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On Saturday, January 14, registered nurses with National Nurses United (NNU) will converge in Phoenix, Arizona to show their support for Keith Ellison for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Ellison we be taking part in the DNC Future Forum--featuring candidates for DNC chair and other offices.
On Saturday, January 14, registered nurses with National Nurses United (NNU) will converge in Phoenix, Arizona to show their support for Keith Ellison for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Ellison we be taking part in the DNC Future Forum--featuring candidates for DNC chair and other offices.
"U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison has been a tremendous ally to nurses across the nation. Together with Keith we can build on the incredible energy of the Bernie campaign and transform the Democratic Party in anticipation of the 2018 midterm elections," said Jean Ross, RN, Co-President National Nurses United.
What: NNU Nurses Support Keith Ellison for DNC Chair, at DNC Future Forum
When: Saturday, January 14, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Sheraton Grand Phoenix, 340 N. 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004
It is absolutely essential, NNU nurses say, that the DNC be led by a progressive that Sen. Bernie Sanders has described as someone "who understands the dire need to listen to working families, not the political establishment or the billionaire class."
Ellison is the author of the NNU-sponsored bill for a robust Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation and a co-sponsor of the bill to win nurse-to-patient ratios at the federal level. He is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and played an important role on the Democratic Party Platform Committee in the run-up to the Democratic Convention. There he successfully fought for the inclusion of a number of progressive positions including: an improved and expanded Medicare for all, the robust Robin Hood tax on Wall Street to fund human needs, expansion of Social Security, a ban on fracking and moving our economy to 100% clean energy by 2050.
"Selecting Keith Ellison to chair the DNC is exactly the direction the Democratic Party needs to go to rebuild and strengthen its ties with working class Americans, young people, communities of color, and the full diversity of the 99 percent of Americans who should be the base of the Democratic Party," said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro, who is also a vice president of the AFL-CIO.
"With allies of the far right and corporate interests now in control of all the branches of the federal government and a majority of state governments, it could not be more clear that the Democratic Party needs a new path that represents a fundamental break with reliance on Wall Street donors and the corporate class," said DeMoro.
"With his stellar record in Congress, which includes an uncompromised commitment to working people, and challenging corporate interests, Keith would be an outstanding leader who can lead the shift the Democratic Party needs," DeMoro said.
National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.
(240) 235-2000"This work is an important example of how infectious diseases are influenced by climate conditions," said the lead author of a new report.
Scientists at the University of California noticed that cases of Valley fever, a respiratory infection that is spread only through the inhalation of fungal spores, only peaked in certain parts of the state in recent years—and when they set out to discover why, they found that drought may play a major role in rising cases of the disease.
In a study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Americas on Tuesday, the researchers explained that increased droughts in the state have created conditions for a growing number of people to inhale coccidioides spores, which thrive in soil and can be inhaled through dust.
The scientists analyzed cases of Valley fever from 2000-22, and found that cases have risen dramatically since the turn of the century—particularly from 2014-18 and again from 2018-22, two periods when reported cases tripled.
Cases of the seasonal illness have long been known to occur mostly between September and November, but the researchers found "there were certain years during which few or no counties had a seasonal peak in Valley fever cases," said lead author Alexandra Heaney, an assistant professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. "This made us wonder what was driving these differences in seasonality between years, and based on the timing we observed, we hypothesized that drought might be playing a role."
"Even though droughts appear to decrease Valley fever cases in the short term, the net effect is an increase in cases over time, particularly as we experience more frequent and severe droughts due to climate change."
During periods of drought, seasonal peaks of Valley fever were less severe, according to the study. It was after the dry periods, when heavy rains returned, that cases spiked.
The researchers suggested that the return of rainy weather could allow the heat-resistant coccidioides fungus to proliferate because of the newly moist soil and the influx of nutrients. Another hypothesis was that droughts cause a decline in the population of rodents that host the fungus.
"Because dead rodents are thought to be an important source of nutrients for the fungus, it may be able to survive and spread more easily in drought conditions," reported UC San Diego Today.
"This work is an important example of how infectious diseases are influenced by climate conditions," Heaney said. "Even though droughts appear to decrease Valley fever cases in the short term, the net effect is an increase in cases over time, particularly as we experience more frequent and severe droughts due to climate change."
The study comes a month after a music festival in the state's Central Valley was linked to 14 cases of Valley fever, which can cause joint pain and fatigue as well as respiratory symptoms and can spread to the bones or brain in rare, potentially fatal cases.
People who work outside, including farmworkers and construction workers, are most at risk for breathing in the fungus.
The scientists called for more thorough monitoring of the fungus, which can be difficult to detect and whose symptoms are often confused for other respiratory illnesses. They also called for people in the state to wear face coverings when coming into contact with soil and dust and to minimize time outdoors, if possible, during dry and dusty periods.
Heaney said the team is next looking at climate dynamics related to Valley fever in Arizona, where about two-thirds of cases occur in the United States.
"Understanding where, when, and in what conditions Valley fever is most prevalent is critical for public health officials, physicians, and the public to take precautions during periods of increased risk," said Heaney.
"We must create effective and humane pathways for those seeking refuge to reduce the need for dangerous crossings and prevent further tragedies."
A small boat carrying migrants in the English Channel sank off the coast of France on Tuesday, leading to at least 12 deaths, mostly of women and girls.
Ten of the dead were female, one of whom was pregnant, and six were minors; they were of "primarily of Eritrean origin," a French prosecutor told reporters, according toThe Guardian. The boat, which was about 23 feet long, was carrying roughly 70 passengers when the bottom collapsed. Most of them were rescued, and at least two people are in critical condition.
The overcrowded boat was bound for England but didn't make it far after setting off from the French coast, where migrants from war-torn countries in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere tend to gather in makeshift camps as they try to make it to the United Kingdom to claim asylum there. The boat "ripped open" near the Cap Gris-Nez, a cape whose cliffs mark the closest spot in France to England, with Dover just about 20 miles away.
The accident is the latest in a series of migration disasters in the channel in recent years. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party has been in power since July, has declared a crackdown on 'gangs' involved in smuggling, but rights groups in the U.K. on Tuesday called for a broader set of reforms, including safe alternative routes into the country.
"In addition to taking action against the criminal gangs themselves, the [U.K.] government must develop a plan to improve and expand safe routes for those seeking safety," Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, said in a statement.
"People risk their lives out of desperation, fleeing violence and persecution in countries like Afghanistan, Syria, and Sudan in search of safety," Solomon said. "We must create effective and humane pathways for those seeking refuge to reduce the need for dangerous crossings and prevent further tragedies."
Amnesty International U.K. refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds agreed, arguing in a statement that "no amount of 'smash the gangs' policing and government rhetoric is going to stop these disasters from unfolding time and again if the needs of people exploited by those gangs remain unaddressed."
Wanda Wyporska, CEO of Safe Passage, also emphasized the need for safe routes.
"Today's tragedy must be the last," she said in a statement. "Without safe alternatives to reach protection in the U.K., people fleeing war and persecution will continue to make dangerous journeys at the hands of smugglers as they have no other choice. We must not accept this government's refusal to prioritize opening new safe routes."
Roughly 20,000 people have come to England by crossing the channel on small boats this year, according to U.K. government data. More than a dozen have died while trying to cross, including nine since the start of July.
The channel is a busy shipping zone with unpredictable weather, where small boat accidents are common. In November 2021, 27 people died in frigid waters off of Calais, France, after their dinghy deflated, and other such tragedies with smaller death tolls have followed over the last three years.
The Conservative-led U.K. government established a fiercely anti-migrant position and even set up a controversial system to transfer asylum-seekers to Rwanda. Labour abandoned the Rwanda deportation program and directed its antagonism at people smugglers. Progressives have, however, cautioned that overzealous policing of smuggling can led to migration itself being prosecuted.
Rights groups have emphasized that people who take boats to the U.K. overwhelmingly intend to enter a legal asylum process. More than 90% people who've arrived in the U.K. on small boats since 2018 claimed asylum, and of those who had received a decision by March, about 75% were successful, according to a recent analysis by the Migration Observatory at Oxford University.
Many of the people on the small boat crossings are from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Albania, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa, gained independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s and has since been plagued by conflict and human rights abuses. The authoritarian government has a mandatory military conscription policy that drives people from the country; the conditions of service are extremely harsh and torture has been alleged.
Only eight of the migrants on board the small boat on Tuesday wore life vests, officials said. Smugglers often use boats that are not seaworthy, as they wouldn't want to lose a valuable asset, and they crowd the boats to maximize their profits.
Following the incident, Gérald Darmanin, France's outgoing interior minister, called for a new migration treaty with the U.K. to create legal pathways for migrants.
French and U.K. governments, largely tilting right on immigration in the last decade, have worked together to limit the flow of people to Britain by, for example, increasing security at the border crossing at Calais. The two countries signed a $576 million deal last year that rights groups called racist and illegal.
Many migrants prefer the U.K. to continental Europe because they have family connections there or because of their language skills, among other reasons.
"As the disastrous impacts of increased fossil fuel development become more and more obvious here and around the globe," said one campaigner, "the notion of expanded LNG exports should be dismissed out of hand."
Despite the strong links between liquefied natural gas and harms to public health and the planet, the U.S. Department of Energy has approved the export of the methane-heavy gas by the fossil fuel company New Fortress Energy—leading one group to warn Tuesday that such approvals will ultimately negate any renewable energy progress the U.S. makes.
New Fortress Energy said the Biden administration had authorized it to export LNG, which is fracked gas that is liquefied in order be transported, from its offshore plant near Altamira, Mexico to non-free trade agreement companies, allowing it to send nearly 1.4 million tonnes per year for five years.
The announcement comes seven months after the Biden administration announced it was pausing LNG exports to non-FTA countries, following a push from frontline communities. The move put at least 14 pending projects on hold. The U.S. had previously been the world's largest exporter of LNG.
In July, a federal judge appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump—now the GOP's presidential nominee—blocked President Joe Biden's pause on the approvals of exports.
Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. program manager at Oil Change International (OCI), said the New Fortress Energy approval breaks the administration's "own commitment to pause LNG export authorizations—a commitment made out of recognition that its current guidance doesn't adequately consider the risks LNG exports pose to the climate, environment, and public health, and safety."
"The bottom line is that methane gas production and consumption must decline immediately to meet climate goals."
"The Department of Energy's decision to approve the New Fortress LNG Terminal is deeply concerning," said Rosenbluth. "The bottom line is that methane gas production and consumption must decline immediately to meet climate goals. No matter how much the United States invests in renewable energy, any additional export infrastructure will undermine domestic and international efforts to prevent climate catastrophe."
LNG is made predominantly of methane, which has 80 times the planet-heating potential of carbon dioxide over its first two decades in the atmosphere.
Advocates have estimated that the 14 LNG export projects that were temporarily paused by Biden could emit the same amount of greenhouse gases as 532 coal plants, contributing to premature deaths and health issues particularly for communities near LNG export terminals.
OCI denounced the approval of New Fortress' project as "reckless."
The LNG exports "will exacerbate the climate crisis, harm communities, create bigger barriers to a clean energy future, and become stranded assets that burden communities with toxic pollution, costly clean-ups, revenue shortfalls, and job losses," said Rosenbluth.
Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation for Food & Water Watch, said it was "ridiculous" that the Biden administration would authorize the exports despite its ongoing review of how LNG impacts the public interest.
"The department is under no obligation to approve these ill-advised proposals, now or ever," said Jones. "As the disastrous impacts of increased fossil fuel development become more and more obvious here and around the globe, the notion of expanded LNG exports should be dismissed out of hand."