Opposition backs calls for Sask. residential school apology



The Saskatchewan NDP wants the provincial government to apologize for its historic role in the devastating legacy of residential schools.

“It is long past time that both orders of government fully take responsibility for their respective roles in the abuse, neglect, loss of language and culture, and violence that many First Nations and Métis people were subjected to in these institutions,” said Betty Nippi-Albright, NDP critic for Truth and Reconciliation, First Nations and Métis Relations.

The province should apologize and provide compensation for children who attended Timber Bay Children’s Home and Île-à-la-Crosse residential school, where hundreds of First Nations and Métis children attended, she said.

Those who attended the schools — founded by the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission and the Catholic Church, respectively — were denied the Indian Residential School Settlement because the institutions weren’t directly government-run.

Calls for the province to recognize them have re-emerged since the shocking discovery of the remains of 215 children at the site of a former residential school near Kamloops B.C.

“It’s unfortunate that it takes an incident of this magnitude to bring something to the forefront,” noted Leonard Montgrand, a former student of the Île-à-la-Crosse residential school.

“We’ve been banging our fist on the table and trying to get recognition. All of a sudden, it’s an issue that has to be dealt with.”

Montgrand said he is working through a lengthy, “frustrating” process with the federal government, attempting to secure compensation for Île-à-la-Crosse school survivors. It’s been underway since 2019, when a committee of survivors, the Métis Nation—Saskatchewan and Ottawa signed a memorandum of understanding.

He said the province shares fault with the federal government and the Catholic Church for what survivors have endured. As they age, the case for an apology and compensation grows more urgent, he added.

Video: Saskatchewan First Nation remembering lives lost at residential schools (Global News)

“The province needs to come to the table” as an early step to help bring healing to the community, said Île-à-la-Crosse Mayor Duane Favel.

NDP Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger said he believes there may also be burial sites at the residential school site in the community, but the search process hasn’t begun. He wants the provincial government to release school records to get a clearer picture of the children who attended.

The tragic findings at Kamloops have also resurfaced calls from the Prince Albert Grand Council and Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) to recognize Timber Bay as a residential school.

In 2017, LLRIB exhausted its legal options when the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled Timber Bay wasn’t directly government-run, and wasn’t eligible for residential school status.

PAGC Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte recently said the tragedy at Kamloops creates an opening to directly lobby the federal government, outside of the legal system.

In a prepared statement, a provincial government spokesman said the province has not been contacted by either LLRIB or PAGC to support their efforts with Ottawa.

He said there’s active litigation against the Saskatchewan government regarding both the Timber Bay and Île-à-la-Crosse schools, launched respectively in 2001 and 2006.

“Given the legal status of these files we are unable to provide further comment at this time,” he wrote.

Nick Pearce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix

'Remember, out of their slumber, they woke a nation'

Emotions ran high as Woodstock First Nations gathered at the Eagles Nest Monday, May 31, to honour the memory of the 215 children discovered in a mass grave at a former British Columbia residential school.

"Remember, out of their slumber, they woke a nation," said event organizer and Woodstock First Nation member Bonnie Polchies.

With tears in her eyes, Polchies paid homage to the lost children. Standing in the Eagles Nest front lobby, next to her sat more than 215 pairs of neatly displayed shoes that visitors brought in recognition of the children who never returned home after being taken from their indigenous families as part of a generational stain on Canadian history.

The recent discovery of the mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation shocked Canadians and the world. Still, it didn't come as a surprise to indigenous people with personal knowledge of the horrors of Canada's residential school system.

Woodstock First Nation Chief Tim Paul's voice broke as he addressed the more than 60 people in attendance at the drumming and smudging ceremony marking the sombre discovery.

"I can't imagine what it was like for the families that lost their children," he said.

Paul said the bleak revelation in British Columbia is a reminder of centuries of intolerance and cruelty towards Canada's indigenous population.

"Inaction by governments has gone through generations," he said.

As mind-boggling as the discovery in Kamloops is, Paul reminded those in attendance, "this is not the only one."

The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, in the press release announcing their grim finding, said it hired specialists in ground-penetrating radar to search the residential school area in the most culturally appropriate and respectful way possible.

"To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths," Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 Chief Rosanne Casimir said in the statement.

"Some were as young as three years old. We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children."

Polchies said similar searches must proceed at other residential schools across the nation.

"As we honour 215 little ones," she said, "we must find the rest."

She said each residential school had children who never returned to their families.

Polchies said she knows personally about the pain and hardship residential schools delivered to generations of indigenous people, noting both her father and aunt carried the scars of their time at the residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia.

She said her father never wanted to talk about his painful experiences, adding he always resisted her attempts to learn the Maliseet language. Residential school teachers and officials punished children for speaking their native tongue.

Anatasha Lyons, who recited prayers in Maliseet and English during Monday's event, said her grandfather refused to teach her Maliseet.

Lines from the reconciliation poem she read included, "Help people who attended residential schools to heal. Help them to love again. Help them to love themselves."

Drummer Charlie Nicholas said his performance at Monday's ceremony was for the children, not just the 215 lost souls, but all children, including those on hand at the Eagles Nest.

With the young children sitting on the floor of the Eagle's Nest large bingo hall, the adults formed a circle around them while Nicholas drummed and sang, and Lyons recited poems as a community elder performed a smudging ceremony.

While the Canadian and New Brunswick governments lowered flags to half-mast and made statements addressing the horror surrounding the discovery in Kamloops, Paul said talking is not enough. He said Canada's indigenous people heard the exact words for generations, but no one ever takes action.

He said Premier Blaine Higgs cares nothing about aboriginal rights in New Brunswick, noting his actions show a "blatant disregard" for their needs.

The chief said he's sat in numerous meetings with provincial officials, and the New Brunswick government's lack of understanding and willingness to support First Nation growth is evident.

Paul said he hoped New Brunswick Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn would bring a new willingness to work with Native leaders. Still, he doubts she'll change the Higgs' government's combative attitude.

Paul said it's upsetting to see Dunn opposing the federal government's Bill C-15, which proposes the harmonization of Canadian Law with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as it's debated in the Senate.

The Woodstock chief said the federal government must step forward as well, noting its failure to address any of the more than 90 recommendations put forward in the Truth and Reconciliation Report.

While he hopes the uncovered tragedy in Kamloops would be a wake-up call for all levels of government, he remains unconvinced it will make a difference.

Paul said his best hope is that the younger generation of Canadians can recognize the past atrocities and show determination to right the wrongs of the past and pave a better road for Canada's indigenous people.

Jim Dumville, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, River Valley Sun

Renaming schools a 'teachable moment' in Canada's history

Niji Mahkwa School is an anomaly — not only because of its holistic programming or because it is one of few schools in the province’s largest division whose name is a nod to an Indigenous concept.

Nearly 30 years after the Winnipeg elementary school was given its name by a student who dreamt of it and elders who endorsed it, the values Niji Mahkwa represents still reflect ones held today by students, teachers and families alike.

The translation of the Anishinaabemowin phrase into English is, “my friend the bear,” or “brother, sister bear.”

“Our names tell us who we are and where we come from, and so when we look at this name, it tells us about the bear — it represents strength and healing,” said Helen Robinson-Settee, a former teacher-librarian who worked at the school when it was renamed in the mid-90s.

“The children who attend the school carry that spirit with them while they are attending and even when they graduate.”

There is increasing concern about naming schools after historical figures who held racist views and built systems to assimilate Indigenous people.

Later this week, trustees in the Pembina Trails School Division will consider renaming Ryerson School, which is a tribute to Egerton Ryerson, a public school leader in Ontario in the 1800s who was an architect of the residential school system.

Signage at Oscar Blackburn School in South Indian Lake, in northern Manitoba, was taken down this month after community leaders learned the school was named after a merchant who helped send Indigenous children to residential school.

An elementary school in Weston will soon get a new name, after trustees voted to cut ties with Cecil Rhodes, a former prime minister of what is now known as South Africa, whose ideas laid the groundwork for racist apartheid policies.

As far as historian Sean Carleton is concerned, the evolution of names is a positive sign.

“What’s going on now is actually a reckoning with the reality that the way most non-Indigenous people learn about history is a white-washed, sanitized, overly celebratory account of Canada’s history,” said Carleton, an assistant professor in history and native studies at the University of Manitoba.

The historian counters the argument that renaming erases history by suggesting the move replaces a celebratory memorial rather than history itself; social studies teachers will continue talking about figures such as Ryerson, but in a more critical and nuanced way, Carleton added.

Divisions in Manitoba generally require facilities to be named after local landmarks, community areas, or pay tribute to renowned people of historical significance.

Video: The efforts to include more about residential schools in Canadian education (cbc.ca) Duration 2:06

In 2017, a review of K-12 school names in the Winnipeg School Division found 56 were named after people while 24 buildings had names that were places, things or concepts.

“We say it on announcements. We wear it on T-shirts. It goes home on letterhead. The students begin to identify as a community under (their school) name, so I began wondering how much people knew about these names and the histories and stories that they told,” said Katya Adamov Ferguson, a PhD student at the U of M and educator in Winnipeg.

In her thesis study, Adamov Ferguson found a theme among the names: they often pay tribute to white European colonialists, missionaries and explorers who were men who lived between the 18th and 20th centuries.

The roster of Winnipeg school names also ignores the history, culture and contributions of Indigenous people, normalizes solely English names, and erases Indigenous place names, she said.

Carleton said schools in Canada were often given names to honour the British empire. For example, not one, but two schools in central Winnipeg are named after Sir Winston Churchill, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom in the 1940s.

Meantime, only Norquay, Children of the Earth and Niji Mahkwa schools make connections to Indigenous peoples or concepts in the division, per the 2017 study.

After Aberdeen School closed in the North End — in turn terminating a tribute to a former governor-general in Canada in the late 1800s, Aboriginal Elementary School took over the plot at 461 Flora Ave. It was later renamed Niji Mahkwa.

Now the director of Manitoba Education’s Indigenous inclusion directorate, Robinson-Settee said that name reflects a commitment to cultural and linguistic learning, in addition to academics and technological lessons.

Students, school staff, grandparents and elders all took part in the naming process in the ‘90s, she said, adding communities of all kinds should to come together if renaming is on the table at their institution.

Myra Laramee, an elder and knowledge keeper at the Winnipeg School Division, echoed those sentiments.

“What is needed is to take this time as an opportunity to rename these institutions and buildings in a thoughtful way that can align us closer to Mother Earth,” added Laramee, in a statement. “We already have examples of this kind of naming process with schools such as École Waterford Springs School.”

Adamov Ferguson wants divisions to review their naming policies.

Her suggestions for future school names includehonouringIndigenous place names, residential school survivors or Indigenous leaders, such as retired senator Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or child welfare activist Cindy Blackstock.

Discussions about names open up conversations about issues of power and more pressing issues, such as access to clear water on First Nations, Adamov Ferguson said.

“There’s a stark contrast between 215 unnamed children in unnamed and unmarked mass graves and then you have, above ground, all these European stories and colonizers being etched into stone and meant to last... and I think there’s a bigger movement possible,” she said.

“The teacher in me just sees (renaming) as such a teachable moment to involve history and culture and language.”

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

American Museum of Natural History Unveils Shining New Halls of Gems and Minerals As Visitors Continue to Return

Christine Burroni

TRAVEL & LEISURE

As New York City welcomes back its gems, including restaurants and Broadway shows, on its road to COVID-19 recovery, the American Museum of Natural History is also doing so - in quite the literal sense.

Provided by Travel + Leisure Courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History

On June 12, the iconic museum's Alison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will make its re-debut to the public with a major redesign and more than 5,000 specimens - including a 632-carat emerald - to marvel at

© Provided by Travel + Leisure Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History

"It is absolutely thrilling and it's also such a positive thing, for New York and for the museum," AMNH president Ellen Futter told Travel + Leisure of the Halls' reopening, noting that the timing couldn't be better.

"They are unique for this moment," she said. "They offer the perfect antidote for pandemic stress and uncertainty because they're so grounding, they're so elemental and so joyful. And who doesn't love something that's shiny and gorgeous?"

Additionally, inside the Halls, visitors will find a temporary exhibit, "Beautiful Creatures," which houses animal-inspired jewels with the most notable being created by Cartier and Tiffany.

Provided by Travel + Leisure Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History

The museum no longer has capacity limits, however, timed reservations are required until June 21 and visitors must wear facemasks. At the time of its September reopening, the attraction operated at 25% capacity.

"You can feel the change, people are here," Futter said of the increasing amount of visitors.

"After so many months of being virtually connected you have an opportunity to share an experience with people you know [and] love but also with ones that we don't know, and I think that's very special right now," she added. "So to come here feel good about it and feel satisfied with something stimulating, beautiful, and informative and be with others, that's pretty great."© Courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History The redesigned exhibit will open to visitors on June 12.

The museum also hosts one of the city's most unique vaccination sites - right under its iconic blue whale - playing a key role in New York's recovery from the pandemic.

Christine Burroni is Travel + Leisure's Digital News Editor. Find her keeping up with just about everything on Twitter or see what she's up to in NYC or on her latest trip on Instagram.

Some 350,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray in famine -U.N. document

ALONG WITH THOSE IN YEMEN

By Giulia Paravicini and Michelle Nichols 
 

© Reuters/Baz Ratner The Wider Image: 'You don't belong': land dispute drives new exodus in Ethiopia's Tigray

ADDIS ABABA/NEW YORK (Reuters) -An analysis by United Nations agencies and aid groups estimates that about 350,000 people in Ethiopia's conflict-torn Tigray region are in famine conditions, according to an internal U.N. document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The Ethiopian government disputes the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, according to the notes of a meeting on the situation in Tigray of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) - made up of the heads of at least 18 U.N. and non-U.N. organizations.

"On the risk of famine, it was noted that the unpublished IPC analysis figures were being disputed by the Ethiopian government, notably the estimated 350,000 people across Tigray believed to be in IPC 5 famine conditions," the June 7 document read.

The analysis, which diplomats said could be released publicly on Thursday, had found that millions more across Tigray required "urgent food and agriculture/livelihoods support to avert further slides towards famine".

Fighting in Tigray broke out in November between government troops and the region's former ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Troops from neighboring Eritrea have also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government.

The violence has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes in the mountainous region.

The committee, chaired by U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock, includes the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Mituku Kassa, head of Ethiopia's National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee, said on Thursday a declaration of famine would be incorrect. He accused the TPLF of attacking aid convoys.

"We don’t have any food shortage," he told a news conference.

More than 90% of people have been provided with aid by five operators, he said. "TPLF remnant forces ... attack the personnel, they attack the trucks with food."

Reuters could not reach the TPLF for comment and Mituku did not provide details of the alleged attacks.

The Ethiopian government's emergency task force on Tigray, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A senior Ethiopian diplomat in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned the survey methods and accused the IPC of a lack of transparency and inadequate consultation.

'ALARMING LEVELS'

Famine has been declared twice in the past decade - in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017. U.N. agencies, aid groups, governments and other relevant parties use the IPC to work together to determine the severity of food insecurity.

The United Nations said on Wednesday there had been reported incidents of denial of the movement of aid and the interrogation, assault and detention of humanitarian workers at military checkpoints, along with looting and confiscation of humanitarian assets and supplies by the parties to the conflict.

"Levels of food insecurity and malnutrition are at alarming levels," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

There had been reports of starvation among displaced people, while there was a severe need for food in northwest Tigray after the burning or looting of harvests. He did not attribute blame.

Another U.N. spokesperson declined to comment specifically on the internal IASC notes.

(Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken, Peter Cooney and Angus MacSwan)

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

.

© 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

.

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.