Opinion
For proof of the U.S. immigration system’s dysfunction, look to Canada

The Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit

(Tara Walton for The Washington Post)

By Youyou Zhou

Graphics reporter
The Washington Post

July 14, 2023 


To attract talented tech workers, Canada will soon offer 10,000 work permits to foreigners who are now in the United States on H-1B visas. This might be the first time any country has created an immigration program that hinges entirely on another country’s system.

This suggests that the Canadian government holds two opinions of U.S. H-1B visas: That they are good at attracting the world’s most talented immigrants. And that the ultimate value proposition to prospective immigrants is so weak long-term, that, given the option, many H-1B visa holders will head north to Canada.

The H-1B visa’s weakness lies in the way it is tied to employment. When jobs disappear, the workers have no path toward permanent residency. If they cannot find another H-1B job within 60 days, they have to leave the country.

Finding a job that can sponsor an H-1B visa within 60 days is not easy, even under normal circumstances. When U.S. companies laid off more than 310,000 workers in 2022 and 2023, it became harder still, especially for tech workers. Last November, Meta alone laid off 11,000 workers. More than 15 percent of Meta’s workers have H-1B visas.

About 50,000 people had their H-1B visas revoked due to loss of employment between October 2022 and April 2023, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and, among them, about 12,500 did not transfer their visas to some other legal status. In other words, they either left the United States or remained without documents.

This is a population of immigrants that the United States should want to keep. Most work in computer-related jobs. Others work in jobs that require specialized skills, such as doctors, professors, accountants and managers.

A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent is required to get an H-1B visa, making visa workers more educated than the U.S. population in general.

The exodus of H-1B workers did not start with the recent layoffs. Living as an H-1B worker has long been unstable and risky, especially for those born in India, who make up more than 70 percent of H-1B visa recipients every year. Because of America’s country-based green card quota system, Indians on H-1B visas have almost no path to permanent residency even after years of studying and working in the United States. A change of president, an economic slowdown, or sudden layoffs can push them to abandon lives they have been building for years.

Both U.S. political parties have tried and failed to remove the country-based green card quota. As a short-term fix, many lawmakers and industry advocates have urged the USCIS to extend the 60-day grace period after loss of employment to 120 days. But the agency says it would take more than a year to go through the required rulemaking process — too long to benefit immigrants who are already at risk of losing their legal status.

The Canadian government has been able to act faster. Indeed, it is already benefiting from U.S. visa restrictions. Since 2020, Vancouver and Toronto have seen the largest high-tech job growth in North America, outpacing Austin, Seattle and every other U.S. city. H-1B holders who move to Canada will receive open work permits for three years, allowing adequate time to find jobs without deportation worries. And rather than wait decades for a U.S. green card, skilled workers can get permanent residency in Canada in less than a year. Canada will also issue open work permits to spouses of H-1B workers; in the United States, only spouses of those who have an approved green card application are allowed to work.

The Biden administration launched a directive last year aimed at attracting immigrants trained in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But the H-1B system is holding the United States back. The loss of H-1B workers to Canada this year might not hurt the U.S. economy too much on its own, but if the immigration system for skilled workers is not fixed, the damage will accumulate and set back U.S. innovation for years to come.

The submersible that first took humans to the Titanic wreck has made more than 5,000 dives. A researcher who has been on the Alvin 53 times says it's nothing like the Titan.

Erin Snodgrass
Sat, July 15, 2023 

The Alvin is a three-person sub owned by the Navy and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

QAI Publishing/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Alvin is one of the oldest deep-sea submersibles and is responsible for many scientific discoveries.


Lisa Levin, an oceanographer, told Insider that Alvin missions are different from underwater tourism expeditions.


"It would be like comparing a commercial airline to somebody who built their own airplane," she said.

The presumed implosion of the Titan has prompted a sudden societal interest in the science behind submersibles as the trials and tribulations of the Titan sub's operation are unearthed in the aftermath of the tragedy.

But not all underwater vessels are created equally, one veteran oceanographer told Insider.

Lisa Levin, a marine ecologist at the University of San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has taken dozens of deep-water dives on various submersibles throughout her scientific career.

There's one sub that stands above the rest: Alvin.

"Alvin is better than most of them in terms of being very reliable, safe, and getting a lot of work done," Levin said. "It's probably contributed more to deep sea science than any other submarine out there."

The three-person sub is one of the oldest deep-ocean submersibles, commissioned in 1964. The famous vessel is perhaps best known for taking the first humans to the Titanic shipwreck in 1986 when oceanographer Robert Ballard led a research expedition to the wreckage just one year after it was discovered approximately 12,500 feet deep off the coast of Newfoundland.

The spherical sub boasts seven reversible thrusters and two robotic arms, and it can reach four miles beneath the surface, giving researchers access to 99% of the ocean floor, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the nonprofit research facility that operates the Navy-owned sub.

Alvin has been on more than 5,000 dives and is the vessel responsible for several advancements in scientific research and discovery, including the 1966 recovery of a hydrogen bomb that was dropped nearly 3,000 feet deep in the Mediterranean Sea after an Air Force B-52 collided with a tanker aircraft over Spain; the 1974 close-up photography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is part of the longest mountain range in the world; and the 1977 discovery of diverse wildlife in the warm water vents of the Galapagos Islands

But for all its achievements, safety is Alvin's top priority, Woods Hole representatives have said.

"There's two things you don't sacrifice in innovation and that's quality and safety," J. Carl Hartsfield, a retired Navy Captain who runs an oceanographic systems lab at Woods Hole and also consulted on the search for the missing Titan last month, told NBC News.

Alvin was first commissioned in 1964 and is one of the oldest deep-sea submersibles.

Alvin is taken apart, inspected, and reassembled every five years and then goes for recertification by the Navy, a representative with Woods Hole told The San Diego Union-Tribune. The most recent set of upgrades was completed in 2021 and included improved visibility, new lighting and imaging systems, improved sensors, and a state-of-the-art command and control system.

Engineers at Woods Hole pressure test every piece of equipment on board Alvin, no matter how small, NBC News reported. Approximately 60% of the sub is Navy-certified, including critical safety components like life support and flotation foam, Bruce Strickrott, an Alvin pilot, told The Tribune-Union.

"The sub is built around the idea that we have to come home," Strickrott said to NBC News.

The strenuous precautions in place are reassuring for Levin, who has taken 53 dives on Alvin and said she has never once felt unsafe, even as temperatures turn frigid and lights wane hundreds of meters beneath the surface on her hours-long trips below.

OceanGate, the company that created and operated the doomed Titan sub, has been accused in the aftermath of the vessel's likely implosion of prioritizing innovation over safety. Several industry experts warned OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush about the potential dangers of the Titan's irregular construction and the sub was party to a series of troublesome past expedition perils. OceanGate's website and social media accounts were removed on Friday.

A representative from TrailRunner International who has previously responded to media requests for OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The exploratory vessel most likely imploded last month while on a dive to the Titanic shipwreck with five passengers on board, according to coast guard officials.

From its carbon-fiber hull to its larger pill shape, the Titan diverged from industry standards.

"There's a reason Alvin has been a titanium sphere all of its existence," Levin told Insider.

"When you push it, it wants to stay that shape," Strickrott told NBC News of Alvin.

The Titan operation and other tourist exploration expeditions like it are so different from the research dives Levin and other researchers undertake that she said the two are practically incomparable, despite both taking place on submersibles.

"It would be like comparing a commercial airline to somebody who built their own airplane and flew it and had an accident," she said.

Alvin and Levin's next mission is focused on methane seeps and the chemosynthesis ecosystems they fuel off the coast of San Diego. That expedition later this month will only take Levin and her colleagues down to 1,020 meters, relatively shallow compared to her past experiences on Alvin, she said. But next spring, Levin will ride Alvin deeper than she ever has before off Kodiak Island to examine seeps at 5,500 meters.

She isn't worried.

"For me, I don't think the risk is particularly much more than getting in a car on a freeway," she said.

Mining crystals locked in the deep-sea could help fight climate change. It may also destroy Earth's last untouched ecosystem.


Kiley Price

LIVE SCIENCE
Sat, July 15, 2023 

closeup of the center of a brittle star from Clarion Clipperton Zone

To prevent a climate catastrophe, the world must dramatically slash its carbon emissions. But creating enough batteries to power the electric vehicles (EVs) needed for a carbon-free future will require a massive scale-up in our supply of minerals such as copper, cobalt and manganese.

Countries are scrambling to mine these precious materials from the earth, digging everywhere from the rainforests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Indonesia. However, these efforts have been plagued by environmental problems and human rights issues.

So some companies have turned their eyes elsewhere: the seafloor.

Miles below the ocean's surface, billions of rocky lumps laden with manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and other precious minerals line the seafloor. In some areas, cobalt is also concentrated in thick metallic crusts flanking underwater mountains.

Related: What is renewable energy?

Several companies and countries are gearing up to harvest these so-called deep-sea polymetallic nodules and extract the treasures within them. Currently, seabed mining in international waters is legally murky, and companies have not yet begun commercial exploitation operations. But delegate nations of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) — a U.N.-backed intergovernmental body — are currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, for the next two weeks (July 10 to July 28) to develop regulations that could pave the way for such mining.

This practice may have serious consequences for the world's oceans, experts told Live Science. So how bad are those environmental impacts? And is it possible for us to meet our climate goals without mining the deep sea?

Rocky lumps on the seafloor
Deep-sea devastation

Emerging evidence suggests deep-sea mining could damage seafloor ecosystems.

One key area targeted by mining companies is a stretch of ocean from Hawaii to Mexico. Despite its frigid temperatures and low food availability, this deep-sea habitat, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), harbors a staggering number of species, ranging from glowing sea cucumbers to toothy anglerfish. Scientists recently cataloged more than 5,500 deep-sea species in the CCZ, roughly 90% of which were unknown to science.

A moving gif of a floating orange sea cucumber spotted southeast of Honolulu

Most seabed mining will require large machines to collect nodules, bring them to the surface and then discharge the unnecessary sediment back into the ocean. This method could have catastrophic consequences for the animals living there, researchers wrote in a letter to the journal Nature Geoscience in 2017.

"They effectively have to excavate and grind up the seafloor in order to get their minerals," Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told Live Science. "So anything that's living in that habitat will be destroyed." This includes animals that attach to and live on the nodules themselves, such as sea sponges and black corals.

Because the practice has not yet begun at an industrial scale, marine scientists have mostly relied on computer models and small-scale trials to predict the impacts of deep-sea mining. However, in 1989, a team of scientists attempted to mimic the effects of seabed mining by plowing an area of the seafloor in Peru measuring roughly 3.9 square miles (10.1 square kilometers) at around 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) deep. Many of the species in this area had still not returned more than 25 years later, and tracks from the plow were still visible, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Related: 10 bizarre deep sea creatures found in 2022

Negative impacts likely won't be isolated to the original mining site; machinery can cause noise pollution that stretches for hundreds of miles across the ocean, computer models suggest. This noise could disrupt animals' ability to navigate, locate prey or find a mate.

But perhaps one of the most destructive byproducts of seabed mining is the plumes of sediment the undersea vehicles leave in their wake, which could act "like undersea dust storms that could smother life out there," McCauley said. These sediment plumes could harm tuna habitats, which are changing as ocean temperatures warm and will increasingly overlap with areas in the mineral-rich CCZ, according to a study co-authored by McCauley and published July 11 in the journal npj Ocean Sustainability.

A few companies are working on technology to shrink these plumes. For example, Norway-based minerals company Loke recently acquired UK Seabed Resources Ltd., a deep-sea mining firm with two exploration contracts that allow the company to start searching for minerals in the CCZ, though not yet commercially mine them. Loke aims to start deep-sea mining operations by 2030, Walter Sognnes, the company's CEO, told Live Science.

"What we are trying to do is minimize the impact and maximize the understanding of that impact," Sognnes said.

Loke is developing mining vehicles that will generate plumes only when moving across the seafloor, and not from dumping excess sediment into the ocean after retrieving the nodules, Sognnes said. However, the technology is still theoretical.

Illustration of a boat with instrument developed by Loke used to mine seafloor deep below

Some researchers are skeptical that there is a "sustainable" way to mine the deep sea.

"I think there's no way to do this without having locally major environmental damage causing huge damage on scales of tens of thousands of square kilometers," Craig Smith, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told Live Science. "It's just not possible."

Can we meet EV mineral demand without deep-sea mining?

A terraced, open-pit copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo

If we are to meet the climate goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries must increase their mineral output for EVs 30-fold by 2040, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

This urgent need for materials raises a question: If we don't harvest the seafloor, can we get minerals used in EVs elsewhere? The answer is most likely yes, but accessing those land-based mineral reserves in a sustainable way may be tough.

In 2022, Earth had roughly 25 million tons (23 million metric tons) of terrestrial cobalt resources, which meets demand through 2040, assuming all land-based reserves are exploited, research shows. There is also roughly 300 million tons (272 million metric tons) of nickel in the world's resources, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, enough to support the ramping up of EV production, CNBC reported. However, these resources, often hidden deep within dense forests, are not always easily reachable or economically viable to mine. Operations to create new mines drive massive amounts of deforestation, which can reduce biodiversity and release climate-warming emissions into the atmosphere.

"You could get all the minerals you need for all the world's electric vehicles or whatever from land-based deposits, but the lowest-environmental-impact way to do it could actually be to use some deep-sea deposits in a responsible way with good regulation," Seaver Wang, co-director of climate and energy at The Breakthrough Institute, a California-based environmental research center, told Live Science. However, he added that firmer regulations and guidelines from the ISA should be in place before any deep-sea mining operations begin.

Emerging battery technologies could help reduce pressure on the minerals market, experts say. Currently, the most widely used batteries in EVs are called NMC (which use lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt), but car manufacturers are hungry for cheaper technology that doesn't require as many of these minerals. Those may include sodium-ion batteries or LFP batteries made with lithium, as well as iron (ferrous) and phosphate — materials that are more widely available and accessible than cobalt and manganese. In May, Ford announced plans for a new factory in Michigan that is set to begin producing LFP batteries by 2026. However, these batteries currently have lower energy densities, which could limit the range of an electric vehicle, according to the IEA.

"A substantial transition to EVs can be done without deep sea mining," Kenneth Gillingham, an energy economist at Yale University who studies EVs, told Live Science, though he added that seabed mining could potentially "take off some of the pressure" on the critical metals market.

Aerial view of lithium mines in dry salt lake beds in California

Related: Wind and solar power overtake coal for the first time ever in the US

Despite the abundance of critical mineral resources that deep-sea mining could provide, some car manufacturers — including BMW, Volvo and Renault — and nearly 20 countries have publicly supported a moratorium on the practice so scientists have more time to research its potential environmental impacts. Additionally, more than 750 scientists and policy experts have signed an official statement calling for a hold on deep-sea mining activities.

Though the rules surrounding deep-sea mining are not yet finalized, as of July 9, the ISA is required to receive seabed mining applications due to an obscure provision in the current treaty.

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This doesn't necessarily mean deep-sea mining will occur anytime soon, because the ISA is under no obligation to approve those applications and the law is still murky. A growing number of experts say the key to determining whether to mine the deep sea is more time — to research, to create new technologies and to weigh the positives of seabed mining alongside its pitfalls.

"Understanding of benefits and costs of deep-sea mining requires an extremely thoughtful assessment that involves many uncertainties that are not resolved at this point," Sergey Paltsev, an energy economist at MIT, told Live Science in an email.

UPDATE ON NATURE REBEL

An otter in California that keeps bullying people off of their surfboards has been too quick for wildlife officials to catch

Kenneth Niemeyer
Sat, July 15, 2023

Sea Otter Kevin Schafer/Getty Images

An otter in California forcing people off their surfboards has so far evaded the grasp of wildlife officials.

Divers tried to capture the otter last week with a bait surfboard but it was too quick for them.


The otter's mother is also known to wildlife officials for approaching boats and kayaks.

People have recently filmed otters aggressively attacking people on surfboards in California.

In one video, an otter — named Otter 841 by wildlife officials — can be seen climbing onto and then gnawing on a surfboard near Sant Cruz.

"This is a dangerous sea otter, avoid it if at all possible!" the caption reads.


A team from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Monterey Bay Aquarium were dispatched to the scene on Wednesday. They tracked and then attempted to catch the otter with a bait surfboard.

Mark Woodward, a wildlife photographer who posted the video to Twitter, told a local FOX News affiliate that he saw a team of five divers attempting to lure the otter onto the board so they could capture it.


The otter jumped onto the board briefly, but escaped before the divers were able to grab it with a net, the outlet reported.

"They can't throw a net over it because it will get tangled and drown," Woodward said. "That's also why they can't tranquilize it."

Kevin Connor, a spokesperson for Monterey Bay Aquarium, said Otter 841 is considered a danger to the public because it is ignoring its natural survival instincts, ABC reported.

"When we see this type of behavior exhibited by otters, it is a sign that they no longer have that healthy fear of human beings that allows them to stay safe in the wild away from us," Conner said.

Conner told the outlet that the otter's mother, Otter 723, was released from the aquarium in 2017 and that there were some reports of her approaching boats and kayaks but "nothing to the extent that we've seen with Otter 841."

Still, the incidents caused the US Fish and Wildlife Service to deem Otter 723 "unreleasable," so she was recaptured and discovered to be pregnant with 841, Conner said, according to ABC.

Conner said there are now no plans to euthanize either otter. Once Otter 841 is captured, Conner said it would be evaluated by veterinarians and then will likely spend the rest of its life in captivity in either a zoo or an aquarium.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return Insider's request for comment Saturday.

American boat patrols waters around new offshore wind farms to protect jobs


2 / 15
Aaron Smith, President and CEO of the Offshore Marine Service Association, center, peers through binoculars at ships installing the South Fork Wind project, as Capt. Rick Spaid, left, pilots the vessel Jones Act Enforcer, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, off the coast of Rhode Island. The trade association that represents the offshore service industry is going to great lengths to make sure that jobs go to Americans as the U.S. offshore wind industry ramps up.

 (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Updated Sat, July 15, 2023 

NEW BEDFORD, Massachusetts (AP) — One early morning this week in ocean waters off the coasts of Rhode Island and New York, signs of the nascent wind industry were all around. Giant upright steel tubes poked from the water, waiting for ships to hoist up turbines that will make electricity driven by wind.

A battleship-gray vessel was on the prowl. In this ramp-up for U.S. offshore wind, American marine companies and mariners fear they’ll be left behind.

So Aaron Smith, president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, was looking through binoculars to see whether ships servicing the new wind farms were using foreign-flagged vessels instead of U.S.-made ships with American crews.

“It really makes me upset when I think about the men and women I know who can do this work. American citizens, fully capable, sitting at home while foreign nationals go to work in U.S. waters,” Smith said. “It’s unfair."

The ship is named the Jones Act Enforcer, after the century-old law that says the transport of merchandise between U.S. points is reserved for U.S.-built, owned and documented vessels. The motto: “We’ll be watching.” Smith was documenting operations to show to federal law enforcement officials and members of Congress.

The Offshore Marine Service Association says it strongly supports the offshore wind industry. Many of its member companies are already working in it. Smith said this effort is about securing their future — decades of jobs and investments. The U.S. could need roughly 2,000 of the most powerful turbines to meet its goals to ramp up offshore wind to dramatically cut its use of fossil fuels to protect the atmosphere and reduce climate change.

The Enforcer made several trips to where Danish energy company Ørsted is developing the South Fork Wind project with the utility Eversource. This will likely be the first U.S. commercial-scale wind farm to open.

Approaching the site Tuesday, Smith saw a large crane ship sailing under the Cyprus flag, smaller Belgian-flagged vessels, and U.S. fishing and offshore supply vessels near the turbine bases. The Associated Press was the only media outlet aboard.

The U.S. fleet doesn’t yet have massive ships specialized for offshore wind to install foundations and turbines. But some of the foreign-flagged vessels working in wind development areas along the East Coast are tugs and smaller supply ships. U.S. ship operators told the AP they have similar vessels that can do this work.

Ørsted responded that 75% of the vessels supporting South Fork Wind’s offshore construction are U.S.-flagged, including barges, tugs, crew transport vessels and fishing vessels that monitor for safety and marine mammals. But the larger U.S.-flagged offshore wind vessels aren't built yet. Even so, the installation vessels for South Fork Wind have American union workers on board, the company told the AP.

“While the U.S. industry continues to mature, we’re designing our projects to tap as many American workers, contractors, suppliers and vessels as possible. We’re proud that South Fork Wind is putting hundreds of American mariners and union workers to work at sea in a wide range of roles,” Bryan Stockton, head of regulatory affairs for Ørsted, said in a statement Thursday.

Ørsted’s offshore work is complying with Jones Act provisions, Stockton added.

On this day, Smith said he could see no clear violations of the Jones Act, no “smoking gun.” In order to make a Jones Act case to Customs and Border Protection, the association would need to see several stages of activity, observing a ship for weeks if not months. It would need to show loading merchandise onto a ship in port, transporting it to an offshore site and returning empty.

In the past, the association has also checked oil and gas sites for foreign vessels. It first chartered the Enforcer from Harvey Gulf International Marine in late 2021.

Both wind and oil and gas companies can seek waivers to the Jones Act, citing national defense and unavailability of U.S. vessels, or get a ruling from Customs that a specific transaction is permitted using a foreign vessel.

But Smith said he feels that offshore wind developers are violating the spirit of the act. He said he worries investors won’t finance the building of offshore ships if they're going to compete against foreign vessels with cheaper day rates, largely because foreign crews can be paid less. That would create a cycle where developers keep using foreign vessels because no U.S. vessels are available.

The association wants to break that cycle as the industry takes off, Smith said. Federal officials expect to review at least 16 construction and operations plans for commercial, offshore wind energy facilities by 2025.

“That’s a ton of work we could be doing,” Smith said, “and a ton of good-paying jobs.”

Randy Adams owns Sea Support Ventures in Cut Off, Louisiana. His vessels do geological surveys for oil and gas. He wants to do the same for the clean energy transition, but hasn’t yet.

“I’m just concerned that our industry is going to miss the boat on the wind farm work,” he said. “I can’t say we’re being shut out of it, but we’re sure not on the top of the totem pole.”

As for the Jones Act Enforcer, Smith plans to keep it berthed at the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts into August, visiting the two commercial-scale wind farm sites. Ørsted is installing 12 turbines. The other developer, Vineyard Wind, is building a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the Massachusetts coast.

Vineyard Wind said in a statement Thursday that its project complies with all U.S. laws, including the Jones Act, and it fully supports the American maritime and shipbuilding industry.

Before arriving in Massachusetts, the Enforcer was off the coast of Virginia where Dominion Energy plans an offshore wind farm. Smith was seeing if foreign vessels were surveying the area for unexploded ordnance, and he said they were, despite at least four of his member companies bidding on the job.

Dominion told the AP those vessels are not transporting merchandise between U.S. points, so they're compliant. The company said U.S. vessels got the work surveying, scouting, hauling equipment and transporting technicians.

In Texas, Dominion is also currently building the Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind-installation vessel and says it strongly supports the Act. Ørsted will charter that ship.

Ørsted is also investing in the Eco Edison, the first American-made offshore wind service operations vessel, now under construction in Louisiana, and in five more crew transfer vessels being built in Rhode Island.

Sam Giberga is executive vice president and general counsel at Hornbeck Offshore Services in Covington, Louisiana. Its supply vessels and multi-purpose support ships are primarily used by the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico. He said at first they were excited by the promise of offshore wind because it's clean energy that will create jobs and business. But for him, it’s starting to feel like a broken promise. The company recently lost a bid to a foreign vessel.

“We are a maritime nation. Always have been. This is the next great maritime frontier and we’re not going to get to do it,” Giberga asked. “Why would we allow that?” ___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

27,000-year-old pendants crafted from the skin of extinct giant sloths could help rewrite the human history of the Americas


Alia Shoaib
Sat, July 15, 2023 

The artifacts.

Thais Rabito Pansani/AP

Researchers found what appeared to be pendants made from the now-extinct giant sloth.


The artifacts are believed to date from around 25,000 to 27,000 years ago.


It suggests humans lived in South America thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

Pendants made of bony material from giant sloths suggest humans lived in South America thousands of years earlier than previously thought, researchers say.

Scientists believe the artifacts date to around 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Royal Society's main biological research journal.

While it was long thought that humans migrated to the Americas by crossing a land bridge from Siberia into Alaska around 13,000 years ago, recent research has challenged that view.

"We now have good evidence — together with other sites from South and North America — that we have to rethink our ideas about the migration of humans to the Americas," Mirian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco, study co-author and archaeologist at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil, told The Associated Press.

The remains of the now-extinct giant sloth were discovered at the Santa Elina rock shelter in Brazil, and they included thousands of osteoderms — hard bony deposits that form within the skin of certain animals.

Other giant ground sloth skeletons have been found in places like Florida.

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

According to the study, three of the osteoderms appeared to have been polished and had holes drilled into them, suggesting humans had modified them into what was likely "personal ornaments," researchers said. They added that the holes were not caused by natural abrasion, The AP reported.

The scientists said that the pendants were made within days or a few years of the animal dying, the report adds.

Findings across such sites also challenge the idea that humans arrived in the Americas in one wave of migration over the Bering land bridge, according to Briana Pobiner, a co-author and paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

"It's very likely that multiple waves of people came to Americas," she said, according to The AP.

Giant ground sloths could reach 13 feet long, weighed more than a thousand pounds and were equivalent in size to an Indian elephant. It walked on all fours and was one of the largest creatures in South America, per the report.

Oil worker says he was fired for saving a moose calf from being eaten by a black bear, report says

Alia Shoaib
Sun, July 16, 2023

michaelschober/Getty Images

A Canadian man claims he was fired from his job after saving a moose calf from a bear.


The man put the calf, who he named Misty, in the passenger seat of his truck and took her to safety.


His employer said that his actions breached company protocols around interactions with wildlife.

A Canadian man claims he was fired from his job after saving a moose calf from a black bear.

Mark Skage, who worked as a fuel supplier for AFD Petroleum Inc., said in a Facebook post that he was on his way back from a job when he saw the calf alone on the highway in British Columbia.

He said he spotted a black bear waiting for the moose about 50 yards away and made the decision to put the animal, who he named Misty, into the passenger seat of his truck.





"I made a decision at the time after she kept trying to climb into the work truck that I couldn't just leave her there," he wrote.

He said he communicated with his supervisor and the Conservation Officer Service and managed to get the moose to safety.

The animal is now at a wildlife rehabilitation rehab center, where she will remain until she is ready to be released back into the wild.

But that was not the end of the story, according to Skage.

He said that his employer felt that his behavior was "in grievous conflict with their wildlife policies" and decided to fire him.

"The lesson I learned was AFD is ok spilling fuel on the ground but not helping wildlife," he wrote.

Skage said that he was compelled to help the moose because he said they are often preyed on by bears.

"I just couldn't do it, in my heart. People can say all they want. I know as outdoorsmen, we talk about predator control. Black bears are the number one predator for those calves. So I just thought, 'Well, I can't take care of the predator, but I guess maybe I can try and help out this little calf,'" he told CBC News.

"It wasn't just one moose calf that God saved. It was a whole bunch. She's gonna grow up and have lots of babies, and her babies will have babies. I think it's a positive. I believe that in my heart," he added.

Black bears are the biggest predators of moose calves in northern areas where grizzly bears are uncommon, with the animals killing about 40% of all moose calves that were born, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

AFD Petroleum Inc. defended its decision to let Skage go and said in a statement that his actions breached the company's protocols.

"Instead of reporting the situation to a conservation officer and allowing the authorities to handle the rescue and relocation of the moose, the individual made the independent decision to transport an uninjured moose calf, a wild animal, in the front seat of his company vehicle for many hours," AFD Petroleum president Dale Reimer said in a statement to CBC.

"This not only puts the employee and other road users at risk but also potentially caused distress and harm to the moose," said Reimer.

FAUX NEWS OUTRAGE
'Squad' Dem faces backlash for smearing Israel as 'racist state': 'Truly disgusting' 

NOT A SMEAR 

Patrick Hauf
Sun, July 16, 2023

A member of the "Squad" of far-left House Democrats received backlash over the weekend on social media after she accused Israel of being a "racist state."

The condemnation of Israel from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, came in response to outbursts from pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted a panel she spoke on.

"As somebody who’s been in the streets and participated in a lot of demonstrations, I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible," Jayapal said at the far-left Netroots Nation Conference in Chicago.

"It is people that are literally trying to make sure that we do not take the positions we take, that the rest of the progressive caucus has been pushing and pushing," she added.

HOUSE DEM JAYAPAL GRILLS FBI'S WRAY ON COLLECTING AMERICANS' DATA, WARNS OF 'DIFFICULT' FISA REAUTHORIZATION

The video of the exchange quickly went viral, with a wide variety of criticism toward Jayapal.

"A disgraceful statement that's particularly tone deaf when thousands of Israelis are in the streets protesting to protect their democracy," Jason Brodsky, the policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, tweeted." "#Israel's previous government included Ra'am in the coalition. That's not what a racist state does."

"You can never be extreme enough for these people," Miranda Devine, a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor, tweeted.

"[Rep. Jayapal], you are despicable," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., tweeted. "This is truly disgusting, especially coming from a member of Congress."

Several members of "The Squad" have announced they will boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress this week. Jayapal has repeatedly called for a two-state solution in the region.

"There is no way in hell I am attending the joint session address from a President whose country has banned me and denied [U.S. Rep. from Michigan] Rashida Tlaib the ability to see her grandma," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said in a series of tweets. She also said the U.S. government should not have invited him to speak in the first place.

"Pramila Jayapal is on stage, slandering Israel, and by extension the Jewish people's right to freedom and self-determination as 'racist.' This is anti-Semitism," Caroline Glick, a senior contributing editor at the Jewish News Syndicate, tweeted.

REP. JAYAPAL CLASHES WITH CNN HOST OVER AMERICANS SUPPORTING SPENDING CUTS AS PART OF DEBT LIMIT DEAL

Several members of the Squad have announced they will boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress this week.

"Calling the only nation state of the Jews ‘racists’ when offers all its citizens, including Arabs & Muslims equality rights, is something I would expect to hear from the Ayatollahs in Iran or members of the mullah regime "parliament", NOT a member of Congress! FOR SHAME JAYAPAL!" Karmel Melamed, a journalist, tweeted.

United Airlines pilots reach 'historic' agreement in principle, with big pay raises, other perks


Sarah Rumpf-Whitten
Sat, July 15, 2023 

United Airlines and the union representing its pilots said Saturday they reached agreement in principle on a contract that will raise pilot pay by up to 40% over four years.

Over the course of the proposed four-year contract, pilots would receive 34.5% to 40.2% increase in pay, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said in a press release.

United Airlines jetliner parked at airport tarmac, featuring Star Alliance logo and various text markings, San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, June 7, 2023.

Garth Thompson, chair of the United pilots’ union, called it an "historic agreement" that was made possible by the resolve of the 16,000 pilots.

Along with a significant pay increase, the proposed contract includes improvements in quality of life, vacation, and other benefits to pilots who have faced a turbulent working conditions since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're pleased to have reached an agreement with ALPA," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said. "The four-year agreement, once ratified, will deliver a meaningful pay raise and quality of life improvements for our pilots while putting the airline on track to achieve the incredible potential of our United Next strategy,"


Thousands of United pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA), are participating in a nationwide picket on Friday as they push for higher pay.

Pilots with the Chicago-based airlines have not had a contract with the airline for four years as pilots demanding better conditions from management.

United's contract came up for renewal in 2019, and negotiations have been underway since.

Last year, its pilots overwhelmingly voted against a tentative contract, which the union said fell short of what members were seeking. Since then, United pilots have been protesting for a better deal.

United Airlines pilots picket outside San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 12, 2023.

Union's representing the pilots believed they were in a strong position to renegotiate a strong contract following the resurgence of traveling post pandemic as well as Delta Air Lines and American Airlines recently receiving industry-leading contracts.

Delta Air Lines ratified a new contract that includes over $7 billion in cumulative increases in pay and benefits over four years.

Industry officials say Delta's new contract has become a new benchmark for contract negotiations in North America. Rival American Airlines in May also reached a labor deal.

Reuters contributed to this report.

United Airlines pilots reach labor agreement, boost pay


United Airlines plane at Newark Liberty International Airport

Reuters
Sat, July 15, 2023

CHICAGO (Reuters) -United Airlines and its pilots on Saturday reached a labor agreement that will give the latter a significant pay increase, after the union rejected an earlier offer last year instead to seek even higher wages with pilots in short supply.

The pilots will get cumulative 34.5%-40.2% increase in pay raises in a new four-year contract, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said.

With fewer pilots, the group has been enjoying enhanced bargaining power. Consumers have kept up spending on travel even with inflation high, and the industry is short thousands of pilots.

ALPA represents about 14,000 pilots at the Chicago-based carrier. It said it reached an agreement in principle with United management, which includes substantial improvements to compensation, as well as advancements in quality of life, vacation, and other benefits.

"We're pleased to have reached an agreement with ALPA," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said. "The four-year agreement, once ratified, will deliver a meaningful pay raise and quality of life improvements for our pilots while putting the airline on track to achieve the incredible potential of our United Next strategy," he added.

The deal comes months after pilots at Delta Air Lines ratified a new contract that includes over $7 billion in cumulative increases in pay and benefits over four years.

Industry officials say Delta's new contract has become a new benchmark for contract negotiations in North America. Rival American Airlines in May also reached a labor deal.

United, Delta, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are estimated to hire about 8,000 pilots this year.

In the past two years, unions across the aerospace, construction, airline and rail industries have rebuffed initial offers from management, seeking higher wages in a tight labor market.

United pilots turned down a deal last year that included more than 14.5% in cumulative wage increases and enhanced overtime and training pay.

Analysts at Jefferies estimate the United States is short about 10,000 pilots. This supply-demand gap is projected to last until 2027.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Baranjot Kaur in BengaluruEditing by Nick Zieminski, Diane Craft and Aurora Ellis)

Teamsters president says he's asked the White House not to intervene if UPS workers go on strike

The Associated Press
Sun, July 16, 2023 

 President Joe Biden, center left, talks with Teamsters union President Sean O'Brien, facing, after he spoke about strengthening the supply chain with improvements in the trucking industry, April 4, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. The head of the Teamsters said Sunday, July 16, 2023, that he has asked the White House not to intervene if unionized UPS workers end up going on strike. 

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) 


NEW YORK (AP) — The head of the Teamsters said Sunday that he has asked the White House not to intervene if unionized UPS workers end up going on strike.

Negotiations between the delivery company and the union representing 340,000 of its workers have been at a standstill for more than a week with a July 31 deadline for a new contract approaching fast.

The union has threatened a strike if a deal is not reached by the time the collective bargaining agreement expires. Asked during a webcast with members Sunday on whether the White House could force a contract on the union, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said he has asked the White House on numerous occasions to stay away.

“My neighborhood where I grew up in Boston, if two people had a disagreement and you had nothing to do with it – you just kept walking,” O’Brien said.

“We don’t need anybody getting involved in this fight,” he said.

The Teamsters represent more than half of the Atlanta-based company’s workforce in the largest private-sector contract in North America. If a strike does happen, it would be the first since a 15-day walkout by 185,000 workers crippled the company a quarter century ago.

Before contract talks broke down, both sides had reached tentative agreements on several issues, including installing air conditioning in more trucks and getting rid of a two-tier wage system for drivers who work weekends and earn less money. A sticking point in negotiations is wage increases for part-time workers, who make a minimum of $16.20 an hour, according to UPS.

Last week, UPS said it will temporarily begin training nonunion employees in the U.S. to step in should there be a strike.