Michigan House approves repeal of state's right-to-work law


Democratic state Reps., from left, Denise Mentzer, Matt Koleszar, Joey Andrews, Jaime Churches and Dylan Wegela, listen as testimony is given during a House Labor Committee meeting, Wednesday, March 8 , 2023, in Lansing, Mich., on repealing the state's right-to-work law and restoring prevailing wages. (AP Photo/Joey Cappelletti) 

JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Wed, March 8, 2023

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's Democratic-led House approved legislation Wednesday that would repeal the state's “right-to-work” law that was passed more than a decade ago when Republicans controlled the Statehouse.

Repealing the law, which prohibits public and private unions from requiring that nonunion employees pay union dues even if the union bargains on their behalf, has been a top priority for Democrats since they took full control of the state government this year.

“This bill is not about making history. It is about restoring the rights of workers from whose work we’ve all benefited,” Rep. Jim Haadsma, a Battle Creek Democrat, said on the House floor prior to the vote.

Supporters of the repeal, who poured into the gallery above the House chambers, cheered loudly as the legislation passed along party lines late Wednesday. Legislation restoring the state’s prevailing wage law, which requires contractors hired for state projects to pay union-level wages, was also approved by the House.

Both bills will need to pass the state Senate before being sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for final approval.

A $1 million appropriation was attached to both bills prior to the House vote that Republican House Leader Matt Hall said would make them “referendum-proof.” Michigan law says the “power of referendums” does not extend to bills with appropriations attached.

Whitmer previously wrote in a government accountability plan that if “a non-appropriations bill has a dollar amount added to circumvent the people’s right to a referendum," she would veto it.

The House Labor Committee advanced the repeal, in addition to the legislation that would restore the state's prevailing wage law, early Wednesday as supporters and opponents of the bills packed the main committee room and three overflow areas. The committee allowed just over an hour of testimony, predominately from supporters of the repeal, before voting to advance the bills.

“We don't want the government telling two private parties what they can agree to in negotiations,” said Jonathan Byrd, president of the South Central Michigan AFL-CIO. “That is what right-to-work does.”

Whitmer commended the committee for putting “Michigan workers first,” saying in a statement that “working people should always have basic freedoms in the workplace without interference from the government.”

House Republicans argued in the committee that the public showed its support of right-to-work when voters rejected a 2012 constitutional amendment that aimed to protect the right to organize and bargain collectively. They also complained that the bills were being rushed through and that more debate was needed.

Haadsma, who chairs the House Labor Committee, said the committee “had to accomplish this today so we can accomplish this by spring break,” referring to the Legislature's two-week break that begins March 23.

When the Legislature passed the right-to-work legislation in 2012, thousands of union supporters descended on the Capitol to protest. The law dealt a devastating blow to organized labor in a state that had played an important role in the growth of the U.S. labor movement, though unions have lost significant power in the region over the past decade.

The year before, neighboring Wisconsin under Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed all-but ending collective bargaining for most public workers. It sent off weeks of protests that grew to as large as 100,000 people and led Democratic state senators to leave the state in a failed attempt to stop the bill’s passage.

Four years later, after he had said he wouldn’t go after union rights of private sector workers, Walker signed a right-to-work law for Wisconsin.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

Michigan House passes bills to repeal right-to-work



Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press
Wed, March 8, 2023 

Michigan House Democrats passed legislation Wednesday night over GOP objections to deliver on a key promise to union activists: repealing the state's right-to-work law.

The law, established by Republicans in 2012, allows workers in unionized jobs to opt out of paying union dues and fees. Michigan — a state steeped in labor history — could become the first state in nearly 60 years to ditch its right-to-work law.

"It has done nothing but hurt hardworking Michiganders," said bill sponsor state Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park. "It has allowed people who don't pay union dues to take advantage of union benefits."

Democrats championed their bills to repeal the law as a boon for workers' rights that would strengthen unions and help reverse wealth inequality. "It gives union members their power back," said state Rep. Jim Haadsma, D-Battle Creek, who chairs the House Labor Committee. "It restores balance in negotiations."

Republican lawmakers countered that the legislation will harm Michigan's economic competitiveness and make unions less responsive to workers' needs.

"This is about forcing Michigan workers to join a union," said House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Kalamazoo. "If a union is providing the value, then people will join."

More:Planned repeal of right-to-work law puts Michigan on national stage

More:After years of shrinkage, Michigan state government employment is growing again

The legislation — House Bill 4004 and House Bill 4005 — both passed by a one-vote margin with all Democrats sticking together to support the measures.

HB 4004 would repeal right-to-work for public sector workers. A U.S. Supreme Court decision barring public sector unions from requiring employees covered by collective bargaining agreements to pay union dues renders HB 4004 unenforceable. But proponents of the bill want to change Michigan’s labor laws for public employees in the event the court overturns the decision.

HB 4005, meanwhile, would repeal Michigan's right-to-work law for workers in the private sector.

Both bills were modified late Wednesday to include a $1 million appropriation to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to respond to public questions about the legislation and implement it.

The appropriation means that the legislation is not subject to a public referendum in which voters could reject the law. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in her first term issued an executive directive promising to veto any legislation "that circumvents the right to a referendum."

The votes took place the same day the House Labor Committee heard testimony on the bills and sent them to the floor for a vote.

Tens of thousands of Michigan workers currently protected by union agreements don't provide any financial support to the union. State Rep. Jimmie Wilson, D-Ypsilanti, said eliminating right-to-work will "repeal the right to freeload."

The share of workers covered by a union declined before Michigan's right-to-work law kicked in and continued to fall in the subsequent years. Most Michigan employees are not covered by unions today. Democrats who supported the bills Wednesday posit stronger unions will secure higher wages and force all employers to keep pace.

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan House passes bills to repeal right-to-work

Cyber attack hits Canadian engineering giant with contracts for military bases, power plants


Wed, March 8, 2023 



OTTAWA — A Canadian engineering giant whose work involves critical military, power and transportation infrastructure across the country has been hit with a ransomware attack.

Toronto-based Black & McDonald has so far refused to publicly comment on the cyberattack, while the Department of National Defence and other clients of the company have downplayed any impact or damage.

"Black & McDonald notified OPG that they had experienced a ransomware attack which was unrelated to OPG operations and information," said Ontario Power Generation spokesman Neal Kelly.

"OPG conducted an immediate investigation and found there was no impact to our operations. OPG constantly monitors to ensure the highest levels of cybersecurity.

Experts are nonetheless concerned, saying the attack on Black & McDonald represents a far greater threat to Canada's national security and critical infrastructure than the attack on Canada's largest bookstore chain, Indigo Books & Music Inc.

"This is a different ball game," said David Shipley, CEO of cybersecurity firm Beauceron Security. "If it's tied back to Russia in some way, then we've got some more questions to ask. Other nation-states are stepping up cybercrime groups as well, notably North Korea, but also Iran."

Details about the ransomware attack are scarce, with Black & McDonald refusing even to confirm it happened.

Department of National Defence spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande in a statement said it was first reported to Defence Construction Canada, which handles contracts with outside companies for the support and maintenance of military bases across the country.

"Once DCC was informed of the incident, it blocked all incoming emails from Black & McDonald out of an abundance of caution and conducted business by phone or in person," she said. "Once the contractor restored its email system and informed DCC, email communication resumed."

But while Lamirande confirmed the company reported the cyber breach early last month, she could not comment on the ransomware's origins or what measures the company had taken.

Black & McDonald and its subsidiary Canadian Base Operators have several multimillion-dollar contracts with the Defence Department for the support of Canadian military bases, including one signed in 2020 and valued at $157 million over 10 years.

The company, which has 5,500 employees across Canada and reported more than $1.5 billion in sales last year, also provides engineering and construction services for critical infrastructure projects, including nuclear power plants, airports and with the Toronto Transit Commission.

"We were advised by B & M last week, but no immediate concerns were conveyed," TTC spokesman Stuart Green said in an email, adding: "No impact on the TTC."

Without more information on the nature of the attack and its culprit, Shipley takes such assurances with a grain of salt.

"An absence of evidence that something bad happened doesn't mean something bad didn't happen," he said. "What proof do you have that says this didn't get touched, exfiltrated, et cetera. How are you this confident?"

Until more information is available, Shipley said questions will remain.

Cybersecurity officials inside and outside government have been warning for years about the need to strengthen Canada's cyber defences when it comes to critical infrastructure. The country has already seen the impact of such an attack.

Late last year, hackers accessed the private data of more than 58,000 Newfoundlanders. They also wiped out the information technology systems of the province's largest health authority, forcing officials to cancel thousands of appointments, including cancer care.

The threat of a successful attack isn't just losing information. A growing number of devices used to control nuclear power plants, air-traffic control systems and other infrastructure can be accessed remotely, said Terry Cutler, CEO of cybersecurity firm Cyology Labs.

"So it's very serious because if that data got out, they're going sell it on the dark web," he said. "Cyber criminals will sell it, and maybe state-sponsored actors will buy that stuff. And then from there, they can start building up plans to attack."

Black & McDonald's ties to the Canadian military are also a potential source of concern, said Brett Callow, a threat analyst with cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, particularly given current tensions with Russia.

"Some ransomware operations are Russia-based and some are believed to have connections to the Russian government," he said. "This means there's no way to know where the data that they steal may end up or, necessarily, even what the real motive for an attack may be."

There have been reports of other attacks on Canadian defence firms in the past year, though whether there has been an increase is unclear as companies are not normally required to report incidents to the government, let alone the public.

"There's so much secrecy around incidents that's it's hard to tell whether attacks are trending up or trending down," Callow said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

B.C. First Nations leaders want Fisheries and Oceans science reviews put under the microscope

Wed, March 8, 2023 

The Okisollo fish farm is pictured during a DFO fish health audit near Campbell River, B.C. on Oct. 31, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press - image credit)

First Nations leaders in B.C. are calling for an investigation into Fisheries and Oceans Canada's (DFO) scientific review and decision-making processes after a group of scientists pointed out flaws in a recent report on salmon farming and parasites.

The First Nations Leadership Council — a political executive made up of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs — is calling for an independent external investigation and an overhaul of these processes to restore the department's credibility.

Sixteen professors and research scientists from Canadian and American universities signed a letter to Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray, dated Jan. 30, saying a DFO report on the association between sea lice from salmon farms and wild B.C. salmon "falls far short of the standards of credible independent peer review and publishable science."

"We were astounded by [the letter] and immediately called out the minister because of it," said Hugh Braker, a member of the First Nations Summit political executive.

Braker said sea lice infestations in salmon are a touchy issue for most First Nations in B.C. and that the First Nations Summit would like for the minister to not renew any fish farm licences.

"The salmon are a staple for First Nations in British Columbia," said Braker.

"They are pillar of most cultures for First Nations in British Columbia. If we don't have that, then one of those pillars is gone. That's not really an option for us."

Letter to DFO minister

John Reynolds, research chair in aquatic conservation at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and a former chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, was one of the people who signed the letter to the DFO minister.

He said the DFO report on sea lice infestations was "flawed from top to bottom" and the conclusion of the report that there was no statistically significant association between lice on salmon farms and the lice in wild salmon populations in B.C. was the opposite of findings he and his colleagues have concluded in their own research.

The letter points to more than 30 peer-reviewed studies from B.C. and Europe that show a significant link between sea lice infestations on salmon farms and the wild population, some of which were cited in the DFO report but were not integrated into its conclusions.

The letter says the contributors to the report are almost all aquaculture-focused DFO staff "with the mandate to 'support aquaculture development'" and that it was externally reviewed by one industry-associated professor who regularly advises B.C. salmon-farming companies. The scientists say this is one of the reasons why the report does not meet independent peer-review standards.

Submitted by Alexandra Morton

Sea lice are a naturally occurring parasite that feed on the skin and external tissues of wild fish that make them more susceptible to predators, can change their behaviour and weaken their immune systems.

"If you concentrate a large number of fish in one place, such as in an open-net pen salmon farm, then the numbers of sea lice will amplify on those captive fish the same way that any disease will amplify in people if they're crowded together," said Reynolds.

DFO did not provide comment by time of publishing.

On Feb. 17, Murray announced DFO would not renew the licence of 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms in B.C.'s Discovery Islands due to the uncertain risks the farms pose to wild salmon and that the government is committed to developing a plan to transition away from open-net farming.

Sean Godwin, a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University studying marine ecology and another signatory of the letter, said the future of salmon farming in B.C. will have a great impact on the ecosystem, which is why the advice given to the minister to make decisions is important.

"It would be really good for the minister and DFO to admit the mistakes and breaches to scientific conduct that were made in this report, but more importantly, withdraw the report so that its conclusions can't really affect the really important decisions coming up," said Godwin.

"[Murray] deserves to be able to trust the science advice that's given to her by her own department, which just is not possible right now."

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL

Social Democrats reflect on Ukraine war, European security


Wed, March 8, 2023 



WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Leaders of nine Social Democratic parties in Europe declared unwavering support Wednesday for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion and discussed future European security.

Social Democrats from Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland and Croatia met in Warsaw for a two-day conference about the war and the ways it has altered European politics.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, president of the Party of European Socialists, said there was no going back to “business as usual” with Moscow. He stressed that Europe must make sure Ukraine wins the war and that any peace agreement is struck on Kyiv's terms.

His party is a coalition of Socialist, Social Democratic, Labour and Democratic parties in the European Union, the U.K. and Norway.

Lars Klingbeil, the co-chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, recently visited Kyiv and spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stressed that Ukrainians were fighting for European values as well as their country and should receive all available support.

Klingbeil told reporters the Leopard 2 tanks that Germany has pledged would make it to the front lines in Ukraine this month.

Participants at the meeting discussed the future leadership of NATO, since Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's term ends in October.

The meeting's host, the head of Poland's New Left party, Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, mentioned Poland's former left-wing president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, as a possible candidate to lead the alliance.

During Kwasniewski's 1995-2005 presidency, Poland joined NATO and the European Union.

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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The Associated Press

DEEP WATER OIL PROJECT

Feds, Equinor push back in court clash over Bay du Nord


Wed, March 8, 2023 

Lawyers representing Equinor and the federal government on Thursday pushed back against arguments that Canada’s first deepwater offshore oil project was unlawfully approved.

In April 2022, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault approved Bay du Nord, stating it was environmentally sound. He determined the project, about 500 kilometres east of St. John’s in Newfoundland, “is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Opponents were quick to condemn the approval, noting the significant emissions that would come from the project and the risk it poses to marine life.

In Ottawa on Wednesday, lawyers on behalf of Sierra Club Canada, Equiterre and Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn Incorporated (MTI) — a group representing eight Mi’gmaq communities in New Brunswick — said Guilbeault didn’t have the full picture when considering the project’s environmental effects. Notably missing from the environmental assessment he based his approval on, they argued, were downstream emissions (when the oil is burned) and the potential effects marine shipping activity could have on the environment and Mi'kmaq rights.

On Thursday, Equinor lawyer Sean Sutherland confirmed that while assessing the project, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada didn’t include downstream emissions, but said the groups had ample opportunities to request that those issues be addressed during the public consultation process.

Regarding downstream emissions, he said it is common practice for them not to be included in environmental assessments.

“Indeed, in a project EA, it is impossible to identify ultimate downstream uses, the regulations that may apply to those emissions, mitigation measures, and justification,” reads court documents.

He also dismissed the idea that marine shipping was omitted from the assessment, saying there was a reasonable inclusion of potential effects from marine tankers. Sutherland noted Equinor doesn’t know where any of this oil will be shipped yet, and some products might go straight to international markets from the production site, making it difficult to describe the full picture of tanker activity.

He focused heavily on arguments around Equinor’s openness to engage with environmental groups and First Nations, and what he said were numerous examples of the opponents weighing in on the project, and that they didn’t focus on marine shipping or downstream emissions.

Dayna Anderson, a lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada, said consultations with First Nations, specifically those represented by MTI, were thorough. During the process, the government deemed the duty to consult with the group as “low” because of the project’s distance from land and “therefore impacts to MTI’s rights would be minimal,” court documents read.

MTI never agreed to that designation and maintained it was not given enough time and resources to weigh in on and get information on how marine shipping could impact the environment, specifically the endangered Atlantic salmon population that migrates between the Bay of Fundy and the Bay du Nord area.

Ultimately, environmental lawyer Joshua Ginsberg said MTI’s participation was “incomplete,” and that the group’s requests for more information and communication were not met. He said groups not only weighed in during the official process, but they sent letters to Guilbeault and spent significant resources speaking to media and raising concerns specifically around emissions and the transport of oil.

Even though Bay du Nord, if financed and completed, will be hundreds of kilometres from land, Ginsberg said its effects would be felt far beyond the project area. The planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from the project will know no borders, and if a spill were to occur, it would inevitably harm marine life. Ginsberg argues it is necessary to assess the impacts of marine shipping and what downstream emissions could mean for Canada’s climate goals.

There is no specific date set for a decision, but Federal Court Justice Russel W. Zinn noted “it may take some time” based on the volume of information.

Cloe Logan/ Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Cloe Logan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Margaret Atwood's new short stories tackle cancel culture, reproductive rights, technology

Wed, March 8, 2023 

TORONTO — Margaret Atwood has been applauded for her speculative and sometimes bleak bibliography that imagines a future not too far from reality, but the renowned author is not in the habit of making predictions about her own times ahead.

Atwood, 83, hasn't yet decided when it will be time to put the pen down.

"If you have a book to write, you write it. And then if you don't have one, then you don't," says the Canadian literary legend, whose vast collection of writings explore a range of topics from dystopian futures, animals rights and identity, often from a feminist point of view.

In fact, she's showing no signs of slowing down. In addition to the author's new collection of short stories, "Old Babes in the Wood," published Tuesday, Atwood told "The Today Show" she's working on a memoir.

She's also expanded how she communicates with readers outside the printed page by starting her own newsletter with Substack last November.

"It allows my readers to connect with me in a different way," Atwood said, noting the platform allows for posts that are longer and more engaging than Twitter feeds.

In "Old Babes in the Wood," Atwood continues to provide literary commentary on present-day challenges surrounding cancel culture, women's reproductive rights, as well as society's reliance on technology and, though not explicitly said, social media by extension.

Atwood understandsthe lure of social media but when asked if she is on TikTok she responds with, "are you joking?" followed by a reference to her age. She does see the promotional appeal of the app, especially for a younger generation of readers.

"BookTok on TikTok is very much a young person thing," she said referring to the subculture where users review and share their favourite books.

"There's a benefit for the authors and also for the readers if they're enjoying the book...but there is no human technology that does not have a plus and minus and then something stupid that you haven't anticipated at all."

TikTok has recently come under fire with federal and provincial governments banning employees from using the social media app on government-owned devices due to security concerns. Atwood said she doesn't expect this to impact the number of users contributing to BookTok.

Fans can still find musings from Atwood on Twitter despite the deluge of misinformation and toxicity found on the app, but only because, "there hasn't been anything that has quite replaced it yet."

The author has spoken out about cancel culture previously and explores the phenomenon in "Airborne: A Symposium." The story is situated around a group of older women friends discussing the evolution of feminist movements and social protocols when a friend's blunder blows up on social media.

Atwood said it's never a question of whether or not people can say anything they want without consequences because they can't, but it's more of a question of where society draws the line.

"It's the old biddies trying to figure it out, and if you think the biddies aren't doing that, think again," said Atwood.

"Old Babes in the Wood" is Atwood's first collection of short stories since releasing "Stone Mattress" in 2014.

The bookfeatures new pieces such as "Bad Teeth," which tells the story of two older women who have built the kind of friendship where a white lie cannot shake its foundation, and "Metempsychosis," a quirky tale of a frustrated snail who has taken over the body of a customer service representative.

"Old Babes in the Wood" is bookended by several stories featuring married couple Nell and Tig, characters introduced in Atwood's previous short story work. The pieces examine love, aging and the grief of losing a partner in life.

Atwood dedicated the collection to her late partner Graeme Gibson who died in 2019.

While Atwood pulls from her own experiences when crafting a story, she said readers often think that the process of writing is entirely self-expression on the part of the writer, when it is evocation on the part of the reader.

"The concern of the writer is not so much to do self-expression, which you can do by going out into the backyard and screaming, but to put words together in such a way that they will connect with a reader."

The collection also includes previously released pieces including "Impatient Griselda," which is set in a pandemic world where alien-like creatures are brought in to intervene.

The piece was included in a series of short stories commissioned by The New York Times months after the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Atwood surmises she's "kind of too old to be influenced," even by a pandemic that upended many people's lives, so she doesn't expect COVID-19 to impact her work.

"What do writers do anyway in their lives? They sit in rooms by themselves and talk to people who aren't there. So not much of a change," she said, of pandemic isolation measures.

And while she may be used to writing about a future plagued by uncertainty, Atwood said she's not sure she would have incorporated the pandemic in her craft if she hadn't been asked to.

"Writers in general write about the times that they're living in. It's kind of hard not to."


This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023.

The Canadian Press

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Executive gets 15 months in prison in doomed nuclear project

Wed, March 8, 2023 



COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former executive utility who gave rosy projections on the progress of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina while they were hopelessly behind will spend 15 months in prison for the doomed project that cost ratepayers billions of dollars.

Ex-SCANA Corp. Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne apologized in court Wednesday, saying he thinks about how he let down customers, shareholders, employees, taxpayers and his family almost every day.

The two nuclear plants, which never generated a watt of power despite $9 billion of investment, were supposed to be “the crowning achievement of my life,” Byrne said. “But I failed.”

Byrne is the second SCANA executive to head to prison for the nuclear debacle. Former CEO Kevin Marsh was sentenced to two years in prison in October 2021 and released earlier in March after serving about 17 months.

Two executives at Westinghouse, which was contracted to build the reactors, are also charged. Carl Churchman, who was the company's top official at the Fairfield County construction site at V.C. Summer, pleaded guilty to perjury and is awaiting sentencing. Former Westinghouse senior vice president Jeff Benjamin faces 16 charges. His trial is scheduled for October.

Both defense lawyers and prosecutors agreed to delay Byrne's prison sentence until he testifies at Benjamin's trial to make sure he is honest and helpful.

But that isn't in doubt. Prosecutors said Byrne was the first executive to come to investigators after the project was abandoned in July 2017. His careful notes taken in every meeting of who spoke and what was said saved the government years of work unraveling the lies, prosecutor Winston Holliday said.

“They are the handwriting of an engineer," Holliday said.

In all, Byrne met with state and federal agents 15 times, sometimes for entire days. He walked them through what happened from the 2008 proposal to build the plants that led to a state law allowing the utility to raise rates so much of the risk fell on customers, to the final desperate meetings in 2017 when it was obvious the project was dead.

His cooperation led U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis to agree with the defense and prosecution recommendation of a 15-month prison sentence, a $200,000 fine and $1 million in restitution. Federal sentencing guidelines suggest a maximum five-year sentence for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Byrne, 63, told state regulators in 2016 that construction of the plants would finish in time to get more than $1 billion in tax credits vital for SCANA and its subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas to afford the project. The goal was to reassure shareholders and others that the project, which leaders knew was hopelessly delayed and over budget, was on track.

But unlike other executives, whose sin was greed and wanting to line their own pockets with bonuses, Holliday said Byrne's sin appeared to be pride.

“I genuinely believe as an engineer he wanted to build this thing," Holliday said.

The first words Byrne said in court were “I'm sorry.” He has been a nuclear engineer all his life and said he regrets the role he played in stifling the growth of nuclear power in the United States because the SCANA debacle showed the projects are too expensive and unwieldy.

“I failed the nuclear industry as well. What we hoped would be a nuclear renaissance — we put the brakes on it,” Byrne said.

Since losing his job in 2018, Byrne has been building houses with Habitat for Humanity. His lawyers said he took classes to be an electrician at a technical college so he could better help the organization.

“It is my fervent hope that when I retire I can go on to live a quiet life and no one in here ever hears from me again,” Byrne said.

Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press

Tens of thousands march in Greece to protest train disaster


Wed, March 8, 2023



ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Tens of thousands marched Wednesday in Athens and cities across Greece to protest the deaths of 57 people in the country's worst train disaster, which exposed significant rail safety deficiencies.

Labor unions and student associations organized the demonstrations, while strikes halted ferries to the islands and public transportation services in Athens, where at least 30,000 people took part in the protest.

More than 20,000 joined rallies in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, where clashes broke out when several dozen youths challenged a police cordon. Twelve students from the city’s university were among the dead in last week's head-on crash between two trains.

Police fired tear gas in the southern city of Patras, where a municipal band earlier played music from a funeral march while leading the demonstration. In the central city of Larissa, near the scene of the train collision, students holding black balloons chanted “No to profits over our lives!”

The accident occurred on Feb. 28 near the northern Greek town of Tempe. A passenger train slammed into a freight carrier coming in the opposite direction on the same line, and some of its derailed cars went up in flames.

A stationmaster accused of placing the trains on the same track has been charged with negligent homicide and other offenses, and the country's transportation minister and senior railway officials resigned the day after the crash.

But revelations of serious safety gaps on Greece’s busiest rail line have put the center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the defensive. He has pledged the government's full cooperation with a judicial inquiry into the crash.

“This is more than a train collision and a tragic railway accident. You get the sense that the country has derailed,” Nasos Iliopoulos, a spokesperson for Greece's main left-wing opposition party, Syriza, said.

Senior officials from a European Union railway agency were expected in Athens as part of promised assistance to help Greece improve railway safety. The agency in the past publicly highlighted delays in Greece's implementation of safety measures.

Safety experts from Germany also were expected to travel to Greece to help advise the government, Greece's new Transport Minister George Gerapetritis said.

“I, too, express my anguish and heartbreak over what happened in Tempe. This is an unprecedented national tragedy, which has scarred us all because of the magnitude of the tragedy: this unjustified loss of a great number of our fellow human beings,” Gerapetritis said.

He acknowledged major omissions in safety procedures on the night of the crash. Strikes have halted all national rail services since the collision.

Wednesday’s protests were also backed by striking civil servants’ associations and groups marking International Women’s Day.

Subways ran for a few hours in Athens to allow people to get to the demonstration. The strikes also closed state-run primary schools and had public hospitals operating at reduced capacity. ___ Thanassis Stavrakis in Athens and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, contributed.

Derek Gatopoulos And Theodora Tongas, The Associated Press

TikTok push targets Biden on Alaska’s huge Willow oil plan


Wed, March 8, 2023 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A social media campaign urging President Joe Biden to reject an oil development project on Alaska's remote North Slope has rapidly gained steam on TikTok and other platforms, reflecting the unease many young Americans feel about climate change.

The #StopWillow campaign has garnered more than 50 million views and counting, and was trending in the top 10 topics on TikTok, as users voiced their concerns that Biden wouldn't stick to his campaign promises to curtail oil drilling.

“It’s just so blatantly bad for the planet,” said Hazel Thayer, a climate activist who posted TikTok videos using the #StopWillow hashtag.

“With all of the progress that the U.S. government has made on climate change, it now feels like they’re turning their backs by allowing Willow to go through," Thayer said. "I think a lot of young people are feeling a little bit betrayed by that.”

At the same time, Alaska Native leaders with ties to the petroleum-rich North Slope support ConocoPhillips Alaska's proposed Willow project. They've pushed back, saying the Willow Project would bring much-needed jobs and billions of dollars in taxes and mitigation funds to the vast, snow- and ice-covered region nearly 600 miles (965 kilometers) from Anchorage.

The Alaska Native mayors of two North Slope communities — Asisaun Toovak, of Utqiaġvik, the nation’s northernmost community formerly known as Barrow, and Chester Ekak, of Wainwright, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) to the southwest — penned an opinion piece for the Anchorage Daily News in support of the project.

In the debate, “the voices of the people whose ancestral homeland is most impacted have largely been ignored," they wrote. "We know our lands and our communities better than anyone, and we know that resource development and our subsistence way of life are not mutually exclusive.”

Biden’s decision on Willow will be one of his most consequential climate decisions.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who fought the Willow project as a member of Congress, has the final decision on whether to approve it, although top White House climate officials are likely to be involved, with input from Biden himself. The White House declined to comment Tuesday.

Climate activists are outraged that Biden appears open to the project, which they call a “carbon bomb,” and would risk alienating young voters who have urged stronger climate action by the White House as he approaches a 2024 reelection campaign.

Willow's critics include the Pueblo Action Alliance, which is where Halaand's daughter, Somah Haaland, once worked. The Western Energy Alliance, an oil industry trade organization, claims that creates a conflict of interest for the secretary. Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz denied any conflict.

Alaska’s congressional delegation — including Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress — backs the project and met with top officials at the White House last week.

With a decision anticipated soon, attention to Willow is growing online.

The project’s nature-themed name is making it easier for the topic to gain traction on social media than other oil projects with more technical-sounding names, said Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for People Vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of groups pressing Biden for an end to fossil fuel projects. A petition on change.org had more than 3 million signatures by Wednesday, making it the third most-signed petition in the company's history, it said.

“Young voters felt like this was betraying the climate goals they had set forth,” said Tyler Steinhardt, a vice president at Pique Action, a company that produces social media and mini-documentaries about climate solutions.

The proposed Willow project is within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an area the size of Indiana, though about half of the reserve is off limits to oil and gas leasing under an Obama-era rule reinstated by the Biden administration last year.

It’s also where subsistence hunters harvest caribou, seals, fish and bowhead whales to supplement extremely high food costs in rural Alaska, where for example a 24-ounce bag of shredded cheese can cost $16.99.

ConocoPhillips Alaska said Willow, one of the biggest oil fields to be proposed in Alaska in decades, could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, or about 1.5% of the total U.S. oil production. It could also help fill the 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) trans-Alaska oil pipeline, which is running at about a fourth of the peak capacity in the 1980s, when more than 2 million barrels a day flowed through the line from the North Slope to Valdez for shipment.

In oil-friendly Alaska, there have been visible shows of support for the project.

The Alaska Legislature unanimously passed a resolution last month in support of the project. Local governments and Alaska Native corporations on the North Slope also back the project, and union leaders — a major Biden constituency — support it.

The Alaska Native mayors said in their opinion piece that the project is expected to generate $1.25 billion in taxes for the North Slope Borough to pay for basic services like education, fire protection and law enforcement. Another $2.5 billion is expected for a grant program that will provide other improvements like a new recreation center for youth and community programs in Wainwright.

“It’s time for Washington, D.C., to listen to the voices of Alaska Native communities on the North Slope and approve Willow without further delay or deferral,” Toovak and Ekak wrote.

Not all elected officials on the North Slope favor the project, however,

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, the mayor of Nuiqsut, the community that would be closest to the Willow project, said she worried about the impact to her community's subsistence lifestyle.

“There are many who would like to say everybody in Alaska supports oil and gas development,” she told The Associated Press last month. “Well, for our village, this development is in the wrong area ... We oppose it."

___

O'Malley reported from Philadelphia, and Gutiérrez reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Matthew Daly in Washington, D.C., Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana also contributed to this report.

Mark Thiessen, Isabella O'malley And Natalia Gutierrez, The Associated Press

Métis National Council at crossroads as it marks 40-year anniversary

Wed, March 8, 2023 

A Métis Nation flag flies in Ottawa in January. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Forty years ago in Regina, on the eve of a high-stakes constitutional conference on Indigenous rights, the Métis decided to go it alone.

Three Métis associations from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the largest in the country, decided to ditch the Native Council of Canada and form a breakaway group, the fledgling Métis National Council (MNC).

A day later, on March 9, 1983, the new group made its move. The MNC sued then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau in a last-minute bid to block the conference.

It was a risky play, but the Métis were in a position of strength, remembers Tony Belcourt, who is Métis from Lac Ste. Anne, Alta., and served as the Native Council's founding president.

"The Justice department understood right away they could not go forward," Belcourt said.

Canada had patriated its Constitution a year earlier, capping a drawn-out struggle between Trudeau's Liberals and a loose coalition of Indigenous lobby groups who fought to secure protections for treaty and Indigenous rights.

Peter Bregg/The Canadian Press

Belcourt, an adviser at the Native Council at the time of the split, said the Métis built momentum during that push. Rather than stand off in court, Trudeau offered them a seat at the table.

"They had no choice," said Belcourt.

He had helped bring Métis and non-status First Nations people together in 1971 under the umbrella of the Native Council, which later became the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, a union Belcourt says was rooted in strength in numbers.

The two groups set their differences aside to build a national political movement, but by 1983 the relationship was frayed.

The final straw came when the Native Council's board appointed its president Louis "Smokey" Bruyere and vice-president Bill Wilson, both representing non-status First Nations, to the Métis seats at the talks.

Submitted

It was then, said Belcourt, that the Métis knew the time for strength in numbers had passed.

"It was time for Métis nationalism," he said.

"We had to break away and speak for ourselves."

Bright future or spent force?

This month, the MNC will mark 40 years since then with one of its founding members gone, amid multiple ongoing legal battles and sprawling new self-determination initiatives.

The council now consists of associations from Saskatchewan and Alberta, who are both founding members, plus the Ontario and British Columbia branches that joined in the 1990s.

The Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) withdrew in 2021 following years of internal controversy over Métis citizenship, which was marked by bitter feuds and accusations of political backstabbing, betrayal and backroom deals.

The MMF has long accused the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) of opening the doors to members who may have Indigenous ancestry, but aren't Métis.

The MMF says the national council is a spent force, one fallen prey to a "pan-Indigenous agenda" that no longer represents the historic Métis Nation.

"That organization's purpose was served," said MMF President David Chartrand in a recent statement to CBC News.

"As we all know, it has lost its identity as representative of our proud Métis Nation."

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

MNO President Margaret Froh rejects that argument and accuses MMF of promoting misinformation.

As far as she's concerned, the MNC, led by a new president and with an injection of young leaders, will press on without Manitoba.

"There is a beautiful and very bright future for the Métis National Council," said Froh in a recent interview.

"I'm very excited to think about where we might be 40 years from now in advancing Métis rights."

Métis Nation of Alberta

A spokesperson said MNC President Cassidy Caron was working on pre-budget consultations in recent weeks and planned to officially celebrate the anniversary later this month. On Wednesday, Caron called the anniversary a moment to pause and reflect on the council's accomplishments.

"Forty years is a monumental and significant milestone for us to celebrate," she said, adding she doesn't feel Manitoba's absence casts a shadow on the day.

Caron was elected in 2021 as the MNC's first woman president and first new president in nearly two decades. She said she ran because she saw the need for an "ethical refresh" at the national council and frank discussions about its future.

The decades have brought gigantic leaps forward in Métis rights, she said, but she acknowledges charting a path for the next 40 years won't be easy.

"Our work is not done yet," she said.

"The Métis National Council needs to evolve to meet where our Métis governments are at today."

A truck with 3 wheels

Jean Teillet, a Métis author, lawyer and great-grandniece of Louis Riel, says the frantic rush in which the MNC was formed in 1983 meant flaws were baked into it then.

She likes to think of the vehicle for Métis rights that was created on March 8, 1983, as a truck with three wheels.

"It's been galumphing along for a long time but it's not established on any principled basis. It was established on need," Teillet said.

"It's not something I think of as a great celebration moment."

Brian Morris/CBC

The MNC has made some advances but it still has major structural problems traceable to its hurried creation, according to Teillet.

"I don't think it works very well right now," she said.

"I'm thinking of it, at the moment, as pretty dysfunctional."

She said Manitoba's withdrawal, coupled with the exclusion of the eight Alberta Métis settlements which together occupy more than 500,000 hectares of territory, pose serious questions about the MNC's future.

But that doesn't mean she's pessimistic about the future of the Métis Nation. She said a shakeup might even help.

Put another way, she said, maybe it's time for a new truck.

"Maybe this particular vehicle has served its purpose," she said, "and they can get one that has four wheels."