Portland teachers go on strike, 45,000 students affected

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Portland Public Schools educators went on strike Wednesday morning, forcing the closure of schools across Oregon's largest school district after the teachers and district leaders failed to come to a last-minute deal.

The union said Tuesday night that it would take to the picket lines after the latest talks did not yield a tentative agreement. The teachers have said they wanted to see improvements in wages, class sizes and planning.

"The Portland Association of Teachers bargaining team has negotiated for months in an attempt to reach an agreement, but PPS continues to ignore the voices within our community and invest in our schools in a way that will improve outcomes for our students and make important changes in the lives of our educators," a statement on the Portland Association of Teachers website said.

"Our students deserve more one-on-one attention from dedicated and well-qualified educators. They deserve modern classrooms and culturally relevant curriculum that prepares them for our increasingly diverse and interdependent world."

The school district has complained that it has lost students but has increased the number of educators, which along with inflation is limiting what it can do.

"During our last three-year contract with the Portland Association of Teachers, we served fewer students with more educators, and the costs associated with those educators increased three times as much," the district said in a statement on its website.

"But our costs have also increased because we're supporting our students as they recover from pandemic-related learning losses."

The strike is the first strike by teachers in the history of Portland Public Schools. Portland Public Schools serves more than 45,000 students. District officials said they expect schools to be closed on Thursday as well.

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CVS, Walgreens pharmacy staff 3-day walkout dubbed 'Pharmageddon'


Pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens walked off the job at stores across the United States on Monday in a three-day protest of harsh working conditions inside two of the country's largest retail chains.

File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens walked off the job at stores across the United States on Monday to protest harsh working conditions inside two of the country's largest pharmacy retail chains.

Monday's walkout by as many as 4,500 non-union pharmacists and pharmacy technicians was the start of a three-day protest, dubbed "Pharmageddon," to draw attention to poor working conditions that they say make it difficult for them to safely fill prescriptions. The walkouts are scheduled through Wednesday.

The American Pharmacists Association issued a statement Monday, saying it supports the walkouts.

"APhA stands with every pharmacist who participated in the walkout today. The bottom line is that we support every pharmacist's right to work in an environment with staffing that supports your ability to provide patient care. We know that these are steps you deem necessary in order to be heard by your employer."

Representatives from CVS and Walgreens told USA Today that they are experiencing minimal disruptions with the walkouts.

The non-union workers organized this week's walkouts -- as well as walkouts earlier this month in Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts and Oregon -- through social media channels such as Reddit and Facebook.

At issue are pharmacy staffing cuts since the COVID-19 pandemic, which pharmacists say have saddled them with additional duties.

"I think most of us who are participating feel like we haven't been heard," said Nathan Fuller, a Walgreens pharmacist in Colorado. "People are either so burned out or fed up with the way things have been going that it's hit a bursting point. If we continue to go down the direction we're going, it's going to be too unsafe."

Independent pharmacist in Southern California Shane Jerominski, who is one of the walkout's organizers, created a GoFundMe page to help unionization efforts and to fund workers who need financial help during the walkouts. As of Monday night, it had reached more than $61,000 out of its $250,000 goal.

"For years, you have dealt with workplace issues, leading to frustrations and burnout, affecting your mental health and well-being," APhA added.

"Supervisors who are not pharmacists do not understand the needs of care teams and make unreasonable demands on time-based productivity. Quotas on the number of prescriptions filled per hour or vaccines administered per day or even time to answer the phone, simply fail to recognize that the pharmacist-patient relationship is not transactional."

According to a recent survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidents of harassment by patients of healthcare workers -- including pharmacists -- more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. Nearly half, 46%, of health workers reported feeling burned out last year. That is up from 32% in 2018.

"Your corporate policies are unfair, restrict trade and are causing the closure of hundreds of pharmacies across America," APhA said. "You are worsening health disparities and creating a new public health emergency. Soon there will be no pharmacies in most communities to administer vaccines or provide testing for infectious disease."

Racism, misogyny prompt American Ornithological Society renaming of birds

The American Ornithological Society said Wednesday it will change the English names of all birds within its jurisdiction due to exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny. 

Photo courtesy of AOS

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The American Ornithological Society said Wednesday it will change the all English bird names currently named after people in its jurisdiction. The renaming begins in 2024 and AOS said it's being done to change naming conventions clouded by racism and misogyny.

The renaming will focus on 70-80 bird species in the United States and Canada.

"There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today," AOS President Dr. Colleen Handel said in a statement. "We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves."

AOS said in its statement that ornithologists have grappled for years with "historical and contemporary practices that contribute to the exclusion of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, including how birds are named."

AOS Executive Director Dr. Judith Scarl said in a statement, "Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don't work for us today, and the time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs."

There will be three specific changes in bird-naming:

Changing all English-language names of birds within its geographic jurisdiction that are named directly after people (eponyms), along with other names deemed offensive and exclusionary.

Establishing a new committee to oversee the assignment of all English common names for species within the AOS's jurisdiction. 

This committee will broaden participation by including a diverse representation of individuals with expertise in the social sciences, communications, ornithology, and taxonomy.

Actively involving the public in the process of selecting new English bird names.

In 2022, U.S. infant mortality up 3% in biggest increase in 20 years, CDC says

Black infant mortality posts highest rate at 10.86 per 1,000 births




1 of 2 | U.S. infant mortality rose by 3% in 2022, the biggest increase in 20 years according to a Wednesday report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Infant deaths in the United States went up 3% last year, the first significant rise in infant mortality in 20 years, according to a CDC report Wednesday.

There were a total of 20,538 infant deaths in 2022.

The National Center for Health Statistics report said the overall provisional number of infant deaths in 2022 rose by 3% to 20,538.

It's the first year-over-year increase since 2001 to 2002.

"Seeing an increase that hits the statistical significance mark indicates that this was a bigger jump than we've had in the last 20 years, and that is something we need to keep an eye on to see if it's just a one-year anomaly or the start of increasing rates," report lead author Dr. Danielle M. Ely said.

Black infant mortality was the highest, at 10.86 per 1,000 births.

American Indian and Alaska Natives infant mortality rates were up 21%, going from 7.46 deaths per 1,000 births to 9.06 per 1,000.

White infant deaths were up 4% to 4.52 per 1,000 births.

According to the report, "Mortality rates increased significantly among infants of American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic women."

Infant deaths were also up significantly for women ages 25-29.

And the report said the mortality rate increased significantly only for male infants from 2021-2022.

Infant mortality rates increased in four states and declined in one state. The statistical decline was in Nevada. Increases were in Texas, Iowa, Georgia and Missouri.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declares emergency as building collapse kills one

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency for Martin County Wednesday after a building collapsed Tuesday at a coal preparation plant, killing at least one worker. 

File Photo by Jason Szenes/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Wednesday after a building collapsed at a coal preparation plant killed one worker and left one trapped under rubble.

"Two workers are trapped inside and a number of teams are working to rescue these individuals," Beshear posted on X Wednesday.

According to Beshear, "the order mobilizes state resources to help Kentucky."

Beshear asked the public to pray for the trapped workers and rescuers.

"Kentucky, please join Britainy and me in praying for their safety and for the brave teams working to rescue them," Beshear posted on X Wednesday.

Later in the day Beshear announced that one of the workers had died.

"Kentucky, we have some tough news out of Martin County to share. At least one of the workers trapped inside the coal preparation plant has died. Please pray for the family and loved ones of this individual," Beshear posted on X.

Law enforcement was reportedly called at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and discovered the collapsed building when they arrived at the scene.

CBS affiliate WYMT reported that workers were preparing the 10-story structure for demolition when the building collapsed.

"It's my understanding that the coal company sold it for basically scrap. And they were salvaging what they could out of it," Martin County Sheriff John Kirk told WYMT.

Kirk said he believes a section of building that was cut off by the workers did not fall off the structure properly.

"We believe that's what happened. That it just didn't fall the way they had projected it to fall and it actually closed around them," Kirk told WYMT.

According to Kirk, rescuers have located one of the two trapped workers and are communicating with him while trying to remove him from the rubble.

6.1 magnitude temblor rocks Indonesia


A 6.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia's Timor Island on Thursday, causing light damage to several buildings and homes. There were no reports of serious injuries or casualties in the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey reported was centered about 13 miles north-northeast of Kupang.

 Image courtesy of USGS

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A 6.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia's Timor Island on Thursday, causing panic, confusion and light damage to several buildings and homes. There were no reports of serious injuries or casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the quake struck about 22.4 miles below ground and was centered about 13 miles north-northeast of Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara province.

Daryono, the director of the head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency, who goes by one name, said the land-based quake caused panic as it was strongly felt in several cities and villages.

"The quake has caused light damages in several buildings and houses," Daryono wrote in a social media post. He said there was no tsunami danger.

The agency initially reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.6, but later downgraded it to 6.3. Variations in early measurements of quakes are common. The USGS reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.1.

Video on social media showed residents in Kupang panicking just after dawn as houses and buildings swayed. Some witnesses said ceilings at the governor's and mayor's offices were damaged


Samuel Malohana, a hotel employee at Aston Hotel in Kupang, said guests were panicking when the quake hit. About 100 guests left their room and gathered in front of the hotel.

Indonesia straddles an area of high seismic activity that rests atop multiple tectonic plates known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

About 602 people died last year when a 5.6 magnitude temblor rocked Cianjur city in West Java. That was Indonesia's deadliest quake since 2018 when an earthquake and tsunami killed more than 4,300 people.

A powerful quake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 caused a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.

EPA says cleanup of Mill Creek oil spill in Kansas complete

The Keystone XL pipeline ruptured on Dec. 8 last year, sending more than 600,000 gallons of crude oil into the environment around Mill Creek, in Bourbon County, Kan.

 Almost a year after a pipeline rupture spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil into a waterway in Kansas, the cleanup is now complete, the EPA confirmed Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of Environmental Protection Agency


Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Almost a year after a pipeline rupture spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil into a waterway in Kansas, the cleanup is now complete, the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Wednesday.

A final visual inspection of the Mill Creek waterway in eastern Kansas took place Oct. 13, the EPA said in a statement.

Both the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue monitoring the site for the next five years with regular inspections.

"Flow and water levels have been returned to natural conditions," the EPA said in the statement.

The bulk of oil recovery was completed by late January with cleanup efforts running 24 hours a day. However, the final steps of that process took until mid May to wrap up, when recovery efforts then shifted to stream restoration.

The Keystone XL pipeline ruptured on Dec. 8 last year, sending more than 600,000 gallons of crude oil into the environment around Mill Creek, in Bourbon County, Kan.

State and federal officials at the time estimated 14,000 barrels of oil were released into Mill Creek. The waterway is located 3 miles east of Washington, Kan., and about 170 miles northwest of Kansas City along the Kansas-Nebraska border.

Ultimately more than 650,000 gallons of oil were recovered, including crude that remained in the pipeline after the rupture.

An additional 200,000 tons of soil, sediment, and other debris impacted by oil were excavated and sent for disposal, according to the EPA.

The accident was the largest rupture in the history of the pipeline, which began operating in 2010.

The system of lines transports crude oil from northern Canada to refineries in Illinois and Texas.

The EPA deployed staff from four regions to help monitor the spill site, working more than a collective 6,000 hours. The U.S. Coast Guard was also involved in the operation.

"In total, more than 54 million gallons of contaminated surface water were treated and discharged back into Mill Creek," the EPA said in the statement

U.N. investigators say Russia conducted deadly Hroza strike


U.N. investigators have determined that Russian forces conducted the Oct. 5 strike that killed 59 people in the Ukrainian town of Hroza. 

Photo courtesy of Volodymyr Zelensky


Oct. 31 (UPI) -- United Nations investigators determined that Russian forces were responsible for the Oct. 5 strike on a funeral in the Ukrainian town of Hroza, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded there were "reasonable grounds" to believe the missile was launched by Russian armed forces and that there was "no indication of military personnel or any other legitimate military targets at or adjacent to the cafe at the time of the attack" that killed 59 people.

The OHCHR said the "Russian armed forces either failed to do everything feasible to verify that the target was a military objective, or deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects."

"Either scenario would be in violation of international humanitarian law," the OHCHR said.

The OHCHR urged the Russian Federation to investigate the killings and to make reparations accessible to the victims and their families.

In its report on the strike, the OHCHR pointed out that a Russian diplomat had called the funeral a legitimate target.

"Military personnel deployed by the Kyiv regime at any given place will become a legitimate target of the Russian army," the diplomat said according to the OHCHR.

The investigation was conducted on-site by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, who inspected the location and interviewed 35 individuals, including witnesses and medical staff.

In the aftermath of the strike, Ukrainian officials had to identify a number of the victims using DNA or objects that were found on their bodies.

Two residents, who collaborated with Russian occupation forces, were identified by Ukrainian security forces as having assisted the Russians in conducting the strike.

"The perpetrators were two local residents, 30-year-old Volodymyr Mamon and his younger brother, 23-year-old Dmytro Mamon, who during the occupation of the region went over to the side of the Rashists [derogatory word for Russian racists]," the SBU, Ukraine's internal security service, said.

Carter Center calls for cease-fire, return of hostages as fighting intensifies in Gaza

By Casey Feindt

 A Palestinian woman surveys a destroyed home following an Israeli air strike in Rafah in southern Gaza on Monday. 

Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The Carter Center is calling for a cease-fire and the safe return of hostages as Israeli forces enter Gaza, intensifying the conflict in the region.

The human-rights organization, a non-governmental entity founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and dedicated to enhancing the quality of life through conflict resolution, acknowledged Israel's right to self-defense but emphasized the importance of adhering to international law.

In a statement, the organization quoted Carter's 2002 Nobel Peace Prize speech, in which he stressed the need to avoid harming innocent civilians.

"We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children," Carter said.

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The statement from the center also highlights the suffering of innocent people in Gaza because of the ongoing conflict and calls for both sides to stop the violence to enable the delivery of essential services to save lives.

"We urge all parties to agree to a cease-fire," said The Carter Center. "We ask for the opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza and the reinstatement of essential services to the area. We urge the immediate, safe return of all hostages, and we call on both sides to abide by international law."

It also expressed strong disapproval of the increasing prevalence of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian sentiments worldwide, asserting that these attitudes are disseminating fear through hateful rhetoric and actions.

During a recent briefing at the Israeli Defense Forces' headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined international calls for a humanitarian cease-fire in Israel's ground invasion of Gaza.

He said his decision was based on concerns regarding the threat posed by the Hamas militant group. Netanyahu characterized the conflict as a battle against what he referred to as the "enemies of civilization itself" and indicated that any cease-fire with Hamas would be seen as a surrender.

As for the casualty figures, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that 8,525 people have been killed since Israel initiated its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza after a surprise attack by the militant group on Oct. 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,400 Israelis.

The ministry also stated that 216 people were killed from Monday to Tuesday, with many of the casualties located in areas south of the Gaza Strip that Israel had designated as "safe zones." Additionally, 21,543 individuals were reported injured, and the health ministry had received reports of 2,000 missing people.

Reporters Without Borders files war crimes complaint in deaths of journalists in Israel-Hamas conflict

By Doug Cunningham


 Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court alleging war crimes against journalists covering the Israel-Hamas conflict. People view an installation called "Empty Beds" symbolizing the 230 empty beds of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. 

Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Reporters Without Borders filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court for crimes they said were committed against journalists who were killed and injured while working amid Israel's war with Hamas.

The war crimes complaint, the third since 2018, details nine cases where journalists were killed and two others wounded during their work in Gaza and Israel since Oct. 7.

"The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor," RFS Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement. "We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action."

The war crimes complaint said eight Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli bombardments of Gaza and one Israeli journalist was killed while covering a Hamas attack on his kibbutz.

It said the Israeli journalist's death "constituted the willful killing of a person protected by the Geneva Conventions, which is a war crime under article 8.2.a. of the ICC's Rome Statute."

"The attacks suffered by Palestinian journalists in Gaza correspond to the international humanitarian law definition of an indiscriminate attack and therefore constitute war crimes under Article 8.2.b. of the Rome Statute," the report said. "Even if these journalists were the victims of attacks aimed at legitimate military targets, as the Israeli authorities claim, the attacks nevertheless caused manifestly excessive and disproportionate harm to civilians, and still amount to a war crime under this article."

An Israeli airstrike killed the family of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh Oct. 25.

"The indiscriminate assault by the Israeli occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of Dahdouh's wife, son and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble," Al Jazeera said in a statement.

The complaint to the ICC also cites "the deliberate total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza."

According to Reporters Without Borders, 34 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war started with at least 12 of those deaths coming during reporting.

RSF investigated the Oct. 13 killing of Reuters photojournalist Issam Abdallah and wounding of AFP reporter Christina Assi while they were covering an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

RSF concluded that two strikes within 38 seconds of each other hit a group of seven journalists from the direction of the Israeli border.

The second strike ignited a media vehicle, injuring Al Jazeera journalists Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya and AFP's Dylan Collins.

The RSF war crimes complaint also called on the ICC to investigate all of the cases of journalists killed since Oct. 7 covering the war between Israel and Hamas.

"Journalists are trapped in a 40-kilometer-long open-air prison, caught in an area that is shelled relentlessly when their offices or they themselves are not being targeted," RSF said in a statement. "The figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) show the unprecedented scale of the tragedy for journalism in Gaza."

RSF is also calling on Israel to end the bombardments in Gaza.

"The Israeli government should realize that horror does not justify horror," the RSF said. "The State of Israel will have to take responsibility before history for the deaths of journalists on a scale unknown in the 21st century. We call on the Israeli authorities to end the bombardments, which amount to war crimes."