SO MUCH FOR PARENTS RIGHTS

Texas announces takeover of Houston schools, stirring anger

By JUAN A. LOZANO and PAUL J. WEBER

yesterday

People hold up signs at a news conference, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Houston while protesting the proposed takeover of the city's school district by the Texas Education Agency. Texas officials on Wednesday, March 15, announced a state takeover of Houston's nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political. 

(AP Photo/Juan A. Lozano)

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas officials on Wednesday announced a state takeover of Houston’s nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political.

The announcement, made by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s education commissioner, Mike Morath, amounts to one of the largest school takeovers ever in the U.S. It also deepens a high-stakes rift between Texas’ largest city, where Democrats wield control, and state Republican leaders, who have sought increased authority following election fumbles and COVID-19 restrictions.

The takeover is the latest example of Republican and predominately white state officials pushing to take control of actions in heavily minority and Democratic-led cities. They include St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi, where the Legislature is pushing to take over the water system and for an expanded role for state police and appointed judges.

In a letter to the Houston Independent School District, Morath said the Texas Education Agency will replace Superintendent Millard House II and the district’s elected board of trustees with a new superintendent and an appointed board of managers made of residents from within the district’s boundaries.

Morath said the board has failed to improve student outcomes while conducting “chaotic board meetings marred by infighting” and violating open meetings act and procurement laws. He accused the district of failing to provide proper special education services and of violating state and federal laws with its approach to supporting students with disabilities.

He cited the seven-year record of poor academic performance at one of the district’s roughly 50 high schools, Wheatley High, as well as the poor performance of several other campuses.

“The governing body of a school system bears ultimate responsibility for the outcomes of all students. While the current Board of Trustees has made progress, systemic problems in Houston ISD continue to impact district students,” Morath wrote in his six-page letter.

Most of Houston’s school board members have been replaced since the state began making moves toward a takeover in 2019. House became superintendent in 2021.

He and the current school board will remain until the new board of managers is chosen sometime after June 1. The new board of managers will be appointed for at least two years.

House in a statement pointed to strides made across the district, saying the announcement “does not discount the gains we have made.”

He said his focus now will be on ensuring “a smooth transition without disruption to our core mission of providing an exceptional educational experience for all students.”

The Texas State Teachers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas condemned the takeover. At a news conference in Austin, state Democratic leaders called for the Legislature to increase funding for education and raise teacher pay.

“We acknowledge that there’s been underperformance in the past, mainly due to that severe underfunding in our public schools,” state Rep. Armando Walle, who represents parts of north Houston, said.

An annual Census Bureau survey of public school funding showed Texas spent $10,342 per pupil in the 2020 fiscal year, more than $3,000 less than the national average, according to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston.

The state was able to take over the district under a change in state law that Houston Democratic state Rep. Harold Dutton Jr. proposed in 2015. In an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle on Monday, Dutton said he has no regrets about what he did.

“We’re hearing voices of opposition, people who say that HISD shouldn’t have to face consequences for allowing a campus to fail for more than five consecutive years. Those critics’ concern is misplaced,” Dutton wrote.

Schools in other big cities, including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Detroit, in recent decades have gone through state takeovers, which are generally viewed as last resorts for underperforming schools and are often met with community backlash. Critics argue that state interventions generally have not led to big improvements.

Texas started moving to take over the district following allegations of misconduct by school trustees, including inappropriate influencing of vendor contracts, and chronically low academic scores at Wheatley High.

The district sued to block a takeover, but new education laws subsequently passed by the GOP-controlled state Legislature and a January ruling from the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to seize control.

“All of us Texans have an obligation and should come together to reinvent HISD in a way that will ensure that we’re going to be providing the best quality education for those kids,” Abbott said Wednesday.

Schools in Houston are not under mayoral control, unlike in New York and Chicago, but as expectations of a takeover mounted, the city’s Democratic leaders unified in opposition.

Race is also an issue because the overwhelming majority of students in Houston schools are Hispanic or Black. Domingo Morel, a professor of political science and public services at New York University, said the political and racial dynamics in the Houston case are similar to instances where states have intervened elsewhere.

“If we just focus on taking over school districts because they underperform, we would have a lot more takeovers,” Morel said. “But that’s not what happens.”

____

Weber reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writer Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

NY diocese facing flood of lawsuits files for bankruptcy


Newly ordained Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, left, is helped with his Crosier by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, April 10, 2014, during the installation of the tenth Bishop of the Albany Diocese at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, NY. Scharfenberger announced the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany declared bankruptcy, Wednesday, March 15, 2023, as it faces lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests. 

(J.S.Carras/The Record via AP, Pool File))

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The embattled Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany became the latest diocese in New York to seek bankruptcy protection Wednesday as it faces hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger announced the Chapter 11 filing after months of negotiations between the upstate New York diocese and lawyers representing plaintiffs over a potential settlement.

The Albany diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with a deluge of lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.

“The decision to file was not arrived at easily and I know it may cause pain and suffering, but we, as a Church, can get through this and grow stronger together,” Scharfenberger said in a release.

The bishop said that as cases brought under the state’s Child Victims Act were settled, “our limited self-insurance funds which have been paying those settlements, have been depleted.” He said the bankruptcy filing was the best way to ensure that all survivors with pending litigation receive some compensation.

The action halts legal actions against the diocese and will allow it to develop a reorganization plan that will determine available assets, Scharfenberger said.

Dioceses across the nation have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent years. In New York, Albany is the fifth of eight dioceses to take the action, a list that includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.

Some attorneys representing plaintiffs against the Albany diocese accused it of using bankruptcy as a legal tactic.

“We urge everyone to see the Diocese’s strategy for what it is: chicanery designed to perpetuate a $600 million corporation’s pattern of decadence, deception, and denial,” said attorney Jeff Anderson in a statement.

New York temporarily set aside its usual time limit on civil lawsuits for victims of childhood sexual abuse for a two-year period ending in August 2021. More than 9,000 lawsuits were filed against churches, hospitals, schools, camps, scout groups and other institutions

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ex-Wells Fargo exec to plead guilty for role in bank scandal


A Wells Fargo bank sign is affixed to a window on Jan. 13, 2021, in New York. A former Wells Fargo Bank executive accused of overseeing a ruse that created millions of bogus customer accounts has agreed Wednesday, March 15, 2023, to plead guilty to criminal charges likely to send her to prison for her role in the scandal. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Wells Fargo Bank executive accused of overseeing a ruse that created millions of bogus customer accounts has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges likely to send her prison for her role in the scandal.

The agreement filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court calls for the former Wells Fargo executive, Carrie Tolstedt, to serve a 16-month prison sentence for obstructing regulators’ investigation into abusive sales practices that culminated in the bank paying billions of dollars in fines. Tolstedt, 63, also agreed to pay a $17 million fine in a separate civil settlement with the government that also bans her from working again in the banking industry.

Prosecutors are requesting an April 7 court hearing to review the plea agreement.

Tolstedt was the longtime head of the Wells Fargo’s division responsible for its sprawling network of retail branches, before leaving in 2016 just before evidence of the bank’s abusive sales tactics surfaced. After previously denying any wrongdoing, Tolstedt becomes the first Wells Fargo executive to be held criminally culpable for a scandal that resulted in the firing of 5,300 employees for falsifying bank records and other ethics violations.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo had previously admitted that its ambitious sales goals had fostered a culture that prodded its branch employees to open millions of unauthorized and fraudulent accounts from 2002 to 2016. The U.S. Justice Department alleged Tolstedt — now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona — knew about the abuses dating back to 2004 and subsequently tried to cover up the misconduct in a memo prepared for regulators looking into the practices in 2015.

“Obstructing an investigation compromises the mission of those seeking the truth, and we will hold accountable any individual who attempts to conceal wrongdoing.” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally.

RARE EARTH MINERALS U$A
Company gets a bit closer to raising $1.1B it needs for mine

By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A mining company that wants to extract a collection of rare elements from beneath southeast Nebraska raised funds Wednesday toward its goal of finding the $1.1 billion it needs to build the mine that has been in the works for decades.

Shareholders of a special purpose acquisition company called GX Acquisition Corp. II overwhelmingly approved merging with NioCorp, a Centennial, Colorado-based mining company, according to a regulatory filing. About $15 million from the deal will go to NioCorp, the company said.

The GXII deal involves one of the risky shell companies once popular on Wall Street before many fell out of favor and had to be liquidated before they ever completed a deal. The SPACs, as they are known, are essentially companies created solely to merge with another business to invest in it.

NioCorp shareholders also approved an $81 million financing deal with Yorkville Advisors Global last week.

But the mine the company hopes to build about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Omaha near the town of Elk Creek could get an even bigger boost later this year. The Export-Import Bank of the United States recently issued a formal “letter of interest” saying that NioCorp may qualify for up to $800 million in financing. If that comes through after the bank conducts a detailed review of the project, NioCorp would have enough cash to build the mine.

First the project will have to undergo at least six to nine months of review by the bank. The letter from the Export-Import Bank is just a preliminary step, but it has NioCorp officials extremely optimistic.

“It’s unbelievably exciting. Sleep is a little hard to come by for our team right now,” NioCorp CEO Mark Smith said. “We see what’s happening and this project is actually going to happen.”

NioCorp has raised more than $80 million since 2013 to explore the site, but development of the project dates back to the 1970s when a different company first started drilling samples. The proposed mine is expected to create over 400 jobs if it is built.

The main element NioCorp plans to produce is a heat-resistant element called niobium, which is used to make steel lighter and stronger. The mine could also produce scandium that can be used to make aluminum stronger and titanium that would be used in paint production. The company has said analysis of samples from the site shows there is also a significant amount of rare earth elements used in a variety of high-tech products that are primarily produced in China. But it’s not yet clear whether it will be economically feasible to mine those rare earth elements that President Joe Biden wants to see more of produced domestically.

The letter the bank issued to NioCorp is one of the first given to a U.S. project since the Export-Import Bank decided last year — in response a Biden executive order — to expand funding to domestic projects proposed by companies planning to export their products. A bank spokeswoman said NioCorp operates in an industry the bank is eager to support because so few critical minerals are produced in the United States.

NioCorp officials say getting funding from the bank, which is run by the government under congressional authorization, would help level the playing field with Chinese companies that are heavily subsidized by their government. The Export-Import Bank would likely offer better terms than commercial banks, but NioCorp continues to talk with other banks.

US Senators beginning effort to repeal Iraq War authorization

IT BEGAN WITH THE FIRST GEORGE BUSH

President George H.W. Bush gestures during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Jan. 12, 1991, after Congress voted to authorize the president to wage war in the Persian Gulf.
(AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)

AND CONTINUED WITH THE SECOND GEORGE BUSH

 The Senate is taking the first steps to repeal two measures giving open-ended approval for military action in Iraq, moving to end that authority as the United States marks the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war. Senators will take a procedural vote Thursday to take up legislation that would repeal the 2002 measure that greenlighted that March 2003 invasion of Iraq, along with a separate 1991 measure that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait. Durbin said on the floor ahead of Thursday’s vote that, “As I look back on it, as I’m sure others do, as one of the most important votes that I ever cast.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is taking the first steps toward repealing two measures that give open-ended approval for military action in Iraq, pushing to end that authority as the United States marks the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War.

Senators planned a procedural vote Thursday on legislation that would repeal the 2002 measure that greenlighted that March 2003 invasion of Iraq and on a 1991 measure that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait.

The effort comes at a time when lawmakers of both parties are seeking to reclaim congressional powers over U.S. military strikes and deployments. They say the war authorizations are no longer necessary and subject to misuse if they are left on the books. President Joe Biden has backed the push, and the White House issued a statement Thursday in support.

“Repeal of these authorizations would have no impact on current U.S. military operations and would support this Administration’s commitment to a strong and comprehensive relationship with our Iraqi partners,” the statement said.

The vote comes almost 21 years after the contentious Senate vote to give President George W. Bush the authority he had sought to invade Iraq. That vote, which came just a month before the 2002 midterm elections, was a defining moment for members of Congress as the country debated whether a military strike was warranted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who was in the Senate at the time and voted against the resolution, said on the floor before Thursday’s vote that “I look back on it, as I’m sure others do, as one of the most important votes that I ever cast.”

“The repeal of this authorization of use the use of military force does not mean the United States has become a pacifist nation,” Durbin said. “It means that the United States is going to be a constitutional nation and the premise of our Founding Fathers will be respected.”

It’s unclear whether leaders in the Republican-controlled House would bring the bill up for a vote. Forty-nine House Republicans supported the legislation two years ago, but current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., opposed it.

Senate Republicans are also split on the legislation. While several GOP senators have endorsed it, opponents argue that the repeal could project weakness to U.S. enemies. Some have also pointed out that President Donald Trump’s administration cited the 2002 Iraq war resolution as part of its legal justification for a 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani.

If the Senate, as expected, votes to move forward Thursday with the legislation, senators could spend up to two weeks considering it. Republicans who oppose the repeal are expected to offer amendments.

In the statement of policy, the White House said Biden would work with Congress to replace the authorizations with “a narrow and specific framework more appropriate to protecting Americans from modern terrorist threats.” It said the president want to ensure that Congress “has a clear and thorough understanding of the effect of any such action and of the threats facing U.S. forces, personnel, and interests around the world.”

Senate Democrats also could push for their own amendments. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in the hours before the vote that he was glad that the repeal is a bipartisan effort after the Iraq conflict was the cause of “so much bitterness” in the past.

“Americans are tired of endless wars in the Middle East,” Schumer said.

Why US troops remain in Iraq 20 years after ‘shock and awe’

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP

A U.S. military vehicle, part of a convoy, arrives near Dahuk, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2019. Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, in blinding explosions of shock and awe, American forces remain in the country in what has become a small, but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East. (AP Photo/File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq — in blinding explosions of shock and awe — American forces remain in the country in what has become a small but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East.

The roughly 2,500 U.S. troops are scattered around the country, largely in military installations in Baghdad and in the north. And while it is a far cry from the more than 170,000 U.S. forces in Iraq at the peak of the war in 2007, U.S. officials say the limited — but continued — troop level is critical as a show of commitment to the region and a hedge against Iranian influence and weapons trafficking.

A look at America’s evolving role in Iraq:

HOW DID IT START?

The U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003 in what it called a massive “shock and awe” bombing campaign that lit up the skies, laid waste to large sections of the country and paved the way for American ground troops to converge on Baghdad. The invasion was based on what turned out to be faulty claims that Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons never materialized.

Saddam was toppled from power, and America’s war shifted the country’s governing base from minority Arab Sunnis to majority Shiites, with Kurds gaining their own autonomous region. While many Iraqis welcomed Saddam’s ouster, they were disappointed when the government failed to restore basic services and the ongoing battles instead brought vast humanitarian suffering.

Resentment and power struggles between the Shiites and the Sunnis fueled civil war, leading ultimately to America’s complete withdrawal in December 2011. The divide was a key factor in the collapse of the nation’s police and military forces when faced with the Islamic State insurgency that swept across Iraq and Syria in 2014.

THE U.S. RETURNS

The rise of the Islamic State group — its roots were in al-Qaida affiliates — and its expanding threat to the U.S. and allies across Europe sent the U.S. back into Iraq at the invitation of the Baghdad government in 2014. Over that summer and fall, the U.S.-led coalition launched airstrike campaigns in Iraq and then Syria, and restarted a broad effort to train and advise Iraq’s military.

The coalition’s train and advise mission has continued, bolstered by a NATO contingent, even after the Islamic State group’s campaign to create a caliphate was ended in March 2019.

The roughly 2,500 troops deployed to Iraq live on joint bases with Iraqi troops, where they provide training and equipment. That troop total, however, fluctuates a bit, and the Pentagon does not reveal the number of U.S. special operations forces that routinely move in and out of the country to assist Iraqi forces or travel into Syria for counterterrorism operations.

“Iraq is still under pressure from ISIS,” said retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, who led U.S. Central Command and served as the top U.S. commander for the Middle East from 2019 to 2022. “We still help them continue that fight. We’ve done a lot of things to help them improve the control of their own sovereignty, which is of very high importance to the Iraqis.”

WHY THE U.S. PRESENCE CONTINUES

The much-stated reason for the continued U.S. troop presence is to help Iraq battle the remnants of the Islamic State insurgency and prevent any resurgence.

But a key reason is Iran.

Iran’s political influence and militia strength in Iraq and throughout the region has been a recurring security concern for the U.S. over the years. And the presence of American forces in Iraq makes it more difficult for Iran to move weapons across Iraq and Syria into Lebanon, for use by its proxies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, against Israel.

The same is true for the U.S. troop presence around the al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, which is located on a vital road that can link Iranian-backed forces from Tehran all the way to southern Lebanon — and Israel’s doorstep. In both Iraq and Syria, U.S. troops disrupt what could be an uncontested land bridge for Iran to the eastern Mediterranean.

U.S. troops in Iraq also provide critical logistical and other support for American forces in Syria, who partner with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces battling the Islamic State group. The U.S. conducts airstrikes and other missions targeting IS leaders, and also supports the SDF in guarding thousands of captured IS fighters and family members imprisoned in Syria.

Military leaders successfully beat back efforts by then-President Donald Trump to pull all troops out of both Syria and Iraq. They argued that if anything were to happen in Syria that endangered U.S. forces, they would need to be able to quickly send troops, equipment and other support from Iraq.

In a recent visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi leaders, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. forces are ready to remain in Iraq, in a noncombat role, at the invitation of the government.

“We’re deeply committed to ensuring that the Iraqi people can live in peace and dignity, with safety and security and with economic opportunity for all,” he said.

IRAQ BY THE NUMBERS

By the time Washington withdrew its last combat troops in December 2011, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were dead, along with 4,487 American troops.

More than 3,500 troops were killed in hostile action and nearly 1,000 died in noncombat deaths from 2003 to 2011. More than 32,000 troops were wounded in action; tens of thousands more have also reported illnesses to the Department of Veterans Affairs that are believed to be linked to toxic exposure from the burn pits in Iraq. Legislation signed into law by the Biden administration has expanded the number of those veterans who will qualify for lifetime care or benefits due to that exposure.

From 2003 through 2012, the United States provided $60.64 billion to fund Iraq’s security forces and civilian reconstruction, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Of that total, $20 billion went to funding, equipping, providing uniforms for and training Iraq’s security forces.

There were roughly 100,000 contractors each year in Iraq supporting U.S. forces and the U.S. mission from 2007 until 2010, according to the Congressional Research Service. As of late last year, there were about 6,500 contractors supporting U.S. operations in Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. Central Command.

AUKUS

Watchdog pledges ‘demanding’ oversight of nuclear sub deal


International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi, addresses a news conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is set for another four-year term at the helm of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog as it grapples with monitoring Iran's nuclear activities and tries to shore up the safety of power plants in Ukraine. 

(AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, file)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the global nuclear regulatory agency pledged Wednesday to be “very demanding” in overseeing the United States’ planned transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, amid complaints that the U.S. move could clear the way for bad actors to escape nuclear oversight in the future.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke to reporters during a Washington visit. Grossi was also meeting with senior National Security Council officials to discuss matters including the newly announced deal among the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom on nuclear-powered submarines.

President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia and the United Kingdom announced Monday in San Diego that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S. to modernize its fleet amid growing concern about China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. It would be the first transfer by a nuclear-weapon state of nuclear-powered submarines to a non-nuclear state.

Nuclear-powered submarines move more quietly and for longer than conventionally powered ones. While strengthening the military position of the U.S. and its allies in that region, the deal has raised concern as the first in the decades-long span of nuclear non-proliferation accords to take advantage of a loophole that allows narrow use of nuclear material outside of set safeguards. Critics express concern that bad actors could use the loophole as cover, pointing to the U.S.-Australia deal as precedent, to divert nuclear material into a weapons program.

China renewed its objections to the deal on Wednesday, accusing the three countries of “coercing” the IAEA into endorsing the arrangement. All member states of the IAEA should work to find a solution to the “safeguards issues” and “maintain international peace and security,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.

Grossi rejected China’s accusation. “Nobody coerces me. Nobody coerces the IAEA,” he told reporters. AUKUS — the name used by the three-country grouping of the U.S., Australian and the United Kingdom — had “committed to the highest standard of transparency” in the deal, he said.

“We are going to be very demanding on what they are planning to do,” Grossi said. “So the process starts now.”

The architects of nuclear nonproliferation accords left open a loophole for use of nuclear material for some non-explosive military purposes, with nuclear naval propulsion in mind. Prior to withdrawing nuclear material from safeguards for that loophole, states are required to strike a separate agreement with the IAEA.

Biden said Monday, “we have set the highest standards with the IAEA for verification and transparency, and we will honor each of our countries’ international obligations.”

James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he had no doubt that Australia would be scrupulous in its management of the nuclear material transferred to it in the deal with the United States. But there was no guarantee other states would be as transparent, he said.

“I do worry that a future state, a nefarious state, may announce that it’s removing nuclear materials and safeguards for naval reactors and then use it to develop nuclear weapons,” Acton said.

U.S. objections in the past helped dissuade Canada when it considered nuclear-powered submarines.

Iran has repeatedly expressed interest to the IAEA in developing nuclear naval propulsion.

Iran’s claims that its fast-accelerating nuclear program is for civilian purposes are widely discounted. U.N. experts say Iran has enriched uranium to 84% purity, just short of weapons grade, though they say Iran is still months away from the ability to build a weapon.

Separately, the IAEA says Iran pledged this month to restore cameras and other monitoring equipment at its nuclear sites and to allow more inspections at a facility where particles of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade were recently detected.

Grossi said Wednesday he was sending a technical team for the work and that the process of stepping up monitoring and inspections would start within days.

Meanwhile, in Australia on Wednesday, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating launched a blistering attack on his nation’s plan to buy nuclear-powered submarines from the United States, saying “it must be the worst deal in all history.”

Speaking at a National Press Club event in Australia, Keating said the submarines wouldn’t serve a useful military purpose.

“The only way the Chinese could threaten Australia or attack it is on land. That is, they bring an armada of troop ships with a massive army to occupy us,” Keating said. “This is not possible for the Chinese to do.”

He added that Australia would sink any such Chinese armada with planes and missiles.

“The idea that we need American submarines to protect us,” Keating said. “If we buy eight, three are at sea. Three are going to protect us from the might of China. Really? I mean, the rubbish of it. The rubbish.”

___

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

UN says intense diplomacy under way to end 8-year Yemen war

This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Yemen said Wednesday that intense diplomatic efforts are underway to end the eight-year war in Yemen. He cited new regional and international momentum, including the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back rivals in the conflict.

Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council there has also been “a step change in the scope and depth of the discussions,” and he urged Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels “to seize the opportunities” created by the new momentum. He singled out continuing efforts by Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Grundberg also indicated progress in talks on a prisoner exchange between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthis that are co-chaired by the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He urged the parties “to finalize the details of the current phase they have agreed on, including the implementation plan.”

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya had some positive news as well: The number of people going hungry in Yemen has dropped by almost 2 million, and the number at the worst level, facing famine, has dropped to zero.

Nonetheless, she said, “Yemen remains a staggering emergency” with more that 17 million people in need of assistance this year, funding in short supply and economic problems “pushing even more people into destitution.”

At a pledging conference two weeks ago more than 30 donors promised $1.16 billion for humanitarian assistance this year for Yemen, which Msuya welcomed, but she stressed it was the lowest level since 2017 and far below the $4.3 billion the U.S. needs to help the 17 million people.

Yemen’s devastating conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition including the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.

A U.N.-backed truce initially took effect in April 2022 and raised hopes for a longer pause in fighting, but it ended on Oct. 2 after just six months.

Nonetheless, special envoy Grundberg said the overall military situation in the country continues to be “relatively stable” and other elements of the truce continue to be implemented, though he expressed concern at the uptick in the number and intensity of clashes in several front-line areas, including Marib and Taiz.

He called these gains “fragile” and urged the government and Houthis “to exercise maximum restraint during this critical time, including refraining from escalatory public rhetoric, to avoid destabilizing the situation.”

Grundberg said he recently visited Moscow, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Tehran and Riyadh in his search for moves toward peace, including renewed talks between the warring parties.

He said the Saudi-Iran agreement, facilitated in part by China, and good neighborly relations “are important for the region and for Yemen.”

“The parties must seize the opportunity presented by this regional and international momentum to take decisive steps towards a more peaceful future,” Grundberg said. “This requires patience and a long-term perspective. And this requires courage and leadership.”

China’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Geng Shuang, called the re-establishment of Saudi-Iranian relations “uplifting news for today’s world that is fraught with uncertainties and instability.”

“It has injected a positive element into the peace, stability, solidarity and cooperation landscape of the region,” he said, expressing hope that “it can also create conducive conditions for improving the situation in Yemen.”

Shuang told the council that China, along with the international community, “stands ready to continue its unwavering efforts towards resolving the Yemeni issue and maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East.”

U.S. deputy ambassador, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, said he hoped the Saudi-Iran agreement “will contribute to efforts to secure a durable solution to the conflict in Yemen, address the continued flow of Iranian lethal aid to the Houthis and ensure Iranian support for a Yemeni political process.”

He said the United States welcomes support for U.N. peace efforts from Yemen’s government, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other regional countries and urges the Houthis “to engage in negotiations in good faith and to work with the U.N. to keep Yemen on the path to peace.”

US tribes get bison as they seek to restore bond with animal

By MATTHEW BROWN and THOMAS PEIPERT

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One of the 35 Denver Mountain Park bison stands in a corral as it waits to be transferred to representatives of four Native American tribes and one memorial council so they can reintroduce the animals to tribal lands Wednesday, March 15, 2023, near Golden, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

VIDEO US tribes get bison as they seek to restore bond with animal | AP News

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — Dozens of bison from a mountain park outside Denver were transferred Wednesday to several tribes from across the Great Plains, in the latest example of Native Americans reclaiming stewardship over animals their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.

Following ceremonial drumming and singing and an acknowledgement of the tribes that once occupied the surrounding landscape, the bison were loaded onto trucks for relocation to tribal lands.

About a half-dozen of the animals from Colorado will form the nucleus of a new herd for the Yuchi people south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said Richard Grounds with the Yuchi Language Project.

The herd will be expanded over time, to reestablish a spiritual and physical bond broken two centuries ago when bison were nearly wiped out and the Yuchi were forced from their homeland, Grounds said.

He compared the burly animals’ return to reviving the Yuchi’s language — and said both language and bison were inseparable from the land. Bison were “the original caretakers” of that land, he said.

“We’ve lost that connection to the buffalo, that physical connection, as part of the colonial assault,” Grounds said. “So we’re saying, we Yuchi people are still here and the buffalo are still here and it’s important to reconnect and restore those relationships with the land, with the animals and the plants.”

The transfers also included 17 bison to the Northern Arapaho Tribe and 12 to the Eastern Shoshone Tribe — both of Wyoming — and one animal to the Tall Bull Memorial Council, which has members from various tribes, city officials said.

Wednesday’s transfer came two weeks after U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a bison conservation order meant to further expand the number of large herds on Native American lands. Haaland also announced $25 million to build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

American bison, also known as buffalo, have bounced back from near-extinction in the 1880s but remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied.

Across the U.S., 82 tribes now have more than 20,000 bison, and the number of herds on tribal lands have grown in recent years. The animals have been transferred to reservations from other tribes, from federal, state and local governments and from private ranches.

Tens of millions of bison once roamed North America until they were killed off almost entirely by white settlers, commercial hunters and U.S. troops. Their demise devastated Native American tribes across the continent that relied on bison and their parts for food, clothing and shelter.

The animals transferred to the tribes Wednesday descend from the last remnants of the great herds. They were under care of the Denver Zoo and kept in a city park before being moved to foothills west of Denver in 1914.

Surplus animals from the city’s herd were for many years auctioned off, but in recent years city officials began transferring them to tribes instead, said Scott Gilmore, deputy executive director of Denver Parks and Recreation.

Gilmore said the land acknowledgement statement read out loud during Wednesday’s ceremony underscored the historical importance of the area to the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute and dozens of other tribes that once lived in the area. But he added those were just “words on a piece of paper.”

“What we’re doing is putting action to those words for Indigenous people. Buffalo are part of the land, they are part of their family,” Gilmore said. “They are taking their family members back to their ancestral home.”

To date, 85 bison from Denver have been transferred to tribes and tribal organizations. City officials said the shipments will continue through 2030.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

California regulators could decide oil profits penalty

By ADAM BEAM

Gas prices are advertised at over eight dollars a gallon at a gas station, Oct. 6, 2022, in Los Angeles. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, March, 15, 2023, he wants state regulators to decide whether to impose the nation's first penalty on oil companies for price gouging, pivoting after months of negotiations with Legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement on a bill aimed at reining in the state's notoriously high gas prices. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he wants state regulators to decide whether to impose the nation’s first penalty on oil companies for price gouging, pivoting after months of negotiations with legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement on a bill aimed at reining in the state’s notoriously high gas prices.

Gas prices in California are always more expensive than the rest of the country because the state has higher taxes and fees than other states and requires a special blend of gasoline that is better for the environment but more expensive to make.

But last summer, the average price for a gallon of gas in California was more than $2.60 higher than the national average — a difference state regulators said could not be explained simply by taxes and fees. Meanwhile, oil companies recorded supersized profits.

Newsom, a Democrat, responded by asking state lawmakers to pass a law that would impose hefty fines on oil companies if their profits surpassed a certain threshold — with all of the money generated from the fines going back to drivers. The bill was so important to Newsom that he took the rare step of calling lawmakers into a special session to pass it, a maneuver that allows them to focus on just one issue instead of being distracted by hundreds of other bills in a regular session.

But the proposal never got traction in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, where the oil industry is one of the top contributors to lawmakers’ campaign accounts.

Wednesday, the governor announced he was changing course and instead will ask lawmakers to empower the California Energy Commission to decide whether such a penalty is necessary and, if it is, how much it would be. The commission would be aided by a new, independent agency made up of experts, economists and lawyers that would have subpoena power to monitor the gasoline market and make recommendations.

If the commission imposed any fines, it would be up to the Legislature to decide what to do with the money.

“What we’re asking for is simple: transparency and accountability to drive the oil industry out of the shadows,” Newsom said. “Now it’s time to choose whether to stand with California families or with Big Oil in our fight to make them play by the rules.”

The modified proposal means it’s possible California wouldn’t penalize oil companies at all. But it would give Newsom more control over what happens because he appoints all five members of the California Energy Commission, who must also be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

That did not win over the oil industry, which has been battling Newsom over this proposal and a host of other environmental proposals aimed at transitioning the nation’s most populous state away from fossil fuels.

“It sounds like the governor wants to create a new state agency and empower unelected bureaucrats to impose more taxes and increase costs,” said Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, a nonprofit trade association that represents the industry. “At the end of the day, this proposal does not solve Californians’ gasoline supply problem and will likely lead to the very same unintended consequences legislators have reiterated to the Governor: less investment, less supply, and higher costs for Californians.”

State legislative leaders have not yet agreed to Newsom’s proposal. But the governor’s office expects lawmakers to hold public hearings on it soon, ideally before the summer months when gas prices usually increase. The Newsom administration did not view the new proposal as a concession, saying the governor made the changes after consulting with experts.

“We feel like this is stronger from where we started,” said Dana Williamson, Newsom’s chief of staff. “It is the only one of its kind in the country. And it’s really going to set up a watchdog entity that is going to watch the industry every single day. And then the (Energy Commission) will be able to then act upon the findings.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, a Democrat, said lawmakers are “continuing to work toward resolution on the Governor’s oil price proposal.” Republicans, who don’t control enough seats to influence votes in the Legislature, decried the proposal as a tax that would inevitably be passed on to drivers.

“If Democrats give unelected bureaucrats the authority to impose this new tax, they will be responsible for the shortages, rationing, gas lines and price spikes that come with it,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said.

LIKE LIBYA

Thai officials search for radioactive cylinder from plant

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA

yesterday

This image made on March 14, 2023, from the 2022 video provided by the Prachinburi Provincial Public Relations Office, shows a radioactive cylinder, a steel tube, 30 cm (12 inches) long and 13 cm (5 inches) diameter that has gone missing from a steam power plant in Thailand's eastern province of Prachinburi. The video was taken in December 2022. (The Prachinburi Provincial Public Relations Office via AP)

BANGKOK (AP) — Authorities in Thailand expanded their search Wednesday for a metal cylinder with radioactive contents that has gone missing from a power plant, warning the public that it poses a danger to health.

The 30-centimeter- (12-inch-) long cylinder containing the radioactive material Caesium-137 was discovered missing last Friday from a piece of machinery at a steam power plant in Prachinburi province, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Bangkok.

Ake Wongjinda, a public relations officer for the provincial government, said Wednesday that authorities have inspected locations such as junk shops, scrap metal yards and secondhand stores in Prachinburi and neighboring Chachoengsao province for the 25-kilogram- (55-pound-) cylinder.

Health officials cautioned the public that prolonged direct contact with radioactive material can cause skin rashes, hair loss, canker sores, fatigue, and vomiting. They said short-term contact with Caesium-137 may not show immediate symptoms but could lead to a higher risk of cancer.

Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, said Caesium-137 has similar physical characteristics to salt and can disperse easily if its container opened. He said it is used in devices such as ones measuring humidity or the velocity of liquids.

The cylinder was connected to a 17-meter- (56-foot-) tall silo and used for measuring ash in the silo, said Permsuk Sutchaphiwat, secretary general of the Thailand’s Office of Atoms for Peace agency.

Kittiphan Chitpentham, a representative of the National Power Supply Public Co., Ltd., the power station’s owner, said it is not clear whether the cylinder had gone missing by accident. He said that the company would provide a 50,000 baht ($1,445) cash reward for anyone who can provide information about it. The company said it may have disappeared several weeks ago,

In 2000, illegally disposed cannisters containing the radioactive substance Cobalt-60 were found in a junkyard in Samut Prakarn, a suburb of Bangkok. At least five people were hospitalized after being exposed to radiation when the cannisters were opened by the scrapyard workers, unaware of the hazard. The cylinders were belived to have come from a medical X-ray machine.