California lawmakers propose ban on fracking by 2027

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New legislation would ban all fracking in California by 2027, taking aim at the powerful oil and gas industry in the state already planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Progressive California has long been a leader in combating climate change, requiring solar panels on new homes and passing a law to make the nation's most populated state rely entirely on renewable energy by 2045.

But environmental groups say California officials — particularly governors — have long had a blind spot for the oil and gas industry, which has wielded its immense political power many times to kill or weaken legislation aimed at curtailing production.

That could be changing. Last year, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced steps to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and called on lawmakers to go further by banning new permits for fracking, a technique to extract oil and gas embedded in rock deep beneath the surface that climate groups say harms the environment and threatens public health.

Two state senators answered that call Wednesday, announcing a measure that would halt new fracking permits or renewals by Jan. 1 and ban the practice altogether by 2027. Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Monique Limon of Santa Barbara also say they will change the bill next month to halt new oil and gas permits within 2,500 feet (762 metres) of homes or schools by Jan. 1.

“This is real. It is harming so many people, and the time to deal with it in the future is over. We need to deal with it now,” Wiener said.

The oil and gas industry quickly pushed back. Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president and CEO of the Western States Petroleum Association, said the legislation was “so broad and ambiguous” it would “lead to a total (oil) production ban in California.”

Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, called the measure “legally questionable."

“Shutting down energy production under the toughest regulations on the planet will devastate the economies of oil-producing regions,” Zierman said.

Newsom, speaking at an unrelated news conference in the Coachella Valley, said he had not read the proposal yet and was "unable to comment on it.”

California was among the top oil-producing states in the country, reaching a peak of 394 million barrels in 1985. But by 2017, production had dropped significantly, and it now ranks behind Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Alaska, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Part of the reason is the industry has exhausted much of California's easily extractable oil reserves. What's left is embedded deep in rock underground that requires immense energy to extract. That includes using processes like fracking, cyclic steaming, acid well stimulation and water and steam flooding to separate the oil from the rock — all processes that would be banned by 2027 under the new legislation.

“It's some of the dirtiest oil in the world,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.

Environmental groups say those methods can cause significant harm to air quality and water supplies. Research published this month by a team at Harvard University estimated that 8.7 million people worldwide died prematurely from fossil fuel pollution in 2018, including 34,000 people in California, the Desert Sun in Palm Springs reported.

“We must stop doing what we know causes death and disease,” said Dr. Karina Maher, a pediatrician in Los Angeles who works with the advocacy group Climate Health Now.

But critics say halting the state's oil production won't stop the state's reliance on oil because millions of people still drive gas-powered cars. State Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican whose district includes parts of Kern County, said that if the bill becomes law, it would force the state to “rely on foreign countries with dismal human rights records that barely let women drive and have little to no regard for the environment."

Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong, who also represents Kern County, said California produces oil “in the most environmentally responsible way.”

“At a time like now, when we need to be revitalizing our economy, I don't quite understand why we would be pushing legislation that eliminates jobs in our state," he said.

California has more than 5,500 oil wells that have likely been abandoned and could cost more than half a billion dollars to clean up, according to an assessment by the California Council on Science and Technology. For companies that eventually do that work, the legislation would require the state to offer them undefined “incentives” to hire laid-off oil and gas workers.

Wiener says it makes sense to start preparing for the eventual decline of the oil and gas industry and try to avoid the fate of the coal industry, whose decline has devastated communities in the Appalachian region.

“It's a declining industry. And instead of waiting for it to eventually decline and fall apart, let's get ahead of it, facilitate the phasing out and help the workers,” Wiener said.

Adam Beam, The Associated Press

Blue dogs seen roaming near abandoned Russian chemical factory
Shari Kulha 

Copper sulfate, stored on the site of a chemical factory that went bankrupt in 2015, has turned the fur of a pack of local dogs varying shades of blue.

CU2 IS TOXIC

© Provided by National Post The stray dogs either ingested chemical-laden trash near the factory, or, less likely, rolled in some pigment there.

Animal experts who studied the dogs say they’ve suffered no adverse effects beyond the colour change , Newsweek reports. The canines were seen near the Russian city of Zhershinsk, at a factory site that produced plexiglass and hydrocyanic acid.

Municipal officials obtained permission to enter the grounds of the disused factory to determine the veracity of the dogs’ rumoured coat colour.

Video: Blue-coloured stray dogs found near derelict Russian chemical plant (cbc.ca)

Seven of the dogs were taken to a veterinary hospital for examination. The veterinary centre director, Vladimir Groisman, told news outlet RBC that “the general analysis of their blood and feces showed normal levels for all of them, including their biochemistry.” Two of the dogs have already been adopted, and the rest will be kept at the centre for a week.

Groisman had earlier said the dogs had likely been stained by chemical residues. He doubted the dogs could have been caught and painted, and said the animals appeared to be well-fed and alert, local news site Vgorode reported. Humane Society International said the dogs could be suffering from skin irritation and internal bleeding as a result of exposure to toxic or harmful chemicals.

In 2017, pictures circulated online of a pack of bright-blue street dogs taken in Mumbai, India. An investigation revealed the dogs had been exposed to chloride pumped illegally from a local factory into a river in which they swam.

An investigation into the cause of the most recent incident has been launched by Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources. The department told Newsweek that it was preparing to file a legal procedure to allow regular spot inspections at the factory site.

DeSantis defends controversial vaccine deal with developer -- and threatens to pull vaccines if officials don't like it

By Konstantin Toropin, CNN

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to move a pop-up vaccination clinic that his state has set up in an affluent community in Manatee County after he was confronted with allegations of political favoritism and preference for the wealthy at a news conference Wednesday.

© Evan Vucci/AP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attends an event with President Donald Trump on the environment at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Jupiter, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Manatee County announced on Tuesday that Florida's Division of Emergency Management would host a "pop-up" vaccination spot at Lakewood Ranch this week for 3,000 Manatee County residents, according to a statement from the county.

The vaccines, however, would be limited to people living in only two zip codes -- 34202 and 34211.

Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia, a Republican, criticized the selection of these two areas at a Board of County Commissioners work session on Tuesday.

"You're taking the Whitest demographic, the richest demographic in Manatee County and putting them ahead of everyone else," Servia said. "The optics are bad ... very bad -- I'm really disappointed," she added.

Commissioner Reggie Bellamy, a Democrat, also noted that he's been "fighting like hell to show people that the (vaccine) lottery is equal and we cannot compromise the system."

"And now all of a sudden someone is telling me that we were able to go in and pull names out -- pull a certain demographic out -- and say, 'These are the people that we're going to serve,'" he added at the Tuesday meeting.

Board of County Commissioners Chair Vanessa Baugh, a Republican who is a strong supporter of DeSantis, said that the clinic "was done strictly by the governor who called Rex Jensen ... they wanted to do a pop up session in Lakewood Ranch."

Jensen is the CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the parent company of Lakewood Ranch, according to the company's website. The development is an affluent community that boasts new home prices "from the $180,000s to more than $1 million," according to its website.

DeSantis, however, defended the choice when confronted with the criticism at a news conference on Wednesday.

"It wasn't a choice about zip codes, it was a choice about where's a high concentration of seniors where you could have communities provide the ability for them to go on (to get vaccinated)," he said.

He also pushed back at the suggestion that the choice was politically motivated, saying he didn't "understand the accusation."

DeSantis fired back at the county officials who had concerns with the choice.

"If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it," DeSantis said.

"We're going to look to do more and more with the additional doses but anyone in Manatee ... if they don't want us doing it, then just tell us, and we'll make sure that that that we send those doses to folks who want it," he also repeated later in the news conference.

The governor also noted that the doses that will be distributed at this location are in addition to the doses allocated to the county as a whole and that he has set up two of these vaccination events every week in places like The Villages, Kings Point and Sun City in Hillsborough County.

Meanwhile, Lakewood Ranch, in a statement to CNN, said that their involvement in the clinic was only "to help identify a site that could accommodate 1,000 people per day."

"We reached out to Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh and asked if the County-owned Premier Sports Campus would be an option," spokeswoman Lisa Barnott said in an email.

Barnott noted that Baugh coordinated the use of the site, as well as use of the Manatee County registry of people who had signed up for vaccinations.

State Democrats have blasted DeSantis for his remarks.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz said in a statement that DeSantis "must stop playing politics with the vaccine distribution here in Florida."

"Threatening retribution and less vaccine access for communities that criticize the vaccine rollout for its problems is shameful and inhumane," Diaz added.

Democratic state Sen. Annette Taddeo said that "it's disgusting and unacceptable for the governor to politicize life-saving vaccines."

"The Governor owes Manatee county residents an apology and a public statement reassuring the public that political games will not be used in the distribution of vaccines in our state. Period," she added in a statement.

Video: Should Israel be investigated for possible war crimes? (Al Jazeera)

https://wus-streaming-video-msn-com.akamaized.net/3cc1e8a0-c35c-453b-877d-02fbfd0fcdc1/951af1ee-a827-4bcb-a529-2fb99772_2250.mp4

Colombia to study remains of 416 possible internal war victims
AFP 

A special team of investigators on Wednesday said they will attempt to identify 416 human remains found in a northwestern Colombian town to determine if they were victims of the country's lengthy internal war

.

© Luis ROBAYO Some 120,000 people have gone missing in five decades of violent unrest in Colombia

The remains, found in a cemetery in Puerto Berrio, in Antioquia department, were in "bags and buckets" and were at risk of "getting mixed up and prone to deterioration," a team official told AFP.

The team, known as the Search Unit for People Given Up as Disappeared (UBPD), was formed as a humanitarian government agency as part of the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, the country's largest leftist guerrilla group.

They estimate that some 120,000 people have gone missing in the five decades of violent unrest in Colombia.

The investigators moved the remains to a safe location and will soon try to identify them, the official said.

"Among the bodies that were moved at least 104 showed lesions that could correspond to a violent death," team director Marina Monzon said in a statement.

Residents of riverside towns like Puerto Berrio in years past would pick up bodies found in the river and bury them as unidentified people.

Aside from the 416 bodies, "there are other bodies in the La Dolorosa cemetery in ossuaries and burial plots that may also be of missing people," the statement read.

Colombian forces continue to battle with a smaller rebel group, the ELN, as well as violent drug gangs and leftover paramilitary fighters.

lv/ch/bfm

HAIL HAIL THE GANG'S ALL HERE
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to be Biden's pick to run Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, sources say

By Arlette Saenz and Tami Luhby, CNN 

President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, two sources familiar with the decision told CNN

.

© From Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP Chiquita Brooks-LaSure is President Joe Biden's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, sources say.

Brooks-LaSure, whose nomination to be CMS administrator would need Senate confirmation, was a top official at the agency during the Obama administration and worked to implement the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Prior to joining the Obama administration, she was part of the Democratic staff for the House Ways and Means Committee, where she also worked on the landmark health reform law.

Currently a managing director at Manatt Health, a professional services firm, Brooks-LaSure also served as a co-lead of the Department of Health and Human Services agency review team during the Biden-Harris transition period.

Brooks-LaSure would be a key player in executing Biden's promises to rebuild the Affordable Care Act and strengthen Medicaid -- as well as institute a government-run public option and lower Medicare's eligibility age to 60, from 65. The $1 trillion agency, the largest within HHS, oversees much of Obamacare and the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. In total, more than 145 million Americans receive their health coverage through programs the agency administers, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Affordable Care Act.

In recent years, Brooks-LaSure has co-authored reports on expanding coverage through state Medicaid buy-in proposals and on advancing health equity. Last month, she and her colleagues at Manatt published a report on two potential public option models in Nevada.

The Washington Post was first to report her expected nomination.

Brooks-LaSure would be tasked with reversing many of the policies put in place by her predecessor, Seema Verma, who served as the agency's administrator for nearly four years. Under Verma's tenure, CMS slashed funding for Obamacare marketing and outreach, cut the open enrollment period in half and promoted the use of private insurance brokers over non-profit navigators to help people find coverage.

Also, Verma took some historic and controversial steps in Medicaid, in particular permitting states to require low-income participants to work in order to receive benefits. The Biden administration has already started walking back the approvals. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about the issue next month.

The Supreme Court is also considering the fate of the Affordable Care Act itself.

Brooks-LaSure's nomination comes more than two months after Biden selected California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his Health and Human Services secretary, though he has yet to be confirmed. Two Senate committees will hold hearings on his nomination next week.

Becerra sat on the House Ways & Means Committee while Brooks-LaSure was a staffer.

The delays in confirming an HHS secretary and naming a CMS administrator have already had an impact on Biden's early efforts to bolster the Affordable Care Act. CMS launched a special enrollment period on Monday to allow the uninsured to sign up for 2021 coverage. But the agency has not provided more funding for enrollment assistance, which some policy experts say stems from the lack of top officials.

This story has been updated with additional details.

California bill would decriminalize psychedelics, paving the way for medical treatment

Vivian Ho 

A California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would decriminalize psychedelics in the state, the latest bold step in a movement to end America’s war on drugs.

 
Scott Wiener, the state senator who authored the bill, hopes that in following the lead of places such as Oakland, Santa Cruz and the District of Columbia – all cities which have decriminalized psychedelics – California will move one step closer to decriminalizing the use and possession of all drugs, something that Oregon passed by voter initiative in November.

“People should not be going to jail for possessing or using drugs,” Wiener told the Guardian. “It’s a health issue, not a criminal issue, and I hope that we get all the way there.”

Related: 'The war on drugs failed': California lawmaker will push to decriminalize psychedelics

This bill, unveiled on Thursday, would decriminalize possession and personal use of psilocybin, psilocyn, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine – all drugs that can be used for medical treatment. While the decriminalization would apply for any kind of possession or use, not just medical, the bill makes a point to tout the medical benefits of psychedelics, a strategy familiar to drug policy reform advocates.

“That’s how it worked with cannabis,” said Anthony Johnson, a longtime advocate and chief petitioner for Oregon’s Measure 110, the initiative that decriminalized personal possession of small amounts of all illicit drugs. “It’s definitely a way to help people that need it first and foremost, but also then to educate the public about these substances of how the drug war has been a failed policy and how there is a better approach.”

© Photograph: Richard Vogel/AP A vendor packages psilocybin mushrooms at a cannabis market in Los Angeles.

The bill would also expunge criminal records for people convicted of possession or personal use of these substances. It would create a taskforce to recommend which regulatory body would oversee personal and therapeutic use of these substances for mental health treatment.

Wiener did not include peyote as one of the substances because of a shortage of the drug among indigenous practitioners, he said. Peyote is a sacred plant for many indigenous tribes, and at the behest of the native community, the bill will not decriminalize peyote, or mescaline when it is sourced from peyote.

Breaking down stereotypes

In his advocacy, Johnson found that the biggest opponent of decriminalization have been law enforcement, who cite public safety concerns, and those in the private rehabilitation industry. Wiener hopes that testimony from veterans – the bill is sponsored by two groups who help them with PTSD – and therapists who support the therapeutic use of psychedelics will break down prejudices about psychedelics users.

“There’s a stereotype of who’s using psychedelics, but it’s much broader than that and when you have veterans coming into the Capitol talking about how psychedelics help them with PTSD and help them get their lives back, that’s incredibly powerful for legislators,” he said.

Juliana Mercer, 38, is one of those veterans. She graduated boot camp one week before September 11. In her 16 years as a Marine, 10 of which she was active duty, she served two tours: one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan

.

© Provided by The Guardian A bill unveiled in California on Thursday would decriminalize psychedelic drugs, such as LSD. Photograph: RapidEye/Getty Images

Most of her time involved civil affairs, working with local communities and learning of the devastation of war first-hand. For four years, she was in the wounded warriors unit, providing support and services to injured Marines and their families.

“I lost quite a few friends and just saw a lot of a lot of damage and destruction along the way,” said Mercer, who described the experience as leaving her with lingering, unaddressed trauma. “I put all of that stuff away and kind of forgot about it for a while, and once I slowed down it was all just sitting there and I didn’t know what to do with it.”

Mercer’s first foray into psychedelics was recreational. But her experience gave her a feeling of connectedness that she had not felt for a long time, spurring her to reach out to the Heroic Hearts Project, a group that specializes in ayahuasca therapy with military veterans, about a year and a half ago.

Her first session exceeded anything she had expected, releasing “years of grief”.

“I kept hearing that when you do some of these plant medicines, you’ll be able to do 10 years worth of work in one session,” Mercer said. “Just one of my sessions really brought out all of that pain and the grief that I didn’t even know was in there and allowed me to just completely release it and expel it, things that I had no idea were there.”

With the help of her coach and therapist, Mercer was able to “unpack why I was so stuck”.

“It had nothing to do with not knowing who I was or what direction to go, it had to do with just being bogged down with all of these things,” she said.

Lauren Taus, a licensed clinical social worker who facilitates ketamine therapy, is adamant that plant medicine therapy is only a potent tool, not a solution, in mental health work – but one that should be decriminalized as soon as possible.

“We are in a mental health crisis and Covid-19 has exacerbated what was already a crisis,” Taus said. “And the causes of trauma are multiplying way faster than the solutions. Current treatment is generally not very effective. Psychedelic medicine has been engaged with globally for eons. This stuff works and we deserve to have access to solutions that will be sustainable.”

Bars and Covid-19 safety rules don't mix, study found
By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN  

Is it possible to make bars safe in a pandemic? One experiment in Scotland last summer went flat, according to new research published Monday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

A sign outlining social distancing is displayed near customers in Jackson's Bar in the city centre of Glasgow on October 8, 2020, on the eve of a two-week closure of pubs due to an increase in the number of cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. - Scotland, on October 7, 2020, ordered a two-week closure of pubs in the central part of the country including the main cities Glasgow and Edinburgh. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the measures, to last for 16 days from October 9, were designed as "short, sharp action to arrest the worrying increase in infection"

 (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) 

Despite guidance from the government and efforts on the part of bar owners to implement safety measures, customers and staff alike failed to stick to even the simplest measures aimed at preventing spread -- especially when customers were intoxicated, researchers found.

With some venues back in business for indoor dining in places like New York and Portland, many US business owners are working to make the experience as safe as possible -- something the Scottish researchers found may not be so easy.

After a lockdown in the UK, bars in Scotland were allowed to reopen in July under new guidelines, including keeping groups of customers at least one meter, (a little over three feet), apart, keeping all customers seated and requiring staff to wear face coverings.

Niamh Fitzgerald, a professor with the University of Stirling in Scotland, and colleagues visited 29 bars to observe how these safety measures worked in actual practice.

"It was essentially about understanding, what are the risks and how successful are our bars and pubs in controlling those risks?" said Fitzgerald.

Safety measures fizzled out

The team found that staff did not consistently wear face coverings, with some lowering their masks to speak to customers -- perhaps defeating the purpose.

While most facilities were able to restructure their layout to accommodate a one-meter distance between tables, many still had issues with overcrowding.

"It was very difficult for them to completely eliminate what we call 'pinch points,' so there were narrow areas in most of the venues, either at the entrances, or in corridors or in toilets, where it was difficult for customers to avoid coming close together," said Fitzgerald.

One facility covered the bar counter with black and yellow tape and a warning to stay distanced, but patrons still crowded around the counter.

"None of the patrons acknowledged that the tape was there," the researchers wrote.

Much of the risk the team observed was in the evenings, when customers were drinking. The researchers note that alcohol consumption can impact a person's hearing, vision and judgment, making it physically more difficult for them to comply with safety measures. It can also lower inhibitions, resulting in people simply caring less about complying.

The team saw people jumping from table to table, touching each other and singing or shouting.

Some customers made new friends in unexpected places.

"Two women from different groups . . . bumped into each other outside the toilet and started screaming and hugging and jumping about together," the team wrote. "They then entered the toilets and went into a cubicle together, they were then observed washing their hands for about two seconds when they left, despite signs being everywhere recommending a 20-second hand wash."

The team described a heavily inebriated woman asking a handsome waiter to take a picture with her. He obliged, after which she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him.

In all but one instance, staff were unable to stop such behavior, Fitzgerald noted. "We found that mostly, they didn't even try."

In an industry where the customer is always right, it can be hard for staff to lay down the law when it comes to coronavirus precautions.

In interviews with business owners, many told the researchers that they are used to managing intoxicated people.

"I think that level of intervention is probably -- at least in Scotland -- when people are very drunk and they're disorderly," said Fitzgerald. "Whereas, the kind of level of drunkenness that these sorts of behaviors happen at are at a stage where people are overly friendly; they're just having fun. It's not the kinds of situations that staff would have previously had to intervene with."

"There's this kind of new expectation of behavior that neither the customers nor the staff have really adjusted to," she added.

Mitigating risk

Fitzgerald believes that bars may be able to mitigate some level of risk by communicating clearly about expectations and trying to create an atmosphere of "self-policing" among customers. Though unlike places like grocery stores or retail shops, bars are inherently social spaces, and efforts to make them less so may result in fewer customers.

Governments can help eliminate risk by implementing mitigation measures, like curfews, Fitzgerald noted. After a large outbreak in August linked to more than 20 bars and restaurants in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, the researchers noted that Scotland tightened its guidelines. The country mandated the collection of customer information for contract tracing and banned background music in venues, to prevent people from having to shout or lean in close to hear one another.

Of course, there's no way to eliminate risk completely.

"It's really looking at, at this point in time, are transmission rates low enough that we can tolerate this level of risk and be confident that if there is any transmission, that we can track and trace it, and that we can deal with it without it becoming a bigger issue?" said Fitzgerald.

Many business owners know all too well that staying closed during the pandemic can be financially devastating.

"I suppose governments maybe need to think about what support is available for those premises, so they don't feel obliged to open if they really don't think that they can operate safely," she added.

Capitol Police officers give vote of no confidence in leaders

DEFUND THE CAPITOL POLICE AND REORGANIZE THE DEPT

Kathryn Watson 

Capitol Police officers voiced their displeasure with the department's top leaders with an overwhelming vote of no confidence, after scores of officers were injured, one officer died and two committed suicide following the January 6 assault on the Capitol by crowds of President Trump's supporters.

The U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, the union that represents thousands of U.S. Capitol Police officers, announced that 92% of Capitol Police officers voted that they had no confidence in Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, and substantial majorities also voted no confidence in six other top leaders in the department.

The previous chief, Steven Sund, resigned under pressure as officials cast blame on him for the massive security failures of January 6 on him.

"Capitol Police offers have delivered an overwhelming vote of No Confidence in the senior leadership of the U.S. Capitol Police," the union said in a news release. "The Executive Board of the Capitol Police Union called for rank-and-file members to consider a vote of no confidence late last week following the senior leadership's mishandling of the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th. The board took this unprecedented step after reviewing details of the events on, and leading up to, January 6th and the subsequent deaths of 6 people, and injuries to approximately 140 Capitol and Metropolitan Police officers."

"[O]ur leadership clearly failed us. We know because we were there," union chairman Gus Papathanasiou said, according to the statement.

In late January, Pittman told members of Congress that the department had known by January 4 that the demonstration on January 6 "would not be like any of the previous protests held in 2020."

"We knew that militia groups and white supremacist organizations would be attending. We also knew that some of these participants were intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event. We knew that there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target," Pittman said.

That the leadership team "knew what was coming but did not better prepare us for potential violence, including the possible use of firearms against us, is unconscionable," union chairman Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement after Pittman's testimony.

On Monday night, Pittman released a conciliatory statement in response to the no-confidence vote. "It's been just over one month since one of our nation's darkest days, and the trauma is still incredibly raw and difficult for the many officers who fought heroically on the 6th. Since being sworn in on January 8th, my executive team and I have made the well-being of our officers our top priority," she said. "While progress has been made, more work remains. And I am committed to ensuring every officer gets what they need and deserve."

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said it's time to pass more funding for Capitol security and for the security of individual members. She's calling for an independent, 9/11-style commission to review the security failures on January 6.

NO PELOSI YOU NEED TO DEFUND THE CAPITOL POLICE A TOTALLY AUTONOMOUS STATE ANSWERABLE TO NO ONE!!!

— CBS News' Rebecca Kaplan and Nikole Killion contributed to this report.

In newly surfaced video, daughter of Dubai’s ruler accuses him of holding her hostage

TUE, FEB 16 • SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

A daughter of Dubai's powerful ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 only to be detained by commandos in a boat off India has re-emerged in new videos published today, saying she doesn't know if she's “going to survive this situation.”

A new video from Princess Latifa has surfaced more than two years after she was last seen. Source: BBC

The videos released by the BBC show Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum at a “jail villa,” apparently located in the skyscraper-studded city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also serves as the prime minister and vice president in the hereditarily ruled UAE.

“I'm a hostage,” the sheikha says in one video. "This villa has been converted into jail.

“I can't even go outside to get any fresh air,” she also said.

The government's Dubai Media Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

In 2018, the AP reported how a friend and an ex-French spy helped Sheikha Latifa escape by boat, only to be captured off India.

The BBC said Sheikha Latifa recorded the videos in a bathroom at the villa over months on a phone she secretly received about a year after her capture.


“I don't know when I'll be released and what the conditions will be like when I'm released,” she says in a video. “Every day I am worried about my safety and my life.”


The videos, part of an episode of BBC's “Panorama” investigative series being broadcast today, also include an interview with Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Robinson appeared in photos with Latifa published by Emirati officials after the sheikha's return to Dubai in 2018.


Robinson told the BBC that she had been misled by Emirati authorities who told her Latifa was a troubled young woman safe in the care of her family.


“I was particularly tricked when the photographs went public,” Robinson told the BBC. "That was a total surprise.... I was absolutely stunned.”


The dramatic would-be sea escape and its aftermath intruded into the carefully controlled image maintained by the family of Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to have several dozen children from multiple wives.


Some of his sons and daughters figure prominently in local media and online, but others are rarely seen. Sheikha Latifa was widely known for her love of skydiving prior to 2018.


Sheikh Mohammed's family life again became a public matter in 2020. Then, a British judge ruled the sheikh had conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his estranged wife and ordered the abduction of two of his daughters, one of them Sheikha Latifa.


The ruling came in a custody battle between Sheikh Mohammed and estranged wife Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan.


Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful Godolphin horse-racing stable and on friendly terms with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. In 2019, he received a trophy from the queen after one of his horses won a race at Royal Ascot.