On October 14, 2024, the Science Activation program’s NASA eClipsTM Education team from the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center for Integrative Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Education (NIA-CISE) delivered a professional development session entitled “Using Children’s Books to Build STEM Habits of Mind” to 62 Media Specialists and Gifted Teachers from Richmond Public Schools in Virginia.
The session kicked off with an engaging overview of NASA’s methods for gathering Earth data, including the use of stratospheric balloons. Participants then took part in the Balloon Aerodynamics Challenge 1 & 2. Divided into small groups, the teachers assumed the role of “stratospheric balloon engineers” and were tasked with adjusting helium-filled balloons to achieve neutral buoyancy. Initially, teams analyzed qualitative and quantitative aspects of their balloons before exploring the materials available to help them reach the target height. Once they achieved neutral buoyancy, their next challenge was to guide their balloons around the room using only a straw and a 5×7-inch card. As they completed this task, participants linked the activity to Bernoulli’s Principle and Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Following the activity, teachers were introduced to NASA eClips’ newly released Guide Lites: Comparing Science and Engineering Practices Using Black Box Models. During this segment, they discussed the distinction between engineering and science, reflecting on the engineering practices applied in the Balloon Aerodynamics Challenge and how scientific concepts influenced their balloon modifications.
Additionally, teachers explored Favorite STEM Books and Activities: A Literary Collection Curated by the NASA eClips Team and Advisory Board Members, a resource designed to integrate children’s literature with STEM learning. Participants reviewed at least two book entries from the collection, assessing their alignment with educational standards, evaluating associated activities, and offering feedback on strengths and suggested improvements. As a final activity, teams selected a STEM trade book from the curated collection and analyzed it for potential cross-disciplinary connections, including inquiry, engineering, or hands-on activities.
The event was planned collaboratively with Judy Deichman (Coordinator of Library Services for Richmond Public Schools), Lynn Pleveich (Coordinator for Programs for the Gifted and Talented in Richmond Public Schools), Dr. Sharon Bowers and Joan Harper-Neely (NASA eClips Senior STEM Specialists), and Betsy McAllister (NIA’s Educator in Residence from Hampton City Schools).
NASA eClips is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AB91A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
Teacher teams discussed the alignment of STEM books to educational standards and provided feedback for the new activity, Favorite STEM Books and Activities: A Literary Collection Curated by the NASA eClips Team and Advisory Board Members.
Realizar experimentos científicos en la Tierra puede ser complicado pero en el espacio es aún más difícil debido a las condiciones de gravedad cero y microgravedad. La gerente de investigaciones comerciales de la Estación Espacial Internacional, Yuri Guinart-Ramírez, te explica cómo en la estación se llevan a cabo cientos de investigaciones científicas en condiciones de microgravedad y cómo los investigadores adaptan sus experimentos e instrumentos para que funcionen adecuadamente en ese entorno.
Headline: President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Increases Federal Cost Share for Vermont
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Increases Federal Cost Share for Vermont
WASHINGTON – FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced that President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the state of Vermont to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides from July 7-21, 2023.The President authorized the federal cost-share to be increased from 75% to 90%, except for assistance previously approved at 100% for a limited time period. The major disaster declaration made federal funding available for public assistance, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and other needs assistance for total eligible costs. luz.laborde-rivera Mon, 11/04/2024 – 17:25
Manisha Sinha, professor of history and James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut, has been awarded the2024 John W. Blassingame Awardfor her significant contributions to the field of African American history.
The honoris awarded to an individual every three years by the Southern Historical Association. The prize recognizes and celebrates Sinha’s distinguished scholarship in African American history and dedicated mentorship of African American students. Sinha’s graduate students nominated her for the award.
Sinha’s award was announced during the 90th annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association, which was held from October 24-27, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. Associate Professor of History Deirdre Cooper Owens accepted the award on Sinha’s behalf.
The Southern Historical Association promotes an “investigative rather than memorial approach” to Southern history. The Association promotes interest and research in Southern history, collects and preserves Southern historical records, encourages historical societies in the South, and promotes the teaching and study of Southern history.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Message, Professor of Public Humanities and Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University
Visual images often last in historical and popular memory. This is especially the case in presidential campaigns in the United States, which offer a vast mix of spectacle, surprise and drama.
An historian of political visual culture can no more predict which images are likely to last the test of time than we can know who will win. But we can explain why some historical images from presidential campaigns resonate.
This election season has produced the most media savvy and diverse campaign imagery of all time. Cable news, social media and artificial intelligence have created a whole new universe of image-based narratives.
In this rich visual landscape, here are three images likely to last the test of time.
1. Trump’s ‘fight!’ photo
The uncontroversial front-runner for defining image has to be Evan Vucci’s photograph of Donald Trump being led off the stage in Pennsylvania after surviving an assassination attempt in July.
Both are photographed from below and feature the national flag above Americans working against adversity to reach a common goal. Both fit squarely into the tradition of wartime photojournalism.
Both photographs enjoyed instantaneous popularity: Trump’s image went viral and the Iwo Jima image was featured on a US postage stamp before the war’s end.
But their greatest similarity resides in the cultural symbolism of the images.
Both accurately represent an historical moment; a specific point in time. But the point in time has been actively selected to fit a narrative. The narratives projected are deeply held mythologised symbols of aspirational patriotism.
Visual literacy prompts us to think about which images were discounted in the selection of these historically powerful two. Historical legacies and the national mythologies that fuel these lean toward images of success over pictures of wartime death and suffering.
This image of Trump fits all the criteria we would typically and probably unconsciously apply when assessing if an image is likely to have long-term significance.
The baseline characteristic of iconic images is a general bipartisan understanding of what an image “says”. Regardless of whether you agree with the message being conveyed, you understand its social context, why the image is provocative, dramatic or funny (or not), as well as its historical references.
However, contemporary images are not always so straightforward to read – and in a post-truth AI world, it is harder than ever to decipher the visual culture of politics.
2. Brat summer and coconut memes
Kamala Harris’s youth and vision for the future headlined her campaign’s creation of “Kamala HQ”. The strategy adopted the bright green branding and font of Charli XCX’s smash album Brat after the pop star posted on X: “kamala IS brat”.
Social media has been a critical tool in introducing Harris to voters, especially those of voting age for the first time in 2024. The campaign’s use of social media represented young people as engaged and respected decision makers.
Voters have had more than a century to become accustomed to photojournalism. In contrast, a lot of social media representation has arisen from community activism over the past few years. Reporting from women’s marches this past weekend showed links to the visual culture of the protests that followed Trump’s 2016 election.
You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.
This moment went viral during the 2024 election, and it was not long before people started signalling their support for Harris by adding a coconut emoji to their profile or comments.
The popularity of the coconut meme by Harris supporters indicates a rejection of the derogatory use of the term “coconut” against people of colour “acting white”.
The production and reception of memes by younger voters demonstrates a media literacy and sophistication that also requires continuous fact-checking.
This point was made in Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris, which urged her followers to do their own “reliability” checking of information in their feeds after Trump and other conservative figures shared AI-generated images of Swift and her fans allegedly supporting Trump.
3. The televised debate handshake
A key image from the debate between Harris and Trump came in the first few minutes, when Harris crossed the stage to offer her hand. It was the first debate handshake in eight years.
This was a bold action given Trump’s prowling movement on the 2016 debate stage against Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and his well documented predilection for firm handshakes.
The handshake is representative of the campaign, which has been called “a referendum on gender”. It evoked the image of strong and confident leadership – a central theme as Harris spoke passionately about reproductive rights and abortion.
Televised presidential debates are one of the most keenly watched and analysed moments of the presidential election season. Image is everything.
Their importance is perhaps best indicated by Justin Sullivan’s photograph of President Joe Biden, mouth agape and looking frail beneath the word “presidential” during the June debate this year.
While they rarely lead to an outcome as extreme as a candidate exiting the race, as ended up happening with Biden, the images and soundbites they generate can resonate for decades.
During the first ever nationally televised presidential debate in 1960, Republican candidate Richard Nixon was said to be unwell and refused to wear makeup. Compared to his opponent, Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy, he sweated profusely on stage, creating an image that was disastrous to his eventually unsuccessful campaign.
Between the staged and “gotcha” moments of every presidential campaign, debates provide a unique – and, in 2024, a singular – window into how the candidates relate to each other as humans across an ever-widening ideological divide.
Kylie Message has received funding from the Australian Research Council.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Warburton, Honorary Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
These include wiping 20% off debts, increasing the income threshold for compulsory repayments, and changing the amounts people have to repay.
As well as encouraging Australians to study, the changes aim to provide cost-of-living relief – or, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday:
putting more dollars in the pockets of people who feel, justifiably, that they’re getting the rough end of the pineapple.
The changes are certainly an improvement. Unfortunately, they are not as good as they should be – particularly if you have a HELP debt and a family to support.
What is the point of HELP?
My analysis of the most recently released tax statistics indicates more than 70% of those required to make a HELP repayment in 2021–22 earned between A$60,000 and A$120,000. Only 20% earned more than $120,000 and less than 10% earned less than $60,000.
The HECS (now HELP) system was conceived in the 1980s as a way to generate revenue to help the government pay for an expansion of university places.
It doesn’t matter if people do not repay all of their loans. The primary purpose is to have students who have benefited, and can afford to contribute to the cost of their education, give something back.
While fairness has always been a key plank of HECS/HELP, there are some major problems with the system. And the changes announced over the weekend continue to ignore them.
The HECS/HELP system was designed so students would only repay loans if they had the capacity to do so. Enrico Della Pietra/ Shutterstock
What about families?
Student loan arrangements have never taken account of other government payments and obligations such as social security, taxation rates, taxation rebates and Medicare levies.
As I have shown in this analysis, for some family types, HELP repayments combine to produce ridiculous effective tax rates.
Imagine the following scenarios for someone with a HELP debt, earning between $60,000 and $100,000 and who had a pay increase in this income range.
In 2022-23, if you were single with no kids, the average effective tax rate on the extra earnings was 51%.
If you were single with two kids aged four and seven, the average effective tax rate on the extra earnings was 77%. If those children were ten and 13, it was 73%.
The situation is similar in a couple family with two children where only one parent is able to work. The working parent has little incentive to increase their earned income and this won’t change much under the new proposals.
The reason people in these situations keep so little of their extra earnings is because as family incomes increase, they lose family tax benefits, they pay more tax and their Medicare levy increases.
There is not enough attention paid to how all these arrangements interact and how they affect people overall.
We need to know many families are paying HELP
The government’s plan to increase the HELP repayment threshold to those with an annual income of $67,000 is a welcome improvement. The system was never intended to take money off people with virtually no capacity to pay.
The government’s plan to simplify the repayment arrangements is also a positive step. The current system has 18 different repayment rates applied to total income, which means people are repeatedly going backwards when they earn extra money. The new plan to only calculate repayments on dollars over the threshold (the marginal rate approach) stops this from happening.
But the system continues to disregard how people with HELP debts can be in different family circumstances.
In my work on HELP, I often get asked how many HELP debtors have dependent children. The answer is I do not know and neither does the government.
None of the data which the government releases provides any information on family circumstances, despite the fact around $4.6 billion was collected from 1.2 million individuals in 2021-22 (the most recent year we have for this data).
This is vital information to make good policy and fair decisions but we do not have it.
Could these problems be fixed?
We could reduce many of the worst impacts here with a single marginal rate for calculating HELP repayments and thresholds which varied depending on the number of children and partner’s income.
The repayment rate and thresholds could be adjusted to deliver an acceptable repayment level for individuals and sufficient revenue for government to support university funding.
There is no point in pretending the current system is one in which people have an insignificant level of debt that is repaid quickly after university.
It is time we had a system that truly recognised this.
Mark Warburton is a member of the Australian Labor Party and occasional provider of consultancy services to groups such as Universities Australia and the Australian Technology Network.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC L3 Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
The United States Department of Agriculture last week reported that a pig on a backyard farm in Oregon was infected with bird flu.
As the bird flu situation has evolved, we’ve heard about the A/H5N1 strain of the virus infecting a range of animals, including a variety of birds, wild animals and dairy cattle.
Fortunately, we haven’t seen any sustained spread between humans at this stage. But the detection of the virus in a pig marks a worrying development in the trajectory of this virus.
How did we get here?
The most concerning type of bird flu currently circulating is clade 2.3.4.4b of A/H5N1, a strain of influenza A.
Since 2020, A/H5N1 2.3.4.4b has spread to a vast range of birds, wild animals and farm animals that have never been infected with bird flu before.
While Europe is a hotspot for A/H5N1, attention is currently focused on the US. Dairy cattle were infected for the first time in 2024, with more than 400 herds affected across at least 14 US states.
Bird flu has enormous impacts on farming and commercial food production, because infected poultry flocks have to be culled, and infected cows can result in contaminated diary products. That said, pasteurisation should make milk safe to drink.
While farmers have suffered major losses due to H5N1 bird flu, it also has the potential to mutate to cause a human pandemic.
Birds and humans have different types of receptors in their respiratory tract that flu viruses attach to, like a lock (receptors) and key (virus). The attachment of the virus allows it to invade a cell and the body and cause illness. Avian flu viruses are adapted to birds, and spread easily among birds, but not in humans.
So far, human cases have mainly occurred in people who have been in close contact with infected farm animals or birds. In the US, most have been farm workers.
The concern is that the virus will mutate and adapt to humans. One of the key steps for this to happen would be a shift in the virus’ affinity from the bird receptors to those found in the human respiratory tract. In other words, if the virus’ “key” mutated to better fit with the human “lock”.
A recent study of a sample of A/H5N1 2.3.4.4b from an infected human had worrying findings, identifying mutations in the virus with the potential to increase transmission between human hosts.
Why are pigs a problem?
A human pandemic strain of influenza can arise in several ways. One involves close contact between humans and animals infected with their own specific flu viruses, creating opportunities for genetic mixing between avian and human viruses.
Pigs are the ideal genetic mixing vessel to generate a human pandemic influenza strain, because they have receptors in their respiratory tracts which both avian and human flu viruses can bind to.
This means pigs can be infected with a bird flu virus and a human flu virus at the same time. These viruses can exchange genetic material to mutate and become easily transmissible in humans.
In the recent case in Oregon, A/H5N1 was detected in a pig on a non-commercial farm after an outbreak occurred among the poultry housed on the same farm. This strain of A/H5N1 was from wild birds, not the one that is widespread in US dairy cows.
The infection of a pig is a warning. If the virus enters commercial piggeries, it would create a far greater level of risk of a pandemic, especially as the US goes into winter, when human seasonal flu starts to rise.
How can we mitigate the risk?
Surveillance is key to early detection of a possible pandemic. This includes comprehensive testing and reporting of infections in birds and animals, alongside financial compensation and support measures for farmers to encourage timely reporting.
Strengthening global influenza surveillance is crucial, as unusual spikes in pneumonia and severe respiratory illnesses could signal a human pandemic. Our EPIWATCH system looks for early warnings of such activity, which can speed up vaccine development.
If a cluster of human cases occurs, and influenza A is detected, further testing (called subtyping) is essential to ascertain whether it’s a seasonal strain, an avian strain from a spillover event, or a novel pandemic strain.
Early identification can prevent a pandemic. Any delay in identifying an emerging pandemic strain enables the virus to spread widely across international borders.
Australia’s first human case of A/H5N1 occurred in a child who acquired the infection while travelling in India, and was hospitalised with illness in March 2024. At the time, testing revealed Influenza A (which could be seasonal flu or avian flu), but subtyping to identify A/H5N1 was delayed.
This kind of delay can be costly if a human-transmissible A/H5N1 arises and is assumed to be seasonal flu because the test is positive for influenza A. Only about 5% of tests positive for influenza A are subtyped further in Australia and most countries.
In light of the current situation, there should be a low threshold for subtyping influenza A strains in humans. Rapid tests which can distinguish between seasonal and H5 influenza A are emerging, and should form part of governments’ pandemic preparedness.
A higher risk than ever before
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the current risk posed by H5N1 to the general public remains low.
But with H5N1 now able to infect pigs, and showing worrying mutations for human adaptation, the level of risk has increased. Given the virus is so widespread in animals and birds, the statistical probability of a pandemic arising is higher than ever before.
The good news is, we are better prepared for an influenza pandemic than other pandemics, because vaccines can be made in the same way as seasonal flu vaccines. As soon as the genome of a pandemic influenza virus is known, the vaccines can be updated to match it.
Partially matched vaccines are already available, and some countries such as Finland are vaccinating high-risk farm workers.
C Raina MacIntyre receives funding from NHMRC (L3 Investigator grant and Centre for Research Excellence) and MRFF (Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 experimentally and in an intensive care setting) currently. She currently receives funding from Sanofi for research on influenza and pertussis. She is the director of EPIWATCH®️, which is a UNSW, Kirby Institute initiative. She has been an invited speaker at the 2024 Options for The Control of Influenza at four symposia organised by Moderna, Pfizer, Sanofi and Seqirus respectively.
Haley Stone receives funding from The Balvi Filantropic Fund. Haley Stone would like to acknowledge the support through a University International Postgraduate Award from the University of New South Wales.
Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off in this Nov. 3, 1994, image, with NASA astronauts Donald R. McMonagle, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Ellen S. Ochoa, Scott E. Parazynski, and Joseph R. Tanner, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Jean-Francois-Clervoy aboard. During the 11-day mission, the crew studied Earth’s atmosphere, gathering data on the Sun’s energy output, the atmosphere’s chemical composition, and how these affect global ozone levels. Learn more about the mission. Image credit: NASA
Climate adaptation planning provides a framework for Tribes to exercise sovereignty over wild resources important for the subsistence way of life and economic and cultural activities that are being impacted by climate change. The climate adaptation planning process includes identifying key resources that are currently being impacted by climate change, or that may be impacted in the future, as well
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivers remarks at Disability Rights as Foreign Policy, an event on using diplomacy to shape a more inclusive world, at the Department of State, on November 4, 2024.
Transcript: https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-disability-rights-as-foreign-policy/
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Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
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Source: United States Senator for Kansas Roger Marshall
Overland Park, Kansas – U.S. Roger Marshall, M.D. led a bipartisan letter with U.S. Senators Shaheen (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) calling on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take action to remove and prevent advertisements for illicit drugs on all Meta platforms.
The letter builds on Marshall and Shaheen’s bipartisan Cooper Davis Act, named after a Kansas teen who tragically lost his life to fentanyl poisoning, to hold social media companies accountable for reporting to law enforcement illicit drug and opioid activities occurring on their platforms.
In part, the Senators wrote: “The United States is in the midst of a drug epidemic, with more than 100,000 Americans dying from overdoses last year, and an alarming amount of these drugs are sold online. It is crucial that everyone work to ensure these illegal drugs are found and taken off the streets. Therefore, we call on Meta to improve its human automated advertising review and content moderation to address these failures that are placing lives at risk.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report from earlier this year, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that Meta has run hundreds of advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs. The Shaheen-led letter urges Zuckerberg to support the Cooper Davis Act and work as quickly as possible to prevent further harm.
The Senators continued: “When presented with these disturbing findings, Meta took down some advertisements off its platforms. However, Meta’s refusal to prevent illicit drug advertisements, while accepting advertisement payments that are harming families and in clear violation of Meta’s policies, is particularly alarming. Surely, this is not what Meta means when it states its ‘mission to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.’”
Text of the letter can be found here.
Background on Cooper Davis:
Cooper Davis – a young, thriving Johnson County teen – tragically lost his life after taking half a fake pill that contained a lethal dose of fentanyl. He was just 16 years old. Cooper and his three friends shared two blue pills they thought were Percocet purchased online. Unfortunately, the blue pills were laced with fentanyl and Cooper died from just half a pill. Following his passing, Cooper’s family launched the non-profit Keepin’ Clean for Coop to keep his memory alive to save lives, raise awareness, and educate students and families.
Background on the Cooper Davis Act:
In recent years, organized drug cartels have dominated fentanyl trafficking in the country, and they have set up large, sophisticated distribution networks online via social media. In investigating fentanyl-related poisoning and deaths in teenagers and young adults, law enforcement agencies have found an alarming rate of these deadly pills acquired through platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. Unfortunately, federal agencies do not have the data to intervene and prevent these illegal activities.
The Cooper Davis Act would require social media companies and other communication service providers to take on a more active role in working with federal agencies to combat the illegal sale and distribution of drugs on their platforms. This critical data will also empower state and local law enforcement to combat fake fentanyl-laced pills and prosecute those who prey on America’s youth.
Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-02), and colleagues filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear or rehear en banc City of Port Isabel v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The amicus brief aims to ensure that federal courts correctly interpret and apply the Natural Gas Act, which encourages the development of natural gas resources and infrastructure. The brief highlights the interest to protect American jobs, strengthen national security, and restore energy independence.
“In the Natural Gas Act (NGA), Congress said that building LNG facilities is strongly in the public interest of the United States. NGA Section 3 sets up a ‘general presumption favoring authorization’ of LNG facilities. To that end, Congress dictated that FERC ‘shall’ approve an application to export natural gas ‘unless, after opportunity for hearing, it finds that the proposed exportation . . . will not be consistent with the public interest.’ […] The Commission’s job is to approve LNG facilities unless they are clearly ‘not . . . consistent’ with the public interest. It is not the Court’s job to make the public-interest determination for FERC by deciding that environmental whimsy is more important than building LNG facilities,” wrote the members.
“In this case, the federal regulators at FERC did what Congress asked them to do: they considered and explained the environmental effects of their decision to fulfill the public interest. Then they approved the construction of these much-needed LNG facilities in South Texas. The panel should have let FERC’s decision stand. Instead, the panel used NEPA to elevate other interests over the public interest dictated by Congress. Most critically, the panel barely mentioned the NGA’s presumption in favor of exporting LNG, much less tried to reconcile that statutory mandate with its use of NEPA to vacate FERC’s approval,” continued the members.
“Building LNG facilities is in the public interest, sometimes irrebuttably so. Congress established this strong regime for LNG production to promote domestic economic growth. Its effects are particularly felt in Texas, Louisiana, and other energy producing States, given the abundant energy resources in such States and their access to global markets. This regime is intended to reduce America’s reliance on imported energy from foreign adversaries and protect the Nation’s security, particularly at a time when our allies and partners are seeking trusted and reliable sources of LNG. Respectfully, federal courts cannot overcome such critical, congressionally established public interests by insisting on more paperwork,” concluded the members.
Cassidy, Cruz, and Crenshaw are joined by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and U.S. Representatives Steve Scalise (R-LA-01), Brian Babin (R-TX-36), Michael C. Burgess (R-TX-26), Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-34), Wesley Hunt (R-TX-38), August Pfluger (R-TX-11), and Randy Weber (R-TX-14) on the amicus brief.
Read the full amicus brief here.
Both major parties in Australia see a significant role for gas as the world shifts to clean energy in a bid to avert dangerous climate change.
The Albanese government says new sources of gas are needed to meet demand during the energy transition. And the Coalition, if elected, would expand gas use as it prepares for nuclear power.
Of course, some people argue that the grave threat of climate change means we should not burn any gas. Others say the strong growth in renewable energy generation and storage means Australia won’t need gas into the future.
So who is right? As I explain below, renewable energy is a huge part of the solution but doesn’t solve every problem. So keeping some gas-fired generators in the electricity mix, and using them only when necessary, is a sensible compromise.
Getting to grips with gas
There are almost 40 large natural gas-fired generators in Australia, and they are an important part of the National Electricity Market.
According to Open Electricity — a platform for tracking Australia’s electricity transition – the gas facilities generate around 4% of the electricity we consume and comprise about 17% of overall generation capacity.
The data also shows gas plants in Australia run at just 9% of their overall capacity, meaning they are idle much of the time. Some gas plants get used quite a lot, others only rarely. But when the plants are called on – during times of peak electricity use – their services are vital.
Overnight, our demand for electricity dips. But when we wake in the morning and start toasting bread and boiling kettles and the like, electricity demand picks up.
Demand eases off in the middle of the day as the sun rises high in the sky and Australia’s booming rooftop solar reaches its peak electricity output. But when the sun sets and rooftop solar is no longer producing, electricity use peaks. This early-evening demand creates a big challenge to the system.
That’s why we need technologies that can produce electricity at any time of day or night – and do it quickly. That’s where gas-fired generation – and other “dispatchable” forms of electricity – come in.
How do gas fired generators work?
Gas generators come in two main types.
An “open cycle generator”, also known as a Brayton cycle turbine, is essentially a jet engine. It combusts gas in a chamber to create enormous pressure that spins large fans. This drives a shaft that spins in the generator to produce electricity.
This technology is relatively cheap to build and can start up very quickly – but it’s also quite inefficient to operate. It uses a lot of expensive fuel, and creates a lot of waste heat.
The second type is known as a “combined cycle generator”. It also uses a Brayton cycle gas turbine. But it captures exhaust heat from the turbine and uses it to create steam, which in turn powers a second turbine (known as a Rankine cycle). This significantly increases the amount of electricity produced for the same amount of gas burned.
So while this technology is relatively efficient, it’s also more expensive to build and takes longer to ramp up and down.
Other types of gas generators exist, but they’re a relatively small part of Australia’s fleet.
A video explaining how gas turbines work.
Gas is not the only option
Gas plants are not the only facilities capable of firming up Australia’s electricity grid as the share of renewables increases.
Hydro power can also quickly ramp up to meet the evening peak. However the potential for building new conventional hydro in Australia is very limited due to the lack of large river systems and the significant environmental impact on rivers and surrounding areas.
Coal-fired generators have potential to ramp up production, but are generally not designed to do this every evening. Plus, Australia’s fleet of old coal plants is on a fast path to retirement.
To maintain the delicate balance of supply and demand, more will be required of gas and hydro, to produce electricity, and batteries and pumped hydro, to store it.
Pumped hydro works by using excess renewable energy to pump water up a hill. When electricity demand is high, the water is released and passes through a turbine, producing power.
The potential for pumped hydro energy storage in Australia is large, and some projects are likely to be economically viable. But the projects can face challenges, as demonstrated by delays and cost blowouts facing Snowy 2.0 in New South Wales.
Large-scale lithium-ion batteries are relatively easy to install. Many projects have been built or are in the pipeline. But batteries are not great for long-duration energy storage.
All this means gas-fired power generation is likely to have a future in Australia in coming decades.
The downsides of gas
Methane is the main component of natural gas. It’s also a potent contributor to global warming.
During natural gas production and transport, gas leaks inevitably occur. This is a problem for climate change.
So too is the carbon dioxide produced when the gas is burned to produce electricity.
To tackle climate change, we must dramatically reduce the amount of gas we use in our electricity system. Gas use should also be eliminated for heating and cooking in our homes and, where possible, in industry.
So where does that leave us?
Unfortunately, no perfect solution exists to Australia’s electricity supply-demand conundrum.
The most likely, most economic and most environmentally acceptable approach is to use a “portfolio” of technologies: lots of batteries and pumped hydro but also some gas.
Because to keep the system stable and reliable, we need some capacity that will mostly sit idle, getting used on only a few occasions. For that reason, the technologies should be relatively cheap to build and able to run for extended periods when wind and solar generation are abnormally low.
Gas-fired power – especially open cycle generators – meets that requirement. Pumped hydro and batteries do not.
The gas plants we keep in the grid will not often be used, and so will produce relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide.
Nuanced questions remain. What will it cost to keep a gas network operating to serve a fleet of gas generators that run only for a few days a year? Gas pipelines have to be kept pressurised, and the cost of running a gas extraction network for small demand may also be uneconomical.
Non-fossil options such as biogas, hydrogen or synthetically produced methane are possible longer term options. But they are also expensive. And new technologies – such as flow batteries, thermal energy storage and cryogenic energy storage – are on the horizon.
So, keeping some gas-fired generators on standby, and using them sparingly as needed, is a reasonable approach. It allows us to reduce emissions as much as possible, and keep our electricity system secure and affordable.
Roger Dargaville receives funding from the Woodside-Monash Energy Partnership, RACE for 2030 CRC, and he consults for industry and government bodies.
Headline: How energy companies are using AI to capture and store carbon, even underground
During a time of both rapid transformation and intense scrutiny, today’s energy industry leaders are increasingly turning to advanced solutions in AI and data management to drive sustainability and efficiency as the global community works to combat climate change. This is a time-sensitive effort, as increased energy demand and the continued role of fossil fuels mean emissions could keep rising through 2035.1 As energy leaders look to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry has become a key component in the approach. Industrial carbon management (ICM) encompasses a range of technologies designed to capture, transport, and store carbon dioxide (CO2) underground to prevent it from entering the atmosphere. Microsoft is actively collaborating with energy companies on industrial carbon management solutions. One example of this collaboration is Northern Lights, a partnership between the Norwegian government and energy companies Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, which is now fully operational. This groundbreaking initiative was established to accelerate decarbonization and address emissions as we all work towards a more sustainable future.
Microsoft for energy and resources
Achieve more in the energy and resources industry with trusted data and AI solutions
Transforming the global energy industry is not a small feat, nor one that happens without the collective work of dedicated partnerships and innovative technology. The standardized data model and secure data sharing in Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Energy along with operations data management powered by Azure AI and Microsoft Copilot can accelerate innovation across the end-to-end CCS value chain. Copilot and Azure Data Manager for Energy put data and AI to work, integrating industry datasets, applications, and other cloud services—managing intensive workloads at global scale, and quickly ingesting data for analytics and decision-making. These are high-impact capabilities that ultimately help energy companies accelerate their transition to more sustainable practices by reducing time, costs, and risks associated with their complex operational requirements.
Enhancing energy operations with modern data management
Data modernization is a critical component in advancing sustainability and CCS efforts within the energy sector. By leveraging Azure Data Manager for Energy, energy companies can efficiently manage and analyze vast amounts of data—enabling more accurate and comprehensive simulations of subsurface reservoirs. This capability is essential for identifying optimal CO2 storage locations and ensuring the safe and efficient injection and storage of carbon dioxide.
The platform’s robust, scalable, and secure data management solutions allow for real-time data integration and continuous model refinement, which are crucial for making informed decisions and mitigating risks. Additionally, Azure Data Manager for Energy’s high-performance computing capabilities enable rapid simulations, which significantly reduce the time required for planning studies and optimizing reservoir performance. These high-impact capabilities ultimately help energy companies accelerate their transition to more sustainable practices by reducing time, costs, and risks associated with their complex operational requirements.
Harnessing the power of AI with Copilot
Along with data modernization and robust data analytics, Azure Data Manager for Energy users will have the option to take advantage of Copilot to interact with well data. Azure Data Manager for Energy helps ingest and organize domain-specific data from across the enterprise data landscape to enhance data access, analysis, and application interoperability. Developed in alignment with OSDU® standards, Azure Data Manager for Energy helps get the right data organized within the right domain workflow while providing trustworthy data delivery that sets the stage for improved and timely analysis.
However, the enterprise data landscape for any analysis may extend beyond domain-specific data types and require reports with different file types, as well as images, data and records stored in other databases, spreadsheets, and shared folders. Further, the entire value chain extends into data from operations, supply chain, health, safety and environment (HSE), enterprise resource planning (ERP), legal and compliance, and even social media—some of which may be hosted on external platforms.
In these scenarios, generative AI capabilities can help users optimize data for enhanced insights—faster. One example of how to approach this is with Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end analytics and data platform. Fabric can help integrate the data in Azure Data Manager for Energy with other adjacent data sources, ultimately preparing it for analysis and other interactions through AI and Copilot. This means users can potentially run traditional AI-powered workflows such as automated interpretation of data or event prediction through machine learning-driven algorithms. They can also leverage Copilot to chat with the data or implement intelligent search, domain-based intelligent assistants, or cross-domain intelligent advisors.
In doing so, end users—people in roles across geoscience or petrophysics—have an easier and faster way to interact with and query their data, both within and outside Azure Data Manager for Energy. Plus, data engineers and data scientists have a foundation from which to build similar solutions for their end users. The Copilot capabilities also mean simplified research processes and the generation of valuable data insights, enabling enterprise and business unit leaders, as well as data scientists and geophysicists, to make more informed decisions and take advantage of greater efficiencies in reservoir management.
Optimize carbon capture and storage and enhance reservoir management
Building on the capabilities of Copilot and Azure Data Manager for Energy, we can further optimize CCS to work towards a more sustainable future. Reservoir modeling is a critical aspect of modern energy management, playing a vital role in the underground storage of CO2. This multidisciplinary field involves the integration of geological, geophysical, thermal, and engineering data to create detailed models of subsurface reservoirs. Reservoir engineers create models that simulate the behavior of fluids within the reservoir to predict future performance and optimize injection and production strategies. With global energy demand projected to increase 47% by 2050,2 the need for sustainable energy solutions and CCS is paramount.
Microsoft is working with partners to provide the efficiency, predictive power, and speed of reservoir simulations and optimizations. Built on top of Azure Data Manager for Energy, customers can now leverage Azure’s robust enterprise capabilities in security, scalability, and reliability, while accessing its domain-specific solutions and maintaining full control over their data.
Traditionally, identifying optimal CO2 storage locations requires lengthy studies, sometimes spanning months or even years. The work Microsoft is doing with partners transforms this process by enabling scalable and efficient simulations. This will enable engineers to run numerous models in parallel, leveraging high-performance computing to quickly analyze vast datasets and identify the best storage locations. The ability to perform rapid simulations at scale significantly reduces the time required for planning studies.
Explore more energy solutions and resources
At Microsoft, our dedication and commitment to accelerating the energy transition to carbon-free resources is matched only by the power of our partner ecosystem and the knowledge-sharing that makes it all possible. With Azure Data Manager for Energy, industry leaders can connect to an open ecosystem of interoperable applications from independent software vendors (ISVs) and the Microsoft ecosystem of productivity tools. By harnessing capabilities and features from across Microsoft and partner solutions, energy leaders can optimize value across their entire enterprise while working towards sustainability goals.
Ready to dive deeper? Check out additional resources to learn more.
Accelerate the energy transition today
1McKinsey & Company, Global Energy Perspective 2024, September 2024.
2S&P Global, Global energy demand to grow 47% by 2050, with oil still top source: US EIA, October 2021.
Uwa Airhiavbere
Chief Commercial Officer, Worldwide Energy and Resources Industry
Uwa Airhiavbere is the Chief Commercial Officer of Microsoft’s Worldwide Energy & Resources Industry group, overseeing commercial strategy and growth initiatives. He previously had a successful career at General Electric in the Oil & Gas Division. Uwa holds an Executive MBA from Cornell University, an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in Business Economics from Brown University.
See more articles from this author
Sverre Brandsberg Dahl
General Manager, Energy, Microsoft Cloud for Industry
Sverre is the General Manager for Microsoft Cloud for Industry, Energy team. Here he works with a range of engineering teams to bring the latest technological developments in Cloud Computing and AI to the energy industry. With a passion for technology and innovation, he is helping to position Microsoft with customers, partners, and governments as they accelerate their adoption of cloud technology, while giving equal focus to the transition to clean power and emissions management.
See more articles from this author
Neeraj Joshi
Chief Technology Officer, Energy and Resources, Microsoft
Neeraj Joshi serves as the Chief Technology Officer for WW Energy & Resources in IPS, where he leads in-depth technical collaborations to drive digital transformation within the Energy sector. With over two decades of experience at Microsoft, he is deeply passionate about data and is committed to assisting strategic customers in modernizing their solutions. Mr. Joshi holds an MBA from the University of Washington and an MS in Computer Engineering from UT Austin.
The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship made the following statement to celebrate National Francophone Immigration Week.
Ottawa, November 4, 2024—The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship made the following statement to celebrate National Francophone Immigration Week:
“Today, we are proud to mark the launch of the 12th edition of National Francophone Immigration Week, under the theme ‘Our Heritage for Tomorrow.’ This week is an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of Francophone newcomers to Canada’s culture and economy. It’s also a time to recognize the key role they play in enriching our communities through their language, culture and traditions.
“The week is also an opportunity to reflect on our successes, as well as the many challenges we face. Canada exceeded its admission targets in 2023 with the arrival of 19,700 new French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec. We are even more ambitious in 2024 and on track to exceed our target of 6%. These figures show significant growth and reinforce the fact that Canada is a destination of choice for Francophones from around the world.
“The launch of the Policy on Francophone Immigration and the announcement of a series of ambitious and historic measures to support the growth of Francophone minority communities in Canada in January 2024 were a testament to our commitment to the vitality and economic development of Francophone minority communities outside Quebec.
“The recently announced 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan also demonstrates our commitment to gradually increasing admissions of French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec. We have set targets of 8.5% in 2025, 9.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027. These ambitious and realistic targets support progress toward restoring and increasing the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities.
“During this 12th edition of National Francophone Immigration Week, I would like to celebrate the richness and diversity that newcomers bring to our communities, while emphasizing the importance of preserving our Francophone heritage and fostering the integration of these newcomers who enrich our culture. We must work together to share Francophone culture with future generations. Happy National Francophone Immigration Week!”
For further information (media only), please contact:
Statement From Premier Wab Kinew on the Passing of Former Senator Murray Sinclair
Murray Sinclair was a great Canadian, a great Manitoban, a great Anishinaabe.
His career stands as a legacy of public service and a deep commitment to truth, fairness and dignity for all people.
He was the first Indigenous person to be named to the Manitoba provincial court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba. He was the first, but he will be remembered as one of the best.
He was appointed co-commissioner of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which laid bare systemic racism within the justice system and is considered a foundational perspective on the system’s relationship with Indigenous people. He led the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Inquest and his report spurred systematic change in the delivery of pediatric cardiac care in our province.
The penultimate moment of his career was his work as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. He approached a process that could have been divisive and instead transformed it into Calls to Action for the future of our country, helping all Canadians to learn to walk together into a future of respect and understanding where we live up to the phrase residential school survivors taught us – Every Child Matters.
It will be a long time before our nation produces another person the calibre of Murray Sinclair. He showed us there is no reconciliation without truth. We should hold dear in our hearts his words that our nation is on the cusp of a great new era and we must all “dare to live greatly together.”
On behalf of the people of Manitoba, I extend my condolences to his family and to all Canadians for the loss of Mazina Giizhik.
A sacred fire will be open to the public on the north side of the legislative building grounds until Murray Sinclair’s funeral later this week.
Manitoba Government Grants Capital Region Municipalities the Freedom to Choose
Province delivers on Commitment to Make Membership in Capital Region Voluntary: Bushie
The Manitoba government is announcing further changes to the Planning Act that would give municipalities the option not to join Plan 20-50 for the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Ian Bushie announced today.
“This is about giving municipalities the freedom to decide how best to work together on common priorities, rather than force them into a planning region that isn’t working,” said Bushie. “Now that we’ve heard what municipalities have to say, we can move forward with legislation so communities can grow and develop in ways that work for them.”
Plan 20-50, a long-term planning strategy for the City of Winnipeg and 17 adjacent municipalities, was mandated by the previous government’s Planning Amendment and City of Winnipeg Charter Amendment Act (Bill 37), noted the minister.
These changes would make it possible for municipalities to have the freedom to choose to be part of the Capital Planning Region. The Manitoba government is continuing to review Bill 37, including looking at ways to speed up approval timelines and changes that would ensure local voices are respected, noted Bushie.
“Our government is taking a serious look at planning legislation to ensure that Manitobans have a say in the decisions that affect them,” said Bushie. “Manitobans deserve development decisions that are fair, transparent and consistent and we seek to accomplish just that. We look forward to hearing more from the public, municipalities, developers/industry and planning districts as we work to improve this legislation for everyone.”
Amendments made to the Planning Act and the City of Winnipeg Charter (formerly Bill 37 and Bill 34) between 2021 and 2023 are subject to statutory review, and feedback from the recently concluded public consultations and engagements will continue to be considered prior to a report being tabled in the legislature next fall, noted the minister.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
October 31, 2024
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is blasting the Department of Justice for not punishing TD Bank Group more harshly over the Canadian bank’s money-laundering failures in the United States.
Law-enforcement officials and regulators hit the Toronto-based bank’s U.S. subsidiary with a record $3.09 billion fine and asset-cap handcuffs earlier this month in a novel money-laundering case. But the penalties imposed by the DOJ don’t go far enough, Warren said Wednesday in a letter seen by American Banker.
In the letter, sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Warren pressed them to explain why the DOJ hasn’t yet charged top TD executives for their culpability in the bank’s crimes.
…
Read the full story here.
By: Catherine LeffertSource: American Banker
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
October 31, 2024
The Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats saved the pensions of more than a million union members, many of which could have become insolvent in the coming year, according to a new report out of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office.
Titled “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” the report explains how system shockwaves that started with the 2008 financial crisis were compounded by corporate bankruptcies, congressional inaction, and fund mismanagement, and were putting multiemployer pension plans at risk of drastic benefits cuts.
…
Read the full story here.
By: Matthew MedsgerSource: Boston Herald
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
November 04, 2024
Two Democratic lawmakers are urging an investigation of grocery stores that they say might be overcharging customers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., sent a letter, seen by NBC News, to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Agriculture on Sunday, calling on the agencies to investigate whether “major grocery chains may be making false and misleading representations regarding food sold by weight, leading to customers paying more for groceries than expected.”
Both lawmakers come from overwhelmingly Democratic states and are on the ballot this year. Warren is favored to win re-election, and Schiff, currently a high-ranking House member, is ahead in his bid to become California’s junior senator.
…
Read the full story here.
By: Alexandra ByrneSource: NBC News
Previous Article
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Note: The expiration time in the watch graphic is amended if the watch is replaced, cancelled or extended.Note: Click for Watch Status Reports. SEL5
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED Tornado Watch Number 705 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 130 PM CST Mon Nov 4 2024
The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a
* Tornado Watch for portions of Western Arkansas Extreme southeast Kansas Southwest Missouri
* Effective this Monday afternoon and evening from 130 PM until 900 PM CST.
* Primary threats include… A few tornadoes likely with a couple intense tornadoes possible Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph likely Isolated large hail events to 1.5 inches in diameter possible
SUMMARY…Multiple rounds of thunderstorms will affect the watch area this afternoon and evening. Strong winds aloft and a warm/moist environment will pose a risk of severe storms capable of damaging winds and a few tornadoes.
The tornado watch area is approximately along and 40 statute miles east and west of a line from 60 miles north northeast of Joplin MO to 40 miles west southwest of Hot Springs AR. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU5).
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
REMEMBER…A Tornado Watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area. Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible warnings.
&&
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 704…
AVIATION…Tornadoes and a few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to 1.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector 24035.
…Hart
Note: The Aviation Watch (SAW) product is an approximation to the watch area. The actual watch is depicted by the shaded areas. SAW5 WW 705 TORNADO AR KS MO 041930Z – 050300Z AXIS..40 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF LINE.. 60NNE JLN/JOPLIN MO/ – 40WSW HOT/HOT SPRINGS AR/ ..AVIATION COORDS.. 35NM E/W /27SE BUM – 47NNE TXK/ HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT..1.5 INCHES. WIND GUSTS..60 KNOTS. MAX TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.
LAT…LON 37959334 34249305 34249445 37959481
THIS IS AN APPROXIMATION TO THE WATCH AREA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE WOUS64 KWNS FOR WOU5.
Watch 705 Status Report Message has not been issued yet.
Note: Click for Complete Product Text.Tornadoes
Probability of 2 or more tornadoes
High (70%)
Probability of 1 or more strong (EF2-EF5) tornadoes
Mod (40%)
Wind
Probability of 10 or more severe wind events
High (70%)
Probability of 1 or more wind events > 65 knots
Low (20%)
Hail
Probability of 10 or more severe hail events
Mod (30%)
Probability of 1 or more hailstones > 2 inches
Low (20%)
Combined Severe Hail/Wind
Probability of 6 or more combined severe hail/wind events
High (90%)
For each watch, probabilities for particular events inside the watch (listed above in each table) are determined by the issuing forecaster. The “Low” category contains probability values ranging from less than 2% to 20% (EF2-EF5 tornadoes), less than 5% to 20% (all other probabilities), “Moderate” from 30% to 60%, and “High” from 70% to greater than 95%. High values are bolded and lighter in color to provide awareness of an increased threat for a particular event.
China has extended its dominance at home and abroad over critical minerals that are essential to future high-tech and renewable-energy industries. Amid intensifying geopolitical competition, Western countries are increasing their efforts to claw back market share while countries in the Global South, where many of these minerals are mined, are attempting to capitalize on growing global demand. A recent article on the subject by The Economist stated that in 2023 Chinese companies invested roughly $16 billion in foreign mines, the highest figure in a decade, up from less than $5 billion the year before. This month, Chinese companies have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in mines in Afghanistan, Ghana, Zambia, and the Philippines. Keith Bradsher at The New York Times reported that over the past few weeks, the Chinese government has enacted measures to increase its grip over the mining and refining of rare minerals within China by making it harder for foreign companies to purchase them:
As of Oct. 1, exporters must provide the authorities with detailed, step-by-step tracings of how shipments of rare earth metals are used in Western supply chains. That has given Beijing greater authority over which overseas companies receive scarce supplies.
China is also taking greater corporate ownership over the mining and production of the metals. In a deal that has received almost no attention outside the country, the last two foreign-owned rare earth refineries in China are being acquired by one of the three state-owned companies that already run the other refineries in China.
Beijing’s recent moves to take charge of the supply chain include other obscure chemical elements that are also needed by semiconductor manufacturers. On Sept. 15, China’s Ministry of Commerce restricted exports of antimony, a material used in semiconductors, military explosives and other weaponry. Last year, the ministry imposed export controls on two other chemical elements, gallium and germanium, also needed to make chips.
National security officials have tightened the flow of information about rare earths. They have labeled rare earth mining and refining as state secrets. Last month, the Ministry of State Security announced that two managers in the rare earths industry had been sentenced to 11 years in prison for leaking information to foreigners. [Source]
In September, a coalition of 14 Western countries and the European Commission formed the Minerals Security Partnership, a new financing network to support critical mineral projects and break China’s dominance over this sector. Despite initiatives like these, the U.S. has struggled to compete with China for critical minerals, for many reasons. One is that Chinese state-owned companies “have periodically flooded world markets with rare earths to drive down the price whenever Western producers try to ramp up production,” Bradsher wrote. Just this week, Chinese mining giant CMOC announced that it reached its full-year cobalt production target three months ahead of schedule. Eric Olander from the China-Global South Project argued that “CMOC’s strategy is unrelated to pricing conditions and more about keeping Western rivals on the sidelines [,…which] gives China an unrivaled advantage over its rivals in the U.S., Europe, and Asia that are moving aggressively to cut Chinese firms out of their supply chains — which, at least for cobalt, is not going to be possible for a very long time.” Eliot Chen at The Wire China wrote about how American policymakers are considering expanding the U.S. stockpile of critical minerals to compete with China, which has been “the master of the game” when it comes to leveraging its stockpiles:
“China’s stockpile has a dual purpose: one is defensive and the other is economic, to support domestic industry when prices get too high for downstream industries like the electricity sector, and then conversely when prices are too low and domestic producers like copper smelters have difficulty remaining profitable,” says [Gregory Wischer, principal at Dei Gratia Minerals, a critical minerals consultancy].
What, exactly, China stockpiles is not publicly known, and Chinese authorities are rarely transparent about when they buy up and sell down their stockpiles. But because of the country’s dominance over much of the critical mineral supply chain, even rumors of its intentions can produce wild swings in the price of metals. For example, while Chinese lithium producers account for less than 20 percent of mine production, China refines more than two-thirds of the metal. For other metals like graphite, which has vital defense applications, Chinese refiners control more than 90 percent of the market.
China’s outsized influence over the market, combined with its heavy investment in mining assets abroad, have helped it consolidate its control over global supply. An about-face by Chinese policymakers over electric vehicle subsidies in 2018, for example, resulted in a glut of lithium on the market. Chinese companies were then able to step in and acquire distressed lithium miners in Australia and Canada relatively cheaply. [Source]
China’s monopoly over various critical-mineral supply chains in Africa has motivated the U.S. government to increase engagement in the region. A major component of this U.S. strategy is the $4 billion Lobito Corridor project, which seeks to connect the Port of Lobito in Angola to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, thereby facilitating American and European access to cobalt and copper. But some local observers see selfish motives in this engagement. “This rivalry-driven approach narrows the scope for a partnership with Africa based on mutual benefit and long-term development. The continent, and the DRC in particular, should not be seen merely as a resource base to fuel external interests,” said Carlos Lopes, a professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He added, “Without a genuine commitment to local development, [the Lobito Corridor project] risks perpetuating Africa’s role as a supplier of raw materials rather than fostering economic transformation on the continent.” Analyzing China-Africa critical mineral cooperation in an article last month for the U.S. Institute of Peace, Cobus van Staden explored the potential for U.S.-China cooperation and described how African nations are looking to navigate both sets of relationships to their own benefit:
The second factor complicating the narrative of direct competition [between the U.S. and China in the region] is the drive from African countries to locate more strategic mineral refining and related manufacturing in Africa. African critical mineral strategies, developed by continental bodies like the African Development Bank, emphasize local refining and value addition, an ambition now enjoying official Chinese support, as well as support from the U.S. through initiatives such as the Minerals Security Partnership among others. For example, the partners involved in the Lobito Corridor have similarly signed agreements with African countries to do more refining locally. These include EU agreements with Zambia and the DRC for mineral-driven value addition, and a trilateral agreement between Zambia, the DRC and the U.S. for domestic electric vehicle supply chain development.
[…] FOCAC 2024 put these complications [including whether Western nations can expand their refining capacities at home despite the potential for environmental and community pushback] in stark relief because it highlighted an increased sense of synergy and coordination around green energy and critical mineral value addition in the China-Africa relationship. A similar focus is developing between the continent and its Western partners. The question now is whether the continent will be able to wield both sets of relationships to its own benefit, even as great-power tensions over critical minerals heat up. [Source]
Headline: FEMA Opens Additional Disaster Recovery Center in Tift County
FEMA Opens Additional Disaster Recovery Center in Tift County
ATLANTA – FEMA opened an additional Disaster Recovery Center in Tift County to provide one-on-one help for Georgians affected by Hurricane Helene. The center is open Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.Center location: Tift CountyTift County Swimming Pool202 Baldwin DrTifton, GA Additional centers are open in Appling, Chatham, Coffee, Laurens, Liberty, Lowndes, McDuffie, Richmond, Toombs and Washington counties. Additionally, Mobile Disaster Assistance Centers are open in Telfair and Ware counties for a limited time. Mobile centers give survivors another option to get help with their application and find other resources.Open Monday – Saturday from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. and Sunday 1 – 6 p.m.Appling CountyAppling County Agricultural Center2761 Blackshear Highway, Baxley, GA 31513Chatham CountySavannah Technical CollegeStudent Enrichment Center Building5717 White Bluff Road, Savannah, GA 31405Coffee CountyThe Atrium 114 N. Peterson Avenue, Douglas, GA 31533Laurens CountyOld West Laurens Middle School338 West Laurens School Road, Dublin, GA 31021Liberty CountyMiller Park/HQ Fire Station 6944 E. Oglethorpe Highway, Midway, GA 31320Lowndes CountyCity of Valdosta4434 North Forrest Street Extension, Valdosta, GA 31605McDuffie CountyThomson Depot 111 Railroad Street, Thomson, GA 30824Richmond CountyHub for Community Innovation631 Chafee Avenue Augusta, GA 30904Toombs CountyGeorgia Department of Human Services 162 Oxley Drive, Lyons, GA 30436 Washington CountySandersville School Building Authority514 North Harris Street, Sandersville, GA 31082FEMA Mobile Registration Center location and hoursTelfair CountyPiggly Wiggly Parking Lot 48 East Oak Street, McRae-Helena, Georgia 31055 Saturday, Nov. 2 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.Ware County Courthouse Annex 305 Oak Street, Waycross, Georgia, 31501Saturday, Nov. 2 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.For the latest information about Georgia’s recovery, visit fema.gov/helene/georgia and fema.gov/disaster/4821. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or follow FEMA on social media at: FEMA Blog on fema.gov, @FEMA or @FEMAEspanol on X, FEMA or FEMA Espanol on Facebook, @FEMA on Instagram, and via FEMA YouTube channel. Also, follow Administrator Deanne Criswell on X @FEMA_Deanne. larissa.hale Mon, 11/04/2024 – 19:28
Headline: FEMA Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Emanuel County
FEMA Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Emanuel County
ATLANTA – FEMA opened an additional Disaster Recovery Center in Emanuel County to provide one-on-one help for Georgians affected by Hurricane Helene. The center is open Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.Center location: Emanuel CountySoutheastern Technical College / Special Programs Building346 Kite Road, Building 1Swainsboro, GA 30401Additional centers are open in Appling, Chatham, Coffee, Liberty, Laurens, Lowndes, McDuffie, Richmond, Tift, Toombs and Washington counties. Open Monday – Saturday from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. and Sunday 1 – 6 p.m.Appling CountyAppling County Agricultural Center2761 Blackshear Highway, Baxley, GA 31513Chatham CountySavannah Technical CollegeStudent Enrichment Center Building5717 White Bluff Road, Savannah, GA 31405Coffee CountyThe Atrium 114 N. Peterson Avenue, Douglas, GA 31533Liberty CountyMiller Park/HQ Fire Station 6944 E. Oglethorpe Highway, Midway, GA 31320Laurens CountyOld West Laurens Middle School338 West Laurens School RoadDublin, GA 31021Lowndes CountyCity of Valdosta4434 North Forrest Street Extension, Valdosta, GA 31605McDuffie CountyThomson Depot 111 Railroad Street, Thomson, GA 30824Richmond CountyHub for Community Innovation631 Chafee Avenue Augusta, GA 30904Tift County202 Baldwin DriveTifton, GA 31794Toombs CountyGeorgia Department of Human Services 162 Oxley Drive, Lyons, GA 30436 Washington CountySandersville School Building Authority514 North Harris Street, Sandersville, GA 31082 For the latest information about Georgia’s recovery, visit fema.gov/helene/georgia and fema.gov/disaster/4821. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or follow FEMA on social media at: FEMA Blog on fema.gov, @FEMA or @FEMAEspanol on X, FEMA or FEMA Espanol on Facebook, @FEMA on Instagram, and via FEMA YouTube channel. Also, follow Administrator Deanne Criswell on Twitter @FEMA_Deanne. larissa.hale Mon, 11/04/2024 – 19:40
Headline: FEMA Assistance Available for Self-Employed Floridians
FEMA Assistance Available for Self-Employed Floridians
FEMA assistance can help people who are self-employed, including artists, musicians and mechanics. Independent contractors are considered self-employed.To be considered for FEMA assistance, you must be a resident of or work in a county designated for FEMA Individual Assistance following Hurricanes Milton, Helene or Debby. You must also have had damage or losses as a result of the Florida hurricanes.Eligible Occupational ToolsFEMA can help replace tools and equipment required for self-employment, or not provided by an employer but required for employment. Eligible tools may include: Computers Equipment such as power tools, art materials, musical instruments, tractors, utility vehicles, lawnmowers and ladders Uniforms You may be reimbursed for these items if they were damaged by the disaster, you do not have another working piece of equipment or item, and the loss was not covered by insurance. An inspection is required to review the damage to essential tools/materials. If you have damage to personal property or essential tools, include this information on your FEMA application and notify the inspector of damage at the time of inspection.Required DocumentsTo be eligible for self-employment assistance, apply for FEMA assistance. When you apply, include: Documentation that proves you’re self-employed, such as a tax return Insurance documents for all potential coverages and benefits Itemized receipts or estimates for repairing or replacing the requested items A written statement that explains you need the items for self-employment How to Apply for FEMA AssistanceHomeowners and renters are encouraged to apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov or by using the FEMA App. You may also apply by phone at 800-621-3362. If you choose to apply by phone, please understand wait times may be longer because of increased volume for multiple recent disasters. Lines are open every day and help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service. For an accessible video on how to apply for assistance go to FEMA Accessible: Applying for Individual Assistance – YouTube.If you applied to FEMA after Hurricanes Debby or Helene and have additional damage from Hurricane Milton, you will need to apply separately for Milton and provide the dates of your most recent damage.For the latest information about Hurricane Milton recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4834. For Hurricane Helene recovery information, visit fema.gov/disaster/4828. For Hurricane Debby recovery information, visit fema.gov/disaster/4806. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fema.###FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. wesley.lagenour Mon, 11/04/2024 – 18:48
103 members of Congress amplify adoptive families’ plea to Biden: ‘Your leadership could be life altering for these families’
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined a group of colleagues, led by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-MD), in urging President Biden to stand up for families navigating the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) decision to end intercountry adoptions for those without Chinese familial ties. Representatives Erin Houchin (R-IN) and Val Hoyle (D-OR) are co-leading the bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives.
“We request that you act in the best interest of these children and families by urging the PRC to fulfill and uphold the commitment the country has made,”the lawmakers wrote, noting approximately 300 children in the PRC—some with various health conditions—are already paired with families in the United States.
“The American families that have been matched with their adoptive children are prepared to meet their long-term medical and emotional needs, and to give them the love and nurturing they need,” they continued. “Many of these children know that they have a home, which in many cases have been prepared for their arrival since the families were notified that they were matched and moving forward with the adoption process.”
The lawmakers also acknowledged the PRC may complete adoptions for families in some countries, per a State Department notice last week. They called on President Biden to ensure such an action would pertain to the United States, too. The full letter—which garnered a total of 103 bicameral signatories—can be found here.
Source: United States Senator John Kennedy (Louisiana)
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $5,186,169 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Our communities are still recovering from harsh weather events. This $5.2 million will help New Orleans cover Hurricane Ida costs as well as support Plaquemines Parish’s seawater intrusion treatment efforts,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
$3,195,167 to Plaquemines Parish for emergency protective measures at the Belle Chasse Water Treatment Plant as a result of seawater intrusion.
$1,991,002 to the Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese of New Orleans for emergency protective measures as a result of Hurricane Ida.
Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to increase scrutiny of Western auditing and consulting firms, including global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Instead of distancing itself from Communist China, PwC has opted to strengthen its relationship with the regime. Notably, PwC’s China division has consulted for government officials in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Beijing is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other groups, appointed an apparent CCP member to the head of its China operations, and aligned itself with Beijing’s strategic goals by openly supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to PwC Global Chairman Mohamed Khande expressing concern over the company’s ties to the CCP and demanding answers on the threat those ties pose to U.S. interests.
“Simultaneous engagements with foreign adversaries are unacceptable. PwC’s apparent deep connections with CCP-controlled entities raise questions about conflicts of interest that could preclude PwC from executing any contract for U.S. federal and state government agencies with fidelity.
“Global firms, such as PwC, who have grown prosperous from a free and democratic order governed by American values, can no longer seek to cater to, and profit from, both sides of this conflict.”
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Mr. Khande:
I write with regard to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s (PwC) relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government, including Chinese provincial and local government entities, and state-owned companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Recently, media outlets have offered noteworthy coverage of the $62 million fine levied on PwC by China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF). While PwC’s questionable auditing work for Evergrande certainly deserves heightened scrutiny, reports have not adequately grappled with conflicts of interest seemingly rising from PwC’s deep entanglements with CCP-controlled and – affiliated entities, and, potentially, the Chinese government.
PwC and its U.S. subsidiaries have a history of providing consulting services for U.S. federal agencies. Yet, mounting evidence suggests that PwC’s East Asia and China division (PwC China) has consulted government officials in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where Beijing is engaged in an active genocide against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, contracted for numerous state-owned enterprises in China, and openly supported CCP efforts to undermine U.S. economic interests through support for in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
It is no secret that Chinese regulatory authorities have heightened scrutiny around PwC in the wake of its failure to identify $78 billion in misreported revenues by Evergrande. Key decisions made by PwC’s global leadership during this time suggest a pattern of catering to CCP goals when met with regulatory hostility. Until recently, PwC China boasted dozens of the largest Chinese state-owned enterprises on its list of auditing clients, including the Bank of China, China Railway Group Ltd., PetroChina Co. Ltd., People’s Insurance Company of China, and many others. PwC has lost many of these contracts in recent months, as Chinese regulators have discouraged China-based companies from contracting with PwC for auditing services amid the Evergrande fallout. Yet, to my surprise, as Chinese regulators have taken an increasingly hostile posture toward your firm—and sought to wrest control over Western auditors’ operations in mainland China—PwC has responded with attempts to appease the CCP, rather than decouple and de-risk from communist influence.
In July 2024, amidst the height of Chinese regulatory scrutiny over PwC’s flawed Evergrande audits, PwC leadership appointed Daniel Li as Chairman of its China and East Asia practice. Li appears to be a member of the CCP and serves on the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The CPPCC is a political instrument that serves atop the CCP’s “united front” system—which is designed to cultivate ties with the entities the Party views as friendly—and steers the CCP’s policy aims. As such, Li’s appointment was a clear effort by PwC to win the trust of CCP authorities amid heightening tension by placing an individual with deep ties to the CCP at the helm of your firm’s China operations. While Hemione Hudson was selected to replace Li at the helm of PwC China last month, Li retains a significant role for PwC China—overseeing your firm’s auditing efforts in China.
PwC’s deepening ties with the CCP are also evident in your firm’s consulting client selection. The Wall Street Journal reports that, last month, as PwC China’s auditing practice faced hostile regulatory actions over its Evergrande audits, your firm’s consulting unit signed a $200,000 contract with local government authorities in the XUAR. As you know, Beijing is actively committing genocide against Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic groups in the region. China’s abhorrent oppression of Uyghurs includes modern-day concentration camps, cultural reprogramming efforts, forced labor, and physical torture. Years of mounting evidence now places the reality of these atrocities beyond a shadow of doubt.
Perhaps most concerning, PwC appears to have acted to publicly align its client engagements with CCP ambitions. PwC’s website openly boasts of the firm’s “Belt and Road United” project, started by your firm in 2017, with the expressed purpose of supporting China’s BRI. A document describing the initiative plainly states, “PwC aligns with the strategy through ongoing support for the Belt & Road Initiative.” In the same document, PwC further claims to be an “enabling influence,” and declares that PwC will “assist government departments and regulators in constructing and improving financial markets and regulatory systems in favor of the B&R Initiative.” The document also openly references the global reach of PwC’s client base, professing that “PwC is dedicated to sharing the full range of resources and practical experience sourced from across our expansive global network” to support BRI.
PwC’s “Belt and Road United” project appears to have generated several spin-off initiatives in other PwC offices across the globe. For example, PwC Italy’s webpage advertises your firm’s “China Business Group”—a division of PwC with the self-described aim to “support Chinese companies doing business in Italy and successfully develop their external growth strategy in the Italian market.” The document claims that PwC stands at the ready to “support Chinese/Italian government organisations” and “introduce investment opportunities in Italy for potential Chinese clients.” This language appears to be a thinly-veiled attempt of PwC to court the favor of the CCP and secure contracts with Chinese state-owned enterprises by working to expand the influence and reach of Communist China around the globe.
As noted, PwC and its U.S. subsidiaries consult for many leading U.S. industries, and the company has received substantial revenue from contracts with the U.S. government. When U.S. federal agencies hire private entities for consultation, it is an expectation that contractors will prioritize the best interests of the United States above all others. Simultaneous engagements with foreign adversaries are unacceptable. PwC’s apparent deep connections with CCP-controlled entities raise questions about conflicts of interest that could preclude PwC from executing any contract for U.S. federal and state government agencies with fidelity.
Accordingly, I ask that you provide responses, along with supporting documentation, to the following questions no later than November 15, 2024:
Please describe the extent of any existing contracts retained by PwC, or its U.S. subsidiaries and affiliates, to provide consulting services for U.S. state and federal government agencies.
Do PwC, or any of its U.S. subsidiaries and affiliates, intend to pursue contracts with U.S. federal agencies in the future?
Has the CCP, or any direct subdivision of the CCP, ever been a client of PwC or any of its subsidiaries?
Has PwC ever provided consulting services for a China-based client that has concurrently been included on the U.S. Department of Defense’s 1260H List, the Department of Treasury’s Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, or the Department of Commerce’s Entity List? If so, please provide the following information for each client:
Name of the company
Nature of the company’s work
Nature of company’s relationship with the PRC and CCP
Duration of PwC’s consulting relationship with the company
Nature of PwC’s work on behalf of the company
Do any of PwC’s current or past China-based clients work in the following sectors: military and civil defense, aerospace and aviation, energy and power generation, critical mineral mining and refining, steel and aluminum, new materials, shipbuilding, electric or gas combustion vehicle production, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, microelectronics, telecommunications, biotechnology, or high-speed rail? If so, please provide the following information for each client:
Name of the company
Nature of the company’s work
Nature of company’s relationship with the PRC and CCP
Duration of PwC’s consulting relationship with the company
Nature of PwC’s work on behalf of the company
As noted above, brochures and materials on PwC’s website openly boast about the firm’s support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and its work advancing BRI goals in its consulting engagements abroad. Has PwC ever modified or intentionally crafted its consulting recommendations to U.S. clients, including U.S. federal agencies, in order to recommend cooperation with the BRI or portray the PRC’s BRI in a positive light?
PwC performs hundreds of millions of dollars of work each year on behalf of the U.S. Government and American taxpayers. Please describe in detail all policies and safeguards PwC has implemented to ensure that work done on behalf of the United States government does not inform the work that your firm does for Chinese government entities and state-owned enterprises.
PwC’s website lists statistics describing the firm’s work in the “Taiwan region.” Does PwC recognize Taiwan as a free and independent nation state?
The United States of America, our allies, and Western businesses like PwC, face a fundamental threat. As my office has documented, for more than ten years, the CCP has acted on a concerted plan to supplant the United States as the ascendant global economic power, dominating global trade in the industries that will define the 21st century economy.6 This is not just a conflict over size of economies alone, it is also about which values will define our world. The CCP has been all too willing to commit genocide, oppress and censor citizens, and violate economic norms in its pursuit of power. Yet, it seeks to replace American values for the dignity of the human person and representative government with a global system that reflects its own character. Global firms, such as PwC, who have grown prosperous from a free and democratic order governed by American values, can no longer seek to cater to, and profit from, both sides of this conflict.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
WASHINGTON – After an audit found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continues to mishandle investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined her colleagues in calling out FBI Director Christopher Wray for failing to sufficiently reform after the agency’s failures with handling Larry Nassar.
In 47% of cases reviewed, FBI employees did not comply with mandatory reporting requirements to state and local law enforcement, and for social services, that figure rose to 50%.
“Despite your assurances following the Larry Nassar scandal that the FBI would do ‘everything in [its] power to make sure [the Nassar investigation failures] never happen[ed] again,’ this audit reveals little, if any, progress has been made. Under your leadership, the FBI has not only failed to implement effective changes but has instead continued to mishandle cases of child sexual abuse with disturbing frequency,” the senators wrote.
“According to the OIG, child sexual abuse cases were flagged with concern due to ‘a lack of recent investigative activity’ and ‘lack of logical investigative steps.’ Ignoring child exploitation investigations for political expediency is a grave betrayal to the victims who depend on the FBI’s expertise and resources,” the senators continued.
“The $138.7 million settlement stemming from the Nassar case should have been a turning point for the FBI, a stark reminder of the human toll caused by your agency’s failures. Instead, it is clear the reforms you promised have been grossly insufficient. Despite your public reassurances, the FBI has shown that it is incapable of learning from its mistakes,” the senators concluded.
Read the full letter here.
Background:
Following the sentencing of Dr. Larry Nassar who admitted to molesting female gymnasts and minors for years under the guise of medical treatment, Ernst called for the creation of a select committee to investigate the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics in 2018.
Ernst’s SAFESPORT Act, which is now law, ensures the resources designated for investigating abuses of Olympic and amateur athletes are safeguarded. Ernst successfully passed the bipartisan Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act which would address all forms of abuse and begin restoring trust and integrity within the U.S. Olympic system.
Ernst is also a proud cosponsor of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in February 2018.
Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced plans today to introduce a resolution recognizing the contributions of America’s election workers and highlighting the significance of their efforts in supporting the democratic process in the United States.
“Our democracy survives because of the commitment and hard work of election workers across the country who ensure the electoral process is fair, impartial, and transparent,” said Senator Coons. “Despite facing disturbing and increasing threats online and in person, the nation’s election workers continue to facilitate the smooth functioning of democracy and strengthen public trust in our local, state, and federal governments. Those who commit their time and energy to supporting democracy in the midst of a turbulent election season deserve the Senate’s recognition and thanks.”
“Our election workers are public servants working on the front lines of our democracy to make sure that every vote is counted,” said Senator Klobuchar. “This resolution recognizes them for their tireless work administering our free and fair elections and their critical role in safeguarding our democratic process so that people can make their voices heard. I’ll continue working to ensure election workers receive the support they need to safely do their jobs.”
With only one day until Election Day, tens of millions of citizens in the United States have already voted by casting absentee ballots or voting early in person, and tens of millions more will go to their local polling places tomorrow to cast their ballots. Our democracy is sustained by election workers in more than 10,000 local election jurisdictions and by more than 630,000 poll workers.
The poll workers who staff the nation’s more than 100,000 polling places are mostly over 60 years old. Many work long hours on Election Day on top of prior poll worker training. A poll worker’s tasks can include checking voter IDs, updating voter information, distributing ballots, counting ballots, and assisting elderly and disabled citizens.
This resolution recognizes the need for, and gives appreciation to, America’s election workers in a time of rampant disinformation and growing political division in America that too often includes attacks on the democratic process and virtual and physical threats to election workers. A nonpartisan survey by the Brennan Center for Law and Justice found that nearly 40% of election officials had been the target of threats or harassment, and one in four expressed fear their families would be targeted. Across the country, election workers have reported more than 2,000 threats, and the FBI has opened more than 100 investigations.
