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Monday, October 18, 2021
Louisiana gators thrive, so farmers’ return quota may drop
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
An alligator swims in the Maurepas Swamp, thirty miles outside New Orleans, in Ruddock, La., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. Once-endangered alligators are thriving in the wild, so Louisiana authorities are proposing another cut in the percentage that farmers must return to marshes where their eggs were laid. The big armored reptiles don't breed well in captivity, so farmers are allowed to collect eggs from wild nests, as long as they return a percentage as youngsters too big for most other animals to eat.
About 1.2 million have been returned since alligator farming was approved in 1986, Jeb Linscombe, head of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ alligator program, said Thursday.
The return percentage was first set at 17%, based on estimates that about 83% die in the egg or before they’re 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. A wild-hatched gator that size would be about 4 years old, but readily available food lets farmed alligators grow much faster.
Raccoons, other predators and floods destroy about one-third of all nests. The black and yellow hatchlings are about 8.5 inches (22 centimeters) long and weigh only 2 ounces (57 grams). That makes them easy prey for bigger gators, wading birds, otters and fish even though mother alligators stay with their babies for about a year.
Uncontrolled hunting nearly wiped out American alligators before Louisiana barred all hunting in 1962. Alligator mississippiensis was among the first species federally listed as endangered in 1967, after Congress passed the precursor to the Endangered Species Act.
“The primary reason the species recovered is .. elimination of the black market,” Linscombe said.
Louisiana allowed small, highly regulated hunts in 1972 and 1973, opening a statewide season in 1981. Two years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that the species had recovered over most of its range, and it was “de-listed” entirely in 1987.
Since 1972, more than 1.1 million wild alligators have been killed, over 11 million alligator eggs have been collected, and nearly 7.3 million farm raised alligators have been sold, according to the state management program’s 2019-2020 annual report.
Surveyors who flew over coastal marshes during the summer of 2019 estimated the number of alligator nests at a record, nearly 68,000. This year’s estimate was a few thousand below that, Linscombe said.
A change in weather patterns is one reason for the big numbers, he said. There are far fewer nests during droughts, when the water is low — and there were regular droughts over the first 40 years of state nest surveys. But there haven’t been any droughts over the past decade.
Hunters took 23,828 alligators during the wild season in 2019. It was the second straight increase “but harvest remains depressed due to an oversupply of crocodilian skins worldwide,” the report said.
Harvest numbers this year and last have been depressed by Hurricanes Ida, Laura and Delta, and by COVID-19 restrictions, Linscombe said.
Farmers’ return rate has been reduced several times over the years.
Current regulations require farmers to return 10% of hatchlings within two years — with a sliding scale based on average lengths of 36 to 60 inches (0.9 to 1.5 meters). Higher average lengths bring the percentage down.
Nearly 387,000 eggs were collected in 2017. resulting in about 39,000 farm-raised alligators two years later that were measured, tail-notched, tagged and released. Their sex was also determined, since biologists want at least half to be females.
About 450,000 eggs were collected this summer, Linscombe said.
The effects of a change from 10% to 5% may not show up for 10, 15, even 20 years, he said.
“The key to everything is to monitor it and make sure the action you took is going to have the result you thought it would,” he said.
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
An alligator swims in the Maurepas Swamp, thirty miles outside New Orleans, in Ruddock, La., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. Once-endangered alligators are thriving in the wild, so Louisiana authorities are proposing another cut in the percentage that farmers must return to marshes where their eggs were laid. The big armored reptiles don't breed well in captivity, so farmers are allowed to collect eggs from wild nests, as long as they return a percentage as youngsters too big for most other animals to eat.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, file)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Once-endangered alligators are thriving in the wild, so Louisiana authorities are proposing a deep cut in the percentage that farmers must return to marshes where their eggs were laid.
“Over the past 50 years, alligator nest surveys have increased from an estimate of less than 10,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to well over 60,000 nests in recent years,” the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission said in a notice published Wednesday. “This increase in nesting has produced a population that can now be sustained with a much lower farm return rate.”
The commission is taking comments until Jan. 4 on a proposal to cut that rate from 10% to 5%.
The big armored reptiles don’t breed well in captivity, so farmers are allowed to collect eggs from nests as long as they return a percentage to the same area as youngsters big enough to foil predators other than people and much bigger alligators.
Alligator hides are made into luxury leather for products including watchbands, boots and purses. The meat is used in sausages; companies also sell roasts, steaks, ribs, nuggets, jerky and even whole skinned alligators. Forelegs are marketed as “alligator wings.”
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Once-endangered alligators are thriving in the wild, so Louisiana authorities are proposing a deep cut in the percentage that farmers must return to marshes where their eggs were laid.
“Over the past 50 years, alligator nest surveys have increased from an estimate of less than 10,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to well over 60,000 nests in recent years,” the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission said in a notice published Wednesday. “This increase in nesting has produced a population that can now be sustained with a much lower farm return rate.”
The commission is taking comments until Jan. 4 on a proposal to cut that rate from 10% to 5%.
The big armored reptiles don’t breed well in captivity, so farmers are allowed to collect eggs from nests as long as they return a percentage to the same area as youngsters big enough to foil predators other than people and much bigger alligators.
Alligator hides are made into luxury leather for products including watchbands, boots and purses. The meat is used in sausages; companies also sell roasts, steaks, ribs, nuggets, jerky and even whole skinned alligators. Forelegs are marketed as “alligator wings.”
About 1.2 million have been returned since alligator farming was approved in 1986, Jeb Linscombe, head of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ alligator program, said Thursday.
The return percentage was first set at 17%, based on estimates that about 83% die in the egg or before they’re 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. A wild-hatched gator that size would be about 4 years old, but readily available food lets farmed alligators grow much faster.
Raccoons, other predators and floods destroy about one-third of all nests. The black and yellow hatchlings are about 8.5 inches (22 centimeters) long and weigh only 2 ounces (57 grams). That makes them easy prey for bigger gators, wading birds, otters and fish even though mother alligators stay with their babies for about a year.
Uncontrolled hunting nearly wiped out American alligators before Louisiana barred all hunting in 1962. Alligator mississippiensis was among the first species federally listed as endangered in 1967, after Congress passed the precursor to the Endangered Species Act.
“The primary reason the species recovered is .. elimination of the black market,” Linscombe said.
Louisiana allowed small, highly regulated hunts in 1972 and 1973, opening a statewide season in 1981. Two years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that the species had recovered over most of its range, and it was “de-listed” entirely in 1987.
Since 1972, more than 1.1 million wild alligators have been killed, over 11 million alligator eggs have been collected, and nearly 7.3 million farm raised alligators have been sold, according to the state management program’s 2019-2020 annual report.
Surveyors who flew over coastal marshes during the summer of 2019 estimated the number of alligator nests at a record, nearly 68,000. This year’s estimate was a few thousand below that, Linscombe said.
A change in weather patterns is one reason for the big numbers, he said. There are far fewer nests during droughts, when the water is low — and there were regular droughts over the first 40 years of state nest surveys. But there haven’t been any droughts over the past decade.
Hunters took 23,828 alligators during the wild season in 2019. It was the second straight increase “but harvest remains depressed due to an oversupply of crocodilian skins worldwide,” the report said.
Harvest numbers this year and last have been depressed by Hurricanes Ida, Laura and Delta, and by COVID-19 restrictions, Linscombe said.
Farmers’ return rate has been reduced several times over the years.
Current regulations require farmers to return 10% of hatchlings within two years — with a sliding scale based on average lengths of 36 to 60 inches (0.9 to 1.5 meters). Higher average lengths bring the percentage down.
Nearly 387,000 eggs were collected in 2017. resulting in about 39,000 farm-raised alligators two years later that were measured, tail-notched, tagged and released. Their sex was also determined, since biologists want at least half to be females.
About 450,000 eggs were collected this summer, Linscombe said.
The effects of a change from 10% to 5% may not show up for 10, 15, even 20 years, he said.
“The key to everything is to monitor it and make sure the action you took is going to have the result you thought it would,” he said.
US
Cities seek to loosen rules on spending federal pandemic aid
By DAVID A. LIEB
Birds fly past a bridge connecting the Oceanside pier to Pacific Street Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, in Oceanside, Calif. The iconic bridge is deteriorating because the city lacks the money for a roughly $25 million rehabilitation. One reason the project has slowed while projects in other cities are moving ahead revolves around the American Rescue Plan — the sweeping COVID-19 relief law championed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats that is pumping billions of dollars to states and local governments. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
At the Loma Verde Recreation Center south of San Diego, demolition work is underway on a $24 million project that will rebuild the facility from the ground up, complete with a new pool. An hour’s drive to the north, the iconic bridge to the Oceanside pier is deteriorating because the city lacks the money for a roughly $25 million rehabilitation.
A reason one project is moving ahead and the other isn’t revolves around the American Rescue Plan — the sweeping COVID-19 relief law championed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats that is pumping billions of dollars to states and local governments.
Under rules developed by the U.S. Treasury Department, some governments have more flexibility than others to spend their share of the money as they want. That’s why the new swimming pool is a go, and the rehabbed pier — at least for now — is a no.
Similar disparities among cities across the country have prompted a pushback from local officials, who want Treasury to loosen its rules before the program progresses much further.
“Otherwise, they are penalizing cities for the pandemic, not providing them relief,” said Wade Kapszukiewicz, the mayor of Toledo, Ohio.
At issue is $350 billion for states, counties and cities that was part of the massive COVID-19 relief bill Biden signed in March. The money is intended to help shore up their finances, pay the ongoing costs of fighting the virus and invest in longer-term projects that could strengthen communities for years to come. The funding was made available by the Treasury beginning in May — though states and cities have been slow to start spending it.
The Treasury’s guidelines give governments leeway to choose from more than 60 subcategories for spending the money, including COVID-19 vaccinations, premium pay for certain workers, housing aid, grants to businesses and improvements to water, sewer and internet infrastructure.
But one particular category stands out for its flexibility. Governments that lost revenue can use their federal aid for almost any services, up to the amount of their losses. That means they can spend the money on roads, a recreation center or a pier, which might not otherwise be eligible.
Treasury spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said the plan gives governments “the resources and flexibility they need to avoid cuts, hire or retain workers, provide essential services, and come out of the pandemic stronger.” Democratic congressional leaders also have praised the Treasury’s flexible guidance.
But some local officials think the Treasury’s formula for calculating lost revenue is too restrictive. It rolls most revenue sources together instead of calculating losses on a fund-by-fund basis, which would let governments claim losses in dedicated funds such as gas taxes for roads even if other revenue grew. Local governments also want to exclude recently enacted tax hikes from the calculation, which they contend masks the depth of their losses during the pandemic.
In Toledo, voters last November approved a temporary one-quarter percent income tax increase that is projected to raise $19 million annually for roads. As a result, that revenue will offset other losses under the Treasury’s calculation, meaning the city won’t have the flexibility to use relief money to replace old police vehicles, Kapszukiewicz said.
“It now falsely looks like our economy has recovered more than it has, when in reality, it merely reflects the revenue produced by putting an extra burden on ourselves,” the mayor said. “It’s absurd.”
In California, more than 250 cities and counties enacted voter-approved tax increases since 2018 — most coming during or after the 2018-19 fiscal year that forms the basis for calculating revenue loss, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press by government finance consultant Michael Coleman.
The southern San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, which did not enact new taxes, calculated revenue losses of more than $32 million under the Treasury’s guidelines — covering over half its $57.5 million allotment under the American Rescue Plan. Among other things, the city is directing $12.2 million for culvert repairs at two intersections to alleviate flooding and $8 million to add new aquatic facilities to a planned renovation of the Loma Verde Recreation Center. Had the city not been able to tap the revenue-loss category for federal funding, those projects could have been pushed off indefinitely, said Chula Vista city engineer William Valle.
By doing it all at once “it’s open to the community -- boom, everybody’s happy,” Valle said.
In Oceanside, however, officials have less latitude over their federal aid. Voters there approved a one-half cent sales tax that took effect in April 2019, reducing its revenue loss under the Treasury formula from $22 million to $12 million and limiting its spending flexibility. Further complicating matters, the city spent nearly $2.6 million from its reserves — which otherwise could have gone toward infrastructure — to provide meals, homeless services and business grants during the pandemic. But the Treasury’s rules prohibit the federal aid from being used to replenish reserves.
Oceanside officials would like to be able to direct more of their federal money toward fixing the seismically unsafe 1920s-era bridge that leads to its pier.
“It’s imperative that the pier be maintained and restored so that it continues to attract visitors,” said Rick Wright, CEO of MainStreet Oceanside, the downtown business association. He added: “I don’t think it’s immediately noticeable to people that it’s in grave need of restoration, but if you look close enough, you can see where there’s cracks and pieces that have fallen out already.”
Other cities also have written to the Treasury asking it to loosen its revenue-loss rule and give them greater say over the money. It’s a reasonable request, but the dispute highlights that local governments are receiving “dramatically more money” than needed, said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Treasury officials said they are considering the comments but have given no indication of whether they will change the rule, nor when the final version will be released.
In the meantime, Des Moines, Iowa, is holding off on making spending decisions for the $47 million it received. The city wants clarification on whether it can count $34 million of losses not currently allowed under the Treasury rule, which would give it far more flexibility, said deputy finance director Joe Brandstatter.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, plans for a new parking garage have been delayed because of the Treasury’s revenue-loss rule. Parking revenue plunged during the pandemic, said mayoral aide Kate Bolz, but the city can’t make up for it all because a new sales tax earmarked for streets reduced its 2020 revenue loss from $13.5 million to $2.4 million under the Treasury’s formula.
Flagstaff, Arizona, also has put plans for a downtown parking garage on hold because of the Treasury rule and may have to delay replacing its aging snow plows, street sweepers and trucks. New revenue from a combination of dedicated taxes and storm-water fees offset the city’s loss under the Treasury’s formula, taking away its flexibility for the federal aid.
“The intent of what Congress wanted to do is to help support cities who had these big dollar losses to continue providing the services,” said city treasurer Rick Tadder. But the Treasury’s rule “is restrictive on how cities can demonstrate the true impact on our revenues during this pandemic.”
By DAVID A. LIEB
Birds fly past a bridge connecting the Oceanside pier to Pacific Street Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, in Oceanside, Calif. The iconic bridge is deteriorating because the city lacks the money for a roughly $25 million rehabilitation. One reason the project has slowed while projects in other cities are moving ahead revolves around the American Rescue Plan — the sweeping COVID-19 relief law championed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats that is pumping billions of dollars to states and local governments. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
At the Loma Verde Recreation Center south of San Diego, demolition work is underway on a $24 million project that will rebuild the facility from the ground up, complete with a new pool. An hour’s drive to the north, the iconic bridge to the Oceanside pier is deteriorating because the city lacks the money for a roughly $25 million rehabilitation.
A reason one project is moving ahead and the other isn’t revolves around the American Rescue Plan — the sweeping COVID-19 relief law championed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats that is pumping billions of dollars to states and local governments.
Under rules developed by the U.S. Treasury Department, some governments have more flexibility than others to spend their share of the money as they want. That’s why the new swimming pool is a go, and the rehabbed pier — at least for now — is a no.
Similar disparities among cities across the country have prompted a pushback from local officials, who want Treasury to loosen its rules before the program progresses much further.
“Otherwise, they are penalizing cities for the pandemic, not providing them relief,” said Wade Kapszukiewicz, the mayor of Toledo, Ohio.
At issue is $350 billion for states, counties and cities that was part of the massive COVID-19 relief bill Biden signed in March. The money is intended to help shore up their finances, pay the ongoing costs of fighting the virus and invest in longer-term projects that could strengthen communities for years to come. The funding was made available by the Treasury beginning in May — though states and cities have been slow to start spending it.
The Treasury’s guidelines give governments leeway to choose from more than 60 subcategories for spending the money, including COVID-19 vaccinations, premium pay for certain workers, housing aid, grants to businesses and improvements to water, sewer and internet infrastructure.
But one particular category stands out for its flexibility. Governments that lost revenue can use their federal aid for almost any services, up to the amount of their losses. That means they can spend the money on roads, a recreation center or a pier, which might not otherwise be eligible.
Treasury spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said the plan gives governments “the resources and flexibility they need to avoid cuts, hire or retain workers, provide essential services, and come out of the pandemic stronger.” Democratic congressional leaders also have praised the Treasury’s flexible guidance.
But some local officials think the Treasury’s formula for calculating lost revenue is too restrictive. It rolls most revenue sources together instead of calculating losses on a fund-by-fund basis, which would let governments claim losses in dedicated funds such as gas taxes for roads even if other revenue grew. Local governments also want to exclude recently enacted tax hikes from the calculation, which they contend masks the depth of their losses during the pandemic.
In Toledo, voters last November approved a temporary one-quarter percent income tax increase that is projected to raise $19 million annually for roads. As a result, that revenue will offset other losses under the Treasury’s calculation, meaning the city won’t have the flexibility to use relief money to replace old police vehicles, Kapszukiewicz said.
“It now falsely looks like our economy has recovered more than it has, when in reality, it merely reflects the revenue produced by putting an extra burden on ourselves,” the mayor said. “It’s absurd.”
In California, more than 250 cities and counties enacted voter-approved tax increases since 2018 — most coming during or after the 2018-19 fiscal year that forms the basis for calculating revenue loss, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press by government finance consultant Michael Coleman.
The southern San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, which did not enact new taxes, calculated revenue losses of more than $32 million under the Treasury’s guidelines — covering over half its $57.5 million allotment under the American Rescue Plan. Among other things, the city is directing $12.2 million for culvert repairs at two intersections to alleviate flooding and $8 million to add new aquatic facilities to a planned renovation of the Loma Verde Recreation Center. Had the city not been able to tap the revenue-loss category for federal funding, those projects could have been pushed off indefinitely, said Chula Vista city engineer William Valle.
By doing it all at once “it’s open to the community -- boom, everybody’s happy,” Valle said.
In Oceanside, however, officials have less latitude over their federal aid. Voters there approved a one-half cent sales tax that took effect in April 2019, reducing its revenue loss under the Treasury formula from $22 million to $12 million and limiting its spending flexibility. Further complicating matters, the city spent nearly $2.6 million from its reserves — which otherwise could have gone toward infrastructure — to provide meals, homeless services and business grants during the pandemic. But the Treasury’s rules prohibit the federal aid from being used to replenish reserves.
Oceanside officials would like to be able to direct more of their federal money toward fixing the seismically unsafe 1920s-era bridge that leads to its pier.
“It’s imperative that the pier be maintained and restored so that it continues to attract visitors,” said Rick Wright, CEO of MainStreet Oceanside, the downtown business association. He added: “I don’t think it’s immediately noticeable to people that it’s in grave need of restoration, but if you look close enough, you can see where there’s cracks and pieces that have fallen out already.”
Other cities also have written to the Treasury asking it to loosen its revenue-loss rule and give them greater say over the money. It’s a reasonable request, but the dispute highlights that local governments are receiving “dramatically more money” than needed, said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Treasury officials said they are considering the comments but have given no indication of whether they will change the rule, nor when the final version will be released.
In the meantime, Des Moines, Iowa, is holding off on making spending decisions for the $47 million it received. The city wants clarification on whether it can count $34 million of losses not currently allowed under the Treasury rule, which would give it far more flexibility, said deputy finance director Joe Brandstatter.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, plans for a new parking garage have been delayed because of the Treasury’s revenue-loss rule. Parking revenue plunged during the pandemic, said mayoral aide Kate Bolz, but the city can’t make up for it all because a new sales tax earmarked for streets reduced its 2020 revenue loss from $13.5 million to $2.4 million under the Treasury’s formula.
Flagstaff, Arizona, also has put plans for a downtown parking garage on hold because of the Treasury rule and may have to delay replacing its aging snow plows, street sweepers and trucks. New revenue from a combination of dedicated taxes and storm-water fees offset the city’s loss under the Treasury’s formula, taking away its flexibility for the federal aid.
“The intent of what Congress wanted to do is to help support cities who had these big dollar losses to continue providing the services,” said city treasurer Rick Tadder. But the Treasury’s rule “is restrictive on how cities can demonstrate the true impact on our revenues during this pandemic.”
Coast Guard: 1,200-foot ship dragged California oil pipeline
By MATTHEW BROWN
By MATTHEW BROWN
today
In this Thursday, Oct 7, 2021 file photo, Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif. California's uneasy relationship with the oil industry is being tested again by the latest spill to foul beaches and kill birds and fish off Orange County. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Investigators believe a 1,200-foot (366-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor, months before a leak from the line fouled the Southern California coastline with crude.
A team of federal investigators trying to chase down the cause of the spill boarded the Panama-registered MSC DANIT just hours after the massive ship arrived this weekend off the Port of Long Beach, the same area where the leak was discovered in early October.
During a prior visit by the ship during a heavy storm in January, investigators believe its anchor dragged for an unknown distance before striking the 16-inch (40-centimeter) steel pipe, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. SondraKay Kneen said Sunday.
The impact would have knocked an inch-thick concrete casing off the pipe and pulled it more than 100 feet (30 meters), bending but not breaking the line, Kneen said.
Still undetermined is whether the impact caused the October leak, or if the line was hit by something else at a later date or failed due to a preexisting problem, Kneen said.
“We’re still looking at multiple vessels and scenarios,” she said.
The Coast Guard on Saturday designated the owner and operator as parties of interest in its investigation into the spill, estimated to have released about 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude into the water, killing birds, fish and mammals.
The accident just a few miles off Huntington Beach in Orange County fouled beaches and wetlands and led to temporary closures for cleanup work . While not as bad as initially feared, it has reignited the debate over offshore drilling in federal waters in the Pacific, where hundreds of miles of pipelines were installed decades ago.
The DANIT’s operator, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, is headquartered in Switzerland and has a fleet of 600 vessels and more than 100,000 workers, according to the company.
MSC representatives did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment. A security guard reached by telephone at the company’s headquarters in Geneva said it was closed until Monday.
The vessel’s owner, identified by the Coast Guard as Dordellas Finance Corporation, could not be reached for comment.
The DANIT arrived in Long Beach this weekend after voyaging from China, according to marine traffic monitoring websites.
The investigation into what caused the spill could lead to criminal charges or civil penalties, but none have been announced yet, and Kneen said the probe could continue for months.
Attorneys for MSC and Dordellas will have the chance to examine and cross-examine the government’s witnesses in the case and also to call their own witnesses, according to the Coast Guard. The investigation also includes the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies.
Kneen declined to say if any damage was found to an anchor on the DANIT after a team of at least five investigators spent much of Saturday aboard the ship.
At least two other vessels were previously boarded by investigators, who are examining logs kept by the ships’ captains, officers and engineers and voyage data recorders — equivalent to the so-called black box on airplanes.
In response to the new focus on the DANIT, the Houston-based owner of the damaged pipeline, Amplify Energy, thanked the Coast Guard for its continued work on the case.
Amplify representatives have not directly responded to questions about an hourslong delay between an alarm indicating a potential problem with the pipeline and the company reporting the leak to federal authorities.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Huntington Beach is in Orange County, not Los Angeles.
In this Thursday, Oct 7, 2021 file photo, Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif. California's uneasy relationship with the oil industry is being tested again by the latest spill to foul beaches and kill birds and fish off Orange County. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Investigators believe a 1,200-foot (366-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor, months before a leak from the line fouled the Southern California coastline with crude.
A team of federal investigators trying to chase down the cause of the spill boarded the Panama-registered MSC DANIT just hours after the massive ship arrived this weekend off the Port of Long Beach, the same area where the leak was discovered in early October.
During a prior visit by the ship during a heavy storm in January, investigators believe its anchor dragged for an unknown distance before striking the 16-inch (40-centimeter) steel pipe, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. SondraKay Kneen said Sunday.
The impact would have knocked an inch-thick concrete casing off the pipe and pulled it more than 100 feet (30 meters), bending but not breaking the line, Kneen said.
Still undetermined is whether the impact caused the October leak, or if the line was hit by something else at a later date or failed due to a preexisting problem, Kneen said.
“We’re still looking at multiple vessels and scenarios,” she said.
The Coast Guard on Saturday designated the owner and operator as parties of interest in its investigation into the spill, estimated to have released about 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude into the water, killing birds, fish and mammals.
The accident just a few miles off Huntington Beach in Orange County fouled beaches and wetlands and led to temporary closures for cleanup work . While not as bad as initially feared, it has reignited the debate over offshore drilling in federal waters in the Pacific, where hundreds of miles of pipelines were installed decades ago.
The DANIT’s operator, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, is headquartered in Switzerland and has a fleet of 600 vessels and more than 100,000 workers, according to the company.
MSC representatives did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment. A security guard reached by telephone at the company’s headquarters in Geneva said it was closed until Monday.
The vessel’s owner, identified by the Coast Guard as Dordellas Finance Corporation, could not be reached for comment.
The DANIT arrived in Long Beach this weekend after voyaging from China, according to marine traffic monitoring websites.
The investigation into what caused the spill could lead to criminal charges or civil penalties, but none have been announced yet, and Kneen said the probe could continue for months.
Attorneys for MSC and Dordellas will have the chance to examine and cross-examine the government’s witnesses in the case and also to call their own witnesses, according to the Coast Guard. The investigation also includes the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies.
Kneen declined to say if any damage was found to an anchor on the DANIT after a team of at least five investigators spent much of Saturday aboard the ship.
At least two other vessels were previously boarded by investigators, who are examining logs kept by the ships’ captains, officers and engineers and voyage data recorders — equivalent to the so-called black box on airplanes.
In response to the new focus on the DANIT, the Houston-based owner of the damaged pipeline, Amplify Energy, thanked the Coast Guard for its continued work on the case.
Amplify representatives have not directly responded to questions about an hourslong delay between an alarm indicating a potential problem with the pipeline and the company reporting the leak to federal authorities.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Huntington Beach is in Orange County, not Los Angeles.
REST IN POWER
Nun imprisoned over peace activism, Megan Rice, dies at 91
FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2012, file photo, Sister Megan Rice, center, and Michael Walli, in the background waving, are greeted by supporters as they arrive for a federal court appearance in Knoxville, Tenn., after being charged with sabotaging a government nuclear complex. Rice, who served two years in prison and was released when her original conviction was thrown out by a federal appeals court, died of congestive heart failure Oct. 10, 2021, at Holy Child Center in Rosemont, Pa. She was 91. (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP, File)
ROSEMONT, Penn. (AP) — Megan Rice, a nun and Catholic peace activist who spent two years in federal prison while in her 80s after breaking into a government security complex to protest nuclear weapons, has died. She was 91.
Rice died of congestive heart failure Oct. 10 at Holy Child Center in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, according to her order, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.
“Sister Megan lived her life with love full of action and zeal,” said Carroll Juliano, American Province Leader for the order. “Her commitment to build a peaceful and just world was unwavering and selfless.”
Rice was born in New York to activist parents who would meet with well-known Catholic writer Dorothy Day ( SAINT DOROTHY DAY FOUNDER OF THE CATHOLIC WORKERS ORG) during the Great Depression to craft solutions for societal problems, she said in a 2013 interview with the Catholic Agitator.
Her activism was also heavily influenced by her uncle, who spent four months in Nagasaki, Japan, after it and Hiroshima had been leveled by atomic bombs to hasten the end of World War II, bombings that Rice would later call the “greatest shame in history.”
While still a teenager, she entered the Society of the Holy Child of Jesus to become a nun. She made her final vows in 1955 and took on the religious name Mother Frederick Mary. Rice later earned degrees from Villanova and Boston University, where she earned a Master of Science.
She taught at elementary schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts for more than a decade before being assigned to work in Nigeria.
Rice spent 23 years in West Africa working as a teacher and pastoral guide. It was there that she started hearing about the plowshares movement, a reference to a Bible passage that refers to the end of all war: “They will beat their swords into ploughshares.”
When she returned to the U.S., Rice began her involvement in anti-nuclear activism.
“I felt drawn to the peace movement,” she said in the Catholic Agitator interview. “I felt very inspired by direct action on nuclear issues. My uncle was such a strong influence and he was still alive at that time.”
Court records show she already had been convicted four times for protest activities when she and two fellow Catholic peace activists, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2012.
The trio cut through several fences and and spent two hours outside a bunker storing much of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium, where they hung banners, prayed, hammered on the outside of the bunker and spray-painted peace slogans.
They were arrested and charged with felony sabotage. Federal prosecutors described Rice and her codefendants as “recidivists and habitual offenders” who would break the law again “as soon as they are physically capable of doing so,” according to court records
Rice’s attorneys sought leniency from U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar, arguing the nun’s devotion to Christian nonviolence posed little threat to the public. Rice wrote a letter to the judge asking him to follow his conscience.
But the judge was unmoved, telling the defendants their moral beliefs were “not a get out jail free card.” Rice was sentenced to three years in prison and Walli and Oertje-Obed each received more than five years.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the sabotage charge and the three were freed in May 2015 after serving two years. They were later resentenced to time already served on a lesser charge of injuring government property.
While testifying during her jury trial, Rice defended her decision to break into the Oak Ridge uranium facility as an attempt to stop “manufacturing that...can only cause death,” according to a trial transcript.
“I had to do it,” she said of her decision to break the law. “My guilt is that I waited 70 years to be able to speak what I knew in my conscience.”
Gambian Toufah Jallow tells of surviving rape by dictator
In this undated photograph provided Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 by the The Toufah Foundation, Toufah Jallow, Gambia's face of empowerment for generations of women, poses for a portrait. Jallow first became popular as Gambia’s scholarship winner in a contest for young women with academic promise. Now, she is the face of empowerment for a generations of women who, because of her, feel more emboldened to talk about sexual violence. (Toufah Foundation via AP)
By CARLEY PETESCH
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Toufah Jallow’s name resonates deeply in Gambia as one of the few women who has taken a public stand against sexual assault in the small West African state.
She gained fame at the age of 18 when she won a university scholarship in a national talent competition for young women. But in 2015 she fled Gambia, fearing for her life, after dictator Yahya Jammeh allegedly drugged and raped her, angry that she had turned down his marriage proposal.
She lived quietly in Canada, worried that Jammeh would persecute family members in Gambia. After Jammeh fell from power she later found the strength to go public with her story, despite Gambia’s culture of silence over sexual assault, she told The Associated Press.
The nation was riveted when she held a press conference to share her account via social media and in a human rights report in June 2019. She also testified months later to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Now, Jallow is telling her story in detail in a newly released memoir: “Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement.”
“In June 2015, Yahya Jammeh, then the president of The Gambia, raped me. He has never been charged. Never convicted ... He thought he would get away with it, tried to erase me. I thought I would never speak of it, that I would remain invisible. We were both wrong, because I am here, shining like the sunrise of the melanated coast,” she writes. “I am Toufah Jallow. This is my story.”
In the book, co-written with journalist Kim Pattaway, Jallow describes her journey from the daughter and granddaughter of women who in their own way pushed against the country’s patriarchy to the evening of her alleged rape and her tense escape and the resulting traumas and challenges.
Jallow said she wants to be a role model for others who have experienced sexual assault and to help them deal with it.
“I wanted to make my life as relatable to young girls as possible so (they see) that what I did is achievable (and) is not seen as a miracle,” she said. “It takes an ordinary girl who grew up in a village somewhere in The Gambia with a mother and with 20 siblings in a polygamous home.”
Coming from a humble background, Jallow was swept into a high-profile role because of her scholarship, attending many public events with then-president Jammeh. After receiving gifts from Jammeh, who was already married, and rejecting his proposal to become one of his wives, Jallow was lured to the president’s private quarters, where she says he drugged and raped her.
Jammeh hasn’t reacted, but his party has denied everything.
Jallow didn’t tell a soul in Gambia, fearing the worst for herself and her family. She knew there were hundreds of people who had been arrested for daring to question Jammeh.
Terrified, Jallow fled Gambia. She hid her identity by wearing a niqab (head-to-toe veil) so that state agents wouldn’t recognize her. She went to Senegal and with the help of trusted allies made it to Canada where she now lives.
For years, no one in Gambia knew what had happened to Jallow. She lived as a refugee in Canada, working odd jobs to support her classes.
“For the longest time ... I would always shove it aside,” she said of her trauma. But seeing statistics for sexual assault with so few being held accountable bothered her. “I have never felt more invisible,” she said of that period.
Speaking about sex and sexuality, “it’s just not done,” in Gambia, she said. There is not even a word for rape in her native Fula language, she explained to AP. Instead people use phrases like “Somebody fell on me.”
Jammeh lost elections and fled the country in 2017. Gambia then opened a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the reports of abuses and killings during his 22-year rule.
When Jallow came forward in 2019 about her assault, it unleashed a movement. More than 50,000 people were glued to social media when she first spoke. Women then marched holding banners saying “#IAmToufah” and there was an outpouring of others’ stories of rape.
Jallow speaking out was a “wind of change” in Gambia, said Marion Volkmann-Brandau, a women’s rights activist who helped guide Jallow and led the human rights investigation into sexual assault in Gambia that saw her come forward.
“There was this moment of support ... women coming out generally about rape and having a story to share showed they weren’t invisible anymore,” she said. “Gambians realized too how widespread the issue was.”
That hope, however, has unfortunately dwindled, Volkmann-Brandau said, as the legal system must be reformed in order to take sexual assault seriously.
But the groundwork has been laid and Jallow has started the Toufah Foundation, set up to help support of survivors of sexual assault in Gambia. Her goal is to have Gambia’s first fully functioning women’s shelter.
Her name is now used to discuss rape in communities once unable to talk about it.
She travels to Gambia often, while studying in Canada to be a counselor for women and children victims, and is also working on a documentary that follows survivors of sexual violence.
And if Jammeh returns to Gambia, Jallow says she will fly there to confront him.
“I feel like I am too visible to be invisible anymore,” she said. “I have faced the worst fear ... I have survived him physically.”
In this undated photograph provided Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 by the The Toufah Foundation, Toufah Jallow, Gambia's face of empowerment for generations of women, poses for a portrait. Jallow first became popular as Gambia’s scholarship winner in a contest for young women with academic promise. Now, she is the face of empowerment for a generations of women who, because of her, feel more emboldened to talk about sexual violence. (Toufah Foundation via AP)
By CARLEY PETESCH
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Toufah Jallow’s name resonates deeply in Gambia as one of the few women who has taken a public stand against sexual assault in the small West African state.
She gained fame at the age of 18 when she won a university scholarship in a national talent competition for young women. But in 2015 she fled Gambia, fearing for her life, after dictator Yahya Jammeh allegedly drugged and raped her, angry that she had turned down his marriage proposal.
She lived quietly in Canada, worried that Jammeh would persecute family members in Gambia. After Jammeh fell from power she later found the strength to go public with her story, despite Gambia’s culture of silence over sexual assault, she told The Associated Press.
The nation was riveted when she held a press conference to share her account via social media and in a human rights report in June 2019. She also testified months later to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Now, Jallow is telling her story in detail in a newly released memoir: “Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement.”
“In June 2015, Yahya Jammeh, then the president of The Gambia, raped me. He has never been charged. Never convicted ... He thought he would get away with it, tried to erase me. I thought I would never speak of it, that I would remain invisible. We were both wrong, because I am here, shining like the sunrise of the melanated coast,” she writes. “I am Toufah Jallow. This is my story.”
In the book, co-written with journalist Kim Pattaway, Jallow describes her journey from the daughter and granddaughter of women who in their own way pushed against the country’s patriarchy to the evening of her alleged rape and her tense escape and the resulting traumas and challenges.
Jallow said she wants to be a role model for others who have experienced sexual assault and to help them deal with it.
“I wanted to make my life as relatable to young girls as possible so (they see) that what I did is achievable (and) is not seen as a miracle,” she said. “It takes an ordinary girl who grew up in a village somewhere in The Gambia with a mother and with 20 siblings in a polygamous home.”
Coming from a humble background, Jallow was swept into a high-profile role because of her scholarship, attending many public events with then-president Jammeh. After receiving gifts from Jammeh, who was already married, and rejecting his proposal to become one of his wives, Jallow was lured to the president’s private quarters, where she says he drugged and raped her.
Jammeh hasn’t reacted, but his party has denied everything.
Jallow didn’t tell a soul in Gambia, fearing the worst for herself and her family. She knew there were hundreds of people who had been arrested for daring to question Jammeh.
Terrified, Jallow fled Gambia. She hid her identity by wearing a niqab (head-to-toe veil) so that state agents wouldn’t recognize her. She went to Senegal and with the help of trusted allies made it to Canada where she now lives.
For years, no one in Gambia knew what had happened to Jallow. She lived as a refugee in Canada, working odd jobs to support her classes.
“For the longest time ... I would always shove it aside,” she said of her trauma. But seeing statistics for sexual assault with so few being held accountable bothered her. “I have never felt more invisible,” she said of that period.
Speaking about sex and sexuality, “it’s just not done,” in Gambia, she said. There is not even a word for rape in her native Fula language, she explained to AP. Instead people use phrases like “Somebody fell on me.”
Jammeh lost elections and fled the country in 2017. Gambia then opened a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the reports of abuses and killings during his 22-year rule.
When Jallow came forward in 2019 about her assault, it unleashed a movement. More than 50,000 people were glued to social media when she first spoke. Women then marched holding banners saying “#IAmToufah” and there was an outpouring of others’ stories of rape.
Jallow speaking out was a “wind of change” in Gambia, said Marion Volkmann-Brandau, a women’s rights activist who helped guide Jallow and led the human rights investigation into sexual assault in Gambia that saw her come forward.
“There was this moment of support ... women coming out generally about rape and having a story to share showed they weren’t invisible anymore,” she said. “Gambians realized too how widespread the issue was.”
That hope, however, has unfortunately dwindled, Volkmann-Brandau said, as the legal system must be reformed in order to take sexual assault seriously.
But the groundwork has been laid and Jallow has started the Toufah Foundation, set up to help support of survivors of sexual assault in Gambia. Her goal is to have Gambia’s first fully functioning women’s shelter.
Her name is now used to discuss rape in communities once unable to talk about it.
She travels to Gambia often, while studying in Canada to be a counselor for women and children victims, and is also working on a documentary that follows survivors of sexual violence.
And if Jammeh returns to Gambia, Jallow says she will fly there to confront him.
“I feel like I am too visible to be invisible anymore,” she said. “I have faced the worst fear ... I have survived him physically.”
Commerce head out to save US jobs, 1 computer chip at a time
By JOSH BOAK
1 of 10
WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo only wears watches made by Bulova — a company that laid off her scientist father, closed its Rhode Island factory and moved production to China in 1983.
The watches give Raimondo, a former Rhode Island governor, a sense of mission as President Joe Biden’s de facto tech minister, a responsibility that is focused on adding the kinds of cutting-edge factory jobs that are now abroad.
“It’s been a tribute to my dad,” Raimondo said of her watch choices in an interview, “and a reminder to me that we need to do more to get good manufacturing jobs in America.”
Biden has tasked Raimondo with ensuring the United States will be the world leader in computer chips. America’s place atop the world as an economic and military power — as well as his political fortunes — might ride on her performance.
The computer chip has become the essential ingredient for autos, medical devices, phones, toys, washing machines, weapons and even some watches. But a global shortage is dragging on growth and fueling inflation. Without computer chips that serve as the switches for today’s economy, the United States could be eclipsed by China and other nations that support their semiconductor industries.
To end the shortage, Raimondo, 50, must bring back production of chips as well as solar panels and batteries on the premise that these sectors are key to prosperity. This means consulting semiconductor executives almost daily, following data on plant shutdowns in Asia, seeking additional government support for these industries and making her department something more than a generic envoy to business.
“If we do our job right, and I believe that we will, 10 years from now you’ll see a fundamentally more vibrant, larger and revitalized manufacturing industry,” Raimondo said. “It is a national security problem that we don’t make any leading edge semiconductors in America, that we don’t make enough solar panels in America, that we don’t make critical batteries in America. This leaves us vulnerable, not just economically.”
Raimondo’s tenure at Commerce has been high-profile for a department that some presidents have paid little heed.
The prior secretary was advertised as a killer negotiator, but Wilbur Ross was best known for falling asleep at events for President Donald Trump and trying to explain tariffs by holding up a soup can on TV. The Obama administration went a full year with only an acting secretary.
Raimondo bonded with Biden, who often quotes his own parents when pitching his policies. Political allies noted her own ambitions after she was interviewed last year as Biden’s prospective running mate. The Commerce Department could be the stepping stone in a Democratic Party increasingly shaped by college-educated women.
“She is someone, like the president, who knows the pain a job loss has on a family, and has never forgotten where she comes from and the real impact economic and trade policies have on real people,” said White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
Rhode Island contains grand Newport mansions that once belonged to America’s wealthiest families and the factories that drew Italian immigrants such as Raimondo’s grandparents. This mix of size and breadth of social class gives its politics an unusual intimacy.
Joseph Raimondo lost his chemist job at the Bulova plant when his youngest child was in sixth grade. His daughter’s admirers and even some detractors say that formative event made her competitive and as meticulously detail-oriented as a watchmaker.
She has been known to email staff on policy ideas as late as midnight and as early as 6 a.m. Tech CEOs say she works like them: direct, focused, full of questions.
Rhode Island was still a manufacturing state when Raimondo left for college in 1989. More than 20% of the state’s jobs were in manufacturing then; now only 8% are, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Raimondo’s story is a microcosm of the the American economy, which emerged from World War II with its manufacturing might intact. But lower wages overseas siphoned off factory jobs and the economy was reengineered for college graduates and a digital age.
The smartest or luckiest children of former steelworkers and autoworkers got degrees from the best universities, as did Raimondo.
Like so many of her generation who witnessed America’s industrial decline through family experiences, Raimondo labored to be part of the meritocracy. She clerked for a federal judge and became a venture capitalist, while marrying a similarly pedigreed husband, Andy Moffit. Federal ethics disclosures peg her wealth at as much as $10 million.
Raimondo has long been interested in the finer details of what makes people and systems tick. Bob Walsh, executive director of Rhode Island’s leading teachers union and a former banker, recalls getting quizzed by Raimondo over lunch.
“Why do you do what you do?” Raimondo asked him. “You could make much more money doing something else.”
Before winning her first term as governor in 2014, Raimondo took controversial steps as state treasurer to shore up Rhode Island’s strained public pension fund. This meant bucking the teachers union to raise the retirement age and suspend cost of living adjustments. Many unions opposed her in the primary. But Walsh backed her personally in the general election and provided an organizational endorsement for her 2018 reelection.
In overwhelmingly Democratic Rhode Island, Raimondo learned to govern by building coalitions within a diverse caucus. State Sen. Sam Bell, one of Raimondo’s top Democratic opponents, said she was “brilliant and effective” — but in ways that he believes gutted Medicaid and other services for the poor.
Now, Raimondo’s ability to parse numbers to explain policy comes into play on multiple fronts as she pushes Biden’s infrastructure deal, addresses clogged supply lines and promotes the $52 billion CHIPS Act to increase computer chip manufacturing and research.
“She is powerful in presenting data,” Walsh said. “Her ability to make a strong presentation and understand the multiplicity of issues can once again be an advantage.”
For much of her lifetime, the key to economic growth was efficiency — payrolls held in check and inventories kept to just-in-time lest any excess supplies reduce profits.
Then the pandemic disrupted chip production right when demand was increasing as people working from home became more dependent on their electronics. The fragile supply chain also took hits from extreme weather and other factors.
“If ships stop running, then all those efficient supply chains fall apart very, very quickly,” said Revathi Advaithi, who talks frequently to Raimondo as CEO of Flex, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturer services companies. “The pandemic is just one part of it. Our view is that this has been coming about for a long time.”
The United States now needs a more diverse network of manufacturers closer to home to avoid shutdowns and minimize the damage from disasters. It needs fail-safes that make it easier for factories to restart after being shut. That also means it needs more high-tech manufacturing jobs.
Raimondo anticipates the computer chip shortage will last well into next year — and hurt. The White House noted in a September report that the shortage could lop a full percentage point off economic growth this year.
“We all probably underestimated how disruptive COVID is to our supply chains,” Raimondo said. “We just abruptly shut down our economy. Automakers just stopped ordering semiconductors.”
The United States once accounted for 40% of chip-making worldwide; now it’s 12%. The cost of making a chip in the United States is 30% higher than in Taiwan and South Korea. A chipmaker must spend tens of millions of dollars on a prototype before seeing any revenue, a barrier for start-ups.
For the trappings of a technocrat, Raimondo is making choices on personal terms. When Biden interviewed her for Commerce, he knew about her father. The move to Washington seemed a natural fit, but Raimondo worried about uprooting her teenage children, Cecilia and Thompson.
Her brother’s advice: Take the job. For their father.
By JOSH BOAK
1 of 10
In this Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, photo Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo poses for a photograph with her Bulova watch. Raimondo only wears watches made by Bulova — a company that fired her scientist father, closed its Rhode Island factory and moved production to China in 1983. “It’s been a tribute to my dad," Raimondo said in an interview, “and a reminder to me that we need to do more to get good manufacturing jobs in America.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo only wears watches made by Bulova — a company that laid off her scientist father, closed its Rhode Island factory and moved production to China in 1983.
The watches give Raimondo, a former Rhode Island governor, a sense of mission as President Joe Biden’s de facto tech minister, a responsibility that is focused on adding the kinds of cutting-edge factory jobs that are now abroad.
“It’s been a tribute to my dad,” Raimondo said of her watch choices in an interview, “and a reminder to me that we need to do more to get good manufacturing jobs in America.”
Biden has tasked Raimondo with ensuring the United States will be the world leader in computer chips. America’s place atop the world as an economic and military power — as well as his political fortunes — might ride on her performance.
The computer chip has become the essential ingredient for autos, medical devices, phones, toys, washing machines, weapons and even some watches. But a global shortage is dragging on growth and fueling inflation. Without computer chips that serve as the switches for today’s economy, the United States could be eclipsed by China and other nations that support their semiconductor industries.
To end the shortage, Raimondo, 50, must bring back production of chips as well as solar panels and batteries on the premise that these sectors are key to prosperity. This means consulting semiconductor executives almost daily, following data on plant shutdowns in Asia, seeking additional government support for these industries and making her department something more than a generic envoy to business.
“If we do our job right, and I believe that we will, 10 years from now you’ll see a fundamentally more vibrant, larger and revitalized manufacturing industry,” Raimondo said. “It is a national security problem that we don’t make any leading edge semiconductors in America, that we don’t make enough solar panels in America, that we don’t make critical batteries in America. This leaves us vulnerable, not just economically.”
Raimondo’s tenure at Commerce has been high-profile for a department that some presidents have paid little heed.
The prior secretary was advertised as a killer negotiator, but Wilbur Ross was best known for falling asleep at events for President Donald Trump and trying to explain tariffs by holding up a soup can on TV. The Obama administration went a full year with only an acting secretary.
Raimondo bonded with Biden, who often quotes his own parents when pitching his policies. Political allies noted her own ambitions after she was interviewed last year as Biden’s prospective running mate. The Commerce Department could be the stepping stone in a Democratic Party increasingly shaped by college-educated women.
“She is someone, like the president, who knows the pain a job loss has on a family, and has never forgotten where she comes from and the real impact economic and trade policies have on real people,” said White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
Rhode Island contains grand Newport mansions that once belonged to America’s wealthiest families and the factories that drew Italian immigrants such as Raimondo’s grandparents. This mix of size and breadth of social class gives its politics an unusual intimacy.
Joseph Raimondo lost his chemist job at the Bulova plant when his youngest child was in sixth grade. His daughter’s admirers and even some detractors say that formative event made her competitive and as meticulously detail-oriented as a watchmaker.
She has been known to email staff on policy ideas as late as midnight and as early as 6 a.m. Tech CEOs say she works like them: direct, focused, full of questions.
Rhode Island was still a manufacturing state when Raimondo left for college in 1989. More than 20% of the state’s jobs were in manufacturing then; now only 8% are, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Raimondo’s story is a microcosm of the the American economy, which emerged from World War II with its manufacturing might intact. But lower wages overseas siphoned off factory jobs and the economy was reengineered for college graduates and a digital age.
The smartest or luckiest children of former steelworkers and autoworkers got degrees from the best universities, as did Raimondo.
Like so many of her generation who witnessed America’s industrial decline through family experiences, Raimondo labored to be part of the meritocracy. She clerked for a federal judge and became a venture capitalist, while marrying a similarly pedigreed husband, Andy Moffit. Federal ethics disclosures peg her wealth at as much as $10 million.
Raimondo has long been interested in the finer details of what makes people and systems tick. Bob Walsh, executive director of Rhode Island’s leading teachers union and a former banker, recalls getting quizzed by Raimondo over lunch.
“Why do you do what you do?” Raimondo asked him. “You could make much more money doing something else.”
Before winning her first term as governor in 2014, Raimondo took controversial steps as state treasurer to shore up Rhode Island’s strained public pension fund. This meant bucking the teachers union to raise the retirement age and suspend cost of living adjustments. Many unions opposed her in the primary. But Walsh backed her personally in the general election and provided an organizational endorsement for her 2018 reelection.
In overwhelmingly Democratic Rhode Island, Raimondo learned to govern by building coalitions within a diverse caucus. State Sen. Sam Bell, one of Raimondo’s top Democratic opponents, said she was “brilliant and effective” — but in ways that he believes gutted Medicaid and other services for the poor.
Now, Raimondo’s ability to parse numbers to explain policy comes into play on multiple fronts as she pushes Biden’s infrastructure deal, addresses clogged supply lines and promotes the $52 billion CHIPS Act to increase computer chip manufacturing and research.
“She is powerful in presenting data,” Walsh said. “Her ability to make a strong presentation and understand the multiplicity of issues can once again be an advantage.”
For much of her lifetime, the key to economic growth was efficiency — payrolls held in check and inventories kept to just-in-time lest any excess supplies reduce profits.
Then the pandemic disrupted chip production right when demand was increasing as people working from home became more dependent on their electronics. The fragile supply chain also took hits from extreme weather and other factors.
“If ships stop running, then all those efficient supply chains fall apart very, very quickly,” said Revathi Advaithi, who talks frequently to Raimondo as CEO of Flex, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturer services companies. “The pandemic is just one part of it. Our view is that this has been coming about for a long time.”
The United States now needs a more diverse network of manufacturers closer to home to avoid shutdowns and minimize the damage from disasters. It needs fail-safes that make it easier for factories to restart after being shut. That also means it needs more high-tech manufacturing jobs.
Raimondo anticipates the computer chip shortage will last well into next year — and hurt. The White House noted in a September report that the shortage could lop a full percentage point off economic growth this year.
“We all probably underestimated how disruptive COVID is to our supply chains,” Raimondo said. “We just abruptly shut down our economy. Automakers just stopped ordering semiconductors.”
The United States once accounted for 40% of chip-making worldwide; now it’s 12%. The cost of making a chip in the United States is 30% higher than in Taiwan and South Korea. A chipmaker must spend tens of millions of dollars on a prototype before seeing any revenue, a barrier for start-ups.
For the trappings of a technocrat, Raimondo is making choices on personal terms. When Biden interviewed her for Commerce, he knew about her father. The move to Washington seemed a natural fit, but Raimondo worried about uprooting her teenage children, Cecilia and Thompson.
Her brother’s advice: Take the job. For their father.
Vaccines, masks? Japan puzzling over sudden virus success
1 of 5
TOKYO (AP) — Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.
Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low.
The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop.
Japan, unlike other places in Europe and Asia, has never had anything close to a lockdown, just a series of relatively toothless states of emergency.
Some possible factors in Japan’s success include a belated but remarkably rapid vaccination campaign, an emptying out of many nightlife areas as fears spread during the recent surge in cases, a widespread practice, well before the pandemic, of wearing masks and bad weather in late August that kept people home.
But with vaccine efficacy gradually waning and winter approaching, experts worry that without knowing what exactly why cases have dropped so drastically, Japan could face another wave like this summer, when hospitals overflowed with serious cases and deaths soared — though the numbers were lower than pre-vaccination levels.
Many credit the vaccination campaign, especially among younger people, for bringing infections down. Nearly 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
“Rapid and intensive vaccinations in Japan among those younger than 64 might have created a temporary condition similar to herd-immunity,” said Dr. Kazuhiro Tateda, a Toho University professor of virology.
Tateda noted that vaccination rates surged in July to September, just as the more infectious delta variant was spreading fast.
He cautioned, however, that breakthrough infections in the U.S., Britain and other places where inoculations began months earlier than in Japan show that vaccines alone are not perfect and efficacy gradually wears off.
Japan’s vaccinations started in mid-February, with health workers and the elderly first in line. Shortages of imported vaccines kept progress slow until late May, when the supply stabilized and daily inoculation targets were raised to above 1 million doses to maximize protection before the July 23-Aug. 8 Olympics.
The number of daily shots rose to about 1.5 million in July, pushing vaccination rates from 15% in early July to 65% by early October, exceeding the 57% of the United States.
Daily new cases surged just weeks ahead of the Olympics, forcing Japan to hold the Games with daily caseloads of more than 5,000 in Tokyo and around 20,000 nationwide in early August. Tokyo reported 40 cases Sunday, below 100 for the ninth straight day and lowest this year. Nationwide, Japan reported 429 cases Sunday for an accumulated total of about 1.71 million and 18,000 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.
So why the drop?
“It’s a tough question, and we have to consider the effect of the vaccinations progress, which is extremely big,” said Disease Control and Prevention Center Director Norio Ohmagari. “At the same time, people who gather in high-risk environments, such as crowded and less-ventilated places, may have been already infected and acquired natural immunity by now.”
Though some speculated that the drop in cases might be due to less testing, Tokyo metropolitan government data showed the positivity rate fell from 25% in late August to 1% in mid-October, while the number of tests fell by one-third. Masataka Inokuchi, the Tokyo Medical Association deputy chief, said falling positivity rates show infections have slowed.
Japan’s state of emergency measures were not lockdowns but requests that focused mainly on bars and eateries, which were asked to close early and not serve alcohol. Many people continued to commute on crowded trains, and attended sports and cultural events at stadiums with some social distancing controls.
The emergency requests have ended and the government is gradually expanding social and economic activity while allowing athletic events and package tours on a trial basis using vaccination certificates and increased testing.
To speed up inoculations, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who left office recently, expanded the number of health workers legally eligible to give shots, opened large-scale vaccination centers and promoted workplace vaccinations beginning in late June.
Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura told a recent government advisory board meeting that he estimates vaccinations helped some 650,000 people avoid infection and saved more than 7,200 lives between March and September.
Many experts initially blamed younger people, seen drinking on the streets and in parks when the bars were closed, for spreading the virus, but said data showed many in their 40s and 50s also frequented nightlife districts. Most serious cases and deaths were among unvaccinated people in their 50s or younger.
Takaji Wakita, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told reporters recently he is worried people have already resumed partying in nightlife districts, noting that the slowing of infections may have already hit bottom.
“Looking ahead, it is important to further push down the caseloads in case of a future resurgence of infections,” Wakita said Thursday.
On Friday, new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said a preparedness plan to be compiled by early November would include tougher limits on activities and require hospitals to provide more beds and staff for COVID-19 treatment in case infections soar in a “worst-case scenario.”
He did not elaborate on details.
Many people are cautious about letting down their guard, regardless of the numbers.
Mask-wearing “has become so normal,” said university student Mizuki Kawano. “I’m still worried about the virus,” she said.
“I don’t want to get close to those who don’t wear masks,” said her friend, Alice Kawaguchi.
Public health experts want a comprehensive investigation into why infections have dropped off.
An analysis of GPS data showed that people’s movements in major downtown entertainment districts fell during the most recent, third state of emergency, which ended Sept. 30.
“I believe the decrease of people visiting entertainment districts, along with the vaccination progress, has contributed to the decline of infections,” said Atsushi Nishida, the director of the Research Center for Social Science & Medicine Sciences at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science.
But people headed back to entertainment districts as soon as the recent emergency ended, he said, and that may “affect the infection situation in coming weeks.”
___
AP journalist Chisato Tanaka contributed to this report.
Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
1 of 5
FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2021, file photo, people walk through the famed Kabukicho entertainment district of Tokyo on the first night of the government's lifting of a coronavirus state of emergency. Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story. Case numbers are way down, but experts worry that without knowing how exactly it cut cases so drastically, the nation may be in store for another devastating wave like during the summer.
(AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
TOKYO (AP) — Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.
Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low.
The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop.
Japan, unlike other places in Europe and Asia, has never had anything close to a lockdown, just a series of relatively toothless states of emergency.
Some possible factors in Japan’s success include a belated but remarkably rapid vaccination campaign, an emptying out of many nightlife areas as fears spread during the recent surge in cases, a widespread practice, well before the pandemic, of wearing masks and bad weather in late August that kept people home.
But with vaccine efficacy gradually waning and winter approaching, experts worry that without knowing what exactly why cases have dropped so drastically, Japan could face another wave like this summer, when hospitals overflowed with serious cases and deaths soared — though the numbers were lower than pre-vaccination levels.
Many credit the vaccination campaign, especially among younger people, for bringing infections down. Nearly 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
“Rapid and intensive vaccinations in Japan among those younger than 64 might have created a temporary condition similar to herd-immunity,” said Dr. Kazuhiro Tateda, a Toho University professor of virology.
Tateda noted that vaccination rates surged in July to September, just as the more infectious delta variant was spreading fast.
He cautioned, however, that breakthrough infections in the U.S., Britain and other places where inoculations began months earlier than in Japan show that vaccines alone are not perfect and efficacy gradually wears off.
Japan’s vaccinations started in mid-February, with health workers and the elderly first in line. Shortages of imported vaccines kept progress slow until late May, when the supply stabilized and daily inoculation targets were raised to above 1 million doses to maximize protection before the July 23-Aug. 8 Olympics.
The number of daily shots rose to about 1.5 million in July, pushing vaccination rates from 15% in early July to 65% by early October, exceeding the 57% of the United States.
Daily new cases surged just weeks ahead of the Olympics, forcing Japan to hold the Games with daily caseloads of more than 5,000 in Tokyo and around 20,000 nationwide in early August. Tokyo reported 40 cases Sunday, below 100 for the ninth straight day and lowest this year. Nationwide, Japan reported 429 cases Sunday for an accumulated total of about 1.71 million and 18,000 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.
So why the drop?
“It’s a tough question, and we have to consider the effect of the vaccinations progress, which is extremely big,” said Disease Control and Prevention Center Director Norio Ohmagari. “At the same time, people who gather in high-risk environments, such as crowded and less-ventilated places, may have been already infected and acquired natural immunity by now.”
Though some speculated that the drop in cases might be due to less testing, Tokyo metropolitan government data showed the positivity rate fell from 25% in late August to 1% in mid-October, while the number of tests fell by one-third. Masataka Inokuchi, the Tokyo Medical Association deputy chief, said falling positivity rates show infections have slowed.
Japan’s state of emergency measures were not lockdowns but requests that focused mainly on bars and eateries, which were asked to close early and not serve alcohol. Many people continued to commute on crowded trains, and attended sports and cultural events at stadiums with some social distancing controls.
The emergency requests have ended and the government is gradually expanding social and economic activity while allowing athletic events and package tours on a trial basis using vaccination certificates and increased testing.
To speed up inoculations, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who left office recently, expanded the number of health workers legally eligible to give shots, opened large-scale vaccination centers and promoted workplace vaccinations beginning in late June.
Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura told a recent government advisory board meeting that he estimates vaccinations helped some 650,000 people avoid infection and saved more than 7,200 lives between March and September.
Many experts initially blamed younger people, seen drinking on the streets and in parks when the bars were closed, for spreading the virus, but said data showed many in their 40s and 50s also frequented nightlife districts. Most serious cases and deaths were among unvaccinated people in their 50s or younger.
Takaji Wakita, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told reporters recently he is worried people have already resumed partying in nightlife districts, noting that the slowing of infections may have already hit bottom.
“Looking ahead, it is important to further push down the caseloads in case of a future resurgence of infections,” Wakita said Thursday.
On Friday, new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said a preparedness plan to be compiled by early November would include tougher limits on activities and require hospitals to provide more beds and staff for COVID-19 treatment in case infections soar in a “worst-case scenario.”
He did not elaborate on details.
Many people are cautious about letting down their guard, regardless of the numbers.
Mask-wearing “has become so normal,” said university student Mizuki Kawano. “I’m still worried about the virus,” she said.
“I don’t want to get close to those who don’t wear masks,” said her friend, Alice Kawaguchi.
Public health experts want a comprehensive investigation into why infections have dropped off.
An analysis of GPS data showed that people’s movements in major downtown entertainment districts fell during the most recent, third state of emergency, which ended Sept. 30.
“I believe the decrease of people visiting entertainment districts, along with the vaccination progress, has contributed to the decline of infections,” said Atsushi Nishida, the director of the Research Center for Social Science & Medicine Sciences at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science.
But people headed back to entertainment districts as soon as the recent emergency ended, he said, and that may “affect the infection situation in coming weeks.”
___
AP journalist Chisato Tanaka contributed to this report.
Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Afghanistan's last Jew departs for Israel after granting wife divorce
Zabulon Simantov is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days after fleeing Afghanistan via the US due to the Taliban takeover of his home country.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
OCTOBER 17, 2021
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, Chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (L),
Zabulon Simantov is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days after fleeing Afghanistan via the US due to the Taliban takeover of his home country.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
OCTOBER 17, 2021
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, Chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (L),
with Afghanistan's last Jew, Zabulon Simantov (R).
(photo credit: YEHUDA CHITRIK)
The last remaining Jew in Afghanistan, Zabulon Simantov, is on his way to Israel after leaving his home due to the complete takeover of the country by the Taliban, after the group installed its own government in Kabul in late August.
"On the way to Israel: Zebulun Siman Tov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, who fled recently after the Taliban takeover, is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days," KAN 11's Arab Affairs Correspondent Roi Kias tweeted."
Simantov had said earlier in an interview with Indian news network WION that he wished to stay in Afghanistan in order to maintain his synagogue, but reports noted that his decision may have been connected to his refusal to grant his estranged Israeli wife a get, or Jewish divorce.
Israeli-American businessman Mordechai "Moti" Kahana had offered to charter a flight to transport Simantov to Israel, and Simantov accepted but changed his mind at the last minute.
In September, Simantov left for the United States, citing concerns about the terrorism threat posed by groups such as ISIS-K, which has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Afghanistan.
Zabulon Simantov is greeted by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik at the arrivals gate at an airport in Turkey. Credit: Yehuda Chitrik
The last remaining Jew in Afghanistan, Zabulon Simantov, is on his way to Israel after leaving his home due to the complete takeover of the country by the Taliban, after the group installed its own government in Kabul in late August.
"On the way to Israel: Zebulun Siman Tov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, who fled recently after the Taliban takeover, is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days," KAN 11's Arab Affairs Correspondent Roi Kias tweeted."
Simantov had said earlier in an interview with Indian news network WION that he wished to stay in Afghanistan in order to maintain his synagogue, but reports noted that his decision may have been connected to his refusal to grant his estranged Israeli wife a get, or Jewish divorce.
Israeli-American businessman Mordechai "Moti" Kahana had offered to charter a flight to transport Simantov to Israel, and Simantov accepted but changed his mind at the last minute.
In September, Simantov left for the United States, citing concerns about the terrorism threat posed by groups such as ISIS-K, which has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Afghanistan.
Zabulon Simantov is greeted by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik at the arrivals gate at an airport in Turkey. Credit: Yehuda Chitrik
Zabulon Simantov (bottom, far right) participates in the get proceedings over Zoom.
(credit: Rabbi Mendy Chitrik)
The rabbis who helped facilitate Simantov's departure required as a precondition that he grant his wife her divorce, to which he agreed.
Kahana and Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, Chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in the Islamic States, organized the get proceedings. Signing a harasha, a Jewish legal document similar to a power of attorney, which was translated to Pashto, Simantov authorized the Beit Din (Jewish court) of Sydney, Australia to send the get to another Beit Din in Israel, finalizing the divorce.
The rabbis who helped facilitate Simantov's departure required as a precondition that he grant his wife her divorce, to which he agreed.
Kahana and Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, Chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in the Islamic States, organized the get proceedings. Signing a harasha, a Jewish legal document similar to a power of attorney, which was translated to Pashto, Simantov authorized the Beit Din (Jewish court) of Sydney, Australia to send the get to another Beit Din in Israel, finalizing the divorce.
Rescuers: Last Jew of Kabul making his way to Israel
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
In this Aug. 29, 2009 file photo, Zebulon Simentov, the last known Jew living in Afghanistan, sits in his Kabul home. Simentov could soon be heading to Israel, after agreeing to grant his estranged wife a religious divorce in a Zoom call — a precondition for entry to the Holy Land. Simentov, who fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover, landed Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 in Turkey on what his rescuers say is a final stop before landing in Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The man known as the last Jew of Kabul could soon be heading to Israel, after agreeing to grant his estranged wife a religious divorce in a Zoom call — a precondition for smooth entry to the Holy Land.
Zebulon Simentov, who fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover, landed Sunday in Turkey on what his rescuers say is a final stop before traveling to Israel, perhaps as soon as this week.
It caps a weekslong odyssey that included an escape from his homeland as well as a videoconference divorce procedure meant to ensure he will not run into trouble with Israeli authorities.
Under Jewish religious law, a husband must agree to grant his wife a divorce, something he had refused to do for many years. Facing the prospect of legal action in Israel, where his ex-wife lives, Simentov, after resisting for years, finally agreed to the divorce last month in a special Zoom call supervised by Australian rabbinical authorities.
The Associated Press viewed part of the proceeding. During the sometimes chaotic discussion, conducted through an interpreter who struggled to explain the procedure, Simentov agrees to sign a divorce document known as a “get” after receiving assurances that he will not face trouble in Israel.
Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, whose nonprofit group Tzedek Association funded the journey, said Simentov had spent the last few weeks living quietly in Pakistan, an Islamic country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
He said his group had looked into bringing Simentov to the U.S. but decided that Israel was a better destination both because of difficulties in arranging a U.S. entry visa and because Simentov has many relatives, including five siblings and two daughters, already in Israel.
“We are relieved we were successful in helping Zebulon Simentov escape from Afghanistan and now into safety in Turkey,” said Margaretten, whose group has helped evacuate several dozen other people from Afghanistan. “Zebulon’s life was in danger in Afghanistan.”
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, greeted Simentov at the airport in Istanbul on Sunday.
He said he had an appointment to take Simentov to the Israeli consulate on Monday to arrange his entry to Israel. Under Israel’s “Law of Return,” any Jew is entitled to Israeli citizenship.
Chitrik said he had been working with Margaretten and other volunteers for several months to get Simentov out of Afghanistan. “I’m happy this issue is finally coming to rest,” he said.
How long that will take remains unclear. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was unaware of the request and Simentov could also be delayed by coronavirus protocols restricting entry to Israel.
Simentov, who lived in a dilapidated synagogue in Kabul, kept kosher and prayed in Hebrew, endured decades of war as the country’s centuries-old Jewish community rapidly dwindled. But the Taliban takeover in August seems to have been the last straw.
Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who runs a private firm that organized the evacuation on behalf of Margaretten, told The Associated Press last month that Simentov was not worried about the Taliban because he had lived under their rule before. He said that threats of the more radical Islamic State group and pressure from neighbors who were rescued with him had helped persuade him to leave.
Hebrew manuscripts found in caves in northern Afghanistan indicate a thriving Jewish community existed there at least 1,000 years ago. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan was home to some 40,000 Jews, many of them Persian Jews who had fled forced conversion in neighboring Iran. The community’s decline began with an exodus to Israel after its creation in 1948.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2009, Simentov said the last Jewish families left after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
For several years he shared the synagogue building with the country’s only other Jew, Isaak Levi, but they despised each other and feuded during the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
At one point, Levi accused Simentov of theft and spying and Simentov countered by accusing Levi of renting rooms to prostitutes, an allegation he denied, The New York Times reported in 2002. The Taliban arrested both men and beat them, and they confiscated the synagogue’s ancient Torah scroll, which went missing after the Taliban were driven from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
When his 80-year-old housemate died in 2005, Simentov said he was happy to be rid of him.
Reporters who visited Simentov over the years — and paid the exorbitant fees he charged for interviews — found a portly man fond of whiskey, who kept a pet partridge and watched Afghan TV. He observed Jewish dietary restrictions and ran a kebab shop.
Born in the western city of Herat in 1959, he always insisted Afghanistan was home.
The Taliban, like other Islamic militant groups, are hostile to Israel but tolerated the country’s miniscule Jewish community during their previous reign.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
In this Aug. 29, 2009 file photo, Zebulon Simentov, the last known Jew living in Afghanistan, sits in his Kabul home. Simentov could soon be heading to Israel, after agreeing to grant his estranged wife a religious divorce in a Zoom call — a precondition for entry to the Holy Land. Simentov, who fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover, landed Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 in Turkey on what his rescuers say is a final stop before landing in Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The man known as the last Jew of Kabul could soon be heading to Israel, after agreeing to grant his estranged wife a religious divorce in a Zoom call — a precondition for smooth entry to the Holy Land.
Zebulon Simentov, who fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover, landed Sunday in Turkey on what his rescuers say is a final stop before traveling to Israel, perhaps as soon as this week.
It caps a weekslong odyssey that included an escape from his homeland as well as a videoconference divorce procedure meant to ensure he will not run into trouble with Israeli authorities.
Under Jewish religious law, a husband must agree to grant his wife a divorce, something he had refused to do for many years. Facing the prospect of legal action in Israel, where his ex-wife lives, Simentov, after resisting for years, finally agreed to the divorce last month in a special Zoom call supervised by Australian rabbinical authorities.
The Associated Press viewed part of the proceeding. During the sometimes chaotic discussion, conducted through an interpreter who struggled to explain the procedure, Simentov agrees to sign a divorce document known as a “get” after receiving assurances that he will not face trouble in Israel.
Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, whose nonprofit group Tzedek Association funded the journey, said Simentov had spent the last few weeks living quietly in Pakistan, an Islamic country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
He said his group had looked into bringing Simentov to the U.S. but decided that Israel was a better destination both because of difficulties in arranging a U.S. entry visa and because Simentov has many relatives, including five siblings and two daughters, already in Israel.
“We are relieved we were successful in helping Zebulon Simentov escape from Afghanistan and now into safety in Turkey,” said Margaretten, whose group has helped evacuate several dozen other people from Afghanistan. “Zebulon’s life was in danger in Afghanistan.”
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, greeted Simentov at the airport in Istanbul on Sunday.
He said he had an appointment to take Simentov to the Israeli consulate on Monday to arrange his entry to Israel. Under Israel’s “Law of Return,” any Jew is entitled to Israeli citizenship.
Chitrik said he had been working with Margaretten and other volunteers for several months to get Simentov out of Afghanistan. “I’m happy this issue is finally coming to rest,” he said.
How long that will take remains unclear. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was unaware of the request and Simentov could also be delayed by coronavirus protocols restricting entry to Israel.
Simentov, who lived in a dilapidated synagogue in Kabul, kept kosher and prayed in Hebrew, endured decades of war as the country’s centuries-old Jewish community rapidly dwindled. But the Taliban takeover in August seems to have been the last straw.
Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who runs a private firm that organized the evacuation on behalf of Margaretten, told The Associated Press last month that Simentov was not worried about the Taliban because he had lived under their rule before. He said that threats of the more radical Islamic State group and pressure from neighbors who were rescued with him had helped persuade him to leave.
Hebrew manuscripts found in caves in northern Afghanistan indicate a thriving Jewish community existed there at least 1,000 years ago. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan was home to some 40,000 Jews, many of them Persian Jews who had fled forced conversion in neighboring Iran. The community’s decline began with an exodus to Israel after its creation in 1948.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2009, Simentov said the last Jewish families left after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
For several years he shared the synagogue building with the country’s only other Jew, Isaak Levi, but they despised each other and feuded during the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
At one point, Levi accused Simentov of theft and spying and Simentov countered by accusing Levi of renting rooms to prostitutes, an allegation he denied, The New York Times reported in 2002. The Taliban arrested both men and beat them, and they confiscated the synagogue’s ancient Torah scroll, which went missing after the Taliban were driven from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
When his 80-year-old housemate died in 2005, Simentov said he was happy to be rid of him.
Reporters who visited Simentov over the years — and paid the exorbitant fees he charged for interviews — found a portly man fond of whiskey, who kept a pet partridge and watched Afghan TV. He observed Jewish dietary restrictions and ran a kebab shop.
Born in the western city of Herat in 1959, he always insisted Afghanistan was home.
The Taliban, like other Islamic militant groups, are hostile to Israel but tolerated the country’s miniscule Jewish community during their previous reign.
How Leonard Cohen mined sacred texts for lyrics to his songs
New book reveals extent of the musician’s fascination with scriptures of Judaism and Christianity
There is a reference in the song to Samson, who loses his strength when his hair is cut by his lover Delilah, because – like Samson – David’s troubles begin when he can’t control himself around a woman. “I think Cohen is opening himself up in his songs. I think he’s trying to say: love can be wonderful. And love can be terrible. It can go horribly wrong and ruin your life.”
Cohen suffered from depression and, Freedman believes, would have identified strongly with David, a fellow musician. “David messed up. David’s kingdom was destroyed. And yet he sang Hallelujah. Because when you don’t know how to make sense of anything, when you’ve failed, when things go wrong, all you can do is sing Hallelujah. All you are left with is ‘praise God’. It’s a very religious idea.”
For Cohen, there is no conflict between popular culture and profound thinking, and no difference between Judaism and Christianity, says Freedman. “He sees them as all part of the same thing.” Sex and religion are also often closely intertwined in his songs: “In the Kabbalah, sex and procreation are holy acts. They symbolise the union of human and divine.” In one version of Hallelujah Cohen wrote, the narrator recalls: “I moved in you, and the holy dove she was moving too, and every single breath we drew was Hallelujah.”
New book reveals extent of the musician’s fascination with scriptures of Judaism and Christianity
Leonard Cohen in New York in 1968. He was deeply learned about Judaism and Christianity. Photograph: Roz Kelly/Getty
Donna Ferguson
Donna Ferguson
BBC
Sun 17 Oct 2021
“She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah...” No one hearing these lyrics from the song Hallelujah could doubt that Leonard Cohen knew how to write and sing about love, sex and desire. But fans of his music could be forgiven for not realising exactly what he was trying to convey about religion and the intricate references he was making to biblical stories, Talmudic legends and the Mishnah, a third-century Jewish text.
Now, an analysis of Cohen’s work sets out to reveal how extensively the revered songwriter used both Christian and Jewish stories and imagery to express ideas in his songs.
The book, Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius, explores the many different spiritual sources and the religious folklore the musician was drawing upon when he wrote masterpieces like Hallelujah, Suzanne and So Long, Marianne.
Sun 17 Oct 2021
“She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah...” No one hearing these lyrics from the song Hallelujah could doubt that Leonard Cohen knew how to write and sing about love, sex and desire. But fans of his music could be forgiven for not realising exactly what he was trying to convey about religion and the intricate references he was making to biblical stories, Talmudic legends and the Mishnah, a third-century Jewish text.
Now, an analysis of Cohen’s work sets out to reveal how extensively the revered songwriter used both Christian and Jewish stories and imagery to express ideas in his songs.
The book, Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius, explores the many different spiritual sources and the religious folklore the musician was drawing upon when he wrote masterpieces like Hallelujah, Suzanne and So Long, Marianne.
Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius. Photograph: Bloomsbury
“I think he sees himself a little bit as a prophet,” says Harry Freedman, author of the forthcoming book, which will be published later this month, just before the fifth anniversary of Cohen’s death on 7 November. “He’s trying to elevate people’s thinking. Most rock music is about the world we live in. And I think he’s saying: there is stuff beyond that, think more deeply.”
Cohen, who was brought up in the Jewish faith, was “deeply learned” about both Judaism and Christianity.
“His lyrics are full of references to the Bible, the Talmud and Kabbalah [a Jewish mystical tradition with its roots in the late Middle Ages] but they are easily missed – he wove them so skilfully into his songs before reinterpreting them in completely new erotic, spiritual or mystical ways.”
In Hallelujah, for example, Cohen refers to the biblical story of King David who, according to Talmudic legend, delights angels and sages when he privately plays his harp at night. He is tested by God when – on his roof – he sees Bathsheba bathing. After committing adultery with her, David has her husband killed. “That leads to a series of disasters in David’s kingdom. There are rebellions against him, his son gets killed, his kingdom is broken – terrible things happen, because of the terrible things he did.”
Importantly, it is David who, according to ancient Jewish folklore, composed the Book of Psalms and invented the word “Hallelujah”, meaning “praise God”. “David is somebody who, like everybody, is sometimes good and sometimes bad. He’s trapped in the middle. And although he writes Hallelujah, which is a holy word, he’s also very, very broken.”
“I think he sees himself a little bit as a prophet,” says Harry Freedman, author of the forthcoming book, which will be published later this month, just before the fifth anniversary of Cohen’s death on 7 November. “He’s trying to elevate people’s thinking. Most rock music is about the world we live in. And I think he’s saying: there is stuff beyond that, think more deeply.”
Cohen, who was brought up in the Jewish faith, was “deeply learned” about both Judaism and Christianity.
“His lyrics are full of references to the Bible, the Talmud and Kabbalah [a Jewish mystical tradition with its roots in the late Middle Ages] but they are easily missed – he wove them so skilfully into his songs before reinterpreting them in completely new erotic, spiritual or mystical ways.”
In Hallelujah, for example, Cohen refers to the biblical story of King David who, according to Talmudic legend, delights angels and sages when he privately plays his harp at night. He is tested by God when – on his roof – he sees Bathsheba bathing. After committing adultery with her, David has her husband killed. “That leads to a series of disasters in David’s kingdom. There are rebellions against him, his son gets killed, his kingdom is broken – terrible things happen, because of the terrible things he did.”
Importantly, it is David who, according to ancient Jewish folklore, composed the Book of Psalms and invented the word “Hallelujah”, meaning “praise God”. “David is somebody who, like everybody, is sometimes good and sometimes bad. He’s trapped in the middle. And although he writes Hallelujah, which is a holy word, he’s also very, very broken.”
Most rock music is about the world we live in. I think he’s saying: there is stuff beyond that, think more deeplyHarry Freedman, author
There is a reference in the song to Samson, who loses his strength when his hair is cut by his lover Delilah, because – like Samson – David’s troubles begin when he can’t control himself around a woman. “I think Cohen is opening himself up in his songs. I think he’s trying to say: love can be wonderful. And love can be terrible. It can go horribly wrong and ruin your life.”
Cohen suffered from depression and, Freedman believes, would have identified strongly with David, a fellow musician. “David messed up. David’s kingdom was destroyed. And yet he sang Hallelujah. Because when you don’t know how to make sense of anything, when you’ve failed, when things go wrong, all you can do is sing Hallelujah. All you are left with is ‘praise God’. It’s a very religious idea.”
For Cohen, there is no conflict between popular culture and profound thinking, and no difference between Judaism and Christianity, says Freedman. “He sees them as all part of the same thing.” Sex and religion are also often closely intertwined in his songs: “In the Kabbalah, sex and procreation are holy acts. They symbolise the union of human and divine.” In one version of Hallelujah Cohen wrote, the narrator recalls: “I moved in you, and the holy dove she was moving too, and every single breath we drew was Hallelujah.”
Leonard Cohen in concert at the O2 Arena in London in 2013.
Photograph: Brian Rasic/Getty
Cohen, Freedman says, saw the imagery of religion as something he could use in lyrics to express himself and his unique, mystical way of looking at the world. “His vocabulary is one of religious myths and legends. This is what he knows and where he gets his metaphors from.” In Suzanne, for example, Cohen casually refers to an ancient Christian legend about Jesus rowing the apostle Andrew to a city, performing miracles and converting everyone from cannibalism to Christianity. “And that’s just in that one line in Suzanne: Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water.”
So Long, Marianne is one of the earliest songs Cohen wrote which has a mystical, spiritual element, Freedman says, and marks the beginning of the musician’s quest for spiritual meaning. “He sings ‘Come over to the window, my little darling. I’d like to try to read your palm.’ That’s probably the first time he mentions windows, which – later on in his work – are going to be a really important trope for him.” In Cohen’s work, a window is a liminal space, a place between two worlds or two states of being, he says. “He’s using the window to read her palm. He’s expressing something about destiny, about wanting to see what the future holds.”
When he tells Marianne that he forgot to pray for the angels, Freedman thinks he’s confessing that he has neglected his religious duties and spiritual side for her. “His love for Marianne has pushed everything else out. And maybe that’s one of the reasons he says ‘so long, Marianne’. It’s time we moved on. You’ve made me forget too much. And now I’ve got to get back to my spiritual core.”
Hallelujah: the first two verses
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
• Used with permission of the estate of Leonard Cohen
Cohen, Freedman says, saw the imagery of religion as something he could use in lyrics to express himself and his unique, mystical way of looking at the world. “His vocabulary is one of religious myths and legends. This is what he knows and where he gets his metaphors from.” In Suzanne, for example, Cohen casually refers to an ancient Christian legend about Jesus rowing the apostle Andrew to a city, performing miracles and converting everyone from cannibalism to Christianity. “And that’s just in that one line in Suzanne: Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water.”
So Long, Marianne is one of the earliest songs Cohen wrote which has a mystical, spiritual element, Freedman says, and marks the beginning of the musician’s quest for spiritual meaning. “He sings ‘Come over to the window, my little darling. I’d like to try to read your palm.’ That’s probably the first time he mentions windows, which – later on in his work – are going to be a really important trope for him.” In Cohen’s work, a window is a liminal space, a place between two worlds or two states of being, he says. “He’s using the window to read her palm. He’s expressing something about destiny, about wanting to see what the future holds.”
When he tells Marianne that he forgot to pray for the angels, Freedman thinks he’s confessing that he has neglected his religious duties and spiritual side for her. “His love for Marianne has pushed everything else out. And maybe that’s one of the reasons he says ‘so long, Marianne’. It’s time we moved on. You’ve made me forget too much. And now I’ve got to get back to my spiritual core.”
Hallelujah: the first two verses
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
• Used with permission of the estate of Leonard Cohen
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