Elon Musk's Tesla is paying for employees to get abortions out of state as the Supreme Court looks likely to overturn Roe v. Wade

Bryan Metzger

Fri, May 6, 2022, 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and protesters outside the Supreme Court this week.Angela Weiss / AFP and Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / The Washington Post via Getty Images

• Tesla began covering costs for its employees to receive out-of-state abortions in 2021.

• The policy came as states like Texas, where Tesla is now based, passed tighter abortion restrictions.

• It puts Elon Musk at odds with his conservative fans as the Supreme Court looks likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Tesla, the electric vehicle company owned by billionaire and soon-to-be Twitter owner Elon Musk, is paying for employees to get out-of-state abortions.

According to the company's 2021 Impact Report, Tesla began providing an "expanded Safety Net program and health insurance offering" last year, which includes "travel and lodging support for those who may need to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their home state."

That came after the company relocated to Texas, where abortion was outlawed after the six-week mark in August 2021.

That policy places Tesla among a growing list of companies that are helping employees access abortion care in the wake of new restrictions passed at the state level, as well as fresh concerns that Roe v. Wade could be overturned next month following the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion doing just that.

And it puts Musk — who's otherwise become a hero among conservatives following his purchase of Twitter last month — at odds with some of his cheerleaders.

Chief among them is Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who introduced a bill this week to prevent companies from making tax deductions for employees' abortion-related travel costs or for gender-affirming care for minors.

"Too often our corporations find loopholes to subsidize the murder of unborn babies or horrific 'medical' treatments on kids," said Rubio in a statement touting the bill. "My bill would make sure this does not happen."

Though Tesla's impact report makes no mention of minors, the company does tout the fact that it has provided "transgender benefits aligned with the clinical protocol set forth by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health" since 2018.

Rubio's bill is part of a long-standing crusade by the one-time 2016 presidential candidate against what he sees as collusion between big business and "Marxism."

"[Corporate leaders] are the product of decades of anti-American indoctrination at our elite universities and they feel no obligation to America or its national interest," said Rubio during a speech last fall. "I'm not here to tell you big business is the enemy. But I'm here to tell you big business is not our ally in the fight against socialism."

But Rubio has also showed cautious optimism for Musk's recent purchase of Twitter, which he said had caused a "meltdown" among the "far left" because they fear "losing the power to threaten, silence and destroy anyone who doesn't agree with them."

Rubio's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Some of the Florida senator's Republican colleagues were even more enthusiastic about Musk's Twitter purchase.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called it the "most important development for free speech in decades," while Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana lauded the purchase as a "clear win for free speech and America."

But while Musk's self-avowed commitment to free speech and seeming disdain for the progressive left has given hope to some conservatives, the tech billionaires' ideology may prove too libertarian for a party increasingly interested in using the power of the state to promote conservative values.

"In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people," wrote Musk in a tweet in September 2021. "That said, I would prefer to stay out of politics."

Feds accuse Starbucks of unfair labor practices in Buffalo


 Michelle Eisen, a barista at the Buffalo, N.Y., Elmwood Starbucks location, helps out the local Starbucks Workers United, employees of a local Starbucks, as they gather at a local union hall to cast votes to unionize or not, on Feb. 16, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz. Federal labor officials filed a sweeping complaint Friday, May 6, 2022 accusing Starbucks of unfair labor practices at its stores in Buffalo, New York, including retaliation against pro-union employees.

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Fri, May 6, 2022,

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Federal labor officials filed a sweeping complaint Friday accusing Starbucks of unfair labor practices at its stores in Buffalo, New York, including retaliation against pro-union employees.

The National Labor Relations Board’s Buffalo regional director outlined a host of labor law violations in a filing seeking reinstatement and backpay for the employees.

There’s been a wave of unionization drives at Starbucks stores nationwide, with the first union votes coming in December at three stores in Buffalo.

The coffee chain called the allegations “false” and vowed to fight them at an upcoming hearing.

“Starbucks does not agree that the claims have merit, and the complaint’s issuance does not constitute a finding by the NLRB,” spokesman Reggie Borges wrote in an email. “It is the beginning of a litigation process that permits both sides to be heard and to present evidence.”

Starbucks Workers United, the group behind the unionization effort, said the complaint “confirms the extent and depravity of Starbucks’ conduct in Western New York for the better part of a year.”

“Starbucks is finally being held accountable for the union-busting rampage they went on,” Danny Rojas, a fired shift supervisor, said in a statement. “Starbucks needs to understand that it is morally corrupt to retaliate against union leaders, and I am looking forward to the NLRB forcing Starbucks to make this moment right.”

Last month, federal labor officials asked a judge to force Starbucks to reinstate three union activists at its Phoenix location, alleging the coffee giant engaged in unfair labor practices.

As of this week, workers at more than 250 U.S. stores have filed petitions with the labor board to hold union elections, labor organizers say. At least 50 of those stores have voted to unionize with Workers United, a branch of the Service Employees International Union.

Starbucks reported Tuesday that its sales climbed to record levels in its fiscal second quarter but noted it faced higher employment costs, which set to grow even higher in the coming months as the company introduces new pay raises and other benefits.

However, workers who have voted to unionize or stores that have petitioned to hold a union election won’t be eligible for those additional wage hikes and benefits.

Starbucks Workers United has said it filed charges with the labor board against Starbucks on Tuesday. The group alleges the company is violating labor law by threatening to exclude unionized stores from receiving the new benefits.

Toilet explodes after freak lightning strike at Oklahoma apartment, firefighters say

Screengrab of Facebook post by Brooke Griffin.

Mitchell Willetts

Sun, May 8, 2022, 9

Toilets can stand up to a lot of things and keep on flushing, but Mother Nature’s wrath is more powerful than even the worst dietary decisions.

A bolt of lightning struck a commode inside an apartment in Oklahoma, causing it to explode into dozens of charred pieces, leaving a blackened wreck around a shattered bowl, photos shared to news outlets by Okmulgee firefighters show.

“The past 12 hours have been a wild ride,” firefighters said in a Facebook post.

Okmulgee firefighters responded to a call from the Oxford Apartments on the night of Wednesday, May 4, a KOTV reporter said in a post.

A “bizarre lightning strike” appeared to have gone through a vent overhead and then struck the toilet, firefighters told KOTV.

While firefighters say an act of God obliterated this commode, commenters have suggested other possibilities, including Taco Bell and Chipotle.

Or perhaps the john was smited?

“Thor decided that was not a throne worthy of a king!” a commenter wrote.

Others are upset by the news, worried that the place they felt safest in their home isn’t as safe as they thought.

“Adds ‘no sitting on toilets during lightning storms in case of electrocution’ to list of unnecessary anxieties,” a comment read.

“Okay, I apologize to my Grandmother (posthumously) for laughing at her when she told me not to use the bathroom during a storm,” read another.

Nobody was living in the apartment, but it was scheduled to be rented out the next day, the KOTV post said.

A farewell to foie gras? There’s a shortage of the fatty favorite in France
Charles Passy - Yesterday 6:53 AM
© Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images


THE MARGIN

Sacre bleu! There’s a foie gras shortage in France.

The fatty, unctuous treat, otherwise known as duck or goose liver, is in short supply throughout the country, according to CNN and other news outlets. The culprit: the bird-flu epidemic that has spread throughout Europe. One report says that France has culled 16 million birds, including ducks, in an effort to curb the disease. And that means far less foie gras to go around.

“This week we got none,” said French chef Pascal Lombard in an interview with CNN. Lombard is the owner of Le 1862, a Michelin-starred restaurant in southwestern France.

Of course, many animal-rights activists might welcome this news. Foie gras has long been a controversial foodstuff, since its production requires the force feeding of ducks or geese (that’s what gets their livers extra fatty). As a result, foie gras has been banned in many places throughout the world. For example, New York City has a ban that’s set to go into effect later this year.

Still, foie gras has its many fans. Marco Moreira, chef and proprietor of Tocqueville, a restaurant in New York, once told the Wall Street Journal that his customers can’t get enough of the stuff.

“Some people will have multiple courses of foie gras,” he said, calling the citywide ban “preposterous.”

Meanwhile, as France contends with the current shortage, Marie-Pierre Pé, who directs a committee of the country’s foie gras producers, told CNN that consumers should think in terms of rationing so that everyone is ensured at least a small taste.

“We have to share with each other,” she said.

Appeals court upholds limit on California's foie gras ban


Jorge Vargas uses a funneled pipe to force-feed a measured dose of corn mush to a Moulard duck in its pen at Sonoma Foie Gras in Farmington, Calif. A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that limits California's 2012 foie gras ban. The court in San Francisco on Friday, May 6, 2022, declined to overturn a ruling the year before that said individual Californians can order the delicacy from out-of-state producers and have it delivered. However, the product can't be produced in California or sold here by restaurants or other businesses. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More


Fri, May 6, 2022, 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Californians can buy foie gras produced out of state despite California's ban on the delicacy, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2020 lower court ruling that said Californians can order foie gras from out-of-state producers and have it sent by a third-party delivery service.

The ruling only applies to people who buy foie gras for individual consumption. The 2012 state law still bans foie gras production in California while restaurants and retailers are forbidden to sell it or give it away.

Foie gras is made from the enlarged livers of force-fed ducks and geese. The Humane Society and other groups supported California’s law, arguing the process constituted cruelty to animals.

Producers argued that the force-feeding process mimicked something that happens in the wild, when ducks and geese overeat to store up extra nutrition for their long annual migration.

The law was challenged by producers, including New York-based Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which said it lost nearly one-third of its total sales when the ban took effect.

They argued that the state law conflicts with interstate commerce and federal food regulations that allow force-feeding for foie gras production.

In a 3-0 ruling, the appellate panel upheld the previous ruling but rejected efforts to overturn the entire law.

Ralph Henry, a lawyer for the Humane Society, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the ruling didn't significantly weaken the law.

“Only a narrow form of transaction — a sale by sellers outside the state, shipping to end-use consumers in the state — is still allowed,” he said in an email.

Lawyers for producers said they would ask the appellate court for a new hearing before a large panel.

Chef Sean Chaney told The Chronicle in a statement that while he considers the law unconstitutional, “I’m also glad that 40 million Californians can continue to enjoy the foie gras products they buy online, and I hope to be able to cook it for them soon again.”

UK
Boris Johnson urged to revive ban on fur, foie gras and hunt trophies



Jane Dalton
Sat, May 7, 2022,

Dozens of the UK’s leading animal charities have written to Boris Johnson asking him to include in the Queen’s speech an earlier promise to ban imports of hunting trophies, fur, foie gras and shark fins.

The measures were in the Animals Abroad Bill, which the government dropped earlier this year in a dramatic U-turn to the anger of campaigners who have devoted years fighting for the changes.

The bill also included a ban on the advertising of cruel tourism activities abroad, such as elephant rides and elephant entertainment venues.

The heads of 38 organisations have joined forces to back the letter, including the RSPCA, the Born Free Foundation, Peta, World Animal Protection, World Horse Welfare, Compassion in World Farming, and Whale & Dolphin Conservation.

The sister of a woman killed at an elephant theme park in Thailand last month told The Independent of her bitter disappointment that the government was shying away from a ban, instead stating it expected tourists to do their own research.

“How do holidaymakers know if you don’t tell them?” asked Helen Costigan.

The Independent previously reported that the various measures were agreed at cabinet level, before Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brandon Lewis and Mark Spencer are thought to have vetoed them – even though the changes were promised in the government’s action plan for animal welfare published last year.

Every year, hunters from the UK travel abroad, often to southern Africa, and pay thousands of pounds to legally shoot animals, such as lions, elephants and even baboons.

They are allowed to bring back body parts such as stuffed heads, paws and horns in a grisly trade that critics say is driving wildlife populations towards extinction.

The last Conservative Party election manifesto included a pledge to ban trophy hunt imports. But according to The Times, Mr Johnson has indeed dropped plans to ban the import and sale of foie gras and fur.

Conservationists have made repeated trips to Westminster to hand in petitions and have meetings with government representatives over the issues of the imports and adverts.

The charities’ latest letter tells the prime minister: “We would welcome the opportunity to meet with your office and discuss the government’s plans and ambitions for animals in the next session and look forward to hearing from you.”

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said: “Boris Johnson made a promise to the people that after Brexit, Britain would become world leaders in animal welfare.

“He can keep that promise by ensuring that the Animals Abroad Bill with proposed bans on cruel fur, foie gras, shark fins and other horrors, is in the Queen’s speech next week.

Protests outside parliament against the dropping of the bill (HSI/UK)

“These bans would stop Britain propping up animal cruelty that is already banned from happening here, such as killing animals for fur fashion, cutting off the fins of sharks for shark fin soup, or force-feeding ducks to the point of morbid obesity to produce a pate.

“We urge the prime minister to stop hesitating on a Bill of which Britain should be proud, and for which Britain would be applauded around the world.”

More than 200,000 people have signed a petition started by television presenter Chris Packham calling for the government to uphold its pledge to ban fur and foie gras, while a separate campaign petition to end fur imports has gathered more than a million signatures.

A crackdown on foie gras was promised in the Queen’s speech this time last year.

The Kept Animals Bill, which bans live exports, keeping primates as pets and tackles puppy smuggling, was postponed in the last parliamentary session and is due to continue its passage into law via a carryover motion in the next.

The government refused to comment on what would be in next week’s Queen’s speech.

A spokesperson said: “This government is firm in its commitment to upholding its world leading standards in animal welfare.

“The Animals (Penalty Notices) Bill, Glue Traps (Offences) Bill and Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill have now received royal assent, further strengthening the UK’s position as a world leader for animal health and welfare now that we have left the EU.”

‘Like frogs in a slowly boiling pot’: How India’s heatwave is only set to get worse


Stuti Mishra
Sun, May 8, 2022

A workers quenches his thirst next to power lines as a heatwave continues to lashes the capital, in New Delhi (AP)

Naresh Ahirwar doesn’t stop working when the midday sun beats down on his construction site on the outskirts of Delhi, amid the sustained heatwave conditions that have afflicted northern India for well over a month. The 56-year-old feeks like he is going to faint with each heavy load he carries in and out of the half-erected building — yet resting out the afternoon is not an option, even as the mercury soars above 40C.

“Earlier I used to carry everything without any problem, now it feels like every step is a struggle and I am going to die here,” says the 56-year-old. “But people like me working on daily wages don’t have an option [to stop].”

Near the construction site, a shopkeeper who sells earthenware pots shuts down his shop during the afternoon and takes shelter from the scorching sun under the tarpaulin sheet that otherwise serves as his store’s roof, even if it means he will not make enough money to get by.

“My products are made for the summer season,” explains Sunil Kumar. “I can’t sit at home for the whole summer, but it is getting impossible to stay through the afternoons.”

No one in Delhi is a stranger to this kind of heat, but temperatures that were once reserved for the two peak summer months now stretch on for much longer. This April was by far the hottest since records began, and a heatwave was declared in northern Indian as early as mid-March. There was a momentary respite for some areas with brief rains at the start of May, but forecasters say the mercury is set to rise again to 45C later this week.

“If it was just about a few weeks in May and June we could be prepared to stay at home, but how do we shut our shops entirely if the heat begins in March and stays on for most of the year?” asks Kumar, a 36-year-old father of four.

A delivery agent with a popular food chain says he dips a cloth in cold water and wears it on his head like a turban when he is driving during the hottest hours, in order to get through the day.

“That gives some respite, but the cloth gets dry within minutes,” says 21-year-old Varun. “We have some financial problems at home, because of which I had to pick up this job. I can’t quit it even though many delivery boys like me have fallen sick in this season.”

A woman uses her bag to protect herself from the sun in New Delhi on Wednesday. (REUTERS)

The heatwave affects India’s poorest the most, but no section of society is completely immune to its impacts. In the densely populated high-rise societies of Noida, a satellite city of Delhi, residents switched on their air conditioners much earlier this year and parents are demanding schools be shut or changed to a different schedule because many children have complained of weakness.

“Summers have been getting worse for several years now, our electricity bills have skyrocketed because the house feels unlivable most of the day. But nobody complained, you get used to It. It’s like being a frog in a slowly boiling pot,” says Vivek Arora, a resident of Greater Noida whose children have been home all week due to heat stress. “But this year feels extraordinarily different.”

Hundreds of millions of people have been affected by the extraordinary heat seen this year in India and neighbouring Pakistan — where some places have seen temperatures as high as 52C. Scientists have been warning that this level of heat has cascading effects, not just on human health, but also on ecosystems, agriculture, water, energy supplies and even key sectors of the economy.

The country is already suffering from an acute energy shortage as demand for electricity increases, landfills have caught fire amid the high temperatures, wheat crops have been destroyed leading to a shortage and prices of lemons — a popular remedy for the heat — have skyrocketed with rising demand.

Delhi fire officials take a break while dousing a fire at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi on Wednesday. (AP)

Government action so far has been limited to advising people to stay inside during afternoons where possible, and a high-level meeting by prime minister Narendra Modi urging states to come up with plans of their own to combat the heatwave.

But scientists say the footprint of climate change is clear to see in these sorts of extreme weather events, and while the heatwave situation has been unprecedented this year, it is only going to be repeated and get worse as the planet warms.

A study by Imperial College London found that climate change has made heatwaves like this year’s much more likely. “Before human activities increased global temperatures, we would have seen the heat that hit India earlier this month around once in 50 years,” says Dr Mariam Zachariah, Research Associate at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College.

“But now it is a much more common event — we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years. And until net emissions are halted, it will continue to become even more common.”

In the coming year, more frequent and long-lasting heatwave events are projected to affect the Indian sub-continent as a result of the warming of the tropical Indian Ocean and the increasing frequency of extreme El Nino events, according to an analysis by the Delhi-based communications initiative Climate Trends.

The impacts of this heatwave have already extended beyond the dusty plains of northern India to ravage the Himalayan region, with forest fires reported in the hilly state of Uttarakhand. But such events will also come to affect verdant southern India, which is currently not influenced by heatwaves, by the end of the 21st century, according to Climate Trends.

Climate scientists say it is essential to work on both mitigation through reducing carbon emissions, and at the same to develop adaptation strategies to provide relief to people already suffering from global warming. If governments are not careful, rushing to solve one side of the equation can risk making things worse in the long term —such as India’s current scramble to acquire more coal to meet its spiking electricity demand during the heatwave.

Experts admit it’s a tough balance to strike. “While taking mitigation measures is a must to limit future warming, the extreme, frequent, and long-lasting spells of heatwaves are no more a future risk. It is already here and is unavoidable,” says Dr Abhiyant Tiwari, an assistant professor and programme manager at the Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management.

“Our heat action plans must ensure adaptation measures like public cooling areas, ensuring uninterrupted electricity, access to safe drinking water, and changing the work hours of labourers for the most vulnerable ones at the bottom of the pyramid, especially during extreme heat days.”

Rickshaw pullers sleep as they wait for the few customers venturing out in Delhi (PA)

While India is set to face some of the worst impacts of climate change, so far only one city, Mumbai, has come up with a net-zero plan aimed at decreasing the city’s emissions and increasing its adaptability. Climate change rarely finds a mention in India’s political discussions even though the country faces year-round challenges, from extreme heat to monsoon flooding.

“During extreme winters, there are at least shelter homes for the poor and the homeless, no matter how poor their conditions are there is roof to cover your head for most people. But during the extreme heat, which we now know is going to stay on for longer, there is no arrangement for daily wage labourers or homeless [people] to find respite,” says Sunil Kumar Aledia of the Centre for Holistic Development, an NGO.

The impact of heat stress on health is also highly undercounted in India, with the country only tracking heatstroke deaths where they are medically certified as having been caused by direct exposure to the sun. As a result, while more than 2,500 were reported dead during a really intense heatwave spell in 2015, only a handful of such deaths are reported in other years. Doctors say prolonged periods of warm nights can prove deadly as they limit the body’s ability to recover from daytime heat — but such fatalities would be unlikely to be counted as heatstroke-related.

Failure to adapt working practices to extreme heat also has a major impact on the economy. A study by Duke University found that India lost 259 billion hours of labour annually between 2001 and 2020 because of the impacts of humid heat.

Activists say the government needs to carry out a fresh vulnerability assessment and work towards combatting heatwaves at a disaster level.

“In countries like Saudi Arabia where temperatures of 50C and above have been witnessed, the government policies aim at providing relief to the masses, including changing work timings to ensure no one has to toll in the afternoons,” says Lubaina Rangwala, programme head at WRI India. “The Indian government needs to draft new policies like that.”

The question of how to adapt to a warming planet is no longer hypothetical when it comes to India — meteorologists say that erratic and unpredictable weather patterns are here now. Prior to the first heatwave declaration of the year on 11 March, northern India had seen an unusually cold winter season, something which itself brings risks to pubic health and infrastructure in a country not used to such lows.

Experts point to several different reasons for this year’s erratic weather, including the disruption of the cooling Western Disturbance — a phenomenon associated with rainfall in India — a heatwave in the Arctic and the La Nina phenomenon. But the underlying cause in all these situations can ultimately be attributed to climate change, they say.

“There is no doubt that extreme heat events are increasing in India,” says Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather Services, a private forecaster. “Global warming has a primary role in this, although there are several other factors at play as well.”

The concern now is that India will continue to break heat records into the summer months, further extending the strain on its energy infrastructure and populace.

“Not only are these heat extremes in India and Pakistan record-setting by far for the month of April, but they’re also setting the stage for further and even more extreme heat waves into May and June, which are already typically hotter months,” says Dr Zachary Zobel, a climate scientist who studies the intersection of climate change and extreme heat and precipitation.

“These patterns are expected to continue, and likely worsen, in the coming years,” Zobel adds. “Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the planet will continue to warm for at least another decade.”

Elizabeth Warren is not happy with America’s banks: ‘They are still squeezing families on overdraft fees’

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing this week to discuss bank overdraft charges

Last Updated: May 6, 2022 
By Zoe Han

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. ‘If Citibank and Capital One can eliminate overdraft fees, so can Chase and BOA and Wells,’ she said Wednesday. AP

The Senate is taking a look at overdraft fees, and how they burden working class families.

Several Senators, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, wrote a letter ahead of the hearing to CEOs of JPMorgan Chase JPM, -0.16%, Bank of America BAC, -0.24% and Wells Fargo WFC, -0.47%, urging them to end overdraft fees.

“Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are making tens of billions of dollars in profits. And yet they are still squeezing families on overdraft fees,” Warren told the hearing. “If Citibank C, +0.60% and Capital One COF, -2.52% can eliminate overdraft fees, so can Chase and BOA and Wells.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Warren helped create, promised a crackdown on overdraft fees last December after a key report by the government agency revealed that banks were making billions of dollars from overdraft fees and other non-sufficient fund fees. The report showed that JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America accounted for 44% of the profits in 2019 made by banks with more than $1 billion in assets over those fees.

“There is a difference between offering a service that will win the hand and offering a service that will kick someone while they’re down,” Chairman Raphael Warnock, a Democratic senator from Georgia, told the hearing.

He cited studies’ that found overdraft fees disproportionately hurt neighborhoods with people of color. “Customers who overdraft the most throughout the year tend to have lower income, poor credit scores and disproportionately Black and Hispanic,” Warnock said, “So [it’s a] vicious cycle.”

Such fees disproportionately impact Black and Latinx households. They are 1.9 times and 1.4 times more likely to incur overdraft fees, respectively, versus white households, a June 2021 report published by the Financial Health Network, a nonprofit organization that receives funding from Citi Foundation, concluded.

Overdraft fees disproportionately impact Black and Latinx households.

In 2019, U.S. banks charged their customers nearly $15.5 billion in overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees, a report published last December by the CFPB found.

The hearing came as U.S. banks — both traditional and online —- move away from charging overdraft fees to consumers. Ally announced its plan to eliminate the fees across the board last June, becoming the first among the major U.S. banks.

Capital One and Citibank followed suit in the intervening months. Others are lowering their overdraft fees: Bank of America will reduce its overdraft fees from $35 to $10 starting from May; Wells Fargo announced plans in January slashing non-sufficient fund fees and overdraft protection fees, and offered a 24-hour grace period before charging overdraft fees.

JPMorgan Chase also announced last December that it would eliminate insufficient fund fees, and will increase the overdraft cushion from $5 to $50 in addition to a one-day grace period and early access to direct deposit.

Increased competition from the fintech companies in Silicon Valley also prompted more U.S. banks to give up overdraft fees, analysts say. As fintechs offer easier access and services online, mainstream banks have offered more fintech-inspired services in an effort to stay relevant, including no-fee overdrafts.

Thom Tillis, a Republican senator for North Carolina, said the main challenge is to understand how the market is transitioning and whether interference at the federal level is needed.

“It seems like the market forces and innovation are pushing things in the right direction,” he said. “And it always gives me pause when the government wants to come in because when the government comes in, it tends to stifle competition and stifle innovation.”

JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on the hearing and the issues raised by the Senate committee. Wells Fargo and Bank of America also declined to comment.

Spokespeople for JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo previously told MarketWatch that their banks provide services to help customers avoid overdraft fees.

Northern Ireland Protocol ‘to be scrapped’ as Sinn Fein celebrates historic victory


Edward Malnick
Sat, May 7, 2022

Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill - Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Britain is preparing to unilaterally override the post-Brexit border arrangement to avoid the Northern Ireland crisis “dragging on and on”, government sources have claimed, as Sinn Fein won the largest share of seats in Stormont for the first time on Saturday night.

Liz Truss has concluded that negotiations with the EU have almost “run out of road”, after Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, told her that Brussels will “never” back down on its refusal to overhaul the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to government sources.

A source close to the Foreign Secretary described the remark as “alarming” after she repeatedly called for member states to redraw Mr Sefcovic’s mandate in order to allow for a breakthrough in the talks.

Ministers are concerned about disruption being caused to businesses by customs checks on British goods sent to Northern Ireland, and the Democratic Unionist Party has indicated that it will refuse to form an executive with Sinn Fein until the problems are resolved.

Sinn Fein won 27 of the 90 Stormont seats, putting it ahead of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which fell by two seats to 25.

It is the first time a party seeking a united Ireland will have topped the poll in the elections for the Northern Ireland executive, with a unionist party until now the largest in government since the province was formed in 1921.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, piled pressure on Ms Truss and Boris Johnson to act, saying: “Every unionist candidate standing in the election stood in opposition to the Protocol and attracted some 360,000 votes. Forty per cent of all votes cast were explicitly for parties who opposed the Protocol.

“Given that the political institutions in Northern Ireland operate on the basis of cross-community consensus, the lack of any unionist support for the Protocol means that it is unworkable as it does not command sufficient consensus.”

He added: “The electorate has spoken. The view of unionism is clear. Now is the moment for the Government to act. No more words. It’s time for action.

“The Irish Sea border must go and the Protocol must be replaced by arrangements that restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom internal market.”

Sir Jeffrey set out seven tests for any plan to override the Protocol, including that any new arrangement must avoid a border in the Irish Sea.

Liz Truss - Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Government sources indicated that ministers were drawing up proposals for such a move, despite the Conservatives denying reports that a bill setting out a replacement arrangement would be included in next week’s Queen’s Speech.

In a telephone call with Ms Truss on April 28, Mr Sefcovic is said to have “made clear... that the EU did not have, and in his view would never have, a mandate to renegotiate the Protocol or to go beyond their existing proposals”, according to a government source.

A source close to Ms Truss said: “The admission made by Sefcovic on the call is alarming. Liz’s first, second and third priority in all this is protecting peace made and stability in Northern Ireland. Clearly, the situation is getting increasingly urgent, and the feeling is we can’t let this crisis drag on and on.

“It feels like we have run out of road with negotiations unless something significant happens in terms of the EU changing its position.”

Mr Sefcovic is understood to insist that unilateral action by the UK would not solve the problems on the island of Ireland, and that the threat of such a move will not help to strengthen Ms Truss’s hand in the negotiations.

Maros Sefcovic - Julien Warnand/Pool via Reuters

Theresa Villiers, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, said: “We must deal with the Protocol. It must be radically changed or replaced. We can’t continue as we are. The people who really need to listen and wake up as a result of this election result are the EU and the Commission.

“If negotiation isn’t going to do the business, we need unilateral legislation. We need to be getting on with it even if we don’t implement it straight away.”

A Foreign Office source said: “It’s incredibly disheartening that despite the political and economic damage the Protocol is causing in Northern Ireland, the Commission continues to adopt such a rigid and hard-line negotiating position.

“The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is being undermined and the situation is now very serious. Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have always been clear that action will be taken if solutions can’t be found.

“The Assembly elections are now over and we need to see the EU move significantly. Our focus has been, and will continue to be, preserving peace and stability in Northern Ireland.”

On Saturday, Sinn Fein called for an immediate resumption of the power-sharing executive.

Mary Lou McDonald, the party’s president, urged unionists “not to be afraid”, saying “the future is bright for all of us”.

Ms McDonald said there was a collective responsibility to get the government “up and running quickly”.

She added: “This is not a time for theatrics, this is not a time for playing games, this is the time for grown-up sensible partnership politics, that’s what people want.

“The idea, at a time of a cost-of-living crisis, that people would stand on the sidelines and allow people to struggle, and struggle badly for us is unthinkable, so we would appeal to everybody to take stock.”

A spokesman for the US government said political leaders should "take the necessary steps" to re-establish a power-sharing executive.

Ned Price, from the US Department of State, said: "We call on Northern Ireland's political leaders to take the necessary steps to re-establish a power-sharing executive, which is one of the core institutions established by the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

"Critical and immediate challenges concerning the economy, health, and education are best addressed through the collective efforts of a devolved government chosen by, and accountable to, its people.

"The United States enjoys a deep and long-standing relationship with Northern Ireland, grounded in ties of kinship, culture, commerce, and shared values.

"We remain deeply committed to preserving the peace dividend of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and will always strive to protect these gains for all communities.

"We look forward to continuing our work with democratic partners in Northern Ireland, and with the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland, to support peace, prosperity, and stability across the region."

‘Look at the water for evidence.’ Data proves Florida pollution prevention not working


Sydney Czyzon and Max Chesnes, Treasure Coast Newspapers
Fri, May 6, 2022

It’s a textbook Florida morning at a ranch just north of Lake Okeechobee. Cattle roam. Herons and egrets hunt for food. Clouds mosey across the sky.

But beneath this idyllic scene, a silent byproduct lurks. Phosphorus levels, mostly from fertilizer and cow manure, exceeded the state pollution limit by 19 times.

The problem is not exclusive to this Rio Rancho Corp. farm. Rainfall runoff that flows into Lake O from hundreds of surrounding properties routinely exceeds the limit — without the state imposing any consequences, a TCPalm investigation found.

All 32 drainage basins around the lake with available data exceeded the limit over a five-year average, according to TCPalm’s analysis of “water year” data from May 2016 to April 2021. Rio Rancho was just the worst in the last two years. Even lesser polluters exceeded the limit by over 100%.

The data proves — for the first time — that Florida’s flagship program to reduce water pollution isn’t working. And that pollution is contaminating waterways and sparking toxic algal blooms in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

“All one has to do is look at the water for the evidence,” said Indian Riverkeeper Mike Conner, who heads a Treasure Coast nonprofit that advocates for clean water. “The impairment of Florida waters is now at an all-time high.”

BMAP fails to curb water pollution

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees the program involving legally enforceable goals and strategies to reduce pollution, called Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs). There are 38 plans customized to help waterways in their region.

For the Lake O BMAP, the agency set the phosphorus limit at 40 parts per billion two decades ago, but the basins have exceeded that by a median 5.7 times over the five-year average, TCPalm found.

The worst polluter over those five years — 22 times over the limit — was the East Beach Drainage District, on Lake O’s southeast shore, near Pahokee.

State records don’t show that, though. DEP historically touts progress that often doesn’t match reality because it uses models to give credit for pollution-reduction measures — from reservoirs to informational brochures — assuming they produce intended results. DEP’s resulting graphics, used in public presentations, show progress is being made.

The truth is in the data recorded by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) water-quality monitors, which TCPalm analyzed.

DEP has started using some SFWMD data to track pollution entering Lake O, spokeswoman Alexandra Kuchta said. However, many questions TCPalm posed remain unanswered, such as: When did that start? What is modeling still used for? What happens when data and modeling don’t show the same outcomes?

But even data can mask bad practices by individual landowners because the state groups them into basins. East Beach, for example, encompasses dozens of properties. So who’s to blame for exceeding the pollution limit? One of them? All of them?

“BMAPs aren’t working, and we’re having harmful algal blooms every time we turn around,” Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani said. “It’s killing seagrass, and manatees are starving. It’s a bad cascade that’s occurring now.”

BMP lacks enforcement

For BMAPs to work, farmers must agree to follow rules to curb pollution. They don’t always comply, and two state agencies debate which is responsible for enforcement.

The Department of Agriculture oversees the rules, called Best Management Practices (BMP), such as avoiding nutrient-heavy fertilizers, irrigating in ways to reduce runoff, and buffering the land from nearby waterways.

The Florida administrative code says the agriculture department will refer noncompliant farmers to DEP for enforcement. However, the department "has the authority to take enforcement on its own,” but has “simply chosen to rely on DEP to do so,” Kuchta said.

BMP has “no teeth,” said Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

“That’s how the program unfortunately was designed,” she said. “There’s a carrot and stick. We’re the carrot and DEP is the stick. And the stick is not working.”

The agriculture department needs to crack down, she acknowledged, and is now gathering data to do so.

Nearly 2 million pounds of phosphorus — over four times the weight of the Statue of Liberty — were applied to farmland in the Lake O BMAP region in 2020, agency records show. TCPalm was first to request and receive these records since the Clean Waterways Act required DACS to track the data beginning that year.
Warning letters to farmers

DEP, which doesn’t routinely conduct on-site inspections or fine polluters, said “insufficient data” prevents it from enforcing the rules, according to documents.

DEP mails warning letters instructing farmers to either enroll in BMP or pay for water-quality monitoring. The letters state DEP wants “cooperation” from farmers “without the need for taking formal enforcement against you; however, you must take immediate action to bring your property into compliance with Florida law.”

Farmers have 21 days to respond. If they don’t, they might get another letter. At least 872 farmers had ignored their warning letters as of Nov. 2, according to DEP.

State law gives DEP the power to issue fines up to $50,000, but the agency said it never has, nor has it filed a lawsuit, in the five years the program has been enforceable.

2016: Florida puts polluters on honor system to reduce nutrients

2017: Emails show Florida was on verge of agricultural pollution crackdown, but scrapped plans after letting sugar lobbyist dictate edits to 2015 annual report

2018: After Florida enacted BMAP pollution control in 2014, phosphorus flowing into Lake O increased for 2 years, then spiked to record high in 2017
Farmers like cooperative approach

Lazaro Caballero, who owns one of the 254 parcels the agriculture department referred to DEP on May 3 alone, said he never received a letter and no one told him BMP was mandatory.

Letters to Unlimited Turf LLC were returned “as undeliverable” because he sold the land in 2019, according to the DEP, which said it asked the agriculture department to determine whether the current owner is BMP-compliant, but has not heard back.

“We’re doing what we’re supposed to do. [If] they make it mandatory, then we’ll do it,” Caballero said, mistaken that it became mandatory to enroll in 2016. “But as of right now, we’re doing our best practices to keep everything as good as possible.”

Sutton Rucks, owner of a fourth-generation Okeechobee dairy farm that’s enrolled in BMP, lauded the state’s cooperative approach over “a rule-with-an-iron-fist type program,” saying that would have driven him out of the industry.

“I would’ve sold my cows and turned it into houses and let it be someone else’s problem,” he said. “The cooperative effort has kept my family in the business.”

His Milking R Dairy farm north of Lake O produced 14 tons of phosphorus — over 10 times the limit — from May 2020 to April 2021, according to SFWMD data.

“It’s like a thimble in a bathtub,” he said. “Maybe it’s a little elevated, but a water sample might not tell the whole story of what some of these folks, including us, are trying to do to make things better.”

Adams Ranch, a 40,000-acre cattle and citrus farm west of Fort Pierce, has worked with the state for four generations. President Mike Adams, who remembers more stringent regulations in the early 1990s, agreed with the state’s cooperative approach.

“If you don’t have a strong ag economy, urbanization will be the next use,” he said. “Is a cattle ranch less impactful than urbanization? Or citrus groves or even row crops?”
What happened to DeSantis’ promises?

When Gov. Ron DeSantis took office in 2019, he proposed a slew of changes to improve water quality, including penalties for noncompliant farmers. DEP lauded it as a “deterrent” that would “ensure immediate and continued compliance” with BMP.

It never happened.

Some guidelines were included in the Clean Waterways Act that took effect in 2020. DeSantis praised the law, which requires the agriculture department to inspect farms for BMP compliance every two years, as a “strong step forward for Florida’s environment.”

The department doesn’t have enough staff for that, said Chris Pettit, the agricultural water policy director, but the agency will ask for more when the Legislature convenes Jan. 11.

So is BMP effective? Pettit never gave TCPalm a direct answer, only said the department, the DEP and the SFWMD have “the right people,” who meet monthly and work well together.

“We have very, very good communication as issues arise,” he said. “I think that the program has matured over time. I think that we are getting better.”

The governor declined TCPalm’s request for an interview, and spokesman Jared Williams’ prepared statement does not address the program’s efficacy.

“The state is in the best position it has ever been to take strategic action to improve our water quality, and Florida has done just that,” it reads, referring to a 2019 executive order that created the Blue-Green Algae Task Force and supports $2 billion for Everglades restoration and water protection. DeSantis also wants the Legislature to budget $960 million more for the environment during the 2022 session.

Florida environmentalists maintain the water would be clean if the programs worked.

“Look at the state of some of the waters in Florida right now,” Indian Riverkeeper Mike Conner said. “I don’t think anybody in their right mind will say, ‘Yeah, this is working great.’ I just don’t think anybody could claim victory at this point.”

Sydney Czyzon is TCPalm’s projects reporter. Contact her at sydney.czyzon@tcpalm.com, 772-469-6045, @SydneyCzyzon on Twitter or @ReporterSydney on Facebook.

Max Chesnes is TCPalm’s environment reporter. Contact him at max.chesnes@tcpalm.com, 772-978-2224 or @MaxChesnes on Twitter.

Lindsey Leake is TCPalm’s health reporter. She contributed significant data analysis and digital producing to this report. Contact her at lindsey.leake@tcpalm.com, 772-529-5378, @NewsyLindsey on Twitter or @LindseyMLeake on Facebook.

ABOUT THIS INVESTIGATION

TCPalm’s exclusive investigation of Florida’s flagship program to limit nutrient pollution flowing into Lake Okeechobee is the first to show that every single rainfall runoff drainage basin around the lake with available data exceeds the state’s limits.

Reporters analyzed data, maps, warning letters to noncompliant landowners and hundreds of other documents, some obtained through state open records laws. They also interviewed nearly a dozen farmers, environmentalists and public officials.

Key data and documents are linked throughout the article.

Adams Ranch president Mike Adams, 66, closes a gate separating pastures on his land on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, while giving a tour of the land. The ranch, an 40,000-acre cattle and citrus farm in Fort Pierce, has worked with state environmental agencies for four generations. Adams remembers when state officials instituted more stringent regulations. Now, state agencies take a more cooperative approach, informing farmers of needed changes rather than threatening hefty consequences. “We definitely want to be good stewards of the land and that's something we have always strived for,” Adams said.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida’s Lake O BMAP water pollution reduction program isn’t working

Article misrepresents study on Arctic ice to question climate change


Manon Jacob, AFP USA
Fri, May 6, 2022, 

An online article uses a scientific study comparing past and present Arctic ice levels to downplay the significance of glaciers melting due to climate change. This is misleading; the study's lead author says the causes of current and past ice loss differ and that the article misinterprets the research, which uses historical data to forecast the eventual disappearance of Arctic glaciers.

"New Study: Arctic Was Much Warmer 6000 Years Ago… 90% Of Glaciers, Ice Caps Smaller Than Present Or Absent!" says the headline of an April 11, 2022 article on Watts Up with That?, a website that features content describing the idea that humans are causing global warming as a lie, and saying climate science is being misrepresented and exaggerated to cause panic.

"Climate alarmists hate this inconvenient fact: hundreds of temperature reconstructions show that the northern hemisphere was much warmer over much of the past 10,000 years (Holocene) than it is today," the article says.

It refers to a graphic in a March study on Arctic ice caps, saying: "We see that the Arctic region glaciers were much smaller 6000 years ago than today. Many in fact disappeared altogether and so summers were warmer."

A screenshot taken on May 5, 2022 shows an article on the Watts Up With That website

The article has been featured in various social media posts questioning the validity of the widely held scientific consensus that humans are responsible for potentially devastating climate change. One Facebook post said: "Global warming is Gobaloney!" Another claimed: "Here is the data. As usual the climate change alarmists are full of it. We are not warming. In fact the opposite. So, stick that in your igloo."

But the article misrepresents the findings presented in the study, which lead author Laura Larocca said aims to better understand the "rapid, and striking, recent retreat" of the Arctic glaciers "into a long-term context."

The article "completely misrepresents our study and takes information out of context to spread common fallacies," she told AFP. "Evidence of past periods of warmth from paleoclimate archives is not an 'inconvenient fact.'"

Larocca, a postdoctoral fellow at Northern Arizona University, said the notion that climate change today is not caused by humans because there have been periods of global warming in the past is incorrect.

Thousands of years ago, "summer warmth was driven by slow and predictable changes in Earth's orbit resulting in higher summer insolation (more solar radiation) in the Northern Hemisphere," she said, while "it is unequivocal that the burning of fossil fuels/human influence is driving current warming."

Larocca said the current and projected changes to Arctic glaciers and ice caps are even more striking when considered within a longer-term context. "Paleoclimate records tell us that during past periods of modest warmth, dramatic environmental change took place. This information provides a concerning glimpse at where we are headed as the Earth continues to warm," she said.

A map locating the Russian city of Verkhoyansk, in Siberia, where a new record high Arctic temperature of 38°C on June 20, 2020 was validated by the World Meteorological Organization ( AFP Graphics / )

Twila Moon, research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said: "There is scientific consensus that natural variations are not causing today's very rapid warming."

The natural causes for historical climate change are well known among the scientific community, and climatologists today can measure all of these natural processes to be able to know if any of them are causing current warming, she said.

"Today's loss of glacier ice is occurring for different reasons than the loss that occurred 6,000 years ago. Unfortunately, that means that we cannot expect natural changes to shift us towards glacier stability or growth over coming centuries or millennia, not to mention the next decades," said the scientist, who specializes in ice dynamics and ice-ecosystem connections.

The melting of land-based glaciers and the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are contributing to global sea level rise, endangering coastal populations around the world.

AFP Fact Check has debunked other inaccurate environment-related claims here.