Health News – Federal News Network https://federalnewsnetwork.com Helping feds meet their mission. Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:01:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-icon-512x512-1-60x60.png Health News – Federal News Network https://federalnewsnetwork.com 32 32 Global shares mixed as inflation, energy weigh on growth https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/global-shares-mixed-as-inflation-energy-weigh-on-growth/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/global-shares-mixed-as-inflation-energy-weigh-on-growth/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 09:27:16 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134893 TOKYO (AP) — Shares declined Tuesday in Europe after an upbeat session in Asia, while Wall Street futures slipped ahead of the reopening of U.S. markets from the Independence Day holiday.

Benchmarks also fell in Paris, London, Frankfurt and Shanghai. But stocks gained in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong.

The war in Ukraine and its impact on energy supplies are casting a shadow over the global economic outlook at a time when central banks are raising interest rates to slow inflation.

The International Energy Agency said in a report Tuesday that high prices for natural gas and supply fears due to the war in Ukraine will crimp economic activity, slowing the growth in demand in coming years.

The Paris-based agency forecast global demand for natural gas will rise by 140 billion cubic meters between 2021 and 2025, less than half the increase of 370 bcm seen in the previous five-year period. It said the revised forecast is mostly due to expectations of slower economic growth rather than buyers switching from gas to coal, oil or renewable energy.

A recent report by Fitch Ratings said a technical recession in the region using the euro was increasingly likely due to disruptions in Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Germany’s DAX fell 1.1% to 12,630.86 while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.2% to 5,885.94. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 1.3% to 7,135.52. The future for the S&P 500 was 0.6% lower while that for the Dow industrials fell 0.5%.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gathered top employer and labor union representatives at his Berlin office Monday to seek ways of addressing the impact of rising prices while preventing a spiral of inflation in Europe’s biggest economy.

Benchmarks in Asia were mostly higher on hopes for an easing of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.0% to finish at 26,423.47. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.8% to 2,341.78. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.1% to 21,856.85. The Shanghai Composite was little changed, losing less than 0.1% to 3,404.03.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Tuesday that Vice Premier Liu He spoke with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about coordinating economic policy between the two biggest economies and maintaining the stability of supply chains.

In a statement, it also said the Chinese side “expressed its concern over issues such as the removal of additional tariffs and sanctions imposed by the United States on China and fair treatment of Chinese companies.” The two sides agreed to continue their discussions, it said.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 6,629.30 after the central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate for a third time in three straight months, changing the cash rate to 1.35% from 0.85%. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s half a percentage point rise on Tuesday was the same size as its June increase.

When the bank lifted the rate by a quarter percentage point at its monthly board meeting in May, it was the first rate hike in more than 11 years.

Global investors have been worried about surging inflation and the possibility that higher interest rates could bring on a recession in some economies. Minutes of the latest policy meeting of the Federal Reserve are due out on Wednesday and could bring hints on future policy.

Meanwhile, a resurgence in COVID-19 infections in Europe, the U.S. and parts of Asia is also looming, bringing the threat of a reversion to pandemic precautions.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude picked up 55 cents to $108.98 a barrel. It gained $2.67 on Friday to $108.43 a barrel. Trading was closed Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 77 cents to $112.73 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 135.75 Japanese yen from 135.69 yen. The euro cost $1.0317, down from $1.0423.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Companies could face hurdles covering abortion travel costs https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/companies-could-face-hurdles-covering-abortion-travel-costs/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/companies-could-face-hurdles-covering-abortion-travel-costs/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 07:00:08 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134891 After the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the federal right to an abortion that’s been in place for half a century, companies like Amazon, Disney, Apple and JP Morgan pledged to cover travel costs for employees who live in states where the procedure is now illegal so they can terminate pregnancies.

But the companies gave scant or no details on how they will do this and it’s not clear if they will be able to — legally — while protecting employees’ privacy and keeping them safe from prosecution.

“Most employers were not prepared for Roe to be overturned, and even those that were didn’t realize the law would literally be changed the next minute,” said Brian Kropp, a vice president at the consulting firm Gartner. “They’re trying to play catch-up.”

Kropp said many companies announced plans to offer travel benefits without the infrastructure in place to make them work. Some, he added, are creating supplementary policies that employees can buy to cover abortion travel, while others are contacting insurers to see if travel can be added to their current plans. Others are trying to figure out how to offer a benefit without breaching employees’ privacy.

“Are employees going to have to tell their manager they are going to have to travel from Texas to California to have an abortion?” Kropp said.

The answer is no — but they would likely have to tell human resources or a similar department that they are pregnant and want to get an abortion, said Sharona Hoffman, a health law professor at Case Western Reserve University. The company or its health insurer would then provide money upfront or a reimbursement after the fact.

Hoffman called the travel cost pledges a “generous benefit” from companies, and said she would not be surprised “if this becomes a practice that more companies undertake — just without trumpeting it,” for fear of the backlash that can come with public statements on a divisive issue such as abortion.

“It’s not necessarily altruistic,” she said. “It also makes some sense for companies to not have a bunch of employees that are highly distressed because they have unwanted pregnancies and have to carry the child to term.”

For now, most big companies offering an abortion travel benefit will likely add it to existing health care plans, said Jonathan Zimmerman, a partner with the law firm Morgan Lewis who helps companies develop and maintain their benefits.

Big companies are generally self-insured, which means they pay for all claims and have more flexibility to decide what the plans will cover. A third party then processes the claims on their behalf.

That’s the case at outdoor clothing company Patagonia, which updated its health coverage last fall to add travel costs for employees after Texas’s law banning most abortions went into effect. Patagonia said abortion and travel costs are administered in the same manner as other medical services, ensuring confidentiality for employees.

Restaurant review company Yelp said its abortion travel benefit is also administered by its health insurance provider. Yelp has told its employees that if they do use the travel benefit, Yelp will not have access to the details of the service.

Microsoft, meanwhile, noted that it already covers abortion, as well as gender-affirming care, for its employees and has now extended the coverage to include travel expenses for “these and other lawful medical services” if they are not available in an employee’s home state.

Smaller companies may have fewer options. They typically buy health insurance for their employees from insurers that are subject to state regulations. Those companies have less flexibility to design benefits, and they may operate in states that ban abortion.

Dr. Ami Parekh, chief health officer at Included Health, which offers health care navigation services and virtual care for employers, said it is “quite a scramble” right now for large employers to navigate this fast-moving landscape.

“They’re moving as fast as they can,” Parekh said. “And I bet you they’re going to be nimble and change as needed as things come up.”

For instance, some companies are offering to pay for a partner to travel with the person getting the abortion.

With the legal landscape shifting quickly, even adding travel benefits to a current medical plan carries some risk. In May, 14 state lawmakers in Texas sent a letter to Lyft warning the company to rescind its abortion travel benefit, saying they plan to introduce legislation that would ban companies from doing business in Texas if they pay for abortions or reimburse abortion-related expenses.

That said, no such legislation has been enacted as of now in Texas or anywhere else. It is also not against the law to travel to states where abortion is legal, Hoffman noted. There are efforts afoot, however, to change that.

And while the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, protects sensitive patient information, it can be overruled in cases where a crime has been committed. That’s the case now in states where abortion has become a crime.

“It’s challenging for employers to navigate what is a rapidly evolving legal landscape,” said Sharon Masling, the head of Morgan Lewis’s reproductive rights task force. “There’s going to be a lot of litigation over the next few years.”

Beyond the legal questions, abortion travel benefits also present some thorny workplace issues, Kropp said. Employees who don’t support abortion may be angry that their company is paying for other employees’ travel, for example. Even those who do support abortion may question why the company isn’t paying them to travel for fertility treatments or transgender health care, he said.

This is why it’s likely, experts say that some companies are offering travel benefits but aren’t making public announcements about it.

“My sense is most employers are trying to very quickly figure out what’s best for their employees and dependents,” Parekh said. “And not all employers want to spend the energy to be very public about that at this moment in time.”

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Associated Press staff writers Haleluya Hadero and Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island contributed to this story.

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Uneasy US tries to fete a July 4 marred by parade shooting https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/a-turbulent-us-this-july-4-but-many-see-cause-to-celebrate/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/a-turbulent-us-this-july-4-but-many-see-cause-to-celebrate/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 01:59:53 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133669 A shooting that left at least six people dead at an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb rattled Monday’s celebrations across the U.S. and further rocked a country already awash in turmoil over high court rulings on abortion and guns as well as hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The latest mass shooting came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together. It was supposed to be a day for taking off work, flocking to parades, devouring hot dogs and burgers at backyard barbecues and gathering under a canopy of stars and exploding fireworks.

“On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said.

The Highland Park parade began around 10 a.m. but was suddenly halted 10 minutes later after shots were fired. Hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fled the area, leaving behind chairs, baby strollers and blankets. Authorities brought a person of interest into custody Monday evening.

As the Highland Park community mourned, fireworks began thundering in neighboring towns and across the country. Pyrotechnics bloomed shortly after nightfall in Boston and New York City, where a kaleidoscope of color exploded over the Hudson River and illuminated skyscrapers.

President Joe Biden, in remarks Monday celebrating 246 years of America’s independence, sought to reassure a nation both exhausted and unsettled by recent events.

“In recent days, there’s been reason to think this country is moving backwards, that freedom is being reduced, that rights we assumed were protected are no longer,” Biden said in remarks to military families and administration officials enjoying a picnic on the South Lawn of the White House. “I know it can be exhausting and unsettling, but tonight I want you to know we’re going to get through all of this.”

Biden said many people see a divided country, but “I believe we are more united than we are divided.”

He tweeted earlier in the day about the shooting, calling it “senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community this Independence Day.”

“I will not give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence,” the president tweeted.

These are precarious times: An economic recession lurks, and the Highland Park shooting will weigh on a national psyche already raw from mass shootings like those seen recently at a Texas elementary school and a New York supermarket.

Sharp social and political divisions have also been laid bare by recent Supreme Court decisions overturning the constitutional right to abortion and striking down a New York law limiting who may carry a gun in public.

Nevertheless, many had reason to gather and celebrate for the first time in three years amid easing coronavirus precautions.

Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest returned to its traditional location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood after two years elsewhere thanks to the pandemic.

“It’s beautiful to be back here,” Joey “Jaws” Chestnut told ESPN after winning the men’s competition by downing 63 hot dogs and buns — even as he momentarily put a protester who rushed the stage in a chokehold. Miki Sudo chomped 40 franks to win the women’s event.

Colorful displays were scheduled to light up the night sky from coast to coast. However, others, particularly in drought-stricken and wildfire-prone regions of the West, would forgo them.

Fireworks were the suspected cause behind a fire in Centerville, Utah, that led to the evacuation of dozens of homes and the cancellation of some of its Independence Day events, officials said.

It was a different matter in Phoenix, which is again going without fireworks — not because of the pandemic or fire concerns but supply-chain issues.

In emotional ceremonies across the country, some swore oaths of citizenship, qualifying them to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.

During a ceremony for naturalized citizens held at Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told 52 people originally from 42 different countries that they were essential to building a strong labor force.

“Immigrants strengthen our workforce, and, in the process, help drive the resiliency and vitality of our economy,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for the Monday event.

For many, July 4 was also a chance to set aside political differences and to celebrate unity, reflecting on the revolution that gave rise to history’s longest-living democracy.

“There’s always something to divide or unite us,” says Eli Merritt, a political historian at Vanderbilt University whose upcoming book traces the fraught founding of the United States.

But he sees the Jan. 6 hearings probing last year’s storming of the U.S. Capitol as a reason for hope, an opportunity to rally behind democratic institutions. Even though not all Americans or their elected representatives agree with the committee’s work, Merritt is heartened by the fact that it’s at least somewhat bipartisan.

“Moral courage as a locus for Americans to place hope, the willingness to stand up for what is right and true in spite of negative consequences to oneself,” he said. “That is an essential glue of constitutional democracy.”

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Calvan reported from New York, and Foody from Chicago. Associated Press reporters Michael Tarm and Roger Schneider in Highland Park, Illinois; Darlene Superville and Fatima Hussein in Washington; Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana; and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this story.

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Immigration detention facility near empty in California https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/immigration-detention-facility-near-empty-in-california/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/immigration-detention-facility-near-empty-in-california/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:16:03 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133890 LOS ANGELES (AP) — A sprawling, privately run detention center in the wind-swept California desert town of Adelanto could house nearly 2,000 migrants facing the prospect of deportation. These days, though, it’s nearly empty.

The Adelanto facility is an extreme example of how the U.S. government’s use of guaranteed minimum payments in contracts with private companies to house immigrant detainees might have a potential financial downside. In these contracts, the government commits to pay for a certain number of beds, whether they’re used or not.

The government pays for at least 1,455 beds a day at Adelanto, but so far this fiscal year reports an average daily population of 49 detainees. Immigrant advocates say the number of detainees at Adelanto is currently closer to two dozen because authorities can’t bring in more migrants under a federal judge’s 2020 pandemic-related ruling.

The U.S. government pays to guarantee 30,000 immigration detention beds are available in four dozen facilities across the country, but so far this fiscal year about half, on average, have been occupied, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. Over the past two years, immigration detention facilities across the United States have been underutilized as authorities were forced to space out detainees — in some cases, such as at Adelanto, by court order — to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“The government is still paying them to keep the facility open,” said Lizbeth Abeln, deportation defense director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice in Southern California. “It’s really concerning they’re still getting paid for all the beds every single day. It’s empty.”

At a facility in Tacoma, Washington, the guaranteed minimum is 1,181 beds and the average daily population so far this fiscal year is 369, according to official data. A detention center in Jena, Louisiana, has a minimum of 1,170 beds, with an average daily population of 452.

ICE currently reports 23,390 detainees in custody, official data shows. The agency has long spent money on unused detention space by including guaranteed minimum payments in its contracts, according to a Government Accountability Office report focused on the years before the pandemic. The minimum number of beds the government paid to guarantee rose 45% from the 2017 fiscal year to May 2020, the report said.

Officials at ICE’s headquarters were asked to comment and initially did not. On Monday, an agency spokesperson said in an email that ICE doesn’t comment on pending litigation and is complying with the court’s order regarding Adelanto.

In annual budget documents, officials said the agency aims to use 85% to 90% of detention space generally, and pays to have guaranteed minimum beds ready to go in case they’re needed. Officials wrote that they need flexibility to deal with emergencies or sudden big increases in border crossings. They said safety and security are the top priority at the detention centers, while acknowledging the pandemic “greatly decreased bed utilization.”

The average cost of a detention bed was $144 each day during the last fiscal year, the documents show.

Immigrant advocates say the pandemic is proof that the U.S. doesn’t need to detain immigrants as much as authorities have claimed. Deportation agents have ramped up use of a monitoring app to keep tabs on immigrants heading for deportation hearings instead of locking people up, they said. As of June, the agency was tracking more than 200,000 people using the SmartLink app, the government’s data shows.

“The federal government, probably like all of us, didn’t think COVID would go on this long,” said Michael Kaufman, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which sued for the release of detainees in Adelanto. “This has been an accidental test case that shows they don’t need a detention capacity anywhere near what they’re saying.”

The Adelanto facility — which is run by Boca Raton, Florida-based The Geo Group — is one of the biggest in the country and often houses immigrants arrested in the greater Los Angeles area. It has long been subject to complaints by detainees of shoddy medical care, and on a 2018 visit to the facility inspectors also found nooses in detainees cells and overly restrictive segregation.

In August 2019, more than 1,600 detainees were held at the facility 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, according to a state report.

Soon after COVID-19 hit, immigrant advocates sued over safety concerns. U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter barred ICE from bringing in new detainees and capped the number of detainees to 475. He ordered detainees be spaced out and have room to stretch, walk and use the restroom and shower, and noted an unknown number of staff and detainees didn’t wear masks.

“This case involves human lives whose reasonable safety is entitled to be enforced and protected by the Court pursuant to the United States Constitution,” Hatter wrote in 2021.

Since then, immigration authorities have been bringing new detainees to a 750-bed annex in Adelanto that was previously a state prison. But immigrant advocates said the annex is also running well below occupancy.

Geo, which also runs the annex, declined to comment and referred all questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Thomas P. Giles, ICE’s field office director for enforcement and removal operations in greater Los Angeles, said limited bed space locally means some immigrants detained in Southern California could be transferred elsewhere.

“Here in Los Angeles, we have only a limited amount of bed space so some of the people that we arrest, if we don’t have bed space, we’re going to fly them to Phoenix or Atlanta or another part of the country for bed space,” Giles said during a recent interview. “That doesn’t necessarily affect our operations, but it puts more logistics into it.”

In Adelanto, the Department of Justice runs immigration courts where detainees have their deportation cases heard. Currently, judges in these courtrooms are hearing the cases of immigrants elsewhere in the country using video due to dwindling numbers at the desert facility, said Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.

Over time, hundreds of detainees have been released on bond or due to health concerns or deported, and some wings of the facility have been closed down, said Eva Bitran, an ACLU staff attorney.

“It’s a tremendous waste of resources,” she said.

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In rural West, more worries about access to abortion clinics https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/in-rural-west-more-worries-about-access-to-abortion-clinics/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/in-rural-west-more-worries-about-access-to-abortion-clinics/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 21:03:03 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134232 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In the central Oregon city of Bend, the sole Planned Parenthood clinic serving the eastern half of the state is bracing for an influx of patients, particularly from neighboring Idaho, where a trigger law banning most abortions is expected to take effect this summer.

“We’ve already started hiring,” said Joanna Dennis-Cook, the Bend Health Center Manager.

Across the U.S. West, many abortion providers serving rural areas were already struggling to meet demand in a vast region where staffing shortages and long travel distances are barriers to reproductive services for women. Oregon alone is larger geographically than the entire United Kingdom.

Some facilities serving rural communities in states where abortion remains legal worry those pre-existing challenges could be further compounded by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as more patients travel from states where the procedure is banned or greatly restricted.

Anticipating an abortion ban in Idaho, Oregon lawmakers earlier this year created a $15 million fund to increase access to abortion services.

Northwest Abortion Access Fund, a nonprofit that helps patients pay for travel and the procedure itself, has been tapped to receive the first $1 million. NWAAF has worked with the Bend clinic for 20 years, and they are collaborating to meet the needs of a growing number of patients.

Dennis-Cook says her clinic is providing additional training for staff and modifying schedules “to ensure that we can accommodate increases in patient numbers” as more people travel farther for care.

Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 20% of U.S. women already had to travel at least 42 miles to reach the nearest abortion clinic, according to 2014 data analyzed by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, which published its findings in The Lancet Public Health. Across much of eastern Oregon, that distance can jump to nearly 180 miles. As more states move to enact trigger bans on abortion, distances could increase further for many patients.

Dennis-Cook says the Bend health center has been seeing patients coming from as far away as Texas.

Bend’s clinic has six exam rooms and receives about 600 visits per month. As it is “on the smaller side,” Dennis-Cook said it is “limited” in what it can provide.

“We only do first trimester procedures here,” she explained. She added the clinic can’t do procedures involving general anesthesia. “We don’t have a plethora of nurses who can do that type of work to draw from.”

Smaller abortion clinics, particularly ones in rural areas, have historically grappled with shortages of staff and doctors who can perform the procedure. This in turn affects scheduling availability.

Amidst growing demand for travel funds, NWAAF has already exhausted its planned operating budgets for this year, according to Riley Keane, a Practical Support Lead for the group.

“Last year we gave away about $1 million all told,” Keane explained, referring to grants given to clinics to cover abortion costs and travel funds provided to patients. She said this year NWAAF is “on track to double that potentially.”

Keane expects the $1 million from Oregon’s new abortion access fund will make “a huge difference” for NWAAF, which normally relies on individual donors. She says this year marks the first time the group is receiving government money.

NWAAF says it is concerned about providing travel funds to patients in states where abortion is banned or greatly restricted, but added it is working with legal professionals to assess the shifting landscape.

“They keep us up to date on things we need to be concerned about,” Keane said.

In response to laws such as those passed in Texas allowing private individuals to sue abortion providers, the governors of Oregon, Washington and California announced a joint commitment to protect patients and doctors “against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, inquiries and arrests.”

The three Democratic governors also said they will refuse “extradition of individuals for criminal prosecution” for receiving or supporting abortion services that are legal in their states.

NWAAF’s service region includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

Keane says NWAAF will continue its work for now. “Currently, our legal advisers haven’t told us that we need to stop operating,” she said.

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Kellogg loses UK fight to block ban on sugary cereal promos https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/kellogg-loses-uk-fight-to-block-ban-on-sugary-cereal-promos/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/kellogg-loses-uk-fight-to-block-ban-on-sugary-cereal-promos/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 15:36:56 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134194 LONDON (AP) — Breakfast food giant Kellogg Co. lost a legal bid Monday to block new anti-obesity measures in England banning the promotion of sugary cereals.

The U.S. company that makes Coco Pops, Frosted Flakes, Frosties and Rice Krispies had challenged the U.K. government over regulations taking effect in October restricting the promotion of foods high in fat, sugar or salt.

A High Court judge rejected the company’s argument that the regulations don’t take into account the nutritional value of milk added to cereal.

Judge Thomas Linden said that mixing a breakfast cereal that’s high in sugar with milk does not change the fact that it’s high in sugar.

Kellogg’s argument that its cereals like Crunchy Nut Clusters and Milk Chocolate Curls “somehow become healthy products if they are consumed with milk is wholly unconvincing, as the addition of milk does not alter the nutritional profile of the products themselves,” the judge wrote.

Under the regulations, unhealthy foods will be banned from high-profile locations in supermarkets such as checkouts, shop entrances and aisle ends. There will also be restrictions on how they’re displayed in online supermarket search results. More rules taking effect next year will ban buy one, get one free offers and other multibuy promotions.

Kellogg U.K.’s managing director, Chris Silcock, said the company is disappointed but doesn’t plan to appeal.

“By restricting the placement of items in supermarkets, people face less choice and potentially higher prices,” he said, urging the government to rethink the regulations amid a cost-of-living crisis.

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NHL Draft: The risk of attending and not getting selected https://federalnewsnetwork.com/sports-news/2022/07/nhl-draft-the-risk-of-attending-and-not-getting-selected/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/sports-news/2022/07/nhl-draft-the-risk-of-attending-and-not-getting-selected/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 15:05:59 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134160 After sitting through 12-plus rounds of the NHL draft over the span of two consecutive summers, Andrew Mangiapane had all but given up on hearing his name called.

The low point came during the 2015 draft in Florida, where midway through the sixth round, Mangiapane’s father apologized for persuading his 19-year-old son to relive the frustration of not getting selected a year earlier in Philadelphia.

“My dad looked over at me and he literally said, ‘I’m sorry for bringing you here. … You’re not getting picked,’” Mangiapane recalled.

With his father’s words still hanging in the air, and Mangiapane lost in thought over the likelihood of never getting drafted, he nearly missed the announcement of the Calgary Flames selecting him at No. 166.

“Yeah, that was a pretty kind of low when I heard my dad say that,” Mangiapane said. “But thankfully, the Calgary Flames selected me, and I’ve been trying to work hard and give it my all every time I step on the ice.”

Mangiapane has gone on to become a fixture in the Flames’ lineup over the past three years and is coming off a season in which he had 35 goals and 55 points — both career bests.

Though his experience has a happy ending, it represents a cautionary tale in reopening the discussion of whether it’s beneficial for lower-ranked prospects to attend this week’s draft in Montreal, the first to be held in person since 2019 after the past two were conducted remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I get this question a lot, and a lot of times it comes from agents because they go through the same dilemma with the parents and the player,” NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr said.

“I think the question is do you want to be there if your name isn’t called?” he added. “Some players are going to go no matter what. But this is the problem in this business. The draft is a brand, we have rankings, we publicize them. But our rankings are just a service to the clubs.”

While Central Scouting bases its rankings mostly on common measurables, such as production, size and skating ability, it doesn’t take into account teams’ individual preferences or needs or other intangibles.

Most players projected to go in the first three rounds get selected, while it’s more of a roll of the dice for the rest over the final four rounds. This year’s draft could feature more uncertainty, with teams potentially targeting more 19-year-olds who went unselected last year and have had another year to develop after their 2020-21 seasons were disrupted by COVID-19.

Though Mangiapane was coming off a 104-point season in the Ontario Hockey League, he was ranked 85th by Central Scouting entering the 2015 draft because he was considered undersized at 5-foot-10. He was also a late bloomer after earning a spot on the the Barrie Colts’ roster as an undrafted player.

“I generally recommend guys that are not almost a slam dunk to go in the first round not to attend because it’s a horrific waste of time,” said Mangiapane’s agent, Ritchie Winter. “But these kids, they’ve worked 13 or 14 years in pursuit of getting drafted. So many of them come anyway. We’re always warning them.”

He refers to the draft as “an inexact process” and based more on what a prospect is worth on that particular day and less on a projection of how that player can develop over time. Winter has represented several overachievers, such as two-time NHL MVP goalie Dominik Hasek (a 10th-round pick in 1983) and 2019 Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Mark Giordano (undrafted), who have gone on to enjoy outstanding careers.

Mangiapane is already somewhat of an exception based on the 260 games he’s played through four-plus seasons.

Of the 307 players selected in the drafts from 2009 to 2017 who appeared in at least 260 games, only 54 were chosen 100th or lower. From Mangiapane’s draft class alone, Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara is the only player drafted lower (189th) to have played more games (275).

“There is nothing more heartbreaking than a player sitting at the draft who doesn’t get drafted,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said, noting the jolt of excitement he experiences when hearing a cheer go up in the stands when a player’s name is announced in the final rounds.

Such was the case in 2019, when the Flames selected Dustin Wolf with the fourth-last selection. And Treliving recalled the joy on Mangiapane’s face upon introducing himself at the Flames’ draft table in 2015.

“We’re certainly glad we made his day,” Treliving said. “But we’re happy he’s part of our organization, because he’s a really good player and he’s a tremendous young man.”

While the Flames targeted Mangiapane in part because of the competitive traits he displayed, Treliving said the credit goes to the player for achieving his potential.

“Ultimately, the player has got to have the intestinal push to work at his game and do all the things you need to do to become a pro player, and Andrew’s got that in spades,” Treliving said. “He’s just proven doubters wrong from junior hockey all the way through his journey to where he is today. And that’s a testament to the type of kid he is.”

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Romanian woman killed in 2nd Egypt shark attack in days https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/romanian-woman-killed-in-2nd-egypt-shark-attack-in-days/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/romanian-woman-killed-in-2nd-egypt-shark-attack-in-days/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 13:19:51 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133931 BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that a tourist from the country was killed in a shark attack while vacationing in Egypt, making it the second shark attack death there in recent days.

A 68-year-old Austrian woman died on Friday after losing an arm and a leg in another attack by a Mako shark while swimming in the Red Sea near the resort town of Hurghada. Egyptian local media widely reported on the death of a second woman from a shark attack on Sunday.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry said it was working to identify the victim, notify the family and see the body repatriated.

On Saturday, Egyptian authorities closed off a stretch of the country’s Red Sea coastline after the Austrian woman died. They banned water activities including diving, snorkeling, wind surfing and kite sailing. Fishing boats were also banned from the waters off Hurghada.

A video circulated online purported to show the attack that killed the Austrian woman, relatively close to the shore, as seen from a nearby pier. In the video, the water around the swimmer turns red from blood as bystanders on the pier throw a flotation device toward her. It remained unclear how she was able to get to the shore.

Shark attacks have been relatively rare in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal region in recent years. In 2020, a young Ukrainian boy lost an arm and an Egyptian tour guide lost a leg in a shark attack. In 2010, a spate of shark attacks killed one European tourist and maimed several others off Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula, across the Red Sea from Hurghada.

Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, including Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, are some of the country’s major beach destinations and are popular with European tourists. Divers are drawn by the steep drop-offs of coral reefs just offshore that offer a rich and colorful sea life.

A spokeswoman for Egypt’s Ministry of Environment declined to comment when asked about the second death.

Authorities have in recent years sought to revive the vital tourism sector, battered by years of instability and, more recently, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

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Bolsonaro’s reelection hopes dim unless he wins over women https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/bolsonaros-reelection-hopes-dim-unless-he-wins-over-women/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/bolsonaros-reelection-hopes-dim-unless-he-wins-over-women/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:14:11 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133828 BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — If Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is to have any hope of securing a second term, he needs more female support – and fast. Yet a man famed for macho bravado hasn’t shown any concerted strategy to do so.

With the election just three months off, some polls show only one in five women will vote for the tough-talking, pro-gun, motorcycle-riding former Army captain. If that holds true Oct. 2, Bolsonaro could lose outright to his nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, without need for a runoff. Almost half of Brazilian women say they will vote for the president’s opponent.

More than half of women polled say they would never vote for the far-right leader, regardless of social class, which has been a traditional indicator for voting preferences.

Polling expert Antonio Lavareda said Bolsonaro has no chance of winning unless he can win over more women. “There is huge rejection among them. Even among those who are yet to make their choice, he is less likely to be their pick,” he said on a phone interview.

It’s a far cry from 2018. Days before the one-time fringe lawmaker’s victory four years ago, polls showed women roughly evenly split between Bolsonaro and his leftist adversary, a former mayor of Sao Paulo. That despite Bolsonaro’s quip that he had fathered a daughter in a moment of weakness and his remark to a fellow lawmaker she was too ugly to be raped. Many women, especially those from higher social classes, backed his campaign.

Since then, Bolsonaro has hemorrhaged female support. That’s in part due to his handling of the pandemic and insistence upon sowing doubt about the efficacy of vaccines, even stringently opposing their use among children, said Esther Solano, a sociologist at the Federal University of Sao Paulo. The president remains unvaccinated against COVID-19 and a country with a proud tradition of successful vaccine campaigns saw the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll.

“Women are always impacted by idea of care, because it is the woman who gives care. Bolsonaro not taking care of people during the pandemic had a much more negative impact among the female population,” said Solano, who has conducted polling of potential Bolsonaro voters.

More generally, she said, four years of Bolsonaro’s “aggressive tone” have diminished his support.

“He shows a kind of masculinity that’s very toxic, very strong, very violent. Just as there are men who have been fascinated by this sort of masculinity, of the aggressive man who speaks in a way that’s politically incorrect, who is intolerant, who demonstrates a certain strength, many women feel assaulted by this,” she added.

Bolsonaro also has received blame for the fastest inflation in almost two decades, just like other incumbents across the globe.

Geisa Rodrigues dos Santos lives in a low-income community of Rio de Janeiro and depends heavily on social programs to feed her three kids. Brazil’s generous pandemic welfare program was slashed, and the house cleaner now finds herself longing for da Silva’s administration, which produced an emergent middle class from 2003 to 2010. She didn’t vote in 2018, but now intends to vote for da Silva, known universally in Brazil as Lula.

“Back then in the pandemic the handouts worked. They saved a lot of mothers,” said dos Santos, 35. “Now, I spend these 400 reais ($77) at the supermarket and inflation eats a large part of it. During the Lula days, we ate.”

There is recognition within Bolsonaro’s camp of his disadvantage among women, as well as hope he can win over many of the roughly one-third of women who, according to polls, remain undecided. What doesn’t exist is agreement on how to adjust course.

Analysts have speculated the Bolsonaro campaign could deploy his wife Michelle, 40, in public appearances and television spots. A nearly dressed evangelical Christian, she speaks fluent sign language and personifies the caregiving housewife who can smooth Bolsonaro’s rough edges and appeal to potential female voters, said Solano.

The first lady had been set to record TV spots earlier this month, but it didn’t happen, according to two of Bolsonaro’s ministers and two senators who are close advisers to the president. They told The Associated Press the spots were scrapped because the president’s lawmaker sons are divided over the tack he should take: double down on his 2018 strategy of inflammatory language or tone down his brashness as a means of outreach. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly about campaign strategy.

Allies also have urged Bolsonaro to choose a female running mate, such as Tereza Cristina, his former agriculture minister, according to the same four officials. Instead, he has said he will choose a fellow military man, Gen. Walter Braga Netto, an adviser to the president. He could still change his mind before an August deadline, though that appears increasingly unlikely, his allies told the AP.

Cristina was one of just three female Cabinet ministers during Bolsonaro’s first three years in office, compared to more than 20 men. After she and other ministers stepped down this year so they can run for other offices, Bolsonaro’s picks for replacements left only one woman in the Cabinet.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he doesn’t believe polls, arguing his voters don’t respond to the surveys.

His direct attempts to reach out to female voters have been halting. He said on International Women’s Day in March that women “are basically integrated to society” and on April 12 said his administration has done 63 things for them, without specifying what they were. The presidential palace didn’t reply to repeated AP emails asking for details of those actions.

Meantime, some women who were once potential Bolsonaro voters are now actively working to unseat him.

Rosângela Lyra, a former Christian Dior executive in Brazil, shocked friends when she started rallying support for da Silva after earlier backing the prosecutors whose corruption investigations had put him in prison. Brazil’s top court ruled last year that the judge had been biased, and annulled da Silva’s convictions.

“The main reason for my campaign is President Jair Bolsonaro. He shouldn’t continue,” Lyra told the AP in the lobby of her apartment in a posh district of Sao Paulo. She leads Politica Viva, an activist group with nearly 3,000 members, most of them women. While she said she didn’t vote for Bolsonaro in 2018, she had believed he could grow in office.

“I hoped he would think better, have some access to other information, become more human. But that didn’t happen,” Lyra said. “People can see now he is incompetent and inhumane. His management of the pandemic, the corruption in his administration, the vigilantism he supports. We can’t keep t his institutional risk for another four years and become a right-wing dictatorship.”

Lavareda said few things have hurt Bolsonaro among women more than his crusade to loosen gun restrictions. When he campaigned in 2018, widespread access to firearms for civilians was part of his pitch to help rein in homicides that reached a 10-year-high the year before.

Claudianne Silva, a cashier at a Sao Paulo supermarket, had just lost a nephew to gun violence, believed the new president should be hard on crime and corruption.

This time around, though, she feels Bolsonaro has failed to deliver and will cast her ballot for da Silva.

“I voted for Bolsonaro because I was angry with everyone, but now I’m so angry with him that I’ll vote for the person he hates the most,” said Silva, 47. “Not that I think Lula will do much better. Times are different now. But I want Bolsonaro out.”

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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.

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Outages disrupt services at Japan’s No. 2 telecoms carrier https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/outages-disrupt-services-at-japans-no-2-telecoms-carrier/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/outages-disrupt-services-at-japans-no-2-telecoms-carrier/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 07:26:17 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133715 TOKYO (AP) — Many users of Japan’s No. 2 mobile carrier KDDI Corp. were still having trouble making calls Monday after a massive outage throughout the weekend that affected nearly 40 million people, disrupting deliveries, weather reports and other services across the country.

The company said data transmission had largely been restored by Monday morning, but service restrictions were still causing many users to have trouble with making phone calls and sending short messages.

The outage started in the early hours of Saturday during a scheduled maintenance work at a facility in western Tokyo.

It disabled text messaging, phone calls and other services for more than 39 million users of KDDI’s mobile services. Parcel deliveries also were disrupted.

Over the weekend, the Meteorological Agency was unable to send weather data at hundreds of stations, dozens of cash machines were disabled in central Japan, and Tokyo and other municipalities had trouble reaching COVID-19 patients subject to health monitoring at home.

The major outage came just ahead of a July 10 parliamentary election and was seen as embarrassment for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government, which has been promoting digitization of the world’s No. 3 economy.

The government was quick to address public concern over the problem.

“It is extremely regrettable that mobile phone service, which is a crucial infrastructure for social and economic activity, has been unusable for such a long time,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara told reporters on Monday.

He said the government was taking the situation “seriously” and urged KDDI to provide a thorough explanation. Kihara said he expected KDDI to “sincerely” consider compensation for possible damage claims from users.

On Sunday, KDDI President Makoto Takahashi apologized and provided an initial explanation about what happened and the outlook for resumption of disrupted services.

“We consider this a severe incident,” Internal affairs and communications minister Yasushi Kaneko said on Sunday. The outage was especially unfortunate because it disrupted emergency calls at a time when people were facing increased risks of COVID-19 and heat strokes and potential emergencies due to an approaching typhoon.

An outage last year by rival NTT DoCoMo affected nearly 13 million people.

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Despite potential, Midwestern farms struggle to market fish https://federalnewsnetwork.com/business-news/2022/07/despite-potential-midwestern-farms-struggle-to-market-fish/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/business-news/2022/07/despite-potential-midwestern-farms-struggle-to-market-fish/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 15:13:51 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133926 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When drastic increases in food costs spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic left Andrew Caplinger struggling to find fresh catfish for his restaurants, he decided to try “an experimental” solution — growing his own.

In the coming months, the Indianapolis restaurant chain Caplinger’s Fresh Catch Seafood will begin sourcing its second most popular menu item from fish ponds at his 28-acre farm in southern Indiana. The goal is to produce up to half of the 800 to 1,000 pounds of catfish fillets served at the restaurants each week.

“I’ve never done anything like this — I’ve sold dead fish my whole entire life,” he said. “It’s tough, and it might be risky. But assuming things go well and these fish grow like they should, we won’t have to look at raising our store prices again for some time.”

It’s a move that could increase local appetite for fish, Caplinger said. But even with fish and seafood consumption on the rise in the U.S., the number of Midwest aquaculture farms is declining, and many fish producers say they face challenges getting their produce to consumers in the region.

Midwestern states compose a fifth of the country’s land but contain about a third of all U.S. farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Although experts maintain the region could be a strong aquaculture producer, the number of aquaculture farms in the Midwest has fallen to roughly 271 from 336 a decade ago.

This could be because the region has historically relied on wild-caught seafood, said Amy Shambach, an aquaculture marketing outreach associate with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. Seafood produced in the Midwest also must compete with cheaper, imported seafood.

“Our input costs are a little bit higher than other places, and (that) contributes to some of the slow growth,” Shambach said.

Stagnant fish farming in the Midwest aquaculture industry has national implications, Shambach said. With global seafood consumption expected to increase by 100-170 billion pounds by 2030, the growing seafood trade deficit means more fish will need to be farm-raised, opening the door for Midwestern farmers to meet demand.

Joseph Morris, former director of the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center at Iowa State University, said growing the industry is a challenge, noting problems with marketing, fish processing and high labor costs.

“The big hurdle to tackle — how can they produce a product, economically, to meet the consumer needs and still stay in business?” he said. “How do you reach the growing market of people wanting to eat fish?”

Mike Searcy, who owns a trout farm in Seymour, Indiana, said the Hoosier state — one of only two in the Midwest to report an uptick in farms in the last decade — lacks a central processing facility for gutting and filleting harvested fish. He sends most of his fish to Kentucky for processing and distribution.

“We have demand from our local customers, but the biggest hindrance is the lack of processing, filling that gap between the farmer and the restaurant owner. That holds us back,” said Searcy, who is exploring having a processing facility at his own farm. “When we’re competing with foreign markets and much cheaper labor, they can supply a fillet to the grocery stores a heck of a lot cheaper than what I can.”

Shambach said the lack of processing available in Indiana allows only a handful of Indiana aquaculture farms to produce for food businesses. Instead, most fish raised in the state is sold live to Asian food markets in Indianapolis, Chicago, New York City and Toronto.

Still, Morris said, fish farmers are vying to grow their businesses and increase profits — which could succeed if producers can better market their fish.

“A new generation of folks are eating more fish, and they’re asking more often, ‘Where’s my food coming from?’ That’s where the Midwest comes in,” Morris said.

One solution for farmers could be recirculating aquaculture systems, which allow fish and shrimp to be grown in tank-based systems. The method gives producers control over water quality — often preventing fish disease and the need for antibiotics — and allows various species to be raised year-round in land-locked areas.

The method is costly, though, precluding many small- and mid-size farmers. Searcy, whose farm runs entirely on the technology, cautioned that the operation is also completely dependent on electricity. Environmental activists argue that recirculating aquaculture systems require abundant water resources, and they voice concerns about the disposal of waste.

Tyler Isaac, aquaculture program manager for Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, said that with sustainably sourced fish feed and proper precautions, the recirculating systems could lead to more fish farms in the Midwest.

“It’s always a game of tradeoffs, but I think at the end of the day, recirculating systems are a really good step forward,” Isaac said, adding that renewable energy sources would also make such operations more environmentally friendly. “The development of an aquaculture industry in a place like the Midwest is a good thing. It just needs to be done with appropriate safeguards.”

Morris said other emerging technologies — such as AquaBounty’s genetically modified Atlantic salmon being grown in Indiana that grow faster and are less susceptible to disease — could also be “very attractive for producers,” although it could be “several years” before similar genetically altered fish become mainstream.

“In terms of Midwest aquaculture overall, the growth has got to be with the food-fish operation. That’s where your market is — a consumer basis,” Morris said. “There are only so many ponds to stock out in the Midwest, only so many anglers. But there are consumers wanting to eat more and more fish in Midwest. We have to focus on that.”

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Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Smith on Twitter.

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From one July Fourth to the next, a steep slide for Biden https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/from-one-july-fourth-to-the-next-a-steep-slide-for-biden/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/from-one-july-fourth-to-the-next-a-steep-slide-for-biden/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 13:36:15 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133976 WASHINGTON (AP) — Last Fourth of July, President Joe Biden gathered hundreds of people outside the White House for an event that would have been unthinkable for many Americans the previous year. With the coronavirus in retreat, they ate hamburgers and watched fireworks over the National Mall.

Although the pandemic wasn’t over yet, Biden said, “we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.” Across the country, indoor masking requirements were falling as the number of infections and deaths plummeted.

Within weeks, even some of the president’s allies privately admitted that the speech had been premature. Soon the administration would learn that the delta variant could be transmitted by people who had already been vaccinated. Masks went back on, then came polarizing vaccination mandates. The even-more-contagious omicron variant would arrive months later, infecting millions and causing chaos during the holiday season.

“We were hoping to be free of the virus, and the virus had a lot more in store for us,” said Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The number of people in the United States who died from COVID-19 nearly doubled, from 605,000 to more than 1 million, over the past year.

That sunny speech one year ago marked a crossroads for Biden’s presidency. The pandemic appeared to be waning, the economy was booming, inflation wasn’t rising as quickly as today and public approval of his job performance was solid.

As Biden approaches his second Fourth of July in the White House, his standing couldn’t be more different. A series of miscalculations and unforeseen challenges have Biden struggling for footing as he faces a potentially damaging verdict from voters in the upcoming midterm elections. Even problems that weren’t Biden’s fault have been fuel for Republican efforts to retake control of Congress.

The pandemic’s resurgence was swiftly followed last summer by the debacle of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, when the Taliban seized control of the country faster than the administration expected as the U.S.-backed regime collapsed. Then, negotiations over Biden’s broader domestic agenda stalled, only to collapse altogether in December.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February caused a worldwide spike in gas prices, exacerbating inflation that reached a 40-year high. Another blow came last month, when the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion under Roe v. Wade and curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Suddenly a reactive president, Biden has been left trying to reclaim the initiative at every step, often with mixed results. The coronavirus is less of a threat than before and infections are far less likely to lead to death, but Congress is refusing to supply more money to deal with the pandemic.

He signed new gun restrictions into law after massacres in New York and Texas, and he’s leading a reinvestment in European security as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth month. But he has limited tools at his disposal to deal with other challenges, such as rising costs and eroding access to abortion.

“People are grouchy,” said Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian.

The latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that his approval rating remains at 39%, the lowest since taking office and a steep slide from 59% one year ago. Only 14% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction, down from 44%.

Douglas Brinkley, another historian, said Biden suffered from a case of presidential hubris after a largely successful run in his first five months in office, which included an overseas trip to meet with allies excited about welcoming a friendly face back to the international scene. He compared Biden’s Fourth of July speech last year to President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” moment during the second Iraq War.

“He was trying to deliver good news but it didn’t pan out for him,” Brinkley said. “Suddenly, Biden lost a lot of goodwill.”

White House officials reject the comparison, noting that Biden warned about the “powerful” delta variant in his 2021 speech. Chris Meagher, a spokesman, said deaths from the virus are at a record low now, reducing disruptions in workplaces and classrooms.

“Fighting inflation and lowering prices is the president’s number one economic priority, and he’s laser focused on doing everything he can to make sure the economy is working for the American people,” he said. “And we’re in a strong position to transition from our historic jobs recovery to stable and steady growth. Because of the work we’ve done to bring the pandemic under control, COVID is not the disruptive factor it has been for so long.”

The promise to competently address the COVID-19 pandemic is what helped put Biden in the Oval Office and send President Donald Trump to defeat. From the start of Biden’s tenure, his public pronouncements were sober and cautious, wary of following his predecessor in predictions that went unfulfilled. The nation’s vaccination program found its stride under Biden, and by April 19, 2021, all adults were eligible to be vaccinated.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, was an adviser to Biden’s transition team. But as the Fourth of July approached last year, he was worried and felt that the administration wasn’t heeding his warnings.

“Everyone was in this position of wanting to believe it was over with, and not fully understanding or appreciating the potential of the variants,” he said.

Even now, a full year later, Osterholm is reluctant to say what the future holds.

“I want answers too,” he said. “But I don’t know what the variants are going to bring us. I don’t know what human immunity is going to look like.”

Biden said the virus “has not been vanquished” in his Fourth of July speech, and he held another event two days later to talk about the delta variant.

“It seems to me that it should cause everybody to think twice,” he said as he appealed to people who had not yet been vaccinated.

Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University, said there’s more reason to be optimistic this year than last. Immunity from vaccines or previous infections is much more widespread, and antiviral treatments are effective at preventing hospitalization and death in vulnerable patients.

“It was premature to declare independence from COVID-19 last year,” she said. “But this year the country is in a totally different place, and in a much better place.”

But Wen said Biden might be wary, given how things went before.

“The administration is hesitant to make those proclamations now, when actually this is the time to do so,” she said.

Biden’s early strategy of underpromising and overdelivering on COVID-19 was part of a concerted strategy to rebuild the public’s trust in government. The resurgence of the virus eroded some of that trust and diminished confidence in Biden’s job performance.

Rebuilding that has proved difficult, especially as the country faces challenges, some, frustratingly for Biden, outside of his control.

“We expect the president to be all powerful and be able to fix every problem,” said Chervinsky, the presidential historian. “It’s a completely unrealistic expectation and, frankly, a dangerous one.”

President Bill Clinton stumbled through his first two years in office, then faced a wave of Republican victories in his first midterm elections. But he later became the first Democratic president to be reelected since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Chervinsky cautioned that today’s political polarization could make such a rebound more difficult for Biden.

A key question, she said: “Is our partisan system so inflexible that it won’t allow for him to go back?”

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Abortion ruling puts spotlight on gerrymandered legislatures https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/abortion-ruling-puts-spotlight-on-gerrymandered-legislatures/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/abortion-ruling-puts-spotlight-on-gerrymandered-legislatures/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 13:04:56 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133892 In overturning a half-century of nationwide legal protection for abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade had been wrongly decided and that it was time to “return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives” in the states.

Whether those elected officials are truly representative of the people is a matter of debate, thanks to another high court decision that has enabled control of state legislatures to be skewed to the right or left.

In June 2019, three years before its momentous abortion ruling, the Supreme Court decided that it has no role in restraining partisan gerrymandering, in which Republicans or Democrats manipulate the boundaries of voting districts to give their candidates an edge.

The result is that many legislatures are more heavily partisan than the state’s population as a whole. Gerrymandering again flourished as politicians used the 2020 census data to redraw districts that could benefit their party both for this year’s elections and the next decade.

In some swing states with Republican-led legislatures, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, “arguably gerrymandering really is the primary reason that abortion is likely to be illegal,” said Chris Warshaw, a political scientist at George Washington University who analyzes redistricting data.

Meanwhile, “in states where Democrats have gerrymandered, it’s going to help probably make abortion laws more liberal than people would like,” he added.

A majority of Americans support abortion access in general, though many say there should be some restrictions, according to public opinion polls.

States have sometimes been viewed as laboratories for democracy — institutions most closely connected to the people where public policies are tested, take root and potentially spread.

Writing for the Supreme Court’s majority in its June 24 abortion decision, Justice Samuel Alito noted that 30 states had prohibited abortion when the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling “short-circuited the democratic process,” usurped lawmakers and imposed abortion rights nationwide.

“Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office,” Alito wrote.

Abortion already is an issue in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial and legislative elections. A recent Wisconsin poll showed a majority supported legal abortion in most or all cases. But a fight is brewing over an 1849 state law — which had been unenforceable until Roe v. Wade was overruled — that bans abortion except to save the life of the woman.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is backing a court challenge to overturn the law, enacted just a year after Wisconsin gained statehood. He also called a special legislative session in June to repeal it. But the Republican-led Assembly and Senate adjourned in a matter of seconds without taking action.

Wisconsin’s legislative chambers had one of the nation’s strongest Republican advantages during the past decade and are projected to continue to do so under new districts in place for the 2022 elections, according to an analysis by PlanScore, a nonprofit that uses election data to rate the partisan tilt of legislative districts.

“Democracy is distorted in Wisconsin because of these maps,” Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer said.

In 2018, Democrats won every major statewide office, including governor and attorney general, races where gerrymandering isn’t in play. But they have not been able to overcome heavily gerrymandered state legislative districts since Republicans won control of the statehouse during the midterm elections in 2010.

“If we had a truly democratic system in Wisconsin, we would be in a different situation,” she said. “We would be overturning this criminal abortion ban right now”

Republican state Rep. Donna Rozar, a former cardiac nurse who backs abortion restrictions, said gerrymandering shouldn’t stop political parties from running good candidates to represent their districts. She expects a robust abortion debate during the campaign to carry into the 2023 legislative session.

“This is an issue that is so critical to come back to the states, because each state then can elect people that will represent their values.” Rozar said.

The 2010 midterms, two years after former President Barack Obama was elected, were a pivot point for control of statehouses across the country. Coming into that election, Democrats fully controlled 27 state legislatures and Republicans 14, with the rest split. But sweeping GOP victories put the party in charge of redistricting in many states. By 2015, after two elections under the new maps, Republicans fully controlled 30 legislatures and Democrats just 11.

That Republican legislative advantage largely persisted through the 2020 elections, including in states that otherwise are narrowly divided between Democrats and Republicans, such as Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

In New Mexico, it’s Republicans who contend the Democratic-led Legislature has pushed beyond the will of many voters on abortion policies. The New Mexico House and Senate districts had a sizable pro-Democratic edge during the past decade that got even more pronounced after districts were redrawn based on the 2020 census, according to the PlanScore data.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation last year repealing a dormant 1969 law that banned most abortions. After Roe v. Wade was overruled, she signed an executive order making New Mexico a safe harbor for people seeking abortions. Unlike most states, New Mexico has no restrictions on late-term abortions.

“I don’t think that the majority of New Mexicans support New Mexico’s abortion policy at this time,” Republican state Sen. Gay Kernan said. “New Mexico is the late-term abortion capital of the United States, basically.”

The Republican nominee for governor, Mark Ronchetti, has proposed to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest and when a woman’s life is at risk. But the legislative proposal has been described as dead on arrival by Democratic state Senate Whip Linda Lopez.

Michigan could provide one of the biggest tests of representative government in the nation’s new abortion battle.

Republicans drew Michigan legislative districts after the 2010 census and created such a sizable advantage for their party that it may have helped the GOP maintain control of the closely divided House, according to an Associated Press analysis. As in Wisconsin, Democrats in Michigan won the governor’s race and every other major statewide office in 2018 but could not overcome legislative districts tilted toward Republicans.

The dynamics have changed for this year’s elections. The GOP’s edge was cut in half under new legislative districts drawn by a voter-approved citizens’ redistricting commission, according to the PlanScore data. That could improve Democrats’ chances of winning a chamber and influencing abortion policy.

Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial challengers generally support a 1931 state law — temporarily placed on hold by a judge — that bans abortions unless a woman’s health is at risk. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is running for reelection, wants to repeal that law.

Republican state Rep. Steve Carra said lawmakers are looking to replace it with “something that would be enforceable in the 21st century.”

“It’s more important to protect life than it is a woman’s right to choose to take that life,” said Carra, who leads a coalition of 321 lawmakers from 35 states that had urged the Supreme Court to return abortion policy to the states.

Unsure about their legislative prospects, abortion rights advocates are gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative that would create a state constitutional right to abortion, allowing its regulation only “after fetal viability.”

“It’s the best shot that we have at securing abortion access,” Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky said. “I think if this is put in voters’ hands, they will want to see this ballot measure succeed.”

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After abortion ruling, clinic staff grapple with trauma https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/after-abortion-ruling-clinic-staff-grapple-with-trauma/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/after-abortion-ruling-clinic-staff-grapple-with-trauma/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 11:40:17 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133905 CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Danielle Maness has squeezed the hands of hundreds of anxious patients lying on tables in the procedure room, now empty. She’s recorded countless vital signs and delivered scores of snacks to the recovery area, now silent.

Peering into each darkened room at West Virginia ‘s only abortion clinic, the chief nurse wondered whether she’d ever treat patients here for abortion care again.

“It literally just sickens me, and we don’t know what their futures hold for them,” Maness said of the residents who rely on the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia. “It’s the kind of heartbreak that’s difficult to put into words. There are all these ‘what- ifs.’”

The waiting room should have been filling up with patients on two days last week, when the clinic reserves all slots for abortion appointments. But since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade days earlier and ruled that states can ban abortion, the clinic was forced to suspend the procedures because of an 1800s-era state law banning them. The ACLU of West Virginia filed a lawsuit on behalf of the clinic, asking that the law be declared unenforceable so staff can immediately resume abortions. Other states are in various stages of legal limbo.

Nationwide, workers at clinics that shuttered abortion services are feeling fear and stress as they try to pick up the pieces and chart a path forward. At the West Virginia center, the days following the historic court ruling brought on a different kind of grief for staff as their new reality set in, one Maness said will linger long after the initial trauma of the decision.

The conversations with frantic patients that first day play on an inescapable loop in her head.

“I don’t think any of us can block it out,” she said. “It’s constantly on our minds.”

Like many clinics that perform abortions, the facility did not offer the procedure daily. Several days of the week are dedicated to routine gynecological care — cervical exams, cancer screenings — mostly for low-income patients on Medicaid with nowhere else to go. The resolve to continue that work has buoyed employees.

Immediately after the decision’s release, Maness was one of a few staff members tasked with calling patients to cancel abortion appointments. On the other end of the line, she’d never before heard people speak with such fear.

The entire staff found themselves in crisis mode for days, though they and others across the country expected the ruling for months. “You think you think you’re prepared for the moment, but you’re never really prepared until it’s a reality,” executive director Katie Quiñonez said.

She watched her staff break down and sob. Some called patients or answered phones. Workers who had the day off showed up, some still in pajamas, to relieve colleagues and offer support. Quiñonez encouraged all to take breaks, often managing the phones herself.

She’ll forever remember that Friday as one of the worst days of her life. Over the weekend, she shut off her phone, lay under a weighted blanket on her couch, ate junk food and watched television. It was the only way she could escape and cope.

When she and her staff returned to work, she held off on filling the vacant slots from canceled abortion appointments. Some patients still needed other services, but she wanted to let workers catch their breath. She told them to come in late if needed. Clinic rooms remained largely empty, dark and quiet.

But still, the phones rang.

Beth Fiddler sat at her desk behind the clinic’s glass reception window in the waiting room. She had no patients to check in, no Medicaid data to scan into charts, no informative packets to hand out.

Instead, she found herself answering the same questions again and again, referring callers to a hotline or website to help them find the nearest out-of-state abortion provider.

“You guys are going to close up soon, right?” No, the clinic will be open to provide other services.

“Can I get Plan B – the ‘morning after’ pill? What about an IUD, or other birth control?” I’ll help you make an appointment.

“You’re sure I can’t make an abortion appointment? Isn’t there a loophole, an exception?” There are no abortion services at this clinic.

Some callers were in denial. Some remained stoic, others cried. A few responded with hostility, insisting Fiddler was wrong. She tried to be polite, empathetic — but the conversations take a toll.

“It frustrates me,” she said. “I’m already stressed out and upset. I understand wanting to find a way, but there’s no way.”

As one of the first workers patients see, Fiddler takes pride in making people feel welcome and safe. Having to turn them away and simply refer them to a website is gutting, she said.

“As helpless as I feel about it, I can’t imagine how they must be feeling,” she said.

Outside the clinic, it’s quiet, too. There’s no buzz of patients arriving in the parking lot to be escorted by volunteers in pink vests. The only cars belong to staffers and a security guard. Across the street, a lot owned by an anti-abortion organization is vacant except for a large white cross.

A regular protestor, a pastor with a “Jesus Loves You” sign, prayed outside a few early mornings, but the usual crowd pleading with patients to reconsider is gone. Some cars slow as they pass. Workers recognize some as protestors’ vehicles, and they imagine the clinic is being watched — to make sure patients aren’t arriving for abortions.

Director Quiñonez said she knows the next steps will be challenging, with a long road for workers to recover from pain.

“Our staff need space and time to process this very traumatic loss,” she said. “And all of the secondary trauma that we’re experiencing from all of the patients.”

Simply being at work is hard, but the employees are dedicated to helping patients.

“We came in Monday and I was kind of like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’” said Kaylen Barker, who handles the clinic’s public messaging. “It’s somber to come back here and realize we’re not going to be able to do the lifesaving care that people need and that we’re going to have to refer them to websites. That’s the best thing we can do right now.”

Barker came to the clinic as a patient during a breast cancer scare 12 years ago. She got care when she had no other options. She knew she wanted to work at this place that helped save her, so she applied until she was finally hired. Knowing she can help others like her keeps her going, whether abortions are scheduled or not: “People deserve to receive healthcare in a welcoming space, without bias or judgement.”

So Quiñonez and her staff focus on keeping the clinic open. Abortion services account for 40% of clinic revenue, leaving a gap that could mean layoffs — but Quiñonez is determined to avoid that.

She’s encouraging residents to transfer their gynecological care to the clinic, and she plans to offer new services. The clinic recently added gender-affirming hormone therapy services, along with HIV prevention and treatment. She hopes more programs will follow.

And donations are flooding into the clinic’s abortion fund. Before this year, the fund’s balance never exceeded $50,000. In one weekend after the ruling, they raised $75,000. Staff will use the money to help send people out of state for abortions.

“Yes, we are tired, we are devastated, we are angry,” Quiñonez said. “But this is far from over. I want to reassure people that regardless of how hopeless and dark it feels right now, this isn’t the end.”

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Texas clinics halt abortions after state high court ruling https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/texas-supreme-court-blocks-order-that-resumed-abortions/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/texas-supreme-court-blocks-order-that-resumed-abortions/#respond Sat, 02 Jul 2022 22:06:55 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133581 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Clinics were shutting down abortion services in the nation’s second-largest state Saturday after the Texas Supreme Court blocked an order briefly allowing the procedure to resume in some cases, the latest in legal scrambles taking place across the U.S. following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The Friday night ruling stopped a three-day-old order by a Houston judge who said clinics could resume abortions up to six weeks into pregnancy. The following day, the American Civil Liberties Union said it doubted that any abortions were now being provided in a state of nearly 30 million people.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, said the ruling forced an end to abortions in its four Texas clinics, and workers there were winding down abortion operations and having “heartbreaking conversations” with women whose appointments were canceled.

“I ache for us and for the people we have dedicated our lives to serve with the fabulous abortion care we provide, many who will be denied that right in the months and possibly years to come,” Hagstrom Miller said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood’s multiple affiliates in Texas had not resumed abortion services even after the restraining order was put in place Tuesday.

At issue was a long-dormant 1925 criminal law that targets individuals who perform abortions. Clinics had argued that it was invalid after abortion became a constitutional right across the U.S. in 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, struck down the landmark Roe decision June 24, leaving abortion policy to states.

“Pro-life victory! … Litigation continues, but I’ll keep winning for Texas’s unborn babies,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, who had asked the state Supreme Court to intervene.

Separately, Texas has a 2021 law that was designed to ban abortion in the event that Roe were overturned. It takes effect in the weeks ahead.

“Extremist politicians are on a crusade to force Texans into pregnancy and childbirth against their will, no matter how devastating the consequences,” said Julia Kaye of the ACLU.

Providers and patients across the country have been struggling to navigate the evolving legal landscape around abortion laws and access.

In Florida, a law banning abortions after 15 weeks went into effect Friday, the day after a judge called it a violation of the state constitution and said he would sign an order temporarily blocking it next week. The ban could have broader implications in the South, as Florida currently allows greater access to the procedure than neighboring states.

Even when women travel outside states with abortion bans, they may have fewer options to end their pregnancies as the prospect of prosecution follows them.

Planned Parenthood of Montana this week stopped providing medication abortions to patients who live in states with bans.

Planned Parenthood North Central States, which offers the procedure in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, is telling patients they must take both pills in the regimen while in a state that allows abortion.

The use of pills has been the most common method to end a pregnancy since 2000, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, the main drug used in medication abortions. Taken with misoprostol, a drug that causes cramping that empties the womb, it constitutes the abortion pill.

Also Friday, Google, the company behind the internet’s dominant search engine and the Android software that powers most smartphones, said it would automatically purge information about users who visit abortion clinics or other places that could trigger potential legal problems.

In addition to abortion clinics, Google cited counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics and cosmetic surgery clinics as destinations that will be erased from location histories. Users have always had the option to edit their location histories on their own, but now Google will do it for them as an added level of protection.

“We’re committed to delivering robust privacy protections for people who use our products, and we will continue to look for new ways to strengthen and improve these protections,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a Google senior vice president, wrote in a blog post.

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White reported from Detroit.

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