CURSE MAGICK

Indian truckers say Hindenburg report a godsend in Adani dispute





Closed shops are seen near the Ambuja Cements Limited plant owned in Darlaghat

Wed, February 22, 2023 
By Manoj Kumar, Aditya Kalra and Anushree Fadnavis

DARLAGHAT, India (Reuters) - For truckers transporting cement from Adani's factories in a hilly north Indian state, a U.S. short-seller's critical research report on the giant conglomerate was a godsend they say helped them save their livelihoods.

For weeks, around 7,000 truck owners and drivers in India's Himachal Pradesh resorted to protest rallies against Adani's Dec. 15 decision to shut two cement plants over a dispute on freight rates. Adani argued the plants were "unviable" at the trucking rates it wanted to slash by around half.

On Monday, the Gautam Adani-led group said it had "amicably resolved" the issue with a 10-12% reduction in rates. Truckers rejoiced, with a union leader in a street address labelling it as a victory after late-night talks with Adani.

The settlement comes four weeks after U.S.-based Hindenburg Research accused Adani of stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens, allegations the group called baseless.

The Jan. 24 report triggered a $140 billion rout in group's stocks, sparked regulatory investigations and saw the billionaire Adani slip to 26 on the Forbes global rich list, from third.

While the truckers' settlement will have only a small impact on the overall Adani empire, it was a big win for the drivers and owners in a state were most people live on around $7 a day.

The report "played a crucial role in our battle against the India's biggest business group, helped mobilize truckers and gain political support," said Ram Krishan Sharma, one of the lead negotiators for protesting truckers.

Adani negotiators had refused to budge for weeks. So Hindenburg's report, some truckers believe, was godsent.

Just a day before it was published, many truckers visited a small, revered Hindu temple in Darlaghat which overlooks one of Adani's cement plants, and offered a traditional semolina sweet offering to a deity as they sought to resolve the dispute.

Bantu Shukla, a protest leader, showed Reuters a photo and video of truckers that day offering prayers inside the temple. Some stood with folded hands, while a person rang a temple bell in a typical Hindu worship ritual.

'AMICABLE RESOLUTION'

Adani Group did not answer Reuters questions on whether the Hindenburg report's fallout contributed to its decision in Himachal.

Adani Cements in a statement said it was "grateful" to all stakeholders including the unions, the local state chief minister and other departments, adding the "amicable resolution" was in interest of everyone including the state.

A source familiar with Adani's negotiation said the group had been under pressure following what it thinks was a "negative campaign" by Adani's opponents after the Hindenburg report, and the settlement to reopen plants is a relief.

Himachal is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's staunch rival, the Congress party. After the Hindenburg report, Congress has renewed its claims that Modi for years has unduly favoured Adani. Both Adani and India's government deny that.

The source added the move will also help Adani signal it can resolve commercial matters in states ruled by Modi's rivals.

Without citing Hindenburg, the Himachal chief minister's office on Monday said "we have been successful in resolving the issues" to end the 67-day dispute.

WHATSAPP CHATS, PRAYERS AT TEMPLE

Adani became India's second largest cement manufacturer when it acquired ACC and Ambuja Cements in a $10.5 billion deal with Swiss giant Holcim last year.

In December, it shut plants in the villages of Gagal and Darlaghat in Himachal, saying truckers were charging too much.

The Adani group wanted freight rates to be lowered to around 6 rupees ($0.0725) per tonne per km, from around 11 rupees. Many truckers told Reuters they struggled to make their loan repayments as their incomes shrank after the shutdowns.

As a stalemate worsened, truckers formed WhatsApp groups to coordinate efforts, vent frustration and later share Hindenburg's impact on Adani companies and stock prices to further drum up support.

One such WhatsApp group chat of around 1,000 truckers, reviewed by Reuters, showed sharing of a local reporter's video discussing the sharp fall in Adani's shares and his alleged close ties to Modi.

Although they accepted a small cut in freight rates when Adani agreed to pay 9.3-10.58 rupees per km per tonne, truckers felt they saved their jobs, and prayers at the Hindu temple were organised again this week.

"We felt our deity had accepted our prayers when we saw the fall in the share prices of Adani companies," protest leader Shukla said. "The Hindenburg report was a gift that saved our businesses."

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar, Aditya Kalra and Anushree Fadnavis; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Adani’s Brother Plays Opaque, Powerful Role at Embattled Dynasty

Adani’s Brother Plays Opaque, Powerful Role at Embattled Dynasty

Archana Narayanan, Finbarr Flynn, Chris Kay and Alexander Sazonov
Wed, February 22, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- In August, as India’s Adani Group neared the completion of its $10.5 billion purchase of two cement businesses, the conglomerate and its banks put out some particularly complicated filings.

On page 21 of an 85-page document was a diagram of seven unlisted firms registered in the British Virgin Islands, Mauritius and Dubai. They were interlinked to each other, and one would be buying the cement company’s shares in the open market.

But the ultimate beneficiary of the seven entities wasn’t listed as the group’s public face and chairman, billionaire Gautam Adani. Instead, the filings said their beneficial owners were his older brother, Vinod, and Vinod’s wife Ranjanben.

Neither Vinod nor Ranjanben hold managerial positions in any listed Adani companies, and they aren’t among the top executives listed on the conglomerate’s website. Yet the appearance of their names in connection with the group’s largest ever acquisition suggests the influence that Adani’s little-known brother wields in the sprawling empire — as well as the family’s style of using a maze of small companies when doing big business.

In recent weeks, Vinod — who has worked out of Dubai for years and is described in filings as a Cypriot national — has come into the international spotlight after short seller Hindenburg Research named him prominently in its scathing report on the Adani Group that fueled a rout of more than $140 billion in its shares.

“Vinod Adani, through several close associates, manages a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities,” Hindenburg said, identifying entities in Mauritius, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and several Caribbean Islands. These entities “regularly and surreptitiously transact with Adani,” it said. Hindenburg didn’t delve into the details of the cement acquisition.

The Adani Group has published a 413-page rebuttal denying all Hindenburg’s allegations.

Staffers at Vinod’s Dubai offices directed requests for comment to the conglomerate’s headquarters in India.

“Vinod Adani does not hold any managerial position in any Adani listed entities or their subsidiaries and has no role in their day-to-day affairs,” an Adani Group spokesperson said in response to a detailed set of questions sent by Bloomberg News. “These questions are of no relevance, and we cannot comment on the business dealings and transactions of Mr. Vinod Adani.”

The conglomerate didn’t respond to requests to make Vinod or Ranjanben — who is described as an interior designer in a Cyprus filing — available for comment.

Even though Vinod doesn’t hold any formal positions or participate in daily operations, he’s a key negotiator for the Adani Group when it’s raising funds from international markets and is involved in planning the group’s strategic direction, a person familiar with the matter said. A close confidant of Gautam, Vinod likes to keep a low profile and deals directly with family members, the person said. The family doesn’t believe it has done anything improper with business structures involving Vinod, according to the person.

Still, the Adani family plans to look more closely at some of the entities it has built to see how best to structure them going forward in order to reassure investors, the person said.

The network of small firms built by the Adani dynasty offers one of the starkest reminders yet of how complex family-run conglomerates can be in India, now one of the world’s fastest growing economies. While many companies have hired professional managers, others are still dominated by familial ties that can make it harder for banks and investors to fully know whom they are doing business with, where the money is flowing and what regulatory minefields might loom.

Vinod is a billionaire via his share holdings in listed Adani Group companies. Still, he lives a largely quiet life in Dubai, people familiar with the matter said. A filing in Cyprus puts his age at 74.

The Adani Group is a vast conglomerate with listed and unlisted subsidiaries doing business in everything from ports to power, with a reach spanning from India to Africa and Australia. Several debt filings include Vinod as a key figure within the conglomerate, saying the Adani Group should be understood to mean Vinod, Gautam and another brother Rajesh, who is managing director, as well as other entities such as a family trust.

R.N. Bhaskar, the author of a new biography on Gautam said “all overseas transactions are monitored closely by Vinod,” but noted that he knew little else about Vinod.

In the days when Gautam was a student and stayed with Vinod, he considered him a father figure and Vinod was his official guardian, Bhaskar said. “Today, they are more or less equals. I have met them at a social gathering, and I found the chemistry warm and affable.”

Mauritius Address

Last year, when the Adani Group bought Swiss giant Holcim AG’s cement assets in India, the deal for Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd. was completed via a Mauritius-based entity called Endeavour Trade and Investment. Indian regulators approved the open offer.

At the address listed for Endeavour in Mauritius were the offices of Amicorp, an outside company that provides legal and administrative services to corporations. Hindenburg alleges in its report that Amicorp has worked widely to help the Adani Group to build a network of offshore entities. Amicorp didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Alex Cobham, an economist and chief executive of the UK-based Tax Justice Network said that the multiple layers, the relative lack of transparency of the jurisdictions and the type of entities used for the cement deal pose several risks for investors and regulators.

“These include the risk that timely updates to beneficial ownership are not made; the risk that the complexity allows abuse of tax and regulation in the jurisdictions where real activity takes place,” Cobham said. “And, perhaps most relevant here, the risk that investors may be harmed because they are denied the information necessary to value a company accurately.”

In Dubai, other ties between Vinod and Gautam are on show in Jumeirah Lake Towers, a cluster of sleek skyscrapers with views of the water front. Popular addresses for financial firms, they are home to businesses belonging to the Adani Group as well as others to Vinod.

On the 36th floor of one tower is an office with three name plates outside saying: Emerging Market Investment DMCC, RVG Exim DMCC, and Adani Global Investment DMCC. A staff member said it was Vinod’s family office. On its website, Emerging Market Investment DMCC says Vinod is its promoter, the term used in India for founders and owners.

The three company names are also mentioned in the Hindenburg report as being among dozens of shell entities in offshore tax havens.

Emerging Market Investment DMCC has played prominently in the back-and-forth between the Adani Group and Hindenburg. Hindenburg said the firm lent $1 billion to a subsidiary of a listed unit called Adani Power, and questioned the source of those funds.

The Adani Group said the allegation was “incorrect’ and the money wasn’t lent. In reality, Emerging Market Investment DMCC acquired the unsustainable debt of a power business from lenders for $100, the conglomerate said.

Shell companies “are part and parcel of the Indian investment scene,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “What caught people’s attention was the number of shell entities involved and the linkages to Gautam Adani’s brother,” Vaishnav said about the Hindenburg report.

Occupying the 27th floor of another building in Jumeirah Lake Towers, are the white and glass-walled offices of Adani Global FZE — a commodity distributor that’s part of the Adani Group. The biggest cabin in this office is used by Vinod, a sign of respect granted to an older family member, said one person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Vinod spends two or three hours in this office daily but doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day operations, the person said.

Vinod Shantilal Adani, like his brother Gautam, was born into a family of a small textile merchant from the Western Indian state of Gujarat. After starting his career running power looms for a business in Mumbai in 1976, Vinod expanded his commodities portfolio to Singapore, according to advertorials published about him in the Indian press seven years ago.

Vinod moved to Singapore briefly before relocating to Dubai where he made his fortune in trading sugar, oil, aluminum, copper and iron scrap, the media reports said. The billionaire is a follower of the Jain religion that emphasizes vegetarianism and non-violence.

The Hindenburg report fueled stock declines that have now erased $72.9 billion of Gautam’s wealth. Vinod suffered his own hit as the value of his shares held through Emerging Market Investment DMCC dropped. Worth $1.4 billion before the report, Vinod’s holdings are now valued at about $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In India, the head of a major family-controlled firm, who asked not to be identified to talk freely about one of the country’s most powerful tycoons, said the allegations against Adani have shone a bad light on the country and in particular companies run by a network of relatives.

The allegations about the Adani family risk tarring large swathes of Indian industry, even though many businesses have largely professionalized their management over recent years, this person said.

Alice Wang, a London-based portfolio manager at Quaero Capital LLP, said that in emerging markets like India, family networks can be critical in the early stages of developing a business.

“But family structures can become liabilities later,” she said. “When companies try to institutionalize, internationalize, or form succession plans.”

--With assistance from Blake Schmidt, P R Sanjai, Ben Bartenstein, Kamlesh Bhuckory and Georgios Georgiou.

THROWING BAD MONEY AFTER BAD MONEY

India's troubled Adani invests in bankrupt Sri Lanka

Issued on: 23/02/2023 - 

Colombo (AFP) – Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Thursday announced its first major foreign investment since it declared bankruptcy, approving a $442 million wind power project by India's scandal-hit Adani group.

Sri Lanka's Board of Investment said Adani Green Energy, part of the business empire of controversial Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, will set up two wind farms in the island's north.

The total investment will reach $442 million and the two plants will be supplying power to the national grid "by 2025", the BOI said in a statement.

The project comes after Sri Lanka awarded Adani a $700 million strategic port terminal project in Colombo in 2021.

That concession was widely seen as a bid to address New Delhi's growing concern over China's expanding influence in the region -- Adani had been nominated as the contractor by the Indian government.

The firm is building a 1.4-kilometre, 20-metre deep jetty right next to a Chinese-operated terminal at Colombo harbour, the only deep-sea container port between Dubai and Singapore.

Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said he met with Adani officials in Colombo on Wednesday to finalise the wind farm project.

"We expect the power plants to be commissioned by December 2024," he said.

The development comes after a US investment firm last month accused Adani's companies of accounting fraud and price manipulation, triggering a rout that saw $120 billion wiped off the group's market capitalisation.

Adani denies the allegations.

A Chinese firm was awarded a $12 million Asian Development Bank-funded project to build three wind farms on islands in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka in 2019, but it was cancelled after objections from New Delhi.

China is Sri Lanka's largest official lender, accounting for 52 percent of bilateral credit. Colombo is awaiting financial assurances from Beijing to unlock a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

© 2023 AFP

Apple reportedly made a big breakthrough on a secret non-invasive blood glucose monitor project that originally was part of a 'fake' startup

Lakshmi Varanasi
Wed, February 22, 2023 

Apple's blood glucose monitor could eventually be incorporated into the Apple Watch.

Apple had a breakthrough on a revolutionary blood glucose monitor, according to Bloomberg.


The project began under Steve Jobs, and has been underway for more than a decade.


The project is now part of Apple's XDG, but operated for some time under a startup called Avolonte.

Apple reportedly had a breakthrough on a secret project that could launch the company into a major force in the healthcare industry, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

It's a monitor that can continually measure a person's blood glucose levels without as much as a skin prick, according to Bloomberg. Instead, Apple's monitor will use optical absorption spectroscopy, a measurement process that relies on wavelengths of light to ultimately determine glucose levels, Bloomberg said.

The secret endeavor — called E5 — has been under wraps for the past several years, according to Bloomberg.

The project is part of the company's Exploratory Design Group, XDG, which is reportedly one of the most undercover initiatives at the company, Bloomberg reported. There are reportedly fewer people involved with E5 than there are with the company's self-driving car endeavor or its mixed reality headset, Bloomberg said.

Before E5 was incorporated into XDG, it was reportedly operating under a startup called Avolonte Health LLC, Bloomberg reported.

Avolonte was reportedly headquartered in Palo Alto, California — close to Apple's own headquarters in Cupertino — and team members had Avolonte badges instead of Apple badges, Bloomberg said. It was a way for Apple to keep its cover as it ran the project through human trials, amassed patients, and made partnerships, Bloomberg said.

Apple's eventual aim is to incorporate the monitor into the Apple Watch. When it does, the company will be positioned to disrupt a multimillion dollar industry where approximately 1 in 10 Americans have diabetes, and prick their skin to monitor their glucose levels, Bloomberg reported.

Apple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for a comment.

An architect of the law Biden is using to cancel student debt reiterates that it 'could hardly be clearer' that the loan forgiveness is legal

Ayelet Sheffey
Wed, February 22, 2023 

U.S. President Joe Biden, joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Rep. George Miller, one of the architects of the HEROES Act of 2003, wrote an opinion piece supporting Biden's student-debt relief.


He argued that it "could hardly be clearer" that the HEROES Act permits broad loan forgiveness.


He pushed back on the former GOP lawmakers who opposed the debt relief's legality.

One of the architects of the law President Joe Biden is using to cancel student debt once again wants you to know that he thinks loan forgiveness is legal.

Former Democratic Rep. George Miller helped construct the HEROES Act of 2003, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency. Miller wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece in The Washington Post that Biden's loan forgiveness falls exactly within what the law permits.

In November, Miller wrote an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court explaining his position as to why Biden's debt relief is legal, and while former Republican lawmakers also wrote a brief on why they oppose Biden's usage of the HEROES Act, Miller said that "they certainly don't speak for every member of Congress who voted for the law undergirding Biden's plan."

"That language could hardly be clearer," Miller wrote.

"'Statutory or regulatory provision[s]' regarding federal student-loan programs include the rules or regulations that would ordinarily require borrowers to pay their loan balances," he continued. "By giving officials the authority to 'waive' those requirements in connection with a national emergency, Congress empowered officials to say that those requirements no longer apply — that borrowers no longer need to pay off the debt they owe."

Republican lawmakers and the conservative groups who have filed briefs opposing Biden's relief argued that the president cannot continue relying on COVID-19 to enact relief, and that any broad loan forgiveness should require Congressional approval. But even after Biden declared that the national emergency declaration will be ending in May, a White House official previously told Insider that the HEROES Act can still be used for student-debt cancellation because the relief is intended to help borrowers continue to recover from the financial impacts of the pandemic, which can be long-lasting.

Miller said that while experts might disagree on what relief is needed to recover from a national emergency, "it's the exact type of assessment that the Heroes Act empowers the education secretary to make."

"Sure, Congress could have gone farther by requiring the Education Department to relieve student debt," Miller said.

"But instead, we gave education officials the flexibility to decide what waivers or modifications would best protect borrowers who were affected by national emergencies," he added. "Instead of constraining the education secretary's options, as my former colleagues argue, we deliberately kept those options open."

Miller is among the many advocates, legal experts, and Democratic lawmakers who have voiced support for the administration's use of the HEROES Act. Still, conservative groups flooded the Supreme Court docket to oppose the relief, and some Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation over the past few weeks to block Biden from canceling any student debt in connection with a national emergency.

The former GOP lawmakers Miller referenced wrote in their brief, for example, that "Congress did not, and surely could not, have ever expected the Act to be misused and distorted by the Department in the policy now before this Court."

Biden's administration has continued to express confidence in its authority — and now it's up to the Supreme Court to weigh the question of legality during oral arguments for the two cases that have blocked Biden's relief on February 28.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said last month that "student loan borrowers from all walks of life suffered profound financial harms during the pandemic and their continued recovery and successful repayment hinges on the Biden Administration's student debt relief plan. We will continue to defend our legal authority to provide the debt relief working and middle-class families clearly need and deserve."

Wells Fargo Cuts More Than 500 Mortgage Staff on Strategy Shift



Hannah Levitt
Wed, February 22, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co. cut hundreds of jobs in its mortgage unit this week, adding to thousands of cuts last year, as the firm retreats from a business it once dominated.

The latest reductions affected more than 500 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter. Wells Fargo announced a “new strategic direction” for the business last month that includes exiting correspondent lending, a pivot that Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said last week is “largely done.” The firm also said it will shrink the portfolio of loans it services.

“We announced in January strategic plans to create a more focused home lending business,” the company said in a statement. “As part of these efforts, we have made displacements across our home lending business in alignment with this strategy and in response to significant decreases in mortgage volume in the broader market environment.”

The cuts add to thousands across the home-lending industry in recent months after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and cooled what had been a red-hot housing market. JPMorgan Chase & Co. eliminated hundreds of positions in its mortgage unit this month, on top of reductions last year.

CNBC reported earlier Wednesday that Wells Fargo was cutting more mortgage jobs.

Exiled Russian sci-fi writer to be prosecuted over war statements


Dmitry Glukhovsky poses in this undated handout picture

Wed, February 22, 2023 

(Reuters) - Russian prosecutors on Wednesday said they were proceeding with a case against exiled science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, accused of publishing "false information" about Russian atrocities in the Ukraine war.

Russia has targeted opposition figures and journalists with a law providing for jail terms up to 15 years for those convicted of spreading "fake" news about the military.

Glukhovsky left Russia last year after the invasion and then called for a halt to the campaign.

The prosecutor general's website said an investigation determined that Glukhovsky had published "deliberately false information" accusing the Russian military of intentionally shelling and bombing homes, schools and hospitals, of mass killings and of raping underage Ukrainian school girls.


It said the case against Glukhovsky would be conducted in his absence. He is best known for a series of novels depicting life in the Moscow metro after a nuclear war.

Glukhovsky told Reuters from an undisclosed location earlier this year that his books, along with spin-off video games, were selling well. As he has been declared a "foreign agent", the books must feature a disclaimer label and minors are barred from buying them.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Editing by David Ljunggren and Alistair Bell)

U.S. abortion rights groups and law firms launch legal defense network


 Pro-abortion demonstrators march to the State Capitol to mark

 the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in Madison   

INCIDENTAL INTERSECTIONALITY 

Wed, February 22, 2023 
By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) - Major abortion rights organizations and private law firms have teamed up to provide legal counsel to patients and providers navigating the complicated patchwork of U.S. abortion laws, the groups said on Wednesday.

The newly created Abortion Defense Network, which includes such groups as the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said it will match people providing or supporting abortion services to attorneys who can defend them in a rapidly shifting legal landscape.

The Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a nearly 50-year-old precedent that established federal abortion rights, has resulted in a dozen states banning abortion almost entirely.

Abortion rights advocates are increasingly concerned about those states' efforts to prosecute patients who are traveling across state lines or self-managing abortions at home, as well as providers whose medical judgment might conflict with state law.

“We've created the Abortion Defense Network to help those involved with abortion care navigate this confusing and hostile legal landscape," Jennifer Dalven, Director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU, said in a statement.

The Abortion Defense Network said it will help cover legal expenses in criminal and civil proceedings, but did not immediately respond to questions about their funding and how much they will cover.

The group's launch comes a day after 20 Democratic governors announced they had formed an alliance to protect abortion rights and access within their states.

Abortion rights supporters have been largely dissatisfied with the Democratic-led administration's response to the elimination of abortion access in large swaths of the country. President Joe Biden's administration has sought to improve access to medication abortion, which involves a federally approved pill, but an upcoming federal court decision could jeopardize that avenue as well.

Abortion providers and those supporting abortion patients can seek counsel through the network, while patients will be referred to a helpline already run by If/When/How, one of the network's advocacy partners.

Among the private firms committed to providing legal resources for the network are Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, Hogan Lovells US LLP, O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Josie Kao)

KENTUCKY

Students at a downtown Louisville school are latest to walk out in pronouns bill protest

Lucas Aulbach, Louisville Courier Journal
Wed, February 22, 2023 

Students at Louisville's J. Graham Brown School walked out of class Wednesday to speak out against a pending bill in Frankfort that would allow teachers in Kentucky to misgender students.

Hundreds of kids at the downtown magnet school gathered across the street at Peace Park with flags and signs in support of transgender rights. The crowd chanted "We say gay" at one point – similar legislation has been popularly referred to as "Don't say gay" bills – and listened as more than a half-dozen student speakers shared their views about Senate Bill 150.

Janelle Pitmon, a junior who helped organize the walkout, said she's worried about the impact the proposal and similar bills could have on her friends and classmates. She's been encouraged by support from fellow students and their parents, but she'll likely go to Frankfort to speak out as well.

"This bill puts so many people in so much danger," she said as students walked back to class. "I've been like terrified about this for days – I'm losing sleep over this."

Students at J Graham Brown School protest SB150 and other bills targeting trans youth on Wednesday, February 22, 2023

From January:LGBTQ-related bills Kentucky lawmakers have introduced, and what's on the horizon

The legislation would directly impact Ian Diakov, a transgender senior who uses she/her pronouns. She won't be a Brown student by the time any bill that passes would take effect, but Diakov expects to attend college in or near Kentucky and has no plans to stop speaking out.

Diakov took the mic during Wednesday's walkout to say her "existence is not political." Brown students and staff have supported her, she said, but she doesn't want to see students have to remain silent about their identities in the future.

"It's incredibly angering to see the majority of senators in Frankfort and representatives in Frankfort take so much of a stance pushing hate at our schools and trying to push policy that really has no benefit to them and has no benefit here in JCPS," Diakov said afterward. "Students should be able to focus on all of their learning instead of focusing on whether or not their teacher might ask them to parents who might not support them."

Ian Diakov, a senior at J Graham Brown School, speaks out during a protest over SB150 and other bills targeting trans youth on Wednesday, February 22, 2023

What's in the bill?

SB150 would allow teachers to use pronouns aligned with a student's biological sex even if that student does not identify with them and requires schools to give parents advance notice of upcoming lessons on human sexuality to allow them to opt-out their children.

It isn't the only bill critics consider an attack on trans and LGBTQ kids, either.

House Bill 30 would prohibit trans students in public schools from using restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities and House Bill 470, a broad piece of legislation filed Tuesday with 20 co-sponsors, would essentially ban gender transition services for trans kids across the state, cracking down on health care providers that provide such services and requiring teachers to out trans and non-binary students to their parents if they ask for new pronouns or change their gender expression, among other moves.

Not the first walkout

Wednesday's walkout by Brown School attendees was not the first the city has seen over SB150. Students at Atherton High held a demonstration earlier this month, and last week Ballard High students walked out of class to protest against the legislation as well.

SB150 passed in the Kentucky Senate earlier this month and is now waiting for a committee assignment in the House.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Brown School kids walk out to protest trans pronouns bill

'You burned me:' Norfolk Southern CEO blasted by East Palestine residents in CNN town hall


Monroe Trombly, The Columbus Dispatch
Wed, February 22, 2023

A group of East Palestine residents on Wednesday evening took the president and CEO of railroad giant Norfolk Southern to task on live television nearly three weeks after one of the company's trains derailed in their town and spilled toxic chemicals.

Participating in a CNN town hall, the residents, in particular, expressed outrage at Norfolk Southern's swift action to install new train tracks without removing contaminated soil underneath them.

Alan Shaw, who became CEO of Norfolk Southern in May of last year, said the tracks would be torn up and the soil removed early next month.

"So until then we'll just have it keep going down," said Jessica Conrad, who said her ancestors had helped build the town of nearly 5,000 residents.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw answers questions during an interview near the site of the company's train derailment, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.

When asked by CNN anchor Jake Tapper whether it was true the 141-car train that derailed on Feb. 3 near the Pennsylvania border only had three workers on it, Shaw said he was prohibited from talking about what may have caused the train to hop its tracks until the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigation, the initial report of which is expected to be released Thursday. Federal investigators have said a mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the derailment.


Some of the sharpest criticism for Shaw came from Jim Stewart, who said he has lived in East Palestine for 65 years and is close to retiring. Since the derailment, he said he has developed a slight cough and has a rash on his cheeks.

"Did you shorten my life now? I want to retire and enjoy it. How are we going to enjoy it?" he asked Shaw.

"You burned me."

Here's what else happened during the town hall event:

Residents say physicians, pediatricians at loss for what to do

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel and Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff also appeared and took questions during the town hall.

Seven East Palestine residents joined Tapper in a studio, while others joined remotely from the gymnasium of First Church of Christ, where a free medical clinic opened Tuesday. Since the derailment, residents have complained about headaches, irritated eyes and other ailments.

Courtney Newman said her son has developed bloody noses. But when she took him to a pediatrician last week, Newman said she was told by officials there that "they had no guidance from the CDC, the health department, there was nothing they could do. I asked if they could do bloodwork and they said no."

Vanderhoff said some physicians may not be equipped to diagnose or handle toxic exposures.

Feb 21, 2023; East Palestine, Ohio, USA; Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tours the health clinic with Wes Vins of the Columbiana County General Health District. Work continues to clean up the vinyl chloride chemical spill from the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

He encouraged Newman and others to call the Columbiana County Health Department, which he said can connect them with toxicologists.

Vanderhoff said the chemicals spilled in the derailment do not stay in blood very long. "However, every case is unique," he added. "Every case deserves a throughout examination."
DeWine says he's looking at ways to help small businesses

When asked Wednesday what he'll do to help small businesses get back on their feet, DeWine said: "I'm not sure what we can do but we'll certainly look at that and see if there's anything certainly we can do."

Ben Ratner, a cafe owner living in East Palestine, asked DeWine if he would stay in the town for a period of time. "Yeah, I'll stay overnight," DeWine said.

Monroe Trombly covers the workplace and environmental issues for The Columbus Dispatch.
mtrombly@dispatch.com
@monroetrombly
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Norfolk Southern CEO fields questions from East Palestine residents