SHE WAS MURDERED ON TV
Ashli Babbitt's family seeks records of Capitol Police officer who shot her

Lexi Lonas

THE HILL

JUNE 9,2021

The family of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the Jan. 6 riot, is seeking the records of the officer who shot her after federal prosecutors said charges would not be brought against him

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© Getty Images Ashli Babbitt's family seeks records of Capitol Police officer who shot her

A lawsuit, which was filed last week in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, seeks the officer's records, footage of the shooting, and documents and witness statements the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) got during its investigation, CNBC reported on Tuesday.

A lawyer for the family told CNBC there is another lawsuit coming that plans to seek "an amount well above $10 million."

Babbitt, who was an Air Force veteran, was shot and killed while she joined hundreds of others in breaking into the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to stop the certification of President Biden's Electoral College victory

Video: Fmr. Capitol Hill police officer: ‘Everyone needs to tell their member of Congress we want Jan. 6 investigation' (MSNBC)
Duration 9:20

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., said in April that no charges would be filed against the officer.

"Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber," the statement said. "Acknowledging the tragic loss of life and offering condolences to Ms. Babbitt's family, the U.S. Attorney's Office and U.S. Department of Justice have therefore closed the investigation into this matter."

Aaron Babbitt, Ashli Babbitt's husband, then filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records, the filed lawsuit says, but the MPD allegedly missed a May 12 deadline to either comply with the request or reject it.

Family attorney Terrell Roberts told CNBC that the forthcoming financial lawsuit "does not hinge on the current FOIA action against DC's police department."

The Hill has reached out to the MPD for comment.

Young voter anger over housing, jobs threatens Moon's legacy in South Korea

By Cynthia Kim

© Reuters/KIM HONG-JI FILE PHOTO: People vote in South Korea's parliamentary election amid the coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic

SEOUL (Reuters) - Outside class hours, Kim Kyung-wook delivers meals on foot to apartment blocks near his university in eastern Seoul, while constantly checking his phone to trade stocks, cryptocurrency and used Nike sneakers.

That probably won't help him land a well-paid job when he graduates later this year, but Kim says such side hustles are a "smarter thing to do" in the face of increasingly bleak job opportunities and an expanding income gap under President Moon Jae-In.

© Reuters/POOL FILE PHOTO: Seoul mayoral by-election

Kim is one face of a lost generation that many see emerging as the key voting bloc that could swing next year's presidential election. Already, he and voters like him helped the main opposition party triumph in April by-elections for mayor of Seoul.

© Reuters/Yonhap News Agency South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrives for a news conference at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul

"It's like the government is locking out everyone who hasn't landed on a regular job yet or doesn't own a property. Voting for the other guys was the least I could do to show them things aren't working out," Kim said.

The Presidential Blue House declined to comment.

With one year left in his single five-year term, Moon's promise for a more just, compassionate and equitable society rings hollow to many. But the pandemic-induced downturn has fallen especially hard on those in their 20s and 30s.

South Korea now has the highest proportion of 25-34 year olds with tertiary degrees among OECD countries.

Despite being the most highly educated generation in the country's history, nearly one in every four Koreans in the 15-29 age group was effectively jobless as of May, far higher than the 13.5% for the rest of the working population.

RUNAWAY HOME PRICES

For Lee Jung, a 27-year-old liberal arts major, news reports that employees of a state housing developer used insider information to benefit from runaway home prices in March was the last straw.

"It's hard enough to watch crazy apartment prices. Cashing in on privileged information like that, after cutting home supplies and mortgages, how dare they, it's disgusting," said Lee, who is saving to buy a studio on the outskirts of Seoul.

Apartment prices in Seoul have soared about 60% since Moon took office in 2017, despite about two dozen rounds of housing market curbs.

Lee said various tax penalties to discourage speculative buying and tightened rules on knock-and-rebuild developments ended up hurting renters.

A 35% increase in minimum wages since 2017 was another widely discussed policy, which critics argue led to a drop in low-paying jobs across retailers and the service sector.

"It's really difficult to look into the future when you can't rely on your parent's money and everything you make goes to rent and food, its only going up," said Lee, who says he spends about half of what he makes on rent and plans to vote for the opposition.

Worsening housing affordability has eroded Moon's approval rating, now hovering around 38% from a high of 71% in May last year, according to polling by Gallup Korea, as more young Koreans shift their support to the conservative opposition.

As elections approach, leading liberal contenders to succeed Moon are competing to regain the confidence of voters in their 20s and 30s, who make up about one third of the voting bloc.

Lee Jae-myung, the governor of Gyeonggi province who leads opinion polls, in May proposed giving 10 million won ($8,959) of "travel the world" vouchers to high school graduates who choose not to go to college.

Chung Se-kyun and Lee Nak-yon, both former prime ministers under Moon, also pledged to offer seed money for investment or rent subsidies to help young people starting out in life.

Figures among the main opposition People Power Party say such moves are insufficient to tackle the needs of younger voters.

"These are like giving out Advil when there is a cancer growing in your body," said Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year old Harvard-educated computer expert, who is the leading contender for the opposition's leadership contest this Friday.

He and other PPP members say they want to elect more officials from younger generations to better reflect views from younger generations, and support tech start-ups.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Two doctors have resigned from a prestigious panel after FDA approved a controversial Alzheimer's drug

insider@insider.com (Allison DeAngelis) 

 Atthapon Raksthaput/Shutterstock Atthapon Raksthaput/Shutterstock

Two top neuroscience experts resigned this week from a committee that advises the FDA.

The doctors stepped down after the agency approved a controversial Alzheimer's drug called Aduhelm.

Their committee voted in November that the FDA shouldn't approve the drug.

Two top neuroscience experts have resigned from posts advising the US Food and Drug Administration following the agency's controversial approval of a new Alzheimer's disease drug.

Dr. David Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic and member of the FDA's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee, resigned from his position Wednesday due to the approval of the Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm. Neurologist Dr. Joel Perlmutter of Washington University in St. Louis resigned from the panel on Monday, according to STAT News.

"I felt that the advisory committee was mistreated and that their role was misrepresented to them, and I don't want to be a part of that in the future," Knopman told Insider.

Aduhelm, formerly known as aducanumab, was approved by the FDA on Monday. The treatment has been heavily debated in the scientific community because it failed one of its late-stage clinical trials, while another trial didn't give conclusive evidence that the drug helped with patients' memory and cognition issues.


Video: FDA approves 'controversial' new Alzheimer's drug (MSNBC)
Duration 5:57


Read more: Here are the 9 biggest biotech winners after the FDA took an entirely new approach to approve Biogen's Alzheimer's drug

The nervous system advisory committee voted in November that the FDA shouldn't approve the drug. Knopman wasn't a part of that meeting because he works with the the drug's manufacturer Biogen as a clinical trial investigator. He has publicly spoken out against approving the drug over the last eight months.

In an interview Wednesday, he said he was baffled by the FDA's decision to approve the drug under a special mechanism known as an accelerated approval, which will require Biogen to confirm the drug works by running a follow-up trial.

"The FDA, in using the accelerated approval mechanism, they could not endorse any evidence of demonstrable clinical benefit. That's what their press release said in so many words. That seems illogical to me," he said.

Perlmutter told STAT News that he resigned from the panel "due to this ruling by the FDA without further discussion with our advisory committee."

The FDA isn't required to follow the recommendation of its advisory committees, but typically does so.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Chipotle Is Raising Menu Prices & Blaming It On “Employee Costs”

AND REPUBLICANS BLAME DEMOCRATS 

FOR FIGHT FOR $15 MINIMUM WAGE

Lydia Wang 

REFINERY29

Next time you head to Chipotle, guac won’t be the only thing that costs a little extra. Your whole burrito bowl will, too. As of Tuesday, the burrito chain’s menu costs have risen by around 4%, following worker demands for increased wages and better labor conditions. At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said the company’s executives “really prefer not to” hike up prices, “but it made sense in this scenario to invest in our employees and get these restaurants staffed, and make sure we had the pipeline of people to support our growth.”

© Provided by Refinery29

Chipotle announced in May that workers would receive an average payment of $15 an hour by the end of June. In a statement to Refinery29, a spokesperson confirmed that the menu price increase would “help off-set the wage increase that Chipotle is now offering its employees.” In other words, the marginally higher menu prices — Niccol said the price increase is akin to “quarters and dimes that we’re layering in” — will go towards fairly compensating current and future employees.

Many outlets ran with this reasoning: Reuters reported that “Chipotle raises menu prices as employee costs increase,” and the New York Times cited “labor costs” as the reason for the spike. But this frames the updated menu costs as a sacrifice consumers will have to make so that the chain’s workers — whose employer makes tens of millions a year — can earn a living wage. In reality, Chipotle’s executives should have been paying their workers appropriately all along.

“Chipotle is a multibillion-dollar company with one of the highest-paid CEOs on the planet,” Kyle Bragg, President of a New York-based branch of the Service Employees International Union, told Jacobin in May. “But it still pays most of its workers across the country less than $15 an hour.”

Niccol’s salary has only continued to grow over time. In 2020, Niccol received the highest compensation he’s made since he took over the reins as CEO in 2018. Per Newsweek, he was paid $38 million — a sharp increase from the $14.8 million he would have made if not for the pandemic-related modifications Chipotle implemented. This means Niccol made 2,898 times more than the median Chipotle employee in 2020, and actually earned more money during the pandemic than he would have had it not happened. Other executives, including CFO Jack Hartung, CTO Curt Garner, and Chief Restaurant Officer Scott Boatwright, also received pay increases last year.

Employees, meanwhile, saw their salaries go down. Chipotle confirmed to Newsweek that the average worker took a pay decrease as a result of government-mandated shutdowns and COVID-19 safety measures. A representative clarified, though, that Chipotle workers still made more than their peers working for competitors. “Since all Chipotle restaurants are company-owned, our employee population and resulting pay ratio is higher compared to industry peers that operate under a franchise model,” the company said in a statement.

Like many other restaurant chains, Chipotle has faced criticism, lawsuits, and a sharp decrease in prospective employees for understaffing and underpaying its workers. On May 8, a photo of an unknown Chipotle location went viral on Twitter. “Ask our corporate offices why their employees are forced to work in borderline sweatshop conditions for 8+ hours without breaks,” read a sign taped to the restaurant’s door. “We are overworked, understaffed, underpaid, and underappreciated.” And while employees at Chipotle have been attempting to unionize for awhile, they’ve faced a lack of support.

The exploitation of fast food workers has been an ongoing problem across brands and across the country, but the pandemic showcased just how little companies value the employees working tireless days for under $15 an hour — the same employees often considered essential workers. As a result, fewer people are applying to work at fast food restaurants, and the workers already there are facing increased hours and a heavier workload as a result, reported Business Insider.

Make no mistake: This is why Chipotle finally decided to pay employees fairly. If anyone is to “blame” for the extra 50 cents or so your next Lifestyle Bowl may cost you, it’s not the workers, who should have been making more money years ago. It’s the executives, who underpaid them from the beginning, while their own wallets grew fatter.

Chipotle Fined For 13,253 Child Labor Violations

ILLINOIS

Deal closing coal, subsidizing nuclear power expected next week

Greg Bishop, The Center Square

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

10/5/2021

The Illinois Senate is coming back to session Tuesday, and one issue they’re expected to take up is a bill regulating the state’s energy industry

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Provided by Washington Examiner

Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said an energy deal is in the hands of the General Assembly. He wants to close coal-fired power plants by 2035.

After going into overtime, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said there’s a deal in the works.

“My caucus members are assuring me generally that they’re comfortable with the 2035 date,” Harmon said last week. “A few members might not be able to vote for it because of impacts in their district, but I’m confident we’ll have the votes to support the decarbonization.”

This week, Harmon announced the Senate will return June 15 to take up an energy plan.

“This is a landmark clean energy plan that both protects thousands of jobs and moves Illinois responsibly toward the future,” Harmon said in a statement Tuesday.

State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, Friday said she raised her concerns of the negative impacts on her community of closing coal-fired plants.

“And it wasn’t just me that was speaking out about those, my colleagues from across Illinois have been speaking up on them and I trust that President Harmon has been interjecting those ideas and concerns,” Turner said.

The House is expected to return the following day, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch said in a statement Tuesday.

"As I indicated before we adjourned on the final day of session, the House is expected to return next week on Wednesday, June 16 to take care of some final-action legislation," he said. "Items such as the energy proposal, unemployment insurance, and an elected school board for Chicago will be at the top of our list. We were able to accomplish big things this legislative session, and I'm eager to keep that spirit alive in a quick special session next week."

Any legislation with an effective immediate date after May 31 requires a supermajority to pass each chamber.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said closing coal-fired power plants like Springfield’s municipally-owned facility doesn’t work for downstate Illinois energy reliability.

“We’re going to have to pull it from somewhere else in the MISO grid, probably from coal-fired power plants in Kentucky or Indiana, which is kind of humorous when you think about that,” Butler told WMAY.

Butler criticized possible “sweetheart” deals for the nuclear energy industry noting the CEO of Exelon made $15 million last year.

“I’m all for keeping the nuclear fleet on, but we need to protect the assets that are owned by the citizens of Illinois at Prairies State and [City Water Light and Power],” Butler said.

While some say there needs to be a focus on more clean-energy jobs, Evan Wooding, business manager for Steamfitters in Peoria, said that won’t replace the careers of coal-fired power plants.

“So you go by all these facilities, there’s people there 24/7, 365, making sure they’re up and running and you’re talking about a job coming in and building a wind farm or a solar facility and then they’re gone,” Wooding said.

Full details on a proposed energy bill have not been released.

Ohio sues Google, claims tech giant should be regulated as public utility

David K. Li

JUNE 9,2021

The state of Ohio filed suit against Google on Tuesday, claiming the tech giant should be regulated as a public utility due to its "discriminatory and anti-competitive" practices.

The civil action, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, does not seek monetary damages, but instead asks for Google to be declared a "common carrier" that could come under oversight from a body such as the state's Public Utilities Commission.

“Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products — that's discriminatory and anti-competitive,” Yost said in a prepared statement.

“When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access."   

© Provided by NBC News The Google Store in New York, on May 28, 2021. (Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

In the civil complaint, Yost said he's concerned about Google's ability to create "no click searches," which means a query that directs users "to other Google platforms, such as YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, Google News, Google Shopping and Google Travel."

Google "has a duty not to artificially prioritize Google services and links higher than they would be displayed as a result of Google's internet searches algorithms in which the algorithm is not programmed to prioritize Google's owed products and services," the suit said.

A representative for Mountain View, California-based Google said the lawsuit will not succeed.

“Google Search is designed to provide people with the most relevant and helpful results," according to a company statement.

"AG Yost's lawsuit would make Google Search results worse and make it harder for small businesses to connect directly with customers. Ohioans simply don't want the government to run Google like a gas or electric company. This lawsuit has no basis in fact or law and we'll defend ourselves against it in court.”

MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said Ohio's end game isn't to put Google under the direct authority of a utilities commission, but to lay the groundwork for increased regulation.

He cited services such as cable TV, trash hauling, airlines and casinos that are provided by private companies, but are almost always subject to rules and regulations above and beyond other businesses.

"When a business serves such a substantial part of the public that its rates, charges and methods of operation become a public concern, it can be characterized as a public utility" and targeted for increased government oversight, Cevallos said.

Top U.S. antitrust lawmaker targets Big Tech with new bills - sources

By Diane Bartz

© Reuters/REUTERS FILE PHOTO FILE PHOTO: The logos of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are working on drafts of five antitrust bills, four of them aimed directly at reining in Big Tech, and may introduce them within days, according to three sources familiar with the matter.


Reuters has read discussion drafts of five measures. Sources familiar with the process say they may be changed before they are introduced. They may be introduced this week but that may be delayed, two sources said.

Among the five bills being considered, two address the problems of platforms, like Amazon.com, creating a space for businesses to sell products and then competing against those products.

One of the two would make it illegal in most cases for a platform to advantage its own products on its platform with potentially a fine of 30% of the U.S. revenues of the affected business if they violate the measure. A second requires platforms to sell any business if owning it creates an incentive for the platform to advantage its own products or lines of business.

A third bill would require a platform to refrain from any merger unless it can show the acquired company does not compete with any product or service the platform is in.

A fourth would require platforms to set up a way for users to transfer data if they desire, including to a competing business. A fifth is similar to a Senate measure that would raise what the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charge to assess the biggest companies to ensure their mergers are legal and increase the budget of the agencies.

The House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel wrote a report that was issued in October 2020 that spelled out abuses by four big technology companies, Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc, Amazon.com and Facebook. The report -- which was scathing -- suggested expansive changes to antitrust law.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by David Gregorio)

ITALY BUSTS BOOKING.COM FOR 

TAX EVASION

By Emilio Parodi

© Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch FILE PHOTO: The logo global online travel brand Expedia of is pictured at the International Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's tax police believe Booking.com evaded 153 million euros of value added tax (VAT) in connection with holiday rentals booked through its platform, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The Genoa police said in a statement they "uncovered a massive tax evasion of more than 150 million euros in unpaid VAT from 2013 to 2019 by a multinational online travel agency based in the Netherlands", without mentioning the company by name.

The police said their tax audit was conducted as part of a criminal investigation led by prosecutors in the northwestern coastal town.

Booking.com confirmed it has recently received the audit report "which we intend to discuss in full cooperation with the Italian tax authorities."

The company argues that hotel and bed-and-breakfast owners that use its platform are themselves responsible for collecting and paying the VAT they owe in Italy and other European Union countries.

The Italian move comes days after an agreement by the Group of Seven rich countries' to create a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% to squeeze more money out of multinational web companies and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens.

Colonel Ivan Bixio, head of the Genoa police group leading the investigation, told Reuters the sort of evasion they had uncovered "generates huge profits to the beneficiaries, harming public budgets and altering the rules of competition."

The probe concerns VAT on payments between private individuals for rental properties advertised by the online travel agent based in The Netherlands and owned by the U.S. group Booking Holdings inc., based in Delaware.

Booking.com works as an intermediary between property owners and guests. Private accommodation sites which are not professionally run often have no VAT number, and Italian tax authorities believe the online travel agency should then act as withholding agent.

However the Genoa police, having checked 896,500 property owners who worked with the Dutch online giant, concluded it did not pay VAT due to Italy from 2013 to 2019, according to the two sources.

During this period, the commission collected by Booking.com in Italy from this type of private client amounted to 700 million euros, with unpaid VAT of 153 million euros, the sources said.

The Italian probe has attracted the attention of several European tourist destination countries, said one of the sources, with the tax authorities of these nations informally asking investigators for information on the matter.

He did not identify these countries.

As the Genoa prosecutors' criminal investigation proceeds, Italy's tax office will launch a separate procedure at the end of which Booking.com will have to decide whether to agree to pay or to contest any allegations of wrongdoing.

(Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, editing by Gavin Jones and David Evans)

Managers at centre of B.C. nursing college probe 'caused or contributed to' young woman's death, mother alleges

Bethany Lindsay CBC
JUNE 10,2021
. 

© Supplied by Margaret Lavery Katrina Lavery, shown here at left with her mother Margaret, died in hospital at the age of 21 after living in housing operated by Victoria's Garth Homer Society.

Katrina Lavery had a thirst for life.

She loved people and animals and rarely argued with her mother — even during her teenage years.

"[She was] the happiest camper every morning of every day that she woke up … pretty much a very joyful person that was taken way too soon," mom Margaret Lavery recalls.

Katrina died at the age of 21, succumbing to a bowel obstruction on New Year's Day 2018 in a hospital room in Victoria.

Katrina had Angelman syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability. She was non-verbal and required full-time nursing. At the time of her death, she was living in a home operated by the Garth Homer Society (GHS), a local non-profit that provides services for people with developmental disabilities.

Her mother filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that senior managers at GHS ignored symptoms of Katrina's condition for months, rebuffing support staff who urged them to seek medical attention and severely restricting Lavery's access to her daughter when she spoke out about her concerns.

"I feel like Katrina's death just didn't need to happen," Lavery said. "I feel like I've gone through a kidnapping."

This is the first time Lavery has spoken publicly about what happened. She agreed to an interview with CBC News after learning that the College of Nurses and Midwives of B.C. had suspended the nursing licences of Victoria Weber and Euphemia (Phemie) Guttin, both senior managers at GHS, after identifying "serious concerns" about the care they were providing.

The disciplinary action is a direct result of what happened to Katrina in GHS's care, along with complaints from two other families and a former employee.

Community Living B.C. (CLBC), the Crown agency that provides support for adults with developmental disabilities, also launched an investigation in the aftermath of Katrina's death. In May 2018, it cancelled its housing contract with GHS, withdrew funding for five residences and removed the society from a list of pre-qualified vendors for residential services, according to a civil claim filed by GHS earlier this spring.

Through all of this, Weber and Guttin have kept their jobs in high-level positions at GHS — Guttin as the executive director for service operations and Weber as the senior manager for health services and education. GHS has said they are "integral members" of the team.

In a written statement this week, the society's CEO Mitchell Temkin described Katrina Lavery as "a much-valued member of the Garth Homer Society community" and said everyone there was saddened by her death.

"Because of privacy legislation and because these matters are before the courts, we are unable to share details of her care when she was with the Garth Homer Society. However, we are confident that the care provided by GHS did not contribute to her unfortunate passing," Temkin said.

He said Katrina died two months after leaving the society's care — referring to the period of time she spent in hospital.

'Her skin was stretched so badly'

The allegations in Lavery's lawsuit have yet to be tested in court, but a trial date has been set for October 2022.

In a civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in March 2019, Lavery alleges that GHS "caused or contributed to" Katrina's death through its negligence, naming as co-defendants Weber, Guttin, GHS's residential supervisor Rana Weihs and CLBC.

Lavery's claim alleges that beginning in May 2017, Katrina's belly became increasingly distended, and she started having more frequent seizures and high temperatures.

In photos taken of Katrina during that time period and shared with CBC News, her abdomen appears hard and rounded, prominently jutting out from the rest of her body.

"Her skin was stretched so badly that she looked like she was nine months pregnant," Lavery alleged.

"Staff were told that they couldn't call an ambulance."

Lavery's claim alleges that when she began reaching out to GHS and CLBC with her concerns, they told her she was inappropriately interfering with their business and "severely restricted" her access to her daughter, while threatening staff with discipline if they spoke to her.

Katrina was admitted to hospital on Oct. 27, 2017, where she was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction "that had been left untreated for many months," the claim alleges.

Despite multiple surgeries, doctors were unable to save Katrina's life. She died on Jan. 1, 2018.

GHS denies causing or contributing to Katrina's death, according to a response to Lavery's claim filed on behalf of the society, Weber, Guttin and Weihs.

The document disputes the allegation that Katrina's symptoms became progressively worse in GHS's care, claiming that Katrina's bowel obstruction "occurred spontaneously and acutely" rather than developing over months.

GHS also denies restricting Lavery's access to her daughter, but says there were mutually agreed-upon "terms of engagement."

Guttin, Weber and Weihs did not respond to requests for comment.

CLBC has also denied all allegations of wrongdoing in Katrina's death in its response to Lavery's claim.

'Dismissive of front-line staff's concerns'

There are parallels between the allegations contained in Lavery's legal claim and the issues investigated by the nursing college.

In a May 27 disposition letter to Lavery, the college's professional conduct review consultant Tansey Ramanzin confirms that Guttin and Weber breached professional standards.

"Ms. Guttin and Ms. Weber ... failed to take steps to properly assess Katrina and escalate care when symptomatology was present, ongoing, and/or worsening. They were dismissive of front-line staff's concerns," Ramanzin wrote in the letter, which Lavery shared with CBC News.

Ramanzin said Guttin and Weber asked staff to forward cellphone photos of Katrina rather than doing in-person assessments of her condition.

The disposition letter also says Guttin and Weber were "combative" in their communication, alienating and obstructing Lavery when she tried to advocate for Katrina.

"They negatively characterized and labelled you as difficult and/or dangerous, downplayed your concerns about Katrina's health, and told people you may be acting contrary to Katrina's best interests," Ramanzin wrote.

"Staff were told not to communicate with you upon threat of termination."

Lavery said she is planning to ask for a review of the college's consent agreement with Guttin and Weber, explaining that she wants their licences to be revoked permanently.

"I don't think they've done enough, and I don't understand," Lavery said.

In a response to Lavery's concerns, the college offered a written statement describing the disciplinary measures as "severe and proportional" to Guttin and Weber's conduct.

The statement notes that both of their licences will be suspended for more than three years altogether, and they will have to undergo remedial education and work under "extensive oversight" if they choose to return to nursing.

CLBC contract was wrongfully terminated: GHS

Meanwhile, the Garth Homer Society began its own legal battle earlier this spring against Community Living B.C., alleging the Crown agency wrongfully terminated its contract in 2018.

The society's notice of claim also accuses several CLBC staff members of defamation for telling GHS clients and their families the contract was cancelled because of "allegedly unsafe, mismanaged and inadequate" services.

CLBC has yet to file a response and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

Spokesperson Randy Schmidt confirmed in an email that CLBC no longer contracts with GHS for residential services, but said he couldn't comment further on that issue or Katrina's death because of the legal actions.

"CLBC believes it has followed its responsibilities and monitoring guidelines and we will be responding via the appropriate legal process and will continue to do so," Schmidt wrote.

OLDEST BILLIONAIRE FAMILY IN CANADA
Thomson Reuters shareholder support for human rights review rises
By Ross Kerber and Sheila Dang

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York.

(Reuters) - A shareholder proposal for Thomson Reuters Corp to review human rights issues emerging from its U.S. government contracts gained increased investor support but failed to win approval at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday.

Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, has contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worth at least $17.4 million, public records show. Company spokesman Dave Moran declined to say what the contracts were for. Moran said a contract to provide the CLEAR online investigation software to ICE had expired in February. The software aggregates billions of data points and public records information for law enforcement agencies and financial services firms, according to a company website.

The shareholder proposal came from a British Columbia labor union and focused on Thomson Reuters work with government agencies including ICE.

The proposal won the support of 19% of the votes, Thomson Reuters Chairman David Thomson said at the meeting, which was webcast, more than double the 7.6% share that a similar resolution received last year.

The tally potentially represented a majority of support from outside investors. The Woodbridge Co, representing the Thomson Reuters controlling Thomson family, owns two-thirds of the company shares and had planned to vote against the resolution, according to a securities filing. Final voting figures had yet to be filed and Moran did not provide additional details.

Wednesday's resolution called for the company's board to produce a "human rights risk report" describing potential issues it faces and comparing risk-control procedures against those of other technology companies.

Under the Trump administration that ended in January, ICE played a leading role in sweeping raids and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Stephanie Smith, president of the union that sponsored the resolution, said in a statement the result showed "Thomson Reuters is failing to tackle very serious and concerning human rights risks related to contracts with agencies like ICE, and shareholders aren’t buying their excuses."

The company had opposed the resolution as unnecessary given existing internal controls.

Thomson Reuters Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker said at the meeting: "We continue to see a net societal benefit to providing CLEAR and similar products to law enforcement," provided they are used as permitted by regulations.

Asked about the vote result, Thomson Reuters' Moran said that "As we review best practices for identifying and mitigating human rights risks, we always welcome feedback from our shareholders and will continue in our dialogue with our investors as part of our shared commitment to human rights."

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Howard Goller)