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☆ Trump was accused of breaking a Nixon-era law by withholding funds to Ukraine. Now, he wants to get rid of it entirely.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump pledged to restore a sweeping presidential power that Nixon abused to the point of it being curtailed. The former president wants to restore the ability for presidents to impound funds. "I will fight to restore the president's historic impoundment power," Trump said at an event in New Hampshire. In the wake of Trump's first impeachment for withholding funds for Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office concluded that Trump had violated the Nixon-era law. Impoundment refers to when a president refuses to spend funds that Congress has provided for.

Persons: Trump, Nixon, —, Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, It's, Trump's, Nixon White, Thomas Jefferson Organizations: Trump, Service, Ukraine, Office, Constitutional, Congress, Congressional Locations: New Hampshire, Ukraine

☆ Why backing prevention can yield better health: podcast
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Aimee Donnellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Treating illnesses like cancer consumes 11% of global GDP, according to the World Health Organization. In this Exchange podcast, Dr. Katie Tryon, director of healthcare strategy at Vitality, explains that overburdened care systems need to spend their way back into shape. Listen to the podcastFollow @aimeedonnellan on TwitterSubscribe to Breakingviews' podcasts, Viewsroom and The Exchange. Editing by Katrina HamlinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Katie Tryon, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, World Health Organization, Twitter, Thomson

☆ Opinion | Communities of Color Have Suffered Environmental Injustice for Far Too Long
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Nick Tabor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

For decades, Democrats have talked about using a “whole-government approach” to reduce the environmental hazards that so many minority communities face. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order to address environmental justice and ensure that low-income citizens and minorities do not suffer a disproportionate burden of industrial pollution. Federal action could also have mitigated the risks for disease in places like Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”Instead, minority communities throughout the United States have continued to suffer disproportionately. This time around, ‌there will also be ‌an Environmental Justice Scorecard, designed to ‌concretely measure what each federal agency is doing — so the departments can be held to certain benchmarks. The White House is seizing on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a chance to fund environmental justice projects.

Persons: Bill Clinton, Jackson, Biden Organizations: Environmental, White, Law Locations: Alabama, Flint, Mich, Miss, United States, ‌, Detroit, Jackson

☆ Middle-income buyers face the most severe housing shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

These would-be buyers face the most severe housing shortage of any other income bracket, according to a new analysis from the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com that found the market is short more than 300,000 affordable homes for these buyers. Given that income, these buyers can purchase homes valued up to $256,000 without being overburdened with housing costs. Middle-income buyers can afford to buy less than a quarter — only 23% — of listings that are currently on the market. In a balanced market, buyers earning $75,000 can afford to purchase 66% of the listings in the Youngstown metro area. However, these buyers would be able to afford to buy more than 50% of the listings in a balanced market.

Persons: ”, Nadia Evangelou, that’s, ” Evangelou, “ It’s, Toledo —, Danielle Hale, “ Organizations: DC CNN, National Association of Realtors, NAR, El, homeownership Locations: Washington, United States, homeownership, Ohio, — Youngstown , Akron, Toledo, Youngstown, El Paso , Texas, Boise , Idaho, Spokane , Washington, In Boise, Boise

The settlement between BP Products North America Inc., the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency will also require the company to invest approximately $197 million in new technology and other capital improvements to reduce air pollution. The BP refinery near Lake Michigan released nearly 16 times the legal limit of benzene allowed by the Clean Air Act, the EPA said in 2009. Following the EPA's investigation, BP spent about $4 billion to expand the Whiting refinery to process heavy Canadian crude. The company also agreed to undertake a $5 million supplemental environmental project to reduce diesel emissions in the communities surrounding the Whiting Refinery and install 10 air pollutant monitoring stations. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Laura Sanicola in Washington; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Gun-loving Texas, where most households own a firearm, has become an epicenter of mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Emma Tucker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +23 min

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injures or kills four or more people, not including the shooter. They argue that more firearms and higher gun ownership increases public safety – a stance that continues to be at odds with gun violence experts and data. The area around the Robb Elementary School signs has become a memorial dedicated to the victims of the May 24 mass shooting. Mass shootings are just a piece of that, and the strategies that we’re laying out will impact mass shootings. They’ll also impact a lot of other types of gun violence and that’s absolutely critical to saving lives,” Horwitz said.

☆ Embattled St. Louis Prosecutor to Resign Amid Effort to Disqualify Her
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The chief prosecutor in St. Louis, who made history as the first Black woman to hold the post but faced widespread criticism for her handling of violent crime, said on Thursday that she would resign on June 1. The prosecutor, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, a Democrat, was facing an effort by Missouri’s attorney general, a Republican, to remove her from office. Her resignation means the governor, also a Republican, can appoint a replacement to serve as the lead prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has long struggled with high crime rates and disinvestment. In recent months, Attorney General Andrew Bailey accused Ms. Gardner of overseeing an office that failed at its most basic tasks, with warrant applications that went unreviewed for months and overburdened assistant prosecutors who sometimes failed to show up for court. Mr. Bailey said on Thursday that there was no reason for Ms. Gardner to stay until June, and that his office was “undeterred with our legal quest to forcibly remove her from office.”“Every day she remains puts the city of St. Louis in more danger,” said Mr. Bailey, who has asked a judge to remove her.

☆ Title 42: Why the Biden administration expects a surge at the US-Mexico border next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Migrant surge expectedThe surge of migrants is expected because Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed the government to quickly turn away certain migrants at the border during the Covid-19 pandemic, is expiring. These deployments are not unprecedented in recent years, but this one is notable since it coincides with an expected surge of border encounters. Biden administration’s plan to discourage border crossingsThe administration has tried to discourage migrants from simply crossing the border and promised that people apprehended will be turned away and potentially barred from reentry. Anger from New York’s mayorTexas has been transporting thousands of migrants to cities like New York, Chicago and Washington, DC. “Governor Abbott sent asylum seekers to NY – Black mayor; to Washington – Black mayor; to Houston – Black mayor; to Los Angeles – Black mayor; to Denver – Black mayor.

☆ Youth climate activists plan to protest the biggest social event for Washington's political-media class
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On Saturday, the group plans to blockade the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, DC. So the White House Correspondents' Association dinner is an appropriate target, Salamon said. The White House did not return requests for comment. Haught acknowledged she had little political choice because GOP candidates have shown paltry interest in prioritizing climate action. "If you're putting your body on the line and risking a record of arrest, that shows you're serious," Haught said.

☆ Biden to order all federal agencies to prioritize environmental justice
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order directing federal agencies to invest in disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change, the White House said. The order will create a new Office of Environmental Justice in the White House to coordinate all environmental justice efforts across the federal government and require agencies to notify nearby communities if toxic substances are released from a federal facility. The president, who is preparing to announce his reelection bid next week, will make the announcement during a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden. Biden is expected to argue that his administration's historic environmental justice and climate agenda contrasts with "the dangerous vision Speaker McCarthy and his extreme caucus have for our planet, our economy, and public health," the official said. Early in his presidency, Biden pledged that addressing environmental justice would be a core component of his climate agenda and signed an executive order that launched the Justice40 Initiative, which requires agencies to deliver at least 40% of benefits from investments to overburdened communities.

"Indian firms that do not increase their prices and (don't) focus hard on profitability do so at their own peril. The move, while long-sought by overseas law firms, appears to have been somewhat unexpected in its timing. Foreign law firms have yet to announce plans for new offices in India but international firms like Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith Freehills told Reuters they are examining the new rules. Lalit Bhasin, who heads the Society of Indian Law Firms, said there were concerns that a foreign law firm might de facto operate as a full-service firm by hiring local law firms to advise on areas concerning Indian law. "Who is going to monitor whether that foreign law firm is not engaged in practice of Indian laws?"

☆ UK govt, teaching unions to start 'intensive' talks to end strikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - The British government and teaching unions agreed on Friday to begin "intensive" talks to end strikes by hundreds of thousands of teachers in England who say they are overburdened and underpaid. The government and teaching unions said the National Education Union (NEU) — the largest striking union — would maintain a "period of calm" for two weeks in which no fresh strikes would be announced. "The Education Secretary and all unions will meet (on Friday), beginning intensive talks, which will continue over the weekend," the government and the unions said in a joint statement, adding that they hoped to reach "a successful conclusion". Teachers staged their latest strikes across England this week, coinciding with the government's annual budget. Scotland's largest teaching union has also accepted a pay deal to end long-running strikes, which it said would amount to a 14.6% increase in pay for most teachers by January 2024.

☆ Exclusive: UK debt agency treads careful path to sell near-record volume of bonds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

After finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced his budget plans earlier on Wednesday, the DMO said it would need to sell 241.1 billion pounds ($291 billion) of government bonds in the 2023/24 financial year - the highest on record apart from 485.8 billion pounds sold in 2020/21. The Bank of England is no longer a buyer in the market, and instead is reducing its own gilt holdings by 80 billion pounds a year. "We can issue larger cash amounts in, for instance, a short-dated auction than in a long- or index-linked auction," Stheeman said. Over the coming year, the DMO aims to sell 86.7 billion pounds of short-dated bonds, 65.3 billion pounds of medium-dated, 50.1 billion pounds of long-dated gilts and 26.2 billion pounds of inflation-linked debt. The medium- and long-dated debt includes 10 billion pounds of 'green' bonds - a volume that is capped by the requirement for the government to designate investment projects which meet certain environmental criteria.

March 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Texas is set to hear arguments on Wednesday in a bid by anti-abortion groups to ban sales of the abortion pill mifepristone across the country, even in states where abortion is legal, as they challenge regulatory approval granted more than two decades ago. Twelve of the 50 states now ban abortion outright while some others prohibit it after a certain length of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. The judge cited death threats and harassment directed at the court during the case and a wish to avoid disruption. After appealing to the 5th Circuit, the losing side could seek to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Alexia GaramfalviOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Millions of Americans are facing a hunger cliff as food stamps are slashed: 'The poorer you are, the poorer you eat'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Those emergency allotments ending will leave some with hundreds less in SNAP benefits each month. Courtesy of David WelchWelch is one of the millions of Americans suddenly contending with the end of pandemic-era expanded food stamps. The emergency allotments also helped keep many out of poverty. For some, the emergency allotments meant more than just sustenance — it also meant nutrition. The recipients Insider spoke to are just a handful among the millions of people who were still receiving the emergency allotments.

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to offer a defense of the abortion drug mifepristone in a meeting on Friday, according to a White House official, as some activist groups work to end U.S. sales of the pill. Medication abortion has drawn increasing attention since the U.S. Supreme Court last year reversed its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, directed federal agencies to expand access to medication abortion in response to the decision, which has allowed more than a dozen Republican-led states to adopt new abortion bans. Mifepristone is approved for medication abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions.

☆ U.S. EPA unveils $550 mln in environmental justice grants
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Valerie Volcovici | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The money is part of $3 billion included for environmental justice block grants authorized by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration's signature legislation that will drive investment of nearly $369 billion in clean energy and climate priorities. The scale and the vision of this investment that Congress has given us will change these communities," Robin Morris Collin, senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, told Reuters in an interview. It will oversee deployment of the $3 billion in environmental justice grants. "We are stepping our processes up to expand what has traditionally not been a very welcoming environment for low income and disadvantaged communities to access financial resources," Collin told Reuters. The block grant program is one of several investments the IRA made focused on environmental and climate justice.

Feb 21 (Reuters) - A Texas federal judge on Tuesday refused to set an accelerated trial schedule for a lawsuit by anti-abortion groups seeking to end U.S. sales of the abortion pill mifepristone, in a case that could severely disrupt access to medication abortion nationwide. Mifepristone is approved for medication abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions. Medication abortion has drawn increasing attention since the U.S. Supreme Court last year reversed its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, directed federal agencies to expand access to medication abortion in response to the decision, which has allowed more than a dozen Republican-led states to adopt new abortion bans.

☆ The US Navy's struggle to keep ships in fighting shape is leading sailors to 'cannibalize' more parts from other ships
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Shortages of spare parts is driving US sailors to take more and more parts from other ships. The spare parts shortage only exacerbates an already dismal Navy maintenance situation, with overburdened and understaffed shipyards unable to perform necessary overhauls on schedule. The study listed a cascade of causes for the shortage of spare parts: "Parts obsolescence, diminishing manufacturing sources, and material shortages are common issues." Likewise, militaries have long cannibalized equipment during operations when spare parts may not be available. Steaming hours have also declined for Navy ships, though by how much isn't clear, as the Department of Defense has classified the data.

☆ The workers who are supposed to lead the US response to the climate crisis are feeling 'burned out'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's a staffing crisis at the nation's top environmental agency, union officials say. The number of Environmental Protection Agency employees today is similar to the Ronald Reagan era. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. "People are burned out," Marie Owens Powell, an EPA employee and the president of its union chapter known as AFGE Council 238, told Insider. "Communities need to implement these programs, whether it's replacing lead service lines for drinking water or cleaning up environmental pollution."

☆ Canadian premiers accept C$46-bln federal govt healthcare funding offer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Nia Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Canada's provincial and territorial premiers on Monday said they will accept an additional C$46.2 billion ($34.64 billion) in healthcare funding from the federal government over the next 10 years, but warned the amount falls short of what is needed. In return for additional funding, the federal government has asked the provinces to commit to some conditions, including better data gathering and sharing. "We have accepted this for now...This is not a long-term solution to the healthcare funding that is needed within this country and by no means is a panacea to fix healthcare," Stefanson said. As a next step Ottawa will hold bilateral meetings with each province to finalize individual funding agreements. ($1 = 1.3336 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Nia Williams Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden to revisit 'billionaire minimum tax' in State of the Union address
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Win Mcnamee | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden will again call for a "billionaire minimum tax" during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. However, Biden's original billionaire minimum tax didn't gain traction in Congress and it's even less likely to happen with a Republican-controlled House now, experts say. I view this billionaire minimum income tax as a messaging bill to highlight some of the problems with our tax code. "I don't see a lot of support for Biden's billionaire minimum tax on the Hill," Rosenthal said. Problems with the billionaire minimum taxEven with more support, Biden's billionaire minimum tax may face other hurdles, experts say.

The issue brief stated that a "10% increase in median childcare prices was associated with 1 percentage-point lower county-level maternal employment rates." "High childcare prices and minimal public childcare investments are especially detrimental to employment among mothers with lower wages, as childcare affordability is out of reach," the researchers wrote. Childcare costs have outpaced inflation during the pandemic, according to one recent report, and the lion's share of childcare duties have fallen on women during the pandemic, causing them to leave the workforce en masse. Childcare workers made a mean hourly wage of $13.31 as of 2021, with the bottom 10% earning about $9 an hour. That's as childcare workers are more than twice as likely to live below the poverty line as those in other industries.

☆ Feds propose ‘student loan safety net’ alongside forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

President Joe Biden announced the repayment plan in August, but it was overshadowed by his sweeping plan to slash or eliminate student debt for 40 million Americans. Education Department officials on Tuesday called the new plan a “student loan safety net” that will prevent borrowers from getting overloaded with debt. “Student debt has become a dream killer,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. The Education Department formally proposed the new repayment plan on Tuesday by publishing it in the Federal Register, starting a public comment period that often takes months to navigate. Even some on the left have questioned the prudence of the idea, saying it’s so generous that it effectively turns student loans into grants that don’t need to be repaid.

☆ The first economic plan the new GOP House proposed would raise the deficit by $100 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Their first target: $80 billion in IRS funding from the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act. The IRS funding was meant to relieve an overburdened agency and beef up enforcement on some of the wealthiest Americans. Of the $80 billion, $45.6 billion is directed towards tax enforcement, specifically targeting areas that have been challenging for the IRS, like global high-net-worth filers. The Congressional Budget Office previously found that the enforcement funding would bring in $204 billion over the next 10 years. "With inflation high, interest rates rising, and debt approaching record levels, rescinding IRS enforcement funds would be a big mistake."

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