April 22, 2023

Saturday, April 22,2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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To read an article excerpted in this Roundup, click on its blue title. Each “blue” article is hyperlinked so you can read the whole article.

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Breaking! 💥💥💥

Celebrate!!! Mifepristone remains available, but this is a temporary stay.

Supreme Court Ensures, for Now, Broad Access to Abortion Pill.

Here’s what you need to know about the abortion ruling.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday evening that the abortion pill mifepristone would remain widely available for now, delaying the potential for an abrupt end to a drug that is used in more than half of abortions in the United States.

The order halted two rulings that had sought to curb the availability of the mifepristone as an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit moves forward: one from a federal judge in Texas who suspended the drug from the market entirely and another from the appeals court that had imposed significant barriers on the pill, including blocking access by mail.

The one-paragraph order, which was unsigned, is the second time in a year that the Supreme Court has considered a major effort to sharply curtail access to abortion. In overturning Roe v. Wade in June, a conservative majority said that it was leaving the issue of abortion to elected officials.

• Two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., dissented publicly. Justice Thomas gave no reasons. Justice Alito wrote that he was aware that the court had been criticized for issuing orders through the emergency applications docket, what critics call the “shadow docket.”

• Reaction was swift, from both abortion rights proponents and opponents. “The Supreme Court’s decision is a huge relief, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Nancy Northup, head of the Center for Reproductive Rights, adding that the Texas ruling blocking access to mifepristone had “sowed chaos, confusion and panic.” Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey, said through a spokesman that the ruling was a disappointment.

• The order was in one sense no surprise, as members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority have generally supported the F.D.A.’s authority to make decisions about drug safety.

• Read the ruling.

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Breaking! 💥💥💥

Look forward to hearing more from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on this settlement with Jim Jordan.

Bragg drops bid to block former Trump investigator from testifying to Congress.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped his lawsuit against the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee after the two sides reached a “settlement agreement” that will clear the way for the panel to interview a former prosecutor who investigated former President Donald Trump.

Aides to Bragg and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced the agreement late Friday after the lawsuit had escalated to an appeals court following a federal judge’s decision to decline to block a subpoena to the former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz.

Pomerantz, who worked for the Manhattan district attorney’s office before quitting and writing a book about his experience investigating Trump, is set to testify before the Judiciary committee on May 12, according to Jordan spokesperson Russell Dye.

The filing to dismiss the case does not describe the terms of the arrangement, simply calling it a settlement agreement. “[A]ll parties have agreed that the … appeals should be dismissed,” it says.

While Dye characterized the development as the district attorney’s office having withdrawn its appeal of the district court’s decision, a spokesperson for Bragg described it as a “successful” effort to wrest a concession from the committee: the presence of Bragg’s general counsel during the Pomerantz interview. Bragg’s office called it an “agreement that protects the District Attorney’s privileges and interests.”

(Politico)

One more thing. Report from the New York Times - A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said in a statement that the resolution would allow the office’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, to be present for the questioning of Mr. Pomerantz. A lawyer for Mr. Pomerantz is also expected to be present, and Mr. Pomerantz may decline to answer questions that he is not authorized to discuss. Congressional Republicans may contest his right to remain silent in future proceedings.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden to sign order prioritizing 'environmental justice.’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday plans to sign an executive order that would make “environmental justice” the mission of federal agencies, the White House said.

The Democratic administration wants to ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm. Biden is trying to draw a contrast between his agenda and that of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. GOP lawmakers have called for less regulation of oil production to lower energy prices, while the Biden administration says the GOP policies would give benefits to highly profitable oil companies and surrender the renewable energy sector to the Chinese.

Biden will sign the executive order to continue delivering on “the most ambitious environmental justice agenda in our nation’s history,” the White House said in a statement.

The order tells executive branch agencies to use data and scientific research to understand how pollution hurts people’s health, so that work can be done to limit any damage. It also establishes the White House Office of Environmental Justice, which will help coordinate efforts across the government.

Under the order, executive agencies would be required to inform nearby communities if toxic substances were released from a federal facility. (Associated Press).

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Kamala is always busy.

The Vice President spent Friday in Miami.👇 Touch to watch.

More Trump Criminality exposed.

A Georgia Republican Party poll watcher looks over voting machine transporters at the Fulton County Election Preparation Center on Nov. 4, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia.

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DONALD TRUMP’S TEAM hatched a plan in the weeks following the 2020 election to obtain desperately needed proof for their claims of fraud, traveling to Coffee County, Georgia, to hack into voting machines. Text messages obtained by CNN reveal that Trump operatives considered using that data not just to overturn the presidential election, but to also ensure Republicans retained control of the Senate. 

On Jan. 19, 2021, two Republican operatives contracted by Trump’s allies and his legal team, former NSA official Jim Penrose and Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, exchanged messages discussing how to move forward with the recently obtained voter data.

“We only have until Saturday to decide if we are going to use this report to try to decertify the Senate run-off election or if we hold it for a bigger moment,” Penrose wrote, referring to Democratic Sen. John Ossoff’s victory over Republican David Perdue. 

Penrose was working in tandem with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell on efforts to gain access to Georgia’s voting machines. Powell was a leading figure pushing the conspiracy that companies like Dominion Voting Systems had used their machines to rig the election. Logan, meanwhile, was the head of a cyber security firm hired by Arizona Republicans to conduct a highly questionable audit of the state’s election results. Trump would leverage the results of the audit, which was debunked by Arizona election officials, to claim he would be reinstated as president.  (Rolling Stone).

One more thing. The New York Times reports - Testimony Suggests Trump Was at Meeting About Accessing Voting Software.

In a letter to federal officials, a liberal-leaning group highlighted testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee that described then-President Trump attending a meeting about the plan in December 2020.

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An article about 1983, the last time America raised its retirement age. The lessons are for now.

A must-read about Washington and Social Security.

Lessons for the US on Social Security.

Alan Greenspan (left) and Sen. Pat Moynihan (right) ham it up at a meeting of the National Commission on Social Security Reform in 1982. Greenspan was not yet famous.

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As President Joe Biden and Congress barrel toward a debt ceiling showdown, the future of America’s entitlement programs has emerged as a potential subject in negotiations. And while Americans might not take to the street in such numbers or ferocity, any talk of a cut in benefits or increase in retirement age here in the US would likely be met by a chorus of protest.

It would not be the first time policymakers have had to reckon with major changes to Social Security. Forty years ago, Congress and President Ronald Reagan negotiated a suite of reforms that fixed a program on the brink of crisis — and did so partly by raising the retirement age. It was an unpopular bill at the time, but its passage, and the conditions that led to it, may hold some useful insights for our current predicament.

The 1983 reforms are a common touchstone in US debates over the program today.

The actual commission wasn’t the driving force behind the changes: The hard work was done by a small subgroup of five commissioners, conducting secret meetings with coordination from the Reagan White House. They were also operating under very different conditions than those today: Social Security at the time was due to run out of money in a matter of months, whereas the closest insolvency date projected today is 2032, nine years from now.

If you like to think about Social Security, click here.

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Tell the world. Paid family leave policies are good for businesses and humans.

Paid medical, family leave saves businesses money.

Opinion by Judith von Seldeneck of Diversified Search.

Business owners and public officials: What if I told you about an idea to help address the shortage of workers, give Pennsylvania a leg up in competing for talent, reduce turnover, and better protect your staff during daunting situations like the COVID-19 pandemic?

You’d probably say, “Tell me more.”

Finally, what if I told you the idea might cost businesses less than what is being spent right now on a big problem while providing a benefit of intense appeal to young employees?

You’d probably be whipping out a pen and saying, “Where do I sign?”

So, keep all that in mind when I tell you this: The idea is a government-run, paid family and medical leave program, one that has been tried in various forms to solid success in several other states — and is now proposed for Pennsylvania.

Here’s how the plan would work: All workers statewide contribute a small percentage of their pay to an insurance pool, overseen by the state government, which pays out claims to employees who qualify for paid leave. The pool also reimburses employers if they cover the claims as part of their short-term disability policies. Employers won’t have to contribute, but they will be expected to make the state’s family leave benefit available to all employees. (Of course, employers can even offer a more generous benefit if they wish.)

When it comes to paid leave, here’s what the data tell us: Paid leave programs save companies money, even when companies have to contribute to the programs.

First, they reduce or eliminate the cost already being borne by the roughly one-quarter of employers that now offer paid leave for one or more parents after the birth of their children.

newborns makes them significantly more likely to return to full-time work for the same employer.

I know from a lifetime of helping companies find new people for jobs that turnover is a huge expense — equal to at least one-fifth of the pay for a given position. How can turnover cost money? From recruiting, interviewing, moving, and training new employees, and hidden costs such as lost productivity and higher stress for those forced to fill in for long periods.

Third, studies also show that this benefit, which supports your workers and their loved ones during times of challenge or crisis, brings them back to the workplace with less stress and more loyalty, leading to greater productivity — and, therefore, profits. A 2019 study found that when manufacturing companies offered a paid leave program, their profits rose by more than 10%; in the tech sector, profit increase topped 25%. So you save money by retaining your employees, who — thanks to paid leave — are able to work hard and feel invested in the company.

You save money by retaining your employees.

Although some opponents of paid leave argue that the burden of filling in for workers outweighs the benefits, the Boston Consulting Group’s report “Why Paid Family Leave is Good Business” found that the opposite is true. (Philadelphia Inquirer).

One more thing. Manufacturing companies that offered a paid leave program saw their profits rise by more than 10%, while the tech sector saw a profit increase of over 25%. (Source. Family Values at Work.). Cause and effect?

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Positive update on Earth Day. Today.

7 ways we’ve made the Earth better since the last Earth Day.

The Inflation Reduction Act allocates billions of dollars to clean energy infrastructure including electric vehicle charging.

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Earth Day will be here again on April 22, and since the last time our planet reached this part of its orbit, humanity has actually taken surprisingly big new steps to avert the gargantuan threats to life as we know it: toxic pollution, habitat destruction, extinction, and climate change.

These problems stem from the things we build, buy, and eat. But that also means if we change our actions, we can solve them.

Big New Steps.
1) Rich countries are finally starting to show the money

2) An actual bipartisan climate treaty passed the Senate

3) A new accord will preserve nearly one-third of the Earth

4) The planet’s largest habitat has a new legal shield

5) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine accelerated Europe’s shift off of fossil fuels

6) The US finally has a law to deal with climate change

7) Fossil fuel-powered cars will soon be parked

To see the details behind this list, check here.

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Hey, meet you at Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills?

Long after heyday, soda fountain pharmacies still got fizz.

KENOVA, W.Va. (AP) — The jukebox plays Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” as Malli Jarrett and Nathaniel Fornash take turns at the Griffith & Feil Drug food counter preparing old-fashioned, soda-fountain phosphate drinks.

Soda fountains like this were hugely popular a century ago. Often located in pharmacies, they were a gathering spot during Prohibition when bars shut down. But over the past half century, their numbers fizzled, relegating soda fountains to the scrapbooks of U.S. history.

In West Virginia, Ric Griffith is keeping the tradition going. His 131-year-old business is a Norman Rockwell scene and time-travel tourism all wrapped into one.

“When you had a soda fountain, people would stay longer, they’d sit down and they’d share stories,” Griffith said. “It would not become the place where you grabbed lunch. It was a place where you had an experience.”

Griffith and his daughter, Heidi, are pharmacists whose pharmacy staff works in the back. Up front, the restaurant offers daily lunch and dinner specials. Customers soak in the ambience: the jukebox, neon-pink signs, black-and-white photos of local landmarks, marbled counters, retro padded stools and a metal-tiled ceiling.

And, of course, those tart-and-sweet phosphate drinks. (Associated Press).

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