CAPITALI$M 101
Lordstown Motors extends decline to 33% as the electric-vehicle maker warns it may go out of business

insider@insider.com (Carla Mozée) 

© Lordstown Motors The Endurance pickup truck. Lordstown Motors

Lordstown Motors shares extended their decline to 33% after the electric vehicle maker warned late Tuesday that it's low on cash and faces shutting its doors.

Lordstown outlined its warnings to investors with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company is still targeting limited production of its Endurance pickup truck in September.

Shares of Lordstown Motors slumped Wednesday, deepening losses from the previous session after the electric-vehicle maker said it doesn't have enough cash to start producing its Endurance truck and warned that it may have to shut down altogether.

Lordstown outlined its warnings in a regulatory filing shortly before trading closed on Tuesday.

"The Company believes that our current level of cash and cash equivalents are not sufficient to fund commercial scale production and the launch of sale of such vehicles," it said in an amendment with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lordstown is still aiming to begin limited production in late September of its Endurance pickup truck which carries a base price tag of $52,500.

Video: Lordstown Motors shares fall after company says it needs more capital (CNBC)


Investors quickly dragged the company's shares sharply lower on Tuesday, leaving them down by 16.3%. The shares continued on Wednesday, losing 17% as they traded at $9.33 in mid-afternoon action.

Lordstown also said it may go out of business in the next 12 months as it's been struggling with cost increases stemming from supply chain issues and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"These conditions raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least one year from the date of issuance of the consolidated financial statements included in this report," it said. "If we are not able to continue as a going concern, or if there is continued doubt about our ability to do so, the value of your investment would be materially and adversely affected."

The company in its quarterly filing said it had about $587 million in cash and cash equivalents and an accumulated deficit of $259.7 million.

The start-up has previously said it's been facing significantly higher-than-expected expenditures for parts and equipment and said in its Tuesday's filing it may seek to raise more funds including through issuing equity or debt securities or obtaining credit from government or financial institutions.

GREEN CRYPTO-CAPITALI$M

The president of El Salvador says the country is exploring using geothermal energy from volcanoes to mine bitcoin following its decision to make the cryptocurrency legal tender

wdaniel@businessinsider.com (Will Daniel) 

© Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/Getty Images A bitcoin sign in El Salvador. Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/Getty Images

El Salvador's president Nayim Bukele announced his country is exploring using volcanic energy to mine bitcoin.
The move comes after El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender via a supermajority decision.

Bitcoin's price jumped roughly 10% on Wednesday to trade around $36,000.

El Salvador's president Nayim Bukele took to Twitter on Wednesday for yet another big bitcoin announcement.

This time, Bukele said that he has instructed the president of the country's state-owned geothermal electric company, LaGeo SA de CV, to "put up a plan to offer facilities for #Bitcoin mining with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos."

The move comes after the country passed a law to make bitcoin legal tender on Wednesday via a supermajority (62 votes out of 84 possible).

Bitcoin's price rose roughly 10% on Wednesday to trade around $36,000 per coin after the bullish news broke.

Bitcoin mining's energy-intensive nature has led critics to question its environmental impact over the past few years.

According to data from Cambridge, the bitcoin network's total energy consumption represents about 0.53% of total global energy consumption, and more than 85% of the energy consumed is used in the mining process.

Critics have argued bitcoin mining could exacerbate climate change, while others, including Cathie Wood of ARK Invest, have said that bitcoin's power use will only help boost the adoption of renewable mining and solar power.

In other crypto news, Coindesk reported Chinese consumers are currently unable to search for popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, OKEx, and Huobi on popular Chinese search engines in a sign of potential censorship.

China has been cracking down on cryptocurrency mining for some time, even going so far as to block the social media accounts of prominent crypto influencers over the weekend.

Last month, crypto miners were forced to halt operations in China after the country implemented tighter regulations. Chinese government officials have previously stated they would target the crypto industry to try to reach net-zero emissions by 2060.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Edmonton Journal 
Wednesday's letters: Goal of privatizing public services is profit

Why does the city again choose one of the lowest-paid groups of employees to privatize and present this decision as if this will improve efficiencies, save us money and then scare us with otherwise having to raise property taxes. This is hokum and we are tired of it. The most current similar rationale was the aides in long-term care facilities and we still are dealing with that disastrous management decision.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Harjas Grewal with Bee-Clean sanitizes the high touch surfaces in a Calgary Transit bus. The City of Edmonton is also looking at options to privatize bus cleaning which could lead to layoffs of more than 100 employees.

Bus cleaners and elder-care aides need secure jobs with benefits just like everyone else and working for government or city is a promise of that. We all know privatizing means profit is the primary goal, that owners and investors get a good return by downgrading working conditions and cutting pay and benefits to workers is the way they do it.


We need some journalist to focus on investigating and exposing this practice and what it means to our society going forward.

Connie Kenney, Edmonton

Contracting out costs more in the end

Let us not save a few dollars by contracting out city bus-cleaning jobs. These city positions provide a low but decent wage, benefits and job safety to people with disabilities and new Canadians. Since cleaning will still have to be done, how much will we save by giving worse pay and benefits to the employees at the bottom of the pay chain. Then, will we pay for social services to support them when their income will not pay even the lowest bills?

How is that moving us towards the city we say we want, fewer people homeless? How is that a good idea?

Wendy Edey, Edmonton

Steelworkers ratify new four-year contract at ArcelorMittal and end strike

LONGUEUIL, Que. — ArcelorMittal Mines and Infrastructure Canada says a strike by its workers has ended after they ratified a deal reached between the company and the United Steelworkers.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

The approval ends a labour dispute involving 2,500 workers across five union locals that began on May 10.

ArcelorMittal says the new four-year collective agreement will provide stability for both employees and the company's partners.

Details of the agreement were not immediately available, but the union had been seeking improvements in wages, pensions and allowances based on working and living in remote northern communities.

Workers had rejected a previous offer earlier this year.

The workers are employed at several of the company's locations including the Mont-Wright mining complex and Fire Lake mine in the Cote-Nord region, and at a pelletizing plant in Port-Cartier, Que., about 575 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press

10 Members Of The Princess Diana-Supported HALO Trust Killed In Afghanistan

Aynslee Darmon 


Less than a month before Prince Harry and Prince William are set to reunite to honour their late mother Princess Diana on what would've been her 60th birthday on July 1, the pair have received devastating news

NOT DEVASTING ENOUGH FOR EITHER TO COMMENT ON

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© Photo: CPImages Princess Diana

Ten members of the HALO Trust, an organization that the late icon worked closely with, were killed Wednesday and another 16 were injured by an armed group at a mine clearance camp in Afghanistan.

The HALO Trust (Hazardous Area Life-support Organization) helps removes debris left behind by war, in particular landmines.

The humanitarian organization confirmed the sad news on Twitter:

Diana famously walked through one of HALO's minefields in Angola in 1997. The visit prompted the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty to be signed, calling for all countries to rid the world of landmines.

In 2019, 22 years later, Harry followed in his mother's footsteps and returned to the same minefield to bring even more awareness to the cause.

The Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex will reunite in London on July 1 to honour their mother on what would have been her milestone birthday. The brothers will both attend the unveiling of a statue of Diana at Kensington Palace, which is being installed in the Sunken Garden.

IGNORANT RACIST INJUSTICE

Missouri governor: Pardon of 4-decade inmate not a priority

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says addressing the clemency petition for a man who’s been behind bars for a triple murder for more than four decades is not a “priority,” even though prosecutors say he didn't commit the crime.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Parson noted that Kevin Strickland, 62, was tried “by a jury of his peers” and found guilty. But he added that he knew there was “a lot more information out there.”

Parson has a backlog of about 3,000 clemency requests, the Kansas City Star reported. He issued almost no pardons before his reelection in 2020 but has since begun issuing a group of pardons monthly.

“When something like that comes up, we look at those cases, but I don’t know that that necessarily makes it a priority to jump in front of the line,” Parson said during a Monday news conference. “We understand some cases are going to draw more attention through the media than others, but we’re just going to look at those things.”

Several state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle signed a letter seeking a pardon for Strickland, who has maintained his innocence since he was convicted in the April 1978 deaths of three people in Kansas City.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has called for his release. Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri, Jackson County’s presiding judge, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the team that convicted Strickland also have said he should be exonerated.

A bill approved this year that is awaiting Parson’s signature would give local prosecutors more power in such cases by allowing innocence claims to be brought before trial courts when a prosecutor believes a prisoner is innocent. Baker has said that if the governor signs the bill, she’ll file a motion on the first day it is legally allowed to get Strickland released.

The Star reported in September that two men who pleaded guilty in the killings for decades swore Strickland was not with them and two other accomplices during the shooting. The only eyewitness also recanted and wanted Strickland released.

In a petition filed with the Missouri Supreme Court in May, defense attorneys also noted that prosecutors removed the only four Black potential jurors from the trial for Strickland, who is Black.

Because of the prosecution’s “racially motivated” strikes, Strickland’s fate was decided by an all-white jury during a trial overseen by a white judge with white lawyers, the Star reported.

The state Supreme Court declined to hear Strickland's case, without giving a reason.

Strickland applied for clemency Tuesday, saying he does not want his sentence commuted. Anything less than a full pardon “would leave an unjust and undeserved stain on my c

“Through a full pardon, you have the power not only to correct my wrongful conviction, but also to ensure that my innocence is finally recognized,” Strickland wrote.riminal record," he wrote.

If Strickland is released, he will not be eligible for compensation from the state. Missouri compensates only inmates who are exonerated through DNA evidence, according to the Midwest Innocence Project.

The Associated Press

PRISON NATION USA

The longest serving death row inmate in the U.S. was resentenced to life in prison on Wednesday

© Provided by The Canadian Press

HOUSTON (AP) — The longest serving death row inmate in the U.S. was resentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after prosecutors in Texas concluded the 71-year-old man is ineligible for execution and incompetent for retrial due to his long history of mental illness.

Raymond Riles has spent more than 45 years on death row for fatally shooting John Thomas Henry in 1974 at a Houston car lot following a disagreement over a vehicle. He is the country's longest serving death row prisoner, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Riles was resentenced after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in April that his “death sentence can no longer stand” because jurors did not properly consider his history of mental illness.

Riles attended his resentencing by Zoom from the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, which houses the state’s death row inmates. He said very little during the court hearing.

Riles’ attorneys asked that he appear via Zoom because they were concerned his various health issues, including severe mental illness, heart disease and ongoing recovery from prostate cancer, make him susceptible to contracting COVID-19.

Several members of Henry’s family took part in the virtual court hearing but did not make any statement before state District Judge Ana Martinez resentenced Riles to life in prison.

“We express our condolences to the family of Mr. Henry (who) we know have suffered an unimaginable loss. We are profoundly sorry for that,” said Jim Marcus, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and one of Riles’ attorneys.

In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Riles is incompetent and “therefore can’t be executed.”

“We will never forget John Henry, who was murdered so many years ago by Riles, and we believe justice would best be served by Riles spending the remainder of his life in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,” Ogg said.

During his time on death row, Riles has been treated with heavy antipsychotic medications but was never deemed mentally competent to be executed, according to prosecutors and his attorneys. He had been scheduled for execution in 1986 but got a stay due to competency issues. While Riles spent more than 45 years on death row in Texas, prisoners in the U.S. typically spend more than a decade awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Martinez was not able to resentence Riles to life in prison without parole because it was not an option under state law at the time of his conviction.

Riles’ new sentence means he is immediately eligible for parole. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will automatically conduct a parole review in his case, Marcus said.

The district attorney’s office as well as Henry’s family have indicated they will fight any efforts to have Riles released on parole.

“Mr. Riles is in very poor health but, if the Board of Pardons and Paroles sees fit to grant parole, he has family with the capacity to care for him,” Marcus said.

A co-defendant in the case, Herbert Washington, was also sentenced to death, but his sentence was overturned, and he later pleaded guilty to two related charges. He was paroled in 1983.

When Riles was tried, state law did not expect jurors to consider mitigating evidence such as mental illness when deciding whether to choose the death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that Texas jury instructions were unconstitutional because they didn’t allow appropriate consideration of intellectual disability, mental illness or other issues as mitigating evidence in the punishment phase of a capital murder trial.

But Riles’ case remained in limbo because lower courts failed to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision until at least 2007, according to his attorneys.

That then gave Riles a realistic chance to prevail on this legal issue, but it wasn’t until recently that he had contact with attorneys who were willing to assist him, his lawyers said.

While prosecutors argued at Riles’ trial that he was not mentally ill, several psychiatrists and psychologists testified for the defense that he was psychotic and suffered from schizophrenia. Riles’ brother testified that his “mind is not normal like other people. He is not thinking like other people.”

While the Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for individuals who are intellectually disabled, it has not barred such punishment for those with serious mental illness, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In 2019, the Texas Legislature considered a bill that would have prohibited the death penalty for someone with severe mental illness. The legislation did not pass.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

Juan A. Lozano, The Associated Press

Developer of Keystone XL oil project abandons pipeline
esnodgrass@businessinsider.com (Erin Snodgrass) 

AP UA Pipefitters work on construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. AP

TC Energy Corp announced they would cancel the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday.

The move comes months after President Joe Biden revoked a key permit for the pipeline.

The move is a win for environmentalists who have opposed the project for a decade.

Environmentalists secured a win on Wednesday when Canada's TC Energy Corp and the Albertan provincial government announced they would cancel the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, more than a decade after it was first proposed.

The 1,200-mile line was an effort to carry more Canadian crude through the US, including Montana, South Dakota, to Steele City, Nebraska. The pipeline would have moved 35 million gallons of crude each day, connecting to other pipelines that feed refineries along the Gulf Coast, according to The Associated Press.

The project has been a point of contention among environmental activists and community groups for years.

Video: Former Keystone XL pipeline worker: ‘Gratifying’ to hear the Biden administration admit the importance of pipelines (FOX News)

The decision to abandon the project was expected after President Joe Biden revoked the pipeline's permit to cross into the US's northern border in January. Construction on the pipeline shut down that same day.

"We value the strong relationships we've built through the development of this Project and the experience we've gained," TC Energy President and CEO François Poirier said in a statement.

 

'It's a life or death issue': Trans athletes fight for their humanity while battling anti-trans laws

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY JUNE 9,2021


Former University of Montana runner Juniper "June" Eastwood ran a 1500-meter time in three minutes and fifty-one seconds before she transitioned as a transgender woman. The women's world record is 3:55 by Romania's Paula Ivan in 1988.

Athletes: Bans on transgender players must stop

Eastwood said she wants people to know that as part of her journey as a trans woman, she followed Montana's state rules for transitioning athletes and cares deeply about participating in sports in a way that's fair and transparent.

In 2019, Eastwood became the first Division I transgender cross-country runner. As a successful trans athlete, her presence on the track is transcendent. And the spirit she brings to her sport has little to do with a desire to dominate her peers. It's bigger than t

Courtesy of June Eastwood June Eastwood competes at a meet in her senior season.

Eastwood's trans identity saved her own life from suicide and the demons of gender dysphoria.

She had to sit out a year and take hormone and testosterone blockers as part of her transition to adhere to NCAA rules. As a result, her 1500-meter time dropped by more than 30 seconds – down to around 4:24.

"There's a gray area that gets lost because people see it in (black and white)– you're born a man or a woman. In reality, it's a life or death issue for (transitioning) transgender women who have a sport as their sanctuary through dark times," Eastwood told USA TODAY Sports. “It becomes, quit the sport that’s saved you or keep competing but be open to scorn."

The overarching inability of seeing that the gray area is was further exacerbated by 69 proposed bills in 34 U.S. states that have been deemed discriminatory by LGBTQ advocacy support groups.

Science has taken a backseat to a political civil war in high school sports, LGBTQ rights experts say. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, seven states — Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia — have signed bills into law that do not allow transgender girls women to compete in high school athletics regardless of hormone therapy; athletes must compete according to the sex they were assigned at birth. assigned a gender at birth to compete in that division.

Joanna Harper, physicist and researcher at Loughborough University in London, has been an adviser to the International Olympic Committee on transgender inclusion. She said the bills neglect the science that outlines how a proper transition (and one year off the sport) can assure fairness at the high school level, as has been administered at the NCAA college level for the past decade.

More: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs transgender athlete ban on first day of 'Pride Month'

More: I'm a lifelong competitive athlete and a mom: Transgender athletes aren't a threat to women's sports

Her research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in March show that hemoglobin levels in transgender women fall to levels in line with cisgender women in the space of three to four months on average.

"What we have is transgender female athletes taking drugs to be fair and limit their ability, it's sort of the opposite of an athlete who takes (steroids) to be unfair," said Harper, who transitioned from male to female in 2004 and has experienced the changes in athletic ability firsthand.

"There isn't much of an issue before puberty with boys and girls but if we have a successful trans girl who was successful in boys sports before puberty, then goes into girls sports before hormone therapy, their performance would be world-beating. That isn't fair. But that's not what is being proposed. Since every state education system rules its own state, that's resulted in every state seeming to have a different policy," Harper said.

Mack Beggs, a trans man, drew national attention in 2018 when he became the Texas State Champion in girls' wrestling. He wanted to compete in boys wrestling, but the state's University Interscholastic League wouldn't allow him because he was assigned female at birth. He had taken testosterone enhancers initially when transitioning from female to male but then opted to take hormone blockers to offset the unfair testosterone. Parents and fellow athletes protested.

"What these laws are doing is pushing transgender athletes back into the closet," Beggs said. "I try to understand the other side but the main case is 'we're trying to protect our children.' That's an unrealistic fear."

"As transgender athletes, we're not trying to compete where it's unfair," said Eastwood, the Montana high school boys cross country class A state champion in 2014. "But this doesn't become an issue unless we're winning. I wanted to win fairly but compete in the sport I love as who I really am."

Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports, said the extremism of out-right bans has a dangerous connotation for a disenfranchised group at a young age.

"A lot of people focus on who is winning and losing," Zeigler said. "I can see that in professional sports, the Olympics or collegiate sports. But kids who are in middle school and high school most of the time just want to compete. That should be driving policy. When people educate themselves, whether Democrats or Republicans, they can realize that outright bans are cruel and unnecessary.

"We should be having a conversation about how to include trans girls, not ban them. Should there be a transition period? Yes. But bans are just political posturing."

Eastwood said politicians are failing to see the issue on a human level.

"I never would have wanted to be a world record holder as a (transgender) woman," Eastwood said. "But it's important for lawmakers to understand why we transition in the first place: So we don't contemplate suicide. My biggest worry is that these bills will marginalize and we'll see an increase in trans suicides. The easiest way to see the gray is acknowledge our suffering. If lawmakers aren't willing to sit across the table from transgender athletes or and listen, then it's harder to humanize and easier to discriminate."







Slide 1 of 6: Actor Elliot Page came out as transgender in Dec. 2020, announcing his new pronouns and name via Twitter. He later appeared on the cover of Time magazine, becoming the first openly transgender man to do so. In the Time interview, Page stressed the importance of cisgender people educating themselves on transgender lives, rights and medical needs
6 SLIDES © Geoff Robins, AFP via Getty Images

Actor Elliot Page came out as transgender in Dec. 2020, announcing his new pronouns and name via Twitter. He later appeared on the cover of Time magazine, becoming the first openly transgender man to do so. In the Time interview, Page stressed the importance of cisgender people educating themselves on transgender lives, rights and medical needs.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'It's a life or death issue': Trans athletes fight for their humanity while battling anti-trans laws

Alberta musician Shawnee Kish hopes her two-spirit story inspires youth to reclaim culture, identity

Allison Bench 

Edmonton-based musician Shawnee Kish says she spent the pandemic writing new music.

 Shawnee Kish / Instagram Alberta musician Shawnee Kish, pictured on a billboard in Toronto.

"I have an EP coming, it's a six-track EP," Kish said. "I believe music is very much medicine and this music was that for me entirely. I spent the lockdown time creating this new music and it's this new chapter I'm so excited to share."

Kish said she uses her music as a way to connect with others.

"I am Indigenous. I identify as two spirit, and it took me some time in my life to really honour and cherish those parts of me.

"There was a time in my life where I was closeted and I didn't feel like I could be who I was as a two-spirit person."

The term two spirit was created in the 1990s in Canada to describe those who are Indigenous and LGBTQ, but the concept has been a part of Indigenous culture for generations.

"This is not a new tradition, has been celebrated and honoured by our ancestors," Kish said. "As Indigenous people, we are reclaiming that tradition that was celebrated and honoured through our people.

"A two-spirit person walks and understands it's a gift to be two spirit and understand both the feminine and the masculine world and spirits... (and) carrying both of those understandings."

Read more: Alberta men begin walk to Ottawa to honour missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls

Kish is set to release her EP on June 25. It will be available to steam on major platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

The month holds duel significance for the release -- Canadians celebrate June as Pride Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day is marked on June 21.

"It's so important to us as Indigenous people to reclaim who we are," Kish said. "To honour who we are, and to the outside community -- non-Indigenous people -- to share these conversations with younger people about Indigenous people and what has gone on in Canada and open up those conversations."

Kish was also selected to curate an Indigenous Voices playlist by Amazon Music to bring more creators and musicians into the spotlight.

Edmontonians will have the opportunity see Kish perform live this summer, at the Together Again concert series in August at the Racetrack Infield on the Edmonton Exhibition Lands (formerly Northlands Park) in central Edmonton.

Read more: Together Again outdoor concert series coming to Edmonton in August

She says she expects the experience to be emotional.

"I feel nervous because I feel like it's been so long," she said. "I've been performing for the past year and a half to my camera on my phone. To have people there... there might even be tears for me on stage.

"I am just so, so excited to be performing on a stage, with my band, this new music."


The past several months have been eventful for Kish even beyond her music -- in May, she married Edmonton Olympian Jen Kish in a ceremony officiated by NDP Leader Rachel Notley.