ABOLISH SICK NOTES!
Doctors in N.S. want employers to stop asking for sick notes - but the requests keep coming

Wed, November 30, 2022 

Dr. Leisha Hawker said her colleagues have seen an increase in the number of requests for sick notes from employers. She said there's no clinical benefit to the notes, and they only increase the burden on the health care system. (Doctors Nova Scotia - image credit)

Doctors Nova Scotia says physicians are seeing an increase in the number requests they're getting for sick notes, despite a request from the province's chief medical officer of health to employers to stop using them.

Dr. Robert Strang made the plea at his last briefing in mid-November, saying employers are putting "unnecessary pressure" on the healthcare system.

Despite that, Dr. Leisha Hawker, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, said physicians are still getting lots of requests to write the documents as COVID, the flu and other viruses spread through the province.

"I'm definitely seeing more requests and hearing it from more of my colleagues as well," Hawker said. "Employers need to look at other ways to manage their employees and think of other ways to assess their employees' ability to work."

Unnecessary exposures to others

Hawker said it's not just about time, but safety.

Sick patients should be home resting, but some feel compelled to work because they know it will be a struggle to get a note, she said.

"Or they're going to see their doctor and it's a busy waiting room where there's more vulnerable folks like babies, pregnant women and people with cancer and they're spreading it to others," she pointed out.

The dispute over sick notes is hardly new, and is not isolated to Nova Scotia.

Hawker always replies with a letter that was first designed by Doctors Nova Scotia about 15 years ago, telling employers to stop the practice. But she said demand is up once again, "aggravated" by the large volume of illness in the community.

Hawker is a family physician who also works in a newcomer clinic and the addictions clinic. She said most requests come from her most vulnerable patients at the two specialized clinics.

"I think that speaks to the marginalized populations where they're working jobs where they don't have that same level of trust from their employers."

Sick notes are also the target of an effort by the province to improve working conditions for physicians.

The Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness has a list of 15 administrative tasks placed on doctors that it is trying to eliminate – with sick notes near the top.

Leanne Hachey, the executive director, said reducing red tape could make a considerable difference to the province's overtaxed healthcare system.

"If 500 employers are doing it, that adds up to a lot of time that we're asking physicians to spend when they could be spending their time in other, better ways," she said.

CBC

Hachey said cutting back on sick notes could benefit in a number of different ways: it could give doctors more time to spend with other patients, it could improve their work-life balance, or it could potentially give doctors the ability to take on more patients.

She said her office's goal overall is to reduce physician burden by 50,000 hours – the equivalent of 150,000 patient visits. In order to measure that, staff in her office have used stop watches to time how long it takes physicians to complete each administrative task, including writing a sick note.

So far, Hachey said her office has convinced the public service commission to change its policy for notes for incidental illnesses, which are those that require just a few days off.

"We know in working with the small business community and in talking to them, there are many small employers that no longer request sick notes but there's still more work to be done."

'Strugging with the workload'

Hawker said she can't estimate how many notes she writes because it varies week to week. But she said her peers are frustrated when they're asked to give up urgent appointment space because employers require notes immediately.

"It took away access to somebody else who might have had another illness like a bladder infection or strep throat," she said.

"It's not only COVID, but RSV and influenza are really high right now, and the healthcare system, the acute care systems in particular are really struggling with the workload."

NOT JUST THE APPEARANCE OF INPROPRIETY

N.L. mayor, councillors flew on jet owned by billionaire with local energy interests



STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — A Newfoundland mayor says he and three council members did nothing wrong when they flew home from Germany aboard a private jet owned by a billionaire vying to build a major energy project in their town.

Tom Rose, mayor of the western Newfoundland town of Stephenville, said Wednesday that the flight offered by John Risley in September saved the town of around 7,000 people approximately $5,000. Risley is a director of World Energy GH2, a company awaiting provincial government approval for a US$12-billion wind and hydrogen project in the Stephenville region.

Rose said that with large, wealthy companies, meeting on a golf course or a private jet is "the way business is done."

"Time is very, very critical to top senior executives … such as John Risley," he added.

As first reported by CBC News, Rose said he and three colleagues were in Hamburg, Germany, in September for a conference on green energy. He said that during the conference, they signed a memorandum of understanding with GH2 officials to "engage in development" on their project. Risley offered to fly the Stephenville group partway home — from Hamburg to Halifax — on his private jet, Rose said.

The offer, Rose explained, provided a good opportunity for the councillors to have private, in-depth discussions with GH2 leaders about their proposed project. Rose said he and his colleagues had flight insurance, adding that they accepted Risley's offer and got a refund for their plane tickets.

World Energy GH2 is looking to capitalize on western Newfoundland's steady winds and Germany's hunger to find alternative energy sources to Russian natural gas. The first phase of the company's proposal calls for up to 164 onshore wind turbines to power a hydrogen production facility in Stephenville. Long-term plans call for tripling the project's size.

In August, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz led a business delegation to Stephenville and signed a five-page "declaration of intent'' with Canada to kick-start a transatlantic supply chain for hydrogen, with the first deliveries expected by 2025. The hydrogen project in Stephenville is awaiting environmental approval from the Newfoundland and Labrador government. It will also have to clear a nomination and bid process for Crown lands.

Rose said he has "100 per cent" confidence the project will go ahead. Construction on an access road, and the erection of wind measurement towers, has already begun in the area, he added.

The project has been controversial, however. The news of the Stephenville councillors' trip on Risley's jet came just over a month after website allNewfoundlandLabrador.com reported that Premier Andrew Furey vacationed at Risley's luxury fishing lodge in July 2021, nine months before his government lifted a long-standing moratorium on wind development.

Furey said the wind energy file is being handled by another minister; therefore, he said, there is an "ethical wall" between him and the company's interests. The premier has also said repeatedly that he paid for the trip himself.

Rose said he "absolutely" understands that some are uncomfortable with him and his colleagues accepting the ride on Risley's private jet. But he said most people that he is connected with are happy his small community was able to save $5,000.

The Stephenville mayor said he respects the opinions of people who have concerns about the project, but he said it will be beneficial for the town and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"This is a world energy crisis and a G7 country has asked Canada to step in and help," Rose said, referring to Germany. "And our role in Stephenville, we were selected because of one major reason, and that is that we have the best wind … in all of North America."

In a statement emailed Wednesday, GH2 said the Stephenville councillors were in Hamburg to learn more about what hydrogen development could mean for their community.

"The World Energy GH2 team was there as well, and we were happy to be able to offer what were otherwise empty seats for the ride home," said spokesperson Laura Barron.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022.

DECRIMINALIZE ALL DRUGS

Calls for expanded safe supply as B.C. counts another 179 overdose deaths


Wed, November 30, 2022 



VICTORIA — British Columbia’s coroner says the overdose death toll for October reached 179 people, prompting a renewed call for Premier David Eby to introduce a widely accessible safe supply of drugs.

The coroner says the October statistics show that illicit drugs caused the deaths of 1,827 people in B.C. in the first 10 months of this year.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says the increased toxicity and variability of street drugs has created an environment where everyone who uses substances is at risk.

Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, a member of the legislature’s standing committee on health, says it heard from many people who said the safe supply of drugs needs to be expanded to save lives.

Lapointe agrees it’s imperative that a safer supply is available in all areas of the province, adding it’s not a matter of choosing one approach or another but improving all access for treatment and recovery.

Sheila Malcolmson, the minister of mental health and addictions, says her heart goes out to those families, friends and communities that are grieving their losses.

"Our government is expanding and evolving our response to this public-health emergency as we strive to stop the terrible loss of life to the poisoned drug supply," the minister says in a statement.

“While we have been adding new treatment and recovery services, expanding overdose prevention and working to end stigma about addiction, the increasing illicit drug toxicity has taken more lives.”

The coroner's statistics show 453 deaths have occurred this year in Vancouver, or about 25 per cent of those who died.

However, Prince George in northern B.C. and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island have recorded more illicit drug-related deaths this year than in any previous year.

The service says both the Island and Northern Health authorities are trending towards record lives lost to overdose.

At least 10,688 B.C. residents have died since the government first declared a public health emergency in April 2016.

The service says illicit drug toxicity is the leading cause of unnatural death in the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Housing, health care among priorities Manitoba First Nations leaders bring to PM

Wed, November 30, 2022 

Manitoba’s top Indigenous leaders met face-to-face with the Prime Minister in Ottawa this week, and say the meeting was an opportunity to let him know they want to see changes in the way the federal government funds and supports First Nations communities across the country and here in Manitoba.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Garrison Settee, and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Regional Chief for Manitoba Cindy Woodhouse.

The leaders said First Nations communities in Manitoba continue to struggle to access adequate housing, and adequate services like health care, mental health and addictions services, and that they let the Prime Minister know on Tuesday the way that the federal government is currently funding First Nations communities is not working here in Manitoba.

“We articulated to the Prime Minister that First Nations Governments in Manitoba need to be given oversight and control over the administration of funding for services for First Nations in Manitoba,” Merrick said in a joint media release from the four organizations after the meeting concluded.

“There are chronic shortfalls in government services for First Nations, such as health and housing that have been present for as long as Canada has existed.”

But while leaders want to see a change to how First Nations communities are funded, they say the feds also need to be putting up more dollars for those communities.

“We have some of the largest reserves in Canada and 22% of the First Nations population in Canada,” Settee said about Manitoba. “Chronic underfunding has created crises in our First Nations, and we need investments to flow in this next budget that will address the needs and priorities identified by our leadership.

“We need the Prime Minister to commit to working with us in partnership to ensure the Crown is meeting its constitutional, international human rights and other legal obligations, with respect to Aboriginal and Treaty rights.”

Woodhouse said she did give the Trudeau government credit for the work they have done to fund First Nations communities in recent years, even though she said the level of funding is still not where she and others believe it should be.

“I feel First Nations and Canada together have made a start. Over the last six budget cycles, all under the federal government, $55.65 billion of new investments have been committed to First Nations peoples in response to our own budget priorities,” Woodhouse said

“This is a landmark, and represents a degree of responsiveness that no other Prime Minister has achieved.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Dave Baxter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun

MANITOBA
'Reuniting was indescribable:' Communities share stories of searching unmarked graves

WINNIPEG — On a clear summer day in August, Rebecca Blake found herself standing in a cemetery outside Edmonton searching for the graves of Inuvialuit who died in the South during a tuberculosis epidemic.

In a corner of a cemetery in St. Albert, Alta., under some trees she found a section dedicated to Indigenous peoples and a monument holding the names of 98 people buried there from Northern Canada.

As Blake looked around the area she discovered a grim reality.

"I realized there was not enough room for 98 people. Then I learned they were one upon the other, upon the other," she said.

At a different cemetery, Blake learned a woman who was taken from her community to attend a tuberculosis hospital was buried in the same grave as a local social service recipient.

Blake, who is Inuvialuit and an ordained deacon, was part of a group that included family members and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation who travelled to the Edmonton area last summer to conduct ceremonies at the burial sites of 12 individuals who were located and identified through the Nanilavut Project. The project, which translates to "let's find them" in Inuktut, began to search for and honour the lives of those who died in TB hospitals.

Blake helped lead the funeral ceremonies. She shared her experience this week at the second National Gathering on Unmarked Burials that was hosted by the office of the independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked burials and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

"The sense of reuniting was indescribable. Everything that I witnessed over those few days will stay with me for the rest of my life and has changed me," Blake told a crowd of residential school survivors, health experts and family members.

The event, which wrapped Wednesday, focused on promoting community well-being and addressing trauma in the search and recovery of missing children.

Kimberly Murray, whom the federal government named as the special interlocutor in June, identified common concerns when addressing trauma.

Murray said communities are in urgent need of resources to implement wellness programs. She said Indigenous elders and healers need to be recognized as mental health practitioners and changes are needed to federal funding agreements.

The federal government plans to spend $320 million to help Indigenous communities heal from the ongoing effects of residential schools through projects, including searching former school sites, holding ceremonies or memorializing sites.

Murray said communities have been told this funding cannot be used for legal assistance.

"When I think about the history of the Indian Act and how Indigenous people weren't allowed to hire lawyers, it's almost like they took that provision of the Indian Act and breathed life back into it in their terms and conditions of their funding agreements."

Some communities have expressed difficulty accessing lands and negotiating with private landowners, which has forced them to search for legal assistance, said Murray.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in western Manitoba was recently denied access to search for unmarked graves on part of the grounds of the former Brandon Residential School. The area is now a private campground.

Murray submitted a progress report to the federal government at the beginning of this month that outlined other common concerns she has heard.

They include the barriers survivors and communities face when requesting access to records. In one case a survivor was told it would take six months for them to gain access, said Murray.

She also found there are questions about whether law reform and other measures are needed to support death investigations and, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions.

Murray called for governments to immediately waive their fees for communities to be able to access death, birth or any other certificates that the statistics offices hold.

"We've heard at this gathering there are family members buried in cemeteries in marked graves, but they don't know where they are," she said. "Those death records can tell them where they're buried … communities need to have access to that."

When families lose a child without any answers to what happened or where they are buried, it leads to a different kind of unresolved grief, former senator and judge Murray Sinclair said during his keynote speech Monday evening.

"Trauma that we all feel as a collective of the effects that children are still in the ground and were so badly treated is a trauma that runs throughout our nations in all of us," Sinclair said.

Murray said she also heard this week about the importance of community solidarity when it comes to recovery work.

"People are helping each other in the healing, and there's power to that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

76 Million-Year-Old Fossil Settles Longtime Debate Over T. Rex History

Story by Monisha Ravisetti • 

Ask anyone to name three dinosaurs in five seconds, and I guarantee you Tyrannosaurus rex will make the list. Whether it's due to Jurassic Park or humanity's deep obsession with ancient predators, T. rex has become a cultural icon.


The spectacular lower jaw of the holotype skull had most of the teeth preserved in their sockets Badlands Dinosaur Museum© Provided by CNET

Despite the level of detail we have about this tiny-armed reptile itself, scientists surprisingly don't know much about the rest of T. rex's family. A wealth of questions remain about the ancestral tree that sprouted this vicious, quintessential dinosaur -- though paleontologists with the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota say we may have some answers, at last.

In a paper published last week in the journal Paleontology and Evolutionary Science, paleontologists Elias Warshaw and Denver Fowler report the discovery of a 76.5 million-year-old fossil that they believe belonged to one of T. rex's ancestors, a species now known as Daspletosaurus wilsoni.


An artist's rendering of D. wilsoni. Check out the unique arrangement of little horns under the dino's eyes. Andrey Atuchin & Badlands Dinosaur Museum© Provided by CNET

And this dinosaur, expected to have lived during the Cretaceous period, seems to have been just as ferocious as its famous descendant.

D. wilsoni -- which literally translates to "Wilson's frightful reptile," after John P. Wilson who found the specimen to begin with -- likely once had expended air pockets in its skull, a blue-grayish coloring, a set of sharp teeth and an elongated eye socket -- rimmed with horns.

Related video: Upcoming sale of T-Rex skull reignites debate over auctioning fossils

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But in short, locating this species is a big deal for scientists because its existence could provide the "missing link" in T. rex's family backstory, bridging a longstanding gap between older and younger tyrannosaur species named Daspletosaurus torosus and Daspletosaurus horneri, which lived about 77 to 75 million years ago, respectively.

"Since the 1990s," Warshaw and Fowler wrote in a statement, "debate has surrounded Daspletosaurus, a large tyrannosaurid known from Montana and Alberta, which has been proposed to be an ancestor of T. rex itself."

But according to the statement, reconstructing the evolutionary relationships of Daspletosaurus has been hampered by the rarity of good specimens, and many researchers are still engaged in debate as to whether these tyrannosaurids represent a single lineage evolving in place or several closely related species from various lineages.

"We can now see that many of these species are actually very finely separated in time from each other," the statement reads, "forming consecutive ladder-like steps in a single evolutionary lineage where one ancestral species evolves directly into a descendant species."

The team even named its fossil find "Sisyphus," after the mythical Greek king who was punished for cheating death. As the tale goes, Sisyphys' punishment was to roll a giant boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down the hill every time he got close to the top. This seemingly horrid endeavor lasted for an eternity.

"The holotype skull and partial skeleton, BDM 107, is nicknamed 'Sisyphus' after the seemingly endless task of removing over 25 feet (8 meters) of rock which lay on top of the bones," the researchers said.


The paleontology team digging for remnants of D. wilsoni had to remove 25 feet of rock before a skeleton was revealed. Elías Warshaw & Denver Fowler.© Provided by CNET

It was Badlands Dinosaur Museum crew member Wilson who spotted the skeleton in the first place in 2017 -- a small, flat piece of bone was peeking out from the bottom of a towering cliff. Upon close examination, that little bit of evidence turned out to be part of the dinosaur's nostril. And so the dig began, culminating in 2021 with an exquisite Tyrannosaurus-type animal figure.

"These findings," the researchers said, "suggest that previous research was correct in identifying several species of Daspletosaurus as a single evolving lineage, and supports the descent of T. rex from this group."

UK

Warning of ‘homelessness emergency’ as private renters face eviction threat

Story by Jemma Crew • Yesterday 

The proportion of private renters under threat of eviction in England has risen by more than three-quarters in a year, a survey suggests, prompting a charity to warn of a rapidly emerging “homelessness emergency”.


Housing Prices© PA Wire

Around 5% of private renters – the equivalent of 503,995 people across the country – say they have received an eviction notice or been threatened with eviction in the last month, according to polling for Shelter.

This is up about 80% from a similar period last year, when 3% of respondents (equivalent to 279,376 people) reported such.

The survey of 2,000 private renters in England between October 26 and November 10 was carried out by YouGov and funded by Nationwide Building Society.


It is simply absurd that support for housing costs is being linked to rents as they were three years ago, not as they are today
Chris Norris, National Residential Landlords Association

It found 4% said they have fallen behind on their rent – equivalent to 481,644 people.

Overall around one in 12 private renters (8%) – the equivalent of 940,939 people across the country – are at risk of losing their homes because they are under threat of eviction or behind on rent, the findings suggest.

According to the polling, a quarter of private renters are constantly struggling to pay their rent, up from 20% this time last year.

Shelter warned that failing to increase housing benefit as private rents rise “means the rental crisis is fast becoming a homelessness emergency”.

While the autumn statement confirmed that many benefits will be uprated in line with inflation from April, local housing allowance rates were not increased, and have remained at the same level since 2020.

Related video: Nonprofit expects rise in evictions this winter
Duration 3:38
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Both Shelter and the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) are calling for this to be unfrozen.

The Government said it has given vulnerable households and councils financial support, and it is committed to ending Section 21 “no-fault” evictions.

Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, said: “Almost a million private renters are at risk of being kicked out of their home this winter, and more will follow.


The Government’s refusal to unfreeze housing benefit, when private rents are rising at record rates, means the rental crisis is fast becoming a homelessness emergency
Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive

“Every day our emergency helpline advisers are taking gut-wrenching calls – from the mum who’s skipping meals to pay the rent to the family terrified they will be spending Christmas in a grotty homeless hostel.

“The Government’s refusal to unfreeze housing benefit, when private rents are rising at record rates, means the rental crisis is fast becoming a homelessness emergency.”

Chris Norris, policy director for the NRLA, said: “The vast majority of landlords want to help tenants stay in their homes wherever possible. However, the Government needs to do more to support those most in need of help.

“This should include unfreezing housing benefit rates. It is simply absurd that support for housing costs is being linked to rents as they were three years ago, not as they are today.

“Ministers need also to address the supply crisis in the rental market. Recent tax hikes have served only to cut the number of homes available to rent, whilst demand continues to remain strong. All this is doing is driving rents up and making homes harder to access.

“We are working with the Government to ensure the system that replaces Section 21 repossessions is fair and workable for responsible landlords as well as tenants.

“This needs to include ensuring landlords can effectively tackle the problem of anti-social tenants and those building substantial rent arrears.”

Ensuring a fair deal for renters remains a priority for the Government, that’s why we will deliver on our commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions
Government spokesman

A Government spokesman said: “We know households are concerned about rising costs, which is why we have announced the energy price guarantee to help with bills over winter, as well as payments of £1,200 to millions of the most vulnerable.

“Councils have a duty to ensure families are not left without a roof over their heads, and we’re giving them £316 million this year to help prevent evictions and provide temporary accommodation.

“Ensuring a fair deal for renters remains a priority for the Government, that’s why we will deliver on our commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.”

THIRD WORLD U$A

Judge OKs federal intervention in struggling water system

Wed, November 30, 2022 


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has won a federal judge's approval to carry out a rare intervention to improve the precarious water system in Mississippi’s capital city, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday, months after the system's partial failure.

The department filed the proposal for intervention on Tuesday and U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate approved it later that day in Mississippi. The move authorized the appointment of a third-party manager to oversee reforms to Jackson’s water system, which nearly collapsed in late summer and continues to struggle.

At a news conference in Washington, Garland said the proposal is necessary to “stabilize the circumstances” in Jackson as soon as possible while city, state and federal officials negotiate a court-enforced consent decree.

“We have to get something done immediately," Garland said. “The water is a problem right now, and we can’t wait until a complaint is resolved.”

For days last August, people waited in lines for water to drink, bathe, cook and flush toilets in Mississippi’s capital as some businesses were temporarily forced to close for lack of potable water. The partial failure of the water system that month followed flooding on the nearby Pearl River, which exacerbated longstanding problems in one of Jackson's two water-treatment plants.

The Justice Department also filed a complaint Tuesday on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency against the city of Jackson, alleging it has failed to provide drinking water that is reliably compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. By approving the proposal, Wingate put that litigation on hold for six months.

Garland said the purpose of the complaint is to allow the Justice Department to negotiate a consent decree, which would empower a federal court to force changes to Jackson's water system.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in a news release Wednesday that the proposal, which the city and the state health department signed, was the culmination of months of collaboration.

"The agreement is another step in a long process and is a collective effort that ensures Jacksonians will not be forgotten, and that our ultimate goal of creating a sustainable water system will be realized," Lumumba said. "We hope that this collaborative effort to repair, replace and modernize Jackson’s water infrastructure will become a national model for other U.S. cities facing similar issues.”

Lumumba also praised the selection of Ted Henifin as the interim third-party manager of the Jackson water system and Water Sewer Business Administration, the city’s water billing department. Henifin, a former public works director in Virginia, has been “instrumental” in lending his expertise to local officials, Lumumba said.

The Justice Department proposal lists 13 projects that Henifin will be in charge of implementing. The projects are meant to improve the water system’s near-term stability, according to a news release. Among the most pressing priorities is a winterization project to make the system less vulnerable. A cold snap in 2021 left tens of thousands of people in Jackson without running water after pipes froze.

Garland said the Justice Department's involvement in the Jackson water crisis is part of the department's strategy for achieving environmental justice in “overburdened and underserved communities.”

“The department’s founding purpose was to protect the civil rights of American citizens. Part of the reason that I wanted to be the attorney general was to work on those problems,” Garland said Wednesday. “This is an example of our using all the resources of the Justice Department on civil rights issues.”

In May, the Justice Department created an environmental justice division, following up on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to elevate environmental justice issues in an all-of-government approach. The Justice Department said in July that it was investigating illegal dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

The situation in Jackson required the Justice Department to respond with the “greatest possible urgency," Garland said.

“We realize how horrible the circumstances are there," he said. "It’s hard to imagine not being able to turn on a tap and get safe drinking water.”

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed from Washington. Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

Michael Goldberg, The Associated Press

El Salvador journalists sue spyware maker in US court

Wed, November 30, 2022 

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Journalists from an investigative news outlet in El Salvador sued NSO Group in United States federal court Wednesday after the Israeli firm’s powerful Pegasus spyware was detected on their iPhones.

In January, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog, reported that dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador had their cellphones repeatedly hacked with the spyware.

Among them were journalists at the El Faro news site.

“These spyware attacks were an attempt to silence our sources and deter us from doing journalism,” Carlos Dada, El Faro’s co-founder and director, said in a statement released by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the El Faro journalists.

“We are filing this lawsuit to defend our right to investigate and report, and to protect journalists around the world in their pursuit of the truth,” Dada said

NSO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

NSO, which was blacklisted by the U.S. government last year, says it sells its spyware only to legitimate government law enforcement and intelligence agencies vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry for use against terrorists and criminals.

In response to the Citizen Lab report in January, NSO said it does not operate the technology once it is given to a client and cannot know the targets of its customers. But it said the use of its tools to monitor activists, dissidents or journalists “is a severe misuse of any technology and goes against the desired use of such critical tools.”

It said it has terminated multiple contracts in the past due to client misuse.

At the time, a spokeswoman for the administration of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said the government was not a client of NSO Group and had no association with Pegasus.

Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute, said, “The use of spyware to surveil and intimidate journalists poses a truly urgent threat to press freedom.”

The lawsuit alleges NSO Group violated U.S. law by developing spyware and deploying it against the El Faro journalists.

Apple and WhatsApp have pending lawsuits against NSO Group in the same U.S. court in the Northern District of California.

Lava erupting from Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa threatens critical highway


ABC News
JULIA JACOBO
Wed, November 30, 2022 

The lava flowing out of Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano located on Hawaii's Big Island, is inching closer to a main highway, according to officials.

The lava is flowing out of Fissure 3 in the northeast rift zone and is now just 3.6 miles from Saddle Road, a main highway that runs east to west through the center of the island and a route often used to travel between Kona and Hilo, the U.S. Geological Survey tweeted just before 10 a.m. local time.

MORE: A recent history of volcanic eruptions and their impact, as Mauna Loa erupts

Volcanic gas plumes are lofting high and vertically into the atmosphere, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Fissure 3 remains the dominant source of the lava and is feeding flows that are moving downslope toward the highway, according to the USGS. Around 7 a.m. local time, the lava fountains were reaching up to 82 feet, the USGS confirmed. Lava fountains have also formed at Fissure 4, which is emitting smaller fountains of hot magma and is also flowing downslope toward the road.

PHOTO: A satellite image shows lava flowing from Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii, Nov. 28, 2022. (Maxar Technologies via Reuters)

PHOTO: A river of lava flows down from Mauna Loa, Nov. 28, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Marco Garcia/AP)

Both fissures are feeding flows that are advancing northeast at .08 miles per hour toward the highway.

The flows are approaching a relatively flat area and will begin to slow down, spread out and inflate, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense. It could take another two days for the lava to reach the highway, officials said.

MORE: Scientists observe 2 new lava flows on Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano

However, seismic detection of tremors in the location of the currently active fissures, indicates that magma is still being supplied and activity is likely to continue, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Emergency managers are beginning to ramp up planning, as the lava threatens the main route to travel east and west on the island, Talmadge Magno, an administrator for the Hawaii County Civil Defense, said on Wednesday. Magno is especially concerned about the "thousands of residents and visitors" who have flocked to the highway to view the eruptions, which are exacerbating the safety hazards, he said.

PHOTO: People pose for a photo in front of lava erupting from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, Nov. 30, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Gregory Bull/AP)

In addition, Pele's hair, or strands of volcanic glass, are falling in the Saddle Road area, officials said.


Dramatic video released by the USGS shows the volcano dispelling a nearly six-story wall of exploding lava.


Ash and lava began spewing out of the volcano on Sunday around 11:30 p.m. and has continued into Wednesday.

This is the first time Mauna Loa has erupted in nearly 40 years. The last time it erupted was in March and April 1984. The volcano is so large it takes up more than half of the Big Island

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Geologists do not expect any activity outside of the northeast rift zone, and there are still no threats to populated areas, as there are no homes downslope from the northeast rift zone, according to the USGS.

PHOTO: In this long camera exposure, cars drive down Saddle Road as Mauna Loa erupts in the distance, Nov. 28, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Marco Garcia/AP)

PHOTO: Brian Lichtenstein, takes a photo in front of lava erupting from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, Nov. 30, 2022, near Hilo, Hawaii. (Gregory Bull/AP)

Since the eruption is occurring to the northeast, where the peak's slope seaward is more gentle, it would take weeks of a continuous eruption for it to reach Hilo, Michael Poland, research geophysicist for the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, told ABC News earlier this week.

However, officials have advised residents at possible risk from Mauna Loa lava flows to review preparedness and refer to Hawaii County Civil Defense information for further guidance.

ABC News' Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.