Filipino American nurse wins $41 million retaliation lawsuit against Kaiser

Michelle De Pacina
Thu, December 14, 2023 



[Source]

Filipino American nurse Maria Gatchalian has won a $41.49 million lawsuit against her former employer, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.

The court’s rule: On Monday, the Los Angeles Superior Court panel ruled in favor of Gatchalian and awarded her $11.49 million in compensatory damages, including $9 million for emotional distress and $30 million in punitive damages.

What happened: After three decades of service as a registered and charge nurse for the Woodland Hills Kaiser Permanente Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Los Angeles, Gatchalian was terminated in 2019 over a minor policy violation.

Gatchalian filed a lawsuit in April 2021, asserting that her termination was in retaliation for raising concerns about the quality of care and patient safety, primarily due to alleged understaffing at Kaiser.

Kaiser’s claim: Kaiser maintained that Gatchalian allegedly placed her bare feet on a medical device for sick or premature newborns. The defense argued that her conduct was unacceptable, especially as she was a charge nurse. Kaiser claimed to have lost confidence in her and made the decision to terminate her.

The trial: During the trial, witnesses supported claims of understaffing at the facility. Gatchalian’s lawyer, David deRubertis, argued that staffing issues in healthcare are linked to care quality. The lawsuit alleged Kaiser discouraged formal complaints using the standard procedure about patient safety and quality, aiming to avoid investigation.

“Maria had the courage to speak up about patient safety but Kaiser tried to silence her,” deRubertis told Inquirer.net. “This diligent jury spoke in a loud and clear voice telling Kaiser that it needs to put patients over profits.”

Fired Kaiser nurse spoke up for patient safety, lawsuit says. Now she’s awarded $41M

Julia Marnin
Thu, December 14, 2023
1

A nurse’s 30-year career at a Los Angeles Kaiser Permanente hospital ended when she was fired after speaking up about patient safety and quality of care concerns, according to a lawsuit.

Nearly two years after her firing in June 2019, Maria Gatchalian sued Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. for wrongful termination.

Now, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury has sided with Gatchalian — finding Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center fired her in retaliation, the deRubertis Law Firm, which represents Gatachlian, announced in a Dec. 12 news release.

A jury has awarded Gatchalian $11.49 million in compensatory damages, including $9 million for emotional distress, and $30 million in punitive damages — totaling more than $41 million, according to the jurors’ verdict forms.

“Maria had the courage to speak up about patient safety but Kaiser tried to silence her,” David deRubertis, Gatchalian’s lead trial attorney based in Beverly Hills, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente plans to appeal the jury’s decision, Murtaza Sanwari, the senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills/West Ventura County, told McClatchy News in a statement on Dec. 14.

“The allegations in this lawsuit are at odds with the facts we showed in the courtroom,” Sanwari said.

Concerns about safety, harassment and understaffing

Kaiser hired Gatchalian, who was 63 when she filed her lawsuit, as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse in February 1989, according to her lawsuit.

At the time of her firing, she was the NICU charge nurse after her promotion to the position in February 2006, a complaint says.

In 2017, Gatchalian learned a patient’s father had a knife with him when he visited the hospital’s NICU and that her supervisor was aware of it but didn’t alert staff, according to the complaint.

After Gatchalian brought this to the attention of the NICU director and the hospital’s union president, her supervisor began to “routinely harass, micro-manage, retaliate, and intimidate” her, the complaint says.

Gatchalian also became concerned about the NICU’s lack of staffing “in addition to (her supervisor’s) harassment,” according to the complaint.

As she repeatedly spoke out about patient safety and care concerns, particularly due to understaffing, the hospital’s management “discouraged” her from making formal complaints, the news release said.

At trial, Gatchalian’s lawyers argued Kaiser didn’t want her to make formal complaints because an investigation could follow and potentially highlight understaffing issues, according to the news release.

During court proceedings, different witnesses testified about staffing issues at the Woodland Hills hospital, the news release said.

In October, 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees nationwide went on strike over understaffing and pay, The Associated Press reported. understaffing is hurting patient care walked off the job in five states and the District of Columbia, kicking off a major health care worker strike.

Kaiser contends nurse fired over policy violation

In 2019, Kaiser used a “false” pretext for firing Gatchalian, according to her lawsuit.

In April of that year, Gatchalian’s feet were seen resting on an isolette, an incubator that protects newborn babies from germs, according to the complaint.

This was the reason given for her firing, the complaint says.

However, Gatchalian maintains her termination was for different reasons, including for “retaliatory purposes,” according to the complaint.

Sanwari told McClatchy News that Gatchalian’s position as charge nurse “was to be a leader for other nurses, ensure the standards of care were followed and to protect the neonatal babies entrusted to our care.”

“She was found sitting in a recliner in the neonatal intensive care unit, on her personal phone and resting her bare feet on an isolette with a neonatal infant inside,” Sanwari said.

This “may have created risk to the infant which could have been life threatening,” Sanwari added. “Her actions were egregious and in violation of our infection control policies and standards.”

“We stand by her termination and are surprised and disappointed in the verdict,” Sanwari said.

According to her attorneys, the isolette incident was Gatchalian’s only violation of hospital policy in her yearslong career.

In regards to the jury’s verdict, deRubertis said “this diligent jury spoke in a loud and clear voice telling Kaiser that it needs to put patients over profits.”

Discovery inside unearthed bottle would’ve shocked the scientist who buried it in 1879

Kylie Martin, 

USA TODAY NETWORK
Thu, December 14, 2023 

MSU plant researchers looking in a hole for the bottle containing seeds buried by William J. Beal in 1879.

In 1879, botanist William J. Beal filled 20 bottles with soil and seeds and buried them on what is now Michigan State University’s campus grounds. In April 2021, the 16th bottle was unearthed, and its seeds were planted. Now, MSU scientists have discovered not all the seeds were quite what they seemed to be.

Despite being one of the oldest scientific experiments in the world, the Beal Seed Experiment continues to surprise researchers. More than two years after the latest dig, plant biologists used molecular genetic testing to find that one of the seeds was unknowingly a viable hybrid between two species — a discovery that would’ve shocked Beal, who buried the bottles decades before the world knew that DNA existed.

Beal intended his experiment to examine seed longevity, how long seeds can remain dormant within soil and still sprout when exposed to favorable conditions. While Beal’s original purpose still holds up, the experiment has become more relevant to ecology and evolutionary biology, particularly in conserving rare species as well as ecosystem restoration by preserving native species and ridding invasive species.
History of the Beal Seed Experiment

In 1879, Beal was a botany professor at Michigan Agricultural College, which later became Michigan State University. Per MSU’s land-grant agreement, Beal was on a mission to help farmers increase their crop production by eliminating weeds. In a time before herbicides and GMOs, Beal decided to conduct an experiment to investigate how long unwanted seeds can remain viable while buried deep within the soil.

Beal filled 20 narrow-necked glass bottles with sandy soil and 50 seeds from 23 common weed species. He buried the 20 bottles in a line, upside down and open to protect the seeds from water while allowing them to experience other natural conditions, like temperature and humidity. Then, he recorded their secret location on a map so that he could return every five years to unearth one bottle and test the seeds’ viability by attempting to grow them.

David Lowry holds the Beal Bottle, to continue the seed germination study, first done over 140 years ago.

He continued the experiment this way until he retired in 1910 and decided to hand the top-secret experiment to another academic, MSU botany professor H.T. Darlington. In 1920, under Darlington’s control, he decided to extend the interval from five years to 10 years between digs to help prolong the study.

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Most seeds lost viability within the first 60 years of the experiment, but others like Verbascum blattaria — more commonly known as moth mullein –— consistently persisted. In the time that the experiment was traded off to three other scientists — G. P. Steinbauer in 1960 and Drs. A. Kivilaan and R.S. Bandurski from 1970 to 1980 — the seeds still persevered. In 1980, the scientists decided to prolong the study once more with 20-year intervals between digs, lengthening the eventual end date when all bottles have been unearthed to 2100.

Associate professor Lars Brudvig digs for the Beal Bottle, to continue the seed germination study, first done by Wiiliam J. Beal, over 140 years ago.

By 2000, the experiment had fallen into the hands of MSU professor Jan Zeevaart and plant biologist and associate professor Frank Telewski. They repeated Beal’s experiment per usual: Dig up the 121-year-old bottle, plant the seeds and see whether they germinate. And germinate they did … except something didn’t look quite right.

Of the 1,150 seeds in the bottle, 25 seedlings of moth mullein germinated, but two of the plants looked a little odd to the scientists. They began to theorize that the plants were hybrids of two different species of mullein plants, but at the time, they didn’t have the technology to confirm or deny it.

The 2021 dig

In 2021, Telewski had become the leader of the experiment and recruited associate professor of plant biology David Lowry. Soon after, their team was joined by assistant professor Marjorie Weber, associate professor Lars Brudvig and molecular biologist Margaret Fleming.

The dig was supposed to have occurred in 2020 but due to complications from the coronavirus pandemic, the scientists chose to push the dig back a year to maintain the integrity of the experiment in being performed in a lab setting.

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Finally, the five scientists and a recent addition, evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski, set out to find Beal’s 16th bottle in April 2021. They worked in the middle of the night, under the shadow of darkness, as to prevent other bottles being prematurely exposed to light and to maintain the secrecy of the bottles’ location. After nearly two hours of complications with the map and digging, the team unearthed one of the 142-year-old bottles and took it back to their “growth chamber,” a climate-controlled laboratory on MSU’s campus.

Frank Telewski, curator of the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden and Campus Arboretum, spread seeds,from the Beal Bottle, in a tray in th growth lab.

The contents of the bottle were spread out on a tray of sterile potting soil, watered and left to grow. Seven days later and much to the pleasant surprise of the scientists, moth mullein sprouts poked their leaves through the soil once again.
Recent discovery

As the 20 viable plants continued to grow, one began to look slightly different from the others, just as the two did during the 2000 dig.

Fleming was already conducting a secondary experiment on the seeds that didn’t sprout to test their DNA and see just “how dead” they actually were, but using the same technology, they were able to sequence the plants’ genomic DNA to finally confirm their species.

They found that their thoughts in the 2000 dig had been right: Each of the odd-looking plants was a hybrid between Verbascum blattaria, or moth mullein, and Verbascum thaspus also called “common mullein.” The team went further to test the two disparate plants that were saved from the 2000 dig and found that those two plants were the same Verbascum hybrids.

Verbascum blattaria seedlings, a weed commonly called moth mullein, germinated from the 140-year-old Beal Seed experiment, in the growth chamber.

“In the 140-plus years since the experiment’s start, the question of seed bank longevity has gained new relevance, including for rare species conservation and ecosystem restoration; for example, prairie plantings on former farmland,” Brudvig said in a news release. “Our findings help to inform which plant species, like Verbascum, might be problematic weeds for a restoration project like this, and which other species may not, depending on how long a field was farmed before being restored.”

The report of their most recent findings with the hybrid seeds was published to the American Journal of Botany on Oct. 9, 2023.

Now, with just four bottles left of the experiment, who knows what new findings and additional discoveries Beal's seeds will bring?

“The Beal experiment will ultimately end when we run out of bottles,” Lowry said in the news release. “If seeds germinate again from our next dig, we may need to consider extending the time between bottle extractions to every 30 years. It’s still a little early to put it on my calendar, but I am looking forward to seeing if we can wake up any more seeds in 2040.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Scientists dig up hidden, buried bottles from Beal Seed Experiment

CANADA GROCERY PRICE GOUGING 

'Distressing': Empire facing 'ridiculous' cost increases from major suppliers, says CEO

Alicja Siekierska
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Empire CEO says major suppliers are asking for 'ridiculous' cost increases. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy) (The Canadian Press)

Empire's (EMP-A.TO) chief executive says the grocery chain is facing "ridiculous" cost increase requests from some of its largest suppliers, something that could result in "a few holes" on grocery store shelves in the new year.

Michael Medline, chief executive of the parent company of Sobeys, Safeway and Farm Boy and other grocery retailers, said on Thursday that the company has received cost increase requests from "several big multinational (consumer packaged goods)" companies for February. He called the price increase requests "distressing" and "ridiculous."

"They just can't be justified. Inflationary times are not an excuse to pass every single rising cost on to grocers, and more importantly to Canadians," Medline said on a conference call with analysts on Thursday, adding that "this was not the way business was conducted before these inflationary times."

"We have instructed our national sourcing team to be even tougher on this latest round of cost increase requests. We will not take unfair cost increases and pass them on to Canadians. It's not the right thing to do, and if that results in a few holes on our shelves, we believe that Canadians will more than understand."

Medline says Empire may try to keep costs down through the expanded use of its in-house, private label brands, where the company has "greater visibility and control over prices."

Food prices have remained stubbornly high in Canada and above headline inflation, although growth has been gradually slowing in recent months as inflation cools. Canada's annual inflation rate fell to 3.1 per cent in November, with food price growth slipping to an annual rate of 5.4 per cent.

The persistently high prices have led to increased scrutiny and public blame on Canada's grocery chains, including Empire. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne met with the top executives from Canada’s biggest grocery chains earlier this year to discuss efforts to stabilize food prices.
Standing firm

Medline says Empire has submitted a detailed plan to Champagne to stabilize food prices, and the company has taken "further actions" to narrow the gap between the Consumer Price Index and food inflation, although he did not provide additional details.

"As I said to our supplier partners, I've got to emphasize that all key players in the foodsupply chain have a role to play in stabilizing food prices, not only grocery retailers," Medline said.

"I don't know how this is going to end ... we've said all along we'll take fair cost increases. We will not take unfair cost increases and pass them on to Canadians."

Loblaw (L.TO) had said earlier this year that it was facing cost increases from its food suppliers, including multinational consumer packaged goods companies. The grocery retailer says as of May, the cost increases from suppliers totalled nearly $1 billion.

Medline's comments came as the company saw its adjusted profit slip to $178.3 million, or 71 cents per share, in the second quarter of the year, compared to $189.9 million, or 73 cents per share, during the same period last year. Total sales increased to $7.75 billion, up from $7.64 billion last year.

Empire shares fell more than 9 per cent in the wake of the quarterly results. They were trading at $35.31 per share mid-afternoon on Thursday, a drop of more than 9 per cent compared to Wednesday's close.

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

Hundreds of protesters swarm Trudeau event in Vancouver to call for end to military support for Israel


CBC
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Hundreds of protesters calling for Canada to end all military support for Israel gathered outside a downtown Vancouver hotel where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was speaking Thursday evening. (CBC News - image credit)

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the downtown Vancouver hotel where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was speaking Thursday night to pressure him to cut off Canadian military support for Israel.

Dozens of demonstrators lay under white sheets outside the Westin Bayshore hotel in Coal Harbour, where Trudeau was speaking at a private Liberal Party fundraiser.

Surrounding those on the ground, several hundred more were seen waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for a "Free Palestine."

On social media, demonstrators said the so-called "die-in" was meant to represent the thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war. More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, since Israel launched a siege on the enclave on Oct. 7 in response to attacks by Hamas that killed close to 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.

Dozens of demonstrators under white sheets staged a "die-in" outside the hotel, meant to represent the more than 18,700 Palestinians killed by Israel's siege in Gaza since Oct. 7.

Dozens of demonstrators under white sheets staged a 'die-in' Thursday, meant to represent the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel's siege in Gaza since Oct. 7. (CBC News)

A CBC News reporter on scene in Vancouver said it appeared there were close to 1,000 people at Thursday's protest. CBC News has reached out to Vancouver police for more information.

The demonstration was organized in part by the group Independent Jewish Voices and included a menorah lighting to mark the eighth and final night of Hannukah. The group and several allied organizations called for Trudeau to act on the recent United Nations resolution, which Canada-supported, for a permanent ceasefire and for "an end to the occupation of Palestine."

Independent Jewish Voices is a grassroots organization that advocates for "justice and peace for all" in Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to its website.

Russia's new Black Sea naval base alarms Georgia

Rayhan Demytrie in Tbilisi and Paul Brown and Joshua Cheetham in London - BBC News
Tue, December 12, 2023 

Two images side-by-side comparing an area of the Georgia coast in February 2022 and December 2023. The December 2023 image shows structures that are not in the February 2022 image.

In early November, 50 Georgian opposition MPs addressed Nato and EU member states calling for a unified stance against Russia's plan to establish a permanent naval base in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.

The Kremlin's plans have raised fears that the base could drag EU-hopeful Georgia into Russia's war in Ukraine and harm Tbilisi's own plans for a port on the Black Sea.

"We unanimously and firmly condemn Russia's occupation, militarisation and other actions aimed at annexation of the occupied regions of Georgia, a new expression of which is the opening of a permanent Russian naval base in Ochamchire port," read the MPs' statement.

Weeks earlier Abkhazia's de facto leader, Aslan Bzhania, had confirmed an agreement had been signed with the Kremlin on a permanent naval base in the Black Sea port of Ochamchire.

Abkhazia is internationally recognised as part of Georgia, but it has been under the control of Russian and separatist forces since the 1990s.

Georgia's foreign ministry has condemned Russia's plan as "a gross violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia", although authorities in Tbilisi have played down the significance of the permanent naval base, describing it as not an imminent threat.

"Even if they start constructing the base in Ochamchire, it will take them at least three years," Nikoloz Samkharadze, the head of Georgia's Foreign Relations Committee told the BBC. "We are concentrated on imminent threats, and not on threats that might come in the future."

He says the government is more focused on Georgian citizens being killed or kidnapped by Russian forces near the line of occupation that separates Georgia from its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"We do not observe any moves to start construction in Ochamchire."

Map of Georgia

BBC Newsnight and Verify have analysed satellite imagery that indicates new dredging and construction work at the port, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to Abkhazia's de facto administration, that dredging work meant Ochamchire could now host larger cargo ships with a displacement volume of up to 13,000 tonnes.

Ukraine's intelligence agency claims the work is to enable battleships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet to use Ochamchire as a safe harbour.

If Russia were to use Ochamchire to attack Ukraine or if Ukraine chose to target Russian naval boats there, then Georgia would become party to the war, says Natia Seskuria of the Royal United Services Institute.

"If Putin needs Georgia to be involved or in some ways be dragged in this war, he will do it if it's in his interests and he has all the capabilities to put pressure on Georgia, unfortunately," she said.

Not only does that play into Georgian fears of being sucked into the war, but there are concerns that Tbilisi's own plans for a mega-infrastructure project on the Black Sea coast could be impeded.

A deep sea port in Anaklia is the nearest Georgian town to Russian-controlled Abkhazia.

The Anaklia project is seen as vital for boosting commerce along the so-called Middle Corridor, the fastest route to deliver cargo between Asia and Europe.

The route avoids using Russia as a land conduit, and the World Bank has estimated that it could halve travel times and triple trade volumes by 2030.

The Anaklia project could drastically speed up freight travel times by the end of the decade

The Kremlin has long opposed it as a US project and Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has claimed that US navy submarines would be able to dock there.

But while Georgia has a broadly pro-EU population, its government has a complex relationship with Moscow.

In 2020 the Georgian government cancelled a contract to build the deep-sea port, which had been awarded to a consortium backed by Western banks and investors.

Mamuka Khazaradze, who led the original Anaklia Development Consortium, says the government in Tbilisi derailed the port's development to appease Moscow.

"The biggest problem we have with this government [is] they are serving Russian interests, because Anaklia is not in the Russian interest to be built," he said. And he said that the proof of it was the Russian base being built only 30km (18 miles) up the Black Sea coast.

His consortium has taken the Georgian government to international arbitration.

"We dredged five million cubic metres of sand, 11 metres deep. We put in 3,500km of pipes," said Mr Khazaradze who heads the opposition party Lelo.

The Georgian government has insisted the deep-sea port plan will be revived, and the winning bid will be announced shortly.

Georgia's electorate is widely pro-EU, but its government has a complex relationship with Moscow

Nikoloz Samkharadze, who chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, said accusations that his government was pro-Russian were "absurd".

"How on Earth can a pro-Russian government sign an association agreement with the European Union, get a visa-free regime with the European Union, and candidate status for the European Union?" Mr Samkharadze said.

But he said Tbilisi was obliged to tread carefully with its northern neighbour.

"We have had three wars with Russia in the past 30 years. We do not have the Nato security umbrella. We do not have the EU's economic solidarity."

He suggested Russia was using Ochamchire to threaten Georgia over its ambitions to join the EU.

A final decision on Georgia's bid for EU candidate status is expected from European leaders at their December summit this week.

"Russians… always use the best timing in order to undermine first Georgia's stability, and second Georgia's quest for European integration," he said.

"They try to show to our European and American partners that they are masters in the South Caucasus, so they can do whatever they want."

Additional reporting by Robin Forestier-Walker

Japanese architect brings example of 'paper tube home' to Maui

Nina Wu, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Tue, December 12, 2023

Dec. 12—A renowned Japanese architect has brought an example of a quick-build home for displaced fire survivors to Maui.

A renowned Japanese architect has brought an example of a quick-build home for displaced fire survivors to Maui.

Shigeru Ban, who is known for building emergency housing using recyclable paper tubes for disaster survivors worldwide—from Japan to Rwanda, Turkey and New Zealand—was in Hawaii last week to help build a prototype at in Paia, Maui.

"We wanted everyone to see the possibility of it, " said Yayoi Hara of the Lahaina Jodo Mission, "which is why it's so exciting."

Hara and her sister Maya, daughters of the mission's Rev. Gensho Hara, invited Ban to Maui because they believe the homes offer a sustainable solution during a time of crisis.

The 20-by-12-foot home is constructed from cardboard paper tubes that form its structural frame, along with plywood for the floor and walls. It has a covered roof and a few windows, and sits atop a foundation of weighed-down crates.

The missions collaborated with Ban and his nonprofit Volunteer Architects' Network, local firm Hawaii Off Grid Architecture and Engineering, Pacific Millworks and the University of Hawaii to build the home in just three days.

Hara said many fire survivors are still seeking stability and a place to live without the constant anxiety of not knowing when they have to move again or being shuffled from one hotel room to another.

While the county has for short-term vacation rental owners to rent to survivors long term, and other shelter projects are in the works, progress has been slow.

"The reality is, I think, for a lot of people on the grassroots level—we're motivated to come up with solutions, " said Hara, "because the county's response has lacked urgency to provide displaced families with stability so we can begin the long road of recovery."

She understands this firsthand, as she and her parents lost their longtime family home, along with the historic Buddhist temple at Lahaina, to the fires on Aug. 8.

On that fateful afternoon, Hara watched as a cloud of smoke approached their home.

At the time, she thought sheltering in place was the best choice, given that the 2.8-acre grounds had a large, grassy area next to the ocean.

But as winds intensified and embers rained down, she looked at her parents and the residents and decided they needed to evacuate immediately.

She was going to stay, but her 8-year-old daughter refused to leave without her. In that moment she gave in, jumped in the car and left with the others.

Hours later the fire would take at least 100 lives and burn down virtually all of Lahaina town, leveling pretty much every structure at the mission, including eight rental units for low-income families.

The mission's bronze bell and 12-foot Amida Buddha statue are all that remain.

For Hara the No. 1 long-term issue fire survivors are grappling with is housing, but she is concerned with how to build it without putting more waste in the landfill. After searching, Ban's quick-build, low-cost solution seemed like a good fit for Hawaii.

Maya Hara reached out to Ban in mid-October, and he responded immediately.

Ban arrived Dec. 4 with 11 of his architecture students, who hit the ground running. They had lunch, then got to work and, with some help from UH architecture students, completed the prototype by late Wednesday.

Ban, a Pritzker Prize winner, also spoke Thursday evening at UH Manoa's School of Architecture.

"The beauty of this design is the materials are inexpensive and readily available, " said Hara.

It is simple yet functional, and easy to assemble and take apart, she said, and can easily be expanded. A local contractor can add a bathroom or small kitchen.

Afterward, the materials can be recycled or upcycled—or, in some instances, relocated to another site.

Yayoi Hara said it offers an example of what can be accomplished, and she hopes county officials will grant needed permits for the project.

To see it completed so quickly, she said, was uplifting, giving her a sense of hope.

At a TEDx talk in Tokyo, Ban said he felt compelled as an architect to design homes for people in the wake of disasters around the world, rather than just for the privileged.

He began testing recyclable paper tubes as a potential building material in the mid-'80s to avoid industrial waste, before sustainability became hip. He found they were stronger than expected, easy to waterproof and possible to fireproof.

The Maui prototype is based on a "paper log house " Ban created earlier for earthquake survivors in Turkey, Morocco and other parts of Asia.

For a competition in Korea, he showcased this same house but used "hanji, " or traditional Korean paper, in honeycomb boards for the door and windows. Each home can be adapted to a particular place.

Ban has also built other structures based on paper tubes, including an elaborate expo pavilion, a school and churches.

In 2013 he built a temporary cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, capable of holding 700 occupants out of paper tubes and 20-foot shipping containers, following an earthquake there. The cathedral's high, triangular ceiling, accentuated by a stained-glass window, allows in plenty of natural light.

Some structures, meant to be temporary, still stand, as is the case with the "paper dome " church built after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, that has since been relocated to Taiwan, where it has become a tourist attraction.

The Haras said Ban plans to return to help them rebuild the temple and community center at Lahaina Jodo Mission, once debris has been officially cleared away.

"He feels like after a disaster one of the main things the community needs is to be able to come together, " said Yayoi Hara. "Really, he's so creative in his solutions. He really is looking at post-­disaster relief on a very human level."

SHIGERU BAN 'PAPER TUBE HOME' PROJECT—To view the prototype at Rinzai Zen Mission, make an appointment by contacting Kosen Haga, .—Donations for the project can be made to the Voluntary Architects' Network, a nongovernmental organization, at.

GM still planning to end gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035 -- CEO

David Shepardson
Wed, December 13, 2023 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Wednesday the Detroit automaker still plans on moving to all electric vehicle sales by 2035 even as it has recently delayed some EV production.

"Our plan is to only be selling EVs, light-duty EVs at that time but of course we're going to be responsive to where the customer is at but we have a plan to do that," Barra told reporters after an appearance at the Washington Economic Club.

GM in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024 as it delays production of electric pickup trucks at its plant in Michigan's Orion Township by a year. GM also in October scrapped a $5 billion plan to jointly develop affordable EVs with Honda Motor.

The Biden administration is pursuing aggressive vehicle emissions regulations and Barra said they must be achievable.

"I think we're in a good position with the number of EVs that we have that we're launching," Barra said Wednesday. "I think we just need to make sure that the regulations stay aligned with where the customer is, the charging has to be there."

The American Automotive Policy Council, representing GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis, in October urged regulators to halve its proposed fuel economy increases from 4% to 2% annually for trucks, saying the proposal "would disproportionately impact the truck fleet."

U.S. automakers separately have warned fuel economy fines would cost GM $6.5 billion, Stellantis billion and Ford $1 billion. Reuters reported in June GM paid $128.2 million in fines covering 2016 and 2017, the first time the automaker had paid fuel economy penalties.

Automakers also have raised alarm at the Energy Department's proposal to significantly revise how it calculates the petroleum-equivalent fuel economy rating for EVs. Barra met with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and raised the issue, sources told Reuters.

GM said in October it could support the administration's fuel economy proposal if the Energy Department rescinded its petroleum-equivalent proposal.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

Trump says he would renege on $3 billion US pledge for Green Climate Fund

Wed, December 13, 2023 
By Nathan Layne

CORALVILLE, Iowa (Reuters) - Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Wednesday that if elected he would renege on a $3 billion U.S. pledge to a global fund meant to help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to climate change.

The pledge was announced by Vice President Kamala Harris this month in Dubai at the U.N. COP28 climate summit, although it is subject to the politically divided U.S. Congress, which must authorize the release of funds.


Trump, who has made attacking the administration of President Joe Biden's investments in renewable energy a core part of his campaign message, said he was opposed to what he called "climate reparations" to other countries.

A campaign aide confirmed that Trump was referring to the $3 billion U.S. pledge to the Green Climate Fund.

"When I am back in office all climate reparation payments will be canceled immediately," Trump said at a campaign event in Coralville, Iowa, adding he would seek to "claw back" any payments made by the Biden administration.

Trump leads his rivals for the Republican nomination by nearly 50 percentage points in national opinion polls, meaning he is likely to face Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, in the November 2024 election.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Coralville, Iowa; Editing by Gerry Doyle)


What was agreed on climate change at COP28 in Dubai?

Mark Poynting - Climate and environment researcher, BBC News
Wed, December 13, 2023 

A tram with the words 'hello Dubai' passes in front of the Dubai skyline.


World leaders have reached a new agreement to tackle climate change at a big UN meeting in Dubai.

The summit followed a year of extreme weather events in which many climate records were broken.
What was COP28 and where was it?

COP28 was the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change.

The summit took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was scheduled to last from 30 November to 12 December 2023, but overran by a day.

A really simple guide to climate change


Four ways climate change affects extreme weather
What does COP stand for?

COP stands for "Conference of the Parties", where the "parties" are the countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992.
Why was holding COP28 in Dubai controversial?

The UAE is one of the world's top 10 oil-producing nations.

It appointed Sultan al-Jaber, chief executive of the state-owned oil company, as COP28 president.

Sultan al-Jaber's appointment was widely criticised

Oil - like gas and coal - is a fossil fuel. These are the main causes of climate change because they release planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide when burned for energy.

Mr Jaber's oil company is expected to rapidly expand production this decade.

Documents leaked to the BBC also suggested the UAE planned to use its role as COP28 host to strike new oil and gas deals.

Mr Jaber previously argued that he was uniquely well-placed to push for action from the oil and gas industry.

He said that as chairman of renewable energy firm Masdar, he had overseen the expansion of clean technologies like wind and solar power.

What was agreed at COP28 about fossil fuels?

For the first time, countries agreed on the need to "transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems".

The text calls for this to be done "in a just, orderly and equitable manner". This is seen as an important recognition that richer countries are expected to move away from coal, oil and gas more quickly.

However, the deal doesn't compel countries to take action, and no timescale is specified.

The COP28 deal was the first to note the need to move away from the fossil fuels that drive global warming

Many groups - including the US, UK, EU and some of the nations which are most vulnerable to climate change - had wanted a more ambitious commitment to "phase out" fossil fuels.

The agreement includes global targets to triple the capacity of renewable energy like wind and solar power, and to double the rate of energy efficiency improvements, both by 2030.

It also calls on countries to accelerate low- and zero-emission technologies like carbon capture and storage.

Examining the impact of COP28's big step forward


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Is the UK on track to meet its climate targets?
Why was COP28 so important?

COP28 came at a crucial time for the key target to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C.

This was agreed by nearly 200 countries at COP21, which was held in Paris in 2015.

The Paris commitment is crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change, according to the UN's climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

However, before the final deal was agreed at COP28, there were warnings that the world is actually on track for around 2.7C of warming by 2100.

Recent progress had not been in line with what was required, the UN said, leaving a "rapidly narrowing" window for action to keep the 1.5C limit in reach.

Five climate change solutions under the spotlight at COP28


What you can do to reduce carbon emissions
Who went to COP28?

Around 200 nations were represented in the talks.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the world leaders to attend the beginning of the summit.

US President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping did not go, but both countries were heavily represented.

King Charles addresses the COP28 summit in Dubai in December 2023

King Charles gave the opening address, warning that humans were carrying out a "vast, frightening experiment" on the planet.

Nearly 100,000 politicians, diplomats, journalists and campaigners registered for the meeting, making it the biggest climate conference ever held.

This included around 2,400 people connected to the coal, oil and gas industries, which underlined concern about the influence of fossil fuel groups.
Will richer countries pay for climate change?

As COP28 got under way, it was announced that the "loss and damage" fund could start handing out money.

The fund was agreed at COP27. The idea is that richer countries - historically the main contributors to warming - pay poorer countries already facing the effects of climate change.

South Sudan is one many developing countries ravaged by the effects of climate change

But the details had remained deeply contested, with wealthy countries like the US reluctant to accept liability for past emissions.

A relatively small amount of money has been pledged so far, but getting the fund up and running is seen as a crucial step in building trust between richer and poorer countries.

Separately, in 2009, developed countries pledged to give $100bn (£80bn) a year to developing countries by 2020, to help them reduce emissions and prepare for climate change.

The target was missed in 2020, but is "likely" to have been met in 2022, according to preliminary data.

The COP28 agreement highlights "the growing gap" between the needs of developing countries and the money provided to cut emissions - but there is no requirement for developed countries to provide more support.
Will COP28 make any difference?

Critics of previous COPs, including campaigner Greta Thunberg, accuse the summits of "greenwashing" - that is, letting countries and businesses promote their climate credentials without actually making the changes needed.

But the summits do offer the potential for global agreements that go beyond national measures.

For example, the 1.5C warming limit, agreed at COP21, has driven "near-universal climate action", according to the UN.

This has helped bring down the level of warming the world can expect - even though the world is still not acting at anywhere near the pace needed to achieve the Paris goals.

Ultimately, the success of COP28 will be determined by the changes the world puts into practice in the years ahead.

Additional reporting by Esme Stallard.

US EPA must do more to ensure captured carbon stays underground -report

Leah Douglas
Wed, December 13, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Petra Nova CCS Facility at NRG Power Plant in Richmond

By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. environment regulator does not sufficiently verify that carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects keep emissions trapped underground and should boost its requirements to ensure companies receiving CCS tax credits provide an actual environmental benefit, a watchdog group said on Thursday.

CCS is a pillar of U.S. President Joe Biden's climate plan, but has been criticized by environmental groups for prolonging the use of fossil fuels. Biden's cornerstone climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, includes lucrative CCS tax credits.

The non-profit group Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) reviewed 21 CCS plans approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and found that the agency does not require any specific monitoring strategies or technologies, that companies wrote their own guidelines for addressing leaks, and that ambiguity within the plans makes them difficult to enforce.

An EPA spokesperson told Reuters the agency is reviewing the report.

Another 61 CCS applications are under review by EPA according to the agency's website, most of which were submitted after the IRA became law. The IRA includes tax credits of $60 per metric ton of carbon captured for a purpose like pushing oil out of aging reservoirs and $85 per ton of carbon captured and permanently stored.

"Before this flood of carbon capture and sequestration projects become operational, EPA needs to enact strong industry regulations that can protect the environment while combating climate change,” said Eric Schaeffer, EIP's executive director, in a statement.

Of the 21 plans reviewed by EIP, 16 are from oil and gas companies, three from ethanol plants, and one each from a coal-fired power plant and a coal gassification plant.

EPA regulates most of the country's so-called Class VI wells where carbon emissions are stored, though some states regulate their own wells.

The ethanol industry is particularly hoping CCS will lower its emissions enough to qualify for lucrative low-emission fuel subsidies.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Josie Kao)

DIANA IS A PAGAN GODDESS

French teachers stage walkout after Muslim students ‘offended’ over Renaissance painting spark safety concerns

Danielle Wallace
Tue, December 12, 2023 

French teachers stage walkout after Muslim students ‘offended’ over Renaissance painting spark safety concerns

French teachers concerned for their safety amid a spate of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists staged a walkout at their Paris-area school Monday after Muslim students complained they were "offended" by a 17th century nude Renaissance painting shown in class and accused their instructor of "Islamophobia."

France Education Minister Gabriel Attal made an in-person visit Monday to the Jacques-Cartier school in Issou to respond to the tension days after the painting, "Diana and Actaeon," by the Italian painter Giuseppe Cesari, was shown in class Thursday.

The painting, held by the Louvre Museum in Paris, depicts a Greek mythology scene from Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses in which the hunter Actaeon bursts into an area where the goddess Diana and her nymphs are bathing in the nude.

"Some students averted their gaze, felt offended, said they were shocked," Sophie Venetitay, a representative from the Snes-FSU teachers union, explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding "some also alleged the teacher made racist comments."

FRANCE CONVICTS 6 TEENS IN CONNECTION WITH TEACHER'S ISLAMIST BEHEADING

Diana and Actaeon, ca 1600-1603. Found in the Collection of Musée du Louvre, Paris. Artist Cesari, Giuseppe (1568-1640).

A parent reportedly wrote the school administration, threatening to file a complaint, claiming his son was prevented from engaging in class discussion objecting to the painting.

The teachers saw that email as the "final straw" after having already complained of working in a "very degraded climate" while receiving a "lack of support" from management despite "several alerts," Venetitay said. In an email to school administration Friday, teachers warned they would stay out of their classrooms this week, describing a "palpable discomfort," and citing "an increase in cases of violence," according to France 24.

On Monday, Attal assured that students responsible for making complaints against the teacher over the painting would face disciplinary action, and a team would be deployed to the school to ensure pupils adhere to the "values of the republic."

French Education and Youth Minister Gabriel Attal speaks during a session on a controversial immigration bill at the National Assembly in Paris Dec. 12, 2023.

France raised its terror alert to the highest level in October amid the Israel-Hamas war after a man of Chechen origin, identified by prosecutors as Mohammed M, and suspected of Islamic radicalization, stabbed teacher Dominique Bernard to death at his former high school and wounded three other people in the northern city of Arras.

PROTESTS OVER FRENCH TEEN’S FATAL STABBING LEAD TO CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN ON ‘FAR-RIGHT'

Last week, six teenagers were convicted in Paris for their roles in the 2020 beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo during a classroom discussion on freedom of expression and secularism.

The publication of the cartoon had triggered a deadly extremist massacre in the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in 2015.

Attendees gather to pay tribute to slain French teachers Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard, whose portraits are hung on Place de la Comedie, in Montpellier, southern France, Oct. 16, 2023.

Paty was savagely murdered outside his Paris-area school by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a young Chechen who had become radicalized. Anzorov was killed by police.

Authorities say one of the teens admitted to lying to her father that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave the classroom before he showed the class the cartoons and said the teacher punished her for accusing him of anti-Muslim sentiment. In fact, she was not in the classroom that day. Other defendants were accused of helping to identify Paty to Anzorov.

People gather on the Place de la Republique to pay their respects to murdered teacher Dominique Bernard Oct. 16, 2023, in Paris.

The girl’s father shared the lies in an online video that called for mobilization against the teacher. Now incarcerated, her father and a radical Islamic activist who helped disseminate virulent messages against Paty are among eight adults who will face a separate trial for adults suspected of involvement in the killing late next year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.