US Labor Dept. moves to rescind two Trump-era rules on worker classification

March 11 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Thursday announced it is working to rescind two Trump-era rules it says weakened worker protections.

In the latest move by the administration of President Joe Biden to roll back the policies of his predecessor, the Labor Department said in a statement it has proposed to withdraw two rules that concern the classifications of workers and contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The first rule called the Independent Contractor Final Rule, which was issued in the final weeks of the Donald Trump presidency, sought to clarify the standard for employee versus independent contractor while the second rule updated guidance for determining joint employer status, which was mostly vacated by the court last year deeming it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

"Rescinding these rules would strengthen protections for workers, including the essential front-line workers who have done so much during these challenging times," Jessica Looman, the Wage and Hour Division's principal deputy administrator, said. "While legitimate independent contractors are an important part of our economy, the misclassification of employees as independent contractors denies workers access to critical benefits and protections that law provides."
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The department said the comment period on the rules is open until April 12.

The announcement came a day after the department said it would stop enforcing two other Trump-era rules concerning retirement plans as it reviews them.

The department said it came to this decision after hearing from a wide variety of stakeholders including labor organizations and consumer groups about the impacts of the Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments and Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights.

said the interested parties had raised issues over whether they were rushed unnecessarily and implemented without considering evidence submitted by public commenters.

"The department has also heard from stakeholders that the rules, and investor confusion about the rules, and investor confusion about them, have already had a chilling effect on appropriate integration of ESG factors in investment decisions, including in circumstances that the rules may in fact allow," it said.

Ali Khawar, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said the department will continue to conduct stakeholder outreach over the rules to see how they can be better crafted.

"These rules have created a perception that fiduciaries are at risk if they include any environmental, social and governance factors in the financial evaluation of plan investments, and that they may need to have special justifications for even ordinary exercises of shareholder rights," Khawar said.

upi.com/7081516

Canadian firm builds satellites to track space trash

By Paul Brinkmann
3/11/2021


An illustration shows a space debris-tracking satellite that is under construction by Canadian firm NorthStar. Image courtesy of NorthStar

An illustration depicts orbital debris, or space trash, above the Earth. Image courtesy of European Space Agency

March 11 (UPI) -- A Canadian startup plans to launch the first-ever commercial fleet of satellites designed to track dangerous space trash in 2022.

Montreal-based NorthStar Earth & Space has three of its Skylark satellites under construction for the new network, which eventually will number about 52 spacecraft.

The fleet would be the first of its kind to track space trash from space, rather than from ground-based radar or other technology.

The satellites would address an orbital debris problem that NASA says is growing and "poses a safety risk to people and property in space and on Earth." Most space trash travels at about 18,000 mph, almost seven times faster than a bullet.

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"We looked at the way [debris tracking] was being done on the ground, and we said it would be better to do it from space," said Stewart Bain, NorthStar co-founder and CEO.

"Our goal is to make it much easier to navigate your satellite in space so you don't have to have a Ph.D. in imagery or $100 million worth of equipment to be able to process the information," Bain said.

The satellites, being built by France-based Thales Alenia Space, will be relatively small at 220 pounds, with a telescope and small thrusters. NorthStar has raised $65 million for the first stages of the satellite program, some of it from the Canadian government.

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The company is talking to launch providers and plans to choose one soon, Bain said. He declined to say which providers he's considering, but said it would be one with a proven track record.

NorthStar's satellites would image known space objects about six times per day when fully operational, Bain said. That compares with only sporadic observations available for certain objects today, especially if they are owned by a nation that doesn't publish details about their space operations, such as China or Russia.

NorthStar's tracking would provide about 80% to 90% more accurate distance predictions for two space objects, according to the company.
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For example, ground-based tracking systems predicted two satellites that collided in 2009 would be almost 2,000 feet away from each other at the closest point. NorthStar said its system would have sounded an alarm with a "miss distance" of only around 200 feet apart.

In that instance, one of the satellites -- Iridium 33 -- could have moved away from the other, a defunct Russian craft named Kosmos-2251. The collision produced 2,000 pieces of debris, one of which passed fewer than 400 feet away from the International Space Station in 2012.

"We can't afford to have significant accidents in space as we are watching companies like SpaceX and OneWeb launch thousands of new satellites," Bain said. "We just can't afford to delay this anymore."

Once NorthStar launches 12 of its Skylark satellites to monitor space debris, it plans to launch dozens more that also have Earth-imaging capability to attract more customers, he said.

NorthStar's plans are a significant step toward better space debris tracking, also known as situational awareness, said Moriba Jah, associate professor of aerospace at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jah, who has provided technical advice to NorthStar, said the company's spacecraft are only a good first step toward better management of space traffic.

That's because even a space-based observation system like NorthStar's must still send data to and from the Earth for processing, and that causes delays, Jah said.

"The goal should be that each space-based platform or spacecraft has the computational framework onboard, to be able to process data and actually extract information from the data without having to send it to the ground," he said.

Most current U.S.-based satellite networks only have data about where their own satellites are, and they rely on data from the U.S. military to make any automatic adjustments to flight paths for collision avoidance, Jah said. Such reliance on third-party data also produces delays.

NASA and other space agencies around the world have knowledge gaps regarding space debris that could be filled with better data and space-based systems, Jah said.

There may be orbital planes where "you shouldn't put anything else up there because, basically, it's just going to lead to more debris," he said.

'Big brood' of cicadas set to emerge for first time since 2004

By Mark Puleo, Accuweather.com
MARCH 10, 2021 


"The big cicada-palooza is about to begin!"

Those are the words of entomologist and bug enthusiast Michael Raupp from the University of Maryland. In a couple of months, he said, billions if not trillions of singing cicadas will emerge from the ground across a large swath of the eastern United States. It will be a party that has been 17 years in the making.

Since 2004, if you're a Brood X cicada, you've likely been counting down the days until May 2021.

As May's warmer weather approaches, large swaths of Brood X cicadas will emerge from their 17-year underground hiatus and cover much of the Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes regions, spreading over 15 states with their loud buzzing and egg laying.

Raupp told AccuWeather that it remains a general mystery as to how cicadas know when 17 years has passed or what triggers their re-emergence. However, he did say that soil temperature likely plays a crucial role.

"What we know is that when soil temperatures reach roughly 64 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth of about a foot or 18 inches, that is the signal -- that's Mother Nature's clue -- that the world is now warm enough for cicadas to get up and out of the ground," Raupp said. That temperature is crucial for cicadas because by that point, leaves will have sprouted on tree branches -- something needed for egg laying, he added. "That's basically their environmental cue that the world is now warm enough to get out of the ground and do the business that cicadas are gonna do."

While Brood X, or Brood 10, is not the largest group of periodical cicadas, the brood has tremendous reach across the eastern United States and puts them on a lot of peoples' radar.

There are 15 periodical broods of cicadas and two appear to have gone extinct. As opposed to annual broods, which emerge every year from July to September, periodical broods stay underground for either 13 or 17 years, depending on the brood.

According to Raupp, this one is unique because it is known as "the big brood" and has the largest geographic distribution, with cicada populations ranging from Georgia up to New York. With cicadas emerging across an area that widespread, and with so many stuck in their homes due to the pandemic, it will make for a wonderful learning opportunity for millions of people, Raupp said.

"There are simply going to be billions if not trillions of periodical cicadas emerging from the ground," Raupp said. On "bright, sunny days in May," he advises, "get outside, enjoy those songs, go watch some cicadas. It's gonna be spectacular."

Once outside, the sunniest days of the midsummer will also be the noisiest, he said. The three distinct species of cicadas in Brood X all have distinct calls, he said, and the combination is sure to make for a boisterous chorus.

Raupp said that on bright, sunny days when the greatest number of cicadas are active, "It's really gonna be loud." How loud? The noise created by Brood X "can be as loud as 80 to 100 decibels," Raupp added. "That's the sound equivalent of a lawnmower or a jet aircraft going overhead. So they're gonna be having fun, it's gonna be noisy."

During their 17-year stay underground, the cicadas aren't exactly napping. John Cooley, a researcher with the University of Connecticut, told AccuWeather last year that in the years between emergences, cicadas are busy eating tree roots and digging tunnels.

This coming spring, AccuWeather meteorologists say temperatures should be ripe for their midspring emergence.

"This May should be 1-2 degrees above normal, which means many days with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s and nighttime lows in the 50s and low 60s," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dale Mohler said.

Conditions in Washington, D.C., in early May may be perfect for the Brood X cicadas to make their return.

Mohler also said that there is a small risk of a late frost the first week of May, especially in northwestern Maryland and northern Virginia, but the risk of a late frost after May 8 is very low.

"Rainfall this May should be a little above normal," he said. "Normal rainfall for the month of May is 4-5 inches. I would expect rainfall this May to be 5 to 5.50 inches. There may be slightly lower amounts of sunshine this May, compared to normal, while humidity levels may be a little above normal."

Farther west, historical averages in Illinois and Michigan also suggest that May should make for an ideal time for arrivals.

In 2017, Brood X cicadas prematurely showed up in the Baltimore area and experts such as Raupp believe those early risers may have been "accelerators" of this year's brood, a group that appears abnormally early.

"Brood X is the 17-year group living in the capital region and will be emerging next spring. Of course, leaving the fate of your brood up to one year is very risky, so periodical cicadas also have some individuals that emerge a little early or a little late," Raupp previously wrote. "These "stragglers" hedge against less productive years. Stragglers that start broods of their own are called 'accelerations.' The cicadas that emerged in this region in 2017 may have been an 'acceleration' of Brood X."

Should the 2021 crew show up as expected, it would mark the 18th documented appearance of the Brood X cicadas, dating back to their first chronicling in 1715. According to The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, the brood was first noted by the Rev. Andreas Sandel in Philadelphia and then again by botanist John Bartram in 1732.

After their third emergence in 1746, Swedish explorer Pehr Kalm wrote about his amazement at the brood's vast spread and how constant their buzzing was.

"The general opinion is that these insects appear in these fantastic numbers in every 17th year. Meanwhile, except for an occasional one which may appear in the summer, they remain underground," he wrote in 1756 paper for a Swedish academic journal.

In popular culture, this particular brood has worked its way into books, poems and even in Bob Dylan's song, "Day of the Locusts". Dylan's 1970 album New Morning came out the same year Brood X cicadas swarmed Princeton, N.J., where he went on to receive an honorary degree that summer.

While Dylan referred to them as locusts in his song, thinking they were other noisy insects from the summer, historical appearances of the Brood X show they were likely this exact brood of cicadas descending on his area.

"And the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singin' for me."


upi.com/7080944

CONSIDER IT SECULAR PHYSICAL EXCERCISE

Alabama House votes to end ban on yoga in public schools


People participate in yoga classes in Times Square to celebrate the Summer Solstice on the first day of Summer in New York City on June 21, 2019. The Alabama House voted to end its ban on yoga in public schools Thursday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 12 (UPI) -- The Alabama House of Representatives voted Thursday to end its prohibition on teaching yoga in public schools, a step that could end a nearly 30-year ban.

Rep. Jeremy Gray, who has been trying to lift the ban for the past three years, said he was introduced to yoga while playing college football at North Carolina State and said it can benefit young people.

The state banned yoga from K-12 public schools in 1993 because some conservative groups were concerned about its connection to eastern religions.

The new bill would allow local school boards to offer yoga as an elective and set rules on how it is presented. It will allow students to learn and practice poses, exercises and stretching techniques, but forbids chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas and namaste greetings.

"I think that a lot of people are just miseducated," Gray told AL.com. "A lot of my colleagues just got a lot of emails about it being a part of Hinduism. If you can do it at the local YMCA, you can do it at churches, why is it a problem when it comes to K through 12 public schools? Some people, you can never change their minds. If you have to vote your district, I understand that."

Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, a Christian advocacy group, said offering yoga would set a double standard.

"It's the Hindu religion," Godfrey told NBC News last year. "It's an issue of separation of church and state. You'll hear people invoke that when it comes to Christianity because they don't want prayer in school. Yet they want to teach yoga?"

In the group's legislative update earlier this month, it claimed Gray's bill would allow "the Hindu religious practice of yoga" to be taught.

"ALCAP is opposed to this bill and urges legislators to vote NO on HB246," the update said.

The bill still has to pass the Alabama Senate and then has to be signed by Gov. Kay Ivey

Mississippi Is Banning Trans Girls And Women From School Sports

Supporters say they're "defending women's sports," but opponents — including hundreds of college athletes — say it's simply discrimination.

THEY NEVER MENTION TRANSMEN IN THEIR LAWS

SO I GUESS THEY ARE OK SHARING A BATHROOM 

OR SHOWEROOM WITH THEM

Stephanie K. Baer BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on March 11, 2021


Stephen Groves / AP
People march from the South Dakota governor's mansion to the state capitol in Pierre Capitol to protest a bill that would ban trans athletes from playing in girls and women sports.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law Thursday a ban on transgender student-athletes playing girls' and women's sports, part of a wave of Republican-led efforts to exclude trans people from athletics.

Similar bills have been introduced in more than 20 states since last year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, with a purported goal of "saving women's sports." But the NCAA has had policies to allow trans athletes to participate in sports for years, and opponents of the legislation say it's simply about discrimination.


Mississippi's law comes after President Joe Biden signed an executive order Jan. 20 underlining protections for LGBTQ people. It explicitly referenced school sports as an area where discrimination should not be tolerated as it directed federal agencies to enforce the US Supreme Court's 2020 ruling that the federal ban on sex discrimination in workplaces also protects employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

After signing the bill on Thursday, Reeves, a Republican, specifically mentioned Biden's order in a statement on Twitter, saying, "POTUS left us no choice."

"One of his first acts was to sign an EO encouraging transgenderism in children. So today, I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure young girls are not forced to compete against biological males," the governor tweeted.

Barring any legal challenges, the law is set to take effect July 1 and will apply to interscholastic teams from elementary school all the way up to the collegiate level.


Other states could follow within the coming days. On Monday, after South Dakota's legislature passed their version of the bill, Gov. Kristi Noem tweeted that she was "excited" to sign it into law, describing its passage as a celebration of International Women's Day "by defending women's sports."

Proponents of the measures have argued that trans athletes have unfair physical advantages over their cis counterparts but have offered little evidence to back that up. (A 2016 review of literature about transgender sports participation found "no direct or consistent research" to suggest that's the case.)

"There's really no evidence that there is this categorical advantage that trans athletes have some specific type of advantage by virtue of being trans," Jett Jonelis, advocacy manager for the ACLU of South Dakota, told BuzzFeed News, saying that those arguments are based on inaccurate stereotypes about biology, athleticism, and gender.

Jonelis argued legislation that prevents trans girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity actually hurts all women, "particularly girls of color whose bodies are so often subject to heavier scrutiny."

"There's nothing about this bill that is a celebration," they said.

Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and codirector of Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Project, said in a statement that the Mississippi law and the bill on the governor's desk in South Dakota will only "exacerbate the bullying and discrimination" that trans young people already face "simply because of who they are."

“Supporters of this legislation cannot point to a single case in their states to justify the rank discrimination they seek to enshrine," Buchert said. The Associated Press last week asked two dozen lawmakers if there had been problems with trans girls competing in high school sports in their states; almost none could provide an example.


In August, a federal judge blocked a similar ban in Idaho after determining that the state failed to provide proof that allowing trans athletes to compete in sports that align with their gender identity would "hinder sex equality" in sports.



Pat Eaton-Robb / AP
Trans athletes Andraya Yearwood, far left, and Terry Miller, second from left, compete in the 55-meter dash at a 2019 track meet in Connecticut.


"The State has not identified a legitimate interest served by the Act that the preexisting rules in Idaho did not already address, other than an invalid interest of excluding transgender women and girls from women's sports entirely, regardless of their physiological characteristics," Judge David Nye wrote in an order granting the ACLU's motion for a preliminary injunction.

In a statement Thursday, the ACLU of Mississippi accused state lawmakers of using students and children as "political pawns" to discriminate against trans people, saying the bill was not really about protecting fairness in women's sports.

"It’s about erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life," the ACLU affiliate said. "Not once have the supporters of this bill cited an actual dispute over this issue in Mississippi."

On Wednesday, a group of more than 500 collegiate athletes sent a letter to the NCAA, demanding the association stop holding championships and events in states that have adopted or are considering bills that would prohibit trans athletes from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

The athletes said even with the court's injunction, the Idaho law "sets a dangerous precedent of subjecting all women athletes to potential invasive gender verification tests while also effectively banning transgender women athletes from competition." Mississippi's law states that if a student's gender is disputed, they could provide a physician's statement to prove their sex, which must only be based on their reproductive anatomy, "normal endogenously produced" testosterone levels, and an analysis of their genetic makeup.





"It is imperative that we know we are safe and supported in the NCAA no matter where we travel to compete," the letter reads. "The NCAA claims to prioritize the safety, excellence, and physical and emotional well being of its student athletes and asserts that all athletes deserve a fair shot. However, it is impossible for women athletes to feel safe and supported in environments where their personal identity and integrity is questioned."

In a statement provided to the Associated Press, the NCAA, which has had policies in place that allow trans athletes to participate in sports since 2011, said it was monitoring the legislation.


“The NCAA believes in fair and respectful student-athlete participation at all levels of sport,” the statement says. “The NCAA believes diversity and inclusion improve the learning environment and it encourages its member colleges and universities to support the well-being of all student-athletes.”


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Senators Are Calling On Biden To Issue New Protections For Haitian Immigrants Already In The US

The letter puts more pressure on President Joe Biden at a time when Haiti faces increased political instability and higher rates of kidnapping and violent crime.

BUZZFEED Posted on March 12, 2021,

Dave Mcfadden / AP
A boy plays with a discarded tire at a borderland encampment outside the southeast Haitian town of Anse-à-Pitres, Haiti.


Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez and his Republican colleague, Marco Rubio, called on the Biden administration Friday to issue a new round of deportation protections for Haitian immigrants in the US due to the deteriorating situation in their home country, according to a letter obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The senators want a new round of Temporary Protected Status protections for Haitians in the US. The letter puts more pressure on President Joe Biden at a time when Haiti faces increased political instability and higher rates of kidnapping and violent crime.


“We write to express our deep concern about the complicated economic, security, and humanitarian challenges in Haiti and respectfully request that you consider redesignating Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Haiti’s protracted political crisis exacerbates the severe and prolonged humanitarian needs sparked by the 2010 earthquake,” the senators wrote in a letter intended for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “While the Government of Haiti has been able to receive limited numbers of Haitian nationals removed from the United States, it lacks the capacity to provide the needed reception and care for tens of thousands of returnees.”


Ramon Espinosa / AP
A Haitian immigrant sits on the remains of what was used to be a house in a 

neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, in Abaco, Bahamas, in September 2019.

Such a redesignation would expand the pool of Haitians in the US eligible for the TPS program.

BuzzFeed News previously reported that DHS officials acknowledged in an internal report that “based on a recent analysis of conditions in Haiti, USCIS believes that Haitians removed to Haiti may face harm upon return to Haiti as follows.”

The DHS document goes on to explain the conditions in the country and relies exclusively on publicly available information, including a State Department travel advisory from August that recommended not traveling to Haiti due to “crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and COVID-19.”

The travel advisory explained that kidnapping and violent crime, including armed robbery, was widespread, and that local police may lack the resources to help. The DHS document cited an InSight Crime report from July that the Haitian government was using gangs to “repress the opposition.”

Voice of America also reported that a UN official said this week that half the Haitian population needed humanitarian assistance.

The situation in Haiti has further deteriorated in recent months, according to the DHS report, which documents how Haitian President Jovenel Moïse has been ruling without a legislative body since January 2020 and that there are concerns he is becoming “increasingly authoritarian as he relies on executive decrees to accomplish his agenda.” Meanwhile, protests have rocked the country, and the government has “employed violence” against demonstrators, according to the report.

The Obama administration previously provided temporary protected status for Haitians who had been in the US continuously since 2010 after an earthquake hit near the capital of Port-au-Prince and more than 200,000 people were estimated to have been killed. Those who are granted TPS are also given work permits.

The Trump administration sought to undo the temporary protected status — an administration official even pressed colleagues for research documenting criminal activity of Haitians in the US — as part of its efforts to restrict immigration. The plans, however, were later scuttled after federal court decisions.


Last year, a federal appeals court finally allowed the Trump administration to move forward with their plans to cut the protections, but in December, DHS extended the TPS status for roughly 50,000 people who already had it until October.

“As the United States engages with the Haitian government to help chart a way forward, a TPS redesignation would provide a much-needed reprieve for upwards of 55,000 Haitians in the United States, including current Haitian TPS beneficiaries,” Rubio and Menendez wrote. “It would also lessen the burden on the Haitian people, government, and aid organizations, and mitigate risks of further destabilization.”

DHS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Immigrant advocates have increasingly called on the Biden administration to scale back deportations and turn-backs of Haitians at the border.

“Increasing political and societal violence in Haiti is placing the lives of thousands of Haitians at risk. It is no surprise that many are fleeing for their lives. Rather, what is surprising is that the United States has ramped up deportations at the same time that conditions have become more dangerous,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project. “Redesignation of TPS for Haiti is an immediate and important step the administration needs to take to protect lives now.”

Hamed AleazizBuzzFeed News Reporter

A Large PR Firm Pledged To Fight Climate Change. Then It Took Millions From A Notorious Fossil Fuel Trade Group.

Edelman, a PR firm that’s pledged to “work with an environmental conscience,” was paid $4 million to promote one of the most extreme fossil fuel trade groups in the country, new tax filings show.

Posted on March 12, 2021

BuzzFeed News; Getty Images

Edelman, one of the largest public relations firms in the world, has pledged never to work with climate deniers and proudly touts its work on environmental justice campaigns with brands like Tazo Tea.

But newly released tax filings obtained by Buz

"Edelman is basically misleading the public about its so-called green reputation,” Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Brown University who studies climate lobbying and advertising, told BuzzFeed News.

The global public relations powerhouse has roughly 6,000 employees working to “promote and protect” prominent brands like Ikea, KFC, and Dove. Selling its own socially conscious image, the company has repeatedly stressed its commitment to efforts to “reduce emissions,” “work with an environmental conscience,” and “lead in the transition to sustainable and socially responsible business models.” On its website, Edelman proudly declares it worked with cleantech companies “long before climate change became a buzzword.”

But in recent years, Edelman has faced a backlash, both publicly and internally, over its willingness to take on high-profile campaigns for clients that are big polluters.

After four high-level executives quit in 2015 citing this issue, the firm publicly pledged never to work with coal clients or climate deniers. The vague commitment left the door open to a broad range of work for fossil fuel businesses or companies that have fought against regulations cutting carbon pollution.

“Right now the only categorical exclusion we have is on climate denial and coal,” Michael Stewart, then a top Edelman executive, told the Guardian in 2015. “When you are trying in some way to obfuscate the truth or use misinformation and half-truths that is what we would consider getting into the work of greenwashing, and that is something we would never propose or work we would support our client doing.”

But AFPM, a trade group that pulled in more than $55 million in revenue in 2019 alone, has aggressively opposed climate action and provided funding to the Heartland Institute, a climate denial group. AFPM has paid Edelman at least $12 million for public relations work from 2017 to 2019, tax filings show.

AFPM has taken some of the most extreme positions among fossil fuel trade groups, including helping create Energy4Us, a group that ran Facebook ads supporting the Trump administration’s rollbacks of national fuel efficiency standards without initially disclosing its ties to the oil and gas industry. The trade group also helped fund a campaign opposing a carbon tax in Washington state.

The trade group’s hardline climate policies prompted Royal Dutch Shell to announce in the spring of 2019 that it would not be renewing its AFPM membership, followed by the French oil company Total and the UK giant BP. All three oil companies, which are among the world’s top climate polluters, cited the trade group’s opposition to a carbon tax and lack of support for the Paris climate agreement in their decisions to quit.


AFPM is “not technically denying climate change but they might as well be,” said Andrew Logan, senior director of the oil and gas industry program at the corporate sustainability group Ceres.

“The only way to understand their policy positioning,” Logan added, “is that they will support any policy that encourages more use of oil products and they will oppose any policy that would lead to less consumption of oil products.”

Edelman did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what PR work it did for AFPM or if the group is still one of its clients.

AFPM also did not respond to a list of detailed questions from BuzzFeed News. But in a statement, it said, “We advocate for public policies that enable our members to safely and sustainably provide the fuels and petrochemicals that the world’s growing populations and economies need to thrive.” The trade association added, “We unequivocally acknowledge that climate change is real and that we have a role to play in reducing global GHG emissions.”


Eric Gaillard / Reuters
Richard Edelman, president and CEO of the public relations company


The fossil fuel industry is a huge potential source of revenue for public relations firms. Research by the Brown sociologist Brulle found that five big oil companies combined have “spent nearly $3.6 billion in advertising purposes for corporation promotion” from 1986 to 2015.

In addition to Edelman, AFPM paid another public relations firm, Singer Associates, roughly $14.5 million from 2017 to 2019. Singer Associates, based in San Francisco, has worked closely with Chevron on an “aggressive” crisis campaign after it was accused of environmental damage in Ecuador. Singer Associates also led a public relations campaign aimed at improving perception of Chevron's Bay Area refinery, where a 2012 fire led roughly 15,000 local residents in a low-income community to seek medical treatment.

Singer Associates “is honored to work for AFPM and Chevron,” Sam Singer, the firm’s president, told BuzzFeed News in an email, adding: “Our agency supports the Paris Agreement and is committed to helping to address climate change. Our work for AFPM and Chevron reflects our philosophy and beliefs.”

“As a policy, we do not discuss the details of work we perform for our clients,” Singer continued. “With that said, we did not work on Energy4Us.”

Edelman also did not respond to questions about whether it was involved in the Energy4Us campaign.

Edelman recently became a target of a public pressure campaign dubbed “Clean Creatives,” which is trying to get public relations firms and ad agencies to commit to refusing future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and front groups.

And sometime over the past year, the firm quietly changed the section of its website dedicated to its “Position on Climate” to a position on “Energy and the Environment.”

In recent blog posts, CEO Richard Edelman has heralded the business community for being “prepared to take the lead in fighting the twin evils of climate change and inequality” and urged companies to consider setting climate science–based targets.

Kendall TaggartBuzzFeed News Reporter

Zahra HirjiBuzzFeed News Reporter

NUTTER RIGHTWING POLITICIANS 

NOT JUST IN ALBERTA

NB MLA defends attending rally held in opposition to COVID-19 restrictions

WATCH HER BACKPEDAL

Jacques Poitras CBC

3/16/2021

© Jacques Poitras/CBC Miramichi MLA and People's Alliance member Michelle Conroy is defending her decision to attend a rally organized by a group that has promoted anti-mask and anti-vaccine views online.

A People's Alliance MLA is defending her decision to attend a weekend rally organized by a group that promotes anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown views.

Michelle Conroy said she was at the Miramichi rally to support rotational workers who face what she considers onerous self-isolation requirements when they come home to New Brunswick.

"This was just a rally for rotational workers," said Conroy, who has raised the issue at the legislature.

"This was not anti-mask. They told me that as soon as I arrived, that it wasn't anti-mask, anti-lockdown. It was just rotational workers wanting to see their families and being able to do something that's going to help mentally through this time. …

"That's the only thing that this was about."

A Facebook user named Wendy Yehia, who is an administrator of a group called Miramichi Freedom Warriors, posted the photo of Conroy and said the MLA was there "to give us her support."

The Miramichi Freedom Warriors page includes posts questioning COVID-19 vaccines and claiming lockdowns, masking requirements and even hand sanitizers violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In a video posted from the rally, one man argued that "thousands of doctors and thousands of medical professionals" believe that pandemic lockdowns are "killing more people than they're saving."

Another woman talked at length about "experimental vaccines" and about the federal Emergencies Act, which has not been invoked during the pandemic.

New Brunswick's COVID-19 restrictions are authorized under the provincial Emergency Measures Act.

Education Minister Dominic Cardy said Conroy would have to answer for her presence at the rally.

"I would not go near those sort of rallies with a 10-foot pole," said Cardy, who clashed with anti-vaccination groups when trying to win passage of a bill on mandatory vaccinations for school children.

© Ed Hunter/CBC PC MLA and Education Minister Dominic Cardy has questions about Conroy's decision to attend the rally.

Cardy said the rallies are being organized by Vaccine Choice Canada, who fought his bill and who he called "one of the most dangerous organizations around, spreading misinformation around vaccines."

Yehia said in a post to the group promoting the rally ahead of time that it was "not an anti-mask, anti-vac 'let's all spread covid' type of rally."

Yehia said Monday she was unable to do an interview before the deadline for this story. Another administrator of the Facebook group did not respond to messages from CBC News seeking comment.

People who travel into and out of New Brunswick on rotating work shifts must self-isolate for 14 days when they return, including from their own families.

Public Health rules say that if the worker can't isolate from the rest of the family, then the entire family must self-isolate.

"Right now they can't even leave the house," Conroy said. "They can't go for a walk. They can't sit outside on their doorstep, check their mail, go for a drive."

On Friday the province announced that rotational workers will be eligible for a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine later this month. Officials said it was too early to say whether that would allow the relaxing of the isolation requirements.

"They were hoping to hear better news than they were given," Conroy said.

The second-term Alliance MLA said she has been told of cases of rotational workers bringing the virus back into New Brunswick and infecting others, though she wouldn't say who told her that.

But she said the province's refusal to confirm that it's happened is sowing doubts among the rotational workers themselves about the merits of the policy.

"That's why they want numbers. That's why we've asked for numbers," she said. "They won't tell them if there was any, and if there was any, how many that have brought the virus back."

A photo posted by Yehia shows Conroy, unmasked, talking to someone near the rally location. Masks are not required outdoors in the yellow phase of COVID-19 restrictions unless distancing can't be maintained.

Conroy said she was at the rally for "the better part of an hour" to show her support, and the plight of rotational workers "was the only issue."

Asked about signs saying "End the lockdown" in one of the rally videos, she speculated that it was referring to the restrictions on rotational workers rather than COVID-19 restrictions in general. "I didn't see that sign particularly," she said.

In one recent post to the Miramichi Freedom Warriors page, Miramichi resident Rory Lamkey said the page was the best way to reach "non maskers" and suggested, without any evidence, that recent COVID-19 cases were among people wearing masks.

Yehia agreed the situation was "fishy" and said, without any proof, that it was part of a plan to keep the public in fear to "push" vaccines.

PLAYERS NEED A UNION & CBA

How much are student-athletes worth?

March Madness returns, as does compensation debate.


Artur Davis and James Davis
Tue, March 16, 2021

On Thursday, March Madness returns — a small but real step toward making America normal again. This same month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could serve as a catalyst to reshape college sports.

The legal question in the court’s case sounds abstract: Did the superpower that runs college athletics, the NCAA, violate federal law by restricting benefits for college athletes?

But the two of us, an ex-Alabama politician who practices employment rights law and a public affairs consultant with Georgia roots, know the hardship of college athletes, especially in the South (where college sports dominate the pros in so many ways). Many students struggle to afford a plane ticket home while making plenty of money for their colleges and their coaches. They should be allowed to benefit financially from their association with sports and position themselves for future success.


The South that we know is the epicenter of big-time college sports in all its wealth and glory. It is also a landscape of shattered athletic dreams: men whose knees gave out, who never fully regained that lost step after rehab, or who lacked pro-level talent. Some of them ended up broke. Some can’t bear to watch the games they once loved.

March Madness begins March 18, 2021.

Former college athletes such as Shabazz Napier, a University of Connecticut standout who played for the Washington Wizards, and former Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace, who never made the cut in the NFL, have described another cruel feature of college sports: Student-athletes going to bed hungry unable to buy food.

Exploitation and arbitrary rules

College sports is partly built on exploitative and arbitrary NCAA rules that prevent college athletes from having an equity interest in Division I football and basketball — despite the risks and grueling demands of playing big-time sports. College sports is a $19 billion industry, but the revenue creators — the student-athletes — lose eligibility to play if they receive any financial benefit based on their status as an athlete, such as pay for endorsements or appearances.

Since 2015, the major regional college sports conferences have been allowed to offer student-athletes, in addition to scholarships, stipends for expenses such as food and travel up to $5,000 a year. This sounds generous if you don’t do the math and realize the sports locker room is a below-minimum-wage sweatshop. Five years into the 2015 reforms, nearly a quarter of Division I athletes reported struggling to buy food. Others reported homelessness.

More than 60% of Division I athletes sustained a major injury and 50% developed a chronic condition, according to the Journal of Athletic Training. While the NCAA requires college athletes to have insurance, the coverage can be spotty and inadequate. Only the small number of athletes with high round draft potential can genuinely protect the value of a future wrecked by catastrophic injury.

No matter what the Supreme Court decides, federal lawmakers can set things right by passing bipartisan legislation to preserve the best of college sports while empowering college athletes.

Promising policy ideas are emerging. Several democrats in the House and the Senate have proposed, among other things, revenue sharing for college athletes. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has offered a narrower reform focused on name, image and likeness compensation.

Neither approach has the votes to pass, and they both seem centered on the biggest brand name teams and players. Women’s sports and college programs outside the Power Five won’t fare well under either option.
Some nontraditional fixes

We think something more creative is needed to ensure athletes are included in the financial rewards of their billion dollar industry. While we agree with two-thirds of Americans who support letting college athletes earn product endorsement money, the biggest beneficiaries would be a small number of superstars.

A more inclusive reform would allow college athletes to begin building their economic future while they are in school the time-tested way, through jobs and connections with corporate America. For instance, college athletes deserve the chance to trade sponsorship and promotional ties with businesses for job training and apprenticeship opportunities.

While there are some student-athletes who could be popular enough to work with Nike to create (and make money off of) an entire shoe line, others might get a different deal — one in which Nike could use their likeness in exchange for job training in the manufacturer's marketing or research departments. Let students and corporations work out whatever deal works for them. The NCAA (and everyone else) should get out of the way.

Freeing athletes to be entrepreneurial turns the scales on defenders of the status quo who claim that banning outside income protects the interests of small schools that can’t compete with the cash cows in Athens, Clemson and Tuscaloosa.

The solution is broader than “salaries” and creates opportunities based on skill, a core American principle. Alabama State and Grambling can’t afford bidding wars with Southeastern Conference powers, but think of the potential of Apple and Citigroup engaging stars at smaller historically Black colleges and universities without today’s fuzzy rules on “impermissible benefits.”

Ramogi Huma, the executive director of the National College Players Association who is a crusader for student-athletes, has other transformative ideas, among them the establishment of trust funds that would be available to college athletes who have either completed their degree or are on their way to completion.

Student-athletes — all of them, not just the future first-round picks — need a path to security and wealth. The Cinderella teams during March Madness must share in a more equitable future.

The rules need to permit companies and communities to creatively invest in our student-athletes.

Artur Davis is an employment rights lawyer and a former Democratic congressman from Alabama. James Davis is a criminal justice activist and founder of Touchdown Strategies, a marketing and communications firm.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How much are student-athletes worth? March Madness returns, as does pay debate

Rubio endorsing Amazon workers’ union push signals a political shift in organized labor’s favor

NAW JUST POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM

AROUND CULTURE KAMPF 


Marco Rubio

Rey Mashayekhi
Mon, March 15, 2021

On Friday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) published an op-ed in USA Today expressing his support for recent unionization efforts by Amazon workers at the retail giant’s Bessemer, Ala., warehouse.

It was an unorthodox move for the Republican senator, whose party is more associated with pro-business policies that have contributed to organized labor’s waning influence in recent decades. But in his piece, Rubio criticized the retail giant for having “waged a war against working-class values” and claimed that “the days of conservatives being taken for granted by the business community are over.

“When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy—I support the workers,” Rubio wrote. “And that’s why I stand with those at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse today.”

Rubio wasn’t unequivocal in his support for organized labor. He knocked Democrats’ proposed Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act—which would strengthen workers’ ability to unionize—as legislation that would “mandate adversarial relations between labor and management.” He also characterized the right to form a union as “a requirement that business owners allow left-wing social organizers to take over their workplaces.” While the head of the union conducting the Amazon workers’ unionization drive welcomed Rubio’s support, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka accused the senator of “political pandering” given his opposition to the PRO Act.

And beyond labor concerns, Rubio’s essay also appeared exceptionally concerned with Amazon’s politics. He described the company as “enthusiastic culture warriors,” likely in reference to its recent decision to stop selling books that frame transgender sexual identity as a mental illness—a move that drew scrutiny from Rubio and other GOP senators.

Still, Rubio’s pro-worker stance—which echoed a similar article he wrote for The Atlantic in 2018—could signal a broader political shift in favor of organized labor. After years of declining union membership, recent polling indicates that public support for unions in the U.S. is on the rise. And President Biden has looked to live up to his campaign promise of being “the strongest labor President you have ever had” by broadly backing the Amazon workers’ right to unionize (albeit without naming the company or explicitly endorsing their unionization drive).

But while it’s not uncommon for Democratic lawmakers to offer such support to unions, the backing of a leading Senate Republican is far more surprising, and may hint at changing attitudes toward organized labor on the right. With the GOP increasingly looking to appeal to working-class voters, an embrace of pro-labor policies could prove to be in the party’s interest, given evidence showing that unions played a key role in reducing economic inequality in the 20th century.

Of course, that embrace would run counter to the decades of free-market orthodoxy that has guided the Republican Party’s economic principles and kept it cozy with business interests. But after a decade bookended by two recessions that left millions of working Americans struggling to cope, Rubio’s words may speak to a growing acceptance of what unions represent—on both sides of the aisle.