Protesters to March Against APEC in Downtown San Francisco on Sunday

Written byGeorge KellyUpdated at Nov. 12, 2023 

Attendees of an anti-APEC event pose for a photo at San Francisco State on Saturday. | Source:Gina Castro/The Standard

Thousands of protesters were expected to gather Sunday in downtown San Francisco to call for a stop to this week's APEC gathering.

The No to APEC Coalition—an umbrella group of over 150 grassroots organizations—has criticized the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for pushing “free trade” to harm indigenous people around the world.

Coalition protesters planned to gather at noon at Harry Bridges Plaza on the Embarcadero, before marching about a mile to Moscone Center in the South of Market neighborhood. 

Pam Tau Lee and Kathe Burick paint letters on a “Shut down APEC” sign at an October teach-in at Kawpa Gardens on Mission Street in San Francisco. | Source:George Kelly/The Standard

In a statement late last week, representatives from the No to APEC Coalition said protesters would peacefully speak out about their opposition to the gathering, as well as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework—the Biden administration's road map for a new Asia-Pacific economic strategy—and climate initiatives they perceive as less than transparent.

“Taking our demands for a clean and vibrant future through the streets directly to the militarized center of negotiations is representative of the power of our popular resistance," Nik Evasco, an organizer with the NO2APEC Climate Bloc, said in a statement Friday. "We march with our heads held high, across generations, across movements and inclusive of the many voices that are purposefully shut out of free trade summits."

READ MORE: Activists Vow To Disrupt San Francisco’s APEC Summit With Mass Protests

APEC, launched more than 30 years ago, is a grouping of 21 member economies, including the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Australia, aimed at promoting free trade throughout the Asia Pacific region. It hosts multiple meetings in a given host nation throughout the year, culminating in "Leaders Week," which is taking place in San Francisco this week.

Alongside Leaders Week is the APEC CEO Summit, which will bring heads of state together with business executives like X owner Elon Musk and Salesforce boss Marc Benioff.   

Wondering what the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is? This video explains.

Evasco criticized San Francisco for creating "a safe space for the biggest human rights abusers of our era to meet and carve out the world to make profits for themselves and their corporate enablers."

Protesters with No to APEC's Palestine Bloc, as well as others attending an "All Out for Palestine" prayer vigil, were expected to gather at the plaza at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

READ MORE: 10 Security, Traffic, Transit Maps to help you navigate APEC in San Francisco

The U.S. Secret Service is the lead agency for security for the APEC events. Restrictions on pedestrian and vehicle traffic will be in place around the Moscone Center, transit lines will be rerouted or closed, and air traffic over San Francisco will be limited. 

President Joe Biden will be staying in Nob Hill, and additional security measures will be in place there. Part of the Embarcadero will be closed Wednesday for event that will bring world leaders to the Exploratorium. 

More than 1,000 outside law enforcement officers are coming to San Francisco to deal with any potential disruption.

A “No to APEC” sign rests on a table at an anti-APEC event called “People and Planet over Profit and Plunder,” at San Francisco State University on Saturday. Attendees at the event said they planned protests this week. | Source:Gina Castro/The Standard

READ MORE: Several Protests a Day Expected in San Francisco During APEC

While activists gear up to get their message heard, San Francisco is doing everything it can to facilitate a successful APEC, including ramping up security, rerouting traffic and broadcasting a marketing campaign to promote the event. Leaders and wealthy sponsors of the summit are also hosting fancy events and celebrations across the city.

Protesters will demonstrate against world leaders, Israel-Hamas war as APEC comes to San Francisco


A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit venue, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. Activists protesting environmental abuses, poor working conditions and the Israel-Hamas war are among those planning to march in downtown San Francisco Sunday to protest a global trade summit.

Police remove protesters trying to march to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit venue, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. Activists protesting environmental abuses, poor working conditions and the Israel-Hamas war are among those planning to march in downtown San Francisco Sunday to protest a global trade summit.

 Demonstrators condemn the police’s use of force to disperse a protest against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit in a main shopping district, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. Activists protesting environmental abuses, poor working conditions and the Israel-Hamas war are among those planning to march in downtown San Francisco Sunday to protest a global trade summit. 

(AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn, File)

BY JANIE HAR
Updated 9:23 AM MST, November 12, 2023Share


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Activists protesting corporate profits, environmental abuses, poor working conditions and the Israel-Hamas war are among those planning to march in downtown San Francisco on Sunday, united in their opposition to a global trade summit that will draw President Joe Biden and leaders from nearly two dozen countries.

Protests are expected throughout this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ conference, which could draw more than 20,000 attendees, including hundreds of international journalists. The No to APEC coalition, made up of more than 100 grassroots groups, says trade deals struck at summits such as APEC exploit workers and their families.

It’s unlikely world leaders will even glimpse the protests given the strict security zones accessible only to attendees at the Moscone Center conference hall and other summit sites. But Suzanne Ali, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, says the U.S. government needs to be held to account for supplying weapons to Israel in its war against Hamas.

“Even if they cannot see us, as we’re mobilizing and marching together, they will know that we’re out there,” she said.

San Francisco has a long tradition of loud and vigorous protests, as do trade talks. In 1999, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seattle during a World Trade Organization conference. Protesters succeeded in delaying the start of the conference and captured global attention as overwhelmed police fired tear gas and plastic bullets, and arrested hundreds of people.

Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 due to mass protests. Last year, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister, prompting police to fire at the crowd with rubber bullets that injured several protesters and a Reuters journalist.

San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott said he expects several protests a day, although it’s uncertain how many will materialize. He warned against criminal behavior.

“People are welcome to exercise their constitutional rights in San Francisco, but we will not tolerate people committing acts of violence, or property destruction or any other crime,” Scott said. “We will make arrests when necessary.”

APEC, a regional economic forum, was established in 1989 and has 21 member countries, including the world’s two largest economic superpowers China and U.S, as well as Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. An accompanying CEO summit is scheduled for this week, which critics also plan to protest Wednesday.

Headlining the summit is a highly anticipated meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rarely — if at all — encounters protesters on home soil.

China has heavy security ahead of any events within its borders to ensure no protests occur. It also steps up border checks at city limits and at transit points such as railway stations and airports. Human rights activists based in China will often receive visits or phone calls from police ahead of important events as reminders to not demonstrate.

Rory McVeigh, sociology professor and director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements at University of Notre Dame, says politicians use protests to gauge public opinion, and media attention helps.

“Probably a lot of protests just don’t make much difference, but occasionally they do and occasionally they can make a huge difference,” he said.

The United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California plans to protest Xi and Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines will be rallying for the rights of indigenous Filipinos and protesting the presence of President Bongbong Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Protesters are disappointed that San Francisco, with its rich history of standing up for the working class, would host CEOs of companies and leaders of countries that they say do great harm.

“It’s silly, from the mayor to the governor to the president, they want to say this is a great idea to have all these people who have been profiting off the intersecting crises of our time,” said Nik Evasco, a climate activist. “It’s just sickening.”
___

Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Build The Wall! …Around San Francisco For Asian-Pacific Economic Summit

San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge from above, misty weather.

 (Photo: Stefano Termanini/Shutterstock)

Build the Wall! …Around San Francisco for Asian-Pacific Economic Summit

‘These Democrats are essentially locking the dignitaries up to keep them from discovering just how bad and dangerous the town is – and they say that border fencing doesn’t work’

By Katy Grimes, November 12, 2023

This surely must be from the “you can’t make this stuff up” department: San Francisco is building walls around the area where the the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit is going in – for security.

“The sidewalks in the APEC zone, including sticky and urine-perfumed Van Ness Avenue, have been silver polished on the Eve of APEC,” Sebastian, a San Francisco resident and friend to the Globe told us. “Walking along Van Ness Ave today was like walking along twice-a-day-mobbed Orchard Road in Singapore.”

Oh the injustice of the walls… how inhumane… walls are ineffective… the wall is bigoted… the wall is creating an humanitarian crisis… the wall is destroying ecosystems… the wall is unethical…

We’ve watched all of the insincere hand wringing and heard all of the reasons walls don’t work – until Democrats need a wall to keep the riff-raff out.

Sebastian takes photos daily of his city – this is what it usually looks like:

San Francisco. (Photo: by Sebastian)

The City of San Francisco even posted rules for residents on its website: Prepare for APEC if you live in a security zone.

“They are essentially locking the dignitaries up to keep them from discovering just how bad and dangerous the town is. And these are the Democrats who say that border fencing doesn’t work,” he said. “The same leftists that claim that fences and walls do not work and are inhumane are the same leftists that live behind fences and walls.”

San Francisco prepares for APEC Summit. (Photo: Sebastian for the Globe)


“Now these same leftists are erecting fencing and walls to keep law abiding people out of an area; but somehow don’t claim that these fences and walls don’t work or are inhumane.”

Fences have been installed around the Fairmont Hotel where President Joe Biden will stay during APEC

.

San Francisco prepares for APEC Summit. (Photo: Sebastian for the Globe)

“My Democrat and Republican friends who live in the Brocklebank Apartments featured in the movie Vertigo and my late SF Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen lived which is next to the Fairmont Hotel, are upset about the fencing as they have to go through security checks from Nov.14-18,” Sebastian said. “They weren’t informed about the ‘walls’ ahead of time.”

Preparation for APEC is hardly being executed with military precision if residents were not prepared in advance

.

San Francisco prepares for APEC Summit. (Photo: Sebastian for the Globe)

The San Francisco Standard reports the logistical details:

Where exactly is the main security perimeter for the event, and how long will it be in place?

The main venue is the Moscone Center in the South of Market neighborhood.


From 10 p.m. Nov. 14 to Nov. 18, local traffic into the security perimeter—for those who live or work in the area bounded by Second, Market, Fifth and Harrison streets—will be allowed only through specific paths after a security sweep and inspection.

Pedestrians and bicycles not heading into the security perimeter will be routed around the area. Vehicles that do not need to enter the perimeter for residential or business purposes will not be allowed in.

Most vehicles traveling south from Nob Hill and Chinatown will be rerouted to either Mason Street to the west or Bush Street to First Street to the east. Drivers traveling south of Market Street from the Embarcadero will be pushed north at Fremont Street or south at First Street to avoid the security zone. Southwest of the perimeter, vehicles will be routed onto Sixth Street for north-south travel and Harrison Street for east-west travel.

Be wary of driving and parking in San Francisco: “On-street parking will be barred within all security zones. Emergency no parking signs will go up around the city. Vehicles that are parked in violation of emergency no parking signs will be ticketed and towed.” Parking garages will also be closed.

So San Francisco has essentially locked down the city for APEC – businesses and residents can just shut up.

San Francisco officials have even announced the Muni transit system will be blowing past “exclusion zones:”

ATTN: Muni is no longer able to serve stops in exclusion zones. Muni service is passing blocked stops. For safety, riders should not stand in the street as Muni buses will not stop. Conditions are changing rapidly due to street impacts.

They’ve even arranged to shut down some freeway access:

On the Bay Bridge, the rightmost lane of I-80 westbound and the leftmost lane of I-80 eastbound will shut down from Nov. 14 at 5 a.m.


The I-80 eastbound off-ramp at Fourth Street will be closed from Nov. 15 to Nov. 17 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The last eastbound San Francisco exit before the Bay Bridge will be at Seventh Street instead of Fourth Street. The I-80 westbound off-ramp at Fifth Street will be closed from Nov. 15 to Nov. 17 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Drivers planning to get on the eastbound freeway near the Moscone Center should use the Eight Street on-ramp. Drivers planning to get off the freeway should use the Fremont Street off-ramp.

Additionally, the northbound U.S. 101 Dana Bowers Vista Point off-ramp north of the Golden Gate Bridge will be closed from Nov. 14 to Nov. 18.

Next week may be a good time to take a vacation – out of California.



Katy Grimes, the Editor in Chief of the California Globe, is a long-time Investigative Journalist covering the California State Capitol, and the co-author of California's War Against Donald Trump: Who Wins? Who Loses?

THIRD WORLD U$A
Nonprofits making progress in tackling homelessness among veterans

By R.J. Rico, The Associated Press
Nov 12, 2023
This photo shows one of the the Veterans Empowerment Organization apartment buildings that offer permanent housing for 41 veterans, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023 in Atlanta. (R.J. Rico/AP)


ATLANTA — Along a busy Atlanta residential road, a 68-year-old Vietnam War-era Army veteran has found what he calls a “match made in heaven.”

Harold Tilson Jr. found himself homeless earlier this year but for the past few months has been living in transitional housing run by the nonprofit Veterans Empowerment Organization, or VEO. It provides emergency and permanent housing for dozens of previously homeless military veterans.


“If you’re homeless and you need help, you couldn’t ask for a better place to go because they take care of just about everything,” Tilson said.


In this photo provided by Gabriella Rico, Vietnam War-era Army veteran Harold Tilson Jr., stands in a room on the campus of the Veterans Empowerment Organization in Atlanta, Nov. 10, 2023. (Gabriella Rico via AP)

It’s part of a years-long effort by government agencies and nonprofits around the country to address homelessness among veterans. Since January 2020, the numbers of homeless veterans have fallen 11% and have gone down 55% over the past 13 years, according to a government count. That’s in sharp contrast with the general homeless population.

Authorities credit the Obama administration’s work to make housing veterans a top priority and more recently the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that boosted the Department of Veteran Affairs’ homeless programs and expanded rental aid. Advocates also point to partnerships between government agencies, nonprofits and corporate foundations.


Last month, the VA gave $1 billion in grants to community nonprofits for the upcoming year to tackle the issue, the most ever, said Jill Albanese, director of clinical operations at the Veterans Health Administration’s Homeless Programs Office.

“This isn’t something that we’re doing on our own: This is really something that we’re doing through partnerships,” Albanese said. “They’re the experts on homelessness in their communities.”

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VA helped house more than 26,000 at-risk vets since the start of 2023
That puts the department on pace to top its goal of 38,000 veterans aided by the end of December.
By Leo Shane III

Still, the number of veterans living on the streets is significant. There are more than 33,000 homeless veterans, according to the 2022 Point-in-Time count conducted by the VA and Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

And much still needs to be done, said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, calling it a “moving target” — just as people are moving out of homelessness, others become unhoused every day. Affordable housing is key, she said, though communities nationwide have struggled with that.


Along with housing, the VEO offers classes about financial literacy, securing VA benefits and how to get on a path toward employment and housing independence. There’s also a common area for reading and a gym for working out.

“We are proud to say that we are not a shelter. This is a program center, meaning the veteran has to put some skin in the game,” said Tony Kimbrough, a former military intelligence officer and CEO of the nonprofit, which started in 2008 with a single two-bedroom house. “We’re going to put a ton of it in there, but we expect a little bit of back-and-forth.”

Tilson became homeless in February when he was forced out of the triplex he was renting south of Atlanta.

He spent the next month and a half sleeping in the street or on business doorsteps, relying on friends from his church for food or access to a shower. Church members steered him to local nonprofits and he eventually landed at VEO, where he has been living in emergency housing, has taken a five-week financial literacy course and is focused on improving his credit score.


Tilson, who suffered a stroke last year, said he needs a knee replacement and hernia surgery to address the physical toll carrying his belongings took while he was homeless. A VA case manager is helping him get those, and he’s optimistic that in a few months he’ll get to move into his own place, with the help of VEO and another local nonprofit.

His friends from church are thrilled about the help he’s getting, Tilson said, but “nobody can be happier than me.”

In addition to 10 double-occupancy rooms housing veterans like Tilson in emergency shelter, the VEO campus has 41 apartment units where veterans pay a few hundred dollars in rent. VA funding makes up the difference, allowing the nonprofit to reinject the money and expand. Its next project is 20 single-occupancy bedrooms being built this winter.

VEO says it expansion would not be possible, without more than $2.3 million in corporate donations from The Home Depot Foundation.


The Atlanta-based foundation has helped some 50,000 homeless veterans nationwide through its partnership with nonprofits like VEO. It has donated $500 million to veterans causes since 2011, and on Friday announced a commitment to giving an additional $250 million by 2030.

Company employees have also volunteered more than 1.5 million hours in service to veterans, including building or repairing 60,000 houses and facilities for former service members. On Friday, 20 members of “Team Depot” were finishing a weeklong project to build a garden, complete with a water feature, in honor of Veterans Day.

“When we think about the role that corporate foundations can play, it boils down to three things,” said Jennifer A. Taylor, a political science professor at James Madison University and a military spouse who studies philanthropy and veterans issues. “Are you a funder — giving out grants for others to do the work? Are you a doer — taking employees out into the community? Or are you a convener — bringing thought leaders together? Home Depot is doing all of those things.”

Home Depot CEO Ted Decker said the company’s giving philosophy was always housing-centric but was “pretty disparate” before 2011. That’s when then-CEO Frank Blake, realizing that tens of thousands of employees were veterans or spouses of veterans, decided to focus the company’s philanthropy on veteran housing.

“It fit our culture,” Decker said.

Despite the progress that’s been made, there are still tens of thousands of homeless veterans, including nearly 3,500 in the Los Angeles area.

Navy veteran Malcolm Harvey III spent years living on the streets in Southern California, including Los Angeles’ Skid Row. In 2015, a representative from the nonprofit U.S. Vets helped him get a job with the organization. Speaking gigs on behalf of The Home Depot Foundation followed.

Now, Harvey, 62, is married, owns a condo and works as program director at the Long Beach nonprofit People Assisting The Homeless.

“We can’t become numb to this,” Harvey said of the homelessness problem among former service members.

“We made a promise to them when they took that oath and put on that uniform and decided to defend this country,” he said.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude. But we owe them more than that: We owe them action.”

Associated Press Writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.

If you are a veteran who is homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838 for assistance.

U$ SOCIAL (IN)SECURITY

Public workers may receive reduced Social Security benefits. There's growing support in Congress to change that

By Lorie Konish | CNBC •

Araya Doheny | Getty Images


Public workers may receive reduced Social Security benefits. There’s growing support in Congress to change that
Workers may have jobs where they pay into Social Security or earn pension benefits.
When they have both, their Social Security benefits may be adjusted to reflect that.
There's growing support in Congress to either revise those rules or eliminate them altogether.

When Dave Bernstein, 87, started working at the U.S. Postal Service in February 1970, he was making $2.35 an hour.

To supplement his income, he also took on other work. Years later, Bernstein decided in 1992 to take a voluntary retirement.

"We knew there was going to be a reduced pension because of the early out," said Phyllis Bernstein, Dave's wife, who is 84.

But what came next was something the couple did not expect.

While Dave was expecting a monthly Social Security check of around $800, it ended up being just about half that amount – around $415 – even though he had earned the required 40 credits to be fully insured by the program. The benefits were adjusted based on rules for workers who earn both pension and Social Security benefits.

The couple, who reside in Tampa, Florida, have had a different retirement than they envisioned due to the lower income.

Phyllis kept working until she was 82. They have also turned to family for financial support.

Their lifestyle is frugal, with home-cooked meals and cars they kept for 20 years, or "until the wheels were falling off," the couple jokes.

But their limited resources have made traveling to Australia and New Zealand – Phyllis' dream – out of reach.

"When he retired, I was working," Phyllis said. "We just couldn't do the travel."

Today, Dave is pushing for the Social Security rules that reduced his benefits to be changed.

His union, the American Postal Workers Union, has endorsed the Social Security Fairness Act, a bill proposed in Congress that would repeal Social Security rules known as the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and Government Pension Offset, or GPO, that reduce benefits for workers had positions where they did not pay Social Security taxes, also called non-covered earnings.

The legislation has support from other organizations that represent public workers, including teachers, firefighters and police.

The bill has overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives – 300 co-sponsors – at a time when that chamber has been politically divided. That support recently prompted House lawmakers to send a letter to leaders of the Ways and Means Committee to request a hearing.

The Social Security Fairness Act has also been introduced in the Senate, with support from 49 leaders from both sides of the aisle.

Yet some experts say just getting rid of the rules may not be the most effective way of making the system fairer.
How the WEP, GPO rules work

The WEP applies to how retirement or disability benefits are calculated if a worker earned a retirement or disability pension from an employer who did not withhold Social Security taxes and qualifies for Social Security from work in other jobs where they did pay taxes into the program.

Social Security benefits are calculated using a worker's average indexed monthly earnings, and then using a formula to calculate a worker's basic benefit amount. For workers affected by the WEP, part of the replacement rate for the average indexed monthly earnings is brought down to 40% from 90%.

The GPO, meanwhile, reduces benefits for spouses and widows or widowers of recipients of retirement or disability pensions from local, state or federal governments.

Under the GPO, Social Security benefits are reduced by two-thirds of the government pension. If two-thirds of the government pension is more than the Social Security benefit, the Social Security benefit may be zero.

The impact of the rules is far-reaching, according to Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Many firefighters work in second jobs in the private sector as cab drivers, bartenders or truck drivers, where they earn credits toward Social Security.

"They steal their money, because they're also public employees," said Kelly, who describes his union members as "passionately angry" about the issue.

"It affects hundreds of thousands, if not millions of public employees that paid into Social Security and essentially are being penalized because they also happen to be public servants, whether they are teachers, cops and, obviously, firefighters," Kelly said.
Why experts say another fix may be better

The WEP and GPO rules were intended to make it so workers who pay Social Security taxes for their entire careers are treated the same as those who do not.

But under those current rules, some beneficiaries receive lower benefits than they would have if they paid into Social Security for all of their careers, while others receive higher benefits, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Yet repealing the WEP and GPO rules would result in Social Security benefits that are "overly generous" for non-covered workers, research has found.

Part of what may create that advantage is that Social Security benefits are progressive, and therefore replace a larger share of income for lower earners. So someone who only has part of their salary history in Social Security may get a higher replacement rate without considering their pension income.

Fully repealing the WEP and GPO rules may also come with higher costs at a time when the program facing a funding shortfall. The change would add an estimated $150 billion to the program's costs in the next 10 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Another way of handling the disparity may be to create a proportional approach to income replacement. Instead of the WEP, workers' benefits would be calculated based on all of their earnings and then adjusted to reflect the share of their careers that were in jobs covered by Social Security. A similar approach may be taken with the GPO.

Certain bills on Capitol Hill propose a proportional approach.

However, a proportional formula may not solve all the inequities in the current system, according to Emerson Sprick, senior economic analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has prompted to think tank to work on refining its proposal.
'Extremely complex' to understand

An important advantage to reforming the current formulas would be making it easier for workers to understand and plan for their retirements.

"It is definitely extremely complex, and very hard for folks preparing for retirement or in retirement, to understand what it means for their benefits," Sprick said.

Social Security statements that provide retirement benefit estimates do not take these rules into account.

Consequently, many workers find out their benefits are adjusted when they are about to retire.

shapecharge | E+ | Getty Images


"The young guys don't pay attention to it because it's too far out; they're not worried about it," Kelly said of the firefighters.

"It's not until you're ready to go out the door that you actually start paying attention to what you're going to have to live off when you actually retire," he added.

The reductions to their Social Security benefits can be a shock.

For beneficiaries like the Bernsteins who start out with lower benefits, it can be difficult to catch up, even after a record 8.7% Social Security cost-of-living adjustments went into effect this year.

"Gas this summer and in the spring at $4 a gallon ate that money up like it wasn't even there," Dave Bernstein said.

This federal program that helps 2 in 5 babies may have to turn away families if Congress doesn’t act

By Tami Luhby, CNN
Sun November 12, 2023

Enrollment in WIC, which provides food assistance to pregnant women, new moms and young children, is rising.Allison Dinner/AP

CNN —

Without a little aid from the federal government, Whitley Hasty would have a tougher time buying the fresh broccoli her toddler son loves to eat with ranch dressing.

Hasty receives WIC, the food assistance program for low-income women, infants and young children. It has helped her purchase milk, cheese, juice, eggs, fruits, vegetables and other staples for 3-year-old Leni – a benefit that has been even more vital in recent years as the price of groceries and other necessities has soared.

In addition, a WIC staffer encouraged her to breastfeed both Leni and her daughter, Emilia, 9, when they were infants, connecting Hasty with peer counseling for extra support. And the program set her up with a nutritionist, who provides her with healthy recipes that have broadened the variety of food the children eat.


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WIC has provided Whitley Hasty, left, with more than just assistance buying food for her two children.Jane Grant

“It’s huge,” said Hasty, who works as a benefits navigation coordinator for a regional food bank, helping other families sign up for WIC and food stamps. “It’s more than just the benefits that you get every month that helps me financially.”

But WIC, formally known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, may soon have to start putting eligible families on waitlists if Congress doesn’t increase its funding. Enrollment in the program has soared in recent months, hitting just under 7 million people in August, up from fewer than 6.4 million folks a year earlier.

Though WIC has long enjoyed bipartisan support, the additional money is far from guaranteed. Even before the jump in participation, a battle was brewing on Capitol Hill over the program’s appropriation for fiscal year 2024. And now lawmakers are racing to come up with a plan to fund federal agencies beyond November 17 or the government will shut down.

House Republicans, who are intent on slashing spending, have proposed reducing WIC funding to $5.5 billion, which would be $185 million less than last year’s level and $800 million less than the Senate’s appropriations bill would provide.

The House would also cut back the program’s enhanced fruits and vegetables benefit, which was initially authorized by the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and then renewed with bipartisan support in subsequent appropriations bills. Enrollees would receive between $11 and $15 a month to purchase fresh produce in fiscal year 2024, down from $25 to $49.

The enrollment surge prompted the Biden administration in late August to request an additional $1.4 billion to meet the increased demand. Without more money, 600,000 eligible new moms and young children could be turned away, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research group.
Soaring interest

While WIC has reached only about half of those eligible in recent years, it can have a meaningful impact on enrollees.

About 2 in 5 babies born in the US in 2022 benefited from WIC, according to Noura Insolera, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Children who received WIC and food stamps were less likely to be food insecure as young adults living on their own, she said.

There are several reasons why WIC is becoming more popular.

Federal and state policymakers have made it easier to enroll and recertify, improved the shopping experience and enhanced the benefits. Also, skyrocketing inflation, particularly for food, has squeezed the budgets of many Americans, especially low-income families.



4 charts show who will be hit the hardest as pandemic-era benefits end

Plus, the multitude of temporary Covid-19 pandemic relief programs – including the enhanced child tax credit, stimulus checks and, in particular, more generous food stamp benefits – have largely ended. These measures made Americans more aware of the ongoing government assistance that may be available to them.

“There’s more knowledge now about the ways in which the other public safety-net programs could kind of step in and fill that gap,” Insolera said.

The relief efforts temporarily improved children’s well-being. But last year, poverty and food insecurity among the nation’s youngest residents climbed. This setback underscores the importance of WIC, said Georgia Machell, interim CEO of the National WIC Association.

“This should actually be a really happy moment for the program because caseload is going up,” Machell said, noting that WIC celebrates its 50th anniversary in January. “And it’s just really bittersweet because folks have been working really hard to increase caseload. We’re seeing that increase happen now, but we just don’t have sufficient funding.”

Participating in WIC has helped Emily Church cope with inflation as she and her husband raise their daughter, Myles Mae, 3. On a recent trip to the supermarket, the benefits reduced her bill from $180 to $140, covering the cost of the milk, fruit and vegetables she picked up.

The assistance means the couple doesn’t have to juggle paying for gas, electricity and food.

“It makes a huge difference in our food budget on a monthly basis,” said Church, an Athens, Ohio, resident who works as the sales manager at Snowville Creamery, a local company that produces milk, yogurt and cheese.

WIC helps Emily Church afford food for her daughter, Myles Mae.Courtesy Emily Church

While she’s concerned that she could lose the benefit, Church is more angry that lawmakers may not fully fund the program and may force expectant and new moms onto waitlists.

“I just want our government to get it together. These are our women, our infants, our children in our country,” Church said. “The program was designed to take care of these people. And now we’re saying … ‘You’re coming for help? No, sorry. Here’s a waiting list.’ How do we do that? That’s crazy.”

Massive Tustin hangar fire reignites just days after initial blaze spewed asbestos and lead

By JACK DOLAN
LOS ANGELES TIMES • November 12, 2023

Orange County, Calif., firefighters battle a fire at the historic north hangar at the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.

 (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times/TNS)

(Tribune News Service) — A massive former military hangar that burned in Tustin, Calif., earlier in the week, closing schools over asbestos worries, reignited Saturday night.

The city of Tustin tweeted that there was “an active flare-up above the north doors of the north hangar” around 5 p.m. Saturday, adding that the Orange County Fire Authority and the Tustin Fire Department were on scene.

The north hangar was one of two enormous structures on the property, 17 stories high and 1,000 feet long, that were used by the military during World War II and later served as sets for the TV show “Star Trek” and the film “Pearl Harbor.”

One of those hangars burned last week, creating a spectacle for drivers passing by.

After air quality experts discovered asbestos at the site, the Tustin Unified School District closed all campuses on Thursday and Friday.

The city also closed several public parks and canceled a planned Veterans Day celebration over health concerns stemming from possible contamination.


A note on the Tustin Unified School District’s website on Saturday said that Monday will be a “non-student day” on all campuses and that an environmental consulting company has been retained to test all schools for contamination stemming from the fire.

©2023 Los Angeles Times.

There’s another wildfire burning in Hawaii. This one is destroying irreplaceable rainforest on Oahu.

No one was injured and no homes burned, but the flames wiped out irreplaceable native forestland that’s home to nearly two dozen fragile species.

An Army helicopter douses a wildfire burning east of Mililani, Oahu, Hawaii, on Nov. 2.

Dan Dennison / Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources via AP

Nov. 12, 2023
By The Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — A wildfire burning in a remote Hawaii rainforest is underscoring a new reality for the normally lush island state just a few months after a devastating blaze on a neighboring island leveled an entire town and killed at least 99 people.

No one was injured and no homes burned in the latest fire, which scorched mountain ridges on Oahu, but the flames wiped out irreplaceable native forestland that’s home to nearly two dozen fragile species. And overall, the ingredients are the same as they were in Maui’s historic town of Lahaina: severe drought fueled by climate change is creating fire in Hawaii where it has almost never been before.

“It was really beautiful native forest,” said JC Watson, the manager of the Koolau Mountains Watershed Partnership, which helps take care of the land. He recalled it had uluhe fern, which often dominate Hawaii rainforests, and koa trees whose wood has traditionally been used to make canoes, surfboards and ukuleles.

“It’s not a full-on clean burn, but it is pretty moonscape-looking out there,” Watson said.

The fact that this fire was on Oahu’s wetter, windward side is a “red flag to all of us that there is change afoot,” said Sam ’Ohu Gon III, senior scientist and cultural adviser at The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii.

The fire mostly burned inside the Oahu Forest National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to 22 species listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S. government. They include iiwi and elepaio birds, a tree snail called pupu kani oe and the Hawaiian hoary bat, also known as opeapea. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge, does not know yet what plants or wildlife may have been damaged or harmed by the fire, spokesperson Kristen Oleyte-Velasco said.

The fire incinerated 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) since first being spotted on Oct. 30 and was 90% contained as of Friday. Officials were investigating the cause of the blaze roughly 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Honolulu.

The flames left gaping, dark bald spots amid a blanket of thick green where the fire did not burn. The skeletons of blackened trees poked from the charred landscape.

The burn area may seem relatively small compared to wildfires on the U.S. continent, which can raze hundreds of square miles. But Hawaii’s intact native ecosystems aren’t large to begin with, especially on smaller islands like Oahu, so even limited fires have far-reaching consequences.

One major concern is what plants will grow in place of the native forest.

Hawaii’s native plants evolved without encountering regular fires and fire is not part of their natural life cycle. Faster-growing non-native plants with more seeds tend to sprout in place of native species afterward.

Watson said an Oahu forest near the latest fire had uluhe ferns, koa trees and ohia trees before a blaze burned less than a square mile of it 2015. Now the land features invasive grasses that are more fire-prone, and some slow-growing koa.

A much larger 2016 fire in the Waianae mountains on the other side of Oahu took out one of the last remaining populations of a rare tree gardenia, said Gon.

There are cultural losses when native forest burns. Gon recalled an old Central Oahu story about a warrior who was thrown off a cliff while battling an enemy chief. His fall was stopped by an ohia tree, another plant common in the incinerated area. Feathers from Hawaii’s forest birds were once used to make cloaks and helmets worn by chiefs.

Watson’s organization is coordinating with the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct initial surveys of the damage. They’ll devise a restoration plan that will include invasive species control and planting native species. But there are limits to what can be done.

“It’ll never be able to be returned to its previous state within our lifetimes,” Watson said. “It’s forever changed, unfortunately.”

The Mililani Mauka fire — named after the area near where the fire began — burned in the Koolau mountains. These mountains are on Oahu’s wetter, windward side because they trap moisture and rain that move across the island from the northeast.

But repeated and more prolonged episodes of drought are making even the Koolaus dry. Gon expects more frequent Koolau fires in the future.

“There has been a huge uptick in the last 10 years, largely in Waianae range, which is the western and drier portion of the island,” Gon said. “But now we’re seeing fires in the wet section of the island that normally doesn’t see any fires at all.”

Hawaii fires are almost always started by humans so Gon said more needs to be done to raise awareness about prevention. Native forests could be further protected with buffer zones by planting less flammable vegetation in former sugarcane and pineapple plantation lands often found at lower elevations, he said.

Many of these now-fallow fields sprout dry, invasive grasses. Such grasses fueled the blaze that raced across Lahaina in August, highlighting their dangers. The cause of that fire is still being investigated, but it may have been sparked by downed power lines that ignited dry grass. Winds related to a powerful hurricane passing to the south helped spread the blaze, which destroyed more than 2,000 buildings and homes for some 8,000 people.

The fire is likely to affect Oahu’s fresh water supply, though this is challenging to measure. Oahu’s 1 million residents and visitors get their drinking water from aquifers, but it usually takes decades for rain to seep through the ground to recharge them. Native forests are the best at absorbing rain so the disappearance of high-quality forest is certain to have some effect, Watson said.

State officials are seeking additional funding from the Legislature next year for updated firefighting equipment, firebreaks, new water sources for fire suppression, replanting native trees and plants, and seed storage.

Firefighters and rain last week finally tamped down the Oahu blaze, but Gon urged action now “to make sure that it doesn’t turn into yearly fires nibbling away at the source of our water supply.”