Column: What’s in a name? Stubborn Snyder about to find out
By JIM LITKE

FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2014 file photo, the Washington Redskins NFL football team logo is seen on the field before an NFL football preseason game against the New England Patriots in Landover, Md. The recent national conversation about racism has renewed calls for the Washington Redskins to change their name. D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser called the name an "obstacle" to the team building its stadium and headquarters in the District, but owner Dan Snyder over the years has shown no indications he'd consider it. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Try to think of a more deserving guy in all of sports than Dan Snyder to get his name-change plans caught in a vise. Go ahead, we’ll wait.

In the meantime, let’s all savor this quote from the owner of the Washington NFL franchise formerly-known-as-the … (which was precisely the problem) the last time Native American advocates lobbied for a name change:

“We’ll never change the name,” Snyder told USA Today in 2013. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

Turns out six years later, Snyder HAD to because the sponsors who line his pockets could squeeze him in a way that the Native Americans appealing to his sense of decency for nearly two decades never could. Gone for good are the polarizing name, mascot, logo, fight song, signage, etc. — good riddance — and then there’s this intriguing extra bit of consolation: Snyder’s name-changing headaches might be far from over.

The team’s statement on officially retiring the Redskins name didn’t include a replacement because, according to a handful of news outlets, Snyder’s preferred choice (or choices) might spark a trademark fight. And it could be a doozy.

While Snyder dithered and the internet buzzed with suggestions for Washington’s new name, a handful of visionaries rolled up their sleeves, fired up their keyboards and filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for many of the most popular ones. The earliest adopter might be Philip Martin McCaulay, an author and actuary from Alexandria, Virginia, who staked claim to several candidates back in 2015 and now has registered more than a dozen — including Americans, Warriors, Federals, Red Tails and Red-Tailed Hawks, the latter two an homage to the Tuskegee Airmen from World War II.

But McCaulay isn’t alone anymore. In the last week or so, a handful of others have tried to snatch Braves, War Hogs, Potomacs, Veterans and Monuments, among others. And while no one had attempted to register the Washington Presidents as of Sunday, the actual president in Washington insisted that any replacement signaled a shameful retreat.

“They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness,” President Donald Trump tweeted a week ago, including baseball’s Cleveland Indians in the short diatribe. “Two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct.”

It’s a safe bet Snyder feels the same way, though for once he’s holding his tongue. When Native Americans mounted a pressure campaign in 2013, Snyder hired a battery of PR experts and created the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation to deflect criticism. There was too much momentum to dodge the issue this time.

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2019, file photo, Native American leaders protest against the Redskins team name outside U.S. Bank Stadium before an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Washington Redskins in Minneapolis. Several Native American leaders and organizations have sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calling for the league to force Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team name immediately. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn, File)

Snyder’s next move is hard to predict. But like some billionaires, he likes to file lawsuits. He sued sports writer Dave McKenna and the Washington City Paper in 2011 for a lengthy, unflattering profile, perhaps because printing his record (142-193-1 and 2-5 in the playoffs through last season) would have been unflattering enough. Snyder even sued one of his own season ticket holders who couldn’t pony up for seats during the last recession.

Snyder hasn’t asked for my advice, but here it is anyway: Turn off the lights in your home office, put a cold, damp towel across your forehead and definitely do not call Commissioner Roger Goodell for advice; at a minimum, don’t decide anything for at least a month (then sell the team; just kidding).

But people who’ve managed rebranding campaigns for colleges generally figure on an 18-to-24-month timeline. Several recommended keeping the traditional gold and burgundy colors and playing next season known simply as Washington Football, rather than rush into anything the organization might regret. A quick change can be jarring to fans, and obtaining the trademark for a new name, then re-designing, licensing and getting everything from new uniforms to T-shirts and onesies into production isn’t an overnight job.

If further proof was needed, the team’s Monday announcement featured the old letterhead, with the Redskins name and logo prominently displayed on top.

On top of that, long-term planning was never Snyder’s strong suit. Current seat warmer Ron Rivera is the ninth head coach he’s hired since buying the team from Jack Kent Cooke’s estate back in 1999. Small wonder — Washington has burned through 21 starting quarterbacks over that same stretch.

So it should have come as no surprise to find out that Snyder had no Plan B. But at least he won’t have to look far or wide to find somebody to blame. All Snyder has to do is read the name on the signature line of all those checks stampeding out the door in the coming months.

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Navy sees progress against blaze on warship in San Diego Bay

IF YOU CALL POISONING PEOPLE 

WITH TOXIC SMOKE PROGRESS....

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Fire crews battle the fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard, Monday, July 13, 2020, in San Diego. Fire crews continue to battle the blaze Monday after 21 people suffered minor injuries in an explosion and fire Sunday on board the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The battle to save the USS Bonhomme Richard from a ravaging fire entered a third day in San Diego Bay on Tuesday with indications that the situation aboard the amphibious assault ship was improving.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement late Monday that firefighters were making significant progress with the assistance of water drops by helicopters.

The ship was emitting much less smoke than the previous two days, when acrid billows poured out and blanketed parts of the region.

The Navy, meanwhile, has taken precautions in case the warship sinks and potentially releases 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of oil on board into the harbor.

The U.S. Coast Guard has hired an oil clean-up crew to put a containment boom in place that could be ready if any oil is spilled. It also halted boat and air traffic within a nautical mile of the vessel.

On Monday, health officials warned people to stay indoors as acrid smoke wafted across San Diego from one of the Navy’s worst shipyard fires in recent years. At least 59 people, including 36 sailors and 23 civilians, have been treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. Five people who had been in a hospital under observation were released.

Some 400 sailors along with Navy helicopters and local and federal firefighters poured water on the carrier-like ship, which erupted in flames Sunday morning.



Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck said fire temperatures had reached up to 1,000 degrees (538 Celsius), causing the mast of the ship to collapse and threatening the central control island where the captain operates the vessel. He said there were about two decks between the fire and the fuel supplies.

Water being dumped on the vessel was causing the 840-foot (255-meter) ship to list to one side, but crews were pumping off the water.

Sobeck said it was too soon to give up on saving the 23-year-old amphibious assault ship, which has been undergoing maintenance since 2018.

“I feel absolutely hopeful because we have sailors giving it their all,” said Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

The fire was first reported in a lower cargo area where seafaring tanks and landing craft are parked. It appears to have started where cardboard boxes, rags and other maintenance supplies were being stored, Sobeck said. 

A COMMON PROBLEM CALLED SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION FROM OILY RAGS.

WHICH IS WHY THEY NEED TO BE KEPT IN METAL AIR TIGHT SAFETY CANS

A fire suppression system had been turned off because it was being worked on as part of the ongoing maintenance. The system uses Halon, a liquefied, compressed gas that disrupts a fire and stops its spread by cutting off its oxygen.
Sobeck said there was no ordnance on board the ship and he did not believe there was anything toxic.  

HALOGEN SYSTEM IS TOXIC, BURNING GAS, OIL, PLASTICS, ETC ETC  

However, the flames were burning plastic, cabling and other materials, sending a haze over downtown San Diego. The San Diego Air Pollution Control District warned that concentrations of fine particulate matter could reach unhealthful levels in some areas and that people should avoid exercising outdoors and stay indoors if possible to limit exposure.

Retired Navy Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, a professor of international maritime law at Fordham University in New York, said there is a risk of the hull rupturing, which could cause the ship to spill its oil.

“If this is a million gallons of oil that ends up settling on the bottom of the San Diego Harbor and can’t be removed safely, we’re talking about billions of dollars of environmental damage,” said Brennan, who has investigated and litigated hundreds of maritime cases.

The ship can be used to deploy thousands of Marines to shore and has the capacity to accommodate helicopters, certain types of short-takeoff airplanes, small boats and amphibious vehicles.

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AP writers Christopher Weber and John Antczak contributed from Los Angeles.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A group of teachers and parents took part in a “motor march” in Jacksonville to promote the reopening of schools “when it’s safe.”

Two grassroots groups — the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team and the Duval For a Safe Return to Campus — say they want the school district to put certain regulations in place until a vaccine for COVID-19 is available.

The 5-mile drive ended at the Duval County Public School headquarters just before the board’s meeting.

Marla Bryant, co-founder of the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team, told the Florida Times-Union the group’s primary concerns include requiring masks in classrooms, keeping desks 6-feet apart, rigorous cleaning and disinfecting at each school and a full-time distance learning option for all grade levels.

Previously, the district was criticized for not offering a full-time distance learning option for K-12 students who wanted to stay enrolled in their existing school. Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said schools should reopen as planned next month.

OLD SCHOOL WES MONTGOMERY LIVE IN STUDIO 1965 BW

Michael B. Jordan wants you to view a drive-in movie, on him

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON

FILE - In this July, 26, 2019 photo, actor and producer Michael B. Jordan poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. Jordan has partnered with Amazon Studios for “A Night at the Drive-In” that will bring diverse films to drive-in theaters for free screenings. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — For Michael B. Jordan, timing is everything. So when the SAG award winner marched in a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest last month demanding that Hollywood drastically increase its diversity in the executive ranks, it was a moment he felt prepared for.

’I think it’s always been brewing in me, but I think timing is everything, you know? I mean, who knew that we was going to be in this pandemic? And on the heels of that, another senseless murder by law enforcement,” said the 33-year-old “Just Mercy” star. “I’ve always chosen to be very strategic in wanting to speak when it really makes an impact and really matters…And I want to work and evolve and grow with people who feel that same sense of urgency.”


Jordan, whose breakout “Fruitvale Station” role followed the events of a young Black man killed by an Oakland transit police officer, channeled the urgency for change — and healing — into “A Night at the Drive-In.” The goal is to celebrate “multi-cultural and diverse voices in cinema, in hopes of ultimately bringing together communities.” Jordan and his Outlier Society production company— who hand-picked the movies — is partnering with Amazon Studios.

Films show every other Wednesday through Aug. 26 and include blockbusters such as “Crazy Rich Asians” and Jordan’s own “Black Panther,” along with classics like “Do the Right Thing” and “Coming to America.” The screenings will show in 20 cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Houston, as well as smaller towns such as Savannah, Georgia, Augusta-Aiken, South Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Attendance is free, with most moviegoers chosen by local community organizations and nonprofits. The initiative is also raising voter registration awareness.

“We wanted to find a way for us to (show) stories that fed our soul, that inspired us, that made us laugh,” Jordan said. “We wanted to give people an opportunity to find relatability through cinema, and we were able to put together a pretty eclectic list of some old favorites and some newer films that kind of checked off all those boxes.”

Outlier Society and Amazon Studios also partnered with Path Water, Pipcorn Popcorn and Partake Cookies — all owned by people of color — to provide free refreshments during the double- feature programs.

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said the partnership falls into the company’s efforts to support social justice initiatives.

“Going through the conversations around supporting Black Lives Matter and changing the carousels on (Amazon Prime Video), all of that was never done as a, ‘OK, We better do these things out of a reactive we want to keep up with the guys or gals down the street,’” Salke said. “It really was a point of pride for the company to be able to say, ‘We care deeply about this.’”

As the Black Lives Matter slogan has pirouetted in American from divisiveness just a few years ago to wide acceptance, there’s been criticism that many major brands and corporations are only now supporting the movement for optics with no real plans to advocate for diversity, even within their own walls. But Salke says her group is planning beyond the present.

“Once the protests are over, all that energy going into all of that has to go into holding ourselves accountable and holding our teams and everyone else accountable. And we’ve talked about that in terms of every aspect of our business,” she said. “The good intention period is over… And we are going to make sure that those checks and balances exist.”

Jordan, who says he can’t remember ever staying home this long as Hollywood remains mostly dark because of the COVID-19 shutdown, remains committed to holding the film and TV industry to the fire on diversity. But his macro goal is to see change reflected in all aspects of society.

Jordan and Jamie Foxx starred in last year’s “Just Mercy,” the first major studio project made with the inclusion rider, the contractual provision mandating the consideration of people from underrepresented groups for cast and crew positions. The rider was initiated as a way to change long-term under-representation of people of color and women in Hollywood.

“What we’re doing right now while we have the energy and the momentum, let’s continue to keep the conversation pushing forward,” Jordan said. “Let’s address the disease, not just the symptoms.”

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Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at twitter.com/garyghamilton

Retirees in Greece win court battle for bailout refund


FILE - In this Tuesday, June 14, 2015 file photo, pensioners stand outside the main gate of the National bank of Greece, in Athens. A high court in Greece has ruled on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in favor of retirees in a class action case in which they demanded the reimbursement of money cut from their income during international bailouts.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, file)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A high court in Greece ruled Tuesday in favor of retirees who brought a class action case to demand the reimbursement of money cut from their income during international bailouts.

The case was being closely watched in Greece, which is reeling from the economic impact of the pandemic and is expected to slide back into a severe recession after a decade-long effort to recover from financial crisis.

The Council of State administrative court ruled that pension cuts imposed during 2015-16 occurred without the proper legislative procedure and the money should be returned.

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 20, 2015 file photo, pensioners take part in an anti austerity protest in central Athens. A high court in Greece has ruled on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 in favor of retirees in a class action case in which they demanded the reimbursement of money cut from their income during international bailouts.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, file)

The court only ruled in favor of retirees whose associations were directly involved in the complaint. But the ruling could pave the way for broader claims that would have a greater fiscal impact on the country’s troubled public finances.

The government said it would comply with the decision.

FILE - In this Thursday March 8, 2018 file photo, pensioners shout anti austerity slogans as they protest in central Athens. Greece has ruled on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in favor of retirees in a class action case in which they demanded the reimbursement A high court in of money cut from their income during international bailouts.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, file)

“We are studying today’s ruling and, taking into account our fiscal ability as well as what the economy can withstand, the government will announce when and how it will implement the decision,” a Labor and Social Affairs Ministry statement said.

Greek media have reported that the government could apply the ruling to all affected retirees, even those who weren’t directly involved in the complaint.

Retirees’ income was cut by successive governments during international bailouts by European Union institutions and the International Monetary Fund between 2010 and 2018

Burger King addresses climate change by changing cows’ diets

OUR COWS DON'T FART

FILE - In this May 8, 2018, filephoto, a Jersey cow feeds in a field on the Francis Thicke organic dairy farm in Fairfield, Iowa. Burger King is announcing its work to help address a core industry challenge: the environmental impact of beef. To help tackle this environmental issue, the Burger King brand partnered with top scientists to develop and test a new diet for cows, which according to initial study results, on average reduces up to 33% of cows' daily methane emissions. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
https://apnews.com/2adf5a4646fbf4883af89a52061f9667/gallery/04d365d5b7464bebb88afa43b0deb8ad

Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows.

The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovines contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cows’ daily methane emissions by about 33%.

Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion, and that has become a potential public relations hurdle for major burger chains.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector.

With an over-the-top social media campaig n that teeters between vulgarity and science (sprinkled with more vulgarity), Burger King is banking on the heightened awareness of climate change and its responsibility to limit its own role.

According to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about two out of three Americans say corporations have a responsibility to combat climate change. The gravitational pull of climate change is increasingly finding its way onto national political stage.

In this photo provided by Burger King, shows the company announcing its work to help address a core industry challenge: the environmental impact of beef. To help tackle this environmental issue, the Burger King brand partnered with top scientists to develop and test a new diet for cows, which according to initial study results, on average reduces up to 33% of cows' daily methane emissions. (Burger King via AP)

Potential customers are also cutting down on the amount of meat they consume, citing both environmental and dietary concerns. Burger King and rival McDonald’s have added meat alternatives to their menus.

Two years ago McDonald’s said it was taking steps to cut the greenhouse gases it emits. It tweaked the manner in which the beef in its Big Macs and Quarter Pounders was produced. The company said at the time that it expected the changes to prevent 150 million metric tons (165 million tons) of greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere by 2030.




Burger King worked with scientists at the Autonomous University at the State of Mexico and at the University of California, Davis to test and develop its formula of adding 100 grams of lemongrass leaves to the cows’ daily diets. Preliminary tests indicate that the lemongrass leaves help the cows release less methane as they digest their food.

On Tuesday, Burger King introduced its Reduced Methane Emissions Beef Whopper, made with beef sourced from cows that emit reduced methane, in select restaurants in Miami, New York, Austin, Portland and Los Angeles, while supplies last.

WATCH: WANTED - ROBOT COOKS TO REDUCE SPREAD OF COVID-19


The pandemic is feeding demand for robots that can flip burgers, make salads and blend smoothies as businesses and consumers seek to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Experts say COVID-19 is accelerating automation in the food-service industry. (July 14)

PRO LIFE GOVERNMENT

US carries out the 1st federal execution in nearly 2 decades

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 https://apnews.com/638826b00bba1b389756126e4cfae97a/gallery/c3d121a9ed8940da8bfe53946a262b9b

FILE - In this Oct. 31 1997, file photo, Daniel Lewis Lee waits for his arraignment hearing for murder in the Pope County Detention Center in Russellville, Ark. Relatives of the victims of Daniel Lewis Lee have pleaded for him to receive the same life sentence as the ringleader in the plot that led to the slayings. Now, family members say their grief is compounded by the push to execute Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.(Dan Pierce/The Courier via AP, File)


TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The federal government on Tuesday carried out its first execution in almost two decades, killing by lethal injection a man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.

The execution of Daniel Lewis Lee came over the objection of the victims’ relatives and following days of legal wrangling and delays.

Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, professed his innocence just before he was executed at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

“I didn’t do it,” Lee said. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m not a murderer.”

His final words were: “You’re killing an innocent man.”

MORE STORIES:– Victims' relatives most vocal opponents of man's execution– AP Exclusive: New dates set to begin federal executions– Priest sues to stop federal execution over coronavirus risk

The decision to move forward with the first execution by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 -- and two others scheduled later in the week — drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee’s victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide.

Critics argued the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain.

One of Lee’s lawyers, Ruth Friedman, said it was “shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution during a pandemic.”

“And it is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this execution in haste,” Friedman said in a statement.

The developments are likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections.

The execution of Lee, who died at 8:07 a.m. EDT, went off after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward.

Attorney General William Barr has said the Justice Department has a duty to carry out the sentences imposed by the courts, including the death penalty, and provide closure to the victims and those in the communities where the killings happened.

But relatives of those killed by Lee in 1996 opposed that idea and argued Lee deserved life in prison. They wanted to be present to counter any contention the execution was being done on their behalf.

“For us it is a matter of being there and saying, ‘This is not being done in our name; we do not want this,’” relative Monica Veillette said.

They noted Lee’s co-defendant and the reputed ringleader, Chevie Kehoe, received a life sentence.

Kehoe, of Colville, Washington, recruited Lee in 1995 to join his white supremacist organization, known as the Aryan Peoples’ Republic. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in Tilly, Arkansas, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock.

At their 1999 trial, prosecutors said Kehoe and Lee stole guns and $50,000 in cash from the Muellers as part of their plan to establish a whites-only nation.

Prosecutors said Lee and Kehoe incapacitated the Muellers and questioned Sarah about where they could find money and ammunition. Then, they used stun guns on the victims, sealed trash bags with duct tape on their heads to suffocate them, taped rocks to their bodies and dumped them in a nearby bayou.

A U.S. District Court judge put a hold on Lee’s execution on Monday, over concerns from death row inmates on how executions were to be carried out, and an appeals court upheld it, but the high court overturned it. That delay came after an appeals court on Sunday overturned a hold put in place last week after the victims’ relatives argued they’d be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend the execution.

Lee’s execution was then set to happen at 4 a.m. EDT, but a last-minute legal question was raised by his lawyers. The Justice Department said it filed a request with the court to straighten it out but went through with the execution.

A U.S. marshal lifted a black telephone inside the execution room -- a small square room inside the prison with green tiles and windows looking at the witness rooms -- and asked if there was anything to impede the execution. He said there was not and the execution could proceed.


Lee had a pulse oximeter on a finger of his left hand, to monitor his oxygen level, and his arms, which had tattoos, were in black restraints. The IV tubes were coming through a metal panel in the wall.

He breathed heavily before the drug was injected and moved his legs and feet. As the drug was being administered, he raised his head to look around. In a few moments, his chest was no longer moving.

Lee was in the execution chamber with two men the Bureau of Prisons identified as “senior BOP officials,” a U.S. marshal and his spiritual adviser, described by a prisons spokesperson as an “Appalachian pagan minister.” They and Lee didn’t wear masks.

One of the senior prisons officials in the room announced Lee’s time of death, and the curtain closed.

Two other federal executions are scheduled for this week, though one remains on hold in a separate legal claim.

There have been two state executions in the U.S. since the pandemic forced shutdowns nationwide in mid-March — one in Texas and one in Missouri, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama had one in early March.

Executions on the federal level have been rare, and the government has put to death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988 — most recently in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier.

Though there hadn’t been a federal execution since 2003, the Justice Department has continued to approve death penalty prosecutions and federal courts have sentenced defendants to death.

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, President Barack Obama directed the Justice Department to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs.

The attorney general said last July the review had been completed, allowing executions to resume. He approved a new procedure for lethal injections that replaces the three-drug combination previously used in federal executions with one drug, pentobarbital. This is similar to the procedure used in several states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas.

Numbers of state executions have fallen steadily since the 2003 federal execution, according to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. States put to death 59 people in 2004 and 22 in 2019.

___

Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Colleen Long in Washington and Michael Tarm in Chicago contributed to this

Global vaccine plan may allow rich countries to buy more

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FILE - In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, a volunteer receives a COVID-19 test vaccine injection developed at the University of Oxford in Britain, at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make it happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, FIle)


LONDON (AP) — Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones.

Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, vaccines will be hoarded by rich countries in an unseemly race to inoculate their populations first. After the recent uproar over the United States purchasing a large amount of a new COVID-19 drug, some predict an even more disturbing scenario if a successful vaccine is developed.

Dozens of vaccines are being researched, and some countries — including Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. — already have ordered hundreds of millions of doses before the vaccines are even proven to work.

While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones can’t afford to place such speculative bets at all.

The key initiative to help them is led by Gavi, a public-private partnership started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that buys vaccines for about 60% of the world’s children.

In a document sent to potential donors last month, Gavi said those giving money to its new “Covax Facility” would have “the opportunity to benefit from a larger portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines.” Gavi told donor governments that when an effective vaccine is found within its pool of experimental shots, those countries would receive doses for 20% of their population. Those shots could be used as each nation wished.

That means rich countries can sign deals on their own with drugmakers and then also get no-strings-attached allocations from Gavi. Poorer countries that sign up to the initiative would theoretically get vaccines at the same time to cover 20% of their populations, but they would be obligated to immunize people according to an ethical distribution framework set by the United Nations.

The donor countries are “encouraged (but not required) to donate vaccines if they have more than they need,” the document says.

“By giving rich countries this backup plan, they’re getting their cake and eating it too,” said Anna Marriott of Oxfam International. “They may end up buying up all the supply in advance, which then limits what Gavi can distribute to the rest of the world.”

Dr. Seth Berkley, Gavi’s CEO, said such criticisms were unhelpful.

Right now there’s no vaccine for anyone, he said, and “we’re trying to solve that problem.”

Berkley said Gavi needed to make investing in a global vaccine initiative attractive for rich countries. Gavi would try to persuade those countries that if they ordered vaccines already, they should not attempt to obtain more, he said.

But he acknowledged there was no enforcement mechanism.

“If, at the end of the day, those legal agreements are broken or countries seize assets or don’t allow the provision of vaccines (to developing countries), that’s a problem,” Berkley said.

Gavi asked countries for an expression of intent from those interested in joining its initiative by last Friday. It had expected about four dozen high and middle income countries to sign up, in addition to nearly 90 developing countries.

Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is working with Gavi and others, said they would be talking in the coming weeks with countries who had signed deals with drug companies to secure their own supplies.

One possibility: They might ask countries to contribute their private vaccine stockpile to the global pool in exchange for access to whichever experimental candidate proves effective.

“We’ll have to find a solution because some of these arrangements have been made and I think we have to be pragmatic about it,” he said.

After a vaccine meeting last month, the African Union said governments should “remove all obstacles” to equal distribution of any successful vaccine.

Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said Gavi should be “pushing hard” on convincing companies to suspend their intellectual property rights.

“We don’t want to find ourselves in the HIV drugs situation,” he said, noting that the life-saving drugs were available in developed countries years before they made it to Africa.

Shabhir Mahdi, principal investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial in South Africa, said it was up to African governments to push for more vaccine-sharing initiatives, rather than depending on pharmaceutical companies to make their products more accessible.

“If you expect it to be the responsibility of industry, you would never get a vaccine onto the African continent,” Mahdi said.

Last month, Gavi and CEPI signed a $750 million deal with AstraZeneca to give developing countries 300 million doses of a shot being developed by Oxford University. But that deal happened after the drug company had already signed contracts with Britain and the U.S., who are first in line to get vaccine deliveries in the fall.

“We are working tirelessly to honor our commitment to ensure broad and equitable access to Oxford’s vaccine across the globe and at no profit,” said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. He said its contract with Gavi and CEPI marked “an important step in helping us supply hundreds of millions of people around the world, including to those in countries with the lowest means.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has also vowed to share any COVID-19 vaccine it develops with African countries — but only once immunization has been completed in China.

The World Health Organization has previously said it hopes to secure 2 billion doses for people in lower-income countries by the end of 2021, including through initiatives like Gavi’s. About 85% of the world’s 7.8 billion people live in developing countries.

Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said Gavi should try to extract more concessions from pharmaceutical companies, including compelling them to suspend patents on the vaccines.

“Gavi is in a very delicate position because they’re completely reliant on the goodwill” of drug companies, said Elder. She said the system of how vaccines are provided to developing countries needed to be overhauled so that it wasn’t based on charity, but on public health need.

“We’re just having our governments write these blank checks to industry with no conditions attached right now,” she said. “Isn’t now the time to actually hold them to account and demand we as the public, get more for it?”

Yannis Natsis, a policy official at the European Public Health Alliance, said the last thing on the minds of officials in rich countries is sharing with poor ones.

“Politicians are scared if they don’t throw money at companies, the citizens in the next country over will get the vaccines first and they will look very bad,” Natsis said.

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Cara Anna in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science