It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Alaska health department website targeted in malware attack
Wed., May 19, 2021
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska health department website was the target of a malware attack, officials said.
A similar attack previously targeted the state's court system.
The health department in a statement late Tuesday said its website was taken offline Monday while an investigation takes place. The statement did not say when the cyberattack was discovered, and Clinton Bennett, a department spokesperson, by email Wednesday said the department could not release that information “due to security reasons, and so we do not jeopardize the investigation.”
He responded the same way to a question about whether a ransom was demanded by those involved.
Investigators were trying to determine if any personal or confidential information was compromised, the department said.
Online COVID-19 vaccine appointment scheduling and data dashboards are hosted by outside sources and can be accessed through covid19.alaska.gov, the department said.
“At this time, there are no details about who initiated the attack, why they targeted DHSS, whether this attack is related to any other recent attacks, or how long the website may be down,” the Department of Health and Social Services said in its statement.
The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court said this month that a cybersecurity attack that resulted in the court system disconnecting its online services was first detected April 29 and that there was no ransom demand. The court system has been coming back online, announcing this week that the public could again access an online court case and records system and pay fines and fees online.
The court system said Tuesday that the ability to pay bail online was not yet restored.
The Associated Press
Hackers targeted SolarWinds earlier than previously known Wed., May 19, 2021,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The hackers who carried out the massive SolarWinds intrusion were in the software company's system as early as January 2019, months earlier than previously known, the company's top official said Wednesday.
SolarWinds had previously traced the origins of the hack to the fall of 2019 but now believes that hackers were doing “very early recon activities” as far back as the prior January, according to Sudhakar Ramakrishna, the company's president and CEO.
“The tradecraft that the attackers used was extremely well done and extremely sophisticated, where they did everything possible to hide in plain sight, so to speak," Ramakrishna said during a discussion hosted by the RSA Conference.
The SolarWinds hack, which was first reported last December and which U.S. officials have linked to the Russian government, is one in a series of major breaches that has prompted a major cybersecurity focus from the Biden administration. By seeding the company's widely used software update with malicious code, hackers were able to penetrate the networks of multiple U.S. government agencies and private sector corporations in an apparent act of cyberespionage. The U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia last month.
Also Wednesday, Ramakrishna apologized for the way the company blamed an intern earlier this year during congressional testimony for poor password security protocols. That public statement, he said, was “not appropriate.”
“I have long held a belief system and an attitude that you never flog failure. You want your employees, including interns, to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and together we become better," he added. "Obviously you don't want to make the same mistake over and over again. You want to improve.”
Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
Pressured by protests, Colombian lawmakers nix health reform Wed., May 19, 2021
BUCARAMANGA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian lawmakers voted against a health system overhaul bill Wednesday, giving protesters another victory after 20 days of street demonstrations that have left dozens dead and forced the government to retreat on tax reform.
Health Minister Fernando Ruiz defended the proposal, saying it would give the health care system the tools needed to deal with emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 3 million people in the South American country and caused 82,000 deaths.
Critics of the bill said it could lead to health care monopolies by strengthening the role of private “health promotion companies,” which administer resources and contract services, and by allowing mergers in some cases of private health providers with public hospitals. It would have also increased focus on disease prevention.
“The people's struggle in the streets against years and years of injustice has achieved the shelving of a reform that would have destroyed health as a right and commercialized it even more in favor of a few,” leftist Sen. Alexander López said on Twitter after the vote by Senate and House of Representatives committees.
The protests began with anger over a now-withdrawn tax restructuring that would have raised levies during the pandemic. Demonstrators later expanded their demands to include less inequality, an end to police violence and the withdrawal of the health measure.
Hundreds of people marched Wednesday in the capital, Bogota, with protesters heading to the iconic Plaza Bolivia, where the country's Congress and the Palace of Justice are. “For life and peace, stop the massacre,” said one sign. Hundreds also demonstrated peacefully in the cities of Medellin, Cali, Villavicencio, Bucaramanga and Cucuta.
“Today the youth, the university students, all of us together, are in the streets demanding a change in the country’s model, which protects industry, so there is employment for the youth,” said Hami Gómez, a student leader at National University of Colombia.
Human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch say that the death toll since the protests began has risen to 55 and that in at least 15 cases the alleged aggressors were police. The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that 15 civilians had died amid the protests and 11 more cases were being verified.
Tensions rose Monday when President Iván Duque deployed security forces to try to clear dozens of roads blocked by protesters. The blockades have prevented the transportation of medical supplies, food and gasoline and led to shortages in some areas.
The government and protest leaders grouped in the National Strike Committee have not formally sat down to negotiate after several initial meetings between the parties. The government is demanding the road blockades be lifted, while protesters are calling for the demilitarization of cities and guarantees of the right to protest.
Faced with growing international concern, Colombian prosecutor Francisco Barbosa met Wednesday with representatives of the United Nations, the Organization of American States and some European ambassadors to present a report on the progress of the investigations into killings by police.
Héctor Schamis, a delegate of the general secretary of the OAS, said: "The secretary has stated that the (road) blockades cannot continue and any situation of police violence must be investigated. The prosecutor has informed us first-hand that said investigations are being carried out.”
Astrid Suárez, The Associated Press
Ford's big bet: Fans of
F-150 pickup will embrace electric
PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — On the outside, the electric version of Ford's F-150 pickup looks much like its wildly popular gas-powered version. Yet the resemblance is deceiving. With its new battery-powered truck, Ford is making a costly bet that buyers will embrace a vehicle that would help transform how the world drives.
Branded the F-150 Lightning, the pickup will be able to travel up to 300 miles per battery charge, thanks to a frame designed to safely hold a huge lithium-ion battery that can power your house should the electricity go out. Going from zero to 60 mph (97 kilometers per hour) will take just 4.5 seconds.
With a starting price near $40,000 (before options), Ford has calculated that an electric version of America's top-selling vehicle will appeal to the sorts of buyers who favor rugged pickup trucks prized for strength and durability. If it succeeds, it could speed the nation's transition away from petroleum burners — a cornerstone of President Joe Biden's broad effort to fight climate change.
“It’s a watershed moment to me,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said of the electric truck, which was formally unveiled Wednesday night. “It’s a very important transition for our industry.”
For the Biden administration to prevail in its push for green energy-driven manufacturing, it will need to overcome resistance as well as skepticism. Critics fear the loss of auto industry jobs in a shift away from gasoline-fueled vehicles. Because EVs are much simpler, it takes fewer workers to build them. And bottlenecked supply chains could leave automakers short of computer chips and vehicle batteries, along with other parts, for months and perhaps years.
That said, a vehicle like the Lightning is so critical to Biden's policies that even before its formal unveiling, he visited the Ford plant in Michigan where it will be built beginning next year. The president even drove the truck on a test track.
“This sucker’s quick,” he declared.
For its part, Ford is taking a significant risk by sinking so much capital into an electric version of a pickup that commands a huge and loyal following. In a typical year, Ford sells about 900,000 F-series trucks nationally. It has been America's top-selling vehicle for nearly four decades.
Gas-powered F-150s are staples on job sites across the nation, where workers haul equipment and materials and often don't see a need for change. So it could be years before Ford realizes a return on its investment in an electric F-150. This year, through April, the company has sold only 10,000 of its new gas-electric hybrid F-150s — just over 6% of the F-150's total sales.
Still, introducing a capable electric truck at a fairly reasonable price could potentially produce the breakthrough that draws many more people to battery-powered vehicles of all sizes, said Ivan Drury, a senior manager at Edmunds.com.
“If you're going to choose one vehicle in the industry that's going to do it, this is going to be the one,” Drury said. “I expect this to be a home run, and I expect it to really convert a lot of consumers' minds."
At the same time, the electric truck, due in showrooms by the middle of next year, comes at a time when American drivers remain reluctant to jettison gas vehicles. Through April, automakers sold about 108,000 fully electric vehicles in the U.S. Though that's nearly twice the number from the same period last year, EVs still account for only 2% of U.S. vehicle sales, according to Edmunds.
In addition to the Lightning, though, the growing number of fully electric offerings will help raise sales numbers. Automakers now sell 18 electric models in the U.S.; Drury expects 30 by year's end.
To be sure, Ford won’t stop building gas-powered trucks for years. They remain an enormous cash cow. A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that the F-Series generates $42 billion in annual U.S. revenue for the automaker — more than such entire companies as McDonald’s, Nike or Netflix do.
Initially, Ford expects Lightning customers to be mainly higher-income urban and suburban residents who seldom go off road or use truck beds to haul anything heavy. But the company plans a commercial version designed to make work more efficient. Ultimately, Farley expects sales to be evenly balanced between work and personal buyers.
But Ford may have a hard time selling it to people who build houses, maintain lawns or plow snow.
“It sounds good, but it’s not good for the type of business I’m in,” said Jimmie Williams, owner of a landscaping firm on Chicago’s South Side. He doesn’t think the battery will have enough range to last the 12-14-hour days his crews sometimes work maintaining about 700 properties.
He’ll stick with his three gas-powered pickups, in part because he plows snow in the winter, when cold weather can limit an EV’s range.
Others aren't ready now but might be convinced to switch in the future.
“Maybe when I'm retired,” quipped Steven Realy, a foreman for a subcontractor at a housing development in Pittsfield Township, Michigan.
Realy, 28, whose company uses diesel trucks to carry equipment and building materials, doesn't think an electric truck will do the job now but maybe in the future.
“When electric takes off more than what it is right now," he said, "I could see myself owning one, definitely.”
Yet it may be difficult to persuade some people to give up the big gas engines they're used to.
“I like my V-8,” Anthony Lane, a 26-year-old plumber in the same development, said from the driver's seat of his gleaming Chevrolet Silverado.
Aside from a charging port and a Lightning decal, Ford's new truck resembles a standard F-150. That was intentional. Ford wants the Lightning to be perceived as just as capable as gasoline versions, if not more so.
Even the base version of the electric F-150, with two rows of seats and a 230-mile estimated range per battery charge, can haul up to a ton in its bed. A high-end Lightning equipped with a longer-range battery can tow an estimated 10,000 pounds, matching many gas-powered trucks, though falling about 3,000 pounds shy of Ford’s V-8 engines.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the truck is its price, which Ford said is about equal to a comparably equipped gasoline F-150. With a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 still available on Ford electric vehicles, the base price falls to around $32,500. That’s below the lowest-priced gas F-150 with a crew cab, which starts at roughly $37,000.
The Lightning has a front trunk with plugs for power tools and lights at job or camp sites. And if the electricity goes, out, it can run your house for up to three days, which Farley expects to be a big selling point.
Competition for the Lightning is looming. General Motors says it's working on an electric Silverado. Stellantis is developing an electric Ram. Tesla's angular Cybertruck is due out this year. And startups Bollinger Motors, Nikola, Rivian and Lordstown Motors have trucks in the works.
All will face an inevitable obstacle in seeking buyers: brand loyalty. Pickup drivers often stick with one company for life. Sometimes, they choose a brand because it's been in the family for years, if not generations.
“I'm not a Ford guy,” said Lane, the plumber. “I drive Chevys my whole life.”
Once General Motors comes out with an electric Silverado, though, Lane might consider a change.
“I'll probably stick with the gas," he said. "But if they ever fully switch over to electric, I'll probably get the Chevy one.”
Tom Krisher, The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
'Absolutely beautiful': Albertans line up at U.S. border for COVID-19 vaccinations
CARWAY, Alta. — Linda Neilson had waited a long time to get her second COVID-19 vaccination and thanks to the generosity of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana her wait ended at the Canada-United States border on Tuesday.
Neilson, who is from nearby Cardston, Alta., was in one of hundreds of vehicles lined up at the Carway crossing in southern Alberta.
The Blackfeet Tribe, based 150 kilometres south of Lethbridge, Alta., had an abundance of vaccine and decided last month to share it with Canada rather than let it go to waste. Initially it was just open to First Nations, but the tribe soon decided to offer it to everybody.
"I'm going to be all done, finally. It feels great. It's been a bit of a wait, but it's worth it," said Neilson, who received her first shot of Moderna in March.
"I was amazed and grateful because it's too slow getting it any other way. We're just glad they were able to help us."
Albertans who attend the clinic are given exemptions from having to quarantine for 14 days. They line up in their cars, drive through a loop that takes them just across the border, receive their shots through the window, are monitored for 15 minutes and return home.
Health workers from the Blackfeet Tribe and members of the Montana National Guard administer the vaccine.
Tuesday marked the second offering of shots. The lineup was more than a kilometre long by 9 a.m. Some people slept in their cars on the highway and on road allowances to ensure they got a turn before supply ran out.
That's what happened to Ken Sawatzky when he drove from Calgary a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to get his booster shot because his wife is a cancer patient.
He drove down again Tuesday.
"She's fully inoculated. This will make sure we're both safe, because I'm her caregiver, too. I think it's a great thing," said Sawatzky.
"I'm looking forward to getting this done. I'll sleep better."
Bonnie Healy, health director for the Blackfoot Confederacy, helped co-ordinate the vaccination clinic. She said the response has been overwhelming.
"I had a hard time believing it was that hard to get a shot in Canada. A lot of people are coming for a second dose," Healy said.
One man flew in from Toronto the last time around, drove to the site, got his shot and flew home, she said.
"We had a car full of 18-year-old girls and another car full of 18-year-old boys," Healy said.
"They were all coming to get their first vaccination. They were all celebrating it."
Catherine Bechard, regional Indigenous Affairs adviser for the Canada Border Services Agency, said she jumped at a chance to help out at the clinic.
"It's just an amazing thing what they're doing and a gift they're giving to Canadians," Bechard said.
Dave and Cathy Goodbrand also drove the 260 kilometres from Calgary to get their second shots.
"We're happy to get down here. It's a relief. Four months is too long to wait in between vaccines," said Cathy Goodbrand.
"It's absolutely beautiful. The Blackfoot Indians are just coming through (for us)."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2021.
Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Controversial Quebec singer who denied COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, dies \ Elianna Lev Mon., May 17, 2021, Bernard Lachance, Quebec singer who denied HIV/AIDS treatment, dies.
A controversial Quebec singer who used his platform to share conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, has died.
Bernard Lachance, originally from Montmagny, Quebec, garnered fame for his ambitious pursuit of performing. He would rent out theatres with his own money and sell his CD and tickets to his concerts on the streets, regardless of not having any representation.
In 2009, he rented out the Chicago Theatre, despite being virtually unknown. After posting a video asking Oprah to come to his show, the talk show host sent a crew to invite him to make his American debut on her show. There, he sang "The Impossible Dream” in both French and English.
More recently, he became known for sprouting various conspiracy theories around COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, despite having the virus. After appearing on journalist Denis Lévesque's show last year under the pretence of talking about HIV, he instead used his time to make claims about the virus, and its connection to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pre-taped segment never aired, Lachance posted the video to his YouTube channel, which garnered over 441,000 views. In his Twitter bio, he referred to himself an “HIV = AIDS fraud whistleblower."
His sister Marie-Claude Lachance told La Presse that her brother, who was 46, had stopped taking his HIV/AIDS treatment years ago and instead was using natural products. His exact cause of death is not known.
“Recently he did some sort of purge to disinfect his body of all the drugs he had taken,” she told the outlet. “He had diarrhea for weeks. When I saw him for the last time a few days ago, he was skeletal.”
His mother Andrée Côté told Le Journal de Quebec that her son would have likely had a chance to live if he’d continued taking his medication.
"If he had not stopped his treatment, he would be alive like everyone else," she said.
Higher counts of returning Atlantic salmon stir hope after years of decline
Wed., May 19, 2021 A recent report suggests the number of returning adult Atlantic salmon increased in 2020, but some of the usual river counts weren't done because of COVID-19. (Kelsey Taylor/Atlantic Salmon Federation - image credit)More
As the leaves started to change last fall, divers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans slipped into the clear waters of the Restigouche River in northern New Brunswick, their eyes on the river bottom, looking for salmon.
Since 1999, the Restigouche snorkel count has been tallying the adult Atlantic salmon spotted during spawning season.
But last year, divers counted about 10,500, more than twice as many as they counted the year before.
In 2019, the total count was about 4,200 large salmon, and since 1999, the highest tally of any year was 8,000.
Last year's increase wasn't limited to the Restigouche River. Biologists are reporting greater salmon populations throughout the region.
Seeing the numbers decline over the years is very sad. Seeing the numbers rise is a glimpse of hope." - Lyndsay Jay-Keating, biologist
According to the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a recent population report showed returns of adult salmon from the ocean were up around 70 per cent in Labrador last year, 27 per cent in Quebec and 20 per cent in Maine.
"All year, we were hearing from anglers that they were seeing more fish, they were seeing bigger fish," said Neville Crabbe, spokesperson for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
COVID-19 kept the Maritime provinces from collecting the data they typically would. Some rivers did hold counts, but other major systems, including the Miramichi, did not, leaving data sets incomplete.
But Crabbe said tallies such as the Restigouche snorkel count suggest a similar upward trend of salmon numbers is happening in the Maritimes overall. Neville Crabbe with the Atlantic Salmon Federation says the data suggesting an increase of returning Atlantic Salmon last year is encouraging.(Pierre Richard/Radio-Canada)
The increases in returning salmon were published in a report released this month by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Also known as ICES, the collective is made up of scientists and researchers from 20 member countries, including Canada, focusing on marine and ocean studies.
The ICES report points out that in the Maritimes, "population-monitoring activities were limited, and the status of some stocks could not be reported to ICES."
And the numbers the group did tally are still a far cry from the salmon numbers of a few decades ago.
"In the late 1970s it was estimated there were 1.9 million returning adult salmon to all of the rivers in North America," said Crabbe. "And for the last year of which we have data, that number was 435,000. That's a very steep drop."
In the Miramichi River alone, adult salmon numbers decreased from 112,000 in 1992 to 15,300 in 2019, according to federation numbers.
Still, having the population numbers go up even a bit, instead of plummeting, is enough to give some biologists a small bit of cautious optimism.
Lyndsay Jay-Keating grew up on the Miramichi River. Despite hearing her grandparents tell story after story about the mighty salmon of the Miramichi, she'd never seen one in the wild.
Only when she took the job as a biologist working with the Miramichi Salmon Association did she get to encounter a wild salmon in the river she was raised on.
"Seeing the numbers decline over the years is very sad," said Jay-Keating. "Seeing the numbers rise is a glimpse of hope." Lyndsay Jay-Keating, a biologist with the Miramachi Salmon Association, says it will take several years to even come close to the salmon populations of the 1970s.(Pierre Richard/Radio-Canada)
This spring, Jay-Keating has been working to tag smolt, juvenile salmon working their way to the open ocean. Every day she and a team of students check their spinning traps on the Miramichi to get an idea of how many young salmon are in the river.
Growing up along the Miramichi River, she said, she learned that when the salmon don't return, people don't either, leading to shrinking rural communities. But she says a boost in the fish population could change that.
"I believe that if the salmon come back, the people will come back," said Jay-Keating.
But it will take several years of increasing numbers before the region sees population numbers close to those of the 1970s and 1980s.
"Some of the populations are at, or near, some of the lowest levels on record," said Crabbe. "But any year where there is more fish coming back than the year before, and in some cases more fish than the five-to-10-year average, that's definitely encouraging."
Can monthly cash payments cut child poverty by nearly half? Wed., May 19, 2021
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The check won't arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her Child Tax Credit payments. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app, and the extra cash is earmarked for repairing, registering and insuring her car.
“I just need to make sure it's 100% and then I can start working and get an income,” Peters said, cradling her 3-week-old son, Armani. “That's where it starts.”
The payments are a key part of Democrats' COVID-19 aid bill passed in March, but for policymakers they are more than just an attempt to help families recover from the pandemic. The monthly checks of up to $300 per child for millions of families are part of an ambitious attempt to shrink child poverty and rethink the American social safety net in the process.
With an emphasis on direct, no-strings cash support, the payments are a deliberate departure from a system that for decades has tried to control how Americans spend their government assistance by funneling it to food, housing or child care. Peters is as free to use the cash on her car as she is to spend it on diapers.
“There’s something huge happening with the idea that the lowest-income people need cash assistance the most,” said Teague Gonzalez, public benefits director with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “The pandemic opened up a connection to the idea of giving people cash and letting them decide how to use it.”
The expanded CTC payments, which are due to begin going out July 15, are only meant to last a year, but architects and proponents aren’t trying to hide the fact that they want to make this permanent. The coronavirus pandemic, they say, laid bare the inadequacies of America’s support system and provided the political momentum to make lasting changes.
“If implemented well, this could be transformative,” said Emma Mehrabi, director of poverty policy at the Children’s Defense Fund. “This could cut child poverty in nearly half.”
Part of the American Rescue Plan, the Child Tax Credit provisions will increase the payments and greatly expand the number of families eligible. The practical result will be direct payments for each child to families ranging from impoverished to solidly middle class — $3,600 per year for children under age 6 and $3,000 per year for older children. Roughly 39 million households will receive at least partial payments, covering an estimated 88 percent of American children.
Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimates the cash infusions could lift 45% of children living in poverty above the poverty line — cutting Black child poverty by 52%, Hispanic child poverty by 45% and Native American child poverty by 62%.
In places like New Mexico, a state with one of the highest rates of children living in poverty, this is a potential crossroads. One in 4 New Mexican children is considered impoverished, compared with 1 in 7 nationally.
With three kids under age 6, Peters is due to receive up to $900 per month, and all of it is welcome. Her construction worker boyfriend has been out of work due to the pandemic, she said, her government subsidized housing voucher has expired and only the national eviction moratorium has protected her. Armani requires a special kind of baby formula that she can’t buy with her government nutrition program benefits.
“Sixteen dollars a can, and he goes through it in two or three days,” she said.
Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said the philosophy behind the payments is to treat child poverty as an avoidable traumatic event — one that has been proved to impact future academic performance, emotional stability, earning power and legal record.
“It affects your ability to have positive relationships, both professionally and in your home life. ... The more of these stack up, you’re more likely to have problems with the legal system, unsuccessful relationships, lower lifetime income,” Heinrich said.
Besides a basic acknowledgement by the government that raising children is expensive for almost anybody, advocates said the payments are an expression of faith in the judgment of struggling families.
“It's an issue of trust. We need to trust these families to do what’s right,” said Jeffrey Hoehn, executive director of Cuidando Los Ninos, an Albuquerque charity that provides housing, child care and financial counseling for mothers transitioning from homelessness. “We find that our single moms, they know where every single penny goes. It’s just that they don’t have enough pennies.”
Hoehn said different families will have shifting needs and resources from month to month, putting the cash toward rent, utilities or even therapeutic leisure activities. In a sprawling town like Albuquerque, it’s hard to find work without a car, and Hoehn said many families his group works with are looking to the extra cash to acquire or fix a vehicle.
For Margarita Mora, the money is earmarked to help cushion her family's transition to stability. The 36-year-old mother of three had been staying in an Albuquerque motel converted into a family shelter and would soon be getting her own subsidized apartment through Cuidando Los Ninos.
“I'll be able to pay my utilities and basic supplies, plus gas to go look for work,” said Mora, an unemployed caregiver. “And I need to work on my debt. My credit score isn't so great.”
The money isn't only going to the neediest. Carissa Oswald, a stay-at-home mom in Albuquerque whose partner works with the local railroad, counts herself as middle class. But having given up her work as a caregiver to raise her 11-month-old daughter, she finds that money is frequently tight.
"Kids are expensive, right? It would let us breathe a little bit easier,” she said. “The tension is real. The stress is real.”
New Mexico state Rep. Javier Martinez, a Democrat from Albuquerque, calls the CTC a “philosophical shift from mid-20th century programs” like Medicaid and food stamps.
“And I don’t think we’re going back,” he said.
Martinez highlights the fact that CTC payments will be monthly, instead of some annual balloon payment, as a crucial distinction. The smaller monthly boosts, he said, are more likely to be incorporated into the household budget and “create certainty in a family.”
The expanded CTC expires in 2022, although President Joe Biden has proposed extending it through 2025. Whether that happens may depend on whether advocates can demonstrate a positive impact — and whether opponents, primarily Republicans, find evidence of waste.
Heinrich said he expects that opponents will have no problem gathering examples of parents spending money on things deemed unnecessary and he is braced for a revival of the Ronald Reagan-era “welfare queen” trope. The future of the program may well be riding on the outcome of the 2022 congressional elections, when Democrats will seek to retain their slim majorities in both the House and the Senate.
For now, CTC supporters are counting on enough positive examples to counter the criticisms, plus the fact that monthly cash should be popular with both Democratic and Republican families up and down the income ladder.
“There will be plenty of compelling anecdotes on either side of it,” Heinrich said. “At the same time we will have the data by then to show what a difference it has made. I want to see the data, and I suspect that in New Mexico, this will have an enormous impact.”
___
Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed to this report.
Ashraf Khalil , The Associated Press
IRELAND 1921 War of Independence: A podcast series with Mick Clifford
Councillor Joe Kavanagh, Lord Mayor of Cork, laying a wreath at St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork, to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Terence MacSwiney who was Lord Mayor of Cork and died in Brixton Prison. Picture Denis Minihane.
MAR, 2021 -
To mark the War of Independence, the Irish Examiner is publishing a four-part podcast series focussing on some of the events from those turbulent times.
Today we publish the third part of the series in which host Michael Clifford talks to UCC historian Dr John Borgonovo about the war which was an early example of guerrilla warfare, fought with the co-operation and consent of the native population.
But how intense was the war? What kind of people were the volunteers and how did they operate and engage with the native population and how did they deal with informers?
Over the series, Michael Clifford also talks to a variety of historians in a series of enlightening and informative conversations.
Episode 1 - 'A Tale of Two mayors' with Gabriel Doherty
Tomas MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney both served as lord mayors of Cork in 1920. Both tenures in office were very short as Mac Curtain was murdered in his home two months after taking the mayoral chain and MacSwiney, his successor, died in Brixton Prison at the end of a 74 day hunger strike.
Historian Garbriel Doherty sketches out the lives and deaths of these two close friends, their respective roles in the War of Independence and how each of them is regarded within Cork and beyond.
The funeral procession of Terence MacSwiney. Picture: Cork public Museum.
Episode 2 - 'The Burning of Cork' with Kieran McCarthy
The burning of Cork in December 1920 was one of the seminal events of the War of Independence. Major damage was done to the city centre and to the psyche of the population in what was an wanton act of violence and destruction. The event had a major impact on the city and its populace for many years after. Historian Kieran McCarthy discusses what led up to the fateful night, how it unfolded and the drawn out aftermath.
Episode 3 - 'The War of Independence' with John Borgonovo
The War of Independence was an early example of guerrilla warfare, fought with the co-operation and consent of the native population. But how intense was the war? What kind of people were the volunteers and how did they operate and engage with the native population and how did they deal with informers?
Dr John Borgonovo is the guest on this week’s podcast, one of the Irish Examiner’s series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the revolutionary period.
The bodies of British officers killed in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence are taken back to England for burial on the destroyer 'HMS Seawolf. Picture|: FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Part 4 - 'Woman of Their Time' with Helene O’Keeffe War of Independence Part Four: Women of their Time - Helene O'Keeffe by The Mick Clifford Podcast (soundcloud.com) The role of women during the revolutionary period had, until recent decades, not so much been written out but not written in at all. That is beginning to change with greater research into the roles played by women both inside and outside Cumann na mBan. Helene O’Keeffe speaks here about a number of the women who made serious contributions during that period.
Teams working 'around the clock' to assess 80,000 HSE devices hit by cyberattack
Staff in the HSE and Department of Health have been left without access to their emails. WED, 19 MAY, 2021 - 06:30 ELAINE LOUGHLIN, CIANAN BRENNAN
Specialists IT teams are working "around the clock" to assess 80,000 HSE devices that have been impacted by the cyberattack.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has detailed the significant impact the cyberattack continues to have on everything from radiotherapy services to dental care and audiology services. Staff in the HSE and Department of Health have also been left without access to their emails.
Mr Donnelly said it will take “several weeks” to get the entire system back online as experts go through computers and other devices “one by one”.
'Utterly contemptible'
He described the criminals behind the assault as "utterly contemptible".
Communications Minister Eamon Ryan told the Dáil that the hackers gained access to the HSE system long before the attack was noticed in the early hours of Friday last.
Mr Donnelly said experts are now assessing around 2,000 IT patient-facing systems, each supported by infrastructure and multiple servers and devices.
Meanwhile, it has emerged the cyberattack could see the HSE fined €1m for GDPR failings, the maximum penalty allowable under Irish law.
Under the GDPR Act, data controllers such as the HSE must encrypt and preserve personal data as confidential and be able "to restore the availability and access to personal data in a timely manner in the event of a physical or technical incident”.
The Data Protection Commission will not officially make a decision on whether to initiate an inquiry into the HSE breach before next week at the earliest.
However, experts say an investigation is inevitable given the extent to which the HSE’s technology and systems have been compromised.
