More Abbott baby formula recalled after reports of illnesses

Zoe Christen Jones 

Abbott has issued a recall for another lot of baby formula after an additional child who is believed to have consumed the formula fell ill and later died, the FDA said Monday. The recall affects one lot of Similac PM 60/40 that was made at Abbott Nutrition's Sturgis, Michigan, facility.

Parents should check any purchased formula for the lot code # 27032K80 (can) or # 27032K800 (case) and throw it away if it matches, the FDA said. Consumers can also use this link to check if they should throw away their formula.

The FDA said this lot is a special formula "for certain infants who would benefit from lowered mineral intake." It was not included in the previous recall.

"At this time, Similac PM 60/40 with lot code 27032K80 (can) / 27032K800 (case) are the only type and lots of this specialty formula being recalled," the FDA said.

The recall comes after the CDC announced that another infant who had been exposed to the formula was infected with Cronobacter sakazakii. The FDA said the Cronobacter infection "may have been a contributing cause of death." That infant was believed to have consumed product from the lot that is being recalled, the FDA said.

The recall also comes only 9 days after the company recalled multiple formulas made at the same Abbot facility, including Similac, Alimentum and EleCare. Parents are encouraged to check their formulas, as exposure to Cronobacter can cause sepsis and meningitis. Infants displaying symptoms of poor feeding, irritability, or fevers should receive immediate care.

In total, four infants have reported Cronobacter infections and one has reported a Salmonella Newport infection, according to the FDA. All five infants were hospitalized and two died, the FDA said.

© Provided by CBS News Baby formula is offered for sale at a big box store on January 13, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. / Credit: Getty Images

"We understand that infant formula is the sole source of nutrition for many infants and is an essential product," the FDA said in an advisory Monday. "FDA is working with Abbott Nutrition to better assess the impacts of the recall and understand production capacity at other Abbott facilities that produce some of the impacted brands. We are also working with Abbott Nutrition on safe resumption of production at the Sturgis, MI facility."

Why a deadly crackdown on democracy 75 years ago is becoming more important for Taiwan today 

(AND THE REST OF THE WORLD)

By Eric Cheung, Gladys Tsai and Will Ripley,

 CNN 


As a young man, Fred Chin spent years imprisoned on a craggy island off Taiwan.

© John Mees/CNN

 Former political prison Fred Chin in a former prison at Jing-Mei White Terror 

Memorial Park, where he was tortured by secret police in the 1970s.

Before he was sentenced, guards punched him, forced him to drink his own blood, and hung him upside down while they poured salty water into his mouth, he said.

Malaysian-born Chin had come to Taiwan to study at university in 1971, but had attracted the attention of the island's secret police. He doesn't know why.

They accused him of bombing a US government office in Taiwan the year before and working as a communist spy to overthrow the government in Taipei. There was no evidence, according to Chin, so secret police tortured him until he confessed to the crimes and imprisoned him for 12 years.

"They treated us like animals and didn't respect our dignity," said Chin, now 72. "They wanted me to admit that the explosion was done by me."

© John Mees/CNN Former political prison Fred Chin in a former prison at Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park, where he was tortured by secret police in the 1970s.

Chin was one of up to 200,000 people imprisoned during what became known as Taiwan's "white terror," a four-decade crackdown on political dissent imposed by an authoritarian regime between 1947 and 1987, according to Taiwan government estimates. Both political activists and apolitical people like Chin were caught up in the crackdown.

Until martial law lifted in 1987, the "white terror" events were considered a taboo subject.

Since 1995, the "white terror" has been commemorated each year on February 28, the date the government violently suppressed a 1947 uprising in the capital Taipei, considered to be the start of the crackdown. The date is also shorthand for its popular name -- the 228 incident.

The Taiwan government estimates that between 18,000 and 28,000 died during the uprising, while another 10,000 died in the subsequent four decades.

As Taiwan marks 75 years since the event, interest in the island's painful journey to democracy is growing -- as are fears that it could be taken away.

© John Mees/CNN Hundreds of unwanted statues of former president Chiang Kai-shek were moved to a park in Taoyuan city, as Taiwan reflects on his oppressive role during the "white terror" period.

Experts have warned that Beijing could be taking notes from Russia's invasion of Ukraine for a similar move towards Taiwan. Tensions between mainland China and Taiwan have risen significantly in the last few years -- Beijing claims self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out the use of military force.

© Gladys Tsai/CNN

 Taiwan's former vice president Annette Lu spent more than five years in prison.

Activists and onlookers say the "white terror" period only highlights how difficult it has been to win democracy on the island -- and how much Taiwan potentially stands to lose.

A long fight for freedom

Taiwan, an island off the southeastern coast of mainland China and home to 24 million people, has had a long history of being governed by overseas powers.

For five decades, Taiwan was under the control of Japanese colonial rulers. But in 1945, after Japan's defeat in WWII, the island was handed to China's then-ruling Nationalist Party -- or Kuomintang.

Less than two years later, rising tensions between local Taiwanese and their rulers from mainland China erupted into the 228 incident, said Wu Jieh-min, a political sociology professor at Taiwan's Academia Sinica.

© Chiang Ying-ying/AP 

Annette Lu in 2007, in Taipei, Taiwan.

On February 27, 1947, Taipei police hit a contraband cigarette seller in the head while confiscating her wares. When bystanders came to her defense, police fired and killed one of them.

The bystander's death sparked protests which evolved into sometimes violent riots, with demonstrators expanding their complaints to include growing inflation, corruption and conflicts between locals and mainland Chinese officials.

Facing defeat in a civil war in mainland China, Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and imposed martial law which lasted for 38 years -- one of the world's longest periods of martial law.

Nevertheless, activists continued to fight for democracy.

In December 1979, pro-democracy activist Annette Lu stood in front of a crowd of about 80,000 people at a human rights parade in Kaohsiung city.

She hadn't planned to speak, but as she criticized the Kuomintang government for denying freedom to the Taiwanese people, she remembers the crowd falling silent. Some had tears in their eyes, she said.

Suddenly, she saw military troops and police fire tear gas into the crowd. She was arrested along with other activist leaders and sentenced to 12 years in prison for sedition, during which time she says she wrote a novel on toilet paper. Ultimately she was released after five and a half years.

In 1987, martial law was lifted, and it was only in 1996 that Taiwan held its first direct Presidential election. In Taiwan's second-ever presidential election, Lu -- who had once been locked up for her political beliefs -- become the island's first female vice president.

© Julian Wilson/AP 

President Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei in 1956.

"Once I joined the opposition movement, I knew sooner or later I would be jailed," she added. "I told the crowd we had to fight together...The message landed me in prison, but so many people (were) inspired by me."

Taiwanese identity

Although the events of "white terror" took place decades ago, this period of history is gaining prominence in Taiwan.

"Among the younger generation, there has been heightened awareness about white terror and our history of democratization in recent years," sociology professor Wu said. "New creations of literature and artwork on this topic are evidence that more people are paying attention."

Earlier this month, Taiwanese indie rock band Sorry Youth invited a victim to appear in a music video filmed at a former detention center. In 2019, Taiwanese horror film "Detention," set during the "white terror" period, was a hit at the box office, and won numerous awards at Taipei's Golden Horse Award -- often dubbed the "Chinese-language Oscars."

And in 2018, President Tsai Ing-wen -- only the second-ever Taiwanese president not affiliated with the Kuomintang -- set up a transitional justice committee to review injustices committed during its authoritarian era. The committee officially exonerated former prisoners like Chin and Lu and offered compensation.

© Gladys Tsai/CNN

 A memorial wall inside a former political prison on Green Island, Taiwan, bears the names of thousands of prisoners sentenced during the "white terror" period.

According to Wu, the history of political suppression has played an important part in shaping a unique identity among the Taiwanese people. "Taiwan now has a shared history and identity. For many, human rights and democracy are very important," he said.

Discussions about the "white terror" period -- and the importance of democracy -- have only grown in recent years as Beijing has piled military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan to achieve its longterm goal of "reunification" with the island. China's ruling Communist Party views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory, despite having never controlled it.

Some politicians and analysts have raised concerns that Beijing may be watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine with an eye on Taiwan.

Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "echoes" of what happens in Ukraine "will be heard in Taiwan," while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said "others are watching" the Western response to Russia, "even if it's half a world away from Europe."

For its part, China says Taiwan is not Ukraine, claiming the island has belonged to China "since ancient times."

"China's sovereignty and territory have never been divided and cannot be divided. This is the status quo of the Taiwan question," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last week when asked about comparisons made between Taiwan and Ukraine.

But while experts also pointed out differences between the geopolitical situations in Ukraine and Taiwan, the island's leaders put its military on "a high level of vigilance."

Last year China sent hundreds of warplanes into the skies above waters southwest of the island, prompting the island to issue radio warnings and deploy air defense missile systems to monitor the activities. Taiwan's Defense Minister, retired general Chiu Kuo-cheng, made a dire prediction -- by 2025, China could be able to mount a "full-scale" invasion of Taiwan.

Beijing has previously criticized Taiwan's government for using the 228 incident as a tool to promote the island's separation from mainland China.

"If China invades or takes Taiwan in the foreseeable future, I'm very worried that the 228 tragedy would happen again," Wu said.

"The tragedy of the past is why many people are scared about establishing political ties with China again," he said. "For Taiwanese people, many want to avoid this tragedy from happening again. And this is the reason why many people do not want to see Taiwan falling into the hands of a foreign regime again."

The past as a warning

Victims of the "white terror" continue to process what happened to them -- but they also hope their experiences serve as a lesson to younger generations.

Chin, who became a Taiwanese citizen after his time in prison, now spends time reminding the younger generation of Taiwan's painful history by offering guided tours at a memorial park.

"We didn't want these kinds of things to happen again, to anyone else," he said.

Another white terror victim, Chen Wu-jen, was imprisoned for two years from 1969 after he scribbled words opposing the ruling Kuomintang on the back of an aptitude test during his military conscription. He was 20.

Chen, now 73, went on to become an artist. Last year he became the first "white terror" victim to hold an exhibition at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, a building commemorating the leader who once oppressed him. The exhibition included his oil paintings and woodcarvings showing what it was like to be persecuted, and an area that invited visitors to reflect how Taiwan should correct its past mistakes and achieve transitional justice.

He said it is important for the younger generation to understand the sacrifices many people made for democracy. "The freedom we enjoy today did not fall from the sky, and only came about because many people worked hard for it," he added.

Lu said this message is especially important to present-day Taiwan.

"We have to insist our principles -- democracy, freedom and the dignity -- are what our people desire for," said Lu, now 77.

"Our future has always been decided by outsiders," she said. "We really want to be ourselves."

‘CODA’ Star Marlee Matlin Delivers Powerful SAG Awards Acceptance Speech: ‘We Deaf Actors Have Come A Long Way’

Corey Atad

© Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images Eugenio Derbez, Marlee Matlin, Daniel Durant,

 Troy Kotsur, and Emilia Jones

Marlee Matlin is proud of the strides deaf actors have made.

On Sunday night, the film "CODA" surprised viewers by picking up the coveted SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

The film beat out fellow nominees "Belfast", "Don't Look Up", "House of Gucci", and "King Richard", and Matlin delivered a powerful acceptance speech on behalf of castmates Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, and Eugenio Derbez.

"I'm stunned, I'm stunned," she said, in sign language.

The coming-of-age film tells the story of a child of deaf adults (CODA) who pursues her passion for singing.

"Thank you [the film's creators] for writing the words and including deaf culture, we love you," Matlin continued. "The interpreters, thank you all the CODA interpreters and all CODAs everywhere, all over the world. My kids, all four of them are CODAs."

She went on, addressing the audience in the room at the awards ceremony, "And look, you are all our peers. We deaf actors have come a long way. [For] 35 years, I have been seeing so much work out there and all this time, I've watched all of your films and I pay the deepest respect to all of you."

Matlin also added, "Is Meryl Streep here? Oh my God, I love you!"

Finally, the actress said, "This validates the fact that we deaf actors can work just like anybody else. We look forward to more opportunities for deaf actors [and] deaf culture. Thank you. We love you," before showing the audience how to say "I love you" in sign language.

Border crisis: AFRICAN Foreign students fleeing Russian invasion say they face racism

LONG READ

By Stephanie Busari, Nimi Princewill and Shama Nasinde,

 CNN 11 mins ago

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.

© WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP/Getty Images Refugees from many diffrent countries - from Africa, Middle East and India - mostly students of Ukrainian universities are seen at the Medyka pedestrian border crossing fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, in eastern Poland on February 27, 2022

© Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows over the town of Vasylkiv just outside Kyiv on February 27, 2022, after overnight Russian strikes hit an oil depot.

One African medical student told CNN that she and other foreigners were ordered off the public transit bus at a checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland border.

They were told to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board, she says.

Rachel Onyegbule, a Nigerian first-year medical student in Lviv was left stranded at the border town of Shehyni, some 400 miles from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

She told CNN: "More than 10 buses came and we were watching everyone leave. We thought after they took all the Ukrainians they would take us, but they told us we had to walk, that there were no more buses.

"They told us we had to walk. It started to rain and we walked 12 hours to get to Shehyni."

"My body was numb from the cold and we haven't slept in about 4 days now. Ukrainians have been prioritized over Africans -- men and women -- at every point. There's no need for us to ask why. We know why. I just want to get home," Onyegbule told CNN in a telephone call Sunday as she waited in line at the border to cross into Poland.

© ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images 

University students, including many from Nigeria, fleeing from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, stow their luggage as they get on their transport bus near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border in the village of Tarpa in Hungary on February 28, 2022.

Onyegbule says she eventually got her exit document stamped on Monday morning around 4.30 a.m. local time.

Allegations of violence

Saakshi Ijantkar, a fourth-year medical student from India, also shared her ordeal with CNN Monday via a phone call from Lviv, western Ukraine.

"There are three checkposts we need to go through to get to the border. A lot of people are stranded there. They don't allow Indians to go through.

CNN has been unable to confirm the identities or affiliations of the people who operated the checkpoints, but Ijantkar said they were all wearing uniforms.

"They allow 30 Indians only after 500 Ukrainians get in. To get to this border you need to walk 4 to 5 kilometers from the first checkpoint to the second one. Ukrainians are given taxis and buses to travel, all other nationalities have to walk. They were very racist to Indians and other nationalities,'" the 22-year-old from Mumbai told CNN.

She added that she witnessed violence from the guards to the students waiting at the Ukrainian side of the Shehyni-Medyka border.

Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 are no longer allowed to leave the country, but that decree does not extend to men who are foreign nationals.

Ijantkar says she saw Indian men were left in queues for long hours along with other non-Ukrainian nationalities.

"They were very cruel. The second checkpoint was the worst. When they opened the gate for you to cross to the Ukrainian border, you stay between the Ukraine and Poland, the Ukrainian army don't allow Indian men and boys to cross when you get there. They only allowed the Indian girls to get in. We had to literally cry and beg at their feet. After the Indian girls got in, the boys were beaten up. There was no reason for them to beat us with this cruelty," Ijantkar said.

"I saw an Egyptian man standing at the front with his hands on the rails, and because of that one guard pushed him with so much force and the man hit the fence, which is covered in spikes, and he lost consciousness," she said.

"We took him outside to give him CPR. They just didn't care and they were beating the students, they didn't give two hoots about us, only the Ukrainians," she added.

CNN contacted the Ukrainian army in light of the allegations of violence, but did not immediately hear back.

Freezing conditions

Ijantkar said many of the students waited for at least a day, but she eventually turned back to Lviv because she was terrified, waiting in freezing temperatures with no food, water, or blankets.

"I saw people shaking so terribly in the cold, they were collapsing because of hypothermia. Some have frostbite and blisters. We couldn't get any help and (were) just standing for hours," she said.

Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Border Guard Service of Ukraine told CNN Monday that allegations of segregation at the borders are untrue and that the guards are working under enormous pressure at the borders -- but are working within the law.

"From the day when (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made an attack on Ukraine, the influx of people trying to leave Ukraine and the war zone has increased tremendously. If earlier, people trying to cross the border into the European Union and back amounted up to 50,000 (people) a day, now the amount doubled and continues to increase. There is huge pressure on checkpoints, on border guards.

"In order to speed up the process and allow larger amounts of people to cross, the government has simplified the procedure of the border crossing as much as possible. Due to the increase in the volume of the individuals crossing, people have to stay in long queues. However, I can state that everything happens according to the law. There is absolutely no division by nation, citizenship, or class at the border," Demchenko said.

Ukraine attracts many foreign students wanting to study medicine because it has a strong reputation for medical courses and tuition -- and other expenses are much lower than in programs in other Western nations.

Another stranded student told CNN on Sunday that border staff on the Ukrainian side of the border were showing prejudice against foreign students.

"They are depriving the foreigners. They are being very racist with us at the border. They tell us that Ukrainian citizens have to pass first while telling foreigners to stay back," said Nneka Abigail, a 23-year-old medical student from Nigeria.

"It's very difficult at the moment for Nigerians and other foreigners to cross. The Ukrainian officials are allowing more Ukrainians to cross into Poland. For instance, around 200 to 300 Ukrainians can cross, and then only 10 foreigners or 5 will be allowed to cross... and the duration of time is too long. It's really hard.. they push us, kick us, insult us," Abigail said.

Africans have been sharing their experiences online using the hashtag #AfricansinUkraine. Their stories have prompted an outcry and a number of crowdfunding appeals have been launched to try help those stranded in the country.

One of those who shared their story online is Korrine Sky, a medical student from Zimbabwe who had been studying in Ukraine since September.

She fled the country on Friday but, with the aid of two London-based friends, managed to raise more than £20,000 ($26,800) to help stranded Afro-Caribbean students.

"This situation we're in is a life-or-death situation. We need to make sure that all the African students cross the border successfully and safely," she said, speaking on Instagram Live from the Romanian side of the border on Sunday.

Around 500,000 refugees from Ukraine have so far crossed to neighboring European countries, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said on Monday.

Are home countries doing enough to help their citizens?

Some of those CNN spoke to said they did not blame the Ukrainian authorities for prioritizing their citizens but rather their own governments for not making arrangements to assist them out of the country.

The "Nigerian government is being their usual nonchalant self," Onyegbule said.

"There are many of us in Ukraine. They can't just leave us like this. It's so sad but we are used to the bad governance in Nigeria. It's very sad."

Onyegbule acknowledged that there were Nigerian officials waiting to meet her and others once she crossed over into Poland.

"It would have been so helpful in Ukraine, we were looking for someone to speak on our behalf there."

Nigeria's foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Twitter that Ukrainian authorities had assured him that there were no restrictions on foreigners wanting to leave Ukraine.

"Problem is the result of chaos on the border and checkpoints leading to them," he stated, adding that he is "personally coordinating with our missions in Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Romania and Hungary to ensure we get our citizens out of Ukraine and bring back to Nigeria those ready to return while supporting those who are remaining in Ukraine."

CNN has reached out to nyeama for comment on allegations that the Nigerian government hasn't done enough to help its citizens leave Ukraine.

African nations on the UN Security Council Monday condemned discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a UNSC meeting at the UN HQ in New York City.

"We strongly condemn this racism and believe that it is damaging to the spirit of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. The mistreatment of African peoples on Europe's borders needs to cease immediately, whether to the Africans fleeing Ukraine or to those crossing the Mediterranean," Kenyan Ambassador to the UN Martin Kimani said Monday.

Onyegbule, the first-year medical student, said she was attracted to study in Ukraine because she was looking for a "safe and cheap option outside Nigeria."

"Generally living in Ukraine has been peaceful, it's a beautiful country. Sometimes in the trams, people don't want to sit beside you and they stare at you but generally, the Ukrainians are nice people," she said.

Yellowstone National Park celebrates 150th anniversary

By Forrest Brown, CNN 

Beth Pratt first explored the wonders of Yellowstone National Park through the pages of a book.

© Amanda Mortimer/Adobe Stock Sunlight illuminates the spray as the Yellowstone River crashes over the Lower Falls.

Inside a tattered hardcover entitled "National Parks of the U.S.A.," she still has a list where she penned in five Western parks she dreamed of visiting. Among the quintet was Yellowstone.

"I can still remember gazing endlessly at the photographs of granite peaks, roaring waterfalls and magnificent wildlife, and daydreaming about wandering in those landscapes. I would think 'someday, someday ...'" she told CNN Travel.

Her someday came during a cross-country trip from her Massachusetts home to California. As for her first look at Yellowstone, "it was truly a moment of awe."

Pratt, who later took a job at the park, shared an entry from her journal dated September 20, 1991:

"Yellowstone is beautiful. No description I could give would do it justice -- I am no John Muir. It is enchanting and full of natural wonders and the wildlife are everywhere. A Disneyland for naturalists. Right now, I'm watching a herd of elk across from my campsite. The bull sings to his herd an eerie song, yet a sound suited to the land."

© Jacob W. Frank/NPS Wildlife such as bighorn sheep put visitors back in touch with nature.

Indeed, Yellowstone is a land rich in dates and memories.

The park -- 96% of which is in Wyoming, 3% in Montana and 1% in Idaho -- is celebrating a major milestone this year.

On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. With the stroke of his pen, he created the first national park in the United States but also the world.

© khomlyak/Adobe Stock Get your steps in at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

On this 150th anniversary, the National Park Service and Yellowstone fans look at the past, present and future with events planned well into the year.

A very short account of a very long history

Yellowstone's history actually begins way before 1872, and it wasn't as untouched as many people might think. For thousand of years, we have evidence of people thriving on the land's bounty.

© F.Gottschalk/Adobe Stock Grand Prismatic Spring is an otherwordly sight at Yellowstone National Park.

"Some of the modern trails frequented by hikers in Yellowstone are believed to be relics of Indigenous corridors dating all the way back to roughly 12,000 years ago," the US Geological Survey says.

It was familiar ground to Blackfeet, Cayuse, Coeur d'Alene, Kiowa, Nez Perce, Shoshone and other tribes -- all believed to have explored and used the land here, the USGS says.

They "hunted, fished, gathered plants, quarried obsidian and used the thermal waters for religious and medicinal purposes, the NPS says. (Yellowstone sits atop a supervolcano, and it has the world's greatest concentration of geysers as well as hot springs, steam vents and mudpots, the NPS says.)

While the Indigenous people lived in balance with the land, waves of westward US expansion began putting pressure on wilderness areas throughout the West.

European Americans began exploring the area that's now Yellowstone in the early 1800s, according to the NPS, and the first organized expedition entered the area in 1870. Vivid reports from the expeditions helped persuade Congress -- whose members hadn't even seen it -- to protect the land from private development.

Just two years later, Yellowstone was officially created.

Significance of Yellowstone 'cannot be overstated'

The creation of Yellowstone was a game changer and a trendsetter.

It helped usher in more US national parks, with California's Sequoia and Yosemite joining the roster in 1890. Mount Rainier was added to the list in 1899. Today, there are 63 national parks, with the newest being New River Gorge in December 2020.

Ken Burns titled his 2009 documentary on US national parks "America's Best Idea." Its value has made it a UNESCO World Heritage site.

"The significance of Yellowstone to wildlife conservation and preserving our wild heritage cannot be overstated," said Pratt, who is currently California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation.

She said the formation of the park ensured "that our natural heritage is held in trust for future generations" and "inspired other public land protections like the open space movement -- so the legacy of Yellowstone for the common good extends far beyond even the national park system.

"Yellowstone National Park also serves as a time capsule, a sort of 'land that time forgot' in terms of wildlife. It's one of the few places you can get a sense of a past when wildlife dominated our world," Pratt said via email.

Jenny Golding is a writer, photographer and founding editor of A Yellowstone Life, a website dedicated to helping people connect with the park. She runs it with her husband George Bumann, a sculptor and naturalist.

They told CNN Travel in an email interview that "Yellowstone has always set the example for preservation and conservation, and balancing those goals with visitation and education."

"The significance of the park has changed over time, but in recent history it has shown us the critical role of wild places in contemporary life," Bumann said.

"The park has been a global leader in establishing the range of possibilities and approaches to caring for wild animals and landscapes. It's also a place for us to find our collective and individual center. People come here expecting to be transformed, or enlightened, in ways they don't in other places."

Golding concurs. "You can't help but be a part of something bigger here," she said.

"We live and breathe Yellowstone; it's in the very fiber of our being -- the wilderness, the animals, the smell of hot springs in the air. For us, Yellowstone means so many things -- wildness, presence and connection with something deep and intangible."


Mistakes were made

Running the park has been a 150-year learning experience, to put it mildly.

Yellowstone has an uneven history in environmental management and consideration of the Indigenous peoples' historical ties to the area, said Superintendent Cameron Sholly in an online presentation earlier this year.

"If we rewind to 1872 ... we didn't have a very good track record of resource conservation in the country. It was basically nonexistent," Sholly said. "Once Yellowstone became a park in 1872, the small group trying to protect it had a really tough time, initially."

And mistakes were made all along the way, Sholly said.

"We didn't get it right in many ways. Our government policies were generally to rid the park of predators, and we did that. We did it in mass." He noted that wolves and cougars were completely rooted out, and the bear population was decreased significantly.

"Beyond predators, we decimated the bison population from tens of thousands in the park to less than 25 animals, and we basically tinkered with the ecosystem and took it completely out of balance, really unknowingly at that point in time." Sholly said. "Even if you fast forward to the 1960s, we were feeding bears out of garbage dumps so visitors could see them."

Since then, there's been a turnaround in attitudes and wildlife.

"So although we're talking about 150 years of Yellowstone ... most of the success of us putting the pieces back together of this ecosystem have occurred largely over the last 50 to 60 years."

He cited the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995, which "remains probably the single largest successful conservation effort in the history of this country, if not the world."

Honoring a long legacy

Sholly also acknowledged work remains regarding Indigenous people.

"We're putting a heavy emphasis in this area in the fact that many tribes were here thousands of years before Yellowstone became a park."

He noted the transfer of 28 Yellowstone bison into the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes' Fort Peck Indian Reservation "as part of an ongoing effort to move live bison from Yellowstone to tribal nations" and upcoming efforts to educate visitors about the park's long Indigenous history.

"We also want to use this anniversary to do a better job of fully recognizing many American Indian nations that lived in this area for thousands of years prior to Yellowstone becoming a park."

And even more challenges loom on the 150th anniversary. Yellowstone has invasive species such as lake trout and is affected by climate change. Yellowstone and other popular parks are figuring out how to best handle record crowds. And the park must continue to cope with fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anniversary events

Because of the pandemic, the park isn't planning any large-scale, in-person events for now. But it is holding virtual programs and some smaller in-person programs.

Some of the highlights:

• Badges: This summer, the park's Junior Ranger Program is free of charge. You can go to a park visitor center or information station to get a booklet and earn a badge during your visit.

• Lodging history: Yellowstone National Park Lodges will host a public event at the Old Faithful Inn on May 6, coinciding with the seasonal opening of the historic inn. A Native American art exhibition and marketplace will be open May 6-8.

• Tribal Heritage Center: From May to September 2022, visitors can go to the Tribal Heritage Center at Old Faithful. There, Native American artists and scholars can directly engage with visitors, who will learn how the tribes envision their presence in the park now and in the future.

• Horses: From July 28 to 30, members of the Nez Perce Appaloosa Horse Club will ride a section of the Nez Perce Trail, hold a parade in traditional regalia and conduct trail rides.

• Symposium: The University of Wyoming's 150th Anniversary of Yellowstone Symposium is scheduled for May 19-20, both virtually and in-person at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Free registration is required.

Click here to get for the full listing of currently planned events.


Favorite spots in Yellowstone

With the 150th anniversary approaching, Jenny Golding of A Yellowstone Life reflected on her time at the park.

"I first came to the park on a coyote research study in 1997. George [Bumann] and I came back on our honeymoon, and then returned permanently in 2002," she said. "I had done a lot of hiking and traveling before Yellowstone, but there was no place that touched my soul the way Yellowstone did. Yellowstone has a living, breathing heart."

They've lived there permanently since 2002, "initially working with the park's nonprofit education partner and now independently."

As for a special place in the park, Bumann loves Lamar Valley, which is noted for its easy viewing of large numbers of animals.

"It's a place where you see the Earth for what it has come to be over the course of millions of years, not for the things we've done to it. But every time I go out, I find new special things in different places in the park."

Beth Pratt, who lived and worked at Yellowstone from 2007 to 2011 overseeing sustainability projects, had a hard time narrowing down to a favorite place.

But when pressed, the author of "When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors" said, "I have to give my favorite place in Yellowstone to Norris Geyser Basin. Old Faithful gets all the attention, but Norris is full of wonders.

"Norris Geyser Basin is described in the NPS guide as 'one of the hottest and most dynamic of Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas.' But even this description is an understatement -- the otherworldly nature of the area simply evokes awe. When you visit the basin, it's like being transported to another planet."

And the memories of the animals stay with her.

"I once saw nine different grizzly bears in one day and had almost 40 bighorn sheep wander by me one day as I ate my lunch. Yellowstone is a wildlife immersion experience like no other in our country."

Secret JPMorgan project aims to push bank deeper into growing market serving private companies

Hugh Son 


JPMorgan has been quietly hiring programmers and creating products for a new fintech business that aims to provide an array of services to start-ups and investors around the world, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The business, known internally by the code name "Project Bloom" because of its goal of helping early-stage private firms grow, is run by Michael Elanjian, head of digital private markets, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking before its launch.

A key part of Project Bloom is a digital network for JPMorgan clients that will match start-ups with investors, helping them in fundraising rounds, said the people.

© Provided by CNBC JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon gives a speech during the inauguration of the new French headquarters of US' JP Morgan bank on June 29, 2021 in Paris.

JPMorgan Chase is preparing to go all-in on private companies.

For the past year, the bank has been quietly hiring programmers and creating products for a new fintech business that aims to provide an array of services to start-ups and investors around the world, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The business, known internally by the code name "Project Bloom" because of its goal of helping early-stage private firms grow, is run by Michael Elanjian, head of digital private markets, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking before its launch.

JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, raised eyebrows last month when it said that expenses would surge this year, in part because of an annual technology budget that has grown to at least $12 billion. CEO Jamie Dimon is aggressively investing to help his bank battle fintech firms, and executives see an opportunity to create a private-markets winner before start-ups can dominate the space.

A key part of Project Bloom is a digital network for JPMorgan clients that will match start-ups with investors, helping them in fundraising rounds, said the people. Other planned-for services include helping companies sell shares in tender offers or providing loans on private stakes, offering a digital interface for secondary trading of private company stock, and helping venture capital firms raise new funds.

While elements of these offerings exist across parts of JPMorgan's sprawling operations, the new effort aims to create a one-stop digital portal for start-ups and venture capital firms, family offices and other institutional investors, said the people.

The business aims to tie in offerings from the firm's corporate and investment bank, commercial bank and private bank. For instance, the private markets trading desk first reported by CNBC in 2020 will feed into the new platform, according to the sources.

By creating a self-service platform, JPMorgan can target smaller, earlier-stage companies than its bankers traditionally engage with, helping them raise funds and offering automated recommendations, the people said.

That has lifted the fortunes of start-ups like Carta, Brex and Forge that cater to private companies in one way or another. Banks have historically geared their services to public companies and more established start-ups that are approaching public listings, leading to the rise of specialty providers.

Now, JPMorgan appears to be betting that if it can create a fully-scaled private company network before the fintechs do, its place in a future in which private companies have even greater importance will be assured.

Stealth mode

The new JPMorgan business has grown to 80 or so employees operating in stealth mode, walled off from other JPMorgan employees in more than a half dozen cities around the world, including in New York and New Jersey; Plano, Texas; Chicago; Glasgow; London and Buenos Aires, said the people.

The bank is in the midst of a hiring spree, pushing for 200 employees for the private markets business by year-end and specifically looking for software engineers, data wranglers and artificial intelligence specialists, according to job listings.

"We are building a high-profile and exciting new data-driven fintech business for the firm, with the goal of creating a market leading platform for private markets," the bank said in one job post. The team "building the product brings together data scientists, finance specialists, former entrepreneurs, product managers, designers, and engineers, who work together with the benefits of a startup culture that can leverage the scale of JPM."

Another job post, this one for a business development manager, said the bank was looking for "individuals with entrepreneurial experience" like founders and investors to help it acquire clients for the business, referred to as Digital Private Markets.

In response to queries, JPMorgan spokeswoman Jessica Francisco had this response: "We've been a leader in private capital markets for years, and we see opportunity to provide new digital capabilities to private companies and investors."

Word about the project began circulating within JPMorgan and at competitors earlier this month after Elanjian gave a presentation to Dimon and 200 other executives at the bank's annual senior leadership conference in Miami, according to people familiar.

The firm is gearing up to release a suite of products this year and recently launched its inaugural piece of software to a small group of clients, these people said.

Elanjian, who joined JPMorgan from archrival Goldman Sachs in 2018, hopes to sign several hundred companies and hundreds of investors onto the platform before its official launch later this year, according to the people

As MLB lockout reaches crucial point, it's clear the owners were never going to lose 

| Opinion

Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY 

Misery Monday has arrived in Major League Baseball’s industry shutdown, a day in which the game’s overlords decreed there must be a deal struck for a new collective bargaining agreement, or else.

Or else regular season games will be canceled. Or else players – oh, those greedy players! – will miss paychecks. Or else the sport will wear yet another proverbial black eye and the cries of “Never again!” from angry fans could be heard.

But that scenario is torn from the pages of history.

Sure, fans will be mad, and some will jump ship and never return, but a vaster share will simply continue regarding baseball for what it is now – background noise through the spring and summer months, save for the rare moments when the hometown nine breaks through and makes the World Series, or a player, team or both are caught up in scandal.

And we can dispense with the notion of “winners and losers” once this thing – if this thing? – is settled. While the sides remained zip codes apart in 11th-hour negotiations, the players likely will ultimately point to nominal gains made in some areas, largely involving pay for younger players.

Where things stand: MLB calls talks 'productive' while MLBPA says sides are still 'very far apart' entering deadline day

Bob Nightengale's Notebook: MLB's lockout is doing more permanent damage every single day

First COVID, now a lockout: MLB labor dispute latest blow for spring training businesses

Yet this lockout – imposed by MLB at midnight Dec. 1 – was never going to be an avenue for labor to gain back losses to management in previous CBA negotiations. In fact, all it did was reveal just how challenging it will be for players to pry so much as a nickel from franchise owners.

This wasn’t quite the nuclear winter we all saw coming three to five years ago, and that’s due largely to the players, relatively early on, dropping the concepts of free agency after five years of service time and salary arbitration after two. Those concessions might have resembled an olive branch. Instead, it only emboldened MLB to fortify its wall.

© Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY 

Sports Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort take in a 2021 game at Coors Field.

What we’ve seen over these 89 days was not a negotiation, but the owners deploying a four-corners offense that would have impressed Dean Smith himself.

MLB needed nothing from these negotiations and acted like it. The luxury tax ceiling? It’s pretty much fine the way it is – and how about we ramp up the penalties for offending teams, while we’re at it.

An increased arbitration-eligible class? We’d rather not. A draft lottery to deter teams from not bothering to win? We’ll think about it, but only if you’re good boys and accept a 14-team playoff!

And so Rob Manfred and Dan Halem and Dick Monfort and Ron Fowler spread the floor and tossed the ball back and forth to each other. And Tony Clark and Bruce Meyer and Max Scherzer and Marcus Semien could only scamper after them, pressure them, but could not compel them to shoot.

Instead, a series of unserious luxury tax proposals came forth – a bump from the already grossly outdated $210 million in 2021 to $214 million in 2022, rising to $222 million in 2026. Those also were accompanied by stiffer penalties for exceeding it – up to 95% for the third tier.

While the players’ initial ask of a $245 million ceiling seems audacious, it is an area in which they’re making up for lost time. The luxury tax ceiling has grown just 18% since 2011, from $178 million to $210 million, a period during which industry revenues grew 70%, from an estimated $6.29 billion to $10.7 billion in 2019, the last season untouched by pandemic.

Perhaps the players must live with the losses they took in the past two CBAs, but some market correction is in order. As for MLB’s proposed tax ceiling rising from just $214 million to $222 million from 2022-26, just one question: With massive national TV deals coming online, the untapped revenue stream of sports gambling and the specter of expansion, do team owners really believe their revenues will grow by less than 4% in that five-year span?

Besides, just because owners have a limit on spending does not mean they’ll be compelled to reach it.

And that brings us to our original point – even if Manfred fell under the spell of Che Guevara’s ghost and capitulated to every labor demand, how many owners would actually bother to spend upward of $245 million on payroll?

If the past seven or so years proved anything, it’s that ownership – hiding behind the “smarts” of their army of front-office analysts – has proven quite capable of price-fixing without appearing downright collusive. It is how All-Stars are frozen out of the market, veterans all receive the same one-year, $1 million tender and scores of arbitration-eligible players get tossed back into six-figure salaryland when they reach three years of service and are subsequently not offered a contract.

Even the only three franchises who combine excessive revenue with an apparent desire to win – the Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers – play limbo with the tax threshold, ducking under it as long as possible and showing a willingness to sacrifice championships rather than exceed the ceiling for a difference-making player.

(At least the Dodgers learned their lesson, breaking a 32-year title drought the same year they traded for and guaranteed $375 million to Mookie Betts.)

So what now? Negotiations will ramp up Monday and, in a perfect world, enough progress will be made that MLB – which imposed the lockout – also won’t have to announce Opening Day cancellations. That will require both sides to again touch the third rail of luxury tax ceilings, and MLB will surely try to stand firm once common ground is found on minimum salaries and, perhaps, a new bonus pool for high-achieving young players.

Yet even the highest end of those proposals amount to nickels and dimes. On minimum salary, the sides are hardly worlds apart (MLB: $640,000, players: $775,000) and the difference would cost teams a mere $1.35 million if they had up to 10 minimum-wage earners on their team. The $20 million bonus pool proposed by MLB would, in theory, cost less than $1 million per team. It would cost each team $3.83 million under the $115 million proposed by the union – and you get the sense that number, more than any, has significant flexion from the players’ side.

Meanwhile, as owners cough up hundreds of thousands to younger players, they’d be aiming for billions more in revenue, ready to pilfer your municipality for real estate developments with a side of baseball. We already saw Manfred dump on the current Oakland Coliseum site to help nudge the A’s toward a mixed-use development – or Las Vegas – even as their own fans express satisfaction with the current location.

Get ready for Royals owner John Sherman to continue touting the import of a downtown Kansas City ballpark, even as a true gem, Kauffman Stadium, glistens from renovations and remains a fan favorite. Hey, the 2015 World Series title was nice, but a cluster of 800-square foot condos with a Starbucks in the basement would be much, much better.

See where this is going?

So get ready for more posturing this week, some furious negotiations and, perhaps, an agreement. The players will rightfully tout their gains, relieved it is over but also crestfallen that another five years will pass before any substantive change. The owners will aim to keep a straight face while lauding what they’ll call significant concessions made amid a fair deal.

And perhaps a 162-game season will be salvaged, before MLB loses any other shares of the attention economy following a winter in which arguably its most popular venture – trades and free agency – was doused.

It all starts back up Monday morning. And once again, MLB can simply hold the ball in the corner, knowing the clock will eventually run out.

Biden's top student-loan official said much more student debt relief is to come, but asks borrowers 'not to flood our phone lines'

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) 

© Provided by Business Insider FSA head Richard Cordray Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

The Education Department recently announced temporary reforms to Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

FSA head Richard Cordray told borrowers "not to flood our phone lines" as he delivers debt relief.

Thousands of public servants were previously denied relief due to flaws in the loan forgiveness program.

A top student-loan official said much more student-debt relief is to come — borrowers just need to sit back and wait.

"Please continue to be patient, log in to FedLoan's borrower portal to check your progress, and try not to flood our phone lines so we can focus on doing this work for you," Federal Student Aid head Richard Cordray wrote on Twitter last week.

His plea comes after thousands of student-loan borrowers saw their debt balances turn to zero after President Joe Biden's Education Department launched temporary reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program in October.

PSLF was created in 2007 to forgive student debt for public servants, like teachers and nonprofit workers, after ten years of qualifying payments. But since the first group of borrowers became eligible for forgiveness in 2017, the program ran up a 98% denial rate, prompting reforms from Biden's Education Department. Although some of the reforms are limited-time — including a waiver through October that would allow any past payments to count toward forgiveness progress — the department said at the time thousands of borrowers would become eligible for billions in relief.

For example, a month after the reforms were announced, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said 10,000 public servants had already gotten $715 million in student debt wiped out, and $2 billion in relief would be coming for over 30,000 more borrowers. According to recent Education Department data, over 70,000 borrowers have had their debt wiped out to date.

"Over the last year 70,000 first responders, teachers, service members & other public servants received debt forgiveness, 4x the previous total," Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal wrote on Twitter in January. "We are proud to have their back."

As Insider previously reported, and as Cordray noted in his tweet, little action on the borrower's part needs to be taken to receive loan forgiveness. The main thing borrowers must do is ensure their loans are consolidated into a direct federal loan, and after submitting a PSLF application, the department will take it from there.

To help deliver relief to borrowers, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) — a controversial student-loan company that manages PSLF — announced in November it would extend its contract one additional year to allow time for impacted borrowers to smoothly transition to a new company.

Even so, some public servants are confused by what the reforms mean for them and are waiting for the loan forgiveness they think they deserve. One borrower told Insider in November that even after working in public service for two decades, she has yet to receive relief and it's "anxiety-inducing" not knowing where her debt load stands.

Lisa Ansell — a teacher who got her remaining $44,000 student-debt load forgiven — told Insider she has "a new lease on her life," but she will not stop fighting until 45 million Americans holding $1.7 trillion in student debt can say the same.

"I'm just a sliver of the totality of borrowers drowning in crippling student debt," Ansell said. "I happen to have been fortunate enough in that of the millions of applications, somehow mine managed to land in the yes file."

Student-loan companies' 'illegal conduct' can ruin borrowers' chances of debt forgiveness, Biden's top consumer watchdog says — and they're about to face stepped up scrutiny

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) 

© Provided by Business Insider CFPB head Rohit Chopra. Getty/Tom Williams

The Education Department recently reformed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

The CFPB is stepping up scrutiny over the information some student-loan companies provide on the reforms.

The agency reported companies' misleading behavior that can block borrowers from debt relief.

President Joe Biden's top consumer watchdog says he's cracking down on student loan companies' bad behavior that's jeopardizing some borrowers' chances of forgiveness.

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), led by Rohit Chopra, released a bulletin detailing how it will monitor student-loan companies' actions when it comes to debt forgiveness. Particularly, the agency is overseeing how companies are informing borrowers of recent reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which forgives student debt for public servants after ten years of qualifying payments.

Leading up to Biden's presidency, the program ran up a 98% denial rate, and the CFPB is stepping up its scrutiny over companies to ensure borrowers are no longer misinformed on the program.

"Illegal conduct by a student loan servicer can be ruinous for borrowers who miss out on the opportunity for debt cancellation," Chopra said in a statement. "We will be working closely with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure that loan cancellation promises for public service are honored."

The agency wrote that over past years, it has found that companies "made deceptive statements to borrowers about their ability to become eligible for PSLF," and the failure to provide accurate information has misled borrowers and resulted in tens of thousands of dollars of student debt that should have been canceled.

But things seem to be turning around for borrowers who have struggled to get relief from the program. As a result of announced reforms in October, the Education Department is temporarily allowing prior ineligible payments to qualify for PSLF through a waiver, and over 70,000 borrowers have so far seen their student debt wiped out as a result.

Federal Student Aid head Richard Cordray wrote on Twitter last week that the already delivered relief is "the tip of the iceberg." To ensure borrowers can continue reaping the benefits, the CFPB said it will be paying close attention as to whether student-loan companies are providing accurate information regarding the waiver and ensuring the waiver is being promoted to all borrowers who might be eligible.

"We want to make sure that every single borrower who could benefit from the PSLF Waiver has the chance to do so, and giving borrowers accurate and timely information about their eligibility is critical," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) —the student-loan company that manages PSLF — announced in November it would extend its contract one additional year to allow time for impacted borrowers to smoothly transition to a new company. However, PHEAA is checkered with controversy and has come under fire by lawmakers like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said the company has an "atrocious record" of misleading borrowers into taking on more debt than they can pay off.

This isn't the first time the CFPB is cracking down on student-loan companies. In July, the agency found borrowers "regularly" got inaccurate information from the companies collecting their debt, including misrepresenting eligibility requirements for PSLF.
Read the original article on Business Insider

WOULD U LIKE SOME CHEESE WITH THAT 

Stellantis CEO Once Again Complains About Electrification Costs

Mark Kane


He highlights an additional 40-50% increase in total production costs.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares once again complained about the electrification costs, describing the issue as the "the gorilla in the room."

© insideEvs.com Copyright Chrysler Airflow Concept at 2021 Stellantis Software Day

According to an Automotive News Europe report, Carlos Tavares says that electrification will increase the total production cost by 40-50%, which is beyond what the company can accept. He already pointed that out in December, and in January, and continues to criticize the direction towards electric cars (instead of hybrids).

Last week, he said that automakers would need to find ways to absorb the additional costs.

"We can expect electrification to represent an additional total production cost of around 40 to 50 percent against the conventional vehicle. There is no way we can transfer 40 to 50 percent of the additional total production cost to the customer."

Stellantis' plan is to increase productivity (by 10% per year, over the next five years, compared to 2-3% normally).

The company is changing its sales model. After canceling dealer contracts in Europe, the company is expected to implement by mid-2023 a new "retailer model," with more control on how the cars are sold by dealers. It potentially will result in taking some of the dealer's tasks and profits.

Another way will be to transfer the higher costs to suppliers. Carlos Tavares said that 85% of the value of a car is from outside components, so there should be no surprise that they will have to absorb higher costs.

The one thing that Stellantis doesn't want is to increase prices because that would prevent people from buying new cars.

"This is going to be mostly a cost-reduction race over the next five years to protect affordability in terms of protecting the size of the markets, so that we can keep the middle classes on board on new car sales,"

Stellantis' overall adjusted operating margin in 2021 was 11.8%, which is quite strong.

House advances legislation to award WWII battalion the Congressional Gold Medal

Eleanor Watson 

The House of Representatives Monday night passed legislation to award the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors.

The women of the 6888th or "Six Triple Eight" deployed to Europe in 1945 to sort through the backlog of mail whose delayed delivery was hurting morale on the frontlines. Working through horrid conditions, the 855 women cut down the six-month backlog in just three months.

Their work is credited with ensuring aid got to the frontlines, comforting mothers and saving marriages, and yet, they did not receive much recognition upon their return following the war.

The legislation to award the group the Congressional Gold Medal is an effort to rectify that.

 

© Provided by CBS News Black Women's Army Corps Unit handling the mail / Credit: National Archives

The House bill, introduced by Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin and supported by 295 co-sponsors, passed the House Monday night. Moore introduced the legislation after the daughter of 6888 member Anna Mae Robertson, a constituent, inspired her to get involved.

"Facing both racism and sexism in a warzone, these women sorted millions of pieces of mail, closing massive mail backlogs, and ensuring service members received letters from their loved ones," Moore said in a statement. "A Congressional Gold Medal is only fitting for these veterans who received little recognition for their service after returning home."

The bill passed the Senate last year and will now go to President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The effort to recognize the women has been pushed in large part by Retired Lieutenant Colonel Edna Cummings, who co-produced the documentary, "The Six Triple Eight," highlighting the unit's achievements, and helped erect a monument at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for the 6888.

"I'm grateful to the 6888 veterans, families, and thousands of supporters who worked to make this Congressional Gold Medal vision a reality," Cummings said in a statement.

There are less than ten known living members of the unit to receive the medal, but the honor will guarantee the story of their contributions to the World War II effort has a place in history.