ITALY BUSTS BOOKING.COM FOR 

TAX EVASION

By Emilio Parodi

© Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch FILE PHOTO: The logo global online travel brand Expedia of is pictured at the International Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's tax police believe Booking.com evaded 153 million euros of value added tax (VAT) in connection with holiday rentals booked through its platform, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The Genoa police said in a statement they "uncovered a massive tax evasion of more than 150 million euros in unpaid VAT from 2013 to 2019 by a multinational online travel agency based in the Netherlands", without mentioning the company by name.

The police said their tax audit was conducted as part of a criminal investigation led by prosecutors in the northwestern coastal town.

Booking.com confirmed it has recently received the audit report "which we intend to discuss in full cooperation with the Italian tax authorities."

The company argues that hotel and bed-and-breakfast owners that use its platform are themselves responsible for collecting and paying the VAT they owe in Italy and other European Union countries.

The Italian move comes days after an agreement by the Group of Seven rich countries' to create a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% to squeeze more money out of multinational web companies and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens.

Colonel Ivan Bixio, head of the Genoa police group leading the investigation, told Reuters the sort of evasion they had uncovered "generates huge profits to the beneficiaries, harming public budgets and altering the rules of competition."

The probe concerns VAT on payments between private individuals for rental properties advertised by the online travel agent based in The Netherlands and owned by the U.S. group Booking Holdings inc., based in Delaware.

Booking.com works as an intermediary between property owners and guests. Private accommodation sites which are not professionally run often have no VAT number, and Italian tax authorities believe the online travel agency should then act as withholding agent.

However the Genoa police, having checked 896,500 property owners who worked with the Dutch online giant, concluded it did not pay VAT due to Italy from 2013 to 2019, according to the two sources.

During this period, the commission collected by Booking.com in Italy from this type of private client amounted to 700 million euros, with unpaid VAT of 153 million euros, the sources said.

The Italian probe has attracted the attention of several European tourist destination countries, said one of the sources, with the tax authorities of these nations informally asking investigators for information on the matter.

He did not identify these countries.

As the Genoa prosecutors' criminal investigation proceeds, Italy's tax office will launch a separate procedure at the end of which Booking.com will have to decide whether to agree to pay or to contest any allegations of wrongdoing.

(Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, editing by Gavin Jones and David Evans)

Managers at centre of B.C. nursing college probe 'caused or contributed to' young woman's death, mother alleges

Bethany Lindsay CBC
JUNE 10,2021
. 

© Supplied by Margaret Lavery Katrina Lavery, shown here at left with her mother Margaret, died in hospital at the age of 21 after living in housing operated by Victoria's Garth Homer Society.

Katrina Lavery had a thirst for life.

She loved people and animals and rarely argued with her mother — even during her teenage years.

"[She was] the happiest camper every morning of every day that she woke up … pretty much a very joyful person that was taken way too soon," mom Margaret Lavery recalls.

Katrina died at the age of 21, succumbing to a bowel obstruction on New Year's Day 2018 in a hospital room in Victoria.

Katrina had Angelman syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability. She was non-verbal and required full-time nursing. At the time of her death, she was living in a home operated by the Garth Homer Society (GHS), a local non-profit that provides services for people with developmental disabilities.

Her mother filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that senior managers at GHS ignored symptoms of Katrina's condition for months, rebuffing support staff who urged them to seek medical attention and severely restricting Lavery's access to her daughter when she spoke out about her concerns.

"I feel like Katrina's death just didn't need to happen," Lavery said. "I feel like I've gone through a kidnapping."

This is the first time Lavery has spoken publicly about what happened. She agreed to an interview with CBC News after learning that the College of Nurses and Midwives of B.C. had suspended the nursing licences of Victoria Weber and Euphemia (Phemie) Guttin, both senior managers at GHS, after identifying "serious concerns" about the care they were providing.

The disciplinary action is a direct result of what happened to Katrina in GHS's care, along with complaints from two other families and a former employee.

Community Living B.C. (CLBC), the Crown agency that provides support for adults with developmental disabilities, also launched an investigation in the aftermath of Katrina's death. In May 2018, it cancelled its housing contract with GHS, withdrew funding for five residences and removed the society from a list of pre-qualified vendors for residential services, according to a civil claim filed by GHS earlier this spring.

Through all of this, Weber and Guttin have kept their jobs in high-level positions at GHS — Guttin as the executive director for service operations and Weber as the senior manager for health services and education. GHS has said they are "integral members" of the team.

In a written statement this week, the society's CEO Mitchell Temkin described Katrina Lavery as "a much-valued member of the Garth Homer Society community" and said everyone there was saddened by her death.

"Because of privacy legislation and because these matters are before the courts, we are unable to share details of her care when she was with the Garth Homer Society. However, we are confident that the care provided by GHS did not contribute to her unfortunate passing," Temkin said.

He said Katrina died two months after leaving the society's care — referring to the period of time she spent in hospital.

'Her skin was stretched so badly'

The allegations in Lavery's lawsuit have yet to be tested in court, but a trial date has been set for October 2022.

In a civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in March 2019, Lavery alleges that GHS "caused or contributed to" Katrina's death through its negligence, naming as co-defendants Weber, Guttin, GHS's residential supervisor Rana Weihs and CLBC.

Lavery's claim alleges that beginning in May 2017, Katrina's belly became increasingly distended, and she started having more frequent seizures and high temperatures.

In photos taken of Katrina during that time period and shared with CBC News, her abdomen appears hard and rounded, prominently jutting out from the rest of her body.

"Her skin was stretched so badly that she looked like she was nine months pregnant," Lavery alleged.

"Staff were told that they couldn't call an ambulance."

Lavery's claim alleges that when she began reaching out to GHS and CLBC with her concerns, they told her she was inappropriately interfering with their business and "severely restricted" her access to her daughter, while threatening staff with discipline if they spoke to her.

Katrina was admitted to hospital on Oct. 27, 2017, where she was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction "that had been left untreated for many months," the claim alleges.

Despite multiple surgeries, doctors were unable to save Katrina's life. She died on Jan. 1, 2018.

GHS denies causing or contributing to Katrina's death, according to a response to Lavery's claim filed on behalf of the society, Weber, Guttin and Weihs.

The document disputes the allegation that Katrina's symptoms became progressively worse in GHS's care, claiming that Katrina's bowel obstruction "occurred spontaneously and acutely" rather than developing over months.

GHS also denies restricting Lavery's access to her daughter, but says there were mutually agreed-upon "terms of engagement."

Guttin, Weber and Weihs did not respond to requests for comment.

CLBC has also denied all allegations of wrongdoing in Katrina's death in its response to Lavery's claim.

'Dismissive of front-line staff's concerns'

There are parallels between the allegations contained in Lavery's legal claim and the issues investigated by the nursing college.

In a May 27 disposition letter to Lavery, the college's professional conduct review consultant Tansey Ramanzin confirms that Guttin and Weber breached professional standards.

"Ms. Guttin and Ms. Weber ... failed to take steps to properly assess Katrina and escalate care when symptomatology was present, ongoing, and/or worsening. They were dismissive of front-line staff's concerns," Ramanzin wrote in the letter, which Lavery shared with CBC News.

Ramanzin said Guttin and Weber asked staff to forward cellphone photos of Katrina rather than doing in-person assessments of her condition.

The disposition letter also says Guttin and Weber were "combative" in their communication, alienating and obstructing Lavery when she tried to advocate for Katrina.

"They negatively characterized and labelled you as difficult and/or dangerous, downplayed your concerns about Katrina's health, and told people you may be acting contrary to Katrina's best interests," Ramanzin wrote.

"Staff were told not to communicate with you upon threat of termination."

Lavery said she is planning to ask for a review of the college's consent agreement with Guttin and Weber, explaining that she wants their licences to be revoked permanently.

"I don't think they've done enough, and I don't understand," Lavery said.

In a response to Lavery's concerns, the college offered a written statement describing the disciplinary measures as "severe and proportional" to Guttin and Weber's conduct.

The statement notes that both of their licences will be suspended for more than three years altogether, and they will have to undergo remedial education and work under "extensive oversight" if they choose to return to nursing.

CLBC contract was wrongfully terminated: GHS

Meanwhile, the Garth Homer Society began its own legal battle earlier this spring against Community Living B.C., alleging the Crown agency wrongfully terminated its contract in 2018.

The society's notice of claim also accuses several CLBC staff members of defamation for telling GHS clients and their families the contract was cancelled because of "allegedly unsafe, mismanaged and inadequate" services.

CLBC has yet to file a response and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

Spokesperson Randy Schmidt confirmed in an email that CLBC no longer contracts with GHS for residential services, but said he couldn't comment further on that issue or Katrina's death because of the legal actions.

"CLBC believes it has followed its responsibilities and monitoring guidelines and we will be responding via the appropriate legal process and will continue to do so," Schmidt wrote.

OLDEST BILLIONAIRE FAMILY IN CANADA
Thomson Reuters shareholder support for human rights review rises
By Ross Kerber and Sheila Dang

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York.

(Reuters) - A shareholder proposal for Thomson Reuters Corp to review human rights issues emerging from its U.S. government contracts gained increased investor support but failed to win approval at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday.

Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, has contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worth at least $17.4 million, public records show. Company spokesman Dave Moran declined to say what the contracts were for. Moran said a contract to provide the CLEAR online investigation software to ICE had expired in February. The software aggregates billions of data points and public records information for law enforcement agencies and financial services firms, according to a company website.

The shareholder proposal came from a British Columbia labor union and focused on Thomson Reuters work with government agencies including ICE.

The proposal won the support of 19% of the votes, Thomson Reuters Chairman David Thomson said at the meeting, which was webcast, more than double the 7.6% share that a similar resolution received last year.

The tally potentially represented a majority of support from outside investors. The Woodbridge Co, representing the Thomson Reuters controlling Thomson family, owns two-thirds of the company shares and had planned to vote against the resolution, according to a securities filing. Final voting figures had yet to be filed and Moran did not provide additional details.

Wednesday's resolution called for the company's board to produce a "human rights risk report" describing potential issues it faces and comparing risk-control procedures against those of other technology companies.

Under the Trump administration that ended in January, ICE played a leading role in sweeping raids and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Stephanie Smith, president of the union that sponsored the resolution, said in a statement the result showed "Thomson Reuters is failing to tackle very serious and concerning human rights risks related to contracts with agencies like ICE, and shareholders aren’t buying their excuses."

The company had opposed the resolution as unnecessary given existing internal controls.

Thomson Reuters Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker said at the meeting: "We continue to see a net societal benefit to providing CLEAR and similar products to law enforcement," provided they are used as permitted by regulations.

Asked about the vote result, Thomson Reuters' Moran said that "As we review best practices for identifying and mitigating human rights risks, we always welcome feedback from our shareholders and will continue in our dialogue with our investors as part of our shared commitment to human rights."

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Howard Goller)

Union criticizes plan to hire replacement responders

The union representing most private paramedics and emergency medical responders (EMRs) in the eastern and central regions of Newfoundland says the Department of Health is ready to break with safety measures in order to attract replacement workers if job action is taken.

The province is also offering higher pay and expenses.

“The NL Paramedicine Regulation went one step further and introduced legacy registration,” Hubert Dawe, business agent of the Teamsters Local 855, said in an email Tuesday. “This allowed medics who have not been on the road for up to five years to be reregistered without meeting any of the requirements that currently registered medics have to.”

Dawe said paramedics normally have to demonstrate they completed continuing medical education credits to show they are current in their knowledge. They also complete a yearly protocol exam to ensure the medics who are giving medications or applying medical procedures are competent in their skills.

“These checks and balance ensure patient safety, but apparently none of this matters during a labour dispute,” he said. “I am not sure what kind of precedent this is setting if they refuse registration to a medic in the future.”

A former paramedic sent a message to The Telegram Tuesday expressing anger at the offer.

“The fact that myself and other former medics were contacted to work under special circumstances if a strike happens is disgusting,” he said.

“This is flat-out wrong, shouldn’t be allowed and needs to be brought to the public eye and stopped.”

Dawe said the offer from the government is considerably higher than what the drivers employed by the private operators currently get.

The offer, sent to all registered current and former responders in the province on May 25, was $275 per day and $220 per day for paramedics and EMRs, respectively.

“The (regional health authorities) will arrange for accommodations and compensate (at the provincial government rate) for travel, meals and miscellaneous expenses,” Wayne Young, manager of the Road Ambulance Program, wrote in the memo.

The money would be paid by the employer, who would then be reimbursed.

Dawe said paramedics with the Teamsters currently earn $177.20 per day, and an EMR makes $152.48.

When the union threatened job action in mid-May, Dawe said the workers would not withhold emergency services.

“Our proposal for job action would see no interruption to emergency ambulances or transports necessary for medical intervention, diagnostic imaging, etc,” he said. “However, when we look at transfers between medical facilities or other destinations, there will be a decrease in ambulances available.

“It is important to note that we are not an ‘essential service’ under law in this province,” he added.

The Department of Health did not provide a response to queries about the offer before deadline.

Peter Jackson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram

CRA is unfairly focusing on Muslim charities, civil rights group says
Ryan Tumilty 


OTTAWA — In a new report, a civil rights group says the Canada Revenue Agency has unfairly targeted Muslim charities for audits, causing a disproportionate number to lose their charitable status.© Provided by National Post The Canada Revenue Agency building in Ottawa.

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group studied the work of the Review and Analysis Division (RAD), a unit set up inside of the CRA in 2003 to specifically look for terrorist financing connected to the charitable sector.


The unit takes tips from the public and shares information with the RCMP and CSIS in a bid to root out charities that may be — knowingly or not — supporting terrorist activities overseas.

The report found that between 2008 and 2015, 75 per cent of the charities who have seen their status revoked were Muslim charities, despite Muslim charities representing only 0.47 per cent of charities overall.

RAD audited 16 charities during that time, and Tim McSorley, the group’s national co-ordinator, said of the eight charities that lost their status, six were Muslim, centred around mosques or other Islamic organizations.

McSorley said they’re hearing from the community that they feel targeted by the audits.

“Our concern was we have been hearing from individuals and groups in the Muslim community, that they’ve been facing increased audits and several questionable revocations,” he said.
The CRA is watching you: Auditors scouring social media for unreported income from influencers
CRA suspends about 800,000 taxpayers' accounts after login credentials found on dark web

Some of the charities lost their charitable status because of controversial speakers who were invited to mosques, others lost it because funds they provided may have ended up in the hands of terrorist groups after being sent to provide aid in Muslim countries.

McSorley said there is no clarity about the evidence the agency uses to determine that a charity’s funds are being used to support terrorism. He said charities have been sanctioned for payments they make to relief organizations overseas that have connections to terrorist groups.

“There’s a lack of nuance and lack of clarity around who could be accused of supporting terrorism by interacting in complex situations with for example, hospitals, and other government ministries,” he said.

McSorley said the agency relies on tips from the public, but also monitors the sector in ways that are unclear.

“They undertake their own surveillance and monitoring of the charitable sector, but they’re not upfront about what that entails — what kind of tools they use, how they verify the information that they’re collecting, and what the scope is. There’s just an overall lack of transparency around where the information is coming that leads to these audits.”

McSorley said even though several of these charities had their status revoked for supporting terrorist entities, none of them were ever charged criminally for that offence. The report found that the stigma of having a revocation often led to the groups losing banking services.

In a statement, the CRA was adamant that the charities targeted were not looked into simply because of their faith.

“The Canada Revenue Agency does not select registered charities for audit based on any particular faith or denomination, nor does it maintain statistics tracking audits based on denominations,” a statement from the agency said. “The CRA is firmly dedicated to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, aligning with our values of professionalism, integrity, respect and collaboration.”

The agency stressed that charitable status requires organizations to follow specific rules and that when it revokes a status it is because those rules are being broken.

“Being registered as a charity comes with both privileges and obligations under the law. The CRA has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the tax system and the charitable sector by ensuring that all registered charities follow the rules.”

The agency also said it works to use education first and only revokes a charitable status as a last resort.

“The CRA generally provides a charity with an opportunity to correct non‑compliance through education or compliance agreements before resorting to other measures such as sanctions or revocation. Only a very small proportion of charity audits conducted by the CRA result in serious consequences such as sanctions or revocation.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

JBS settles Muslim discrimination lawsuit for $5.5 million

DENVER (AP) — The second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. will pay up to $5.5 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company discriminated against Muslim employees at a meat processing plant in northern Colorado.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit in federal court in Denver in 2010, saying JBS Swift & Company discriminated against employees at its beef processing plant in Greeley by denying them bathroom breaks and disciplining them more harshly than other workers because they were Muslim, immigrants from Somalia, and Black.

JBS USA LLC, doing business as JBS Swift & Company, must pay the $5.5 million to about 300 employees who were included in the settlement, which was announced by the commission on Wednesday.

Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS USA, said the company does not admit any liability in the settlement, prohibits all discrimination and harassment at its facilities and “is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”

According to the lawsuit, JBS prevented Muslim employees from praying and harassed them when they tried to pray during scheduled breaks and bathroom breaks.

JBS also was accused of shutting off water fountains during the holy month of Ramadan in 2008, keeping Muslim Somali workers from getting a drink at sundown after a day of fasting, and from washing before prayers. According to the lawsuit, JBS managers and other employees threw meat or bones at Black and Somali employees, called them offensive names and tolerated offensive graffiti in restrooms at the Greeley plant, including the use of the N-word, “Somalis are disgusting,” “F—- Somalians” and “F—- Muslims."

“This case serves as a reminder that systemic discrimination and harassment remain significant problems that we as a society must tackle," EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows said in a statement.

JBS must take several steps to prevent further discrimination, including allowing former employees covered under the settlement to be eligible for rehire; reviewing, updating and posting its anti-discrimination policies; and maintaining a 24-hour hotline for reporting discrimination. The company also will be required to provide quiet locations other than bathrooms for employees to pray.

Many Somalis started working at the Greeley plant following a 2006 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in which 270 Hispanic employees were detained.

The treatment of the Somali workers came to a head two years later when they asked company officials to move the plant's scheduled meal break so they could stop fasting at sunset during Ramadan.

Officials agreed to an earlier meal break but changed course three days later and, according to the lawsuit, Muslim workers who were told to go outside to pray weren't allowed back into the plant.

Days later, several workers were fired for what the company said was an unauthorized work stoppage, according to the lawsuit.

Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press

Meatpacker JBS says it paid equivalent of $11 million in ransomware attack

(Reuters) -Meatpacker JBS USA paid a ransom equivalent to $11 million following a cyberattack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations, the company's CEO said in a statement on Wednesday.  

 Reuters/Bing Guan FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: JBS USA Worthington pork plant in Minnesota

The subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS SA halted cattle slaughtering at all of its U.S. plants for a day last week in response to the cyberattack, which threatened to disrupt food supply chains and further inflate already high food prices.

The cyberattack followed one last month on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. It disrupted fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.

Ransom software works by encrypting victims' data. Typically hackers will offer the victim a key in return for cryptocurrency payments that can run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. The FBI said earlier this month that the agency was investigating about 100 different types of ransomware.

The JBS meat plants, producing nearly a quarter of America's beef, recovered faster than some meat buyers and analysts expected.

Video: U.S. says ransomware attack on meatpacker JBS likely from Russia (Reuters)

"This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally," said Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA on the ransom payment. "However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers."

The Brazilian meatpacker's arm in the United States and Pilgrims Pride Corp, a U.S. chicken company mostly owned by JBS, lost less than one day's worth of food production. JBS is the world's largest meat producer.

Third parties are carrying out forensic investigations and no final determinations have been made, JBS said. Preliminary probe results show no company, customer or employee data was compromised in the attack, it said.

A Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS, a source familiar with the matter said last week. The Russia-linked cyber gang goes by the name REvil and Sodinokibi, the source said.

The Wall Street journal reported on Wednesday that the JBS ransom payment was made in bitcoin.

The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline Co, cracking down on hackers who launched the attack.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Grant McCool and Christopher Cushing)

Wild elephants: China's internet can't stop watching the wandering herd

By Julia Hollingsworth and Zixu Wang, CNN 

At least a dozen buzzing drones monitor them around the clock. Wherever they go, they're escorted by police. And when they eat or sleep, they're watched by millions online. 

© Xinhua/Sipa The elephant herd on June 7, 2021 in Jinning District of Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

For more than a week, China has been gripped by a new internet sensation: a herd of 15 marauding elephants, who are large, lost and wrecking havoc in the country's southwest.

Millions have tuned in to livestreams of the elephants, which have trekked more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) across the country since escaping from a nature reserve in South China last year.

And online, netizens have followed transfixed as the elephants trampled crops, causing more than a million dollars worth of damage, and roamed through towns, prompting local residents to stay inside.

Unsurprisingly, breakout stars have emerged. Viewers are particularly charmed by the herd's three calves, including one who was born during the epic journey, according to Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times.

More than 8 million people watched a video captured this week showing a calf who found itself stuck under an adult elephant during a group nap near the city of Kunming, in southwestern Yunnan province. Another clip showed baby elephants clumsily tripping as they followed the herd across a field, while a separate video showed a calf plunging head-first into a pool as it attempted to gulp down water.

"Will they get cold while sleeping?" worried one user on social media site Weibo as pictures of the herd's naptime went viral. "I want to tuck them up under a quilt."

Human stars have even tried to ride off the elephants' celebrity. According to Global Times, internet stars scrambled to get their hands on leftover corn and pineapple, which authorities left out to lure elephants away from cities. Videos posted online showed the stars picking up and eating leftover pineapple to attract viewers, the outlet reported.

It's still unclear why the elephants are making the journey north. Some have posited that shrinking rainforests in their home may have prompted the trip. Others say they could just be lost -- something that also worries elephant fans online.

"It's really sad that we don't know when they will reach their destination," another user wrote on Weibo.

Degraded environment

There's a more serious side to the elephant entertainment. Biologists see the situation as a warning of what happens when elephant habitats are degraded.

© Xinhua/Sipa USA Wild Asian elephants in Jinning District of Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province on June 6.

Asian elephants are considered a protected species in China, and around 300 of them live in Yunnan, according to Xinhua.

Over the last few decades, agriculture has led to a loss of elephant habitats, leaving herds fragmented and isolated in ever-shrinking plots of land, according to a paper in Nature. Many elephants are forced to forage for food in agricultural areas instead, leading to a rise in human-elephant conflict in the last 10 years -- something authorities are clearly keenly aware of.

Authorities have been trying to steer the elephants away from populated areas to prevent any clashes. At the end of May, authorities set up a 24-hour command center to monitor the elephants.

But the only way to prevent a future elephant exodus is to restore their habitats and protect natural resources, said Zhang Li, a wildlife biologist and professor at Beijing Normal University, according to Global Times.

"The traditional buffer zones between humans and elephants are gradually disappearing, and the chances of elephants' encountering humans naturally increase greatly," Zhang said.  

© Xinhua/Sipa USA Workers prepare a drone to monitor the migrating wild Asian elephants in Eshan County, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province on May 29.

Paging Captain Marvel: Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert asks Forest Service to alter Earth's orbit, or the moon's, to fight climate change

Joel Shannon, USA TODAY , JUNE 10,2021

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, appeared to stun a Forest Service official by suggesting the agency fight climate change by altering the orbits of Earth or the moon.

© Jacquelyn Martin, AP Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, right, speaks duing a news conference with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ORG XMIT: DCJM116

The question came during a live-streamed national parks, forests and public lands subcommittee meeting of the National Resources Committee on Tuesday and was followed by social media mockery.

"I understand from what's been testified to, the Forest Service and the (Bureau of Land Management), you want very much to work on the issue of climate change," Gohmert began his question to Jennifer Eberlein, the associate deputy chief for the National Forest System.

Gohmert said he understood NASA's data shows the Earth's and the moon's orbits are "changing slightly."

"And so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun? Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate."

Eberlein paused before responding, "I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert."

"Yeah? Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I'd like to know," Gohmert said.

Gohmert's question was widely mocked on social media, including by members of Congress.

"I know the answer to the question by Rep. Louie Gohmert," tweeted U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California. "Captain Marvel. She can alter planetary orbits with her superpowers. I’m going to work on a bipartisan resolution asking for her help."

Gohmert's idea was shot down by theoretical astrophysicist Katie Mack. She suggested two "equally distressing possibilities" explained Gohmert's question.

If the congressman believes the Forest Service or BLM could possibly move the orbits of Earth or the moon, "he does not understand how orbits work," Mack tweeted.

Or, Mack suggested Gohmert was being sarcastic, suggesting fighting climate change is as impossible as changing those orbits.

Gohmert responded to the backlash on Twitter by pointing out that Tuesday's hearing "was about the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT & climate change."

USA TODAY has reached out to National Forest Service for comment. The National Forest System includes nearly 200 million acres of land managed by the Forest Service, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Gohmert has a history of making scientifically dubious claims. Last summer, Gohmert suggested he may have contracted COVID-19 because he was wearing a mask, despite health guidance encouraging mask-wearing to reduce the spread of the virus.

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODA

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paging Captain Marvel: Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert asks Forest Service to alter Earth's orbit, or the moon's, to fight climate change

Biden nominee for public lands boss faces GOP opposition

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Joe Biden's nominee to oversee vast expanses of U.S. public lands was criticized Tuesday by Republicans over her past involvement in partisan politics as a longtime Democratic aide and environmentalist, underscoring the importance lawmakers assign to a relatively small agency with broad influence over energy development and agriculture in western states.

Senate confirmation of Tracy Stone-Manning to direct the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would mark a stark change from the government's catering to oil and gas interests under former President Donald Trump.

It would take every Senate Republican plus at least one Democratic lawmaker to block her nomination. So far no Democratic defectors have emerged.

The land bureau has been in staffing turmoil after four years without a confirmed director and losing nearly 300 employees to retirement or resignation when its headquarters was relocated from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colorado.

UNION BUSTING BY MOVING HQ
Interior Department officials confirmed Tuesday that only three workers ultimately relocated to Grand Junction. The revelation, first reported by the media outlet Colorado Newsline, marks the latest example of the heavy toll on the federal workforce from a broad reorganization of government under Trump, which left agencies hobbled as they regulated industry and conducted climate research.

With roughly 9,000 employees, the land bureau has jurisdiction over 245 million acres (100 million hectares) of federally owned land in Western states, managing them for uses ranging from fossil fuel extraction, renewable power development and grazing, to recreation and wilderness.

Before joining the National Wildlife Federation four years ago, Stone-Manning worked as chief of staff to former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and supported him through his failed attempt to unseat Montana Sen. Steve Daines.

During a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Republicans lambasted her role as treasurer and board member of the environmental group Montana Conservation Voters, which ran ads against Daines. The Republicans also raised concerns she would impede energy development.

“You've been incredibly partisan in your past,” said Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. “It seems like from your heart, you really don't care for Republicans.”

Stone-Manning, from Missoula, Montana, said her deceased Republican parents would be “rolling in their graves” over the allegation of partisanship. She indicated she wanted to move on from the 2020 election and said working in a collaborative manner was the only way to make progress in the West’s contentious public lands debates.

“Elections can be tough. I was supporting my former boss, Gov. Bullock. But the election is over, and I will honor the outcome of that election,” she said.

Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper asked Stone-Manning about the headquarters relocation, saying the move was “done in haste” and let down employees of the land bureau and the city of Grand Junction, which hoped for an economic boost.

Stone-Manning said the Interior Department was reviewing the headquarters move but gave no further details.

The director's post and 327 other positions were moved out of Washington under Trump, to Grand Junction and other western cities, bureau spokesperson Jeff Krauss said. The upheaval triggered the resignation or retirement of 278 people.

Of 41 positions created at the new Colorado headquarters, 11 career positions and two political positions including the director's office remain vacant, Krauss said.

Interior officials were unable to immediately say how many positions at the Grand Junction office remain unfilled.

At the National Wildlife Federation Stone-Manning led the group's efforts to preserve public lands in the West for wildlife, hiking, hunting and other nonindustrial uses.

She was previously an aide to Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and worked for a nonprofit group that pushed the clean up one of the country’s largest contaminated Superfund sites, Montana’s Clark Fork River.

Tester introduced Stone-Manning at Tuesday's hearing and rejected the GOP description of her as an ideologue.

“She is a good person with a good heart who understands the value of our public lands,” Tester said.

Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall questioned Stone-Manning on whether she had a conflict of interest in receiving a personal loan of $50,000 to $100,000 in 2008 while working on Tester's staff. Financial disclosure filings showed she received the 12-year loan from Missoula developer Stuart Goldberg at a 6% interest rate, which Marshall said was below the 11 % going rate for consumer loans at that time.

Stone-Manning responded that she had been “smacked by the recession and a friend loaned us some money to make sure we could get through.”

“We honored the loan,” she added.

The land management bureau’s director post went unfilled for four years under Trump, who instead relied on a string of acting directors to execute a loosening of restrictions on industry. Chief among them was conservative lawyer William Perry Pendley, who before he took the position advocated for selling off federal lands.

Pendley was ordered removed by a federal judge after leading the bureau for more than year without required Senate confirmation and getting sued by Bullock.

Stone-Manning backed the effort to oust Pendley and said he was an illegal appointee.

She would serve under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico who was confirmed over opposition from Republicans citing her criticisms of the oil and gas industry.

Matthew Brown, The Associated Press