s ongoing efforts to slow motorists down in work zones to make New York’s highways safer. More than 420,000 Notices of Liability have been issued statewide, with close to 78,400 repeat offenders since the AWZSE program launched in May 2023. And in locations where the cameras have been present more than once, fewer Notices of Liability are being issued, meaning that people are slowing down when cameras are present.
In addition to her proposal to make the AWSZE permanent, the Governor’s Budget also includes language to enhance penalties for assaults against transportation workers, extending protections similar to those provided to many MTA and retail workers. These actions will improve safety for both workers and drivers. Just last year, while setting up a work zone on a Long Island Expressway ramp in Syosset, a car veered around Department of Transportation trucks, which were carrying attenuators. The driver got out of his car and accosted the highway maintenance crew for obstructing his trip up the ramp. Video of the beginning of the incident can be found here. The Governor’s proposal would hold bad actors accountable and deter actions like this in the future.
State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, “This commonsense legislative package put forward by Governor Hochul will provide much needed worker safety protection and peace of mind for thousands of State Department of Transportation highway forces by making the work zone camera program permanent, and increasing punishment against those who threaten to do them harm. Our highway workers deserve the respect of the traveling public every second they are out there doing their jobs in the name of safety. I strongly believe that both pieces of legislation will prompt more New Yorkers to slow down, pay attention and think twice before threatening or physically hitting one of our workers.”
New York State DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder said. “As someone who spends a lot of time in a car driving across the State, I drive past road work zones all the time, and I unfortunately see too many people driving in ways that put road maintenance crews and other drivers at risk. Taking the time to slow down and move over can prevent a tragedy and make sure we all get to our destinations safely.”
New York State Thruway Authority Executive Director Frank G. Hoaresaid, “The Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program is a critical tool to enhance safety in work zones across the State. We are committed to enhancing safety for all highway workers and strongly support Governor Hochul’s proposal to make this effective program permanent.”
New York State Bridge Authority Executive Director Dr. Minosca Alcantara said, “There is no excuse for speeding and reckless driving in work zones. All of our fellow New Yorkers who are out working on the roads need to get home safe to their families. Expanding AWZSE to the Bridge Authority and making it permanent across the State is imperative to ensure crews are safe while doing their jobs.”
MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Catherine Sheridansaid, “AWZSE is changing motorist behavior for the better: drivers are slowing down, resulting in fewer work zone accidents and injuries. This successful pilot program has made our roadways safer for both drivers and workers in construction zones. I look forward to this initiative becoming permanent and being expanded for widespread use.”
State Senator Jeremy Cooney said, “Our highway employees work day in and day out to maintain our roads and keep New Yorkers safe, it’s only right that we prioritize their safety while on the job. In my role as Chair of The Senate Transportation Committee, I am always committed to protecting these vital workers, which is why I carry the Senate legislation expanding the automated work zone camera program while making it permanent. I thank Governor Hochul for her leadership on worker safety across New York.”
Assemblymember William B. Magnarelli said, “Protecting our workers is of utmost importance. The investments are critical and will help reduce fatalities and injuries on New York’s highways.”
New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said, “Keeping highway workers safe is a priority for the Union Movement. These workers endure hazardous conditions while performing their jobs for our safety; we must protect them. We thank Governor Hochul for her commitment to addressing enforcement and more aggressive repercussions for repeat violators who endanger the workforce that keeps our roads safe and our infrastructure running smoothly.”
New York State Building and Construction TradesCouncil President Gary LaBarbera said, “It is well-known that construction sites are inherently dangerous and the added hazards and less-controllable variants of roadways and highspeed traffic only increase the risks for highway workers. This is why we must continue to push forward key legislation that encourages drivers to proceed with more caution and mindfulness around highway work areas and holds them accountable when they act recklessly. We applaud Governor Hochul for her ongoing leadership and action on this important issue. Every hard-working New Yorker, including our brave tradesmen and tradeswomen working on our roadways, deserve to return home safely to their families at the end of each shift.”
LiUNA Vice President and New England Regional Manager Donato A. Bianco, Jr. said, “The Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement pilot program has effectively caused drivers to slow down and pay attention, helping to protect the men and women working tirelessly to keep our highway system operational and properly maintained. LIUNA has proudly and staunchly advocated for this program since its inception, and its inclusion by Governor Hochul and the Senate in their respective proposed budgets demonstrates a strong commitment to prioritizing workers’ safety. We all owe it to the workers that skillfully do this dangerous job to take every possible action to ensure they go home safely at the end of the day, and we look forward to seeing the program included in the final enacted Budget.”
CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan said, “CSEA applauds Governor Hochul’s leadership on this issue and calls on the New York State Legislature to make the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program permanent.”
CSEA Thruway Local President Sean Kennedy said, “We must explore all avenues to protecting road and highway workers risking their lives every day. The AWZSE program serves as a deterrent to distracted and reckless driving while boosting safety for workers as well as the traveling public.”
New York State Public Employees Federation President Wayne Spence said, “PEF believes that all public employees should be able to go to their jobs, perform their duties professionally and return home safely to their families after work. Too often, PEF members are harassed or assaulted on the job or injured unnecessarily at work. PEF supports Governor Hochul’s Budget proposal to expand the use of automated work zone cameras to ensure drivers are alert and maintaining an appropriate speed in work zones. PEF also supports the Governor’s proposal to increase the penalties for assaults and harassment of department of transportation workers and urges the Governor and both houses of the Legislature to expand these increased penalties for assaults against any public employee in the performance of their duties. The time has come to address these issues on behalf of New York’s dedicated public employees.”
New York Construction Materials Association President and CEO Ron Epstein said, “We wholeheartedly support Governor Hochul’s steadfast commitment to enhancing work zone safety and strengthening protections for transportation workers. The critical safety measures outlined in the Governor’s Budget proposal are essential for safeguarding the lives of the dedicated professionals who work tirelessly on our roads, ensuring they return home safely to their families at the end of each shift. We commend the Governor for her leadership in prioritizing these vital efforts and we stand ready to collaborate to make our work zones safer for everyone.”
Associated General Contractors of New York State President and CEO Mike Elmendorf said, “Working in a work zone on a road or highway is inherently dangerous, but it is made needlessly so by all too frequent excessive speed and distracted driving. That’s why the construction industry and our partners in government, and labor worked hard to enact New York’s automated work zone speed enforcement program — and it is working. While it has documented shockingly high speeds in work zones, it is succeeding in getting drivers to use caution and slow down in work zones. That keeps both drivers and the men and women working there safer. We commend Governor Hochul for her efforts to make sure construction workers and drivers alike can return safely to their homes and families by creating this important program — and this year proposing to make it permanent and increase penalties for those who are still speeding in work zones. Let’s stick with what works and make this critical program permanent this year.”
American Automobile Association New York State Safety CommitteeChairman John Corlett said, “With the construction season about to get fully underway, work zones and construction zones will be popping up on roads across the Empire State. AAA is supporting the Governor’s plan to make work zone speed cameras permanent. April 21 will mark the beginning of National Work Zone Awareness Week. As the weather gets better, speeds will start picking up, which makes the roads riskier for everyone and we need responsible drivers who will safely navigate work zones to ensure that everyone makes it home to their families at the end of the day.”
New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways President and Town of Elmira Highway Superintendent Matt Mustico said, “The people working on our roads deserve to go home safe at the end of the day. It’s that simple. The Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program is already making a difference — drivers are slowing down and paying more attention. That’s exactly what’s needed. Making this program permanent is common sense. On behalf of town highway superintendents and our association stakeholder members across New York State, we urge the Legislature to include this critical safety measure in the final State Budget. Protecting our highway workers while keeping our roads safe for New Yorkers should be something we can all agree on.”
Greater Capital Region Building and Construction Trades Council President Michael Lyons said, “The expansion of work zone camera systems in New York reflects the commitment of the State to protecting transportation workers and ensuring their rights and safety on the job. The Greater Capital Region Building and Construction Trades Council represents over 22,000 Union construction workers in the area and the State’s focus on improving working conditions, reducing accidents and ensuring workers are equipped with the necessary safety training and resources is an initiative that we can back unequivocally.”
New York State Association of TownsExecutive Director Christopher A. Koetzle said, “The New York Association of Towns is committed to protecting the dedicated professionals who ensure the safety and maintenance of our roads. We strongly urge state legislative leaders to include transportation worker safety initiatives as part of the State Budget, ensuring a safer work environment for those who keep our infrastructure running smoothly.”
New York State Conference of Mayors Executive Director Barbara Van Epps said, “NYCOM commends Governor Hochul and Department of Transportation Commissioner Dominguez, for their commitment to prioritizing the safety of our state and local transportation workers. Ensuring a secure work environment is a fundamental responsibility of the State, and no employee should face threats, harassment or physical harm while performing their duties. These proposals are critical to safeguarding the men and women who maintain our roadways and send a strong message that any form of violence against them is unacceptable.”
Long Island Contractors’ Association Executive Director Marc Herbst said, “Protecting our workers is foundational to every issue we advocate for as an industry. There is no question that we need to do all we can to ensure that the workers who go out to build, repair and maintain our vital infrastructure have every protection we can provide. Both the expansion of the work zone safety camera program and transportation worker protection from harassment and assault are vital to ensure our workers know we have their backs and truly appreciate their contributions to our roadways.”
Construction Industry Council Executive Director John Cooney, Jr. said, “The Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley Inc. thanks Governor Kathy Hochul for including in her Executive Budget the inclusion of both the expansion of automated work zone camera program and transportation worker protection from harassment and assault. We thank NYSDOT Commissioner Marie Theresa Dominguez and New York State Thruway Authority Executive Director Frank Hoare for standing up for transportation worker safety and highlighting the need for these two important budget worker safety items. The construction and transportation industries deserve to have all workers involved to have a safe and protected work environment. The proposals for the expanded work zone camera program and expanded transportation worker harassment and assault protections deserve to be a final product of this year’s New York State Budget.”
New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario said, “Our dedicated county highway crews work all hours of the day and night to maintain and improve our local roads and bridges, ensuring the safety of all who travel them. It is imperative that we take every measure possible to protect these essential workers from harassment, assault and reckless drivers. The New York State Association of Counties stands firmly in support of initiatives aimed at safeguarding our transportation workers and enhancing their well-being.”
Verra Mobility Executive Vice President Jon Baldwin said, “New York State has demonstrated tremendous leadership with the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement pilot program, and the results speak for themselves. Drivers are slowing down, paying attention and prioritizing safety in work zones. New York’s continued investment in this initiative reflects a dedication to fostering safer work environments and safer roads for all. As leaders in smart transportation solutions, we applaud the State’s commitment to safety and support a permanent solution for protecting lives.”
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a final settlement agreement regarding the Otay Ranch Village 13 project, which resolves concerns pertaining to the project’s wildfire and greenhouse gas impacts and benefits the people and environment of California. Specifically, under the agreement, the proposed housing development will include the same number of units on a more compact footprint, reducing wildfire ignition risk and protecting approximately 300 additional acres of open space compared to the original plan. While decreasing the development footprint, the settlement also increases the opportunity for new housing by allowing the developer to apply to the County of San Diego to build up to 2,750 housing units (increased from 1,938) within the more compact building area. This will allow for additional housing supply while reducing the project’s environmental impacts, including wildfire risk. The agreement also includes payment of nearly $2 million in attorneys’ fees to the California Department of Justice and the environmental groups that filed litigation challenging the County’s approval of the project for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Attorney General Bonta is joined by the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Habitats League, California Native Plant Society, Preserve Wild Santee, and California Chaparral Institute in today’s settlement with the project applicant.
“From Los Angeles to San Diego, we are seeing devastating wildfires ravaging our communities right before our eyes. We can no longer ignore the realities of climate change,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s settlement recognizes that environmental protection and housing go hand in hand, aiming to create more resilient, sustainable homes while reducing wildfire risk and protecting our environment.”
Today’s settlement requires measures to reduce wildfire risk and greenhouse gas emissions, including:
Providing a continuous program of surveillance for wildfire ignitions.
Ensuring an educational program on wildfire ignition prevention for project residents.
Installing sprinkler systems on multi-family residential buildings that meet National Fire Protection Association Standard 13.
Achieving net-zero energy design for all single-family residential and commercial buildings.
Requiring all buildings to be fully electric.
Prohibiting installation of natural gas infrastructure.
Creating a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Fund of at least $15 million, which will fund greenhouse gas emissions reductions projects in San Diego County.
The Otay Ranch Village 13 project site is located in southwestern San Diego County in an area that has in the past been affected by wildfires. The County approved and certified a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Otay Ranch Village 13 project on November 18, 2020. The Attorney General’s lawsuit challenged the FEIR’s failure, in violation of CEQA, to adequately address the risk of wildfire despite acknowledging the very high potential for wildfire hazards in and around the project site as well as the FEIR’s failure to adequately analyze or mitigate the impact of substantial vehicle trips and increased greenhouse gas emissions generated by the project. Under the settlement, the parties will request that the Court stay the litigation until the County approves a revised project that complies with the terms of the settlement.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security, University of Portsmouth
The second Donald Trump administration has already sent shockwaves through the political establishment on both sides of the Atlantic. Overseas, the focus has been on the administration’s apparent dismantling of the post-war international order and Trump’s apparent pivot away from America’s traditional allies towards a warmer relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin. But within the United States itself, the greatest concerns are associated with administration actions that, for many, suggest a deliberate destruction of American democracy.
Such fears in the US are not isolated to the political elites, but are shared by citizens across the entire nation. But what is also emerging is a concerted assault on people’s ability to push back – or even complain – about some of the measures being introduced by Trump 2.0. This will inevitably result in what is often called a “chilling effect”, where it becomes too hard – or too dangerous – to voice dissent.
Many of Trump’s policies – the mass deportations, the wholesale sacking of public servants by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), the decision to revoke birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants – have been challenged in the courts. The Trump administration is now embroiled in a range of legal challenges. It is here that Trump’s disdain for a legal system that has temporarily blocked the wishes of the president has emerged.
Chilling effect
Judicial decisions calling for the administration to reverse or pause some of these policies have been greeted by Trump and some of his senior colleagues (including Musk and the vice-president J.D.Vance), with noisy complaints at judicial interference in government. Even, in some cases, calls for the impeachment of judges who rule against the government.
Not only did the administration ignore the court’s ruling that suspended the forced expulsion of Venezuelans to El Salvador, some of whom were in the US legally, but Trump attacked the judge on social media calling him a corrupt “radical left lunatic” and called for his impeachment.
This stirred the chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Glover Roberts Jr., to intervene. He reminded the president that America doesn’t settle its disputes, saying that the “normal appellate review process exists for that purpose”. Later, Tom Homan, Trump’s chief adviser on immigration issues, told ABC News that the administration would abide by court rulings on the matter.
The pressure being brought to bear on America’s legal system has not stopped at the judiciary. Trump has recently targeted some of America’s biggest and most powerful law firms, seemingly for no other reason than their acting for clients who have opposed his administration.
On March 25, Trump signed an executive order targeting Jenner & Block, one of whose partners, Andrew Weissmann, worked with special prosecutor Robert Mueller on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The executive order calls for the firms to be blacklisted from government work and for their employees to have any security clearances removed, for them to be barred from any federal government contracts and refused access to federal government buildings. A death warrant for the firm in other words.
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This follows the news that the head of the prestigious law firm Paul Weiss, Brad Karp, had signed a deal with the White House committing to providing millions of dollars worth of pro-bono legal work for causes nominated by the president. He’s also agreed to stop using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which had been faced with a similar fate.
Silencing dissent
This administration’s chilling effect has also extended to an attack on press freedom. Trump has expelled established news organisations from the Pentagon, curtailed access to press events for the esteemed Associated Press, and taken control of the White House press pool, sidelining major media outlets.
These actions mark a significant downgrading of press freedom in America. They are undermining the role of independent journalism in their key function of holding power to account. By restricting access and silencing critical voices, his administration has raised concerns over transparency and the free flow of information in the domestic media landscapes.
Universities have traditionally been bastions of independent thought. We saw that with the massive protests against US policy towards Israel and Palestine which have roiled campuses during the conflict in Gaza. But universities are also seen by many in the administration as a hotbed of “woke” activism. Accordingly Trump 2.0 has fixed its sights on one of the most prominent US universities: Columbia.
Citing what it says is a repeated failure to protect students from antisemitic harassment, the administration cancelled US$400m (£310 million) of federal contracts with the university. Columbia caved in to the pressure moments before the administration’s deadline passed. It agreed to overhaul its disciplinary procedures and “review” its regional studies programmes, starting with those covering the Middle East.
Columbia’s academic staff are horrified. They are launching legal action against the government, alleging that “the Trump administration is coercing Columbia University to do its bidding and regulate speech and expression on campus”.
Democracy in peril
Why is this all so worrying? The legal system, the media and universities are the pillars of US democratic freedoms. The Trump administration’s undermining of these institutions is a blatant attempt to impose an authoritarian rule by bypassing any counterbalance to executive power. And the US Supreme Court has ruled that he is almost entirely immune from prosecution while doing it.
The checks and balances system of government in the US was designed to ensure that no single branch could dominate the political process. But partisan loyalty, and loyalty to Trump over the party, now outweighs constitutional responsibility for the majority of those within the Republican Party.
American democracy is under threat. Not from the external existential threats it faced over the past century such as communism and Islamic fundamentalism, but from within its own system. Those Americans who are terrified about this threat are trying to fight back, but Trump’s assault on dissent is so chilling that this is becoming increasingly dangerous.
Dafydd Townley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 45 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on his convictions of possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon and attempting to take action to prevent seizure, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.
United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan imposed the sentence on Javon Pope, 36.
According to information presented to the Court, on the morning of November 19, 2019, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered Pope inside a Wilkinsburg residence at which another individual had just been arrested and officers had observed several firearms in plain view. The agents detained and searched Pope, finding a digital scale, a small amount of marijuana, and a cellular telephone. Upon the execution of a search warrant for the residence, agents found four firearms, but in different locations from where they had been initially observed by officers. A search warrant for Pope’s cellular telephone revealed an internet search for “how long does it take to get a search warrant” during the morning of November 19 while the FBI would have had the house secured pending the warrant, as well as a picture of the defendant with several of the firearms found in the residence. Pope has a prior felony conviction, and federal law prohibits possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon.
The cell phone also revealed several telephone calls between Pope and a resident of the home beginning around the time the Pittsburgh S.W.A.T. Team arrived at the residence, during which Pope was informed that federal agents were at the home and intending to search it. It is a violation of federal law to attempt to take action to prevent seizure of items pursuant to a federal search warrant.
Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pittsburgh S.W.A.T. Team for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Pope.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
HOUSTON – A 53-year-old local resident has been sentenced to federal prison for providing false information on federally mandated firearms records, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Yashab Idnan Sandhu, Humble, pleaded guilty July 24, 2023.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has now ordered Sandhu to serve 42 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
“The Southern District of Texas is pleased to have worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to have intercepted this shipment of guns before they reached Iraq, and used for whatever unknown purpose,” said Ganjei.
“Being a responsible gun dealer is not just a matter of business; it’s a fundamental duty to safeguard public safety and uphold the trust placed in our agency by the American people,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Michael Weddel. “ATF puts great trust in Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), to include ‘responsible persons,’ as they carry significant responsibility. When that trust is violated, it undermines the confidence the public has in the system. ATF Houston is committed to maintaining public safety, which includes holding these FFLs and their associated employees responsible when the laws and regulations are not followed.”
The investigation began March 13, 2020, when authorities discovered a cache of handguns concealed in a shipping crate addressed to Iraq at a Port of Houston warehouse. They recovered approximately 473 handguns, 38 of which were pistols with obliterated serial numbers.
Law enforcement ultimately traced 38 pistols with obliterated serial numbers to R’s Golf & Guns, an FFL for whom Sandhu was a “responsible person.”
A responsible person is someone who has the authority and power to direct firearm compliance decisions and operations for an FFL.
The investigation revealed Sandhu had sold these firearms to a suspected firearms smuggler. As part of his plea, Sandhu admitted he went back to previously completed forms and added the firearms, falsely reporting they had been sold to other innocent persons.
Sandhu was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
ATF conducted the investigation with the assistance of the FBI and Bureau of Industry and Security. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Schammel and Heather Winter prosecuted the case.
Janet Yellen served as Treasury Secretary in the Biden Administration and Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018
Raghuram Rajan served as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund
Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister, becomes Chair of the GAB
Ben Bernanke, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, retiring from role as Chair of PIMCO’s GAB after 10 years service
Mark Carney, Canadian Prime Minister, also recently stepped down from GAB
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 26, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PIMCO, one of the world’s premier fixed income investment managers, announces the addition of Janet Yellen, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, to its Global Advisory Board. The Board provides PIMCO with insights on global economic, political, and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets.
In addition, Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister (2007-2010) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997-2007), becomes Chair of the Board. Mr. Brown, who has been a member of PIMCO’s GAB since its founding in 2015, replaces Ben Bernanke, who is retiring after serving 10 years as Chair of the GAB. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, previously announced his resignation from PIMCO’s GAB in January, when he announced his candidacy for political office. He had served on the Board since 2020.
Before serving as the 78th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 2021-2025, Secretary Yellen was Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018 and Vice Chair 2010 to 2014. Secretary Yellen has also held positions at Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and the University of California, Berkeley, where she is now professor emeritus. Her extensive contributions to economic policy and research have established her as a leading figure in the field.
Dr. Raghuram Rajan’s career is distinguished by his influential roles in global economic institutions. He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016 – where he implemented key reforms to stabilize the Indian economy – and was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2006. He is also a Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
“Secretary Yellen and Dr. Rajan’s deep expertise in economic policy make them remarkable additions to our Global Advisory Board,” said Emmanuel Roman, PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Their insights will be crucial for us as we continue to navigate the complexities of the global economy and assess their potential impact on markets for our clients.”
“Understanding the complexities and impact of central bank policymaking, international governance and economic conditions on fast-moving markets are critical components of our investment strategy. Secretary Yellen and Dr. Rajan’s invaluable insights and experience, and Prime Minister Brown’s leadership as chair, will provide PIMCO clients with deep expertise and knowledge in assessing investment risk and opportunity,” said Dan Ivascyn, PIMCO’s Group Chief Investment Officer.
“We also want to thank Chair Ben Bernanke and Prime Minister Carney for their leadership and valued perspectives over many years on the Global Advisory Board during their constant presence at our investment forums and in guidance to our Investment Committee. We will miss their thoughtful insights and wish them well,” said Mr. Roman.
The Global Advisory Board consists of a diverse group of experts who provide strategic insights into global economic, political, and strategic developments. Secretary Yellen and Dr. Rajan will join Gordon Brown, Joshua Bolten, former White House Chief of Staff, and Michele Flournoy, U.S. defense policy advisor in two U.S. presidential administrations.
Janet Yellen Janet L. Yellen served as 78th Secretary of the Treasury from 2021 through 2025. Previously, she was a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution. She also served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2014 through February 2018, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors from 2010 to 2014 and president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. Dr. Yellen previously served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from August 1994 through February 1997, whereupon she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, a post she held until August 1999. Dr. Yellen has written on a wide variety of macroeconomic issues, specializing in the causes, mechanisms, and implications of unemployment. She began her career as an assistant professor at Harvard University and then served as an economist with the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors before joining the faculty of the London School of Economics in 1978. In 1980 she joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where she was named the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics, and where she is currently a professor emeritus. Dr. Yellen graduated from Brown University in 1967 and received her PhD in economics from Yale University in 1971. She received the Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale in 1997, honorary degrees from Brown, Bard College, NYU, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Warwick, Yale, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as President of the American Economic Association and the Western Economic Association and a fellow of the Yale Corporation. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association.
Raghuram Rajan
Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth. He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between September 2013 and September 2016. Between 2003 and 2006, Dr. Rajan was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. Dr. Rajan’s research interests are in banking, corporate finance, and economic development. The books he has written include Breaking the Mold: Reimagining India’s Economic Future with Rohit Lamba, The Third Pillar: How the State and Markets hold the Community Behind 2019 which was a finalist for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year prize and Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, for which he was awarded the Financial Times prize for Business Book of the Year in 2010. Dr. Rajan is a member of the Group of Thirty. He was the President of the American Finance Association in 2011 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In January 2003, the American Finance Association awarded Dr. Rajan the inaugural Fischer Black Prize for the best finance researcher under the age of 40. The other awards he has received include the Infosys prize for the Economic Sciences in 2012, the Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics in 2013, Euromoney Central Banker Governor of the Year 2014, and Banker Magazine (FT Group) Central Bank Governor of the Year 2016. Dr. Rajan is the Chairman of the Per Jacobsson Foundation, the senior economic advisor to BDT Capital, and a managing director at Andersen Tax.
About PIMCO PIMCO is a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. We invest our clients’ capital across a range of fixed income and credit opportunities, drawing upon our decades of experience navigating complex debt markets. Our flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped us become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and nontraditional solutions for companies that need financing and investors who seek strong risk-adjusted returns.
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the performance of financial markets, the investment performance of PIMCO’s sponsored investment products and separately managed accounts, general economic conditions, future acquisitions, competitive conditions and government regulations, including changes in tax laws. Readers should carefully consider such factors. Further, such forward-looking statements speak only on the date at which such statements are made. PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
Contact: Michael Reid PIMCO – Media Relations Ph. 212-597-1301 Email: Michael.Reid@pimco.com
Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Senate Armed Services subcommittee (SASC) hearing on sea power, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) discussed the importance of supporting our nation’s shipbuilding capacity with senior U.S. Navy and government personnel. In a conversation with witnesses Dr. Brett A. Seidle, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, and Shelby S. Oakley, Director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), King confirmed the Navy’s willingness to support the shipbuilding workforce through investments in childcare, housing, and professional development.
“If I were to list the three biggest problems right now in developing shipyard capacity, the first would be workforce, the second would be workforce, the third would be workforce. The Navy has to be thinking in unconventional ways. For example, one of the most important things to develop workforce is to have childcare facilities, parking, housing in the area. We’ve had people recruited to Bath who get there and cannot find a place to live. I believe that has to be part of the mentality of developing the workforce. And then of course training and all those details that go to attracting people in this economy. Finally, on the development of the infrastructure, it is the infrastructure itself. There has to be a joint investment in the private shipyards and the Navy in terms of infrastructure buildings, more efficient layout of the facility, and those kind of steps are very important. I’m giving you advice, but this is based on my experiences working with the shipyards…My final question is to GAO. You mentioned 60 or so recommendations that have not been followed. What are the top three recommendations that if you were pressed you think would make a difference?,” Senator King asked.
“You’re really pressing my memory on 60 recommendations, but I think most pressing in the front of my mind are our recommendations related to design and the changes we would like to see the Navy make with regard to like you said, ensuring the design is finalized before we are awarding a contract for construction and before we are starting to bend metal. Because the problems arise when those design changes creep in as the pressures of a fixed price contract begin to mount. That leads to challenges overall. It is exactly what we are seeing with the frigate program. We made adjustments to the Navy that they ensure that they have matured their basic and functional design before awarding the contract for detailed design and construction. Another recommendation we made was related to ensuring that detailed design on each individual block is finished before you begin construction on that block. Most of those recommendations are aimed at ensuring that there is less of a likelihood these surprises will pop up at a time where the pressure will be high to continue to proceed because of schedule or money challenges,” responded Director Oakley.
Senator King also asked Acting Assistant Secretary Seidle about his support for a smooth transition between ship designs to ensure workforce and production sustainability.
“A couple of technical observations before I get to the broader questions. One is, as you know, DDX is in the design stage and the concern from the point of view of the shipyards, both in Bath and Mississippi, is there would be a smooth transition between DDG 51 and DDX. What concerns us is a timing trough because you cannot turn on and turn off welders. I hope as you plan out the transition process, that it is top of mind. It would be disastrous for the yards if there was a lag in demand between the two ships. Are you with me on that?” asked Senator King.
“Yes. We saw the lessons from DDG 51, to DDG 1000 back in the day, and how some of that worked out. We will clearly be intentional about the transition of DDG 51 to DDGX to keep the production line to feather in DDG X and then only taper out DDG 51 when it is ready,” replied Acting Assistant Secretary Seidle.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator King has championed funding for both Bath Iron Works (BIW) and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY). Recently, Senator King and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, discussed the importance of utilizing lessons from the private sector to maintain best practices for ship designing, building, and maintenance. Last year, he strongly urged Mr. Frederick J. Stefany, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition to prioritize long-term investments in the defense industrial base – including Bath Iron Works—to avoid a ‘trough’ between contracted work, resulting in a likely loss of workers and threatening American national security. In the enacted FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Senator King secured authorization for the procurement of an addition DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that Bath Iron Works will build.
Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 7-2 opinion upholding Biden-era federal regulations on “ghost guns,” mail-order kits that allow people to build untraceable weapons at home, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who supported the rule to crack down on the irresponsible proliferation of ghost gun kits, called the court’s decision a victory for public safety and commonsense that must be followed up with further action.
Senator Reed stated: “Ghost guns are custom made for criminals because they are untraceable. The court’s ruling is a big win for public safety and commonsense. These weapon kits must be regulated like other firearms. That includes thorough background checks before being sold and accountability for the manufacturers. It’s past time to close federal loopholes and this 7-2 ruling provides bipartisan momentum to do just that. We’ve seen too many innocent lives taken by ghost guns. I will continue working to get ghost guns off the streets and to preserve these critical tools for law enforcement to keep officers and the public safe from crime.”
Traditional firearms sold by licensed dealers require serial numbers, and buyers must complete a background check before obtaining a gun. But ghost gun kits and components, which are often sold online, lack serial numbers or an identifying mark to indicate its manufacturer, and are difficult for law enforcement to trace but easy for criminals to acquire without a background check.
Ghost guns can come in a variety of forms, from handguns to semi-automatic versions of assault rifles like AR-15s. They are a growing street weapon of choice for those who would fail background checks, such as felons convicted of domestic violence or subject to court orders, violent extremists, and teenagers too young to legally own a gun.
Unregistered, untraceable guns were used in about 19,000 crimes in 2021, according to the federal government.
Every day, decisions that affect our lives depend on knowing how many people live where. For example, how many vaccines are needed in a community, where polling stations should be placed for elections or who might be in danger as a hurricane approaches. The answers rely on population data.
But counting people is getting harder.
For centuries, census and household surveys have been the backbone of population knowledge. But we’ve just returned from the UN’s statistical commission meetings in New York, where experts reported that something alarming is happening to population data systems globally.
Census response rates are declining in many countries, resulting in large margins of error. The 2020 US census undercounted America’s Latino population by more than three times the rate of the 2010 census. In Paraguay, the latest census revealed a population one-fifth smaller than previously thought.
South Africa’s 2022 census post-enumeration survey revealed a likely undercount of more than 30%. According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, undercounts and census delays due to COVID-19, conflict or financial limitations have resulted in an estimated one in three Africans not being counted in the 2020 census round.
When people vanish from data, they vanish from policy. When certain groups are systematically undercounted – often minorities, rural communities or poorer people – they become invisible to policymakers. This translates directly into political underrepresentation and inadequate resource allocation.
As the Brookings Institution, a US research organisation, has highlighted, undercounts have “cost communities of colour political representation over the next decade”.
This is happening because several factors have converged. Trust in government institutions is eroding worldwide, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reporting that by late 2023, 44% of people across member countries had low or no trust in their national governments. Research shows a clear trend of declining trust specifically in representative institutions like parliaments and governments. This makes people less likely to respond to government-issued census requests.
International funding for population data is also disappearing. The US-funded Demographic and Health Surveys program, which provided vital survey data across 90 countries for four decades, was terminated in February 2025. Unicef’s Multi-Indicator Cluster program, which carries out household surveys, faces an uncertain future amid shrinking global aid budgets. US government cuts to support for UN agencies and development banks undertaking census support will likely have further impacts.
This is incredibly worrying to us as geography academics, because gathering accurate population data is fundamentally about making everyone visible. As population scientists Sabrina Juran and Arona Pistiner wrote, this information allows governments to plan for the future of a country and its people.
The US census directly impacts the allocation of more than US$1.5 trillion (£1.2 trillion) in public resources each year. How can governments distribute healthcare funding without knowing who lives where? How can disaster response be effective if vulnerable populations are invisible in official population counts?
Solutions that count
Countries are adapting. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition to alternative census methodologies. Many countries turned to online questionnaires, telephone interviews and administrative data sources to reduce face-to-face interactions.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa recommends that countries move from using paper forms for census data collection and embrace new digital technologies that can be cheaper and more reliable. Turkey’s switch in 2011 reduced census costs from US$48.3 million to US$13.9 million while improving data quality and timeliness, and nearly 80% of countries used tablets or smartphones for data collection in the 2020 round of censuses.
At WorldPop, our research group at the University of Southampton, we’re also helping governments to develop solutions using new technologies. Buildings mapped from satellite imagery using AI, together with counts of populations from small areas, can help create detailed population estimates to support census implementation or provide estimates for undersurveyed areas.
As we face growing challenges, from climate change to economic inequality, having accurate, reliable and robust population data isn’t a luxury. It’s essential for a functioning society. National statistical offices, UN agencies, academics, the private sector and donors must urgently focus on how to build cost-effective solutions to provide reliable and robust population data, especially in resource-poor settings where recent cuts will be felt hardest.
When people disappear from the data, they risk disappearing from public policy too. Making everyone count starts with counting everyone.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Andrew J Tatem works for the University of Southampton, and is Director of WorldPop. His research on mapping populations has been funded by donors such as the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, GAVI.
Jessica Espey works for the University of Southampton. Her research on data, statistics and evidence use has previously been funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Gates Foundation and others.
A lot of dog owners believe that they can tell what their dogs are feeling. They believe that they can assess their dog’s emotions no matter the context.
Previous research has shown that experience with dogs affects how successful people are in assessing a dog’s emotional state. As a psychologist, the more I know about dogs and the more I study and observe them, the better I become in assessing their behaviour. However, even experts can struggle to get it right.
In the recent US study, researchers looked at how successful people are at assessing dogs’ emotions from looking at pictures. The images showed the dogs in different postures such as submissive or anxious. Sometimes the context around the dog was positive (for example, the owner approaching the dog with a lead) and sometimes the context around was negative (a person about to scold the dog).
The study found that the context influenced whether people assessed the dog’s behavioural response as positive or negative even though the posture and other signals didn’t change.
Research also suggests we have the tendency to misinterpret some facial expressions of dogs. A 2018 University of Lincoln study examined how children aged three to five years old and their parents interpret dogs’ facial expressions.
Participants were shown pictures of dogs, for example showing bare teeth, which signals high levels of distress. The children especially misinterpreted that as a smiling and happy dog. The study also showed that interventions, which educated participants on how to interpret dogs’ behavioural signals, increased their understanding of dogs’ stress signals (though this was mostly true in the adults).
We tend to anthropomorphise and attribute human emotions to our dogs. A good example of this is the so-called guilty look. You often see videos on social media in which a dog avoids eye contact with humans, for example turning its head slightly to the side.
If this happens after the dog has done something they shouldn’t have, the owner may classify this as indicative of shame or guilt. In reality, dogs avoid eye contact as a kind of deescalation behaviour.
It indicates that they do not want a confrontation. Perhaps the owner has already reacted to the mishap. Or the dog has learned to expect a reaction from the owner in certain situations. Insecure or fearful dogs also often avoid eye contact because they feel threatened or intimidated. However, this behaviour has little to do with shame.
Another classic misconception is that a dog that wags its tail is a happy and friendly dog. In reality, a wagging tail only means that the dog is aroused. To assess the dog’s emotional state, you also have to consider the position of the tail. If it is standing upright, then this is more a sign of a tense dog. If it is positioned lower and the movement of the tail is relaxed and wide from left to right, then it is probably a friendly signal.
We anthropomorphise dogs because we have evolved a human-specific way to interpret others’ emotions. If we see a person who pulls up the corners of their mouth and smiles, then we understand them to be happy or at least cheerful. That leads to problems if we apply that system to interpret other species’ emotional expressions.
Could do with adding subhead here
So how can we analyse dogs’ emotional expression in an objective way? One approach that scientists use is a technical method called DogFACS. In this method, each facial muscle is assigned a movement on the surface of the face. Facial movements are documented by numbers and analysed separately from each other.
In 2013 University of Portsmouth researchers went to dog shelters across the UK and filmed dogs for two minutes each. They then analysed the dogs’ behaviour, including their facial expressions.
The animal shelter told the researchers how long it took for the filmed dogs to be adopted by new owners. Neither barking nor wagging tails influenced the adoption rate, but only a specific eyebrow movement: the so-called puppy dog eyes look. The more often the dogs raised their eyebrows and produced the puppy dog eyes, the quicker they were rehomed. Nothing else had an effect. This could be because the puppy dog eyes resemble a facial movement that we produce when we are sad and makes us want to care for the dog.
In fact my 2019 study showed that the facial muscle anatomy of dogs has evolved for facial communication with humans. My team compared the facial muscle anatomy of dogs and wolves and demonstrated that the facial muscles of dogs and wolves are identical – except for one muscle, the levator anguli oculi medialis. This muscle is responsible for the lifting of the inner eyebrow in dogs.
We may not be much good at reading dogs’ emotions but as the University of Lincoln study shows, we can learn to be.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Many Canberrans have accessed the Sustainable Household Scheme to add solar panels to their homes.
The Sustainable Household Scheme has had another big year supporting Canberrans.
Over 20,000 Canberra households have now applied to participate in the Scheme to make their homes more energy efficient.
The Sustainable Household Scheme has approved $200 million in loans and supported the installation of almost 17,000 sustainable upgrades since it commenced in July 2021.
This has saved households money on their energy bills and reduced the ACT’s carbon footprint.
Through the Scheme, Canberrans have access to zero-interest loans and rebates for a range of energy-saving upgrades.
These include efficient heating and cooling, cooktop and hot water systems, solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicles and ceiling insulation.
The Sustainable Household Scheme forms a key part of the ACT Government’s strategy for achieving net zero emissions by 2045.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Storm recovery efforts will now shift to supporting the community to clean up their own properties.
The ACT Government is delivering additional household green waste collections for severely impacted suburbs as part of clean-up efforts following the storm on Friday 8 December.
Free green waste skip bins will also be available from 14 December at public places for people living in the most impacted suburbs.
Additional green waste bin collections will take place this Saturday 16 December 2023 for the suburbs that were hardest hit.
Extra green waste bin collection The additional green waste bin collection on Saturday 16 December 2023 will take place in the following suburbs:
Amaroo
Charnwood
Downer
Dunlop
Evatt
Giralang
Kaleen
Ngunnawal
Nicholls
Palmerston.
Residents should put their bin on the kerb ready for collection by 5am on Saturday morning.
While residents are very familiar with what can go in greens bins, it is important to note that:
greens bins are only for garden organics, such as leaves, grass clippings and branches 45cm long and with a diameter of 10cm;
the lid needs to be able to close; and
the bin cannot weigh more than 50kg.
Alternatively, the community can drop off green waste for free in:
Symonston – Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre, Mugga Lane
Belconnen – Canberra Sand and Gravel, Parkwood Road.
Temporary green waste skip bins
Temporary green waste skip bins are also available for people living in the most impacted suburbs.
Further sites are currently being assessed, however if Canberrans feel a skip bin is particularly needed in their local area within an impacted suburb they can call Access Canberra on 13 22 81.
The ACT Government will be monitoring these sites and significant fines apply for illegal dumping.
Reporting a job to fix my street
More than 1,000 requests, with some involving multiple trees or sites, have been received by the ACT Government. More are expected over the coming days. Clean-up crews are working hard to triage and respond to those requests.
Clean-up phasing
While extra resources have been available since the storm, the ACT Government expects the clean-up to continue well into the New Year as the focus shifts to non-urgent jobs.
While some work will continue during the Christmas break, this will be scaled back before crews return in early January.
An update on progress will be provided on Wednesday 20 December.
Please remember
If you see a tree fallen on powerlines call @EvoenergyACT on 131 093. If there are powerlines down, don’t approach them and keep at least 8 metres away.
If there’s a tree down on private land, the landowner is responsible for its removal. Please don’t move the tree or branches to the nature strip.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
We asked Canberrans on the WeAreCBR Instagram page to let us know where their favourite places to hang out with friends in the city centre. If you are on the lookout for the next best place to hang here are the best of the best!
You reel-y love movies
Whether you love a rom-com, fancy a thrilling drama, or want to have a good chuckle, there is a movie around for everyone! City favourites include:
Looking to have a yummy drink or two?
Summer time is the perfect time to catch-up with friends and try out new bars, and the CBD has no shortage of amazing places to head to! Local favourites include:
Coffee and friends make the perfect blend
Cafes, patisseries and restaurants are Canberra’s speciality, we have an abundance of different places to test out and try and offer a wide variety of selections, so why not head over to some fan favourites like:
Needing to have a shopping trip with your pals?
The Canberra Centre is home to a wide variety of shops that will cater to all! From everything from fashion, beauty, homewares, food and more! It’s the perfect place to head to too ensure everyone can have a look at their favourite things!
Check out some outdoor beauty too!
This city centre also has some beautiful artwork, sculptures and public art surrounding the town! From murals, to fountains, to wacky and quirky sculptures. Find the whole list here: https://www.arts.act.gov.au/public-art
Stay up to date with news and events in the ACT, sign up to our email newsletter: Subscribe to OurCBR
Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today challenged Democrats’ continued refusal to acknowledge the judicial branch’s constitutional limits.
In response to Ranking Member Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) request for unanimous consent on a resolution demanding the executive branch comply with all federal court rulings, Grassley offered amendments to reflect the limits of judicial power. Grassley’s amendments affirmed that the executive branch must comply with all lawful federal court rulings. Durbin objected to the commonsense amendments.
Grassley further spoke on the recent uptick in sweeping and potentially lawless orders issued by individual district judges and reaffirmed the Senate Judiciary Committee’s intent to take action.
“The President of the United States shouldn’t have to ask permission from more than 600 different district judges to manage the executive branch he was elected to lead… The practice of sweeping nationwide injunctions, broad restraining orders and judicial policymaking must end. It’s unconstitutional, it’s anti-democratic and it’s imprudent. If the Supreme Court won’t stop it, Congress must,” Grassley said.
View Grassley’s amendments HERE and HERE.
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VIDEO
Before I give my reasons for objecting, I want to comment on a couple things in your remarks.
You spoke about the time that we often agree.
Just today, you and I cosponsored a bill together, as an example.
The other thing I’d like to say before I go to my remarks is that I want to associate myself with your quote from our colleague Senator Cornyn – that you don’t impeach judges just because of a decision, because we’d be impeaching judges all the time.
That’s my additional comment.
And the third thing is, to inform you, I hope I can get, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, something moving in this area.
I happen to agree with some Democrats that in previous years have said some judges have gone way beyond what a judge should do on national injunctions.
I hope to find a solution for that, and I hope that you and I could work on that together.
I know Democrats have made that same accusation about district court judges in one district out of 93 in the United States applying their decision nationally.
So, now I would like to go to my reason for objecting.
A few weeks ago, I objected to a version of this resolution because it’s a political messaging exercise. Today, I come here for the same reason.
I won’t stand by and allow my colleagues to imply that the “Rule of Law,” those three words, only matters when there’s a Republican President.
As I explained a few weeks ago, the Biden administration engaged in four years of complete lawlessness.
Instead of condemning it, Democrats viciously attacked the legitimacy of the courts for ruling against the Biden administration.
The silence we heard from Democrats about the rule of law during the Biden years was quite deafening.
I won’t repeat my last speech, but I’ll expand on one of my previous objections.
This resolution demands that the President comply with all court orders, but it’s completely silent about the role of the federal courts to adhere to the law themselves.
For a number of years, but particularly in the last few months, we’ve seen increasingly sweeping, potentially lawless orders coming from any one of our 600 district judges out of the 93 districts we have.
Although our founders saw an important role for the judiciary, individual district judges have empowered themselves to become nationwide policymakers, as opposed to interpreting the law.
I consider this as very dangerous.
In the last few weeks, individual, unelected judges made policy decisions for the whole country.
Some examples include:
Ordering the President to stop deporting foreign terrorists;
Directing the military to enlist and retain transgender servicemembers;
Directing who will and will not staff the President’s administration;
Ordering the immediate expenditure of billions of dollars.
One judge even went so far as to order the government to pay out 2 billion taxpayer dollars and do it within 36 hours.
Much of this would go to organizations not even involved in the case, and the government wouldn’t ever be able to get this money back, even if they ultimately won on appeal.
In the two months since President Trump has entered office, his administration has suffered more of these sweeping orders at the hands of district court judges than the Biden administration experienced in four years.
I want to emphasize that.
Has President Trump chosen to ignore this avalanche of irresponsible court orders?
Flat out, no!
He’s appealed these outrageous decisions, just as he promised he would do when he said, “I always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it… the answer is I always abide by the courts.”
Appellate courts have responded by striking down many of the unlawful intrusions into Presidential authority.
But the core problem remains – the President of the United States shouldn’t have to ask permission from more than 600 different district judges to manage the executive branch he was elected to lead.
The practice of sweeping nationwide injunctions, broad restraining orders, and judicial policymaking must end.
It’s unconstitutional, it’s anti-democratic and it’s imprudent.
If the Supreme Court won’t stop it, then Congress must.
I wish the Supreme Court would get on this and do it right away.
This issue isn’t a partisan one, and I want to work with Democrats, as I just said to the Senator from Illinois.
In the past, Democrats and Republicans have both criticized nationwide injunctions and the power of individual district judges.
My Democratic colleagues have even proposed legislation to rein in some of these abuses.
You don’t have to take my word for it.
In 2022, Justice Elena Kagan correctly observed, “It just can’t be right that one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years it takes to go through the normal process.”
In 2024, President Biden’s Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, argued before the Supreme Court, now listen to this quote, that, “A court of equity may grant relief only to the parties before it. The district court violated that principle by issuing a universal injunction purporting to enjoin the Act itself and forbidding the enforcement of the Act even against non-parties.”
So, as I told Senator Durbin, I hope to soon hold a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee to address this matter and even introduce legislation to end these abuses.
I hope both my Democratic and Republican colleagues will join me in this effort.
For the resolution at hand, Mr. President, I propose an amendment, so it reads, “the Constitution of the United States and established precedent require the executive branch to comply with all lawful Federal court rulings.”
This simple change of one word, “lawful,” will show that Congress expects both the executive branch and the judicial branch to respect the rule of law and Constitutional constraints.
My amendment mirrors what the Chief Justice said in 2024.
The Chief Justice rightly raised concerns about the intimidation and threats leveled at the Court in the wake of the Dobbs decision. He said, “The final threat to judicial independence is defiance of judgments lawfully entered by courts of competent jurisdiction.”
He had no problem adding the word lawful in; we shouldn’t have it any other way.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
March 25, 2025
Once again, Senate Republican objects to Durbin’s UC request to pass a resolution that simply affirms the rule of law and the legitimacy of judicial review
WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, once again spoke against efforts by the Trump Administration to intimidate judges and undermine the rule of law. Durbin then asked for unanimous consent (UC) to pass a resolution that simply affirms that the Constitution vests the judicial power in the federal courts and that both the Constitution and established precedent require the executive branch to comply with all federal court rulings. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) objected to Durbin’s UC request. This is the second time that Senate Republicans have objected to Durbin’s UC request.
“I have come to the floor several times in recent weeks to speak about unacceptable attacks on the federal judiciary—the federal courts—by President Trump and his allies. These attacks are not only wrong, but dangerous—and pose a serious threat to our constitutional order. I am sorry to say that the attacks on our judges and our judiciary have not stopped as I have made these requests on the floor. Instead, they have grown worse,” Durbin said. “Last week, President Trump himself called for the impeachment of a federal judge simply because the judge ruled against the Trump Administration. The President’s MAGA loyalists were quick to pile on when he did that. Elon Musk has demanded the impeachment of federal judges dozens of times, and House Republicans rushed to introduce articles of impeachment in the House.”
In response to the Trump Administration’s unprecedented attack on the federal judiciary, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
“Yet, this relentless campaign against the judiciary has continued,” Durbin said. “On Friday, President Trump issued a wild rant that read in part: ‘Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country! These people are Lunatics.’”
Durbin went on to argue that the U.S. Senate must stand up and defend the judiciary.
“There has been a lot of debate about when we will cross the threshold into a genuine constitutional crisis. I pray that it will never happen,” Durbin said. “But it will come down to a basic principle. The question is not when we are going to face this, it is that we cannot afford to hold our breath and wait and see if the President will formally announce that he will defy a court order. We must respond to the dangerous attacks on our courts and judges now. The Senate must speak with one voice, Republicans and Democrats, in defense of the judiciary, the separation of powers, the Constitution, and the country we love.”
Durbin continued, “Some have argued that impeachment of judges is necessary because of the number of injunctions issued against President Trump compared to other Presidents. They claim this is evidence that federal judges are biased against President Trump. I would suggest there is a more obvious explanation: the number of injunctions issued against the first and second Trump Administrations is evidence of a President who has repeatedly violated the law.”
Durbin also responded to baseless claims from Elon Musk and other MAGA allies that the most recent judge to be targeted by President Trump, Judge Boasberg, is a radical ideologue.
“Let’s be clear. Judge Boasberg is no partisan. He was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by a Republican President: George W. Bush. As a D.C. district court judge, Judge Boasberg has issued many rulings that clearly illustrate impartiality. For example, he was the judge who ordered the release of thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails. And his decisions have favored President Trump’s interests on several occasions,” Durbin said. “Other judges who have ruled against the Trump Administration were appointed by Republican Presidents—including some who were appointed by President Trump himself. He is not always going to win in court. He seems to think he should.”
Durbin concluded, “The danger posed by the Trump Administration’s attack on the judiciary is not abstract. The recent invective by the President and his allies has resulted in increased threats to the lives of judges and their families. That is absolutely unacceptable. Our judges should not fear for their lives and those of their loved ones because of their work. And if judges feel compelled to decide cases in favor of the President to avoid his wrath, we will no longer have an independent judiciary. We can debate the value of nationwide injunctions and the merits of any particular judicial decision. But violence or threats of violence, whether from the right or the left of the political spectrum are never – never – acceptable… it is up to both political parties to protect it [an independent judiciary]. We’ve sworn to uphold and defend this Constitution, and now we are going to be tested.”
Durbin’s resolution on the rule of law is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jean Shaheen (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the floor isavailable here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available herefor TV Stations.
A University of Aberdeen geology student has reached the final of the UK Career Change Awards after embarking on a degree following service as a Royal Marine Commando and rope access technician on offshore installations.
Andy Rycroft, who lives in Turriff, had written off his chances of succeeding in education with a succession of school reports citing that he was ‘easily distracted, doesn’t listen to instructions, presentation is poor’.
With no qualifications he enlisted in the Royal Marines and after 32 weeks of the most arduous basic military training in the world, became a Royal Marines Commando serving in Afghanistan and on operations in Canada and the UK.
The military gave him his first taste of formal training and he gained and NVQ and apprenticeship in engineering.
But when he left in 2012 he again turned to his practical skills training as a Rope Access Inspection Technician and later worked in the Oil and Gas industry as a project planner.
It was not until Covid slowed down the pace of the world that he asked what really inspired him and decided to follow his passion for earth and planetary science, signing up to a part-time distance learning course with the University of London Birkbeck.
During the enrolment process he took a learning differences screening and was diagnosed with dyslexia, making sense of the negative school reports.
Andy said: “With correct allowances in place and modern technology like recording lectures, Grammarly, reading back aloud and extra reading time in exams, I unlocked the cheat code in my mind.
“After achieving a distinction in the planetary science certificate, I was eager to complete the degree but decided to come closer to home and accelerate it to full-time learning.
“So, after 11 years in the Oil industry, I left and the University of Aberdeen accepted me to year two of BSc Geology, where I achieved my proudest grade to date. A 3500 report on the history of earth life with an A1 grade, has given me a huge confidence boost going into my honours years.
“I am currently in year 3 and getting ready to undertake my mapping project dissertation in the summer of 2025. After I complete my degree in 2026, I will become the first in my family to have a university degree.”
This remarkable career change has secured him a place as one of only 10 finalists the targetjobs UK Career Change Award Grand Final to be held in London April 25.
And Andy has plans to put his academic passion for earth sciences to practical use once he has completed his degree.
“I want to be part of something that makes a tangible impact on people’s lives,” he added. “The current energy crisis in the UK, where some people have to choose between heating and eating, is not something we can sit by and do nothing about. This can only be achieved by investing in wind, battery storage, and electric car charging infrastructure using clean energy sources. I am keen to transition into an industry where I can apply these passions.
“I’m honoured to be selected for the final out of hundreds of nationwide applications. I had the privilege of meeting representatives from Clifford Chance, the award sponsor and seeing first-hand how seriously they value career changers.
“Being invited to their stunning HQ in Canary Wharf along with 20 other shortlisted candidates was an incredible and humbling experience. I had the opportunity to pitch my career change journey and present an innovation that breaks down barriers for career changers, showcasing its benefits for both individuals and organisations.”
A man has been sentenced following two violent assaults that left one his victims dying from stab wounds.
Abdul Khan, 27 (14.08.97), of Durham Road, Harrow was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, 25 March.
Khan was also placed under an additional Section 41 order, which means that only the Secretary of State for Justice or a tribunal can give approval for him to be discharged from hospital.
Khan pleaded guilty to the manslaughter – through diminished responsibility – of Bohdan Vandzhura, and possession of an offensive weapon. He was also admitted to the attempted murder in relation to a second man who he attacked in Harrow. He was also found guilty of ABH in relation to this victim.
His father, Khalid Khan, 62 (22.04.62) of Durham Road, Harrow was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for assisting an offender in relation to this incident.
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Williams, who led the investigation, said:
“Our thoughts remain with Mr Vandzhura’s family and friends.
“Bohdan was a loving father-of-two who was assaulted, unprovoked, and tragically died from his injuries.
“Abdul Hussain demonstrated a pattern of violent behaviour and posed a clear threat to the public.
“He will now remain in a safe place to get the treatment he needs.”
An investigation was launched by the Specialist Crime Command after police were called on the morning of 8 July 2023 to reports of a stabbing on Pinner Road in North Harrow.
Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance. At the scene, they found 49-year-old Bohdan with stab wounds. Despite their efforts he died.
A post-mortem examination carried out the following day confirmed he died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck.
Detectives reviewed CCTV footage from the area and were able to track Khan’s movements, capturing him disposing of the weapon and walking away from Bohdan’s home.
This led them to quickly identify and then arrest Khan.
The footage also provided them with evidence of his father – Khalid Khan – leaving his home with a carrier bag that was later discovered to contain his son’s bloodied clothing.
Abdul Khan was arrested on 8 July and charged within 24 hours. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter – through diminished responsibility – and possession of an offensive weapon.
As part of this investigation, detectives also established that Khan was a suspect for two further offences that predated the death of Bohdan.
On 20 August 2022, in Pinner Road, Harrow, Khan punched a 43-year-old man to the ground before repeatedly stamping on him, leaving him unconscious.
He also attacked the same man on a second occasion on 10 February 2023.
Officers carried out an investigation at the time but were unable to identify a suspect. However, following the investigation into the assault of Bohdan, detectives were able to piece together evidence which made it clear that Khan was the chief suspect of the assault.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Shampa Roy-Mukherjee, Vice Dean and Professor in Economics, University of East London
Not even six months on from Labour’s first budget, and the world is a much-changed place. Geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, already high last year, have risen further, and with them the cost of the UK’s debt, while economic growth has stalled. As such, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confronted an array of unpalatable choices – notably cutting disability benefits – to enable her to increase defence spending and stabilise the public finances. Here’s what our panel of experts made of the statement:
Falling inflation wasn’t enough to prevent further disability cuts
Shampa Roy-Mukherjee, Vice Dean and Professor in Economics, University of East London
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has halved the UK’s 2025 growth forecast to 1%, down from the previously projected 2%. This sluggish growth, coupled with increased borrowing costs, has effectively eliminated the government’s £9.9 billion “fiscal headroom” – its financial buffer – resulting in a £4.1 billion shortfall by 2029-30.
There was some short-term relief in the latest inflation figures. These showed a slowdown in price rises in February (2.8% against 3% in January). The dip was caused by discounting of items like clothing. But given around half of businesses are considering price rises to combat tax hikes and the national living wage increase coming in April, this relief is likely to be short-lived. The OBR forecasts that inflation will climb back up to 3.2% this year.
The government had previously set out its controversial plans for £5 billion in welfare cuts. But the OBR rejected the claim that the reforms would save that much, estimating the savings at £3.4 billion, leaving Reeves with a £1.6 billion shortfall. As such, she has had to announce additional welfare reforms.
These include freezing the universal credit health element until 2030 and reducing it to £50 a week for new claimants. This is aimed at saving an additional £500 million by 2030 – and combined with other planned welfare reforms could affect more than 3 million people. But the standard allowance for universal credit will see an above-inflation increase from 2026-27 and the incomes of those with the most severe lifelong conditions will be protected.
Civil service administrative budgets are also to be reduced – by 15% by 2029-30. This, along with other efficiency and productivity improvements, will lead to annual savings of £3.5 billion. These cuts will focus on areas like human resources, policy advice, and office management, rather than frontline services.
Reeves resorted to tricks and ‘efficiency savings’
Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City St George’s, University of London
Reeves has announced a series of tweaks to her spending plans to address the economic situation which has meant that she is in danger of breaking her self-imposed fiscal rules. The chancellor was at pains to say that these rules are “non-negotiable”.
But these are unlikely to tackle the deeper problem – that in the short term she cannot rely on economic growth to square the circle of Labour’s three contradictory election pledges. These were more spending on public services, lower taxes and strict fiscal rules.
The UK, in fact, is particularly vulnerable to the disruption of global trade that is likely to result from US president Donald Trump’s tariff wars. And the productivity gains from her long-term infrastructure plans will take years – if not a decade – to translate into higher growth.
Like many chancellors, Reeves has resorted to various tricks – such as counting money moved to the defence budget to build tanks and aircraft as capital spending (and therefore exempt from the borrowing rules). And she has called for “efficiency savings” in the civil service and government departments that are unlikely to be realised.
But the biggest savings are coming from deeper than expected cuts in disability payments and other welfare payments, reducing the income of more than 3 million people. This is upsetting many Labour MPs. Her big sweetener – £2 billion for social housing next year – is actually less than that already allocated by the previous Conservative government.
Crucially, the further savings likely to be demanded in the spending review (announced on June 11) from unprotected departments including local government, justice and environment, will certainly look a lot like a return to austerity.
In the end – and possibly as soon as the autumn budget – the chancellor will have to accept that as well as spending cuts, she will have to consider tax increases and possibly even a revision of the fiscal rules.
Otherwise, she will remain at the mercy of the markets and the forecasters. Any long-term strategy will be strangled by the need to continually adjust policy to meet the fiscal “headroom” target she has set which leaves little room for manoeuvre. This requires an implausibly accurate prediction of the state of the economy in five years’ time by the OBR.
Commitment to financial stability is actually increasing uncertainty
Linda Yueh, Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Oxford
The chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal rules are intended to provide stability – one of the foundations of economic growth. One of those rules, which Rachel Reeves has said she will not bend, is that government day-to-day spending must be balanced by tax receipts by the end of this parliament.
This is intended to provide transparency on fiscal policy. And Reeves clearly understands the importance of how international financial markets react to the UK’s level of spending – and its public debt (currently about 100% of GDP).
But the world is not a stable place. And with the OBR halving its 2025 GDP growth forecast from 2% to 1%, unplanned cuts to public spending followed.
Consistency in fiscal policy helps households and business to plan for the future. But during times of heightened uncertainty with global tariffs looming, GDP is likely to remain volatile. This makes not changing the government’s fiscal stance particularly challenging.
It is also challenging for chancellor personally, as she would prefer to have one “fiscal event” a year, rather than two. But the OBR is obliged to provide economic forecasts twice a year, and when it slashes expected growth, she is duty bound to respond.
Somewhat ironically then, the government’s stability rule is having the unintended consequence of adding policy uncertainty to an already uncertain overall economic environment – and more frequent changes to fiscal policy.
Modest defence spending boost will struggle to reverse years of decline
Jamie Gaskarth, Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations, the Open University
In two months, the UK defence sector has been turned upside down – primarily by Donald Trump. His administration has made implied threats to invade a NATO ally (Denmark), challenged the sovereignty of another (Canada) and pulled support for Ukraine, openly siding with Russia in ceasefire negotiations. There is a real chance the US will draw down its security presence in Europe.
If European countries are to meet the full cost of their own security, this will have to mean a dramatic increase in defence budgets. So far, the UK has redistributed aid money to help fund an increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP (from 2.3%) by 2027, with the ambition to raise it to 3% in the next parliament.
It has also offered an extra £2 billion to underwrite defence exports. But this is small beer.
As with many areas of public spending, dramatic cuts to the defence budget during the years of austerity (22% in real terms) have meant delays to procurement, crumbling estates and a chronic lack of investment.
This will take a substantial uplift to redress. Recent increases under the Conservatives were eaten up by capital costs and inflation.
And while ideas such as the £400 million ringfenced to support innovation in AI and new technology are welcome, these are tiny amounts in the grand scheme of things. The UK is not going to be a “defence industrial superpower” any time soon if budget announcements are this small, and increases so modest.
Promise to disabled people in tatters
William E. Donald, Associate Professor of Sustainable Careers and Human Resource Management, University of Southampton
In November, social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms spoke passionately at the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 awards, vowing to undo past injustices and declaring: “We now want to put that right.” As a disabled person, I cheered. That promise now lies in ruins.
Despite government claims there will be no return to austerity, sick and disabled people face a real-terms cut to their incomes and the criteria for claiming personal independence payment (Pip) will become stricter than ever. This isn’t just a policy to save £5 billion, it’s cruelty and a devastating attack on disabled people.
Pip isn’t means-tested and is paid regardless of whether you work. It exists because, according to disability charity Scope, disabled households need an additional £1,010 a month to achieve the same standard of living as others. Stripping this support away while NHS mental health waiting lists grow, energy and food prices rise, and the disability pay gap sits at 12.7% won’t push people into work. It will push them into crisis.
Last year, Labour promised to break barriers for disabled people. Instead, they are building new ones. These cuts come at the expense of society’s most vulnerable. The consequences will be catastrophic.
Social housing boost – but homes could be improved now
Nicky Shaw, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management, Leeds University Business School, and Simon Williams, Associate Faculty, Leeds University Business School
The chancellor’s £2 billion investment in new homes will certainly help to increase the availability of affordable social housing. Everyone agrees that access to decent, affordable homes is important, but the quality and maintenance of existing social houses remains critical. Replacing cladding, for example, is stubbornly challenging.
But beyond just building more social housing, our research has explored key measures of tenant satisfaction. The potential ways for digital tools such as AI to improve the efficiency of tasks like repairs and maintenance in future are numerous.
But social housing’s tenant demographic includes many people who are more vulnerable, some of whom prefer not to – or simply cannot – engage with digital services. This means that sustaining face-to-face contact with tenants is critical. Investing in tenants’ experience now could really deliver tangible benefits for some of Britain’s most vulnerable people.
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 Mississippi Roger Wicker
Chairman Wicker Statement on Polar Security Cutter Contract Modification
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to modify the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) icebreaker contract to include an additional $951 million investment at Bollinger Shipyards in Pascagoula, Mississippi:
“As the Arctic grows as an arena of great power competition, the United States will require far more icebreaking capability from the U.S. Coast Guard to defend our interests in the region. Today’s award is a testament to the good work that Bollinger continues to do on the Polar Security Cutter program and the growing urgency with which their platforms are needed to boost our national defense,” Chairman Wicker said. “The Mississippi Gulf Coast will not only benefit from even more national security-focused quality jobs and economic development, but it will also continue to be a national player and powerhouse in mission-critical innovation and military capability.”
Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Gary Peters (MI) and Elissa Slotkin (MI) announced they are accepting applications from qualified persons interested in being nominated for United States District Court judge in the Eastern District of Michigan. The senators are also accepting applications for United States Attorney and United States Marshal in the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan. Interested candidates should request an application by emailing JudicialNominations@peters.senate.gov.
The deadline to submit an application for U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan is 5:00PM on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
The deadline to submit an application for U.S. Attorney in the Eastern or Western Districts of Michigan is 5:00PM on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
“Michigan’s federal judges, U.S. Attorneys, and U.S. Marshals play a critical role in keeping our communities safe and administering justice fairly and compassionately,” said Senator Peters. “I’m committed to making sure these important positions are held by those with the legal experience and temperament needed to serve our state well. As we begin the process of evaluating and recommending highly qualified candidates to fill current vacancies, I encourage applicants who are interested in public service to apply.”
“A critical part of the job of a U.S. Senator is to review and recommend qualified, fair and upstanding nominees to the federal bench, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshall’s offices,” said Senator Slotkin. “Michigan is home to some of the most talented legal minds in the country, and I encourage qualified applicants interested in serving in the federal judiciary to apply.”
It is the Senate’s tradition for both home state Senators to recommend judicial nominees to the President for consideration. After someone is nominated, it is Senate procedure for the home state senators to agree to consideration of a nominee before the Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings and votes. This is commonly called the “blue slip” process. Nominations approved by the Committee are then considered by the full Senate.
Peters and Slotkin will continue to listen to public input and consult with Michigan’s legal community to ensure that our state is served by highly qualified, fair, and impartial judges that put the people of Michigan first.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
March 26, 2025
Warren sounds alarm on new data from the Fed showing chaotic Trump tariff strategy enabling price hikes for American consumers
“[Trump is] creating widespread confusion and uncertainty that may give big corporations cover to increase their prices on all goods”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and Member of the Finance Committee, wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ahead of President Trump’s announcement on proposed reciprocal tariffs on April 2, pressing him to explain how he will prevent big corporations from using tariffs as a cover for price hikes. The letter follows new data released last week by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) indicating that President Trump’s chaotic tariffs rollout is stalling progress on inflation and giving big corporations a new set of excuses to price-gouge American consumers.
“We should use tariffs to support American manufacturing, strengthen onshore critical supply chains, and create good-paying jobs here at home. Instead, we are seeing executives pull back on investment and threaten to impose new and unjustified price increases on consumers,” wrote Senator Warren.
Last week, FRB Chair Jerome Powell announced that the Federal Reserve System will hold interest rates at their current level, reflecting the bureau’s belief that progress towards reducing inflation has stalled. Powell noted that “a good part of [the higher inflation forecast] is coming from tariffs” and that manufacturers tend to “just follow the crowd” and raise prices, even on goods that aren’t subject to tariffs.
The Trump administration currently has no plans to prevent companies from using tariffs as an excuse to hike prices up even further, despite corporate executives’ warnings that tariffs would lead them to preemptively raise prices.
“I am deeply concerned that President Trump is now enabling this corporate greed, allowing companies to increase prices across the board, regardless of whether goods are actually subject to tariffs,” continued Senator Warren.
Big corporations have continuously threatened that tariffs would lead them to preemptively raise prices. AutoZone’s CEO said: “We’ll generally raise prices ahead of [tariffs]—we know what the tariffs will be—we generally raise prices ahead of that.” At an earnings call in mid-March, MasterBrand’s CFO said they “anticipate that wide-ranging price increases will be needed across our various products.”
Senator Warren also demanded Lutnick answer specific questions, including whether he agrees with Powell’s assessment that price increases may be a result of companies’ choosing to pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers, whether the Commerce Department has analyzed the impact of Trump’s tariffs on prices, and whether price increases have been limited to products subject to increased tariffs. Senator Warren also asked Lutnick to share specific actions Trump has taken—if any—to limit companies’ ability to pass on the costs of tariffs or impose broad price increases onto consumers.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Chancellor delivers security and national renewal for Northern Ireland in new era of global change
The UK Chancellor delivered the Spring Statement today (Wednesday 26 March 2025)
Chancellor vows to bring about “new era of security and national renewal” as she delivered a Spring Statement to kickstart economic growth, protect working people and keep Britain safe.
People across the UK to be on average £500 a year better off by the end of this parliament compared to under the previous government, putting more money in people’s pockets.
Growth at the heart of Plan for Change as £13 billion of additional capital spend allocated alongside £2.2 billion defence funding boost next year will get Britain building.
People across the UK will be on average £500 better off from 2029, relative to OBR’s autumn forecast, helping to deliver the Plan for Change as the Chancellor today (Wednesday 26 March) announced a Spring Statement to grasp the opportunities in a changing world.
The OBR also confirmed that the UK economy is expected to grow faster than expected from 2026 and will be larger by 2029 compared to its autumn forecast – up to 9.5% compared to 9.2%.
The Chancellor also set out how the government is protecting national security and maximising the growth potential of the UK defence sector by confirming a £2.2 billion increase in the UK-wide defence budget in 2025-26.
The Spring Statement delivers UK Government spending plans focused on its core objectives, bringing security and stability for working people across the UK.
It follows the Budget in the autumn where the Chancellor announced that the Northern Ireland Executive will be provided with an £18.2 billion settlement in 2025/26 – the largest in real terms in the history of devolution. This includes an additional £1.5 billion through the Barnett formula, with £1.2 billion for day-to-day spending and £270 million for capital investment.
The measures taken today top these Barnett consequentials up by a further £14 million in 2025/26. The Northern Ireland Executive are receiving over 24% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK, including the 2024 restoration financial package.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s block grant funding from 2026-27 onwards will be confirmed at Phase 2 of the Spending Review, which concludes on 11 June 2025. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury will meet with his counterparts from the devolved governments to discuss their priorities ahead of its conclusion.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn said:
I welcome the fact that Northern Ireland will receive a £14 million boost in Barnett consequentials as a result of today’s announcements, building on the record £18.2 billion settlement which was confirmed by the UK Government last Autumn.
This also follows a £235 million package to transform public services in Northern Ireland, which will support the transformation of key public services which make a real impact on people’s lives, including health, education, planning and justice.
Importantly, today’s announcement reinforces the economic growth potential of the UK defence sector, and follows the Prime Minister’s announcement of a £1.6bn deal to provide air defence missiles for Ukraine, which will create 200 jobs in Northern Ireland and demonstrates the strength of the local defence industry.
From next week, working people across Northern Ireland and the UK will also benefit from an increase to the National Living Wage, putting more money into the pockets of hard-working people.
And the UK Government continues to provide support across Northern Ireland through City and Growth deal packages, having confirmed the Mid-South West and Causeway Coast and Glens City deal last year.
Taken together, these measures will foster growth in Northern Ireland, creating jobs, supporting public services, and boosting the quality of life for local people.”
Growth
Kickstarting economic growth is the number one mission of this government, putting more money in people’s pockets.
The UK Government has already made considerable progress on growth in Northern Ireland, including confirming the Mid-South West and Causeway Coast and Glens City deal. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister also announced a £1.6bn deal to provide air defence missiles for Ukraine, which will create 200 jobs in Northern Ireland. In February we launched Intertrade UK which will advise on how businesses can take advantage of the full opportunities of the UK internal market.
The actions of this government across the Autumn Budget and Spring Statement, if sustained, lead to a 0.6% rise in the level of real GDP by 2034-25.
The OBR concluded that the stability rule is met by £9.9 billion and the investment rule is met by £15.1 billion. Both rules are met two years early, meaning from 2027-28 the government is only borrowing for investment and net financial debt is falling.
The government is not satisfied with short-term growth figures, and is going further and faster today to improve this.
The Chancellor has announced a further £13 billion of capital investment over the Parliament to go further on growth, on top of the £100 billion uplift announced at Autumn Budget. This will deliver the projects needed to catalyse private investment, boost growth and drive forward the UK’s modern industrial strategy.
Taken together, this greater capital investment more than offsets the modest savings on day-to-day spending and means the total departmental spending will increase over the next five years, when compared with plans in the Autumn.
Defence
The world is changing before our eyes, reshaped by global instability, including Russian aggression in Ukraine. Europe is facing a once-in-a-generation moment for its collective security, with conflicts overseas undermining security and prosperity at home.
A month ago, the Prime Minister announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War as a result of the changing global picture, now reaching 2.5% of GDP by April 2027, and with an ambition to reach 3% in the next Parliament subject to economic and fiscal conditions.
We are going further and faster to protect our national security and maximise the economic growth potential of the UK defence sector.
Increasing the defence budget by £2.2 billion in 2025-26, taking additional spending on defence to over £5 billion since the Autumn Budget.
This raises spending on defence to 2.36% next year and will be invested in fitting Royal Navy ships with Directed Energy Weapons five years earlier than planned, providing better homes for military families and modernising His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth.
Setting a minimum 10 percent ringfence for equipment spending on emerging technologies like drones and autonomous systems, dual-use technology, and AI-powered capabilities, so that British troops have the tools they need to fight and win in modern warfare.
Getting this new tech into the hands of our armed forces quicker by cutting away bureaucracy, with a new UK Defence Innovation unit within the Ministry of Defence spearheading efforts to identify promising technology and ensure these get to the frontline at speed, while also bolstering the UK tech sector and crowding in private investment.
Creating bespoke procurement processes for different types of military equipment, learning lessons from our rapid support for Ukraine to drive faster timescale targets for operationalising new tanks, aircraft and other essential tools for modern warfare.
This government is determined to transform the defence sector into an engine for growth by focusing this investment on where it boosts the productive capacity of the economy such as investment in innovation and novel technologies. As a result of the increase in defence spending to 2.5%, the government estimates this could lead to around 0.3% higher GDP in the long run, equivalent to around £11 billion of GDP in today’s money.
The government’s investment in defence will also support its number one mission to deliver economic growth. UK citizens will be protected from threats at home whilst creating a stable environment in which businesses can thrive, and supporting highly skilled jobs and apprenticeships across the whole of the UK.
Reform
The UK Government is determined to make the public sector more productive and to improve services for working people. But the changing world means we need to go further and faster to ensure we can deliver the public services that working people care most about.
The government has shown its commitment to taking the difficult decisions required to drive efficiencies and reform the state – reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies and duplication; and driving out wasteful government spend through cancelling thousands of government credit cards.
Getting more people into jobs is also central to the government’s growth mission. The broken welfare system is letting people down by asking them to prove what they can’t do, rather than focusing on what they could do with the right support – trapping people due to fear of trying work, lack of support and poor financial incentives.
The Chancellor has confirmed the creation of a £3.25 billion Transformation Fund to support the fundamental reform of public services, seize the opportunities of digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and transform frontline delivery to release savings for taxpayers over the long-term.
The UK Government provided £235 million to transform public services in Northern Ireland as part of the £3.3 billion restoration package for the Executive. This month we agreed to allocate £129 million of that funding to projects across several priority public services including health, education, planning and justice. The funding will see £61 million go towards expanding the multi-disciplinary teams in GP clinics across Northern Ireland, and support five other projects across justice, special education and infrastructure which represent key priorities in the Executive’s Programme for Government.
Looking Forward
This Spring Statement builds on the Autumn Budget and the decisions taken since required to deliver stability to the British economy and kickstart economic growth.
The government will set out its plans for spending and key public sector reforms at the Spending Review which will conclude on 11 June 2025.
Notes to editors
Government calculations for the long-run impacts of higher defence spending are based on estimates from Antolin-Diaz and Surico (2025), forthcoming in the American Economic Review (AER), of the GDP impact of higher defence spending on GDP. Their estimates of the GDP multiplier stabilise after ten years at around 1.6, which is assumed to reflect an appropriate long-run multiplier for potential output, as any demand-side effects are likely to have dissipated at the ten-year horizon.
Defence spending as a share of GDP is set to rise from 2.3% to 2.5%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points. Applying an elasticity of 1.6 to this change implies a long-run increase in the level of potential output of approximately 0.3%. A long-run increase to the level of potential output of 0.3% is equivalent to around £11 billion of GDP in the long run, in today’s prices.
