FORTEAN PHENOMENA; HOLLOW EARTH

Southern China sinkhole discovered, home to towering ancient trees

Caitlin McFall
Tue, May 17, 2022

A massive sinkhole was discovered in southern China with ancient trees over 130 feet in length growing at the bottom, according to reports.

The sinkhole, one of 30 found in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, measures over 1,000 feet in length, 490 feet in width and nearly 630 feet in depth, the Xinhua news agency reported earlier this month.

MEXICO SINKHOLE PHOTOS SHOW HOUSE ON EDGE OF COLOSSAL CRATER

 Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2020, shows palm trees in a Tiankeng, or giant karst sinkhole, at Luoquanyan Village in Xuan'en County, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hubei Province. 

Xinhua/Song Wen via Getty Images

Experts classified the sinkhole as "large" with three cave entrances in the chasm.

The sinkhole was formed in "karst terrain," which means rock below the surface can easily be dissolved by groundwater circulating through the bedrock, according to the U.S. Department for Interior.

The three interior caves are believed to have formed during earlier occurring erosion.

The sinkhole's bottom is lined with a "well-preserved primitive forest" with the trees growing up towards the sun, according to the local news agency.

Shade plants were reported to be growing as high as an adult's shoulders, leader of the Guangxi 702 cave expedition team, Chen Lixin, told the publication.

FILE - Aerial Photo taken on April 19, 2020, shows the scenery of Dashiwei Tiankeng, a giant karst sinkhole, at Leye-Fengshan Global Geopark in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Leye-Fengshan Geopark was added to the UNESCO's Global Geopark List in 2010.

 Xinhua/Zhou Hua via Getty Images

The first expedition of the cave was completed earlier this month after experts scaled down more than 300 feet and hiked for several hours before reaching the base of the sinkhole.

The discovery of the latest sinkhole is not an anomaly.

Southern China, like areas in Mexico, Peru and Australia, are home to dramatic sinkholes.

Chinese scientists find massive 630ft-deep sinkhole with an entire hidden forest inside

Stuti Mishra
Wed, May 18, 2022,

A massive 630ft-deep sinkhole has been found in China in which a stunning ancient forest range has been discovered by researchers with trees as tall as 131ft (40m) and could include species that have not been seen before.

Cave explorers came across the sinkhole near Ping’e village in Leye County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region earlier this month.

The sinkhole is 630ft (192m) deep and measures 1,000ft (304m) in length and 490ft (149m) in width, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The discovery was classified as “large” and experts hiked for several hours before reaching the base of the sinkhole and found three cave entrances.

The sinkhole’s bottom is lined with a “well-preserved primitive forest” with the trees growing up towards the sun, according to experts quoted by the news agency.

Chen Lixin, who led the cave expedition team, told Xinhua that the dense undergrowth on the sinkhole floor was as high as a person’s shoulders and that some of the ancient trees at the bottom were 131ft (40m) tall.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now,” Mr Lixin said.

China’s Guangxi region is known for its beautiful and sometimes dramatic karst formations.

Leye County alone, where this current sinkhole was discovered, is home to a number of such sinkholes. The discovery of this new one has brought the number of sinkholes in this county to 30, reported Xinhua.

Karst landscapes are formed primarily by the dissolution of bedrock, George Veni, the executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) in the US, told Live Science.

“Because of local differences in geology, climate and other factors, the way karst appears at the surface can be dramatically different,” he said.

“So in China you have this incredibly visually spectacular karst with enormous sinkholes and giant cave entrances and so forth,” he added.

“In other parts of the world you walk out on the karst and you really don’t notice anything. Sinkholes might be quite subdued, only a metre or two in diameter. Cave entrances might be very small, so you have to squeeze your way into them.”

Cave explorers discover ‘heavenly' sinkhole surprise living down below


Marianne Mizera
Wed, May 18, 2022, 

When we think of sinkholes, images of deep-pitted wells of buckling and sunken asphalt come to mind as they swallow up chunks of earth and everything with it.

Gaping large and dramatic enough, they often draw the curious onlookers eager for a peek at what might be lurking far below the surface.

But peering into one recently discovered sinkhole in the hilly outlying regions of southern China, one finds a lush forest down below with ancient towering trees. It's a place they call "tiankeng" in Mandarin, meaning "heavenly pit."

The gaping hole, measuring 1,003 feet (306 meters) long and 492 feet (150 meters) wide, was discovered by cave explorers on May 6 in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, near Ping'e village in the county of Leye. What made it all the more mysterious were the three smaller cave entrances an expedition team stumbled upon once inside the 623-foot-deep cavernous pit.

The group of cave scientists and explorers -- called "speleologists" and "spelunkers" -- rappelled down to the bottom of this enormous chasm to document the flora and other life that has flourished and taken hold in the space as the sinkhole's opening slowly grew larger and larger "over millennia," according to experts.

Chen Lixin, who led the cave expedition team, described the plentiful and ancient, 140-foot-tall trees growing at the bottom with their branches stretched out toward the sunlight and the dense undergrowth on the sinkhole floor that is as high as a person's shoulders.

Scientists believe the subterranean habitat may even harbor some still unknown species.

"I wouldn't be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now," George Veni, executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in New Mexico, told AccuWeather.

Such unknowns are what lend to their mysterious nature.

"You don't know what you're going to find in each corner, and sometimes we are surprised and occasionally something breaks through our own expectations," he added.

For scientists and researchers who devote their lives to studying sinkholes and caves, Veni said, "they inspire us and challenge us to learn and explore more."

"It's interesting that we've gone from living in caves to now studying and exploring them," Veni mused.

Sinkholes and caves are rather common in the southern parts of China due to the vast karst topography throughout the region.


An aerial view of an expressway interchange between misty hills of the karst landform in Jingxi city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Oct. 06, 2021.

(Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Karst landscapes form usually when rainwater dissolves certain types of rocks, creating ridges, fissures, sinkholes and the like.

In fact, these towering karst formations, which range from sinkholes to rock pillars to natural bridges, have earned the region a UNESCO world heritage site designation that protects the area.

"The geologic conditions are just right in China" to create such wonders of the Earth, said Veni.

"In China, you have this incredibly visually spectacular karst with enormous sinkholes and giant cave entrances and so forth," Veni added.

This most recent find is the 30th sinkhole to have been discovered in this region of China, according to the Xinhua news agency. The country also holds the honor of being home to the largest sinkhole. Located in Xiaozhai Tiankeng, the sinkhole there is 2,100 feet deep, 2,000 feet long and 1,760 feet wide and includes a waterfall within its depths.

The United States, he noted, claims 25% of the world's karst caves and sinkholes, "but they're not as dramatic."

"Sinkholes might be quite subdued, only a meter or two in diameter. Cave entrances might be very small, so you have to squeeze your way into them."

And the karst isn't just pretty spectacular to look at. It provides a basic necessity for millions of people worldwide. Veni said about 700 million people depend on karst aquifers as their primary or sole water source.

2021-22 marked the first-ever International Year of Caves and Karst that has featured 500 events around the world.

Giant sinkhole found in China has hidden forest with ancient trees growing at its floor


Mike Snider, USA TODAY
Wed, May 18, 2022

Cave explorers in southern China may have found the modern-day equivalent of The Lost World.

At the bottom of the newly discovered 630-foot deep sinkhole lies a hidden forest, lush with shoulder-high flora and tall trees.

Researchers also think there may be new species of animals and plants within the sinkhole, which is made up of three caves and measures 5 million square meters, the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic swimming pools.

The sinkhole was discovered in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, near Ping'e village in the county of Leye, according to the Chinese government's official news agency Xinhua, The area of southern China is known for its caves, sinkholes, and karst forests, limestone formations that populate the landscape.

Exploring caves in 3D: Technology helps scientists discover cache of ancient Native American cave art

Leader of the cave exploration team, Chen Lixin, told Xinhua the ancient trees growing at the bottom of the sinkhole are nearly 130 feet tall – taller than most oak trees. Dense shade plants grew as tall as the explorers' shoulders, Lixin said.

"I wouldn't be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now," Lixin said, according to Live Science.

These type of sinkholes and caves could harbor new flora and fauna, international cave expert George Veni told Live Science. "This is cool news," said Veni, who was not involved in the discovery or exploration of this new cave. He is the executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Sinkholes and caves are created over time as water dissolves limestone, according to the institute. Large sinkholes can have small ponds and fields of plants at the bottom.

Zhang Yuanhai, a senior engineer with the Institute of Karst Geology of China Geological Survey, categorized the find as a large sinkhole, with a well-preserved primitive forest at the bottom, Xinhua reported.

The explorers completed their expedition on May 6, emerging from the sinkhole after rappelling more than 100 meters down (about 330 feet) and walking several hours to reach its bottom, according to Xinhua. The sinkhole measures about 1,000 feet in length, 500 feet in width and 630 feet in depth.

That such a sinkhole might be found in China is not a big surprise because the region has "this incredibly visually spectacular karst with enormous sinkholes and giant cave entrances and so forth," Veni told Live Science.

Zhang Yuanhai was part of a team that explored an even larger sinkhole found in Guangxi five years ago.

This latest discovery brings the region's number of such sinkholes to 30, Xinhua reported. Mexico and Papua New Guinea are other countries where sinkholes are frequently found.

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: China sinkhole found with ancient forest, tall plants at the bottom

Restoring the Great Lakes: After 50 years of US-Canada joint efforts, some success and lots of unfinished business


Daniel Macfarlane, Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability, Western Michigan University

THE CONVERSATION
Thu, May 19, 2022

Children participate in a water fight in Lake Ontario in Mississauga, Ontario, during a heat wave on June 5, 2021. Zou Zheng/Xinhua via Getty Images

The Great Lakes cover nearly 95,000 square miles (250,000 square kilometers) and hold over 20% of Earth’s surface fresh water. More than 30 million people in the U.S. and Canada rely on them for drinking water. The lakes support a multibillion-dollar maritime economy, and the lands around them provided many of the raw materials – timber, coal, iron – that fueled the Midwest’s emergence as an industrial heartland.

Despite their enormous importance, the lakes were degraded for well over a century as industry and development expanded around them. By the 1960s, rivers like the Cuyahoga, Buffalo and Chicago were so polluted that they were catching fire. In 1965, Maclean’s magazine called Lake Erie, the smallest and shallowest Great Lake, “an odorous, slime-covered graveyard” that “may have already passed the point of no return.” Lake Ontario wasn’t far behind.

In 1972, the U.S. and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a landmark pact to clean up the Great Lakes. Now, 50 years later, they have made progress, but there are new challenges and much unfinished business.

I study the environment and have written four books on U.S.-Canadian management of their shared border waters. In my view, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was a watershed moment for environmental protection and an international model for regulating transboundary pollution. But I believe the people of the U.S. and Canada failed the Great Lakes by becoming complacent too soon after the pact’s early success.

Starting with phosphates

A major step in Canada-U.S. joint management of the Great Lakes came in 1909 when they signed the Boundary Waters Treaty. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement built on this foundation by creating a framework to allow the two countries to cooperatively restore and protect these border waters.

However, as an executive agreement, rather than a formal government-to-government treaty, the pact has no legal mechanisms for enforcement. Instead, it relies on the U.S. and Canada to fulfill their commitments. The International Joint Commission, an agency created under the Boundary Waters Treaty, carries out the agreement and tracks progress toward its goals.

The agreement set common targets for controlling a variety of pollutants in Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River, which were the most polluted section of the Great Lakes system. One key aim was to reduce nutrient pollution, especially phosphates from detergents and sewage. These chemicals fueled huge blooms of algae that then died and decomposed, depleting oxygen in the water.

Like national water pollution laws enacted at the time, these efforts focused on point sources – pollutants released from discreet, readily identifiable points, such as discharge pipes or wells.

Early results were encouraging. Both governments invested in new sewage treatment facilities and convinced manufacturers to reduce phosphate loads in detergents and soaps. But as phosphorus levels in the lakes declined, scientists soon detected other problems.

Toxic contaminants

In 1973, scientists reported a perplexing find in fish from Lake Ontario: mirex, a highly toxic organochloride pesticide used mainly to kill ants in the southeast U.S. An investigation revealed that the Hooker Chemical company was discharging mirex from its plant in Niagara Falls, New York. The contamination was so severe that New York State banned eating popular types of fish such as coho salmon and lake trout from Lake Ontario from 1976 to 1978, shutting down commercial and sport fishing in the lake.

In response to this and other findings, the U.S. and Canada updated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1978 to cover all five lakes and focus on chemicals and toxic substances. This version formally adopted an ecosystem approach to pollution control that considered interactions between water, air and land – perhaps the first international agreement to do so.

In 1987, the two countries identified the most toxic hot spots around the lakes and adopted action plans to clean them up. However, as scholars of North American environmental regulations acknowledge, both nations too often allowed industries to police themselves.

Since the 1990s, studies have identified toxic pollutants including PCBs, DDT and chlordane in and around the Great Lakes, as well as lead, copper, arsenic and others. Some of these chemicals continued to show up because they were persistent and took a long time to break down. Others were banned but leached from contaminated sites and sediments. Still others came from a range of point and nonpoint sources, including many industrial sites concentrated on shorelines.

Many hazardous sites have been slowly cleaned up. However, toxic pollution in the Great Lakes remains a colossal problem that is largely unappreciated by the public, since these substances don’t always make the water look or smell foul. Numerous fish advisories are still in effect across the region because of chemical contamination. Industries constantly bring new chemicals to market, and regulations lag far behind.

Nonpoint sources

Another major challenge is nonpoint source pollution – discharges that come from many diffuse sources, such as runoff from farm fields.

Nitrogen levels in the lakes have risen significantly because of agriculture. Like phosphorus, nitrogen is a nutrient that causes large blooms of algae in fresh water; it is one of the main ingredients in fertilizer, and is also found in human and animal waste. Sewage overflows from cities and waste and manure runoff from industrial agriculture carry heavy loads of nitrogen into the lakes.

As a result, algal blooms have returned to Lake Erie. In 2014, toxins in one of those blooms forced officials in Toledo, Ohio, to shut off the public water supply for half a million people.

One way to address nonpoint source pollution is to set an overall limit for releases of the problem pollutant into local water bodies and then work to bring discharges down to that level. These measures, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads, have been applied or are in development for parts of the Great Lakes basin, including western Lake Erie.

But this strategy relies on states, along with voluntary steps by farmers, to curb pollution releases. Some Midwesterners would prefer a regional approach like the strategy for Chesapeake Bay, where states asked the U.S. government to write a sweeping federal TMDL for key pollutants for the bay’s entire watershed.

In 2019, Toledo voters adopted a Lake Erie Bill of Rights that would have permitted citizens to sue when Lake Erie was being polluted. Farmers challenged the measure in court, and it was declared unconstitutional.

Warming and flooding

Climate change is now complicating Great Lakes cleanup efforts. Warmer water can affect oxygen concentrations, nutrient cycling and food webs in the lakes, potentially intensifying problems and converting nuisances into major challenges.

Flooding driven by climate change threatens to contaminate public water supplies around the lakes. Record-high water levels are eroding shorelines and wrecking infrastructure. And new problems are emerging, including microplastic pollution and “forever chemicals” such as PFAS and PFOA.

It will be challenging for the U.S. and Canada to make progress on this complex set of problems. Key steps include prioritizing and funding cleanup of toxic zones, finding ways to halt agricultural runoff and building new sewer and stormwater infrastructure. If the two countries can muster the will to aggressively tackle pollution problems, as they did with phosphates in the 1970s, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement gives them a framework for action.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Daniel Macfarlane, Western Michigan University.

Read more:

Nutrient pollution: Voluntary steps are failing to shrink algae blooms and dead zones


Tons of plastic trash enter the Great Lakes every year – where does it go?

Daniel Macfarlane has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Western Michigan University.

NY complaint alleges Amazon discriminated against pregnant, disabled worker

David Robinson, New York State Team
Wed, May 18, 2022, 

New York authorities have filed a complaint alleging Amazon discriminated against pregnant workers and workers with disabilities by denying them reasonable accommodations, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.

The complaint claimed that Amazon's policies forced pregnant workers and workers with disabilities to take an unpaid leaves of absence, rather than allowing them to work with a reasonable accommodation.

The complaint, filed by the state Division of Human Rights, comes after Amazon workers in Staten Island, voted to unionize early last month, the first successful U.S. organizing effort among people employed at the retail giant.

Amazon on Wednesday issued a statement voicing surprise at the discrimination complaint, which was unrelated to the unionization vote. Spokeswoman Kelly Nantel noted Amazon had previously been "cooperating and working closely with Hochul's investigator" on the matter.


“Ensuring all our employees, including those with disabilities and expectant mothers, feel safe and supported is extremely important to Amazon and we have numerous programs to ensure that’s the case," Nantel said in a statement.

"While we don't always get it right with a workforce of over 1.6 million people, we work diligently to offer the best available options to accommodate individual situations," she added, noting Amazon could not comment further because it had yet to receive the complaint.

People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021.
What the Amazon discrimination complaint says

State law in New York requires that all employers, upon request, reasonably accommodate workers with disabilities or pregnancy-related conditions.

The accommodations can include modification of job duties that allow an employee to perform the essential functions of their jobs.

Amazon, which operates 23 worksites with over 39,000 workers across New York, employs in-house "accommodation consultants" to evaluate employee requests and recommend appropriate action.

UNION: Who is Chris Smalls? What to know about the Amazon labor union organizer

AMAZON: What to know about Amazon warehouse in Mount Pleasant

Authorities in New York allege Amazon's policy of allowing worksite managers to override the recommendations made by those consultants caused Amazon employees to be denied reasonable accommodations for their disabilities and pregnancy-related conditions.

The complaint included accusations that an Amazon manager forced a pregnant warehouse worker to continue lifting packages over 25 pounds, despite the consultant approving the worker’s request for an alternative job to avoid the heavy lifting, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

As a result of the heavy lifting, the worker was injured and required further accommodations, but Amazon denied that request and forced the worker into indefinite unpaid leave, the statement added.

A sign at Amazon’s fulfillment center in the Town of Montgomery, NY, on Oct. 13, 2021.

Another Amazon worker was allegedly improperly denied when they requested a modified work schedule due to a documented disability.

The worker's condition necessitated a specific sleep schedule and the worker submitted supporting medical records with the request. Prior to the request, the worker had been swapping shifts with a coworker to accommodate this condition without objections from management.

Amazon's internal consultant recommended that the worker’s request be granted but the manager refused without explanation, according to the governor's office's statement. The consultant then reversed their decision, the statement added, citing a lack of qualifying condition despite the medical records.

The complaint seeks a Human Rights administrative hearing decision that requires Amazon to cease its discriminatory conduct, the governor’s office said.

The complaint also seeks that Amazon be required to:

Adopt non-discriminatory policies and practices regarding the review of requests for reasonable accommodations

Train its employees on the provisions of Human Rights law

Pay civil fines and penalties to New York state

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks in Mount Vernon City Hall April 15, 2022.
What NY officials say about Amazon discrimination complaint

Hochul asserted New York has the strongest worker protections in the nation, noting it was one of the first states to have protections for workers who are pregnant and those with disabilities.

"My administration will hold any employer accountable, regardless of how big or small, if they do not treat their workers with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Hochul said in a statement, addressing the complaint against Amazon.

Melissa Franco, deputy commissioner for enforcement at the Human Rights Division, added New York law has prohibited discrimination against pregnant workers since the 1970s – well before the federal Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

“The (Humans Rights) division will work to ensure that everyone in our state is fully afforded the rights and dignities that the law requires," Franco said in a statement.

New York’s complaint against Amazon comes after U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and other federal lawmakers sent a letter in September to federal regulators seeking an investigation of Amazon’s policies.

The letter referenced allegations that Amazon “systematically denies reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees at its fulfillment centers.”

It also cited accusations linked to Amazon worksites in Oklahoma City and California, including a worker who had a miscarriage after her request to stop lifting heavy packages was denied by Amazon.

Between 2015 and 2019, former Amazon employees filed at least seven lawsuits alleging that Amazon wrongfully terminated them during their pregnancies and failed to accommodate rudimentary requests, such as more frequent bathroom breaks and fewer continuous hours on their feet, Gillibrand said in a statement about the letter.

Support local journalism

We cover the stories from the New York State Capitol and across New York that matter most to you and your family. Please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription to the New York publication nearest you.

David Robinson is the state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network New York. He can be reached at drobinson@gannett.com and followed on Twitter: @DrobinsonLoHud

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: NY alleges Amazon discriminated against pregnant, disabled workers

Target workers at a Virginia store withdraw union petition


FILE - The logo on a sign outside a Target store is seen Feb. 28, 2022. Workers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Va., have withdrawn their request with federal union regulators for a union election. Such an election would have joined a wave of union organizing across the country at other retailers from Amazon to Starbucks. The petition was filed last week with the National Labor Relations Board by the independent Target Workers Unite. 

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) 

ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
Wed, May 18, 2022,

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Virginia, have withdrawn their request with federal labor regulators for a union election.

Such an election would have joined a wave of union organizing across the country at other retailers from Amazon to Starbucks.

The petition was filed last week with the National Labor Relations Board by the independent Target Workers Unite. The group was founded by Adam Ryan who has been working at Target Virginia store for five years.

Ryan said last week that the filing comes as workers see their pay failing to cover rising costs for basics like food and rent.

He also noted workers feel like they are having to do too many tasks, from filling online orders to unloading trucks. No reason was given in the document filed with the NLRB. The group is not required to provide a reason for the withdrawal. The group only said it planned to refile its petition.

The NLRB declined to comment.

Target said in a statement last week it is committed to listening to its workers and creating an environment of mutual trust.

“We want all team members to be better off for working at Target,” the retailer said.

Target cited “industry-leading” starting hourly wages of $15 to $24, expanded health care benefits, personalized scheduling and opportunities for career growth. It said it raised the starting wage at its Christiansburg store last fall and increased wages for longer-tenured workers.

Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

Apple Store workers at the World Trade Center accuse the company of union busting


Robert Nickelsberg via Getty Images


Mariella Moon
·Contributing Reporter
Thu, May 19, 2022, 

The Communications Workers of America has filed a second Unfair Labor Practice charge against Apple this week. This time, the labor union is accusing the tech giant of violating multiple federal labor laws at its flagship World Trade Center store. The complaint alleges that Apple interrogated workers at the WTC store regarding their "protected concerted activities." Apple also allegedly monitored those activities, or at least made employees believe that they were being monitored. Based on the group's filing, those incidents happened on or about May 3rd.

By May 15th, the group said Apple "unlawfully implemented" a rule at the store that prohibits employees from posting union flyers in work areas during their breaks. Further, it's accusing the tech giant of conducting "captive-audience" speeches designed to discourage them from unionizing.

Earlier this year, Apple Store workers across the US started planning to unionize in an effort to get the company to increase their pay, which they claim isn't keeping up with the cost of living. Apple reportedly hired anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson, which counts Starbucks and McDonald's as clients, in response. According to a Motherboard report, the company also recently started arming its Store managers with anti-union talking points. They were apparently instructed to tell employees that they could lose career opportunities, as well as personal time off and work flexibility, if they join a union.

The Communications Workers of America also filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint against Apple on behalf of workers at the Cumberland Mall store on May 17th. In it, the group accused the company of holding mandatory captive audience meetings regarding the upcoming union election for the Atlanta location that's scheduled to take place in early June.

Tim Dubnau, CWA's Deputy Organizing Director, said:

"Apple retail workers across the country are demanding a voice on the job and a seat at the table. Unfortunately, and in contradiction to its stated values, Apple has responded like a typical American corporation with heavy-handed tactics designed to intimidate and coerce workers. The best thing Apple can do is allow workers to choose for themselves whether or not they want a union. When we learn of situations where Apple is violating labor law, we intend to hold the company accountable and help the workers defend their rights under the law."

U.S. files third labor complaint in Mexico, on behalf of Panasonic workers



Wed, May 18, 2022
By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -U.S. labor officials asked Mexico on Wednesday to probe whether workers at a Panasonic auto parts factory were denied their rights, marking the third U.S. labor complaint under a new trade deal that aims to improve workplace conditions in Mexico.

The request from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) follows a petition from a Mexican union asking the U.S. government to probe a Panasonic plant in the northern border city of Reynosa, alleging violations of the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a letter to Mexico's Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier that the agency was concerned workers at Panasonic Automotive Systems de Mexico were being denied rights to free association and collective bargaining, in breach of the USMCA.

Panasonic Corp of North America said it "respects and supports" those rights and that it did not believe they had been denied. The unit of the Japanese conglomerate added it would cooperate with Mexican authorities.

Tai noted that previous USMCA labor complaints - one targeting automaker General Motors and another against auto parts plant Tridonex - led to worker benefits.

The U.S. government reached agreements with both companies without imposing USMCA sanctions, which can include revoking tariff-free status.

"When concerns arise, we will work swiftly to stand up for workers on both sides of the border," Tai said in a statement.

The Mexican government has 10 days to decide whether to conduct a review. The Economy Ministry said it received the U.S. request and would consult with the Labor Ministry before sending a response.

The Mexican union that requested the inquiry, SNITIS, accused Panasonic of signing a union contract behind workers' backs and of firing several dozen employees who protested. Days after submitting the petition last month, SNITIS won a sweeping vote to become the plant's new labor representation.

U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, a Democrat, called for Panasonic to enter negotiations with SNITIS in good faith, and applauded the USTR complaint.

"Improving labor conditions is absolutely needed to ensure jobs here at home are not being undermined," he said.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio, Bill Berkrot and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Electrify America Plans a Fully Renewable 75-Megawatt Facility


Emmet White
Wed, May 18, 2022, 

Photo credit: ElectrifyAmerica

The Volkswagen-owned EV developer teams up with wind and solar energy company Terra-Gen to meet its goal of a net zero carbon footprint.

In addition to increasing renewability, the new solar facility will enable Electrify America to increase its annual output by 225,000 MWh.

Electrify America is in cycle three of a four cycle plan, with current electrification strategies divided between a massive California market and the rest of the nation.

The future is here! At least that’s what Electrify America’s new 100% renewable energy-sourced EV charging network looks like. Teaming up with energy provider Terra-Gen, Electrify America has announced plans to build a solar powered energy generation project in San Bernardino County, California.

“The new solar project is expected to generate 75 Megawatts (MW) per hour at peak solar capacity or an estimated annual production of 225,000 Megawatt hours,” Electrify America said. “It is projected to produce enough 100% renewable energy annually to more than offset the energy currently delivered on an annualized basis to Electrify America’s customers charging on its extensive network.”


Photo credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN - Getty Images

The plan, named Electrify America Solar Glow 1, is set to be in use by mid-2023 and projects big changes for the charging market. Not only does the plan aim to have a net-zero carbon footprint, but it aims to become the largest open EV fast-charging network in North America to enter into a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA).

How exactly does this deal work? Electrify America and Terra-Gen have struck a 15-year VPPA, in which Electrify America is paid a fixed price for developing and ultimately selling Terra-Gen’s energy to customers. Should market rates for electricity fall, Terra-Gen is still required to pay the agreed take-off price. Similarly, the energy provider will be obligated to share portions of revenue if the energy is sold above the agreed rate.

Electrify America is not taking a business-as-usual approach with its new goal. The company plans on buying and retiring all government bundled environmental certifications linked to the new solar project, in a move that shies away from unbundled and third-party supplied certificates. One supplier of bundled certificates will be Solar Energy Generating Systems IX plant, the world's longest-running solar thermal energy facility.

“In aggregate, these 100% renewable energy commitments address Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for all energy delivered to our customers, and amount to an estimated 2 million metric tons in avoided CO2 emissions over 15 years—comparable to the carbon sequestered by planting nearly 40 million trees,” said Jigar Shah, head of energy services at Electrify America.

As a part of the overarching four-cycle plan, Electrify American is currently in cycle three, which will run through 2024 and has a primary goal of nationally expanding a DC fast charging network. Though the new facilities are a year out, Electrify America is leading the way in creating North America’s largest charging network, something we’re already seeing the benefits of.

This is how much money Americans think they need to be considered wealthy

Alicia Adamczyk
Tue, May 17, 2022, 

Can you put a dollar amount on what it means to be wealthy in the U.S.? An annual survey asks Americans to do just that, and this year, $2.2 million is the magic number.

That's according to the annual Modern Wealth Survey from Charles Schwab, which also finds people believe that an average net worth of $774,000 is what it takes to be financially comfortable.

The report, which surveyed 1,000 Americans ages 21 to 75 in February 2022, asked respondents a range of questions about their personal finances, including the factors influencing their savings and investment decisions.

The average net worth needed to be considered wealthy and to be financially comfortable both rose from last year's survey. In 2021, Americans said they needed $624,000 in net assets to live comfortably, while it would take $1.9 million to be rich. That said, the averages are still lower than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, likely because many people are focusing less on hitting a specific number and more on their overall goals, financial and otherwise, says Rob Williams, managing director of financial planning, retirement income, and wealth management at Charles Schwab.

"People are concerned about other things besides the balance in their portfolio and in their investment account," says Williams, including their physical health and overall stability.

The average net worth of U.S. households actually isn't so far off from Schwab's survey: It stood at $748,800 in 2019, according to the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve. But that's skewed by the richest households. The median net worth for U.S. households is $121,700, per the Fed. And as other reports have found, many U.S. households have very little or no savings at all.

 

Build your savings momentum

With little saved for emergencies or retirement, a number like $2.2 million—or even $774,000—might seem like an impossible benchmark to reach. But Williams says this doesn't have to be the case. Ultimately, each household should calculate its own wealth target and make an individualized savings plan. What one person or family needs isn't the same as another.

“A plan is really just saying, ‘This is what’s important to me, this is what I need to save and invest for next year, in five years, 10 years from now,’” says Williams.

Once you have some idea of a target, the most important thing you can do is start saving—regardless of the amount you put away. Five dollars is better than nothing, even if it doesn't seem at first like it will add up to much. Putting even a little bit of money away consistently is especially important when building a retirement account, as most Americans will be on their own to fund their golden years, says Williams.

"No matter how much money you have, get started and stay disciplined," he says. "You’ll look back and say, ‘Goodness, those small steps really built up over time.’ You’ll find yourself in a position where you can make a lot more choices than you could before."

Once you start saving, make it an automatic ritual. Oftentimes, watching your savings accrue will provide the momentum to keep saving more and more, even if you're just starting out or well below your target number, says Williams.

Keeping the long game in mind is critical, especially in a rocky market like we're seeing right now. Building wealth, for most people, takes decades of dedicated investments. Though investing money in assets that are on a losing streak can seem self-defeating, a down market is "an opportunity to be saving and investing more," says Williams—and getting more for your money.

"If you’re investing for net worth, it takes time to get there," he says. "It's good to be aspirational, but get started and don’t get overwhelmed by trying to get to a certain number in a day or a week."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Orban tells CPAC conservatives in Europe, U.S. must align "troops" for 2024 votes
 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Matt Schlapp

Thu, May 19, 2022
By Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Conservatives in Europe and the United States must fight together to "reconquer" institutions in Washington and Brussels from liberals who threaten Western civilisation ahead of votes in 2024, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.

Nationalist Orban said the next U.S. presidential election, when Donald Trump suggests he may seek a second term in the White House, and the vote for the European Parliament would make that a vital year.

He was addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the United States' most prominent conservative gathering, in Budapest, the first such CPAC event in Europe.

"Progressive liberals, neo-Marxists dazed by the woke dream, people financed by George Soros and promoters of open societies ... want to annihilate the Western way of life that you and us love so much," Orban told the conference.

"We must coordinate the movement of our troops as we face a big test, 2024 will be a decisive year," he said.

His comments were a familiar swipe at Budapest-born billionaire Soros, who he accuses of trying to undermine Europe's cultural identity by supporting immigration. Soros has promoted liberalism since before the 1989 fall of communism, funding education and scholarships.

Orban, who was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term after a landslide election victory in April, is seen by many on the American hard right as a model for his tough policies on immigration and support for families and Christian conservatism.

The EU has accused Orban of curbing media and judicial independence and enriching associates with public funds. He denies any corruption.

Orban laid out 12 points which he said were key to ensuring a dominance of conservativism, including playing by their own rules, standing up for national interests in foreign policy and gaining control over the media.

"We must reconquer the institutions in Washington D.C. and Brussels," Orban said.

Launched in 1974, the annual CPAC conference has grown from a confab of conservative thinkers and politicians to a jamboree of right-wing celebrities and activists.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union that runs CPAC, told the conference that Budapest was the right place to start a conversation about what is going on in Europe, working with "freedom fighters".

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Alison Williams)

I study the Bible, LGBTQ kids deserve more empathy than Christian Academy provides: Opinion

Chris Keith, PhD
Thu, May 19, 2022

The Courier Journal

The first time I felt sorry for a gay person was when two guys beat Matthew Shepard within an inch of his life while he was tied to a fence post and left him to die in a Wyoming field. He was discovered in a coma eighteen hours later—still tied to the fence post—and eventually succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. It was 1998 and I was an 18-year-old freshman in college at Bellarmine College.

Although I never remember being told or directly taught this, prior to Matthew Shepard, I thought that whatever harassment LGBTQ people (though we did not yet have this term) received, they brought on themselves. I grew up in the midst of the AIDS epidemic when homosexuals were dying in droves and I do not ever remember feeling sorry for them, much to my present shame.

For Subscribers: Homophobic homework? For some Christian Academy alums, assignment is par for the course

It took Matthew Shepard dying a brutal death for me even to start a rethinking process. Whatever he had done, he did not deserve that. Twenty-four years later, as a 42-year-old man, I look back at that first bit of sympathy that I felt and stand ashamed of the preceding callousness. How was I raised in a thoroughly loving, Christian home and church context that screamed about how much Jesus loves everybody and how nothing can keep anyone from that love and had been so personally unconcerned about extending that concern to such a vulnerable population?


I thought about Matthew Shepard, and the impact of his death on me, recently because of the Christian Academy of Louisville middle-school assignment that asked students to talk a hypothetical gay friend out of their homosexuality in favor of “God’s design” of heterosexuality.

A screenshot of a homework assigment given to a number of students at Christian Academy of Louisville. May 13, 2022

The responses have been typical and as polarized as every other issue in our society. One side decries the abuse of this homework assignment, which primes students for a real-world conversation with real-world effects. They note, rightly, that a private school founded as a reaction against desegregation, which Christian Academy of Louisville was, is once again segregating itself from particular minorities. The school system’s defenders point out that they are only what they ever said they were—an evangelical private Christian school with a “biblical” worldview. They have a right, they say—and they are not wrong on this point—to teach their religious commitments.

Opinion: Christian Academy of Louisville homework shows indoctrination happening in private schools

They do have that right, but one problem with such a response is that neither the Bible nor Jesus solves this situation, for either side, really. To the extent that the Bible speaks about homosexuality, it is against it, and clearly so, in both testaments. As a New Testament scholar, I am fairly confident that the idea that Jesus or Paul would have been completely embracing of homosexuality runs aground. I wish that were not true, but it is. Jesus and Paul were Second Temple Jewish men and would almost certainly have thought what other Second Temple Jews thought, which is that, based on the pattern of creation, marriage was between one man and one woman (each repeats Gen 2:24 in his teachings) and therefore homosexuality was wrong.

Yet the kind of homosexuality that the Bible specifically condemns is not typically what is happening in middle schools today. The Bible condemns specific sex acts, not same-sex affinity or other gender- and sexuality-related issues like non-binarism. Asking what the Bible says about a teenager who is attracted to someone of their own sex, or even what the Bible says about state-sanctioned marriages between two people of the same sex is like asking what the Bible says about Ford versus Chevy; these are not categories in the biblical authors’ brains.

Scenes from the Louisville Pride Festival on Sept. 21, 2019.

Those of us who cherish biblical texts on some level or another also need to exercise the important and necessary right to disagree with the text. The texts come to us today from worlds different from our own in time, culture and distance. I saw a different claim in a social media post defending CAL earlier this week. It said, “Either you believe the Bible or you don’t. Period. You can’t pick and choose which parts are true and which are false for the sake of your moral relativism.” Nonsense. Believers or not, we recognize the distance between the biblical texts and ourselves all the time. Here are some matters that the Bible is pretty clear about:

God’s people cannot eat lobster (Lev 11:9–12) 

(SOMETIMES GENERALIZED TO BE ALL SHELL FISH)

Polygamy and concubinage are alright (Abraham, Jacob, Saul, David, Solomon, et al.)

When a man’s life may be in danger, he can offer his wife or concubine to strangers to save his own neck (Gen 12:10–20; Gen 20:1–18; Judges 19)

Genocide is alright as long as they are your enemies (Deut 20:16), and when conquering your enemies, dashing their babies’ heads against a rock is a blessed thing (Ps 137:9).

Let us not forget the apostle Paul’s upholding of the institution of slavery: he twice tells slaves to obey their masters (Eph 6:5; Col 3:22); sends a runaway slave back to his owner (Philemon); and when he encounters a slave girl being exploited by her owner, he sets her free from a demon but not her owner (Acts 16:16–19).

I have been going to church all my life, but I cannot remember a single anti-lobster, pro-polygamy, pro-spousal sexual sacrifice, pro-genocide, pro-slavery sermon. Just think of all the sinners pouring into Red Lobster on Sundays, after worship no less.

More: Homework at Christian Academy of Louisville: Persuade your friend to stop being gay

Observing the complexity of applying ancient texts to today is not to suggest that Jesus is irrelevant, however, especially for those who care about his teachings. Jesus is particularly clear about his followers’ needs to love others as themselves, love even their enemies, and the need to take care of the marginalized and outcast in God’s kingdom.

He is also particularly clear about whether the precepts of Scripture or human beings take precedence. Addressing several issues related to food, Jesus teaches that “the Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Observance of the Sabbath day was required by the law of Moses, enshrined in the fourth of the ten commandments (Exod 20:8). Without ever saying that the law is unimportant—because he did not think it was unimportant—Jesus says that people are more important.

Jesus’s teaching that human beings and their wellbeing supersede scriptural requirements brings us back to the issue that the to-and-fro about the school’s “right” to make this assignment misses—the real, live children exposed to this conversational conversion therapy. I hope the church culture surrounding the Christian Academy of Louisville can recover an empathy for the LGBTQ children in their midst, the ones who are out and the ones who are closeted. This demographic is already traversing the wild social terrain that is middle school and is substantially more at risk for suicide and self-harm than heterosexual children.

They deserve greater care and consideration, not ostracization. I think of all the friends and acquaintances of mine from Bullitt County Public Schools and then Bellarmine, who have come out of the closet since we were classmates, what they might remember of the me who had yet to come to affirm them. To any of them reading this, I am so sorry for my earlier callousness and I am sorry that it took Matthew Shepard’s death for me to start to see you in the light you deserve. I hope that the Christian Academy of Louisville can make its way to a biblically informed affirmation of LGBTQ students. Even if it doesn’t, however, I hope it can find a way to privilege caring for them and recover an empathy for these amazing children.

Chris Keith (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's University, Twickenham (London, UK) and Research Professor of Theology at The University of Notre Dame Australia. He is a born-and-raised Louisvillian and lives there now with his family.

He is also the Director of the Centre for the Study of Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity. His most recent book is The Gospel as Manuscript: An Early History of the Jesus Tradition as Material Artifact (Oxford University Press, 2020). Find him on Twitter @chriskeith7.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: I study the Bible and it is clear. LGBTQ kids deserve our empathy